Of Spiders and Bees 207self from intervention by foreigners. It also committed France to granting
asylum to “foreigners who, in the name of liberty, are banished from their
homelands,” while pointedly excluding “tyrants” from this privilege.
In 1792, the French National Assembly, in a spirit of philanthropy, voted
for the abolition of the capture of private property in maritime warfare—
that is, not merely for the “free ships– free goods” principle, barring capture
from neutral ships, but also for a total ban on any capture of private prop-
erty at sea. Other powers were invited to adhere to this generous principle.
Th e U.S. government responded favorably, as did the German Hanseatic
League (plus the free city of Hamburg). No other states did, however, so that
initiative had no lasting eff ect.
An interesting question that arose— for apparently the fi rst time in
history— concerned the degree of continuity between a revolutionary gov-
ernment and its pre de ces sor. Th e immediate context was the issue of what to
do about treaties concluded by the royal governments prior to the revolu-
tion. It appears that the French Revolutionary governments never established
a general policy on this. Prior treaties with the United States and Switzerland
were expressly reaffi rmed. But an alliance arrangement with Spain— the so-
called Family Compact of 1761 (referring to the Bourbon family, diff erent
branches of which occupied the two thrones)— was not. Th at became evi-
dent when the Spanish government sought to invoke the compact. In 1789, a
Spanish warship claimed possession of Nootka Sound, off the west coast of
Vancouver Island in northwestern North America, and proceeded to capture
two British vessels. Th is act provoked a threat of war by the British govern-
ment. In the face of this threat, the Spanish government sought France’s aid
pursuant to the compact. Aft er a fi erce debate, the French National Constitu-
ent Assembly decided against assisting Spain. In fact, it was the debate over
this question that led to the adoption of the Declaration of Peace.
In addition, the Revolutionary government fl agrantly breached prior
treaty commitments when it voted, in November 1792, to reopen the Scheldt
River, in the southern Netherlands, aft er gaining control of the area. Th e
Scheldt had been closed to large merchant vessels since the Treaty of West-
phalia, with a view to forestalling commercial rivalry to the Dutch Republic.
Although the closure had been reiterated many times since then in treaties,
the Revolutionary government unilaterally declared it open. In the face of a
British protest, the French government defended the reopening as an assertion