Adams Papers
Documents filtered by: Author="Carmarthen, the Marquis of" AND Recipient="Adams, John" AND Period="Confederation Period"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-18-02-0203

To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 6 July 1786

From the Marquis of Carmarthen

Whitehall July 6th: 1786

Sir,

I have received His Majesty’s Commands to inform You, that, in order to prevent the Abuses to which the Indulgence given by the Foreign Ministers is frequently liable, by granting that Protection which their Compassion often inclines them to afford to Persons who solicit it for the sole Purpose of screening themselves from the Laws of their Country, His Majesty has instructed His Secretary of State, for the future not to give Notice to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex to insert the Name of any of His Majesty’s Subjects in the List of those, who are to be deemed under the Protection of any Foreign Minister excepting only such Persons, as may be employed by the said Foreign Ministers in the Capacity of menial Servants.1

I am with great Truth and Regard / Sir / Your most obedient / humble Servant.

Carmarthen.

RC (Adams Papers description begins Manuscripts and other materials, 1639–1889, in the Adams Manuscript Trust collection given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1956 and enlarged by a few additions of family papers since then. Citations in the present edition are simply by date of the original document if the original is in the main chronological series of the Papers and therefore readily found in the microfilm edition of the Adams Papers (APM). description ends ); internal address: “[John] Adams Esqr &c &c &c”; endorsed: “Lord Carmarthen / July 6. 1786. / respecting Secretaries &c / which dont concern me, / having never protected any / one.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript.

1. This order presumably resulted from the 1786 effort by Sir James Cockburn, former M.P. from Linlithgow Burghs, hopelessly in debt owing to a failed loan to the nawab of Arcot, Mohammad Ali Khan Walajah, to shield himself from his creditors by claiming diplomatic immunity as a secretary to the Prussian minister Spiridion, Baron von Lusi (Namier and Brooke, House of Commons description begins Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, eds., The House of Commons, 1754–1790, London, 1964; 3 vols. description ends ; DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1901; repr. Oxford, 1959–1960; 21 vols. plus supplements; rev. edn., www.oxforddnb.com. description ends ; Repertorium description begins Ludwig Bittner and others, eds., Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648), Oldenburg, 1936–1965; 3 vols. description ends , 3:329).

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Adams Papers
    Title
    To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 6 July 1786
    Author
    Carmarthen, the Marquis of
    Recipient
    Adams, John
    Date
    6 July 1786

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 6 July 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-18-02-0203. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 18, December 1785–January 1787, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Sara Martin, C. James Taylor, Sara Georgini, Hobson Woodward, Sara B. Sikes, Amanda M. Norton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016, p. 376.]

    More between these correspondents