190 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



tion was made on the 23d of November, 1781, and has been renewed 

 informally at different periods. This fact may be of use. You have 

 a right to avail yourself of this engagement if necessary, since Con- 

 gress, relying upon it, have made no alteration in their instruction, 

 notwithstanding their success in Virginia. This letter of 566-166-143 

 [Marbois] and the conduct of the court marks the distinction between 

 a great politician and a short-sighted one. France can, by prohibit- 

 ing the importation of fish, supply herself. She can not navigate 

 so cheaply as to do more. Our exclusion would only be a benefit to 

 England, and the ill-will it would create, the disputes it would give 

 birth to, would, in the course of a few years, obliterate the memory 

 of the favors we have received. England, by sacrificing a part of her 

 fisheries and protecting us in the enjoyment of them, would render 

 herself necessary to us. Our friendship would be transferred to her, 

 arid France would in the end be considered a mutual enemy. 



No. 123. 1783, February 5: Extract from letter, Mr. Adams to Mr. 



Livingston. 



PARIS, February 5, 1783. 



SIR : The resolution of Congress of the 12th of July, 1781, " that 

 the commission and instructions for negociating a treaty of commerce 

 between these United States and Great Britain, given to the Honor- 

 able John Adams on the 29th day of September, 1779, be, and they are 

 hereby, revoked," was duly received by me in Holland; but no ex- 

 planation of the motives to it, or the reasons on which it was founded, 

 was ever transmitted to me by Congress, or the committee of Foreign 

 Affairs, or any individual member, nor has anybody in Europe or 

 America ever once attempted, that I know of. to guess at the reason. 

 Whether it was intended as a punishment to me, or with a charitable 

 design not to lead me into temptation ; whether it was intended 

 115 as a punishment to the English for their insolence and bar- 

 barity ; whether it was intended to prevent or remove suspicions 

 of allies, or the envy and green-eyed jealousy of co-patriots, I know 

 not. Of one thing, however, I am fully satisfied, that Congress had 

 reasons, and meant well ; but whether those reasons were founded on 

 true or mistaken information, I know not. 



When I recollect the instructions, which were given and revoked 

 with that commission, I can guess, and only guess, at some consider- 

 ations which might, or might not, operate with Congress. In these 

 instructions. Congress determined, 



1st. That the common right of fishing should in no case be given up. 



2dly. That it is essential to the welfare of all these United States, 

 that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the war, should con- 

 tinue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their common right 

 to fish on the banks of Newfoundland, and the other fishing banks 

 and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the treaties between 

 France and the said States, &c. 



3dly. " That our faith be pledged to the several States, that with- 

 out their unanimous consent no treaty of commerce shall be entered 

 into, nor any trade or commerce whatever carried on with Great 

 Britain, without the explicit stipulation hereinafter mentioned. .You 



