[Extract]
No 35

. . . The protests, that we make against the force which English warships exercise against our merchant ships, are manifestly founded on the law of nations, on customs of the sea, and on the text of the Treaties; Lord Suffolk, unless he wishes to deceive himself, Should not Suspect our intentions; they are fully justified, both by the very nature of our requests and by the Scrupulous care with which we undertake to redress all the grievances brought before us by the British Ministry. Moreover, Sir, I exhausted this subject in my earlier letters, and I have nothing to add, either to the principles I set forth or to the thoughts which accompanied them: arid we are left only with the desire to see the English Ministers agree with their fairness and adopt them as a rule of conduct: If they reject them, and persist in wanting to search all our ships indiscriminately, as well as those of Spain, they will force us to consider other means to shelter our commerce from such an inquisition.

Regarding the King of England's reserve towards the inclinations of the other powers, it naturally did make us very suspicious of that Prince's intentions; but our Suspicions have decreased considerably since we were in­ formed of the conduct of the merchants in our islands: we Know that they are fitting out privateers with commissions from the Congress with really indecent public knowledge, and as the Court of London must Suppose that such fitting out cannot be done at all without the permission, or at least the connivance of the government, It No Doubt suspects us, by our favoring them, of views contrary to the assurances we give them daily of our peaceful inclinations. But I have already informed you, Sir, that measures have been taken to curb the truly reprehensible license of our merchants, and to pre­ vent the accusations for which we gave no cause whatever; thus the English Ministers, whom you were authorized to inform, probably were not long deceived, and consequently have regarded us with feelings other than those suggested by His Britannic Majesty's speech . . .