Paris, May 8th, 1780.
Sir,
At the same time that the conduct of Great Britain towards the neutral powers is marked by a severity, that is without example, that of France and Spain is distinguished by a moderation and liberality, that deserves to be imitated. I have before transmitted to Congress the declaration of the King of France, and the decree of his Council, abolishing the restrictions on the Holland trade. In this letter I shall give an account of the conduct of Spain.
On the 13th of March, the Count de Florida Blanca wrote a letter to the Marquis Gonzalez de Castigon, the Minister of the Marine, to serve as a regulation for the navigation of neuters, as follows;
"From the commencement of the present war with Great Britain, the King declared sincerely, and even in a manner that is unexampled, his intentions of blockading Gibraltar, and his Majesty gave by me a formal notification of it to all the foreign Ministers and Ambassadors, to the end that they might be in a capacity to inform their respective nations of it, and that these might avoid in their navigation and in their conduct the consequences and procedures authorised by the right of nations and the general laws of war. The King declared at the same time by his ordinances concerning privateering, published in the sight of all the world, 'that with regard to the merchandises, productions, and effects of the English, loaded on board of vessels bearing the flag of a friend or a neuter, his Majesty would conduct himself according to the procedure, which the English should adopt towards cargoes of the same kind, to the end to avoid by this reciprocity of conduct, the enormous inequality, the prejudice, and even the ruin to which the commerce and the subjects of his Majesty would be otherwise exposed.' In spite of these dispositions so full of equity, of frankness and good faith, the captains and masters of neutral vessels have not ceased to abuse without shame the impunity of their flags, whether by sliding clandestinely into Gibraltar, with cargoes of provisions, even with those which were destined for the fleets and armies of the King, whether by concealing a great part of their loading, consisting in powder and other merchandises of contraband, or by disguising (by double and fictitious papers, which they cast into the sea, when they saw themselves pursued) the property of their vessels and effects, as well as their destination for persons and places different from those to whom they really belonged, and to which they were bound, or whether finally by making a formal resistance against the King's ships or his privateers, when they endeavored to take a view of some vessels, which they supposed neuter.
"Although these facts are notorious, and have been proved by formal processes, these men, greedy of gain, and perverse, have filled all Europe with the noise of their clamors, propagating falsely, that orders had been given to detain and to seize all neutral vessels, that would pass the Straits, whilst in fact the orders were confined to the detention of vessels suspected by their course, or their papers, and which were loaded with provisions or effects of the enemy, a moderation very different from the conduct which has been held by the navy and the privateers of England, in detaining and declaring good prize neutral vessels, not only when they carried Spanish productions, but of whatever kind the merchandises were, which they had taken on board in the ports of Spain, or although they were only bound to this Peninsula, taking also and carrying to Gibraltar the neutral vessels, which passed in their sight with cargoes of provisions, although the whole was but a feint and a disguised agreement made beforehand with persons interested in these frauds. These clamors have been accompanied with several complaints, which have been made to the King, filled with the exaggerations and falsehoods beforementioned, and the complainants have addressed themselves in the same manner to their respective Courts, without considering, that conformably to all the treaties of peace and of commerce the royal tribunals of the marine of the Admiralty, as well inferior as superior, were open to them to hear their allegations and proofs, pronounce sentence upon the processes, which they should institute, and repair the wrongs, which the detained vessels should have suffered, in one case or the other, without sufficient reason, although to this moment this point has never been legally verified. But the captains and masters have always obstinately insisted, that without other proofs than their relations and their applications to the Ministry, they should be released, and the delays and damages of their detention made good to them, and this solely because the clemency, the equity, and even the indulgence of the King recommended to the judges of the marine, had set several vessels at liberty, which had been detained with justice, and which might have been declared good prizes, conformably to law, and to the practice of our enemies.
"To dissipate even the very shadow of such like pretexts the Count de Rechteren, Envoy of the United Provinces, and the other Ministers of foreign Courts, were notified beforehand, that if they proposed any means of preventing frauds, and causes of suspicion, the King, to give a fresh proof of the good correspondence and friendship, which he desired to maintain with these Courts, would adopt such of those means as should be proper to produce such an effect; and as to this day they have not proposed nor regulated any means of this sort, his Majesty has judged proper to take by himself the measures, which are consistent with his sovereignty, uniting to that end the substance of those which have been communicated hitherto, and manifesting in a manner, if possible, still more positive his intentions, so full of justice, of equity, and of moderation, as being founded upon the resolution of making them be observed with punctuality.
"Article I. That the vessels with a neutral flag, making sail through the Straits, whether on the side of the ocean, or on that of the Mediterranean, may not be molested nor hindered in their navigation, so long as they shall arrange themselves, as much as shall be possible for them, along the coasts of Africa, and keeping as far as they can from those of Europe, during the course of their passage, from their coming into it to their going out, provided always, that their papers and cargoes be regular, and they furnish no just cause to excite suspicions, whether by flying away, or by resistance, or by an irregular course, or other signs of correspondence with the place blocked up, or with the ships of the enemy.
"Article II. When the aforesaid vessels of a neutral flag shall be destined, with their cargoes, for any ports, situated upon the Spanish coast in the Straits, such as those of Algeziras or Tarifa, they must lie to, and wait the arrival of a Spanish vessel, which making sail towards them shall give them the signal, by firing a gun, and after having received their declaration shall escort them, or will point out to them, according to the circumstances, the way which they ought strictly to pursue, for coming more readily, without any danger, and without giving cause of any suspicion, to the place of their destination.