m m m :v m : %u^ %/A STATE PAPERS SrZ* PUBLICK DOCUMENTS THE UNITED STATES FRO^t. fill ACCESSION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE PRESIDENCY, EXHf- BITING A COMPLETE VIEW OF OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS SINCE THAT TIME. IN TEN VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND EDITION. rCBUSHEB riTDEB THE rATHOirAGB OF COKGBEdS. INCLUDING CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED. BOSTON : PRINTED .AND PUBLISHED BY T. B. WAIT AND SON*. 1817. \v %w%, v S8VsiVl > DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT : DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE. BE it remembered, that on the twenty-eighth day of October, A. D. 1816, aud in the forty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America, Thomas B. Wait and Sons, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words fol- lowing, to wit : " State Papers and Publick Documents of the United States, from the accession of George Washington to the Presidency, exhibiting a complete view of our Foreign Relations since that time. In ten volumes. Second edition. Published under the patronage of Congress. Including Confidential Docu- ments, now first published." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned :" and also to an act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an act, entitled, An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints. 1 ' JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts '.jt ft | 3 v./ ADVERTISEMENT. The publick are now presented with a second edition M of State Papers and Publick Documents of the United States. In the first edition the publishers stated the care they had taken and the rules by which they had been governed in selecting and arranging the Papers ; and ex- ' jessed a hope " that the undertaking in their proposals would be considered as honourably fulfilled." This hope has been more than realized. They have been gratified not only with the approbation of a numerous list of sub- scribers, but by the sanction of Congress, who have been pleased to direct that the Secretary of State should sub- scribe for and receive five hundred copies of the present edition. Since which the Senate of the U. S. have autho- 9 N j rized the publication of confidential documents that have ^ never appeared, which add peculiar value to the work, and complete the view of our foreign relations up to the pre- - sent period. These confidential papers are referred to in the work, and vML be published in a supplementary 3 volume. 430C19 CONTENTS. * Page President Washington's first Speech to the Congress of the United States, April 30, 1789 9 Message, Sept. 29, 1 789, noticing a letter from the king of France, announcing the death of his son, the Dauphin '- IS Speech opening Congress, Jan. 8, 1790 - 13 Message, Feb. 9, 1 790, relative to eastern boundary on British territory - - - 1G Message, Feb. 1 8, 1 790, relative to eastern boundary on British territory - - 16 Speech opening Congress, Dec. 8, 1790 - 17 Report of Secretary of State, Dec. 28, 1790, relative to trade of United States in Mediterranean - 20 Message, Dec. 30, 1 790, relative to American prison- ers at Algiers - - ... 21 Message, Jan. 17, 1791, relative to France - 21 Message, Jan. 19, 1791, relative to France - 21 Message, Jan. 26, 1791, relative to French letter and decree - - 21 Message, Feb. 14, 1791, relative to informal confer- ences with British ministers 21 Message, Feb. 18, 1791, relative to Spain and Portugal 22 Message, Feb. 22, 1791, relative to Algiers and Mo- rocco - - - - - 22 Speech opening Congress, Oct. 25, 1791 - 22 Message, Jan. 11, 1792, relative to Spain and naviga- tion of Mississippi 28 VI CONTENTS. Message, March 5, 1 792, transmitting letter from king of France, announcing acceptance of national constitution 28 Message, March 7, 1792, relative to negotiations at Madrid ----- 29 Message, April 13, 1792, transmitting correspondence relative to commerce with Great Britain - 29 Message, May 8, 1 792, relative to Algiers - 32 Speech opening Congress, Nov. 6, 1792 - 33 Message, Nov. 7, 1 792, transmitting papers relative to Spanish interference with Creek Indians 38 Speech, opening Congress, Dec. 3, 1793 - 39 President's proclamation of neutrality, Dec. 3, 1793 44 Message, Dec. 5, 1793, relative to insulting conduct of Genet, and French claims 49 Documents on French debt and complaints - 51 Papers accompanying message, Dec. 5, 1793, rela- tive to British depredations and violations of trea- ty of peace - - - - 211 Documents relative to France, accompanying mes- sage, Dec. 5, 1793 - - - 410 Message, Dec. 16, 1793, relative to Spain - 422 Message, Dec. 16, 1793, transmitting report of Secre- tary of State relative to treaty Avith Morocco, and peace with Algiers - - - 422 Report of Secretary of State on the privileges and re- strictions on the commerce of the United States in foreign countries, Dec. 16, 1793 - 422 Message, Dec. 23, 1 793, transmitting papers relative to Spain, and truce between Portugal and Algiers 437 Message, Dec. 30, 1793, transmitting letter from re- presentative of Spain - - 438 Message, Dec. 30, 1793, transmitting report of Secre- tary of State, of laws, decrees and ordinances in countries having commercial intercourse with the United States - - - 438 CONTENTS. VII Message, Jan. 15, 1794, transmitting letter from French minister, and proceedings of South Caro- lina ... . 443 Message, Jan. 16, 1794, transmitting further informa- tion respecting our foreign relations - 453 Report of Barrere in French National Convention 461 French navigation act - - 479 French decree relative to licenses under French flag 480 Message, Jan. 20, 1794, communicating intelligence that the French government disapproved the con- duct of Genet, who would be recalled without delay - - - 490 Message, Jan. 22, 1794, transmitting last advices from our minister in London - - 490 Message, Feb. 7, 1794, transmitting letters from French minister ... 493 Message, Feb. 24, 1794, relative to Great Britain and Spain ... 493 Message, March 3, 1794, relative to our affairs with Spain and AJgiers - - 493 Message, March 5 2 1794, transmitting report of Secre- tary of State, &c. relative to spoliations on our commerce - - - 494 Message, March 12, 1794, transmitting letters from Spanish commissioners - - 499 Message, March 18, 1794, transmitting certain docu- ments relative to advance of money requested by French minister - - 499 Message, April 4, 1794, transmitting letters from our minister at London ; advices relative to Algerine mission ; letter from French minister, Szc. 49n INAUGURAL SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. APRIL 30, 1789. JPellow citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives, A. mong the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 1 4th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flat- tering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years, a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interrup- tions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unprac- tiesd in the duties of civil administration, ought to be pecu- liarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope, is, that, if in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former in- stances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcen- dent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as vol. r. 10 AMERICAN disinclination, for the weighty and untried cares before me, Yjryr * errour wHt be> palliated by the motives which misled me, and its : consequences be judged by my coun- try, with some share of -the partiality in which they origi- nated.'' '<'" ' ' ' '.,.:.'., ' Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the publick summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can sup- ply every human defect, that his benediction may conse- crate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration, to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author of every publick and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own ; nor those of my fellow citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the im- portant revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations, and volun- tary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with a hum- ble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. By the article establishing the executive department, it is made the duty of the President, " to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now STATE PAPERS. 1 J meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject, further than to refer to the great Constitutional Charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your atten- tion is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommenda- tion of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude and the patriotism which adorn the. characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honourable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive aud equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests ; so on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private mo- rality ; and the pre-eminence of free government be exem- plified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire. Since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there ex- ists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness between duty and advantage between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of publick prosperity and felicity. Since we ought to be no less per- suaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the ex- periment intrusted to the hands of the American people. Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide, how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the constitution, is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inqui- etude which lias given birth to them. Instead of under- taking particular recommendations on this subject, in 19 AMERICA^ which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confi- dence in your discernment and pursuit of the publick good. For I assure myself, that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience ; a reverence for the characteristick rights of freemen, and a regard for the pub- lick harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question, how far the former can be more impreg- nably fortified, or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted. To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Repre- sentatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honoured with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an ar- duous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I con- templated my duty, required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed. And being still under the impres- sions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself, any share in the personal emoluments, which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department; and must accordingly pray, that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed, may, during my continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the publick good may be thought to require. Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us to- gether, I shall take my present leave ; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, that since he has been pleased to favour the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government, for the security of their union, and the ad- vancement of their happiness ; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temper- ate consultations, and the wise measures on which the suc- cess of this government must depend. GEORGE WASHINGTON- STATE PAPERS. 13 MESSAGE T THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SEPT. 29, 1789. His Most Christian Majesty ^ by a letter dated the 7th ,of June last, addressed to the President and Members of the General Congress of the United States of North Ame- rica, announces the much lamented death of his son, the Dauphin. The generous conduct of the French monarch and nation towards this country, renders every event that may effect his or their prosperity, interesting to us ; and I shall take care to assure him of the sensibility with which the United States participate in the affliction, which a loss so much to be regretted, must have occasioned both to him and to them. GEORGE WASHINGTON. SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. JAN. 8, 1790. Fellow citizens of the Senate, and House of Representatives, I embrace with great satisfaction the opportunity which now presents itself, of congratulating you on the present favourable prospects of our publick affairs. The recent accession of the important State of North Carolina to the constitution of the United States, (of which official infor- mation has been received) the rising credit and respecta- bility of our country, and the general increasing good-will towards the government of the Union, and the concord, peace and plenty, with which we are blessed, are circum- stances, auspicious, in an eminent degree, to our national prosperity. In resuming your consultations for the general good, you cannot but derive encouragement from the reflection, that the measures of the last session have been as satis- factory to your constituents, as the novelty and difficulty of the work allowed you to hope. Still further to realize their expectations, and to secure the blessings which a 14? AMERICAN gracious providence has placed within our reach, will, in the course of the present important session, call for the cool and deliberate exertion of your patriotism, firmness and wisdom. Among the many interesting objects, which will en- gage your attention, that of providing for the common defence, will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. A free people ought not only to be armed, but disci- plined ; to which end, a uniform and well digested plan is requisite : And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly, for military supplies. The proper establishment of the troops which may be deemed indispensable, will be entitled to mature consider- ation. In the arrangements which may be made respecting it, it will be of importance to conciliate the comfortable support of the officers and soldiers, with a due regard to economy. There was reason to hope, that the pacifick measures adopted with regard to certain hostile tribes of Indians, would have relieved the inhabitants of our southern and western frontiers from their depredations. But you will perceive, from the information contained in the papers which I shall direct to be laid before you (comprehending a communication from the commonwealth of Virginia) that we ought to be prepared to afford protection to those parts of the Union ; and if necessary, to punish aggressors. The interest of the United States requires, that our in- tercourse with other nations should be facilitated by such provisions as will enable me to fulfil my duty in that re- spect, in the manner which circumstances may render most conducive to the publick good : And to this end, that the compensations to be made to the persons, who may be employed, should, according to the nature of their ap- pointments, be defined by law ; and a competent fund de- signated for defraying the expenses incident to the con- duct of our foreign affairs. Various considerations also render it expedient that the terms on which foreigners may be admitted to the rights of citizens, should be speedily ascertained by a uniform rule of naturalization. STATE PAPERS. id Uniformity in the currency, weights and measures of the United States, is an object of great importance, and will, I am persuaded, be duly attended to. The advancement of agriculture, commerce and manu- factures, by all proper means, will not, I trust, need recom- mendation. But I cannot forbear intimating to you, the ex- pediency of giving effectual encouragement as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad, as to the exertions of skill and genius in producing them at home ; and of facilitating the intercourse between the dis- tant parts of our country, by a due attention to the post office and post roads. Nor am I less persuaded, that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and litera- ture. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of publick happiness. In one, in which the measures of government receive their impression so immediately from the sense of the community, as in ours, it is proportiona- bly essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways : By convincing those who are intrusted with the publick administration, that every valuable end of government is best answered by the en- lightened confidence of the people ; and by teaching the people themselves to know and to value their own rights ; to discern and provide against invasions of them ; to dis- tinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority ; between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society ; to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, cherishing the first, avoiding the last, and uniting a speedy, but tem- perate vigilance against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws. Whether this desirable object will be best promoted by affording aids to seminaries of learning already establish- ed, by the institution of a national university, or by any other expedients, will be well worthy of a place in the deliberations of the legislature. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, I saw with peculiar pleasure, at the close of the last session, the re- solution entered into by you, expressive of your opinion. that an ndequate provision for the support of" t-ho pubjtek 16 AMERICAN credit, is . matter of high importance to the national honour and prosperity. In this sentiment I entirely con- cur. And to a perfect confidence in your best endeavours to devise such a provision as will be truly consistent with the end, I add an equal reliance on the cheerful co-opera- tion of the other branch of the legislature. It would be superfluous to specify inducements to a measure, in which the character and permanent interests of the United States are so obviously and so deeply concerned, and which has received so explicit a sanction from your declaration. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, I have directed the proper officers to lay before you, re- spectively, such papers and estimates as regard the affairs particularly recommended to your consideration, and ne- cessary to convey to you that information of the state of the Union, which it is my duty to afford. The welfare of our country is the great object to which our cares and efforts ought to be directed. And I shall derive great satisfaction from a co-operation with you, in the pleasing, though arduous task of ensuring to our fellow citizens the blessings which they have a right to expect from a free, efficient and equal government. GEORGE WASHINGTON. MESSAGE PROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO EASTERN EOUNDARY ON BRITISH TERRITORY. FEB. 9, 1790. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO EASTERN BOUNDARY ON BRITISH TERRITORY. FEB. 18, 1790, [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] STATE PAPERS. V7 SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. DEC. 8, 1790. Fellow citizens of the Senate, and House of Representatives, In meeting you again, I feel much satisfaction in being able to repeat my congratulations on the favourable pros- pects which continue to distinguish our publick affairs. The abundant fruits of another year have blessed our country with plenty, and with the means of a flourishing commerce. The progress of publick credit is witnessed by a considerable rise of American stock abroad as well as at home. And the revenues allotted for this and other national purposes, have been productive beyond the calcu- lations by which they were regulated. This latter cir- cumstance is the more pleasing, as it is not only a proof of the fertility of our resources, but as it assures us of a further increase of the national respectability and credit; and let me add, as it bears an honourable testimony to the patriotism and integrity of the mercantile and marine part of our citizens. The punctuality of the former in discharg- ing their engagements has been exemplary. In conforming to the powers vested in me by acts of the last session, a loan of three millions of florins, towards which some provisional measures had previously taken place, has been completed in Holland. As well the cele- rity with which it has been filled, as the nature of the terms (considering the more than ordinary demand for borrowing created by the situation of Europe) give a rea- sonable hope, that the further execution of those powers may proceed with advantage and success. The secretary of the treasury has my direction to communicate such further particulars as may be requisite for more precise information. Since your last sessions, I have received communica- tions, by which it appears, that the district of Kentucky, at present a part of Virginia, has concurred in certain propositions contained in a law of that state, in conse- quence of which the district is to become a distinct mem- ber of the Union, in case the requisite sanction of Con- VOL. I. 3 18 AJIERICAiS gress be added. For this sanction application is now made. I shall cause the papers on this very important transaction to be laid before you. The liberality and har- mony with which it has been conducted, will be found to do great honour to both the parties. And the sentiments of warm attachment to the Union, and its present govern- ment, expressed by our fellow citizens of Kentucky, cannot fail to add an affectionate concern for their particular wel- fare, to the great national impressions under which you will decide on the case submitted to you. It has been heretofore known to Congress, that frequent incursions have been made on our frontier settlements by certain banditti of Indians, from the north-west side of the Ohio. These, With some of the tribes dwelling on and near the Wabash, have of late been particularly active in their depredations ; and being emboldened by the impu- nity of their crimes, and aided by such parts of the neigh- bouring tribes as could be seduced to join in their hosti- lities, or afford them a retreat for their prisoners and plun- der, they have, instead of listening to the humane invita- tions and overtures made on the part of the United States, renewed their violences with fresh alacrity and greater effect. The lives of a number of valuable citizens have thus been sacrificed, and some of them under circumstan- ces peculiarly shocking ; whilst others have been carried into a deplorable captivity. These aggravated provocations rendered it essential to the safety of the western settlements, that the aggressors should be made sensible that the government of the Union is not less capable of punishing their crimes, than it is disposed to respect their rights and reward their attach- ments. As this object could not be effected by defensive measures, it became necessary to put in force the act which empowers the President to call out the militia for the protection of the frontiers. And I have accordingly authorized an expedition, in which the regular troops in that quarter are combined with such draughts of militia as were deemed sufficient. The event of the measure is yet unknown to me. The Secretary of War is directed to lay before you a statement of the information on which it is founded, as well as an estimate of the expense with which it will be attended. The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the STATE PAPERS. 1ft critical posture of the great maritime powers, whilst it ought to make us the more thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States, reminds us at the same time, of the circumspection with which it be- comes us to preserve these blessings. It requires also that we should not overlook the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for a war, among the nations most con- cerned in active commerce with this country, to abridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price of transporting its valuable productions to their proper mar- kets. I recommend it to your serious reflections, how far, and in what mode, it may be expedient to guard against embarrassments from these contingencies, by such encouragements to our own navigation as will render our commerce and agriculture less dependent on foreign bot- toms, which may fail us in the very moment most interest- ing to both of these great objects. Our fisheries, and the transportation of our own produce, offer us abundant means for guarding ourselves against this evil. Your attention seems to be not less due to that particu- lar branch of our trade which belongs to the Mediterranean. So many circumstances unite in rendering the present state of it distressful to us, that you will not think any de- liberations misemployed which may lead to its relief and protection. The laws you have already passed for the establishment of a judiciary system, have opened the doors of justice to all descriptions of persons. You will consider in'your wisdom, whether improvements in that system may yet be ma 'e; and particularly, whether an uniform process of execution on sentences issuing from the federal courts, be not desirable through all the States. The patronage of our commerce, of our merchants and seamen, has called for the appointment of consuls in fo- reign countries. It seems expedient to regulate by law the exercise of that jurisdiction, and those functions which are permitted them, cither by express convention, or by a friendly indulgence in the places of their residence. The Consular Convention too with his Most Christian Majesty, has stipulated, in certain cases, the aid of the national authority to his consuls established here. Some legisla- tive provision is requisite to carrv these stipulations into full effect. '20 AMERICAN The establishment of the militia, of a mint, of standards of weights and measures, of the post office and post roads, are subjects which (I presume) you will resume of course, and which are abundantly urged by their own importance. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, The suffi- ciency of the revenues you have established, for the ob- jects to which they are appropriated, leaves no doubt but the residuary provisions will be commensurate to the other objects, for which the publick faith stands now pledg- ed. Allow me, moreover, to hope, that it will be a fa- vourite policy with you, not merely to secure a payment of the interest of the debt funded, but as far and as fast as the growing resources of the country will permit, to exonerate it of the principal itself. The appropriations you have made of the western lands, explain your dis- positions on this subject : and I am persuaded, that the sooner that valuable fund can be made to contribute, along with other means, to the actual reduction of the publick debt, the more salutary will the measure be to every publick interest, as well as the more satisfactory to our consti- tuents. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, In pursuing the various and weighty business of the pre- sent session, I indulge the fullest persuasion, that your con- sultations will be equally marked with wisdom, and ani- mated by the love of your country. In whatever belongs to my duty, you shall have all the co-operation which an undiminished zeal for its welfare can inspire. It will be happy for us both, and our best reward, if, by a successful administration of our respective trusts, we can makeithe established government more and more instrumental" in promoting the good of our fellow citizens, and more and more the object of their attachment and confidence. GEORGE WASHINGTON. REPORT OF SECRETARY OF STATE RELATIVE TO THE TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES IX THE MEDITERRANEAN. DEC. 28, 1790. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] STATE PAPERS. 21 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO AMERICAN PRISONERS AT ALGIERS. DEC. 30, 1790. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO FRANCE. JAN. 17, 1791. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO FRANCE. JAN. 19, 1791. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. FRENCH' LETTER AND DECREE RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF DR. FRANKLIN. JAN. 26, 1791. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO GREAT BRITAIN. FEB. 14, 1791. [^re Vol. Confidential Document?."; 22 AMERICAN MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. FEB. 18, 1791. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO ALGIERS AND MOROCCO. FEB. 22, 1791. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. OCT. 25, 1791. Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives, I meet you, upon the present occasion, with the feelings which are naturally inspired by a strong impression of" the prosperous situation of our common country, and by a per- suasion equally strong, that the labours of the session which has just commenced, will, under the guidance of a spirit, no less prudent than patriotick, issue in measures con- ducive to the stability and increase of national prosperity. Numerous as are the providential blessings which de- mand our grateful acknowledgments, the abundance with which another year has again rewarded the industry of the husbandman is too important to escape recollection. Your own observations, in your respective situations, will have satisfied you of the progressive state of agricul- ture, manufactures, commerce and navigation : in tracing their causes, you will have remarked, with particular plea- sure, the happy effects of that revival of confidence, pub- lick as well as private, to which the constitution and laws of the United States have so eminently contributed. And you will have observed, with no less interest, new and STATE PAPERS. 23 decisive proofs of the increasing reputation and credit of the nation. But you, nevertheless, cannot fail to derive satisfaction from the confirmation of these circumstances, which will be disclosed in the several official communica- tions that will be made to you in the course of your deli- berations. The rapid subscriptions to the bank of the United States, which completed the sum allowed to be subscribed in a single day, is among the striking and pleasing evidences which present themselves not only of confidence in the government, but of resource in the community. In the interval of your recess, due attention has been paid to the execution of the different objects which were specially provided for by the laws and resolutions of the last session. Among the most important of these is the defence and security of the western frontiers. To accomplish it on the most humane principles, was a primary wish. Accordingly, at the same time that treaties have been provisionally concluded, and other proper means used to attach the wavering, and to confirm in their friendship the well-disposed tribes of Indians, effectual measures have been adopted to make those of a hostile description sen- sible, that a pacification was desired upon terms of mode- ration and justice. These measures having proved unsuccessful, it became necessary to convince the refractory of the power of the United States to punish their depredations; offensive ope- rations have therefore been directed ; to be conducted, however, as consistently as possible with the dictates of humanity. Some of these have been crowned with full success, and others are yet depending. The expeditions which have been completed, were carried on under the authority, and at the expense of the United States, by the militia of Kentucky ; whose enterprise, intrepidity, and good conduct, are entitled to peculiar commendation. Overtures of peace are still continued to the deluded tribes, and considerable numbers of individuals belonging to them have lately renounced all further opposition, re- moved from their former situations, and placed themselves under the immediate protection of the United States. It is sincerely to be desired, that all need of coercion, in future, may cease, and that an intimate intercourse may 24 AMERICAN succeed, calculated to advance the happiness of the In- dians, and to attach them firmly to the United States. In order to this, it seems necessary That they should experience the benefits of an impartial dispensation of justice That the mode of alienating their lands, the main source of discontent and war, should be so defined, and regulated, as to obviate imposition, and, as far as may be practicable, controversy concerning the reality and extent of the alienations which are made That commerce with them should be promoted under regulations tending to se- cure an equitable deportment towards them, and that such rational experiments should be made, for imparting to them the blessings of civilization, as may, from time to time, suit their condition That the Executive of the Unit- ed States should be enabled to employ the means to which the Indians have been long accustomed for uniting their immediate interests with the preservation of peace And, that efficacious provision should be made for inflicting adequate penalties upon all those, who, by violating their rights, shall infringe the treaties, and endanger the peace of the Union. A system corresponding with the mild principles of religion and philanthropy towards an unenlightened race of men, whose happiness materially depends on the conduct of the United States, would be as honourable to the na- tional character, as conformable to the dictates of sound policy. The powers specially vested in me by the act, laying certain duties on distilled spirits, which respect the sub- divisions of the districts into surveys, the appointment of officers, and the assignment of compensations, have like- wise been carried into effect. In a matter, in which both materials and experience were wanting to guide the cal- culation, it will be readily conceived that there must have been difficulty in such an adjustment of the rates of com- pensation as would conciliate a reasonable competency, with a proper regard to the limits prescribed by the law. It is hoped that the circumspection which has been used will be found in the result to have secured the last of the two objects ; but it is probable, that with a view to the first, in some instances a revision of the provision will be found advisable. The impressions with which this law has been received STATE PAPERS. 25 by the community, have been, upon the whole, such as 4 "Were to be expected among enlightened and well-disposed citizens, from the propriety and necessity of the measure* The novelty, however, of the tax, in a considerable part of the United States, and a misconception of some of its provisions, have given occasion in particular places to some degree of discontent. But it is satisfactory to know, that this disposition yields to proper explanations and more just apprehensions of the true nature of the law. And 1 entertain a full confidence, that it will, in all, give way to motives which arise out of a just sense of duty, and a virtuous regard to the publick welfare. If there are any circumstances in the law, which, con- sistently with its main design, may be so varied as to re- move any well-intentioned objections that may happen to exist, it will consist with a wise moderation to make the proper variations. It is desirable, on all occasions, to unite with a steady and firm adherence to constitutional and necessary acts of government, the fullest evidence of a disposition, as far as may be practicable, to consult the wishes of every part of the community, and to lay the foundations of the publick administration in the affections f the people. Pursuant to the authority contained in the several acts on that subject, a district of ten miles square, for the per- manent seat of the government of the United States, has been fixed, and announced by proclamation ; which dis- trict will comprehend lands on both sides of the river Po- towmac, and the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown. A city has also been laid out agreeably to a plan which will be placed before Congress ; and as there is a pros- pect favoured by the rate of sales which have already taken place, of ample funds for carrying on the necessary publick buildings, there is every expectation of their due progress. The completion of the census of the inhabitants, for which provision was made by law, has been duly notified, (excepting in one instance, in which the return has been informal ; and another, in which it has been omitted or miscarried) and the returns of the officers who were charg- ed with this duty, which will be laid before you, will give you the pleasing assurance, that the "present population of the United States borders on four millions of persons. VOL. i. 4 26 AMERICAN It is proper also to inform you, that a further loan of two millions and an half of florins has been completed in Holland; the terms of which are similar to those of the one last announced, except as to a small reduction of charges. Another, on like terms, for six millions of florins, had been set on foot, under circumstances that assured an immediate completion. Gentlemen of the Senate, Two treaties which have been provisionally concluded with the Cherokees, and Six Na- tions of Indians, will be laid before you for your conside- ration and ratification. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, In entering upon the discharge of your legislative trust, you must an- ticipate with pleasure, that many of the difficulties, neces- sarily incident to the first arrangements of a new govern- ment, for an extensive country, have been happily sur- mounted by the zealous and judicious exertions of your predecessors in co-operation with the other branch of the Legislature. The important objects which remain to be accomplished, will, I am persuaded, be conducted upon principles equally comprehensive, and equally well calcu- lated for the advancement of the general weal. The time limited for receiving subscriptions to the loans proposed by the act for making provision for the debt of the United States, having expired, statements from the proper department, will, as soon as possible, apprize you of the exact result. Enough, however, is known al- ready to afford an assurance that the views of that act have been substantially fulfilled. The subscription in the domestick debt of the United States, has embraced by far the greatest proportion of that debt ; affording at the same time, proof of the general satisfaction of the publick cre- ditors with the system which has been proposed to their acceptance, and of the spirit of accommodation to the con- venience of the government with which they are actuated. The subscriptions in the debts of the respective states, as far as the provisions of the law have permitted, may be said to be yet more general. The part of the debt of the United States which remains unsubscribed, will naturally engage your further deliberations. It is particularly pleasing to me to be able to announce to you, that the revenues which have been established, promise to be adequate to their objects, and may be per- state Papers. 2T- mitted, if no unforeseen exigency occurs, to supersede, for the present, the necessity of any new burdens upon our constituents. An object which will claim your early attention, is a provision for the current service of the ensuing year, to- gether with such ascertained demands upon the treasury, as require to be immediately discharged, and such casu- alties as may have arisen in the execution of the publick business, for which no specifick appropriation may have yet been made ; of all which, a proper estimate will be laid before you. Gentlemen of the Senate, and House of Representatives, I shall content myself with a general reference to former communications for several objects, upon which the ur* gency of other affairs has hitherto postponed any defi- nitive resolution. Their importance will recall them to your attention ; and I trust that the progress already made in the most arduous arrangements of the government will afford you leisure to resume them with advantage. There are, however, some of them of which I cannot forbear a more particular mention ; these are, the militia the post office and post roads the mint weights and measures a provision for the sale of the A^acant lands of the United States. The first is certainly an object of primary importance, whether viewed in reference to the national security, to the satisfaction of the community, or to the preservation of order. In connexion with this, the establishment of competent magazines and arsenals, and the fortification of such places as arc peculiarly important and vulnerable naturally present themselves to consideration. The safely of the United States, under divine protection, ought to rest on the basis of systematic and solid arrangement: ex- posed as little as possible to the hazards of fortuitous cir- cumstances. The importance of the post office and post roads, on a plan sufficiently liberal and comprehensive, as they re- spect the expedition, safety and facility of communication, is increased by the instrumentality in diffusing a know- ledge of the laws and proceedings of the government ; which, while it contributes to the security of the peoplr, serves also to guard them against the effects of misrepre- sentation and misconception. The establishment of ad- 28 AMERIfcAxV ditional cross posts, especially to some of the important points in the western and northern parts of the Union, cannot fail to be of material utility. The disorders in the existing currency, and especially the scarcity of small change, a scarcity so peculiarly dis- tressing to the poorer classes, strongly recommend the carrying into immediate effect the resolution already entered into concerning the establishment of a mint. Measures have been taken pursuant to that resolution for procuring some of the most necessary artists, together with the requisite apparatus. An uniformity in the weights and measures of the coun- try is among the important objects submitted to you by the constitution, and if it can be derived from a standard at once invariable and universal, must be no less honour- able to the publick councils than conducive to the publick convenience. A provision for the sale of the vacant lands of the Unit- ed States, is particularly urged, among other reasons, by the important considerations ; that they are pledged as a fund for reimbursing the publick debt ; that if timely and judiciously applied, they may save the necessity of bur- dening our citizens with new taxes for the extinguish- ment of the principal ; and that being free to discharge the principal, but in a limited proportion, no opportunity ought to be lost for availing the publick of its right. GEORGE WASHINGTON, MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO SPAIN, AND NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. JAN. lh 1792. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FR9M THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. MARCH 5, 1792. Knowing the friendly interest you take in whatever may promote the happiness and prosperity of the French State papers. 2$ nation, it is with pleasure that I lay before you the trans- lation of a letter which I have received from his most Christian Majesty, announcing to the United States of America, his acceptance of the constitution presented to him by his nation. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Translation of a letter from the King of France, of Sept. 19, 1791. Very dear, great Friends and Allies, We make it our duty to inform you, that we have ac- cepted the Constitution which has been presented to us in the name of the nation, and according to which France will be henceforth governed. We clo not doubt that you take an interest in an event so important to our kingdom, and to us ? and it is with real pleasure we take this occasion to renew to you as- surances of the sincere friendship we bear you : Where- upon we pray God to have you, very dear, great friends and allies, in his just and holy keeping. Written at Paris, the 19th of September, 1791. Your good Friend and Ally. LOUIS. To the United States of North America. MONTMORIN, MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO NEGOTIATIONS AT MADRID. MARCH 7, 1792. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE KROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS* APRIL 13, 1792. I have thought it proper to lay before you a communi- (^ationofthe 1 1 th instant, from the minister plenipoten- tiary of Great Britain, to the Secretary of State, relative 30 AMERICAN to the commerce of the two countries ; together with their explanatory correspondence, and the Secretary of State's letter to me on the subject. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Philadelphia, April 13, 1792. Sir, I have the honour to lay before you a communi- cation from Mr. Hammond, minister plenipotentiary of his Britannick Majesty, covering a clause of a statute of that country relative to its commerce with this ; and notifying a determination to carry it into execution henceforward. Conceiving that the determination announced could not be really meant as extensively as the words import, 1 asked and received an explanation from the minister, a? expressed in the letter and answer herein enclosed ; and, on consideration of all circumstances, I cannot but confide in the opinion expressed by him, that its sole object is to exclude foreign vessels from the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. The want of proportion between the motives expressed and the measure, its magnitude and consequences, total silence as to the proclamation on which the intercourse between the two countries has hitherto hung, and of which, in this broad sense, it would be a revocation, and the re- cent manifestations of the disposition of that government, to concur with this in mutual offices of friendship and good will, support his construction. The minister moreover assured me verbally, that he would immediately write to his court for an explanation, and in the mean time is of opinion, that the usual inter- course of commerce between the two countries (Jersey and Guernsey excepted) need not be suspended. I have the honour to be, &c. THOMAS JEFFERSON. The President of the United States. Philadelphia, April 11, 1792. Sir, 1 have received by a circular despatch from my court, directions to inform this government, that, consi- derable inconveniences having arisen from the importa- tion of tobacco in foreign vessels into the ports of his ma- jesty's dominions, contrary to the act of the 12th Charles; 2. chap. 18. Sect. 3. (commonly called the navigation STATE PAPERS. 31 act) it lias been determined in future strictly to enforce this clause, of which I take the liberty of enclosing to you a copy ; and I have the honour to be, with perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant. GEORGE HAMMOND. Mr. Jefferson. 12 Charles 2. Chap. 18. Sect. 3. And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no goods or commodities whatsoever, of the growth, production, or manufacture of Africa, Asia, or America, or of any part thereof, which are described or laid down in the usual maps or charts of those places, be imported into England, Ireland, or Wales, islands of Guernsey and Jer- sey, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, in any other ship or ships, vessel or vessels, whatsoever, but in such as do truly and without fraud, belong only to the people of Eng- land or Ireland, Dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, or of the lands, islands, plantations or ter- ritories in Asia, Africa, or America, to his majesty belong- ing, as the proprietors and right owners thereof, and whereof the master and three-fourths at least of the ma- riners are English, under the penalty of the forfeiture of all such goods and commodities, and of the ship or vessel in which they were imported, with all her guns, tackle, furniture, ammunition and apparel, one moiety to his ma- jesty, his heirs and successors, and the other moiety to him or them who shall seize, inform, or sue for the same. in any court of record, by bill, information, plaint or other action, wherein no essoine, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed. Philadelphia, April 12, 1792. Sir, 1 am this moment favoured with the letter you did me the honour of writing yesterday, covering the extract of a British statute forbidding the admission of foreign vessels into any ports of the British dominions, with goods or commodities of the growth, production, or manufacture of America. The effect of this appears to me so extensive, a^ to induce a doubt whether I understand rightly the determi- nation to enforce it. which you notify, and to oblige mr '32 AMERICAN to ask of you, whether we are to consider it as so far a revocation of the proclamation of your government, regu- lating the commerce between the two countries, and that henceforth no articles of the growth, production, or man- ufacture of the United States, are to be received in the ports of Great Britain, or Ireland, in vessels belonging to the citizens of the United States ? I have the honour to be, &c. THOMAS JEFFERSON. The minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Philadelphia, April 12, 1792. Sir, In answer to your letter of this day, I have the honour of observing, that I have no other instructions upon the subject of my communication, than such as are contained in the circular despatch, of which I stated the purport in my letter dated yesterday. I have, however, no difficulty in assuring you, that the result of my per- sonal conviction is, that the determination of his majesty '* government to enforce the clause of the act of navigation (a copy of which I transmitted to you) with respect to the importation of commodities in foreign vessels, has origi- nated in consequence of the many frauds that have taken place in the importation of tobacco into his majesty's dominions, in foreign vessels, and is not intended to mili- tate against the proclamation, or order of the king in council, regulating the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and the United States, which I have every reason to believe still exists in full force, as I have not had the most distant intimation of its being revoked. I have the honour to be, &c. GEORGE HAMMOND. Mr. Jefferson. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE Ti> ALGIERS. MAY 8, 1792. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] STATE PAPERS* 33 SPEECH F THE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. NOV. 6, 1792. Fellow citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives, It is some abatement of the satisfaction, with which I meet you on the present occasion, that, in felicitating you on a continuance of the national prosperity, generally, I am not able to add to it information that the Indian hos- tilities, which have for some time past distressed our north- western frontier, have terminated. You will, I am persuaded, learn with no less concern than I communicate it, that reiterated endeavours towards effecting a pacification have hitherto issued only in new and outrageous proofs of persevering hostility, on the part of the tribes with whom we are in contest. An earnest desire to procure tranquillity to the frontier to stop the further effusion of blood to arrest the progress of ex- pense to forward the prevalent wish of the nation for peace, has led to strenuous efforts, through various chan- nels, to accomplish these desirable purposes : in making which efforts, I consulted less my own anticipations of the event, or the scruples which some considerations were cal- culated to inspire, than the wish to find the object attain- able ; or if not attainable, to ascertain, unequivocally, that such is the case. A detail of the measures that have been pursued, and of their consequences, which will be laid before you, while it will confirm to you the want of success, thus far, will, I trust, evince that means as proper and as efficacious as could have been devised, have been employed. The issue of some of them, indeed, is still depending ; but a favour- able one, though not to be despaired of, is not promised by any thing that has yet happened. In the course of the attempts which have been made, some valuable citizens have fallen victims to their zeal for the publick service. A sanction commonly respected even among savages, has been found, in this instance, insuffi- cient to protect from massacre the emissaries of peace, ft will. I presume, be duly considered whether the occa- voi*. i. ** STATE PAPE.RS. 91 This wc have reason to believe is the true state of the -ease, and it is a repetition of that which was the subject ol my letter of the 5th instant, which animadverted not merely on the single fact of the granting commissions of war by one nation within the territory of another, but on the aggregate of the facts ; for it states -the opinion of the President to be, that " The arming and equipping vessels in the ports of the United States, to cruise against nations with whom ihey are at peace, was incompatible with the sovereignty of the United States ; that it made them in- strumental to the annoyance of those nations, and thereby tended to commit their peace." And this opinion is still conceived to be not contrary to the principles of natural law ; the usage of nations ; the engagements which unite the two people ; nor the proclamation of the President, a> you seem to think. Surely not a syllable can be found in the last mentioned instrument, permitting the preparation of hostilities in the ports of the United States. Its object was to enjoin on our citizens " a friendly conduct towards all the bellige- rent powers ;" but a preparation of hostilities, is the re- verse of this. None of the engagements in our treaties stipulate this permission. The xvn article of that of commerce per- mits the armed vessels of either party to enter the ports of the other, and to depart with their prizes freely : but the entry of an armed vessel into a port, is one act; the equipping a vessel in that port, arming her, manning her, is a different one, and not engaged by any article of the treaty. You think, sir, that this opinion is also contrary to the law of nature, and usage of nations. We are of opinion it is dictated by that law and usage; and this had been very maturely inquired into before it was adopted as a principle of conduct. But we will not assume the exclu- sive right of saying what that law and usage is. Let us appeal to enlightened and disinterested judges- None is more so than Vattel. lie says, 1. 3, s. 104,* " Tant qu'un * " As long as a neuter nation wishes to enjoy this situation with certain- ly, it ought to show, in every tiling, an exaet impartiality between those who are at war. For if it favour the one to the prejudice of the other, it cannot complain when that other shall treat it as an adherent and associate teT its enemy. Its neutrality would be a fraudulent one, of which n'ii^ 92 AMERICAN peuple ncutfe veut jouir surcment de cet etat, il doit mon- trcr en toutes choses une exacte impartialite entre ceux qui se font la guerre. Car s'il favorise l'un au prejudice de 1'autre, il ne pourra pas se plaiudre, quand celui-ci le traitera comme adherent et associe de son ennemi. Sa neutralite seroit une neutralite frauduleuse, dont personne ne veut etre la dupe. Voyons done en quoi consiste cette impartialite qu'un peuple neutre doit garder. " Elle se rapporte uniquement a la guerre, et comprend deux choses. 1, Ne point donner de secours quand on n'y est pas oblige ; ne fournir librement ni troupes ni armes, ni munitions, ni rien de se qui sert directement a la guerre. Je dis ne point donner de secours et non pas en donner egalement ; car il seroit absurde qu'un etat secourut en meme terns deux ennemis. Et puis il seroit impossible de le faire avec egalite, les memes choses, le meme nom- bre de troupes, la meme quantite d'armes de munitions, &lc. fournies en des circonstances differentes ; ne forment plus des secours equivalens, &c." If the neutral power may not, consistent with its neutrality, furnish men to either party, for their aid in war, as little can either enrol them in the neutral territory, by the law of nations. Wolf, s. 1 174, says* " Puisque le droit de lever des soldats est un droit de majeste qui ne peut etre viole par une na- tion ctrangerc, il n'est pas pcrmis de lever des soldats sur le territoire d'autrui sans le consentement du maitre du territoire." And Vattcl, before cited, 1. 3, s. 15,1 "Le would be the dupe. Let us see then wherein consists that impartiality which a neutral people ought to observe. " It regards war only, and comprehends two tilings. 1st. To give no succour when not obliged thereto ; not to furnish freely, either troops, arms, ammunition or any thing which directly serves for war. I say, to give no succour mid not to give it equally : for it would be absurd in a state to suc- cour two enemies at the same time. And besides it would be impossible to do it with equality, the same things, the same number of troops, the same quantity of arms, ammunition, &c. furnished in different circumstances, are no longer equivalent succours." " Since a right of raising soldiers is a right of majesty, which cannot be violated by a foreign nation, it is not permitted to raise soldiers on the territory of another, without the consent of its sovereign." t " The right of raising soldiers belonging only to the nation or its sove- reign, no one can enrol them in a foreign country without the permission of the sovereign. Those who undertake to engage soldiers in a foreign country, without permission of the sovereign and in general whomsoever corrupts tie subjects of others, violates one of the most sacred rights of the prince and of the nation. It is the crime which is called plagiat or man-then. There is no policed state which does not severely punish it." STATE PAPERS. 93 droit de lever des soldats appartenant uniquemenl a la na- tion ou au souverain, personne ne peut en enroller en pays ctranger sans la permission du souverain ceux qui en- treprenent d'engager des soldats en pays etranger sans la permission du souverain et en general quiconque debauche les sujets d'autrui, viole un des droits les plus sacres du prince et de la nation. C'est le crime qu'on appelle plaigiat ou vol d'homme. II n'est aucun etat police qui nc le punise tres severement, &c." For I choose to refer you to the passage, rather than follow it through all its developments. The testimony of these and other writers on the law and usage of nations, with your own just reflections on them, will satisfy you that the United Stales, in prohibiting all the belligerent powers from equipping, arming and manning vessels of war in their ports, have exercised a right and a duty with justice, and with great moderation. By our treaties with several of the belligerent powers, which are a part of the laws of our land, we have established a style of peace with them. But without appealing to treaties, we are at peace with them all by the laws of nature ; for, by nature's law, man is at peace with man, till some aggression is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another, as his enemy. For our citizens then to commit murders and depredations on the members of nations at peace with us, or to combine to do it, appeared to the executive, and to those whom they consulted, as much against the laws of the land as to murder or rob, or combine to murder or rob, its own citizens ; and as much to require punishment, if done within their limits, where they have a territorial juris- diction, or on the high seas, where they have a personal jurisdiction, that is to say, one which reaches their own citizens only ; this being an appropriate part of each na- tion on an element where all have a common jurisdiction. So say our laws, as we understand them ourselves. To I hem the appeal is made and whether we have construed ilicin well or ill, the constitutional judges will decide. Till that decision shall be obtained, the government of the United States must pursue what they think right, with firm- ness, as is their duty. On the first attempt that was made. the President was desirous of involving in the censures of the law, as few as might be. Such of the individuals only therefore, as were citizens of the United States, were sin- $4 AM/CRICAlS gled out for prosecution. But this second attempt being, after full knowledge of what had been done on the first, and indicating a disposition to go on in opposition to the laws, they are to take their course against all persons con- cerned, whether citizens or aliens ; the latter, while within our jurisdiction, and enjoying the protection of the laws, being bound to obedience to them, and to avoid distur- bances of our peace within, or acts which would commit it without, equally as citizens are. I have the honour to 'he, &c. THOMAS JEFFERSON. *Phe Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republick of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, June 22, 1793, 2d year of the Republick. Sir, Discussions are short, when matters are taken upon their true principles. Let us explain ourselves as republicans. Let us not lower ourselves to the level of ancient politicks by diplomatic subtleties. Let us be as frank in our overtures in our declarations, as our two nations are in their affections ; and by this plain and sin- cere conduct, arrive at the object by the shortest way. All the reasonings, sir, contained in the letter, which you did me the honour to write to me the 17th of this month, are extremely ingenious ; but I do not hesitate to tell you, that they rest on a basis which I cannot admit. You op- pose to my complaints, to my just reclamations, upon the footing of right, the private or publick opinions of the President of the United States; and this Egis not appear- ing to you sufficient, you bring forward aphorisms of Vat* icl, to justify or excuse infractions committed on positive treaties. Sir, this conduct is not like ours. In arriving among you, 1 have, widi candour, said that the French nation, cherishing the interests of the United States more than their own, occupied themselves but on their happi- ness, in the midst of surrounding dangers, and instead of pressing them to fulfil, towards them, all the obligations imposed on them by Our treaties, by gratitude, and by provident policy ; they have just granted new favours to their commerce, to partake with them the benefits of its navigation, opening to them all the ports in the two worlds; in a word, assimilating them to her own citizens'. .b'uclr amicable and disinterested proceedings should render the federal government, sir, industrious in seeking at least all the means of serving us as far as circumstances would permit them ; but instead of waiting till Congress )iad taken into consideration the important subjects which should already have occupied them, until they have de- termined whether the war of liberty, whether the fate of France and her colonies were indifferent objects for Ame- rica, until they had decided whether it was the interest of the United States to profit, or not, of the situation in which French magnanimity places them, they have been forward, Urged on by I know not what iufluencc, to pursue another conduct. They have multiplied difficulties and embar- rassments in my way. Our treaties have been unfavoura- bly interpreted : Arbitrary orders have directed against us the action of the tribunals ; indeed, my diplomatic recep- tion excepted, I have met with nothing but disgust and obstacles in the negotiations I have been charged with. It is not thus that the American people wish we should be treated. I cannot even suppose, and I wish to believe, that measures of this nature were not conceived in the heart of General Washington, of that celebrated hero of liberty. I can attribute them only to extraneous impres- sions, over which time and truth will triumph. I request you therefore, sir, to lay before this first magistrate of your Republick the two enclosed protests, which have been just Transmitted to me by the consuls of the Republick of France at New York and Philadelphia. You will see therein that these officers complain, that French prizes, the jurisdiction of which belongs exclusively to the consular Tribunals, have been seized in these two ports-, by orders f the President, I expect from the equity of the federal government, sir, the immediate redress of these irregulari- ties ; and 1 venture to hope* also, that the President would be pleased to examine again the affair of the ship Republi- can, of New York, and consider whether (independent of the right which we have to fit out privateers) any of the expressions used by consul Hauterive, to reclaim the giving up of the seizure made of that vessel, proves that she has been armed for this purpose. The citizen Hauterive ha* clearly shown, on the contrary, that she was armed by Frenchmen, at a time when the most religious of all duties pmm.pt ed them to ftv from t\\\ parts' of thr world fr thf" 96 AMERICAN succour of their country, and to fulfil towards her those duties to which the Americans would be equally bound, if we had not the desire to leave to their wisdom and their honour the umpirage of their conduct. It is incontestable, that the treaty of commerce (art. xxn) expressly autho- rizes our arming in the ports of the United States, and interdicts that privilege to every enemy nation. Besides this act forms but a part of our conventional compacts, and it is in them, collectively, that we ought to seek contracts of alliance and of commerce simultaneously made, if we wish to take their sense, and interpret faithfully the intentions of the people who cemented them, and of the men of genius who dictated them. If you cannot protect our commerce, and our colonies, which will, in future, contribute much more to your prosperity than to our own, at least do not arrest the civism of our own citizens, do not expose them to a certain loss, by obliging them to go out of your ports unarmed. Do not punish the brave individuals of your nation, who arrange themselves under our banner, know- ing perfectly well, that no law of the United States gives to the government the sad power of arresting their zeal by acts of rigour. The Americans are free ; they are not attached to the glebe like the slaves of Russia ; they may change their situation when they please, and by accepting, at this moment, the succour of their arms in the habit of trampling on tyrants, we do not commit the plagiat of which you speak. The true robbery, the true crime, would be to enchain the courage of these good citizens, of these sincere friends to the best of causes. I am ignorant, sir, of the constitutional judges to whom the federal government appear to have it in contemplation to refer the different questions of publick right, which have arisen between us ; but it appears to me, that these judges can be looked upon only as counsellors, since no particu- lar tribunal has the right or power to interpose between two nations, whose only arbiters, when they have a sin- cere desire to live fraternally and amicably together, must be, in the present state of human societies, good faith and reason. Accept, sir, the expression of my esteem, and my re- spectful sentiments. GENET. STATE PAPERS. 97 TRANSLATION. CONSULATE OF NEW YORK. Protest of Citizen Hauterive, Consul of the Republick of France, at New York, against the process and seizure of the Catherine of Halifax. Considering that tribunals are instituted to render jus- tice between individuals, and not to judge of the differences that may arise between governments, and still less to de- cide on the political relations which exist between nation and nation ; That their sphere is circumscribed within the territorial limits of the state to which they belong ; That there cannot be any relation of dependence between the tribunals which therein belong to two different nations ; That the consular jurisdiction is an extension, and a first degree of jurisdiction of the tribunals of commerce and of admiralty, instituted in foreign countries by the nation to which the political conventions have given the right of consulate as well as the right of recurring to the publick force, to ensure the execution of the consular dis- cussions ; That the limits of this jurisdiction depend only on the foreign government which has established it, and that this government may extend or contract it at pleasure, pro- vided it does not attribute to it any action against the per- sons, the property, the police and the local jurisdiction ; That in attributing to these tribunals dependent upon it, that which belongs to another equally dependent upon it, a government does not go beyond the limits of this power ; That recently the French government hath given to the consulates of the Rcpublick the jurisdiction of sea-prizes, and has thus completely constituted them courts of admi- ralty ; That by that it only displaces one of the branches of the judiciary power; That the geographical position of a le- gally established tribunal neither alters the force, nor '\tent, nor independence of its jurisdiction ; That all intervention direct or indirect, as to the French prizes, being formally interdicted the tribunals of the country, the admiralties of the two nations, however they may locally approach each other, arc not the less separated from one another by the insurmountable barrier of politi- cal right; vol. i. U 93 AilERICA.V That thus a French prize, remaining in a neutral port in virtue of treaties, is submitted to the consular admiralty in virtue of the right which nations have of organizing at pleasure their judicatures, is as much sheltered from the action of any other local tribunal, as if it were in a French road; For all these reasons, we, Alexander Hauterive, consul of the Republick of France, considering that the New York district court has extended its jurisdiction to a French prize, the decision of which was pending in our tribunal : That this intervention, prescribed by the treaties, not only tends to establish a clashing of jurisdiction between two tribunals, which cannot have communication together, but also to the annihilation of the consular tribunal, which is reduced to nothing as soon as the publick force, which the treaties have given it the right of demanding to sup- port its judgments, is employed against it ; That if this errour of the judiciary power could be au- thorized by the government, we must suppose that the government has the right of interpreting, modifying or de- stroying the political compacts which unite the two nations, by the information and decision of the tribunals of one of these two nations ; We protest against the violation done to the rights of the nation we represent ; we declare formally, that what- ever may be the decisions of the tribunal, which has arro- gated to itself the judgment of the prize Catherine of Hali- fax, to the injury of the consulate jurisdiction, the parties interested, who are amenable only to our tribunal, are not bound to conform to it. We declare this judgment to be null, and of no effect whatever; 1st, By the notoriety of the incompetency of the tribunal. 2d, Because it would be given in contempt of our protest. 3d, Because it would be formed on insufficient information, the principal papers to elucidate the discussion being in our hands, never to go out of them. 4th, Because the French Re- publick being one of the parties, it would be necessary, in order to proceed regularly, that the judges should find in the American laws, that the French nation is amenable, in its political rights, to a private tribunal, and that they may be condemned by default. We declare, in fine, that these rights shall remain entire, saving the requisition of damages and interest to the par- ties interested, and the demand of reparation for that of STATE PAPERS. 99 the two nations, who, in the diplomatic judgment, (the only competent arbiter between friendly nations) will be acknowledged injured in its rights. Further we declare, that the judgment of the fact is still pending in the consular tribunal of the Republick at New York. New York, June 21, 1793, 2d year of the French Re- publick. Certified to be conformable to the original. Protest of the Consul of the Republick of France against the seizure of the ship William. Considering that no authority on earth has either the right or the power of interposing between the French na- tion and her enemies; That she alone is the arbiter and judge of the offensive acts which the support of her inde- pendence obliges her to commit against the despotick governments coalesced to replunge her into a state of ser- vitude, from which, abandoned by her friends, and assailed by so many enemies, she alone has been able to liberate herself; That the Court of Admiralty at Philadelphia, yielding at first to illfounded reclamations, since recalling herself to the principles of the law of nations, has ac- knowledged its incompetency to the decision on the legali* ty of French prizes ; That hence it evidently results, that no local authority can lake upon itself the information of a discussion which arises, or may arise, between nation and nation ; That nevertheless the federal government has placed a guard on the ship William, taken by the French galliot the Citizen Genet, and by this matter of fact seems to de- clare, that previous to all discussion, it meant to interfere in the examination of the right, and in the decision of the facts ; That if the government interferes as local authority in die judgment of the facts, they deny and violate the prin- ciple expressly declared in the 17th article of the treaty between America and Fiance ; That if, as a power invested by the nation to communi- cate with foreign governments, they interfere in the ex- amination of the right, they proceed previously by " method till this day unknown, in preceding a diplomatic, discussion by an arbitrary and violent act, and by an exe- cution purely military ; For all these reasons, we, Francis Dupont, consul of 100 AMERICAN" the French Republick at Philadelphia, formally protest against the infringement committed on the rights of the French nation by the local government of Philadelphia. We declare, that having proceeded in a judiciary man- ner to the sale of the said ship, and that being accounta- ble, in the name of the French nation, to the purchasers of the property acquired by them, we throw upon tho government, who has created these obstacles to acquiring the possession, all the damages and interest. We declare further, that in informing the minister of the French Republick of the violence opposed to the exercise of our functions, we, in his name, reserve by the present, protest, the pursuit in reparation for the violation of the conventional compacts, and the outrage against the French nation in the ministry of its agents. Done in our consulate, Philadelphia, 22d June, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. FROIS. DUPONT. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to the Minister Plenipo- tentiary of France. Philadelphia, June 11, 1793. Sir, I had the honour of laying before the President your memorial of the 22d of May, proposing that the Unit- ed States should now pay up all the future instalments of their debt to France, on condition that the sum should be invested in produce. The President having fully delib- erated on the subject, I have now the honour of enclosing you a report from the treasury department, made in con- sequence thereof, and explaining the circumstances which prevent the United States from acceding to that propo- sition. In fact, the instalments as they are settled by the con- vention between the two nations far exceed the ordinary resources of the United States. To accomplish them com- pletely and punctually, we are obliged to anticipate tho revenues of future times, by loans to as great an extent as we can prudently attempt. As they are arranged how- ever by the convention, they give us time for successive and gradual efforts. But to crowd these anticipations all into a single one, and that to be executed in the present instant, would more than hazard that state of credit, the preservation of which can alone enable us to meet the different payments at the times agreed on. To do even this, hitherto, has required, in the operations of borrowing, STATE PAPERS. 101 time, prudence and patience ; and these operations are still going on in all the extent they will bear. To press them beyond this, would be to defeat them both now and hereafter. We beg you to :be '.assured, and through you to assure your nation, that among the important reasons which lead us to economise a yd foster! our puM ick ,$redit, a strong one is, the desire of j preserving' to tmrfeelves the means of discharging our debt to them with punctuality and good faith, in the times and sums which have been stipulated between us. Referring to the enclosed report for a more particular development of the obstacles of the proposition, I have the honour to assure you of the senti- ments of particular esteem and respect with which I am, sir, your obedient and humble servant, Til : JEFFERSON. The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom was referred a com' munication from the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Re- publish of France, on the subject of the debts of the United States to France, respectfully makes thereupon the follow- ing Report : The object of this communication is to engage the United States to enter into an arrangement for discharging the residue of the debt which they owe to France, by an anticipated payment of the instalments not yet due, either in specie or bank bills of equal currency with specie, or in government bonds, bearing interest and payable at certain specified periods, upon condition that the sum ad- vanced shall be invested in productions of the United States, for the supply of the French dominions. With regard to the first expedient, namely, a payment in specie or bank bills, the resources of the treasury of the United State's do not admit of its being adopted. The government has relied, for the means of reimbursing its foreign debt, on new loans to be made abroad. The late events in Europe have thrown a temporary obstacle in the way of these loans, producing, consequently, an inability, to make payment by anticipation of (he residue of the debt hereafter to grow due. With regard to the second expedient, that of govern- ment bonds payable at certain specified periods; this in substance, though in other forms, has repeatedly come under consideration, and has as often been declined as ineligible. ('rcat. inconveniences to the credit of the 102 AMERICAN government, tending to derange its general operations of finance, have been anjd must continue to be perceived in every plan which is calculated to throw suddenly upon the marked a large/ adkjitional sum of its bonds. The present state of things for obvious reasons would serve to augment $4 .evil 1 of, jsttclf a. circumstance, while the exist- ing and possible exigeiicies* of 4'he United States admonish them to be particularly cautious, at this juncture, of any measure which may tend to hazard or impair their credit. These considerations greatly outweigh the advantage which is suggested as an inducement to the measure (the condition respecting which is the principal circumstance of the difference between the present and former proposi- tions) to arise from an investment of the sum to be ad- vanced in the products of the country ; an advantage on which perhaps little stress can be laid in the present and probable state of foreign demand for these products. The motives, which dissuade from the adoption of the proposed measure, may, it is conceived, be the more readily yielded to, from the probability that the utility of it to France might not, on experiment, prove an equiva- lent for the sacrifices which she might have to make in the disposition of the bonds. All which is humbly submitted. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Sec'y of the Treasury. Treasury Department, June 8, 1 793. A true copy, TOBIAS LEAR, Secretary to the President of the United States. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet. Minister Plenipotentiary of the Repvblick of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, June 1 4, 1793, "2d year of the French Republick. Sir, It is the character of elevated minds, of freemen, not to expose themselves twice to a refusal. I have re- quested you to make known to the President of the United States the urgent necessities of the French Republick. I have not hidden from you, that, having armed near a mil- lion of soldiers, they have experienced a considerable de- ficiency in their produce ; and that they, with their colo- nies, would be consigned to the horrours of famine, if the United States should not furnish them, on account of their debt, a part of the subsistence, which they want. I have STATE PAPERS. 103 offered you, in virtue of my powers, to take in payment, in default of money, bills, or obligations of the state, bear- ing interest till the epoch fixed by our convention, for the reimbursement of your debt. I have endeavoured to con- vince you of the advantages which would result from this operation for the two countries, and more particularly for America, at a time when they have a superabundance ot grain and flour ; but observing, sir, by the letter which you wrote to me on the 1 1 th June, and by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, that none of our proposi- tions have been accepted ; without entering into the finan- cial reasons which operate this refusal, without endeavour- ing to prove to you that it tends to accomplish the infernal system of the king of England, and of the other kings, his accomplices, to destroy by famine the French republicans and liberty, I attend, on the present occasion, only to the calls of my country, and as its necessities and those of the colonies become daily more pressing, as it has charged me to provide for them at whatever price it might be, I request you, sir, to inform the President of the United States, that, being authorized in the name of the French Republick to give assignments to the American merchants or farmers, in payment of the provisions they may furnish, from the want of new advances on the part of the United States, I request, in order to place me in a situation to use this power, that he prescribe to the Secretary of the Trea- sury to adjust with me immediately the amount of the debt* of the United States to France. The expedient to which I am about to have recourse, will, probably, be onerous to the French nation, but as the federal government thinks it may take on itself to place us under the necessity of employing it, without consulting Congress upon so important a matter, I am obliged to fol- low my instructions. GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Citizen Genet, Minister of France. Philadelphia, June 10, 1703. Sir, According to the desire expressed in your letter of the 14th instant, the President will give the instructions necessary for the settlement of the instalments of principal and interest still due from the United States to France. This is an act equally just and desirable for both parties : and although if had not been imagined thai the materials 104 AMERICAN for doing it were to be had here at this moment, yet we shall be pleased to find that they may. In the mean time, what is further to be done will doubtless be the subject of further reflection and inquiry with you ; and particularly the operation proposed in your letter will be viewed under all its aspects. Among these, we think it will present itself as a measure too questionable both in principle and practicability, too deeply interesting to the credit of the United States, and too unpromising in its result to France, to be found eligible to yourself. Finally we rest secure that what is of mutual concern will not be done but with mutual concert. I have the honour to be. &c. THOMAS JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister of the Republick of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, June 15, 1793, 2d year of the Republick. Sir, The citizen Hauterive, consul of the Republick at New York, has this moment informed me, that a discus- sion has arisen between him and the government of the state in which he resides, respecting the Embuscade frigate, upon a point of right. The question is, whether in a neutral port, an armed vessel ought to allow a truce of twenty-four hours to enemy vessels to go out of it ? The citizen Hauterive received a formal requisition on this subject, from the governour, relative to the departure of the English packet, who, without saying positively, that the local government had a right to hinder the frigate's going out before the expiration of the truce of twenty-four hours, and that he would use such right, gave him to under- stand, and appeared to believe that it was universal. The citizen Hauterive, sir, has confined himself to a reference of this matter to me, requesting instructions on the subject for himself and the captain of the frigate. 