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 ^''i^i MiPil^I?!^*"^ correspondence of the Uni 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924017493432 
 
THE 
 
 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPOIDEICE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 FROM THE SIGNING OF THE 
 
 DEFINITIVE TREATY OF PEACE, 
 
 10th SEPTEMBER, 1783, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ADOPTION OF THE COJNM'IBItI^ MARCH 4, 1789. 
 
 ■ THE LETTERS OF THE PKESIDBNTS OF CONQEESS, THE SECRETAKY FOE FOREIGN 
 
 AFFAIBS— AMERICAN MINISTERS AT FOREIGN COURTS, FOREIGN MINISTERS 
 
 NEAR CONGRESS— REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS, AND REPORTS 
 
 OF THE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS ON VARIOUS LETTERS 
 
 AND COMMUNICATIONS ; 
 
 TOOETHEE WITH 
 
 LETTERS FROM INDIVIDUALS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 
 
 "^ublielied under the direction of the Secretary of State, from the original Manuscripts in the 
 Department of State, conformahly to an Act of Congress, approved May 5, 1832. 
 
 JBOWARD MAQUIRB 
 
 VOL. I. Library 
 
 CITY OF WASHINGTON : 
 PRINTED BY BLAIR <fc RIVES. 
 
Extract from an Act of Congress, approved May 5, 1832, entitled "An Act making 
 appropriation for the support of Government for the year one thoitsand eight hundred 
 and thirty-two." 
 
 "To enable the Secretary of State to cause to be printed, under his direction, a. 
 ' selection from the Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, between the 
 'peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three and the fourth of March, 
 ' one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, remaining unpublished in the Depart- 
 ' ment of State, twelve thousand dollars." 
 
 EDITION IN THREE VOLUMES, 
 
 Published by John C. Eives, 
 
 1855. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Any remarks on the propriety of publishing a Diplomatic Corre- 
 spondence, which from its very nature is supposed to be confidential, 
 would seem to be unwarranted in one exercising the ministerial duty 
 of editing it, if the law imposing the duty had not also prescribed 
 that of selecting those parts which ought to be published. The only 
 instruction given to the ofHcer to whom this duty was assigned, was 
 in the act making appropriations for the support of Government for 
 the year 1832, in these words : " To enable the Secretary of State 
 ' to cause to be printed a selection from the Diplomatic Correspond- 
 'ence between the peace of 1783, and the 4th March, 1789, 
 'remaining unpublished in the Department of State, 12,000 
 ' dollars." 
 
 No rule being given to the Secretary for his guide in making this 
 selection, it would seem to have been trusted entirely to his discretion, 
 if a previous resolution of Congress for a similar purpose, and the 
 publication made under it had not given good reason to believe that 
 nothing more was intended than a continuation of the work heretofore 
 published. On the 27th March, 1818, Congress passed a resolution 
 directing, among other things, that the foreign correspondence of the 
 Congress of the United States from the first meeting thereof, down 
 to the date of the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace between 
 Great Britain and the United States, in the year 1783, be published 
 under the direction of the President of the United States, except such 
 parts as he may deem it improper at this time to publish. The 
 publication under this resolution was entrusted by the President 
 to Mr. Jared Sparks, a gentleman every way qualified for the task, 
 and the public are now in possession of twelve volumes, containing the 
 
iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 interesting correspondence directed to be published. The intention 
 of Congress in making the appropriation above recited could not 
 be mistaken. The beginning of the correspondence it directs to be 
 published is the end of that selected by Mr. Sparks. It is then a 
 continuation of the same correspondence ; subject, however, to the 
 same exception of such parts as may be deemed improper at this time 
 to be made public. But the first part contains, with very few excep- 
 tions, the whole of the correspondence during the period to which it 
 was confined ; and this course received, not only the sanction of the 
 President, by whose direction it was prepared, but has met the 
 general approbation of the people, whose representatives in Congress 
 have been furnished with copies of the work. It is, therefore, fair to 
 conclude, that in directing the continuation of Mr. Sparks's work. 
 Congress intended that the same principles should govern the 
 selection. Very few parts, therefore, of the correspondence have 
 been suppressed; and none that could throw any light on the 
 diplomatic history of the entire period designated by the law. Mr. 
 Sparks's collection gives a full view of our first efforts to procure the 
 recognition of national character by foreign Powers. It is, perhaps, 
 the most interesting. We were then striving to sustain ourselves in 
 the situation among the nations of the earth, which, unsupported 
 except by our own courage and patriotism, we had assumed. The 
 advances were to be made with prudence, but with firmness ; our 
 national character was to be developed ; our credit to be established ; 
 our statesmen at home, and our negotiators abroad had entered an 
 untried and difficult path, but they advanced in it with no little skill, 
 and a success that is almost miraculous, \T,'hen the difficulties they 
 had to encounter are considered. The first series details their 
 difficulties, shows the perseverance and firmness with which they 
 were conquered, and leaves us at the period when our independence 
 was reluctantly acknowledged by our former sovereign, as it had 
 been before by the other principal Power of Europe. The second 
 series, contained in the ensuing volumes, exhibits our foreign 
 relations in a different attitude. While the war continued, we were 
 more united at home by the necessity of defence, and more respected 
 abroad by the relation of ally, in which we stood to the other Powers 
 against a common enemy. On the signature of the treaty of peace, 
 we stood alone, and were thrown on our own resources to maintain 
 a national character, and to support our credit by providing for the 
 
INTRODUCTION. v 
 
 foreign and domestic debt we had incurved. This could only be 
 done by reestablishing our ruined navigation and commerce ; but all 
 the other nations were in the same situation. Each was endeavoring 
 to gain, by some exclusive privilege in commerce, an advantage 
 over the others. Add to this the low state of our national and 
 individual credit, and a hostile feeling towards us on the part of the 
 most commercial nation in the world, which had naturally survived 
 the long and successful struggle we had made against her, and some 
 idea may be formed of the difBcult task our diplomatists had to 
 perform during this second period, in their attempts to form commer- 
 cial connexions with the different Powers of Europe ; a difficulty 
 increased, too, by the natural distrust of the power of Congress tp 
 bind the States to the performance of the stipulations they might 
 make, (a) These reflections are made to account for the extent to 
 
 (a) A proof of this distrust is found strongly expressed in a letter from the Duke 
 of Dorset to Mr. Adams, in answer to an overture for negotiating a treaty of com- 
 merce. The only action of the General (Government at that time upon the States 
 being by recommendations, the want of confidence was natural, although not veiry 
 civilly expressed; and in point of fact no treaty of the kind could be concluded with 
 Great Britain until after the powers of the General Government were enlarged. 
 
 FROM THE DUKE OF DORSET TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Paris, March 26, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Having communicated to my Court the readiness you expressed in your letter to 
 me of the 9th of December to remove to London, for the purpose' of treating upon 
 such points as may materially concern the interests, both political and commercial, 
 of Great Britain and America, and having, at the same time, represented that you 
 declared yourselves to be fully authorized and empowered to negotiate, I have 
 been, in answer thereto, instructed to learn from you, gentlemen, what is the real 
 nature of the powers with which you are invested; whether you ^e merely com- 
 missioned by Congress , or whether you have received separate powers from the 
 respective States. A committee of North American merchants have waited upon 
 his Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to express how 
 anxiously they wished to be informed upon this subject, repeated experience having 
 taught them in particular, as well as the public in genereil, how little the authority 
 of Congress could avail in any respect where the interests of any one individual 
 State was even concerned, and particularly so where the concerns of that particular 
 State might be supposed to militate against such resolutions as Congress might 
 think proper to adopt. 
 
 The apparent determination of the respectire States to regulate their own sepa- 
 rate interests renders it absolutely necessary, towards forming a permanent system 
 of commerce, that my Court should be informed how far the Commissioners can 
 be duly authorized to enter into any engagements with Great Britain, which it may 
 not be in the power of any one of the States to render totally fruitless and inef- 
 fectual. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DORSET. 
 
vi TSTRODVCTTION. 
 
 which the discretion giyen by the law has been carried, of publishing 
 all the correspondence that was not deemed improper now to be 
 published. ^Nothing has been deemed improper that would throw 
 any light on transactions, of which the future historian of our 
 country, or the biographer of any of the illustrious men who ought 
 to figure in the annals of their countn-. may avail themselves. 
 
 The first Secretary for Foreign Afiairs, Robert R. Livingston, had 
 resigned the office about the time that this correspondence began. 
 The fidehty and talent of that gentleman was acknowledged by 
 Congress, (6) and the order and punctuality he introduced into the 
 department by all his successors. On his retirement fi^m the office, 
 it was left imfiUed for some months, during which time the diplomatic 
 correspondence was carried on directly with Congress, the instruc- 
 tions being given by the President, and the despatches of the 
 Ministers of the L nited States abroad, as well as the communications 
 of the foreign Ministers here, being addressed to him. It was under 
 this arrangement that the present collection began, and was con- 
 tinued until the Slst day of December, 1734. when Mr. Jay entered 
 upon the duties of the office, to which he had been appointed. 
 During this first period, therefore, the correspondence reassumed 
 the same irregular character, which had thus attended it previous to 
 the appointment of 5Ir. Livingston ; much method and strict atten- 
 tion to the details of our foreign afiairs could not he expected firom 
 one charged mth the duties of presiding officer of a body exercising 
 the numerous fonctions which the Congress of the Confederation 
 performed ; yet the letters of that time, both from home and abroad, 
 have very great interest. In the position the country had so latelv 
 assumed, the operation of the Government, its efficiency, its stability, 
 were to be the foundation of the respect it wished to inspire abroad. 
 The experiment was to be tried of conducting a Government -with- 
 
 (6) Extract from the Joumals of Congress, Junt 4, 17S0. 
 
 "Mr. Liringston having signified to Congress his desire of relinquishing the 
 exercise of the Office of Foreign Affairs, and his intention of returning to the State 
 of New York, 
 
 "iiaoJoed, That the Secretary of Congress be directed to receive the papers of 
 the said office into his care till a successor to Mr. Livingston can be appointed; and 
 that next Wednesday be assigned for the election of a Secretary for the Department 
 of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 " Resolved unmumously, That the thanks of Congress be presented to Mr. Liv- 
 ingston for his services during his continuance in office ; and that he be assured 
 Congress entertain a high sense of the ability, zeal, and fidelity with which he had 
 discharged the iinport2Uit trust reposed in him." 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 out hereditary rank, without an established church, without a standing 
 army, and upheld only by the will of the people. We had been 
 aided by France, but even there the privileged orders began to 
 perceive how fatal to them would be the triumph of our principles. 
 In England we had few friends, and all the other Governments of 
 Europe were either indifferent to our existence, or even unfavorable 
 to our independence. In this state of things, it became highly 
 important that our agents abroad should have full information of what 
 passed at home, that they might correct false representations, lessen 
 the injurious effect of unfavorable events, and give publicity to all 
 those which evinced the strength of our union and value of our 
 commerce. Hence we find that the communications from Congress 
 to the Ministers contain authentic accounts of occurrences now little 
 adverted to, but which then excited great interest, and some of which 
 bear with great force on questions which now agitate the public 
 mind. Thus, some of the first letters of the President of Congress 
 to our Commissioners detail the circumstances of an occurrence which 
 proved to demonstration the utter inefficiency of a Government purely 
 Federal, to protect itself from insults, and even to preserve its existence 
 against the most insignificant force. Congress sat in Philadelphia, 
 then the largest city in the Union ; it was also the seat of the State 
 government ; a few hundred mutinous troops marched into the city, 
 and invested the hall of Congress, threatening vengeance if their 
 claims were not complied with ; and that body, after applying in 
 vain to the authority of the State for protection, had no alternative 
 but to adjourn, first to Trenton and afterwards to New York, where 
 they remained until the present Constitution was organized, and for 
 a short period afterwards, (c) This event, and others of the same 
 nature, showed the weakness, and every day's experience the in- 
 efficiency, of the Confederation for preserving a national character. 
 Our Ministers abroad, who sorely felt the degradation into which the 
 want of that character was plunging us, very naturally made that 
 
 (c) That provision in the present Constitution of the United States which gives to 
 "Congress the exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such District 
 ' (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States and the 
 'acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the Government of the United States," 
 was probably suggested by a recollection of the mutinous conduct referred to, £ind 
 by the want of any direct power or authority under the Confederation in the old 
 Congress, to repress or punish that or any other outrage against itself or its indi- 
 vidual members. 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 topic the subject of many of their despatches, and the suggestions of 
 Jefferson, Adams, Jay, and other of their cotemporary worthies, 
 cannot be referred to without interest and instruction at the present 
 day, when we are called on to appreciate the value of the Union. 
 
 Other important points in our history, which are still unsettled, 
 come within the compass of this collection. The correspondence 
 on the subject of our northeastern boundary, the projects of commer- 
 cial treaties with France and other Powers. But a close inspection 
 of all that was then proposed discovers nothing that we need fear 
 to expose to the world ; the same principles of perfect reciprocity, 
 the same disavowal of any desire to obtain exclusive advantages, but 
 to confine our claims to the enjoyment of a fair and free competition 
 that characterize our present policy, will be found in our earliest 
 diplomacy. And the ofBcer charged with that duty has, therefore, 
 in editing the papers, found nothing of importance that he has 
 judged " improper now to be published." But, although there was 
 little to retrench, it is not so certain that much which ought to have 
 appeared has not been lost. The irregularities and accidents inevit- 
 able in a bureau which has no responsible head, -will, in a great 
 measure, account for this during the period between the resignation 
 of Mr. Livingston and the appointment of Mr. Jay. The last- 
 mentioned gentleman, to his other high qualifications for the office, 
 added the same talent for method and order in business that dis- 
 tinguished his predecessor ; and the periods of their direction present 
 no interruptions in the usual course of the correspondence. But 
 another cause has combined with that before alluded to, to render a 
 strict compliance with the evident intention of Congress, in making 
 this publication difficult, if not impossible. The confused state in 
 which the papers prior to the establishment of the Constitution is, is 
 such as to make it hazardous in any officer to declare that a paper 
 does not exist in the department, although, after strict search, it should 
 not be found. The mass is so great, and the number of clerks 
 allotted to the department so fully employed with its ordinary busi- 
 ness, that no arrangement of the old papers can take place without 
 some express appropriation ; and without such arrangement it 
 depends greatly on chance to discover any particular paper that 
 may be sought for in the mass. This has been, by the present 
 head, repeatedly brought to the notice of Congress, but without 
 any result. And it is adverted to here for his justification, if here- 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 after some document which ought to have appearea m this collection 
 should be discovered, when provision shall be made for arranging the 
 old papers according to subjects and dates, binding them in proper 
 book, with a catalogue raisonne of all, and an index to each. 
 
 In the classification of the correspondence now published, that of 
 countries has been preferred, and has been preserved as far as was 
 possible. Ministers in one country having been frequently charged 
 with business relating to another, that division has not been always 
 practicable ; but, on the whole, the commencement and progress of 
 our relations with each country, during the period contained in this 
 collection, will generally be found under its proper head. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FIRST VOLUME 
 
 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot, President of Congress, to the Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary of the United States at Paris. Philadelphia, June 16, 
 1783 3 
 
 Announces the resignation of Mr. Livingston as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 
 Resolutions of Congress to be received as diplomatic instructions. Encloses 
 resolutions of the 1st May and 12th June, 1783, p. 4. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary, 
 Sic, Paris. Philadelphia, June 18, 1783 5 
 
 On Mr. Livingston 's resignation. The writer's high opinion of him. Com- 
 plaints of the conduct of the British at New York. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United 
 States at Paris. Princeton, July 15, 1783 6 
 
 No Minister of Foreign Affairs yet elected. Reasons for reducing the armjr. 
 Removal of Congress to Trenton. Hostile movements of a beind of muti- 
 neers. Statement of their conduct. Letters of Colonel Henry and Colonel 
 Butler, p. 11. Orders issued to the troops by Colotjel Butler, j5. 13. First 
 report of a committee, July 1, 1783, p. 14. Instructions to Major Jackson, 
 D. 15. Two papers signed James Bennet, addressed to the Supreme Execu- 
 tive Council of Pennsylvania, pp. 16-19. Resolutions of Congress, June 21, 
 p. 19. Second report of a committee, July 1, 1783, p. 20. Copy of a letter 
 to his Excellency the President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 
 June 23, 1783, and proclamation by the President of the United States in 
 Congress assembled, p. 24. Demand made by the mutineers, p. 25. James 
 Christie to John Dickinson, enclosing commission from mutineers, p. 26. 
 John Sullivan to Colonel Moyland, p. 27. Declaration of the officers of the 
 Pennsylvania line, p. 28. From Elias Boudinot to General Washington, 
 21st June, 1783, p. 29. From General Washington to the President of 
 Congress, June 24, 1783, p. 31. Resolutions of the State of Pennsylvania, 
 p. 33. 
 xi 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to Benjamin Franklin at Paris. Princeton, 
 August 15, 1783 ^'^ 
 
 Acknowledges the reception of the treaty between Sweden and the United 
 States. Ratification thereof. Amendment of the title authorized. Keason 
 assigned for not appointing a Minister for Foreign Affairs. h.xtract trom 
 the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, July 29, 1783, p. 35. Resolution of 
 29th July, 1783, p. 36. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to Benjamin Franklin at Paris. Philadelphia, 
 September 9, 1783 ^^ 
 
 Duplicate ratification of the treaty witli Sweden. Dif5icultiea arising from the 
 mutiny, happily settled. Censure upon Captain Carbery and l^ieutenant 
 SuUivan. 
 
 Extracts from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, September 26 
 and 29, 1783. Resolution of October 1 ■ 37 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to the Minister Plenipotentiary of France. 
 Princeton, October 27, 1783 40 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of a communication dated the 18th September. 
 Encloses an act of Congress of the 24th October, p. 41. Mutual advantages 
 to be derived from the happy alliance of France and America. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United 
 States at Paris. Princeton, November 1, 1783 41 
 
 Command of Congress to transmit a set of instructions. Instructions, p. 42 
 News received of the signature of the definitive treaty of peace on the 3d 
 September. Congratulations on the happy event. Names of the American 
 negotiators worthy of being transmitted to posterity. New York not yet 
 evacuated. Sir Guy Carleton expects to depart this ippnth. Copy of 
 instructions referred to. 
 
 From the City of Hamburg to Congress, 29th March, 1783 45 
 
 ' Soliciting friendly and commercial intercourse. List of merchandize. Speci- 
 fication of goods, &c., p. 47. 
 
 From Elias Boudinot to the Honorable the Burgomasters and Senate 
 of the Imperial Free City of Hambm-g. Princeton, November 1, 
 1783 48 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of a letter of the 29th March, by the hands of Mr. 
 De Boor. Satisfaction of Congress at the annunciation of their friendship. 
 "Will unite with them in encouraging friendly intercourse. Extract from the 
 Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, October 29, 1783, p, 49. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to the Minister of France. Annapolis, Decem- 
 ber 24, 1783 50 
 
 Informs of General Washington having resigned his commission at a public 
 audience of Congress. Encloses a copy of the General's address and their 
 answer. Extract from the Journals, December 23, 1783. Address of Gen- 
 eral Washington and answer of Congress, p. 51. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to the Minister of France. Annapolis, Jan- 
 uary 14, 1784 , 53 
 
 Treaty of peace ratified this day. Nine States present. Proclamation ordered. 
 Recommendation in the words of the fifth article. Proclamation of Congress 
 enclosed. Colonel Harmar the beai-er of the ratified treaty. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John 
 Jay, Paris. Annapohs, January 14, 1784 . , 53 
 
 Announces the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace. Proclamation, p. 
 54. Informs that Colonel Hai-mar will be the beai-er of the treaty to Paris. 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 From Ttomas MifSin to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, at 
 
 Paris. Annapolis, March 20, 1784 , 55 
 
 Transmits an act of Congress of the 16th instant, p. 55. Extract from the 
 Secret Joiirnal of Porofgn Affairs, February 11, 1784, p. 56. Letters of 
 Benjamin Franklin, November 1, and Decembel- 25, 1783, pp. 57-64. Two 
 letters of Thomas Barclay, 20th October and 14th November, 1783, pp. 
 64-68. Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, April IC, 1784, 
 p. 68. Letter to the King of Prance, pp. 68-TO. 
 
 Circular from Thomas Mifflin to the Governors of States. Annapolis, 
 
 April 21, 1784 70 
 
 States that L'Orient has been made a free port. Merchants of the United 
 States allowed to frequent the ports of Marseilles and Dunkirk. 
 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne to the President of Congress, April 9, 
 
 1784 71 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Count de Vergennes to M. do la Luzerne, December 
 24, 1783, p. 72. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to the Minister of France. Annapolis, April 
 
 21, 1784 72 
 
 Requests the safe-keeping of the portraits of their most Christian Majesties 
 until a proper place is provided. In reply to a letter of the 9th instant, gives 
 assurances that measures will be taken for the punctual payment in future 
 of the principal and interest of loans. 
 
 From the Chevalier de la Luzerne, Minister of France, to the Pres- 
 ident of Congress. Annapolis, April 21, 1784 73 
 
 Has obtained leave to return to Prance. Satisfaction he has enjoyed in all 
 his correspondence with Congress. M. Marbois will remain as Charge 
 d 'Affaires. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May 17, 
 1784 74 
 
 Congress authorize a reply to the letter of the French Minister. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Congress. Report of a com- 
 mittee, April 30, 1784 75 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May 3, 1784 . .77 
 
 Copies of letters from the Count de Vergennes and Monsieur de Calonne to 
 the Marquis de la Fayette — p. 77 — to bo entered on the Journal, and wlien 
 published to be transmitted to the Governors of States. The subject-matter 
 of the two letters being/ree ports. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to Thomas Jefferson. Annapolis, May 20, 
 1 784 79 
 
 Transmits acts of Congress relating to treaties of commerce. Encloses a letter 
 from the King of France. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin to John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Paris. 
 Annapolis, May 20, 1784 79 
 
 Transmits several acts of Congress referred to chronologically. Papers of the 
 Nancy, extracts. May 7„ 1784, pp. 80-87. 
 
 From Thomas Mifflin (circular) to the Governors of States. Annap- 
 olis, May 31, 1784 87 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs of the 2'9th May, touching 
 an insult offei-ed to Monsieur de Marbois, and letter from M. de Luzerne, 
 pp. 88-89. 
 
xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, June 1, 1784. . 89 
 A letter from the Supreme Executive of Pennsylvania was read; states the 
 arrest of Longchamps; determined resolution to support the dignity of the 
 United States. Congress approve of the determination of the Supreme 
 Executive of Pennsylvania. 
 From Thomas Mifflin to the Minister of France. Annapolis, May- 
 Si, 1784 90 
 
 Transmits the act of the 29th May. Belief expressed that Congress will give 
 further consideration to the subject of his Excellency 's letter. Committee 
 ordered to report. 
 
 From Richard Henry Lee, President of Congress, to Benjamin 
 Franklin. Trenton, December 11, 1784 91 
 
 Encloses a letter for the King of France, recommending the Marquis de la 
 Fayette. 
 
 From Richard Henry Lee to the Marquis de la Fayette. Trenton, 
 December 11, 1784 91 
 
 Encloses a letter to Dr. Franklin. Wishes for his future welfare. Extract 
 from the Secret Journal, December 9, 1784, p. 92. Report of a committee. 
 Compliment paid to the Marquis. Further extract, December 13, 1784, 
 Leave taken of the Marquis. Address of the Marquis on the occasion. 
 p. 93. 
 
 Letter from the Congress of the United States to the King of France 
 
 and Navarre. Trenton, December 11, 1784. . . ; 94 
 
 Recommending the Marquis de la Fayette. 
 
 Letter from the King of France to the Congress of the United States 
 of America. Versailles, May 10, 1785 95 
 
 Rephes to the letter of Congress recommending the Marquis de la Fayette. 
 
 From Richard Henry Lee to Benjamin Franklin, Paris. Trenton, 
 December 14, 1784 95 
 
 Encloses a resolution of Congress, December 14, intended to prevent the 
 signing of the convention. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 14 
 1784 , 96 
 
 Note from the Charge d 'Affaires of France, enclosing a letter from Don Fran- 
 cisco Rendon, agent of the Court of Madrid, with an extract of a letter from 
 Don Joseph de Galvez, Muiister of his Catholic Majesty, on the navigation 
 of the Mississippi. -i j ' a 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 5 
 l'?84 ! 9^ 
 
 Letter from M. de Marbois, enclosing notes from Francisco Rendon and Joseph 
 de Galvez Report of the committee to whom the papers were referred, p. 
 98. Resolutions of Congress thereon, p. 98. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN JAY. 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay, Philadelphia, December 1 
 1^84 101 
 
 On the settlement of accounts. Recommends the passing of laws in ordpr tn 
 effect prompt settlements. " 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 16, 
 1784 102 
 
 Report of a committee (December 7) to whom were referred notes of the Charge 
 d'Affaires of France, dated December 1. Resolution of Congress thereon, 
 p. 102. 
 
 Letter from Jolin Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to Monsieur de 
 
 Marbois, Charge d'Affaires of France at Philadelphia. Office of 
 
 Foreign Affairs, Trenton, December 22, 1784 105 
 
 Announces his appointment to the office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and 
 the proximate adjournment of Congress to meet at the city of New York. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. December 24, 1784. . 105 
 
 Acknowledges receipt of letter, &c. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. New York, December 
 28, 1784 106 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of a letter of the 24th December. 
 
 Note from Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, January 
 
 27, 1785 107 
 
 Desires measures of Congress to be communicated touching negotiation with 
 the Court of Madrid. Opinion of Mr. Rendon on the views of his Court. 
 Proposes a new treaty of commerce. Commerce with the Indies, the Isle 
 of France, and Bourbon. Advantages thereof. Debts of the United States 
 to the King. Debts of the United States to French subjects. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, January 28, 1785. . . 109 
 
 Refers to the previous note. Affairs of Longchamps. Wishes to consult with 
 Mr. Jay on that subject. 
 
 Note from the same to the same. (Without date, but, from Mr. 
 Jay^s appears to be the 31st) 109 
 
 Communicates an extract of a letter from France, which treats of the disturbed 
 affairs of Holland. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. Office of Foreign Affairs, 
 New York, January 31, 1785 110 
 
 Acknowledges the reception of his note, containing an extract from Paris. 
 Gives assurances of the disposition of Congress to cultivate the friendship 
 of the Catholic King. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, February 10, 
 
 1785 Ill 
 
 The surrender of Longchamps demanded. Propriety of the surrender. False 
 representations. Newspaper remarks. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, February 10, 1785. . 112 
 
 Transmits an anonymous letter, showing the spirit which prevails in Philadel- 
 phia upon the affair of Longchamps. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. N«w York, February 11, 
 
 1785 112 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of Monsieur de Marbois 's letter enclosing the anon- 
 ymous paper. Will communicate the result of the deUberations of Congress. 
 
 Note of Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay 113 
 
 Formal demand by the Charge d'Affaires of Prance for the surrender of the 
 Sieur Longchamps. Promised reciprocity in cases analogous. 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 From John Jay to the President of Cottgress. New York, Feb- 
 ruary 11, 1785 ...»....*.. i 113 
 
 Encloses the note, &c., of Monsieur de Marbois. Submits them to Congress. 
 Report of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to Congress, p. 114. 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, February 
 22, 1785 116 
 
 Intends proceeding to Philadelphia. Expects to be detained there some weeks. 
 Solicits information of the proceedings of Congress. Memorial of the Sieur 
 Rousille, p. 117. Encloses a newspaper; wishes to know the opmioii of 
 Congress upon an article therein. His only appeal to that assembly for the 
 inviolability due to his character. Memorial of the Sieur Rousille. Extract 
 of a letter from the Count de Vergennes, with vouchers, &c., p. 120. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. Philadelphia, March 8, 
 1785 123 
 
 Addresses an accompanying note in favor of French claimants; requests it 
 may be laid before Congress. Refers to former notes, particularly one 
 respecting French officers and their widows. Requests information upon 
 that subject; also with regard to the payments to be made to the royal 
 treasury. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. OiSce of Foreign Affairs, 
 March 10, 1785 125 
 
 Informs that Benjamin Franklin has permission to return to America. A day 
 ajjpointed to elect his successor. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, March 11, 1785 125 
 
 Informs of the election of Thomas Jefferson to be Minister Plenipotentiary to 
 the Court of Versailles. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. March 17, 1785 126 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the foregoing. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. New York, March 21, 
 1785 126 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of a letter of the 8th instant. Reason assigned for 
 the delay in answering. Delays of business before deliberative bodies 
 inevitable. Congress will give a respectful attention to all applications on 
 the part of his most Christian Majesty. "Will communicate what Congress 
 is pleased to refer. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. Philadelphia, March 29, 
 1785 127 
 
 Replies to the letter of the 21st March. Importunes for an answer to his letter 
 of the 25th December last. Wishes to be relieved from a trust reposed in 
 him by Congress. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. Philadelphia, April 9, 
 1785 127 
 
 Encloses the commission of Consul for the twoCarolinas and Georgia, p. 128. 
 Requests the customary resolutions. Intends to return to New York. The 
 duties of the consulate will be performed by his brother during his absence. 
 Wishes the acknowledgment of his brother as Vice Consul. 
 
 Report of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and resolution of Con- 
 gress , 129-132 
 
 From John Jay to Robert Morris. March 31, 1785 133 
 
 Requests him to take charge of the pictures. 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. New York, March 31, 
 ifoo 134 
 
 Informs that he has requested Mr. Morris to take charge of the pictures of the 
 King and Q.iieen of France until the season admits of their being transported 
 to New York. 
 
 From Mr. Morris to Monsieur de Marbois. Philadelphia, April 15, 
 
 1785 134 
 
 Explanation of his intentions with regard to the pictures. Presumes some 
 mistake has prevented their delirery. Requests an explanation of Monsieur 
 de Marbois. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to Mr. Morris. Philadelphia, April 15, 
 1785 134 
 
 Assigns his reasons for not suffering the pictures to be removed. 
 
 From Mr. Morris to Monsieur de Marbois. Philadelphia, April 16. 
 1785 , 136 
 
 Further explanations about removing the pictures. Relinquishes further inter- 
 ference. 
 
 From Mr. Morris to John Jay. Philadelphia, April 16, 1785. . 137 
 
 His proceedings with regard to the pictures. Encloses the correspondence of 
 Monsieur de Marbois upon the subject. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to Mr. Morris. Philadelphia, April 16, 
 1785 138 
 
 Explanations of Mr Morris satisfactory. Desires to remove unfavorable 
 impressions. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. Philadelphia, April 17, 
 1785 139 
 
 Has received the communications respecting the portraits. Wishes the honor of 
 presenting them himself. Hopes to present them the beginning of next month. 
 
 From John Jay to Robert Morris. Office of Foreign Affairs, April 
 22, 1785 139 
 
 Regrets that his friendly compliance had brought him into an unpleasant cor- 
 respondence. Conduct perfectly proper. 
 
 From John Jay to the President of Congress. Office of Foreign 
 Affairs, April 28, 1785 140 
 
 Encloses a letter from the Marquis de la Fayette. Paragraph respecting Long- 
 champs. Communication confidential. Measures recommended. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, May 16, 
 1785 140 
 
 Encloses a memorial. Monsieur de Chateaufort detained only from the want 
 of the recommendations of Congress. Memorial, p. 141. Submits to Con- 
 gress various matters which they have not yet acted upon. Loan-office 
 certificates. Distressed state of many French subjects. Application to one- 
 of the States unsatisfactory. Thinks the amount of claims between five and 
 six millions of dollars. Different propositions made to Congress. Affair ot 
 Mr. Bingham. Debts due to the Sieurs Sabbatier & Depres. Refers to his 
 note of the 8th March. Renews demands which the Chevalier de la Luzerne 
 had made. Begs the attention of Congress to these interesting subjects. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. Office of Foreign Affairs,. 
 May 18, 1785 144 
 
 Informs of the accomplishment of the business of Monsieur de Chateaufort. 
 
 Vol. I.— A 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 From John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois, May 19, 1785 144- 
 
 Encloses an extract from the act of Congress which relates to the appointment 
 of his brother as Vice Consul. 
 
 From Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, May 19, 
 1785 144, 
 
 Bas received the letters of the 18th and 19th May, and resolutions of Congress 
 relative to Monsieur de Chateaufort and the Vice Consul of Philadelphia. 
 Late advices from Marseilles. No further captures of American vessels. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. May 26, 1785 145 
 
 Encloses the memorial of the 16th instant. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, June 1, 1785 . . 145 
 
 Communicates the copy of a letter from the King of France. Wishes to 
 know the time when the original may be delivered. Letter of the King of 
 France to Congress, conveying the information of the birth of a Prince, who 
 has been called the Duke of Normandy. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. June 3, 1785 146 
 
 Transmits the letter of the King of France to Congress. Mode of delivering 
 a letter from a sovereign. Report of Secretary Jay upon the above letter, 
 and form of reply, p. 147, 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, June 14, 1785. . 148 
 
 French creditors. Monsieur de Chaumont employed by them. Encloses his 
 memorial. Solicits the attention of Congress to the subject. Memorial of 
 James D. le Roy de Chaumont in behalf of French creditors, pp. 149-159. 
 
 JoJm Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. June 27, 1785 159 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the preceding letter and memorial. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, July 1, 1785. . 159 
 
 Refers to the contract between the King and the United States, of the 25th 
 February, 1783. Interest due. Wishes the contract laid before Congress. 
 Copy of the loan contract, dated February 25, 1783, ratified the 31st day of 
 October, 1783, pp. 160-163. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. July 2, 1785 163 
 
 Has received the letters and papers enclosed, of the preceding date. Will lay 
 them before Congress, and communicate early any answer. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, July 18, 1785. . 164 
 
 Encloses a copy of the letter from the King of France to Congress. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. July 19, 1785 164 
 
 Encloses a copy of a letter of the 4th April, 1785, from Mr. Read, on the 
 subject of Pierre Rousille's memorial. Letter of Robert Morris enclosing 
 the letter of James Read, p. 164. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, July 19, 1785 . . 166 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of Mr. Jay's letter of the 19th July, 1785, with the 
 enclosure. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. July 20, 1785 166 
 
 Subjoins an extract of a letter received from the Secretary of Congress "One 
 letter of the King of France has been substituted for another." 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. July 20, 1785 166 
 
 Explains the mistake, and promises to transmit the true letter. 
 
 From the same to the same. July 29, 1785 1Q7 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. August 2, 1785 16" 
 
 Conversation with Monsieur de Marbois on the affair of Longchamps. The 
 French Court desist from their demand. 
 
CONTENTS. xix 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. August 9, 1785 168 
 
 Transmits an act of Congress of the 3d August, 1785. Extract from the 
 Journal, 3d August, 1785, p. 168. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. August 10, 1785 169 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the previous letter, and its enclosures. 
 From the same to the same. New York, August 20, 1785 .... 169 
 
 Memorial of French merchants. Transmits a copy, which he wishes may be 
 laid before Congress, p. 170. Memorial presented by certain French mer- 
 chants to the Charge d 'Affaires of France. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. August 22, 1785 173 
 
 Has received the letter of the 20th instant, which, with its enclosure, will be 
 submitted to Congress. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. August 25, 1785 .... 174 
 
 Encloses to the President the letter of Monsieur Marbois and the memorial of 
 French merchants. 
 
 Report of John Jay on the memorial of Frencli merchants. October 
 
 7, 1785 174 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, August 25, 1785-. . 177 
 
 Cluestions touching the operation of the eleventh article of the treaty of com- 
 merce. The privileges of Frenchmen. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de Marbois. September 2, 1785 177 
 
 Replies to the letter of the 25th August. Thinks that all questions which are 
 affected by existing treaties should be submitted to Congress. 
 
 From the same to the same. August 31, 1785 178 
 
 Agreeable to request made in conversation , returns all the papers touching the 
 affair of Longchamps. Further measures in contemplation to preserve 
 inviolate the laws of nations respecting legations. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, August 30, 1785 . . 178 
 
 Addresses to Mr. Jay, a note, p. 179; wherein he announces his appointment 
 to the Intendency of St. Domingo, and the nomination of M. Otto to the 
 post of Charge d'Affaires of France to the United States during the absence 
 of the Chevalier de la Luzerne. Report of Secretary Jay on the letter and 
 note of Monsieur de Marbois, and draft of letters of reply, pp. 180-181. 
 
 Monsieur de Marbois to John Jay. New York, September 24, 
 1785 181 
 
 Satisfaction at receiving the letters of Mr. Jay. Proposes to depart from the 
 United States. Intercession in favor of Longchamps. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, September 28, 1785. . 182 
 
 Upon the departure of Monsieur Marbois will enter upon the functions of his 
 office. Is pleased with having to transact business with Mr. Jay. Hopes 
 to deserve the approbation of Congress, and draw still closer the bonds which 
 unite the two nations. Wise policy of the alliance. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, November 28, 1785. . 184 
 
 Transmits the plan of a treaty for a correspondence between the Post Offices 
 of France and the United States. Requests it may be submitted to Congress, 
 unless in the opinion of Mr. Jay the Postmaster General is already suffi- 
 ciently empowered to negotiate a treaty. Note addressed to Congress of the 
 same tenor, p. 184. Plan of a treaty containing seventeen articles, pp. 
 185-188. 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. November 28, 1785 189 
 
 Letter of the 28th November received, with the enclosed papers respecting the 
 Post Office. Letter of Ebenezer Hazard, Postmaster General, to John Jay, 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 of the 21st December, 1785, and 16th February, 1786, on th« F°P?f?f P^^" 
 of a treaty, p. 189. Report of Secretary Jay on the same subject, 1 ebruary 
 21, 1786, p. 190. 
 John Jay to the President of Congress, December 26, lltio. . ly^ 
 
 Encloses to the President Mr. Otto's note of the 28th, with the plan of the 
 proposed treaty between the Post Offices. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, November 30, 1785. . 192 
 
 Encloses a note to be laid before Congress relating to the debts of the United 
 • States due to his Majesty. Refers to the various notes of his predecessor 
 on the same subject. 'Reaections upon his note. Situation of French cred- 
 itors' and partial conduct of different States. Note of Monsieur Otto- to 
 Congress on the same subject, November 30, 1785, pp. 194-198. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. November 30, 1785 199 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the letter and note of the same date. Will submit 
 them to Congress and report the result of their deliberations. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, December 19, 1785 . . 199 
 
 Brevet of Monsieur Foret as Vice Consul General and Vice Consul for the 
 States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Reasons for the appointment. 
 Congress having changed their residence. Requests similar resolutions may 
 be passed as in the case of the younger brother of M. Marbois. 
 
 John Jay to the Sieur de la Foret. New York, January 10, 
 1786.. 200 
 
 Returns the brevet or commission, with an act of Congress upon the subject. 
 Extract from the Secret Journal, January 6, 1786, p. 200. 
 
