The Jay Treaty and British Ship Seizures: The Martinique Cases

Abstract

H ISTORIANS have written extensively on the crisis in AngloAmerican relations of I794 that led to John Jay's mission to London and to the treaty that bears his name, but one aspect deserving greater attention is the way in which pursuit of personal gain by members of the British armed forces exacerbated the situation and complicated the settlement of the dispute. Although there were other grave issues between the United States and Britain, the extensive seizure of American merchant ships by the British in the Caribbean, despite the neutrality of the United States in the European war, precipitated the crisis; the question of compensation for these spoliations proved to be one of the most difficult points to settle during, and after, Jay's negotiations. The order in council of November 6, I793, whereby commanders of British warships and privateers were to arrest and bring to adjudication in an admiralty court vessels carrying the produce of, or supplies for, any French colony, resulted in the seizure within a few weeks of over two hundred fifty American vessels in the Caribbean. Many of these were condemned as prizes in British vice-admiralty courts in the area where proceedings were often conducted with scant regard for justice. Atrocious as the order appeared to Americans, striking as it did at the heart of their commerce in the West Indies, its effects were certainly made worse by British commanders who, in their eagerness for prize money, exceeded their instructions. 1