1 enclose herein a copy of those which I have just transmit- ted to him. They have been drawn up on mature exami- nation of the question ; and though my opinion differs essentially from that of the governour of New York, I am persuaded that the President of the United States, after having taken into consideration the authorities and rea- sonings which have guided me in tracing to the consul oi STATE PAPERS. 105 the Republick the conduct he ought to pursue, will trans- mit to the governour of New York orders worthy of his justice and impartiality. GENET. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Repub- lick of France, to the Citizen Hauterive, Consul at New York. Philadelphia, June 15, 1793, 2d year of the Re- publick of France. I iiave read with great attention, citizen, the report you transmitted to me on the 1 3th of this month, and in which, after having given an account of the discussion which has arisen between you and the governour of New York, rela- tive to the frigate of the Republick, the Embuscade, you present for my solution, in order to guide your future con- duct, the following question, which gave rise to it, to wit : " Whether, in a neutral port, an armed vessel belonging to a belligerent power should allow a truce of twenty-four hours to enemy vessels, desiring to go out." If it were necessary, citizen, to commence a polemick on this ques- tion, I should observe to you first, that it has been badly stated, and that not only the duration of the truce, but also the time at which it shall commence should have been de- fined ; but this investigation is superfluous. The question which you propose to me, citizen, is long since decided by the European powers, who have regulated withVach other the principles of neutrality. These principles may be found in the maritime convention of the northern powers, in the different treaties of commerce which these same powers have mutually entered into ; in fine, in those which Russia has concluded with France, Austria, Portu- gal and the two Sicilies, and none of these, entered into with the view to favour the navigation of neutral nations, have had the awkwardness to make mention of a truce to be given by the armed vessels of the powers at war to the enemy vessels of those powers which may be found In neutral ports. The first of the four maxims of neutrals which almost every nation, England excepted, regards as the palladium of commerce, is that every vessel may navigate freely from port to port, on the coasts of nations at war. This right, derived from the right of nature, is necessarily re- ciprocal ; the powers who have acceded to the principles vor. n T4 108 AMERICAN of the neutrality, have never contested it ; and I cannot tell you, citizen, how much I am surprised that the gover- nour of the state of New York should take the advantage of the political opinions promulgated by the United States, to subject our vessels of war to an indefinite truce, which would be a dangerous restraint, contrary to the letter, to the spirit of our treaties, and which at most could be required from a vessel of an indifferent state, with whom neither obligation nor engagement has been contracted. In the present state of things, citizen, all that the govern- ment of the United States can require, is that we commit no hostility against our enemies, on the territory and in the waters of the United States, and in renewing to you the order, attentively to observe that our vessels attend to this reservation, I recommend that you oppose with energy, analogous to the sentiments of friendship which we have avowed to the United States, every act or every step, which would deprive our vessels, armed or unarmed, of the liberty they ought to enjoy in the ports of the United States, in virtue of our treaties, and in virtue of the only principles which have been diplomatically established on the rights of neutral nations, which as I have already said being founded on the right of nature, the basis of the rights of man, implicitly comprehend reciprocity, an ele- mentary condition of all the acts dictated by equal and impartial justice. Let those who have another code and other titles to present to us, produce them 5 and in the mean while, the English of New York, instead of unreasonably putting themselves under the protection of principles which their government has always disdained to acknowledge, and which it has violated in all wars, keep themselves quiet or run the chance of sailing in the presence of our forces. Certified conformable to the original. GENET. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet , Minister of the French Republick, to Mr* Jefferson, Secretary of Slate for the United States, Phila- delphia, June 18, 1793, 2d year of the Republick. Sir, I have examined the correspondence which ha? taken place between you and my predecessor, relative to the requisition of funds which he has made on the federal government, to pay off certain draughts of the administra- STATE PAPERS. !07 tors of Saint Domingo, and to procure provisions for that colony. I pay due respect, sir, to the justness of the ob- servations which you transmitted to the citizen Ternant, on the subject of this request. Forced from his circum- spection by the pressing instances of the administrators of Saint Domingo, I conceive that this requisition must have embarrassed your government infinitely, and under this view, I feel all the obligations we owe you, for having, as you yourself expressed it, less consulted prudence than friendship, in yielding to it. You have with propriety remarked, sir, that the decree which appropriated for the necessities of the colonies four millions from the debt of the United States to France, not being yet transmitted to the federal government, in the usual official form, should not have an application so positive, so determined as that which the commissioners of the administration of Saint Domingo had given it ; and that it was probable the minis- ters of France had had recourse, in order to supply the wants of this colony, to operations of another nature than those which took place. In fact, sir, the draughts for the payment of which the commissioners of Saint Domingo, pressed by imperious circumstances, have, in some degree, obliged the citizen Ternant to demand funds of you, have neither been authorized by the National Convention, nor by the Executive Council ; and I must even inform you, that I am forbidden to pay, out of the funds placed at my disposal, any other than those draughts which shall have been accepted by the consul La Forest, in virtue of orders from my predecessor. But, on my arrival here, I was informed that this consul had received orders from the minister plenipotentiary to register all draughts issued by the administration of Saint Domingo, and to pay them out of the new funds which the federal government had provi- sionally granted, on the basis of the decree of the 26lh June* although it was not officially notified. I have not thought proper, sir, to stop suddenly the payment of these draughts, in the hope that the mode of reimbursing your debt, which you at my request have laid before the Presi- dent of the United States, would be adopted by him, and give me the means, 1st, to honour the draughts registered by my predecessor, the payment of which had been order- ed by him 2dly, to provide at the same time for the urgent necessities of France and her colonies : but having been deceived in my expectation by motives which are 108 AMERICAN not for me to examine, I find myself deprived of the ad- vantage of conciliating all interests, and constrained to obey only the empire of circumstances, which prescribe me to suspend the payment of the colonial draughts, and to employ the funds destined for their acquittal to the purchase of provisions for France and her colonies. This arrangement, sir, need not alarm either the bearers of the registered draughts, or those of the other draughts issued and not registered of the administration of Saint Domingo and other colonies of the French Rcpublick. The nation will certainly fulfil towards them the engagements con- tracted by its agents. I know that they have destined particular funds for this purpose. I also know that the colonies have made contributions in kind, to fulfil their obligations, and provide themselves for a part of their wants, and it is according to these ideas that I have de- termined to have inserted, in the publick papers, the enclosed information, the intention of which is to calm inquietudes of the bearers of the draughts which I am obliged to set aside, and to encourage the citizens of the United States to continue to carry succour to their brothers the French republicans of the Antilles, whose fate de- pends on this generous act ; without which the French colonies will be reduced by famine to put themselves un- der a government whose commercial principles would not assuredly be so advantageous to the United States, as those which an enlightened policy and unlimited attach- ment for the American people have led us to embrace. GENET. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Re- publick, to the Citizens of the United States. Whereas several American citizens who have furnished provisions to the colonies of the French Republick in the West-Indies, have received bills drawn by the administra- tors of the respective colonies on citizen La Forest, late Consul General of the Republick in the United States, and lately on myself, in payment for such supplies, I in- form them that these draughts will certainly be paid, the National Convention having appropriated large sums for that object. But as I am not yet authorized to discharge them, I can only in the mean while advise the holders of such bills as have not yet been registered by citizen La Forest, to have them recorded in the office of citizen Du- STATE PAPER3. 10& pont, Consul of the French Republick at Philadelphia, in order to ascertain the dates of their presentation ; at the same time I cannot too much encourage the citizens of the United States to continue to assist, with unremitting exertions, their republican brethren of the French West- Indies, whose existence, from the liberal principles adopt- ed by the National Convention with regard to the colonies of the French Republick, must essentially contribute to the prosperity of the United States. The American citi- zens may rest assured, that the most efficacious measures have been taken, as well in France as in the colonies, to protect their property in all the ports of the Republick, and to ensure to them a prompt payment for their supplies in cash or in merchandise, and at the same time to secure to them the enjoyment of those favours which the Na- tional Convention has lately granted to the citizens of the United States, which assimilate them, in respect to com- mercial advantages, to the citizens of France. Philadelphia, June 17, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Slate, to Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, June 23, 1 793. Sir, In answer to your letter of the 18th instant, on the subject of the bills drawn by the administration of St. Domingo, in favour of certain citizens of the United States, I am instructed to inform you, that the funds therein mentioned have been so clearly understood on all hands to he specially appropriated for the payment of the bills, which were recognised by the former agents of France here, as to be incapable of being diverted, without dis- appointing the just expectations of our citizens, holders of those bills. Indeed the government has been so much a party in countenancing those expectations, as, in such an event, to lie under an obligation, in point of propriety, to satisfy the parties themselves to the extent of the balance, which yet remains to be advanced. 1 have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, June 23, 1 793. Sir, 1 have the honour to inform you. that in conse- quence of the general orders given by the President, a 110 AMERICAS privateer, fitted out by English subjects within the State of Georgia, to cruise against the citizens of France, has been seized by the governour of Georgia, and such legal prosecutions are ordered, as the case will justify. I beg you to be assured, that the government will use the utmost vigilance to see, that the laws, which forbid these enter- prises, are carried into execution. I have the honour to fee, &c. Til. JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. Philadelphia, * January 25, 1793, 2 c? Year of the Repub- lick of France. Sir, I learn with infinite pleasure, by your letter of the 23d of this month, that the government of Georgia have caused to be stopped a vessel armed in that state, for the purpose of cruising against the French, and that the persons interested in this vessel will be prosecuted. It is to be wished, sir, that the same watchfulness and firmness may be employed in all the states of the Union ; for you will observe by the enclosed reports of the con- suls of the Republick at Charleston, at Baltimore, at Phi- ladelphia, and at New York, that many enemy-vessels have been armed there, have entered armed, remained there, and have gone out from thence armed, in contempt of our treaties ; whilst in virtue of instructions from the President of the United States, the French adventurers, who have been able to put themselves in a state of de- fence, in the ports of their allies, in order to go out with- out danger, and to fulfil otherwise, according to circum- stances, the duties of a citizen against the enemies of the state, are pursued with rigour. Accept, sir, my esteem and respect, GENET. Extracts from the reports of the Consuls and Vice-Consids of the French Republick at Charleshm, Baltimore, Phila- delphia, and New York, to Citizen Genet. Philadelphia, June 25, 1793, Id year of the French Republick. Charleston, from the 24th May, to the 6th June. A Bermudian vessel has purchased 4 cannon in this port, to protect her in returning. A Dutch vessel which entered this port without guns, has sailed with 14. English vessels have been in like manner armed here* * An errour for June". STATE PAPERS. til Baltimore, June 21. An English vessel called the Trusty, captain Hale, has been publickly armed as a privateer in this port, by Mr. *Hirland of this city. The vice-consul has complained of it to the governour and attorney general of the state of Maryland. Philadelphia, June 21, 1793. A Bermudian vessel belonging to the subjects of the king of England, mounting twelve cannon, purchased in this city, sailed on the 2d instant. There had sailed some days before, an English armed vessel of four guns. The consul had not been informed of them before the date of this report. New York, June 18, 1793. The Swallow, an English letter of Marque, commanded by captain Sion, armed with eight cannon and twenty men at least, and appearing to be about 150 tons burden, has anchored so long in this port, as to exclude the idea of her having entered in distress, though the 1 7th article of the treaty of commerce between France and America formally excludes from the ports of both the enemy vessels who shall have made prizes, and every English privateer which enters is authorized by the English government to take, burn and destroy our vessels. It has always remained a question, whether an armed vessel of that nation en entering, has executed those orders or not. The consul Hauterive has transmitted those observations to the governour of the state of New York, giving him to understand, that every vessel armed for war, and belonging to our enemies, being subject to the exclusion contained in our conventional laws, should be obliged to go out of the port of New York. Other reports have come to the knowledge of citizen ficnet, by indirect channels, that several other armaments have been made by the enemies of the Republick in American ports, and that those vessels have taken on board, without opposition, a great numbei\of tories, citi- zens of the United States, while some good whigs, friends of France, who have taken part in her cause on board her vessels, have been arrested and thrown into prison, whence i iposed Ireland. 112 AMERICAN the citizen Genet has not yet been able to liberate them without security. Certified conformable to the Reports which have been made to me the minister plenipotentiary of the Republick of France. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, June 30, 1 793. Sir, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the 25th instant, on the subject of vessels belonging to the enemies of France, which have procured arms within our ports for their defence. Those from Charleston and Philadelphia have gone off before it was known to the government, and the former, indeed, in the first moments of the war, and before preventive measures could be taken in so distant a port. The day after my receipt of your letter, the communications now enclosed from the gover- nour of Maryland came to hand, and prevented our inter- ference on the subject of the Trusty, captain Hale, a vessel loaded with flour and lumber, and bound to Barba- does. You will perceive by the papers that the governour of Maryland had got information that she was buying guns, and had given orders for the examination of the fact, but that she got off before the officer could get on board, having cleared out three or four days before. It appears that she was of 300 tons burden, and had mounted four small guns. The case of the Swallow is different from any thing which has yet been presented to the President, which shall be submitted to him on his return, and no doubt will meet his earliest attention and decision. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Extract of a letter from the Governour of Maryland to the Secretary at War. "Maryland, Annapolis, June 22, 1793. In Council. "Sir, The enclosed copies of a letter written by this board to the collector of the customs at the port of Balti- more, and of the answer thereto which we have just re- ceived from his deputy, will sufficiently explain the first case which has seemed to call for our interference since the receipt of your communications respecting the fitting out of fighting vessels within our jurisdiction. STATE PAPERS. 113 " You will see, sir, that most probably, through a step not contemplated by us, that of the officers applying to Mr. Ireland himself for the information we desired, the ship has got out of our reach. We can therefore only en- deavour to be better prepared for future occurrences of this kind, which we are told may be expected at the same place." In Council, June 20, 1793. Sir, A report has reached this board, that a British ship, consigned to Mr. Ireland, is preparing for sea in the port of Baltimore, and is to mount twelve pieces of ord- nance, which she did not bring into the country, and which as it appears to us cannot be carried from hence to any of the ports of any of th(j European powers at war, without a deviation from the neutrality professed by the United States, even supposing that no use is intended to be made of them by the way ; but as those guns are not taken as an article of merchandise, but are according to our infor- mation mounted professedly for the defence of the vessel, we can by no means be certain that they are not also de- signed for offensive measures ; on which supposition it would become our duty to interfere effectually, so as to prevent the departure of the ship, until the President could be made acquainted with the circumstances. Our infor- mation is at present too vague to form a sufficient ground for an immediate interference. We therefore make it our request, that you would, immediately on the receipt of this letter, collect all the facts you can, with regard to the arming, loading, manning and destination of this vessel, and without loss of time transmit to this board the result of your inquiries, in order that we may then determine whether this comes within the description of cases in which we are instructed by the executive power of the United States to interfere. We are, Sic. THOMAS S. LEE. To the Collector of the Customs at the port of Baltimore. Baltimore, June 21, 1793. His Excellency Thomas S. Lee, Esq. The Collector of the customs being absent in the coun- try for the benefit of his health, I have the honour of receiving your excellency's communications respecting a British ship said to be preparing for sea. in an offensive vol. i. U> 114 AMERICAN situation, inconsistent with the tenour of the President's proclamation, and the neutrality of the United States. I presume that the ship Trusty, John A. Hale, master, is the vessel alluded to ; she arrived at this port from Barba- does, on the first day of March, and cleared for the same island, on the 1 7th of the present month, her cargo con- sisting of flour and lumber. Mr. Ireland informed me that she mounts four small guns, that her crew consisted of twenty men when she arrived, and that she had not more than seventeen on board when she cleared. She is upwards of 300 tons burden. Vague report, however, differing from the preceding account, I determined to go on board the ship for the pur- pose of obtaining accurate information, but was prevented by her getting under way and proceeding down the river, on her intended voyage. I have the honour to be, &c. D. DELOSIER, Deputy Collector. His Excellency Thomas S. Lee, Esq. Governour of Maryland. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to the Minister Plenipo- tentiary from the Republick of France to the United States. Philadelphia, June 25, 1793. Sir, In the absence of the President of the United States, I have consulted with the secretaries of the treasury and war, on the subject of the ship William, and generally of vessels suggested to be taken within the limits of the protection of the United States, by the armed vessels of your nation, concerning which I had the honour of a con- versation with you yesterday, and we are so well assured of the President's way of thinking in these cases, that we undertake to say, it will be more agreeable to him, that such vessels should be detained under the orders of your- self, or of the consuls of France in the several ports, until the government of the United States shall be able to in- quire into, and decide on the fact. If this arrangement should be agreeable to you. and you will be pleased to give the proper orders to the several consuls of your na- tion, the governours of the several states will be immedi- ately instructed to desire the consul of the port to detain vessels on whose behalf such suggestions shall be made, until the government shall decide on their case. It may sometimes, perhaps, happen, that such vessels are brought STATE PAPERS. 115 into ports where there is no consul of your nation resi- dent, nor within any convenient distance. In that case, the govcrnours would have to proceed to the act of deten- tion themselves, at least until a consul mav be called in. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republiek of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, June 26, 1793, 2d year of the French Republiek. Sir, The letter which you have done me the honour to write sinee the departure of the President of the United States, contains dispositions worthy of your wisdom, and of the sentiments which characterize you. The arrange- ment which you propose, sir, suits us in every respect : I shall communicate them to the consuls and vice-consuls of the Republiek, and in recommending them to conform to them, I shall add to the instructions already given on the subject of prizes, new regulations, the rigid execution of which will prove to the federal government, that we re- gard it as the first of our duties to respect all the rights of sovereignty of the United States, to undertake nothing that may be disagreeable to them, and to unite all our efforts to perpetuate and to cement more and more the connections which so happily unite our two republicks. GENET. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of State, to the Minister Plenipo- tentiary of France. Philadelphia, June 29, 179.3. Sir, The persons who reclaimed (he ship William as taken within the limits of the proteciion of the United States, having thought proper to carry their claim first into the court? of admiralty, there was no power in this country which could take the vessel out of the custody of that court, till it should decide itself whether it had juris- diction or not of the cause; having now decided that i< has not jurisdiction, the same complaint is lodged with the Executive. I have the honour to enclose you the testimony whereon the complaint is founded. Should this satisfy you that it is just, you will be so good as to give orders to the consul of France at this port, to take the vessel into his custody 116 AMERICAN and deliver her to the owners. Should it be over-weighed in your judgment, by any contradictory evidence, which you have, or may acquire, I will ask the favour of a com- munication of that evidence, and that the consul retain the vessel in his custody until the Executive of the United States consider and decide finallv on the subject. I have the honour to be, &c. ' TH : JEFFERSON. Maryland, Saint Mary^s County, ss. Benedict Wheatley, of Saint Mary's, regularly admit- ted and qualified as a branch pilot for the Chesapeake bay, and Potowmac river, being duly sworn, deposeth and sayeth, that on Friday the third day of May last past, be- ing on the look-out for inward bound vessels, fell in with the ship William, James Legget, master, from Germany, bound to Potowmac, about nine miles to the eastward of Cape Henry, he immediately took charge of the ship as pilot, and after being on board for one hour, and running into the mouth of the bay, with a leading wind, a small schooner hove in sight, coming out from the capes ; she run up along side, Bred one gun, and hailed the ship; captain Legget hoisted his "English ensign, on which he was ordered from the schooner to strike ; the colours after some time were hauled down, and a boat from the schooner, with a lieutenant and six or seven men, came on board and took possession of the ship, as a prize to the schooner Cincinnatus ; a prize master was ordered on board, and all the hands of the ship were put on board the schooner, except the carpenter and two or three hands. After the capture, an inquiry was made of the deponent what course would clear the middle ground. The neces- sary information was given, and he the deponent, after being offered a considerable reward to carry the ship to Philadelphia, declined it, and was put on board a pilot boat that came along side at the time. The deponent further sayeth, that he understood from the captors, that the schooner was from Charleston, South Carolina, and commissioned at that place by the French ambassador, lately arrived from France ; that the captain, whom the deponent did not see, was said to be a French- man, but all the men that boarded the ship appeared to be Americans or English. She mounted four guns and car- ried about fifty men ; he further sayeth, that at the time the ship was boarded, the distance from the ship to the STATE PAPERS. 117 lighthouse on Cape Henry, did not exceed five miles at the utmost. The deponent inquired what distance from the land they were authorized to take prizes ; he was an- swered, not less than nine miles ; on which he replied, that the ship at the time of capture was not half that distance from the lighthouse on Cape Henry. BENEDICT >. 131 and even under shadow of the signs of your sovereignty. On all the seas an audacious piracy pursues even in your vessels French property, and also that of the Americans when destined for our ports your political rights are counted for nothing : in vain do the principles of neutrali- ty establish, that friendly vessels make friendly goods : in vain, sir, does the President of the United States endeavour, by his proclamation, to reclaim the observation of this maxim ; in vain does the desire of preserving peace lead to sacrifice the interests of France to that of the moment ; in vain does the thirst of riches preponderate over honour in the political balance of America : all this man- agement, all this condescension, all this humility, end in nothing; our enemies laugh at it; and the French, too confident, are punished for having believed that the Ame- rican nation had a fiag, that they had some respect for their laws, some conviction of their strength, and entertain- ed some sentiment of their dignity. It is not possible for me, sir, to paint to you all my sensibility at this scandal, which tends to the diminution of your commerce, to the oppression of ours, and to the debasement and vilification of republicks. It is for the Americans to make known (heir generous indignation at this outrage, and I must con- fine myself to demand of you, a second time, to inform me of the measures which you have taken in order to obtain restitution of the property plundered from my fellow citi- zens under the protection of your flag. It is from our government they have learned that the Americans were our allies, that the American nation was sovereign, and i hat they knew how to make themselves respected. It is then under the very sanction of the French nation that they have confided their property and persons to the safe- guard of the American flag, and on her they submit the care of causing those rights to be respected. But if our fellow citizens have been deceived, if you are not in a condition to maintain the sovereignty of your people, speak ; we have guaranteed it when slaves, we shall be able to render it formidable, having become freemen. Accept, sir, &c. GENET. This day the ISlh July, 1 793, 2c? year of the French Rc- publick, Appeared before us, Francis Dupont, consul of the French Republick, at Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsyl- 132 AMERICAN vania, the undersigned citizen la Roussie, merchant of Bordeaux, now in this city of Philudelphia,who declared to us that having departed from St. Mark the 12th June last, in the American brigantine, the Governour Pinckney, of Charleston, captain D. Jenkins, belonging to Mr. Therick of the said place, the said vessel was stopped before the Mole on the 14th of said month, by a privateer of the colony of Saint Vincent, who after having visited them and finding nothing which could lead them to doubt the vessel's being really American property, carried them in under the sole pretext, that they had on board said vessel some French passengers ; the declarer complaining that they plundered his trunk of two watches, a chain, and a medal, a golden kej and thirty-two half Johannes, and other effects in linen, which places him in a cruel position, that they were car- ried into Providence where they remained only eleven days, at a fourth of a dollar per day, at the end of which time they were set at liberty, because the island began to want provisions, and that they were there in too great numbers. The declarer had put on board on account of sundry persons, and to the bearer of the bill of lading, seven hogsheads, ^twelve tierces and fifty-three sacks of coffee ; eight large and four small bales of cotton, and twelve quarters of sugar, which the American captain, whom he supposes to have been gained over, as well as some others of those who were carried into the said port, declared to be French property. In testimony whereof, the said appearer has signed the present with us, in presence of the two under- signed witnesses. LA ROUSSIE, BINET, OSTER, and FROIS. DUPONT. Certified conformable to the original. GENET. The undersigned citizens declare, That having depart- ed from Cayemite, department de la Grande jince, the 2d June last, in the American brig Ranger, captain Perkins, bound for New York, they were visited, in clearing the entrance of Inague, by an English privateer, armed by Monsieur Moz, merchant, of Nassau, Providence, who made them prisoners, and carried them into said place. The undersigned would have avoided exposing their for- tunes in time of war, had they not counted on the invio- STATE PAPERS. 133 lability of treaties of neutrality, which should naturally guarantee all property on board of a neutral vessel ; not- withstanding this consideration was frequently urged to the privateer, he plundered us of 230,000 pounds of coffee, belonging as well to us as four other passengers of the said brig, observing that we were a good prize, according to a paper called a proclamation of General Washington, conveying, in substance, that the property of subjects of the belligerent powers might be taken on board American vessels. In testimony whereof we have deposited the present declaration in the Chancery of the Consulate of the French Republick, in order to establish our right at a proper time and place. New York, July 30, 1 793, 2d year of the French Republick. Signed in original, Morles and M. Sarrazin Guel Ve. le Sieur, Boithon, and Lamarque, par main cPem- prunt. Certified to be conformable to the original deposited in the Chancery of the Consulate at New York. GENET. Copy of a letter to Citizen Genet, from Conyngham Nesbitt and Co. Philadelphia, July 26, 1793. Sir, We have just received advice, that the ship Sal- ly, captain Griffith, loaded by us with flour, from Balti- more for Havre, is just returned to said place, after having been captured by a privateer, and carried into Guernsey or Jersey. The protests and papers will be sent us by the next post. The captain further informs, that they had also captured the ship Columbia, of Baltimore, having on board the French minister drove from Portugal. Whenever we receive further intelligence, we shall communicate it to you. Being, with respect, sir, yours, &c. Certifie conformc a la lettre de M. M. Conyngham Nesbitt et Co. qui est restfee entrc mes mains a Philadel- phie, le 26 Juillet, 1793, Pan 2d. GENET. 134 AMERICAN Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister Ple- nipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, July 24, 1793. Sir, Your favour of the 9th instant covered the infor- mation of Silvat Ducamp, Pierre Nouvel, Chouquet de Savarence, Gaston de Nogere, andG. Beustier, that being on their passage from the French West Indies to the United States, on board merchant vessels of the United States, with slaves and merchandise of their property, these vessels were stopped by British armed vessels, and their property taken out as lawful prize. I believe it cannot be doubted, but that, by the general law of nations, the goods of a friend found in the vessel of an enemy are free, and the goods of an enemy found in the vessel of a friend are lawful prize. Upon this princi- ple, I presume, the British armed vessels have taken the property of French citizens found in our vessels, in the cases above mentioned, and I confess I should be at a loss on what principle to reclaim it. It is true, that sundry nations, desirous of avoiding the inconveniences of having their vessels stopped at sea, ransacked, carried into port, and detained, under pretence of having enemy goods on board, have, in many instances, introduced, by their special treaties, another principle between them, that enemy bot- toms shall make enemy goods, and friendly bottoms friend- ly goods ; a principle much less embarrassing to com- merce, and equal to all parties in point of gain and loss ; but this is altogether the effect of particular treaty, con- trolling, in special cases, the general principle of the law of nations, and therefore taking effect between such nations only as have so agreed to control it. England has gene- rally determined to adhere to the rigorous principle, hav- ing in no instance, as far as I recollect, agreed to the modi- fication of letting the property of the goods follow that of the vessel, except in the single one of her treaty with France. We have adopted this modification in our treaties with France, the United Netherlands and Prussia, and therefore, as to them, our vessels cover the goods of their enemies, and we lose our goods when in the vessels of their enemies. Accordingly, you will -be pleased to recol- lect, that in the late case of Holland and Mackie, citizens of the United States, who had laden a cargo of flour on board a British vessel, which was taken by the French frigate Ambuscade, and brought into this port ; when I STATE PAPERS. 135 reclaimed the cargo, it was only on the ground that they were ignorant of the declaration of war when it was ship- ped. You observed however, that the 14th article of our treaty had provided that ignorance should not be pleaded beyond two months after the declaration of war, which term had elapsed, in this case, by some few days ; and finding that to be the truth, though their real ignorance was equal- ly true, I declined the reclamation, as it never was in my view to reclaim the cargo, nor in yours to offer to restore it, by questioning the rule established in our treaty, that enemy bottoms make enemy goods. With England, Spain, Portugal and Austria, we have no treaties, therefore we have nothing to oppose to their acting according to the general law of nations, that enemy goods are lawful prize, though found in the bottoms of a friend. Nor do I see that France can suffer on the whole, for though she loses her goods in our vessels, when found therein by England, Spain, Portugal, or Austria, yet she gains our goods, when found in the vessels of England, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the United Netherlands or Prussia ; and I believe I may safely affirm, that we have more goods afloat in the vessel;? of these six nations, than France has afloat in our vessels, and consequently, that France is the gainer, and we the loser, by the principle of our treaty ; indeed we are losers in every direction of that principle ; for when it works in our favour, it is to save the goods of our friends, when it works against us, it is to lose our own, and we shall con- tinue to lose while the rule is only partially established. When we shall have established it with all nations, we shall be in a condition neither to gain nor lose, but shall be less exposed to vexatious searches at sea. To this condition we arc endeavouring to advance ; but as it de- pends on the will of other nations, as well as our own, we can only obtain it when they shall be ready to concur. I cannot therefore but flatter myself, thai, on revising the cases of Ducamp and others, you will perceive, that their losses result from the state of war, which has per- mitted their enemies to take their goods, though found in our vessels, and consequently, from circumstances over which we have no control. The rudeness to their persons practised by their enemies. is certainly not favourable to the character of the latter. We feel for it as much as for the extension of it to our own citizens, their companion's, and find in it a motive for re- 136 AMERICAN quiring measures to be taken, which may prevent repeti- tions of it. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, Aug. 1, 1793. Sir, In a letter of June 5th, I had the honour to inform you, that the President, after reconsidering, at your request, the case of vessels armed within our ports to commit hos- tilities on nations at peace with the United States, had finally determined, that it could not be admitted, and de- sired, that all those, which had been so armed, should de- part from our ports. It being understood afterwards that these vessels either still remained in our ports, or had only left them to cruise on our coasts, and return again with their prizes, and that another vessel, the Little Democrat, had been since armed at Philadelphia, it was desired in my letter of the 12th of July, that such vessels with their prizes should be detained, till a determination should be had of what was to be done under these circumstances. In dis- regard, however, of this desire, the Little Democrat went out immediately on a cruise. I have it now in charge to inform you, that the President considers the United States, as bound, pursuant to positive assurances, given in conformity to the laws of neutrality, to effectuate the restoration of, or to make compensation for, prizes, which shall have been made, of any of the parties at war with France, subsequent to the 5th day of June last, by privateers fitted out of our ports. That it is consequently expected, that you will cause restitution to be made of all prizes taken and brought into our ports, subsequent to the above mentioned day. by such privateers ; in defect of which, the President considers ii as incumbent upon the United States, to indemnify the owners of those prizes. The indemnification to be reim- bursed by the French nation. That, besides taking efficacious measures to prevent the future fitting out privateers in the ports of the United States, they will not give asylum therein, to any which shall have been at any time so fitted out, and will cause restitution of all such prizes as shall be hereafter brought within their ports, by any of the said privateers. It would have been but proper respect to the authority *TAT1E PAPERS. 1'%?' ef the country, had that been consulted before these arma- ments were undertaken. It would have been satisfactory, however, if their sense of them, when declared, had been duly acquiesced in. Reparation of the injury, to which the United States have been made so involuntarily instru- mental, is all which now remains, and in diis your com- pliance cannot but be expected. In consequence of the information given in your letter of the 4th instant, that certain citizens of St. Domingo, lately arrived in the United States, were associating for the purpose of undertaking a military expedition, from the territory of the United States, against that island, the governour of Maryland, within which state the expedition is understood to be preparing, is instructed to take effec- tual measures to prevent the same. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Morris, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States with the Republick of France. Philadelphia, Aug. 16, 1793. Sir, In my letter of June 13th, I enclosed to you the copies of several letters, which had passed between Mr. Ternant, Mr. Genet, and myself, on the occurrences to which the present war had given rise within our ports. The object of this communication was to enable you to ex- plain the principles on which our government was conduct- ing itself towards the belligerent parties ; principles which might not in all cases be satisfactory to all, but were meant to be just and impartial to all. Mr. Genet had been then but a little time with us ; and but a little more was neces- sary to develop in him a character and conduct, so unex- pected, and so extraordinary, as to place us in the most distressing dilemma, between our regard for his nation, which is constant and sincere, and a regard for our laws, the authority of which must be maintained ; for the peace of our country, which the executive magistrate is charged to preserve ; for its honour, offended in the person of that magistrate ; and for its character, grossly traduced in the conversations and letters of this gentleman. In the course of these transactions, it has been a great comfort to us to believe, that none of them were within the intentions or expectations of his employers. These had been too re- cently expressed in acts which nothing could discolour, in vol. i. -18 13S AMERICAS. the letters of the executive council, in the letters and de- crees of the national assembly, and in the general demea- nour of the nation towards us, to ascribe to them things of so contrary a character. Our first duty, therefore, was to draw a strong line between their intentions, and the pro- ceedings of their minister ; our second, to lay those pro- ceedings faithfully before them. On the declaration of war between France and England, the United States being at peace with both, their situation was so new and unexperienced by themselves, that their citizens were not, in the first instant, sensible of the new duties resulting therefrom, and of the restraints it would impose even on their dispositions towards the belligerent powers. Some of them imagined (and chiefly their tran- sient seafaring citizens) that they were free to indulge those dispositions, to take side with either party, and enrich themselves by depredations on the commerce of the other, and were meditating enterprises of this nature, as there was reason to believe. In this state of the publick mind, and before it should take an erroneous direction, difficult to be set right, and dangerous to themselves and their country, the President thought it expedient, through the channel of a proclamation, to remind our fellow citizens, that we were in a state of peace with all the belligerent powers ; that in that state it was our duty neither to aid nor injure any : to exhort and warn them against acts which might con- travene this duty, and particularly those of positive hos- tility, for the punishment of which the laws would be ap- pealed to ; and to put them on their guard also as to the risks they would run, if they should attempt to carry arti- cles of contraband to any. This proclamation, ordered on the 1 9th, and signed the 22d day of April, was sent to you in my letter of the 26th of the same month. On the day of its publication, we received through the channel of the newspapers, the first intimation that Mr. Genet had arrived on the 8th of the month at Charleston, in character of minister plenipotentiary from his nation to the United States, and soon after, that he had sent on to Philadelphia the vessel in which he came, and would him- self perform the journey by land. His landing at one of the most distant ports of the Union from his points both of departure and destination, was calculated to excite atten- tion ; and very soon afterwards we learnt that he was un- dertaking to authorize the fitting and arming of vessels m STATE PAPERS. 139 that port, enlisting men, foreigners and citizens, and giv- ing them commissions to cruise and commit hostilities on nations at peace with us ; that these vessels were taking and bringing prizes into our ports ; that the consuls of France were assuming to hold courts of admiralty on them, to try, condemn, and authorize their sale as legal prize, and all this before Mr. Genet had presented himself or his credentials to the President, before he was received by him, without his consent or consultation, and directly in contravention of the state of peace existing, and declared to exist in the President's proclamation, and incumbent on him to preserve till the constitutional authority should otherwise declare. These proceedings became immedi- ately, as was naturally to be expected, the subject of com- plaint by the representative here of that power against whom they would chiefly operate. The British minister presented several memorials thereon, to which we gave the answer of May 15th, heretofore enclosed to you, corres- ponding in substance with a letter of the same date, writ- ten to Mr. Ternant, the minister of France then residing here, a copy of which I send herewith. On the next day Mr. Genet reached this place, about five or six weeks after he had arrived at Charleston, and might have been at Philadelphia, if he had steered for it directly. He was immediately presented to the President, and received by him as the minister of the Republick ; and as the conduct before stated seemed to bespeak a design of forcing us into the war, without allowing us the exercise of any free will in the case, nothing could be more assuaging than his assurances to the President at his reception, which he re- pealed to me afterwards in conversation, and in publick to the citizens of Philadelphia, in answer to an address from them, that, on account of our remote situation and other circumstances, France did not expect that we should become a party to the war, but wished to see us pursue our prosperity and happiness in peace. In a conversation a few days after, Mr. Genet told me that M. de Ternant had delivered him my letter of May 15 ; he spoke some- thing of the case of (lie Grange, and then of the armament al Charleston; explained the circumstances which had led him to it before he had been received by the government and consulted its will; expressed a hope that the Presi- dent had not so absolutely decided against the measure but thai he would hear what was to be said in support of ,140 AMERICAN it ; that he would write me a letter on the subject, iu which he thought he could justify it under our treaty ; but that if the President should finally determine otherwise, he must submit : for that assuredly his instructions were to do what would be agreeable to us. He accordingly wrote the letter of May 27. The President took the case again into consideration, and found nothing in that letter which could shake the grounds of his former decision. My letter of June 5th, notifying this to him, his of June 8 and 14, mine of the 17th, and his again of the 22d, will show what further passed on this subject, and that he was far from retaining his disposition to acquiesce in the ulti- mate will of the President. It would be tedious to pursue this and our subsequent correspondences through all their details. Referring there- fore for these to the letters themselves, which shall accom- pany this, I will present a summary view only of the points of difference which have arisen, and the grounds on which the}' rest. . 1st. Mr. Genet asserts his right of arming in letters. June 8. , . , . . ation of a privateer is to attack and plunder, that of a merchant vessel is commerce and self-preservation. The article excludes the former from our ports, and from sell- ing what she has taken, that is, what she has acquired by war, to show it did not mean the merchant vessel, and what she had acquired by commerce. Were the merchant vessels, coming for our produce, forbidden to have any arms for their defence, every adventurer who has a boat, or money enough to buy one, would make her a privateer, our coasts would swarm with them, foreign vessels must cease to come, our commerce must be suppressed, our produce remain on our hands, or at least that great portion of it which we have not vessels to carry away, our ploughs must he laid aside, and agriculture suspended. This is a sacrifice no treaty could ever contemplate, and which we are not disposed to make out of mere complaisance to a false definition of the term privateer. Finding that the Jane had purchased new carriages to mount two or three additional guns, which she had brought in her hold, and that she had opened additional port-holes for them, the carriages were ordered to be relandcd, the additional port holes stopped, and her means of defence reduced to be exactly the same at her departure, as at her arrival. This was done on the general principle of allowing no parly to arm within our ports. 4th. The 17th article of our treaty leaves armed vessels free to conduct, whithersoever they please, the ships and j;oods taken from their enemies, without paying any duty. and to depart and be conducted freely to the places ex- pressed in their commissions, which the captain shall be obliged to show. It is evident, that this article does not contemplate a freedom to sell their prizes here ; but, on the 148 AMERICAN" contrary, a departure to some other place, always to be expressed in their commission, where their validity is to be finally adjudged. In such case, it would be as unrea- sonable to demand duties on the goods they had taken from an enemy, as it would be on the cargo of a merchant vesselj, touching in our ports for refreshment or advices. And against this the article provides. But the armed ves- sels of France have been also admitted to land and sell their prize goods here for consumption ; in which case, if. is as reasonable they should pay duties, as the goods of a merchantman, landed and sold for consumption. They have, however, demanded, and as a matter of right, to sell them free of duty ; a right, they say, given by this article of the treaty, though the article does not give the right to sell at all. Where a treaty does not give the principal right of selling, the additional one of selling duty free, can- not be given ; and the laws, in admitting the principal right of selling, may withhold the additional one of selling duty free. It must be observed, that our revenues are raised almost wholly on imported goods. Suppose prize goods enough should be brought in to supply our whole consumption. According to their construction, we are to lose our whole revenue. I put the extreme case, to evince more extremely the unreasonableness of the claim. Partial supplies would aifect the revenue but partially. They would lessen the evil, but not the errour, of the construc- tion. And I believe we may say with truth, that neither party had it in contemplation, when penning this article, to abandon any part of its revenue, for the encouragement of the sea robbers of the other. 5th. Another source of complaint with Mr. Genet, has been, that the English take French goods out of American vessels, which he says is against the law of nations, and ought to be prevented by us. On the contrary, we sup- pose it to have been long an established principle of the law of nations, that the goods of a friend are free in an enemy's vessel, and an enemy's goods lawful prize in the vessel of a friend. The inconvenience of this principle, which subjects merchant vessels to be stopped at sea, Bearchcd, ransacked, led out of their course, has induced several nations latterly to stipulate against it by treaty, and to substitute another in its stead, that free bottoms shall make free goods, and enemy bottoms enemy goods ; a rule equal to the other in point of loss and gain, but les& STATft PAPERS. 14.9 oppressive to commerce. As far as it has been intro- duced, it depends on the treaties stipulating it, and forms* exceptions in special cases to the general operation of the law of nations. We have introduced it into our treaties with France, Holland and Prussia ; and French goods found by the two latter nations in American bottoms, are not made prize of. It is our wish to establish it with other nations. But this requires their consent also, is a work of time, and in the mean while they have a right to act on the general principle, without giving to us, or to France, cause of complaint. Nor do I see that France can lose by it on the whole. For though she loses her goods when found in our vessels, by the nations with whom we have no treaties, yet she gains our goods, when found in the vessels of the same, and all other nations : and we believe the latter mass to be greater than the former. It is to be lamented, indeed, that the general principle has operated so cruelly in the dreadful calamity which has lately happened in St. Domingo. The miserable fugitives, who to save their lives, had taken asylum in our vessels, with such valuable and portable things as could be gather- ed in the moment, out of the ashes of their houses, and wrecks of their fortunes, have been plundered of these remains by the licensed sea rovers of their enemies. This has swelled, on this occasion, the disadvantages of the general principle that ' an enemy's goods are free prize in the vessel of a friend.' But it is one of those deplorable and unforeseen calamities to which they expose them- selves who enter into a state of war, furnishing to us an. awful lesson to avoid it. by justice and moderation, and not. a cause or encouragement to expose our towns to the same burnings and butcheries, nor of complaint because we do not. 6th. In a case like the present, where the missionary of one government construes differently from that to which he is sent, the treaties and laws which are to form a com- mon rule of action for hoth, it would be unjust in either to claim an exclusive right of construction. Each nation has an equal right to expound the meaning of their com- mon rules ; and reason and usage have established, in such cases, a convenient and well understood train of proceeding. It is the right and duty of the foreign mis- sionary to urge his own constructions, to support them tvith reasons which may convince, and in terms of decency 1 50 AMSRICAti and respect which may reconcile, the government of the country to a concurrence. It is the duty of that govern- ment to listen to his reasonings with attention and candour, and to yield to them when just. But if it shall still ap- pear to them that reason and right are on their side, it follows of necessity that, exercising the sovereign powers of the country, they have a right to proceed on their own constructions and conclusions as to whatever is to be done within their limits. The minister then refers the case to his own government, asks new instructions, and in the mean time acquiesces in the authority of the country. His government examines his constructions, abandons them, if wrong, insists on them, if right, and the case then becomes a matter of negotiation between the two nations. Mr. Genet, however, assumes a new and a bolder line of conduct. After deciding for himself ultimately, and with- out respect to the authority of the country, he proceeds to do, what even his sovereign could not authorize ; to put himself, within the country, on a line with its govern- ment, act as co-sovereign of the territory, arms vessels, levies men, gives commissions of war independently of them, and in direct opposition to their orders and efforts. When the government forbids their citizens to arm and engage in the war, he undertakes to arm and engage them. When they forbid vessels to be fitted in their ports tor cruising on nations with whom they are at peace, he commissions them to fit and cruise. When they forbid an unceded jurisdiction to be exercised within their territory by foreign agents, he undertakes to uphold that exercise, and to avow it openly. The privateers Citizen Genet and Sans Culottes, having been fitted out at Charleston (though without permission of the government, yet be- fore it was forbidden) the President only required they might, leave our ports, and did not interfere with their prizes. Instead, however, of their quitting our ports, the Sans Culottes remains still, strengthening and equipping herself, and the Citizen Genet went out only to cruise on our coast, and to brave the authority of the country by re- turning into port again with her prizes. Though in the letter of June 5th, the final determination of the President was communicated, that no future armaments in our ports should be permitted, the Vainqueur de la Bastille, was afterwards equipped and commissioned in Charleston, the Anti-George, in Savannah, the Carajnagnole, in Delaware. STATE PAPERS. . 151 a schooner, and a sloop, in Boston, and the Polly or Re- publican was attempted to be equipped in New York, and was the subject of reclamation by Mr. Gene', in a style which certainly did not look like relinquishing .ne practice. The Little Sarah or Little Democrat was armed, equipped and manned, in the port of Philadelphia, under the very eye of the government, and as if meant to insult it. Hav- ing fallen down the river, and being evidently on the point of departure for a cruise, Mr. Genet was desired, in my letter of July 12th, on the part of the President, to detain her till some inquiry and determination on the case should be had. Yet within three or four days after, she was sent out by orders from Mr. Genet himself, and is at this time cruising on our coasts, as appears by the protest oi the master of one of our vessels malctreated by her. The government thus insulted and set at defiance by Mr. Genet, committed in its duties and engagements to others, determined still to see in these proceedings but the character of the individual; and not to believe, and it does not believe, that they are by instructions from his employers. They had assured the British minister here, that the vessels already armed in their ports should be obliged to leave them, and that no more should be armed in them. Yet more had been armed, and those before armed, had either not gone away, or gone only to return with new prizes. They now informed him that the order for departure should be enforced, and the prizes made con- trary to it should be restored or compensated. The same thing was notified to Mr. Genet, in my letter of August 7th ; and, that he might not conclude the promise of com- pensation to be of no concern to him, and go on in his courses, he was reminded that it would be a fair article of account against his nation. Mr. Genet, not content with using our force, whether we will or not, in the military line, against nations with whom we are at peace, undertakes also to direct the civil government ; and particularly for the executive and legis- lative bodies, to pronounce what powers may, or may not be exercised by the one or the other. Thus in his letter of June 8th, he promises to respect the political opinions of the President, till the Representatives shall have confirmed or rejected them, as if the President had undertaken to decide what belonged to the decision of Congress. Inhi letter of June Mth. he says more, openlv that \h<: Presi- 152. AMERICAN dent ought not to have taken on himself to decide on the subject of the letter, but that it was of importance enough to have consulted Congress thereon ; and in that of June 22d, he tells the President, in direct terms, that Congress ought already to have been occupied on certain questions which he had been too hasty in deciding : Thus making himself, and not the President, the judge of the powers ascribed by the constitution to the Executive, and dictating to him the occasion when he should exercise the power of convening Congress, at an earlier day than their own act had prescribed. On the following expressions no commentary shall be. made. July 9. ' Les principes philosophiques proclamees par le President.'* June 22. ' Les opinions privecs ou publiques de M. le President, et cette egide ne paroissant pas suffisante.'t June 22. ' Le gouvernement federal s'est empresse^ pousse par je ne serais quelle influence. 'J June 22. ' Je ne puis attribuer des demarches de cette nature qu'a des impressions etrangeres dont le tems et le verite triompheront.' June 25. ' On poursuit avec acharncment, en vertu des instructions de M. le President, les armateurs Fran$ais.'U June 14. ' Ce refus tend a accomplir le systeme infernal du roi d'Anglcterre, et des autres rois ses accomplices, pour faire perir par la famine les republicans Franais avec la liberte.'** June 8. ' La lache abandon de ses amis.'tt July 25. En vain le desir de conserver la paix fait-il sacrifier les interets de la France a cet interet du mo- ment; en vain le soif des richesses Pemportet-elle sur 1'honneur dans la balance politique de l'Amerique, tous TRANSLATIONS OF THE FRENCH PASSAGES. * 4 The philosophical principles proclaimed by the President.' t ' The opinions private or publick of the President, and this Egis not appearing to you sufficient.' % ' The federal government has been eager, urged by I know not what influence.' $ l I cannot ascribe measures of this nature, but to extraneous impres- sions, over w hieh time and truth will triumph.' 1f ' They pursue with rage the French privateers by N the orders of the President.' ** ' This refusal tends to accomplish the infernal system of the king of .England and of the other kings, his accomplices, to destroy by famine French freemen and freedom.' +t ; The cttwaaxUv abandonment of their friend 1 .' S3 1 ATE PAPERS. 153 es menagemens, toute cette condcscendance, toute cette humilile n'aboutissent a rien ; nos ennemis en rient, et les Francis trop confiants sont punis pour avoir cru quo la nation Americaine, avoit un pavilion, qu'elle avoit quelque egard pour scs loix, quelque conviction de ses forces, et qu'elle tenoit au sentiment de sa dignitc. II ne m'est pas possible de peindre toute ma sensibilite sur ce scandale qui tend a la diminution de votre commerce, a l'opprcssion du notre, et a l'abaissement, a l'avilissement des repub- liques. Si nos concitoyens ont ete tromp^s, si vous n'etes point en etat de soutenir la souverainete de votre peuple, parlez ; noes l'avons garantie quand nous etions esclaves, nous saurons la rendre redoutable etant devenus libres.'i We draw a veil over the sensations which these expres- sions excite. No words can render them ; but they will not escape the sensibility of a friendly and magnanimous nation, who will do us justice. We see in them neither the portrait of ourselves, nor the pencil of our friends ; but an attempt to embroil both ; to add still another nation to the enemies of his country, and to draw on both a reproach, which it is hoped will never stain the history of either. The written proofs, of which Mr. Genet was himself the bearer, were too unequivocal to leave a doubt that the French nation are constant in their friendship to us. The resolves of their national convention, the letters of their executive council, attest this truth in terms which render it necessary to seek, in some other hypothesis, the solution of Mr. Genet's machinations against our peace ind friend- ship. Conscious, on our part, of the same friendly and sincere dispositions, we can with truth aiiirm, both for our nation X ' In vain the desire to preserve pence leads you to sacrifice the inter- ests of France to this interest of Die moment ; in vaiu the thirst of riche.* |>reponderates against honour in the political hajancc of America ; all (hi ; management, all these condescensions, all this humiliation, end in nothing. Our enemies laugh at it, and the French, too confident, are punished for having beKeved that the American nation had a flag ; that it had some respect for its laws ; some conviction of its force ; and that it had some j.' ntiment of its dignity. It is not possible for me to paint to you all my sensibility at this scandal, which tends to the diminution of your commerce. to the oppression of ours, and to the debasement and vilification of r<; publicks. 1 If our fellow-citizens have been deceived, if you are not in a condition vhen we were slaves, >\c know how to render it respectable being borons- free.' VOF.. J.- ?ft 154 Ak.ERICASf and government, that we have never omitted a reasonable Occasion of manifesting them. For I will not consider as of that character opportunities of sallying forth from our ports to waylay, rob, and murder defenceless merchants and others, who have done us no injury, and who were coming to trade with us in the confidence of our peace and amity. The violation of all the laws of order and morality which bind mankind together, would be an unac- ceptable offering to a just nation. Recurring then only to recent things, after so afflicting a libel, we recollect with satisfaction that in the course of two years, by un- ceasing exertions, we paid up seven years arrearages and instalments of our debt to France, which the inefficacy of our first form of government had suffered to be accumu- lating ; that pressing on still to the entire fulfilment of our engagements, we have facilitated to Mr. Genet the effect of the instalments of the present year, to enable him to send relief to his fellow citizens in France, threatened with famine ; that in the first moment of the insurrection which threatened the colony of St. Domingo, we stepped forward to their relief with arms and money, taking freely on ourselves the risk of an unauthorized aid, when delay would have been denial ; that we have received, according to our best abilities, the wretched fugitives from the catas- trophe of the principal town of that colony, who, escaping from the swords and flames of civil war, threw themselves onus naked and houseless, without food or friends, money or otker means, their faculties lost and absorbed in the depth of their distresses ; that the exclusive admission to sell here the prizes made by France on her enemies, in the present war, though unstipulated in our treaties, and unfounded in her own practice, or in that of other nations, as we believe ; the spirit manifested by the late grand jury in their proceedings against those who had aided the enemies of France with arms and implements of war ; the expression of attachment to his nation, with which Mr. Genet was welcomed, on his arrival and journey from south to north, and our long forbearance under his gross usurpations and outrages of the laws and authority of our country, do not bespeak the partialities intimated in his letters. And for these things he rewards us by endeavours to excite discord and distrust between our citizens and (hose whom they have intrusted with their government ; between the different branches of our government ; bc^ .staTe papers. 155 tween our nation and his. But none of these things, w hope, will be found in his power. That friendship, which dictates to us to bear with his conduct yet awhile, lest the interest of his nation here should suffer injury, will hasten them to replace an agent, whose dispositions are such a misrepresentation of theirs, and whose continuance here is inconsistent with order, peace, respect, and that friendly correspondence which we hope will ever subsist between the two nations. His government will see too that the case is pressing. That it is impossible for two sovereign and independent authorities to be going on within our ter- ritory, at the same time, without collision. They wilj foresee that if Mr. Genet perseveres in his proceedings, the consequences would be so hazardous to us, the exam- ple so humiliating and pernicious, that we may be forced even to suspend his functions before a successor can ar- rive to continue them. If our citizens have not already been shedding each others blood, it is not owing to the moderation of Mr. Genet, but to the forbearance of the government. It is well known that if the authority of the laws had been resorted to, to stop the Little Democrat, its officers and agents were to have been resisted by the crew of the vessel, consisting partly of American citizens. Such events are too serious, too possible, to be left to ha- zard, or to what is worse than hazard, the will of an agent whose designs are so mysterious. Lay the case then im- mediately before his government ; accompany it with as- surances, which cannot be stronger than true, that our friendship for the nation is constant and unabating; that, faithful to our treaties, we have fulfilled them in every point to the best of our understanding ; that if in any thing, however, we have construed them amiss, we are ready to enter into candid explanations, and to do what- ever we can be convinced is right ; that in opposing the extravagances of an agent, whose character they seem not MtHiciently to have known, we have been urged by motives of duty to ourselves, and justice to others, which cannot but be approved by those who are just themselves ; and, finally, that, after independence and self-government, there is nothing we more sincerely wish than perpetual friendship witli them. I have the honour to be, &c. Til: JEFFERSON. Note. A copy of the preceding letter was sent endowed by the secretary of state to Mr. Genet, lo6 AMERICAN Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Stale, to Mr. Morris, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to France. Phila- delphia, Aug. 23, 1793. Dear Sir, The letter of the 16th instant, with it* documents accompanying this, will sufficiently inform you of the transactions, which have taken place between Mr. Genet, the minister of France, and the government here, and of the painful necessity they have brought on, of de- siring his recall. The letter has been prepared, in the view of being itself, with its documents, laid before the executive of the French government. You will, therefore. *be pleased to lay it before them, doing every thing which can be done on your part, to procure it a friendly and dispassionate reception and consideration. The Presi- dent would indeed think it greatly unfortunate, were they to take it in any other light ; and, therefore, charges you, very particularly, with the care of presenting this pro- ceeding in the most soothing view, and as the result of an unavoidable necessity on his pari. Mr. Genet, soon after his arrival, communicated the de- cree of the National Convention of February 15, 1793, authorizing their executive to propose a treaty with us, on liberal principles, such as might strengthen the bonds of good will, which unite the two nations; and informed us in a letter of May 23, that he was authorized to treat ac- cordingly. The .Senate being then in recess, and not to meet ag;tin till the fall, I apprized Mr. Genet that the participation in matters of treaty, given by the constitution to that branch of our government, would, of course, delay any definitive answer to his friendly proposition. As he was sensible of this circumstance, the matter has been un- derstood to lie over, till the meeting of Senate. You will be pleased, therefore, to explain to the executive of France this delay, which has prevented, as yet, our formal acces- sion to their proposition to treat : to assure them, that the President will meet them, with the most friendly disposi- tions, on the grounds of treaty proposed by the National Convention, as soon as he can do it in the forms of the constitution ; and you will, of course, suggest for this pur- pose, that the powers of Mr. Genet be renewed to his successor. Since my last, which was of the 13th of June, ydur Nos. 25, 26, 27 of March 26th, April 4th and 5th have been STATE PAPERS. 157 received. The publick papers sent herewith, will give you the current news of the country. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Repub- lish zcith the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, Sept. 1 8, 1 793, 2d year of the French Republick, one and indivisible. Sir, Persuaded that the sovereignty of the United States resides essentially in the people, and its represen- tation in the Congress ; persuaded that the executive pow- er is the only one which has been confided to the|Prcsi- dent of the United States ; persuaded that this magistrate has not the right to decide questions, the discussion of which, the constitution reserves particularly to the Con- gress ; persuaded that he has not the power to bend existing treaties to circumstances, and to change their sense ; persuaded that the league formed by all the ty- rants to annihilate republican principles, founded on the lights of man, will be the object of the most serious delibe- rations of Congress, I had deferred, in the sole view of maintaining good harmony between the free people of America and France, communicating to my government, before the epoch at which the representatives of the peo- ple were to assemble, the original coixespondence which has taken place, in writing, between you and myself, on the political rights of France in particular ; on the in- terests of general liberty ; and on the acts, proclamations, and decisions of the President of the United States, rela- tive to objects which require, from their nature, the sanc- tion of the legislative body : however, informed that the gentlemen who have been painted to me so often, as aris- tocrats, partisans of monarchy, partisans of England, of her constitution, and consequently enemies of the princi- ples which all good Frenchmen have embraced, with a re- ligious enthusiasm, alarmed at the popularity which was reflected on the minister of France, by the affection of the American people for the French Republick, and for the glorious cause which it defends, equally alarmed at my unshaken and incorruptible attachment to the severe max- ims of democracy, were labouring to ruin me in my coun- try, after having re-united all the efforts to calumniate me in the view of their fellow citizens, I was going to begin 1S8 AMERICAN fo collect these afflicting materials, and I was taking mea- sures to transmit them to France with my reports, when the denunciation which these same men have excited the Pre- sident to exhibit against me, through Mr. Morris, came to my hands. Strong in the principles which have directed my conduct, sheltered from every well founded reproach, I expected, nevertheless, to have found in it some serious allegations ; but what has been my astonishment on find- ing, that the American people were more outraged in it than myself, that it was supposed that I exercised over them a sovereign influence, that it was pretended that I was making them take a part in the war of liberty, for the defence of their brethren, of their allies, against the inten- tion of their government ; that judgments favourable to our interests, rendered in the midst of the acclamations of the citizens of Philadelphia, by juries and by indepen- dent tribunals, have not been the expression of a severe justice ; in short, that I was a power within another pow- er. Such strange accusations, proving only that the Ame- rican people loves and supports our principles and our cause, in spite of its numerous enemies, and that the pow- er which they do me the honour to attribute to me, is only that of gratitude struggling against ingratitude, of truth combating errour, I will send no other justification of my conduct. 1 will join only in support of the opinions which I meant to profess, some writings which have been pub- lished here, such as those of Veritas and of Hehidius, &c. As to the personal outrages, as to the doubts which you insinuate on my devotion to the union of the people, 1 have reason to believe they will not make a great impres- sion, when the answers shall be recurred to, which I made to the numerous addresses which your fellow citizens deigned to present me : when it shall be recollected that placed at the age of twelve years in the bureau of foreign affairs, it was I who had the advantage of contributing to penetrate the French with the spirit of 1776 and 1777, by translating into our tongue, under the direction of my fa- ther, then head of the bureau, the greater part of your laws and of the writings of your politicians ; that since that epoch, always faithful to the cause of liberty, I have rendered 1o the Americans, in the different employments J have had, all the services which depended on me ; and that, in fine, charged to represent the French people, with the first people who have proclaimed the rights o$ &TATE PAPERS'. 155 man. knowing how far our ancient government had put liberticide shackles on the commerce and on the intimacy of our two nations, I have neglected nothing to obtain, on the one hand, the liberal basis on which the new bands which the French people desire to contract with the Unit- ed States were to be negotiated, in order that on the other, the federal government might be sensible how urgent it was to occupy themselves promptly on the conclusion of this true family compact, which was for ever to unite the political and commercial interests of two people equally objects of the hatred of all tyrants ; besides, sir, whatever may be the result of the achievement of which you have rendered yourself the generous instrument, after having, made me believe that you were my friend, after having initiated me into mysteries which have inflamed my hatred against all those who aspire to an absolute power, there is an act of justice, which the American people, which the French people, which all free people are interested to re- claim ; that is, that there be made a particular inquiry, iu the next Congress, of the motives on which the head of the executive power of the United States has taken on him- self to demand the recall of a publick minister, whom tho sovereign people of the United States had received fra- ternally and recognised, before the diplomatic forms had been fulfilled with respect to him, at Philadelphia. It is in the name of the French people, that I am sent tp their brethren to free and sovereign men : it is thctt for the representatives of the American people, and not for a single man, to exhibit against me an act of accusa- tion, if I have merited it. A despot may singly permit himself to demand from another despot the recall of his representative, and to order his expulsion in case of refur gal. This is what the empress of Russia did with respect to myself, from Louis xvi. But in a free state it cannot he so, unless order be entirely subverted ; unless the peo- ple in a moment of blindness, chooses to rivet their fetters^ in making to a single individual the abandonment of their most precious rights. I pray you, then, sir, to place under the eyes of the President of the United States, the demand which I make in the^ name of equity, to lay before Con- gress for their discussion at the epoch when they shall be assembled by the law, if the great events which occupy the universe <)o not appear yet sufficient to hasten their convocation, Lsfs ATI fhe questions relative to the poltO* 160 AMERICAN cal rights of France and the United States. 2d. The dif- ferent cases resulting from our state of war with the pow- ers of whose acts of aggression I have informed you. 3d. The heads ol accusation "which the minister of the United States with the French Republick is charged to exhibit against me, and against the consuls whose character is compromitted and outraged, in the most scandalous manner, for having obeyed superior orders, which it was neither in their power nor in mine to revoke. In this expectation, sir, I do not consider the dignity of the French nation as compromitted by the ex- traordinary position in which I find myself, as well as the consuls, and I have to complain only of the forms you have employed. The executive council of the French Republick had also complaints of a very different nature from those al- leged against me, to exhibit against Mr. Morris, your am- bassador at Paris ; but penetrated with a just sentiment of respect for the sovereignty of the American people, it re- commended to me only to make confidential observations to you on the necessity of recalling this minister plenipo- tentiary accused by the publick voice of facts established, but not by the representatives of the people, after a regu- lar inquiry, of having favoured as much as he could, the counter revolutionary projects of Louis xvi., of communi- cating to him memoirs, in which he advised him not to accept the constitution ; of having had no connections but with suspected persons ; of having affected the greatest contempt for all those who served faithfully the cause of the people ; of having been die channel of the counsels which conducted La Fayette into the prisons of Prussia ; of having abused the respect of the French people for the envoy of the American people, to facilitate more surely the correspondence and the conspiracies of all its enemies ; of having shown nothing but ill humour in his relations with the ministers of the French Republick ; of having affected, in writing to them, to employ, in speaking of the Executive of the United States, only the words '".in the name of my court," so shocking to republican ears ; of having demanded a pas.- port the 10th August, 1792, to go into England with the ambassador of George in. ; and of having said publickly, with a confidence which the present event justifies, that if the embassy of the Republick should be received at Philadelphia, its existence and that of the STATB PAPERS. 