 Sieur de la Foret to John Jay. New York, January 11, 1786. .201 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of Mr. Jay's letter of the 6th instant. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. March 6, 1786 201 
 
 Thinks the 4th ana 5th articles in the proposed convention regulating the inter- 
 course between the Post Offices of the two countries inexpedient. Proposes 
 and encloses a plan which he thinks would be more easily executed. Would 
 be pleased to confer upon the subject. Plan of Post Office convention con- 
 taining six articles, pp. 201-203. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, April 18, 1786 203 
 
 Addresses to Mr. Jay a note, to be laid before Congress, p. 203. .Note. — Has 
 received express orders to remmd Congress that the ratifications of the con- 
 sular convention have not been exchanged, The King desires the formality 
 shall not be deferred. Congress is reminded tliat no answer has been returned 
 to his memorial of the 30th November last. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the motion of the Honorable Mr. Pinck- 
 ney, directing a reply to be made to the Charge d' Affaires of 
 France, March 9, 1786 204 
 
 The scheme of the convention between his most Christian Majesty 
 and the United States of North America, for defining and regu- 
 lating the functions and privileges of Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, 
 and Commissaries, containing twenty-six articles 205—218 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay upon the scheme of the convention respect- 
 ing French and American Consuls. July 4, 1786 218-231 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on a reference of the subject of the consular 
 convention. August 18, 1786 232-234 
 
 Monsieur de la Foret to John Jay. New York, 23, 1786 . .234 
 
 Encloses extracts of letters from the M&rshal de Castries on the affairs of 
 Algiers, p. 234. 
 
CONTENTS. xxi 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. April 24, 1786 935 
 
 Transmits the letter of Monsieur de la Foret, and the extract of a letter from 
 the Mareschal de Castries. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, June 27, 1786 235 
 
 Reminds Mr. Jay of a promise made to solicit the ratification of the consular 
 convention as soon as nine States should be assembled. Conversations with 
 members of their Congress. Their reasons for delay. Begs that the affair 
 may be submitted to Congress, and some resolution obtained that Consuls 
 may be informed of the extent of their povirers. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. July 3, 1786 236 
 
 Letter of the 27th June received. Remembers the conversation, but, of a differ- 
 ent import. Action upon M. Otto's letter of the 18th April. Will transmit 
 to the President of Congress the letter of the 27th June, and will return any 
 they may be pleased to direct without delay. Believes Mr. Jefferson will 
 assign satisfactory reasons for the delay to his Majesty. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, July 6, 1786 237 
 
 Mr. Jay's letter received on the 3d instant. Regrets his .absence on the 4th. 
 Will make a suitable apology to the President. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. October 9, 1786 237 
 
 Discovery made by Mr. Remsen that the printed scheme of the convention 
 does not correspond with the copy in this office. Many important omissions. 
 Thinks the scheme still more meligible. Notwithstanding advises its con- 
 clusion for a limited time. Note of the difference in the twelfth article. 
 Many other variations which do not affect materially Mr. Jay 's report. 
 
 Monsieur OttO to John Jay. New York, October 9, 1786 . . . .239 
 
 Requests the resolution which Congress may have taken concerning the con- 
 sular convention, with a view to transmit it to his Court. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. October 12, 1786 239 
 
 Letter of Monsieur Otto communicated to Congress. Is instructed to reply 
 "that their communications will be officially made through their Minister 
 resident at Paris, and that they do not think it necessary to accept his polite 
 offer." 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, October 23, 1786 239 
 
 Transmits to Congress, by command of his Majesty, a letter on the birth of a 
 Princess. 
 
 The King of France to Congress. July 9, 1786 240 
 
 Communicating the intelligence of the birth of a Princess. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. New York, December 18, 1786 . . 240 
 
 The letter of his Majesty and that of Monsieur Otto was immediately laid 
 before Congress. The absence of some of the representatives prevents an 
 immediate reply. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, December 21, 1786 . .241 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of Mr. Jay's letter of the 18th. Delay on the part 
 of Congress will leave no room to doubt the sincerity of their sentiments. 
 (Questions having been asked by members of Congress respecting an intended 
 transfer of Louisiana, encloses an extract of a letter from the Count de Ver- 
 gennes contradicting the report. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, October 23, 1786. . .241 
 
 Subjoins an extract of a letter from the Count de Vergennes, wherein it is 
 apprehended that false impressions majr be made by newspaper statements 
 that it is the interest of France to excite the Barbary Powers against the 
 United States, p. 242. 
 
XXli CONTENTS. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur Otto. New York, November 2, 1786.. .242 
 
 Introduces Colonel Talbot, who has two sons whom he wishes to educate for 
 the sea, and place on board the King 's packet. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, November 3, 1786.. .242 
 
 Has received Mr. Jay's letter on the subject of Colonel Talbot's sons. Will 
 solicit permission, and hopes to succeed in five or six months notwithstanding 
 some difSculties. 
 
 Monsieur Otto to John Jay. New York, May 20, 1787 243 
 
 Encloses copies of letters from the Count de Montmorin and the Marshal de 
 Castries, on the subject of Colonel Talbot's sons, p. 244. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay, February 12, 1788 245 
 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. New York, February 4, 1788. . 245 
 
 Transmits to Mr. Jay copy of a letter from the King recalling Chevalier de la 
 Luzerne. 
 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. New York, February 4, 1788 . . 246 
 
 Letter of credence, with a request that it may be communicated to Congress, 
 and that a day may be appointed for a public audience. 
 
 Letter of the King to the Congress. Versailles, September 30, 
 1787 246 
 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne to Congress. Paris, , 1787. . .247 
 
 Announces his recall as Minister to the United States, and takes his leave 
 accordingly. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the above letter. March 13, 1788. .248 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the two letters of his most Christian 
 
 Majesty 249 
 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. February 19, 1788 250 
 
 Being invited to dihe with the President of Congress on the same day which 
 is fixed upon for the audience, requests that Mr. Jay will send him the reso- 
 lutions of Congress for his information. 
 
 ,John Jay to the Count de Moustier. February 19, 1788 250 
 
 Day of public audience appointed; will be received the 26th instant, at twelve 
 o'clock. 
 
 Extract from the Journal of Congress. February 14, 1788 250 
 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. New York, Febmary 20, 1788 . . 251 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the letter transmitting the resolution of Congress. 
 Encloses his intended speech. 
 
 Speech of Count de Moustier 251 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay, and draft of an answer to the speech of 
 
 the Count de Moustier. February 21, 1788 253 
 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. New York, May 28, 1788. . .253 
 
 Encloses a note which, from the importance of its contents, he wishes may be 
 submitted to, and acted upon immediately by. Congress. 
 
 Note of the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, demanding the sur- 
 render of Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier, a native of Languedoc, for 
 an alleged crime 254 
 
 Copy of a letter from the Sieur Oster to the Governor of* Virginia 
 marked No. 1. Norfolk, October 2, 1787 .257 
 
 Copy of a second letter from the same to the same, markedNo 2 
 Norfolk, November 11, 1787 257 
 
CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 Governor Randolph to M. Oster. Richmond, November 22, 
 1787 260 
 
 Encloses a law of the State of Virginia, p. 961. 
 John Jay to the Count de Moustier,. New York, May 29, 1788 . . 261 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the communication of the 28th instant. "Will 
 submit it to Congress as soon as it can be translated. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the note of the Minister of France. 
 
 June 6, 1788 262 
 
 John Jay to the Governor of Virginia. June 13, 1788 262 
 
 Encloses a copy of the note from the Minister of Prance. Asks for informa- 
 tion. The sense of Qongress that Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier ought to be 
 apprehended. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs. June 13, 
 1788 263 
 
 Count ds Moustier to John Jay. New York, August 11, 1788. .263 
 
 Being about to undertake a journey, Monsieur Otto will remain charged with 
 affairs. 
 
 John Jay to the Count de Moustier. August 12, 1788 264 
 
 Has received and communicated to Congress the letter of the 11th instant. 
 
 From the same to the same. October 16, 1788. 264 
 
 Encloses copies of two letters from the Governor of Virginia, relative to the 
 affair of Ferrier. 
 
 Copy of a letter from Governor Randolph to John Jay. Richmond, 
 June 30, 1788 264 
 
 Second letter of the Governor of Virginia to the same. July 2, 
 1788 264 
 
 Extract from the laws of Virginia 268 
 
 Extract from the Journal of the Council. August 21, 1784. . .269 
 Count de Moustier to John Jay. New York, October 18, 1788. .270 
 
 Encloses a sketch of a conversation respecting Mr. Randolph's answer in the 
 affair of Ferrier, pp. 270-272. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. September 19, 1788. .272 
 
 Has postponed reporting on the letters of the Governor of Virginia in conse- 
 quence of the absence of the French Minister. The delay will not be incon- 
 venient. 
 
 John Jay to the Governor of Virginia. September 24, 1788. . .272 
 
 Has submitted the letters of the 30th June and 2d July last to Congress. Delay 
 in answering accounted for. Consular convention never ratified. Foreign 
 Constils no authority but what they derive from the law of nations. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the obligation to ratify the consular 
 convention With France under the new form of Government. July 
 25, 1789 274 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OP LA PAYETTE. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to the President of Congress. Paris, Decem- 
 ber 26, 1783 .279 
 
 Has directed to Mr. Morris some hints on American commerce. Change of 
 Ministry in England. Affairs in the north and east of Europe. 
 
xxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to Robert Morris. December 26, 1783 . .280 
 Observations of Marquis de la Fayette addressed to the Count de 
 
 Vergennes on the commerce of the United States 282—290 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to Robert Morris, January 10, 1784, enclosmg 
 
 a letter from M. de Calonne "'"*' 
 
 Robert Morris to John Jay. September 30, 1784 290 
 
 Encloses a copy of a letter of the 14th of August, from the Marquis de la 
 Fayette, (p. 291,) with other original papers, on the regulation of commerce 
 between France and America, viz: 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to M. de Calonne. Paris, January 31, 
 1784 291 
 
 From the same to M. de Calonne. Paris, February 10, 1784. .293 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, February 26, 1784 294 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, March 5, 1784 294 
 
 Monsieur de Calonne to the Marquis de la Fayette. Versailles, 
 
 March 8, 1784 295 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 17, 1784 296 
 
 From the same to the same. Versailles, June 11, 1784 297 
 
 From the same to the same. June 16, 1784 298 
 
 Marshal de Castries to the Marquis de la Fayette. Versailles, June 
 
 17, 1784 ..299 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Mount Vernon, November 25, 
 
 1784 300 
 
 Explanation with respect to the publication of certain papers in relation to the 
 Indian treaty. His regret thereat. 
 
 From the same to the same. Versailles, February 8, 1785 . . . .300 
 
 Arrival in Europe. European affairs. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, March 19, 1785.. .302 
 
 Mr. Jay's letter of the 19th received. The surrender of New Orleans to 
 America, or the decleiratiou of its being a free port suggested. Affudrs of 
 Europe. Opposition of thecommercial interest to a liberal policy. 
 
 John Jay to the Marquis de la Fayette. July 15, 1785 303 
 
 Letter of the 19th March received and submitted to Congress. Arrival of Don 
 Diego de Gardoqui. Frontier posts not evacuated, what are the designs 
 of England? Their conduct in Canada. Consequences of the restraints 
 upon our trade. Local affairs. An appointment of Minister to the Hague. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, April 18, 1785 305 
 
 By request of persons at the French Court, submits to Congress the case of 
 an orphan lady. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris. April 18, 1785 305 
 
 Recommendation of Monsieur Barre. 
 
 Chevalier Barre to John Jay. L'Orient, June 29, 1785 305 
 
 Memorial of Monsieur Barre, claiming indemnification for losses and 
 
 services in the American navy 306 
 
 John Jay to the Marquis de la Fayette. September 16, 1785. .308 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the letter of the 18th April, with the papers of 
 Monsieur Barre. 
 
 John Jay to the Marquis de la Fayette. New York, October 21 
 1785 308 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 The case of Monsieur Barre. Misapprehension as to the nature of the service 
 in which he was engeiged. Encloses a letter from Joseph Hardy to Secretary 
 Thomson of the 13th September, 1785, explanatory of the service in which 
 he was engaged. 
 
 Mr. Hardy to Secretary Thomson. September 13, 1785. .... .309 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, May 11, 1785 310 
 
 European affeiirs. Endeavors to obtain privileges for the American trade in 
 France. Intends to visit the south of Prance and Germany. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to Thomas Jefferson. Vienna, September 4, 
 1785 311 
 
 Visit to Prussia and Vienna. America misrepresented by Great Britain. Desire 
 of counteracting false assertions. Intei-view with the King of Prussia. Con- 
 versation about America. Interview with the Emperor of Austria. Subjects 
 of conversation. The Prime Minister Kaunitz. His views and suggestions 
 with regard to the United States. 
 
 From the same to John Jay. Vienna, September 6, 1785 313 
 
 Encloses a memorial in behalf of Monsieur d'Argaynarats. 
 
 Memorial of Monsieur d'Argaynarats, claiming indemnification for 
 
 military stores furnished the United States. , 313 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, February 11, 1786. .314 
 
 Sentiments of the German Courts concerning America. The stability of demo- 
 cratical forms of government and of the union of the States distrusted in 
 Europe. European affairs. 
 
 John Jay to Marquis de la Fayette. New York, June 16, 1786 . . 317 
 
 Letters received to the 11th February. •Questions between America and Great 
 Britain misunderstood in Europe. Mistakes and misrepresentations of 
 writers upon American subjects. Corrections and explanations of tlie Mar- 
 quis beneficial. Observations of Don Diego de Gardoqui upon what passed 
 between the Marquis and the Count de Florida Blanca upon the claims and 
 pretensions of Spain., Financial difiiculties of America. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, October 28, 1786. .319 
 
 Expresses his astonishment that M. Gardoqui should raise any doubts respect- 
 ing the adoption of the English limits in America. The navigation of the 
 Mississippi must be enjoyed by the United States. The appointment of the 
 convention has a good effect in Europe. Recommends a confederacy of 
 America and the Powers of southern Europe against the Barbary States. 
 
 John Jay to Monsieur de la Fayette. New York, February 16, 
 1787 321 
 
 Has submitted the Marquis's letter of the 20th October last to Congress. 
 Claims of Spain upon the Mississippi. American affairs. With respect to 
 the hostile Barbary States, prefers war to tribute. 
 
 Marquis de la Fayette to John Jay. Paris, February 7, 1787 , .322 
 
 Surprise excited by Mr. Barclay's refusal of presents. Affairs of Europe. 
 Concern occasioned by the unhappy disturbances in Massachusetts. Hopes 
 directed to the convention at Philadelphia. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 30, 1787 323 
 
 Proceedings of the Assembly of the Notables in France. The unpaid interest 
 of the American debt. Character of the Archbishop of Toulouse. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, October 15, 1787 324 
 
 State of politics in Europe. Effects of a maridrae war in Europe upon the 
 United States. The present a favorable time for the restoration of the forts 
 and the navigation of the Mississippi. Departure of the Count de Moustier. 
 Waits with anxiety for the result of the convention at Philadelphia. 
 
xxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 John Jay to the Marquis de la Fayette. New York, April 26, 
 1788 • ^^" 
 
 Letter of tte 15th October received. Hopes for a continuation of peace. Plan 
 of Government recommended by the late Convention. Adopted bv six 
 States. An opinion on the commercial reg:ulations of France towards Amer- 
 ica. Thinks commercial privileges should be extended equally to i rencn 
 subjects and American citizens. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 Robert Morris to Thomas Barclay. December 5, 1782 331 
 
 Forms of the power given by Congress to a Commissioner to settle the accounts 
 of public servants in Europe, and without delay— those of Beaumarchais, 
 or Roderique Hortales & Co. Encloses a commission to Mr. Barclay to act 
 in that business, and detailed instructions. 
 
 Thomas Barclay to Robert Morris. L'Orient, February 9, 1783 . . 337 
 
 Letter of the 5th December received. Will follow the instructions. 
 
 From the same to the same. Auteuil, near Paris, July 20, 1783 . . 337 
 
 Has taken a House near Passy, in order to be near Dr. Franklin. Mr. Ridley 
 selected as an associate. M. Grand's accounts. Monsieur de Beaumar- 
 chais does not choose to settle his accounts in Europe. Has sent them to 
 Congress. Misapprehension in the statement of M. Beaumarchais. His 
 claims not verified. 
 
 M. le Vaigneur to the Fresiden1»of Congress 339 
 
 On the subject of M- Beaumarchais 's claim, and submitting to Congress the 
 memorial of Caron de Beaumarchais. 
 
 Memorial of Caron de Beaumarchais, formerly known in America 
 by the firm of Roderique Hortales &; Co., claiming indemnity for 
 advances made during the war of tlie Revolution 341-350 
 
 Thomas Barclay to R. R. Livingston. Auteuil, September 14, 
 1783 352 
 
 Upon advice given to the Marquis de la Fayette to remain in France. 
 
 From the same to the President of Congress. L'Orient, September 
 17, 1784 352 
 
 Express from Paris. Information concerning the privileges of L'Orient. 
 Arrival of Colonel Franks, and appointment to the Vice Consulship of Mar- 
 seilles. 
 
 Robert Morris to the President of Congress. March 8, 1784. .353 
 
 Encloses a letter from Thomas Barclay of the 23d October. 
 
 Thomas Barclay to Robert Morris. L'Orient, October 23, 1783 ."^ 353 
 
 Sale of the ship Due de Lauzun. Perplexed state of the public accounts. 
 Accounts of Messrs. Schwcighauscr & Dobre, of Nantz, for the outfit of the 
 Alliance frigate. Seizure of the public stores at Nantz. Claim of Messrs. 
 John de Neufville & Son, of Amsterdam. Other accounts. 
 
 From the same to the President of Congress. L'Orient, November 
 15,1784 355 
 
 Encloses letters from Messrs. Adams & Dumas, at the Hague. March of the 
 Imperial troops. L'Orient a free port, except for the sale of manufactured 
 tobacco. 
 
CONTENTS. xxvii 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Barclay. April 15, 1785 356 
 
 Transmits a list of duties payable in the French free ports. The Treasury- 
 Department again organized. Messrs. Osgood and Walter Livingston, com- 
 missioners. 
 
 Thomas Barclay to John Jay. L'Orient, April 17, 1785 358 
 
 Requests permission to return home. 
 John Jay to Thomas Barclay. July 15, 1785 357 
 
 Leave granted to return to America. 
 Thomas Barclay to John Jay. Paris, August 7, 1785 357 
 
 Advices of an Algerine war. 
 M. Foulange to the Directors of Commerce, Province of Guyenne. 
 
 Toulon, July 14, 1785 358 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Barclay. August 3, 1785 358 
 
 Transmits a copy of an act of Congress calling for an abstract settlement of 
 accounts, p. 359. 
 
 Thomas Barclay to John Jay. Paris, October 11,1 785 359 
 
 Letter received, calling for an abstract of accounts. 
 
 From the same to the same. Cadiz, May 14, 1786 359 
 
 Expenses of the free ports in France. Difficulty of obtaining a statement. 
 
 List of charges at Bayonne and Dunkirk 361 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OP BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Passy, September 10, 1783. .365 
 
 Has received a letter from America, which accuses him of favoring France in 
 her opposition to granting the fishery and the whole territory demanded by 
 the Americans. Appeals to Mr. Jay for the falsehood of the assertion. 
 
 John Jay to Benjamin Franklin. Passy, September 11, 1783. .366 
 
 Dr. Franklin agreed and acted with the other Commissioners respecting the 
 boundaries and fisheries. On former occasions he had also maintained the 
 same claims on these points. 
 
 John Adams to Benjamin Franklin. Passy, September 13, 1783 . .366 
 
 Dr. Franklin agreed with the Commissioners in the management of the nego- 
 tiation. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Passy, September 
 13, 1783 366 
 
 Relations with Morocco; with Portugal. False reports of disunion, &c., in 
 the United States injurious to the American cause. Count de Vergennes 
 refuses to sign the definitive treaty with England before that between England 
 and the United States is signed. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Lewis R. Morris. Passy, September 14, 
 1783 369 
 
 Relative to accounts. 
 
 David Hartley to Benjamin Franklin. Bath, September 24, 
 1783 370 
 
 Expects to receive instructions for a convention on the basis that American 
 ships shall not bring foreign manufactures into Great Britain, nor trade 
 directly between the West Indies and Great Britain. 
 
xxviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Passy, September 
 27, 1783 371 
 
 Encloses a copy of a definitive treaty. ' Expects Mr. Hartley to negotiate a 
 treaty of commerce. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley. Passy, October 16, 1783 . .371 
 
 Advantages of a perpetual peace between England, Prance, and America. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley. Passy, October 22, 1783 . . 372 
 
 Reports of divisions in America unfounded. 
 
 Giacomo F. Crocco to Benjamin Franklin. Cadiz, November 25, 
 1783 372 
 
 Informs Dr. Franklin that he is appointed by the Emperor of Morocco to con- 
 duct to that Court the Minister of the United States. Demands $1,500 for 
 his expenses to Paris. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Giacomo F. Crocco. Passy, December 15, 
 1783 373 
 
 Mr. Jay is the suitable person for Mr. Crocco 's application. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to William Carmichael. Passy, December 15, 
 1783 374 
 
 An account of the proceedings and demands of M. Crocco. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris. Passy, December 25, 
 1783 375 
 
 Unreasonableness of the complaints against taxes. Property is the creature 
 of society. La Fayette has conferences with the Ministers relative to the 
 new commercial regulations. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Passy, December 
 26, 1783 376 
 
 Recommends Mr. Hodgson as Consul in London. 
 
 David Hartley to Benjamin Franklin. London, March 2, 1784 . • 377 
 
 Promises to apply for the despatch of the ratification of the treaty by Great 
 Britain on the arrival of that by Congress . 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson. Passy, March 9, 1784 . . 377 
 
 Ratifications exchanged with Sweden. Receives numerous applications from 
 persons in the United States. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin and John Jay to the President of Congress. 
 Passy, April 16, 1784 378 
 
 On the arrival of Colonel Hai-mar had written to Mr. Hartley transmitting his 
 answer. 
 
 David Hartley to the American Ministers. April 9, 1784 379 
 
 The ratification now preparing. Conciliatory wishes of the writer. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Passy, May 12, 
 1784 379 
 
 Mr. Hartley arrives to exchange ratifications of the definitive treaty. Proc- 
 lamation relative to American commerce with the British Colonies. Proposed 
 regulations of the commerce with tlie French Colonies. 
 
 David Hartley to Benjamin Franklin. Paris, June 1, 1784, . .380 
 
 Defects of form in the ratification of the treaty by Congress. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to David Hartley. Passy, June 2, 1784.. .381 
 Answers to objections made in the preceding letters. 
 
CONTENTS. xxix 
 
 E>avid Hartley to the President of Congress. Passy, June 16, 
 
 1784 383 
 
 Symptoms of resentment against America on the part of Great Britain. The 
 Marquis De La Payette tlie bearer of this. 
 
 From the same to Count de Mercy Argenteau. Passy, July 30, 
 
 1784 384 
 
 Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Adams are appuinted to negotiate a 
 treaty of commerce with the Empire. 
 
 Count de Mercy Argenteau to Benjamin Franklin. Paris, July 
 30, 1784. 385 
 
 Assures Dr. Franklin of the disposition of the Emperor to form commercial 
 connexions with the United States. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, August 27, 
 1784 .385 
 
 Requesting a declaration in an official form that Congress will in no case treat 
 any nation more favorably than France in commercial privileges. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Count de Vergennes. Passy, September 3 
 1784 386 
 
 Transmitting a resolution of Congress declaring that no people shall be placed 
 on more advantageous ground, in the commerce with the United States, than 
 the French subjects. 
 
 M. Grand to Benjamin Frankhn. Paris, August 28, 1784 386 
 
 Funds in possession insufficient to meet current expenses. Complaints of the 
 silence, of Mr. Morris on financial affairs. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, September 
 9, 1784 387 
 
 Expresses the satisfaction of the King with the resolution of Congress, con- 
 tained in the letter of the 3d September from Dr. Franklin. The United 
 States shall enjoy a complete reciprocity in France. 
 
 Count de Mercy Argenteau to Benjamin Franklin. Paris, Septem- 
 ber 28, 1784 387 
 
 The Emperor has agreed to the propositions of Congress concerning commer- 
 cial regulations between the two Powers. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson. Passy, October 16, 
 1784 388 
 
 The Commissioners have made propositions of treating to all the European 
 Powers. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, October 30, 
 1784 .-. 388 
 
 Information received from M. deMarbois on the subject of the loan in Holland 
 guarantied by the King, and other debts of the States towards his Majesty. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Charles TJiomson. Passy, November 11, 
 1784 389 
 
 Papers respecting the affair of Longchamps received. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to M. Grand. Passy, January 9, 1785 390 
 
 On a proposition respecting the payment of the interest of the Holland loan, 
 and other financial concerns. ' 
 
 M. Grand to the Commissioners of the Treasury. Paris, February 
 8,1785 391 
 
 On financial affairs. 
 
XXX CONTENTS. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Passy, February 
 8, 1785 393 
 
 Receives the resolves of Congreea respecting the consular convention too late 
 to suspend the signing. 
 
 From the same to the same. Passy, April 12, 1785 394 
 
 Introducing M. de Chaumont, the younger. 
 
 From the same to the Count de Vergennes. Passy, May 3, 
 1785 394 
 
 Informs him that he has received permission to return to America. 
 
 M. de Rayneval to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, May 8, 1785 . . 395 
 
 Regrets to hear of his approaching departure from France. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
 Passy, May 10, 1785 395 
 
 Prepares for his return to America. 
 
 From the same to Charles Thomson. Passy, May 10, 1785. . .396 
 
 Books by a Swiss gentleman transmitted to Members of Congress. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, May 22, 
 1785 396 
 
 Regrets his intended departure for the United States. Assures him of the 
 
 esteem of the King. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Barclay. Passy, June 19, 1785 . . 397 
 
 Relative to his charges for salary as Minister Plenipotentiary. 
 
 M. de Castries to Benjamin Franklin. Versailles, July 10, 1785 . .398 
 
 Would have ordered a frigate for Dr. Franklin, to convey him to America, 
 had he known sooner of his intention of leaving France. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Philadelphia, September 19, 
 1785 398 
 
 Informs of his arrival in the United States. A treaty of commerce and friend- 
 ship with Prussia signed before leaving Europe. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Philadelphia, July 6, 1785. .399 
 
 Relative to Scotosh, an Indian chief. His intended voyage to France. En- 
 closing speech of Scotosh, chief of the Wyandots, dehvered at Philadelphia, 
 July 3, 1786, p. 400. 
 
 From the same to M. Grand, banker at Paris. Philadelphia, July 
 1 1, 1786 402 
 
 Requests information concerning the gift of three millions of livres from the 
 King, of which only two milhons appear in the accounts. 
 
 M. Durival to M. Grand. Versailles, August 30, 1786 402 
 
 The King's gift amounted to three millions, independently of the million 
 advanced to the United States by the Farmers General. 
 
 M. Durival to M. Grand. Versailles, September 5, 1786 403 
 
 Declines communicating to him the receipt taken for the first million advanced 
 by the King, June 10, 1776. 
 
 M. Grand to B. Franklin. Paris, September 9, 1786 403 
 
 States that he received only three millions, the first million having been 
 advanced previous to his appointment. 
 
 M. Durival to M. Grand. Versailles, September 10, 1786 404 
 
 The Minister still persists in declining to communicate the receipt for the first 
 million to M. Grand. 
 
CONTENTS. xxxi 
 
 M. Grand to Benjamin Franklin. Paris, September 12, 1786. .405 
 
 Professes himself unable to discover who received the first million. 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Philadelphia, November 21, 
 1786 405 
 
 Enclosing letters from Sir Edward Newenham, relative to an application for 
 a consulate for his son. Sir Edward Newenham to Dr. Franklin, July 10, 
 1786, p. 406. Sir Edward Newenham to Dr. Franklin, August 19, 1786, p. 
 407. The same to the President of Congress, August 12, 1786, p. 408. The 
 same to Congress, August 12, 1786, p. 409. Lady Grace Anna Newenham 
 to Dr. Franklin, August 21, 1786, p. 409. General Washington to Dr. 
 Franklin, November, 1786, p. 410. Extract of a letter from Sir Edward 
 Newenham to General "Washington, August 12, 1786, p. 411. John Jay to 
 Benjamin Franklin, New York, December 30, 1786, p. 411. The above 
 letters have been submitted to Congress. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Pennsylvania. New York, February 
 8, 1787 411 
 
 Returns the papers of Sir Edward Newenham. 
 
 John Jay to the President of Congress. New York, February 24, 
 1787 .412 
 
 On the application of Sir Edward Newenham. 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Philadelphia, January 3, 1787 . . 412 
 
 Transmitting an application of Samuel Vaughan relative to the Mjnt, with a 
 further view of exploring the United States in search of ores, minerals, &c. 
 Address of Samuel "Vaughan to John Jay, December 29, 1786, pp. 413-418. 
 
 John Jay to Benjamin Franklin. January 12, 1787 419 
 
 Letter of the 3d instant received. "Will be submitted to the Commissioners of 
 the Treasury. 
 
 John Jay to the Commissioners of the Treasury. January 18, 
 1787 420 
 
 Transmits the papers relative to Mr. Vaughan. 
 
 The Board of Treasury to John Jay. January 25, 1787 420 
 
 On Mr. yaughan's application. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson. Philadelphia, January 27, 
 
 1787 421 
 
 Conjectures that the million advanced the 10th June, 1776, must have been 
 delivered to Beaumarchais. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to John Jay. Philadelphia, June 27, 1788. .422 
 
 Encloses papers relative to John Jackson. M. Limozin, of Havre, and.M. 
 Milliet, of Lisbon, pp. 422-429. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to the President of Congress. Philadelphia, 
 
 November 29, 1788 430 
 
 Requesting the settlement of his accounts, which have been three years before 
 Congress. It having been asserted in the newspapers that he is indebted to 
 the United States. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 John Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Hague, to the Presi- 
 dent of Congress. The Hague, March 9, 1784 435 
 
xxxii contents: 
 
 Visit of the Baron Thulemeier, Minister from the King^ of Prussia. Overture 
 of the King. Commercial arrangements proposed. Reply of Mr. Adams. 
 Can act only in concert with Messrs. Franklin and Jay. Will answer for 
 their good disposition. Writes to Dr. Franklin: and Mr. Jay. Answer 
 received. They are persuaded of the pleasure of Congress. No commission 
 to conclude a treaty, yet are willing to prepare a draft. Articles may be 
 discussed on the principles of the treaties with H oUand and Sweden . Another 
 letter from the King. Letter from Paris satisfactory. Articles of merchan- 
 dize enumerated. Submits to Congress the propriety of being vested with 
 full powers to conclude a treaty. Money obtained to pay Mr. Morris's 
 bills. Contract will be transmitted to Congress. Terms high, but no alter- 
 native between that and protesting the bills. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal, February ], 1785. Ratification of 
 the loan contract made by Mr. Adams 437 
 
 John Adams to the President of Congress. The Hague, March 27, 
 1784 438 
 
 Encloses three notes from the Prussian Minister. Treaty with Sweden 
 adopted as a model. Asks for instructions to accompany the commission. 
 Existing instructions inadequate to conclude — can only confer. Difficulty 
 apprehended about the signature, a majority of the Ministers being in Paris. 
 A promise of money sufficient to save the financier's bills. Causes of the 
 high terms , Ways and means provided by impost for the payment of interest 
 would soon give better credit. Mode of confuting calumnies proposed. 
 J^ote from Baron Thulemeier, March 14, 1784, asks for a copy of the treaty 
 with Sweden, p. 439. JVofe from the same, March 25, 1784, gives information 
 of the articles of future commerce, p. 439. JVbfe from the same, March 25, 
 1784,, gives a statement of the private affairs of Sieur Christian Ravenliorst, 
 p 441. Interference of Mr. Adams requested to procure a copy of the 
 will, &c. 
 
 From the same to the same. The. Hague, April 10, 1784 442 
 
 Encloses the copy of a letter from Baron Thulemeier, and project of a treaty. 
 Hopes for the action of Congress, with instructions and powers to treat. 
 Letter of Baron Thulemeier, with the proposition for a tresity sent by the 
 King. Interview requested. Description of linens. Project of the treaty, 
 pp. 443-453. 
 
 From the same to the same. The Hague, April 22, 1784 453 
 
 Had received a letter from an American complaining that English Bishops 
 refused ordination unless the oaths of allegiance were tak«n. Inquiry made 
 of the Danish Minister whether orders might not be received in Denmark. 
 Reply of Mons. de St. Saphorin, p. 454. Extract of a letter from the Count 
 Roscncrone, p. 454. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Afiairs, March 21, 
 1785 455 
 
 John Adams to the President of Congress. The Hague, May 13, 
 1 784 455 
 
 Inquires in what light M. Dumas is to be considered. Duplicate of the 
 Prussian treaty approved by Messrs. Jay and Franklin. 
 
 From the same to the same. The Hague, May 13, 1784 456 
 
 Probable connexion between Holland and France. Mistaken policy of Eng- 
 land. Conduct of the Emperor and King of Prussia. Some of the provinces 
 favorable to a treaty with France. A war will produce an alliance. War 
 probable. Jealousy of the two Imperial Courts and House of Bourbon. 
 Difficulty of commanding money the best security for peace. Views of the 
 Emperor. Conduct hitherto just and beneficial. If he should live, too-ether 
 with the Empress of Russia, a few years, or until England obtains' the cora- 
 / mand of money, a general war probable. 
 
 From the same to the same. The Hague, May 14, 1784 457 
 
CONTENTS. xsxiii 
 
 Fermentation in the Courts of the two Empires and those of Bourbon. Ques- 
 tions of etiquette. Death of the Bishop of Liege. Consequences of the 
 expected election. 
 
 From the same to the same. The Hague, June 7, 1784 458 
 
 Paper received from tlie Baron Thulemeier enclosed. The Baron's letter and 
 the King's answer. Treaty ready for signature. The Baron desirous of 
 perfecting the business, wherefore hopes that instructions and authority will 
 be despatched without delay to conclude. Observations made by Mr. Adams 
 on the project of a treaty of amity and commerce between the King of 
 Prussia, and the United States, pp. 459-463. The King's modifications. 
 
 From the same to the same. The Hague, Jun6 22, 1784 463 
 
 Thinks f;hat he has heretofore advised Congress of the opinion of Foreign 
 Ministers that letters should be written to each of the sovereigns of Europe 
 upon the establishment of independence. Advice lately repeated. Precedent 
 given, and now the^proper time. Sketch of what the letter should contain, 
 and mode of transmission. The answers beneficial, and in what manner. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the letter of John Adams, June 22, 
 1784 464 
 
 John Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, to the 
 President of Congress. Auteuil, near Paris, October 20, 1784 . . 465 
 
 Encloses letters from M. Dumas. Affairs of Holland. Union of parties. 
 War commenced, if the language of the Count Belgioso is to be taken liter- 
 ally — guns having been fired. Koom for negotiation during the winter. 
 France will endeavor to reconcile. If she does not succeed will eventually 
 side with Holland, wherefore conduct of the Englisli a problem. Still room 
 to hope for peace. If it is not preserved apprehends a general war. The 
 object of the Emperor useful to America. Prime Minister to England, his 
 powers contrasted with his duties. 
 
 From the same to the same. Auteuil, near Paris. November 3, 
 1784 467 
 
 Letter of the Count do Vergennes communicated by Dr. Franklin on the sub- 
 ject of French loans. Fearful that Mr. Morris may draw on Amsterdam 
 for the interest. Protest of drafts to be expected. From the situation of 
 France sees no hope of Dr. Franklin obtaining relief from that Court. Debts 
 of the United States. Demands for money. How to be satisfied. JFortu- 
 nate if means are provided. Otherwise evil consequences. Holland the 
 only country where we can borrow, and not there unless our foreign debt is 
 funded. Adequate funds for paying interest will create further credit. 
 Reasons for not offering an opinion as to the mode. Letter from bankers at 
 Amsterdam. Ratification of the last loan not received. Hopes it will be 
 transmitted as early as possible. Appropriation of the last half million' 
 sterling obtained in Holland. Encloses copies of papers from Mons. Dumas, 
 with answers. Recommendation of that gentleman. Paperof Mons. Dumas, 
 p. 469. Ctuestions answered by Mr. Adams, p. 470. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, January 20, 
 1785 470 
 
 John Adams to John Jay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Auteuil, 
 near Paris, December 15, 1784 470 
 
 Addresses Mr. Jay as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the hopes of his having 
 accepted that office. Emperor of Morocco. Demands on Holland. Effect 
 upon vessels of the United States. Danger of erring with regard to the 
 Mediterranean trade. Contrariety of opinions as to its value, and mode of 
 treating the Barbary States. Futility of waging war with Algiers unless the 
 maritime Powers of Europe would unite for that purpose. Inquires for the 
 means of purchasing peace. Before attempting to borrow more money in 
 Holland must provide for the payment of interest of old debts. Subject 
 worthy the attention of Congi'^ss. 
 
 Vol. I.— B 
 
xxxiv CONTENTS. 
 
 John Adams to the President of Congress. Auteuil, near Paris, 
 January 10, 1785 472 
 
 Informs of the success of the Dutch loan. Amelioration of credit will enable 
 to treat with tlie Barbary Powers and pay the interest of the French loan. 
 Wishes instructions. Letter on this subject from the Count de Vergennes. 
 Salaries of foreign Ministers whether to be paid. Prays for explicit instruc- 
 tions on that head. Inquires if a new loan shall be opened. Will regret the 
 necessity. Injurious effect of foreign loans. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on Mr. Adams's letter of January lO, 
 1785 474 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, March 9, 1785. .475 
 
 Congratulations upon the appointment of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Slow 
 progress of negotiations Causes of delay. Urges the transmission of the 
 ratification of the last Dutch loan. Balance of money in the hands of the 
 Dutch bankers. Inquiries with regard to the tribute paid to Algiers by 
 Sweden and Holland. Difficulty of forming supplementary treaties with 
 France, Sweden, and Holland. Causes thereof. Remonstrances of the 
 French merchants against opening the colonial trade. Success of the French 
 fisheries attributable to the alliance with America. Extravagant pretensions, 
 of merchants; their partial views. England will not treat at Paris. Spain 
 equally averse. Congress can determine the proposition of treating at St. 
 James or not. State of Europe critical, but does not think the Emperor wiU 
 urge on a war. 
 
 Messrs. Willink &t Co. to John Adams. Amsterdam, January 6, 
 1785 477 
 
 Statement of account. Expect orders for the disposition of the balance. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Messrs. Willink St Co. Amsterdam, Feb- 
 ruary 2, 1785 478 
 
 Discourage attempts at future loans. Advert to the non-payment of the interest 
 of former loans. Ratification of the last loan contract not received. Various 
 loans open in Holland. Money becomes scarce, of course. If another year 
 Congress wish to pay off the French loan by borrowing in Holland, would 
 be pleased to give again satisfaction. 
 
 John Jay to John Adams. New York, February 11, 1785 . . . .479 
 
 Encloses the ratification of the loan contract entered into Mai-ch 9, 1784. Res- 
 olution of Congress to send a Minister to the Court of London. Requests 
 an opinion on the affairs of the Foreign Office. Demand the surrender of 
 M. Longchamps. Exchange of Ministers with Spain contemplated. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. April 13, 1785 480 
 
 Mentions the subject of former letters. Affair of the Barbary States^ and 
 Mediterranean trade. Entertains a different view from those who s'peak 
 lightly of the latter. Expects to negotiate v.-ith Algifcrs through the French 
 Consul. Congress will ultimately send Consuls to sign treaties and make 
 presents. Spain will not treat at Paris; danger of proceeding to Spain. 
 Recommends a different distribution of foreign Ministers. Proposition of 
 England to exchange Ministers. Secret wish of the English Ministry. 
 Advises the measure. No selfish design — assigns reasons to shov/ the pro- 
 priety. Dangerous tendency of things to involve us in war with England, 
 which is to be deprecated at this time. His system a simple one; explains 
 at length. Expectations of Congress and the people of America not' answered 
 by the state of negotiations at i-'aris. Wish to return homo. 
 
