6989. PRIVATEERING, Abolition of.—[further continued].
During the negotiations
for peace [in 1783] with the British Commissioner
David Hartley, our Commissioners had
proposed, on the suggestion of Dr. Franklin, to
insert an article exempting from capture by the
public or private armed ships of either belligerent,
when at war, all merchant vessels and
their cargoes, employed merely in carrying on
the commerce between nations. It was refused
by England, and unwisely in my opinion. For,
in the case of a war with us, their superior
commerce places infinitely more at hazard on
the ocean than ours; and, as hawks abound in
proportion to game, so our privateers would
swarm in proportion to the wealth exposed to
their prize, while theirs would be few for
want of subjects of capture. We [Adams,
Franklin and Jefferson] inserted this article in
our form, with a provision against the molestation
of fishermen, husbandmen, citizens unarmed
and following their occupations in unfortified
places, for the humane treatment of
prisoners of war, the abolition of contraband of
war, which exposes merchant vessels to such
vexations and ruinous detentions and abuses;
and for the principle of free bottoms, free
goods.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 62.
Ford ed., i, 86.
(1821)