16! republican consuls in America would not be of long dura- tion there. I have already mentioned to you, sir, some of these im- putations ; but, as I have already told you, out of respect for the sovereignty of the United States, I thought I should leave to their wisdom the care of taking measures, the most suitable to reconcile their dignity with what their prudence might require. JNot doubting, sir, that the justice which I require will be done me, as well as my co-operators, I ought to inform you, that I am about to have printed all my correspon- dence with you, all my instructions, and all those of the consuls, in order that the American people, whose esteem is dearer to me than life, may judge if I have been worthy or not of the fraternal reception which it deigned to give me; if in all my official papers I have not expressed my respect for that virtuous nation and my confidence in the purity of their sentiments ; if I have insisted on a single principle, which has not been supported since, by deci- sions of thwjuries or tribunals of the country; if in acting and in expressing myself with the frankness and the ener- gy of a republican, I have attacked the constitution ; if I have refused respect to a single law : in fine, if, in reclaim- ing with all the firmness which was prescribed to me, the faithful execution of our treaties, I have not endeavoured to encourage the federal government to employ the only means, worthy of a great people, to preserve peace and to enjoy the advantages of neutrality an useful object, not to be obtained by timid and uncertain measures, by premature proclamations, which seem extorted by fear, by a partial impartiality, which sours your friends without satisfying your enemies, but by an attitude firm and pro- nounced, which apprizes all the powers that the very legi- timate desire of enjoying the sweets of peace has not made you forget what is due to justice, to gratitude, and that without ceasing to be neutral, yon may fulfil publick engagements, contracted with your friends in a moment when you were yourselves in danger. I will answer more in detail, sir, at a proper time, to your violent diatribe ; but it contains one fact on which I must now give you explanations. You are made to re- proach me with having indiscreetly given to my official proceeding? a tone of colour, which has induced a belief, that they did nut know, in France, either mv character or, vol.. h 21 1U2 AMERICAN" my manners. I will tell you the reason, sir : it is that a pure and warm blood runs with rapidity in my veins ; that I love passionately my country ; that I adore the cause of liberty ; that I am always ready to sacrifice my life to it ; that to me, it appears inconceivable, that all the enemies of tyranny, that all virtuous men, do not march with us to the combat ; and that when I find an injustice is done t(J my fellow citizens, that their interests are not espoused with the zeal which they merit, no considerations in the world would hinder either my pen or my tongue from tracing, |from expressing my pain. I will tell you then without ceremony, that I have been extremely wounded, sir, 1st, that the President of the United States was in a hurry, before knowing what I had to transmit to him, on the part of the French Republick, to proclaim sentiments, on which decency and friendship should at least have drawn a veil. 2d. That he did not speak to me at my first audience but of the friendship of the United States towards France, without saying a word to me, without an- nouncing a single sentiment on our revolution^ while all the towns from Charleston to Philadelphia, had made the- air resound with their most ardent wishes for the French Republick. 3d. That he had received and admitted to a private audience, before my arrival, Noailles and Talon, known agents of the French counter-revolutionists, who have since had intimate relations with two members of the federal government. 4th. That this first magistrate of a free people decorated his parlour with certain me- dallions of Capet and his family, which served at Paris as signals of rallying. 5th. That the first complaints which were made to my predecessor on the armaments and prizes which took place at Charleston on my arrival, were in fact, but a paraphrase of the notes of the English minis- ter. 6th. That the Secretary of War, to whom I com- municated the wish of our governments of the Windward Islands, to receive promptly some fire-arms and some can- non, which might put into a state of defence possession? guarantied by the United States, had the front to answer me with an ironical carelcsness. that the principles estab- lished by the President, did not permit him to lend us so much as a pistol. 7th. That the Secretary of the Trea- sury, with whom I had a conversation on the proposition which I had made to convert almost the whole American debt, by means of an operation of finance authorized by STATE PAPERS. 163 law, into flour, rice, grain, salted provisions, and other objects of which France had the most pressing need, added to the refusal which he had already- made officially of favouring this arrangement, the positive declaration, that even if it were practicable, the United States could not consent to it, because England would not fail to consider this extraordinary reimbursement furnished to a nation with which she is at war, as an act of hostility. 8th. That by instructions from the President of the United States, the American citizens who ranged themselves under the banners of France, have been prosecuted and arrested ; a crime against liberty unheard of, of which a virtuous and popular jury avenged with eclat the defenders of the best of causes. 9th. That incompetent tribunals were suffered to take cognizance of facts relative to prizes which treaties interdict them expressly from doing ; that on the acknowledgment of their incompetence, this pro- perty, acquired by the right of war, was taken from us, that it was thought ill of, that our consuls protested against these arbitrary acts, and that as a reward for his devotion to his duty, the one at Boston was imprisoned as a male- factor. 10th. That the President of the United States took on himself to give to our treaties arbitrary interpre- tations, absolutely contrary to their true sense, and that by a series of decisions which they would have us receive as laws, he left no other indemnification to France for the blood she spilt, for the treasure she dissipated in fighting for the independence of the United States, but the illu- sory advantage of bringing into their ports the prizes made on their enemies, without being able to sell them. 11th. That no answer is yet given to the notification of ihc decree of the National Convention for opening our ports in the two worlds to the American citizens, and granting the same favours to them, as to the French citizens; advantages which will cease if there be a con- tinuance to treat us with the same injustice. 12th. That lie has deferred in spite of my respectful insinuations, to convoke Congress immediately, in order to take the I rue sentiments of the people, to fix the political sys- tem of the United Stales, and to decide whether they will break, suspend, or tighten their bands with France; an honest measure which would have avoided to the federal government much contradiction and subterfuge, to me much pain and disgust, to the local government 5 . J64 AMERICAN embarrassments, so much the greater, as they found themselves placed between treaties, which are laws, and decisions of the federal government, which are not: in fine, to the tribunals, duties so much the more painful to fulfil, as they have been often under the necessity of giving judgments contrary to the intentions of the go- vernment. It results from all these facts, sir, that I could not but be profoundly affected with the conduct of the federal go- vernment towards my country, a conduct so contrary to what the will of their sovereign, to what the proceedings of mine gave me reason to expect : and that if I have shown firmness, it is because it was indispensable that my resistance should be equal to the oppression, to the injustice, which were in opposition to the interests con- fided to me ; it is, that it was not in my character to speak as many people do, in one way, and act in another ; to have an official language, and a language confidential. I have done strictly my duty ; I have defended my ground, and I will suffer no precedent against any of the rights of the French people while there remains to me a breath of life ; while our two republicks shall not have changed the basis of their political and commercial relations, while they shall not have persuaded the American people that it is more advantageous for them to become insensibly the slaves of England, the passive tributaries of their com- merce, the sport of their politicks, than to remain the allies of the only power who may be interested to defend their sovereignty and their independence ; to open to them their colonies, and to their riches those markets which double their value. If it be to this that tend all the machinations set in motion against the French republicans, and against their friends in the United States : if it be to attain this more conveniently, that they wish to have here, instead of a democratick ambassador, a minister of the ancient regi- men, very complaisant, very mild, well disposed to pay his court to people in place, to conform himself blindly to whatsoever may flatter their views and their projects, and to prefer above all to the modest and sure society of good farmers, plain citizens, honest artisans, that of distinguished personages, who speculate so patriotically on the publick funds, on the lands and paper of the state, I know not if jhc French Republick can find for you at this day such a- i#au in their bosom.i but in all events., sir. I can assure von. STATE PAPER4. 165 that I will press very strongly its government to sacrifice me without hesitation, if this injustice offers the least utility. Accept my respects, GENET. Note. This letter was one among several others which were received at the Secretary of State's office in Phila- delphia, there formed into a packet, September 30, ad- dressed to him, and forwarded by pest to Virginia. By some accident of the post, they did not get on to him in Virginia, were returned to Philadelphia, and there re* ceived by him only the 2d day of December. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hammond, Mini- ster Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1793. Sir, I am honoured with yours of August 30th : mine of the 7th of that month assured you, that measures were taking for excluding from all further asylum in our ports vessels armed in them to cruise on nations with which we are at peace, and for the restoration of the prizes, the Lovely Lass, Prince William Henry, and the Jane of Dub- Jin, and that should the measures for restitution fail in their effect, the President considered it as incumbent on the Linked States to make compensation for the vessels. We are bound by our treaties with three of the bellige- rent nations, by all the means in our power, to protect and defend their vessels and effects in our ports or waters, or on the seas near our shores, and to recover, and restore the same to the right owners, when taken from them. If all the means in our power are used, and fail in their effect, we are not bound by our treaties with those nations to make compensation. Though we have no similar treaty with Great Britain, it was the opinion of the President, that we should use to- wards that nation the same rule, which, under this article, was to govern us with the other nations, and even to ex- tend it to the captures made on the high seas, and brought into our ports, if done by vessels which had been armed within them. Having, for particular reasons, forborne to use all the means in our power for the restitution of the three vessels mentioned in my letter of Augucst 7(h, the President 'thought it incumbent on the I T ;ufcd States to make com- 1G6 AMERICAN pensation for them : and though nothing was said in thai letter of other vessels taken under like circumstances, and brought in after the 5th June, and before the date' of that letter, yet, where the same forbearance had taken place, it was, and is his opinion, that compensation would be equally due. As to prizes made under the same circumstances, and brought in after the date of that letter, the President de- termined, that all the means in our power should be used for their restitution. If these fail, as we should not be bound by our treaties to make compensation to the other powers, in the analogous case, he did not mean to give an opinion, that it ought to be done to Great Britain. But. still y if any cases shall arise subsequent to that date, the circumstances of which shall place them on similar ground with those before it, the President would think compensa- tion equally incumbent on the United States. Instructions are given to the governours of the different states, to use all the means in their power for restoring prizes of this last description, found within their ports. Though they will, of course, take measures to be informed of them, and the general government has given them the aid of the customhouse officers for" this purpose, yet you will be sensible of the importance of multiplying the chan- nels of their information, as far as shall depend on your- self, or any persons under your direction, in order that the governours may use the means in their power for making restitution. Without knowledge of the capture, they can- not restore it. It will always be best to give the notice to them directly ; but any information, which you shall be pleased to send to me also, at any time, shall be forward- ed to them, as quickly as distance will permit. Hence you will perceive, sir, that the President con- templates restitution or compensation, in the cases before the 7th of August, and after that date, restitution, if it can be effected by any means in our power : and that it will be important, that you should substantiate the fact, that such prizes are in our ports or waters. Your list of the privateers illicitly armed in our ports L, I believe, correct. With respect to losses by detention, waste, spoliation, sustained by vessels taken as before mentioned, between the dates of June 5th and August 7th, it is proposed, as a pro- visional measure, that the collector of the customs of the STATE PAPERS. 16? district, and the British consul, or any other person you please, shall appoint persons to establish the value of the vessel and cargo, at the times of her capture and of her arrival in the port into which she is brought, according to the value in that port. If this shall be agreeable, and you will be pleased to signify it to me, with the names of the prizes understood to be of this description, instructions will be given accord- ingly to the collectors of the customs, where the respec- tive vessels are. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. Philadelphia, Sept. 7, 1793. Sir, Finding by the protests of several of the consuls of France, by their advertisements in the publick papers, and other proceedings, and by other sufficient testimony, that they claim, and are exercising, within the United States, a general admiralty jurisdiction, and in particular, assume to try the validity of prizes, and to give sentence thereon, as judges of admiralty ; and moreover, that they are undertaking to give commissions within the United States, and to enlist, or encourage the enlistment of men, uatives or inhabitants of these states, to commit hostilities on nations with whom the United States are at peace, in direct opposition to the laws of the land I have it in charge, from the President of the United States, to give notice to all the consuls and vice-consuls of France in thc> United States, as 1 hereby do to you, that if any of them shall commit any of the acts before mentioned, or assume any jurisdiction not expressly given by the convention be- tween France and the United States, the exequatur of the consul so transgressing will be ^immediately revoked, and his person be submitted to such prosecutions and punish- ments as the laws may prescribe for the care. I have the honour to be, &c. Til : JEFFERSON. Citizen Francois Dupont, Consul, Philadelphia. Citizen Moissonier, Vice Consul, Maryland. Citizen Mangourit, Consul, Charleston. The citizen llauterive, Consul from the Republic k o( France, at New York. ~\tr. Jefferson, Secretary of Slate, to Mr. Genet. Minister Ple- nipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, Sept. 9, 1793. Sir, In my letter of June 25th, on the subject of the rfhip William, and generally of vessels suggested ,r be 168 AMERICAN taken within the limits of the protection Of the United States, by the armed vessels of your nation, I undertook to assure you, it would be more agreeable to the President, that such vessels should be detained, under the orders of yourself, or the consuls of France, than by a military guard, until the government of the United States should be able to inquire into and decide on the fact. In two separate letters, of the 29th of the same month, I had the honour to inform you of the claims, lodged with the Executive, for the same ship William and the brig Fanny ; to enclose you the evidence on which they were founded, and to de- sire, that if you found it just, you would order the vessels to be delivered to the owners ; or if overweighed, in your judgment, by any contradictory evidence which you might nave or acquire, you would do me the favour to communi- cate that evidence, and that the consuls of France might retain the vessels in their custody, in the mean time, until the Executive of the United States should consider and decide finally on the subject. When that mode of proceeding was consented to for your satisfaction, it was by no means imagined it would have occasioned such delays of justice to the individuals interested. The President is still without information, either that the vessels are restored, or that you have any evidence to offer as to the place of capture. I am there- fore, sir, to repeat the request of early information on this subject, in order that if any injury has been done those interested, it may be no longer aggravated by delay. The intention of the letter of June 25th having been to permit such vessels to remain in the custody of the consuls, instead of that of a military guard, (which, in the case of the ship William, appeare4 to have been disagreeable to you) the indulgence was, of course, to be understood as going only to cases where the Executive might take or keep possession with a military guard, and not to interfere with the authority of the courts of justice, in any case wherein they should undertake to act. My letter of June 29, accordingly, in the same case of the ship William, in- formed you, that no power in this country could take a vessel out of the custody of the courts, and that it was only because they decided not to take cognizance of that case, that it resulted to the Executive to interfere in it. Consequently this alone put it in their power to leave the vessel in the hands of the consul. The courts of jus- STATE PAPERS. 1G9 i&ice exercise the sovereignty of this country in judiciary matters, are supreme in these, and liable neither to control nor opposition from any other branch of the government. We learn, however, from the enclosed paper, that the con- sul of New York, in the first instance, and yourself in a subsequent one, forbade an officer of justice to serve the process with which he was charged from his court, on the British brig William Tell, taken by a French armed vessel within a mile of our shores, as has been deposed on oath, and brought into New York, and that you had even given orders to the French squadron there to protect the vessel against any person who should attempt to take her from their custody. If this opposition were founded, as is there suggested, on the indulgence of the letters before cited, it was extending that to a case not within their purview ; and even had it been precisely the case to which they were to be applied, is it possible to imagine you might assert it, within the body of the country, by force of arms ? I forbear to make the observations which such a mea- sure must suggest, and cannot but believe, that a moment's reflection will evince to you the depth of the errour com- mitted in this opposition to an officer of justice, and in the means proposed to be resorted to in support of it. 1 am therefore charged to declare to you expressly, that the President expects and requires, that the officer of jus- tice be not obstructed in freely and peaceably serving the process of his court, and that, in the mean time, the vessel and her cargo be not suffered to depart, till the judiciary, if it will undertake it, or himself, if not, shall decide whe- ther the seizure has been made within the limits of our protection. I have the honour to bo, k.c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Philadelphia. Sept. 9. 1793. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your two memorials, of the 4th and 6th instant, which hstve been duly laid before the President of the United States. You cannot be uninformed of the circumstances whi< h have occasioned the French squadron, now in New York, 10 seek an asylum in the ports of the United Slates. Driven from those where they were on duty, by the superiority ity, and to refresh, victual, repair, &c. And so many are these urgent necessities, to vessels fir from their own ports, that we have thought inquiries into the nature, as well as the degree, of the STATE PAPERS. 173 necessities which drive them hither, as endless as they would be fruitless, and therefore have not made them : And the rather, because there is a third right, secured to neither by treaty, but due to both on the principles of hos- pitality between friendly nations, that of coming into our ports, not under the pressure of urgent necessity, but when- ever their comllort or convenience inclines them. On this ground also, the two nations are on a footing. As it has never been conceived, that either would detain their ships of war in our ports, when they were in a con- dition for action, we have never conceived it necessary to prescribe any limits to the time of their stay. Nor can it be viewed as an injury to either party, to let their enemies lie idle in our ports, from year's end to year's end, if they choose it. Thus then, the publick ships of war, of both nations, enjoy a perfect equality in our ports 1st, in cases of urgent necessity 2d, in cases of comfort or con- venience and 3d, in the time they choose to continue. And all a friendly power can ask of another is, to extend to her the same indulgences which she extends to other friendly powers. And though the admission of the prizes and privateers of France is exclusive, yet it is the elfect of treaty, made long ago, for valuable considerations, not with a view to present circumstances, nor against any nation in particular, but all in general, and may, therefore, be faithfully observed, without offence to any ; and we mean faithfully to observe it. And this has been expressly admitted, as was before observed, in our treaty with the United Netherlands. "VV ith respect to the usurpation of admiralty jurisdiction by the consuls of France, within these slates, the honour and rights of the states themselves were sufficient motives for the Executive to take measures to prevent its continu- ance, as soon as they were apprized of' it. They have been led, by particular considerations, to await the effect of these measures, believing they would be sufficient; but finding, at length, they were not, such others have been lately taken, as can no longer fail to suppress this irregu- larity completely. 1 have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. 174 A&ER1CAK The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Re- publick of France to the United States, to Mr. Jefferson. Secretary of State of the United States. New York, Sep- tember 6, %d year of the French Republick. Sir. I have just discovered the most horrible conspi- racy which has been formed against the arms of the French Republick : I have just discovered the whole clue and all the proofs of the infernal plot, which for these two months detained the French squadron in your ports in a state of nullity ; of that plot which threatened, not only the safety of our vessels, but also that of our colonial pos- sessions. The traitors Galbaud and Tanguy, and several other villains, not satisfied with having caused, at St. Domingo, the spilling of the blood of an immense number of people : not satisfied with having there caused the loss of a milliard to the Republick, concerted here, at Balti- more, and at Philadelphia, the project of bringing our forces to concur with them in the execrable plan medi- tated by these men, whose crimes have caused them to flee their country, to return to St. Domingo, for the pur- pose of renewing there the horrours and misfortunes which they have already had committed in that place. I have been informed that the success which the colonists of this place promised to themselves was nothing less than found- ed, as was that, the execution of which has lately been attempted in the Windward Islands, upon a proposed alli- ance with the enemies, now at war with the Republick, the English and the Spaniards. France, sir, in such circumstances, has required in Eu- rope of the neighbouring powers, that they oppose every preparation which may be attempted by the emigrants in their dominions against her safety. She expects from a friendly and allied government, that it will be sufficient to notify them of the plots forming against her in their own territory, in order to obtain from them all proper means to suppress them. I have effected the disarming of the vessel, which was in the most alarming state of rebellion ; but the instigators of it have fled, and 1 learn that they are spreading over the continent, where they cannot but he very injurious, as well to the tranquillity of this, as to the interests of their own country. I therefore request the federal government to take the raost speedy and efficacious measures to have them arresi- STATE PAPERS. 175 od, and thereby prevent them from committing the crimes which they might attempt. The governour and magistracy of New York have issued warrants against Galbaud, Tan- guy, Conscience, and Bonne ; but they have each escaped the activity of the persons sent to apprehend them. The traitors fly the punishment reserved for their crimes, and doubtless will employ themselves on new means of exe- cuting the plots they have formed against France. I have positive information that they are still within the confines of the United States ; and, as the warrants of New York cannot be served out of the bounds of the state, I particu- larly request from the federal government against the said Galbaud, Tanguy, Conscience, and Bonne, of whom 1 subjoin a description, orders of arrest which shall extend throughout the continent of the United States. I also request that the most strict and steady attention may be had relative to the plots I have mentioned. May this signal act, leaving no doubt as to tho sincerity of the wishes of the government of the United States, for the success of the French Republick, cause all the traitors to tremble, whom my esteem for your country has led me perhaps too much to despise, and who avail themselves of the access which the kindness and hospitality of your nation offer them, to conspire within its very bosom, and in the circle of its most elevated personages, against France and the general freedom of nations. GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, t Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, September 12, 1793. Sir, I have the honour of your letter of the 6th inst. and can assure you with real truth of the readiness and zeal with which the Executive will concur in preventing, within the limits of the United States, any preparation of hostilities against France or her colonies, as far as this can be effected by the extension of that portion of the publick power, with which they are invested by the laws. Your letter requests the arrest and delivery of Tanguy, Galbaud, Conscience, and Bonne, escaped from the ship Jupiter, and from the punishment of crimes committed against the Republick of France; and also that necessary measures be taken, to prevent the carrying into execution certain plots formed by them and others against their country. These two requisitions stand on different ground. ThV J76 AMERICAN laws of this country take no notice of crimes committed out of their jurisdiction. The most atrocious offender, coming within their pale, is received by them as an inno-- cent man, and they have authorized no one to seize or deliver him. The evil of protecting malefactors of every dye is sensibly felt here, as in other countries ; but until a reformation of the criminal codes of most nations, to de- liver fugitives from them, would be to become their accom- plices : the former therefore is viewed as the lesser evil. When the consular convention with France was under consideration, this subject was attended to : but we could agree to go no further than is done in the 9th article of that instrument, where we agree mutually to deliver up " captains, officers, mariners, sailors, and all other persons being part of the crews of vessels," &c. Unless therefore the persons before named be part of the crew of some vessel of the French nation, no person in this country is authorized to deliver them up, but on the contrary they are under the protection of the laws. If they are part of the crew of a vessel, they are to be delivered up : but then it happens that the district judge of each state is by the law of Congress made the competent person to execute this article of the convention, and consequently each within his own state, and no one over all the states ; so that as criminals they cannot be given up, and if they be of a crew of a vessel, the act of Congress has not given au- thority to any one officer to send his process through all .he states of the Union. The other branch of your request is more completely provided for by the laws, which au- thorize coercions as to expeditions formed in the territory of the United States against notions with whom they are at peace. If therefore you will be pleased to give me such information as to persons and places as may indicate to what points the vigilance of the officers is to be directed, proper measures will be immediately taken for preventing every attempt to make any hostile expedition from these states against any of the dominions of France ; the stronger the proofs you can produce, and the more pointed as to persons, the stronger will be the means of coercion which the laws will allow to be used. I have not yet laid this matter before the President, who is absent from the scat of government ; but to save delay which might be injurious, I have taken the liberty, as the case is plain, to give you this provisory answer. I shall STATE PAPERS. It? immediately communicate it to the President, and if he shall direct any thing in addition, or alteratibn, it shall be the subject of another letter. In the mean time, I may venture to let this be considered as a ground for your proceeding. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury. Philadelphia, Sept. 12, 1793. Sir, I have the honour to enclose you a paper deliver- ed me by Mr. Bournonville, on the part of the minister of France, reclaiming against the demand of tonnage on the vessels which came hither from the West Indies^ in their late calamity. It is urged, that they were driven out of their harbours by superior force, and obliged to put to sea without water or stores, and therefore, to make the first ports where they could be relieved ; which constitute, in their opinion, those circumstances of distress and neces- sity, which exempt vessels from the payment of tonnage. This case belongs to your department. I take the liberty, in the absence of the President, and to save time, to trans- mit it to you directly, for your consideration. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republick of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, September 24, 1793, 2d year of the Republick of France, Sir, I am charged to communicate to you the decree rendered by the National Convention, on the 13th of April last, by which they declare, " That the French people shall not intermeddle, in any manner, with the government of other powers ; but that they will not suffer any power to intermeddle with the interior administration of the Repub- lick, and pronouncing the penalty of death on whoever shall propose to negotiate or treat with enemy powers, who shall not have solemnly acknowledged the indepen- dence and sovereignty of the French Republick." When the French citizens, by the example of those of America, have thought proper to establish a government founded on the rights of man, it was to be expected, that they would find enemies in all those ambitious and eager for authority in all the cabinets in which Machiavelismt vor,. r. 23 lit AMERICAN is honoured ; and when the French people, soured, fatigued with the dark machinations of their enemies, their publick attacks, the insults contained in the acts of the despotick courts, of governments tending to monarchy, have thought proper to repel these perfidies by acts marked with the stamp of loyalty, greatness, philosophy, even at the instant their vile enemies reported that they wished to annihilate all the governments, to destroy all authority, to spread trouble and confusion throughout, as if to oppose a provo- cation was not a natural right, as if a great people, victim of the particular hatred of the government of another people, had not the right to retaliate their fears, to en- lighten them as to their errours, and to endeavour, by these pleasant and just means, to ward off great misfortunes, even to prevent war. Be this as it may, the National Convention has thought it a duty to assure the friends of humanity, and to shut the mouths of their enemies, to pro- claim the intentions of the French people, whose agents will show, in every circumstance, that they know as well how to respect the laws of other people, as to defend those of the French nation, and to maintain their rights. Accept my respect, GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France, Monticello, in Virginia, Oct, 2, 1793. Sir, I was honoured, yesterday, with your letter of the 14th of September, covering the commission of the citizen Dannery, to be consul of the Republick of France, at Boston. I now lay the same, by letter, before the President, to obtain his exequatur, which will be forwarded to you with the commission. The exequatur is made exactly commensurate with the commission ; but I appre- hend, that neither is so with the intentions of the executive council, who probably did not mean to confine the func- tions of Mr. Dannery to the township of Boston. Should this be the case, you will be sensible of the expediency of' obtaining for him, as early as possible, a new commission, defining the limits of his office, as extensively as they mean he shall exercise them, to which a new exequatur being adapted, their intentions will be fulfilled. Satisfied that errours in the address of their commissions proceed from a want of intimacy with our constitution, no 3TATB PAPERS. 179 difficulty has been made, on that account, in the case of the present commission. But it is my duty to remark to you, that, by our constitution, all foreign agents are to be addressed to the President of the United States, no other branch of the government being charged with the foreign communications. I have no doubt you will draw the atten- tion of your government to this circumstance of form in future commissions. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. George Washington, President of the United States of Ame* rica, to all whom it may concern : The citizen Dannery, having produced to me his com- mission, as consul for the Republick of France, at Boston, I do hereby recognise him as such, and do declare him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers and privileges, as are allowed to consuls of the French Republick by the laws, treaties, and conventions, in that case made and pro- vided. In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the United States to be here- unto affixed. Given under my hand, the day of , in the year of our Lord 1793, and the independence of the United States of America the 18th. By the President.. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of Slate, to Mr. Duplaine, Vict Consul of France, at Boston. October 3, 1793. Sir, Authentick information being received, that, under colour of your office, as vice-consul of the Republick of France, you have, with an armed force, opposed the course of the laws of the land, and rescued out of the hands of an officer of justice a vessel which he had arrested by autho- rity of a precept from his court : The President of the United Sates has considered it as inconsistent with the au- thority of the laws, and the respect which it is his office to enforce to them, that you should any longer be permit- ted to exercise the functions, or enjoy the privileges, of vice-consul in these United Stales ; and has therefore thought proper, by the letters patent, of which I enclose you a copy, to revoke the exequatur heretofore granted 180 AMERICAS you, and to make the same publick. I have the honour, also, to enclose copies of the evidence whereon this mea- sure is founded. And to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, SS. THE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE MARSHAL OF OUR DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, OR HIS DEPUTY. Greeting : We command you, that you replevy the goods and chat- tels following, viz. A certain schooner called the Grey- hound, of the burden of forty tons or thereabouts, whereof John Henry Hill was late master, together with her boat, rigging, tackle, apparel, and furniture whatsoever, also the cargo of said schooner, now on board the same, consisting of ninety-five thousand mackerel, in bulk, equal to four hundred barrels The same goods and chattels belonging to Alexander Brymer and Andrew Belcher, of Halifax, in the province of Nova Scotia, merchants, now taken and detained by Lewis Guilliaume Felix Laumosne, of Boston, in said district, at Boston harbour, so called in Boston aforesaid ; and them deliver unto the said Brymer and Belcher ; provided the same are not taken and detained upon mean process, warrant of distress, or upon execu- tion, as the property of the said Brymer and Belcher ; and summon the said Lewis, that he appear before our justices of our circuit court, next to be holden at Boston, within and for our district of Massachusetts, on the twelfth day of October next, to answer unto the said Brymer and Belcher in a plea of replevin, for that the said Lewis, on the twenty-first day of August instant, at said Boston, un- lawfully, and without any justifiable cause, took the goods and chattels of the said Brymer and Belcher as aforesaid, and them unlawfully detained to this day, to the damage of the said Brymer and Belcher, as they say, the sum of two thousand dollars : Provided, they the .said Brymer and Belcher shall give bond to the said Lewis, with sufficient surety or sureties, in the sum of four thousand dollars, be- ing twice the value of the said goods and chattels, to pro- secute the said replevin to final judgment, and to pay such damages and costs as the said Lewis shall recover against SfATE PAPERS. 18l him ; and also to return and restore the same goods and chattels, in like good order and condition as when taken, in case such shall be the final judgment. And have } r ou there this writ, with your doings herein, together with the bond you shall take. Witness John Jay, Esquire, at Bos- ton, this twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three. N. GOODALE, Clerk. A true copy. Attest. SAML. BRADFORD, Dy. Marsl. / Thomas Amory, jun. depose : That on the 22d day of August, at the request of C. Gore, Esq. and general Brooks, I went with the latter on board the frigate La Concorde, introduced him to the cap- tain and informed captain Van Dogen, that general Brooks was marshal of this district, and waited on him relative to the schooner which colonel Bradford had attempted to replevin, but was interrupted in the service of his precept by an armed force, sent by his order from on board the frigate, that general Brooks wished to converse with him, and the consul on the subject when convenient. Soon after the company withdrew, when general Brooks in pre- sence of the captain, consul, justice Cooper and myself, told the captain, that colonel Bradford, his deputy, had been interrupted in serving a precept on the schooner Greyhound, taken by the privateer, pointing to the vessel under the frigate's stern, by an armed force under his orders, and that he had waited on him to demand a sur- render of the vessel to colonel Bradford his deputy mar- shal, when the captain expressed his dislike to the taking (he Americans out of the privateer and prizes the day be- fore to colonel Bradford, serving the precept that ho received orders from the consul to withhold and protect, that it was his duty and he certainly should protect her. The consul said that any vessel wearing the national flag of the Republick of France, of course, was entitled to his protection ; when general Brooks put this case, should a French merchantman be attached in this port by a citizen of the United States, would you consider it your duty to fake that vessel under your protection against the process ? The captain answered in the affirmative the captain afterwards told me that he had written to the govemour, 182 AMERICAS and that if he demanded the prize, he must of course rev linquish her, forwarding the governour's reply with copy of his letter to the minister of France. The consul then appointed to meet at his lodgings in the evening, where I accompanied general Brooks, and after much conversation, the consul said, he did not wish to oppose force to the execution of our laws, that he left the frigate in a great hurry, or he should then have given orders to captain Van Dogen to withdraw his men out of the prize, and leave her to the control of colonel Bradford, and that he would then do it, hut should at the same time protest against the business. At that moment Mr. Jutau came into the room, and said a few words to the consul in French, the consul turned about and said he should not relinquish the vessel, when I reminded him of what he had just before promised he said again, he was sorry for the difficulty. The mar- shal then said, that a great deal had passed on the subject, and he now wished a categorical answer to his demand - the general wished to know if he was to understand, that he, the consul, refused to allow colonel Bradford to take charge of the vessel, the consul said he did not, certainly did not, wish to oppose force to the officers of law in this country. Said he wished them to write, and promised to answer, conclusively, in the morning. Friday morning, August 24, 3 o'clock. This morning general Brooks and myself waited on the consul, when he informed us, he had concluded to keep possession of the vessel, and gene- ral Brooks informed him he should make a representation of the business to the government. I then handed the con- sul an open, letter from C. Gore, Esq. and took leave with general Brooks a copy of which letter is hereunto an- nexed. THOMAS AMORY, ju.v. Boston, September 10, 1793. The consul did, in my presence, read part, or the whole, f the letter referred to, and made no reply. THOMAS AMORY, jun. "Sworn to, September 10th, 1793, Before J. LOWELL, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts District. Boston, August 22, 1793. Sir, I have been informed that the marshal of the dis- trict of Massachusetts, yesterday, in obedience to a precept -STATE PAPERS. 183r from the Circuit Court of the United States, replevied a vessel in this harbour, that after he had so replevied the vessel, a number of armed men, acting by your order, and under your authority, forcibly took from him the vessel, and now resist the execution of his precept. As Attorney for the United States within the district of Massachusetts, I do demand of you that you remove the force and obstruc- tion which you oppose to the laws of the United States* I am, sir, your obedient servant. Mr. Duplaine, Vice Consul. IRufus Greene Amory, of Boston, in Massachusetts District, of lawful age, testify and say, That on the twenty-second day of August last, being informed that the schooner Greyhound, against which I had issued a writ of replevin, in favour of Messrs. Brymer and Belcher, returnable to the next circuit court for said dis- trict, was taken from colonel Bradford, the deputy mar- shal, by some French people, I went on board the ship of war called the Concord, commanded by captain Van Do- gen, to inquire if the said schooner was under his custody the said captain informed me that she was under his protection. I told him that the civil officer, colonel Brad- ford, as marshal of the district, had gone on board the said schooner to replevy her under process of law. That on the evening before, while the said marshal was on board said schooner, by virtue of his precept, some armed peo- ple went on board, and against the will of said marshal, had brought said schooner near his ship, and I asked him, if the same was done by his authority the said captain Van Dogcn told me, that some person had complained to him of an attempt to carry the said schooner away from het anchorage in the night time, and that to prevent the same* he had ordered some of his people on board her, and had. directed her to be brought nearer to his ship where she then was I asked him if he would deliver the schooner to the marshal, and he said that he should not withour orders from the consul of France. I asked him if the said schooner was in his custody before the marshal had enter- ed on board her he said that he had none of his prop!- on board but she came into harbour under French eolour> as a prize, and that the captain of her had asked his leave for anchoratre. where, she had come too. and. r>= being - 184 AMKRICAS der a French commission in publick service, he had con- sidered the said vessel under his protection. RUFUS G. AMORY. September 10th, Sworn to, before J. LOWELL, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts District. I the said Rufus Greene Amory further testify, that said Capt. Van Dogen told me, that he had complained to the governour concerning the attempt to carry away the said schooner in the night time, without his leave. RUFUS G. AMORY. / John Brooks, Marshal of the District of Massachusetts, do testify and say, That on the twenty-second day of August last, being in Boston, and finding that Col. Samuel Bradford, deputy marshal for said district, in serving a writ of replevin upon the schooner Greyhound, had been opposed by an armed force, acting under the orders of Capt. Van Dogen, com- mander of the French frigate " La Concord," I went on board said frigate to demand of the captain the restoration of the said schooner. Upon my opening to Capt. Van Dogen the object of my visit, (which was done in the pre- sence of Mr. Duplaine, the French consul, Mr. Justice Cooper and Mr. Thomas Amory) he discovered considera- ble warmth and displeasure at some Americans having been taken from on board a French vessel, as well as at the attempt of Col. Bradford to possess himself of a vessel bearing the colours of France, while under the protection of a ship of force belonging to the French Republick. As my object was to demand of Capt. Van Dogen restora- tion of the schooner aforesaid, and to obtain from him a categorical answer, I avoided as much as possible the dis- cussion of any subject irrelative thereto ; and at length obtained from him a declaration, that as he had received his orders from the French consul, for doing what he had done, and as it was his duty to obey the consul, he could not surrender the schooner. That he was an officer and must obey his orders. Immediately upon Capt. Van Do- gen having made the above mentioned declaration, which was done in presence of the French consul, the latter ob- served to me, that he thought it a pity that any difficulty STATE PAPERS. 185 should arise about the schooner that he believed, if he and myself were to take our papers, we could settle the whole affair in a few minutes, and proposed that I should meet him on shore in one hour. To this I agreed, and we met accordingly. The result, after more than an hour's conversation at this interview, was a proposition for ano- ther the next morning at 8 o'clock. At the time assigned I again waited on the consul at his lodgings. Upon my entering the house, he informed me, that he had come to a determination about the schooner that things should re- main as they then were that he should keep possession of the schooner that I must apply to the governour, and that if the governour did not do something about it, he should advertise the schooner in the newspapers, and if in six days no body proved a claim to her, he should con- demn her to the captors, or words to that effect. I further testify, That, in the conversation with Capt. Van Dogen, he informed me, that by the laws of the French Republick, it was the duty of commanders of the ships of the said Republick, when in foreign ports, where there were French consuls, to obey the orders of such consuls that the consuls were admirals, or had the power of ad- mirals, or words to that effect. Capt. Van Dogen said this in the presence of the French consul. I further testify, That Mr. Duplaine the French consul told me, it had been his design to withdraw the armed force from the schooner Greyhound, and intimated to me that he would give an order to have said force withdrawn in which .case, he said, he should protest against the measures then pursuing by the government, meaning the government of the United States, but that he, the said consul, afterwards refused to withdraw said force as above said. J. BROOKS. Sworn to, September 10th, 1793, before JOHN LOWELL, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts District. United States District of Massachusetts, Sept. 10, 1793. Then Thomas Amory, jun. Rufus Greene Amory, Na- thaniel Byfield Lyde and John Brooks, Esquire, made oath to the truth of the annexed depositions, by them respectively subscribed, in the presence of Antoine Char- bonnet Duplaine, and declared. tha$ they did not recollect: vol. i. 24 186 AMERICAN any other material circumstance relative to the matter in inquiry ; and the annexed deposition of Samuel Bradford is transcript of his deposition taken under like circum- stances. Before JOHN LOWELL, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts District. / Nathaniel By field Lyde, of lawful age, testify and say. That on the evening of the twenty-first of August in- stant, at the request of Samuel Bradford, Esq. marshal of Massachusetts district, I went with him on board the schooner Greyhound, lying off the end of Long-wharf in the harbour of Boston. The said Bradford went on board of said schooner, as I understood, to serve a writ of replevin against the said schooner, which issued from a circuit court of said district, in behalf of Messrs. Brymer and Belcher, of Halifax, Nova-Scotia, merchants ; said Bradford wanted my assistance in the service of said writ we got on board just after nine o'clock, and saw one person on board, who appeared to be a Frenchman Col. Bradford made known to him, he had a process against the said vessel and inquired for the master The said Frenchmen hailed a vessel which appeared to be a priva- teer, and a person came on board, who said, that he was prize-master of said schooner Mr. Bradford then made known to him that he had a precept or writ of replevin,, and by virtue of that he had taken possession of the schoo- ner The prize-master then requested that he -might call for Mr. Jutau, who was said to be on board the frigate Concorde, soon after which Mr. Jutau came on board with some other persons, the said marshal then made known to Mr. Jutau the purpose and authority by which he had come on board, said Jutau explained the same to those per- sons on board said schooner Mr. Jutau soon after went on board the frigate ; an officer and about twelve men came on board the schooner, from the frigate, all armed The said officer soon after, ordered the schooner to be re- moved near to the frigate The marshal told said officer his authority by which he had taken possession, and for- bad him to move the said schooner, this removal was between ten and eleven o'clock the same evening, shortly afterwards the French consul with Mr. Jutau came on board The marshal then informed them by what authori- STATE PAPERS. 187 ty he came on board, and had taken possession of the schooner The consul then informed the marshal, that he should keep possession of the schooner the marshal then told the said consul, he would not quit the schooner the said schooner for one or two days remained in possession of the officer and armed men, contrary to the orders and will of the said marshal, but the- marshal remained on board of said schooner I was also on board the frigate in the morning of the 22d August, with Mr. Amory, attor- ney to and on the part of Messrs. Brymer and Belcher, when the captain informed said Amory, he should protect and retain said schooner under his protection notwith- standing the authority and doings of said marshal, as men- tioned to him by Mr. Amory, who related the same to him. NATHL. BYD. LYDE. Sworn to, September 10th, 1793, before JOHN LOWELL, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts District. / Samuel Bradford, Deputy Marshal of the District of Massachusetts, do testify and say, That on Wednesday, the twenty-first day of August, at about seven of the clock, p. m. I was possessed of a writ, Brymer and Belcher, plaintiffs, in replevin, vs. Laumosne, commanding me to replevy the schooner called the Grey- hound ; that I immediately proceeded to serve the said process, and was accompanied on board the said schooner, then lying in the harbour of Boston, by captains Lyde and Hayman. W r e found only one man on board ; I inquired for Mr. Laumosne, the prize-master The Frenchman hailed the privateer Rowland, and, at my request, informed the people on board said privateer, that an American had business with Mr. Laumosne The said Laumosne came on board, attended by the captain of the privateer I read the precept to the prize-master, and explained to him the nature of the process, and observed, that a bond was given to support any damages that might arise from my taking possession of the schooner 1 added, that I was then in possession of the schooner, and that, at a proper time, I should remove said vessel to the wharf The prize-master observed, that Mr. Jutauwas then doing business on board ibe frigate La Concorde, and that he should send for him 188 AMERICAN" to which I consented soon after, Mr. Jutau came on board the schooner I then informed him of the process that I had against the said schooner read to him the writ and observed, that I should remove the vessel as above stated. Mr. Jutau said, that I had no right or authority to serve any writ after dark That the vessel belonged to the Republick of France, and could not be attached and that she was under the protection of the French Repub- lick and he made many other observations to the same effect. I replied, that, as an officer of the government of the United States, I should pursue strictly the line of my duty. Mr. Jutau left the schooner, and told the prize- master to remain on board ; after he was in the boat, to return to the frigate, I requested him to inform Mr. Lau- mosne, that after the schooner was hauled to the wharf, 1 should require him to go on shore. Mr. Jutau replied, that I might inform the prize-master myself, and that I must force him from the vessel. In about half an hour after Mr. Jutau's departure on board the frigate, an officer came from thence on board the schooner, he was a lieutenant, and I beard him inform the prize'-master, that I should not remove the vessel. In about an hour after this, a body of about twelve armed men (marines) came on board the schooner, from the frigate The lieutenant read a paper, which I suppose were orders. At about half past eleven o'clock, I addressed the lieutenant, and after observing to him, that he appeared interested in the busi- ness in which I was engaged, I assured him, that my writ was against Mr. Laumosne, and that I had nothing to say to him (the lieutenant) relative thereto, and I added, that I had taken possession of the schooner by virtue of my office, as deputy marshal, and that I should proceed to remove her. He replied, that he should obey the or- ders that he had received from his captain, which was, to remove the said schooner near to the frigate. The lieutenant then ordered the vessel to be removed, and we were hauled between the frigate and privateer Row- land. I told the lieutenant, that what he did, he musl answer for, and I forbad him, at his peril, to remove the said schooner. I asked the said lieutenant, if he had brought the armed force to prevent my removing the schooner; he replied in the affirmative. Finding myself opposed in the progress of serving my precept, by an aimed force, I dismissed the men who were on board STATE PAPERS. 189 to give me aid in c'onducting the schooner to the wharf: some time after, the lieutenant retired from the schooner, and took off his men, excepting a corporal and four, whom, he observed, he should leave on hoard, to take care of said schooner. At about twelve o'clock, a. m. Mr. consul Duplaine, Mr. Jutau the chancellor, and Mr. Nancrede, in going on shore from the frigate, came on board the schooner. We conversed on the subject I went over the business again, and told Mr. Duplaine, that I was opposed by an armed force ; but that I should not quit the vessel. The consul said, that he should keep possession ; but added, that if I went on shore, I might return on board in the morning, and that the ves-> sel would remain in the same situation. From the con- versation between Mr. Duplaine, Mr. Jutau, the lieu- tenant of the frigate, the prize-master, and myself, I had no doubt, but that the captain of the frigate acted under the orders of Mr. Duplaine. A guard was regularly maintained on board the schooner, from Wednesday night till about twelve o'clock, p. m. on Saturday, the 24th, when a boat from the frigate, took from the schoo- ner the guard The corporal, previous to his quitting, hailed the shore, or the privateer Rowland, and a French- man came on board the schooner, after which the guard retired; soon after, the frigate being then under way, and having procured assistance from the town, I directed the people to weigh the anchors of the schooner, and conduct me to the wharf, where I arrived at one o'clock having legally executed my precept. I soon after saw the consul, who said, " Then, sir, you have quitted the vessel You have then left her I sup- pose." To which I replied, that I had left her at the wharf, had executed my precept, and that I should take proper care of the said schooner The consul appeared surprised. SAMUEL BRADFORD. Boston, Sept. 10, 1793. Sworn to, Sept. 10, 1 793, before J. 1,0 WELL, Judge of the District of Massachusetts. George Washington - , President of ihc United States of America, to all whom it 7iiay concern. The sicur Antoine Charbonnet Duplaine, heretofore having produced to me his commission as vice consul 190 AMERICAN for the Republick of France, within the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and hav- ing thereon received from me an exequatur, bearing date the fifth day of June, 1793, recognising him as such, and declaring him free to exercise and enjoy such functions, powers and privileges, as are allowed to vice consuls of the French Republick, by the laws, treaties, and conventions in that case made and provided, and the said sieur Duplaine, having, under colour of his said office, committed sundry encroachments, and infractions on the laws of the land, and particularly, having caused a vessel to be rescued, with an armed force, out of the custody of an officer of justice, who had arrested the same by process from his court; and it being therefore no longer fit, nor consistent with the respect and obedi- ence due to the laws, that the said sieur Duplaine should be permitted to continue in the exercise and enjoyment of the said functions, privileges and powers : these are therefore to declare, that I do no longer recognise the said Antoine Charbonnet Duplaine, as vice consul of the Republick of France, in any part of these United States, nor permit him to exercise or enjoy any of the functions, powers or privileges, allowed to the vice consuls of that nation ; and that I do hereby wholly revoke and annul the said exequatur heretofore given, and do declare the same to be absolutely null and void, from this day forward. In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand this day of in the year of cur Lord, 1 793, and of the indepen- dence of the United States of America, the eighteenth. GEORGE WASHINGTON. By the President, TH: JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Slate, to the Minister Plenipoten- tiary of France. Monticello, in Virginia, Oct. 3, 1193. Sir, In a former letter which I had the honour of writing you, I mentioned that information had been re- ceived, that Mr. Duplaine, vice consul of France, at Boston, had been charged with an opposition to the laws STATE PAPERS. 191 of the land, of such a character, as, if true, would render it the duty of the President immediately to revoke the exe- quatur, whereby he was permitted to exercise the func- tions of vice consul in these United States. The fact has been since inquired into, and I now enclose you copies of the evidence establishing it, whereby you will perceive, how inconsistent with peace and order it would be to per- mit any longer the exercise of functions in these United States by a person capable of mistaking their legitimate extent, so far, as to oppose, by force of arms, the course of the laws within the body of the country. The wisdom and justice of the government of France, and their sense of the necessity, in every government, of preserving the course of the laws free and unobstructed, render us confi- dent, that they will approve this necessary arrestation of the proceedings of one of their agents ; as we would certainly do in the like case, were any consul or vice con- sul of ours to oppose, with an armed force, the course of their laws widiin their own limits. Still, however indis- pensable as this act has been, it is with the most lively concern the President has seen, that the evil could not be arrested otherwise than by an appeal to- the authority of the country. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Morris, Minis- ter Plenipotentiary of the United States, to France. Oct. 3, 1793. Dear Sir, Mr. Duplaine, vice consul of France at Boston, having, by an armed force, opposed the course of the laws of this country, within the same, by rescuing, out of the hands of an officer of justice, a vessel which he had arrested by authority of a precept from his court, the President has thought it necessary to revoke the exequa- tur, by which he had permitted him to exercise his func- tions here. I enclose you copies of the act and of the evi- dence on which it has been founded ; as also of the letters, written to him and Mr. Genet, and you are desired to communicate the same to the government of France, and to express fo them the very great concern, with which the. President has seen himself obliged to take a measure with one of their agents, so little it) unison with the sentiments of friendship we Lear tn their nation, and to (he respect -192 AMERICAN we entertain for their authority. But conscious we should deem it an act of friendship in them, to do the like in the like case, and to prove their confidence in our justice and friendship, by instantaneously disabling from a repetition of the act, any consul or vice consul of ours, who should once have been guilty of such an aggression on their au- thority, we rely on the same friendly construction, oa their part, of the disagreeable measure now forced on us. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of State, to the Minister Pleni- potentiary of France, Germanlown, Nov. 5, 1793. Sir, I have the honour to enclose you the copy of a letter from Mr. Moissonier, consul of France, at Baltimore, to the governour of Maryland, announcing that Great Britain is about to commence hostilities against us, and that he purposes to collect the naval force of your Repub- lick in the Chesapeake, and to post them as a vanguard to derange the supposed designs of the enemy. The bare suggestion of such a fact, however improbable, renders it a duty to inquire into it, and I shall consider it as a proof of your friendship to our nation, if you have it in your power, and will be pleased to communicate to me the grounds of Mr. Moissonier's assertion, or any other respectable evidence of such an intention, on the part of Great Britain. In the mean while, as we have reason to believe it un- founded, as they have in no instance, as yet, violated the sovereignty of our country, by any commitment of hostili- ties, even on their enemies within our jurisdiction, we presume with confidence that Mr. Moissonier's fears are groundless. I have it, therefore, in charge to desire you to admonish Mr. Moissonier against the parade he pro- poses, of stationing an advanced guard in the bay of Chesa- peake, and against any hostile array, which, under the profession of defensive operations, may in fact generate those offensive. I flatter myself, sir, that you will be so good as to join the effect of your authority to that of our government, to prevent measures on the part of this agent of your Republick, which may bring on disagreeable con- sequences. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. STATE PAPERS'. 133 Citizen Moissonier to General Lee, Governour of the State of Maryland. Baltimore, October 23, 2d year of the French Republick. The liberticide system, which directs the European cabi- nets, is going to manifest itself towards the United States. England, that power to which they have been so complai- sant, is getting ready to fall upon them. The prepara- tives are made, and I see, with pain, that no dispositions whatever are made to oppose any resistance to them. The indifference of this state cannot exist as to our inte- rests. This bay contains the riches of our commerce of St. Domingo, and the only hope of the French nation. We shall become infallibly the first victims of this care- lesness, if I am not able to obtain from you, sir, that the forts which defend the entrance of the Chesapeake be put. into condition. v In the mean while, and in pursuance of the orders of the minister, I am going to collect all the maritime forces which the Republick has in this bay, to form a vanguard, sufficiently formidable, and to derange, if it be possible, the projects of our common enemies. I have the honour to be. &c. F. MOISSONIER. TRANSLATION. The Minister of the French Republick zcitk the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the Unit- ed States. Ne7o York, Nov. 15, 1793, 2d year of the Republick of France. Sir, I have received the letter which you have done me the honour to write to me the 5th November. The citizen Moissonier has given to my instructions a sense more determinate than I had intended. I did not write him that England was immediately going to fall on \ou; but knowing by your history, by our own, and by atill more particular information, all the hatred with which thai government honours your and our principles, know- ing the secret treaties which unite the courts leagued against free people, confident that our success can alone suppress the projects of vengeance, which are perpetually nourished in the breast of your ancient tyrant, seeing that -some reverses afterwards effaced, might excite him to ac- voj.. i-. 25 194- AMERICAN- celerate the execution of his designs, I prescribed to this vice consul, a 1st. To concert with the commander of our ^aVal forces in the Chesapeake, to have collected at BaltimorVall the commercial vessels which may be in the open anckunsafe / road of Norfolk. \ / 2d. To have the armed vessels anchored, according^fo Custom, in the advanced guard of the convoy. 3d. To establish a severe police in the road for the purpose of preventing disorder, and protecting our pro- perty from incendiary enterprises, sufficiently familiar to our common enemy. 4th. To sound the local government of Maryland, to know whether the forts which form a part of the defence of Baltimore could not be repaired. Citizen Moissonicr, animated by a very pure patriotism, has doubtless mixed a little warmth in this latter step ; but I do not see, sir, that he has merited the admonition you mention, and that the measures taken for the security of the road can compromit, in any manner, the peace of the United States. God grant that you may long enjoy, with honour, that peace so pleasant and happy. It is the very sincere wish of your friends ; it is mine ; but I shall not now dissemble more than I have hitherto done, that it is not the most certain object of my hopes. Before having the happiness of serving a free people, I was employed by a court, and I resided at several others. I have been seven years a head of the bureau at Versailles, under the direction of Vergennes. I have passed one year at Lon- don, two at Vienna, one at Berlin, five in Russia, and I am too well initated in the mysteries of these cabinets, not to tremble at the fate which menaces America ; if the cause of liberty should not triumph, every where, for every where where there is a throne, I warrant that you have an enemy. All the princes look upon you as our teachers \ almost all consider you as rebels, who must sooner or later be chastised ; almost all have sworn your ruin as well as ours, and be assured that George in. has not entered into their league, but on this condition. Your expedients^ your managements will not change this system, and if the ministers who reside with you hold a different language, ft is only the better to deceive you. They triumph -at the security into which they have plunged you, at the very moment when their courts are insulting you in every quar- STATE PAPERS. 1%* ter, except on your coasts, where they know we have forces ; but their tone will change whilst ours shall remain invariably the same, true and sincere. Accept my respect. GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister of France. Germantozon, Nov. 8, 1793. Sir, I have now to acknowledge and answer your let- ter of September 1 3, wherein you desire that we may de- fine the extent of the line of territorial protection on the coasts of the United States, observing that governments and jurisconsults have different views on this subject. It is certain that, heretofore, they have been much di- vided in opinion as to the distance from their sea coasts to which they might reasonably claim a right of prohibit- ing the commitment of hostilities. The greatest distance, to which any respectable assent among nations has been at any time given, has been the extent of the human sight, estimated at upwards of 20 miles, and the smallest dis- tance, I believe, claimed by any nation whatever, is the utmost range of a cannon ball, usually stated at one sea- league. Some intermediate distances have also been in- sisted on, and that of three sea-leagues has some authority in its favour. The character of our coast, remarkable in considerable parts of it for admitting no vessels of size to pass near the shores, would entitle us, in reason, to as broad a margin of protected navigation, as any nation whatever. Not proposing, however, at this time, and with- out a respectful and friendly communication, with the pow- ers interested in this navigation, to fix on the distance to which we may ultimately insist on the right of protection, the President gives instructions to the officers, acting un- der his authority, to consider those heretofore given them as restrained for the present to the distance of one sea- league, or three geographical miles from the sea shores. This distance can admit of no opposition, as it is recog- nised by treaties between some of the powers with whom we are connected in commerce and navigation, and is as little or less than is claimed by any of them on their own coasts. Future occasions will be taken to enter into explana- tions with them, as to the ulterior extent to which we may reasonably carry our jurisdiction. For that of the rivers X9G AMERICAN and bays of the United States the laws of the several states are understood to have made provision, and they are, moreover, as being landlocked, within the body of the United States. Examining, by this rule, the case of the British brig Fanny, taken on the 8th of May last, it appears from the evidence, that the capture was made four or five miles from the land, and consequently without the line provi- sionally adopted by the President, as before mentioned. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Stale, to the Minister Plenipoten- tiary from the Republick of France to the United States. Germantown, Nov. 10, 1793. Sir, As in cases Avhere vessels are reclaimed by the subjects or citizens of the belligerent powers, as having been taken within the jurisdiction of the United States, it becomes necessary to ascertain that fact, by testimony taken according to the laws of the United States, the gover- nours of the several states, to whom the applications will be made in the first instance, are desired immediately to notify thereof the attorneys of their respective districts. The attorney is thereupon instructed to give notice to the principal agent of both parties, who may have come in Avith the prize, and also to the consuls of the nations in- terested, and to recommend to them to appoint, by mutual consent, arbiters to decide whether the capture were made within the jurisdiction of the United States, as stated to you in my letter of the 8th instant, according to whose award the governour may proceed to deliver the vessel to the one or the other party. But in case the parties, or consul shall not agree to name arbiters, then the attor- ney, or some person substituted by him, is to notify them of the time and place, when and where he will be, in order to take the depositions of such witnesses as they may cause to come before him, which depositions he is to transmit for the information and decision of the President. It has been thought best to put this business into such a train, as that the examination of the fact may take place immediately, and before the witnesses may have again departed from the United States, which would too fre- quently happen, and especially in the distant states ; if it should be deferred till information is sent to the Execu- tive, and a special order awaited to take the depositions. STATB PAPERS. 197 1 lake the liberty of requesting that you will be pleased co give such instructions to the consuls of your nation, as may facilitate the object of this regulation. I urge it with the more earnestness, because, as the attorneys of the dis- tricts are for the most part engaged in much business of their own, they will rarely be able to attend more than one appointment, and consequently, the party who should fail, from negligence or other motives, to produce his witnesses at the time and place appointed, might lose the benefit of their testimony altogether. This prompt procedure is the more to be insisted on, as it will enable the President, by an immediate delivery of the vessel and cargo to the par- ty having title, to prevent the injuries consequent on long delay. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Repub* lick of France to the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, JVbr. 14, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. Sir, I have received the exequatur of citizen Danne- ry's commission as consul, and immediately transmitted it to that publick officer. I shall present to the executive council of the Republick, Mr, the judicious reflections which you have made on the attribution of the consular functions, which are, in fact % reduced by the commissions of our consuls to the limits of the cities of their residence ; which, certainly, is not the intention of the council. I shall also lay before them the observation you have made relatively to the address of our consular commissions ; and they, in their wisdom, will adopt the alterations of which this matter appears suscep- tible, agreeably to the text, spirit, and basis of your con- stitution. However, as it is not explicit in this respect, and as the functions attributed to the President of the Unit- ed States, relatively to the reception of foreign ministers, appear to be only those which are fulfilled in courts by the first ministers, for their pretended sovereigns, to verify purely and simply the powers of foreign agents accredited to their masters, and irrevocable by them when once they have bern admitted, I should be glad, sir, in order the bet- 198 AMERICAN ter to fix the ideas of the French council on this interest- ing question, that you would have the goodness to enlighten it with your knowledge, and that of your learned col- leagues, which I shall faithfully transmit to my superiors. Accept my respect, ' GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Citizen Genet, Minister- Plenipotentiary from the Republick of France to the Unit- ed States. Germantown, Nov. 22, 1793. Sir, In my letter of October 2, I took the liberty of noticing to you, that the commission of consul to M. Dan- nery ought to have been addressed to the President of the United States ; he being the only channel of communica- tion between this country and foreign nations, it is from him alone that foreign nations or their agents are to learn what is or has been the will of the nation, and whatever he communicates as such, they have a right, and are bound to consider as the expression of the nation, and no foreign agent can be allowed to question it, to interpose between him and any other branch of government, under the pre- text of either's transgressing their functions, nor to make himself the umpire and final judge between them. I am, therefore, sir, not authorized to enter into any discussions with you on the meaning of our constitution in any part of it, or to prove to you, that it has ascribed to him alone the admission or interdiction of foreign agents. I inform you of the fact by authority from the President. I had ob- served to you that we were persuaded, that in the case of the consul Dannery, the errour in the address had pro- ceeded from no intention in the executive council of France to question the functions of the President, and therefore no difficulty was made in issuing the commission. We are still under the same persuasion. But in your letter of the 14th instant, you personally question the authority of the President, and in consequence of that have not ad- dressed to him the commissions of Messrs. Pennevert and Chervi, making a point of this formality on your part ; it becomes necessary to make a point of it on ours also ; and I am therefore charged to return you those commissions, and to inform you that, bound to enforce respect to the order of things established by our constitution, the Presi- dent will issue no exequatur to any consul or vice consul, not directed to him in the usual form, after the party, from STATE PAPER*. 199 whom it comes, has been apprized that such should be the address. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. The Citizen, Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Re- publick of France to the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Nezo York, Sept. 14, 1793, *2d year of the French Repuhlick. Sir, The multiplied business, with which I have been loaded since my stay here, has not hitherto permitted me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter to me of the 5th of August; it came duly to hand, and, as the decisions it contains are only the consequence of those on which I have already made the strongest and the best founded re- presentations, I have thought that I should leave the care of executing them to the federal government, because it is not my business, in any manner, to give the consuls of the Republick orders contrary to the sense of our treaties, to prescribe to them not to conform, relative to the armaments and prizes made by our vessels, to the instructions given them by authority superior to mine, and to enjoin on them to suspend the effect of the commissions that our privateers hold from the executive council, and not from their dele- gate. With respect to the indemnity promised by the Pre- sident of the United States to the English minister, in virtue of the principles he has established, it is not more in my power to consent to it, as, in my opinion, it is not in his to- promise it. For in order to operate this new appropria- tion of the funds of the Republick, the consent of the legis- lative bodies of both parties is indispensable. However, sir, though I have not the right to withdraw, authoritatively, the commissions of which our privateers are possessed, although I am equally unable to constrain them to submit to decisions which our treaties of alliance and commerce do not sanction, and which the decisions given by several tribunals of the United States, which even the negotiations with you, seem to contradict, yet you may be assured, thai, after having supported as long as I have been able the rights and the interests of the French people. I shall neglect nothing to engage by persuasion our priva- teers to suspend their cruises and change their destination. The object for which we have encouraged the arming of all those little vessels, was to destroy the commerce of out 200 AMERICAN enemies, and to block up their seamen in your ports, for the purpose of accelerating the return of peace by a dimi- nution of their strength. This plan was good, and not- withstanding the obstacles opposed to it, it has so far suc- ceeded, as to bring into our possession fifty of their vessels, and to condemn to inactivity an infinitely greater number. This object is now accomplished ; superior forces will ac- complish the rest ; and if I have had the misfortune, by my obedience to my instructions, by my obstinacy in acknow- ledging only the laws and treaties of the United States, to displease some Anglophobists or Anglomen, I have at least the satisfaction of having rendered an important service to my country, whose present policy is entirely devoted to the war. I am very sensible, sir, of the measures which you have taken to frustrate the odious projects of some emigrants refugees of St. Domingo, and it were to be wished that wc could expel this race entirely, as well as those of the emi- grants and aristocrats of Europe, much more dangerous to the peace, liberty and independence of the United States, than all the privateers in the world. GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Slate, to the Minister Plenipoten- tiary of France. Gcrmantown, Nov. 22, 1793. Sir, In a letter which I had the honour of writing to you on the 1 2th of July, I informed you, that the President expected that the Jane of Dublin, the Lovely Lass, and Prince William Henry, British vessels, taken by the armed vessel Citoycn Genet, should not depart from our ports until his ultimate determination thereon should be made known. And in a letter of the 7th August, I gave you the further information, that the President considered the United States as bound, pursuant to positive assurances, given in conformity to the laws of neutrality, to effectuate the restoration of, or to make compensation for prizes, made subsequent to the 5th day of June by privateers fitted out of our ports ; that, consequently, he expected you to cause restitution to be made of all prizes taken and brought into'our ports, subsequent to the said 5th of June, by such privateers, in defect of which he considered it as incumbent on the United States to indemnify the owners of such prizes ; the indemnification to be reimbursed by the French, nation. This determination involved the brig Jane of Dublin, taken by the armed vessel Citoyen Genet on the 24th of STATE PAPERS. 301 July, the brig Lovely Lass, taken by the same vessel on the 4th of July, and the brig Prince William Henry, taken by the same vessel on the 28th of June, and I have it in charge to inquire of you, sir, whether these three brigs have been given up, according to the determination of the President, and if they have not, to repeat the requisition, that they be given up to their former owners. I have the honour to be, &c. Til : JEFFERSON. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, November 29, 1793, 2d year of the Republick. Sir, It is not in my power to order the French vessels, which have received letters of marque in the ports of the United States, in virtue of our treaties, in virtue of the most precise instructions to me, to restore the prizes which they have been authorized to make on our enemies, but I Jiave long since prescribed to all our consuls, neither to oppose nor allow to be opposed, any resistance to the moral force of the justice of the United Sates, if it thinks it may interfere in affairs relative to the prizes, or of the govern- ment, if it persists in the system against which I have inces- santly made the best founded representations. Neither is it in my power, sir, to consent that the indem- nities, which your government proposes to have paid to the proprietors of the said prizes, should be placed to the account of France. 