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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 1785.
Congress assembled. Present as yesterday.2
[Note 2: 2 The proceedings regarding this Stanhope affair were entered only in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs, No. 5, by Benjamin Bankson, and in Secret Journal No. 4. A copy is in Secret Journal No. 6, Vol. III.]
The Delegates for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts having laid before Congress a letter of the 8th, from His Excellency the Governor of that State, together with a Copy of Letters from Captain Stanhope, Commander of the British Frigate Mercury, to his Excellency James Bowdoin, Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and of his Excellency's answers to the two first of those Letters, the same were
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referred to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who reported thereon. The Letters and report are as follows:
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Boston, Augt. 8th, 1785.
Gentlemen: Whatever concerns the honor of one of the United States, does in effect, in certain cases, concern the honor of all of them.
This general observation applies to the conduct of Captain Stanhope, Commander of his Britannic Majesty's frigate Mercury, who, apprehending himself insulted, applied by his Letter to me for redress. In which Letter he "recommends to me to adopt such measures as may discover the ringleaders of the party that assassinated him." See Letter No. 1. On receiving it, the Council being adjourned to a distant day, I sent for the only Gentleman of that Board in Town, the honble Mr. Adams, with whom I consulted on the affair. In consequence of the Consultation, I sent Captain Stanhope an answer the same day. The answer points out to him the only way of redress, which our laws and constitution admit, and which I myself in a like ease, if I took any, must have taken. See Letter No. 2.
This answer, however, did not comport with Captain Stanhope's high idea of himself, who seems to have thought, that some special mode of process was due to a person of his importance.
In consequence of that Idea, and after two days consideration of the matter, he sent me a Letter, which you may probably think may be justly called a very insolent one; in which (but in his own mode of expression) he declares, I gave him positive assurance of affording him and his Officers protection; that my conduct contradicted that assurance and his expectations; that it does not satisfy him, nor does credit to myself; that
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he never received a Letter so insulting to his senses, and that it was an evasion of his requisition; with a great deal more abuse, both expressed and implied. See Letter No. 3.
The only part of this declaration it concerns me to notice is that, in which my conduct is said to have contradicted the assurance I had given him of protection.
This occasions a recurrence to two conversations I had with him, within a few days after his arrival here, from which time, until the first instant, I had been, as I presumed, in the good graces of Mr. Stanhope. In one of those conversations, which were principally relative to the recovery of a favourite Servant, who, he said, had deserted from him about a year before, he mentioned that he had been informed, he should probably meet with some insult before his departure, and said he should rely on my protection. I told him he might depend on every protection in my power to afford him; but that in this Country, as in England, the law is every man's protection, and that he would be as much entitled to it, during his stay here, as any man in the Commonwealth; and in conformity to this idea, my letter to him was written.
I have here mentioned no more of the conversation than was needful to afford you some idea of the assurance, he says, I gave him of my protection. But in the course of it, I told him further, that he must know from his own observation, that in large Seaport towns, where there is a resort of all kinds of people and Characters, quarrels and disturbances frequently happened; and that the Seaport towns in England were remarkable for them. That he must be sensible that the new regulations of trade in England, which would finally operate to her own detriment, had disgusted the Americans in general,
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and had induced them to take measures to counteract those regulations; and therefore it was natural to expect he would hear sentiments thrown out, which might not be agreeable to him; but that I had no apprehension that any insult would be offered either to him or his officers. These observations, and many more, I thought proper to make, which a man of any discernment, and of the least goodness of disposition, might have applied to his own benefit; and to the exciting and promoting good humour in the people among whom he happened to be.
