GLC02539
John Marshall to Rufus King
Washington, 20 September 1800.
Autographed letter signed, 31 pages.
58/
Department of State
N
o
.5
Washington
Sept
20
th
1800
Dear Sir
It is the hope & expectation of the President that your negotiation with Lord Grenville,
concerning contraband of war & the impressment of our seamen, which has progressed
considerably, & been broken off in consequence, as is here understood, of the differences
between the two nations respecting the construction of the 6
th
article of their treaty of amity,
commerce & navigation, has been, or will now be, renewed.
Shoud it have been intended to proceed pari passee with these subjects, yet your
instructions respecting the claims of British creditors on the United States, having, as we hope,
enabled you to place that business in a train for adjustment, we are sanguine in our expectations
concerning the other objects of the negotiation.
Shoud you be unable to obtain- what is most desired because most just- explanatory [2]
articles placing the original treaty on its true ground, or [text loss] to settle this difference on the
terms stated in m N
o
.2 terms of the liberality of which I am more & more convinced, yet we
perceive no reason growing out of this misunderstanding, which shoud obstruct the progress of
an agreement on subjects, the present practice on which so seriously threatens the peace of the
two nations.
The
7
th
article of the treaty of amity, commerce & navigation, corresponds with the 6
th
, &
proceedings under both have been suspended. It is not my purpose to show that these two
measures, viewed together, are injurious to the United States, because we do not complain, for
the present, of the suspension, which has taken place, of the proceedings of the board lately
siting in London. But certainly, as the one measure completely balances the other, this
misunderstanding can furnish to the British government no plausible pretext, for taking other
steps unfriendly in themselves, or for refusing to take such as justice & friendship indispensably
require.