1st. Because no indemnity is due but when some damage has been occasioned in the use of a right which was not possessed, whereas our treaties and my instructions prove to me that we were fully authorized to arm in your ports. 2d. Because, according to our con- stitution as well as yours, the executive has not. the arbi- trary appropriation of the funds of the state ; and the exe- cutive council of France and their delegates could not con- sent to a reimbursement of the indemnities in question, but when the legislative body shall first have renounced, under its responsibility to the people, the right which i have been expressly instructed to maintain, and afterwards have granted the sums demanded by our enemies, and which have been promised them by the President. Accept my respect, CiENF/J'. v oi. r. 26 .202 AMERICAN TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republick of France, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, November 11, 1793, 2d year of the Republick. Sir, The funds which were at the disposition of the French Republick for the year 1793 being exhausted by the colonial bills drawn on them, by the considerable ex- pense which the continuance of the vessels of the' Repub- lick in the ports of the United States occasions, by the succour which I have given to the refugees from the Cape, the supplies of all kinds which I have sent into the French colonies in America ; in fine, the divers expenses of the legation and of the administration confided to me, I request the favour of you to make known to the President of the United States, that I am forced in order to face our engage- ments, and to relieve our most pressing necessities, to draw on the sums which will become due to France, in the years 1 794, and 95, until Congress shall have taken into consi- deration the mode of reimbursement which I have been instructed to propose to the federal government ; our con- tractors will be content with these assignments, provided they are accepted by the treasury of the United States, to be paid when they become due. Accept my respect, GENET. TRANSLATION. TJie Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipolentidry of the French Republick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the Unit- ed States. New York, November 14, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. Sir, It becomes extremely important that you should .have the goodness to inform me without delay, whether 1 can draw, by anticipation, on the approaching reimburse- ments of the debt of the United States to France ; our agents being informed, that the funds, which were at the disposition of the Republick for 1793, are exhausted, have suspended their supplies and their enterprises, until they shall be assured that the assignments of the debt, which I may make to them in virtue of my powers, shall be paid when due. As without doubt you will form to yourself a just idea of all the branches of the service which will suffer* STATE PAPERS. 203 as long as this authority shall be withheld from me, I am persuaded, sir, that you will zealously second me in this negotiation. Two thousand seamen and soldiers whom I support are on the eve of wanting bread. The repairs of our vessels are at a stand. The indispensable expeditions of subsistence for our colonies and France are suspended. The federal government, without advancing a single one of the payments fixed by law, can by two words signed by you or the Secretary of the Treasury, again put every thing into motion, until Congress shall have taken into conside- ration the general mode of reimbursement which I have been instructed to communicate to you, and which alone can put me in a condition to supply at least France for the next campaign, since it could not do so for this one. The long nights, the thick fogs and the heavy seas of winter will be favourable to our transports, by rendering less pro- bable the painful risks to which the odious principles of England expose neutral vessels, and particularly those of the United States. Accept my respect, GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick. Germantown^ Nov. 24, 1793. Sir, I laid before the President of the United States your two letters of the 11th and 14th instant, on the sub- ject of new advances of money, and they were immediately referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, within whose department subjects of this nature lie. I have now the honour of enclosing you a copy of his report thereon to the President, in answer to your letters, and of adding assurances of the respect and esteem of sir, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. The Secretary of the Treasury, xtpon two letters from th> Minister Plenipotentiary of France, to the Secretary of State, severally bearing date the Wth and I lth of No^ vember, instant, respectfully reports to the President of the United States, as follows : 1st. The object of these letters is to procure an engage- ment, that the bills which the minister may draw upon the sums, which, according to the terms respecting the con- tracts of the French debt, would fall due in the years 1794 and 1795, shall be accepted on thr part of the Uni'od 204 AMERICAN States, payable at the periods stipulated for the payments of those sums respectively. The following considerations are submitted as militating against the proposed arrangement I. According to the view entertained at the Treasury of the situation of the account between France and the United States, adjusting equitably the question of depreciation, there have already been anticipated payments to France equal, or nearly equal to the sums falling due in the course of the year 1794. ii. The provision by law for discharging the principal of the French debt, contemplates only loans. Of those, which have been hitherto made, the sum unexpended is not more than commensurate with a payment which is to be made on the first of June next, upon account of the capital of the Dutch debt. It is possible that a fund for this payment may be derived from another loan ; but it is Jinown to the President, that from advices recently receiv- ed, full reliance cannot be placed on this resource ; owing to the influence of the present state of European affairs Upon the measures of the United States for borrowing. It need not be observed that a failure in making the pay- ment referred to would be ruinous to the credit of the United States. The acceptance of the bills of the minister of France would virtually pledge the only fund, of which there is at present a certainty, for accomplishing that payment, and as this is a matter of strict obligation, directly affecting the publick credit, it would not appear advisable to engage that fund for a different object, which, if the ideas of the Treasury are right, with regard to the state of our account with France, does not stand upon a similar footing. It would be manifestly unsafe to presume upon contin- gencies, or to enter into engagements to be executed at distant periods, when the means of execution are uncertain. But as there appears to be a difference of opinion be- tween the minister of France and the Treasury, with re- gard to the state of the account between the two countries, it is necessary that something on this head should be ascer- tained. With this view, the Secretary of the Treasury will proceed without delay to take arrangements for the adjustment of the account. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Secretary of the Treasury. Treasury Department, Nov. 23, 1793. STATE PAPERS. 205 wWr. Clinton, Governour of New York, to Mr. Genet, Mi- nister Plenipotentiary of France. New York, Nov. 21, 1793. Sir, As by your letter of the 1 1th instant, I am inform- ed that the vessel therein mentioned, now repairing at the wharf in the East river, is called the Carmagnole, and that she was fitted out as a privateer, in the Delaware, I con- ceive it proper to transmit to you a copy of a letter which I have since received from the Secretary of War, dated the 15th instant, in answer to one from me to the President of the United States, informing him of your having with- drawn the commissions granted to certain privateers, fitted out in the ports of the United States : by which you will perceive it to be the sense of the President, that this ves- sel should be entirely divested of her warlike equipments, and which, from the readiness you are pleased to express to conform to the views of the federal government, I cannot doubt, will on the receipt hereof, be complied with, and that until this is effected you will not permit her to leave the harbour. I am, &c. GEORGE CLINTON. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary from the French. Republick, to General Clinton, Governour of the state of New York. New York, Nov. 23, 1 793, 2c? year of the French Republick. Sir, I have received the letter which you did me the honour to write me the 21st instant, as also the copy an- nexed to it of a letter from the Secretary of War. The fresh requisitions which have lately been transmit- ted to you respecting the schooner Columbia, formerly called the Carmagnole, are only a continuation of the sys- tem which has been observed towards me, from the very commencement of my mission, and which evidently ap- pears to be calculated to baffle my zeal, to fill me with dis- gust, and to provoke my country to measures dictated by a just resentment, which would accomplish the wishes of those whose politicks tend only to disunite America from France, the more easily to deliver the former into the power of the English. Warned by this conjecture, which is unfortunately but too well founded, instead of proving to you as I could easily do that the orders which have been given to you ure contrary to our treaties, to the conduct of the federal 0t AMERICAN government even towards the British nation, whose pack- ets and a great number of merchant vessels, I am well in- formed, have been permitted to arm for defence in their ports, to the bonds of friendship which unite the people of both republicks, and to their mutual interest, since the ves- sel in question is intended to serve as an advice-boat in our correspondence with the French islands, which, by our treaties, you are bound to guaranty, and in whose fate your property is no less interested than ours, I will give orders to the consul and to the French commodore of the road, to conform themselves to every thing that your wis- dom may think proper to direct. Accept, sir, &c. GENET, The Govemour of New York, to the President of the United States. Keto York, November 24, 1793. Sir, I have recently received a letter from the Secre- tary of War, dated the 12th, and also another dated the 1 3th instant, in answer to mine of the 8th of September last. On recurring to my correspondence with the minister of France, a copy of which was enclosed in that letter, it will appear, that my object was to procure the departure of the privateers Petit Democrat and Carmagnole, agreea- bly to your decision, communicated to me in a letter from the Secretary of War, dated the 16th of August ; but as it was mentioned to be your desire, that forcible measures should not be resorted to, until every other effort had been tried, I thought it proper to submit to your consideration the measure proposed by the French minister. In the in- terim, the Petit Democrat departed from this harbour with- out any augmentation of her military equipments, so far as my knowledge extends. The Carmagnole still remains here, and it seems is the vessel to which my letter of the 15th instant refers. I now transmit a second letter which I have written to the French minister on this subject and his answer, and have only to request to be informed whether any farther interference on my part is expected. As I shall in a short time set out for Albany, to attend the meeting of our legislature, I take this opportunity of apprizing you of it, in order, that if any arrangements are thought necessary, which may require my personal atten- tion, they may be concerted before my departure, as it is isTATB PAPERS. 207 uncertain whether I shall return to this city before spring. I am. with sentiments of the highest respect, &c. GO : CLINTON. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republick of France with the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, Nov. 25, 1 793, 2d year of the Republick of France. Sir, I ask your pardon, if my despatches precipitate themselves with so much rapidity on you ; but events an- nounce themselves in such a manner, daily, that I am scarcely able to trace and notify them to you. My pre- ceding despatches have presented to you complaints on the workings of the new emigrants, who inundate your continent. I have assayed to unmask to you the profound and double intrigues ; I have notified you of their insults to the French agents, and the personal dangers which these agents are daily exposed to, surrounded by these furies. At present, I have to inform you of facts, well characterized ; and if I do not obtain justice, 1 shall at least have done my duty, and my heart and my country will have nothing to reproach me. It is announced to mc, from Baltimore, that 200 colonists are embarking, in the Chesapeake, for Jeremie* The Philadelphia counter-revolutionary presses advertise, thai two vessels are about taking passengers for the Molc.t Thus, sir, it is no longer the good ofiices of an ally, that Fiance has occasion to claim of the federal government It is not to aid in our destruction, that I have to conjure you It is to intreat you, not to conspire in the loss of ;v colony, which you ought to defend, that my afflicting duly is confined to. With whatever fury they have obstinately persisted to paint me, in libels, which I despise, as an enemy of the American people, and of their government, and as aspiring to involve you in the war, you know, sir, with what mode- ration I have reminded you of the obligations which were imposed on you. In that also I have a clear conscience . of having been influenced, neither by our successes, not- our misfortunes. I have only ceded to provisory ac<-. * In a vessel belonging to Mr. Zaehariah Copmann. t One is the ship Delaware, Captain James Art, fitted out by James Shoemaker. The other i* the Galliot Betsey Harmfth, rnptain DntmnrHaru fit. i. 32 250 AMERICAS 3. Act of Georgia for ascertaining the rights of aliens, and pointing out a mode for the admission of citizens passed Feb. 7, 1785. 4. Act of New York to preserve the freedom and inde- pendence of the state, and for other purposes therein men- tioned passed May 12, 1784. 5. Act of Virginia prohibiting the migration of certain persons to that commonwealth, and for other purposes therein mentioned passed October session, 1783. 6. Act of Virginia to explain, amend, and reduce into one act the several acts for the admission of emigrants to the rights of citizenship, and prohibiting the migration of certain persons to that commonwealth passed October session, 1786. 7. Act of North Carolina to describe and ascertain such persons as owed allegiance to the state, and to im- pose certain disqualifications on certain persons therein named passed October session, 1784. 8. Act of North Carolina to amend the last mentioned act passed November session, 1785. 9. Act of South Carolina restoring to certain persons their estates, and for permitting the said persons to return, and for other purposes March 26, 1784. 10. See appendix A, No. 28. By act of Feb. 26, 1782, penalties of confiscation and banishment were inflicted on certain persons described in lists 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and, though it appears by the foregoing act, that the persons named in lists No. 1,2, 3, were restored to their estates under cer- tain assessments and limitations, and permitted to return and reside in the state under certain disqualifications, the penalties of the act of Feb. 26, 1782, still prevail against those persons mentioned in the lists No. 4 and 5, who are liable to suifer death, if they return to the state after being sent out of it. STATE PAPERS. 251 1 1 . Act of Rhode Island to send out of the state N. Spink and John Underwood, who had formerly joined the enemy, and were returned into Rhode Island passed May 27,1783. 12. Act of Rhode Island to send William Young, theretofore banished, out of the state, and forbidden to return at his peril passed June 8, 1783. 13. Act of Rhode Island, allowing William jBrenton, late an absentee, to visit his family for one week, then sent away not to return passed June 12, 1783. 14. Act of Rhode Island, to banish S. Knowles (whose estate had been forfeited) on pain of death if he return passed October, 1783. 15. Act of Pennsylvania, to attaint Harry Gordon, un- less he surrender himself by a given day (July 24, 1783) and the seizure of his estates by the agents of forfeited estates confirmed passed Jan. 31, 1783. This act, passed after the provisional articles were signed, and the time limited for the surrender of Mr. Gor- don's person was many months after the account reached the United States, part of Mr. Gordon's real estate was sold in consequence of an order of the executive council of Pennsylvania made in the year 1790. 16. Act of New York, for granting a more effectual relief in cases of certain trespasses passed March 17, J 783. 17. Act of Georgia to point out the mode for the recove- ry of property unlawfully acquired under the British usur- pation, and withheld from the rightful owners, and for other purposes passed Feb. 17, 1783. 18. Act of New York, for suspending the prosecutions therein mentioned passed March 21, 1783. 19. Act of New York, to amend an act, entitled, "Ah act for relief against absconding and absent debtors," and to extend the remedy of the act entitled, " An act for grant- 252 AMERICAN ing a more effectual relief in cases of certain trespasses, and for other purposes therein mentioned passed Mav 4, 1784. APPENDIX D. No. 1 . Act of North Carolina, for establishing courts of law and for regulating the proceedings therein. Sect. 101 passed November session, 1777. 2. Act of Virginia for directing the mode of adjusting and settling the payment of certain debts and contracts passed November session, 1781. 3. Act of Virginia to repeal so much of a former act as suspends the issuing executions upon certain judgments, until December, 1783 passed May session, 1782. 4. Act of Virginia, to amend an act, entitled, " An act to repeal so much of a former act as suspends the issuing ex- ecutions on certain judgments, until December, 1783," passed October session, 1782. 5. Act of Virginia, to revive and continue the several acts of assembly, for suspending the issuing executions on certain judgments, until December, 1783 passed October session, 1783. C. Act of Maryland to prevent suits on certain debts for a limited time passed April session, 1782. 7. Ordinance of South Carolina respecting suits for the recovery of debts passed March 26, 1784. 8. Act of Connecticut, relative to debts due to persons who have been and remained within the enemy's power or lines during the late war passed May session, 1784. 9. Act of Massachusetts Bay, directing the justices of the courts of judicature to suspend rendering judgment for any interest that might have accrued between the 19th STATE PAPERS. 253 April, 1775, and the 20th January, 1783, on debts due to British subjects passed Nov. 9, 1 784. 10. Old Act of Maryland. Case of Thomas Harrison's representatives, in the chancery court of Maryland. Case of Bayard and Singleton, decided in N. Carolina. 12. Act of Rhode Island to enable any debtor in gaol on execution at the suit of any creditor to tender real, or cer- tain specifick articles of personal estate passed March, 1786. 13. Act of New Jersey, to direct modes of proceeding on writs of fieri facias, and for transferring lands and chat- tels for payment of debts March 23, 1786. 14. Act of South Carolina, for regulating sales under executions, and for other purposes therein mentioned passed Oct. 12, 1785. 15. Act of Maryland for the settlement of publick ac- counts, and to appoint persons to collect the debts due to persons convicted of treason, and for a specifick perfor- mance of certain contracts made by British subjects pre- vious to the revolution passed November session, 1786. 16. Acts of Rhode Island of May and June, 1775 ; of January, July, and September, 1776 ; of February, 1777; and of May, 1786. 1 7. Act of New Jersey, for making bills emitted by the act for raising a revenue of 3159/. 5s. per annum for 25 years, legal tender passed June 1, 1786. 1 8. Act of New Jersey for striking and making current 100,000/. in bills of credit, to be let out on loan passed May 26, 1786. 19. Act of Georgia for emitting the sum of 50,000/. in bills of credit, and for establishing a fund for the redemp- $54 AMERICAN tion and for other purposes therein mentioned Aug. I4 f 1786. 20. Ordinance of South Carolina, respecting suits for the recovery of debts passed March 26, 1784. 21. Act of South Carolina, to regulate the recovery and payment of debts, and prohibiting the importation of ne- groes, &c. passed March 28, 1787. 22. Act of South Carolina, to regulate the payment and recovery of debts, and to prohibit the importation of ne* groes for the time therein limited passed Nov. 4, 1788. APPENDIX E. No. 1. Case of William Neate's executors against Com- fort Sands decided in the Supreme Court of New York. 2. Case of Osborne against Mifflin's executors decided in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 3. Case of Hoare against Allen decided in the same court. 4. Case of Stewardson, administrator of Mildred against Dorsey decided in the General Court of Maryland. 5. Act of Virginia, for the protection and encourage- ment of the commerce of nations acknowledging the inde- pendence of the United States of America October ses- sion. 1779. 6. Act of Virginia, to repeal part of an act for the pro- tection and encouragement of the commerce of nations acknowledging the independence of the United States of America passed Dec. 31, 1787. 7. Act of Virginia, to repeal so much of all and every act or acts of assembly as prohibits the recovery of Bri- tish debts passed Dec. 12, 1787. &TATB PAPERS. 256 8. Case of Rutgers against Waddington decided in the Mayor's Court of New York. 9. Case of John Smith Hatfield, at a court of Oyer and Terminer, held at Bergen, in the state of New Jersey in August, 1789. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States, to Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Bri- tain. Philadelphia, March 30, 1792. Sir, A constant course of business has as yet put it out of my power to prepare an answer to your letter of the 5th instant. In the mean time I have been- taking measures to procure copies of the several acts therein complained of, that I might save you the trouble of pro- ducing proofs of them. My endeavours have failed in the instances below cited, of which therefore I am constrain- ed to ask you to furnish the documents. I have prefixed to them your own marks of reference, that you may the more easily find them. I beg you to be assured that I would not have given you the trouble to produce any proofs which I could have obtained myself; and I hope if will be considered as an evidence of this, that the list sub- joined is only of 13 out of 94 numbers which your appen- dix specifies. Of all the rest I either have, or expect copies in consequence of the measures I have taken. 1 have the honour to be, &c. Til: JEFFERSON. A. 4. Act of Rhode Island to confiscate and sequester estates and banish persons of certain descriptions passed October, 1775. February, March, May, June, July, August, October, 1775. February, May, June, October, 1783. C. 11. Act of Rhode Island to send out of the state N. Spink and John Underwood. JO. ditto. to send Wm. Young thereto- fore banished out of '!;^ ?tatc, &C. 256 AMERICAN 1 3. Act of Rhode Island allowing Wm. Brenton to visit his family, &c. 14. ditto, to banish S. Knowles, &c. D. 10. Old act of Maryland. 16. Act of Rhode Island of May, 1786. E. 1,2, 3, 4, 8, 9. The cases of Neate v. executors, Os- borne v. Mifflin's executors. Hoare v. Allen. Stewardson v. Dorsey. Rutgers v. Waddington. John Smith Hatfield. The records of these cannot be dispensed with. Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, April 6, 1792. Sir, I have been so much engaged for the last five or six days, that I have not had it in my power sooner to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th March I have however "now the honour of submitting to your consideration some few remarks on the several points con- tained in my statement, of which you require an expla- nation. With respect to the laws of Rhode Island, they are so blended with the journal of the general proceedings of the legislature of the state, that it was a matter of some diffi- culty to separate the legislative acts from the other trans- actions of the assembly I therefore cannot but regret that in selecting these instances, I could make a reference only to the dates of the particular years in which they were passed these last will, I trust, upon recurring to the col- lection of the laws of Rhode Island (which book is no longer in my possession) be found to be faithfully stated By the expression the old act of Maryland, I meant to com- bine the statute of the 5th of George the n. (declaring lands in the plantations to be personal estate for the pay- ment of debts due to British merchants) with the act of STATE PAPER9. 23? assembly of that state of 1716, Ch. xvi. Sect. 2. (pointing out the mode of appraisement and delivery of the debtors lands in common with his personal property) This statute and colonial law have I understand, been acted upon in the state courts of Maryland, since the establishment of its independence, but from the strict application of the principle of alienage, mentioned in the text to which this note refers, British creditors are incompetent to the hold- ing of real estates, assigned under these valuation laws, in payment of their debts. All the cases to. which you have alluded (excepting that of Rutgers v. Waddington, which was printed at New York) have been collected from the manuscript notes of a friend, and I have no doubt of their being accurately reported I wish it were in my power to furnish you with the records of them, but I beg leave to suggest to you, sir, with the utmost deference, whether those documents could not be obtained on application to the courts of the states, in which the actions were tried, or the reports be supplied by the gentlemen of the law, employed in the several suits. Should this explanation not be satisfactory to you, sir, I will certainly endeavour to obtain some farther informa- tion upon the several points to which you have referred, as after the very polite and obliging manner, in which you have been pleased to express your desire of saving me trouble, I certainly feel it an act of reciprocal attention due from me to facilitate, by all the means in my power, your investigation of any part of the statement, which I delivered to you. 1 have the honour to he, &x. GEO. HAMMOND. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Stale of the United States, to Mr, Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Sir, Your favour of March 5th has been longer un- answered than consisted with my wishes, to forward as much as possible explanations of the several matters it contained. But these matters were very various, and the evidence of them not easily to be obtained, even where it could be obtained at all. It has been a work of time and trouble, to collect from the different stales all the acts them- selves, of which you had cited \\\o titles, and to investigate vot.. j% 33 25 9 AMERICAN 1 the judiciary decisions which were classed with those acts as infractions of the treaty of peace. To these causes of delay may be added the daily duties of my office, necessa- rily multiplied during the sessions of the legislature. Section 1. I can assure you with truth, that we meet you on this occasion, with the sincerest dispositions to remove from between the two countries those obstacles to a cordial friendship, which have arisen from an inexecu- tion of some articles of the treaty of peace. The desire entertained by this country, to be on the best terms with yours, has been constant, and has manifested itself through- its different forms of administration, by repeated overtures to enter into such explanations and arrange- ments, as should be right and necessary, to bring about a complete execution of the treaty. The same dispositions lead us to wish, that the occasion now presented should not be defeated by useless recapitulations of what had taken place anterior to that instrument. It was with con- cern, therefore, 1 observed that you had thought it neces- sary to go back to the very commencement of the war, and in several parts of your letter to enumerate and comment on all the acts of our different legislatures, passed during the whole course of it, in order to deduce from thence -im- putations which your justice would have suppressed, had the whole truth been presented to your view, instead of particular traits, detached from the ground on which they stood. However easy it would be to justify our country, by bringing into view the whole ground, on both sides, to show that legislative warfare began with the British par- liament, that when they levelled at persons or property, it was against entire towns or countries, without discrimi- nation of cause or conduct, while we touched individuals only ; naming them man by man, after due consideration of each case, and careful attention not to confound the inno- cent with the guilty ; however advantageously we might compare the distant and tranquil situation of their legis- lature with the scenes in the midst of which ours were obliged to legislate, and might then ask, whether the dif- ference of circumstance and situation would not have jus- tified a contrary difference of conduct, and whether the wonder ought to be, that our legislatures had done so much, or so little. We will wave all this, because it would lead STATE PAPERS. 25 to recollections, as unprofitable as unconciliating. The titles of some of your acts, and a single clause of one of them only, shall be thrown among the documents at the end of this letter [No. 1. 2.] and with this, we will drop for ever the curtain on this tragedy I Sect 2. We now come together to consider that instru- ment which was to heal our wounds, and begin a new chapter in our history. The state in which that found things, is to be considered as rightful : so says the law of nations.* L'etat ou les choscs se trouvent au moment du traite doit passer pour legitime ; et si l'on veut y appor- ter du changement il faut que le traite en fasse une men- tion cxpresse. Par consequent toutes les choses dont 1 traite ne dit rien, doivent demeurer dans l'etat ou elles se trouvent lors de sa conclusion. Vattel, 1. 4. s. 21. ' De quibus nihil dictum, ea manent quo sunt loco. Wolf, 1222. No alterations then are to be claimed on either side, but those which the treaty has provided. The mo- ment too, to which it refers, as a rule of conduct for this country at large, was the moment of its notification to the country at large. t Vattel, 1. 4. s. 24. ' Le traite de paix oblige les parties contraciantes du moment qu'il est conclu aussitot qu'il a re$u toute sa forme ; et elles doi- vent procurer incessamment l'execution mais ce traite n'oblige les sujets que du moment qu'il leur est notifie' and s. 25. ' Le traite devicnt par la publication^ une loi * ' The state ia which things are found at the moment of the treaty should be considered as lawful, and if it is meant to make any change in it the treaty must expressly mention it. Consequently all things about which the treaty is silent, must remain in the state in which they are found at its conclusion.' Vattel, 1. 4. s. 21. ' Those tilings of which nothing is said, remain in the state in wliich they are.' Wolf, 1222. t Vattel, 1. 4. s. 24. ' The treaty of peace binds the corti 'meting parties from the moment it is concluded, as soon as it lias received its whole form, and they ought immediately to have il executed. But this treaty does not bind the subjects, but from the moment it is notified to them.' And, s. 2L">. c The treaty becomes, by its publication^ a law for the subjects, and they are obliged, thenceforward, to conform themselves to the stipulations therein agreed on.' 4 The paction of the peace binds the contractors immediately as it is per- fect, since the obligation i derived from the pact; but the subjects and sol- diers, as soon as it is pubtishrd to them ; since they cannot hare certain o--i- denet of it btforc Us publication.'' Wolf, s. I.'."'. $60 AMERICAN pour les sujets, et ils sont obliges de se conlbrmer desor- mais aux dispositions dont on y est convenu.' And another author as pointedly says, ' Pactio pacis paciscentes statim obligat quara primum perfecta, cum ex pacto veniat obli- gatio. Subditos vero et milites, quam primum iisdem fuerit publicata ; cum de ea. ante public ationtm ipsis certo constare non possitS Wolf, s. 1 229. It was stipulated indeed by the ix article, that ' if before its arrival in Ame- rica,' any place or territory belonging to either party should be conquered by the arms of the other, it should be restored. This was the only case in which transac- tions intervening between the signature and publication were to be nullified. Congress, on the 24th of March, 1 783, received informal intelligence from the marquis de la Fayette, that provision- al articles were concluded ; and on the same day, they received a copy of the articles, in a letter of March 19th from general Carleton and admiral Digby. They imme- diately gave orders for recalling all armed vessels, and Communicated the orders to those officers, who answered on the 26th and 27th that they were not authorized to concur in the recall of armed vessels, on their part. On the 1 1 th of April, Congress received an official copy of these articles from doctor Franklin, with notice that a preliminary treaty was now signed between France, Spain, and England. The event having now taken place on which the provisional articles were to come into effect on he usual footing of preliminaries, Congress immediately proclaim them, and on the 19th of April, a cessation of hostilities is published by the commander in chief. These particulars place all acts preceding the 11th of April out of the present discussion, and confine it to the treaty itself, and the circumstances attending its execution. I have therefore taken the liberty of extracting from your list of American acts all those preceding that epoch, and of throwing them together in the paper, No. 6, as things out of question. The subsequent acts shall be distributed, according to their several subjects of i. Exile and Confis- cation, ii. Debts, and m. Interest on those debts. Beginning i. with those of exile and confiscation, which mfi be considered together, because blended together in most of the acts, and blended also in the same article of the tr.eatv. STATE PAPERS. 261 S. 3. It cannot be denied that the state of war strictly permits a nation to seize the property of its enemies found within its own limits, or taken in war, and in whatever form it exists, whether in action or possession. This is so perspicuously laid down by one of the most respectable writers on subjects of this kind, that I shall use his words, " * Cum ea sit belli conditio, ut hostes sint omni jure spo- liati, rationis est, quascunque res hostium apud hostes in- ventas dominum mutare, et fisco cedere. Solet praeterea in singulis fere belli indictionibus constitui, ut bona hos- tium, tarn apud nos repcrta, quam capta bello publicentur. Si merum jus belli sequamur, etiam irnmobilia possent vendi, et eorum pretium in fiscum redigi, ut in mobilibus obtinet. Sed in omni fere Europa sola fit annotatio, ut eorum fructus, durante bello, percipiat fiscus, finito autum bello, ipsa irnmobilia ex pactis restituuntur pristinis domi- nis." Bynkersh. Quest. Jur. Pub. 1. I. c. 7. Every nation, indeed, would wish to pursue the latter practice, if under circumstances leaving them their usual resources. But the circumstances of our war were without example, excluded from all commerce, even with neutral nations, without arms, money, or the means of getting them abroad, we were obliged to avail smrselves of such resources as we found at home. Great Britain too, did not consider it as an ordinary war, but a rebellion ; she did not conduct it according to the rules of war, established by the law of nations, but according to her acts of parliament, made from time to time, to suit circumstances. She would not admit our title even to the strict rights of ordinary Avar. She cannot then claim from us its liberalities, yet the confisca- tions of property were by no means universal, and that of debts still less so. What effect was to be produced on * u Since it is a condition of war (hat enemies may be deprived of all their rights, it is reasonable that every tiling of an enemy's found among his enemies should. change its owner, and go to the treasury. It is more- over u.sually directed, in all declarations of war, that the goods of enemies, as well those found among w, as those taken in war, shall be confiscated. If we follow the mere right of war, even immoveable property may be sold, and its price carried into the treasury, as is the custom with moveable pro- j) ut v. Hut in almost all Europe, it is only notified that their profits, during the war, shall be received by the treasury, and the war being ended, the immoveable property itself is restored by agreement to the former owner." By ok. Quest. Jur. pub. 1. I. c. 7. 262 AMERICAN them by the treaty, will be seen by the words of the v. ar* ficle, which are as follows. S. 4. Article v. It is agreed, that the Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respec- tive states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights and properties, which have been confiscated, be- longing to real British subjects, and also, of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession of his majesty's arms, and who have not borne arms against the said United States ; and that per- sons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as may have been con- fiscated : And that Congress shall also earnestly recom- mend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation, which on the return of the blessings of peace should uni- versally prevail : and that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states, that the estates, rights, and properties of such last mentioned persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may be now in possession the bona fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on pur- chasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties, since the confiscation. And it is agreed, that all persons who have any interest in confiscated lands, either by debts, marriage settlements, or otherwise, shall meet with no lawful impediment in the prosecution of their just rights. " Article vi. That there shall be no future confiscations made."' S. b. Observe that in every other article, the parties agree expressly, that such and such things shall be done. In this, they only agree to recommend that they shall be done. You ore pleased to say (page 7.) i; It cannot lie presumed, that the commissioners who negotiated the trea- ty of peace would engage, in behalf of Congress, to make STATE PAPBRS. J26& recommendations to the legislatures of the respective states, which they did not expect to be effectual, or enter into direct stipulations, which they had not the power to enforce." On the contrary, we may fairly presume, that if they had had the power to enforce, they would not merely have recommended. When in every other article, they agree expressly to do, Avhy in this do they change the style suddenly and agree only to recommend ? because the things here proposed to be done were retrospective in their nature, would tear up the laws of the several states, and the contracts and transactions private and publick, which had taken place under them ; and retrospective laws were forbidden by the constitutions of several of the states. Between persons, whose native language is that of this treaty, it is unnecessary to explain the difference between enacting a thing to be done, and recommending it to be done ; the words themselves being as well under- stood, as any by which they could be explained. But it may not be unnecessary to observe that recommendations to the people, instead of laios, had been introduced among us, and were rendered familiar in the interval between discontinuing the old, and establishing the new govern- ments* The conventions and committees who then as- sembled, to guide the conduct of the people, having no authority to oblige them by law, took up the practice of dimply recommending measures to them. These recom- mendations they either complied with or not, at their plea- sure. If they refused, there was complaint but no com- pulsion. So after organizing the governments, if at any time it became expedient that a thing should be done, which Congress, or any other of the organized bodies were not authorized to ordain, they simply recommended and left to the people, or their legislatures, to comply, or not, as they pleased. It was impossible that the negotiators on either side should have been ignorant of the difference between agreeing to do a thing, and agreeing only to re- commend it to be done. The import of the terms is so different, that no deception or surprise could be supposed, ttvcn if there were no evidence that the difference was at- tcnded l<>, explained and understood. S. G. But the evidence on -this occasion removes all question. It is weiJ known, that the British court had it 264 AMERICAN extremely at heart, to procure a restitution of the estates of the refugees who had gone over to their side : that the) proposed it in the first conferences, and insisted on it to 1.1 le last : that our commissioners, on the other hand, re- fused it from first to last, urging 1st. That it was unrea- sonable to restore the confiscated property of the refugees, unless they would reimburse the destruction of the pro- perty of our citizens, committed on their part ; and 2ndly, That it was beyond the powers of the commissioners to stipulate, or of Congress to enforce. On this point, the treaty hung long. It was the subject of a special mis- sion of a confidential agent of the British negotiator from Paris to London. < It was still insisted on, on his return, and still protested against, by our commissioners : And when they were urged to agree only, that Congress should recommend to the state legislatures to restore the estates, &c. of the refugees, they were expressly told that the legislatures would not regard the recommendation. In proof of this, I subjoin extracts from the letters and jour- nals of Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin, two of our commis- sioners, the originals of which are among the records of the Department of State, and shall be open to you for a verification of the copies. These prove, beyond all question, that the difference between an express agree- ment to do a thing and to recommend it to be done was well understood by both parties, and that the British ne- gotiators were put on their guard by those on our part, not only, that the legislatures would be free to refuse, but that they probably would refuse. And it is evident, from all circumstances, that Mr. Oswald accepted the recom- mendation merely to have something to oppose to the cla- mours of the refugees, to keep alive a hope in them, that they might yet get their property from the state legisla- tures; and that, if they should fail in this, they would have ground to demand indemnification from their own government; and he might think it a circumstance of present relief at least, that the question of indemnification by them should be kept out of sight, till time and events should open it upon the nation insensibly. S. 7. The same was perfectly understood by the British ministry, and by the members of both Houses of Parlia- ment, as well those who advocated as those who opposed S^ATE t A*E*fr. 865 the treaty: the latter of whom, being out of the secrets of the negotiation, must have formed their judgments on the mere import of the terms. That all parties concurred in this exposition will appear by the following extracts from the parliamentary register; a work, which, without pre* tending to give what is spoken with verbal accuracy, may yet be relied on, we presume, for the general reasoning and opinion of the speakers. House of Commons* The preliminary articles under consideration: 1783, Feb. 1 7th. Mr. Thomas Pitt. " That the interests of the sincere loyalists were as dear to him, as to any man ; but that he could never think it would have been promoted by carrying on that unfortunate war, which parliament had in fact suspended before the beginning of the treaty ; that it was impossible, alter the part Congress was pleased to take in it, to conceive that their recommendation would not have its proper influence on the different legislatures ; that he did not himself see what more could have been done on their behalf, except by renewing the war for their sakes, and increasing our, and their calamities." 9. Debrett's Pari. Register, 233. Mr. Wilberforce. " When he considered the case of the loyalists, he confessed he felt himself there conquered, (here he saw his country humiliated ; he saw her at the feet of America ! Still he was induced to believe, that Congress would religiously comply with the article, and that the loyalists A\ould obtain redress from America. Should they not, this country was bound to afford it them. They must be compensated. Ministers, he was^persuaded, meant to keep the faith of the nation with them, and he verily believed, had obtained the best terms they possibly could for them." ib. 2 ]6. Mr. Secretary Townsend. " He was ready to admit, that many of the loyalists had the strongest claims upon this country ; and he trusted should the rtcommaulation of Congress to the American states prove unsuccessful, which he nattered himself would not I v.- the case, this country would foci itself bound in honour to make (hem full com- pensation for their losses." ik 2-2. vol. i. 34 266 AMERICAN House of Lords, February 17, 1783. Lord Shelbume. " A part must be wounded, that the whole of the empire may not perish. If better terms could be had, think you, my lords, that I would not have em- braced them ? You all know my creed. You all know my steadiness. If it were possible to put aside the bitter cup, (he adversities of this country presented to me, you know I would have done it : but you called for peace. I had but the alternative, either to accept the terms, said Con- gress, of our recommendation to the states in favour of the colonists, or continue the war. It is in our power to do no more than recommend. Is there any man who hears me, who will clap his hand on his heart, and step forward and say, I ought to have broken off the treaty ? If there be, I am sure he neither knows the state of the country, nor yet has he paid any attention to the wishes of it : but say the worst and that after all, this estimable set of men are not received and cherished in the bosom of their own country. Is England so lost to gratitude, and all the feelings of hu- manity, as not to afford them any asylum ? Who can be so base as to think she will refuse it to them ? Surely it can- not be that noble minded man, who would plunge his country again knee deep in blood, and saddle it with an expense of twenty millions for the purpose of restoring them. Without one drop of blood spilt, and without one fifth of the expense of one year's campaign, happiness and ease can be given to the loyalists in as ample a manner as these blessings were ever in their emjoyment : therefore let the outcry cease on this head." lb. 70, 71. Lord Hawke. " In America," said he, " Congress had engaged to recommend their [the loyalists] cause to the legislatures of the country : What other term could they adopt 1 He had searched the journals of Congress on this subject : what other term did they, or do they ever adopt. in their requisitions to the different provinces 1 It is an undertaking on the part of Congress : that body, like the king here, is the executive power in America. Can the crown undertake for the two houses of parliament ? It can only recommend. He flattered himself that recommenda- tion would be attended with success ; but, said he, state the case, that it will not. the liberality of Great Britain i- STATE PAPERS. 267 still open to them. Ministers had pledged themselves to indemnify them ; not only in the address now moved for, but even in the last address, and in the speech from the throne." Lord Walsingham. " We had only die recommendation of Congress to trust to, and how often had their recom- mendations been fruitless ? There were many cases in poim in which provincial assemblies had peremptorily refused the recommendations of Congress. It was but the other day the states refused money on the recommendations of Congress. Rhode Island unanimously refused when the Congress desired to be authorized to lay a duty of 5 per cent, because the funds had failed. Many other circum- stances might be produced of the failure of the recommen- dations of Congress, and therefore we ought not, in nego- tiating for the loyalists, to have trusted to the recommenda- tions of Congress. Nothing but the repeal of the acts existing against them ought to have sufficed, as nothing else could give effect to the treaty ; repeal was not men- tioned. They had only stipulated to revise and reconsider them." 11. Dcbrett's Pari. Reg. 44. Lord Sackville. " The king's ministers had weakly imagined that the recommendation of Congress was a suffi- cient security for these unhappy men. For his own "part, so far from believing that this would be sufficient, or any thing like sufficient, for their protection, he was of a direct contrary opinion : and if they entertained any notions of 1 his sort, he would put an end to their idle hopes at once, by reading from a paper in his pocket a resolution, which the assembly of Virginia had come to, so late as on the 1 7th of December last. The resolution was as follows, " That all demands or requests of the British court for the restitution of property, confiscated by this state, being neither supported by law, equity, or policy, are wholly inadmissible : and that our delagates in Congress be in- structed to move Congress, that they may direct their deputies who shall represent these states in the general Congress, for adjusting a peace or truce, neither to agree to any such restitution, or submit that the laws made by any independent state; in this Union be subjected to the adjudication of any power or powers on earth. 1 ' lb. page 62, 63. 268 AMERICA?; Some of the speakers seem to have had not very ac- curate ideas of our government. All of them, however, have perfectly understood, that a recommendation was a matter, not of obligation or coercion, but of persuasion and influence, merely. They appear to have entertained greater or less degrees of hope or doubt, as to its effect on the legislatures, and though willing to see the result of this chance, yet if it failed, they were prepared to take the work of indemnification on themselves. S. 8. The agreement then being only that Congress should recommend to the state legislatures a restitution of estates, and liberty to remain a twelve month for the pur- pose of soliciting the restitution, and to recommend a revi- sion of all acts regarding the premises, Congress did im- mediately on the receipt of the definitive articles, to wit, on the 14th of January, 1784, come to the following reso- lution, viz. " Resolved unanimously, nine states being pre- sent, that it bo and it is hereby earnestly recommended to the legislatures of the respective states to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated, belonging to real British subjects ; and also, of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resi- denfin districts which were in possession of his Britannick majesty's arms, at any time between the 30lh day of No- vember, 1782, and the 14th day of January, 1784, and who have not borne arms against the said United States ; and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months unmo- lested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties, as may have been confiscated : and it is also hereby earnestly recommended to the several stales to reconsider and revise all their acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally prevail : and it is hereby also earnestly recommended to the several states that the estates, rights, and properties of such lasf mentioned persons should be restored to them, they refund- ing to any persons who may be now in possession the bono #de price (where any has been given) which such persons STATE PAPERS.. 269 may have paid, on purchasing any of the said lands, rights, or properties, since the confiscation. Ordered, that a copy of the proclamation of this date, together with the recommendation, be transmitted to the several states by the secretary." S. 9. The British negotiators had been told by ours, that all the states would refuse to comply with this recom- mendation : One only, however, refused altogether. The others complied in a greater or less degree, according to the circumstances and dispositions in which the events of the war had left them ; but had all of them refused, it would have been no violation of the 5th article, but an exercise of that freedom of will, which was reserved to them, and so understood by all parties. The following are the acts of your catalogue which be- long to this head, with such short observations as are neces- sary to explain them. Beginning at that end of the Union where, the war having raged most, we shall meet with the most repugnance to favour. S. 10. Georgia. July 29. An act releasing certain persons from their bargains. A law had been passed dur- ing the war, to wit : in 1 782, [A. 30.] Confiscating the estates of persons therein named and directing them to be sold : they were sold ; but some misunderstanding hap- pened to prevail among the purchasers, as to the mode of payment. This act of 1783, therefore permits such persons to relinquish their bargains, and authorizes a new sale the lauds remaining confiscated under the law made previous to the peace. February 22. An act to authorize the auditor to liqui- date the demands of such persons as have claims against the confiscated estates. In the same law of confiscations made during the war, it had been provided that the estates confiscated should be subject to pay the debts of their former owner. This law of 1785, gave authority to the audjtor to settle with, and pay the creditors, and to sell the remaining part of the estate confiscated as before. February 10. An act to compel the settlement of pub- lick accounts, for inflicting penalties, and vesting th<* .tuditor with certain powers. This law also is founded on 270 AMERICAN the same confiscation law of 1782, requiring the auditor to press the settlement with the creditors, &c. ' February 7. An act for ascertaining the rights of aliens, and pointing out the mode for the admission of citizens. It first describes what persons shall be free to become citi- zens, and then declares none shall be capable of that character who had been named in any confiscation law, or banished, or had borne arms against them. This act does not prohibit either the refugees, or real British subjects from coming into the state to pursue their lawful affairs. It only excludes the former from their right of citizenship, and it is to be observed, that this recommendatory article does not say a word about giving them a right to become citizens. If the conduct of Georgia should appear to have been peculiarly uncomplying, it must be remembered that that state had peculiarly suffered ; that the British army had entirely overrun it ; had held possession of it for some years ; and that all the inhabitants had been obliged either to abandon their estates and fly their country, or to remain in it under a military government. S. 11. South Carolina. August 15th. An act to vest 1 80 acres of land, late the property of James Holmes, in certain persons, in trust for the benefit of a publick school. These lands had beert confiscated and sold during the war. The present law prescribes certain proceedings as to the purchasers, and provides for paying the debts of the for- mer proprietors. March 22. An act to amend the confiscation act, and for other purposes therein mentioned. This relates only to estates which had been confiscated before the peace. It makes some provision towards a final settlement, and relieves a number of persons from the amercements which had been imposed on them during the war, for the- part they had taken. March 26. An act restoring to certain persons their estates, and permitting the said persons to return, and for other purposes. This act recites, that certain cstates^iad been confiscated, and the owners 124 in number banished by former laws ; that Congress had earnestly recommend- ed in the terms of the treaty : it therefore distributes them into three lists or classes, restoring to all of them the lands themselves where they remained unsold, and the price, STATE PAPERS. 271 where sold, requiring from those in lists, No. 1 , and 3, to pay 1 2 per cent, on the value of what was restored, and No. 2, nothing ; and it permits all of them to return, only disqualifying those of No. 1 and 3 ; who had borne military commissions against them from holding any office for seven years. Governour Moultrie's letter of June 21, 1786, informs us, that most of the confiscations had been restored ; that the value of those not restored, was far less than that of the property of their citizens carried off by the British, and that fifteen, instead of twelve months had been allowed to the persons for whom permission was recommended to come and solicit restitution. S. 12. North Carolina. October. An Act directing the sale of confiscated property. December 29. An act to secure and quiet in their pos- sessions, the purchasers of lands, goods, &c. sold, or to be sold by the commissioners of forfeited estates. These two acts relate expressly to property " heretofore confiscated." and secure purchasers under those former confiscations. The case of Bayard, v. Singleton, adjudged in a court of Judicature in North Carolina. Bayard was a purchaser of part of an estate confiscated during the war, and the court adjudged lu's title valid ; and it is difficult to con- ceive on what principle that adjudication can be com- plained of as an infraction of the treaty. November 19. An act was'passed to restore a confis- cated estate to the former proprietor, Edward Bridgen. October. An act to describe and ascertain such per- sons as owed allegiance to the state, and impose certain disqualifications on certain persons therein named. November. An act to amend the preceding act. April. An act of pardon and oblivion. The two first of these acts exercised the right of the state, to describe who should be its citizens, and who should be disqualified from holding offices. The last, entitled An act of pardon and oblivion, 1 have not been able to see ; but so far as it pardons, it is a compliance with the recommendation of Congress under the treaty, and so far as it excepts per- sons out of the pardon, it is a refusal to comply with th< recommendation, which it had a right to do. It docs not 72 AMERICAN appear, that there has been any obstruction to the return of those persons who had claims to prosecute. S. 13. Virginia. The catalogue under examination pre- sents no act of this state subsequent to the treaty of peace, on the subject of confiscations. By one of October 18, 1784, they declared there should be no future confiscations. But they did not choose to comply with the recommenda- tion of Congress, as to the restoration of property which had been already confiscated : with respect to persons, the first assembly which met after the peace, passed October. The act prohibiting the migration of certian persons to this commonwealth, and for other purposes therein mentioned, which was afterwards amended by October. An act to explain and amend the preceding. These acts, after, declaring who shall not have a right to migrate to, or become citizens of the state, have each an express proviso, that nothing contained in them shall be so construed as to contravene the treaty of peace with Great Britain, and a great number of the refugees having come into the state, under the protection of the first law, and it being understood, that a party was forming in the state to ill-treat them, the governour, July 26, 1784, published the proclamation, No. 14, enjoining all magistrates and other civil officers, to protect them, and secure to them, the rights derived from the treaty, and acts of assembly afore- said, and to bring to punishment, all who should offend herein, in consequence of which, those persons remained quietly in the state ; and many of them have remained to this day. S. 14. Maryland. November. An act to vest certain powers in the governour and council. Sec. 3. November. An act to empower the governour and council to compound with the discoverers of British pro- perty and for other purposes. These acts relate purely to property which had been confiscated during the war, and the state not choosing to restore it, as recommended by Congress, passed them for bringing to a conclusion the settlement of all transactions relative to the confiscated property. I do not find any law of this state, which could prohibit, the free return of their refugees, or the reception of the STATE PAFKRA. 278 Muhj<;^tf, of Great Britain, or of any other country. And 1 find that they passed in November. An act to repeal that part of the act for the security of their government, which disqualified non- jurors from holding offices, and voting at elections. The case of Harrison's representatives, in the court of chancery of Maryland, is in the list of infractions. These representatives being British subjects, and the laws of this country, like those of England, not permitting aliens to hold lands, the question was, whether British subjects were aliens. They decided that they were ; consequently that they could not take lands, and consequently also, that the lands in this case escheated to the state. Whereupon the legislature immediately interposed, and passed a special act, allowing the benefits of the succession to the repre- sentatives. But had they not relieved them, the case would not have come under the treaty, for there is no stipulation in that doing away the laws of alienage, and enabling the members of each nation to inherit or hold lands in the other. S. 15. Delaware. This state in the year 1778, passed an act of confiscation against forty-six citizens by name, who had joined in arms against them, unless they should come in by a given day, and stand their trial. The estates of those who did not, were sold, and the whole business 50on closed. They never passed any other act on the subject, either before or after the peace. There was no restitution, because there was nothing to restore, their debts having more than exhausted the proceeds of the sa-les of their property, as appears by Mr. Read's letter, and that all persons were permitted to return, and such as chose it, have remained there in quiet, to this day. S. 16. Pennsylvania. The catalogue furnishes no trans- action of this state, subsequent to the arrival of the treaty of peace, on the subjects of confiscation, except August. An order of the executive council, to sr-il part of Harry Gordon's real estate, under the net of January 31, 17!Jo. This person had been summoned by proclamation, by the name of Henry Gordon, to appear before the 1st day o November, 17t>J ; and failing, his estate was seized by the commissioners of forfeitures, and most of i' sold. Tke vol. j. T> 2.74 AMERICAS act of 1783, January 31, cured the misnomer, and directed!" what remained of his estaie, to be sold. The confiscation being complete, it was for them to say whether they would restore it, in compliance with the recommendation of Con- gress. They did not, and the executive completed the sale, as they were bound to do. All persons were per- mitted to return to this state, and you see many of them living here to this day in quiet and esteem. S. 17.. New Jersey. The only act alleged against this state, as to the recommendatory article, is, December 23. An act to appropriate a certain forfeit- ed estate. This was the estate of John Zabriski, which had been forfeited during the war, and the act gives it to major-general Baron Steuben, in reward for his services. The confiscation being complete, the legislature were free to do this. Governor Livingston's letter is an additional testimony of the moderation of this state, after the procla- mation of peace, and from that we have a right to conclude, that no persons were prevented from returning and remain- ing indefinitely. S. 18. New York. This state had been among the first invaded ; the greatest part of it had been possessed by the enemy through the war; it was the last evacuated; its inhabitants had in great numbers been driven off their farms ; their property wasted, and themselves living in exile and penury, and reduced from affluence to want, it is not to be wondered at, if their sensations were among the most lively : accordingly, they, in the very first mo- ment, gave a flat refusal to the recommendation, as to the restoration of property : See document No. 1 7, containing their reasons. They passed, however, May 12, The act to preserve the freedom and independence of this state, and for other purposes therein mentioned, in which, after disqualifying refugees from offices, they permit them to come, and remain as long as may be absolutely necessary, to defend their estates. S. 19. Connecticut. A single act only on the same sub- ject is alleged against this state, after the treaty of peace : This was an act directing certain confiscated estates to be >old. The title shows, they were old confiscations, no? STATE PAPERS. 2X5 new ones, and governour Huntington's letter informs us, that all confiscations and prosecutions were stopped on the peace ; that some restoration of property took place, and all persons were free to return. S. 20. Rhode Island. The titles of four acts of this state, are cited in your appendix, to wit : May 27. An act to send out of the state, N. Spink, and I. Underwood, who had formerly joined the enemy, and were returned to Rhode Island. June 8. An act to send William Young, theretofore banished out of the state, and forbidden to return at his peril. June 12. An act allowing William Brenton, late an absentee, to visit his family for one week, then sent away not to return. October. An act to banish S. Knowles, (whose estate had been forfeited) on pain of death, if he return. Mr. Channing, the attorney of the United States for that dis- trict, says in his letter, " he had sent me all the acts of that legislature, that affect either the debts, or the persons of British subjects, 'or American refugees." The acts above cited, are not among them. In the answer of April 6, which you were pleased to give to mine of March 30, desiring copies of these, among other papers, you say the book is no longer in your possession. These circumstances will, I hope, excuse my not answering or admitting these acts, and justify my proceeding to observe, that nothing is produced against this state, on this subject after the treaty ; and the district attorney's letter, before cited, informs us. that their courts considered the treaty as paramount the laws of the state, and decided accordingly, both as to per- sons and properly, and that the estates of all British sub- jects seized by the state had been restored, and the rents and profits accounted for. Governour Collin's letter, No. 20, is a further evidence of the compliance of this state. S. 21. Massachusetts. March 24. This state passed -an act for repealing two laws of this state, and for assert- ing the right of this free and sovereign commonwealth to expel such aliens as may be dangerous to the peace and .ood order of government, the effect of which was lo re- ject the recommendation of Congress, as to the return of 276 AMERICAN persons, but to restore to them such of their lands as were not confiscated, unless they were pledged for debt, and by Nov. 10. An act in addition to an act for repealing two laws of this state, they allowed them to redeem their lands- pledged for debt, by paying the debt. S. 22. New Hampshire. Against New Hampshire noth- ing is alleged ; that state having not been invaded at all, was not induced to exercise any acts of rigour against the subjects or adherents of their enemies. The acts then, which have been complained of, as vio- lations of the 5th article, were such as the states were free to pass, notwithstanding the recommendation, such as it was well understood they would be free to pass without any imputation of infraction, and may therefore be put entirely out of question. S. 23. And we may further observe, with respect to the same acts, that they have been considered as infractions not only of the 5th article, which recommended the resto- ration of the confiscations which had taken place during the roar, but also of that part of the 6th article which for- bade future confiscations. But not one of them touched an estate which had not been before confiscated ; for you will observe, that an act of the legislature, confiscating lands, stands in place of an office found in ordinary cases; and that, on the passage of the act, as on the finding of the office, the state stands ipso facto possessed of the lands, without a formal entry. The confiscation then is complete by the passage of the act. Both the title and possession being divested out of the former proprietor, and vested in the state, no subsequent proceedings relative to the lands are acts of confiscation, but are mere exercises of ownership, whether by levying profits, convej'ing for a time, by lease, or in perpetuo, by an absolute deed. I believe, therefore, it may he said with truth, that there was not a single con- fiscation made in any one of the United States, after noti- fication of the treaty; and consequently, it will not be necessary to notice again this part of the 6th article. S. 24. Before quitting the recommendatory article, two passages in the letter are to be noted, which, applying to all the states in general-, could not have been properly' STATE PAPERS, 27~7 answered under any one of them in particular. In page 16 is the following passage, "The express provision in the treaty, for the restitution of the estates and properties of persons of both these descriptions [British subjects and Americans who had staid within the British lines, but had not borne arms,] certainly comprehended a virtual acqui- escence in their right to reside where their property was situated, and to be restored to the privileges of citizen- ship." Here seems to be a double errour, first in suppos- ing an express provision, whereas the words of the article, and the collateral testimony adduced, have shown that the provision was neither express, nor meant to be so. And secondly, in inferring from a restitution of the estate, a virtual acquiescence in the right of the party, to reside where the estate is. Nothing is more frequent, than for a sovereign to banish the person, and leave him possessed of his estate. The inference in the present case, too, is contradicted, as to the refugees, by the recommendation to permit their residence twelve months ; and as to British subjects, by the silence of the article, and the improba- bility that the British plenipotentiary meant to stipulate a right for British subjects to emigrate and become members of another community. S. 25. Again, in page 34, it is said, " The nation of Great Britain has been involved in the payment to them of no less a sum than four millions sterling, as a partial com- pensation for the losses they had sustained." It has been before proved, that Mr. Oswald understood perfectly, that no indemnification was claimed from us ; that on the con- trary, we had a counter claim of indemnification to much larger amount: It has been supposed, and not without grounds, that the glimmering of hope, provided by the recommendatory article, was to quiet, for the present, the clamours of the sufferers, and to keep their weight out of the scale of opposition to the peace, trusting to time and events for an oblivion of these claims, or a gradual ripen- ing of the public!; mind to meet and satisfy them, at a mo- menl of less embarrassment: the latter is the turn winch the tiling took. Tin claimants continued their importuni- ties, and the government determined at length to indem- nify them for their losses; and, opcn-handedly as they went to work, it cost them less than to have settled with 27'3 AMERICAN us the just account of mutual indemnification, urged by our commissioners. It may be well doubted, whether there were not single states of our union, to which the four millions you have paid would have been no indemni- fication for. the losses of property sustained contrary even to the laws of Avar: and what sum would have indemnified the whole thirteen, and, consequently, to what sum our whole losses of this description have amounted, would be difficult to say. However, though in no wise interested in the sums you thought proper to give to the refugees, we could not be inattentive to the measure in which they were dealt out. Those who were on the spot, and who knew intimately the state of affairs with the individuals of this description, who knew that their debts often exceeded their possessions, insomuch that the most faithful adminis- tration made them pay but a few shillings in the pound, heard with wonder of the sums given, and could not but conclude, that those largesses were meant for something more than loss of property : that services, and other cir- cumstances must have had great influence. The sum paid is therefore no imputation on us. We have borne our own losses. We have even lessened yours, by nume- rous restitutions, where circumstances admitted them : and we have much the worst of the bargain by the alternative you chose to accept, of indemnifying your own sufferers, rather than ours. S. "6. ii. The article of debts is next in order: but to place on their true grounds our proceedings relative to them, it will be necessary to take a view of the British proceedings, which are the subject of complaint in my letter of Dec. 15. In the 7th article, it was stipulated, that his Britannick Majesty should withdraw his armies, garrisons, and fleet?, without carrying away any negroes, or other property of the American inhabitants. This stipulation was known to the British commanding ollicers, before the 1 9th of March. 1 783, as provisionally agreed ; and on the 5th of April they received official notice from their court of the conclu- sion and ratification of the preliminary articles between France, Spain, and Great Britain, which gave activity to urs, as appears by the letter of Sir Guv Carleton to Gen. Washington, dated April G, 178 J. [Document No. 21 .J .STATE PAPERS. 27l Prom tins time, then, surely no negroes could be carried away without a violation of the treaty. Yet we find that so early as May 6, a large number of them had already been embarked for Nova Scotia, of which, as contrary to an express stipulation in the treaty, Gen, Washington declared to him his sense and his surprise. In the letter of Sir Guy Carleton of May 12, (annexed to mine to you of the 1 5th of December) lie admits the fact : palliates it by saying he had no right to deprive the negroes of that liberty he found them possessed of; that it was unfriendly to suppose that the king's minister could stipulate to be iruiltv of a notorious breach of the publick faith towards the negroes, and that, if- it was his intention, it must be- adjusted by compensation* restoration being utterly imprac- ticable, where inseparable from a breach of publick faith. But surely, sir, an officer of the king is not to question the validity of the king's engagements, nor violate his solemn treaties, on his OAvn scruples about the publick faith. Under this pretext, however, general Carleton went on in daily infractions, embarking, from time to time, between his notice of the treaty, the 5th of April, and the evacuation of New York, Nov. 25, 3000 negroes, of whom our com- missioners had inspection, and a very large number more, in publick and private vessels, of whom they were not permitted to have inspection. Here, then, was a direct, unequivocal, and avowed violation of this part of the 7th article, in the first moments of its being known ; an article, which had been of extreme solicitude on our part, on the fulfilment of which depended the means of paying debts, in proportion to the number of labourers withdrawn ; and when in the very act of violation, we warn, and put the commanding officer on his guard, he says, directly, he will go through with the act. and leave it to his court to adjust if by compensation. S. 27. By the same article his Britannick majesty stipu- lates, that he will, with aU convenient speed, withdraw hi* garrisons from every post within the United Slates. " When no precise term, says a writer on the law of nations. [Vat- lei, 1. 4. c. 26.] ha6 been marked for (he accomplish- ment of a treaty, and for the execution of each, of iu article-, good sense determines that every point should be executed as '-non o" pos sH.fr ; This is. wifho'M do:-b f : v ' " '^80 AMERICA^ was understood." The term in the treaty, with all conve- nient speed, amounts to the same thing, and clearly excludes all unnecessary delay. The general pacification being signed on the 20th of January, some time would be requisite for the orders for evacuation to come over to America, for the removal of stores, property and persons, and finally, for the act of evacuation. The larger the post, the longer the time necessary to remove all its contents ; the smaller, the sooner done : Hence, though general Carleton received his orders to evacuate New York, in the month of April, the evacuation was not completed till late in November. It had been the principal place of arms and stores ; the seat, as it were, of their general government, and the asylum of those who had fled to them. A great quantity of shipping was necessary, therefore, for the removal, and the general was obliged to call for a part from foreign countries. These causes of delay were duly respected on our part. But the posts of Michillimakkinak, Detroit, Niagara, Oswego, Oswegatchie, Point-au-Fer, Dutchman's Point, were not of this magnitude. The orders for evacu- ation, which reached general Carleton, in New York, early in April, might have, gone, in one month more, to the most remote of these posts : Some of them might have been evacuated in a few days after, and the largest in a kw weeks. Certainly thev might all have been delivered, without any inconvenient speed in the operations, by the end of May, from the known facility furnished by the lakes, and the water connecting them ; or by crossing immedi- ately over into their own territory, and availing themselves of the season for making new establishments there, if that was intended : Or whatever time might, in event, have been necessary for their evacuation, certainly the order for it should have been given from England, and might have been given as early as that from New York. Was any order ever given 1 Would not an unnecessary delay of the order, producing an equal delay in the evacuation, be an infraction of the treaty ? Let us investigate this matter. On the 3d of August, 1783, major general Baron Steu- ben, by orders from general Washington, having repaired to Canada for this purpose, wrote the letter, No. 22, to general Haldimand, governour of the province, and re- ceived from him the answer of August 13. No. 23. Wherein he says, 'The orders I have received, direct. a discontinu- STATE PAPERS. 281 anee of every hostile measure only,'' &c. And in his con- ference with Baron Steuben, he says expressly, ' That he had not received any orders for making the least arrange- ment for the evacuation of a single post.' The orders then, which might have been with him by the last of April, were unknown, if they existed, the middle of August. See Baron Steuben's letter, No. 24. Again, on the 19th of March, 1784, governour Clinton, of New York, within the limits of which state some of these posts are, writes to general Haldimand, the letter No. 25 ; and that general, answering him, May 10, from Quebec, says, ' Not having had the honour to receive orders and instructions relative to withdrawing the garrisons,' &c. fourteen months were now elapsed, and the orders not yet received, which might have been received in four. Again, on the 1 2th of July, colonel Hull, by order from general Knox, the Secretary at War, writes to general Haldimand, the letter No. 27 ; and general Haldimand gives the answer of the 13th, No. 28, wherein he says, 4 Though I am now informed, by his majesty's ministers, of the ratification, he. I remain, &c. not having received any orders to evacuate the posts which are without the limits,' &c. And this is eighteen months after the signa- ture of the general pacification ! Now, is if. not fair to conclude, if the order was not arrived on the 13th of August 1783, if it was not arrived on the 10th of May, 1784, nor yet on the 13th of July, in the same year, that, in truth, the order had never been given ? And if it had never been given, may we not conclude, that it never had been "intended to be given ? From what moment is it we are to date this infraction ? From that, at which, with con- venient speed, the order to evacuate the upper posts might have been given. No legitimate reason can be assigned, why that order might not have been given as early, and at the same time as the order to evacuate New York ; and all delay, after this, was in contravention of the treaty. S. 28. Was this delay merely innocent and unimportant as to us, setting aside all considerations but of interest and safety? 1. It cut us off from the fur trade, which before the war had been always of great importance as a branch of commerce, and as a source of remittance for the pa) - ment of our debts to Great Britain : for to tho injury of vol. i. 3G 282 AMERICA}? withholding our posts they added the obstruction of alt passage along the lakes and their communications. 2. I; secluded us from connexion with the north-western Indians, from all opportunity of keeping up with them friendly and neighbourly intercourse, brought on us consequently, from their known dispositions, constant and expensive war, in which numbers of men, women and children have been, and still are daily falling victims to the scalping knife, and to which there will be no period, but in our possession of the posts which command their country. It may safely be said then, that the treaty was violated in England, before it was known in America, and in Ame- rica, as soon as it was known, and that too in points so essential, as -that without them it would never have been concluded. S. 29. And what was the effect of these infractions on the American mind ? On the breach of any article of a treaty by the one party, the other has its election to de- clare it dissolved in all its articles, or to compensate itself by withholding execution of equivalent articles ; or to wave notice of the breach altogether. Congress being informed that the British commanding officer was carrying away the negroes from New York, in avowed violation of the treaty, and against the repeated remonstrances of general Washington, they take up the subject on the 26th of May, 1783 ; they declare that it is contrary to the treaty ; direct that the proper papers be sent to their ministers plenipotentiary in Europe to re- monstrate, and demand reparation, and that, in ths mean time, general Washington continue his remonstrances to the British commanding officer, and insist on the discon- tinuance of the measure. See document No. 29. S. 30. The state of Virginia, materially affected by this infraction, because the labourers thus carried away were chiefly from thence, while heavy debts were now to be paid to the very nation which was depriving them of the means, took up the subject in December, 1783, that is to say, seven months after that particular infraction, and four months after the first refusal to deliver up the posts. and instead of arresting the debts absolutely, in reprisal for their negroes carried away, they passed [D. 5.] the STATE PAPERS. 