Papers of John Adams, volume 21
a.
th.1793.
Tho I suppose that some recent arrivals in the ports N. &: E. of Philadelphia will give you the confirmation of the report of war between G Britain & France I do myself the honor to mention to you the foundation on which it rests here.1
A Philada. Ship arrived
yesterday from Lisbon, where the Captn.
saw in the hands of Mr. John Bulkely, our principal American house, a letter from Mr. Fenwick the consul of the U. S at Bordeaux
informing him that France had declared war against Britain; Holland
190 & Russia. A British packet was missing & was supposed to be
taken. Forty sail of French Vessels were fitting out with arms &ca. intended as was supposed for privateers.
From Norfolk a paper has been recd. which contains an official order of Ld Grenville to M. Chauvelin to depart from G Britain in eight
days. The inclosed paper contains it.
A letter from S. Eustatius states that the writer (a well
known Merchant) had recd. advices from London of
the 7th. Feby. by
which it appeared that Mr. Chauvelin had recd. orders from the Government of France to
depart from England without taking leave unless he should be immediately
recd. in quality of “Minister of the French
Republic” by the Court of London—2
There seems to be no doubt therefore of a war between France & Britain.—
A circumstance of very great importance is often been the subject of private
Conversations here at this time. It is remembered by some that it was
mentioned at some past time, that the U. S., either entertaining ideas of
commencing hostilities against Britain to regain the
posts, or apprehending that their Tenure of the posts might, in some way, produce a war, instructed their
minister to confer with the french Government on the subject of the
Guarrantee of our possessions & of the french Islands, which the treaty
of Alliance contains: or that our minister at the Court of France had in
some manner a conference on the subject of that guarrantee with the Count de
Vergennes in such way as to bring up to him this Question—“If the U. S in
the course of the Measures they may adopt to obtain the posts should be
involved in a war with Britain will France consider herself bound by the
Article of guarrantee to join in the War.[“] It is said the answer was in the Negative. I do not mean, Sir, to affirm
any thing about this important fact, but I take the liberty to ask of you
confidentially or otherwise, as you may think proper, such information as
you possess in relation to this story— I conclude that if there be truth in
it, you must have knowlege of it in some way or another—
I think the general wish of the people in this quarter is
for peace. The friends of war are not many at this time nor are they
earnest. The friends of peace are very numerous, decided, in general
temperate, in some instances vehement. The Presidents instructions are that
no letter be sent him to be recd. later than the
15th. instant at Mount Vernon— We expect him
on the 20th.
3
We have no news yet of Mr.
Genest, but he is hourly expected—4
What can be said in case of an Attack on the french Islands & a requisition to perform the obligations the french may consider as incidental to the guarrantee of them—
What will be said by Britain & Holland if we permit french privateers, with prizes taken from those nations, to be brought into our ports as the treaty of commerce seems to render probable, and if we refuse to British & Dutch privateers the same privelige, which the treaty appears to restrain us from granting to them.
Should the course of the morning produce any further intelligence, I shall not fail to add it to this letter—
With great Respect, I have the honor to be, sir, / Your most obedient / & most humble servant—
Another account from Lisbon says that war was
declared by France at Paris on the 8th. of
Feb. against Britain Russia, & Holland & that an embargo had
been previously laid on all British,
Russian & Dutch Vessels in the French ports— The war is considered
as certain.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The V. President of the U.
S.”; endorsed: “Mr Coxe April 5th / ansd 25.
1793.”
Bolstered by the French Army’s advance, France
declared war on Great Britain and the Netherlands on 1 February. Already
embroiled in heavy fighting with Austria and Prussia, France also
declared war on Spain on 7 March. A French request to honor neutrality
had fallen flat the previous autumn, as the British warily eyed the
reopening of the Scheldt River after the French seizure of Antwerp,
which violated the Dutch, British, and Prussian agreement limiting
access to the Dutch. News of French aggression plunged U.S. neutrality
into doubt, for which see JA’s reply of 25 April, below
(
AFC
, 9:396, 397;
Washington, Papers, Presidential Series
,
12:396).
Coxe’s intelligence about the European war was
slightly inaccurate; Russia was not yet formally involved. The British
foreign secretary, William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville,
ordered Bernard François, Marquis de Chauvelin, the French minister to
Great Britain, to leave England following the execution of Louis XVI on
21 January. Coxe may have relayed the news from Alexander Hamilton, who
alerted George Washington to the same reports on 5 April, explicitly
naming Lisbon merchant John Bulkeley and James Fenwick, the U.S. consul
at Bordeaux, as his sources. Coxe likely enclosed one of several
newspaper reports of Grenville’s demand, such as the Philadelphia General Advertiser, 5 April, and
Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 5 April (Hamilton, Papers
, 14:291–292).
Washington left Philadelphia on 27 March, reaching
Mount Vernon on 2 April. He set out again eleven days later, returning
to Philadelphia on 17 April in order to convene his cabinet for
diplomatic advice (Washington, Papers, Presidential
Series
, 12:353, 384, 448, 450).
Edmond Charles “Citizen” Genet (1763–1834), of
Versailles, was the new French minister to the United States. He had
succeeded his father Edmé Jacques, a friend of JA’s, as
head of the foreign ministry’s translation bureau in 1781. The younger
Genet’s reception in the United States sparked controversy, for which
see Samuel Allyne Otis’
letter of 31 May 1793, and note 3, below (vol. 17:253;
DAB
).