As he says my conduct contradicted his expectations, it is probable he expected a proclamation should have been issued. This measure was thought of, but I did not think the occasion required it. His conduct for three days after the affront, to the time of his going with his Ship down to Nantasket on the evening of the third instant, manifested that he was under no apprehension of any attack upon him, for during that time, he and his Officers went about the town and in the country as usual, and with as much freedom as any persons whatever. Knowing that the whole of my conduct, both publick and private, had been such as merited at least a decency of behaviour on his part, and sentiments very different from those expressed in his said letter, I wrote to him a short answer to it, which you will see in No. 4, to which he sent the reply contained in No. 5, justifying and repeating his insolence; and this finishes the correspondence. I have only to observe, that it is conceived the honour and dignity of this Commonwealth, and through it the honour and dignity of the United States in general, are essentially wounded by the insolence of Capt. Stanhope towards the Chief Magistrate of the former; that unless it be properly resented, every
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british Officer of every british vessel, however insignificant, will whenever an opportunity shall offer, insult the government of every State in the Union; and that a tameness under insult must, in the estimation of all Foreigners, effectually destroy the national character and importance of the United States. If after reading the annexed Copy of Letters which passed between the said Stanhope and me, you should be of that opinion, you will please to lay the same before the United States in Congress assembled, that they may take such measures concerning it as their wisdom and a sense of their own honour shall dictate.
With the most perfect regard, I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant,
James Bowdoin.
Delegates in Congress for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Letters from Captain Stanhope were on the cover of each of them thus superscribed: "On His Britannick Majesty's Service.--To His Excellency Governour Bowdoin, &c. &c. &c. Boston."
No. 1.
Mercury, Boston Harbour,
August 1st, 1785.
Sir: I am sorry to be obliged to represent to your Excellency the continued insults and disgraceful indignities offered by hundreds in this town to me and my Officers, which hitherto we have winked at, as well as the most illiberal and indecent language with which the newspapers have been filled; nor should I have troubled
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you now, had I not been pursued, and my life as well as that of one of my Officers been endangered by the violent rage of a mob yesterday evening without provocation of any sort. I trust it needless to recommend to your Excellency to adopt such measures as may discover the ringleaders of the party that assassinated me, and bring them to public justice, as well as protect us from further insult.
I have the honour to be your Excellency's obedt hum. servt,
Henry Stanhope.
To His Excellency
Governour Bowdoin, &c. &c. &c.
No. 2.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Boston, August 1st, 1785.
Sir: Your letter of this date is now before me. It is a great misfortune that the Subjects or Citizens of different Countries which have been at enmity, cannot easily recover that degree of good humour which should induce them to treat each other with proper decorum, when the governments to which they respectively belong have entered into a Treaty of Amity and sheathed the sword. But you must have observed that disturbances arising from this source too frequently happen, especially in populous Seaport towns. If you have been insulted, and your life has been endangered in manner as you have represented to me, I must inform you, that our laws afford you ample satisfaction. Foreigners are entitled to the protection of the law as well as amenable to it, equally with any Citizen of the United States, while they continue within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth. Any learned practitioner of the law, if applied to, will
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direct you to the mode of legal process in the obtaining a redress of injury, if you have been injured, and the judiciary Courts will cause due inquiry to be made touching riotous and unlawful assemblies and their misdemeanours, and inflict legal punishment on such as by verdict of a jury may be found guilty.
I have the honour to be, sir, your most obet huml sert,
James Bowdoin.
No. 3.
Mercury, Boston Harbour,
August 2d. 1785.
(N. B. This was sent August 3d., P.M.)
Sir: When I had the honour of applying to your Excellency to discountenance the disgraceful attacks made upon me and the Officers of His Britannic Majesty's Ship Mercury under my Command, and to afford us your protection, it was upon your positive assurance to that effect in their presence, I rested my hope. How much your conduct contradicts both that and my expectation is too obvious either to satisfy me or even to do Credit to yourself. For your Excellency must excuse me when I remark, that I never received a Letter so insulting to my senses, as your answer to my requisition of yesterday: I am however pleased in finding a much better disposition in the first Class of inhabitants, whose assistance I am happy to acknowledge, as the more acceptable after your apparent evasion from the substance of my Letter; and however well informed your Excellency may believe yourself, upon the laws and customs of Nations in similar cases, allow me to assure you there is not one, no, not even the Ally of these States, that would not most severely reprobate either the want of energy in government or
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disinclination of the Governor to correct such notorious insults to public characters, in which light only we can desire to be received.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedt. huml. servt.,
Hy. Stanhope.
To his Excellency,
Governor Bowdoin, &c. &c. &c.
No. 4.