283 act to revive and continue the several acts for suspending; the issuing executions on certain judgments until Decem- ber. 1 783, that is to say, they revived till their next meeting two acts passed during the war, which suspended all volun- tary and fraudulent assignments of debt, and as to others, allowed real and personal estate to be tendered in dis- charge of executions : the effect of which was to relieve the body of the debtor from prison, by authorizing him to deliver property in discharge of the debt. In June fol- lowing, thirteen months after the violation last mentioned, and after a second refusal by the British commanding offi- cer to deliver up the posts, they came to ,the resolution No. 30, reciting specially the infraction respecting their negroes, instructing their delegates in Congress to press for reparation ; and resolving, that the courts shall be opened to British suits, as soon as reparation shall be 7nade, or otherwise, as soon as Congress shall judge it in- dispensably necessary. And in 1787, they passed [C. 7.] the act to repeal so much of all and every act or acts of assembly, as prohibits the recovery of British debts ; and at the same time [E. 6.] the act to repeal part of an act for the protection and encouragement of the commerce of nations acknowledging the independence of the United States of America. The former was not to be in force, till the evacuation of the posts, and reparation for the ne- groes carried away. The latter requires particular expla- nation. The small supplies of European goods, which reached us during the war, were frequently brought by captains ol" vessels and supercargoes, who, as soon as they had sold their goods, were to return to Europe with their vessels. To persons under such circumstances, it was necessary to give a summary remedy for the recovery of the proceeds of their sale. This had been done by the law lor the protection and encouragement of the commerce of nations acknowledging the independence of the United States, which was meant but as a temporary thing, to con- tinue whilst the same circumstances continued : On the return of peace, the supplies of foreign goods were made, ;is before the war, by merchants resident here. There was no longer reason lo continue to them the summary remedy, which had been provided for the transient vender of goods : And indeed it would have been unequal to have given the resident merchant instantaneous judgment 384 AMERICAN against a farmer or tradesman, while the farmer, or trades- man, could pursue those who owed him money, but in the ordinary way, and with the ordinary delays. The Bri- tish creditor had no such unequal privilege, while we were under British government, and had no title to it, in. justice, or by the treaty, after the war. When the legis- lature proceeded then to repeal the law, as to other na- tions, it would have been extraordinary to have continued it for Great Britain. S. 31. South Carolina was the second state which moved in consequence of the British infractions, urged thereto by the desolated condition in which their armies had left that country, by the debts they owed, and the almost entire destruction of the means of paying them. They passed [D. 7.20.] 1784, Mar. 26, an ordinance respecting the recovery of debts, suspending the recovery of all actions, as well American as British, for nine months, and then allowing them to recover payment at four equal and annual instalments only, requiring the debtor in the mean time, to give good security for his debt, or otherwise refusing him the benefit of the act by [D. 21.] 1787, Mar. 28. An act to regulate the recove- ry and payment of debts, and prohibiting the importation of negroes, they extended the instalments a year further in a very few cases. I have not been able to procure the two following acts [D. 14.] 1785, Oct. 12, An act for regulating sales under executions, and for other purposes therein mentioned, and [D. 22.] 1788, Nov. 4. An act to regulate the payment and recovery of debts, and to prohibit the importation of negroes for the time therein limited ; and I know nothing of their effect, or their existence, but from your letter, which says, their effect was to deliver property in execu- tion, in relief of the body of the debtor, and still further to postpone the instalments. If, during the existence of ma- terial infractions on the part of Great Britain, it were necessary to apologize for these modifications of the pro- ceedings of the debtor, grounds might be found in the pe- culiar distresses of that state, and the liberality with which they had complied with the recommendatory articles, not- withstanding their sufferings might have inspired other dispositions, having pardoned every body, received every STATE PAPERS. 285 body, restored all confiscated lands not sold, and the prices of those sold. S. 32. Rhode Island next acted on the British infrac- tions, and imposed modifications in favour of such debtors as should be pursued by their creditors, permitting them to relieve their bodies from execution by the payment of paper money, or delivery of property. This was the effect of [D. 12.] 1786, Mar. An act to enable any debtor in jail, on execution at the suit of any creditor, to tender real, or certain specifick articles of personal estate, and [D. 16.] 1786, May, An act making paper money a legal tender. But observe, that this was not till three years after the infractions by Great Britain, and repeated and constant refusals of compliance on their part. S. 33. New Jersey did the same thing, by [D. 13.] 1786, Mar. 23, An act to direct the modes of proceedings on writs of fieri facias, and for transferring lands and chattels for payment of debts, and [D. 18.] 1786, May 26, An act for striking, and mak- ing current 100,000/. in bills of credit, to be let out on loan, and [D. 17.] 1786, June 1, An act for making bills, emit- ted by the act for raising a revenue of 31,259/. 5s. per annum, for twenty-five years, a legal tender, and S. 34. Georgia, by [D. 19.] 1786, Aug. 14, An. act for emitting the sum of 50,000/. in bills of credit, and for establishing a fund for the redemption, and for other purposes therein mentioned, made paper money also a legal tender. These are the only states which appear, by the acts cited in your letter, to have modified the recovery of debts. But I believe that North Carolina also emitted a sum of paper money, and made it a tender in discharge of exe- cutions ; though, not having seen the act, I cannot affirm it, with certainty. I have not mentioned, because I do not view the act of Maryland [D. 15.] 1786, Nov. C. 29, -lor the settlement of publick accounts, &c. as a modifica- tion of the recovery of debts. It obliged the British sub- ject, before he could recover what was due to him within the state, to give bond for the payment of what he owed 28G AMERICAN therein. It is reasonable that every one, who asks justice, should do justice ; and it is usual to consider the property of a foreigner, in any country, as a fund appropriated to the payment of what he owes in that country, exclusively. It is a care which most nations take of their own citizens, not to let the property, which is to answer their demands, be withdrawn from its jurisdiction, and send them to seek it in foreign countries, and before foreign tribunals. S. 35. With respect to the obstacles thus opposed to the British creditor, besides their general justification, as being produced by the previous infractions on the part of Great Britain, each of them admits of a special apology. They are, 1st. Delay of Judgment. 2. Liberating the body from execution, on the delivery of property. 3. Ad- mitting executions to be discharged in paper money. As to the 1st, let it be considered, that from the nature of the commerce carried on between these States and Great Bri- tain, they were generally kept in debt ; that a great part of the country, and most particularly Georgia, South Caro- lina, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, and Rhode Island had been ravaged by an enemy, moveable proper- ty carried off, houses burnt, lands abandoned, the proprie- tors forced off into exile and poverty. When the peace permitted them to return again to their lands, naked and desolate as they were, was instant payment practica- ble ? The contrary was so palpable, that the British credi- tors themselves were sensible, that were they to rush to judgment immediately against their debtors, it would in- volve the debtor in total ruin, without relieving the credi- tor. It is a fact, for which we may appeal to the know- ledge of one member at least of the British administration of 1783, that the chairman of the North American mer- chants, conferring on behalf of those merchants with the American ministers then in London, was so sensible that time was necessary, as well to save the creditor as debtor, that he declared there would not be a moment's hesitation. on the part of the creditors, to allow payment by instal- ments annually for seven years, and that this arrangement was not made, was neither his fault nor ours. To the necessities for some delay in the payment of debts may be added the British commercial regulations, lessening our means of payment, by prohibiting us from STATE PAPERS. 287 carrying in our own bottoms our own produce to their dominions in our neighbourhood, and excluding valuable branches of it from their home markets by prohibitory duties. The means of payment constitute one of the mo- tives to purchase, at the moment of purchasing. If these means are taken away, by the creditor himself, he ought not in conscience to complain of a mere retardation of his debt, which is the effect of his own act, and the least inju- rious of those it is capable of producing. The instalment acts before enumerated have been much less general, and for a shorter term, than what the chairman of the Ameri- can merchants thought reasonable. Most of them re- quired the debtor to give security, in the mean time, to his creditor, and provided complete indemnification of the delay by the payment of interest, which was enjoined in every case. S. 36. The second species of obstacle was the admit- ting the debtor to relieve his body from imprisonment by the delivery of lands or goods to his creditor. And is this idea original, and peculiar to us ? or whence have we taken it / From England, from Europe, from natural right and reason. For it may be safely atlirmed, that neither natural right nor reason subjects the body of a man to re- straint for debt. It is one of the abuses introduced by commerce and credit, and which even the most commer- cial nations have been obliged to relax in certain cases. The Roman laws, the principles of which are the nearest, to natural reason of those of any municipal code hitherto known, allowed imprisonment of the body in criminal cases only, or those wherein the party had expressly submitted himself to it. The French laws allow it only in criminal or commercial cases. The laws of England, in certain descriptions of cases (us bankruptcy)" release the body. Many of the United States do the same in all cases, on a cession of property by the debtor. The levari facias, an execution affecting only the profits of lands, is the onlv one allowed in England, in certain cases. The elegit, another execution of that and this country, attaches first on a man's chattels, which are not to be sold, but to be delivered to the plaintiff, on a reasonable appraise:, ant. in part of satisfac- tion for his debt, and if not sufficient, oae half only of his lands are then to be delivered to the plaintiff, til! th^ profi. 288 AMER1CAX shall have satisfied him. The tender laws of these slates were generally more favourable than the execution by elegit, because they not only gave, as that does, the whole property in chattels, but also the whole property in the lands, and not merely the profits of them. It is, therefore, an execution framed on the model of the English elegit, or rather an amendment of that writ, taking away, indeed, the election of the party against the body of his debtor, but giving him, in exchange for it, much more complete remedy against his lands. Let it be observed too, that this proceeding was allowed against citizens, as well as foreigners ; and it may be questioned, whether the treaty is not satisfied, Avhile the same measure is dealt out to British subjects, as to foreigners of all other nations, and to natives themselves. For it would seem, that all a friend can expect, is to be treated as a native citizen. S. 37. The third obstacle was allowing paper money to be paid for goods sold under execution. The complaint on this head is only against Georgia, South Carolina, Jer- sey, and Rhode Island : and this obstruction, like the two others, sprung out of the peculiar nature of the war. For those will form very false conclusions, who reason, as to this war, from the circumstances which have attended other wars, and other nations. When any nation of Eu- rope is attacked by another, it has neighbours, with whom its accustomary commerce goes on, without interruption ; and its commerce with more distant nations is carried on by sea, in foreign bottoms, at least, under protection of the laws of neutrality. The produce of its soil can be exchanged for money, as usual, and the stock of that medium of circulation is not at all diminished by war ; so that property sells as readily and as well, for real money, at the close, as at the commencement of the war. But how different was our case : on the north and south, were our enemies : on the west, deserts inhabited by savages in league with them ; on the east, an ocean of one thousand leagues, beyond which, indeed, were nations, who might have purchased the produce of our soil, and have given us real money in exchange, and thus kept up our stock of money, but who were deterred from coming to us by threats of war on the part of our enemies, if they should presume to consider us as a people, entitled to partake the benefit STATE PAPERS. 28$ of that law of war, which allows commerce with neutral nations. What were the consequences ? The stock of hard money which we possessed in an ample degree, at the be- ginning of the war, soon flowed into Europe for supplies of arms, ammunition and other necessaries, which we were not in the habit of manufacturing for ourselves. The pro- duce of our soil, attempted to be carried in our own bot- toms to Europe, fell two thirds of it into the hands of our enemies, who were masters of the sea, the other third illy sufficed to procure the necessary implements of war, so that no returns of money supplied the place of that which had gone off. We were reduced then to the resource of a paper medium, and that completed the exile of the hard money : so that, in the latter stages of the war, we were, for years together, without seeing a single coin of the precious metals in circulation. It was closed with a stipu- lation that we should pay a large mass of debt, in such coin. If the whole soil of the United States had been offered for sale for ready coin, it would not have raised as much as would have satisfied this stipulation. The thing then was impossible, and reason and authority declare, * " Si l'empechemcnt est reel, il faut donner du terns ; car nul n'est tenu a Pimpossible." Vattel, 1. 4, s. 51. We should with confidence have referred the case to the arbiter proposed by another jurist, who lays it down that a party, t ' Non ultra obligari, quam in quantum faccre potest ; et an possit, permittendum alterius principis, qua boni viri arbitrio." Bynk. 2. J. P. 1. 2, c. 10. That four of the States should resort, under such circumstances, to very small emissions of paper money, is not wonderful: that all did not, proves their firmness under sufferance, and that they were disposed to bear whatever could be borne, rather than contravene, even by way of equivalent, stipu- lations, which had been anthoritatively entered into by them. And even in the four states, which emitted paper money, it was in such small sums, and so secured, as to suffer only a short lived, and not great depreciation of * M If the obstacle lie real, lime must be given, for no one is bound to dta impossibility." Vattel. J. 4, b. 51. + u No one is bound beyond what he can do, and whether he con, may be left to the decision of the other prince, us an Lvnc-t n^ru." l>vuk- '!. i X- ! % c. 10. VOL.. T. 37 290 AMERICA* 1 value ; nor did they continue its quality as a tender, after the first paroxysms of distress were over. Here,, too, it is to be observed, that natives were to receive this species of payment, equally with British subjects. So that when it is considered, that the other party had broken the treaty, from the beginning, and that, too, in points which lessened our ability to pay their debts, it was a proof of the moderation of our nation, to make no other use of the opportunity of retaliation presented to them, than to indulge the debtors with that time for discharging their debts, which their distresses called for, and the in- terests and the reason of their creditors approved. S. 38. It is to be observed, that, during all this time, Congress, who alone possessed the power of peace and war, of making 'treaties, and, consequently, of declaring their infractions, had abstained from every publick decla- ration, and had confined itself to the resolution of May 26th, 1783, and to repeated efforts, through their minister plenipotentiary at the court of London, to lead that court into a compliance on their part, and reparation of the breach they had committed. But the other party now laid hold of those very proceedings of our states, which their previous infractions had produced, as a ground for further refusal, and inverting the natural order of cause and effect, alleged that these proceedings of ours were the causes of the infractions, which they had committed months and years before. Thus the British minister for foreign affairs, in his answer of February 28th, 1786 ; to Mr. Adams's memorial,. says, " The engagements entered into by treaty ought to be mutual, and equally binding on the respective contract- ing parties. It would, therefore, be the height of folly, as well as injustice, to suppose one party alone obliged to a strict observance of the publick faith, while the other might remain free to deviate from its own engagements, as often as convenience might render such deviation necessary, though at the expense of its own national credit and im- portance : I flatter myself, however, sir, that justice will speedily be done to British creditors ; and I can assure you, sir, that whenever America shall manifest a real in tention to fulfil her part of the treaty, Great Britain wilt not hesitate to prove her sincerity to co-operate in what- ever points depend upon her, for carrying every article oS STATE PAPERS. 291 it into real and complete effect." Facts will furnish the best commentary on this letter. Let us pursue them. The secretary for foreign affairs of the United States, by order of Congress, immediately wrote circular letters to the governours of the several states, dated May 3, 1786, [No. 31.] to obtain information how far they had complied v. iih the proclamation of January 14th, 1784, and the re- commendation accompanying it ; and April 13, 1787, Con- gress, desirous of removing every pretext which might continue to cloak the inexecution of the treaty, wrote a circular letter to the several states, in which, in order to produce, more surely, the effect desired, they demonstrate, that Congress alone possess the right of interpreting, restraining, impeding or counteracting, the operation and execution of treaties, which, on being constitutionally made, become, by the confederation, a part of the law of the land, and as such, independent of the will and power of the legislatures ; that in this point of view, the state acts, establishing provisions relative to the same objects, and incompatible with it, must be improper ; resolving, that all such acts now existing ought to be forthwith repealed, as well to prevent their continuing to be regarded as vio- lations of the treaty, as to avoid the disagreeable necessity of discussing their validity ; recommending, in order to obviate all future disputes and questions, that every state, as well those which had passed no such acts, as those which had, should pass an act, repealing, in general terms, all acts and parts of acts repugnant to the treaty, and encouraging them to do this, by informing them that they had the strongest assurances, that an exact compliance with the treaty, on our part, would be followed by a punc- tual performance of it on the part of Great Britain. S. 39. In consequence of these letters, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Marvland, Virginia and North Carolina, passed the acts, No. 32. 33. 34. 3b. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. New Jersey and Pennsylvania declared that no law existed with them, repugnant to the treaty [see Documents No. 41. 42. 43.] Georgia had no law existing against the treaty. South Carolina, indeed, had a law existing, which subject- ed all persons, foreign or native [No. 44.] to certain modi- 292 AMERICAN fications of recovery and payment. But the liberality of her conduct, on the other points, is a proof she would have conformed in this also, had it appeared that the fullest conformity would have moved Great Britain to compli- ance, and had an express repeal been really necessary. S. 40. For indeed all this was supererogation. It re- sulted from the instrument of confederation among the states, that treaties made by Congress according to the confederation were superior to the laws of the states. The circular letter of Congress had declared and demon- strated it, a/id the several states, by their acts and expla- nations before mentioned, had t shown it to be their own sense, as we may safely affirm it to have been the general sense of those, at least, who were of the profession of the law. Besides the proof of this, drawn from the act of confederation itself, the declaration of Congress and the acts of the states before mentioned, the same principle will be found acknowledged in several of the documents hereto annexed for other purposes.' Thus, in Rhode Island, governour Collins, in his letter, No. 20, says, " The treaty, in all its absolute parts, has been fully com- plied with, and to those parts, that are merely recommen- datory, and depend upon the legislative discretion, the most candid attention hath been paid." Plainly implying, that, the absolute parts did not depend up on the legislative discre- tion. Mr. Channing, the attorney for the United States, in that state, No. 19, speaking of an act passed before the treaty, says, " This act was considered by our courts as annulled by the treaty of peace, and subsequent to the rati- fication thereof, no proceedings have been had thereon." The governour of Connecticut, in his letter, No. 18, says, " The sixth article of the treaty was immediately observed on receiving the same with the proclamation of Congress, the courts of justice adopted it as a principle of law. No further prosecutions were instituted against any person who came within that article, and all such prosecutions as were then pending, were discontinued." Thus, prosecu- tions going on, under the law of the state, were discon- tinued, by the treaty operating as a repeal of the law. In Pennsylvania, Mr. Lewis, attorney for the United States, says, in his letter, No. 60, " The judges have uniformh and without hesitation declared in favour of the treatv. on STATE PAPERS. 293 the ground of its being the supreme law of the land. On this ground, they have, not only discharged attainted trai-. tors from arrest, but have frequently declared, that they were entitled by the treaty to protection." The case of the commonwealth v. Gordon, January, 1788, Dallas's Reports 233, is a proof of this. In Maryland, in the case of Mildred v. Dorsey, cited in your letter E. 4. a law of the state, made during the war, had compelled those, who owed debts to British subjects, to pay them into the. treasury of that state. This had been done by Dorsey, before the date of the treaty ; yet the judges of the state general court decided, that the treaty not only repealed the law for the future, but for the past also, and decreed, that the defendant should pay the money over again to the British creditor. In Virginia, Mr. Monroe, one of the se- nators of that state in Congress, and a lawyer of eminence, tells us, No. 52, that both court and counsel there avowed the opinion, that the treaty would control any law of the state opposed to it. And the legislature itself, in an act of October, 1 787, C. 36, concerning moneys carried into the publick loan office, in payment of British debts, use these expressions. " And whereas it belongs not to the legislature to decide particular questions, of which the ju- diciary have cognizance, and it is, therefore, unfit for them to determine, whether the payments, so made into the loan- office, be good or void between the creditor and debtor." In New York, Mr. Harrison, attorney for the United States, in that district, assures us, No. 45, that the act of i 7j82, of that state, relative to debts due to persons within the enemy's lines, was, immediately after the treaty, re- strained by the superior courts of the state from operating on British creditors, and that he did not know a single in- stance to the contrary: a full proof, that they considered the treaty as a law of the land paramount the law of their state. S. 41. The very case of Rutgers v. Waddington, [E. 301 in the summer of 1783, the definitive treaty not yet sign- ed in Europe, much less known and ratified here, set aside a writ in the case of Thompson, a British subject v. Thompson, assigning for reasons, 1 st. " That there was no law authorizing a subject of England to sue a citizen of that state ; 2d. That the war had not been definitively con- cluded ; or 3d. If concluded, the treaty not known to, or ratified by, the legislature ; nor 4th. Was it in any manner ascertained how those debts were to be liquidated." With respect to the last reason, it was generally expected that some more specifick arrangements, as to the manner of liquidating and times of paying British debts would have been settled in the definitive treaty. No. 58, shows that such arrangements were under contemplation. And the judge seems to have been of opinion that it was necessary the treaty should be definitively concluded, before it could become a law of the land, so as to change the legal cha- racter of an alien enemy, who cannot maintain an action, into that of an alien friend, who may. Without entering into the question, whether between the provisional and definitive treaties, a subject of either party could maintain an action in the courts of the other (a question of no con- sequence, considering how short the interval was, and this, probably, the only action essayed) we must admit that if the judge was right in his opinion, that a definitive conclu- sion was necessary, he was right in his consequence that it should be made known to the legislature of the state, or in other words to the state, and that, till that notification. it was not a law authorizing a subject of England to sue ;i citizen of that state. The subsequent doctrine of the same judge Walton, with respect to treaties, when duly completed, that they are paramount the laws of the several states, as has been seen in his charge to a grand jury before spoken of (s. 43.) will relieve your doubts whether ihe "principle still .continues in that state of the continu- ance of war between the two countries." S. 49. The latter part of the quotation before made merits notice also, to wit, where, after saying not a single instance exists of the recovery of a British debt, it is ad- ded, wt Though many years have expired since the estab- lishment of peace between the two countries." It is ':\idcnL from the preceding testimony, that many suits 302 AMERICAN have been brought, and with effect : yet it has often been matter of surprise that more were not brought, and earlier, since it is most certain that the courts would have sustain- ed their actions and given them judgments. This absti- nence on the part of the creditors has excited a suspicion that they wished rather to recur to the treasury of their own country ; and to have colour for this, they would have it believed that there were obstructions here to the bring- ing their suits. Their testimony is in fact the sole, to which your court till now, has given access. Had the opportunity now presented been given us sooner, they should sooner have known that the courts of the United States whenever the creditors would choose that recourse, and would press, if necessary, to the highest tribunals, would be found as open to their suits, and as impartial to their subjects, as theirs to ours. S. 50. There is an expression in your letter, page 7, that " British creditors have not been countenanced or supported, either by the respective legislatures, or by the state courts, in their endeavours to recover the full value of debts contracted antecedently to the treaty of peace. " And again, in p. 8, u In many of the states, the. subjects of the crown, in endeavouring to obtain the restitution of their forfeited estates and property, have been treated with indignity." From which an inference might be drawn, which I am sure you did not intend, to wit : That the creditors have been deterred from resorting to the courts by popular tumults, and not protected by the laws of the country. I recollect to have heard of one or two attempts, by popular collections, to deter the prosecution of British claims. One of these is mentioned in No. 49. But these were immediately on the close of the war, while its passions had not yet had time to subside, and while the ashes of our houses were still smoking. Since that, say for many years past, nothing like popular interposi- tion, on this subject, has been heard of in any part of our land. There is no country, which is not some- times subject to irregular interpositions of the people. i There is no country able, at all times, to punish them. There is no country, which has less of this to re- proach itself with, than the United States, nor any, where the laws have a more regular course, or are more habitual- STATE PAPER5. 303 \y and cheerfully acquiesced in. Confident that your owrt observation and information will have satisfied you of this truth, I rely that the inference was not intended, which seems to result from these expressions. S. 51. Some notice is to be taken, as to the great defi- ciencies in collection urged on behalf of the British mer- chants. The course of our commerce with Great Britain was ever for the merchant there to give his correspondent here a year's credit : So that we were regularly indebted from a year to a year and a half's amount of our exports. It is the opinion of judicious merchants, that it never ex- ceeded the latter term, and that it did not exceed the former at the commencement of the war. Let the holders then of this debt be classed into, 1st. Those who were insolvent at that time. 2d. Those solvent then, who be- came insolvent during the operations of the war, a nume- rous class. 3d. Those solvent at the close of the war, but insolvent now. 4th. Those solvent at the close of the war, who have since paid or settled satisfactorily with their creditors, a numerous class also. 5th. Those sol- vent then and now, who have neither paid, nor made satisfactory arrangements with their creditors. This last . the only one now in question, is little numerous, and the amount of their debts but a moderate proportion of the aggregate which was due at the commencement of the war : insomuch, that it is the opinion, that we do not owe (' Great Britain, at this moment, of separate debts, old and new, more than a year, or a year and a quarter's ex- ports, the ordinary amount of the debt resulting from the common course of dealings. S. 5 ( 2. In drawing a comparison between the proceed- ings of Great Britain and the United States, you say, page 35, -; The conduct of Great Britain, in all these respects, has been widely different from that which has been ob- served by the United Stales. In the courts of law of the former country, the citizens of the United States have experienced, without exception, the same protection and impartial distribution of justice, as the subjects of the crown." No nation can answer for perfect exactitude of proceedings in all their inferior courts. It suffices to pro- vide a supreme judicature, where all errour and partiality will be ultimately corrected. With this qualification, nr / 304 AMERICAS have heretofore been in the habit of considering the ad- ministration of justice in Great Britain as extremely pure. With the same qualification, wc have no fear to risk every thing, which a nation holds dear, on the assertion, that the administration of justice here will be found equally pure. When the citizens of either party complain of the judicia- ry proceedings of the other, they naturally present but one side of the case to view, and are, therefore, to be lis- tened to with caution. Numerous condemnations have taken place in your courts of vessels taken from us after the expirations of the terms of one and two months stipu- lated in the armistice. The state of Maryland has been making ineffectual efforts, for nine years, to recover a sum of 55,000/. sterling, lodged in the bank of England pre- vious to the war. A judge of the king's bench lately declared, in the case of Greene, an American citizen, v. Buchanan and Charnock, British subjects, that a citizen of the United States, who has delivered 43,000/. sterling worth of East India goods to a British subject at Ostend, receiving 18,000/. in part payment, is not entitled to maintain an action for the balance in a court of Great Britain, though his debtor is found there, is in custody of the court, and acknowledges the facts. These cases ap- pear strong to us. If your judges have done wrong in them, we expect redress. If right, we expect explana- tions. Some of them have already been laid before your court. The others will be so, in due time. These, and such as these, are the smaller matters between the two nations, which, in my letter of Dec. 15, 1 had the honour to intimate, that it would be belter to refer for settlement through the ordinary channel of our ministers, than embar- rass the present important discussions with them. Such cases will be constantly produced by a collision of inte- rests in the dealings of individuals, and will be easily adjusted by a readiness to do right on both sides, regard- less of party. S. 53. It is made an objection to the proceedings of our legislative and judiciary bodies, that they have refused to allow interest to run* on debts during the course of the war. The decision of the right to this rests with the judi- ciary alone, neither the legislative nor the executive hav- ing any authority to intermeddle. STATE PAPERS. 305 The administration of justice is a branch of the sove- reignty over a country, and belongs exclusively to the nation inhabiting it. No foreign power can pretend to participate in their jurisdiction, or that their citizens received there are not subject to it. When a cause has been adjudged according to the rules and forms of the country, its justice ought to be presumed. Even errour in the highest court which has been provided as the last means of correcting the errours of others, and whose de- crees are therefore subject to no further revisal, is one of those inconveniences flowing from the imperfection of our faculties, to which every society must submit ; because there must be somewhere a last resort, wherein contes- tations may end. Multiply bodies of revisal as you please, their number must still be finite, and they must finish in the hands of fallible men as judges. If the errour be evident, palpable, * et in re minime dubia, it then in- deed assumes another form, it excites presumption that it was not mere errour, but premeditated wrong ; and the foreigner, as well as native, suffering by the wrong, may reasonably complain, as for a wrong committed in any other way. In such case, there being no redress in the ordinary forms of the country, a foreign prince may li.sren to complaint from his subjects injured by the adjudication, may inquire into its principles to prove their criminality, and, according to the magnitude of the wrong, take his measures of redress by reprisal, or by a refusal of right on his part. If the denial of interest, in our case, be jus- tified by law, or even if it be against law, but not in that gross, evident, and palpable degree, which proves it to flow from the wickedness of the heart, and not errour of the head in the judges, then is it no cause for just com- plaint, much less for a refusal of right, or self redress in any other way. The reasons on which the denial of inte- rest is grounded shall be stated summarily, yet sufficient- ly to justify the integrity of the judge, and even lo induce a presumption that they might be extended to that of his science also, were that material to the present object. S. 54. The treaty is the text of the law in the present case, and its words arc that there shall be no lawful im * Iu a matter susceptible of no doubf. vor,. i. 30 306 A&ERICA.Y pediment to the recovery of bona fide debts. Nothing is said of interest on those debts : and the sole question is whether, where a debt is given, interest thereon flows from the general principles of the law ? Interest is not a part of the debt, but something added to the debt by way of damage for the detention of it. This is the definition of the English lawyers themselves, who say " Interest is re- covered by way of damages * ratione detentionis debiti." 2 Salk. 622, 623. Formerly all interest was considered as unlawful, in every country of Europe : It is still so in Roman Catholick countries, and countries little com- mercial. From this, as a general rule, a few special cases are excepted. In France particularly the exceptions are those of minors, marriage portions, and money, the price of lands. So thoroughly do their laws condemn the allow- ance of interest, that a party who has paid it voluntarily, may recover it back again whenever he pleases. Yet this has never been taken up as a gross and flagrant denial of jus- tice, authorizing national complaint against those govern- ments. In England also all interest was against law, till the Stat. 37. H. 8. C. 9. The growing spirit of com- merce, no longer restrained by the principles of the Ro- man church, then first began to tolerate it. The same causes produced the same effect in Holland, and, perhaps, in some other commercial and catholick countries. But even in England the allowance of interest is not given by -express law, but rests on the discretion of judges- and juries as the arbiters of damages. Sometimes the judge has enlarged the interest to 20 per cent, per annum (1 Chanc. Rep. 57.) In other cases he fixes it habitually one per cent, lower than the legal rate (2 Te. Atk. 343) and in a multi- tude of cases he refuses it altogether. As for instance, no interest is allowed, 1. On arrears of rents, profits, or annuities (1 Chan. Rep. 184. 2. P. W. 163. Ca. temp. Talbot 2.) 2. For maintenance, Vin. Abr. Interest. C. 10. 3. For moneys advanced by Ex'rs. 2. Abr. eq. 531. 15. 4. For goods sold and delivered. 3. Wilson 206. 5. On book debts, open accounts, or simple contracts. 3. Chan. Rep. 64. Freem. ch. rep. 133. Dougl. 376. * On account of the detention of the debt. STATE PAPERS,. 30T G. For money lent without a note. 2. Stra. 910. 7. On an inland bill of exchange, if no protest is taken. 2. Stra. 910. 8. On a bond after 20 years. 2. Vern. 458. or after a tender. 9. On a decree in certain cases. Freem. ch. rep. 181. 10. On judgments in certain cases, as battery and slan- der. Freem. ch. rep. 37. 11. On any decrees or judgments in certain court*, as the exchequer chamber. Douglass, 753. 12. On costs. 2. Abr. eq. 530. 7. And we may add, once for all, that there is no instru- ment or title to debt so formal and sacred, as to give a right to interest on it under all possible circumstances. The words of Lord Mansfield, Dougl. 753. where he says ; ' That the question was, what was to be the rule for as- sessing the damage, and that in this case, the interest ought to be the measure of the damage, the action being for a debt, but in a case of another sort the rule might be different: his words, Dougl. 376. 'That interest might be payable in cases of delay, if a jury, in their discretion, shall think fit to allow it.' And the doctrine in Giles, v. Hart. 2. Salk. 622. that damages, or interest, are but an acces- sary to the debt, which may be barred by circumstances, which do not touch the debt itself, suffice to prove that in- terest is not a part of the debt, neither comprehended in the thing, nor in the term, that words, which pass the debt, do not give interest necessarily, that the interest depends altogether on the discretion of the judges and jurors, who will govern themselves by all existing circumstances, will take the legal interest for the measure of their damages, or more, or less, as they think right, will give it from the date of the contract, or from a year after, or deny it altogether, according as the fault or the sufferings of the one or the other party shall dictate. Our laws, are gene- rally, an adoption of yours ; and I do not know that any of the states have changed them in this particular. But there is one rule of your and our law, which, while it proves that every title of debt is liable to a disallowance of in- terest under special circumstances, is so applicable to our case, that I shall cite it as a text, and apply to it. the cir- #03 AMERICAN* cumstances of our ease. It is laid down in Vin. Abr. In* tcresUC. 7. and 2. Abr. eq. 5293. and elsewhere in these words, - Where, by a general and national calamity, nothing is made out of lands, which are assigned for payment of interest, it ought not to run on during the time of such ca- lamity.'' This is exactly the case in question. Can a more general national calamity be conceived, than that universal devastation, which took place in many of these states during the war ? Was it ever more exactly the case any where, that nothing was made out of the lands which were to pay the interest ? The produce of those lands, for want of the opportunity of exporting it safely, was down to almost nothing in real money, e. g. Tobacco was less than a dollar the hundred weight. Imported articles of clothing or consumption, were froni 4 to 8 times their usual price. A bushel of salt was usually sold for 1001b. of tobacco. At the same time these lands and other property, in which the money of the British creditors was vested, were paying high taxes for their own protection, and the debtor, as nominal holder, stood ultimate insurer of their value to the creditor, who was the real proprietor, because they were bought with his money. And who will estimate the value of this insurance, or say what would have been the forfeit, in a contrary event of the Avar ? Who will say that the risk of the property was not worth the interest of its price ? general calamity then prevented profit, and consequently stopped interest, which is in lieu of profit. The creditor says indeed he has laid out of his money ; he has therefore lost the use of it. The debtor replies that if the creditor has lost, he has not gained it : that this may be a question between two parties, both of whom have lost. In that case the courts will not double the loss of the one, to save all loss from the other. That it is a rule of natural, as well as municipal law, that in questions de damno evi tan- do melior est conditio possidentis. If this maxim be just, where each party is equally innocent, how much more so, where the loss has been produced by the act of the credi- tor ? For a nation as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his so- ciety. It was the act of the lender, or of his nation, which annihilated the profits of the money lent ; he cannot then demand profits which he either prevented from coining into existence, or burnt or otherwise destroyed after they STAT* papers. 309 v were produced. If then, there be no instrument or title of debt so formal and sacred as to give right to interest under all possible circumstances, and if circumstances of exemp- tion, stronger than in the present case, cannot possibly be found, then no instrument or title of debt, however formal or sacred, can give right to interest under the circum- stances of our case. Let us present the question in another point of view. Your own law forbade the pay- ment of interest when it forbade the receipt of American produce into Great Britain, and made that produce fair prize on its way from the debtor to the creditor, or to any other for his use and reimbursement. All personal ac- cess between creditor and debtor was made illegal ; and the debtor who endeavoured to make a remitment of his debt, or interest, must have done it three times, to answer its getting once to hand ; for two out of three vessels were generally taken by the creditor nation, and some- times by the creditor himself, as many of them turned their trading vessels into privateers. Where no place has been agreed on for the payment of a debt, the laws of England oblige the debtor to seek his creditor whereso- ever he is to be found within the realm. Coke Lit. 210. b. but do not bind him to go out of the realm in search of him. This is our law too. The first act, generally, of the creditors and their agents here, was to withdraw from the United States with their books and papers. The cre- ditor thus withdrawing from his debtor, so as to render payment impossible, either of the principal or interest, makes it like the common case of a tender and refusal of money, after which interest stops both by your laws and ours. We see too from the letter of Mr. Adams, June \G f 1706, No. 57. that the British secretary for foreign affairs was sensible, that a British statute having rendered crimi- nal all intercourse between the debtor and creditor, had placed the article of interest on a different footing from the principal. And the letter of our plenipotentiaries to Mr. Hartley, the British plenipotentiary for forming the defini- tive treaty, No. 53. shows that the omission to express interest in the treaty was not merely an oversight of the parties ; that its allowance was considered by our pleni- potentiaries as a thing not to be intended in the treaty, was declared against by Congress, and that declaration communicated to Mr. Hartley. After *uch. an explanation. 310 AMERICAN* the omission is a proof of acquiescence, and an intention not to claim it. It appears then, that the debt andinterest on that debt, are separate things in every country, and under separate rules. That in every country a debt is re- coverable, while, in most countries, interest is refused in all cases ; in others, given, or refused, diminished, or aug- mented, at the discretion of the judge ; no where given in all cases indiscriminately, and consequently no where so incorporated with the debt, as to pass with that ex vi termi- ni, or otherwise to be considered as a determinate and vestat thing. While the taking interest on money has thus been con- sidered in some countries, as morally wrong in all cases, in others made legally right but in particular cases, the taking profits from lands or rents in lieu of profits, has been allowed every where, and at all times, both in mo- rality and law. Hence it is laid down as a general rule Wolf, S. 229* ' Si quis fundum alienum possidet. domini est quantum valet usas fundi, et possessoris quantum valet ejus cultura etcura.' But even in the case of lands res- tored by a treaty, the arrears of profits or rents are never restored, unless they be particularly stipulated, t ' Si res vi pacis restituendae, restituendi quoque sunt fructus a die concessionis^ says Wolf, S. 1224. And Grotius ; cui pace res conceditur, ci et fructus conceduntera tempore conces- sionis : non retro.' L. 3. C. 20. S. 22. To place the right to interest on money on a level with the right to profits on land, is placing it more advantageously than has been hitherto authorized ; and if, as we have seen, a stipu- lation to restore lands does not include a stipulation to restore the back profits, we may certainly conclude a for- tiori that the restitution of debts does not include an allowance of back interest on them. These reasons and others like these, have probably ope- rated on the different courts to produce decisions that ' no * ' If any one is in possession of another'? land, ?o much belongs to the owner as the use of the land is worth, and so much to the possessor as his labour and care are worth.' t ' If things are to be restored by virtue of the peace, the profits are also to be restored from lite day of the cession. ' To whomsoever a thing is conceded by the peace, to him also the profitr. are conceded, from (he time of the concession^ but kot back.* STATE PAPERS. 311 interest should rim during the time this general and nation- al calamity lasted.' And they seem sufficient, at least to rescue their decisions from that flagrant denial of right, which can alone authorize one nation to come forward with complaints against the judiciary proceedings of another. S. 55. The states have been uniform in the allowance of interest before and since the war, but not of that claim- ed during the war. Thus we know by [E. 1.] the case of Ncate's executors v. Sands in New York, and Mildred r. Dorsey in Maryland, that in those states, interest during the war is disallowed by the courts. By [D. 8.] 1731, May, the act relating to debts due to persons who have been, and remained within the enemy's power or lines during the late war. That Connecticut left it to their court of chancery to determine the matter according to the rules of equity, or to leave it to referees ; by [E. 2.] the case of Osborne v. Mifflin's executors, and [E. 3.] Hare v. Allen, explained in the letter of Mr. Rawle, attor- ney of the United States, No. 59. And by the letter of Mr. Lewis, judge of the district court of the United States, No. 60, that in Pennsylvania the rule is that where neither the creditor nor any agent, was within the state, no inte- rest was allowed ; where either remained, they gave in- terest. In all the other states I believe it is left discre- tionary in the courts and juries. In Massachusetts, the practice has varied. In November, 1781, they instruct their delegates in Congress to ask the determination of Congress, whether they understood the word ' debts' in the treaty as including interest? and whether it is their opinion, that interest during the war should be paid ? and at the same time they pass [D. 9.] the act directing the courts to suspend rendering judgment for any interest that might have accrued between April 19, 1775, and Jan. 20, 1783. But in 1787, when there was a general com- pliance enacted through all the United States, in order to see if that would produce a counter compliance, their le- gislature passed the act repealing all laws repugnant to the treaty, No. 33, and their courts, on their part, changed their rule relative to interest during the war, which the} have uniformly allowed since that time. The circuit court of the United States, at their sessions at in 1790, de- termined in like manner that interest should be allowed 312 AMERICAN during the war. So that on the whole we see that, in one state, interest during the war is given in every case, in another it is given wherever the creditor, or any agent for him, remained in the country, so as to be accessible ; in the others, it is left to the courts and juries to decide according to their discretion and the circumstances of the case. TO RECAPITULATE. 15. 56* I have, by way of preliminary, placed out of the present discussion, all acts and proceedings prior to the treaty of peace, considering them as settled by that instrument, and that the then state of things was adopted by the parties, With such alterations only as that instrument provided. I have then taken up the subsequent acts and proceedings, of which you complain, as infractions, distributing them according to their subjects, to wit: i. Exile and confiscations, n. Debts, in. Interest. i. Exile and confiscations. After premising, that these are lawful acts of war, I have shown that the 5th article was recommendatory only, its stipulations being, not to restore the confiscations and exiles, but to recommend to the state legislatures to restore them. That this word, having but one meaning, establishes the intent of the parties ; and moreover, that it was particu- larly explained by the American negotiators, that the legislatures would be free to comply with the recom- mendation or not, and probably would not comply. That the British negotiators so understood it : That the British ministry so understood it : And the members of both houses of parliament, as well those who approved, as who disapproved the article. I have shown, that Congress did recommend earnestly and bona fide : That the states refused or complied, in a greater or less de- gree, according to circumstances, but more of them, and in a greater degree, than was expected. STATE PAPERS. 313 And that compensation, by the British treasury, to British sufferers, was the alternative of her own choice, our negotiators having offered to do that, if she would compensate such losses as we had sustained by acts unauthorized by the modern and moderate principles of war. ii. Before entering on the subject of debts, it was neces- sary 1. To review the British infractions, and refer them to their exact dates. To show, that the carrying away of the negroes preceded the 6th of May, 1733. That instead of evacuating the upper posts with all con- venient speed, no order had been received for the evacur ation, August 13, 1783. None had been received May 10, 1784. None had been received July 13, 1784. From whence I conclude none had ever been given, And thence, that none had ever been intended. In the latter case, this infraction would date from the sig- nature of the treaty. But founding it on the not giving the order roith convenient speed, it dates from April, 1783, when the order for evacuating New York was given, as there can be no reason why it should have been incon- venient to give this order as early. The infraction then, respecting the upper posts, was before the treaty was known in America. That respecting the negroes, was as soon as it was known. I have observed that these infractions were highly in- jurious. The first, by depriving us of our fur trade, profitable in. itself, and valuable as a means of remittance for paying the debts ; by intercepting our friendly aad neighbour- ly intercourse with the Indian nations, ami consequently keeping us in constant, expensive, and barbarous war with them. The second, by withdrawing the cultivators of the soil, the produce of which was to pay the debts. ?. After fixing the date of the British infractions, I have, shown, vol. u 40 ,314 AMERICAN That as they preceded, so they produced, the acts on our part complained of, as obstacles to the recovery of the debts : That when one party breaks any stipulation of a treaty, the other is free to break it also, either in the whole, or in equivalent parts, at its pleasure. That Congress having made no elections, Four of the states assumed, separately, to modify the re- covery of debts. 1. By indulging their citizens with longer and more prac- ticable times of payment. 2. By liberating their bodies from execution, on their de- livering property to the creditor, to the full amount of his demand, on a fair appraisement, as practised always under the elegit. 3. By admitting, during the first moments of the non-exis- tence of coin among us, a discharge of executions, by payment in paper money. That the first of these acts of retaliation, was in December 1783, nine months after the infractions committed by the other party. And all of them were so moderate, of so short duration,,, the result of such necessities, and so produced, that we might, with confidence, have referred them alterius principis, qua boni viri, arbitrio. 3. That induced, at length, by assurances from the British court, that they would concur in a fulfilment of the treaty, Congress, in 1787, declared to the states, its will, that- even the appearance of obstacle, raised by their acts, should no longer continue, And required a formal repeal of every act of that nature : and to avoid question, required it as well from those who had not, as from those who had passed such acts :. which was complied with so fully, that no such law.- remained in any state of the Union, except one ; And even that one could not have forborne, if any symp- tom of compliance from the opposite parly, had rendered a reiterated requisition from Congress important. 4. That, indeed, the requiring such a repeal, was only to take away pretext : For that it was, at all limes, perfectly understood, tlnn treaties controlled the laws of the states. STATE PAPERS. 816 The confederation having made them obligatory on the whole ; Congress having so declared and demonstrated them : The legislatures and executives of most of the states. having admitted it : And the judiciaries, both of the separate and general governments, so deciding. That the courts are open every where, upon this principle : That the British creditors have, for some time, been in the habit and course of recovering their debts at law. That the class of separate and unsettled debts contracted before the war, forms now but a small proportion of the original amount. That the integrity and independence of the courts of justice, in the United States, are liable to no reproach. Nor have popular tumults furnished any ground for sug- gesting, that either courts or creditors are overawed by them in their proceedings. m. Proceeding to the article of interest, I have observed, That the decision, whether it shall or shall not be allowed during the war, rests, by our constitution, with the courts altogether. That if these have generally decided against the allow- ance, the reasons of their decision appear so weighty, as to clear them from the charge of that palpable degree of wrong, which may authorize national complaint, or give a right of refusing execution of the treaty, by way of reprisal. To vindicate them, 1 have stated shortly, some of the rea- sons which support their opinion. That interest during the war, was not expressly given by the treaty : That the revival of debts did not ex vitermini give interest on them : That interest is not a part of the debt, but damages for the detention of the debt : That it is disallowed habitually in most countries ; Yet has never been deemed a ground of national complaint against them : That in England also, it was formerly unlawful in ail cases : 3"16 AMERICAN That at this day it' is denied there, in such a variety of instances, as to protect from it a great part of the trans- actions of life : That, in fact, there is not a single title to debt, so formal and sacred, as to give a right to interest, under all pos- sible circumstances, either there or here : That of these circumstances, judges and jurors are to decide, in their discretion, and are accordingly in the habit of augmenting, diminishing, or refusing interest, in every case, according to their discretion: That the circumstances against the allowance, are unques- tionably of the strongest in our case : That a great national calamity rendering the lands unpro- ductive, which were to pay the interest, has been ad- judged a sufficient cause, of itself, to suspend interest : That were both plaintiff' and defendant equally innocent of that cause, The question, Who should avoid loss ? would be in favour of the party in possession : And a fortiori in his favour, where the calamity was pro- duced by the act of the demandant : That, moreover, the laws of the party creditor had cut of the personal access of his debtor : And the transportation of his 'produce or money to the country of the creditor, or to any other for him : And where the creditor prevents payment both of princi- pal and interest the latter, at least, is justly extinguished : That the departure of the creditor, leaving no agent in the countrv of the debtor, would have stopped interest of itself:' The debtor not being obliged to go out of the country to seek him : That the British minister was heretofore sensible of the weight of the objections to the claim of interest : That the declarations of Congress and our plenipoten- tiaries, previous to the definitive treaty, and the silence of that instrument, afford proof that interest was not intended, on our part, nor insisted on, on the other: That were we to admit interest on money, to equal favour with profits on land, arrears of profits would not be demandable in the present case, nor consequently arrears of interest : _ STATE PAPERS. 317 And, on the whole, without undertaking to say what the law is, which is not the province of the Executive, Wc say, that the reasons of those judges, who deny inte- rest during the war, appear sufficiently cogent. To account for their opinion on honest principles : To exempt it from the charge of palpable and flagrant wrong, in re minime dubia : And to take away all pretence of withholding execution of the treaty, by way of reprisal for (hat cause. S. 57. I have now, sir, gone through the several acts and proceedings enumerated in your appendix, as infrac- tions of the treaty, omitting, 1 believe, not a single one, as may be seen by a table hereto subjoined, wherein every one of them, as marked and numbered in your appendix, is referred to the section of this letter, in which it is brought into view, and the result has been, as you have .seen, 1. That there was no absolute stipulation to restore antecedent confiscations, and that none subsequent took place. 2. That the recovery of the debts was obstructed validly in none of our states, invalidly only in a few, and that not till long after the infractions committed on the other side ; and 3. That the decision? of courts and juries against the claims of interest, arc too probably founded, to give cause for questioning their integrity. These things being evi- dent, I cannot but flatter myself, after the assurances received from you of his Britannick Majesty's desire to remove every occasion of misunderstanding from between us, that an end will now be put to the disquieting situation of the two countries, by as complete execution of the treaty as eircumstances render practicable at this late day : Thai it is to be done so late, has been the source of heavy losses, of blood and treasure to the United States. Still our desire of friendly accommodation is, and- has been constant. No ' lawful impediment has been opposed to the prosecution of the just rights of your citizens.' And if any instances of unlawful impediment have existed in any of the inferior tribunals, they would, like other unlaw- ful proceedings, have been overruled on an appeal to the '3\B AMERICAN higher courts. If not overruled there, a complaint to the government would have been regular, and their interference probably effectual. If your citizens would not prosecute their rights, it was impossible they should recover them, r be denied recovery ; and till a denial of right through all the tribunals, there is no ground for complaint, much less for a refusal to comply with solemn stipulations, the execution of which is too important to us ever to be dis- pensed with. These difficulties being removed from between the two nations, I am persuaded the interests of both will be found in the strictest friendship. The con- siderations which lead to it are two numerous and forcible to fail of their effect ; and that they may be permitted to have their full effect, no one wishes more sincerely, than he, who has the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. Philadelphia, May 29. 1792. A. l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. ?2. A.20. f2. 2. 21. 2. 2. 22. 2. 2. 23. 2. 19. 24. 2. 2. 25. Ci 2. 26. 2. 2. 27. 2. 2. 20. 2. 2. 29. 2. 2. 30. 2.10. 2. 31. 11. 2. 32. 2. 2. 33. 17. 2. 34. 2. 2. B. 1. 21. 2. 12. 2. 3. 12. cy 4. 10. B. 9. 10. C. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. ill. 11. 10. 10. 14. 14. 12. 21. 10. 18. 13. 13. 12. 11. 2. 20. 20. 20. C.14. $20. 15. 2.16. 16. 2.41. 17. 2. 18. 2. 19. 41. D. 1. 2. 2. 2. 3. 2. 4. 2, > 5. 30. 6. 2. 7. 31. 8. 55. 9. 5:~>. 10. o 11. 12.14. 12. 32. 13. .'33. D.14. {31> 15. 34. 16. 2.3S 17. 33. 18. 33. 19. 34. 20. 31. 21. 31. 22. 31. E. 1. 55. 2. 55. 3. 55. 4. 10.44, 5. 2. 6. 30. 7. 30. 8. 41. 9. 42. APPENDIX, NO. 1. An act for the better securing and preserving his majes- ty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition and stores. See i. Journal Congress, 68, " persons charged with com- mitting any offence therein described, in any place out of the realm, may be (vied any where within the realm. STATE PAPMftj*. 319 whereby inhabitants of these colonies, may in sundry cases by that statute made capital, be deprived of a trial by peers of the vicinage." An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the pro- vince of Massachusetts Bay, in North America* An act for the impartial administration of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riot* and tumults in the province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England. An act to restrain the trade and commerce of the pro- vinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and colonies of Connecticut, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in North America, to great Britain, Ireland, and the British islands in the West Indies, and to pro- hibit such provinces and colonies from carrying on any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, or other places therein mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations. An act to amend and render more effectual in his majesty's dominions in America, an act passed in the present session of parliament, entitled an act for punishing mutiny and desertion, and for the better payment of the army, and their quarters, and for extending the provisions of the said act to his majesty's marine forces in America. An act to prohibit all trade and intercourse with the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode- Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylva- nia, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, during the continuance of (he present rebellion, with the said colonies respectively; for repealing an act made iir Ac 14th year of the reign of his present majesty, to dis- continue the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, and also two acts made in the hist session of parlia- ment for restraining the trade and commerce of the colo nies, in the said acts respectively mentioned, and to enable any person or persons appointed, ld<] authorized by. ,320 AMERICAN his majesty to grant pardons, to issue proclamations in the eases and for the purposes therein mentioned. An act for enabling the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral of Great Britain, to grant com- missions to the commanders of private ships and vessels employed in trade, or retained in his majesty's service to take and make prize of all such ships and vessels, and their cargoes as are therein mentioned, for a limited time. An act to empower his majesty to secure and detain persons charged with, or suspected of the crime of nigh treason, committed in any of his majesty's colonies or plantations in America, or on the high seas, or the crime of piracy. No. 2., 16 G. in. C. 5. 4. And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said fiag officers, captains and commanders respectively, to cause to be taken or put on board any of his majesty's ships or vessels of war, or on board any other ships or vessels, all and every the masters, crews and other persons, who shall be found on board such ship and ships as shall be seized and taken as prize as aforesaid, and also to enter the names of such of the said mariners and crews, upon the book or books of his majesty's said ships or vessels, as they the said flag officers, captains and commanders, shall respectively think fit ; from the time and times of which said entries respectively, the said mariners and crews shall be considered, and they are hereby declared to belong to, and be as much in the service of his majesty, to all intents and purposes, as if the said mariners and crews had entered themselves voluntarily to serve on board !ifc> majesty's said ships and vessels respectively, and also* that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said fiag offi- cers, captains and commanders respectively, to detain, or cause to be detained and kept, the masters and other per- sons, and also such others of the mariners and crews of the said prize ships as shall not be entered upon the b >oks of his majesty's ships or vessels of war as aforesaid, \r\ and on board any ship or ships, vessel or vessels whatscr- STATE PAPERS. 321 ever, until the arrival of such last mentioned ships or Vessels in some port of Great Britain or Ireland, or in any port of America, not in rebellion, and upon the arri- val of those ships or vessels in any such port the com- manders thereof are hereby respectively authorized and required immediately to set the said last mentioned mari- ners and crews, and also the said masters and other per- sons, at liberty on shore there. No. 3. New York, March 19, 1783. Sir, By the Halifax packet, we have received a despatch, from Mr. Townshend, one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, dated the 31st of December, 1782, enclosing a treaty signed at Paris, on the 30th of November, which we are directed to transmit to Congress. Having been thrown, sir, into the course of making all communications to Congress through your excellency, we know not how, with more propriety, to make the commu- nication required, than through the accustomed channel ; we therefore enclose in the present letter this instrument, and are. to request of your excellency that you will in the most speedy manner forward the same to Congress. We arc, sir, &c. GUY CARLETON. ROBT. DIGBY. His Excellency Gen. Washington. No. 4. Extract of a Letter from Sir Guy Carleton to Robert R, Liv- ingston, Esq. dated New York, March 2G, 1783. Sir, I have received your letter of the 24th instant, enclosing a resolution of Congress of the same date, taken. in consequence of the arrival of the cutler Triumphe, commanded by lieutenant Duquesnc, with orders of the lOth of February last, given at Cadiz, by vice admiral D'Estaing, for him to put to sea, and cruise on such sta- tions as he shall judge most likely to meet with ships of his nation, and inform them of the happy reconciliation of the belligerent powers, and to order all their ships of war te VOF,. I. 11 32,2 AMERICAN cease hostilities against those of Great Britain, the pre- liminary articles of a general peace being signed the 20th of January: you thereupon are pleased to express your expectation that I would think the information thus con- veyed, " sufficiently authentick to justify my taking imme- diate measures to stop the further effusion of blood." To adopt a measure of this importance, it is necessary I should receive orders from home, which I may reasona- bly expect every hour, as a cruiser sent out on other pur- poses, is already arrived at Philadelphia, and I assure you, sir, I only wait the official certainty of this great. event, to assume the language, and the spirit too, of the most perfect conciliation and peace. No. 5. Copy of a Letter from Admiral Digby to Robert R. Living- ston, Esq. New York, March 27, 1783. Sir, I have received your letter enclosing me the re- solve of Congress, with a copy of a letter to his excellency .Sir Guy Carleton ; but as I have as yet received no offi- cial accounts from England, I must wait till you on your ."ide relieve our prisoners, before I give that general relief to yours I so much wish. There can be no reason for de- taining our prisoners one moment, as Congress must sup- pose the peace signed. I shall take every precaution in my power, consistent with my duty, to stop any further mischief upon the seas, but should recommend the prevent- ing any vessels sailing, as I have not yet received sufficient authority to enable me to withdraw my cruisers. I am, &c. ROBT. DIGBY. Appendix. B. 10. 1G. bef. 1775 1776 May, June October. Jan." July, " Sept. No. G. Mar. j Act compelling creditors to take the debt- or's land at an appraised value. R. I. Paper money made a legal tender. R. I.|Act to confiscate and sequester estates, and banish persons, of certain descrip tions. R. I. Paper money made a legal tender. V STATE PAPER?. 323 Appa > 4. A. 10. D. 16. A. 20. 26. . 1. A. 2. A. 4. 15. 14, 11. 1. 12. 3. 27, 4. 21. 22. 32. C>. 1777 November. November. 1778 1778 1779 Feb. Marcli, May, June, ' July, Aug. | October. Oct. 4. Feb. October. Feb. Oct. February 5. March 6. April 18. November 28. December 11. January. Feb. May, \ug. Sept. Oct. May. May. May. October 22. R.I. N.J. R I. Virg. N. C. N. C. Mass. R. I. Del. Pen. N.J. N. H N.J. Mass. N.C. R. I. Virg. Virg. Virg. N. Y. Act to confiscate, sequester, and banish as before, Oct. 1775 Act to punish traitors and disaffected per* sons. Paper money made a legal tender. Act for sequestering British property, ena- bling those indebted to British subjects to pay off such debts. Act for confiscating the property of all such persons as are inimical to the United States. Act for establishing courts of law, and for regulating the proceedings therein, Sect. 101. Vet to prevent return of certain persons therein named, and others who had left that state or either of the United States, and joined the enemies thereof. Act to confiscate, sequester and banish as 1775, October. Act declaring estates of certain persons forfeited, and themselves incapable of being elected to any office. Act for the attainder of divers traitors, and for vesting their estates in the common- wealth, if they render not themselves by a certain day. Act for taking charge of and leasing the real estates, and for forfeiting personal estates of certain fugitives and offenders. Act to confiscate estates of sundry persons therein named. Act for forfeiting to, nnd vesting in the state, the real estates of certain fugitive offenders. Act to confiscate the estates of certain no- torious conspirators against the govern- ment and liberties of the inhabitants of tlx 1 late province, now stale of Massa- chusetts Bay. Act to carry into effect the act of Novem- ber, 1777, for confiscating, &c. Act to confiscate, sequester, and banish as before, in October, 1775. Act concerning escheats and forfeitures from British subjects. Act to amend the act concerning escheats, 4c. Act for the removal of the seat of govern- ment. Act lor the forfeiture and sales of the es- tates of persons who have adhered to the enemies of the s.tale. 324 AMERICAN Append. 23. A. 7. 8. 4. 9. 16. 17. 18. A. 19. 4. 24. D. 2. .28.") .10.5 A.28 C D. 6. A. 30. 25. D. 3. A. 34. 4. ! October. i October. 30 March 10. June 15. July, Sept. Oct, October 7. October. October. October. 1780 October. 1782 April. May 4. May. May. Tag. Virg. N. Y. N.Y. R.I. N.Y. Mar. Mar. Mar. Mar. 1781 Jan. May. R. I. I November. jVir. November. iVir. February 26. S.C Mar. Geo. Vir. Vir. I Mar. June 15. June, Oct. Nov, I R. I. Act to amend the act" concerning escheat* and forfeitures. Act for the protection and encouragement of the commerce of nations acknowledg- ing the independence of the United States of America. Act for the immediate sale of part of the confiscated estates. Act approving the act of Congress relative to finance of the United States, and mak- ing provision for redeemir% that state's proportion of bills of credit. Act to confiscate, sequester, and banish, as in October, 1775. Act to procure a sum of specie for the purpose of redeeming the bills emitted, &c. Act for calling out of circulation the quota of the state of the bills of credit issued by Congress. Sect. 11. Act to seize, confiscate and appropriate all British property within the state. Act to appoint commissioners to preserve confiscated British property. Act to procure a loan and for the sale of escheat lands and the confiscated British property therein mentioned. Act to confiscate, sequester, and banish, as in October 75. Act to adjust and regulate pay and account of officers of Virginia line. Act for directing the mode of adjusting and settling the payment of certain debts and contracts. Act for disposing of certain estates, and" banishing certain persons therein men- tioned. Act to prevent suits on certain debts, for a limited time. Act for inflicting penalty on, and confiscat- ing the estates of, such persons as are therein declared guilty of treason, and for other purposes therein mentioned. Act for providing more effectual funds for redemption of certificates. Act to repeal so much of former act, as suspends the issuing executions upon cer- tain judgments until Dec. 1783. Act for the benefit of the children of major Andrew Leitch. Act to confiscate, sequester, and batiisl^ as in Oct. 1775. STATE PAPERS. 325 Append. 13. D. 4. G. 15- 17. A. 4. 29. C. 16. 10. October 3. October. 1783 January 31 . February 17 February, May, June, ' October. March 16. March 17. March 21. N.J. Vir. Pen. Geo. K. I. S. C. N. Y X. Y. Act supplemental to the act of Oct. 4, 1776*, to punish traitors and disaffected persons. Act to amend an act, entitled, " An act to repeal so much of a former act as sus- pends the issuing executions on certain judgments till December, 1783." November ^0, the provisional articles be. tween the United States and Great Bri- tain are signed at Paris. Jan. 20, preliminary articles between France and Great Britain are signed at Paris, also epochs fixed for oessati jn. Act to attaint H. Gordon, unless he surren- der himself before a given day (July 24, 1783,) and the seizure of his estates by the agent of forfeited estates confirmed. Act to point out the mode for the recovery of property unlawfully acquired under the British usurpation, and withheld from the right owners, and for other purposes. Act to confiscate, sequester, and banish, a9 in Oct. 1775 [This of Oct. 1783, is the same probably as C. 14.] March 15, the provisional articles are in Oswald's paper, Philadelphia. To amend the act of Feb. 26, 1782. Act for granting a more effectual relief ia cases of certain trespasses. Act for supending the prosecutions therein mentioned. No. 7. Paris, JVbr. 4, 1782. Gentlemen, You may remember, that from the very- first beginning of our negotiation for settling a peace be- tween Great Britain and America, I insisted that you should positively stipulate for the restoration of the property of all those persons under the denomination of the loyalists or refugees, who have taken part with Great Britain in the present war ; or if the property had been resold, and pass- ( (1 into such a variety of hands as to render the restoration impracticable (which you asserted to be the case in many instances) you should stipulate for a compensation or in- demnification to those persons adequate to their losses. To these propositions you said you could not accede. Mr. Strachev, since his arrival at Pari*, has most strenuously 326 AMEBICAN joined me in insisting upon the said restitution, compen- sation or indemnification, and in laying before you every argument in favour of those demands, founded upon na- tional honour, and upon the true principles of justice. These demands you must have understood to extend not only to all persons of the above mentioned description who have fled to Europe, but likewise to all those who may be now in any parts of North America, dwelling under the protection of his majesty's arms, or otherwise. We have also insisted upon a mutual stipulation for a general amnesty on both sides, comprehending thereby an enlargement of all persons who on account of offences committed, or supposed to be committed, since the com- mencement of hostilities, may be now in confinement, and for an immediate repossession of their properties and peaceable enjoyment thereof under the government of the United States. To this you have not hitherto given a particular or direct answer. It is however incumbent upon me, as commissioner of the king of Great Britain, to repeat those several demands, and without going over those arguments upon paper which we have so often urged in conversation, to press your immediate attention to these subjects, and to urge you to enter into proper stipulations for the restitution, com- pensation, and amnesty above mentioned, before we pro- teed further in this negotiation. I have the honour to be. burne's, besides other steps in their favour, to influence the several states to agree to a fair restoration or compem nation for whatever confiscations have taken place. As to the loyalists I repeated what I had said to him when first he-.'c. that, their eslatcs had been confiscated br ihe laws made ;, the particular slates, where the delin- quents had resided, and not by any law of (7ongress. who V> . !. 13 338 AMERICAN indeed had no power either to make such laws, or to repeal them, or to dispense with them ; and therefore could give- no power to their commissioners to treat of a restoration for those people : that it was an affair appertaining to each state. That if there were justice in compensating them, it must be due from England rather than from America ; but in my opinion, England was not under any very great obligations to them, since it was by their misrepresenta- tions and bad counsels that she had been drawn into this miserable war and that if an account was to be brought against us for their losses, we should more than balance it by an account of the ravages they had committed all along the coasts of America. Mr. Oswald agreed to the reasonableness of all this, and said he had before he came away, told the ministers that he thought no recompense to those people was to be expected from ust No. 12. Extract of a Letter from the Commissioners of the United States for negotiating Peace with Great Britain, to the President of Congress, dated Passy, Sept. 10, 1783. Permit us to observe, that in our opinion the recom- mendations of Congress, promised in the 5th article, should immediately be made in the terms of it and published ; and that the states should be requested to take it into conside- ration as soon as the evacuation by the enemy shall be completed. It is also much to be wished that the legisla- tures may not involve all the tories in banishment and ruin, but that such discriminations may be made as to entitle the decisions to the approbation of disinterested men, and dispassionate posterity. No. 13. Virginia, to wit. General Assembly, begun and held at the publick buildings in the city of Richmond, on Monday, the eigh- teenth day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1784. STATE PAPERS. 