 John Adauis to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, April 24, 1785. .483 
 
 Replies to Mr. Jay's letter of the 11th February. Asks instructions with 
 regard to nvw loans. Minister to England; importance and necessity of the 
 measure. Difficulties of the situation, and its important bearin"- upon the 
 politics of Europe. Remarks upon the fulfilment of the treaty by the 
 
CONTENTS. XXXV 
 
 American States. Recommends to fulfil it in all its parts, and particularly 
 with regard to the refugees. An example to England for the punctual exe- 
 cution on their part. Regrets the demand for the delivery of Longcharops. 
 Thought his punishment satisfactory. The demand not justified by the law 
 of nations where there is no convention. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, May 4, 1785 . . 485 
 
 Acknowledges receipt of Mr. Jay's letter of 18th March, with commission, 
 &c., to the Court of Great Britain. Is pleased with the appointment of a 
 new Minister to the Hague. Delicacy of his situation witli regard to the 
 Court of the Netherlands. Necessity of a formal leave there, and with the 
 Court of Versailles. Five or six weeks must elapse before he can proceed 
 to London. Instructions agreeable. Importance of the trust. Prospect of 
 success not encouraging. America will have performed her duty. Discrim- 
 inating duties of New York and Rhode Island. Remarks thereon. Mr. 
 Jay's letter of the 15th March. Mr. Smith not personally known, but will 
 receive every regard and attention due to his situation. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, May 5, [erroneously 
 
 printed May 3,] 1785. 487 
 
 The English boast of their having monopolized the American trade. Their 
 ability and mode of effecting it. The competition of other nations a failure. 
 Much exaggeration in their boast, at the same time too much truth. The 
 success of the mission will depend upon the careful investigation of Congress 
 and their instructions on this subject. Negotiations fruitless if England can 
 enjoy, under her own partial regulations, the profits of our commerce. 
 Americans should turn their attention to the subject. Refrains from the 
 discussion of the question what powers should be delegated to the Confed- 
 eracy touching commerce. Present mischiefs and inconveniences from want 
 of unity. Propriety of calling upon the States for information respecting 
 imports and exports since the peace. Difficulty of maintaining the Union 
 without some general repository of the commercial interests. Mode of 
 counteracting the selfish policy of England. High and discriminating duties 
 upon British luxuries. " He always negotiates ill who is not in a condition to 
 make himself feared." Measures must be taken by the people. Our army no 
 terror. Proud of their navy, and disregard ours. Their experience lost 
 upon them. No other means of making an impression than by commercial 
 regulations. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, May 7, 1785. .489 
 
 Expects to be in London by the end of the month. Observations on taking 
 leave of the Court of the Netherlands. Asks authority to draw upon Hol- 
 land for salaries. Application of Mr. Jeflferson for money and drafts upon 
 Amsterdam. Orders of Colonel Humphreys for medals and swords met by 
 drafts on the same bankers. Hopes for the approbation of Congress. Se- 
 verity of cold in Europe. Failure of crops. Probable effect upon American 
 productions. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, May 8, 1785. .491 
 
 Absurdity of the English idea with regard to the foreign diplomacy of the 
 United States. Its impracticability. Supposed the question settled that 
 Congress had power to treat with foreign Powers, appoint Ambassadors, 
 &c. Different views of the Duke of Dorset; will be made the pretext for 
 delays. The Cabinet of St. James may decline treating unless the powers 
 of Congress are enlarged. What will then be the duty of the American 
 Minister? Refers to the recommendation of Congress to the State Legisla- 
 tures, April 30, 1784. Effect of the Duke's letter. Other demands will be 
 made. Requests information as to which of the States have agreed to those 
 recommendations. Prosperity of the United States, though shipping has 
 been discouraged. Should attend to our defence. Peculiar situation of 
 Switzerland. Parallel case of Holland; future greatness of America, and 
 reason why she must not expect assistance from foreign Powers if attacked. 
 Domestic policy. 
 
xxxvi CONTENTS. 
 
 John Adams to John Jay. Auteuil, near Paris, May 13, 1785. .495 
 
 Transient conversations with foreign Ministers. Attentions of the Duke of 
 Dorset increased since the appointment to the Court of St. James. His visit 
 at Auteuil. Topics of conversation. The evacuation of the frontier posts . 
 British debts. Carrying off negroes. Second visit of the Duke at Auteuil, 
 Offers to write to Mr. Pitt. Gives information of Court etiquette. Not the 
 first lecture upon dress and etiquette. Appearances according to rank must 
 be maintained. Inability of American Minister.^ to conform to usage. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OP THE JOINT COMMISSIONERS AND MINIS- 
 TERS PLENIPOTENTIARY, JOHN ADAMS, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 AND THOMAS JEFFERSON, FOR THE FORMATION OP TREATIES 
 OF AMITY AND COMMERCE WITH FOREIGN POWERS. 
 
 Minutes of Proceedings. Passy, August 30, 1784 503 
 
 Instructions read. Resolved to meet every day until the objects of the com- 
 missions are properly arranged. Resolve that Captain Jones apply to the 
 Court of Denmark for compensation for prizes restored to the British. 
 
 Passy, August 31, 1784 503 
 
 Resolve to announce to the Court of Versailles the object of their mission. 
 ^ Information given to David Hartley. 
 
 Passy, September 1, 1784 504 
 
 Letter from the Secretary of Congress, enclosing a resolution relative to the 
 brig L'Aimable Elizabeth. Letter addressed to Mr. Barclay for information. 
 An interview to be requested of the Danish Minister. 
 
 Passy, September 4, 1784 504 
 
 Information of their powers communicated to the Baron de Walterstorff, the 
 Danish Minister, and requesting he would announce to his Court their read- 
 iness to proceed in the negotiation. 
 
 Passy, September 9, 1784 505 
 
 The object of the commission with respect to Prussia communicated to the 
 Baron Thulemeier, at the Hague. A similar letter addressed to the Portu- 
 guese Ambassador. 
 
 M. Spinola to Benjamin Franklin. Paris, September 9, 1784. .506 
 
 The Government of Genoa desirous of sending a Consul to Boston. Inquires 
 if it would be agreeable. 
 
 Benjamin Franklin to M. Spinola. Passy, September 13, 1784. . 506 
 
 Purport of the letter communicated to his colleagues. Thinks some convention 
 will be necessary between the respective States previous to the appointment 
 of Consuls. Full power of the Commissioners to treat. 
 
 Versailles, September 15, 1784 507 
 
 The Commissioners exhibited to the Count de Vergennes (officially) their com- 
 mission to negotiate and conclude a supplementary treaty with his most 
 Christian Majesty. 
 
 Passy, September 16, 1784 507 
 
 Mr. Hartley gives information of his orders to return to London. 
 
 Passy, near Paris, September 22, 1784 508 
 
 From the Commissioners to the Count de Aranda, Spanish Ambassador. 
 Information of powers given, and readiness to negotiate. 
 
CONTENTS. Xsxvii 
 
 The Ambassador of Portmgal to the Commissioners. Paris, September 
 21, 1784.... 509 
 
 Has transmitted the letter of the Commissioners to his Court. 
 
 M. Riviere, Charge d' Affaires of Saxony, to the Commissioners. 
 Paris, September 27, 1784 509 
 
 Has forwarded tlie communication of the Commissioners to his Court. 
 
 M. de Pio to the Commissioners. Paris, September 26, 1784. .509 
 
 Has submitted to tlie consideration of his Court the letter of the Commis- 
 sioners. 
 
 M. de Scarnafis to the Commissioners. Paris, October 26, 1784. .510 
 
 Letter of the Commissioners received and transmitted to his Court. 
 
 Chevaher Delfino to the Comrnissioners 510 
 
 Will transmit to his Court the letter of the Commissioners. 
 
 M. Favi to the Commissioners. Paris, October 10, 1784 511 
 
 Esteems it a duty to communicate the letter of the Commissioners to his Court. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Baron Stael de Holstein. Passy, October 
 2, 1784 511 
 
 Proposals for forming a supplementary treaty. Informs of their full powers. 
 
 Baron Stael de Holstein to the Commissioners. Paris, October 5, 
 1784 512 
 
 Asks for information relative to amendments to the treaty. 
 
 Verbal information communicated to the Secretary of the Swedish 
 Embassy, October 8, 1784 512 
 
 Count de Aranda to the Commissioners. Paris, September 27, 
 1784 513 
 
 Letter of the Commissioners of the 22d instant received. Wishes to be informed 
 if either of the Commissioners will repair to Madrid. Custom of Spain in 
 such cases. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Count de Aranda. Passy, October 28, 
 1784 514 
 
 Treaties having been proposed with most of the European Powers, it will be 
 inconvenient to repair to Madrid. 
 
 From the same to the Duke of Dorset. Passy, October 28, 
 1784 515 
 
 Inform of their powers, which had previously been communicated to Mr. 
 Hartley. His friendly assurances. Are ready to negotiate. 
 
 From the same to the same. Passy, October 28, 1784 516 
 
 Instructed to treat on some points distinct from a treaty of commerce. Ainenfl- 
 ment to the definitive treaty proposed relative to the cessation of hostilities 
 in different latitudes. Proposition respecting the debts. Further proposi- 
 tions for the payment for negroes carried away, and for liquidating the 
 charges respecting prisoners of war. 
 
 D. Humphreys to the Commissioners. Paris, October 30, 1784 . . 518 
 
 Account of an interview with the Duke of Dorset. 
 
 Baron Thulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, October 8, 
 1784 518 
 
 Full power granted by his Prussian Majesty to negotiate a treaty of amity and 
 commerce. The King desirous of knowing what city has been selected for 
 
XXXviii CONTENTS. 
 
 the exchange of commerce. Pull power of the King of Pi-ussia. Draft of 
 
 a treaty of amity and commerce consisting of twenty-seven articles, pp. 
 
 519-531. 
 
 The Commissioners to Baron Thulemeier. Passy, November 10, 
 
 1784 531 
 
 Letter of the 8th of October received. New articles to propose calculated to 
 diminish the calamity of war. Reasons in support of the new proposed 
 articles in the treaty of commerce transmitted to the Baron Thulemeier in 
 the letter of the 10th November, pp. 532-534. 
 
 First Report of the Commissioners to Congress. Paris, November 
 11, 1784 ,534 
 
 M. de Sa, dated Queluz, October 24, 1784, to M. de Souza 540 
 
 Assures that her faithful Majesty will be pleased with a better correspondence 
 with the United States. Asks for ex])Ianations. 
 
 The Commissioners to Count de Souza. Passy, November 30, 
 1784 540 
 
 Letter of M. de Sa received. Encloses a project of a treaty of amity and 
 commerce. Ready to sign, if approved by her Majesty. 
 
 Mons. Favi to the Commissioners. Paris, November 16, 1784. .541 
 
 Informs that the proposition on the part of the Commissioners has been agree- 
 able to his Royal Highness, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and that he will 
 receive with pleasure the plan of the treaty. 
 
 The Commissioners to Mons. Favi. Passy, December 9, 1784. .541 
 
 Enclose the plan of a treaty of amity and commerce, which they are ready to sign. 
 
 The Duke of Dorset to the Commissioners. Paris, November 24, 
 1784 541 
 
 Authorized by his Majesty's Ministers to assure of their readiness to take into 
 consideration proposals coming from the States for the advantage of botli 
 countries. A previous stipulation that the United States should send a person 
 duly authorized to London. No instructions relative to certain articles of 
 the preliminaries of peace. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Duke of Dorset. Passy, December 9, 
 1784 543 
 
 The Duke's letter of the 9th December received. Not authorized to answer 
 relative to the stipulation of a Minister's proceeding to London to reside 
 there constantly. Will transmit the letter to Congress, being invested with 
 fuU^ power to confer and conclude upon the subjects in question with his 
 Majesty's Ministers, and are so desirous of showing respect to his Majesty's 
 G-overnment that they would readily repair to London. 
 
 Second Report of the Commissioners to Congress. Passy, DeceiTiber 
 15, 1784 544 
 
 Mons. de Souza to the Commissioners. Paris, December 22, 
 1784... 545 
 
 Has transmitted the plan of a treaty to the Court of Lisbon. 
 
 Baron de Thulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hao-ue, December 
 10.1784 r 545 
 
 Has presented the new project of a treaty to the King. Approbation of the 
 views of the United States. Reminds the Commissioners of a former prop- 
 osition to select some city for the exchanges of commerce. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Baron de Thulemeier. Passy, January 
 21' 1^^^ • 546 
 
CONTENTS. xxxix 
 
 Letter of the lOtli December received. Think the last proposition answered 
 by the second and third articles of the treaty. If free porta are contemplated 
 are of opinion that both Stettin and Embden should be such. 
 
 M. WalterstorfF to the Commissioners. Paris, February 1 , 1 785 . . 547 
 
 Recommendation of the Count do Bernstorff. Wishes to be inrormed on certain 
 matters before setting out for Copenhagen. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to the Baron de Walterstorff. Paris, February 3, 
 1785 548 
 
 Encloses the draft of a treaty of amity and commerce. Will receive with 
 great respect any improvements. 
 
 Mons. de Pio to the Commissioners. Paris, January 22, 1785. .549 
 
 Propositions of the Commissioners have been submitted to the King. Messina 
 established a free port. Merchant vessels of tlie United States will be 
 received at Messina with perfect friendship; will be received in other ports 
 of his dominions. Tobacco a free article. Oil, wine, and silks free to be 
 exported from Sicily. Advises the commencement of a commerce with the 
 Sicilian ports. A treaty of commerce not necessary to a free trade. 
 
 M. de Scarnafis to the Commissioners. Paris, February 2, 1785. .551 
 
 The King of Sardinia will be pleased to see the ships of the United States 
 frequenting the free port of Nice. Will hereafter form commercial ties if 
 suitable. 
 
 Third Report of Commissioners to Congress. Paris, February 11, 
 1785 . . : 551 
 
 M. Favi to the Commissioners. Paris, February 10, 1785 553 
 
 The citizens of the United States will enjoy in the ports of Tuscany all the 
 facilities and advantages accorded to the most favored nations. 
 
 Baron de Thuleraeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, January 
 24, 1785 553 
 
 Observations on the counter project of the treaty of commerce authorized by 
 the King. A French translation of the treaty, the Prussian Court not being 
 familiar with the English language. 
 
 Answer of the Commissioners to the Observations on the project of 
 a Treaty with Prussia, transmitted by the Baron Thulemeier. 
 Passy, March 14, 1785 554^560 
 
 Baron de Thulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, February 
 11, 1785 560 
 
 Has transmitted to the King the proposition to establish Embden and Stettin as 
 free ports. 
 
 Baron Thulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, March 4, 
 1785 560 
 
 The establishing of free ports useless in the contemplated treaty. 
 
 The Pope's Nuncio to the Commissioners. Paris, December 15, 
 1785 561 
 
 The citizens of the United States will be well received in the ports of Civita 
 Vecchia and Ancona, provided the subjects of the Holy See are reciprocally 
 treated in the ports of thcUnited States. 
 
 John Jay to the Commissioners. New York, January 14, 1785 . . 562 
 
 Has accepted the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Expected attack of 
 the Cherokees on Kentucky. 
 
 Fourth Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. Paris, March 18, 
 1785 562 
 
xl CONTENTS. 
 
 William Carmichael to Benjamin Franklin. Madrid, February 27, 
 1784 .564 
 
 Affair of Mr. Hartwell. May be liberated on leaving Spain. Advices of the 
 capture of an American vessel by a Morocco cruiser. Steps taken thereupon. 
 Letter from Robert Morris received giving information of the cruelty and 
 injustice of the Spanish Government at Havana. The King disposed to do 
 justice. 
 
 Report of John Adams to the other Commissioners. Auteuil, March 
 20, 1785 566 
 
 Visit to the Count de Vergennes. Cluestion relating to the Barbary Powers. 
 An official application to the French Ministry required. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Count de Vergennes. Fassy, March 28, 
 1785 568 
 
 Affairs with the Barbaiy States. The advice of the French Ministry asked 
 relative to a negotiation with tho.9e Powers. French treaty with Algiers 
 about to expire. Inquiry if the treaty will be renewed. The good offices 
 and interposition of his Majesty requested, according to the tenor of the 
 eighth article of the treaty of commerce. 
 
 Extract of a letter from the Commissioners to the Count de Ver- 
 gennes, dated Passy, August 28, 1778 570 
 
 Respecting the Barbary Powers. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to the Commissioners. Versailles, September 
 27, 1778 570 
 
 Communication of the 28th ultimo referred to M. de Sartine. Explanations 
 required. 
 
 M. de Sartine to the Count de Vergennes. Versailles, September 
 21, 1778 571 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of a letter from the Count de Vergennes on the 
 request of the American Commissioners. Has referred to the treaty, and 
 thinks it obligatory on his Majesty to employ his good offices witli the Bar- 
 bary Powers in behalf of the United States. What are means of effecting 
 this object.' Will the United States conclude treaties, or merely wish to 
 have their flag respected .' Less difficult to form treaties. 
 
 Count de Vergennes to the Commissioners. Versailles, April 28, 
 1784 ...571 
 
 Encloses the copy of a letter from the Marcschal de Castries. 
 
 Mareschal de Castries to the Count de Vergennes. Versailles, April 
 24,1785 5^73 
 
 Barbary affairs. Course proper to be pursued by the Commissioners. 
 
 The Duke of Dorset to the Commissioners. Paris, March 26, 
 1785... ..574 
 
 Instructions from London. Inquires whether the Commissioners are empow- 
 ered merely by Congress, or whether they have separate powers from the 
 respective States. Information necessary on this point, as the respective 
 States appear dotermnicd to regulate their own separate interests. 
 
 The Commissioners to the Duke of Dorset. Passy, May 16, 
 1785 ' 575 
 
 His Grace's letter of the 26th March received. Informs that Congress has 
 appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of London. 
 
 Fifth Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. Paris April 13 
 
 i'^85 ; 57^ 
 
CONTENTS. xli 
 
 M. Favi to the Commissioners. Paris, August 26, 1785 578 
 
 Tlie project of a treaty acceptable to the Grand Duke. Transmits a translation 
 with some amendments. Citizens of the United States will bo received at 
 Leghorn, and treated in every case as those of the most favored nation. 
 
 Baron Tbulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, May 3, 
 1785 578 
 
 His Majesty approves the nineteenth article as last drawn up. Slight change 
 in the fourth article. 
 
 The Commissioners to Baron Thulemeier. Passy, May 26, 
 1785 580 
 
 Proposed treaty agreed upon. Proposition as to the mode of signing. 
 
 Baron Thulemeier to the Commissioners. The Hague, June 17, 
 
 1785 .580 
 
 Acknowledges the receipt of the letter of the 26th May. Anticipates lasting 
 advantages from the new treaty to both countries. 
 
 Sixth Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. Paris, May 11, 
 1785 581 
 
 The Commissioners to M. Favi. Passy, June 8, 1785 582 
 
 Most of the changes proposed by the Grand Duke admitted. Cbservations on 
 the alterations proposed by his Royal Highness in the articles of treaty 
 offered by the Commissioners, p. 582. 
 
 Mons. Favi to the Commissioners. Paris, June 11, 1785 583 
 
 Letter of the 8th instant received. Observations forwarded to the Court of 
 Tuscany, pp^ 583-592. 
 
 Seventh Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. Passy, June 
 18, 1785 592 
 
 Baron Thulemeier to Thomas Jefferson. The Hague, July 19, 
 1785 593 
 
 The King's approbation of the treaty of commerce. Duration of the treaty 
 fixed at ten years. The King is only waiting for the treaty s-igned by the 
 American Plenipotentiaries to cause the ratification to be transmitted in the 
 usual manner. 
 
 Instructions from the Commissioners to William Short .594 
 
 Mr. Short proceeds to the Hague for the purpose of effecting the exchange of 
 the Prussian treaty. 
 
 The Commissioners to C. W. F. Dumas 595 
 
 Is associated with Mr. Short in effecting the exchange of tlie Prussian treaty. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to the Baron Thulemeier. Paris, July — , 
 1785 , 596 
 
 Desirous that Dr. Franklin should have joined in the execution of the treaty. 
 Mr. Short's mission. 
 
 Eighth Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. Paris, August 
 14, 1785 597 
 
 Report of John Jay on the treaty with Prussia, March 9, 1786, p. 398. 
 
 Ninth Report of the Commissioners to John Jay. October — , 
 1785 600 
 
 The Commissioners to- John Jay. Grosvenor Square, April 25, 
 1786 ' 60C 
 
x!ii CONTENTS. 
 
 Conference with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Informed that the 
 joint commission for the negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain 
 would expire on the 12th May. His Lordship requests the project of a 
 treaty merely commercial 
 
 The Commissioners to Lord Caermarthen. Grosvenor Square, April 
 4, 1786 602 
 
 Enclose the project of a treaty of commerce. 
 
 The Commissioners to John Jay. Grosvenor Square, March 28, 
 1786 604 
 
 Conference with the Ambassador of Tripoli. Terras of tribute. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the above letter, May 29, 1786.. . .606 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE OP THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 John Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, to Thomas Jefferson, Min- 
 ister Plenipotentiary to France. New York, March 15, 1785. .611 
 
 Encloses an act of Congress respecting his appointment. 
 
 From the same to the same, March 22, 1785 611 
 
 The packet being detained transmits commission and letter of credence. Ex- 
 tract from the Secret Journal of Congress, March 22, 1785, p. 612. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson, April 15, 1785. . .! 612 
 
 Encloses a statement of the duties in the French free ports. Mr. Osgood and 
 Mr. Walter Livingston Commissioners of the Treasury. Mr. Gervais 
 declined. Adequate provision for the Treasury long delayed. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, May 11, 1785 613 
 
 Commission and letter of credence received. Professions of zeal and gratitude. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 15, 1785 614 
 
 Young Mr. Adams the bearer of this with a cypher. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson, June 1 5, 1785 614 
 
 Not charged to communicate any instructions. Encloses a letter for the King. 
 A. Minister expected from France. Commercial people of the United States 
 dissatisfied with foreign restrictions. This uneasiness favorable to a more 
 perfect union. 
 
 From the same to the same, July 13, 1785 615 
 
 Letters of Mr. Jefferson have been submitted to Congress. Forbears speaking 
 officially on the subject of them. A copy of the consular convention sent by 
 Dr. Franklm received. Intelligence of the British enticing our people to 
 settle our lands under their protection. Mr. Adams supposed'to be inLondon; 
 anxiety to hear from him. Governor Livingston appointed to the Hague, 
 but declined. Governor Rutledge since elected. 
 
 From the same to the same, August 13, 1785 .616 
 
 Letters received of the 11th May. Congress silent with respect to the letters 
 of their Ministers. Arthur Lee Commissioner of the Treasury. Produce 
 high tliough the harvest is good. Credit and paper money. Encloses letters 
 and papers relative to the French trade. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, June 17, 1785 617 
 
 Appointment as Minister communicated to the Count de Vero-ennes Thinks 
 peace will continue another year in Europe. European polttics. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. New York, September 14, 1785 . . 618 
 
CONTENTS. xliii 
 
 Joint letters and Mr. Jefferson's of the ITtli June received. No news from 
 Captain Lamb. Congress occupied on the requisition of supplies. The 
 affair of Longchamps agreeably terminated. Go-vernor Rutledgo declines 
 going to Holland. A court to decide the controversy between New York 
 and Massachusetts to meet at Williamsburg. Rage for making now States. 
 Want of power in the Federal Government. , 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, September 15, 1785. .620 
 
 Encloses a letter from Count deVergennes. Conduct and deportment of Mons. 
 Marbois during his residence. Influence of a Minister. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, July 12, 1785 620 
 
 Encloses papers received from Captain Paul Jones relative to John Jackson, 
 pilot, wounded in the engagement with the Serapis. Will hi difficult in future 
 to communicate the proceedings of the joint commission. Letter of Captain 
 Jones, p. 621. Certificate of Jackson, p. 622. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas JefFerson. New York, November 2, 1785 . . 623 
 
 Doctor Franklin arrived in Philadelphia. The English give trouble on our 
 eastern borders. Mr. Adams instructed on the subject. Our frontier posts 
 still occupied by the English. Mr. Houdon the bearer. 
 
 Thomas JefFerson to John Jay. Paris, August 14, 1785 624 
 
 Cluestion upon the Chcv. Luzerne returning to America. Thinks he will go 
 to London. The salute refused by a French vessel fo a British armed one 
 in the channel the subject of a conference. Circumstances foreboding war! 
 but neither nation in a condition to go to war. Situation and designs of the 
 Continental Powers. Expedition of Captain Peyrouse. Captain Jones 
 desired to ascertain its destination. The affair of Longchamps the subject 
 of conversation with Count de Vergennes. An inquiry from him as to the 
 condition of the finances of America. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, August 14, 1785 627 
 
 Mr. Short appointed to repair to the Hague for the exchange of signature of 
 the Prussian treaty. Mons. Dumas associated with him. Letters enclosed 
 from Baron -Thulemeier to Thomas Jefferson, the Hague, July 19, 1785, p. 
 629. Copy of the reply. Paris, July, 1785, p. 629. Instructions from 
 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to William Short, p. 630. Instructions 
 from the same to Charles Dumas, p 632. Mr. Carmichael to Thomas Jef- 
 ferson. Cadiz, July 19, 1785, p. 633. Louis Goublot to William Carmichael. 
 Sallee, June 25, 1785, p. 633. The Count de Florida Blanca to William 
 Carmichael, p. 634. List of presents made by the States General to Morocco, 
 p. 635. 
 John Jay to Thomas JefFerson. New York, December 7, 1785. .637 
 
 Letter of the 14th August received. Arrival of Mr. Temple. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, January 19, 1786. . .637 
 
 Congress inactive from want of full representation. Thinks the requisition on 
 the States will be generally complied with. A disposition prevaihng to 
 enable Congress to regulate trade. Cluestions in cypher respecting the posts. 
 Spain insists upon the navigation of the Mississippi. Trouble in Massa- 
 chusetts. Hopes the negotiations with Barbary may prove successful. 
 , Indian affairs do not prosper. 
 
 Thomas JefFerson to John Jay. Paris, August 30, 1785 638 
 
 Encloses a correspondence with the Mareschal de Castries on the subject of 
 prize money due to the officers and crew of the Alliance frigate. French 
 and American Post Offices. Necessity of the appointment of a Secretary of 
 Legation. Mr. Short conditionally appointed until the pleasure of Congress 
 is known. Improvement in the musket. Things remain in Europe as at 
 last dates. Enclosures. Letter from Thomas Jefferson to M. de Castries, 
 July 10, 1785, p. 642. From the same to the same, August 3, 1785, p. 643. 
 J. P. Jones to Thomas Jefferson. L'Orient, July 31, 1785, p. 644. M. de 
 
xliv CONTENTS. 
 
 Castries to Thomas Jefferson. Versailles, August 12, 1785, p. 645. Thomas 
 Jefferson to M. de Castries. Paris, August 17, 1785, p. 646. M. de Cas- 
 tries to Thomas Jefferson. Versailles, August 26, 1785, p. 647. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, October 6, 1785 648 
 
 European affairs. French marine. Expedition of Peyrouse. Letter from 
 Captain Jones on the subject. Enclosures. Thomas Jefferson to Paul 
 Jones. Paris, August 3, 1785, p. 649. Captain Jones to Thomas Jefferson. 
 Paris, October 5, 1785, p. 650. Thomas Jefferson to William Short. Paris, 
 September 24, 1785, p. 651. From the same to Mons. Grand. Paris, Sep- 
 tember 24, 1785, p. 652. 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, October 11, 1785 652 
 
 Mr. Lamb not having arrived, T. Barclay appointed to proceed to Morocco. 
 Hostilities commenced by Algiers. Arrival of Mr. Lamb, with instructions, 
 &c. Determine to send him to Algiers. Conversation with the Portuguese 
 Ambassador. Extract of a letter from the Minister. State of the negotia- 
 tions for making treaties of Alliance. Enclosures. Richard O'Bryen to 
 Thomas Jefferson. Algiers, August 24, 1785, p. 655. Commissions to 
 Thomas Barclay and John Lamb, p. 656. Instructions to Thomas Barclay, 
 p. 657. Heads of inquiry for Mr. Barclay to Morocco, p. 660. Supple- 
 mentary instruction for Mr. Lamb, p. 661. Instructions to Thomas Barclay 
 and John Lamb, October 6, 1785, p. 662. Thomas Jefferson and John 
 Adams to the Emperor of Morocco, p. 663. John Adams and Thomas 
 Jefferson to Count de Vergennes, p. 664. From the same to William Car- 
 michael. London, September 12, 1785, p. 666. Report of John Jay on the 
 preceding letter. May 11, 1786, p. 673. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, December 24, 1785.. . .616 
 
 Letters received from Mr. Jay to 15th September. Transmits papers relative 
 to Fortin's case; receipt of Commodore Jones, &c. The Ambassador of the 
 Emperor communicates the prospectus of a mercantile establishment at 
 Trieste for a commerce with the United States. Letters to the bankers Van 
 Staphorsts. Reduction of the duty on American whale oil. Enclosures. 
 Letters of Andrew Limozin. Havre de Grace, October 4, 1785, p. 677. 
 From the same, October 11, 1785, p. 677. M. de Castries to Thomas Jeffer- 
 son. Fontainebleau, October 28th, 1785, p. 678. Shares of prizes made by 
 J. P. Jones in 1779. Receipted, p. 679. Thomas Jefferson to Messrs. Van 
 Staphorsts. Paris, October 12, 1785, p. 680. From the same to the same. 
 Paris, October 25, 1785, p. 681. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, January 2, 1786 683 
 
 Several conferences and letters having passed between the Count de Vergennes 
 and Mr. Jefferson on commercial affairs, thinks them sufficiently interesting 
 to be communicated to Congress; stated in the form of a report. Commu- 
 nicated to the Count the report of Captain Shaw's voyage to China. His 
 reply, and dissatisfaction at the acts of some of the State Legislatures; a hint 
 diat measures will be taken to countervail them. Instructions asked from 
 Congress. Mr. Lamb at Madrid, on the way to Algiers. Mr. Barclay on 
 the point of setting out for Morocco; postpones his journey to effect a settle- 
 ment of Beaumarchais 's account. Conversation with the Chevalier de la 
 Luzerne on the suhject of his return to America. Enclosures. From the 
 same to the same, on commercial affaii-s, p. 685. Thomas Jefferson to the 
 Count de Vergennes. Paris, August 15, 1785, p. 687. On commercial 
 affairs. Baa-on Thulemeicr to Thomas Jefferson. The Hague, October 11, 
 1785, p. 706. Thomas Jefferson to Bai-on Thulemeier. Paris, October 16, 
 1785, p. 706. Thomas Jefferson to Count de Vergennes. Paris, October 11, 
 1785, p. 707. Count de Vergennes to Thomas Jefferson. Fontainebleau, 
 October 30, 1785, p. 707. Thomas Jefferson to Count de Vergennes. Paris, 
 November 20, 1785, p. 708. Count de Vergennes to Thomas Jefferson. 
 Versailles, November 30, 1785, p. 710. Thomas Jefferson to Count de Ver- 
 gennes, December 2, 1785, p. 710. Extract of a letter from M. de Calonne 
 to La Fayette. Paris, November 17, 1785, p. 711. List of duties payable 
 on whale oils, p. 711. Answers to certain queries desired, p. 712. 
 
CONTENTS. xlv 
 
 Thomas JeffeEson to John Jay. Paris, January 27, 1786 713 
 
 Departtire of Mi. Barclay for Morocco. Conversation with the Imperial 
 Ambassador rclatiTe to negotiations for a commercial treaty. Reflections 
 upon the non-compliance of nations possessing American territory with 
 regard to the formation of treaties. Monsieur Dumas, his services at the 
 Hague. Inquiry made by the Minister of Geneva after Mr. Gallatin. En- 
 closures. Count de "Vergenncs to Thomas Jefferson. Versailles, January 
 18, 1786, p. 716. Relative to Mons. Dumas. Inquiry relative to Mr. Albert 
 Gallatin, p. 717. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. May 5, 1786 718 
 
 Letters received to the 27th January, various papers enclosed. Until the 
 present week Congress not composed of nine States since last fall, but for 
 three or four days. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, May 10, 1786. . . . . .719 
 
 Letter of introduction in favor of Doctor Samuel Wales. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, March 5, 1786 719 
 
 Colonel Humphreys intends returning home. Bears testimony to the faithful 
 discharge of his duties. 
 
 From the same to the same. London, March 12, 1786. 720 
 
 Reasons for repairing to London. Gluestions upon the guarantee of France 
 and America -with respect to their respective possessions; will ask the good 
 offices of France to obtain a delivery of the posts. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. New York, June 16, 1786 722 
 
 Letters of Mr. Jefferson received to the 12th March; that of the 2d January 
 very interesting. Regrets that France has derived so little advantage from 
 the commerce with America. French system of monopoly. Business still 
 undecided by Congress. Approves of Mr. Jefferson's going to England. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. London, April 23, 1786 723 
 
 Conversation with Duncan Campbell, chairman of the committee of British 
 merchants, on British and American affairs. 
 
 From the same to the same. London, April 23, 1786 725 
 
 Treaty with Portugal at length brought to a close. With England nothing is 
 done, or intended to be done. Amidst all the changes of Ministry no 
 changes of measures towards America All attempts at negotiation futile. 
 Opinions of the Marquis of Lansdowne and Dr. Price. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. New York, July 14, 1786 .... 727 
 
 Letters of the 23d April received. Is pleased with the prospect of a treaty 
 with Portugal. American affairs. Encroachments of New Brunswick on 
 the Eastern boundary. Trouble expected with the Indians. Inability of 
 Congress to provide the ways and means to meet pecuniary engagements. 
 Nothing wrong in Congress, but their wanting the power of coercion. 
 
 Thomas J^erson to William Carmichael. Paris, May 5, 1786. .728 
 
 Conferences with the Tripolitan Ambassador. Commercial treaty arranged 
 with Portugal. Overtures to the Court of London. The King, Ministers, 
 and nation bitterly hostile to us. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to M. Dumas. Paris, May 6, 1786 730 
 
 No intelligence of the arrival of the Prussian treaty in America. Reasons for 
 proceeding to London. The English inimical to the United States. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. Paris, May 11, 1786 731 
 
 Encloses letters on African affairs. The price of peace beyond our powers. 
 Recommends the return of Mr. Lamb to Congress. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, May 12, 1786 731 
 
xlvi CONTENTS. 
 
 Friendly overtures of the Baron de Blome, Minister from the Court of Den- 
 mark. The commerce of that country on a very free footmg. If particular 
 stipulations are more eligible is ready to concur with the United States in 
 establishing them. The Imperial Minister receives a full power to negotiate, 
 and asks for a draft of propositions. Encloses the following letters: Thomas 
 Barclay to Thomas Jefferson. Bayonne, February 24, 1786, p. 733. From 
 the same to the same. Madrid, March 13, 1786, p. 734. From the same to 
 the same. Madrid, March 20, 1786, p. 734. From the same to the same. 
 Madrid, March 23, 1786, p. 734. Thomas Barclay to John Adams. Madrid, 
 March 27, 1786, p. 735. From the same to Thomas Jefferson. Madrid, 
 March 31, 1786, p. 736. From the same to the same. Madrid, April 5, 
 1786, p. 737. From the same to the same. Madrid, April 10, 1786, p. 738. 
 John Lamb to Thomas Jefferson. Algiers, March 29, 1786, p. 739. William 
 Carmichael to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson. Madrid, February 3, 1786, 
 p. 740. From the same to the same. Madrid, April 13, 1786, p. 745. Note 
 from Otamendi, December 13, p. 746. Letter from Algiers to "William Car- 
 michael, without signature or address, December 15, 1785, p. 746. From 
 Count Florida Blanca. The Pardo, May 31, 1786, p. 748. From the same. 
 The Pardo, May 31, 1786, p. 748. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, May 22, 1786 748 
 
 A Rhingrave de Salm from the Netherlands negotiating at Paris. Recommends 
 M. Dumas for a diplomatic situation. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 23, 1786 750 
 
 Count de Vergennes, having been at Constantinople, is consulted with respect 
 to a treaty with the Ottoman Porte. Information on that subject. Barbary 
 affairs. Eligibility of blockading Algiers. Conversation relative to the 
 detention of the posts by the English and the guarantee of France. Encloses 
 a letter from the Count d'Estaing to Thomas Jefferson, Paris, May 17, 
 1786, relative to bombarding or blockading Algiers, p. 752. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 27, 1786 754 
 
 Letters received from Messrs. Carmichael, Barclay, and Lamb, on Barbary 
 affairs. An article of the Spanish treaty with Algiers, that the latter shall 
 treat with no nation not having a treaty with the Porte. Encloses a letter 
 from P. R. Randall to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson. Madrid, May 14, 
 1786, p. 755. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 27, 1786 756 
 
 On commercial affairs. Tobacco contract between Robert Morris and the 
 Farmers General, p. 760. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, May 31, 1786 763 
 
 Encloses the following papers, which were too late for the letter of the 27th 
 instant: Count de Vergennes to Thomas Jefferson. Versailles, May 30, 
 1786, p. 764. Resolves of a committee held at Bernis, March 24, 1786, p. 
 764. Relative to Mr. Morris's contract for tobacco. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. New York, August 18, 1786. .765 
 
 Letters acknowledged to the 31st May. Delays in Congress from a want of 
 representation. The consular convention under consideration. The con- 
 struction of the Federal Government fundamentally wrong. Has advised 
 Congress to renew Mr. Jefferson's commission to certain Powers. 
 
 From the same to the same. October 3, 1786 766 
 
 Encloses documents relative to the consular convention. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to Wilham Carmichael. Paris, June 20, 1786 . . 767 
 
 Negotiations with Algiers suspended for further orders from Congress. A letter 
 from Dr. Franklin on American affairs. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, April [July] 8, 1786. . .769 
 
 Report on the consular convention delivered to Count de Vergennes. Mr. 
 
CONTENTS. xlvii 
 
 Lamb directed to repair to Congress. Propositions of M. Houdon for 
 making a statue of General Washington. Affair of Lister Asquith, an 
 American, who entered a port of France in disti-css in a vessel of less than 
 thirty tons; accused of an intention to smuggle. Best method of rendering 
 the Island of St. Bartholomew useful, stated in a letter to the Ambassador 
 of Sweden. Steps taken to obtain the continuance of the reduction of duties 
 on whale oil. Enclosures accompanying the preceding letter; Thomas Bar- 
 clay to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson. Cadiz, May 23, 1786, p. 771. John 
 Lamb to Thomas Jefferson. Madrid, May 20, 1786, p. 772. John Mehegan 
 to Thomas Jefferson, accompanied by another letter, without signature, 
 relative to Lister Asquith, p. 779. Case of Lister Asquith, p. 781. Thomas 
 Jefferson to Baron de Stael. Paris, June 12, 1786, p. 788. 
 
