1799-Dec.-08: Admiral Hyde Parker wrote again to Lord Spencer, expressing his frustration with the “unauthorized” trade being conducted between North America…

1799-Dec.-08: Admiral Hyde Parker wrote again to Lord Spencer, expressing his frustration with the “unauthorized” trade being conducted between North American merchants and Toussaint’s ports. He argued that the influx of American supplies and gunpowder was directly enabling Toussaint to ignore British naval demands. Parker suggested that the “Americans are feeding the fire” of the black revolution for the sake of short-term commercial gain. He warned that this collaboration between a republic and a rebel slave state would eventually undermine the entire plantation system in the West Indies. This letter captured the growing friction between British naval policy and American commercial expansionism.