OMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN
BEARING ON THE RETURN OF NEGRO SLAVES, 1783-1828[1]

Diplomatic relations bearing on the Negro of the Revolutionary period
constitute one of the mooted questions of American foreign policy. Yet
although this question was then one of the disturbing factors in our
relations with Great Britain, it has hitherto passed unnoticed.[2] As
a large number of Negroes were taken from the United States by Great
Britain during the Revolutionary War there followed so much effort to
secure the return of these Negroes that the subject had to be dealt
with in the Treaty of Paris which ended the war in 1783. So numerous
were the infractions of the stipulation prohibiting the carrying off
of the Negroes and so fruitless were the discussions resulting from
the non-fulfillment of the articles in the treaty that several
diplomatic representatives were sent on missions to Great Britain, the
last of which ended with the Jay Treaty of 1794. Obviously, no
satisfactory settlement as to the Negro could then be reached. An
array of evidence from the sources[3] shows that the question was
frequently discussed and that its significance lies in its absence
from the stipulations of the Jay Treaty. It is evident, moreover, that
the United States was not satisfied with this treaty and that between
Great Britain and this country there was widening a breach which
culminated in the War of 1812, during which Great Britain committed
the same offence that she did during the war for independence.[4]

How can one account then for the unfavorable attitude of Great Britain
toward the return of the Negro fugitives? The humanitarian spirit of
Great Britain which, by the celebrated decision of Lord Mansfield in
the Somerset case in 1772 guaranteed to every man his freedom as soon
as he set foot on British soil, extended beyond the limits of the
empire. Although this decision of the judge evoked some unfavorable
comment, for slavery was the "normal condition of the Negro," his
ideas were disseminated by the military authorities defending the
Crown in America. During the Revolutionary War many of the British
commanders issued proclamations of freedom to the Negro slaves. Lord
Dunmore, the dethroned Governor of Virginia, was among the first to
issue a proclamation of freedom[5] to all Negroes who would fight for
the King. Soon thereafter, Clinton,[6] the Commander-in-chief of the
British forces in America, i