 Thomas JefFerson to John Adams. Paris, July 11, 1786 791 
 
 Barbary affairs. Reasons for preferring war to a purchased peace. Proposes 
 an armed confederacy. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas JefFerson. October 12, 1786 794 
 
 An act of Congress for recalling Mr. Lamb. 
 
 From the same to the same. New York, October 27, 1786 794 
 
 Despatches relating to the consular convention. Entry of the scheme erroneous 
 in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Thinks Mr. Adams and Mr. Jeffer- 
 son should have commissions to treat with the Emperor and other Powers. 
 Inefficiency of our Government daily more apparent. Spirit of licentiousness 
 in Massachusetts. Distressing situation of American affairs. '- 
 
 Thomas JefFerson to John Jay. Paris, August 11, 1786 796 
 
 Intelligence relative to Sir Guy Carleton's instructions from the Court of Lon- 
 don. Arrival of Peyrouse at Brazil; his ulterior destination. Case of 
 Schweighauser & Dobre. Despatches relative to the Barbary Powers. 
 Encloses the following papers: Schweighauser & Dobre to Thomas J'efferson, 
 p. 798. Extract of a letter from William Carmichael, Madrid, July 15, 1786, 
 p. 799. Extract of a letter from the same, Madrid, July 15, 1786, p. 800. 
 Mr. Lamb to Thomas Jefferson, Alicant, July 15, 1786, p. 802. From the 
 same to the same, Alicant, July 18, 1786, p. 802. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, August 13, 1786 804 
 
 The Portuguese treaty meets with difficulties . Treaty between France and 
 England supposed to be stationary. Del Pinto will probably succeed the 
 deceased Minister in Portugal; the change favorable to our treaty. Question 
 to be propounded to Mr. Adams with regard to Algiers. Encloses letters 
 from Thomas Barclay to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson, Morocco, June 26, 
 1786, p. 805. Extract from William Carmichael to Thomas Jefferson, 
 Madrid, July 31, 1786, p. 806. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas JefFerson. December 1, 1786 808 
 
 Relative to the affair of the South Carolina frigate. 
 
 From the same to the same. December 13, 1786 808 
 
 Information from the Consul of France relative to the South Carolina frigate. 
 
 From the same to the same. December 14, 1786 808 
 
 Congress had not made a House from the 7th ultimo. Information relative to 
 Sir Guy Carleton's instructions contradicted from London. An understand- 
 ing supposed between the insurgents in Massachusetts and leaders in Canada. 
 Evidence of emissaries sent to duebec. Intimations given of the disaffec- 
 tion of Vermont. The idea mischievous that the interests of the Atlantic 
 and Western parts of the United States are distinct. Moderate conduct of 
 Massachusetts towards the Insurgents, Their intentions, conduct, and 
 character. Affair of Schweighauser & Dobre. Captives in Algiers. Treaty 
 ■ between France and England; its probable consequences. Opinion upon the 
 form of Government; objections to the existing form Want of money to 
 redeem the captives or purchase peace from Algiers. Apprehensions of an 
 Indian war excited by Great Britain. Settlements in the West. 
 
xlviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Thomas JefFerson to John Jay. Paris, September 26, 1786. . .812 
 
 Opinion of Mr. Adams against sending Mr. Barclay to Algiers. European 
 affairs. Propositions of a Dutch company to purcliase the debt of the United 
 States due to France. Proposes to borrow 24,000,000 in Holland, and pay 
 the whole debt at qnce. Reasons for the measure. Encloses letters: Thomas 
 Barclay to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson. Morocco, July 16, 1786, p. 814. 
 From the same to the same. Mogadore, July — , 1786, p. 815. From the 
 same to the same. Daralbeyda, August 11, 1786, p. 815. John Lamb to 
 Thomas Jefferson. Alicant, August 10, 1786, p. 816. Messrs. Adams and 
 Jefferson to John Lamb, p. 816. Extract of a letter from "William Carmichael 
 to Thomas Jefferson. St. Ildefonso, August 17, 1786, p. 817. Extract from 
 William Carmichael to Thomas Jefferson. St. Ildefonso, September 4-, 1786, 
 p. 819. 
 
 John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. New York, February 9, 1787 , .819 
 
 Letter of the 26th September received. American affairs; inconveniences of 
 the form of Government; want of energy. Transmits a letter to the King, 
 At a loss to judge of the future action of Congress. Thinks treaties should 
 be formed for short periods. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson to John Jay. Paris, October 23, 1786. .. ».821 
 
 Refers to former communications relative to commerce. The M de la Payette 
 appointed member of a committee for considering the means of promoting 
 the general commerce with America. Valuable services of the Marquis. 
 Letter written to the committee. Their reply a proof of the good disposition 
 of the King and his Ministers. Considers the regulations which are trans- 
 mitted as the ultimate settlement of the conditions of commerce with France. 
 Intention of visiting the sea-port towns, with a view to obtain commercial 
 knowledge. Journey postponed to the spring. Brings to the notice of 
 Congress the active and efficacious assistance of the Marquis de la Fayette. 
 Thomas Jefferson to the Marquis de la Payette. Paris, July 17, 1786, p. 
 823. On commercial affairs. Estimate of exports of the United States, p. 
 825. 
 
 From the same to the same. Paris, October 27, 1786 826 
 
 Encloses the original letter of M. Calonne on the subject of American com- 
 merce. M. de Calonne to Thomas Jefferson. Fontainebleau, October 23, 
 1786, p. 827. Arret of the King's Council of State, September 10, 1786. p. 
 830. Arret of the King's Council of State, May 27, 1786, p. 831. Arret of 
 the King's Council of State, November 11, 1785, p. 832. 
 
THE 
 
 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 UNITED STATES, 
 
 Vol. L— 1 
 
THE 
 
 DIPLOMATIC COREESPONDENCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTERS 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES AT PARIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, 16th June, 1783. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I am sorry to inform you that by the resignation of Mr. Livingston, 
 as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, it has become necessary that you 
 should receive the resolutions of Congress, relative to your mission, 
 through my hands. The disadvantage arising from this necessity, 
 until a successor to that worthy gentleman is appointed, will be 
 yours, as it will be impossible for me to do more than barely transmit 
 the acts of Congress necessary for your information. 
 
 Enclosed you have one of the 1st of May last, and another of the 
 12th instant, which I hope will get to hand time enough for your 
 government. 
 
 The commission and instructions referred to in the first not being 
 ready, it was thought best to forward the resolution without delay, 
 that you might know what was intended in the present important 
 period of your negotiation. 
 
 We have been much surprised that we have not received any com- 
 
4 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 munication from you, since the cessation of hostilities, except a letter 
 of the 5th of April, from Mr. Laurens. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, he, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Congress, May 1st, 1783. 
 
 " A letter havmg been read from the Minister of France to the 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs, requesting him to inform Congress of 
 the proposed departure of the Duke de Lauzun's legion, and other 
 detachments of Count Rochambeau's army, for France, and express- 
 ing with the Duke de Lauzun, the sense that he and the other officers 
 and men of this army entertain of the harmony which has subsisted 
 between them and the inhabitants of these States, and of the hospi- 
 tality with which they have been treated by them. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform the Min- 
 ister of France that Congress learn with pleasure the satisfaction 
 which the Duke de Lauzun, and the officers and men of the French 
 army in America express, in the harmony which has subsisted between 
 them and the inhabitants of these States, since it exhibits at the same 
 time a strong proof of the good disposition and discipline of tlie com- 
 manders, officers, and men, and the just sense the people of this 
 country entertain of the important services they have rendered — 
 
 As a further proof of which. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform the Duke 
 de Lauzun, and the officers and men under liis command, that the 
 United States in Congress assembled are highly sensible of their suc- 
 cessful exertions in the cause of America, and of the strict attention 
 which they have at all times paid to the rights of its citizens ; and 
 whilst they rejoice at the events which have brought tranquillity to 
 these States, it adds to their pleasure to reflect that it restores those 
 who have been active in procuring it to their friends and their country." 
 
 Resolution, June 12th, 1783. 
 
 " Resolved, That every foreign minister, on his being admitted to 
 his first audience, shall be introduced by the Secretary of Foreign 
 Affairs to a seat provided for him facing the President of Congress • 
 
PIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 5 
 
 the President and members beipg seated, and the President covered, 
 the minister being uncovered, and so to remain, unless he 1?e of the 
 rank of an ambassador. 
 
 The minister, being seated, shall deliver his letter of credence to 
 the Secretary of Congress by his own secretary, who shall stand by 
 him during his audience. If the minister chooses to address Con- 
 gress, he shall rise when he speaks. 
 
 The letter of credence being delivered by the Secretary of Con- 
 gress to the interpreter, when such officer shall be necessary, he shall 
 read it in its original language, and then present a translation of it to 
 the Secretary of Congress, who shall read the same. Upon which 
 the President, after reading his answer uncovered, shall deliver the 
 same to the Secretary of Congress, who shall present it to the min- 
 ister, who shall rise to receive it. 
 
 The minister then shall be reconducted to his carriage by the Sec- 
 retary for Foreign Aifairs. 
 
 If the minister is of the rank of ambassador, ordinary or extraor- 
 dinary, he shall be covered when he takes his" seat. In that case, 
 too, the President shall rise when the ambassador is introduced, and 
 also when he reads his answer. 
 
 In any subsequent public audience of a foreign minister, the same 
 ceremonial shall be observed, except so far as it relates to the delivery 
 and reading of the credentials. 
 
 Every foreign minister, after his first audience, shall pay the first 
 visit to the President and other members of Congress." 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PBESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO BENJAMIN FRANK- 
 LIN, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY, &IC., AT PARIS. 
 
 Philadeljihia, 18th June, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Enclosed you have an official letter, directed to our Minister Plen- 
 ipotentiary at Paris. 
 
 The resignation of the late Secretary for Foreign Affairs (occa- 
 sioned by his preference of the Chancellorship of New York, which 
 he could not hold longer and retain his Secretaryship) has cast this 
 business on me till a successor is elected, which I hope will speedil)- 
 take place. 
 
6 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 As part of the resolution of Congress of the 12th instant, enclosed 
 in the above letter, is of a secret nature, I have written it in cyphers ; 
 and not having Mr. Livingston's, I thought it best to use Mr. Morris's 
 to you, which he has obligingly supplied me with, so that the Com- 
 missioners must be indebted to you for the deciphering of it. 
 
 Four letter to Mr. Livingston of the 15th of April, enclosing the 
 two medals, came to hand this morning. I am sorry to find that you 
 make similar complaints to those we have been making for two months 
 past, on the subject of want of intelligence. We have not heard 
 from any of our Commissioners since February, though our anxiety 
 and expectations have been wound up to the highest pitch. 
 
 I feel myself much indebted for your polite compliment of the 
 medal — ^it is very elegant, indeed ; and the device and workmanship 
 much admired. You will please to accept of my acknowledgments 
 on this occasion. As I doubt not but the copper one was intended 
 for Mr. Livingston, personally, I shall transmit it to him. He is a 
 very worthy, deserving character, and the United States will suffer 
 greatly by his resignation, thougl^ I really think hmi justified in attend- 
 ing to the calls of his private affairs. 
 
 I enclose you a number of late newspapers, in which you will see 
 a number of resolves, associations, &;c.,from all parts of the country, 
 which I wish had been kept out of sight ; but the truth is, that the 
 cruelties, ravages, and barbarisms of the refugees and loyalists have 
 left the people so sore, that it is not the time yet for them to exercise 
 their cooler judgment ; and it cannot take place while the citizens of 
 New York 'are kept out of their habitations and despoiled daily of 
 their property, by sending off negroes, &;c. It has been an ill-judged 
 scheme in the British to retain New York so long and send off the 
 negroes, as it has roused the spirit of the citizens of the several States 
 greatly. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTERS 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES AT PARIS. 
 
 Princeton, 15th July, 1783. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 As Congress have not yet elected any Minister for Foreign Affairs, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 7 
 
 and knowing the importance of your being fully informed of every 
 public transaction relative to these States, I have concluded that you 
 would not think it amiss to hear from me on the subject of the removal 
 of Congress to this place, though I cannot consider this communi- 
 cation as official, but merely for your information in my individual 
 capacity. 
 
 The state of our finances making it indispensably necessary to 
 abridge the public expenses in every instance that would not endanger 
 the Union, we concluded to reduce the army by discharging all the 
 soldiers enlisted for the war, with a proportionate number of officers, 
 on condition that the discharge should operate no otherwise than as 
 a furlough, until the ratification of the definitive treaty. This not 
 only eased us of a heavy disbursement of ready cash for subsistence, 
 money, and rations, but gratified many of the army, who wished to 
 be at home in the early part of the summer, to provide for the follow- 
 ing winter. Three months' pay was ordered, which could no other- 
 wise be complied with, but by a paper anticipation of the taxes, 
 payable in six months. 
 
 By an inevitable accident the notes did not arrive at the army till 
 six days after the soldiers were discharged and had left the camp. 
 This, together with some difficulty in settling their accounts, created 
 an uneasiness among the troops ; but by the General's address and 
 good conduct of the officers, they all retired peaceably to their dif- 
 ferent States, though without a single farthing of cash to buy them- 
 selves a meal of victuals. 
 
 In the barracks at Philadelphia and at Lancaster, in the State of 
 , Pennsylvania, there were a number of new recruits, who had been 
 enlisted since the months of December and January last, and who 
 had not yet taken the field ; these soldiers, not having been brought 
 under any regular discipline, made many objections against accepting 
 their discharges, and gave their officers reason to fear some difficulty 
 in getting rid of them ; but the Secretary at War thought he had 
 satisfied them by assuring them of the like pay with the rest of the 
 army. On the 15th of June, a petition was received from the Ser- 
 geants, requiring a redress of their grievances, in a very turbulent 
 and indecent style, of which no notice was taken ; but on the 18th 
 we received the letters No. 1 and 2. A committee was immediately 
 appointed to confer with the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and 
 to endeavor to get them to call out the militia to stop the mutineers ; 
 
8 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 but to no purpose ; the Council thinking that the citizens would not 
 choose to risk themselves, when fair means might do. The first report 
 of the committee, contained in No. 3, will show their proceedmgs. 
 On the 19th the troops arrived, and joined those at the barracks in the 
 city, who had been increased in number by a few companies of old 
 soldiers arrived the day before from Charlestown. The whole being 
 very orderly and quiet, Congress adjourned on Friday, the 2:0th, as 
 usual, till Monday morning. On the 21st, one of the committee 
 called on me and informed that the soldiers at the barracks were very 
 disorderly, and had cast off the authority of their officers — that it 
 was suspected they had a design, the following nigbt, against the 
 Bank, and advised me to call Congress without delay. This I did, 
 to meet in half an hour. The soldiers by accident hearing of it, 
 very fortunately hastened their designs a day or two sooner than was 
 intended. The members of Congress had just got together, except 
 one, when the State House (in which, also, the President and Supreme 
 Executive Council were then sitting) was surrounded by about three 
 hundred armed men, with fixed bayonets, under the command of 
 seven Sergeants. Congress immediately sent for General St. Clair, 
 and demanded the reason of this hostile appearance, who informed 
 of his having just arrived in town from his seat in the country, in 
 obedience to the orders of Congress of the day preceding ; that he 
 had received information from the commanding officer of the muti- 
 nous disposition of the troops, who had marched from tire barracks 
 contrary to the orders of their officers, and that the veteran troops 
 from Charlestown had been unwillingly forced into the measure. 
 The President of the State then appeared, and produced the insolent 
 paper, of which No. 4 is a copy, which had been sent to him by the 
 Sergeants. 
 
 Congress determined they would enter on no deliberations while 
 thus surrounded; but ordered General St. Clau- immediately to 
 endeavor to march the mutineers back to the barracks, by such means 
 as were in his power. 
 
 After several prudent and wise measures, the General prevailed on 
 the Sergeants to return to their barracks, convincing them that if they 
 were aggrieved they had a right to mal^e it known in a decent manner, 
 through any persons they might think proper to appomt. But pre- 
 vious to this, after waiting, surrounded by this armed force for near 
 three hours, Congress broke up, and we passed through the files of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 9 
 
 the mutineers without the least opposition, though at times before our 
 adjournment, the soldiers, many of whom were drunk, threatened 
 Congress by name. 
 
 The mutineers had taken possession of the powder house and 
 severa:! pubUc arsenals in this city, with some field pieces from the 
 public yard. In the evening Congress met and made a house, and 
 came to the resolutions contained in JVo. 5, and broke up without 
 adjournment. The committee, not being able to meet the Council 
 till Sunday morning, were then prevailed on to wait for an answer 
 till Monday morning, and then received the answer contained in the 
 2d Report, No. 6. However, hoping that the Council would change 
 their sentiments, the committee did not think proper to give me their 
 advice till Tuesday at two o'clock in the afternoon. In the mean 
 time the mutineers kept in arms, refusing all obedience to their officers, 
 and in possession of the powder house and magazines of military 
 stores. On Tuesday morning the officers reported to me that the 
 preceding evening, the Sergeants, notwithstanding some talk of a 
 submission and return to their duty, had presented six officers with a 
 commission, each as in No. 7, and on one refusing to accept it, they 
 threatened him with immediate death. And that at the time of the 
 Report, they were getting very drunk and in a very riotous state. 
 By the second report of the Committee, you will be acquainted with 
 the particulars of the transaction, with the addition that the behavior 
 of the six officers was very mysterious and unaccountable. At two 
 o'clock, agreeably to the advice of the Committee, I summoned Con- 
 gress to meet at this place on Thursday, the 26th of June, issued the 
 proclamation No. 8, and left the city. 
 
 As soon as it was known that Congress was going, the Council 
 were informed that there was great reason to expect a serious attack 
 on the Bank the night following ; on which the President of the State 
 collected about one hundred soldiers, and kept guard all night. On 
 Wednesday it was reported that Congress had sent for the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, with the whole northern army, and the militia of 
 New Jersey, who were to be joined by the Pennsylvania militia, in 
 order to quell the mutiny ; which was no otherwise true than ordering 
 a detachment of a few hundred men from the North River. The 
 Sergeants being alarmed, soon proposed a submission, and the whole 
 came in a body to the President of the State, making a most submis- 
 sive acknowledgment of their misconduct, and charging the whole 
 
10 PRESIDENT'OF CONGRESS. 
 
 on two of the officers, whom they had commissioned to represent 
 their grievances — a Capt. Carbery and Lieutenant SuUivan, who were 
 to have headed them as soon as they should have proceeded to vio- 
 lence. These officers immediately escaped to Chester, and there got 
 on board of a vessel bound to London. The Sergeants describe the 
 plan laid by these officers as of the most irrational and diabolical 
 nature, not only against Congress and the Council, but also against 
 the City and Bank. They were to be joined by straggling parties 
 from different parts of the country ; and after executing their horrid 
 purposes, were to have gone off with their plunder to the East Indies. 
 However incredible this may appear, the letters from Sullivan to 
 Colonel Moyland, his commanding officer, from Chester and the 
 Capes, clearly show that it was a deep laid scheme. It appears 
 clearly to me, that next to the continued care of divine Providence, 
 the miscarriage of this plan is owing to the unexpected meeting of 
 Congress on Saturday, and .their decided conduct in leaving the city, 
 until they could support the Federal Government with dignity. 
 
 It is also said that two of the citizens have been concerned in this 
 wicked plot, but they are not yet ascertained. They were certainly 
 encouraged by some of the lower class, as well as by the general 
 supineness in not quelling the first movement. Some very suspicious 
 circumstances attending the conduct of the other four officers, who 
 were commissioned by the Sergeants, have caused them to be arrested. 
 The whole matter has so far subsided. 
 
 The detachment under Gen. Howe, from the Northern army, has 
 arrived in the vicinity of the city, and a Court of Inquiry is endeavor- 
 ing to develope the whole affair. 
 
 The citizens are greatly chagrined at the predicament in which 
 they stand, and endeavor to lay the blame on the Council for not 
 calling on them and proving them, while the Council justify them- 
 selves by the advice of the militia officers, whom they called together 
 for that purpose. The citizens are universally petitioning Congress 
 to return to the city, assuring us of their constant protection. 
 
 You will excuse me for tiring you with so circumstantial an account, 
 which nothing but the necessity of preventing the many falsehoods 
 that are generally propagated on these occasions, and the propriety 
 of your being well informed, would ever have justified me in. 
 
 I do myself the honor to send herewith the newspapers, and par- 
 ticularly a circular letter of Gen. Washington to the different States ; 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. H 
 
 which, in my opinion, gives the finishing stroke to his inimitable 
 character. 
 
 I have committed this letter to the care of my younger brother, 
 who is bound for London, having been in the merchant service at 
 that port for several years, but who, I have the best evidence, is well 
 attached to the interests of this country, and who can inform you of 
 many particulars relating to the state of things here. 
 I have the honor to be, he, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 LETTER FROM COLONEL WILLIAM HENRY TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRES- 
 IDENT DICKINSON. 
 
 Lancaster, June 17th, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Eighty armed soldiers set off this morning for Philadelphia, to 
 co-operate with those now in the city in such measures as may appear 
 to them the most likely to procure their pay, (or perhaps to possess 
 themselves of money at any rate.) I have thought it my duty to give 
 the most timely information possible that the city may not be sur- 
 prised. I am informed that part of General Armand's corps will be 
 here to-morrow, on their way to Philadelphia, and am of opinion, 
 from what has transpired from some of the men who are still here, 
 that they will follow the others to the city and share the same fate ; 
 they have thrown out several threats, that they will rob the bank, 
 the treasury, Sec, &.c. 
 
 I am, sir, your very humble servant, 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY. 
 
 LETTER FROM COLONEL RICHARD BUTLER TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOV- 
 ERNOR DICKINSON. 
 
 Lancaster, June 17th, 1783, ) 
 10 o'clock, A. M. \ 
 
 Sir, 
 I yesterday received orders from Major General St. Clair to direct 
 returns to be made out of those non-commissioned officers and soldiers 
 that chose to go on furlough agreeably to the resolve of Congress of 
 
12 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 the 26th of May, noticing such as do not wish to go. Also for pay 
 rolls for the month of January, for which cash is to be paid, and other 
 rolls for the month of February, March, and April, to be paid in Mr. 
 Morris's notes in six months after date — ^and to inform the troops, 
 taking or refusing furloughs is at their option, and that they were to 
 remain till further orders, and to be settled with on the- principles of 
 the settlement with the main army. This I did without loss of time, 
 in order to show that doubts which had arisen (and that had met with 
 prompting from some unknown persons) had no foundation. 
 
 This morning the Sergeants called on me at my quarters, and 
 informed me the men were determined to go to Philadelphia in order 
 to ohtain justice. I made use of every argument to show the impro- 
 priety of the measure, and they went away, as I thought, content, 
 but soon after I was informed they were getting ready to go off in a 
 body. I went to the parade with a number of officers, and Col. 
 Samuel Atlee, who happened to be in town, formed a circle and talked 
 to them as before, but to no purpose, the principal part of them went 
 from their quarters about half past 8 o'clock, a. m. 
 
 I gave them every assurance of an immediate settlement and their 
 being kept together till their settlement is completed, also of their 
 paymasters. Lieutenants Beaty and Lytle, being sent to Carlisle for 
 the necessary papers of the old 4th and 7th Regiments, who I expected 
 back to-day — but the ill-timed heat had taken too great a hold of their 
 minds for arguments to alter them — indeed I am of opinion it has 
 originated in your city, and that the flame is supported by inimical or 
 inconsiderate people. 
 
 I have called the ofScers together, who are of opmion that one 
 should follow and make one more effort to bring them back ; if this 
 fails, I give it as my opinion, that no settlement be made with them 
 till they return to the post, as it will be too great a condescension and 
 encouragement to similar licentious and mutinous conduct, at a future 
 day, to troops that may hereafter be raised, as well as too humiliating 
 a measure for the ofScers to be obliged to follow them and attend to 
 the settlement of business there, already offered and insolently refused 
 here, and which the officers are much averse to. I have the honor 
 to enclose a copy of the orders issued last evening, in order to show 
 your Excellency and Council that no neglect or omission has been on 
 the part of the officers. 
 
 I have assured the bearer, Lieutenant E. Butler, adjutant, that your 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. I3 
 
 Excellency and Council will order the payment of his and Captam 
 Chrystie's expence, he being the officer that follows the troops. 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 RICHARD BUTLER, 
 CoK 3d P. Regiment. 
 P. S. Lieutenant Butler can inform of particulars fully. 
 
 ORDERS ISSUED TO THE TROOPS BT COLONEL BUTLER. 
 
 Lancaster, 17th June, 1783. 
 Norir Commissioned Officers and Soldiers of the ^d Pennsylvania 
 
 Regiment. 
 
 In warmth men are sometimes led beyond the bounds of interest 
 and propriety, both to themselves and their best friends, and attempts 
 to reason, while the mind is agitated, often rather tends to inflame 
 than calm the passions or opinions, whatever they may be. This I 
 think was the case with you this morning. That I wished to do my 
 duty to my country, as well as justice to you, whose fortunes have 
 been long mime and your other officers, induced me to call a number 
 of them together, by whose opinion and advice the bearers, Captains 
 Chrystie, Walker, and Montgomery follow, in order to tell you their 
 and my wishes, and to give you, once for all, our joint advice. We 
 do our duty in doing it, and expect it will have that weight with you, 
 on cool reflection, that with reasonable men it ought to have. You 
 mentioned to me this morning, first — that you did not want furloughs. 
 Secondly — that you wanted to be settled with before you are dis^ 
 charged. Thirdly — to be continued in service till these things are 
 done. Measures were taken for settling your accounts before the 
 arrival of the order of yesterday ; returns directed to be made of those 
 who chose furloughs, and those who did not, on their arrival ; returns 
 for clothing for those enlisted, and pay-rolls for one month's pay for 
 January last, to be paid in cash, and rolls for three months' pay, to 
 be paid in the Financier General's notes, with assurance of quarters 
 and provision till this is completed. 
 
 This is once more offered to you, and it is strongly recommended 
 for your ovjn salces, that you return to the post where your officers 
 are, that your accounts, &c., may be completed, and that you con- 
 
14 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 sider, the longer you are away the greater the difSculty and the longer 
 they will be in doing. As the officers cannot think it their duty to 
 follow men who will not take advice, but go from where their busi- 
 ness can alone be done, for you cannot have your accounts settled 
 ■without them and the pay-masters. Or do you imagine your appear- 
 ance at Philadelphia can have any good effect in your favor, as it will 
 "be justly construed into menace, rather than a proper mode of seeking 
 justice, after what is offered you. 
 
 You may easily offend your country, and by ill-judged measures 
 preclude yourselves and others from that justice you wish for, and f 
 think you may justly say the person or persons who advised the 
 measure you have taken cannot ultimately be your friends. 
 
 The above is submitted to your reflection, and advice is added to 
 the wish that you return. 
 
 , I am sincerely your friend, 
 
 RICHARD BUTLER, Col. 3 P. Regt. 
 
 Report of the Committee of Congress, July 1st, 1783. 
 
 The Committee to whom were referred the letters and papers com- 
 municated to Congress by the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 
 through their Delegates, report. 
 
 That theyhad a conference yesterday, as directed, with the Supreme 
 Executive Council, in which, in the first instance, the propriety of 
 calling out a detachment of mihtia to intercept the mutineers on their 
 march from Lancaster, was proposed to the Council, suggesting the 
 danger of their being suffered with impunity to join the troops in the 
 barracks, who a few days before had manifested a dangerous spirit, 
 by an insolent and threatening message sent to Congress, in the name 
 of a board of Sergeants, and who it was apprehended would be ready 
 to make common cause with those on their march, for mutinous pur- 
 poses. That the Council having shown a reluctance to call out any 
 part of the militia, expressing an opinion that they would not be will- 
 ing to act, till some outrage should have been committed by the troops, 
 there appeared to the Committee no alternative but to endeavor to 
 dissuade the mutineers from coming to town, and if they failed in that 
 attempt, to make use of expedients to prevent the troops in the bar- 
 racks from joining in any excesses, and to induce the detachment 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 15 
 
 from Lancaster to return to that place. That in this view, and at 
 their desire, the Assistant Secretary at War met the detachment then 
 on its march to the city, and endeavored to engage them to return to 
 the former place, urging the considerations contained in the annexed 
 instructions to him ; but the said detachment persisted in their inten- 
 tion of coming to this city, and arrived here this morning. That 
 upon conferring with the Superintendent of Finance they find there 
 is a probability that the Paymaster-General, to whom the settlement 
 of the accounts of the army has been committed, ^nd who having all 
 the documents in his possession, can alone execute the business with 
 propriety, will shortly arrive from the army, and will immediately 
 enter upon a settlement with the troops in this State, that in the mean- 
 time measures will be taken to prepare the business for a final adjust- 
 ment. That there will be immediately sent to Lancaster a sum of 
 money to be paid to the troops on account of the month's pay here- 
 tofore directed to be advanced to them, the payment of which has 
 hitherto been delayed by particular circumstances, together with notes 
 for three months' pay intended to be advanced to the men when fur- 
 loughed. 
 
 That they have desired this information to be transmitted to the 
 commanding officer here and at Lancaster, with this declaration, 'that 
 the corps stationed at Lancaster, including the detachment, can only 
 be settled with or paid at that place. 
 
 The Instructions to Major Jackson. 
 
 Sir, 
 Information having been received, that a detachment of about 80 
 mutineers are on their way from Lancaster to this place, you will 
 please to proceed to meet them, and to endeavor by every prudent 
 method to engage them to return to the post they have left. You 
 will inform them of the orders that have been given, permitting them 
 to remain in service till their accounts shall have been settled, if they 
 prefer it to being furloughed, and of the allowance of pay which has 
 been made to the army at large, and in which they are to be included. 
 You will represent to them that their accounts cannot be settled with- 
 out their officers, whom they have left behind them at Lancaster. 
 You will represent to them with coolness, but energy, the impropriety 
 
16 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 of such irregular proceedings, and the danger they will run by per- 
 sisting in an improper conduct. You will assure them of the best 
 intentions in Congress to do them justice, and of the absurdity of 
 their expecting to procure it more effectually by intemperate proceed- 
 ings. You will point out to them the tendency which such proceed- 
 ings may have to raise the resentments of their country, and to indis- 
 pose it to take effectual measures for their relief. In short, yon will 
 urge every consideration in your power to induce them to return, at 
 the same time avoiding whatever may tend to irritate. If they per- 
 sist in coming to town, you will give the earliest notice to us of their 
 progress and disposition. Should they want provisions, you will 
 assure them of a supply, if they will remain where they are, which 
 you are to endeavor to persuade them to do, in preference to coming 
 to town. 
 
 (Signed) A. HAMILTON, 
 
 In behalf of the Committee. 
 
 TO THE HONORABLE JOHN DICKINSON, ESQ.UIRE, PRESIDENT, AND THE 
 HONORABLE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 May it please your Excellency 
 
 and the Honorable Council, 
 We, the non-commissioned officers and soldiers in garrison, have 
 been told by General St. Clair, that the Executive Council was much 
 exasperated at our proceedings before the State-house last Saturday ■ 
 We beg leave to acquaint your Excellency and Honorable Council, 
 that the soldiers in garrison were very much alarmed, and their minds 
 inflamed on hearing the expressions of some gentlemen who came 
 into the garrison the preceding evening, whom they suspected were 
 sent by a higher power to inveigle the soldiers to accept conditional 
 discharges, without a regular settlement, as a particular gentleman, in 
 company among those who visited the garrison that evening, was 
 pleased to say that the soldiers would in a few days be happy,, as 
 they would receive one month's pay, which would carry them home 
 in a genteel manner. Many of us have from one to five hundred 
 miles to our former places of residence, and many of us have fami- 
 lies, some two, and some three or four children. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 17 
 
 May it please your Excellency and the Honorable Council coolly 
 and candidly to deliberate on the generous expressions of that hon- 
 orable gentleman, in the hearing of a number of those very sons of 
 liberty who have freed their country from tyranny, and secured Amer- 
 ica's independence and honorable peace. Your Excellency and Hon- 
 orable Council will please to be assured that we who preside now at 
 the head of this matter, were not, previous to the assembling; of the 
 troops last Saturday ; > but dared not stay behind in the garrison, as 
 we thought our lives were in danger^ and we are in great hopes that 
 your Excellency and Honorable Council are all impressed with an 
 idea that our appearance with them was very conducive to prevent 
 mischief which you were all little aware of. We also beg leave to 
 declare that we were so far from withdrawing from under the imme- 
 diate command of our officers, that we drew up a remonstrance, and 
 humbly solicited Colonel Hampton to command as usual, and to 
 punish all military neglects in us, but hoped (nay, we did insist) that 
 we would- not be prevented from seeking our rights in a becoming 
 manner. And, had not that particular gentleman, before mentioned, 
 spoke as he did, the troops would not have assembled. 
 May it please your Excellency, fee. 
 
 We submit our reasonable requests to your candid consideration. 
 
 First. By the gentlemen officers in committee, and board of non- 
 commissioned officers of the garrison. 
 
 We request one half of our pay due us on the date of our dis- 
 charges — the fourth month's now dealing out to each man, we think 
 is unfair, as some have not been five months enlisted, while others 
 have three years' pay due, and served the country in its necessity. — 
 Glory be to^ Grod, we survive. 
 
 Second. The balance that may be due to us after our receiving, as 
 before mentioned, we desire such certificates for, with lawful interest, 
 as will specify when to be redeemed ; and not such ones as we have 
 before this been put off with ; and so, if in necessity, by sickness or 
 other unavoidable misfortune, be necessitated to sell them (perhaps) 
 to those who have experienced nothing of the fatigues of the war, for 
 two shillings per twenty. 
 
 Third. We expect our small articles in rations promised to us at 
 the beginning of the war, and cut off since, shall be made up to us ; 
 all deficiencies of clothing, &;c., to be settled for. 
 Vol. I.— 2 
 
18 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Fourth. That we receive patents for the lands due to us with our 
 discharges, and his Excellency's gi'atuity. 
 
 Fifth. That all those soldiers discharged from headquarters already, 
 may be thought on, agreeable to their merit, and those to be dis- 
 charged also, particularly those who have lost a limb. 
 
 Sixth. That the settlement here requested may extend to all the 
 soldiers belonging to the Pennsylvania line, wherever they may be in 
 the United States. 
 
 Seventh. That the troops who have come from Lancaster may be 
 put on an equal footing as soon as possible, and, if there be occasion 
 for their enlistments from Lancaster, that they be sent for without 
 murmur. 
 
 These are all the requests your hardy veterans have to make. We 
 think them our right, and we hope to obtain them ; and should the 
 public need our services again, we declare to sacrifice our most endear- 
 ing connections to serve them. 
 
 In behalf of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers in garrison. 
 
 JAMES BENNETT. 
 
 LETTEK FEOM JAMES BENNETT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE EXEC- 
 UTIVE COUNCIL. 
 
 May it please your Excellency, 
 We, the board of Sergeants, appointed by the troops now in garri- 
 son, to lay our grievances before your Excellency and Council, are 
 alarmed to hear your Excellency and the good citizens of this State 
 are under apprehension that the troops intend taking some desperate 
 steps, and likewise, that they were determined to attempt the bank 
 in this city. 
 
 We beg leave to inform your Excellency, that nothing of this kind 
 was ever intended by us ; and do declare, that if any thing of that 
 nature has taken place, it is contrary to our wishes or knowledge, and 
 that we will immediately endeavor to find out such persons as have 
 been guilty, if any there be, and bring them to punishment. 
 We are your Excellency's most obedient servants, 
 Sent by order of the board of Sergeants, 
 
 JAMES BENNETT. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 19 
 
 May it please your Excellency, 
 We, the Sergeants forming the committee in garrison, representing 
 the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, now, are extremely sorry 
 for any irregularities that have happened ; for which we most sincerely 
 beg your Excellency's and Council's pardon, together with all worthy 
 citizens. 
 
 By cder of the board of Sergeants, 
 
 JAMES BENNETT. 
 
 Resolution of Congress, June 2lst, 1783. 
 
 " Mesolved, That the President and Supreme Executive Council 
 of Pennsylvania be informed, that the authority of the United States 
 having been this day grossly insulted by the disorderly and menacing 
 appearance of a body of armed soldiers about the place within which 
 Congress were assembled, and the peace of this city being endangered 
 by the mutinous disposition of the said troops now in the barracks, it 
 is, in the opinion of Congress, necessary that effectual measures be 
 immediately taken for supporting the public authority. 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee on a letter from Col. Butler, be 
 directed to confer, without loss of time, with the Supreme Executive 
 Council of Pennsylvania, on the practicability of carrying the pre- 
 ceding-resolution into effect, and that in case it shall appear to the 
 committee that there is not a satisfactory ground for expecting ade- 
 quate and prompt exertion of this State for supporting the dignity 
 of the Federal Government — the President, on the advice of the 
 Committee, be authorized and directed to summon the members of 
 Congress to meet on Thursda,y next at Trenton or Princeton, in New 
 Jersey, in order that further and more effectual measures may be 
 taken for suppressing the present revolt and maintaining the dignity 
 and authority of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary at War be directed to communicate 
 to the Commander-inrChief the state and disposition of the said 
 troops, in order that he may take immediate measures to despatch to 
 this city such force as he may judge expedient for suppressing any 
 disturbances which may ensue." 
 
20 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Resolution of Congress, July 1st, 1783. 
 
 " Resolved, That Major General Howe be directed to march such 
 part of the force under his command, as he shall judge necessary, to 
 the State of Pennsylvania, in order that immediate measures may be 
 taken to confine and bring to trial all such persons belonging to the 
 army as have been principally active in the late mutiny, to disarm 
 the remainder, and to examine fully into all the circumstances relating 
 thereto. 
 
 That in the execution of the foregoing resolution, if any matter 
 shall arise which may concern the civil jurisdiction, or in which its 
 aid may be necessary, application be made for the same to the Exec- 
 utive authority of the State. 
 
 That the Executive of Pennsylvania be informed of the foregoing 
 resolutions, and requested to afford their assistance whensoever the 
 same shall be required." 
 
 2d Report of the Committee of Congress, July 1, 1783. 
 
 The Committee appointed to confer with the Supreme Executive 
 Council of Pennsylvania, on the practicability of taking effectual 
 measures to support the, public authority, in consequence of the dis- 
 orderly and menacing appearance of a body of armed soldiers sur- 
 rounding the place where Congress were assembled, on Saturday, the 
 21st inst., beg leave to report : 
 
 That they had a conference the following morning with the Supreme 
 Executive Council, agreeably to the intention of Congress, and having 
 communicated their resolution on that subject, informed the Council 
 that Congress considered the proceeding on which that resohition was 
 founded of so serious a nature as to render palliatives improper, and 
 to require that vigorous measures should be taken to put a stop to the 
 further progress of the evil> and to compel submission on the part of 
 the offenders. That in this view they had thought it expedient to 
 declare to the Executive of the State in which they reside, the neces- 
 sity of taking effectual measures for supporting the public authority. 
 That though they had declined a specification of the measures which 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. gl 
 
 they would deem effectual, it was their sense that a number of the 
 militia should bo immediately called out sufficient to suppress tlie 
 revolt. That Congress, unv/illing to expose the United States to a 
 repetition of the insult, had suspended their ordinary deliberations in 
 this city till proper steps could be taken to provide against the possi- 
 bility of it. The Council, after some conversation, informed the 
 Committee, that they would wish, previous to a determination, to 
 ascertain the state and disposition of the militia, and to consult the 
 officers for that purpose. 
 
