With great respect to the gentlemen, as well as to you,
The resolution of Congress of the 12th of July, 1781, "That the commission and instructions, for negotiating a Treaty of Commerce between these United States and Great Britain, given to the Honorable John Adams, on the 29th day of September, 1779, be, and they are hereby revoked," was duly received by me in Holland; but no explanation 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 as a punishment to the English for their insolence and barbarity; whether it was intended to prevent or remove suspicions of allies, or the envy and green eyed jealousy of copatriots, 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 considerations, 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 continue 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. &c.
3dly. "That our faith be pledged to the several States, that without 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 are, therefore, not to consent to any Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain, without an explicit stipulation on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of America, in taking fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and other fisheries in the American seas, anywhere, excepting within the distance of three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war, if a nearer distance cannot be obtained by negotiation. And in the negotiation you are to exert your most strenuous endeavors to obtain a nearer distance in the Gulf of St Lawrence, and particularly along the shores of Nova Scotia; as to which latter we are desirous, that even the shores may be occasionally used for the purpose of carrying on the fisheries by the inhabitants of these States."