DESPATCHES, REPORTS, CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. 101 



Geo. 2, c. 35,) the terms of which comprehend all vessels foreign as 

 well as British ; it is possible, however, that the former are con- 

 structively excepted. Should your inquiries ascertain this to be the 

 case, you will find yourself on better ground than the concession 

 here made. 



* **** 



From every view of the subject, it is reasonable to expect, that the 

 exception of the narrow seas from the stipulation against impress- 

 ments, will not be inflexibly maintained : should it be so, your negotia- 

 tion will be at an end. The truth is, that so great a proportion of 

 our trade, direct and circuitous, passes through those channels, and 

 such is its peculiar exposure in them to the wrong practised, that, 

 with such an exception, any remedy would be very partial. And we 

 can never consent to purchase a partial remedy by confirming a gen- 

 eral evil, and by subjecting ourselves to our own reproaches as well 

 as to those of other nations. 



No. 9. 1804, September 8: Extract from Letter from Mr. Jefferson 

 (President of the United States), to the Secretary of the Treasury. 



MONTICELLO, September 8, 1804.. 



DEAR SIR, As we shall have to lay before Congress the proceedings 

 of the British vessels at New York, it will be necessary for us to say 

 to them with certainty which specific aggressions were committed 

 wdthin the common law, which within the admiralty jurisdiction, 

 and which on the high seas. The rule of the common law is that 

 wherever you can see from land to land, all the water within the line 

 of sight is in the body of the adjacent country and within common 

 law jurisdiction. Thus, if in this curvature c 6 you can 

 see from a to b, all the water within the line of sight is within com- 

 mon law jurisdiction, and a murder committed at c is to be tried as 

 at common law. Our coast is generally visible, I believe, by the time 

 you get within about twenty-five miles. I suppose that at New 

 York you must be some miles out of the Hook before the opposite 

 shores recede twenty-five miles from each other. The three miles of 

 maritime jurisdiction is always to be counted from this line of sight. 

 It will be necessary we should be furnished with the most accurate 

 chart to be had of those shores and waters in the neighborhood of the 

 Hook; and that we may be able to ascertain on it the spot of every 

 aggression. 



No. 10. 1805, November SO: Extract from Memoirs of Mr. John 



Quincy Adams. 



Washington, November 30th. Paid visits this morning to the 

 President, whom I found at home, and the Secretaries of State and 