 The day following the Committee waited upon the Council for 
 their final resolution, having previously presented a letter addressed 
 to his Excellency the President, of which a copy is annexed, request- 
 ing the determination of the Council in writing. 
 
 The Council decliBed a written answer, alleging that it had been 
 unusual on similar occasions, that they were unwilling to do anything 
 which might appear an innovation in the manner of conducting con- 
 ferences between their body and committees of Congress, adding, 
 however, that they were ready to give their answer in writing if Con- 
 gress should request it. They then proceeded to a verbal answer, 
 in substance as follows : That the Council had, a high respect for the 
 representative sovereignty of the United States, and were disposed to 
 do every thing in their power to support its dignity. That they 
 regretted the insult which had happened, with this additional motive 
 of sensibility, that they had themselves had a principal share in it. 
 That they had consulted a number of well informed officers of the 
 militia and found that nothing, in the present state of things, was to 
 be expected from thiit quarter. * That the militia of the city in gen- 
 eral were not only ill provided for service, but disinclined to act upon 
 the present occasion. That the Council did not believe any exertions 
 were to be looked for from them, except in case of further outrage 
 and actual violence to person or property. That in such case a 
 respectable body of citizens would arm for the security of their prop- 
 erty and the public peace ; but it was to be doubted what measure of 
 outrage would produce this effect, and in particular it was not to be 
 expected merely from a repetition of the insult which had happened. 
 The Council observed that they thought it their duty to communicate 
 their expectations with candor, and passed from the subject of the 
 practicability of vigorous measures to the policy of them. They 
 stated that General St. Clair, with the approbation of several mem- 
 
22 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 bers of Congress and of Council, had, by a declaration in writing, 
 permitted the mutineers to choose a committee of commissioned offi- 
 cers to represent their grievances to Council, and had authorized them 
 to expect that a conference would be allowed for that purpose. That 
 it was said the mutineers began to be convinced of their error and 
 were preparing for submission. That, from the steps which had been 
 taken, the business seemed to be in a train of negotiation, and that 
 it merited consideration how far it would be prudent to terminate the 
 matter in that way rather than employ coercive means. 
 
 The Committee remarked, with regard to the scruple about giving 
 an answer in writing, that they could not forbear differing in opinion 
 as to its propriety. That nothing was more common than written 
 communications between the Executives of different States and the 
 civil and military officers acting under the authority of the United 
 States.. That for a much stronger reason there was a propriety in 
 this mode of transacting business between the Council and a Com- 
 mittee of the body of Congress. That indeed it would be conform- 
 able to the most obvious and customary rules of proceeding, and that 
 the importance of the present occasion made it desirable to give every 
 transaction the greatest precision. 
 
 With respect to the practicability of employing the militia, the 
 Committee observed that this was a point of which the Council was 
 alone competent to judge. That the duty of the Committee was 
 performed in explicitly signifying the expectations of Congress. 
 
 And, with respect to the policy of coercion, the Committee 
 remarked, that the measures taken by Congress clearly indicated their 
 opinion that the excesses of the mutineers had passed the bounds 
 within which a spirit of compromise might consist with the dignity 
 and even the safety of the Government. That impunity for what 
 had happened might encourage to more flagrant proceedings, invite 
 others to follow the example and extend the mischief. That the 
 passiveness of conduct observed towards the detachment which had 
 mutinied at Lancaster and come to the city in defiance of their offi 
 cers, had no doubt led to the subsequent violences. That these con- 
 siderations had determined Congress to adopt decisive measures. 
 That besides the application to the State in which they reside, for its 
 immediate support, they had not neglected other means of ultimately 
 executing their purpose, but had directed the Commander-in-Chief 
 to march a detachment of troops towards the city, That whatever 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 23 
 
 moderation it might be pradent to exercise towards the mutineers, 
 when they were once in the power of Government, it was necessary 
 in the first instance to place them in that situation. That Congress 
 probably would continue to pursue this object, unless it should be 
 superseded by unequivocal demonstrations of submission on the part 
 of the mutineei's. That they had hitherto given no satisfactory evi- 
 dence of this disposition, having lately presented the ofiicers they 
 had chosen to represent their grievances with a formal commission in 
 writing, enjoining them, if necessary, to use compulsory means for 
 redress, and menacing them with death in case of their failing to 
 execute their views. Under this state of things, the Committee could 
 not forbear suggesting to the Council that it would be expedient for 
 them so to qualify the reception which they should think proper to 
 give to any propositions made by the mutineers as not to create 
 embarrassment should Congress continue to act on the principle of 
 coercion. 
 
 The Committee, finding there was no satisfactory ground to expect 
 prompt and adequate exertions on the part of the Executive of this 
 State for supporting the public authority, were bound, by the resolu- 
 tion under which they acted, to advise the President to summon 
 Congress to assemble at Princeton or Trenton, on Thursday, the 
 26th inst. 
 
 Willing, however, to protract the departure of Congress as long as 
 they could be justified in doing it, still hoping that further information 
 would produce more decisive measures on the part of the Council, 
 and desirous of seeing what complexion the intimated submissions 
 would assume, they ventured to defer advising the removal till the 
 afternoon of the day following that on which the answer of Council 
 was given. But having then received no farther communications 
 from the Council, and having learned from General St. Clair that the 
 submission proposed to be offered by the mutineers, through the offi- 
 cers they had chosen to represent them, were not of a nature suffi- 
 ciently explicit to be accepted or relied on. That they would be 
 accompanied by new demands to which it would be improper to listen. 
 That the officers themselves composing the committee had shewn a 
 mysterious reluctance to inform General St. Clair of their proceed- 
 ings — had refused in the first instance to do it, and had afterwards 
 yielded only to a peremptory demand on his part, the Committee 
 could no longer think themselves at liberty to delay their advice for 
 
24 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 an adjournment, which they this day accordingly gave, persuaded at 
 the same time that it was necessary to impress the mutineers with a 
 conviction that extremities would be used against them before they 
 would be induced to resolve on a final and unreserved submission. 
 Philadelphia, June 24th, 1783. 
 
 The Letter oj His Excellency the President of the Supreme Exec- 
 utive Council of Fennsylvania. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We have the honor to enclose for your Excellency and the Council 
 a copy of the resolutions communicated in our conference yesterday. 
 Having then fully entered into all the explanations which were neces- 
 sary on the subject, we shall not trouble your Excellency with a 
 recapitulation ; but, as the object is of a delicate and important nature, 
 we think it our duty to request the determination of the Council in 
 writing. We have the honor to be, with perfect respect, your Excel- 
 lency's most obedient servants. 
 
 Philadelphia, June 23d, 1783. 
 
 BY HIS EXCELLENCY, 
 
 ELIAS BOUDINOT, ESQ., 
 
 President of the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Whereas a body of armed soldiere in the service of the United 
 States, and quartered in the barracks of this city, having mutinously 
 renounced their obedience to their officers, did, on Saturday, the 
 twenty-first instant, proceed under the guidance of their Sergeants, 
 in a hostile and threatening manner, to the place in which Congress 
 were assembled, and did surround the same with guards : And whereas 
 Congress, in consequence thereof, did, on the same day, resolve, 
 " That the President and Supreme Executive Council of this State 
 should be informed, that the authority of the United States, having 
 been that day grossly insulted by the disorderly and menacing appear- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 25 
 
 ance of a body of aimed soldiers about the place within which Con- 
 gress were assembled ; and that the peace of this city being endangered 
 by the mutinous disposition of the said troops then in the barracks, 
 it was, in the opinion of Congress, necessary that effectual measures 
 should be immediately taken for supporting the public authority :" 
 And also, whereas Congress did, at the same time, appoint a Com- 
 mittee to confer with the said President and Supreme Executive 
 Council, on the practicability of carrying the said resolution into due 
 effect : And also, whereas the said Committee have reported to me, 
 that they have not received satisfactory assurances for expecting 
 adequate and prompt exertions of this State for supporting the dignity 
 of the Federal Government : And also, whereas the said soldiers still 
 continue in a state of open mutiny and revolt, so that the dignity and 
 authority of the United States would be constantly exposed to a repe- 
 tition of insult, while Congress shall continue to sit in this city : I do, 
 therefore, by and with the advice of the said committee, and according 
 to the powers and authorities in me vested, for this purpose, hereby 
 summon the honorable the Delegates composing the Congress of the 
 United States, and every of them, to meet in Congress on Thursday, 
 the twenty-sixth day of June instant, at Princeton, in the State of 
 New Jersey, in order that further and more effectual measures may 
 be taken for suppressing the present revolt, and maintaining the dig- 
 nity and authority of the United States ; of which all officers of the 
 United States, civil and military, and all others whom it may concern, 
 are desired to take notice and govern themselves accordingly. 
 
 Given under my hand and seal, at Philadelphia, in the State of 
 Pennsylvania, this twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and of the sover- 
 eignty and independence of the United States the seventh. 
 
 ELIAS BOUDINOT. 
 Attest, Samuel Sterett, Private Sec. 
 
 . DEMAND MADE BY THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 May it please your Excellency, 
 We, the non-commission&d officers and soldiers now in this city, 
 demand of you and the Honorable Council, authority to appoint com- 
 
26 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 missioned officers to command us and redress our grievances, which 
 officers to have full powers to adopt such measures as they may judge 
 most likely to procure us justice. You will immediately issue such 
 authority and deliver it to us, or otherwise we shall instantly let in 
 those injured soldiers upon you, and abide by the consequence. You 
 have only twenty minutes to deliberate on this important matter. 
 The officers in general have forsaken us and refuse to take any further 
 command. This, I presume, you all know. 
 
 We are, in behalf of ourselves and the men. 
 
 Yours, &.C., &ic. 
 
 JAMES CHRYSTIE TO JOHN DICKINSON. 
 
 Philadelphia, 24th June, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Yesterday morning we were waited on severally by a committee 
 of Sergeants, who handed to each of us similar appointments, of 
 which the enclosed is one. But upon their being objected to, and 
 refused as inconsistent with the powers granted them and dishonorable 
 to us, they made such concessions relative to us as were satisfactory, 
 so far as we could take up the business ; and they have confessed 
 their conduct on the 21st instant to be disorderly, and have promised 
 to hand to us the concessions as soon as possible, which we will 
 immediately lay before your Excellency. 
 I have the honor to be, 8ic., 
 
 JAMES CHRYSTIE, Capt. 2d Penn. Regt., 
 
 President of the Committee. 
 
 COMMISSION BY THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 Philadelphia Barrack, 23d June, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 You are hereby appointed by the non-commissioned officers and 
 soldiers in this city, from authority which they have from the Presi- 
 dent of the State and General St. Clair, as a member to represent 
 them in committee of six commissioned officers. You nre to remem- 
 ber that every effort in your power must be exerted to brinof about 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 27 
 
 the speedy and most ample justice ; and even to use compulsive 
 measures should they be found necessary — which we declare in the 
 presence of Almighty God we will support you in to the very utmost 
 of our power. Should you show a disposition not to do all in yours, 
 Death is inevitably your fate. 
 
 Signed by order of the Board, 
 
 JAMES BENNETT, Secretary. 
 Captain James Chrystie. 
 
 JOHN SULLIVAN TO COLONEL MOYLAND. 
 
 The Cape, 30th June, 1783. 
 Dear Colonel, 
 
 If a, consciousness of rectitude can be a consolation to men in 
 adversity, be assured our spirits are far superior to our circumstances, 
 and am confident that none but persons accustomed to judge of things 
 by the event will reprobate our conduct. The little prospect of suc- 
 ceeding in such an attempt, and the difficulties we had to encounter, 
 were so great, that to have been confident of success -ft^uld have 
 proved us to be as destitute of prescience as of common sense. But 
 a series of injuries, and the incessant indignities we experienced, 
 were our sole inducements for prosecuting the plan at all risks. I 
 am not ignorant of the sentiments of men in power, in respect to the 
 army, and the ideas they entertain of the passiveness of the officers. 
 These circumstances determined us to convince them we had a just 
 sense of our wrongs, and were not callous to our ill treatment. 
 
 It avails little what appearance tyranny may assume to veil injus- 
 tice ; but it is a duty incumbent on honest men, by investigating the 
 principles of insidious policy, not to submit to the imposition. 
 
 Actuated by the purest motives of patriotism and disinterestedness, 
 I abandoned my dearest connexions at a tender age, to fight under 
 American colors, at a critical period, and when affairs were equally 
 balanced. My conduct in the army, either as a soldier or a gentle- 
 man, I appeal to the officers in general, and you in particular, to 
 decide on. 
 
 I flatter myself you will not suppose that my attachment for this 
 country is diminished in the most trivial degree. I ever had an innate 
 
28 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 affection for America, ancf were she on the verge of ruin, 1 would 
 come and perish with her. Let what bad men there are at the hehn 
 of Government observe from this instance, how dangerous it is to 
 drive men of honor to desperation. 
 
 The person concerned with me is Captain Carbery.* This young 
 gentleman served with eclat in the army ; bled, and spent a pretty 
 fortune in the service of his country. I have requested Captain 
 Heard to be punctual in paying what trifling debts I owe, and have 
 requested your brother John to draw on my father, if necessary. We 
 are now wafted along by a gentle and generous gale, and possess the 
 most perfect tranquillity of mind, conscious of no unworthy action : 
 all we regret is, failing in a noble attempt. 
 
 "And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels, 
 Than Caesar with a Senate at his heels. ' ' 
 
 Adieu, my dear Colonel ; be convinced I have a just sense, and 
 want words to express my gratitude for the peculiar marks of favor 
 and affection you have conferred on me. 
 
 I am, with sincerity, &;c. 
 
 JOHN SULLIVAN. 
 I by no means flatter myself with the idea of hearing from you ; 
 but my address is Captain Richardson, 1st regiment guards, London, 
 I take the liberty to enclose a certificate for sixty-four pounds. 
 
 A DECLARATION OF OFFICERS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA LINE. 
 
 We, the under named officers, do appoint the following ofiicers 
 as a committee to wait on Congress, to assure that honorable body 
 that we disapprove and detest the late proceedings of the non-com- 
 missioned officers and soldiers of the Pennsylvania line, and give 
 them the strongest assurance of every assistance to repel them, if 
 they should take such steps as may render it necessary. The follov/- 
 ing gentlemen were chosen for the above purpose, viz : Colonels 
 Richard Thompson, Thomas Robinson, and Andrew Porter. 
 
 A. Porter, Col. 
 
 RoBT. Martin, Lieut. 
 
 Jas. Pettigrew, Lt. 2d P. Regt. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 29 
 
 T. SuTY, Captain. 
 
 Thos. Doyle, Lieut. 
 
 W. McDowell, iieut. 
 
 Andw. Irvine,, Capt. 
 
 E. Speer, Lieut. 
 
 E. DiNNY, Lieut. 
 
 J. McCuLLAN, Lieut. 
 
 Enos Reedeb, Lieut. 
 
 J. B. TiLDEN, Lieut. 
 
 T. Proctoe;, Major. 
 
 T. Robinson, Lieut. Col. 
 
 Wm. Magaw, Surgeon. 
 
 Thos. Dungan, Lieut. 
 
 Rich. Hampton, Col. 2d P. Reg 
 
 Le Roy, Lieut. 
 
 James Gamble, Lieut. 
 
 De Maeceller. 
 
 Thos. Wylie,, Capt» Art. Artificer.- 
 
 [The two following Letters- relate to the mutiny at Philadelphia. Although it does 
 not appear that copies were transmitted to our Ministers abroad, yet it has been 
 thought proper to give them a place here.] 
 
 I'ROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO GENERAL WASH- 
 INGTON. 
 
 Philadelphia, 21st June, 1783, ) 
 4 o'clock, A. M. J 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 I am greatly mottified tbat our circumstances here oblige me to 
 trouble your Excellency with a detail highly disagreeable and per- 
 plexing. I presume your Excellency has received copies of letters 
 from. Colonel Butler and Mr. Henry, forwarded a few days ago : all 
 endeavors to oblige the men, to return to Lancaster proved ineffectual. 
 They entered this city yesterday morning in a very orderly manner, 
 and took possession of the barracks, and with those troops then quar- 
 tered there, make up about five hundred men. General St. Clair was 
 sent for, and matters seemed tolerably easy till this morning, when 
 they positively refused all obedience to their officers, and seemed 
 
30 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 fonning a design to be troublesome by evening. Congress being 
 adjourned till Monday, I thought it proper to call them together at one 
 o'clock. Six States had got together, when the mutineers, joined by 
 those at the barracks before their arrival in town, very unexpectedly 
 appeared before, and surrounded, the State House, with fixed bayo- 
 nets ; the Supreme Executive Council, sitting also in the same House . 
 The mutineers sent in a paper, demanding of the President and Coun- 
 cil to authorize them to choose their own officers, (being deserted by 
 their former officers, as they alleged,) in order to represent their griev- 
 ances — that they should wait twenty minutes, and if nothing was 
 then done, they would turn in an enraged soldiery in the Council, 
 who would do themselves justice, and the Council must abide the 
 consequences, or words to that effect. This was handed to the mem-' 
 bers of Congress by the President of the State. General St. Clair 
 was present at the request of Congress, and but very few other offi- 
 cers attended. Neither Congress nor the Council would take any 
 measures while they were so menaced ; and matters continued thus 
 till half past 3 o'clock this afternoon, when the mutineers were pre- 
 vailed on for the present to march back to the barracks. They have 
 seized the public magazine, and I am of opinion that the worst is not 
 yet come. 
 
 Though no Congress was regularly formed, for want of one mem- 
 ber, yet the meinbers present unanimously directed me to inform your 
 Excellency of this unjustifiable movement. The militia of the city 
 I suppose will be called out ; but there are some suspicions that the 
 mutineers value themselves on their interest with the inhabitants. It 
 is therefore the wish of the meml^ers who were assembled that your 
 Excellency would direct a movement of some of your best troops, 
 on whom you can depend under these circumstances, towards this 
 city, as it will be of the most dangerous consequence if a measure of 
 this kind is to be put up with, and no one can tell where it will end. 
 Your Excellency will hear from me again on this subject without 
 delay. I forgot to inform your Excellency that the month's pay for 
 January had been ordered to these men, and three months' pay in 
 notes, &c. They complain heavily of their accounts yet remaining 
 unsettled. It is to be wished the paymaster could arrange matters so 
 as to close the accounts of the soldiery with more expedition. 
 
 I have the honor, &c. 
 
 E. B. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 31 
 
 FEOM GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Head-Gluarters, Newburgh, evening, June 24th, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 It was not until 3 o'clock this afternoon, that I had the first inti- 
 mation of the infamous and outrageous meeting of a part of the Penn- 
 sylvania troops ; it was then I received your Excellency's letter of 
 the 21st, by express, and agreeable to the request contained in it, I 
 instantly ordered three complete regiments of infantry and a detach- 
 ment of artillery to be put in motion as soon as possible. This corps 
 (which you will observe by the returns, is a large proportion of our 
 whole force) will consist of upwards of 1500 effectives. As all the 
 troops who composed this gallant little army, as well those who were 
 furloughed as those who remain in service, are men of tried fidelity, I 
 could not have occasion to make any choice of corps ; and I have only 
 to regret, that there existed a necessity they should be employed on so 
 disagreeable a service. I dare say, however, they will on this, and 
 all other occasions, perform their duty as brave and faithful soldiers. 
 
 While I suffer the most poignant distress in observing that a handful 
 of men, contemptible in numbers, and equally so in point of service, 
 (if the veteran troops from the southward have not been seduced by 
 their example,) and who are not worthy to be called soldiers, should 
 disgrace themselves as the Pennsylvania mutineers have done, by 
 insulting the sovereign authority of the United States, and that of 
 their own, I feel an inexpressible satisfaction, that even this behavior 
 cannot stain the name of the American soldiery ; it cannot be impu- 
 table to, or reflect dishonor on the army at large ; but on the contrary, 
 it will, by the striking contrast it exhibits, hold up to public view the 
 other troops in the most advantageous point of light. Upon taking 
 all the circumstances into consideration, I cannot sufficiently express 
 my surprise and indignation, at the arrogance, the folly, and the wick- 
 edness of the mutineers ; nor can I sufficiently admire the fidelity, 
 the bravery, and the patriotism which must forever signalize the 
 unsullied character of the other corps of our army ; for when we 
 consider that these Pennsylvania levies, who have now mutinied, are 
 recruits and soldiers of a day, who have not borne the heat and bur- 
 den of the war, and who can have, in reality, very few hardships to 
 complain of; and when we at the same time recollect, that those sol- 
 diers who have lately been furloughed from this army, are the veterans 
 
32 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 who have patiently endured hunger, nakedness, and cold, who have 
 suffered and bled without a munnur, and who, with perfect good order, 
 have retired to their homes, without the settlement of their accounts, 
 or a farthing of money in their pockets ; we shall be as much aston- 
 ished at the virtues of the latter, as we are struck with horror and 
 detestation at the proceedings of the formuer ; and every candid mind, 
 without indulging ill-grounded prejudices, will undoubtedly make the 
 proper discrimination. 
 
 I intended only to wait until the troops were collected and had 
 occupied their new camp, in order to make a full report to Congress 
 of the measures which have been taken in consequence of the revo- 
 lution of the 26th of May. Notwithstanding the option which was 
 given, in my answer to the address of the generals and officers com- 
 manding regiments and corps, which has been already sent to your 
 Excellency, no soldiers, except a very few, whose homes are within 
 the enemy's lines, and a very small number of officers, have thought 
 proper to avail themselves of it, by remaining with the army ; a list 
 of those who remain is herewith transmitted. The men engaged to 
 serve three years were then formed into regiments and corps, in the 
 following manner, vh: The troops of Massachusetts composed 4 
 regiments, Connecticut 1 regiment. New Hampshire 5 companies, 
 Rhode Island 2 companies, Massachusetts artilleiy 3 companies, and 
 the New York artillery 2 companies, the total strength will be seen 
 by the weekly state, which is also forwarded. 
 
 The army being thus reduced to merely a competent garrison for 
 West Point, that being our only object of importance in this quarter, 
 and it being necessary to employ a considerable part of the men in 
 building an arsenal and magazines at that post, agreeably to the direc- 
 tions given by the Secretary at War, the troops accordingly broke up 
 their caatonment yesterday, and removed to that garrison, where 
 Major General Knox still retains tli°. command. The detachment 
 which marches for Philadelphia will be under the orders of Major 
 General Howe, Major General Heath having, at his own particular 
 request, retired from the field; the Brigadiers now remainino- with 
 the army, are Patterson, Huntington, and Greaton, besides the Adju- 
 tant General. Thus have I given the present state of our military 
 affairs, and hope the arrangements will be satisfactory to Congress. 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 GEO. WASHINGTON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 33 
 
 P. S. Should anything turn up which may prevent the necessity 
 of the troops proceeding to Philadelphia,'! am to request your Excel- 
 lency will send the earliest intimation to the commanding officer, that 
 the detachment may return immediately. The route will be by King- 
 wood, Pompton, Morristown, Princeton, and Trenton, on which your 
 express may meet the troops. 
 
 STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 In General Assembly, 
 
 Friday, August 29, 1783, a. m. 
 
 » 
 
 The report of the Committee appointed to consider of the most 
 eligible means for the accommodation of Congress, should that hon- 
 orable body determine to reside within this State, read August 27th 
 instant, was read the second time, whereupon 
 
 Resolved unanimously, That until Congress shall determine upon 
 the place of their permanent residence, it would be highly agreeable 
 to this House, if that honorable body should deem it expedient to 
 return and continue in the city of Philadelphia. In which case they 
 offer to Congress the different apartments in the State House, and 
 adjacent buildings, which they formerly occupied, for the purpose of 
 transacting the national business therein. 
 
 Resolved unanimously, That this House will take effectual meas- 
 ures to enable the Executive of the State to afford speedy and ade- 
 quate support and protection to the honor and dignity of the United 
 States in Congress, and the persons of those composing the Supreme 
 Council of the nation assembled in this city. 
 
 Resolved unanimously, That as this House is sincerely disposed to 
 render the permanent residence of Congress in this State commodious 
 and a;greeable to that honorable body, the delegates of this State be 
 instructed to request that Congress will be pleased to define what 
 jurisdiction they deem necessary to be vested in them in the place 
 wherein they shall permanently reside. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes. 
 
 PETER Z. LLOYD, 
 Clerk of the General Assembly. 
 Vol. I.— 3 
 
34 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS 
 
 STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 In General Assembly, August ZOth, 1783. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 Enclosed you have sundry resolutions of this House, which you 
 will be pleased to lay before the United States in Congress assembled, 
 and furnish the House with an answer as speedily as the same may 
 be obtained from that honorable body. 
 
 By order of the House. 
 (Signed) FREDERIC A. MUHLENBURG, 
 
 Speaker. 
 Honorable the Delegates of Pennsylvania. 
 
 " The Delegates of Pennsylvania are authorized by the President 
 and Council of that State, to declare in the most respectful terms to 
 Congress that their return to Philadelphia is sincerely desired by the 
 President and Council as an event which would give them the greatest 
 satisfaction." 
 
 August 13, 1783. 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO BENJAMIN FRANK- 
 LIN, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIART, SlC, PARIS. 
 
 Princeton, August 15, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor of your favor of the 17th March, enclosing the 
 treaty between the United States and the King of Sweden, the rati- 
 fication whereof has been retarded for want of nine States present in 
 Congress. This act has now taken place, and I am honored with 
 the commands of Congress to transmit it to you for exchange, which 
 I now have the pleasure of doing, and hope it will meet with a safe 
 and speedy conveyance. 
 
 On receiving the treaty a manifest impropriety struck Congress in 
 the title of the United States, being called of North America, when 
 it should have been only America ; and also in the enumeration of 
 the different States, wherein the Delaware State is called " The three 
 lower counties on Delaware." As there is no such State in the Union 
 Congress were at a loss how they could ratify the treaty with pro- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 35 
 
 priety, unless they should alter the transcript, which might be liable 
 to many exceptions; they have therefore, to avoid all diiEculties, 
 passed a separate resolve empowering you to make the necessary 
 amendments. A certified copy of this resolution I do myself the 
 pleasure to enclose. 
 
 Congress are entirely at a loss to account for the silence of their 
 Commissioners at Paris, since February last, being without any official 
 information relative to the treaty with Great Britain since that time. 
 
 I had the honor of writing you very fully on the 15th July last, 
 giving the reasons for our removal to this place at length, which, I 
 hope, got safe to hand. 
 
 Congress having determined not to fix the place of their permanent 
 residence till the first Monday in October next, is the reason of defer- 
 ring the appointment of a Minister for Foreign Affairs till that is done. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 E, B. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 July 29, 1783. 
 
 " Congress took into consideration a treaty of amity and commerce, 
 concluded between the King of Sweden and the United States of 
 America, signed at Paris, on the third day of April last ; and the 
 same was accepted and ratified, nine States being present, in the 
 manner following : 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled — to all who 
 shall see these presents, greeting : 
 
 Whereas by our commission dated at Philadelphia, on the twenty- 
 eighth day of September, 1782, the honorable Benjamin Franklin 
 was invested with full powers, on the part of the United States of 
 America, to concert and conclude with a person or persons equally 
 empowered on the part of his Majesty the King of Sweden, a treaty 
 of amity and commerce, having for its basis the most perfect equality, 
 and for its object the mutual advantage of the parties, we promising 
 in good faith to ratify whatever should be transacted by virtue of the 
 said commission : and whereas our said Minister, in pursuance of his 
 full powers, did at Paris, on the third day of April, in the year of 
 our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, with Count 
 
36 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Gustavus Philip de Creutz, Minister Plenipotentiary named for that 
 purpose on the part of his Majesty the King of Sweden, conclude 
 and sign a treaty of amity and commerce in the words following, to 
 wit ; * 
 
 Resolution July 29, 1783. 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Duane, seconded by Mr. Holten, 
 Resolved, That Doctor Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary of these 
 United States for concluding a treaty with the King of Sweden be, 
 and he hereby is, instructed and fully empowered to obtain amend- 
 ments of the following inaccuracies in the commercial treaty with his 
 said Majesty this day ratified, namely. United States of North America 
 for " United States of America." The counties of New Castle, Kent, 
 and Sussex on Delaware, for " Delaware," and to enter into the neces- 
 sary instruments and stipulations for that purpose." 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO BENJAMIN FRANK- 
 LIN, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY, &€., PARIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, 9th Sept., 1783, 
 Sir, 
 
 Being by accident at this city, and an opportunity offering, I do 
 myself the honor of enclosing a duplicate of the ratification of the 
 treaty with Sweden, the original of which I transmitted some time 
 since ; but not having the copy of the letter attending it by me, I am 
 prevented from sending the duplicate of it, unless this opportunity is 
 risked. 
 
 I ain happy to enclose you some resolutions of the Assembly of 
 Pennsylvania, by which you will see that all the difficulties that arose 
 on account of the mutiny have happily subsided, without producing 
 the least ill consequences. 
 
 The soldiers were very penitent, and two of the Sergeants are now 
 under sentence of death, but I believe will be pardoned by Congress 
 on account of the means used by Captain Carbery and Lieutenant 
 
 " Vide treaty, page 369, vol. 3, Secret Journal. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 37 
 
 Sullivan, to induce those poor wretches to behave as they did, under 
 expectations of great personal advantages. I hope these two officers 
 willmeet with proper detestation from all good men. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 E. B. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, September 
 
 26th, 1783. 
 
 " Congress took into consideration the report of a committee, con- 
 sisting of Mr. Duane, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Fitzsimmons, Mr. Gerry, 
 and Mr. Higginson, appointed to consider the late despatches from 
 the Ministers of the United States at foreign courts, and to report 
 what measures are necessary to be taken thereon ; and the following 
 paragraph being under debate, viz : " Your committee beg leave 
 further to observe, that in those despatches, and particularly in Mr. 
 Adams's letter of the 1 8th July, a sentiment is earnestly inculcated, 
 which is indeed obvious in itself, that the Union requires additional 
 support from its members ; and ' that if the United States become 
 ' respectable, it must be by means of more energy in government ; 
 ' for as some of the nations in Europe do not yet perceive this import- 
 ' ant truth, that the sphere of their own commerce will be eventually 
 ' enlarged by the growth of America, but on the; contrary manifests 
 'a jealousy of our future prosperity, it becomes the United States 
 < seriously to consider their own interests, and to devise such general 
 ' systems and arrangements, commercial or political, as our own pecu- 
 ' liar circumstances may from time to time require ;' your Committee 
 therefore propose that a special Committee be appointed to take this 
 important subject under deliberation, and to report the result to Con- 
 gress." 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, September 
 
 29th, 1783. 
 
 " The Committee, consisting of Mr. Duane, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. 
 Fitzsimmons, Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Higginson, appointed to consider 
 the late despatches from the Ministers of the United States at foreign 
 
38 PRESIDEPTT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Courts, and to report what measures are necessary to be taken thereon^ 
 reported as follows : 
 
 Whereas it appears from Mr. Adams's letters, of the 23d June, 
 and 14th and 18th of July, from the Ministers' joint letter of the 
 27tli, and Dr. Franklin's of the 22d July, that the Court of Great 
 Britain has discovered great jealousy upon the subject of American 
 commerce ; and the truth of this fact seems to be clearly evinced, by 
 
 two proclamations of his Britannic Majesty of the and the 
 
 . The first of which restrains the importation of the produce 
 
 of any of the United States to vessels belonging to Great Britain, 
 and navigated according to her laws, or to vessels belonging' to the 
 State of which the cargo is the produce ; and the latter, when taken 
 in conjunction with her subsisting trade laws, absolutely prohibits 
 American vessels or subjects from trading to the British Islands or 
 Colonies. 
 
 And whereas these regulations are highly injurious to the welfare 
 and commerce of these United States, and peculiarly so to the Eastern 
 States, as the article of fish is excluded from those which are to be 
 admitted on any condition ; for if these restrictions are continued, 
 and the vessels of each of the American States are confined in the 
 importation into Great Britain, to the products of that State only, 
 the intercourse between the States will not only be straitened, but a 
 great part of the carrying trade, which arises from the exportation of 
 American produce to England, will be engrossed by the subjects of 
 that kingdom, and a veiy important branch of our commerce thereby 
 lost, and although the court of France hath not yet explicitly dis- 
 closed her intentions with respect to our future intercourse with her 
 colonies, there is too much reason to apprehend that she will restrain 
 it to those articles of import and export which do not interfere with 
 her own exports or consumption, and which are in fact of very incon- 
 siderable value. 
 
 And whereas it is of importance to counteract those systems so 
 injurious to the United States, and this can only be done by delegating 
 a general power for regulating their commercial interests ; whereupon, 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare an address 
 to the States, upon the subject of commerce, stating to them the reg- 
 ulations which are prevailing in Europe, the evils to be apprehended 
 therefrom, and the steps proper to be taken to guard against, and to 
 counteract them. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 39 
 
 The Committee having further reported as follows : 
 
 Whereas it appears that in those despatches, and particularly in 
 Mr. Adams's letter of the 18th July, a sentiment is earnestly incul- 
 cated, which is indeed obvious in itself, 'that the Union requires 
 ' additional support from its members ; and that if the United States 
 ' become respectable, it must be by means of more energy in govem- 
 ' ment ; for, as some of the nations of Europe do not yet perceive 
 ' this important truth, that the sphere of their own commerce will be 
 ' eventually enlarged by the growth of America ; but, on the contrary, 
 ' manifest a jealousy of our future prosperity, it becomes the United 
 ' States seriously to consider their own interests, and to devise such 
 'general systems and arrangements, commercial or political, as our 
 ' own peculiar circumstances may, from time to time, require.' 
 
 Thereupon, 
 
 Resolved, That a special committee be appointed to take this 
 important subject under deliberation, and report the result to Con- 
 gress. 
 
 The Committee having further reported. 
 
 And whereas, it appears from Mr. Adams's despatches of , 
 
 and Dr. Franklin's of the 22d July, that propositions for entering 
 into treaties of amity and commerce with these United States, have 
 been made to our Ministers by the King of Denmark, the Court of 
 Portugal, the Emperor of Germany, the King of Prussia, the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany, and the Court of Spain; and that many of the 
 other Powers of Europe discover a like disposition : Thereupon, 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to consider this subject ; 
 and whether the transmission of general outlines of treaties with those 
 several Powers, or instructions to our Ministers^ as to the principles 
 of such treaties, be most expedient ; and to devise and report such 
 outlines or instructions accordingly. 
 
 The Committee further reported, that instructions be transmitted 
 to the Ministers, whom it concerns, immediately to stop all further 
 loans in Europe. 
 
 That representations be made to the Court of Denmark for obtain- 
 ing compensation for prizes sent into Bergen by the Alliance frigate. 
 
 That enquiry be made why the expedition of the Alliance and 
 Bon Homme Richard, &ic., was carried on at the expense and on 
 account of the Court of France, and whether any paft of the profit 
 arisin" therefrom accrued to the United States ; or any of the expense 
 
40 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 thereof placed to their account ; and whether the proceeds of any of 
 the prizes taken in that expedition, and which is due to the American 
 officers and seamen employed therein, is deposited in Europe, in whose 
 hands, and to what amount. 
 
 That the Minister of the United States be instructed to encourage 
 oveitures for treaties of amity and commerce from the respectable 
 and commercial Powers of Europe, upon terms of the most perfect 
 reciprocity, and subject to the revisal of Congress previous to their 
 ratification. Whereupon, 
 
 Resolved^ That these several subjects be referred to a special Com- 
 mittee, to report thereon proper instructions to the Ministers of these 
 U^ited States." 
 
 October 1st, 1783. 
 
 " Congress resumed the consideration of the before-mentioned 
 report : And, thereupon. 
 
 Resolved, That Mr. Jay be authorized to direct Mr. Carmichael to 
 repair to Paris, should Mr. Jay be of opinion that the interest of the 
 United States at the Court of Madrid may not be injured by Mr. 
 Carmichael's absence ; and that he bring with him the books and 
 vouchers necessary to make a final and complete settlement of the 
 accounts of public money which have passed through the hands of 
 Mr. Jay and himself; and that Mr. Barclay attend Mr. Jay and Mr. 
 Carmichael to adjust these accounts. 
 
 Resolved, That Mr. Jay have leave to go to Bath, should he find 
 it necessary for the benefit of his health." 
 
 " Ordered, That the Committee appointed to prepare instructions 
 to the Ministers of the United States, prepare drafts of letters to the 
 several Ministers, to be signed by the President, on the respective 
 subjects before-mentioned." 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTER 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY OF FRANCE. 
 
 Princeton, 27th October, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 I am honored by the cornmands of Congress to make known to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 41 
 
 you the pleasure they received from your communications of the 
 18th* of September. I cannot do this so well as by enclosing their 
 act of the 24tb instant for this purpose. 
 
 Be assured, sir, that every instance of the affection of our good 
 ally gives me great pleasure, and I feel equally interested in the due 
 acknowledgment of the many proofs we have received of this happy 
 effect from the union of our two nations. Nothing can cement this 
 alliance more perfectly than reciprocity and liberality in commercial 
 regulations, which, I doubt not, are principles that will ever temper 
 the wise councils of so great a monarch as your illustrious master. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal, October 2ith, 1783. 
 
 " Resolved, That the Minister Plenipotentiary of France be informed 
 that Congress receive much pleasure from his communication of the 
 resolution of the belligerent parties not to sign a definitive treaty of 
 peace with Great Britain but in concert with the United States. 
 That it gives them equal satisfaction to learn that \is most Christian 
 Majesty had in view the commerce of the United States, and that it 
 is their earnest wish that such a spirit of liberality may pervade com- 
 mercial regulations on both sides as will extend the intercourse and 
 mutual interests of the two nations, and preserve and increase the 
 reciprocal confidence and affection which have so eminently distin- 
 guished their alliance." 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTERS 
 PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE UNITED STATES, PARIS. 
 
 Princeton, November 1, 1783. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I am honored by the commands of Congress to transmit you a set 
 
 of instructions, in consequence of your joint and separate letters of 
 
 the months of June and July last, by Captain Barney, which I do 
 
 myself the honor to enclose. These were not finished till the 29th 
 
42 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 ult., after having undergone the most mature deUberation and fullest 
 discussion in Congress. 
 
 Yesterday we received, from Colonel Ogden, the news of the sig- 
 nature of the definitive treaty on the 3d of September, and that Mr. 
 Thaxter was on the way with the official news. We long for his 
 arrival, though we have no doubt of the fact, which is also announced 
 by the post this day from Boston. 
 
 I do most sincerely congratulate you, gentlemen, on this most 
 important and happy event, which has diffused the sincerest joy 
 throughout these States, and the terms of which must necessarily 
 hand down the names of its American negotiators to posterity with 
 the highest possible honor. May the gratitude of your country ever 
 be the fair reward of all your labors. 
 
 New York is not yet evacuated, but Sir Guy Carleton has informed 
 our Commander-in-Chief, that he shall get clear of it, in all this 
 month, though I think they will not dare to stay much beyond the 
 15th instant. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 E. B. 
 
 Instructions. Wednesday, October 29, 1783. 
 
