The war has occasioned such a stagnation of business, and thrown such numbers of people out of employment, that I think it is impossible things should remain long in the present insipid state. One system or another will be pursued; one party or another will prevail; much will depend on the events of the war. We have one security, and I fear but one, and that is the domineering character of the English, who will make peace with the Republic upon no other terms, than her joining them against all their enemies in the war, and this I think it is impossible she ever should do.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Amsterdam, May 21st, 1781.
Sir,
On the 30th of April, the King of Prussia published the following ordinance, relative to the navigation and commerce of his subjects, during the whole course of the present war between the maritime powers.
ORDINANCE OF PRUSSIA RELATIVE TO NAVIGATION.
"From the commencement of the maritime war, almost generally spread through the southern part of Europe, the King has applied himself with particular care to procure to those of his subjects who traffic by sea, or who engage in navigation, all the security possible, and to this end he has caused to be required of the belligerent powers to give exact orders to their vessels of war and privateers, to respect the Prussian flag, and to suffer peaceably to pass all the Prussian vessels, which should be loaded with merchandises, which, according to the law of nations, are reputed lawful and not contraband, and not cause to them any damage or delay, and much less still to conduct them without necessity or right into foreign ports; to which these powers have answered by assurances friendly and proper to make things easy in this regard. To attain still more certainly to this end, his Majesty has ordered his Ministers, residing near the belligerent powers, to interest themselves as much as possible, and by representations the most energetic in favor of Prussian subjects, who trade at sea, and whose vessels might be taken, conducted into foreign ports, or as has often happened, pillaged even upon the high seas, and to insist on their speedy release, and that the processes at law, occasioned by their capture, should be decided without delay, and with the requisite impartiality. To the end, therefore, that the Ministers of the King may be in a condition to acquit themselves of these orders in this respect, it is necessary that the subjects of his Majesty, who find themselves in such a case, announce themselves, or by attorney, to the Envoy of the King, at the Court where the complaints ought to be carried, and that they may give him information in detail of their subjects of complaint, that he may be able to support them there, where they belong. They ought not, however, to repose themselves entirely on a similar intercession, but carry also their complaints themselves to the Admiralties, or Maritime Colleges of the country, where their vessel has been conducted, or in which they have caused him damage, support his complaints with requisite proofs, follow the judiciary order, and the different trials established in each country, and solicit and pursue with diligence their causes by advocates and attornies; by means of which, it is to be hoped, that they will obtain a prompt and impartial decision; in default of which, it shall be permitted to them to address themselves to the Envoys of the King, to carry to each Court the complaints, which the case may require, and obtain the redress of it.
"But to secure still more the navigation of his subjects, the King has caused to be demanded by his Ministers, of her Majesty the Empress of Russia, and the two other Maritime Powers of the North, who, as is well known, have united to maintain the maritime neutrality, to be so good, as powers with whom the King has the satisfaction to live in the strictest union, as to order the commanders of their vessels of war, to take the Prussian merchant vessels, which they may meet in their courses, in their sight, and within reach of their cannon, under their convoy and protection, in case they shall be attacked or molested by the vessels of war, or privateers, of the belligerent powers. Her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, has assured the King, by a declaration written by her Ministry, that she had not only given precise orders to the commanders of her vessels of war, to protect, against all attacks and molestations, the vessels of Prussian merchants and navigators, that they may encounter in their course, as belonging to a power allied to Russia, and who observe exactly the rules of the maritime neutrality founded upon the law of nations, but that she would enjoin it also upon her Ministers at the Courts of the belligerent powers, that as often as the Envoys of the King of Prussia should have claims and complaints to carry to the Courts where they reside, relative to the hinderances occasioned to the maritime commerce of the Prussian subjects, they should support such complaints in the name of her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, by their good offices, and that she expected in return from his Majesty, the King, that he would equally furnish his Ministers to the belligerent powers with instructions, conformable to the maritime convention of the Powers of the North, with orders to accede by energetic representations to the complaints of the Ministers of the powers allied for the defence of the maritime neutrality, in case they shall have certain satisfaction to demand for the subjects of their sovereigns.