Driven from those where they were on duty, by the
superiority of the adverse party in the civil war which has so unhappily
afflicted the colonies of France, filled with the wretched fugitives
from the same scenes of distress and desolation, without water or
provisions for the shortest voyage, their vessels scarcely in a
condition to keep the sea at all, they were forced to seek the nearest
ports in which they could be received and supplied with necessaries.
That they have ever been out again to cruise, is a fact we have never
learned, and which we believe to be impossible, from the information
received of their wants and other impediments to active service. This
case has been noted specially, to show that no inconvenience can have
been produced to the trade of the other belligerent powers, by the
presence of this fleet in our harbors. I shall now proceed to more
general ground.
France, England, and all other nations have a right to cruise on our
coasts; a right not derived from our permission, but from the law of
nature. To render this more advantageous, France has secured to herself,
by a treaty with us, (as she has done also by a treaty with Great
Britain, in the event of a war with us or any other nation) two special
rights. 1. Admission for her prizes and privateers into our ports.
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