 " On the report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. S. Huntington, 
 Mr. A. Lee, and Mr. Duane, to whom were referred sundry resolu- 
 tions, passed on the 29th of September and 1st October instant. 
 
 By the United States in Congress assembled : 
 
 To the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, at 
 the Court of Versailles, empowered to negotiate a peace, or to any 
 one or more of them. 
 
 First. You are instructed and authorized to announce to his 
 Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Germany, or to his Ministers, the 
 high sense which the United States in Congress assembled, entertain 
 of his exalted character and eminent virtues, and their earnest desire 
 to cultivate his friendship, and to enter into a treaty of amity and 
 commerce for the mutual advantage of the subjects of his Imperial 
 Majesty and the citizens of these United States. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 43 
 
 Secondly. You are instructed to meet the advances and encourage 
 the disposition of the other commercial powers of Europe, for entering 
 into treaties of amity and commerce with these United States. 
 
 In negotiations on this subject, you will lay it down as a principle 
 in no case to be deviated from, that they shall respectively have for 
 their basis, the mutual advantage of the contracting parties, on terms 
 of the most perfect equality and reciprocity, and not to be repugnant 
 to any of the treaties already entered into by the United States with 
 France and other foreign Powers. That such treaties shall, in the 
 first instance, be proposed for a term not exceeding fifteen years, and 
 shall not be finally conclusive until they shall respectively have been 
 transmitted to the United States in Congress assembled, for their 
 examiijation and final direction, and that with the draughts or propo- 
 sitions for such treaties shall be transmitted all the information which 
 shall come within the knowledge of the said Ministers respecting the 
 same, and their observations, after the most mature inquiry on the 
 probable advantages or disadvantages and efifects of such treaties 
 respectively. 
 
 Thirdly. You are instructed to continue to press upon the Minis- 
 ters of his Danish Majesty the justice of causing satisfaction to be 
 made for the value of the ships and goods captured by the Alliance 
 frigate and sent into Bergen, and how essentially it concerns the 
 honor of the United States that their gallant citizens should not be 
 deprived of any part of those prizes which they had so justly acquired 
 by their valor. That, as far as Congress have been informed, the 
 estimate of those prizes at fifty thousand pounds sterling is not immod- 
 erate ; that no more, however, is desired, than their true value, after 
 every deduction which shall be thought equitable. That Congress 
 have a sincere disposition to cultivate the friendship of his Danish 
 Majesty, and to promote a commercial intercourse between his sub- 
 jects and the citizens of the United States, on terms which shall 
 promise mutual advantage to both nations. 
 
 That it is, therefore, the wish of Congress that this claim should 
 still be referred to the equitable disposition of his Danish Majesty, in 
 full confidence that the reasonable expectations of the parties inter- 
 ested will be fully answered. Accordingly, you are fully authorized 
 and' directed, after exerting your best endeavors to enforce the said 
 claim, to the extent it shall appear to you to be well founded, to make 
 
44 PEESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 abatements, if necessary, and, ultimately, to accept such compensa- 
 tion as his Danish Majesty can be prevailed on to grant. 
 
 Fourthly. You are further instructed to enquire and report to 
 Congress the reasons why the expedition of the Alliance and Bon 
 Homme Richard, and the squadron which accompanied them, was 
 carried on at the expense and on account of the Court of France ? 
 Whether any part of the profit arising therefrom, accrued to the 
 United States ; or any of the expense thereof hath been placed to 
 their account ; whether the proceeds of any of the prizes taken in 
 that expedition, and which is due to the American ofEcers and seamen 
 employed therein, is deposited in Europe ; and what amount, where, 
 and in whose hands ? 
 
 Fifthly. The acquisition of support to the independence of the 
 United States having been the primary object of the instructions to 
 our Ministers, respecting the convention of the neutral maritime 
 powers, for maintaining the freedom of commerce, you will observe 
 that the necessity of such support is superseded by the treaties lately 
 entered into for restoring peace. And although Congress approve of 
 the principles of that convention as it was founded on the liberal basis 
 of the maintenance of the rights of neutral nations, and of the privi- 
 leges of commerce, yet they are unwilling at this juncture to become 
 a party to a confederacy which may hereafter too far complicate the 
 interests of the United States with the politics of Europe ; and there- 
 fore, if such a progress is not already made in this business as may 
 render it dishonorable to recede, it is the desire of Congress, and their 
 instruction to each of the Ministers of the United States at the 
 respective Courts in Europe, that no further measures be taken at 
 present towards the admission of the United States into that con- 
 federacy. 
 
 Sixthly. The Ministers of these States for negotiating a peace 
 with Great Britain are hereby instructed, authorized, and directed, to 
 urge forward the definitive treaty to a speedy conclusion, and unless 
 there shall be an immediate prospect of obtaining articles or explana- 
 tions beneficial to the United States, in addition to the provisional 
 articles, that they shall agree to adopt the provisional articles as the 
 substance of a definitive treaty of peace. 
 
 Seventhly. The Minister or Ministers of these United States, for 
 negotiating a peace, are hereby instructed to negotiate an explanation 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 45 
 
 of the following paragraph of the declaration acceded to by them on the 
 20th January, 1783, relative to captures, viz : " That the term should 
 be one month from the Channel and North Sea, as far as the Canary 
 Islands inclusively, whether in the Ocean or the Mediterranean." 
 
 Eighthly. Mr. Jay is hereby authorized to direct Mr. Carmichael 
 to repair to Paris, should Mr. Jay be of opinion that the interest of 
 the United States at the Court of Madrid may not be injured by Mr. 
 Carmichael's absence, and that Mr. Carmichael carry with him the 
 books and vouchers necessary to make a final and complete settlement 
 of the account of public moneys which have passed through the hands 
 of Mr. Jay and himself, and that Mr. Barclay attend Mr. Jay and 
 Mr. Carmichael to adjust these accounts. 
 
 Ninthly. Mr. Jay has leave to go to Bath should he find it neces- 
 sary for the benefit of his health. 
 
 Ordered, That the fifth instruction be also directed to Mr. Dana, 
 and that with it be sent a copy of the other instructions, for his 
 information." 
 
 
 
 Translation. 
 
 FROM THE CITY OF HAMBURG TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Right Noble, High, Mighty, 
 
 Most Honorable Lords, 
 
 Since by the preliminary articles of peace lately between the high 
 belligerent Powers concluded, the illustrious United States of North 
 America have been acknowledged free, sovereign, and independent, 
 and now, since European Powers are courting in rivalry the friendship 
 of your High Mightinesses, 
 
 We, impressed with the most lively sensations on the illustrious 
 event, the wonder of this, and the most remote future ages, and 
 desirous fully to testify the part which we take therein, do hereby 
 offer your High Mightinesses our service and attachment to the cause. 
 
 And in the most sincere disposition of the heart, we take the honor 
 to wish, so far as from omnipotent Providence we do pray, that the 
 most illustrious Republic of the United States of America may, during 
 the remotest centuries, enjoy all imaginable advantages to be derived 
 from that sovereignty which they gained by prudence and courage. 
 That by the wisdom and active patriotism of your illustrious Congress 
 it may forever flourish and increase, and that the High Mighty Regents 
 
46 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 of these free United States may with ease and in abundance enjoy 
 all manner of temporal happiness ; and at the same time we most 
 obsequiously recommend our city to a perpetual friendly intelligence, 
 and her trade and navigation in matters reciprocally aidvantageous, to 
 your favor and countenance. 
 
 In order to show that such , mutual commerce with the merchant 
 houses of this place may undoubtedly be of common benefit, your 
 High Mightinesses will be pleased to give us leave to mark out some 
 advantages of this trading city. 
 
 Here governs a free, unrestrained republican commerce, charged 
 with but few duties. 
 
 Hamburg's situation upon the river Elbe is as if it were in the 
 centre of the Baltic and the North Sea, and as canals are cut from 
 the river through the city, goods may be brought in ships to the 
 magazines in town, and from thence again to all parts of the world. 
 
 Hamburg carries on its trade with economy ; it is the mart of goods 
 of all countries where they can be purchased not only of good quality, 
 but sometimes cheaper than at first hand. 
 
 Here linen, woolen goods, calicoes, glass, copper, and all other 
 numerous produce, manufactured and context wares of the whole 
 German Empire, are brought in by Portuguese, Spaniards, the Eng- 
 lish, Dutch, French, and other nations, and from hence further trans- 
 ported, in exchange whereof considerable quantities of North American 
 goods, much wanted in Germany, may be taken. 
 
 Mr. Penet, who in your country is honored with several ofiices, has 
 sojourned here for some time, and with all who had the honor of his 
 acquaintance borne the character of an intelligent, skillful, and for 
 reciprocally advantageous commerce, well disposed and zealous man, 
 will certainly have the complaisance to give your High Mightinesses 
 further explanation of the advantages of this trading place, which we 
 have but briefly touched upon. 
 
 We now intercessionally and most obsequiously request your High 
 Mightinesses to favor and countenance the trade of our merchants 
 and to suffer them to enjoy all such rights and liberties as you allow 
 to merchants of nations in amity, which in gratitude and with zeal we 
 will in our place endeavor to retribute, not doubting that such mutual 
 intercourse may be effected since a good beginning thereof is already 
 made on both sides by the friendly reception of the vessels that have 
 arrived in either countries. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 47 
 
 In further testimony of our most attentive obsequiousness and sincere 
 attachment, we have deputed our citizen, John Abraham de Boor, 
 who is charged with the concerns of a considerable merchant house, 
 who, like several other merchant houses of good report and solidity 
 in this cityi are desirous of entering with merchants of your countries 
 into reciprocal commerce. He is to have the honor to present to 
 your High Mightinesses this our most obsequious missive. Wherefore 
 we most earnestly recommend him to your favorable reception. He 
 has it from us in express charge most respectfully to give your High 
 Mightinesses, if required, such upright and accurate accounts of our 
 situation and constitutions, as may be depended upon, and at the same 
 time in person to testify the assurance of the most perfect respect and 
 attachment, with which attentively, we remain, right noble, high, 
 mighty, most honorable lords, your 
 
 Most obsequious and devoted, 
 
 BtTKGOMASTEBS and Senate 
 Of the imperial free city of the Empire. 
 Given under our City Seal 
 March 29, 1783. 
 
 Specification 0/ Goods more profitably to be drawn from Hamburg 
 than from any other market, viz : 
 
 German Cloths of every quality and color, the ordinary sort of which 
 in particular to be had cheaper than anywhere else ; and the Bra- 
 bant Cloth we have at first hand ; all sorts of Woolens fit for lining, 
 such as Serges, &c., and a kind of Baize, near like the English, 
 but 29 per cent, cheaper. 
 
 Cotton Stuffs of every kind, manufactured in Germany. 
 
 Flannels, Friezes, Blankets, Woolen Stockings and Caps. 
 Thread Stockings ; Shoes and Slippers. 
 
 All sorts of Ribbands. 
 
 Coarse Linens, such as Sack Linen, from the coarsest to the lightest 
 quality, and Saxonian Sail Cloth. 
 
 Silesia Diaper, of different qualities and patterns. 
 
 Loom Dowlas ; Sleeked ditto ; Rough ditto ; Quadruple Tandems ; 
 Brown Silesias, go in great quantities to London, from thence they 
 go exported to America. 
 
48 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 All sorts of Striped and Chequered Linens, viz : Bleached Linens, 
 otherwise called fil d'epreuve ; Arabias, Sailors' Linens ; Coutils. 
 
 Westphalia Linens, at various prices, viz: Osnaburgs; Ticklenburgs ; 
 Ravensburgs ; Hessens ; Wahrendorps ; Bielefelds ; Quadruples, or 
 Brunswick. 
 
 Silesia Linens, viz : Bretagnas ; Plattillas Royales ; Creas a la Morlaix ; 
 Rouens Cholets ; Estopilles, or Cambricks. Imitating the French 
 Linens under the same denomination, but are one third cheaper here. 
 
 Gingas ; Tortillas, fit for bedding. 
 
 Handkerchiefs of all colors, &c. 
 
 Chintzes and Calicoes of various patterns, whole pieces, as well as 
 for gowns ; likewise white Calicoes, Handerchiefs, &c. 
 
 Russia Duck ; Ravensduck ; Flaams ; Cables ; Cordage ; Anchors ; 
 and, in short, every requisite for fitting out ships. 
 
 All sorts of Goods the Danish and Swedish East India Companies 
 import from thence and China, of which the chief articles are Tea 
 and Salt Petre ; Hartz ; Lead, which always comes cheaper than 
 the English; Small Shot; Tin, Tin-plate ; Steel; Iron assorted; 
 Scythes, and every kind of coarse Iron-ware ; Nails ; Needles ; 
 Iron-wire ; Brass-wire, &;c. 
 
 Paper of every kind, such as Writing Paper, Colored, Gilt, and Sil- 
 vered Paper ; Paper for Tapestry, fcc. 
 
 All sorts of Bohemian and other German Glasses, for Windows, 
 Looking Glasses, Bottles, Decanters, Wine and Beer Glasses, &c., 
 German Earthenware, China, Sic; Russia Mats, and, in short, all 
 Russian products ; Rhenish Wine ; Refined Sugars ; all sorts of 
 Haberdashery ware, which are made very good and cheap in 
 Germany. 
 
 Toys of every kind ; besides many more articles, too prolix to be 
 specified. 
 
 FROM ELIAS BOUDINOT, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE HONORABLE 
 
 THE BURGOMASTERS AND SENATE OF THE IMPERIAL FREE CITY, 
 
 HAMBURG. 
 
 Princeton, lat November, 1783. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your very respect- 
 ful and polite letter of the 29th of March last, by the hands of your 
 faithful citizen and missionary, Mr. De Boor. 
 
DIPLOMATIG CORRESPONDENCE. 49 
 
 Congress received this very generous and candid communication 
 with all that pleasure and attention which so great proffers of friend- 
 ship from the honorahle the Burgomaster? and Senate of the imperial 
 free city of Hamburg, justly demanded from the United States of 
 America. 
 
 Congress did not delay to take this honorable tender of affection 
 and esteem of the worthy Burgomasters and Senate under their imme- 
 diate just consideration ; and I am now honored by the commands of 
 Congress to make known to the respectable representatives of this 
 great and imperial city, in terms expressive of "the most sincere 
 regard, the high satisfaction with which the United States in Congress 
 assembled, received the annunciation of their friendship and attach- 
 ment, and their affectionate congratulations on the estabhshment of 
 the liberty and independence of the United States of America. That 
 having founded the commercial system of these States on the basis 
 of equality and reciprocity, Congress will cheerfully meet the wishes 
 of the Burgomasters and Senate of Hamburg, and unitfe with them 
 in encouraging the most friendly intercourse between the citizens of 
 the respective countries, on such liberal principles as will best pro- 
 mote their mutual advantage and prosperity; and that it is the earnest 
 prayer of the United States in Congress assembled, that the imperial 
 free city of Hamburg, may continue to increase in commerce and 
 splendor, and be blest with uninterrupted tranquillity." 
 
 It is with the most sensible pleasure I make this communication, 
 and hope and pray that a solid foundation will be laid for the firm 
 establishment of friendship and communion between the citizens of 
 our republics. 
 
 May God Almighty keep the honorable Burgomasters and Senate 
 of the imperial free city, Hamburg, in his holy protection. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal ofForkigrt Affairs. 
 
 October 29th, 1783. 
 
 "On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. S. Huntingdon,, 
 Mr. Lee, and Mr. Duane, to whom was referred a letter from the 
 Burgomasters and Senate of the imperial free city of Hamburg. 
 Vol. I.— 4 
 
50 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Resolved, Tliat the President, in terms expressive of the most sin- 
 cere regard, communicate to the Burgomasters and Senate of the 
 imperial free city of Hamburg, the high satisfaction with which the 
 United States in Congress assembled are impressed by the annuncia- 
 tion of their friendship and attachment, and their affectionate con- 
 gratulations on the establishment of the liberty and independence of 
 the United States of America. That having founded the commer- 
 cial system of these States on the basis of equality and reciprocity. 
 Congress will cheerfully meet the wishes of the Burgomasters and 
 Senate of Hamburg, and unite with them in encouraging the most 
 friendly intercourse between the citizens of the respective countries, 
 on such liberal principles as will best promote their mutual advantage 
 and prosperity ; and that it is the earnest prayer of the United States 
 in Congress assembled, that the imperial free city of Hamburg may 
 continue to increase in commerce and splendor, and be blessed with 
 uninterrupted tranquillity. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with Mr. John 
 Abraham de Boor, charged by the said Burgomasters and Senate 
 with their said letter to Congress, on the subject-matter thereof; and 
 that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to Mr. De Boor." 
 
 FEOM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PEESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTER 
 
 OF FRANCE. 
 
 Annapolia, December 24th, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to inform you, that yesterday, at twelve o'clock, 
 his Excellency General Washington has had a public audience of 
 Congress when he resigned his commission, and took a solemn leave 
 of public life. I enclose to your Excellency a copy of the General's 
 address to Congress and a copy of their answer. 
 
 I am with the highest respect, fee, 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 N. B. A similar letter enclosing a copy of the General's address 
 to Congress, and a copy of their answer, was written to his Excel- 
 lency the Minister of the United Netherlands. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 51 
 
 Extract from the Journals of Congress, December 23tZ, 1783. 
 
 " According to order, his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief was 
 admitted to a public audience, and being seated, the President, after 
 a pause, informed him that the United States in Congress assembled, 
 were prepared to receive his communications : whereupon he arose 
 and addressed the Chair, as follows : 
 
 Mr. President, 
 
 The great events on which my resignation depended having at 
 length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere con- 
 gratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself before them, to 
 surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim 
 the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country. 
 
 Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, 
 and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becom- 
 ing a. respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the appointment I 
 accepted with diifidence ; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish 
 so arduous a task ; which, however, was superseded by a confidence 
 in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of 
 the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. 
 
 The successful termination of the war has verified the most san- 
 guine expectations ; and my gratitude for the interposition of Provi- 
 dence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, 
 increases with every review of the momentous contest. 
 
 While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do 
 injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge in this place, the 
 peculiar services and distinguished merits of the gentlemen who have 
 been attached to my person during the war. It was impossible the 
 choice of confidential officers to compose my family should have 
 been mOre fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend in particular, 
 those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as 
 worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress. 
 
 I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last act of my offi- 
 cial life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the 
 protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence: 
 of them to his holy keeping. 
 
 Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great 
 
52, PRjESIDENT 0^ CON(?tB;E^S.. 
 
 theatre of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august 
 body, under \yhose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my com- 
 mission, and take my leave of all the employments of public fife. 
 
 He then advanced and, delivered to the President his commission, 
 with a copy of his address, and having resumed his place, the Presi- 
 dent returned him the following answer : 
 Sir, 
 
 The United States m Congress assembled, receive with emotions 
 too affecting for utterance, the solemn resignation of the authorities 
 under which you have led their troops with success through a perilous 
 and doubtful war. Called upon by your country to defend its invaded 
 rights, you accepted the sacred charge, before it had formed alliances, 
 and whilst it was without funds or a government to support you. 
 You have_ conducted the great military contest with \yisdorh and for- 
 titude, invariably regarding the rights of the civil power through aU 
 disasters and changes. You have, by the love and confidence of 
 your f^Uow-citizens, enabled them to display their martial genius, 
 and transmit their fame tq posterity. You have persevered, till these 
 United States, aided, by a niagnanimous King and nation, have been 
 enabled, under a just Providence, to close, the war in freedom, safety, 
 and independence; on which happy event, we sincerely join you in 
 congratulations. 
 
 Having defended the standard of liberty in this new; world : having 
 taugl^t, a, lesson useful to those who inflict, and to those who feel 
 oppression, you retire from the great theatre of action with the bless- 
 ings of your fellow-citizens; but the glory of your virtues will not. 
 terminate witfi your military command, it will continue to animate 
 remotest, ages. 
 
 T^e ffsel with you ou^- obligations to the anny in general, and will 
 particiilariy charge ourselves with the interests of those confidential 
 officers whp have attended your person to this afiecting moraent. 
 
 We. join you in commending the interests of our dearest country, 
 to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching him to dispose the 
 hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded 
 them of becoming a happy and re^peptable nation, and for you we 
 address to him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fos- 
 tered with all his C5ire ; that your d^iys may he as happy as they have 
 been illustrious ; and that he will finally give you that reward which 
 this world cannot give." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 53 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTER 
 
 OF FRANCE. 
 
 Annapolis, January 14, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 This day, nine States being represented in Congress, viz : Massa- 
 chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Cai-olina, together vi^ith one 
 member from New Hampshire and one member from New Jersey, the 
 treaty of peace was ratified by the unanimous vote of the members. 
 This being done, Congress, by an unanimous vote, ordered a procla- 
 mation to be issued, enjoining the strict and faithful observance 
 thereof, and published an earnest recommendation to the several 
 States in the very words of the fifth article. 
 
 Congress have appointed Colonel Josiah Harmar, my private Sec- 
 retary, to carry the ratification to our Ministers at Paris, and I have 
 instructed him to pursue the route marked by your Excellency's letter 
 of the 10th instant, and upon meeting you, to wait for such commands 
 as you may be pleased to honor him with. Let me entreat your 
 Excellency to give Colonel Harmar a recommendatory letter to the 
 Captain of the packet boat at New York, that he may have, upon 
 his arrival in France, the most expeditious means provided for his 
 journey to Paris. 
 
 I will employ a proper person to secure two or three comfortable 
 rooms for you, and if I can be so happy as to hear of your arrival at 
 Baltimore,. I will take care that a person shall be on the road, near 
 Annapolis, to conduct you to the house which may be provided for 
 you. 
 
 I am with the highest respect, &c., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO BENJAMIN FRANK- 
 LIN, JOHN ADAMS, AND JOHN JAY. 1 
 
 Annapolis, January 14, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 This day nine States being represented, viz : Massachusetts, Rhode 
 
54 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, and South Carolina, together with one member from 
 New Hampshire, and one member from New Jersey, the treaty of 
 peace was ratified by the unanimous vote of the members. This 
 being done. Congress, by an unanimous vote, ordered a proclamation 
 to be issued, enjoining the strict and faithful observance thereof, and 
 published an earnest recommendation to the several States, in the 
 very words of the fifth article. 
 
 They have likewise resolved, that the ratification of the treaty of 
 peace shall be sent by a proper person to our commissioners at Paris, 
 to be exchanged, and have appointed Colonel Josiah Harmar to that 
 service. He will have the honor of delivering to you the ratification, 
 together with copies of the proclamation of Congress, and of their 
 recommendation to the States, conformably to the 5th article. 
 
 I take the liberty of recommending Colonel Harmar as a brave and 
 deserving officer, and am with the highest respect and esteem, 
 Gentlemen, your most obedient, &c., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 By the United States, in Congress assembled. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Whereas, definitive articles of peace and friendship between the 
 United States of America, and his Britannic Majesty, were concluded 
 and signed at Paris, on the third day of September, 1783, by the 
 Plenipotentiaries of the said United States and of his said Britannic 
 Majesty, duly and respectively authorized for that purpose, which 
 definitive articles are in the words following : (see Treaty, Journals 
 of Congress, Vol. iv. p. 323,) and we the United States in Congress 
 assembled, having seen and duly considered the definitive articles 
 aforesaid, did, by a certain act under the seal of the United States 
 bearing date this 14th day of January, 1784, approve, ratify and 
 confirm the same and every part and clause thereof, engaging and 
 promising that we would sincerely and faithfully perform and observe 
 the same, and never sufl^er them to be violated by any one or trans- 
 gressed in any manner as far as should be in our power ; and being 
 
PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 55 
 
 sincerely disposed to carry the said articles into execution, truly, 
 honestly, and with good faith, according to the intent and meaning 
 thereof, we have thought proper by these presents to notify the 
 premises to all the" good citizens of these United States, hereby 
 requiring and enjoining all bodies of magistracy, legislative, executive, 
 and judiciary, all persons beariiig office, civil or military, of whatever 
 rank, degree, or power, and all others the good citizens of these States 
 of every vocation and condition, that, reverencing those stipulations 
 entered into on their behalf under the authority of that federal bond 
 by which their existence as an independent people is bound up 
 together, and is known and . acknowledged by the nations of the 
 world, and with that good faith, which is every man's surest guide, 
 within their several offices, jurisdictions, and vocations, they carry 
 into effect the said definitive articles and every clause and sentence 
 thereof sincerely, strictly, and completely. Given under the seal of 
 the United States. 
 
 Witness his Excellency, Thomas Mifflin, our President, at Annap- 
 olis, this 14th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 seven hundred and eighty-four, and of the sovereignty and independ- 
 ence of the United States of America the eighth. 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO BENJAMIN FRANK- 
 LIN AND JOHN ADAMS, PARIS. 
 
 Annapolis, March 20, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have the honor to transmit to you an act of Congress, of the 16tli 
 inst., together with copies of several papers to which that act refers. 
 I am, with the greatest respect, &ic., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 Act of Congress. Tuesday, March 16, 1784. 
 
 " Congress assembled ; present as yesterday. 
 
 On the report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Read, and Mr. Williamson, to whom were 
 referred a letter of November 1st, and one of December 25th, from 
 
56 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, with sundry papers enclosed, together with a letter of 
 20th October, and one of 14th November, from Thomas Barclay. 
 
 Resolved, That it is inconsistent with the interest of the United 
 States to appoint any person not a citizen thereof, to the office of 
 Minister, Charge d' Affaires, Consul, Vice Consul, or to any other 
 civil department in a foreign country, and that a copy of this resolve 
 be transmitted to Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jay, Ministers of the 
 said States in Europe. 
 
 That the said Ministers be instructed to inform Mr. William 
 Hodgden, merchant of London, that Congress have a grateful sense 
 of his benevolent and humane attention to the citizens of these United 
 States, who were prisoners in Great Britain during the late war. 
 
 That a copy of the application of the Danish Minister to Doctor 
 Franklin, and of a paragraph of his letter to Congress, on the subject 
 of the capture of the Danish ship Providentia, be sent to the Supreme 
 Executive of Massachusetts, who are requested to order duplicate and 
 authentic copies of the proceedings of their Court of Admiralty, 
 respecting the said ship and cargo, to be sent to Congress. 
 
 That a copy of all the letters from Mr. Robert Montgomery, of 
 Alicant, with their enclosures, to Congress, and the Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs, be transmitted to the said Ministers, who are 
 instructed to inquire on what grounds Mr. Montgomery has under- 
 taken to write in the name of the United States to the Emperor of 
 Morocco a letter by which their character and interest may be so 
 materially affected, and to take such measures thereon as may be 
 proper and consistent with the interest of the said States. 
 
 That a copy of a letter from Thomas Barclay, Consul of the 
 United States in France, of the 20th of October last, to Congress, be 
 transmitted to the said Ministers, who are instructed to take necessary 
 measures for obtaining free ports in that kingdom, one or more on the 
 Atlantic, and one on the Mediterranean." 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 February 11, 1784. 
 
 "The Committee, consisting of Mr. Ellery, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. 
 Lee, to whom was referred a note from the honorable the Minister 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 57 
 
 of France, dated 30th January, informing that ' his Most Christian 
 Majesty, from a desire to favor the progress of commerce between 
 his realm and these United States, has nominated four Consuls and 
 five Vice Consuls to reside in the towns of this continent where he 
 has judged their presence to be necessary; and that he has appointed 
 Mr. de Marbois Consul General of the thirteen United States,' report : 
 
 That they have conferred with Mr. de Marbois, who produced to 
 them four commissions for the said Consuls, and five brevets for the 
 Vice Consuls, whereby it appears that the said Sieur de Marbois is 
 appointed Consul General of France for the thirteen United States of 
 America. The Sieur de L'Etombe, Consul of France, for the States 
 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island ; the Sieur de 
 St. Jean de Crevecoeur, Consul of France, for the States of Connec- 
 ticut, New York, and New Jersey ; the said Sieur de Marbois, Consul 
 of France, for the States oL Pennsylvania and Delaware; and the 
 Chevalier D'Annemours, Consul of France, for Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia. Also, that the Sieur Toscan is appointed Vice Consul at 
 Portsmouth, in New Hampshire ; the Sieur de Marbois Vice Consul 
 at Rhode Island ; the Sieur Oster, Vice Consul at Richmond, in 
 Virginia ; the Sieur Petry, Vice Consul at Wilmington, in North 
 Carolina ; and the Sieur de la Floret, Vice Consul at Savannah, in 
 Georgia : Whereupon — ■ 
 
 Resolved, That the commissions and brevets of the said officers be 
 registered in the Secretary's Office ; and that thereupon acts of recog- 
 nition, in due form, be immediately issued to the States Concerned, in 
 order that they may furnish them respectively with their Exequatur 
 or notification of their quality, that the same may be made known 
 and published." 
 
 FKOM BENJAMIN FKANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT Of CONGRESS. 
 
 Paasy, November 1, 1783; 
 Sir, 
 Enclosed is a copy of my last, which went by the English packet. 
 I heard after I wrote it, that the French packet putting back by con- 
 trary winds, Mr. Thaxter had an opportunity of getting on- board her, 
 aijd that she sailed the 26th September. The mentioned new com- 
 mission is not yet come to hand. Mr. Hartley is not returned, and 
 
58 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 I hear, will stay for the meeting of Parliament, which is to be the 
 11th instant, and will not come hither till the recess for the Christmas 
 holidays. 
 
 Mr. Jay went to England about three weeks since on some personal 
 affairs, and Mr. Adams followed last week to see that country, and 
 take some exercise during this vacancy of business. 
 
 This court is now at Fontainbleau, but will return to Versailles in 
 a few days. Its good disposition towards us continues. The late 
 failure of payment in the Caisse d'Escompte, an institution similar to 
 the Bank of Jl^ngland, occasioned partly by its having gone too far 
 in assisting the Government with money, and the inability of the 
 Government to support their credit, though extremely desirous of 
 doing it, is a fresh proof that our not obtaining a farther loan was not 
 occasioned by want of good will to assist us, as some have unjustly 
 supposed, but by a real want of the means. Money is at present 
 unaccountably scarce here ; what is arrived and expected in Spain 
 since the peace, it is thought will set things to rights. The Gov- 
 ernment has proposed a second lottery for this year, by which they 
 borrow twenty-four millions, and is filled readily. This helps, and 
 the Caisse d'Escompte goes on again with its operations ; but it is 
 said the in,terest paid by the lottery plan is nearly seven per cent. 
 
 I have received the duplicate of your Excellency's letter of the 
 15th July to the Commissioners, which is very satisfactory, though 
 it came to hand but lately. The first, sent via New York, has not 
 yet appeared. I have sent copies of it to the Hague and Madrid. 
 The substance is published in several papers. 
 
 I have acquainted the Minister of Sweden, that I have received the 
 ratification of the treaty, and he has written to me that he shall be in 
 town in a few days, when he will make the exchange. The con- 
 clusion of the Danish treaty waits only for the commission and 
 instructions from Congress. The ambassador of Portugal informed 
 me lately that his Court had our proposed plan under consideration 
 and that we should soon hear from them. I sent it to Congress by 
 Barney, and hear th^ ship is arrived. A commission and instructions 
 will be wanting for that also, should the Congress be disposed to 
 conclude a treaty with that nation. 
 
 I see by the public prints that the Congress have ratified the con- 
 tract I made with the minister here respecting the loans and aids we 
 had received ; but the ratification itself, though directed to be sent to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 59 
 
 me, has never come to hand, and I am often asked for it. I beg it 
 may be forwarded by the first opportunity. 
 
 There has been with me lately, Mr. Pierre du Calvet, a merchant 
 of Montreal, who when our army was in Canada furnished our Gen- 
 erals and officers with many things they wanted, taking their receipts 
 and promissory notes for payment, and when the English repossessed 
 the country, he was imprisoned and his estate seized, on account of 
 the services he had rendered us. He has shewn me the originals of 
 his papers, which I think are genuine. He produced also a quantity 
 of Congress paper, which he says he received in payment for some of 
 the supplies, and which appeared to me of our first emissions, and yet 
 all fresh and clean, as having passed through no other hands. When 
 he was discharged from prison, he could not obtain permission to go 
 to the United States to claim the debt, but was allowed to go tc 
 England, and from thence he came hither, to solicit payment from 
 me ; having no authority to meddle with such debts, and the sum 
 being considerable, I refused and advised him to take passage for 
 America, and make his application to Congress. He said he was 
 grown old, much broken and weakened by near three years' impris- 
 onment, and the voyage from Canada to London had like to have 
 been too much for him, he being sick all the way, so that he could 
 not think of another, though distressed for want of his money. He 
 appears an honest man, and his case a hard one. I have, therefore, 
 undertaken to forward his papers,* and I beg leave to recommend 
 them to the speedy consideration of Congress, to whom I request you 
 would be pleased to present my dutiful respects, and assure them of 
 my most faithful services. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, &;c., 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, December 25, 1783. 
 
 Sir, 
 Not having heard of the appointment of a new Secretary for For- 
 eign Affairs, I take the liberty of addressing this despatch directly 
 to your Excellency. 
 
 * Missing. 
 
60 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 I received by Captain Barney a letter from the late President, 
 directed to the Commissioners, dated November 1st, vf'ith a set of 
 instructions dated the 29th of October, a resolution of the same date 
 respecting Hamburg, and another of the 1st November, relating to 
 Captain Paul Jones, all which will be duly regarded. Capt. Jones, 
 in passing through England, communicated these papers to Mr. 
 Adams, then at London. Mr. Adams, disappointed in not finding 
 among them the commission we had been made to expect, empower- 
 ing us to make a^ treaty of commerce with England, wrote to me that 
 he imagined it might be contained in a packet that was directed to 
 me, and requested to be immediately informed, adding, that in case 
 no such commission was come, he should depart directly for Holland : 
 so I suppose he is now there, Mr. Laurens is gone to England with 
 an intention of embarking for Amerita ; Mr. Jay is at Bath, but 
 expected here daily. The English Ministers (the Duke of Man- 
 chester and Mr. Hartley) are both at present in Parliament. As 
 soon as either of them returns, we shall endeavor to obtain an addi- 
 tional article to the treaty explaining that mentioned in the instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 The affairs of Ireland are still uiisettled ; the Parliament and vol- 
 unteers are at variance, the latter are uneasy that, in the late nego- 
 tiations for a treaty of commerce between England and America, the 
 British Ministers made no mention of Ireland, and they seem to desire 
 a separate treaty of commerce between America and that kingdom. 
 
 It was certainly disagreeable to the English Ministers that all their 
 treaties for peace were carried oft under the eye of the French court. 
 This began to appear towards the conclusion, when Mr. Hartley 
 refiised going to Versailles, to sign there with the other Powers our 
 definitive treaty, and insisted on its being done at Paris, which we, 
 in good humor, complied with, but at an earlier hour, that we might 
 have time to acquaint Le Comte de Vergennes, before he was to sign 
 with the Diike of Manchester. The Dutch definitive treaty was not 
 then ready, and the British Court now insisted on finishing it either 
 at London or the Hague. If, therefore, the commission to us, which 
 has been so long delayed, is still intended, perhaps it will be well to 
 instruct us to treat either here or at London, as we may find most 
 convenient, the treaty may be conducted even there in concert, and 
 in the confidence of communication with the Ministers of our friends, 
 whose advice may be of use to us. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 6X 
 
 With respect to the BritisTi Courts we should, I think, be constantly 
 upon our guard, and impress strongly upon our minds, that though it 
 has made peace with us, it i^ not in truth reconciled either to us or 
 to its loss of us, but still flatters itself with hopes that some change 
 in the affairs, of Europe, or some disunion among ourselves, may afford 
 them an opportunity of recovering their dominion, punishing those 
 who have most offended, and securing our future dependence. It is 
 easy to see by thp general turn of the Ministerial newspapers, (light 
 things indeed as straws and fea^thers, but like them, they show which 
 way the wind blows,) and by the malignant improvement their Min- 
 isters make in all the foreign Courts, of every little accident or dis- 
 sension among us : the riots of a few soldiers at Philadelphia, the 
 resolves of some town meetings, the reluctance to pay taxes, Stc, 
 8fc., all which are exaggerated to represent our governments as so 
 many anarchies, of which the people themselves are weary, the Con- 
 gress as having lost its influence, being no longer respected ; I say it 
 is easy to see from this conduct that they bear us no good will, and 
 that they wish the reality of what they are pleased to imagine. They 
 have, too, a numerous royal progeny to provide for, some of whom 
 are educated in the military line. In these circumstances we cannot 
 be too careful to preserve , the friendships we have acquired abroad, 
 and the union, we have established, at home, to secure our credit by 
 a punctuEil discharge of our, obligations of every kind, and our repu- 
 tation by the wisdom of our councils, since we know not how soon 
 we may have a fresh, occasion for friends, for credit, and for reputation. 
 
 The extravagant misrepresentations of our political state, in foreign 
 countries, made it appear necessary to give them better information, 
 which I, thought could not be more effectually and authentically done 
 than by publishing a translation into French, now the most general 
 language in Europe, of the book of Constitutions, which had been 
 printed by order of. Congress; this I accordingly got well done, and 
 presented two copies, handsomely bound, to every foreign Minister 
 here, one for himself, the other, more elegant, for his sovereign. It 
 has been well taken, and has afforded matter of surprise to many who 
 had conceived mean ideas of the state of civilization in America, and 
 could not have expected so inuch politicar knowledge and' sagacity 
 had existed in our wilderness; and from all parts I have the satisfac- 
 tion to hear that our Constitutions in general are much admired. I 
 am persuaded that this step will not only tend to promote the ami- 
 
62 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 gration to our country of substantial people from all parts of Europe, 
 by the numerous copies I shall disperse, but will facilitate our future 
 treaties with foreign Courts, who could not before know what kind 
 of Government and people they had to treat with. As, in doing 
 this, I have endeavored to further the apparent views of Congress in 
 the first publication, I hope it may be approved and the expense 
 allowed. I send herewith one of the copies. 
 
 Our treaties with Denmark and Portugal remain unfinished, for 
 want of instructions respecting them from Congress, and a commis- 
 sion empowering some Minister or Ministers to conclude them. 
 
 The Emperor of Morocco, we understand, has expressed a dispo- 
 sition to make a treaty of amity and commerce with the United 
 States. A Mr. Montgomery, who is a merchant settled at Alicant, 
 has been, it seems, rather forward in proposing a negotiation without 
 ailthority for so doing, and has embarrassed us a little, as may be 
 seen by some letters I enclose. Perhaps it would be well for Con- 
 gress to send a message to that Prince, expressing their respect and 
 regard for him, till such time as they may judge it convenient to 
 appoint an ambassador in form, furnished with proper presents, to 
 make a treaty with him. 
 
 The other Barbary States, too, seem to require consideration, if 
 we propose to carry on any trade in the Mediterranean, but whether 
 the security of that trade is of sufficient importance to be worth pur- 
 chasing, at the rate of the tributes usually exacted by those piratical 
 States, is a matter of doubt, on which I cannot at present form a 
 judgment. 
 
