2086. DEBTS DUE BRITISH, British government and.—
It is uncertain how far we
should have been able to accommodate our opin
ions [in the settlement of the debts]. But the
absolute aversion of the [British] government
to enter into any arrangement [with Mr.
Adams and myself] prevented the object from
being pursued. Each country is left to do justice
to itself and to the other, according to its
own ideas, as to what is past; and to scramble
for the future as well as they can; to regulate
their commerce by duties and prohibitions and,
perhaps, by cannons and mortars; in which
event, we must abandon the ocean, where we
are weak, leaving to neutral nations the carriage
of our commodities; and measure with
them on land, where they alone can lose.
[125]
—
To James Ross. Washington ed. i, 562.
Ford ed., iv, 218.
(P.
1786)