33$ An Act respecting future Confiscations. Whereas it is stipulated by the sixth article of the treaty of peace between the United States, and the king of Great Britain, that there shall be no future confiscations made $ Be it enacted, That no future confiscations shall be made, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided that this act shall not extend to any suit depending in any court which commenced prior to the ratification of the treaty of peace. ARCHIBALD CARY, Speaker of the Senate, JOHN TYLER, Speaker H. Dels. Certified as a true copy from the enrolment. JOHN BECKLEY, Clk. H. DeL> No. 14. Uy his Excellency Benjamin Harrison, Esquire, Governouf of the Commomocalth of Virginia, a Proclamation. Whereas I have received information, that there are, in different parts of this commonwealth, combinations, formed by a number of persons, who, impelled by a tur- bulent spirit, have manifested a disposition to treat with out- rage some of those who have returned to this state under the sanction of the definitive treaty of peace, and the acts of assembly passed in October last. And whereas such a disposition, unless early suppressed by the interposition of government, might grow into a dangerous evil, disturb the quiet of the commonwealth, and involve a violation of the publick faith and honour, so solemnly pledged for pre- serving sacred the articles of the treaty, as signed and ratified : To prevent, therefore, effectually, the dangerous consequences to be apprehended from the licentiousness of such persons, 1 have thought fit, by and with the advice of the council of state, to issue this my proclamation, strictly enjoining all magistrates and other civil officers to use their utmost vigilance in the preservation of the peace. And particularly to extend the earliest protection to all those who come within the description of the said acts of assembly, and have reason to apprehend danger from such j-iotous persons : And to secure to them the enjoyment of t-hose rights which they derive both from the treaty and 340 AMERICAS acts of assembly aforesaid : And that no person, or descrip- tion of persons, may presume hereafter, on the hope of escaping with impunity, to do any act which shall contra- vene the one, or oppose the other, I do farther declare^ that government being resolved inviolably to support the J niblick honour, and to enforce a pointed execution of the aw, will not fail to take the most effectual measures for bringing to condign punishment ail those who, senseless to the obligation of a solemn treaty, and unmindful of the dignity and honour of their country, pledged for its sup- port, shall be hardy enough to offend herein. Given under my hand and the seal of the commonwealth in the council chamber at Richmond, this 26th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1734, and of the com- monwealth the ninth. [l. s.] BENJAMIN HARRISON. Attest, A. BLAIR, C. C. A copy from the original proclamation in the office of the Executive. Attest, SAM. COLEMAN, A. C. C. No. 15. Extract of a Letter from George Read,jun. Attorney of the United States, for the district of Delaware, to the Secre- tary of State, dated New Castle, on Delaware, Nov-* 4, 1790. From the result of all my inquiries on the subject of your letter, I am induced to believe that no proceedings of any kind have taken place within this state, since the treaty of peace, tending in any manner to affect the per- sons or property of British, subjects or American refugees, in contravention to that treaty. Whatever property any British subject might have had within this state, at or after the declaration of independence, the same hath been in nowise altered or diminished by any act of the state legis- lature ; the confiscations of property specially declared bv law extended only to citizens and subjects of the state ; and such outstanding debts which British subjects might have had within the state. I have generally understood have been settled by such their debtors as had ability to pay, in a way satisfactory to the creditors, or their agents ; STATE PAPERS. 341 and almost the only suits which have been brought were against persons whose circumstances were declining, or against the representatives of deceased persons; but in no instance that hath come to my knowledge, hath the least clamour or complaint been made or raised against any man of the law for commencing such suits, or any distinc- tion urged, during their pendency in the courts. As to the American refugees, I do not know that the property of any other of them than specially named in the act of Assembly of this state, of the 26th of June, 1 778, and trans- mitted with this, was seized upon and taken as forfeited ; and several of those persons have returned since the peace, and resided without disturbance in the neighbour- hood of their former dwellings, though no instances of any restitution of their property, within my knowledge. As to the state it derived no benefit from the sales of their estates, they being made for continental paper; and the court of claims which was established some time after, in favour of the creditors of such whose property had been declared to be forfeited under the act aforesaid, having allowed the debts of those creditors in specie to an amount exceeding the specie value of the paper received for that property. From every information I have heretofore had of alleged infractions of the treaty, I never understood the govern- ment in this state, or any executive department thereof, or the conduct of its citizens, with regard to British sub- ject-; or American refugees, were at any time included, and such I am told was the decided opinion of the legisla- ture of this state. At the time of their passing the act of the 2d of February, 1788, herewith also transmitted "for repealing all acts or parts of acts repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or any article thereof." As that act was framed by ihe late Congress, in the terms in which it is express- ed, and passed by our legislature, upon the special requi- sition of that body, which was made circular to all the states then in the Union. I have the honour to be, &x. GEO: READ, jt y. The lion. Thomas .Jefferson, Esq. 342 AMERICAS No. 16. In Council. Philadelphia, Thursday Dec. 16, 1790. Upon the report of the committee to whom was referred the letter from the Comptroller General of the 15th Sep- tember last, informing council, that the following lots " in the city of Philadelphia, forfeited to the commonwealth by the attainder of Harry Gordon for high treason, viz. a cor- ner lot on the south side of Walnut street and east side of Fourth street from Delaware river, being in front on Wal- nut street, 16 1-2 feet, arid in depth on Fourth street, 37 feet, with the privilege of a three feet alley at the south end of the lot, subject to a ground rent of 1 3 dollars and 3-8 of a dollar annually, and considerable arrears. And one other lot adjoining the above lot, bounded on the north by Walnut street, on the east by ground late of Robert Morris, Esq. on the west by Charles Moore's ground, and part by the above described lot and alley, being 16 1-2 feet in front, and 47 feet 1-0 inches and a half deep, more or less : subject to an annual rent charge of 5l. Os. 3d. with arrearages thereof," remains unsold, and sub- mitting it to council, whether it would not be proper, at this time, to direct the sale of the said lots. Resolved, that the lots before described be exposed te publick sale, according to law. No. 17. In Assembly, January 31, 1784. A message from his excellency the governour to the legislature, (transmitted to this house by the honourable the Senate,) was read, and is in the words following, to wit : Gentlemen. It is with pleasure I embrace the earliest opportunity of laying before you a proclamation of the United States, in Congress assembled, under their seal, dated the fourteenth day of January instant, announcing the ratification of the definitive articles of peace and friend- ship between these states and his Britannick majesty, and ^fiioinins a due observance ihereof. STATE PAPERS. 343 I also submit to your consideration, the recommendation of the United States, in Congress assembled, in conformity to the said articles, contained in their resolution of the said fourteenth day of January instant. GEORGE CLINTON. Mew York, Jan. 30, 1784. The papers which accompanied the said message of liis excellency the governour, were also read. Ordered, That the said message of his excellency the governour, and the papers which accompanied the same, be committed to a committee of the whole house. In Assembly, March 3t, 1784. A copy of certain resolutions of the honourable the Senate, delivered by Mr. Schuyler, were read, and are in the words following, viz. "Resolved, (if the honourable the House of Assembly concur herein,) that it appears to this legislature, that in the progress of the late war, the adherents of the king of Great Britain, instead of being restrained to fair and miti- gated hostilities, which are only permitted by the laws of nations, have cruelly massacred, without regard to age or sex, many of our citizens, and wantonly desolated and laid waste a very great part fjf^his state, by burning not only single houses, and other Ladings, in many parts of this state, but even whole towns and villages, and destroying- other property throughout a great extent of country, and in enterprises which had nothing but vengeance for their object. " And that, in consequence of such unwarrantable ope- rations, great numbers of the citizens of this state have, from alHuent circumstances, been reduced to poverty and distress. " Resolved, that it appears to this legislature, that di- vers of the inhabitants of this state, have continued to adhere to the king of Great Britain, after these states were declared free and independent, and persevered in aiding die said king, his fleets and armies I'** subjugate thce (Jnitcd States '*> bondage, 314 AMERICAN " Resolved, that as on the one hand, the rules of justice do not require, so on the other, the publick tranquillity will not permit that such adherents who have been attaint- ed, should be restored to the rights of citizenship. " And that there can be no reason for restoring proper- ty which has been confiscated or forfeited, the more es- pecially as no compensation is offered on the part of the said king and his adherents for the damages sustained by this state and its citizens, from the desolation aforesaid. " Resolved therefore, that while this legislature enter- tain the highest sense of national honour, of the sanction of treaties, -and of the deference which is due to the ad- vice of the United States, in Congress assembled, they find it inconsistent with their duty to comply with the recommendation of the said United States, on the subject matter of the fifth article of the definitive treaty of peace." Resolved, that this House do concur with the honoura- ble the Senate in the said resolutions. Ordered, that Mr. Gordon and Mr. Lott, deliver a copy of the last preceding resolution of concurrence to the ho- nourable the Senate. State of New York. ss. I certify that the aforegoing arc true extracts from the journals of the Assembly, this 19th day of July. 1786. ISAAC VAN VLECK, for T "~IN M'KESSON, Clerk. No. 13." f?opy of a Letter from his Excellency Samuel Huntington. Govemour of Connecticut, to the Honourable John Jay. Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Council Chamber, Hart- ford, June 12, 178G. Sir, Your letter of the 3d ultimo, addressed to the govemour of Connecticut, requesting information whether and how far this state has complied with the recommen- dation of Congress, pursuant to the treaty of peace with (jireat Britain, hath been received. In compliance with your request, I have the satisfaction to inform, that the statutes of this state, have all been re- STATE PAPERS. 353 No. 28. B. Copy of a Letter from his Excellency General Haldimand to Major General Knox, dated Quebec, July 13, 1784. Sir, I have had the honour to receive your letter dated New York, 1 3th of last June,' by lieutenant colonel Hull, acquainting me you was directed by Congress, the sovereign authority of the United States, to write to me, in order to ascertain the precise time when each of the posts within the United States, now occupied by the troops of his Britannick majesty, shall be delivered, agreeable to the definitive treaty of peace, and to propose, as a matter of mutual convenience, an exchange of certain can- non and stores, now at these posts, for others to be deli- vered at West Point, upon Hudson's river, New York, or some other convenient place. I have the honour to enclose for your information, copies of letters which passed between his excellency governour Clinton and me, upon the first part of your proposition. Though I am now informed, by his majes- ty's ministers, of the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace, 1 remain, in other respects, in the same situation I then was, not having received any orders to evacuate the posts which arc without the limits assigned by the treaty of peace to this province. It is therefore impossible for me to ascertain the time when the evacuation of these posts shall commence. I can only assure your excellency, that 1 shall lose no time in carrying into execution his majesty's orders on that head, when 1 shall have the honour to receive them. In the mean time I have to acquaint you, that however desirous 1 am to consult mutual convenience, I am not at present empowered (and have reason to think I will not in future be empowered) to make the exchange of cannon and stores proposed by you, and for which lieutenant colonel Hull was authorized to make the proper arrange- ments. 1 have the honour to be. &c. FRED. HALDIMAND. His Excellency Maj. Gen. Knox. voi. i. > 4,0 S6"i AMERICAN No. 29. The United States, in Congress assembled, May 26, 1783. Whereas by the articles agreed upon on the 30th of November last, by and between the commissioners of the United States of America for making peace and the com- missioner on the part of his Britannick majesty, it is stipu- lated that his Britannick majesty shall, with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any negroes, or other property of the American in- habitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons, and fleets, from the said United States, and from every port, place, and harbour, within the same ; and whereas a considerable number of negroes, belonging to the citizens of these- states, have been carried off therefrom, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said articles : Resolved, That copies of the letters between the com- mander in chief and sir Guy Carleton, and other papers on this subject, be transmitted to the ministers plenipo- tentiary of these states for negotiating a peace in Eu- rope ; and that they be directed to remonstrate thereon lo the court of Great Britain, and take proper measures for obtaining such reparation as the nature of the case, will admit. Ordered, That a copy of the foregoing resolve be transmitted to the commander in chief: and that he be directed to continue his remonstrances to sir Guy Carle- ton, respecting the permitting negroes belonging to the citizens of these states to leave New York, and to insisj on the discontinuance of that measure. No. 30. Virgiaia, to zuit : In General Assembly, June 22, 1784. It appearing to the genera! assembly, from a letter from his excellency general Washington, dated the 7th day of May. 1783, that in obedience to a resolution of Congress, he had a conference with general Carleton on the subject of delivering up the slaves and other proper- ty belonfriiui to the citizens of 'he United c: '.;le-. in com- STATE PAPERS, 355 pliance with the articles of the provisional treaty ; that he (general Carlcton) appeared to evade a compliance with the said treaty, by a misconstruction of the same, and permitted a large number of the said slaves to be .sent off to Nova Scotia. It further appearing to the general assembly, from the testimony of Thomas Walkc. Esq. that he, together with several other persons from the counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne, in or about the month of April, 1783, went to New York, w r ith a view oi recovering the slaves which had been taken from them b\ the British troops during the war ; that not being permit- led to take possession of those slaves which they found in that city, the said Walke made a personal application to general Carleton, and requested a delivery of the said slaves, in compliance with the 7th article of the treaty, which prohibits the carrying off negroes, or other proper- ty, belonging to the inhabitants of the United States ; this he peremptorily refused, alleging that he was not author- ized to do it, without' particular instructions from the Bri- tish government ; that at the time of this application the said Walkc was informed by an aid-decamp of general Carleton, that an agent was appointed to superintend the embarkation, and keep a register of slaves sent to Nova Scotia, and that he afterwards saw the said register, and also saw a large number of negroes embarked to be sent to that country. If farther appearing to the general as- sembly, from the testimony of Mr. John Stewart, of the state of Maryland, as well as from a variety of other cir- cumstances, that many applications w r ere made to general Carlcton by citizens of America for the restitution of pro- perty, which were invariably rejected : Resolved, That there has been an infraction, on the part of Great Britain, of the 7th article of the treaty of peace between the United States of America and Great Britain, in detaining the slaves and other property of the citizens of the United States. Resolved, That the delegates representing this state in Congress be instructed to lay before that body the subject matter of the preceding information and resolution, and to request from them a remonstrance to the British court, complaining of the aforesaid infraction of the treaty of peace, and desiring a proper reparation of the injuries 356 AMERICAN' consequent thereupon ; that the said delegates be instruct- ed to inform Congress that the general assembly has no inclination to interfere with the power of making treaties with foreign nations, which the confederation hath wisely vested in Congress ; but it is conceived that a just regard to the national honour and interest of the citizens of this commonwealth obliges the assembly to withhold their co-operation in the complete fulfilment of the said treaty, until the success of the aforementioned remonstrance is known, or Congress shall signify their sentiments touching the premises. Resolved, That so soon as reparation is made for the aforesaid infraction, or Congress shall judge it indispensa- bly necessary, such acts of the legislature passed during the late war, as inhibit the recovery of British debts, ought to be repealed, and payment thereof made in such time and manner as shall consist with the exhausted situation of this commonwealth. Extract from the Journal of Assembly, JOHN BECKLEY, Clk. H. D. No. 31. (Sircular Letter to the Governours of the several States. Office for Foreign Affairs, May 3, 178G. Sir, Congress has been pleased to order, that I should " report particularly and specially how far the several states have complied with the proclamation of Congress, of the 14th January, 1784, and the recommendation ac- companying the same pursuant to the definitive treaty of peace, between the United States of America and Great Britain." In order that I may be able to fulfil the expectations of Congress, I must request the favour of your excellency, to inform me whether, and how far the state (or common- wealth) of has complied with the recom- mendation in question. I have the honour to be, &c. JOHN JAY. STATE PAPERS. 357 No. 32, STATE OP NEW HAMPSHIRE. hi the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six. An act in compliance with the treaty of peace, between the United States and his Britannick majesty, and [l. s.] with the recommendation of Congress, of the 14th of January, 1784, founded thereon. Whereas several acts and laws, during the late war with Great Britain, were passed by this state, which are found to be incompatible with the definitive treaty of peace and friendship. And whereas Congress did, on the 1 4th day of January, 1784, earnestly recommend to the legisla- tures of the respective states, to reconsider and revise all their acts and laws respecting the premises, so as to ren- der such acts and laws perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation, which, on the return of the blessings of peace should uni- versally prevail. Therefore Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in general court convened, That the fourth article of the said definitive treaty, viz. It is agreed that the creditors on either side, shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery ol the full value, in sterling money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted, be complied with, as far as it respects this state ; and that tlie subjects of his Britannick majesty, shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of any such debts, but shall have a right to recover the same, in the manner and way solemnly stipulated in said article. And be it further enacted, that in case any of the estates, rights and properties of any real British subjects, or any of the estates, rights and properties of any person or per- sons resident in any district or districts which were in the possession of his Britannick majesty's arms, between the 30th day of November, 1782, and the 14th day of Janua- ry, 1784, and who have not borne arms against the United Slates, shall have been confiscated, the act or acts so con- fiscating, shall be, and hereby are repealed ; and persons of any other description, shall have free liberty to go to 358 AMERICAN any part or parts of this state, (provided that within four- teen days after their first arrival, they lodge their name? in the secretary's office) and to reside in any town, place or district herein, during the space of one year, to com- mence from the day of their first arrival in this state, and no longer ; and to remain unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties, as have been confiscated. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the act of this state, passed the 19th day of Novem- ber, 1778, entitled "An act to prevent the return to this state, of certain persons, therein named, and of others who have left or shall leave this state or either of the United States of America, and have joined or shall join the ene- mies thereof," so far as the same militates with the said articles of peace ; also the act passed the 28th day of November, 1778, entitled " An act to confiscate the estates of sundry persons therein named," together with the addi- tional acts to the said two acts, and all other acts and resolves of this state, so far as they militate with or are Tepugnant to the spirit and meaning of said treaty of peace and friendship between the United States and his Britannick majesty, shall be and hereby are repealed and made void. State of New Hampshire. In the House of Representatives, Sept. 15, 1786. The foregoing bill having been read a third time, voted that it pass to be enacted. Sent up for concurrence, JOHN LANGDON, Speaker. In Senate, the 15th of Sept. 1786. same be enacted. This Bill having been read a third time, voted that the JiNO: SULLIVAN, President. Copv examined, per JOSEPH PEARSON. Sec'rv. STATE PAPERS. 359 No. 33. COMMONWEALTH OP MASSACHUSETTS. In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. An act for repealing any acts or parts of acts, heretofore passed by the legislature of this commonwealth, which may militate with, or infringe the treaty of peace entered into by the United States of America and Great Britain. Whereas certain laws or statutes, made and passed in some of the United States, are regarded and complained of, as repugnant to the treaty of peace with Great Britain, by reason whereof not only the good faith of the United States, pledged by that treaty, has been drawn into ques- tion, but their essential interests under that treaty greatly affected. And whereas, justice to Great Britain as well as regard to the honour and interests of the United States, require, that the said treaty be faithfully executed, and that all obstacles thereto, and particularly such as do, or may be construed to proceed from the laws of this commonwealth, be effectually removed, therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that such of the acts or parts of acts of the legislature of this commonwealth, as may be repugnant to ihc treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or any article thereof, and so far as they may be repugnant thereto, shall be and hereby are. repealed; and further, that the courts of law and equity within this commonwealth be, and they hereby are direct- ed and required, in all causes and questions cognizable by them respectively, and arising from or touching the said treaty, to decide and adjudge according to the tenour, '.rue intent and meaning of the same, any thing in the said acts or parts of acts to the contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding. In the House of Representatives. April 30, 1787. 'Thi:i bill, having had three several readings, passed to he rriH' " d. \RTEMAS WARD. Speaker. 360 AMERICAN In Senate, April 30, 1787. This bill, having had two several readings, passed to be enacted. SAMUEL PHILLIPS, Jr. President. By the Governour approved. JAMES BOWDOIN. A true copy. Attest, JOHN AVERY, Jr. Secretary. No. 34. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In General Assembly, September session, A. D. 1787. Be it enacted by the general assembly, and by the authority thereof it is hereby enacted, that the treaty of peace entered into between the. United States of America and his Britannick majesty, is fully binding upon all the citizens of this state as a law cf the land, and is not in any respect to be receded from, misconstrued, or violated. A true copy, witness, Hy. SHERBURNE, Deputy Secretary. No. 35. [l. s.] At a General Assembly of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, Anno Dora. 1787. Whereas the United States, in Congress assembled, have^by their resolution of the ,13th of April, 1787, recom- mended to the several states to repeal all such acts and parts of acts of their several legislatures, as may be now existing in any of the said states, repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, and that each state pass such act of repeal, whether any such exceptional act is existing in such state or not, and that rather by describing than reciting such act, for the purpose of obviating all disputes and questions between the United States and Great Britain relative to said treaty : and although there hath been no complaint or suggestion. officiallv or otherwise, that there is anv art or part of an STATE PAPERS. 361 act existing in this state repugnant to said treaty, yet thi assembly, being at all times disposed to conform to the true intent and spirit of the articles of confederation, and to prevent and remove (so far as to this assembly doth appertain) all causes of dispute and contention, and every just ground of complaint, have thought fit to enact, and Be it enacted by the governour, council, and representa- tives, in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That such of the acts, or parts of acts, of the legislature of this state, as are repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or any article diereof, shall be, and hereby are. repealed. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the courts of law and equity within this state be, and they hereby are directed and required, in aM causes and questions cognizable by them respectively, and arising from or touching said treaty, to decide and adjudge ac- cording to the tenour, true intent and meaning of the same, any thing in the said acts, or parts of acts to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. A true copy of record, examined by GEORGE WYLLYS, Secretary. No. 36. Copy from the second volume of the laws of the State of Keib Y ork, published according to an act of the Legislature. An act in the form of the act recommended by the resolution of the United States in Congress assembled, of the 21st day of March, 1787, to be, passed by the several states, relative to the treaty of peace between the United Status and the king of Great Britain. Passed February 22, 1788. Whereas certain laws or statutes, made and passed in some of the United States, are regarded and complained of as repugnant to the treaty of peace with Great Britain, by reason whereof not only the good faith of the United States, pledged by that treaty, has been drawn into ques- tion, but their essential interests, under that treaty, greatly affected. And whereas justice to Great Britain, as well as regard to the honour and interests of the United States, require that the said treaty be faithfully executed, and that all obstacles thereto, and particularly such as do. or may vou i* 46 ,36 L 2 AMERICAN be construed to proceed from the laws of this state, be effectually removed : Therefore, Be it enacted, by the people of the state of New York, represented in senate and assembly, and it is hereby en- acted by the authority of the same, That such of the acts and parts of acts of the legislature of this state, as are repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or any article thereof, shall be and hereby are repealed. And further, that the courts of law and equity, within this state, be, and they hereby are directed and required, in all causes and ques- tions, cognizable by them respectively, and arising fronu or touching, the said treaty, to decide and adjudge accord- ing to the tenour, true intent and meaning of the same > any thing in the said acts, or parts of acts, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. No. 37. in the twelfth year of the independence of the Delaware state. At a session of the General Assembly, commenced at Dover, on the twentieth day of October, 1787, and continued, by adjournment, to the 2i day of February following, inclusive, the following acts were passed, that is to say : Ah act for repealing all acts, or parts of acts, repugnant to the treaty ol peace between the United States and his Britannick Majesty, or any article thereof. Whereas certain laws or statutes, made and passed in some of the United States, are regarded and complained of, as repugnant to the treaty of peace with Great Britain ; by reason whereof, not only the good faith of the United States, pledged by that treaty, has been drawn into ques- tion, but their essential interests, under that treaty, greatly affected. And whereas justice to Great Britain, as well as regard to the honour and interests of the United States, require, that the said treaty be faithfully executed, and that all obstacles thereto, and particularly such as do or may be construed to proceed from the laws of this state, be effec- tually removed : Therefore, STATE PAPERS. 363 I, Be it enacted, by the general assembly of Delaware, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That such of the acts, or parts of acts, of the legislature of this state, as are repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or any article thereof, shall be and hereby are repealed. And further, That the courts of law and equity, within this state, be, and they hereby are directed and required, in all causes and questions cognizable by them respec- tively, and arising from, or touching the said treaty, to decide and adjudge according to the tenqur, true intent and meaning of the same ; any thing in the said acts, or parts of acts, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, not- withstanding. Signed, by order of the House of Assembly, JEHU DAVIS, Speaker. Signed by order of the Council, THOMAS M'DONOUGH, Speaker. Passed at Dover, Feb. 2, 1788. No. 38. An act declaring the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick Majesty, the supreme law within this state. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Maryland, and it is hereby declared, That the treaty of peace made between the United States of America, and his Britannick .majesty, is the supreme law within this state, and shall be so considered and adjudged in all courts of law and equity, and all causes and questions cognizable by the said courts, respectively ought, and shall be determined ac- cording to the said treaty, and the tenour, true intent and meaning thereof. By the Senate, May 14th, 1787. Road and assented to. By order, J. DORSEY, Clerk. 364 AMERICAN By the House of Delegates, May 15, 1787. Read and assented to. By order. WM. HARWOOD, Clerk. W. SMALLWOOD. QThe great Seal, in wax appendant.] In testimony, that the aforegoing is a true copy from the original act of the general assembly of Mary- land, remaining in the general court, I have hereto set my hand, and affixed the seal of office, this 29th day of June, in the year of our Lord 1787. THOS. B. HODGKIN, Clerk G. Ct. W. Shore. [L.8.] No. 39. Copy of an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed December 12, 1787. An act to repeal so much of all and every act or acts of Assembly, as prohibits the recovery of British debts. Whereas it is stipulated by the fourth article of the treaty of peace between the king of Great Britain and the United States of America, in Congress assembled, that creditors on either side shall meet with no lawful impedi- ment in the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted. Be it there- fore enacted by the general assembly, that such of the acts or parts of acts, of the legislature of this common- wealth, as have prevented, or may prevent the recovery of debts due to British subjects, according to the true intent and meaning of the said treaty of peace shall be, and are hereby repealed. Provided, That this act shall be suspended, until the governour, with the advice of council, shall by his procla- mation notify to this state, that Great Britain hath de- livered up to the United States, the posts therein now occupied by British troops, which posts were stipulated by treaty to be given up to Congress immediately after the conclusion of peace ; and is also taking measures for the further fulfilment of the said treaty, by delivering up the negroes belonging to the citizens of this state. STATE PAPERS. 365 taken away contrary to the seventh article of the treaty, or by making such compensation for them, as shall be satisfactory to Congress. No. 40. An act declaring the treaty of peace between the United States of America and the king of Great Britain, to be part of the law of the land. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the articles of the definitive treaty be- tween the United States of America and the king of Great Britain, are hereby declared to be part of the law of the land. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the courts of law and equity, are hereby directed in all causes and questions, cognizable by them, respecting the said treaty, to judge accordingly. Read three times, and ratified in general assembly, the 22d day of December, 1787. ALEX. MARTIN, S. S. JNO. SITGREAVES, S. C. No. 41. Copy of a Letter from his Excellency William Livingston, Governour of New Jersey, to the Honourable John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Elizabeth-town, 1 bth June, 1786. Sir, I have been honoured with your letter of the 3d of May, informing me, that Congress has been pleased to order, that you should u report particularly and specially, how far the several states have complied with the procla- mation of Congress, of the 14th January, 1784, and the recommendation acompanying the same, pursuant to the definitive treaty of peace between the United States of America and Great Britain ;" and requesting me to inform you, "whether, and how far, the state of New Jersey has complied with the recommendation in question." In an- swer to which, I can only inform you, in general, that I do .766* AMERICAN not know of a single instance, in which this state has not strictly complied with the said proclamation, as well as with the said recommendation, as far as, by the said treaty, the United States were bound to comply with such recommendation. I have the honour to be, &c. WIL. LIVINGSTON. The Hon. John Jay, Esq. No. 42. Extract of a Letter from Richard Stockton, Esq. Attorney of the United States for New Jersey district, to the Honour- able Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, dated llth De- cember, 1790. I am happy in being able to inform you, that no laws have been enacted in New Jersey, contravening the treaty of peace. The only judiciary decision, affecting the rights of Bri- tish subjects, in the state courts, was the opinion of a sin- gle judge (without the point coming solemnly before the court upon argument) delivered in a charge to a jury ; by which he directed the jury to make a deduction of interest upon an old bond, during the period of the late war. How far this may be said to infringe the rights of British subjects, you will judge. I have the honour to be, &c. RD. STOCKTON, Attorney of the New Jersey District. His Excellency Thomas Jefferson. No. 43. In General Assembly. Monday, March 3, 1730, P. M. The report of the committee, on. that part of the mes- sage from council, which respects the resolution of Con- gress, of the 21st of March last, read March 1st, was read the second time : Whereupon, Resolved, That his excellency the president, and the honourable the supreme executive council, be informed, that this house, having, by their committee, carefully ex- amined inlo (he subject matter of that part of the sard STATM PAPERS. 367 message, which recommends to the notice of this house the resolution of Congress, passed March 21st, 1787, and suggests the propriety of passing a declaratory act to an- swer the end intended by the said resolution ; they cannot find, that there is any act or acts, or any part or parts of any act or acts, passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, now in force, which are repugnant to the treaty of peace between the United States and his Britannick majesty, or to any articles thereof, or that at all tend to restrain, limit, or in any manner impede, retard, or counteract, the opera- tion and execution thereof, or to explain the same. No. 44. Copy of a Letter from his Excellency William Moultrie, Ga- vernour of South Carolina, to the Hon. John Jay, Secre- tary for Foreign Affairs. Charleston, South Carolina, June 21, 1786. Sir, I have been honoured with your favour of 3d May, requesting to know, for the information of Congress, how far this state has complied with the proclamation and recommendation of Congress of the Hth January, 1784. The subjects of Great Britain have encountered no other difficulties or impediments than have the citizens of America, in the recovery of their debts ; such was the situation of the state, that the legislature conceived it necessary to pass laws tantamount to the shutting the courts ; and in this case, even British subjects, who had property among us, were saved from ruin equally as those of America. Agreeably to the 5th article of the treaty, which Con- gress earnestly recommended, this, state, upon serious consideration, very liberally complied with that recom- mendation, and restored most of the estates that were under confiscation : the property carried oft' by the Bri- tish, and belonging to the citizens of the state, far exceeded in value the property which, by our laws, lias been conhV rated and sold : and no subsequent act of confiscation ha.-> taken place to the above recommendation of Congress. This state passed an act, February 26th, 1782, to pre- vent the recovery of dubts : and this being done prior to '"he treaty of peace, and since- continued, from time to time. 368 AMERICAN in force, could not possibly have in view to distress the British subjects. The treaty of peace also required twelve months to be allowed banished persons, and others attached to British government, to settle their affairs. This state has gene- rously added three months more to the twelve ; and in some instances, upon application, it has been further ex- tended by the executive. I have the honour to be, &c. WILLIAM MOULTRIE. Hon. John Jay, Esq. No. 45. Mx tract of a Letter from Richard Harrison, Esq. Attorney of the United States for the District of New York, to the Se- cretary of State, dated New York, Dec. 4, 1790. The act relative to debts due to persons within the enemy's lines appears to have been passed even before the provisional articles were concluded between Great Britain and the United States. It cannot therefore be considered as an infraction of a treaty not existing until several months after, which at most could only be contem- plated as probable, and was perhaps considered as. barely possible. Whatever, therefore, might be the nature or tendency of this act, its origin was not exceptionable, as interfering with any national compact. The act, besides a temporary restraint upon commencing any suits by persons who had been with the enemy (which was removed soon after the peace) subjected such persons to the loss of interest upon their debts, from 1st January, 1776, made them liable to an) 7 farther abatement, even of the principal, which refe- rees might think proper, and obliged them to receive the balance in publick securities. The operation of this act became, soon after the peace, a subject of much complaint, grounded upon that article of the treaty which forbids any impediment to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts, and that which declares that no person shall suffer any future loss in his person, liberty, or property. . With regard to British creditors, who were supposed to be the proper objects of the 4th article of the treaty, the STATE PAPERS. 369 superior courts of the state soon restrained the operation of the act, and I do not know a single instance where they have been held to be affected by it. No. 46. The following are the material facts in relation to the case of Rutgers against Waddington, as far as they are now recollected, and a confidence is entertained that the statement is substantially accurate. The suit was brought in the mayor's court of the city of New York, for the occupation and injury of a brew- house in that city, during the possession of it by the Bri- tish army, founded upon an act of the state of New York, entitled, " An act for granting a more effectual relief in cases of certain trespasses," which gives remedy by ac- tion of trespass to all citizens who had resided without the enemy's lines, against those who had resided within those lines, wherever the property of the former had been occupied, injured, destroyed, purchased, or received by the latter, declaring, " that no defendant should be admit- ted to plead in justification any military order or command whatever of the enemy for such occupancy, injury, des- truction, purchase or receipt, nor to give the same in evi- dence on the general issue." This act was passed sub- sequent to the provisional, but prior to the definitive treaty. The fact was, that thp defendant had occupied the brewhouse in question, under regular authority.of the British army, proceeding, for a part of the time, imme- diately from the commander in chief, and for another part of it from the quarter master general, and had even paid rent for the use of it. Several pleas were pleaded for the different portions of time corresponding with the state of the fact, one alleging the occupation under the immediate order of the comman- der in chief, the other under that of the quarter master general, Tha particulars of the pleas appear to Jje accurately slaled in Mr. Hammond's memorial. The court allowed the plea which alleged the occupa- tion under the immediate authority of the commander ,in vol. I. 47 3?0 AMERICAN chief r and overruled the other, giving judgment for the plaintiff for the portion of time covered by the latter. The ground of distinction was, that it could not be in the course of service for a quarter master general to let out brewhouses. The force of the treaty to overrule the inhibition against pleading a military order was admitted by the decision, which allowed in fact the validity of such an order, when proceeding from the commander in chief. But a writ of errour was brought by the defendant to reverse the judgment in the supreme court, and pending that writ, a voluntary compromise between the parties took place, which superseded its prosecution to a final decision. A sum of money was paid by the defendant in consequence of this compromise. It is however but candour to acknowledge, that from the uncertainty of the event, the desire of the defendant to compromise as a prudential course was not discouraged by his counsel. It is not recollected that any decision ever took place in the supreme court of the state, giving effect to the inhi- bition above mentioned, ft is believed that none ever did. The exceptionable clause was repealed, by an act of the 4th of April, 1787, which put an end to the ques- fion. I acted as attorney and counsel for the defendant. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. Philadelphia, April 19, 1792. No. 47. Philadelphia, April 11, 1792. Sir, Having been accidentally present at the exami- nation of the witnesses against John Smith Hatfield, taken before the proper magistrate, in New Jersey, on a hab. corpus brought by Hatfield to obtain an order for bail or discharge, I have taken the liberty to give the substance of the testimony. Hatfield was an inhabitant of Eliza- bethtown, in Nf. \c little of which, being new. is worth repeating. 384 AMERICAN' The policy of giving up the interest during the war, and of agreeing to a plan of payment by instalments, was again insisted on, from various considerations, particularly from the evident injustice of demanding interest for that period. It was urged that the claim of interest, in most cases, was grounded upon custom, and the mutual under- standing of the parties : but that it never had been the cus- tom, nor had it ever been understood or foreseen, that an act of parliament should be passed, casting the American debtor out of the protection of the crown, cutting off all cor- respondence, and rendering all intercourse criminal ; for that was the result and the legal construction during the whole war. Here his lordship fully agreed with me, and even outwent me, saying that " It was very true, that by construction of the law of this land, it was high treason in a creditor in Great Britain to receive a remittance from his debtor in America during the war." His lordship added some slight expressions concerning the interest, and wished that the courts were opened for recovering the principal : We might leave the interest for an after consideration. No. 58. Extract of a Letter from the Commissioners of the United States for negotiating a peace with Great Britain, to D. Hartley, Esq. dated Passy, July 17, 1783. We are also instructed to represent to you, that many of the British debtors in America, have in the course of the war, sustained such considerable and heavy losses by the operation of the British arms in that country, that a great number of them have been rendered incapable of immediately satisfying those debts : We refer it to the jus- tice and equity of Great Britain, so far to amend the article on that subject, as that no execution shall be issued on a judgment to be obtained in any such case, but after the expiration of three years from the date of the definitive treaty of peace. Congress also think it reasonable that such part of the interest which may have accrued on such debts during the war, shall not be payable, because all intercourse between the two countries, had during thai period become impracticable as well as improper ; it docs not appear just that individuals in America should pay for STATE PAPERS. 385 delays in payment, which were occasioned by the civil and military measures of Great Britain. In our opinion the interest of the creditors as well as the debtors, requires that some tenderness be shown to the lat- ter, and that they should be allowed a little time to acquire the means of discharging debts, which in many instances exceed the whole amount of their property. No. 59. Extract of a Letter from William Razcle, Esq. Attorney of the United States for the District of Pennsylvania, to the Secretary of State dated April 9, 1792. I enclose a copy of the docket entries in the case of Hoare v. Allen, which show that the plaintiff acquiesced in the verdict given, and that the whole mortgaged property did not sell for half his debt. The plaintiff in this case was and is also a subject of and resident in Great Britain. The court in this, as they have done in every similar case, directed the jury to deduct seven and a half years' interest. The' jury, however, deducted eight and a half years' interest. If the plaintiff had moved the court on 4he return of the postea, a new trial would have been grant- ed, or as the sum was certain, it is probable the court would have recommended and the parties have made the necessary alteration in the judgment. I have the honour to be, &c. W. RAWLE. Samuel Hoare, v. ) T ,, a ^ , c A A ' ,,, (In the Supreme Court of Andrew Allen, lun. and the > r> * 1 fr , . , /.j- i i i rennsvlvania. 1 rue tenants ol Pikeland. ) J Removed by certiorari from the Common Pleas of Ches- fer county returnable to January term, 1788. At nisi prius at West Chester, 8th May, 1789, tried ver- dict for the plaintiff, and jury certified to the court that the debt due on this action by the defendants to the plaintiff, amounted to thirty-seven thousand one hundred and nine pounds and one penny, and found six pence damages and six pence costs, besides the costs expended. 2d Julv. 1789. Judg. nisi, from the records pr. GEO. DAVIS, for EDW. BURD. Prothoa. VOT-. ,!. 4 -i8tf AMERltA.Y I certify that a levari facias issued upon the above judg-* ment returnable to September term, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, and by virtue thereof, the sheriff* seized and took in execution ten thousand one hundred and sixteen acres of land, being the premises mortgaged, and afterwards sold the same at publick vendue for the sum of fifteen thousand pounds, lawful money of Pennsyl- vania, to Samuel Hoare, he being the highest and best Ssidder. Witness my hand, the 7th April, 1792. GEO. DAVIS, for EDW. BURD, Prothom No. 60. Extract of a Letter of March 15, 1788, from the British Con- sul at Philadelphia, to the Governour of Pennsylvania. " The settlement of interest on debts due to British merchants here, antecedent to the late troubles, has already been a subject of some discussion in the courts, and will I presume be deemed by your excellency and the council a matter of so much importance, as to require some particular legislative interposition to define its nature and extent." Observations on the preceding Extract by William Lewis r Esq. Attorney of the District of Pennsylvania for the United States. The legislature of the year 1788 did not think them- selves authorized by any principles of sound policy or good government to pass a law to define the nature and extent of contracts entered into more than a dozen years before, and it is reasonable to presume that such a law would have been complained of as an infraction of the treaty. Every person has been left to pursue his remedy at law, without any particular act being made for the allowance or abatement of interest ; and as the question has altogether depended on the laws of England, the con- sul's acknowledgment that " the channels of justice flow with great purity, and impartiality in Pennsylvania, and that the laws are- faithfully and diligently administered." STATE PAPERS. 385 seems to be a full refutation of his own objection. Since- .however, the objection is so much insisted on, I will take the liberty of mentioning some facts, a knowledge whereof may benecessary to form a judgment respecting it. I believe it is truly stated by the consul, that " The terms of contracts between British and American merchants are for the most part of this sort. Goods are sent hither to be paid for in one year ; after which interest becomes due at the yearly rate of 5 per cent." This, having been a long established usage, has so far received the sanction of our courts, as that interest has been allowed in such cases from the end of the year ; but as there is no posi- tive law for the allowing of interest on an account, as the claim of interest by British merchants from their American debtors was founded on this usage alone ; and as no in- stance has before happened of the intercourse between the people of Great Britain and of America being interrupted by war, our courts held the case to be a new one, to which the usage did not extend, and as there was neither law or usage for allowing interest during the war, that is from the battle of Lexington, in April, 1775, until the provisional articles between the United States and his Britannick ma- jesty, in November, 17S2, it has been generally disallowed during that period. If the debt had been contracted more than a year before the battle of Lexington, interest has been allowed, I believe in all cases, from the time of the debt becoming due until ihe battle of Lexington, and from the provisional articles until the time of payment. The rule has been reciprocal. It prevailed in a trial in our Supreme court, wherein a citizen of a neighbouring state was plaintiff and a British subject defendant, although the debt had been contracted long before the war. It has been observed in other cases, and I very much doubt if a different one has prevailed at Westminster Hall, in actions brought on running accounts. The judges have uniformly and without hesitation de- clared in favour of the treaty, on the ground of its being the supreme law of the land. On this ground they have not only discharged attainted trailers from arrest, but have frequently declared, that they were entitled by the treaty to protection. I am, with the highesl esteem. &c. 1 WILLIAM LEWIS. The Hon. Thomas Jefferson, Esq. Screfarv of State of the T T nited States. 388 AMERICAS? Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, June 2, 1792. Sir, I have the honour of acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 29th ult. which I shall transmit without delay to my court, for the consideration of his majesty's ministers. The matter contained in your letter being so various and extensive, I fear that much time must elapse, before I can be enabled to communicate to you my observations upon it. You may however be assured, that I will use every exertion to avoid unnecessary procrastination. To this observation you will permit me, sir, to add that, some of the principles, which you have advanced, do not appear to me, at the present moment, to be entirely rele- vant to the subjects actually under discussion between our respective countries : And the difference between us in our statement of positive facts is so essential as to render it an act of duly to my own character to vindicate the purity of the sources, from which I have derived my infor- mation, by recurring to them for corroborating testimony. If there exist any points upon which I have been misin- formed, I will most readily acknowledge my errour ; but I trust upon the whole that the additional evidence, with which I expect to be furnished, will fully substantiate the allegations I have made, and effectually protect me from the imputation of negligence, or the suspicion of inten- tional deception. Although it is by no means in my power to enter into an immediate examination of the general contents of your letter, my design of sending it to England induces me to request an explanation of one part of it, which refers to a transaction that you state to have taken place in that country. Towards the conclusion of your letter, you cite two cases, which in your opinion controvert my position that " in the courts of law, in Great Britain, the citizens of the United States have experienced, without exception, the same protection and impartial distribution of justice as the subjects of the crown." With respect to the former of those cases (that of the sum of money, the property of ihe stale of Maryland, and detained in England) I have &TATE PAPERS. 3&9 some general notion of the particulars of it. But in re- gard to the latter case, I have no knowledge of it whatso- ever. I therefore entreat you, sir, to have the goodness to inform me whether the judge of the court of King's bench, to whom you allude, delivered the opinion of the court, in the general terms which you have employed, viz. " that a citizen of the United States, w r ho has delivered 43,000/. sterling worth of East India goods to a British subject at Ostend, receiving only 13,000/. in part payment, is not entitled to maintain an action for the balance, in a court of Great Britain, though his debtor be found there, is in custody of the court, and acknowledges the facts." I must own, sir, that even from your statement I am inclined to infer, that the circumstance of Greene's being a citizen of the United States had no connection with the decision of the question ; and that the same judgment would have been given in an action of a similar nature, depending between two subjects of the crown of Great Britain. I have the honour to be, sir, &c. GEO: HAMMOND. To the Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Phila- delphia, June 19, 1793. Sir, I had the honour to address you a letter, on the -Oth of May was twelvemonth, on the articles still unexe- cuted of the treaty of peace between the two nations. The subject was extensive and important, and therefore rendered a certain degree of delay, in the reply, to be expected. But it has now become such, as naturally to generate disquietude. The interest we have in the west% ern posts, the blood and treasure which their detention costs us daily, cannot but produce a correspondent anxiety on our part. Permit me, therefore, to ask, when may I expect the honour of a reply to my letter, and to assure you of the sentiments of respect, with which I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. 390 AMERICA* Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Stale. Philadelphia, Junr SO, 1793. Sir, I have duly received your letter of yesterday. In a written communication, which I had the honour of addressing to you on the 2d of June, 1792, and also, in a conversation which I had with you on the following day, 1 assured you, that I should lose no time in conveying to the king's ministers in England your representation, dated the 29th of May ; and it was, in fact, forwarded to them in the course of some few days' afterwards. On the receipt of that paper, I was informed, by his ma- jesty's principal secretary of state, that it would be taken into immediate consideration, and that after it had been thoroughly examined, I should receive some farther in- structions relative to it. The transmission of those in- structions, which I daily expect, has, I presume, hitherto been delayed, in consequence of the very interesting events, which, since the receipt of it, have occurred in Europe, and which have been of a nature so pressing and important, as probably to have attracted the whole atten- tions of his majesty's ministers, and thus to have diverted it from objects that are more remote ; and that may, per- haps, have been regarded as somewhat less urgent. When- ever I shall learn his majesty's pleasure on the subject of your representation, you may depend, sir. on speedily receiving my reply ; to the preparation of which but little time will be requisite on my part, as, in consequence nf my exertions for the purpose, I have already collected, in this country, the evidence necessary to substantiate most of the principal facts advanced in my statement of the 5th of March, to which that representation was intend- ed as an answer. There is one passage in your letter of yesterday, sir. of which it becomes me to take some notice. The passage i, allude to is that wherein you mention " the blood and trea- sure which the detention of the western posts costs the United States daily." I cannot easily conjecture the motives in which this declaration has originated. After the evidence that this government has repeatedly received of the strict neu tralil v observed bv the king's governouis STATS PAPERS. 3I ofCanada, during the present contest between the United States and the Indians, and of the disposition of those offi- cers to facilitate, as far as may be in their power, any ne- gotiations for peace, I will not, for a moment, imagine, that the expression I have cited was intended to convey the insinuation of their having pursued a different conduct- or that it had any reference to those assertions, which have been lately disseminated, with more than usual in- dustry, through the publick prints in this country, that the western posts have been used, by the government of Canada, as the medium of supplying military stores to the Indians now engaged in war with the United States. I can assure you, sir, that if the delay, on the part of my country, in the execution of certain articles of the treaty of peace, is such as to create disquietude in this govern- ment, I also experience similar impressions with respect to those articles which have, hitherto, not been carried into effect by the United States ; as I am perpetually re- ceiving complaints from the British creditors, and their agents in this country, of their inability to procure legal redress in any of the courts of law in one or two of the southern states ; in which states the greatest part of the debt remaining due to the subjects of Great Britain still continues to exist in the same condition as that in which it was at the conclusion of the war. I have the honour to be, &c* GEO: HAMMOND. Mr, Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain* Germantovm. J\'ovem- her 13, 1793. Sir, In a letter which I had the honour of addressing you on the 19th of June last I asked for information, when we might expect an answer to that which I had writ- fen you, on the 29th of May was twelvemonth, on the ar- ticles still unexecuted of the treaty of peace between the two nations. In your answer of the next day you were pleased to in- form me, that you had forwarded the letter of the 29th of May, 1792, in the course of a few days after its date, and fhat you daily expected instructions on the subject : thnt 392 AMERICANT you presumed these had been delayed in consequence of the very interesting events which had occurred in Europe, and which had been of a nature so pressing and impor- tant, as probably to have attracted the whole attention ol your ministers, and thus to have diverted it from objects more remote, and that might, perhaps, have been regarded as somewhat less urgent. I have it again in charge, from the President of the United States, to ask, whether we can now have an answer to the letter of May 29, before mentioned ? I have the .honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State. Landsdown, Novem- ber 22, 1793. Sir, In answer to your letter of the 13th current, I have the honour of informing you, that I have not yet received such definitive instructions, relative to your communica- tion of the 29th of May, 1792, as will enable me imme- diately to renew the discussions upon the subject of it, which have been for some time suspended. I can, however, repeat with confidence my conviction, that the continuance of the cause, to which I alluded in my letter of the 20th of June last, and no other, has pro- tracted this delay to the present period. I have the honour to be, &c. GEO: HAMMOND. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States with Great Britain. Philadelphia, Sept. 7, 1793. Sir, We have received, through a channel which can- not be considered as authentick, the copy of a paper, styled, "Additional instructions to the commanders of his majesty's ships of war and privateers, &c." dated at St. James's, June 8, 1793. If this paper be authentick, I have little doubt but that you will have taken measures to forward it to me. But as your communication of it may miscarry, and time, in the mean while, be lost, it has been STATE PAPERS. 393 thought better that it should be supposed authentick ; that, on that supposition, I should notice to you its very excep- tionable nature, and the necessity of obtaining explana- tions on the subject from the British government ; desir- ing, at the same time, that you will consider this letter as provisionally written only, and as if never written, in the event that the paper, which is the occasion of it, be not genuine. The first article of it permits all vessels, laden wholly or in part with corn, flour, or meal, bound to any port in France, to be stopped, and sent into any British port, to be purchased by that government, or to be released only on the condition of security given by the master, that he will proceed to dispose of his cargo in the ports of some country in amity with his majesty. This article is so manifestly contrary to the law of na- tions, that nothing more would seem necessary, than lo observe that it is so. Reason and usage have established, that when two nations go to war, those who choose to live in peace retain their natural right to pursue their agricul- ture, manufactures, and other ordinary vocations ; to car- ry the produce of their industry, for exchange, to all na- tions, belligerent or neutral, as usual ; to go and come freely, without injury or molestation; and, in short, that the war among others shall be, for them, as if. it did not exist. One restriction on their natural rights has been submitted to by nations at peace ; that is to say, that of not. furnishing to either party implements merely of war, for the annoyance of the other, nor any thing whatever to a place blockaded by its enemy. What these implements of war are, has been so often agreed, and is so well understood, as to leave little question about them at this day. There does not exist, perhaps, a nation in our common hemis- phere, which has not made a particular enumeration of them, in some or all of their treaties, under the name ot contraband. It suffices, for the present occasion, to sa\ . that corn, flour, and meal, are not of the class of contni- band, and consequently remain articles of free commerce A culture, which, like that of the soil, gives employment t<> such a proportion of mankind, could never be suspended by the whole earth, or interrupted for them, whenever :wv two nations should think proper to n,o to war, VOL. I. .50 3S4 AMERICAN The state of war, then, existing between Great Britain and France, furnishes no legitimate right to either to interrupt the agriculture of the United States, or the-peace- able exchange of its produce with all nations ; and conse- quently, the assumption of it will be as lawful hereafter as now, in peace as in war. No ground, acknowledged by the common reason of mankind, authorizes this act now, and unacknowledged ground may be taken at any time and all times. We see, then, a practice begun, to which no time, no circumstances, prescribe any limits, and which strikes at the root of our agriculture, that branch of indus- try which gives food, clothing, and comfort, to the great mass of. the inhabitants of these states. If any nation whatever has a right to shut up, to our produce, all the ports of the earth, except her own, and those of her friends, she may shut up these also, and so confine us within our own limits. No nation can subscribe to such pretensions ; no nation can agree, at the mere will or inte- rest of another, to have its peaceable industry suspended, and its citizens reduced to idleness and want. The loss of our produce, if destined for foreign markets, or that loss which would result from an arbitrary restraint of our mar- kets, is a tax too serious for us to acquiesce in. It is not enough for a nation to say, we and our friends will buy your produce. We have a right to answer, that it suits us better to sell to their enemies as well as their friends. Our ships do not go to France to return empty ; they go to exchange the surplus of one produce, which we can spare, for surplusses of other kinds, which they can spare, and we want; which they can furnish on better terms, and more to our mind, than Great Britain or her friends. We have a right to judge for ourselves what market best suits us, and they have none to forbid to us the enjoyment of the necessaries and comforts which we may obtain from any other independent country. This act too tends directly to draw us from that state of peace, in which we are wishing to remain. It is an essen- tial character of neutrality, to furnish no aids (not stipu- lated by treaty) to one party, which we are not equally ready to furnish to the other. If we permit corn to be sent to Great Britain and her friends, we are equally bound to permit it to France. To restrain it, would be a partiality which might lead to war with France, and. STATE PAPERS. 396 between restraining it ourselves, and permitting her ene- mies to restrain it unrightfully, is no difference. She would consider this as a mere pretext, of which she would not be the dupe, and on what honourable ground could we otherwise explain it ? Thus we should see ourselves plunged, by this unauthorized act of Great Britain, into a war, with which we meddle not, and which we wish to avoid, if justice to all parties and from all parties will enable us to avoid it. In the case where we found our- selves obliged, by treaty, to withhold from the enemies of France the right of arming in our ports, we thought our- selves in justice bound to withhold the same right from France also, and we did it. Were we to withhold from her supplies of provisions, we should, in like manner, be bound to withhold them from her enemies also, and thus shut to ourselves all the ports of Europe, where corn is in demand, or make ourselves parties in the war. This is a dilemma, which Great Britain has no right, to force upon us, and for which no pretext can be found in any part of our conduct. She may, indeed, feel the desire of starving an enemy nation ; but she can have no right of doing it at our loss, nor of making us the instrument of it. The President therefore desires that you will immedi- ately- enter into explanations on this subject with the British government. Lay before them, in friendly and temperate terms, all the demonstrations of the injury done us by this act, and endeavour to obtain a revocation of it. and full indemnification to any citizens of these states, who may have suffered by it in the mean time. Accom- pany your representations with every assurance of our earnest desire to live on terms of the best friendship and harmony with them, and to found our expectations of jus- tice on their part on a strict observance of it on ours. It is with concern, however, I am obliged to observe., that so marked has been the inattention of the British court to every application which has been made to them on any subject, by this government (not a single answer. I believe, having ever been given to one of them, except in the act of exchanging a minister) that if may become unavoidable in certain cases, where an answer of some sort is necessary, to consider their silence as an answer perhaps this is their intention. Still, however, desirous of furnishing no colour of offence, we do not wi*h you to 396 AMERICAS name to them any term for giving an answer. Urge one as much as you can without commitment, and on the 1st day of December be so good as to give us information of the state in Avhich this matter is, that it may be received during the session of Congress. The 2d article of the same instruction allows the armed vessels of Great Britain to seize, for condemnation, all vessels on their first attempt to enter a blockaded port, except those of Denmark and Sweden, which are to be prevented only, but not seized on their first attempt. Of the nations inhabiting the shores of the Atlantick ocean and practising its navigation, Denmark, Sweden, and the United States alone are neutral. To declare then all neutral vessels (for as to the vessels of the belligerent pow- ers, no order was necessary) to be legal prize, which shall attempt to enter a blockaded port, except those of Den- mark and Szveden, is exactly to declare that the vessels of the United States shall be lawful prize, and those of Den- mark and Sweden shall not. It is of little consequence, that the article has avoided naming the United States, since it has used a description applicable to them, and to them alone, while it exempts the others from its operation, by name. You will be pleased to ask an explanation of this distinction, and you will be able to say, in discussing its justice, that in every circumstance we treat Great Britain on the footing of the most favoured nation, where our treaties do not preclude us, and that even these are just as favourable to her as hers are to us. Possibly she may be bound by treaty to admit this exception, in favour of Denmark and Sweden, but she cannot be bound by treaty to withhold it from us ; and if it be withheld merely because not established with us by treaty, what might not we, on the same ground, have withheld from Great Britain during the short course of the present war, as well as the peace which has preceded it ? Whether these explanations with the British govern- ment, shall be verbal or in writing, is left to yourself. Verbal communications are very insecure, for it is only to deny them or to change their terms, in order to do away their effect at any time ; those in writing have many and obvious advantages, and ought to be preferred unless there be obstacles of which we are not apprized. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. STATE PATERS. 397 Additional instructions to the commanders of his majes- ty'' s ships of war, and privateers that have or may fiearvpR. nave letters of marque against France. Given at our [l. s.] court at St. Jameses, the eighth day of June, 1793, and in the 33d year of our reign. 1st. That it shall be lawful to stop and detain all ves- sels loaded wholly or in part with corn, flour or meal, bound to any port in France, or any port occupied by the armies of France, and to send them to such ports as shall be most convenient, in order that such corn, meal or flour, may be purchased on behalf of his majesty's government, and the ships be released after such purchase, and after a due allowance for freight, or that the masters of such ships on giving due security, to be approved of by the court of admiralty, be permitted to proceed to dispose of their car- goes of corn, meal or flour, in the ports of any country in amity with his majesty. 2d. That it shall be lawful for the commanders of his majesty's ships of war and privateers, that have or may have letters of marque against France, to seize all ships whatever be their cargoes, that shall be found attempting to enter any blockaded port, and to send the same for condemnation, together with their cargoes, except the ships of Denmark and Sweden, which shall only be pre- vented from entering on the first attempt, but on the second shall be sent in for condemnation likewise. 3d. That in case his majesty shall declare any port to be blockaded, the commanders of his majesty's ships of war and privateers that have or may have letters of marque against France, are hereby enjoined if they meet with ships at sea, which appear from their papers to be destined to such blockaded port, but lo have sailed from ihe ports of their respective countries, before the declara- tion of the blockade shall have arrived there, to advertise I hem thereof, and to admonish them to go to other ports, but they arc not to molest them afterwards, unless it shall appear, that they have continued their course with intent lo ruler the blockaded port, in which case they shall be subject to capture and condemnation, as shall likewise all ships wheresoever found, that shall appear to have sailed from their ports, bound to any port which his majesty shall 398 - AMERICAN have declared to be blockaded, after such declaration shall have been known in the country from which they sailed, and all ships which in the course of the voyage shall have received notice of the blockade in any manner, and yet shall have pursued their course with intent to enter the same. G. R. Mr, Hammond, Minuter Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State. Philadelphia, Sep- tember 12, 1793! Sir, I have the honour of transmitting to you a copy of an additional instruction, given by his majesty's order in council, to the commanders of the British armed vessels, respecting the commerce of neutral nations with France. in the articles of grain, and also with regard to such French ports as may in the course of the war, be blockaded by the vessels of his majesty, or of the other powers en- gaged in the war. In communicating to you this paper, it is necessary for me to remark, that by the law of nations, as laid down by the most modern writers, it is expressly stated, that all provisions are to be considered as contraband, and as such liable to confiscation ; in the case where the depriving an enemy of these supplies, is one of the means intended to be employed for reducing him to reasonable terms of peace. The actual situation of France, is notoriously such, as to lead to the employing this mode of distressing her by the joint operations of the different powers engaged in the war, and the reasoning which in these authors ap- plies to all cases of this sort, is certainly much more appli- cable to the present case, in which the distress results from the unusual mode of war, employed by the enemy himself, in having armed almos't the whole labouring class of the French nation, for the purpose of commencing and supporting hostilities against all the governments of Eu- rope But this reasoning is most of all applicable to the circumstances, of a trade, which is now in a great measure entirely carried on by the actually ruling party of France itself, and which is therefore no longer to be regarded, as a mercantile speculation of individuals, but as an immedi- ate operation of the very persons who have declared war. STATE TAPERS. 399 and are now carrying it on against Great Britain On these considerations therefore the powers at war, would have been perfectly justifiable if they had considered all provisions as contraband ; and had directed them as such to be brought in for confiscation. But the present measure pursued by his majesty's govern- ment, so far from going to the extent, which the law of nations and the circumstances of the case would have war- ranted, only has prevented the French from being supplied with corn, omitting all mention of other provisions, and even with respect to corn, the regulation adopted is one, which instead of confiscating the cargoes, secures to the proprietors, supposing them neutral, a full indemnification for any loss they may possibly sustain. With respect to the rule that has been adopted relative to ports blockaded, it is conformable to the general law and practice of all nations, and the exception there men- tioned as to Denmark and Sweden, has reference to exist- ing treaties with those powers : and cannot therefore give any just grounds of umbrage or jealousy to other powers, between whom and Great Britain, no such treaties subsist. Before 1 conclude this letter, 1 deem it proper to ex- press my hope that you, sir, will perceive in the commu- nication itself of this paper, a proof of my willingness, to furnish this government with any intelligence that may be interesting to it, and thereby to anticipate the necessity of inquiries on the subject, and I cannot avoid farther add- ing my conviction that the explanation I have now given of this measure, will satisfactorily evince the propriety of recurring to it in the present instance. 1 have the honour to be. &c. GEO. HAMMOND. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of Stale, to Mr. Hammond, Minis- ter Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. September 22. 1793. Sir, I have yet to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the 12th instant, covering an additional instruc- tion to the commanders of British armed vessels, and ex- plaining its principles ; and 1 receive it readily as a proot of your willingness to anticipate our inquiries on subjects interesting to us. Certainlv none was owv more so than 400 AMERICAN the instruction in question, as it strikes tit the reot of our agriculture, and at the means of obtaining for our citizens in general, the numerous articles of necessity and comfort which they do not make for themselves, but have hitherto procured from other nations by exchange. The paper had been before communicated to the President, and instructions immediately sent to our minister at London, to make proper representations on the subject, in the effect of which we have ail that confidence which the justice of the British government is calculated to inspire. That " all provisions are to be considered as contraband in the case where the depriving an enemy of these supplies is one of the means intended to be employed" or in any case but that of a place actually blockaded, is a position entirely new. However the discussion having been transferred to another place, I forbear to enter into it here. We had conjectured, but did not before certainly know, that the distinction which the instruction makes between Denmark and Sweden on the one hand, and the United States on the other, in the case of vessels bound to ports blockaded, was on the principle explained by you, that what was yielded to those countries by treaty, it is not unfriendly to refuse to us, because not yielded to us by treaty. I shall not contest the right of the principle, as a right to its reciprocity necessarily results to us. I have the honour to be, &c. TH. JEFFERSON. London, 5th July, 1793. Dear sir, The enclosed copy of additional instruc- tions to the commanders of British men of war and priva- teers will show the further embarrassment to which our commerce will be subjected in the present war. These instructions though dated the 8th of June, were not finally issued to the admiralty till the 28th. Lord Grenville jus- tifies them from the authority of the writers on the law of nations, particularly 2d Vattel, 72. 73. and urges that by the doctrine there laid down they have not gone so far as they would have been justified in proceeding, considering the prospect they have of reducing their enemy by such means, the instructions not extending to all kinds of provisions, nor to confiscations of those kinds that are mentioned. That -STATE PAPERS. 401 {he existing circumstances justifying them in considering grain as among contraband articles, they come within the proclamation issued by the President. That the French government arc in fact the only importers of grain into that country. That the measure was so guarded by direct- ing the property to be paid for, together with the freight, that the owners could suffer no loss, a liberal price being always allowed in these cases, and he was hopeful the matter would be so conducted as to give satisfaction to the parties concerned. I urged every argument that suggested itself to me, in support of the neutral rights which I con- tended were injured, in this instance, pointed to inconve- niences that would attend the execution of the instructions, and urged that the case put by Vattel, of a well grounded hope of reducing the enemy by famine did not exist, pro- visions being now cheaper in the ports of France than in those of England. Lord Grenville on being asked, said Spain would pursue the same line of conduct ; and upon its being objected that even their late convention with Russia, did not extend to this object, he answered that though it was not expressly mentioned, it was fully under- stood by both parties, to be within the intention of it. At the close of the conversation, I told him I should transmit these instructions to you, accompanied by his reasons in their justification. Lord Grenville spoke in high terms of approbation of the answers to Mr. Hammond's memorials which he received by the packet. 1 have the honour to be, &c. THOMAS PLXCKNEY- The Secretary of State. 'Jar'. Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States,, with Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State. London. Auvust 15, 1793. Dear sir, The frequent interruptions our vessels ex^ nerience, especially in navigating the European seas, induce me to address you in cipher. I have had several conversations with Lord Grenville, hut do not find that this government will at all relax in the rn< asorcs they have adopted towards the neutral nations \ have urged every thing in my power, in opposition to the policy as well as the right of these mcu-sures., and have VOL. 1. 'W '% 4K)2 AMERICAN assured him they will be considered by our governments as infringements of the neutral rights. As I cannot speak from authority on the subject, I have not said what mea- sures we shall adopt in consequence, although I have strongly insisted on the detriment to the commercial inter- ests of this country, which must necessarily ensue from the various impediments opposed to a free intercourse, as well as from the ill will they will excite. I may perhaps estimate too highly the blessings of peace in general, and the advantages of our neutral situation, notwithstanding all the deductions, to be made on account of the conduct of this country. But it appears to me that if the United States should deem it necessary to go beyond the line of remonstrance on this occasion, prudence will dictate, that our opposition should be confined to commercial regu- lations. With the utmost respect, I have the honour to be^ &c. THOMAS PINCKNEY. Mr. Pinckney presents his compliments to Lord Gren- ville, and has the honour of enclosing, in conformity to his Lordship's desire, a memorandum relating to the Ameri- can ship Eliza, to which he has added a note concerning two other vessels ; these form only a small part of the American vessels brought into the different ports of Great Britain. Mr. P. thinks it unnecessary to add any thing to what he has had the honour of personally mentioning to his lordship on this subject but has a firm reliance that in the execution of measures which he is assured the government of the United States will consider as infringe- ments of the neutral rights, Lord Grenville's endeavours will not be wanting to prevent any unnecessary aggrava- tion of the inconveniences arising therefrom. Great Cumberland Place, 22d July, 1793. Mr. Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, with Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State. London, August 28, 1793. Dear sir, Having in my former communications re- lated the conduct of this government to the neutral powers, with the reasons assigned by Lord Grcnville for this con- STATE PAPERS. 403 duct, which reasons, as far as they concern enemy's pro- perty on board of neutral vessels, his Lordship informed me he had directed Mr. Hammond to represent fully to our government. I have only to add, that from subsequent conversations, there does not appear any probability of the British government relinquishing this point these measures are attended, for the present, with greater in- convenience, and consequent irritation to our citizens, on account of the court of admiralty having, as yet, given no decision on the freight, demurrage, &c. to be allowed to the vessels brought in ; on this subject I have made repeat- ed applications (for although I am convinced of the respect due to the proceedings of the judiciary of every nation, yet if, in any case, a delay of justice may be deemed equivalent to a denial, it certainly may, in the case of vessels, circumstanced as many of ours are) and the court of admiralty having adjourned to the fourth of September, without any decision on these points, I reiterated my re- presentation to the Secretary of State, who appeared to be surprised at the farther procrastination ; and I am. from circumstances, inclined to think, that he will endea- vour to accelerate this business, at the time to which the court stands adjourned. As I thought it right that the evidence oi)our opposition to the measures pursued here, should not ^est merely on official conversations, I took an opportunity of bringing forward the discussion in writing, so far at least as to amount to an authentick document of our claim, with some of the reasons in support of it, at the same time that I endeavoured so to guard it, as to leave our government unembarrassed in any line they might think proper to pursue. I enclose a copy of what passed on this subject. I have the honour to be, &c. TH: PINCKNEY. Mr. Pin'ckney has the honour of acknowledging the receipt of Lord Grenville's note of the 31st ult. and of expressing his obligation for the assurance therein con- tained, that his lordship's endeavours will be exerted to prevent, as far as possible, any inconvenience to which ihc European commerce of the citizens of the United States of America may be liable, from the measures una- voidably resulting from the existing state of war: and as 404 AMERICAN his lordship has adverted to an observation contained in Mr. Pinckney's note of the 22d ult. he will take the liberty of briefly stating the principal reasons which sug- gested his remark, that " some of the measures of this go- vernment will be considered by the United States as in- fringements on the neutral rights." The measures alluded to, are particularly those which contravene the principles, that free ships make free goods, and which prevent cer- tain articles of provision, the produce of the United States, from being carried, in their own vessels, to the unblock- aded ports of France. With respect to the first, it is con- ceived that as commerce has been more diffusively culti- vated, and its principles better understood, the law of nations, relating thereto, has received material improve- ments since the publication of the most modern and most approved writers on that subject, and that whatever doubts may formerly have existed on this point, that the sense of a considerable majority of the maritime powers of Europe has, within the last twenty years, been clearly expressed in favour of the principle of free ships making free goods, which has been manifested by their practice, in the latter years of the American war, by the stipulations entered into at that time, and by their having inserted the same in their latest treaties. Of these, the treaties entered into between the United States and several European powers, are among the most recent: all of which support this doc- trine, by express stipulation ; and even Great Britain must admit, that this principle contains nothing dishonourable or improper, since she has adopted it in her commercial treaty with France ; and it may not be amiss here to re- mark, that the commerce of the United States is as advan- tageous to Great Britain, taking all circumstances into consideration, as that of France has been : Supposing, then, the question of right to be waved, would it be deem- ed unreasonable for the United States to expect equal ad- vantages with those France would have enjoyed in similar circumstances ? But the right now contended for, appeals not only supported by modern practice, but to be con- formable to reason : For if two nations have the misfor- tune of being engaged in war against each other, it is evi- dently contrary to the dictates of reason, that a third, who has no concern in the quarrel, and has offended neither party, should be injured thereby, or be debarred from that STATE PAPERS. 405 intercourse with either, which is not immediately connect- ed with military operations. And although people in a state of war, have, in general, a right to seize or destroy their enemy's property, yet they cannot be justified in going, for that purpose, upon neutral territory ; (in con- formity to which doctrine, the British ship Grange, cap- tured by a French frigate in the bay of Delaware, was lately liberated by order of the American government ;) and the distinction drawn between neutral territory and neutral vessels, does not appear to form a difference suf- ficiently substantial to preclude the application of the same principles to both. It may be here added that in the last war. the Americans adopted, and carried into ef- fect, this principle to the advantage of British subjects, having actually liberated several British cargoes captured on board of neutral vessels. Most of the arguments op- posed to the first measure, will apply with equal force, to that of bringing American provision vessels, bound to the un blockaded ports of F ranee, into this kingdom to which it may be added, that if Mr. Pinckney's information is just, (and lie has omitted no opportunity which his situa- tion has afforded him, of obtaining accurate intelligence on this subject.) the reason assigned by writers on the law of nations, for measures of this nature, namely the well grounded hope of reducing an enemy by famine, does not npply, in the present instance ; because the price of the articles pointed out in the additional instructions, is lower in the French ports, than in those of this kingdom, where there is, by no means, any scarcity. Arguments founded on the inconvenience attending the execution of measures, may fairly be adduced against their adoption ; these are so numerous, and so obviously opposed to both the measures now under consideration, that it would lie superfluous to select any but those circumstances which press in a pecu- liar manner upon the citizens of the United States. Un- der this head it may be observed, that for want of arrange- ments being made for the security of American seamen in ihc ports of this country, they are subject to the various hardships Mr. Pinckney has so frequently detailed to Lord ( irenville ; of course their being Captured and brought into these ports, renders them liable to those disadvantages they would otherwise have avoided. Grain being the principal export of the United States, if they are prevent- 40G AMERICAS ed from carrying that commodity to the French ports, they are not only deprived of that branch of commerce; but are prevented from drawing those commodities from France, for which they have occasion ; for in case of the capture and sale of their property here, other regulations prevent remittances being made from hence to France, to purchase the supplies they want. Another inconvenience peculiar to the Americans is, that the similarity of language renders them more obnoxious to the irritation arising from contumelious treatment, too often exhibited by the cap- tors to those whom they have taken ; which may, in part, be attributed to those persons being interested in widen- ing the field of capture, who are necessarily employed in executing the measure ; it renders them also more acces- sible to offers of bribery, to commit unworthy actions ; on both of which subjects, representations have been already made ; but the evil Mr. Pinckney most sincerely depre- cates, is the animosity the execution of these measures almost unavoidably generates between the parties con- cerned therein ; which, by extending in their respective countries, may eventually diminish that friendship, which it is the interest, and he trusts, the desire of both nations to augment. , These arguments might be detailed much more at length, and others added to corroborate them ; but Mr. Pinckney has deemed it necessary only to touch upon some of the reasons on which his observation was found- red, to obviate the idea of his wishing to claim, in behalf of the United States, exemptions to which they are not, in reason, entitled. At the same time, he assures Lord Gren- ville of the due sense which will, at all times, be entertain- ed by his country, for any circumstances of particular attention to their commerce, and of their earnest desire, by a reciprocation of good offices to increase the mutual ad- vantages of both nations. Mr. Pinckney begs leave to make his best acknowledg- ments to Lord Grenville's declaration of personal esteem, and to offer his sentiments of respectful consideration for hi* Lordship. STATE PAPERS. 407 Whitehall, July 31, 1793. Lord Grenville has had the honour to receive Mr. Pinckney's note of the 22d July, with the memorandum accompanying it ; he has directed inquiry to be made res- pecting the cases of the several ships mentioned by Mr. Pinckney, which he apprehends, however, to be all in a course of legal adjudication, and consequently not in a state to admit of the interference of government. Mr. Pinckney may be assured of Lord Grenville's best endeavours at all times, to prevent, as far as possible, any inconvenience arising to the subjects of the United States in their European commerce, from the measures which unavoidably result from that state of war, in which the maritime countries of Europe are engaged. But it is im- possible for him not to remark, in reply to the observation contained in Mr. Pinckney's note, that the steps adopted by this government, so far from being infractions of the neutral rights, are more favourable than the law of nations on that subject, as established by the most modern, and most approved writers upon it ; and that the rule laid down here, has been marked with circumstances of parti- cular attention to the commerce of America,* in the in- stance which Lord Grenville has already had the honour of pointing out to Mr. Pinckney. Lord Grenville avails himself of this opportunity, to assure Mr. Pinckney of his sincere esteem and con- sideration.. Mr. Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 7 with Great Britain, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State. London, September 25, 1793. Dear sir, No alteration has taken place since my last, in the conduct of this government towards the neu- tral powers ; they still assert the propriety of preventing the provisions specified in their additional instructions, from being sent to French ports, and of making prize of their enemy's property, in whatever vessels it may be found the execution of these measures, of course, creates much uneasiness among our citizens, whose commerce is * This alludes to rice not being included in the prohibition. T P. 408 AMERICAN much injured thereby I receive assurances that their court will amply redress the irregularities which may be Committed by their cruisers, upon proper application ; but these are frequently of a nature, to be with difficulty brought under the cognizance of the judiciary ; and I find our seafaring people in general, rather inclined to submit to the first inconvenience, than risk the event of a lawsuit. The court of admiralty, in the beginning of the present month, adjudged freight, demurrage, and expenses to an American vessel, whose cargo was condemned. I am hopeful, since this precedent, that it will be allowed in all other cases, which will, of course, prevent so many of our vessels from being brought in. The protection afforded our seamen, remains also on the same footing ; they pro- fess a willingness to secure to us all real American sea- men, when proved to be such ; but the proof they will not dispense with our consuls are allowed to give protec- tions, where the master of the vessel and the mariner, swear, that the party is an American native and citizen, which protections, in general, are respected, though some irregularities occasionally take place. So many objec- tions are made to the arrangement we propose on this subject, that I see no prospect of its taking place. ] remain, &c. THOMAS P1NCKNEY. Hit 'ruct from the Convention between his Britannick Majesty and the Empress of Russia, signed at London the *25th of March, 1793. Article 3d. Their said majesties reciprocally engage, to ^hut all their ports against French ships, not to per- mit the exportation in any case from their said ports for France, of any military or naval stores, or corn, grain, salt meat, or other provisions ; and to take all other measures in their power for injuring the commerce of France, and for bringing her, by such means, to just conditions of peace. \rliele 4th. Their majesties engage to unite all their efforts to prevent other powers, not implicated in this war, from giving on this occasion of common concern to every civilized state, any protection whatever, directly, or indirectly, in consequence of their neutrality to the STATE PAPERS. 409 commerce or property of the French on the sea, or in the ports of Fr r ice. By the treaty between his Britannick majesty and the king of Sardinia, signed at London the 25th April, 1793, the latter engages to keep on foot, during the war, an army of fifty thousand men, for the defence of his domi- nions, as well as to act against the common enemy ; and the former engages to send into the Mediterranean, a re- spectable fleet, to be employed as circumstances shall per- mit, in that quarter. By the 2d article, Great Britain is engaged to furnish to Sardinia, during the war, a subsidy of two hundred thousand pounds sterling, payable quarter- ly, in advance ; the first payment at the date of this treaty. By the third article, his Britannick majesty guarantees to his Sardinian majesty, the restitution of all the parts of his dominions which have, or may be taken from him, during the war. The 4th and 5th articles make all hos- tilities, in consequence of this treaty, a common cause, and direct the exchange of ratifications in two months or sooner. Department of State, to wit : I hereby certify, that the preceding copies, beginning with a letter of November 29th, 1791, and ending with one of September 25th, 1793 : and the paper it enclosed, are from originals, or from authentick copies in the office of the department of state. Given under my hand, this 4th day of December, 1 793. TH: JEFFERSON. tor,, j. 41% AMERICAN PAPERS RELATIVE TO FRANCE. The following documents, not found in the pamphlet usually considered a* those communicated with the message of December 5, are printed witfc some other papers, which we have already inserted, and must be though! to have been omitted by mistake.] Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Re- puhlick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. JVeze York, September 30, 1793, 2d year of the. French Repnblicfc. Sir, I am directed to communicate to you a new de- cree of the National Convention, passed the 20th March, relative to the commerce of the United States with our eolonies You will find in it, sir, fresh proofs of the at- tachment which France bears to the Americans, and of the interest which she takes in their prosperity After having eonftrmed, by the preceding decree, to their European commerce every advantage they could wish during the present war, she has established for them, by this, the opening of the ports of her colonies for the consumption of alhthe productions of their soil, and their industry, for the importation into the United States of part of her sugars, and her coffee, and for the exportation of every kind of colonial production to the ports of France, on the same footing with the French themselves. This law, con- structive of that of the 19th February, appears such to me that I cannot conceive the United States could wish a more favourable one. I have been also charged to direct all the consuls and other agents of the French Republick to attend to the equipments which may take place in the different ports of the United States for the French colo- nies, and, to prevent any violation of the regulations of the 1st and 3d article of the enclosed decree ; and I have every reason to believe that the federal government will cheerfully, and without delay, take the necessary steps that the directions which I am about to give on this head shall meet with no difficulty on their part. Hitherto, sir, the greatest part of my correspondence has only presented you with details distressing for a phi- losopher. The declaration of war, occasioned by tyranny STATE PAPERS. 41 1 against France in freedom, has only allowed me to speak to you of the military points fixed between our nations by the alliance which unites them ; but I this day find a real pleasure in engaging your attention in details more con- dolatory, in details which cannot fail of being to you the most interesting, since they have no other object than the peaceable pursuits of man as a social being, of man on whom philosophy is delighted to fasten her attention. Urged by the convulsions which occasion the establish- ment within itself of a constitution which annihilates every privilege, which stifles every prejudice, surrounded by all the force which tyranny and fanaticism can collect against her from every part of Europe, France, presenting in one band the shield of liberty, and in the other the thunderbolt of war, already marks out by her inspiration those extent sive enterprises which, on the return of peace, will fix, in their execution the happiness of the French and of their fillies, and prepare a regeneration for the inhabitants of the whole earth ! Among these views her first attention has been fixed upon the commercial ties of the Republick with other nations. The national convention has felt the im- mense satisfaction which enables them to enjoy the spec- tacle of that establishment which, in annihilating dis- tances, unites, at the same spot, the productions and the enjoyments of every climate, and which, by connecting l he human race scattered over the earth should collect them into one family only, constantly excited by the inter- change which their mutual wants occasion. She has seen with grief every people groaning under commercial regu- lations, as absurd as they are tyrannical, every where the victims of errours and of greedy exactions ; she has seen them with pain after having overcome seas, mountains, deserts, and every barrier which nature appeared to have placed between them, checked, in the moment when their efforts were to be crowned with success, by rules and ministerial regulations, which, impeding their genius, putfa more insurmountable bars to their intercourse, than those even which nature appears to have created. France, -sir, perceiving the period when all nations will he freed from these obstacles, views the moment when every one, .governed by the same laws, led by the same interests, and leading freely their activity over the face of the earth, iind on it no other commercial guide ilian their cwwi 412 AMERlCAS genius ; she has fixed her attention upon that happy pe- riod, and she has determined to accelerate it ; persuaded that the fittest means to attain this end was to hold up the example of two people enjoying every advantage of a perfectly free communication, she has turned her eyes to the Americans, a people governed like herself without a king, and whose constitutional principles resemble her own, a people whose enlightened minds have, like her own, stifled, or are ready to stifle, all the prepossessions of ignorance, a people finally whose genius struggles like her own with the obstacles which corrupt court system* oppose to their commercial activity ; such a people ap- pear to her those whom she ought to connect herself with, to attain the great end she meditates ; it is with this people she has determined to conclude a new treaty, which, founded upon the unchangeable principles of nature, may, by becoming an object of envy to other nations, invite them to participate in it, and may serve as a model to all those who in future form compacts between themselves. Instead of the mutual interest of the contracting nations she has only seen in the treaties hitherto made, a combi- nation formed for an insatiable and ignorant system of taxation, deceitful calculations by interested individuals, and refinements upon a system equally repugnant to rea- son, justice, and sound policy. It is in the viciousness of th^se regulations that she discovers the instability of every treaty hitherto made between governments, and the con- stant cause of their violation. France therefore wishes now with America, hot a treaty, the very name imports a nullity, but a compact agreed to by both, and the duration of which shall depend for its support, not on a temporary interest, nor the understanding between two cabinets, but, on the real and settled interest of the two people. It is with this view that the national convention has called for a report on the commercial regulations establish- ed between the two nations since the treaties made under our last government. It has resulted from this research, that our connexions have been very slender indeed, that the maximum of annual American importations, into the French ports, has never extended to eleven millions, that their exportations were scarcely two millions and a half, and that the eight millions surplus paid in specie, had no <*ther destination than to go in support of the English 2,'iTATE PAPERS. 413 manufactories. France has seen that since she has called from all parts for the introduction of provisions into her territories, America has hardly furnished the sixteenth part of the corn and grain which have been introduced there, arid, that fifteen sixteenths have been carried there by- foreign nations, and even by those whose governments have forced them into a war with her ! They have seen with regret in this account, that after having considerably reduced the duty imposed upon your tobacco, that after having admitted your fish and oil (which obliged us to keep up premiums on our own establishments for the cod and whale fishery) Ave do not enjoy with you any sort of favour for our exportations or importations, and, that after hav- ing taken off the duty on the freight by your vessels, you have imposed upon ours a most exorbitant rate of tonnage. The national convention has been also informed, by this account, that since the last war the admission of Ame- ricans into the French colonies has thrown into their hands an immense sum of ready money, which that war had left there, which the French government sends there for the expenses of its administration, and which is obtained there by the intercourse, direct or indirect, with the Spanish, and English colonies. It has been informed that they hare exported all the sirups and molasses, the greatest pari of the rum and taffia, and a prodigious quantity of sugar, coffee, and other colony produce, especially since the revolution has occasioned a neglect of the means of preventing it. France, sir, has seen, without regretting, that a part of these immense productions have contributed to. the prosperity of a people whose struggles for their liberty were seconded by her efforts ; but she has also seen with the most poignant grief, that the greatest part of these riches have only served to discharge vour engage- ments with the English, and to enrich her own enemies. She has seen, and sensibly felt, that her ties with your nation have served only to ruin her national commerce without obtaining the smallest encouragement to her manufactories, and without famishing the least opening for the superfluous productions of her soil. France, notwith- standing this disastrous picture, is far from intending to withdraw the benefits she has granted you : on the contra- ry her wish is to increase them, and her decrees are proofs 414 AMERICAN of it ; but she asks of you a just equivalent. She expect* the part she yields to you of her riches, ^far from being carried to a power as much your enemy as her own. Should have its natural effect in improving our mutual eonnexion. She persuades herself that the extensive opening she offers to all your commodities should procure one to her manufactures, and to such of her productions a? nature has as yet refused to your own soil. She wishe6 finally that the share which she gives you of her riches of every kind, especially of the riches of her colonies, should furnish objects of exchange, not with your former tyrants, but with your allies and with your truest friends. Doubt- less, sir, France seeks with reluctance, against England, laws of which she condemns the principles : doubtless her first wish would be to see the English nation, as well as every other, united by a free commerce, a commerce which should have no other rule, or other bounds, than their own activity : but until that nation has freed itself from the fiscal system under which it groans, until it shall have renounced its plan of domineering on all seas, and over all commerce, until she agrees to abandon a system, as impolitick for her, as it is revolting to other nations, France is forced to an opposition equalled to the efforts of a ministry wishing to monopolize all commerce : She is forced to follow the steps of a system she disclaims, but which the interest of the French nation requires so long as it shall be the ruling principle of the other government. It is upon such considerations, sir, that I am charged, as I have already had the honour to inform you, to open with you a new negotiation, the basis of which shall be its candour and its patriotism, the rules of which shall be the real friendship which unites the two people, and the end of which shall be the mutual, and well understood, interest of both nations. I promise myself that I shall find the same frankness in the government of the United States, for this great work, as I am directed to proceed with in it ; I promise myself that you will be equally eager to con- cur in completing a compact which will do honour to humanity, and which, being founded in nature itself, will be rendered imperishable. It would be to me unfortunate, and it would be afflicting to France, if I should fail in this attempt. It would be. uith the greatest regret that I should find myself com- STATE PAPERS. 415 pelled lo announce to you the second part of my instruc- tions, importing a declaration, in case of refusal, or evad- ing it, of the repeal of the laws dictated by the attachment of the French to the Americans, and by a desire to unite closer the ties which engage them. But I cannot fear an opposition on your part, considering the vast field I am directed to offer to your merchants, considering the life which such a compact would give to your agriculture, to your fisheries, to the improvement of your breed of cattle, to your lumber trade ; considering the inexhaustible source of riches which the free commerce of the French colonies offers you, and especially in considering that France ask* only in return for these great benefits that you take from her, instead of going to seek them from our common ene- my, the clothes, and the wine necessary for your consump- tion. Confident in this hope, happy in the great objects we are about to accomplish, I wait your pointing out a means of negotiating which shall bring us, with as little delay as possible, to the establishment of this national compact, which may be soon presented for the ratification of the representatives of the tvyo people, and the simpli- city of which shall equal the grandeur of the end we ought to propose by it. Acsept of my respect, GENET, Decree exempting from all duties sundry articles of provi~ sion in the colonies, relative to the United States," pro- nounced in the session of the 2Gth of March, 1 793, 2c? year of the French Republick* The National Convention, willing to obviate the dilfi- oulties which might arise relative to the execution of its decree of the 19th of February last, concerning the United States of America ; to grant new favours to that nation, its ally, and to treat it in its commercial concerns with the French colonies, in the same manner as the vessels of the Republick, decrees as follows : Article i. From the day of the publication of the pre- sent decree in the French colonics of America, the vessels of the United States of sixty tons burden or under, laden only with Hour aud provisions, as also with the articles ol supplies specified in the 2d article of the arret of the 30th T5 418 AMERICAN as the powers with whom they are at war shall have adopt- ed the same disposition, are well calculated to procure the gratitude of neutral nations, to interest them more and more in her success, and to reconcile every people in the universe to the generous principles by which her diploma- tic negotiations are directed. The decree of the 23d of May pronounces in favour of the Americans an exception to the rigorous measures which France has been compelled to adopt, by that'of the 9th May, against the vessels of neutral nations. The con- siderations which determined this decree were, on the one hand, the scrupulous faith with which France is disposed to observe, in its utmost extent, the treaty which unites her with the United States, and on the other, the thorough confidence she has that the Americans will not abuse this privilege by carrying to her enemies those productions by which they ought to assist in the defence of a cause as much their own as hers. She hopes she shall not be de- ceived in an attempt which in this instance is founded upon the principles and the friendship of her American brethren. I have been informed that the English government have declared their determination to carry into the English ports all the American vessels laden with provisions for the 'ports of France. The French Republick expects, sir, that the government of the United States, as well from attachment to her as from regard to its own commerce, and from the dignity it owes itself, will hasten to take the most energetick measures to procure a recall of this deci- sion, which is a consequence well adapted to that diplo- matic audacity to which that court has long attempted to subject every other nation. If the measures which you shall take, measures which are in the spirit of our treaty, if not in its letter, are insufficient or fruitless, and that your neutrality, as it has hitherto been, can only be ser- viceable to the enemies of France, and unfortunate for herself, you will doubtless perceive that she will exercise a very natural right in taking measures to prevent one consequence so injurious to her, and which destroys the effect of the principles upon which the treaties are found- ed which subsist between her and the United States. In the mean time I am authorized to announce to you, that the French vessels, which at this moment are masters of :-.n STATE PAPERS. 419 the channel, and of the gulf of Gascony, are ordered to protect American vessels bound to France, and to assure their arrival at the ports to which they are destined, so that the American merchants, notwithstanding the tyranny exercised over them by England, may direct, with secu- rity, their speculations for our ports, and give proofs of their attachment to us and to the cause of liberty. Accept my respects, GENET. Decree directing French armed vessels to carry into the ports of the Republick neutral vessels loaded with provi- sions and bound to enemies^ ports, pronounced in the sit- ting of the dth of May, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. Art. i. Ships of war and privateers are authorized to seize and carry into the ports of the Republick, merchant vessels which are wholly or in part loaded with provi- sions, being neutral property, bound to an enemy's port, or having on board merchandise belonging to an enemy. Art. ii. Merchandise belonging to the enemy is de- clared a lawful prize, scizable for the profit of the captor. Provisions being neutral property, shall be paid for at the price they would have sold for at the port where they were bound. Art. hi. On every occasion neutral vessels shall be immediately released the moment the provisions found on board are landed, or the seizure of the merchandise shall be effected. The freight shall be settled at the rate paid by the charterers ; a proper compensation shall be grant- ed for the detention of the vessels by the tribunals, who are ready to adjudge the prizes. Art. iv. These tribunals shall cause to be made out within three days after the judgment has been given, a copy of the manifest of the provisions and goods found on board, to the minister of marine, and another copy to the minister for foreign affairs. 420 AMERICA* Decree of the 2 3d of May, which declares that the vessels of the United States are not comprised in the regulations of the decree of the dth of May. The National Convention, after having heard the re- port of its committee of publick safety, desiring to pre- serve the union established between the French Rcpublick and the United States of America, decrees that the vessels of the United States are not comprised in the regulations of the 9th of May, conformably to the 16th article of the treaty, passed the 16th of February, 1778. Certified to be true, and conformable to the decrees of the National Convention. GENET. Citizen Genet. Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Rc- publick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, November 14, 1793. Sir, Having been overwhelmed with business at the moment ofmv having the honour to transmit vou the de- cree of the National Convention of the 26th of March last, it was impossible for me to look over the copy I sent, or that of the note with which it was accompanied. I am obliged by your sending back these pieces to me. I have examined and corrected the errours you were struck with, and I hasten to return it to you under the present cover. I have thought proper to add to it the copy of a letter which I have just written to the consuls of the Republick to ac- quaint them with the new regulations of the National Con- vention relative to the commerce with the United States, and of the obligations they impose on them. This decree, sir, presents to the Americans inestimable advantages. They can by this law carry to our colonies cargoes, the production of their fisheries, their provisions, of their agri- culture, purchase colonial commodities with the sales of their cargoes, and complete their lading with freights which are at this time offered in abundance and at a high rate in all our islands. 1 do not think there can be any speculations more lucrative for them. This law moreover grants you an advantage which the arret of 1784 had refused you ; that of enabling you to im* STATE PAPERS* 421 port directly into the United States a quantity of sugar and coffee sufficient for your own consumption. This quan- tity has been estimated by the commercial committee of the National Convention at a fiftieth of the tonnage for the coffee, and at a tenth for the sugar. All these advan- tages, which there appears a disposition still to increase, if we obtain from the United States a just reciprocity, ap- pear to me highly proper to call for all the attention of the federal government to the fate of our colonies. I beg you to lay before the President of the United States as soon as possible the decree and the enclosed note, and to obtain from him the earliest decision either as to the guaranty I have claimed the fulfilment of for our colonies, or, upon the mode of negotiation of the new treaty I was charged to propose to the United States, and which would make of the two nations but one family. Accept my respect, GENET. Copy of a Letter from the Secretary of State of the United States, to Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick to the United States. Germantown, November 5, 1793. Sir, I shall be late in acknowledging the receipt of your several letters written since my departure from Phi- ladelphia, not having received any of them till the 24th ult. and most of them only the last night. I have already laid some of them before the President, and shall lay the others successively before him at as early moments as the pressure of business will admit. That of September 30th with the decree of the National Convention of March 26th, 1793, on the subject of a treaty of commerce was laid before him yesterday, and will be considered with all the respect and interest which its ob- ject necessarily requires. In the mean time, that I may he enabled to present him a faithful translation of the de- cree, I take the liberty of returning the copy to you with a prayer that you will have it examined by your original, and see whether there is not some errour in the latter pari of the 2d article, page 2, where the description of the cargo to be re-exported from the Islands is so unusual as to induce me to suspect an errour in the copyist. Having 422 AMERICAN to return the decree for re-examination, I take the liberty of doing the same by the letter covering it, as in the first line of the seventh page the sense appears to me incom- plete, and I wish to be able to give it with correctness. I have the honour to be, &c. TH : JEFFERSON. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO TRANSACTIONS WITH SPAIN. DEC. 16, 1793. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO MOROCCO, ALGIERS AND PRISONERS. DEC. 16, 1793. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE ON THE PRIVILEGES AND RESTRICTIONS ON THE COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. DEC. 16, 1793. Sir, According to the pleasure of the House of Re- presentatives, expressed in their resolution of February 23, 1791, I now lay before them a report on the privi- leges and restrictions on the commerce of the United States in foreign countries. In order to keep the subject within those bounds which I supposed to be under the contemplation of the House, I have restrained my state- ments to those countries only with which we carry on a commerce of some importance, and to those articles also of our produce which are of sensible weight in (he scale of our exports ; and even these articles are sometimes grouped together, according to the degree of favour or restriction with which thev are received in each country. STATE PAPERS. 423 and that degree expressed in general terms without de- tailing the exact duty levied on each article. To have gone fully into these minutias, would have been to copy the tariffs and books of rates of the different countries, and to have hidden, under a mass of detail, those general and im- portant truths, the extraction of which, in a simple form, I conceived would best answer the inquiries of the House, by condensing material information within those limits of time and attention, which this portion of their duties may justly claim. The plan, indeed, of minute details which have been impracticable with some countries, for want of information. Since preparing this report, which was put into its pre- sent form in time to have been given in to the last session of Congress, alterations of the conditions of our commerce with some foreign nations have taken place some of them independent of the war ; some arising out of it. France has proposed to enter into a new treaty of com- merce with us, on liberal principles ; and has, in the mean time, relaxed some of the restraints mentioned in the report. Spain has, by an ordinance of June last, estab- lished New Orleans, Pensacola and St. Augustine into free ports, for the vessels of friendly nations having treaties of commerce with her, provided they touch for a permit at Corcubion in Gallicia, or at Alicant ; and our rice is, by the same ordinance, excluded from that country. The circumstances of the war, have necessarily given us freer access to the West Indian islands, whilst they have also drawn on our navigation, vexations and depredations of the most serious nature. To have endeavoured to describe all these, would have been as impracticable as useless, since the scenes would have been shifting while under description. I therefore think it best to leave the report as it was formed, being adapted to a particular point of time, when things were in their settled order, that is to say, to the summer of 1792. I have the honour to be, &c. Til : JEFFERSON. To the Speaker of the House of Representative;: of the United States of America. 424 AMERICAN REPORT, &c. The Secretary of State, to whom was referred, by the House of Representatives, the report of a committee on the written message of the President of the United States, of the 14th of February, 1791, with instruction to report to Congress the nature and extent of the pri- vileges and restrictions of the commercial intercourse of the United States with foreign nations, and the measures which he should think proper to be adopted for the im- Erovement of the commerce and navigation of the same, as had the same under consideration, and thereupon makes the following Report : The countries with which the United States have their chief commercial intercourse are Spain, Portugal, France. Great Britain, the United Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, and their American possessions : and the article? of export, which constitute the basis of that commerce, with their respective amounts, are, Bread stuff, that is to say ; bread grains, meals, and bread, to the annual amount Dolls. of 7.649.88? Tobacco, 4.349.567 Rice, 1.753.796 Wood, ----- 1.263.534 Salted fish, 941.696 Pot and pearl ash, - - - 839.093 Salted meats, - 599.130 Indigo, - ... 537.379 Horses and mules, - - - 339.753 Whale oil. ..-.-- 252.591 Flaxseed, - - - - 236.072 Tar, pitch and turpentine, - - 217.177 Live provisions, - 137.743 Ships, - Foreign goods, .... 620.274 To descend to articles of smaller value than these, would lead into a minuteness of detail neither necessary nor useful to the present object. STATE PAPERS. 425 The proportions of our exports, which go to the nations before mentioned, and to their dominions, respectively, are as follows : Dolls. To Spain and its dominions, 2.005.907 Portugal and its dominions, 1.283.462 France and its dominions, 4.698.735 Great Britain and its dominions, 9.363.416 The United Netherlands and their dominions, 1.963.880 Denmark and its dominions, 224.415 Sweden and its dominions, 47.240 Our imports from the same countries, are, Spain and its dominions, 335.110 Portugal and its dominions, 595.763 France and its dominions, 2.068.348 Great Britain and its dominions, 15.285.428 United Netherlands and their dominions, 1.172.692 Denmark and its dominions, 351.364 Sweden and its dominions, 14.325 These imports consist mostly of articles on which in- dustry has heen exhausted. Our navigation, depending on the same commerce, will appear by the following statement of the tonnage of our own vessels, entering in our ports, from those several na- tions and their possessions, in one year ; that is to say ; from October. 1789, to September, 1790, inclusive, as follows : Tons. Spain - - 19.695 Portugal - - 23,576 Franco. - - - 116.410 Great Britain - - 43^580 United Netherlands - 58,858 Denmark - - - 14,655 Sweden - c 750 Of our commercial objects. Spain receives favourably. our bread-stuff, salted lish, wood, ships, tar, pitch and tur- pentine. On our meals, however, as well as on those of other foreign countries, when re-exported to their colo- nies, they Have lately imposed duties of from half a dollar to two dollars the barrel, the duties being so proportioned VOL. I. .5i 42(j AMERICA* to the current price of their own flour, as that both together are to make the constant sum of nine dollars per barrel. They do not discourage our rice, pot and pearl ash, salted provisions, or whale oil : but these articles, being in small demand at their markets, are carried thither but in a small degree. Their demand for rice, however, is in- creasing. Neither tobacco nor indigo are received there. Our commerce is permitted with their Canary islands un- der the same conditions. Themselves, and their colonies, are the actual con- sumers of what they receive from us. Our navigation is. free with the kingdom of Spain ; foreign goods being received there in our ships on the same conditions as if carried in their own, or in the ves- sels of the country of which such goods are the manufac- ture or produce. Portugal receives favourably our grain and bread, salt- ed fish, and other salted provisions, wood, tar, pitch, and turpentine. For flax seed, pot and pearl ash, though not discouraged, there is little demand. Our ships pay 20 per cent, on being sold to their sub- jects, and arc then free bottoms. Foreign goods (except those of the East Indies) are re- ceived on the same footing in our vessels as in their own, or any others ; that is to say, on general duties of from 20 to 28 per cent, and, consequently, our navigation is un- obstructed by them. Tobacco, rice and meals are pro- hibited. Themselves and their colonies consume what they re- ceive from us. These regulations extend to the Azores, Madeira, and the Cape de Verd islands, except that in these meals and rice are received freely. France receives favourably our bread-stuff, rice, wood, pot and pearl ashes. A duty of 5 sous the quintal, or nearly A\ cents, is paid on our tar, pitch, and turpentine. Our whale oils pay 6 livres the quintal, and are the only foreign whale oils ad- mitted. Our indigo pays 5 livres the quintal, their own 2*- : but a difference of quality, still more than a difference of duty, prevents its seeking that market. STATE PAPERS. 427 Salted beef is received freely for re-exportation ; but if tor home consumption, it pays 5 livres the quintal. Other salted provisions pay that duty in all cases, and salted fish is made lately to pay the prohibitory one of 20 livres the quintal. Our ships are free to carry thither all foreign goods which may be carried in their own or any other vessels. except tobaccoes not of our own growth ; and they parti- cipate with theirs, the exclusive carriage of our whale oils and tobaccoes. During their former government, our tobacco was under a monopoly, but paid no duties ; and our ships were freely sold in their ports, and converted into national bottoms. The first national assembly took from our ships this privi- lege. They emancipated tobacco from its monopoly, but subjected it to duties of 18 livres, 15 sous the quintal, car- ried in their own vessels, and 5 livres carried in ours a difference more than equal to the freight ot the article. They and their colonies consume what they receive from us. Great Britain receives our pot and pearl ashes free, whilst those of other nations pay a duty of two shillings and three pence the quintal. There is an equal distinc- i ion in favour of our bar iron ; of which article, however, we do not produce enough for our own use. Woods are free, from us, whilst they pay some small duty from other countries. Indigo and flax seed are free from all countries. Our tar and pitch pay eleven pence, sterling, the barrel. From other alien countries they pay about a penny and a third more. Our tobacco, for their own consumption, pays one shil- ling and three pence, sterling, the pound, custom and ex- cise, besides heavy expenses of collection ; and rice, in the same case, pays seven shillings and four jjrencc, sterl- ing, the hundred weight ; which, rendering it too dear, as an article of common food, it is consequently used in very small quantity. Our salted fish and other salted provisions, except bacon, are prohibited. Bacon and whale oils are under prohibitory duties ; so are our grains, meals and bread, as to internal consumption, unless in times of such search) as may raise the price of wheat to fifty shillings, sterling, the quarter, and other grains and meals in proportion. 428 AMERICAN Our ships, though purchased and navigated by their own subjects, are not permitted to be used, even in their trade with us. While the vessels of other nations are secured by stand- ing laws, which cannot be altered but by the concurrent will of the three branches of the British legislature, in carrying thither any produce or manufacture of the country to which they belong, which may be lawfully carried in any vessels, ours, with the same prohibition of what is foreign, are further prohibited by a standing law, (12 Car. 2, 18. sect. 3.) from carrying thither all and any of our own domestick productions and manufactures. A subsequent act indeed has authorized their executive to permit the carriage of our own productions in our own bottoms, at its sole discre- tion ; and the permission has been given from year to year by proclamation, but subject every moment to be with- drawn on that single will, in which event, our vessels hav- ing any thing on board, stand interdicted from the entry of all British ports. The disadvantage of a tenure which may be so suddenly discontinued, was- experienced by our merchants on a late occasion,* when an official notifica- tion that this law would be strictly enforced, gave them just apprehensions for the fate of their vessels and cargoes despatched or destined to the ports of Great Britain. The minister of that court, indeed, frankly expressed his per- sonal conviction, that the words of the order went farther than was intended, and so he afterwards officially informed us ; but the embarrassments of the moment were real and great, and the possibility of their renewal lays our com- merce to that country under the same species of discour- agement as to other countriesj where it is regulated by a single legislator ; and the distinction is too remarkable not to be noticed, that our navigation is excluded from the security of fixed laws, while that security is given to the navigation of others. Our vessels pay in their ports one shilling and nine pence, sterling, per ton, light and trinity dues, more than is paid by British ships, except in the port, of London, where they pay the same as British. The greater part of what they receive from us, is re- exported to other countries, under the useless charges of * April 12, 172 ; STATE PAPERS. 429 an intermediate deposit, and double voyage. From tables published in England, and composed, as is said, from the books of their customhouses, it appears, that of the indigo imported there in the years 1773, '4, '5, one third was re- exported ; and from a document of authority, we learn, that of the rice and tobacco imported there before the war, four-fifths were re-exported. We are assured indeed that the quantities sent thither for re-exportation since the war, ire considerably diminished, yet less so than reason and national interest would dictate. The whole of our grain is re-exported when wheat is below fifty shillings the quarter, and other grains in proportion. The United Netherlands prohibit our pickled beef and pork, meals and bread of all sorts, and lay a "prohibitory duty on spirits distilled from grain. All other of our productions are received on varied duties, which may be reckoned, on a medium, at about three per cent. They consume but a small proportion of what they re- ceive. The residue is partly forwarded for consumption in the inland parts of Europe, and partly re-shipped to other maritime countries. On the latter portion they in- tercept between us and the consumer, so much of the value as is absorbed by the charges attending an intermediate deposit. Foreign goods, except some East India articles, are received in vessels of any nation. Our ships may be sold and naturalized there, with ex-' ceptions of one or two privileges, which somewhat lessen their value. Denmark lays considerable duties on our tobacco and lice, carried in their own vessels, and half as much more, if carried in ours ; but the exact amount of these duties is not perfectly known here. They lay such as amount to prohibitions on our indigo and corn. Sweden receives favourably our grains and meals, salted provisions, indigo and whale oil. They subject our rice to duties of sixteen mills the pound weight, carried in their own vessels, and of forty per rent, additional on that, or twenty-two and four-tenths 430 AMERICAN mills, carried in ours or any others. Being thus rendered too dear as an article of common food, little of it is con- sumed with them. They consume some of our tobaccoes. which they take circuitously through Great Britain, levy- ing heavy duties on them also ; their duties of entry, town duties and excise being 4. 34 dollars the hundred weight, if carried in their own vessels, and of 40 per cent, on that additional, if carried in our own or any other vessels. They prohibit altogether our bread, fish, pot and pearl ashes, flax seed, tar, pitch and turpentine, wood, (except oak timber and masts) and all foreign manufactures. Under so many restrictions and prohibitions, our navi- gation with them is reduced to almost nothing. With our neighbours an order of things much harder presents itself. Spain and Portugal refuse to those parts of America which they govern, all direct intercourse with any people but themselves. The commodities in mutual demand, be- tween them and their neighbours, must be carried to be exchanged in some port of the dominant country, and the transportation between that and the subject state, must be in a domestick bottom. France, by a standing law. permits her West India pos- sessions to receive directly our vegetables, live provisions. horses, wood, tar, pitch and turpentine, rice and maize, and prohibits our other bread stuff: but a suspension of this prohibition having been left to the colonial legisla- tures, in times of scarcity, it was formerly suspended occa- sionally, but latterly without interruption. Our fish and salted provisions (except pork) are receiv- ed in their islands under a duty of three colonial livrcs the quintal, and our vessels are as free as their own to carry our commodities thither, and to bring away rum and mo- lasses. Great Britain admits in her islands our vegetables, live provisions, horses, wood, tar, pitch and turpentine, rice and bread stuff, by a proclamation of her executive, limited always to the term of a year, but hitherto renewed from year to year. She prohibits our salted fish and other salt- ed provisions. She does not permit our vessels to carry STATE PAPERS. 431 thither our own produce. Her vessels alone, may take it from us, and bring in exchange rum, molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa nuts, ginger and pimento. There are, in- deed, some freedoms in the island of Dominica, but, under such circumstances, as to be little used by us. In the British continental colonies, and in Newfoundland, all our productions are prohibited, and our vessels forbidden to enter their ports. Their governours, however, in times of distress have power to permit a temporary importation of certain articles, in their own bottoms, but not in ours. Our citizens cannot reside as merchants or factors within any of the British plantations, this being expressly pro- hibited by the same statute of 12 Car. 2 c. 18, commonly called the navigation act. In the Danish American possessions a duty of 5 per cent. is levied on our corn, corn meal, rice, tobacco, wood, salted fish, indigo, horses, mules and live stock, and of 10 per cent, on our flour, salted pork and beef, tar, pitch and turpentine. In the American islands of the United Netherlands and Sweden, our vessels and produce are received, subject to duties, not so heavy as to have been complained of; but they arc heavier in the Dutch possessions on the conti- nent. To sum up these restrictions, so far as they are un- important : First. In Europe Our bread stuff is at most times under prohibitory du- ties in England, and considerably dutied on re-exportation from Spain to her colonics. Our tobaccoes are heavily dutied in England, Sweden and France, and prohibited in Spain and Portugal. Our rice is heavily dutied in England and Sweden, and prohibited in Portugal. Our fish and salted provisions are prohibited in England, and under prohibitory duties in France. Our whale oils arc prohibited in England and Portugal. And our vessels are denied naturalization in England, and of late in France. 432 AMERICAN Second. In the West Indies All intercourse is prohibited with the possessions of Spain and Portugal. Our salted provisions and fish are prohibited by Eng- land. Our salted pork and bread stuff (except maize) are received under temporary laws only, in the dominions of France, and our salted fish pays there a weighty duty. Third. In the article of navigation Our own carriage of our own tobacco is heavily dutied in Sweden, and lately in France. We can carry no article, not of our own production, to the British ports in Europe. Nor even our own produce to her American possessions. Such being the restrictions on the commerce and navi- gation of the United States ; the question is, in what way they may best be removed, modified or counteracted ? As to commerce, two methods occur. 1. By friendly arrangements with the several nations with whom these restrictions exist : Or, 2. By the separate act of our own legislatures for countervailing their effects. There can be no doubt but that of these two, friendly arrangement is the most eligible. Instead of embarrass- ing commerce under piles of regulating laws, duties and prohibitions, could it be relieved from all its shackles in all parts of the world, could every country be employed in producing that which nature has best fitted it to produce, and each be free to exchange with others mutual surplusses for mutual wants, the greatest mass possible would then be produced of those things which contribute to human life and human happiness ; the numbers of mankind would be increased, and their condition bettered. Would even a single nation begin with the United States this system of free commerce, it would be advisable to begin it with that nation ; since it is one by one only, that it can be extended to all. Where the circumstances of either party render it expedient to levy a revenue, by way of impost, on commerce, its freedom might be modified, in that particular, by mutual and equivalent measures, pre- serving it entire in all others. Some nations, not yet ripe for free commerce in all its extent, might still be willing to mollify its restrictions and STATE PAPERS. 433 regulations for us, in proportion to the advantages which an intercourse with us might offer. Particularly they may concur with us in reciprocating the duties to be levied on each side, or in compensating any excess of duty by equi- valent advantages of another nature. Our commerce is certainly of a character to entitle it to favour in most countries. The commodities we offer are either necessa- ries of life, or materials for manufacture, or convenient subjects of revenue ; and we take in exchange, either manufactures, when they have received the last finish of art and industry, or mere luxuries. Such customers may reasonably expect welcome and friendly treatment at every market. Customers, too, whose demands, increas- ing with their wealth and population, must very shortly give full employment to the whole industry of any nation whatever, in any line of supply they may get into the habit of calling for from it. But should any nation, contrary to our wishes, suppose it may better find its advantage by continuing its system of prohibitions, duties and regulations, it behooves us to protect our citizens, their commerce and navigation, by counter prohibitions, duties and regulations, also. Free commerce and navigation arc not to be given in exchange for restrictions and vexations : nor arc they likely to pro- duce a relaxation of them. Our navigation involves still higher considerations. As a branch of industry, it is valuable, but as a resource of defence, essential. its value, as a branch of industry, is enhanced by the dependence of so many other branches on it. In times of general peace it multiplies competitors for employment in transportation, and so keeps that at its proper level: and in times of war, that is to say, when those nations who may be our principal carriers, shall be at war with each other, if we have not within ourselves the means of transportation, our produce must be exported in bellige- rent vessels, at the increased expense of war-freight and insurance, and the articles which will not bear that, must perish on our hands. But it is as a resource of defence that our navigation will admit neither neglect nor forbearance. The position and circumstances of the United States leave them nothing to fear on their land-board, and nothing to desire beyond vol. i. 5 A 434 AMERICAN their present rights. But on their seaboard, they are open to injury, and they have there, too, a commerce which must be protected. This can only be done by pos- sessing a respectable body of citizen-seamen, and of artists and establishments in readiness for ship-building. Were the ocean, which is the common property of all, open to the industry of all, so that every person and ves- sel should be free to take employment wherever it could be found, the United States would certainly not set the example of appropriating to themselves, exclusively, any portion of the common stock of occupation. They would rely on the enterprise and activity of their citizens for a due participation of the benefits of the seafaring business, and for keeping the marine class of citizens equal to their object. But if particular nations grasp at undue shares, and, more especially, if they seize on the means of the United States, to convert them into aliment for their own strength, and withdraw them entirely from the support of those to whom they belong, defensive and protecting measures become necessary on the part of the nation whose marine resources are thus invaded ; or it will be disarmed of its defence ; its productions will lie at the mercy of the nation which has possessed itself exclusively of the means of carrying them, and its politicks may be influenced by those who command its commerce. The carriage of our own commodities, if once established in another channel, cannot be resumed in the moment we may desire. If we lose the seamen and artists whom it now occupies, we lose the present means of marine de- fence, and time will be requisite to raise up others, when disgrace or losses shall brins; home to our feelings the errour of having abandoned them. The materials lor maintaining our due share of navigation, are ours in abun- dance. And, as to the mode of using them, we have only to adopt the principles of those who thus put us on the defensive, or others equivalent and better fitted to our circumstances. The following principles, being founded in reciprocity, appear perfectly just, and to offer no cause of complaint to any nation. 1. Where a nation imposes high duties on our produc- tions, or prohibits them altogether, it may be proper for us to do the same by theirs ; first burdening or excluding- STATE PAPERS. 435 those productions which they bi\ing here, in competition with our own of the same kind ; selecting next, such manu- factures as we take from them in greatest quantity, and which at the same time we could the soonest furnish to our- selves, or obtain from other countries ; imposing on them duties, lighter at first, but heavier and heavier afterwards, as other channels of supply open. Such duties having the effect of indirect encouragement to domestick manufac- tures of the same kind, may induce the manufacturer to come Himself into these states, where cheaper subsistence, equal laws, and a vent of his wares, free of duty, may ensure him the highest profits from his skill and industry. And here, it would be in the power of the state govern- ments to co-operate essentially, by opening the resources of encouragement which are under their control, extend- ing them liberally to artists in those particular branches of manufacture for which their soil, climate, population and other circumstances have matured them, and fostering the precious efforts and progress of household manufacture, by some patronage suited to the nature of its objects, guided by the local informations they possess, and guarded against abuse by their presence and attentions. The op- pressions on our agriculture, in foreign ports, would thus be made the occasion of relieving it from a dependence on the councils and conduct of others, and of promoting arts, manufactures and population at home. 2 Where a nation refuses permission to our merchants and factors to reside within certain parts of their domi- nions, we may, if it should be thought expedient, refuse residence to theirs in any and every part of ours, or modi- fy their transactions. 3. Where a nation refuses to receive in our vessels any productions but our own, we may refuse to receive, in theirs, any but their own productions. The first and second clauses of the bill reported by the committee, are well formed to effect this object. 4. Where a nation refuses to consider any vessel as ours which has not been built within our territories, we should refuse to consider as theirs, any vessel not built within their territories. 5. Where a nation refuses to our vessels the carriage even of our own productions, to certain countries under their domination, we might refuse lo theirs of every de : 436 , AMERICAN scription, the carriage of the same productions to the same countries. But as justice and good neighbourhood would dictate that those who have no part in imposing the restric- tion on us, should not be the victims of measures adopted to defeat its effect, it may be proper to confine the restric- tion to vessels owned or navigated by any subjects of the same dominant power, other than the inhabitants of the country to which the said productions are to be carried. And to prevent all inconvenience to the said inhabitants, and to our own, by too sudden a check on the means of transportation, we may continue to admit the vessels marked for future exclusion, on an advanced tonnage, and for such length of time only, as may be supposed neces- sary to provide against that inconvenience. The establishment of some of these principles by Great Britain, alone, has already lost us in our commerce with that country and its possessions, between eight and nine hundred vessels of near 40,000 tons burden, according to statements from official materials, in which they have con- fidence. This involves a proportional loss of seamen, shipwrights, and ship-building, and is too serious a loss to admit forbearance of some effectual remedy. It is true we must expect some inconvenience in prac- tice from the establishment of discriminating duties. But in this, as in so many other cases, we are left to choose between two evils. These inconveniences are nothing when weighed against the loss of wealth and loss of force, which will follow our perseverance in the plan of indis- crimination. When once it shall be perceived that we are either in the system or in the habit of giving equal advan- tages to those who extinguish our commerce and naviga- tion by duties and prohibitions, as to those who treat both with liberality and justice, liberality and justice will be converted by all into duties and prohibitions. It is not to the moderation and justice of others we are to trust for fair and equal access to market with our productions, or for our due share in the transportation of them ; but to our own means of independence, and the firm will to use them. Nor do the inconveniences of discrimination merit con- sideration. Not one of the nations before mentioned, per- haps not a commercial nation on earth is without them. In our case one distinction alone will suffice : that is to say ; between nations who favour our productions and STATE PAPERS. 43T navigation, and those who do not favour them. One set of moderate duties, say the present duties, for the first, and a fixed advance on these as to some articles, and prohibi- tions as to others, for the last. Still it must be repeated that friendly arrangements are preferable with all who will come into them ; and that we should carry into such arrangements all the liberality and spirit of accommodation which the nature of the case will admit. France has, of her own accord, proposed negotiations for improving, by a new treaty on fair and equal princi- ples, the commercial relations of the two countries. But her internal disturbances have hitherto prevented the pro- secution of them to effect, though we have had repeated assurances of a continuance of the disposition. Proposals of friendly arrangement have been made ott our part, by the present government, to that of Great Bri- tain, as the message states : but, being already on as good a footing in law, and a better in fact, than the most fa- voured nation, they have not, as yet, discovered any dis- position to have it meddled with. We have no reason to conclude that friendly arrange- ments would be declined by the other nations, with whom we have such commercial intercourse as may render them important. In the meanwhile, it would rest with the wis- dom of Congress, to determine whether, as to those na- tions, they will not surcease ex parte regulations, on the reasonable presumption that they will concur in doing whatever iu^tii-o and moderation dictate should be done.. TH: JEFFERSON. MESSAGE ^tOM THE PRESIDENT Op THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO TRUCE BETWaii.V PORTUGAL AND ALGIERS. nj .'. l\ 1793. P8*< 448 AMERICAN* court November term last, and urged him to accept an ap- pointment in a body of troops that was to be raised in this state under French commissions ; which troops were to go on an expedition against the Spanish possessions, on some part of the American continent And this deponent adds that Robt. Tate expressly told him that he was then acting under a French commission from the French go- vernment, and was determined to enlist men as soon as possible. Sworn before me this 2d December, 1793. A true copy, and which I attest, JOHN SANDFORD DART, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Columbia, Dec. 9, 1793. South Carolina. Before me personally appeared of Pendleton county, who being duly sworn, deposcth as fol- loweth That is to say, that on Sunday the twenty-fourth of November last, he, this deponent, was in company with Mr. William Tate, and lodged in the same house with him, at Cambridge That the said William Tate, showed unto this deponent, a certain paper written in French, and also in English, and under the hand and seal of citizen Genet, minister plenipotentiary, from the Republick of France, to the United States of America, which paper was a commission, directed to the said William Tate, consti- tuting and appointing him a colonel, in the service of the French Republick That he also saw in the possession of the said William Tate, another paper signed by citizen Genet (as well as this deponent can recollect) being a plan for the formation of a military corps, ruled like a brigade return, with columns specifying the number of officers and men, the pay, the rations, and the proportion of spoil each one was to have This deponent thinks they speci- fied one lieutenant colonel, a second lieutenant colonel, captains, and from thence down ; containing thirty-two commissioned and non-commissioned officers, and one hundred and twenty-four privates That the number of battalions was unlimited. That the spoil was to be sodis- STATE PAPER?. 44 tributed as to leave a certain portion thereof to the French nation, viz. two parts ; but into how many parts the whole was to be divided, the deponent cannot recollect The said William Tate, informed this deponent, that in pursuance of his instructions, he had sent out several per- sons, to enlist men in this state, into the French service ; that if the measures taken, should be successful, blank commissions would be sent on from the northward, and each person would receive a commission, according to the number of men he should enlist The deponent saith, that this was set forth in the instructions ; this deponent farther saith, that the said William Tate told this deponent, that the object of the enlistment was, to march to South America, and attack the Spanish dominions. This depo- nent farther saith, that he saw at the same time, in the possession of the said William Tate, other papers, relative to the foregoing transactions, signed by monsieur M. A. B. Mangourit, the particular purport whereof this deponent -cannot now recollect. Sworn the 2d day of December, 1 793, before me. A true copy, and which I attest, JOHN SANDFORD DART, Clerk of the House of Representatives, -Columbia, Dec. 9, 1793, South Carolina. Before me personally appeared, who bring duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that on Saturday the 30th day of November last, as he was on his way to Columbia, to attend his duty in the house of representa- tives, and in crossing the ferry at Granby, he fell in com- pany with two men, one of whom, addressing him, mention- ed that he had heard that he, this deponent, was one of their party (meaning, as this deponent received the im- pression at the time, the party for enlisting and raising men for the French service) the other person added, that he and his companion, had their company filled up, and pulling a paper out of his pocket, said it was his commis- sion, and offered to show it to this deponent; this depo nent told him he would not wish to deceive him, for that he, this deponent, was not of his party, and did not lopJ< von. ft 57 4J0 AMERICAN at his commission or papers. One of the men told this deponent, that he hoped to see him, this deponent, in the new country, and that they were to have their rendezvous* in Georgia ; he asked this deponent, whether he had seen captain Tate, that he was informed captain Tate had been -at his, the deponent's house : Dept. replied, that he had not seen him that he did not know him, and that he had not been at his house that he knew of. Sworn the 2d day" of December, ) 1 793, before me. $ A true copy, and which I attest, JOHN SANDFORD DART, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Columbia, Dec. 9, 1793. Stale of South Carolina. of the county of Laurens, being duly sworn, maketh oath, that on or about the twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, captain William Urbey, of the county of told this deponent that he held a commission to raise troops, and offered to show his commission, which Mr. declined seeing. He added to this deponent that he was authorized to raise troops, which this deponent understood was for foreign service That this deponent was made to understand that captain William Tate was to be commandant of the troops to be raised Dr. Jacob R. Brown also communicated to riiis deponent that he was a lieutenant-colonel, and he. showed to him a paper which stated the pay, rations, pro- portion of spoil, number of men to be raised, and bat- talions, divisions of land, and other particulars. That the pay fixed was twenty-five cents per day to privates. That Dr. Jacob R. Brown, on showing him this paper, asked this deponent if he would advise him to engage in this business, but this deponent declined giving any ad- vice. That this deponent understood that the source of all power and the spring of action in this business was Mr. Genet, the ambassador from the Republick of France, from whom all these things originated. He un- derstood this from Dr. Jacob R. Brown. This deponent STATE PAPER*. 45-1 also understood the number of men to be raised was five thousand. This deponent saw a paper in the hands of Dr. Brown, or captain Urbey, which was an enrolment of men, which was signed by about ten men, who had enlist- ed in the above mentioned service. This deponent thinks that both of the papers he saw were headed partly with initial letters *, he docs not recollect the purport of the heading. This deponent understood from both Urbey and Brown, that the business was to be conducted secretly. Sworn to before me this 2d December, 1793. A true copy, and which 1 attest, JOHN SANDFORD DART, C. H. R, Columbia, December 9, 1793. South Carolina, to wit. Before me personally appeared, who being duly .sworn, deposeth as follows: That some time about the middle of November last, Stephen Drayton, Esq. and major Hambleton, called at the house of this deponent, and mentioned to this deponent as a very ad- vantageous plan that was a foot, to get as many men as possible to agree to assemble by small parties upon some of the shores near Charleston or elsewhere, and that a French fleet was to attend for the purpose of receiving them, and that the object was, to make a descent upon some of the Spanish islands, that would be a very lucra- tive conquest, if effected They mentioned that Mr. Tate had gone forward on the same business to Mr. Genet, to obtain commissions ; and this deponent understood from the said Stephen Drayton and major Hambleton, that they the said Stephen Drayton and major John Hambleton were acting under the authority of the minister of the French Republick at the time. This deponent was there- upon applied to by the said Stephen Drayton, to be con- cerned in the enterprise, adding, that this deponent could be advanced to a pretty high commission. This deponent immediately refused to have any connection, or be at all concerned in the enterprise, and thereupon suggested doubts of the legality of the undertaking, in as much as ir 43 AJfERICAM would be inconsistent with the Proclamation of the Presi- dent of the United States ; adding, that it would in all pro- bability, be taken notice of by the executive of this state. Sworn the 3d day of December, ) 1793, before me. 5 The within a true copy, and which I attest, JOHN SANDFORD DART, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Columbia, December 9, 1793. TRANSLATION. The Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Repul^ lick of France to the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, 25th December, 1793, Id year of the French Republick B one and indivisible. Sm, I learn by the reports of the consul of the Repub- lick, at Charleston, and by the publick papers, that the legislature of South Carolina, had caused to be arrested, different persons, accused of having received from me commissions for the purpose of levying an armed force in that state, for the service of the Republick. Conceiv- ing that such conduct, if it were true, would offend the sovereignty of the American people, I hasten to affirm to you, sir, that I have not authorized in any manner, the recruiting, the formation, or the collecting of an armed force, or of any corps in the territory of the United States ; but at the same time, I am too frank to disguise from you, that, authorized by the French nation, to deliver commis- sions to those of your fellow citizens, who should feel themselves animated with a desire of serving the best of causes, I have granted them to several brave republicans of South Carolina, whose intention appeared to me to be to expatriate themselves, and to go among the independent Indian tribes, ancient friends and allies of France, in order to retaliate, if they could, in concert with us, on the Spaniards and English, the injury which the government of these two nations had the baseness, for some time to commit on your fellow citizens, under the name of these savages, in like manner, as is lately done under that of the Algerines. STATE PAPERS. 453 I notify you, sir, that I shall publish this declaration, in order to calm inquietudes, and to dissipate the doubts to which the denunciation made in the legislature of Caro- lina, might give rise. Accept my respect, GENET. Department of State, to wit : I hereby certify, that the foregoing papers, consisting of seventeen pages of writing, are truely copied from the originals (except the omission of certain names therein, agreeably to the letter of 7th December, 1793, from Gov. Moultrie) on file in the office of the Department of State. GEO. TAYLOR, jun. Chief Clerk. January 14, 1791. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CON- GRESS. JANUARY 16, 1794. I transmit for your information, certain intelligence lately received from Europe, as it relates to the subject of mv past communications. GEORGE WASHINGTON. TRANSLATION. The Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of Ameri- ca to the Republick of France, to M. Deforgues, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sain-Port, October 1, 1793. Sir, I have the honour to send you herewith, the copies of two judgments, rendered with regard to the Ame- rican vessel, the George. By the first, the tribunal in con- forming itself to the treaty of 1770, declared her unlawful prize but by the second, a part of the cargo is condemn- ed, as hostile property; and the tribunal has founded its 454 AMERICAN decision upon the decree of the 27th July. Captain Richard Stevens of the American vessel, the Hope, also complains very bitterly of a sentence rendered lately against a part of the cargo of this vessel, which is incon- testably American property. This captain informs me. that the tribunal of St. Brieu, has founded its decision on the circumstance, that in the invoice, the owners of the vessel, had added their commission to the price of the articles therein comprised. A thing in use among mer- chants, who by this means, insuring the whole, they shel- ter from maritime danger, the price of their labour, as they do that of their merchandises. I do not cite, sir, this sentence in the form of a complaint, first, because I have not yet -received an authentick copy of it, and above all, because I am persuaded that the superior tribunal, to whom an appeal must be made, will not fail to render justice. I desire only to let you see, sir, how much discontent the execution of the decree of the 27th July, must excite. Persuaded that the Convention wishes to maintain the closest connections between our two Republicks, I have given to our ministry, the most positive assurances of it ; but they will be contradicted by the injured persons, who doubtless will accuse the minister with supineness, who does not adopt the feelings of his fellow citizens ; and my efforts will fail of their effect, as soon as it can be imagined, that I do not render a faithful account of the dispositions of the French Republick, from the want of intelligence or exactness. I request you, sir. to pardon an observation which regards the particular interests of France. The circumstances of the moment, prevent the fitting out of privateers, consequently it would cost it nothing to cause the treaty to be observed with the greatest exactitude. Then the contrast which the Americans would make, between the conduct, of France, and that of its enemies, could not tut be favourable but at present, on the con- trary every time we complain of the conduct of the English, they shut our mouth? by this decree of 27th July. Nothing is more embarrassing for our minister at London, and nothing can be more injurious to the French Republick, in the opinion of the neutral powers : I hope, sir, that you will observe in the freedom of the observations I have fust niRflr lo vou. the amiortble and fraternal dispositions, STATE PAPERS. 4od which have dictated them. I am sure at least of conform- ing to the views of the^nited States, in following my own inclination, to remove every thing that might change the good harmony, which exists between two nations, allied as well by the force of sentiment, as by that of treaties. I have the honour to be, &c. GOUV. MORRIS. Extracts nf a Letter from Mr. Morris to the Secretary of State, dated October 10, 1793. 