American Peace Commissioners to Alleyne Fitzherbert, [c. 20] February 1783
American Peace Commissioners to Alleyne Fitzherbert
[Paris, c. 20] Feb. 1783
We have recd. the Letter ^wh^ you did us the Honor to write on the 18th. Inst, together with the Passports mentioned in it.1
His britannic Majesty’s Proclamation of the 14th. Instant has our entire Approbation, and we have the honor of transmitting to You, herewith enclosed, a Declaration perfectly correspondent to ^with^ it.2
It appears to us important to both Countries that a System be speedily adopted to regulate the Commerce between them; and it gives us pleasure to inform you that we ^to^ are ^are^ authorized to form one,3 on the most liberal Principles so liberal, as that british Merchants shall enjoy in America & her Ports & Waters, the same Immunities and Priviledges with her own; provided american ^that a^ same In a similar Indulgence be allowed to those of our Country, in common with british Subjects ^merchts.^ in general—4
We presume that such a System will on consideration appear most convenient
to both; but if it shd. not, we are [cannotcontentshall be ready^ to frame one on narrower Principles of Reciprocity. if so, we shall be ready to m include it in the definitive Treaty—5
We flatter ourselves that this overture will be considered as a Mark of our Attention to the Principles adopted in the Preamble to ^of^ our Preliminaries,6 and of our Desire to render the commercial Intercourse between us as free from Embarrassments^ing^ & partial Restrictions— We have the Honor to be with great Regard & Esteem Sir with Your most obt & very hble Servt.
Dft, in JJ’s hand, MHi: Adams, reel 360 (EJ: 11665). Endorsed by Adams: “ . . . Sketch of a Letter / to Mr Fitzherbert.” Enclosed was the draft of the Declaration of the Cessation of Arms, immediately below.
1. See this letter in , 14: 277; and the editorial note “Passports and the Cessation of Hostilities” on pp. 313–16.
2. See George III’s Proclamation of the Cessation of Hostilities, , 14: 264–66; the concurrent Act of Parliament repealing two acts prohibiting trade with the United States (, 2: 68–69); and the Declaration of the Cessation of Arms of this date, below.
3. See , 23: 838.
4. This proposal was based on the Plan of Treaties or Model Treaty of which JA was the principal author. It was approved by Congress on 17 Sept. 1776 (, 5: 768–78); , 5: 160–302; , 22: 473–74.
5. On the authorization to negotiate a trade agreement, see JJ to Benjamin Vaughan, 28 Mar. 1783, below. The previously negotiated treaties of commerce with France (1778), the Netherlands (1782), and the soon-to-be-concluded treaty with Sweden (1783) were based on commercial reciprocity and most favored nation status rather than optimum objectives described in Art. II. of the Plan of Treaties (, 5: 768–778). In it Congress directed American negotiators to try to obtain terms that would allow the merchants of each contracting nation to pay the same duties and enjoy the same access and privileges as those granted to natives of the other.
Soon after it learned that peace negotiations had begun, Congress mounted a campaign to remove European trade restrictions and to win the right for Americans to trade directly with the French, Spanish, and British possessions in the West Indies. See the Secretary for Foreign Affairs to JJ, 12 Sept. 1782, above. In an instruction of 31 Dec. 1782, not yet received by the American peace commissioners, Congress explicitly directed them to seek admission for American merchants to all parts of the British Empire, especially to the West Indies, on terms equal “in matters of commerce with natives of the other party”—the optimum terms described in the Plan of Treaties. See , 23: 838; and , 38: 537–38. For a draft of a commercial treaty with Britain submitted by RRL to Congress on 6 May 1783, see , 2: 110–12.
6. See the Preliminary Articles of Peace, 30 Nov. 1782, above.