Capt. Stanhope; Your letter bearing date the second instant was delivered to me by your Lieutenant, Mr. Nash, at four o'Clock this afternoon. I hereby let you know that as the Letter is conceived in terms of insolence and abuse altogether unprovoked, I shall take such measures concerning it as the dignity of my station and a just regard to the honor of this 'Commonwealth, connected with the honor of the United States in general, shall require.
James Bowdoin.
Boston, August 3d, 1785, 6 o'Clock, P.M.
No. 5.
"Mercury," Nantasket Road,
Augt. 3, 1785.
at ½ past 12, A.M.
(It should have been Augt 4.)
Sir: I am to acknowledge the honor of your Excellency's Letter this moment received; and have to assure you that I shall most cheerfully submit to the worst conquences that can arise from our correspondence, which I do not conceive on my part to have been couched in terms of either insolence or abuse, which is more than I can venture to say of yours. And however exalted your
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Excellency's station is, I know not of any more respectable than that I have the honor to fill.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your very huml. servt.,
Hy. Stanhope.
To His Excellency,
Governor Bowdoin, &c. &c. &c.
The Secretary to the United States for the department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred a Letter of the 8th instant from His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts to the Delegates of that Commonwealth in Congress, reports,
That in his opinion the answer of the Governor to Capt. Stanhope's first Letter was perfectly proper, that the Captain's reply was highly disrespectful, and being so, that all further correspondence should have ceased and such measures [might have been] adopted as the laws may prescribe for asserting the dignity of Government in such cases.
He is further of opinion, that two things are essential to the respectability of Government. 1. That it should be always in the right; and, 2. That it should never be opposed or ill-treated with impunity. To these ends its own internal power (in such cases as the present) is or ought to be adequate, and therefore a recurrence to a foreign Sovereign to resent and punish affronts to such Government, committed under its eye and within its jurisdiction, appear to your Secretary inconsistent with [a departure from] that self respect, which on such occasions should invariably be observed, except indeed where such indignities are offered by Ambassadors.
If these principles are well founded, then it will follow as a necessary consequence, that no complaint [or application for redress] should be made by Congress to His Britannic Majesty on the subject in question.
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But as America and Britain are at peace, and in that sense friends, it is to be presumed that disrespect to one from Officers of the other must be offensive to the Sovereign of such Officers; inasmuch as such conduct tends to irritate and alienate the good will of the other. Under this view of the matter your Secretary thinks it would be proper to transmit these papers to the Minister of the United States at the Court of London, and to instruct him to communicate them to the British Minister, and to assure him,
Your Secretary also thinks it would be proper to transmit a Copy of this report to the Governour of Massachusetts, and to assure him that Congress consider the dignity of each of the States as inseparably connected
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with that of the Union. And therefore that it shall on every occasion experience their care and attention.
Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.
Ordered, That a Copy of this report, together with the foregoing Letters, be transmitted to the Executives of the several States.1
[Note 1: 1 The report of the Secretary for foreign Affairs is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 81, I, folio 353. The words lined out were, evidently, so treated in Congress prior to the record being entered in the Secret Journal. Those enclosed in brackets were inserted by Congress. Copies of the correspondence between Bowdoin and Stanhope are in No. 65, II, folios 289--294.
On this day, according to the indorsement, (but August 19 according to Committee Book No. 190), the committee of August 17 on James Stewart's memorial was discharged and the matter referred to the Secretary at War. See post, September 12.
On this day, according to Committee Book No. 190, the petitions of Lewis Nicola, agent for the Invalid Regiment, and R. Lloyd were referred to the Board of Treasury to report, which it did on September 24.
Also "A petition of R. Boyd to be employed in coining copper, and all other applications of a similar nature or for supplying the U. S. with copper coin. The board of treasury to report the form of an Ordinance for the establishment of a Mint--Memorial Walter Mould offering to conduct a Mint and Proposals of Mr. Bridgen with joint Letter of Ministers in Europe dated Decemr. 14, 1782, recommending said Bridgden" were referred to the Board of Treasury to report. John Adams' letter of December 14, 1782, is in No. 84, IV, folio 309, and Bridgden's various proposals are all of that year.]
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