1 am very anxious that consuls and vice consuls should be appointed in all the ports. My countrymen are inces- santly applying to me, from every quarter, about property taken from them. I am desired from abroad, to claim such property. I have decidedly refused to lend my name on such occasions ; because I am certain, that I should be thereupon represented as a party interested ; and of course my representations against the proceedings, which are but too frequent, would be disregarded. On the twentieth of August a deputation of four ship captains, chosen by their brethren of Bordeaux, called on me with a representation of the injustice they experienced in being prevented from sailing with their cargoes, &c. The deputation, as is natural, had flattered themselves with immediate and ample redress. It was my duty to moderate their expectations and to explain the difficulties. Interest is often blind and seldom just. My moderation was ill suited to their wishes ; and my letter to the minis- ter, of which a copy is enclosed, seemed to them rather an abandonment of their cause, than the prosecution of the only redress which appeared to me attainable, and in the only way by which it might be effected. I had caution- ed them particularly not to ask too much; because they would thereby run the risk of not obtaining what the_\ asked; or if they should obtain it, of seeing their hopes blasted in the bud. by a repeal of an indulgenl decree;. A decree was obtained, and before ii could he executed was repealed. Thus it has happened that ihev did mis- bief. without ;an\ benefit to themselves. 45 AMERICAN TRANSLATION. The Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Statts of Ame- rica to the Republick of France, to M. Deforgues, Minis- ter of Foreign Affairs. Paris, October 12, 1793. Sir, I have the honour to send you herein enclosed, the copy of a letter, which has been addressed to me, by citizen Postic, a lawyer, residing at Morlaix. It appears, that in the proceedings of which he has given an account, there are extraordinary irregularities, and I think it my duty to inform you of them, as on the justice of tribunals eften depends the salvation, and always the prosperity of a state. I request you at the same time, sir, to permit me to make two general observations on the whole of this busi- ness ; one of which applies to the organization, and the other to the proceedings of the commercial tribunals. The referring of questions on sea prizes, to these tribunals, ap- pears to me dangerous, since they involve the interpreta- tion of the treaties, and the application of the law of na- tions : consequently of peace and of war. Now we may be permitted to entertain some doubt as to the knowledge of the judges, and we ought besides to fear, lest they may "be interested, as owners of privateers, in the questions which are submitted to them. But whatever may be the organization of the tribunals, it appears to me essential, sir, that in their proceedings they should receive all the claims which may be made to them ; that they should even invite without waiting for the authority of the persons interested, who are often at the distance of one thousand leagues. The jurisdiction of the tribunals within whose cognizance are the questions of prize, is in rem. They take possession of the thing, and by that means render themselves responsible for it. Now as the tribunals, which is the depository of the thing, ought not to dispossess themselves of it, without a formal autho- ritative act of the true proprietor, it is their duty, not only to admit, but also to seek proofs, which may establish to whom the property truly belongs. This is a double duty towards the neutral proprietor, and towards their own na- tion ; for every government which permits its citizens to fit out privateers, arms with the destructive sword of war. STATE PAPERS. 457 hands which are interested to extend its ravages, and ren- ders itself responsible for the abuses, which result from so dangerous a delegation of sovereignty. For the purpose of repressing them, the admiralty tribunals have been established throughout the different nations of Europe. In these tribunals, the government furnishes the means of information, by the facility with which it admits therein every species of claim. It preserves, by appeals, the right of deciding in the last resort on the contests which therein arise , and it gives the necessary time to enlighten its conscience on thorny questions, before the pronouncing of a sentence, which might extend or prolong the hor- rours of Avar. These, sir, are the reflections which experience has dic- tated to me. They daily make on me a more lively im- pression on account of the claims addressed to me by my countrymen, of which I have communicated to you but a very small part. I always send to the tribunals the injured persons, by giving them the most positive assurances that fhey will there obtain complete and prompt justice. I have the honour to be, &c. GOUV. MORRIS. TRANSLATION. Extract of a Letter from the Minister for foreign Affairs, to Mr. Morris, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, to the Republick of France, dated Paris, October 14, 1793, 2d year of the French Re- public/:. The extreme rigour, with which the English and the other belligerent powers, treat all the neutral vessels des- tined for France, has put the Republick to the painful necessity of arresting by way of reprisal, in such vessels the provisions belonging to its enemies. This severe measure, clearly explained in the decree of the 9fh of May, of which I enclose you a copy, is the result of the most imperious circumstances It will continue only as long as our enemies employ against us, means disapproved by the laws of humanity, and by those of war. In casting your eye on this law, you can hardly, sir, avoid ihe con- viction, that it was necessary And Just -. that the Reptiblkk von. j. :>?> 45S AMRRICAST could no longer without inattention to itself, preserve tole- rable decency towards its implacable and ferocious ene- mies, and that the system of depriving them of foreign- produce, was also to dissipate its means of offence. In comparing this law with the declarations made by the British government, at Stockholm, Copenhagen, Flo- rence, and probably at Philadelphia ; you will observe an extreme difference, between our manner of thinking and that of our enemies. You will see on the one hand, the firm determination of destroying several millions of vic- tims, merely to satisfy a spirit of vengeance or of ambition, and on the other, the desire of repelling unjust aggressions by severe laws, and a regret at being reduced to tha^ extremity. Here then, sir, in two words is the situation in which the Republick stands. Its enemies have openly usurped the right of seizing, all the provisions which are destined to it, and even all the Frenchmen found on board of neu- tral vessels. But it seems that France, attacked on all sides, abandoned to its own strength, without allies, with- out foreign succour, should confine herself scrupulously to the maxims of the law of nations, so cruelly violated by her enemies. Hence it would result that the neutrality of several powers would be partial, that it would operate only in favour of our enemies, whose commerce would be peaceably carried on under the shelter of a borrowed flag, while ours could not, under any flag whatever. The law of the 9th of May, is conditional, whilst the declarations of the combined powers are positive. It is in their power to put a period to the execution of this law, by permitting neutral vessels, to communicate freely with France- These observations, sir, which you are too just not to appreciate, apply to the greater part of the claims, which you have addressed to me for some time. I have done with respect to several of them, all that depended on me, in order to obtain in favour of your countrymen, an exception of the general measures, adopted with regard to neutral nations. I have used among others, all the means with which your letters furnished me, to have restored the ship Laurens ; but I have met with insurmountable obstacles, in the established laws, and in the opinion of the commer- cial tribunal of Havre, The tribunal has neglected no- STATE PAPERS. 459 thing to render justice to the owners of this vessel. It has /Consented among other things, to have translated 361 let- ters, merely to prove in the most authentick manner, the property of the cargo. The interested have besides avow- ed themselves, that they had neglected an essential for- mality required by our laws. You must be satisfied, sir, with the manner in which the request, presented by the American captains, from Bor- deaux, has been received. This fact, and several others of the same kind, which could not escape your attention, must have convinced you, that when the particular cir- cumstances of the Republick, permitted the administration to favour your countrymen, it was eager to give to them, testimonies of the desire which it always has had, of bring- ing nearer and nearer the citizens, and the interests of ihe two countries. We hope, that the government of the United States, will attribute to their true cause, the abuses of which you complain, as well as other violations of which our cruisers may render themselves guilty, in the course of the present war. It must perceive how difficult it is, to contain within j u st limits, the indignation of our marines, and in general of all the French patriots, against a people who speaks the same language, and having the same habits, as the free Americans. The difficulty of distinguishing our allies from our enemies, has often been the cause of offences, committed on board your vessels ; all that the administra- tion could do, is to order indemnification to those who have suffered, and to punish the guilty. I enclose herein, several copies of the navigation act, decreed by the representatives of the people. I request you to make the dispositions of them known to the govern- ment of the United States. It will there find the basis of a system connecting more and more the interests of the two nations. DEFORGUES. P. S. I enclose herein, sir, an arret of the committer of publick safety, which fulfils in part, the object proposed in your letter of the 13th of this month. I shall have the honour of communicating to you, the measures which shall be taken in the sequel. 460 AMERICAN TRANSLATION. The Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of Arne* rica to the Republick of France, to Monsieur Deforgues, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Paris, October 19, 1793. Sir, The attention which several pressing affairs re- quired, made it impossible for me sooner to answer the letter which you did me the honour of writing to me on the 14th. I have examined, with respectful care, the decree of the 9th of May, emanating from the conduct of your enemies, and supported by some reasons to which you have given their greatest lustre. It is possible, sir, that the difference of our position leads us to see the same object in a diffe- rent manner. But although I cannot be of your opinion, I do not intend farther to discuss the considerations which have produced the decision of the French government. I confine myself to the rendering of a faithful account of it to the government of the United States, and I am persuaded that in considering them, liberal friendship will put in the balance the difficulties of a revolution, and of a war with- out example. I ought, however, to observe to you, sir, that the question does not appear to me to turn on the law of nations, but on an exception to that law, by the stipu- lations of a treaty. This treaty, in derogating from this law, in favour of merchandises of your enemies found in our vessels, has derogated, in like manner, from it, to the prejudice of our merchandises found in the vessels of your enemies. We have seen at Philadelphia the publick sale of a cargo, the property of one of our citizens, taken by a French privateer on board an English vessel. All oppo- sition was of no avail, because, according to the constitu- tion, our treaties are the supreme law of the land. You will agree, sir, that it is hard for my fellow citizens not to have the advantage either of the treaty or of the law of nations to lose their merchandises by the treaty, and not to be able to compensate themselves for it, under the pro- tection of this same treaty, by the freight of enemy mer- chandises. In comparing the facts of the same epoch, you will be amazed on seeing what passed at Paris and al. Philadelphia. Your good sense will lead you to antici- pate the claims of our merchants, and the insinuations of our enemies. STATE PAPERS. 461 The foregoing are true translations and copies of the originals on file in the office of the department of state. GEO. TAYLOR, Jun. Chief Clerk. January 16, 1794. TRANSLATION. NATIONAL CONVENTION. Report upon the Navigation Act, made in the name of thtf Committee of Publick Safety. By B. Barrere. With two Decrees passed in the session of the 21st Septem- ber, the 2d year of the French Republick, one and indivisible. Printed by order of the Convention, transmitted to the De- partments and to the Armies, and translated into all- Languages. Citizens, It was on the 21st September, 1792, that the Convention proclaimed the liberty of France, or rather the liberty of Europe. It is on the same day, the 21st September, 1793, that the Convention should proclaim the liberty of commerce, or rather the liberty of the seas. It is not sufficient for you to have founded the political republick it remains for you to found the commercial republick. The English navigation act was formed in the midst of a monarchical revolution ; it bears the im- pression of the despot who created it. The French navigation act will be decreed in the midst of a demo- cratick revolution ; it will bear the impression of liberty and equality, which produced it. If the French nation had resolved to give itself a navi- gation act, or to destroy the treaty of commerce of 1737. Finland would have declared against her a terrible war. Kngland has put herself at the head of a coalition of tyrants, to destroy our liberty 5 and from that momeni Fiance has acquired the right of supporting, with her cannon and her bayonet, the abolition of the treaty of commerce, and the establishment of a navigation net. These advantages are the first fruits of this war; the establishment of liberty, the prosperity of the Republick, and the reanimation of commerce, will be the result of it. 465 AMERICA* The treaty of commerce being destroyed by a decree, will create an enormous barrier in the channel between France and Great Britain. Nothing then remains, but to knock down the intermediate obstacles created by Eng- land, between France and the other powers. The following are our means : For a century and a half, a navigation act, bearing the stamp of the soul of the usurper, Cromwell, has estab- lished and secured the maritime tyranny and commercial prosperity of England. For a century and a half, the famous British navigation act, founded without regard to the rights and interests of nations, offers a series of laws injurious and invasive of the property of every people. The law writers of Europe had proclaimed this truth ; the policy of France had not suspected it. The constitu- ent assembly, more occupied in destroying, than in creat- ing, neither thought of the French Republick nor of the liberty of the seas. A ridiculous predilection for England, a ruinous and disgraceful commercial treaty, purchased from the ministers of Capet, had enslaved us. The po- litical views of the cabinet of London, with regard to us, prevailed entirely in the workshops of manufacturers and in the counting houses of our merchants. In the commis- sioners of the customs, the artists in metallurgy, the dealers in the colonial products, and the carriers of the East India stuffs behold our real masters. The coasting trade, that active school of our seamen, that second basis of our navigation, that source of riches to Holland, far from being inhibited to foreigners, as is die case in England, has been carried on by foreigners. The navigation of the colonies, infinite in its detail, immense by the extent which it gives to our commerce, rhis navigation; equally interesting to the husbandman and the artist, the manufacturer and the seaman, the rich nnd the poor The navigation of the colonies, which enlivens our seaports, and gives motion to all the works of industry, was participated in by foreigners, and wc were calm spectators. The national marine, which grows out of ship building and the fishery, has been destroyed by the decree regard- ing foreign vessels as merchandise, and allowing them to be purchased; it lias been destroyed, by the discourage- .&TATB PAPER.?. 4G> ment of the fishery among us, and weakened for the want of succour, of premiums, and of the means which might triple our equipments for the fishery, and form of it a species of secondary agriculture, as more than 300 vessels might be employed each year, and replace the three mil- lions of salted fish, which fraud or foreign commerce an- nually introduce into France. Finally, foreigners, more especially the English, have made themselves masters of our navigation, with capitals known by the name of francisations simvlees (operations consisting in covering with the French flag, and enriching with French premiums, the capitals and fortunes of the English) because we have neglected to establish, our- selves, the English law, which acknowledges and admits to the advantages of navigation only vessels built and owned within the nation. Let us, in fine, strike at the francisations simriUcs. We have laid an embargo on the English vessels found in our ports at the commencement of the war Here is an em- bargo more just and more useful to the prosperity of France it is the completion of the navigation act it is the seizing of and confiscating to the benefit of the Repub- lick, all vessels belonging to the English, under a French flag, that is to say, those which are purchased and built with English capitals, and with a view to defraud us of our premiums and of our duties, under the name of a French merchant of a French captain. Our cruisers are destined to attack the English flag on the seas, and yet our avarice lends the French flag to the navigation and commerce of England. Despotism itself had felt this injury of our maritime commerce. It had prohibited it at several epochs ; but these numerous laws were not executed, because they allowed no reward to the informer of these simulations of capitals. It is necessary to give to the informer, a part of the value of the foreign capitals, employed in the/m/i- cisation$ ximulees in order to obtain success to this mea- sure) and to carry into execution our prohibitory laws on this subject. This has been objected to, as an immoral measure. No, there is no immorality in ruining those who starve us, who ruin us, those who wish to tear from us our liberty- and to devour the fruits of our brilliant revolution. 464 American The constituent assembly bequeathed to the first legis- lature too long a project of a navigation act. This legacy could not be improved by a legislative assembly more oc- cupied in demolishing the throne of the Capet family, than in attacking the sceptre of the family of Hanover. But the time for this last is arrived. We are at length, at the period of being able to pro- claim the liberty of the seas, after having proclaimed that of men, and of the country. Already, on the 29th of last May, the committee of publick safety in their report presented to you the neces- sity of publishing a French navigation act, as a means of regenerating our navigation, of reviving our commerce, encouraging ship building, of increasing the fishery, of doubling our carrying trade, by destroying the interme- diate freights, and the interference of all indirect naviga- tion in the maritime transportation of the commodities we exchange with foreign nations. This proposition was highly applauded. You were then sensible, that after having formed the political con- stitution, and after having prepared the moral constitu- tion, by publick education, you should still form the mari- time and commercial constitution, by a navigation act. The commercial and marine committee presented to you a project of it, through citizen Marec, the 3d of July last ; it was scarcely discussed : an adjournment was the result of two discourses founded upon objections, of the frivolity of which the authors themselves have been sen- sible. It was feared, at that epoch, that the navigation act would injure the commercial relations with the neutral powers, as if the time of war and of neutrality did not form an inevitable and a rightful exception ; as if Sweden had not, in the regulations of her customs, a sort of navi- gation act, by her rates of duties on merchandises im- ported into Sweden, in foreign vessels ; as if the French act of navigation were not a new commercial army op- posed to the commercial army of England, for the benefit of other navigating nations ; finally, as if all other gov- ernments, all nations, were not strongly interested in the downfal of the English navigation act, and in the repos- session of the natural rights of commerce and navigation, by every people in Europe. Let us then this day pro- STATE PAPERS. 4G5 claim a law, securing those equal rights on the seas to which the nations with whom we are at peace are entitled. Americans J Swedes, Danes, Genoese, Venetians, all you who have had the wise and useful firmness of resisting the perfidious insinuations, and the insolent threats of the English, and of our other enemies, you who have not wished to interrupt your commercial relations with a free people, receive this solemn act of French gratitude. Our enemies of Great Britain, and of the Dutch marshes, shall be no longer the agents, or rather the masters of our commerce with you. Here is the decree so much de- sired for the exclusion of intermediate navigators. This solemn navigation act is about being published in all the ports of France, and sent to the friendly or neutral pow- ers ; and this act of commercial independence pronounced by the French republicans, shall neither be revoked or destroyed by pur enemies, till they have beaten down the tri-coloured Hag now waving above this enclosure on the summit of the national hall. This is saying enough on what shall be the duration of the navigation act. Before you are presented with the rapid picture of the immense advantages of the navigation act, and its influ- ence on the national prosperity, 1 should show you the terrible stroke it will give to the maritime empire usurped by Great Britain ; the still more terrible stroke it must give to her industry, her commerce, her navigation, her fabricks, her manufactures, at the same time that it will awaken other nations call forth other governments to repossess themselves of their advantages, and take again on the tempestuous element and of commerce, the impre- scriptible rights which genius, the compass, and their topographical situation have assigned them. Legislators, this is not a reprisal, it is not a hostile measure, it is not an exercise of the right of war that I propose ; it is a declaration of the rights of nations, it is the restitution of a natural inheritance, usurped by ambi- tious islanders. Doubtless if it were necessary to have motives and con- siderations of a national kind to induce us to thunder againsl these usurpers of the seas, in order to punish these shop- keepers of Europe, to ruin these engrossers of subsistences, and to wither these dealers of kings and royal constitutions, it would be sufficient for us to present to France, now free. vol. t. .59 4Qt> AMERICAN the hideous picture of the crimes of the British cabinet they are known. These are they : Who has meditated the destruction of neutral naviga- tion, which was always respected by the English govern- ment? Who has sent ambassadors to Genoa, to Venice, to Na- ples, to require, to command war against the French, to put a stop to all communication with her? Who has insulted, infringed upon the flag of friendly na- tions, for the purpose of seizing the provisions, destined for a people, which they wished to starve, in order to en- slave ? It is the English government. Who has laboured to engross around us, all the sub- sistences of America, of India, and of Europe, for the purpose of treating the French, as in 1783 Lord Clive treated the East Indians, to reduce them to the most absurd tyranny ? Who has had the baseness to offer us bread with chains, subsistence with a king, the means of supporting life un- der a devouring constitution ? It is the British government. Who have roved incessantly, like highwaymen, round our ports to offer provisions to the slaves who would ac- cept the shameful condition of having a king, and who would also debase themselves so far as to receive an Eng- lish, or Hanoverian king ? Who has dared to attack Dunkirk, with all the most des- tructive inventions of war, in order to recall to our remem- brance the English commissary, who under the dastardly monarchy prohibited us from laying one stone upon an- other, and for the purpose of obtaining the foot of usurpa- tion on the continent of Europe ? Who has endeavoured to sow division among the French, even among the patriots, with a cool and execrable calculation, by diffusing gold and corruption through com- missaries under the mask of patriotism ? Who has disseminated in our cities, even in our popu- lar societies, those political corruptors, or rather infamous agents of a still more infamous English ministry ? The British government. Who has opened in the bosom of the Republick, a con- suming wound, a second Vendee, a civil war nourished by secret agents, who in the midst of our departments calcu- lated the expenses, the means, and die progress of it ? STATE PAPERS. 46f Who has set loose upon our country, plunderers, refrac- tory priests, and emigrant traitors ? Who has purchased with gold, a part of our garrisons, corrupted the citizens and the generals ? Who has thrown, by assignats and in- trigues, into our fifteen battalions of the second levies of Paris, those dregs of Piedmontese, Germans, Genoese, Ne- apolitans, the scum of foreign countries, for the purpose of betraying our armed brothers, and of garnishing if they had been able, the Parisian name, the first which has been Utitten by the hand of liberty, in the sacred annals of the revolution ? Who has so liberally supplied the villains of the Vendee with muskets, powder, cannon on which are written, the names of those mercantile tyrants of Europe ? The British government. Who has bought over, and seduced the guardians of a seaport, belonging to the Republick, and thrown into fanaticism the people of Toulon, in order to annihilate our marine, and to destroy the inhabitants of that beautiful city ? Who has inundated with floods of corrupting gold, an opulent and industrious town, which they have instigated to rebellion, in order to force us to destroy with our own hands, this theatre of arts, and of the finest manufactures of Europe, and then to possess themselves, of the trade of silks of Piedmont, to ruin our industry, to invite our work- men over to them, and to rob us even of our genius for the manufacturing arts to which Europe had become tri- butary ? Who have betrayed the interests of their own nation to make war on a people who would have gloried in their es- teem, and a more intimate alliance with them ? This crime was reserved for the British government. Citizens, the hatred of kings and of Carthage founded the constitution of the Roman reyihlick ; the hatred of kings, of the emigrants, of the nobles, and of the English, must consolidate the French constitution. Let the spectacle of so many crimes rouse Europe from her lethargy ; let the governments which are slaves to England cease to slumber, and let them at last perceive, near them, the precipice opened by that corrupting and corrupted government, who buy and sell men, cities, and ports, as we traffick In vile cattle, who are stockjobbers of people, as the financiers of the Rue Vivienne are stock- 4C AMERICAN jobbers of paper ; who sport with governments as the ne- gro merchant sports with the inhabitants of Guinea, and who would wish to traffick in the political constitutions of Europe, as they do in the merchandises extorted from India. Let the nations of the north, above all, hearken to the voice of the National Convention of France. Here is the secret of the English. To annihilate the maritime powers by the means of one another, the French navy by that of Spain, and then the Spanish navy when cut off from the assistance of that of France ; Holland belongs to them, the Dutch are the slaves of England. As to the marine of the North, the commer- cial vessels of the northern nations, from Holland as far as Russia, must pass through the channel, which is between Dunkirk and the English coasts, and consequently it is of importance to England, to have ports on each side of this strait. The atrocious audacity with which she has seiz- ed vessels, belonging to the northern powers must demon- strate to all nations, how much her designs augment their dangers, and menace the safety of their commerce, for time present and to come. Frenchmen, Europeans, neutral powers, northern na- tions, you have all the same interest as ourselves, in the salvation of France. Carthage agitated Italy, London agitates Europe ; it is a wolf placed on the side of the continent to devour it ; it is a political excrescence which liberty has undertaken to destroy. The navigation act, that we propose, is the effectual and true means of attaining that object ; it is founded on the rights of each nation ; it is founded in your most evi- dent and incontestable interest : it is founded upon the most imperious duties of the National Convention, that of establishing the prosperity of France, and destroying the Republick's most mortal enemies. Let us then take a cursory view, of the advantages which call for the promulgation of the navigation act. They are to aggrandize our commercial system, less to repel the industry of England, than to substitute our own in its stead, to multiply our means of navigation, to create an astonishing marine, and to tell to every nation that they should communicate directly with France, is only to STATE PArERS. 469 present a general view to them ; I pass to more direct advantages. From 1651, when the English navigation act, passed, all their merchants, all their politicians, all their economists, Child, Sheffield, even Smith himself agree that it is to this act, that England owes the prosperity, the superiority of her marine. This opinion has been examined, several times in France, by the citizen Ducher, who has present- ed to us his ideas on this important subject. The exam- ple has been given, experience is had, and nature offers to you an immense population with an army of intrepid sea- men enormous capitals great forests with assured re- lations in the north, with iron mines with your woods of Corsica your numerous ports with your colonies, with your manufactures, two hundred leagues of coasts to popu- late by shipping and the two seas to traverse in ; such then is the act of navigation decreed by nature it is your province to decree the act of navigation, which policy and commerce require. The first advantage. France should discourage all second hand commerce carried on by other than her own vessels. It is a direct commerce that we must have, and it is this kind of commerce, that England owes to her navigation act. It would be humiliating to France ; it would be declar- ing her impolitick and impotent, were she to receive commercial objects by any other vessels than those of the country which has manufactured or produced them. By this means you will attract to your ports, and be enabled to form useful connections with other nations. I will cite to you but one plain example. Why is there in the ports of London, Plymouth, Liverpool, more American vessels than in the ports of France ? It is because we do not im- port in our own vessels, or those of the United States of America, the rice, tobacco, potashes, oils, and other arti- cles of their growth. Why is there in the Thames more American vessels laden with grain and (lour, than in our Atlantick ports ? Because Neckar and Roland purchased at second hand, and seemed to be instructed to support the English commercial system, instead of purchasing directly from thr United States of America. 470 AMERICAN We have left to the English the care of going to seek or to receive for us the tobaccoes of Virginia, and the rice of Carolina, as well as the grain of Pennsylvania, giving them the first profit. The English make payment with their manufactures which is giving them the second profit. We, Frenchmen, purchase these tobaccoes and rice from the hands of the English, for specie, or at an enormous price in assignats, which they speculate with on ourselves giving them here a third profit. A direct navigation, embraced by the navigation act, will restore to you all these advantages and rights. As though it was not enough to purchase at second hand, we did not carry even our own merchandises. The mercantile marine of England was in our pay, and by us continued in it. A navigation act will destroy this abuse, and reinstate us in the receipt of these profits, impolitical- \y lavished on the English and Hollanders. Are we then without seamen and without marines, or rather have not our seamen, our merchants, a right to re* proach us with their misery, and to obtain from us the pre- ference to perfidious foreigners ? Let us secure to our marines their occupations suffer not the inhabitants of Amsterdam to fish and navigate for you any longer ; nor let the English spin longer for our use, the wools and cottons which they purchase even in our ports. Let foreigners no longer bring that which our fellow citizens can fabricate and transport as well and better than they. Then would you have numerous artisans, manufac- tures brought to perfection, your ports filled with shipping and marines. Let us prohibit all iraffick on our frontiers, and cherish our navigation. Let false alarms cease, by considering that our naviga- tion wil] always be sufficient, when joined to that of the states from whom we shall draw productions, if our ves- sels, and those of the Americans can bring us tobacco for our consumption why suffer the English to come in as a third party in the transportation of it 1 If our vessels and those of Spain are sufficient to bring her wools, why per- mit a Hollander to come and transport them, and thereby render ourselves tributary to him ? And admitting that our navigation should in the first instance prove insufficient. the proposed act will induce that of other nations to come directly to us, and we shall endeavour ourselves to make STATE PAPERS- 471 our own sufficient, by accelerating the progress* of ship- building. There is no other means than under the patron- age of this important act, by which our marine can rise to that degree of value and activity, which the destinies of France may require. Second advantage. Here the national constitution pre- sents to you all the riches which it ought to secure to us. Are we not yet weary of being the tributaries of foreign industry, of shamefully being the supporters of the vessels of our atrocious and laborious neighbours ? Shall we never become tired of giving subsistence to their seamen, of seeing our most cruel enemies plough the ocean at our expense, and rendering us the slaves of the luxury and trinkets, which their industrious avarice induces them incessantly to fabricate for France ? You are desirous of having a marine, for without a ma- rine there can be no colonies ; and without colonies there can be no commercial prosperity : Then, in order to have such a marine as is necessary for the most astonishing re- publick that ever existed, we must have vessels ; further, we must build them ; still further, we must have seamen, and the fisheries furnish them. The fisheries and shipbuilding are the cradle of the marine. The English have expe- rienced this 150 years, and their marine is the most brilliant. To force shipbuilding, is to create that rare and valua- ble reunion of men and artificers, by whose hands are produced new or repaired vessels. To force shipbuilding, is to establish shipyards is to form magazines to multiply useful hands to produce artists and workmen of every kind, who may be found at once for the peaceable speculations of commerce, and for the terrible wants of war. To force shipbuilding at home, is to augment naviga- tion, by the necessity of seeking timber, cordage, and the other matters necessary in various parts of France, or for the foreigner ; -is to increase the vessels for transporta- tion ; is to augment the number of sailors ; is to augment among us the benefits of freight; is to centuple our ex- changes, our commercial relations and our profits ; is to diffuse the tri-coloured flag over all sen-;. For a navigating people to purchase its marine abroad, would be a strange speculation, ns the marine would :; J . 472 AMERICAN ways be dependent on the merchants furnishing them ! That of placing, as a reserve, with a foreign nation, or in a foreign shipyard, the carpenters, blacksmiths, caulkers, sailmakers, and the vessels of a nation, would be a singular commercial combination ! We must therefore then build them for ourselves. The navigation act acknowledges, and privileges only those constructed in France, or in her possessions. The navigation act, then, will retrieve our marine, and rescue it from depending any longer on foreigners. In 1 747, the Hollanders, entrusted with supplying the military marine of France, obliged to enter their ports all the vessels from the Baltick and the North, laden with such naval stores as they had agreed with the French minister to bring us. A war took place, and the Holland- ers immediately forced into their ports the raw materials essentially necessary for our marine, and our ports were destitute of shipping. Will you then always depend on foreigners, on their avaricious and political speculations ? Purchasing foreign vessels, is paying an enormous im- post to foreigners ; is proscribing our shipyards, ruining our workmen. Let us purchase the raw materials, let our ports be open to them, let those who produce these materials bring them, or let us go for them ; this would secure to us every species of naval wealth : Behold the production of a navigation act. To purchase foreign vessels, is exposing ourselves to have a bad marine, of little solidity, illy constructed, and of doubtful materials, or of short duration : such is the fruit of experience, attested by our marines. To form our marine, is to create an owner interested in its dura- tion : This is the effect of a navigation act. To carry on ourselves, our carrying trade, is to concert within ourselves its advantages, is to employ national transports, is to f6rce shipbuilding, is to form sailors : Behold the production of a navigation act. To render more flourishing the only useful marine, that which merits the most attention of a republick, and which constitutes its real strength, the marine of the carrying irade, which transports without any noise, subsistence and the necessaries of life from one coast to another, and which, modest as benevolent, exposes not the life of the men employed in it, and knows no other enemies than the 4TATE PAPERS. 473 financial rapacity which you have destroyed,-r-to favour the carrying trade : Behold the production of a naviga- tion act. To carry on ourselves the navigation of the colonics, is to profit by the abolition of the customhouses ; is to aug- ment the resources of the marine ; is to secure to us an important navigation ; is to secure to us valuable returns which will nourish our commerce with foreigners : Be- hold the production of a navigation act. To make a navigation act, is to favour our India com- merce, is to augment that of the north, to re-animate that with the Isle of France, to augment our relations with the states of America, to prepare the means of prosperity for the south of France, a part of the Republick, so torn to pieces, so miserable, so disgraced by royalism and by treasons unheard of in the history of Frenchmen. It is to recover the commerce of the Baltick, and bring us and our natural friends together ; to form the most robust and valuable seamen ; to impoverish the English and Dutch navigation ; to re-possess our rights ; to have a legitimate share in the inheritance of the sea with all nations ; to knock down the barrier erected there by London and Am- sterdam ; to provide ourselves our own subsistence ; to reduce our cruel enemies from their privileged situation on the seas ; to prohibit them from being the vehicles and the carriers of the French Republick. Every vessel which the navigation act shall produce, will be as it were setting a firebrand to a vessel of London or Amsterdam. What squadron, what naval victory can equal such a kind of success ! And should Toulon be for any time in the power of the ruffians of London and Madrid should our destiny be to see our fine squadron of the Mediterranean purchased for English gold, lost or annihilated for us, in five years, the act of navigation will compensate that loss. Would you have an idea of the interest which England has in her navigation act ? be informed then that she would rather lose Jamaica, than revoke her act of navigation. What reason have you therefore in being backward with the secret authors of the infamous treaty of Pilnitz ? Why have any delicacy with the corruptors of your fellow citizens, the destroyers of Lyons, the persecutors of Dun- kirk, the purchasers of Toulon, the perverse founders of the new anglo-macheavelisme ? Why have you been back- vol. j. GO 47'i AMERICAN ward with the enemies of human nature and of its rights ? Their navigation act excludes you from their ports ; but this is not all. The excessive duties the English receive from . our vessels, interdicts our access to them for ever ; the river Thames is avaricious and devouring only with re- gard to us ; the light house duties absorb one portion of the freight of our vessels. In Holland, their parsimony, their strict economy, and the low interest of their money, enable them to navigate at a less expense ; we can rival them in our marine, neither at home nor abroad, otherwise than by a navigation act. Who can hereafter arrest the destiny of the commerce and marine of France ? The marine has experienced los- ses, they must be repaired : it has had to struggle with pride and distinction ; we must liberate it from these shackles ; it is still commanded by men of a cast justly proscribed ; we must rescue it from these scourges of the liberty of nations ; wc must also dismiss all the suspected officers remaining in its bosom. Commerce has had errours and crimes to repair : it became subservient to counter revolutionary and federal views, from interest, from ignorance or egotism, ft became anti-revolutionary and federal, because it is divested of political view r s, and rarely sees into futurity ; because the revolution which it has forced, speculated in, and calcu- lated upon, did not produce at this epoch as much profit as it had made in the first periods of it. But commerce will at length see that its cosmopolism ought to cease ; that it has also its cargoes in the vessels of the Republick, tha't liberty is not calculated at 5 per cent, and that a de- mocracy was always more favourable than a monarchical government to commercial prosperity, to the welfare of merchants, and to the equality of all, which till now have been valued only for them. Commerce will perceive that monarchies were always avaricious, insolent, proud and military; and that true republicks arc generous, equal, simple and commercial. Should it be objected that this act will be in opposition to our treaties of commerce with friendly and neutral na- tions. The first article of the project proposed, religiously maintains all the treaties : besides none of the treaties are opposed to a navigation act, and the first article has been inserted merely to silence the objections of the malevo- STATE PAPERS. 47b lent and of those who are ignorant in political economy. Besides, those laws which rest on the faith of nations, will be always scrupulously respected by the French Re- publick, and we do not seek by the act of navigation but to strengthen the ties of nations but to restore the direct commercial intercourses with them, which the covetous Englishman and Hollander have interrupted for the pur- pose of engrossing. What obstacle remains to be vanquished ? The tyrant of the seas ? But he has employed against us all his strength, and the English have cowardly fled at the approach of the French bayonet, at Dunkirk. Was he the corrupter of Toulon ? But the conquest which is made by the agency of crimes and treason, is not of long duration. The Eng- lish fleet would have been repulsed, if the fanaticism of the priests, the credulity of the people, the floods of British gold, and the traitorous conduct of Puissand and of Tro- golf had not given up to the dastardly and vile English, the key of the Mediterranean. Some years ago, one would have supposed that the English blood and treasure would have been employed only in the progress of philosophy and of liberty; but it was difficult for this government, which has paid, by the loss of morals for the dangerous advantage of being the depository of the gold of the world, not to deliver itself up to a mercantile spirit, and to all the political vices pro- fusely emanating from wealth. Has it not then seen that there is a limit to the blindness of the people ; that the English government enjoys in the midst of the enormous fortunes of individuals, but an ideal publick wealth which may vanish in an instant ; that it enjoys but a fictitious and momentary credit, and an unfounded paper, which party spirit may cause to vanish, and which perhaps before long may leave to a mercantile and speculating nation, only re- grets, corruption, revolutionary shocks and despotism, without colonics and without marine ? The league directed against France, by the despots, accomplices of George, is composed of territorial and maritime powers. As to the territorial powers, who have not the same interest as the others, let us oppose to them our republican armies, and the French youth. The maritime powers have other projects, and before long, will be divided by the result of their monstrous union : let us oppose to them the law for 476 AMERICAN the freedom of the seas ; let us oppose the iron of our pikes to their guineas, our bayonet to their phalanxes, our gunners to their cavalry, and navigation act to navigation act. Let other nations follow our example, let other nations completely repossess themselves of their natural rights on the seas, and then will England be violently de- tached from that maritime throne which she has too long usurped. The visier of George has dared to declare a few days ago, in dictating laws to neutral nations, and daring to restrain the rights and forms of their neutrality. " France," said he, " should be separated from the com- mercial world, and treated as though she had but a single city, but a single port, and as if that place was blockaded by sea and by land." France blockaded ' Thus spoke of Rome before' their just destruction, those men of punick faith, the ambitious and mercantile Carthagenians. France blockaded! Nay. If it were possible to reduce her to the confined limit of a single port, of a single garrisoned city, the French nation would then sally out of its limits by a bridge from Calais to Dover, and landing with its liberty on the British territo- ry, too long fertilized by our spoils, the heads of George and of Pitt would fall at the feet of those Englishmen who should feel themselves worthy of liberty, and the English island would raise at our side another republick, or become a desert. But in order to construct this bridge, which is to estab- lish our revolutionary communications with this modern Carthage, who after having drained India, wishes at her pleasure to give constitutions to Europe, let us decree a solemn act of navigation, and the mercantile island will be ruined. It is always said that the English are the masters of the sea ; but the Spaniards were the gods of the ocean under Philip n, as the English are the tyrants under George in. The Spaniards overflowed with the gold of Mexico, and the silver of Peru, as the English are covered with the wealth of India and the treasures of the world. Then the Spanish flag was the only one known at sea, as that of the English is the only one now seen on the ocean. However, the invincible fleet of Philip was con- quered, his Armada so much celebrated was defeated ; and the ancient kings of the seas and of Peru are no STATE PAPERS. 477 longer any thing more than the watermen of the former, and the exploring workmen of the latter. Let Frenchmen so intensely engaged in the revolution, pause a moment in order to contemplate its majestick and amazing progress, and then they will be as conscious of their strength as they are of their rights. Let them be for a moment spectators : The genius of liberty creating amidst the most prodigious events, a still greater prodigy, a democracy of twenty-five millions of souls, a republick of thirty thousand square leagues, boldly establishing her- self upon the wrecks of a conspirator's throne, upon the ruins of a nobility as perfidious as arrogant, upon the do- mains of a clergy as opulent as useless, upon the judiciary corps as ruinous as impolitick, upon the feudal system as absurd as inveterate, upon titles as ridiculous as fallacious, What will they see ? A free people establishing a repub- lican government for themselves, and establishing it by common consent ; punishing at the same time the treasons of their kings, their legislators, their generals, the emi- grants, and their ministers of religion ; forced to make a civil war in the bosom of the state, at the same time that they were employed in extinguishing the fire-brands cast on all sides by their domestick enemies ; obliged to bom- bard their rebel towns, and to punish the desertion of their fleets ; obliged to re-conquer for liberty their maritime and commercial cities, to depopulate, to reduce to ashes fanatical districts and royalized parts of the country, for the purpose of replacing in them a republican population; cutting oft' the slavish and suspected part in order that the free and energetick may defend their fire sides, forced to supply with provisions the principal city, the seat of the representatives, as a garrison is supplied, by requisitions ; a people at the same time struggling against military Eu- rope, and against the French federalists, against the coun- ter-revolutionary administrations, and against all the lea- gued tyrants, amidst preparations for sieges, bombardments and plots calculated to add famine to all the scourges of war ; this people at the same time covering all the fron- tiers with cannon, with soldiers, and in a word realising the expression of Pompcy : By a stroke of the foot causing the earth to bring forth armed phalanxes. And such is the nation that isolated merchants, too lone tolerated on the side of a continent which they corrupt and 478 ajieiuca.v opprcss, have hoped to reduce to a stale of subjection or to royalize ! Let them tremble to the foundation of their counting houses and workshops, when the other nations of Europe, awakened even by the clangour of their chains, shall at last perceive that Europe will be entirelv free at the moment in which the influence of England shall be weakened or annihilated, her policy rendered impotent, her Indian commerce diminished and her roll reduced to that of a factor and maritime commissioner. Now 3 r ou commercial and maritime cities, rebellious towns which have eclipsed the renown of the genius of the south, Liberty cites you before the revolutionary tribunal of the publick opinion. You have falsified your commer- cial avocation, and the representatives of the people arc occupied in enriching you alone, or in repairing the inju- ries you have done us. You have been the enemies of the Republick, and the Republick answers you with benefits, with a navigation act, which will amend your errours and your crimes, while in the time, a decree already projected, is about opening in all the departments canals for interior navigation, and proscribing all gewgaws, all the miserable wants of luxury, all merchandises manufactured by our irreconcileable enemies, the English. Let us have sufficient strength of mind, of patriotism, to become ourselves by our own consumption, the first benefactors of the national manufactures ; let us multiply, let us bring our fabricks to such perfection as to render the wants of other nations tributary to us ; let us multiply them in order to diminish those of Batavia, and of Breton. Such ought to be the result of the navigation act, until that desirable epoch, when all the other European nations, having also their na- vigation acts, in virtue of their natural rights, shall force England to revoke hers, and to restore to the seas and to commerce that latitude and liberty which nature, the true policy of empires and justice assigned to them. Let Carlhae he destroyed! Thus did Cato conclude all his speeches in the Roman senate. Let England be ruined, annihilated ! This should be the concluding article of every revolutionary decree of the National Convention of France. The following arc the projects of decrees which the committee of pnblick safety present to you. STATE PAPERS. 179 Decree of a Navigation Act. The National Convention, after having heard the report of the committee of publick safety, decree : Article i. That the treaties of commerce and naviga- tion existing between France and the powers with whom she is at peace, shall be executed according to their form and tenour, without derogating therefrom by the present decree. ii. That after the first of January, 1794, no vessel shall be reputed French, nor have a right to the privileges of a French vessel, unless she shall have been constructed in France, or in the colonies and other possessions of France, or declared to be a lawful prize taken from the enemy, or confiscated for contravening the laws of the Republick, if she does not belong entirely to Frenchmen, and if the of- ficers and three fourths of the crew are not Frenchmen. in. That no foreign commodities, productions, or mer- chandises, shall be imported into France, or into the colo- nies and possessions of France, except directly by French vessels, or vessels belonging to the inhabitants of the country of which they are the growth, produce, or manu- facture, or of the ordinary ports of sale and first exporta- tion ; the officers and three fourths of the crews of such foreign vessels being of the country under whose flag the vessel sail ; the whole under the pain of confiscation of the vessel and cargo, and of a fine of three thousand livres, jointly and severally, against the owners, con- signees and agents of the vessel and cargo, captain and lieutenant. iv. That foreign vessels shall not transport from one French port to another French port, any commodities, pro- ductions, or merchandises of the growth, production, or manufacture of France, the colonies or possessions of France, under the penalties contained in Article in. v. That the tariff of the national customhouses shall be reformed and combined with the act of navigation, and the decree which abolishes the duties between France and the colonies. vi. That the present decree shall, without delay, h" solemnly proclaimed in all the ports and commercial cities of the Republick, and notified l>v the minister of foreign 480 AMERICAN affairs to the nations with whom the French nation is at peace. Decree Relative to the Licenses of Vessels under the French Flag. The National Convention, after having heard the report of the committee of publick safety, decree : Article i. That the licenses of vessels under the French jlag shall be in three days, reckoning from that of the publication of the present decree, for those which shall be in the ports ; and in eight days from the arrival of those which shall enter, reported and deposited in the office of the national customs, together with the proofs of owner- ship. The unlading and departure of every vessel shall be deferred till after the delivery of an act offrancisation. ii. That every owner on presenting a license and title f proprietor of a vessel, shall be bound to declare, be- fore a justice of the peace, and to sign on the register of French vessels, that he is owner of the vessel, that no foreigner is interested therein directly or indirectly, and that her last cargo arrived from the colonies, or French settlements, or her present outward bound cargo for the eolonies or French settlements, is not an armament on commission, nor foreign property. in. That if the owner does not reside in the port in which the vessel lies, the consignee and the captain shall give security conjointly and individually, to report, as soon as may be, the proofs of ownership and a declaration at- tested and signed by the true proprietor of the vessel and cargo. iv. That if the property of the vessel, and also that of the cargo for the commerce between France, her colonies and settlements, is not proved to be French by title and under oath, the vessel and cargo shall be seized, confis- cated, and sold, and one half of the product given to the informer. ,STATK PAPERS. 481 Report cm a project of an act of navigation of the French Rcpublick, presented to the National Convention the 3d of July, 1793. In the name of the Committees of Ma~ rine, of Commerce and of Publick Safety, by Peter Marec, Deputy from Finistcre, printed by order of the National Convention. Citizen Legislators, You have referred to your diplomatic committees of marine and commerce united, the proposition made in your body, the 20th of May last, to present to you without delay a project of an act of navigation. This object so worthy of the meditation of a republican legislator, has not been overlooked by your committee of publick safety. In the report they made to you on the 29th of May, on the state of the French Republick, they traced to you in general the invaluable advantages which would result to her from a measure, which having been adopted by England a century and a half ago, has been the most fruitful source of the prosperity of that rival power. But in a question of this nature, general conside- rations and observations hastily made, are insufficient to impress conviction on every mind. Your marine committee has been employed in collecting fiuch ideas and elements as might completely enlighten you on the importance of a navigation act, and finally deter- mine you to establish at the side of the political constitu- tion of the empire, this first basis of her commercial con- stitution. They could not unite, according to your views, with the diplomatic committee, which has not been re- newed since the suppression of the committee of general (iftVnce ; but they have concerted with those of commerce and publick safety, and it is in the name of these three committees that I come to present to you the result of their deliberations. The principal end of the navigation aci which we pro- pose, is to destroy the interposition of all indirect naviga- tion, in the maritime transportation of our articles of e\- change with foreign nations, and in fine to put a stop to ihnt. intermediate carrying trade, so prejudicial to our commerce and marine, which hitherto has rendered u< benevolent tributaries of all the maritime powers of Ett- vor.. r. 61 482 AMERICAN rope. This act has also for its object, to reserve to the national vessels the exclusive privilege of transporting the same articles of exchange from one port of the Republick to another. This double prohibition is doubtless contrary to the principles of an indefinite commercial freedom : but such freedom perhaps would not agree with the system of an universal republick ; and it is conceived that the repub- lick of the human race will be still more difficult to realize than that of Plato. It is then our wisdom not to allow ourselves to be dazzled by the brilliant imaginations of political writers, and who warp the light of reason and experience in their specious arguments and pompous the- ory. It is from the example of the great nations who sur- round us, from that nation especially, who first knew how to apply to her navigation prohibitory regulations ; it is from that source we ought to derive rules for our conduct, if we have at heart the true prosperity of our country. France taken in a commercial point of view is the richest entrepot of the universe ; she is also the marker which offers the most consumers and vent for the industry of other nations. Whence does it happen that, with so many resources and wants,, with such abundance of terri- torial commodities, productions and merchandises, with the habit of consuming such great quantities of the commodi- ties, productions and merchandises of foreigners, her navi- gation has hitherto been so languishing, her commercial marine so pitiful, so altogether destitute of the advantages which are its inherent right ? Whence does it happen that the flag of her most formidable enemies has almost exclu- sively figured in her commercial relations ? Because she was destitute of a navigation act : because a false, timid, and frivolous policy knew not how to produce, or did not dare to borrow, from a great nation proud of its wealth 'and of its credit, this valuable system which has contributed more to the power of that nation, than all the victories of its admirals* In a word, it is time that the French nation should know all her advantages, and how to profit of them. It is time for her to repair all the injury she has sustained, in this respect, through the ignorance or criminal indifference of an oppressive government, more careful of preserving at any price, its despotick authority, more occupied in diplo- matic intrigues or fiscal operations, more tenacious ii: STATE PAPERS. 483 maintaining the false splendour of a throne at the expense 'of the true interests of the people, than attentive to render productive by every means in its power their agriculture, their commerce, and their industry. Doubtless there never was a more favourable occasion for procuring to our country the benefit of a navigation act. Numerous republican armies, familiarized with vic- tory, being now fighting for her independence and her liberty, against the very powers who are most interested in preventing us from enjoying such an act. Before the war it might have been sufficient for us to have made such an act merely with regard to England ; such was the effect on Holland, when Oliver Cromwell, in 1651, had a decree passed by the British parliament. At that epoch, according to the inquiries of one of our countrymen, the best informed at the present day, in the knowledge of our true commercial and political interests (citizen Ducher*) the maritime commerce of the English did not consist of more than 96,000 tons of transports 5 in 1 790, it rose to more than 800,000 tons. Again at that epoch, according to the interesting report presented to the constituent assembly, on this subject, by citizen Delaltre, "One half of the navigation of England was carried on by foreigners. England has imperceptibly retaken her rights; towards the year of 1700, foreigners possessed no more than the fifth part of this navigation ; in 1725, only a little more than the ninth; in 1750, a little more than a twelfth; and in 1791, they possessed only the fovrtrrnth part of it." Our navigation a year ago, was in regard to foreign nations, still more unfavourable than the English naviga- tion of 1651. Permit me here, to give in a concise man- ner the striking calculations which were laid before you on this subject, in the month of December last, by the rx-minister of the home department, in the table con- taining the amount of the exterior commerce of the Re- publick of France. * If the convention pass the present project of a navigation a<-t into a decree, the country will he under obligations to citizen Ducher, who for upwards of two years past, has endeavoured to obtain the adoption of this pi. in with indefatigable perseverance, as well in committees of the na- tional assembly, as by the publication of his writings. This is an act o!" justice which it affords uie pleasure publickly to render to t that excellent citizen. * 484 AMERICAN The maritime transportation of our exchange with the Europeans, the Levant, the Barbary states and the Anglo Americans, estimating on a mean year, from 1787 to 1789, inclusive, has employed in the whole 16,225 vessels, mea- suring 1,184,170 tons, which, taking one with another, at 36 livres the ton, would produce 42,630,120 livres of freight. There have been employed in this transportation, dur- ing the same period, only 3,763 French vessels, measur- ing, in the whole, 295,251 tons, making, at the same rate, 10,808,316 livres of freight. That is to say, the French flag has appeared to come in for only a little more than two tenths, whilst the English flag has participated therein to nearly the amount of four tenths, and that of other nations in the remaining four tenths. In the first six months of 1792, in near six thousand vessels, measuring five hundred thousand tons, which have been, in like manner, employed on our commercial im- ports, and exports, to and from the same people, the French had but three tenths of the total mass, whilst the vessels of England and Holland, and the Hanseatic towns, had four tenths, and the vessels of other nations the re- maining three tenths. If we view this navigation under another aspect, that of our direct relations with each of the European states, of the Levant, Barbary, and North America, it will be seen, that during the same time (taking the mean year of 1788 and 1789 inclusively) there have been mixed in the mari- time transportation of our exchanges ; with Spain, one hundred and ninety-nine vessels other than French or Spanish, deduction being made of the foreign vessels who might have intermeddled in this carrying trade, under either of the two flags. With Sardinia, two hundred and sixty-nine vessels, also intermedial. With the republick of Genoa, two hundred and sixty-one, similar vessels. With Holland, two hundred and fifty-three, similar vessels. In a word, with all the states of which I have spoken, two thousand three hundred and sixty-eight vessels, employed in indirect commerce, and whose tonnage amounts to two hundred and thirty thousand six hundred tons ; which valued at thirty-six per ton of freight one with another, amount to eight millions three hundred and one thousand STATE PAPER*. 48$ six hundred livres carried off with impunity, in one year, from our carrying trade, merely from the want of a navi- gation act in France, without counting upon the consid- erable advantages which would otherwise result from it. for her industry and commerce, for ship building in her ports, and for the employment of the whole or even the half of these two thousand three hundred and sixty-eight intermediate vessels. It must then appear plainly to the conviction of every person, that nothing would contribute more to the pros- perity of our navigation, and consequently to every branch of our commerce and industry, than the adoption of au act, which, by severely excluding all foreigners who hith- erto have forcibly taken from our fellow citizens the richest portion, if 1 may so express myself, of their patri- mony, would in the same proportion increase the amount of their direct relations with foreign nations. Let us hasten then citizens, to restore to our country all her rights, by adopting in this respect, a grand system, worthy of all that we have done for liberty. If, at the epoch at which I now speak, our navigation is proportionally more languishing than that of England was, when the genius of Cromwell gave her that so re- nowned act, let us hope that by consecrating it in our maritime legislation, our navigation will in a short time acquire the same degree of splendour as that of our rivals. With more than two hundred and fifty leagues of coast on the ocean, and the channel, and more than one hun- dred on the Mediterranean, with ports as secure as exten- sive and commodious, with an infinite number of havens, of dock yards, of manufactures of every kind, with an immensity of people as enterprising as industrious, with incalculable territorial riches, and a mass of colonial commodities, superior to that of all the powers of Europe united, and above all, with a free and republican consti- tution, let us hope that France, freed from the yoke of the feudal system, and that of die fiscal, inseparably con- nected with it: delivered from her kings, her nobles, h< r priests, raised to the happy condition of depending on i hose laws only, which are made by herself, and not obliged to receive them from any power on earth ; lei us hone, I say, that, in siieh a state of things. France, with, an act of navigation .would behold the rapid envelopment 43t> AMERICAN of all the seeds of publick and private prosperity which she contains in her bosom. Let us also hope that the decree you are about to pass, will prove more efficacious for your obtaining a peace with the belligerent maritime powers, than if they were to lose one hundred of their best vessels ; and as to those, who at this moment preserve circumspect neutrality towards you, be persuaded that the inevitable effect of your navigation act, will be the at- taching of them to you by indissoluble ties. All will be eager to seek an alliance with that European power, from whom they will derive most benefit, by the suppression of indirect navigation, and the immensity of its consumers. Every one, from the moment of tiie promulgation of your decree, will pray, and perhaps make use of secret efforts to procure you an advantageous peace, which doubtless /at present, they have some interest in preventing ; and besides your independence, your political liberty, the es- tablishment of your republican constitution, will be to them as much as to yourselves a subject of triumph and general victory. The navigation act, as I have already said, is the basis of the commercial constitution of the Rcpublick ; or rather, it is in this respect a true constitutional act. All the other laws upon maritime navigation, should only he viewed as corollams of this act, provisions ns to the manner of its execution; in a word, merely regulating laws. The latter may be successively presented to you by your committees. The most interesting of these are rela- tive to the tonnage of vessels, upon the means of multi- plying ship building, and of bringing them to more per- fection; upon the forms of licenses and passports; upon the means of discovering and preventing franrisalion? , simul6es, ice. ; and above all, upon a better tariff of rates of navigation, without which the constitutional act, in this respect, cannot produce all the effect which we have, a right to expect from it. Your committee will now confine itself to laying before you the project of that act. By prohibiting all interme- diate navigation between you and each foreign nation, it extends this prohibition, not only to the transportation of the commodities, merchandises, or productions imported, of their growth, production or manufacture, but also to the nv'.;. spor'ation of those imported from the ordinary ports STATE PAPERS. -W7 /* .idle, and of the first exportation. It is necessary that such a prohibition should be as extensive as it could be made, without which a navigation act would become a mere illusory measure. The English from whom we borrow this system, have given it that extension ; and indeed they are to be applauded for it. The necessity of determining the requisite qualities for enjoying the privileges of a French vessel, that is to say, for the exclusive admission to carry on our direct naviga- tion, in concurrence with the vessels of the people, from whom we receive our articles of supply ; this necessity, I say, was an immediate consequence of the prohibition of all indirect navigation. The project of the act regulates these qualities ; it also determines the only evidence by which we could know the vessels of the nation with whom we may trade ; and it is easily perceived, that if we did not impose in this respect, those conditions which are most conformable to our interest, every day crowds of intermediate vessels would borrow the flag of such na- tion ; and we should have employed but half the mean:* for abolishing indirect navigation. Besides, these condi- tions have a tendency to favour the direct navigation and commerce of such nation. By them it is put in the happy necessity, of multiplying by every means, its ship build- ing, nauticks, and maritime population; and if, in the meanwhile, its own vessels and mariners are insufficient for the exportation of its commodities and merchandises- then it belongs to us alone to supply that deficiency, and our navigation would then receive a further increase from this source, and our commerce an additional degree of prosperity. Thus every thing concurs, citizens, to induce you to adopt the project of the navigation act, which I am in- structed to present to you. It is a national right you are about to proclaim, after having solemnly recognised the sacred rights of man and of citizen, and founded the frees! constitution under the globe. If all rial ions ought to recognise the equality, the lroert\ of nature and the safety of soeiety in the exposition of the doctrines of that immortal declaration, all the maritime nations ought to recognise the rights of property in the dispositions of our navigation act. Would to heaven that till had the courage <>r th" wisdom to follow our example* 48S AMERICAN Then there would be no exclusive privilege between one- nation and another ; and were the act of navigation adopt- ed by all the maritime powers of the globe, it would in some degree realize that indefinite commercial liberty, which without doubt is the first element of commerce, but which at present in particular, is not suitable to the in- terests of any commercial nation. With so many poAverful inducements to decree an act of navigation, you doubtless will not in the existing cir- cumstances, be withheld by the apprehension that such a disposition would injure the obtaining of supplies for the Republick which they are obliged to draw forth from foreigners. It is an acknowledged principle with the English themselves, and constantly practised among them, that in time of war neutral vessels are excepted, of right, from the dispositions of the navigation act. This act therefore will not add to those restrictions which the maritime war at present imposes on the maritime trans- portation of our exchanges or of our supplies ; and neutral vessels will continue to bring us every thing which we dare not confide to our own. Neither will you be deterred by an apprehension of injuring the personal interests of some hundreds of cos- mopolite capitalists, of selfish commissioners, for whom the want of a navigation act in France, has been the principal, the most fruitful source of their colossal for- tunes. The general interest of the country, that of her labourers, of her manufacturers, of her artists, of her seamen, her merchants, and all her sans culottes, to whom you will assure employment and bread These reasons should determine you These reasons should influence you exclusively in your deliberations. All will bless you ; all will look upon the act of navigation, as one of the most precious gifts you could bestow on your countrymen, next to the constitutional charter which you have just digested. When Oliver Cromwell had, through the me- dium of his parliament, established a navigation act, all the ports of England manifested, by illuminations, the joy which that memorable act gave them ; and the English people forgot for a moment, that they received this gift from the hand of a tyrant. How great then ought the transports of our fellow citizens to be, when they receive STATE PAPERS. 489 your decree from the same hands, which have given them the declaration of rights, and the French constitution ! May France be enabled, in the end, therefore, to boast also of having a navigation act ; may it henceforward be the basis of her policy, as it is about being that of her commerce. May she soon become more rich, more flour- ishing, more happy, than she has been under the most brilliant reigns of her despots, and never treat with foreign powers, without her constitution in one hand, and her navigation in the other ; and astonished Europe will doubt- less see her merchants become one day, her only ambas- sadors, like those of London and Amsterdam formerly, negotiating at foreign courts, the most important interests of their country, and after having weighed the destinies of the two worlds, and secured the prosperity and glory of their country, reassuming the peaceable pursuits of com- merce. The following is the project of the decree. Act of Navigation of the French Republick. The National Convention after having heard the report of their Committees of marine, of commerce, and of publick safety, considering that the French nation has the incon- testiblc right of securing by every method, the prosperity of her agriculture, commerce and industry; that nothing has a more direct' tendency to this end than a navigation act ; and that in the solemn declaration of this act, she only makes use of the same right which she acknowledges to belong to all other nations, decrees as follows : Article i. That no foreign commodities, productions, or merchandises shall be imported but directly by French vessels, or those belonging to the inhabitants of the coun- try of which they are the growth, produce or manufacture, or to the inhabitants of the country of the ordinary ports of sale and first exportation ; the officers and three fourths of the crew of a foreign vessel being of the country whose flag the vessel bears ; the whole on pain of confiscation of die vessel and cargo, and a fine of three thousand Wvrcs. jointly and severally against the owners, consignees, and agents of the vessel and cargo, the captain and licntrnaiv of the vessel. vol. i. ' 62 &te AMERICAN ii. That foreign vessels shall not transport from one French port to another French port, any commodities, productions or merchandises of the growth, produce or manufacture of France, the colonies or possessions of France, under the penalties declared in article 1st. in. That after the 10th of August next, no vessel shall be reputed French, nor enjoy the privileges of a French vessel, unless such vessel shall have been built in the colo- nies or possessions of France, or declared a good prize taken from an enemy, or confiscated for contravention jj the laws of France, and unless the officers and three fourths of the crew are Frenchmen. MESSAGE of the president of the united states to congress, jan. 20, 1794. Having already laid before you a letter of the 16th of August, 1 793, from the Secretary of State to our minister at Paris, stating the conduct, and urging the recall of the minister plenipotentiary of the Republick of France, I now communicate to you, that his conduct has been unequi- vocally disapproved, and that the strongest assurances have been given that his recall should be expedited with- out delay. GEO. WASHINGTON. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CON- GRESS. JAN. 22, 1794. I forward to you, extracts from the last advices from our minister in London ; as being connected with commu- nications alreadv made. GEO: WASHINGTON.. STATE PAPERS. 491 Extract of a Letter from Thomas Pinckney, to the Secre- tary of State. London, Aug. 12,* 1793. I continue to receive assurances from thim, of the desire of this government so to conduct the measures they think themselves justified in pursuing towards the neutral powers, as to render them as little detrimental to our com- merce as the state of warfare existing in Europe will admit ; and on complaint of some irregularities committed by Bri- tish privateers, he requested me to select some instances where the evidence is clear, in order for criminal prosecu- tions to be instituted against the offenders, in which he pro- mised the fullest support of the law officers of the crown, and I am now endeavouring to fix upon some strong cases where our evidence may be sufficient to ensure conviction. I believe it to be the desire both of the government and of the people in general here to be upon good terms with us ; but the line of conduct pursued to the neutral powers, in which I do not perceive any symptoms of relaxation, cannot but create dissatisfaction. From the department of state, I generally obtain explicit answers on such subjects as they are competent to decide, but where references are made thence to other departments, which is frequently the case, the delays are very great, especially in the business with the admiralty. Truly extracted from the original, Jan. 22, 1794. GEO : TAYLOR, jr. Chief Clerk in the Department of State, Order of the Admiralty, enclosed in the letter of Aug. 12, 1793. Sept. 3, 1793. Ordered, That freight and reasonable expenses shall be allowed to all masters of neutral carrier ships, and be a charge upon the cargoes whether condemned, or restored, or ordered for farther proof of neutral property ; provided always, that no mala fides, or prevarication shall appear, or be justly presumed, or suspected, on the part of any neutral master, and that such neutral master shall make oath that sueh freights are not already paid for or engaged lor to be paid by the owners of the said cargoes in view of every event of capture or otherwise. Demurrage shall * Probablv a mistake. ' Minhter for Foreign Affair*. 492, AMERICAN' be allowed, and considered as a reasonable expense, only in cases where the ship shall be pronounced to have been unjustly seized and brought in for adjudication, or bulk- broken, and his majesty's instructions disobeyed, or where there has been actual and wilful damage done, and mis- usage of persons or property by the captor, or when the time of detention for the purpose of unlivery of the cargo, or repairing such damage, shall exceed .the time specified in the charter party, or when the neutral mas- ter shall not refuse or neglect to" take away his ship upon bail offered to be given by the captors for freight, and reasonable expenses. That where the value of corn and naval stores sold to his majesty shall be decreed to be paid to any neutral claimant ; the owner, in cases where such corn, provision, and other naval stores, by any treaty or particular stipulation, shall be held to be not contraband, and so not confiscable, the captor who shall have brought in such privileged ships and cargoes, in consequence of his majesty's orders and instructions, and who shall have given bail to be answerable, upon unlivery of the same, for freight and reasonable expenses, in case that any shall be allowed, shall be discharged from his bail, but that the freight, and such reasonable expenses, shall be decreed to be added to the price of the cargo, and to be paid for by his majesty to the neutral owner, in cases of restitution, and in cases of condemnation shall be added in like manner to the price of the cargo, and paid to the captor by his majesty. Freights and reasonable expense's where captors and claimants cannot agree, shall be referred to be settled by the deputy registrar, and merchants appointed by the court ; the report nevertheless shall be subject to revisal by order of the court, upon objections made by either party. A true copy of the original, Jan. 22, 1794. GEO. TAYLOR, jr. Chief Clerk in the Department of State. Extract of a Letter from Thomas Pmckney to the. Secretary of State, dated London, Nov. 11, 1793. Tuscany has been obliged to abandon its neutrality. Genoa has been forcibly urged to the same measures by STATE PAPERS. 4$3 the commanders of a combined Spanish and British fleet, who entered their port and seized a French frigate and some armed vessels lying there. A minister from that Republick was received at the last levee. A proclamation is issued, directing our vessels from Pennsylvania, Jersey, and Delaware, to perform a quaran- tine of 14 days. Truly extracted from the original, Jan. 22, 1794. A GEO. TAYLOR, jr. Chief Clerk in the Department of State. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO LETTERS FROM FRENCH MINISTER. FEB. 7. 1794. [See Vol. Confidential Documents.] MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TO WREAT RRITAIN AND SPAIN. FEB. 24, 1794. [See Vol. Confidential Docuuieuts.] MESSAGE VROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES RELATIVE TV. SPAIN AND ALGIERS. MARCH 8, 1 794. 's