 I shall immediately proceed, in pursuance of the first instructions, 
 to take the proper steps for acquainting his Imperial Majesty of Ger- 
 many with the disposition of Congress, having some reason to believe 
 the overture may be acceptable. His Minister here is of late extremely 
 civil to me, and we are on very good terms ; I have likewise an inti- 
 mate friend at that Court. With respect to other Powers, it seems 
 best not to make advances at present, but to meet and encourage 
 them when made, which I shall not fail to do, as I have already done 
 with those of Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal. Possibly Hamburg, 
 to whom I have forwarded the letter of Congress, may send a Min- 
 ister to America, "f they wish for a treaty, to conclude it there. They 
 have no Minister here. 
 
 I have lately received a memorial from the Minister of Denmark, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 63 
 
 respecting a ship of that nation, the Providentia, taken by one of 
 our privateers, and carried into Boston ; I enclose a copy of it, and 
 request to be furnished with directions and informations for the answer. 
 It may be well to send me a copy of the proceedings in the courts ; 
 from a perusal of the papers communicated with it, I am satisfied 
 that the cargo was clearly British property. We have hitherto 
 entered into no engagements respecting the armed neutrality, and in 
 obedience to the fifth instruction, shall take care to avoid them here- 
 after. 
 
 The treaty between this Court and the United States, for regula- 
 .ting the powers, privileges, he, of Consuls, is at length completed, 
 and is transcribing in order to be signed. I hope to transmit a copy 
 by the next packet. 
 
 I have received the Congress ratification of the two money treaties, 
 which will be soon exchanged, when I shall send copies of them, 
 with that of Sweden. 
 
 I have given, and shall continue to give. Captain Paul Jones all 
 the assistance in my power, towards recovering the prize money; 
 and I hope it may be soon accomplished. When Mr. Jay returns, 
 I shall desire him to make the enquiry directed in the fourth instruc- 
 tion, respecting the expedition under that Commodore, and report 
 thereon to Congress. In the meantime I can answer respecting one 
 of the questions, that the King paid the whole expense, and that no 
 part of it has ever been placed to the account of Congress. 
 
 There exists, indeed, a demand of one Puchelberg, a person in 
 the employ of Mr. Schweighauser, of about thirty thousand livres, 
 for provisions and other things furnished to Captain Landais, after he 
 took the Alliance out of the hands of Captain Jones ; but, as the ship 
 was at that time under the King's supply, who, having borrowed her 
 for the expedition, when fitted for sea, and just ready to sail with Mr. 
 Adams, had ordered her to be delivered in the same condition, free 
 of all charges, accrued or accruing by her being in Holland, and in 
 L'Orient ; and as Mr. Puchelberg had not only no orders from me 
 to furnish Captain Landais, but acted contrary to my orders given to 
 Mr. Schweighauser, and contrary to the orders of Mr. Schweighauser 
 himself, I refused to pay his account, which, besides, appeared extrav- 
 agant, and it has never yet been paid. 
 
 I shall do my best in executing the third instruction, respecting our 
 claim upon Denmark ; I have written to London, to obtain, if possi- 
 
64 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 ble, an account of the sums insured upon the ships delivered up, as. 
 such an account may be some guide in the valuation of the prizes. 
 
 A Captain Williams, formerly in the British service, and employed 
 upon the Lakes, has given me a paper containing information of the 
 state of the back country. As those informations may possibly be; 
 of some use, I send herewith the paper.* 
 
 Mr. Carmichael has sent me the accounts of the money transac- 
 tions at Madrid ; as soon as Mr. Jay returns they will be examined. 
 
 Be pleased to present my dutiful respects to Congress, and assure 
 them of my most faithful services. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, &;c., 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 THOMAS BAKCLAT TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 L'Orient, October 20, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 As it is a considerable time since I had the honor of any commands 
 from the Office of Foreign Affairs, I have not anything to reply to. 
 The readiness of this Court to establish a free port in France, agree- 
 ably to the treaty with America, is now spoken of; and I believe, if 
 any requisition for that purpose was made by Congress, or by the 
 American Ministers, that it would be readily complied with — there- 
 fore, if such a measure is thought proper, I would recommend that 
 the port of L'Orient should be asked as the one better adapted to 
 the views of the Americans than most others, and superior to any 
 that there is a probability of obtaining. Indeed, taking everything 
 together, I d6 not believe a more commodious situation could be 
 found, especially if another war should break out between America 
 and Great Britain. 
 
 L'Orient is situated in the Bay of Biscay, between the entrance of 
 the harbors of Brest and Nantes, being twenty-five leagues nearly 
 southeast of the former, and about as much to the northwest of the 
 latter, west longitude from the meridian of London 3° 22', north lati- 
 tude 47° 55', and about eight miles from the Isle of Groix, which 
 forms the entrance of the harbor ; it is defended by the fort at port 
 
 — s 
 
 •Missing. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 65 
 
 Louis, two English miles from L'Orient, where ships of war can pass 
 only one after another, and so near the fort as to be completely under 
 the command of its fire, which, most probably, would oblige an 
 enemy's vessel to ground. The road at Port Louis, within the cit- 
 adel, is not capable of containing more than two or three ships of 
 war, where so many may ride at the moorings ; but a greater number 
 would be in danger, if it blew hard from the west or west southwest. 
 Ships that draw twenty-four feet water may pass up to the harbor of 
 L'Orient with safety ; those employed in the- China trade generally 
 require from twenty to twenty-two feet, and no accident has been 
 known to happen to them. The harbor is capacious ; and in the 
 month of August, 1781, there arrived from the West Indies a fleet of 
 one hundred and thirty-five sail, at a time when there was a remark- 
 able number of foreign vessels there, and all were accommodated. 
 The town may be said to be divided from the King's port, where the 
 men of war are built, the pubhc supplies of all kinds kept, and the 
 arsenal and India stores situated. The magazines there have ever 
 been much at the command of the Americans, either in affording them 
 receptacles for the cargoes of their ships, or m supplying them with 
 whatever materials they wanted from the collections made for the use 
 of the King. This port, during the war, employed about four thou- 
 sand workmen, and is under the direction of the Marine Minister, 
 represented by the Commandant who lives on the spot, and who 
 conform to the marine ordinances ; the number bf troops generally 
 there is irom fifteen hundred to three thousand, from whence the 
 regiments abroad are often recruited. When any criminal offence is 
 committed in that district, the judges of the admiralty have cognizance 
 thereof, and in their decision are governed by the laws of the kingdom ;. 
 but, in default of their interference, the regal judges at Hennebon may 
 interpose and bring the matter before them. 
 
 The town consists of about twelve hundred houses, and is very 
 populous; the number of inhabitants, including the soldiers and: 
 artificers in the port, said to be near twenty thousand. 
 
 The regulations in the town are under the inspection of the Mayor 
 and his Council. His office, vhich is purchasable, empowerihg him 
 to choose such Council ; but neither he nor they can interfere in 
 criminal cases, which come under the jurisdiction of the judges or- 
 Senechals of the town, who decide agreeable to the law and ordi- 
 nances. In actions of debt, those that are laid for matters in a marine- 
 Vol. L— 5 
 
66 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 department, such as fitting out ships, &;c., the judges of the admiralty 
 have the sole decision of; all other suits for debf are brought before 
 the three Consuls of the town, (one of whom is chosen annually by 
 a select number of the inhabitants,) who can decide, without appeal, 
 for any sum not exceeding five hundred livres ; if the demand exceeds 
 that, an appeal lies to the parliament of Rennes, and from thence to 
 the King and Council. 
 
 L'Orient had the exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies ;' 
 but the company is dissolved, and the King has permitted three ships 
 to be fitted out upon actions disposed of at Marseilles, Bordeaux, 
 Nantes, and L'Orient, and each place has a right to nominate a 
 director to take care of the management of the trade ; this business, 
 however, goes on very heavily, and it is supposed the India com- 
 merce will return to its old channel, either by the re-establishment of 
 the company, or by confining the trade to L'Orient. The place is 
 conveniently situated for the transportation of goods from the other 
 ports of France, from the rivers Garonne and Loire particularly, the 
 last of which is navigable, for large boats of a particular construction, 
 as high up as Orleans. The freight from Bordeaux is no more than 
 from ten to twelve livres per ton, and from Nantes six. Nature has 
 done a great deal for the port of L'Orient, and very extensive 
 improvements may be made, if the increasing trade of the place 
 requires it ; and already the India and other stores afibrd conveni- 
 ences for a more extended commerce than the place now carries on. 
 The genius of the people seems adapted to business. There are no 
 nobility ©f any kind living among them ; and any person keeping a 
 house three months is entitled to all the commercial advantages of 
 the place. The greatest objection that has been made is, that if tlie 
 India company is re-established, the regulations that will probably 
 exist, respecting their trade, will be; incompatible with those of a free 
 port, in the extended sense of the word, and that the place is already 
 too considerable to admit the total extinction of all its duties. To 
 the first it may be replied, that although L'Orient shall be declared 
 free, it may be with the limitation that if the India trade again centres 
 there, the customary duties of five per cent, hitherto paid by French 
 subjects, shall be continued ; and to the last, that the advantages bv 
 the country will far over-balance the relinquishment of the present 
 imposts. 
 
 I have been applied to by the ministry for my opinion of what 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 67 
 
 would be agreeable to the Americans on this subject; and my answer 
 was, that, so far as I could venture to judge, if the Court intended to 
 give proper encouragement to the trade of the two countries, it would 
 be by making L'Orient free for the general trade of America — to con- 
 tinue Dunkirk so, for that to the Channel, &tc. — to remove the few 
 restrictions, that exist at Marseilles, for the sake of the trade to the 
 Mediterranean^ — and to open Bayonne, on account of the commerce 
 that might be introduced to the adjoining parts of Spain. At the 
 same time I added, that I looked upon L'Orient as the place of most 
 consequence, and that it would be absolutely necessary to abolish the 
 transient duties paid on the transportation of manufactures from one 
 province to another. 
 
 Painbeuf, Rochefort, and Bayonne, were mentioned ; to which I 
 objected, that Painbeuf was entirely destitute of accommodations for 
 the reception or expediting of goods, a beach without quay, wharf, 
 or other convenience for landing — Rochefort unhealthy and unpre- 
 pared — Bayonne a bar harbor ; and that I thought the concurrence 
 of Congress would be necessary before any port was absolutely fixed 
 on; and I have the pleasure to find my sentiments are uniform 
 throughout with those of all my countrymen whom I have consulted 
 on this important point. » 
 
 The Marquis de la Fayette, who takes a kind concern in every 
 thing relative to America, wrote some time ago to the Count de 
 Vergennes to know what the Court of France intended, respecting 
 the extent and liberty of the free port, when one should be made ; 
 to which, as nearly as I recollect, Mr. De Vergennes answered, that 
 it would be as totally free in its commercial regulations as if it did 
 not belong to the kingdom. 
 
 I have been led to trouble you with a long letter, but I hope it will 
 not be found foreign to my instructions or duty, and conclude, 
 
 Sir, your most obedient. Sic, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 L'Orient, November 14, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Having had the honor of addressing you the 20th past, on the 
 
68 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Subject of a free port in France, I must call your attention again to 
 a very important matter, in which, if Congress have not hitherto 
 taken some measures, I beg leave to recommend it to their conadera- 
 tion. I mean a treaty of amity with the several States on the coast 
 of Barbary, where, I believe, with some attention and the usual pres- 
 ents which must accompany an embassy thither, the American trade 
 to the Mediterranean might be put on a safe and respectable footing, 
 in place of the very precarious one in which it now exists ; during a 
 stay of a few days that I lately made in London, a person who had 
 resided many years at Mequinez, was recommended to me, as a proper 
 one, to give me some information concerning this matter. He pro- 
 duced testimonials from the Emperor, attesting the goodness of his 
 character, and offered any assistance in his power to negotiate an 
 alliance, either by going to Barbary, to know the precise terms on 
 which it could be obtained, or by accompanying, as an interpreter, 
 any person sent on this business by Congress. He said, that he 
 supposed the expense of the whole of the presents necessary for the 
 different States might be about two thousand pounds sterling ; I took 
 his directions, in case there should be occasion to employ him. But 
 I do not think it would be by any means proper to employ him or 
 any other person as a principal in the service, except a subject of the 
 United States; and 1 flatter myself that Congress have already 
 ordered, or will very soon order, some of their servants on this busi- 
 ness, as not only the property of the citizens of America, but their 
 personal liberty depends on its being done, and I know not one public 
 object now existing of more importance. 
 
 I have reason to believe that this court will readily give assistance 
 agreeably to the treaty, in accomplishing this very essential affair, and 
 I remain. 
 
 Sir, your most obedient, fee, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, April I6th, 1784. 
 
 "The Minister Plenipotentiary of France having, on the 6th, 
 transmitted to Congress a letter, dated the 13th August, 1783, from 
 his most Christian Majesty, in answer to their letter of the 14th June, 
 1779, and accompanied the same with a memorial, informing Con- 
 
DIPLOMATIC COERESPONDENCE. 69 
 
 gress that the portraits of the King and Queen are arrived at Phila- 
 delphia; that he has orders to present them to this Assembly, and 
 has taken the measures necessary fof their safe-keeping until Congress 
 shall be ready to receive them; the said letter and memorial were 
 referred to the consideration of a Committee. 
 
 On the report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Geny, Mr. Jef- 
 ferson, ai^d Mr. Read, to whohi were referred the letter of the 13th 
 August, from his most Christian Majesty, and the memorial from the 
 Honorable the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, 
 
 Resolved, That the following letter be signed by the President in 
 behalf of the United States in Congress assembled, and transmitted to 
 his most Christian Majesty, in answer to his letter accompanymg the 
 portraits of his Majesty apd of his Royal Consort, which he has been 
 pleased to present to Congress : 
 
 Great, faithful, and beloved Friend and Ally, 
 
 Your Majesty's letter of the 13th August last, has been received 
 by the United States in Congress assembled, with a degree of satis- 
 faction and pleasure which those only can conceive who, to the highest 
 sentimeijts of respect, unite feelings of the most affectionate friend- 
 ship. 
 
 The portraits of your Majesty, and of your Royal Consort, having 
 arrived at Philadelphia, have been carefully preserved by your faithful 
 Minister, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, whose attention on this, as on 
 all other occasions, merits the acknowledgments of Congress. 
 
 These lively representations of our august and most beloved friends 
 will be placed in our Council Chamber, and can never fail of exciting 
 in the minds of every American, an admiration of the distinguished 
 virtues and accomplishments of the royal originals. 
 
 We beseech the Supreme Ruler of the universe constantly to keep 
 your Majesty, and your Royal Consort, in his holy protection, and 
 to render the blessings of your administration as extensive as the 
 objects of your Majesty's benevolent principles. 
 
 Done at Annapolis, in the State of Maryland, this 16th day of 
 April, 1784, by the United States in Congress assembled. 
 Your faithful Friends and Allies. 
 
 Resolved, That the President inform the honorable Minister of 
 France, that Congress have a due sense of the care which he has 
 
70 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS 
 
 taken for preserving the portraits ; and are desirous they may con- 
 tinue in his possession until proper places can be provided for them. 
 
 That a letter be addressed by the President to the Supreme 
 Executives of the several States, informing them of the intelligence 
 communicated by the Minister of France, to wit : ' That his most 
 Christian Majesty has determined that L'Orient shall be a free port ; 
 and, although the edict is not published, may be so considered by 
 the citizens of the United States. And that the merchants of the 
 United States likewise enjoy the liberty of frequenting the ports of 
 Marseilles and Dunkirk ; and participate as other nations, the fran- 
 chises and privileges of these two places.' 
 
 That the Minister of France, in answer to his letter of the 9th 
 instant, requesting to know what measures had been taken by the 
 United States relative to the payment of the portions of the principal 
 and interest of the loan of eighteen millions of livres, furnished by 
 his most Christian Majesty, and also of five millions of florins sup- 
 plied in Holland, and guarantied by his Majesty, be informed that, as 
 all the Legislatures have not yet passed on the recommendation of 
 Congress, of the 13th April, 1783, for establishing permanent funds, 
 supplementary requisitions on the States will be adopted, to provide 
 for the interest of the loans aforesaid for the present year ; and that 
 the greatest care will be taken by subsequent measures for the punc- 
 tual payment of the principal and interest, as they may respectively 
 become due, according to the terms of the several contracts." 
 
 FKOM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE GOVERNORS 
 
 OF STATES. 
 
 Circular. 
 
 Annapolis, April 21, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to inform your Excellency, that by intelligence 
 communicated to Congress by the Minister of France, his most 
 Christian Majesty has determined that L'Orient shall be a free port, 
 and although the edict is not published, may be so considered by the 
 citizens of the United States ; and that the merchants of the United 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 71 
 
 States likewise enjoy the liberty of frequenting the ports of Mar- 
 seilles and Dunkirk, and participate as other nations the franchises 
 and privileges of these two places. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 CHEV. DE LA LUZERNE TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Annapolis, April 9th, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to communicate to your Excellency, an extract 
 from a letter which I received from Count de Vergennes, dated the 
 24th of December last. 
 
 I received orders at the same time to inform his Majesty's Ministers 
 of the measures which have been taken by the United States, relative 
 to the payment of portions of the principal, and of the interest, of 
 the sums which have been loaned' them by the King. I make men- 
 tion, sir, of portions of the capital, because, by the terms of the 
 contract of the 16th of July, 1784, the reimbursement of the first 
 loan of eight millions, is to begin three years after the peace, and it 
 is expedient to take seasonable measures with regard to this subject. 
 
 I am also to inform my Court of the arrangements which have 
 been made for the payment of interest on the loan of five millions 
 of florins, made in Holland, the 5th November, 1781, and for which 
 his Majesty became guarantee. I know the efforts of Congress to 
 effect the discharge of the pubhc debt, and their wish to fulfill their 
 engagements ; and I consider it superfluous to recall to your Excel- 
 lency all the motives which combine to induce the United States to 
 fulfill faithfully those which they have contracted with the King. I 
 confine myself to desiring you to enable me to dissipate the uneasi- 
 ness which may have been excited at my Court by the delay in 
 proceeding to raise funds to effect the payment of this debt. 
 
 I am with respect, sir, Stc, 
 
 LUZERNE. 
 
72 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 COUNT DE VERGENNES TO M. DE LA LUZEENE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, December 24, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 His Majesty has decided irrevocably, that the port of L'Orient 
 shall be free, and American sailors may actually consider it so. The 
 edict of the King has not yet been published, however, because his 
 Majesty's intention being to give this arrangement as wide an extent 
 as possible, the regulations should be drawn up after a careful delib- 
 eration, and conceived in such terms that the advantages allowed to 
 the merchants of the United States may not be essentially prejudicial 
 to our own commerce and the revenues of the State. 
 
 The merchants of the United States enjoy equally the liberty of 
 frequenting the ports of Marseilles and Dunkirk, and they partake, 
 like other nations, in the immunities and privileges of these two 
 places. 
 
 DE VERGENNES. 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THE MINISTER 
 
 OF FRANCE. 
 
 Annapolis, April 21, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to inform your Excellency, tliat Congress have a 
 due sense of the care you have taken for preserving the portraits of 
 his most Christian Majesty atid his royal consort, and that they are 
 desirous they may continue in your possession until proper places 
 can be provided for them. 
 
 In answer to your Excellency's letter of the 9th instant, I am 
 instructed to assure you that, as all the Legislatures have not yet 
 passed on "the recommendations of Congress of the 13th of April, 
 ' 1783, for establishing permanent funds, supplementary requisitions 
 ' on the States will be adopted to provide for the interest of the loans 
 ' aforesaid for the present year ; and that the greatest care will be 
 ' taken, by subsequent measures, for the punctual payment of the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 73 
 
 ' principal and interest as they may respectively become due, accord- 
 ' ing to the times of the several contracts." 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 FROM THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE TO PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Annapolis, April 21, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 In the course of last summer I requested leave of his Majesty to 
 return to France. By letters from my friends I am informed that it 
 is granted. But the loss of the packet which conveyed the Minister's 
 liBtter, lays me under the necessity of writing again on that subject. 
 I should have waited his answer before I took leave of Congress, had 
 I not reason to believe that it will not reach till their recess. I 
 cannot, however, depart without entreating your Excellency to com- 
 municate to them my warm acknowledgments for the manner in 
 which they have treated with me during my mission, which has lasted 
 pear five years. I have had the satisfaction of agreeing with Con- 
 gress on all die subjects which I had the honor of negotiating with 
 them ; and owe my success to the good fortune I had of being the 
 representative of a just and generous monarch to a wise and virtuous 
 republic. I shall ever retain a grateful remembrance of this ; and 
 shall always consider the time I have spent on this continent as the 
 most honorable period of my life. My satisfaction would be com- 
 plete, were it not accompanied with regret at parting from a Senate 
 composed of members on whose friendship, I flatter myself, I have a 
 just claim by an intimate acquaintance of several years. Your Excel- 
 lency permits me to rank you among those who honor me with their 
 friendship ; and I am persuaded that the expression of my attachment 
 and respect for Congress will lose nothing of its force if you will be 
 pleased to convey it. 
 
 The letters by which I have received advice of my having obtained 
 leave to return, inform me, also, that Mons. de Marbois will be his 
 Majesty's Charge d' Affaires with the United States. His zeal and 
 his attachment for the cause which unites France and America are 
 
74 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 well known to Congress ; and I have not the least doubt but his 
 Majesty's choice will be agreeable to that assembly. 
 I am, sir, with great respect, fee, 
 
 LE CHE. DE LA LUZERNE. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May llth, 1784. 
 
 "On the report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. 
 Jefferson, and Mr. Williamson, to whom was referred a letter of the 
 21st April, from the Honorable the Minister of France, informing 
 that in the course of last summer he had requested his Majesty's 
 leave to return to France, and had reason to believe it was granted, 
 though he had not received official information ; and that his Majesty 
 had fixed upon Mons. De Marbois to be his Charge d' Affaires with 
 the United States, 
 
 Resolved, That the following answer be returned : 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled are informed, 
 by the letter which you were pleased to address to them the 21st of 
 April, that having the last year requested of his Majesty leave to 
 return to France, you learn it has been granted, but that the official 
 letter of the Minister being lost, you expect a duplicate, which will 
 probably arrive in the recess of Congress. 
 
 It is with great concern, sir, that Congress receive this information, 
 as it respects a Minister for whom they entertain the most perfect 
 esteem. 
 
 From the time of your arrival in America to the signing of the 
 provisional treaty, tlie conduct of the war has been attended with 
 numerous difficulties and perils, to surmount which the joint efforts 
 of the United States and of their great and good ally have been 
 necessary. 
 
 Congress consider it as a fortunate circumstance, that during that 
 period the affairs of his most Christian Majesty in this quarter have 
 been under the direction of an able and faithful Minister, whose 
 anxiety to promote the views and essential interests of his Sovereign, 
 has been ever attended with a laudable endeavor to reconcile them 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 75 
 
 to those of his aUies. Without such a disposition, it is evident there 
 could not have existed a concert of those measures which, by the 
 smiles of Providence, have hastened the conclusion of the late dis- 
 tressing war. 
 
 The abilities of the gentleman who, as you are informed, is to be 
 charged with the affairs of your department, and his thorough knowl- 
 edge of the principles on which the alliance was founded, will, we 
 doubt not, conspire to produce on his part such measures as will best 
 promote the mutual interest of the two nations. 
 
 We now, sir, bid you an affectionate adieu, with the fullest assur- 
 ance that you will be happy in the smiles and approbation of your 
 royal sovereign ; and we sincerely wish that you may be equally so 
 in an interview with your friends, and in your future engagements." 
 
 REPORT OF A COMMITTEE. 
 
 Extract from the Journals of Congress, April 30, 1784. 
 
 " Congress took into consideration the report of a Committee, con- 
 sisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. Read, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Chase, and 
 Mr. Jefferson, to whom were referred sundry letters and papers 
 relative to commercial matters, and the following paragraph being 
 under debate : * 
 
 That it be recommended to the Legislatures of the several States to 
 vest the United States in Congress assembled, for the term of fifteen 
 years, with a power to prohibit any goods, wares, or merchandii^e 
 from being imported into any of the States, except in vessels belonging 
 to and navigated by citizens of the United States, or the subjects of 
 foreign Powers with whom the United States may have treaties of 
 commerce. 
 
 The report being amended, was agreed to, as follows : 
 
 The trust reposed in Congress, renders it their duty to be attentive 
 to the conduct of foreign nations, and to prevent or restrain, as far as 
 may be, all such proceedings as might prove injurious to the United 
 States ; the situation of commerce at this time claims the attention of 
 the several States, and few objects of greater importance can present 
 themselves to their notice ; the fortune of every citizen is interested 
 in the success thereof; for it is the constant source of wealth and 
 
76 PRESIDENT OP COXGRESS. 
 
 incentive to" industry, and the value of our produce and our land 
 must ever rise or fall in proportion to the prosperous or adverse state 
 of trade. 
 
 Already has Great Britain adopted regulations destructive of oui 
 commerce with her West India Islands ; there was reason to expect, 
 that measures so unequal and so little calculated to promote mer- 
 cantile intercourse, would not be persevered in by an enlightened 
 nation. But these measures are growing into system. It would be 
 the duty of Congress, as it is their wish, to meet the attempts of Great 
 Britain with similar restrictions on her commerce, but their powers on 
 this head are not explicit ; and, the propositions made by the Legisla- 
 tures of the several States, render it necessary to take the general 
 sense of the Union on this subject. 
 
 Unless the United States in Congress assembled, shall be vested 
 with powers competent to the protection of commerce, they can never 
 command reciprocal advantages in trade : and without these, our for- 
 eign commerce must decline, and eventually be annihilated. Hence 
 it is necessary that the States should be explicit, and fix on some 
 effectual mode by which foreign commerce, not founded on principles 
 of equality, may be restrained. 
 
 That the United States may be enabled to secure such terms, they 
 have 
 
 Resolved, That it be, and it hereby is, recommended to the Legis- 
 latures of the several States, to«vest the United States in Congress 
 assembled, for the term of fifteen years, with power to prohibit any 
 goods, wares, or merchandize, from being imported into, or exported 
 from, any of the States in vessels belonging to, or navigated by, the 
 subjects of any Power with whom these States shall not have formed 
 treaties of commerce. 
 
 Resolved, That it be, and hereby is, recommended to the Legisla- 
 tures of the several States, to vest the United States in Congress 
 assembled, for the term of fifteen years, with the power of prohibiting 
 the subjects of any foreign State, Kingdom, or Empire, unless author- 
 ized by treaty, from importing into the United States any goods, 
 wares, or merchandize, which are not the produce or manufacture of 
 the dominions of the sovereign whose subjects tliey are. 
 
 Provided, That to all acts of the United States in Congress assem- 
 bled, in pursuance of ttie above powers, the assent of nine States 
 shall be necessary." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 77 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May 3d, 1784. 
 
 '^Resolved, That a copy of a letter of the 29th of June last, from 
 the Count de Vergerines, and one of the 9th January last from Mon- 
 sieur de Calonne to the Marquis de la Fayette, respecting free ports 
 in France, be entered on the Journal ; andj when published, trans- 
 mitted to the Supreme Executives of the several States. 
 
 The letters being translated, are as follows : 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, June 29, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which yoii did me the honor to write on 
 the 17th of this month. You desire to know what is meant hy free 
 port. 
 
 By this term, sir, we mean a place to which all merchandizes, as 
 well foreign as domestic, may be imported, and from which they 
 may be freely exported — ^you will judge, sir, by this definition, that 
 all the merchandize of the north, without exception, may be imported 
 into L'Orient and exported from it by the Americans. In a word, 
 L'Orient will be reputed foreign with regard to France, as far as it 
 respects commerce. The prohibition and duties upon foreign mer- 
 chandize will take effect only in cas* any person desires to introduce 
 into the interior parts of the realm the merchandizes subject to the 
 one or the other. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 DE VERGENNES. 
 
 MoNS. THE MaR^IS DE LA FaXETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, January 9, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have communicated to the King the observations contained in 
 the memoir which you transmitted to me, relative to the commerce 
 of America, and those which you made at our last conference. 
 
 I am authorized to announce to you, that it is the intention of his 
 Majesty to grant to the United States the ports of L'Orient and 
 Bayonne, as free ports ; and besides these, that of Dunkirk and that 
 
78 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 of Marseilles, the first of which enjoys absolute freedom, and the 
 other is restraihed in the exercise of that freedom only with regard 
 to tobacco, which is there subjected to a duty. The Americans 
 may, from this moment, send their vessels to those four ports, where 
 they will not meet with any kind of difficulty. You may, if neces- 
 sary, explain what is meant by free ports, agreeably to the significa- 
 tion thereof given by Monsieur de Vergennes, in his letter of the 
 29th June last. The Americans will find, above all, at Dunkirk, all 
 the facilities they can desire for the sale of their leaf tobacco, their 
 rice, their timber, and other merchandize, as well as for the purchase 
 of what they want ; such as linens, woolens, brandy, &ic. It is pro- 
 posed to establish stores and magazines there^ which shall be well 
 supplied, on terms very advantageous for their commerce. I have 
 given orders to the farmers general to treat in preference, and at a 
 reasonable price, for the purchase of the tobaccoes of North America. 
 And moreover, the United States will be as much favored in France 
 in matters of commerce as any other nation. The complaints which 
 they may make to you, or which Mr. Franklin, and the other Amer- 
 ican Ministers, which I would be very glad to see, may transmit to 
 me on their behalf, shall be examined with great attention ; and gov- 
 ernment will not suffer them to experience any kind of vexations. 
 Every possible precaution will also be taken to prevent the sending 
 out bad merchandize, which, if it has hitherto taken place, can only 
 be attributed to the avarice of some merchants of the lowest order. 
 I am going immediately to examine what relates to the customs and 
 duties which hurt commerce. This is an important subject, and 
 requires great attention. In fine, sir, you may rely that I shall be 
 always disposed, as well as Monsieur the Marshal de Castries, and 
 Monsieur the Count de Vergennes, to receive and listen with attention 
 to the demands and further representations which you shall think 
 proper to make in favor of the commerce of America. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 DE CALONNE. 
 
 P. S. The ports of Bayonne and L'Orient will be made similar 
 to that of Dunkirk with regard to entire freedom. 
 
 Monsieur the Makquis de la Fayette. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 79 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS, TO THOMAS JEF- 
 FERSON. 
 
 Annapolis, May 20th, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I herewith transmit to you the several acts of Congress which 
 relate to the formation of treaties of commerce with the Powers of 
 Europe, &;c. And as I have not had it in my power to find out in 
 what manner the letter to the King of France should be directed, I 
 have enclosed that letter to you, that upon your arrival in France it 
 may be presented with the proper direction. 
 
 I wish you every success and satisfaction in the important scenes 
 you are going to be engaged in, and am, with much esteem and 
 attachment, 
 
 Dear sir, your obedient, Sic, 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN TO JOHN ADAMS AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Annapolis, May 20th, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have the honor to transmit to you the following acts of Congress, 
 relating to the formation of commercial treaties, Stc, viz : 
 
 No. 1. Letters to the Ministers Plenipotentiary at the Courts of 
 Versailles and Madrid, dated 17th of October, 1780. 
 
 No. 2. Instructions to the Ministers of the United States for making 
 peace with Great Britain, dated May 30th, 1783. 
 
 No. 3. Instructions to the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United 
 States of America at the Court of Versailles, empowered to negotiate 
 a peace, fee, dated the 29th of October, 1783, May 7th, 1784, and 
 May 11th, 1784. 
 
 No. 4. Instructions to the Ministers of the United States at the 
 Court of Madrid, dated May 3d, 1784. 
 
 I also transmit to you the papers relating to the detention of the 
 schooner Nancy, referred to in the instruction of May 11th, 1784. 
 I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect and esteem. 
 
 Your obedient, fee, 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
80 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May 1th, 1784. 
 
 "Mr. John Jay was elected Secretary for Foreign Affairs, having 
 Deen previously nominated by Mr. Gerry. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Hardy, seconded by Mr. Gerrj-, 
 
 Resolved, That a Minister Plenipotentiary be appointed in addition 
 to Mr. John Adams and Mr. Benjamin Franklin, for the purpose of 
 negotiating treaties of commerce. 
 
 Congress proceeded to the election, and the ballots being taken, 
 Mr. Thomas Jefferson was elected, having been previously nominated 
 by Mr. Hardy. 
 
 On the report of the Committee, to whom was recommitted their 
 report on sundry letters from the Ministers of the United States in 
 Europe, Congress came to the following resolutions : 
 
 Whereas, instructions bearing date the 29th day of October, 1783, 
 were sent to the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of 
 America at the Court of Versailles, empowered to negotiate a peace, 
 6r to any one or more of them, for concerting drafts or propositions 
 for treaties of amity and commerce with the commercial powers of 
 Europe : 
 
 Resolved, That it will be advantageous to these United States to 
 conclude such treaties with Russia, the Court of Vienna, Prussia, 
 Denmark, Saxony, Hamburg, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Genoa, 
 Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Venice, Sardinia, and the Ottoman Porte. 
 
 Resolved, That in the formation of these treaties the following 
 points be carefully stipulated : 
 
 1st. That each party shall have a right to carry their own produce, 
 manufactures, and merchandize in their own bottoms to the ports of 
 the other, and thence the produce and merchandize of the other, 
 paying, in both cases, such duties only as are paid by the most favored 
 nation, freely, where it is freely granted to such nation, or paying the 
 compensation where such nation does the same. 
 
 2. That with the nations holding territorial possessions in America, 
 a direct and similar intercourse be admitted between tlie United States 
 and such possessions ; or if this cannot be obtained, then a direct and 
 similar intercourse between the United States and certain free ports 
 within such possessions ; that if this neither can be obtained, per- 
 mission be stipulated to bring from such possessions, in their own 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDEETCE. 81 
 
 bottoms, the produce and merchandize thereof to their States directly ; 
 and for these States to carry in their own bottoms their produce and 
 merchandize to such possessions directly. 
 
 3. That these United States be considered in all such treaties, and 
 in every case arising under them, as one nation, upon the principles 
 of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 4. That it be proposed, though not indispensably required, that if 
 war should hereafter arise between the two contracting parties, the 
 merchants of either country, then residing in the other, shall be 
 allowed to remain nine months to collect their debts and settle their 
 affairs, and may depart freely, carrying off all their effects, without 
 molestation or hindrance; and all fishermen, all cultivators of the 
 earth, and all artisans or manufacturers, unarmed, and inhabiting 
 unfortified towns, villages, or places, who labor for the common 
 subsistence and benefit of mankind, and peaceably following their 
 respective employments, shall be allowed to continue the same, and 
 shall not be molested by the armed force of the enemy, in whose 
 power, by the events of war, they may happen to fall ; but if any 
 thing is necessary to be taken from them, for the use of such armed 
 force, the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price ; and all mer- 
 chants and traders, exchanging the products of different places, and 
 thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of 
 human life more easy to obtain, and more general, shall be allowed 
 to pass free and unmolested ; and neither of the contracting Powers 
 shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels 
 empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships, or interrupt 
 such commerce. 
 
 5. And in case either of the contracting parties shall happen to . 
 be engaged in war with any other nation, it be further agreed, in - 
 order to prevent all the difficulties and misunderstandings that usually 
 arise respecting the merchandize heretofore called contraband, suclii 
 as anus, ammunition, and military stores of all kinds, that no such 
 articles, carrying by the ships or subjects of one of the parties to the 
 enemies of the other, shall, on any account, be deemed contraband, 
 so as to induce confiscation, and a loss of property to individuals. . 
 Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such ships, and detain them 
 for such length of time as the captors may think necessary, to prevent 
 the inconvenience or damage that might ensue from their proceeding 
 on their voyage, paying, however, a reasonable compensation for the 
 
 Vol. I.— 6 
 
82 PRESIDEKT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors ; and it shall be 
 further allowed to use in the service of the captors the whole or any 
 part of the military stores so detained, paying the owners the full 
 value of the same, to be ascertained by the current price at the place 
 of its destination. But if the other contracting party will not con- 
 sent to discontinue the confiscation of contraband goods, then that it 
 be stipulated, that if the master of the vessel stopped will deliver out 
 the goods charged to be contraband, he shall be admitted to do it, 
 and the vessel shall not, in that case, be carried into any port, but 
 shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage. 
 
 6. That in the same case, when either of the contracting parties 
 shall Jiappen to be engaged in war with any other Power, all goods, 
 not contraband, belonging to the subjects of that other Power, and 
 shipped in the bottoms of the party hereto, who is not engaged in 
 the war, shall be entirely free. And that to ascertain what shall 
 constitute the blockade of any place or port, it shall be understood 
 to be in such predicament when the assailing Power shall have taken 
 such a station as to expose to imminent danger any ship or ships that 
 would attempt to sail in or out of the said port ; and that no vessel 
 of the party who is, not engaged in the said war shall be stopped 
 without a material and well grounded cause ; and in such cases justice 
 shall be done, and an indemnification given, without loss of time, to 
 the persons aggrieved and thus stopped without sufficient cause. 
 
 7. That no right be stipulated for aliens to hold real property 
 within these States, this being utterly inadmissible by their several 
 laws and policy; but when on the death of any person holding real 
 estate within the territories of one of the contracting parties, such 
 real estate would, by their laws, descend on a subject or citizen of 
 the other, were he not disqualified by alienage, then he shall be 
 allowed a reasonable time to dispose of the same, and withdraw the 
 proceeds without molestation. 
 
 8. That such treaties be made for a term not exceeding ten years 
 from the exchange of ratifications. 
 
 9. That these instructions be considered as supplemental to those 
 of October 29th, 1783, and not as revoking, except when tliey con- 
 tradict them. That where, in treaty with a particular nation, they 
 can procure particular advantages, to the specification of which we 
 have been unable to descend, our object in these instructions having 
 been to form outlines only and general principles of treaty with many 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. gg 
 
 nations, it is our expectation they will procure them, though not 
 pointed out in these instructions; and where they may be able to 
 form treaties on principles which, in their judgment, will be more 
 beneficial to the United States than those herein directed to be made 
 their basis, they are permitted to adopt such principles. That as to 
 the duration of treaties, though we have proposed to restrain them 
 to the term of ten years, yet they are at liberty to extend the same 
 as far as fifteen years with any nation which may pertinaciously insist 
 thereon. And that it will be agreeable to us to have supplementary 
 treaties with France, the United Netherlands, and Sweden, which 
 may bring the treaties we have entered into with them as nearly as 
 may be to the principles of those now directed ; but that this be not 
 pressed, if the proposal should be found disagreeable. 
 
 Resolved, That treaties of amity, or of amity and commerce, be 
 entered into with Morocco, and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, 
 and Tripoli, to continue for the same term of ten years, or for a term 
 as much longer as can be procured. 
 
 That our Ministers, to be commissioned for treating with foreign 
 nations, make known to the Emperor of Morocco the great satisfac- 
 tion which Congress feel from the amicable disposition he has shown 
 towards these States, and his readiness to enter into alliance with 
 them. That the occupations of the war, and distance of our situa- 
 tion, have prevented our meeting his friendship so early as we wished. 
 But the powers are now delegated to them for entering into treaty 
 with him, in the execution of which they are ready to proceed, and 
 that as to the expenses of his Minister, they do therein what is for 
 the honor and interest of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That a commission be issued to Mr. J. Adams, Mr. B. 
 Franklin, and Mr. T. Jefferson, giving powers to them, or the greater 
 part of them, to make and receive propositions for such treaties of 
 amity and commerce, and to negotiate and sign the same, transmitting 
 them to Congress for their final ratification ; and that such commis- 
 sion be in force for a term not exceeding two years." 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May llth, 1784. 
 
 " The report of the Committee on the letter from the Ministers of 
 the United States in Europe being amended, was agreed to, as follows : 
 
84 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Resolved, That our said Ministers, to be commissioned for treating 
 with foreign nations, be referred to the instructions of the 30th day 
 of May, 1783, relative to British debts, the objects of which they 
 are hereby directed to urge with perseverance. 
 
 That they require, with firmness and decision, full satisfaction for 
 all slaves and other property belonging to citizens of these States, 
 taken and carried away in violation of the preliminary and definitive 
 articles of peace ; and to enable them to do this on precise grounds. 
 Congress will furnish them with necessary facts and documents. 
 
 Resolved, That Doctor Franklin be desired to notify to the Apos- 
 tolical Nuncio at Versailles, that Congress will always be pleased to 
 testify their respect to his Sovereign and State; but that the subject 
 of his application to Doctor Franklin being purely spiritual, it is with- 
 out the jurisdiction and powers of Congress, who have no authority to 
 permit or refuse it, these powers being reserved to the several Steites 
 individually. 
 
 That Doctor Franklin be instructed to exprras to the Court oi 
 France the constant desire of Congress to meet their wishes ; that 
 these States are about to form a general system of commerce, by 
 treaties with other nations ; that, at this time, we cannot foresee What 
 claims might be given to those nations, by the explanatory proposi- 
 tions from the Count de Vergennes, on the second and third articles 
 of our treaty of amity and commerce with his most Christian Majesty; 
 but that be may be assured it will be our constant care to place no 
 people on more advantageous ground than the subjects of his Majesty. 
 
 Resolved, That the papers containing the claim of the five Fosters, 
 brothers, for the prize of their vessel, the Three Friends, made by 
 Captain Lamdais, of the Alliance frigate, which papers were com- 
 municated by the Count de Vergennes to Doctor Franklin, to the 
 end that he might apply to Congress for an indemnification of tiie 
 said Fosters, be remitted to the said Ministers with a copy of the 
 fourth clause of the instructions to them, of October 29th, 1783, and 
 the following extract from Doctor Franklin's letter of July 22d, 1783, 
 to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, viz : ' Mr. Barclay has in his 
 ' hands the affair of the Alliance and Bon Homme Richard. I will 
 ' afford him all the assistance in my power ; but it is a very perplexed 
 'business. That expedition, though, for particular reasons, under 
 'American commissions and colors, was carried on at the King's 
 ' expense, and under his orders. M. De Chaumont was the agent 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 85 
 
 ' appointed by the Minister of Marine to make the outfit. He was 
 ' also chosen by all the captains of the squadron, as appears by an 
 ' instrument under their hands, to be their agent, receive, sell, and 
 ' divide prizes, Stc. The Crown bought two of them at public sale ; 
 ' and the money, I understand, is lodged in the hands of a responsible 
 ' person at L'Orient. M. De Chaumont says he has given in his 
 ' accounts to the Marine, and that he has no more to do with the 
 ' affair, except to receive a balance due to him. That account, how- 
 ' ever, is, X beheve, unsettled ; and the absence of some of the cap- 
 ' tains is said to make another difficulty, which retards the completion 
 ' of the business. I never paid nor received anything relating to that 
 ' expedition, nor had any other concern in it than barely ordering the 
 ' Alliance to join the squadron, at M. De Sartine's request.' From 
 which extract there is reason to believe the United States of America 
 had no concern in the expedition ; but that it was carried on wholly 
 under the authority and for the advantage of his most Christian 
 Majesty. That if this fact should not be so apparent as to give full 
 satisfaction to his Majesty's Ministers, they then can take such meas- 
 ures as in their discretion shall be thought most conducive to an 
 amicable and equitable adjustment thereof, on the best evidence they 
 shall be able to procure. 
 
 Resolved, That the claim of the Sieur Bayard against these United 
 States, for the sum of two hundred and fifty-five thousand two hun- 
 dred and thirty-six dollars, continental money, is not founded in 
 justice, from the circumstances of the case as stated by himself, 
 which are, that a vessel and cargo, in which he was interested, sail- 
 ing in May, 1779, from Charleston for France, was taken by an 
 English armed vessel, and retaken by an American lirigate called the 
 Boston ; that she was carried to Boston, and there sold as French 
 property by Mons. de Valnais, Consul for France at that port ; that 
 he unfaithfully and irregularly, as is suggested, endeavored to have 
 the whole adjudged to the recaptors, but that the sentence was, that 
 they were only entitled to one eighth, and the Sieur Bayard's corre- 
 spondents obliged M. de Valnais to deposite with the Consul of 
 France in Philadelphia two hundred and fifty-five thousand two hun- 
 dred and thirty-six dollars, continental money, in part of the pro- 
 ceeds, with a reserve to the Sieur Bayard, against Mons. de Valnais, 
 of every right of redress for his irregular conduct ; that no injurious 
 intermeddling by the United States, or any of them, or by any of 
 
gg PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 their citizens, is here complained of; that the mpney was constantly 
 in the hands of the Sieur Bayard's correspondents, or of the Consul 
 of his nation ; that he may indeed have suffered by its depreciation, 
 as many others have suffered, both foreigners and citizens, but the 
 latter in a much higher degree than the former ; that this depreciation 
 was not effected by any arbitrary change by Congress in the value 
 or denomination of the money, (which yet has been frequently prac- 
 tised by European States, who never have thought themselves bound 
 to make good the losses thereby incurred, either by their own citizens 
 or by foreigners,) but ensued against the will and the unremitting 
 endeavors of Congress ; that in this case, too, it might have been 
 lessened, if not prevented, by investing the money immediately in 
 gold and silver, or in other commodities. Congress are therefore of 
 opinion, that these States are not bound to make good the loss by 
 depreciation. 
 
 That, as to the residue of the claims of the Sieur Bayard, if founded 
 in truth and right, they lie only against the State of Georgia, to the 
 Governor of which Congress will transmit copies of the papers, 
 expressing, at the same time, our confidence that that State will cause 
 to be done in it what justice and the respect due between friendly 
 nations require, and that the Sieur Bayard be referred to them. 
 
 Resolved, That the friendly services rendered by the Sieur John 
 Baptiste Pequet, agent for the French nation at Lisbon, to great 
 numbers of American sailors carried prisoners into that port during 
 the late war, and his sufferings on that account, merit the sincere 
 acknowledgments of Congress,; and that it be referred to the said 
 Ministers to deliver him these in honorable terms, and to make him 
 such gratification as may indemnify his losses and properly reward 
 his zeal." 
 
 " Resolved, That the papers relating to the detention of the schooner 
 Nancy, Captain Gladden, belonging to the citizens of the United 
 States residing in North Carolina, be transmitted to our Ministers for 
 negotiating treaties with foreign Powers ; and that they be instructed 
 to make inquiry into the cause of the seizure and detention of the 
 said schooner and her cargo ; and if it shall appear that she has been 
 unjustly detained, to demand the release of the vessel and the resto- 
 ration of her cargo, with adequate damages for her detention." 
 
 " Resolved, That the form of the commission to the Ministers for 
 negotiating treaties of amity and commerce, or of amity, be as follows : 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 87 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled ; to all to 
 whom these presents shall come, or be made known, send greeting : 
 
 Whereas, an intercourse between and the citizens 
 
 of the United States of America, founded on principles of equality, 
 reciprocity and friendship, may be of mutual advantage to both na- 
 tions : Now, therefore, know ye, that we, reposing special trust and 
 confidence in the integrity, prudence, and ability of our trusty and 
 beloved, the honorable John Adams, late one of our Ministers Pleni- 
 potentiary for negotiating a peace, and, heretofore, a Delegate in 
 Congress from the State of Massachusetts, and Chief Justice of the 
 said State, the honorable Doctor Benjamin Franklin, our Minister 
 Plenipotentiary at the Court of Versailles, and late another of our 
 Ministers Plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace, and the honorable 
 Thomas Jefferson, a Delegate in Congress from the State of Virginia, 
 and late Governor of the said State, have nominated, constituted, and 
 appointed, and by these presents do nominate, constitute, and ap- 
 point the said John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, our Ministers Plenipotentiary, giving to them, or a majority of 
 them, full power and authority for us, and in our name to confer, treat, 
 and negotiate, with the Ambassador, Minister, or Commissioner of 
 : , vested with full and sufficient powers of and con- 
 cerning (a treaty of amity, or a treaty of amity and commerce, as the 
 case may be,) to make and receive propositions for such treaty, and 
 to conclude and sign the same, transmitting it to the United States 
 in Congress assembled, for their final ratification. This commission 
 to continue in force for a term not exceeding two years from the date 
 hereof. 
 
 In testimony whereof, we have caused the seal of the United 
 States to be hereunto affixed. Witness his Excellency Thomas 
 Mifflin, President, this twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, and of the sovereignty 
 and independence of the United States of America the eighth." 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Circular. 
 
 Annapolis, May 31, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency an act of Con- 
 
99 PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 gress, of the 29th instant, relating to an insult offered to the person 
 of Monsieur de Marbois, by a certain Monsieur de Longchamps. 
 
 By a letter received this day from the Supreme Executive of the 
 State of Pennsylvania, it appears that the said Longchamps has been 
 apprehended in consequence of a warrant issued by one of the Judges 
 of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and is now confined in the 
 common jail at Philadelphia. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May 9,9th, 1784. 
 
 " On the report of a Conunittee, consisting of Mr. Gerry, Mr. 
 Dana, and Mr. Howell, to whom was referred a note from the honor- 
 able the Minister Plenipotentiary of his most Christian Majesty, 
 Congress came to the following resolution : 
 
 Whereas Congress have been informed by a note addressed to them 
 by the Chevalier de la Luzerne, Minister Plenipotentiary of his most 
 Christian Majesty of the 20th instant, and the papers accompanying 
 the same, that a violation of the laws of nations hath been committed 
 by one Longchamps, who calls himself Chevalier de Longchamps, a 
 subject of his most Christian Majesty, by a violent assault and bat- 
 tery by him lately made in the city of Philadelphia, upon the person 
 of Mr. Marbois, Consul General and Secretary to the above legation ; 
 and that, although a warrant for apprehending the offender has been 
 duly issued, in consequence of directions given by the President of 
 the State of Pennsylvania, upon application to him made for that 
 purpose by the said Minister, he has not yet been apprehended, but 
 absconds ; and is supposed to have fled from justice into some other of 
 the United States : wherefore, to the end the said Longchamps may 
 be brought to condign punishment for his said offence, and that the 
 privileges and immunities of foreign ministers, and of their families 
 and houses, be preserved inviolate. 
 
 Resolved, That it be, and is hereby, recommended to the Supreme 
 Executive authority of each of these United States, forthwith to issue 
 their proclamations, offering a reward of five hundred dollars, to be 
 reimbursed by the United States to the State paying the same, for 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 89 
 
 discovering the said Longchamps, so that he may be arrested ; and 
 requiring their proper civil officers to arrest him, and their citizens 
 in general to be aiding and assisting therein, that he may be brought 
 to justice for his said violation of the laws of nations and of the land, 
 and all others may be deterred from the commission of such offences." 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The underwritten Minister has the honor to transmit to Congress 
 sundry papers relative to a violation of the law of nations in the per- 
 son of the Consul General and Secretary to his Majesty's legation to 
 the United States. The underwritten immediately applied to the 
 President of the State of Pennsylvania to have the culprit seized, 
 and received the answer herewith enclosed. As Ministers, and per- 
 sons attached to embassies and consulates, have an immediate right 
 to the support of Congress, the underwritten applies to this assembly 
 for their recommendation, as speedily as possible, to the Government 
 of Pennsylvania, to take effectual measures, conformable to the laws 
 of nations, for the solemn reparation of the offence committed on the 
 person of the Consul General, and the violation of the privileges of 
 the house of the underwritten. The offender is not yet apprehended ; 
 and it is possible he has fled into some other State in the confede- 
 racy: the underwritten Minister, therefore, entreats that Congress 
 would be pleased to issue a like recommendation to all the other States 
 in the Union. 
 
 LE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 20th, 1784. 
 
 Extrabtfrom the Secret Journal of Foreign^'Affairs;' June 1st, 1784. 
 
 " A letter from the Supreme Executive Council of Philadelphia 
 was read in the following words : 
 
 In Council, Philadelpliia, May 28, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Some days ago an insult was offered by a Frenchman to M. de 
 
 Marbois, in the hotel of the Minister of France ; and afterwards an 
 
 assault was made upon him by the same person in a street of this 
 
 city. The offender has been arrested by our direction, under the 
 
90 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 warrant of a judge of the Supreme Court, and is now confined in the 
 common prison, where we have ordered him to be detained. Our 
 respect for Congress induces us to inform them of this affair ; and 
 we should have done ourselves the honor of making the communica- 
 tion sooner, but that the criminal was not in confinement till yester- 
 day. We should be much pleased to be favored with the sentiments 
 of Congress upon this business, being extremely desirous that our 
 proceedings may correspond with their judgment, and to testify our 
 determined resolution with all our powers to maintain the dignity of 
 the United States, to preserve the public repose, to assert the law of 
 nations, and to manifest our entire regard for the representatives 
 of the sovereignty of the Union. 
 
 With the most perfect esteem, &c. 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON. 
 His Excellency the Phesident or Congress. 
 
 Whereupon the following was moved by Mr. Hand, seconded by 
 Mr. Montgomery : 
 
 That Congress highly approve the determined resolution of the 
 Supreme Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania to maintain 
 the dignity of the United States, to preserve the public repose, to 
 assert the law of nations, and to manifest their entire regard for the 
 representatives of the sovereignty of the Union, expressed by their 
 letter of the 28th instant." 
 
 FROM THOMAS MIFFLIN TO THE MINISTER OF FRANCE. 
 
 Annapolis, May 31, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency an act of Con- 
 gress of the 29th instant, passed in consequence of your note of the 
 20th instant. Congress are so well convinced of the necessity of 
 securing to all foreign Ministers, resident in these States, every privi- 
 lege and right to which they are entitled by usage or the laws of 
 nations, that I am cohfident they will proceed, without delay, to a 
 further consideration of the subject of your Excellency's several let- 
 ters ; particularly your last letter, which has been just received and 
 referred to a committee, with instructions to report immediately. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDETiTCE. 91 
 
 Many important subjects which have been necessarily brought be- 
 fore Congress, since your Excellency left Annapolis, have hitherto 
 prevented them from deciding on the reports respecting General De 
 Kalb, he. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 FROM RICHARD HENRY LEE TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, MINISTER PLENI- 
 BOTENTIART OF THE UNITED STATES, PARIS. 
 
 Trenton, December 11, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to enclose to your Excellency a packet for his 
 most Christian Majesty, containing a letter from Congress to that 
 Monarch, recommending an able and active friend, the Marquis la 
 Fayette", to his royal favor. The Marquis's former and recent ser- 
 vices to America deserve, and have secured to him, the warmest 
 attachment of these United States. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c. 
 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 
 
 FROM RICHARD HENRT LEE TO THE MARQUIS LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Trenton, December 11, 1784. 
 My dear sir, 
 I have the honor to enclose you a letter for the Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of the United, States, at the Court of his most Christian 
 Majesty, which covers a letter to our great and good ally, a copy of 
 which I have also the pleasure to enclose for your satisfaction. I 
 assure you, my dear friend, that I feel myself singularly happy in 
 observing the unanimous disposition that prevails in Congress to pro- 
 mote your glory, for I do most sincerely wish you every felicity that 
 this world can afford. 
 
 I am, with unfeigned esteem, &;c. 
 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 
 
92 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Iktractfrom the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 9, 1784. 
 
 "The Committee, consisting of Mr. Jay, Mr. Williamson, and 
 Mr. Hardy, to whom was referred a letter of the 6th, from the Mar- 
 quis de la Fayette, reported : 
 
 That in the opinion of the Committee, the merit and services of 
 the Marquis render it proper that such an opportunity of taking leave 
 of Congress be afforded him as may strongly manifest their regard 
 and esteem for him : whereupon. 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee, to consist of one member from each 
 State, be appointed to receive the Marquis, and in the name of Con- 
 gress to take leave of him. That they be instructed to assure him, 
 that Congress continue to entertain the same high sense of his abili- 
 ties and zeal to promote the welfare of America, both here and in 
 Europe, which they have frequently expressed and manifested on 
 former occasions, and which the recent marks of his attention to 
 their commercial and other interests have perfectly confirmed. That 
 as his uniform and unceasing attachment to this country has resem- 
 bled that of a patriotic citizen, the United States regard him with 
 particular affection, and will not cease to feel an interest in whatever 
 may concern his honor and prosperity ; and that their best and kindest 
 wishes will always attend him. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Mercer, seconded by Mr. Read, 
 
 Resolved, That a letter be written to his most Christian Majesty, 
 to be signed by his Excellency the President of Congress, expressive 
 of the high sense which the United States, in Congress assembled, 
 entertain of the zeal, talents, and meritorious services of the Marquis 
 of Fayette, and recommending him to the favor and patronage of 
 bi$ Majesty." 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 13th, 
 
 1784. 
 
 "]VJr. Jay, chairman of the Committee, consisting of a member 
 from each State, appointed to receive and take leave of the Marquis 
 de la Fayette, reported, that on the 11th inst. they received the Mar- 
 quis in the Congress chamber, and took leave of him agreeably to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 93 
 
 the instructions given them on that subject, that they communicated 
 to him the purport of the resolutions of the ninth ; and that he there- 
 upon made the following answer : 
 
 Sir, 
 
 While it pleases the United States, in Congress, so kindly to receive 
 me, I want words to express the feelings of a heart which delights in 
 their present situation, and the bestowed marks of their esteem. 
 
 Since I joined the standard of liberty, to this wished for hour of 
 my personal congratulations, I have seen such glorious dpeds per- 
 formed, and virtues displayed, by the sons of America, that in the 
 instant of my first concern for them, I had anticipated but a part of 
 my love and regard which devote me to this rising empire. 
 
 During our revolution, sir, I obtained an unlimited indulgent con- 
 fidence, which I am equally proud and happy to acknowledge ; it 
 dates with the time when, an inexperienced youth, I could only claim 
 my respected friends' paternal adoption. It has been most benevo- 
 lently continued throughout every circumstance of the cabinet and 
 the field ; and in personal fi'iendships I have often found a support 
 against public difficulties. While on this solemn occasion, I mention 
 my obligations to C!oHgress, the States, the people at large, permit 
 me also to remember the dear military compajiions, to whose services 
 their country is so much indebted. 
 
 Having felt, both for tbe timely aid of my country, and for the 
 part she, with a beloved King, acted in the cause of mankind, I 
 enjoy an alliance so well riveted by mutual affection, by interest, 
 and even local situation. Recollection ensures it. Futurity does 
 but enlarge the prospect ; and die private intercourse will every day 
 increase, which independent and advantageous trade cherishes, in 
 proportion as it is well understood. 
 
 In unbounded wishes to America, sir, I am happy to observe the 
 prevailing disposition of the people to strengthen the Confederation, 
 preserve public faith, regulate trade, and in a proper guard over 
 continental magazines and frontier posts, in a general system of 
 militia, in foreseeing attention to the Navy, to ensure every kind of 
 safety. May this immense temple of freedom ever stand a lesson to 
 oppressors, an example to the oppressed, a sanctuary for the rights 
 of mankind And may these happy United States attain that com- 
 plete splendor and prosperity which will illustrate the blessings ol 
 
94 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 their Government, and for ages to come rejoice the departed souls of 
 its founders. 
 
 However unwilling to trespass on your time, I must yet present 
 you with my grateful thanks for the late favor of Congress ; and 
 never can they oblige me so much as when they put it in my power, 
 in every part of the world, to the latest day of my life, to gratify the 
 attachment which will ever rank me among the most zealous and 
 respectful servants of the United States." 
 
 FROM THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO LOUIS SIXTEENTH, 
 KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 
 
 Trenton, December 11, 1784. 
 
 Great, faithful, and beloved Friend and Ally, 
 The various and important acts of friendship done by your Majesty 
 to these States, have inspired them with strong attachment to your 
 person, and with firm confidence in your friendly disposition towards 
 them. Both these considerations unite in urging us to recommend 
 to your Majesty's particular attention and favor, the Marquis de la 
 Fayette, a nobleman who has ably promoted the interests of both 
 countries, and acquired glory by strenuous and successful endeavors 
 to advance our mutual honor, prosperity, and confidence. 
 
 Permit us to assure your Majesty, that we not only approve, but 
 admire, his conduct. We entertain esteem and affection for him as 
 a man. We think highly of his talents, and are convinced of his 
 disposition to perpetuate the amity and good understanding which, 
 we pray God, may ever subsist between France and America. 
 
 May the author of all good continue to bless your Majesty, your 
 family, and people, and keep you and them under his holy protection. 
 By the unanimous order of Congress. 
 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE, 
 President. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 95 
 
 FROM THE KING OF FRANCE TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 OF AMERICA. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Written at Versailles, the 10th May, 1785. 
 
 Very, dear Friends and Allies, 
 The Marquis de la Fayette has delivered to us the letter which 
 you wrote to us the 31st December last. 
 
 We observe with real satisfaction the fresh assurances you there 
 give us of your attachment to our person. The interest we take in 
 the prosperity of your Government is known to you, and we will 
 always embrace with pleasure every opportunity of giving you proofs 
 of it. The justice which you do to the Marquis de la Fayette con- 
 firms, more and more, the opinion we have also of his zeal and 
 talents, and cannot but add to the desire we have of giving him 
 further marks of our satisfaction : entertain no doubt of the affection 
 and friendship which we bear to the United States in general, and to 
 each of them in particular. We pray God, very dear and very great 
 friends and allies, to have you in his holy keeping. 
 Your good friend and ally, 
 
 LOUIS. 
 Gravier de Vergennes. 
 
 FROM RICHARD HENRY LEE TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PARIS. 
 
 Trenton, Decemher 14, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to enclose to your Excellency a resolve of Con- 
 gress passed this day, the arrival of which in due season to prevent 
 the signing of the convention alluded to, until an opportunity of 
 reconsidering it in full Congress may be had, will be very agreeable 
 to that body. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 RICHARD HENRY LEE. 
 
96 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 14, 
 
 1784. 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Jay, seconded by Mr. Gerry, 
 Resolved unanimously, eight States only being represented, That 
 his Excellency the President inform the Minister Plenipotentiary of 
 the United States at the Court of France, that it is the desire of 
 Congress, in case the convention proposed for regulating and ascer- 
 taining the powers and privileges of Consuls, should not be already 
 signed, that he delay signing it until he shall receive further instruc- 
 tions on the subject from Congress." 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December IBth, 
 
 1784. 
 
 " The Charge d' Affaires of France having sent to Congress a note, 
 with sundry papers enclosed, of which the following are translations : 
 
 The undersigned. Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor to 
 present to Congress a letter of Don Francisco Rendon, Agent of the 
 Court of Madrid. This letter, and the extract accompanying it, 
 relate to the limits of Louisiana and the Floridas, as well as to the nav- 
 igation of the Mississippi. The undersigned has the honor to assure 
 Congress, that the King will see, with great pleasure, every measure 
 which shall be taken to consolidate and maintain a good understand- 
 ing between his Catholic Majesty and the United States. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, 19th Nov. 1784. 
 
 Translation of the enclosed letter. 
 
 mOM FHANCISCO RENDON TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to communicate to your Excellency an extract 
 of a letter which I have lately received from Don Joseph de Galvez, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 97 
 
 Minister of his Catholic Majesty for the Department of the Indies. 
 I beg you will be pleased to lay it before Congress, and communicate 
 the contents to the Governor and President of the several States. 
 His Majesty is persuaded that Congress will admit the justice of a 
 claim which is founded on all the rights which an entire conquest 
 and an uninteiTupted possession can give to any Power; and that 
 they will agree that the cession of the navigation of the Mississippi, 
 made by the King of Great Britain to the United States in the treaty 
 of 1783, can have no real force, unless the Catholic King, my master, 
 to whom the navigation of that river belongs, shall think proper to 
 ratify it. I see with pleasure, by the contents of the extract enclosed, 
 that there is a probability that Spain and the United States will very 
 soon confirm, by a solid and durable treaty, that friendship which 
 has already for several years subsisted between the two nations. I 
 hope that all objects about which there is any doubt will then be 
 settled and terminated to the mutual satisfaction of his Majesty and 
 Congress. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 FRANCISCO RENDON. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Don Joseph de Galvez, Minister of iiis ■■ 
 Catholic Majesty for the Department of the Indies, to Don Fran ■ 
 cisco Rendon, dated 
 
 Aranjuez, June 26, 1784. 
 
 " Until the limits of Louisiana and the two Floridas shall be set- 
 tled and determined with the United States of America, his Majesty 
 commands that you should give -the States and Congress to under- 
 stand, that they are not to expose to process and confiscation the 
 vessels which they destine to cajry on commerce on the river Missis- 
 sippi, in as much as a treaty concluded between the United States 
 and England, on which the former ground their pretensions to the 
 navigation of that river, could not fix limits in a territory which that 
 Power did not possess, the two borders of the river being already 
 conquered and possessed by our anns the day the treaty was made,, 
 namely, the 30th November, 1782. This order I communicate to- 
 you that you may conform yourself thereto." 
 
 JOSEPH DE GALVEZ. 
 
 Voi„ I.— 7 
 
98 PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 15tk, 
 
 1784. 
 
 " The Committee to whom was referred, a note, dated 19th Novem- 
 ber, from M. de Marbois, Charge d'Affau'es of France, with the 
 papers enclosed, delivered in a report : whereupon, 
 
 Resohed, Tljat the Secretary for Foreign Afiairs be instructed to 
 inform M. de Marbois, Charge d' Affaires of France, that the United 
 States in Congress assembled have received his note of the 19th 
 November, with the papers enclosed, and are happy in the assurance 
 given that his most Christian Majesty will see with pleasure measures 
 taken to consolidate and maintain a good understanding between his 
 Catholic Majesty and the United States ; and they flatter themselves 
 that their disposition and endeavors to cultivate the friendship of the 
 Catholic King will produce the desired effect. 
 
 That Congress have a high confidence in the justice of his Cath- 
 olic Majesty, and rely that he will submit the mytual rights of Spain 
 and the United States of America to amicable discussion, without 
 adopting measures which may prejudice those rights." 
 
 December 11th. 
 
 " That it is necessary a Minister be commissioned to represent the 
 United States at the Court of Madrid, for the purpose of adjusting 
 the interfering claims of the two nations respecting the navigation of 
 the Mississippi, and other matters highly interesting to the peace and 
 good understanding which ought to subsist bet^veen them." 
 
 " Ordered, That the Committee who brought in the report prepare 
 a draft of instructions to the Minister to represent the United States 
 at the Court of Madrid." 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 JOHN JAY, 
 
 SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 
 
 MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS, 
 
 CHARGE DB AFFAIRG3 OF BIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE, kc. 
 
 FEOM UONSIEUB DK MARBOIS. 
 
 Traiiglation. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 1, 1784. 
 
 The Chevalier De la Luzeme, and since his departure, the under- 
 signed, Charge d' Affaires of his Majesty, have received frequent 
 orders to press the officers, agents, and other accountants employed 
 for the service of the land and sea service on this continent, during 
 the late war, to render their accounts. These agents and others 
 delay rendering their accounts for divers causes ; but most of them 
 allege the difficulty they meet with in bringing to account the agents 
 or correspondents in AMerica whom they have employed. They add, 
 that when process is commenced for settling the accounts between 
 them and the Americans, the latter avail themselves of the slowness 
 in the usual forms of justice, in order to gain time, and fatigue their 
 adversaries with all sorts of delays, until their affairs indispensably 
 call them to France, and force them to submit to an unjust accommo- 
 dation. 
 
 Whatever may be the grounds of these allegations, the undersigned 
 has the honor to inform Congress, that the agents' agents employed 
 on this continent, by refusing to render their accounts, put it out of 
 the power of the treasurers general of the department of war and 
 marine to settle theirs, and of consequence that the distribution of 
 prizes cannot be made to the officers and seamen of the different 
 squadrons. To remove every pretext or excuse from the agents, the 
 undersigned entreats that Congress would be pleased to consider 
 whether it might not be proper for them to recommend to the several 
 States the passing bf laws for determining, in a Bummary way, in 
 
102 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 their superior courts, the differences of this nature which exist, or 
 may arise on account of the fleet and army of his Majesty during 
 the late war. If Congress shall think proper to adopt this measure, 
 the undersigned prays that they would be pleased not to delay the 
 recommendations to the several States, which are now assembled in 
 their legislative capacity, and he considers this as the principal means 
 of executing the orders he has received, not to admit of any further 
 delay of the agents of the French fleet and army in rendering their 
 accounts. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December \6th, 
 
 1784. 
 
 "On the report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Jay, Mr. Grard- 
 ner, and Mr. EUery, to whom was referred a note from the Charge 
 d' Affaires of his most Christian Majesty, dated the 1st December, 
 1784, respecting delays and difficulties complained of by French 
 Agents in settling their accounts in this country, 
 
 Resolved, That copies of the said note be immediately sent to the 
 different States ; and that it be recommended to them to pass such 
 remedial laws on the subject as their respective constitutions may 
 permit, and that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the said 
 Charge d' Affaires." 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Trenton, December 7th, 1784. 
 
 The undersigned, Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor to 
 present to Congress the demands of the heirs of three French officers, 
 who died in the service of the United States during tlie late war. 
 The first relates to the late M. de la Radiere, Colonel in the Corps 
 of Engineers. The undersigned, in virtue of full powers from the 
 heir of this officer, has had his accounts settled by M. Pierce, from 
 which it appears that, on the 17th Nov., 1779, the time of his death, 
 there was due to him a balance of $2,657 30 specie. His brother, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 103 
 
 who is his sole heir, expects that balance should he paid to him ir 
 certificates and ready money, as has been done to the officers of the 
 Corps of Engineers who have quitted the service. But to this is 
 opposed a resolution of Congress of 10th April, 1780, which excludes 
 all officers, &;c., who were not in service on that day fi'om any benefit 
 arising from depreciation on pay, &;c. The undersigned entreats that 
 Congress would be pleased to consider that M. de la Radiere did not 
 quit the service, but died in it ; and he is desirous to transmit to the 
 heir of this officer a favorable resolution touching the demand made. 
 
 The second demand is presented to Congress by the undersigned 
 in the name of the heirs and creditors of the late Colonel Malmedy, 
 who died in the service of the United States. The Charge d' Affaires 
 of France has in his possession a certificate issued by Mr. Nourse, on 
 the settlement of the accounts of the deceased, amounting to the 
 sum of 3,420 dollars, bearing an interest of six per cent, per annum. 
 He begs that Congress will be pleased to order this certificate to be 
 converted into a contract which may be negotiated to the advantage 
 of the heirs and creditors of M. de Malmedy, or that other measures 
 may be taken conformable to the regulations adopted by Congress in 
 similar cases. 
 
 The undersigned has also the honor to remind Congress of the 
 reiterated demands made by the Chevalier de la Luzerne, touching 
 the debt due by the United States to the widow and children of the 
 late General Baron De Kalb. Congress will be pleased to recollect 
 that this officer being charged, in 1780, with command of a Division 
 marching to the South, received from M. Palfrey 226,000 dollars, for 
 the purpose of defraying arrears of clothing, and the expenses of the 
 Maryland Line on their march to the Southward — ^he to be account- 
 able. General De Kalb having been slain in the battle of Camden, 
 and his papers falling into the hands of the enemy, it has not been 
 possible to recover the vouchers to prove the expenditure of the 
 money received. The undersigned entreats Congress to consider 
 whether it would not be just to authorize the Department of War to 
 pass this sum in account as employed for the purpose designed ; and 
 he entreats that Congress would, at the same time, determine what 
 they think ought in justice to be done in favor of the widow and 
 children of' the late General, agreeably to the rules estabhshed by 
 Congress in cases of a like nature. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
104 JOHN JAY-SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 16th, 
 
 1784. 
 
 "On the report of a Comriiittee, consisting of Mr. Jay, Mr. Gard- 
 ner, and Mr. Ellery, to whom was referred a note from the Charge 
 d' Affaires of his most Christian Majesty, dated 7th December, 1784, 
 respecting the demands of the heirs of three French officers who 
 died in the American service, 
 
 Resolved, That the various and important objects of national con- 
 cern which at present engage the attention of Congress will not 
 permit them to examine and ascertain the facts on which the pro- 
 priety of the demand in question must be decided ; and, therefore, 
 that the same be referred to the Paymaster General, with orders to 
 examine and ascertain the justice of the said demands with all pos- 
 sible expedition, and report thereon to Congress." 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Trtnton, December 7, 1784. 
 
 The underwritten, Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor to 
 inform Congress that he has received some communications relative 
 to a debt contracted on account of the Continental frigate, the Con- 
 federacy, with the Treasurer-General rf the navy of the King. This 
 frigate being at Martinique in 1 779, Sieur Borde, the correspondent 
 of the Commissary General, made advances amounting to 64,067 
 livres, 12 sous, Sd'rs., for provisions and refreshments necessary to 
 the crew; he was reimbursed by drafts upon the Commissary, who, 
 considering the transaction as foreign to the service, refused to accept 
 them, and sent the bearer to Mr. Franklin, who did not pay them. 
 These bills were about to be protested, and to prevent the inconven- 
 iences which would have resulted from the protest to the Navy of 
 the United States in similar cases, the Treasurer-General of the 
 marine paid them when they became due. He now requests that 
 the expenditure may be accounted for, and the undersigned prays 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE, 105 
 
 Congress to inform him in what manner the advances made for the 
 United States will be refunded. The person responsible being under 
 the necessity of rendering his accounts regularly, the undersigned 
 entreats of Congress that they will be pleased, as soon as possible, 
 to act upon the reclamation which he has submitted. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Extract from, the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, December 16th, 
 
 1784. 
 
 " On the report of a Committee, consisting of Mr. Jay, Mr. Gard- 
 ner, and Mr. EUery, to whom was referred a note from the Charge 
 d' Affaires of his most Christian Majesty, respecting moneys advanced 
 for refitting the American frigate Confederacy, 
 
 Resolved, That the said note be referred to the Commissioner for 
 settling accounts in the Marine department, and that he be ordered 
 to report thereon to Congress without delay." 
 
 FBOM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MAKBOIS. 
 
 OfficB of Foreign Affairs, ^ 
 Trenton, December 22, 1784. \ 
 Sir, 
 Having accepted the place of Secretary for Foreign Afiairs, it 
 becomes my duty to inform you that Congress will adjourn to-morrow 
 to meet at the City of New York on Tuesday, the 11th day of Jan- 
 uary -next. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 F&OM MONSIEITR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Trenton, December 24, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 On my anival in this city^ I was informed by his Excellency the 
 
106 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 President of Congress, that you had accepted the office of Secretary 
 for Foreign Affairs. This news has caused me great pleasure, from 
 the satisfaction which it will give to my Court, as well as on account 
 of the advantages which the United States will derive from your 
 ministry. I hope to have the honor of complimenting you personally 
 at New York in the course of the month of February next ensuing. 
 As I shall quit Philadelphia about that time, I ought to inform 
 you that, agreeably to the intentions of Congress, the portraits of 
 the King and Queen, presented by his Majesty to that assembly, 
 have been deposited in my house, to remain there until they can be 
 placed in the situation which Congress shall make its residence. I 
 beg you to be pleased to inform me what may be the intentions of 
 Congress with respect to the destination of these pictures after the 
 month of March next. 
 
 I am, with respect, &;c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARJBOIS. 
 
 Office of Foreign Affairs, i 
 New York, December 28, 1784. J 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I received yesterday the letter which you did me the honor to 
 write on the 24th inst., two days before which I wrote to you by tlie 
 post, that I had accepted the place of Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
 and that Congress would the next day adjourn to meet at this place 
 on the 11th day of next month. Accept my thanks for the obliging 
 terms in which you mention this appointment, and be assured that 
 every occasion of promoting and confirming mutual confidence and 
 friendship between our countries will give me pleasure. 
 
 I shall take the earliest opportunity of communicating to Congress 
 the arrival of their most Christian Majesties' portraits, with which 
 the King has been pleased to present them, and I flatter myself with 
 being soon enabled to convey to you the pleasing sense with which 
 that obliging mark of his royal attention will have impressed them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 107 
 
 PROM MONSIEUR DE MABROIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, Jatiuary 27, 1785. 
 
 It is much to be desired that Congress would direct to be commu- 
 nicated to the Charge d' Affaires of France, those measures which 
 have been, or are about to be taken, in consequence of the note 
 which he had the honor to transmit in the beginning of the month 
 of December last, upon the affairs of Spain. 
 
 Mr. Rendon entertains the opinion that his Court will be disposed 
 to cede that portion of the Floridas which, by the treaty between Great 
 Britain and the United States, has been assigned to the United States. 
 But he does not believe that his Coiirt will make this cession in con- 
 sideration of that treaty. He thinks it should be regarded only as a 
 continuance of the desire with which his master is animated, to give 
 to the United States a proof of his good will and friendship. He 
 farther believes that the port of New Orleans may be opened to the 
 American commerce and navigation by the Mississippi. 
 
 Mr. Rendon, however, gives these conjectures only as his private 
 opinion, declaring he has no instructions upon the subject. 
 
 Whether Mr. Bingham has been reimbursed the advances made 
 by the correspondent of the Commissary General for the frigate Con- 
 federacy ? If he has been, in what manner ought the payment of 
 the correspondent to operate in the absence of Mr. Bingham ? 
 
 The commerce between France and her colonies on the one part, 
 and the United States on the other, having been regulated by a treaty, 
 it can only be modified after a full examination of the changes which 
 will be proposed ; and the Charge d' Affaires of France will receive 
 with much pleasure any communications which Mr. Jay may make 
 him upon the subject. He can assure him in advance, that the 
 United States will experience, on the part of the Gbvemment of 
 France, every facility in accordance with the advantage of the sub- 
 jects of the kingdom and the established system. 
 
 The American Plenipotentiaries have probably already informed 
 Congress of the new proof which his Majesty gives of his affection 
 and^ friendship to the United States, in opening to them the ports of 
 the Isles of France and Bourbon, heretofore closed. The American 
 
108 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 merchants and navigators can now proceed there from the ports of 
 this continent, where they will be received; they can there obtain 
 refreshments, dispose of a part, or the whole, of their cargoes, or 
 continue their voyage to the Indies or China. They can, on their 
 return, again touch at those islands, and sell the whole or a part of 
 their cargoes. They will be privileged, also, to provide themselves 
 with the merch^dize and productions of these two colonies. It is 
 hoped that the reciprocal advantages which will result from these 
 arrangements, may operate with the Court of Versailles to render 
 them permanent. 
 
 Without repeating here what the Charge d' Affaires of France had 
 the honor to mention to Mr. Jay, he restricts himself to engage him 
 to make his report of it, in order that Congress may judge of the 
 necessity of fulfilling their engagements, and to entreat him to com- 
 municate such measures as may be enacted on this subject. 
 
 Different notes on this subject have been presented to the Con- 
 gress. Mr. Jay is entreated to bring them again to notice. He will 
 there see the situation to which many French merchants are reduced 
 by reposing confidence in the faith of the United States. By refer- 
 ring to the Journals of Congress, he will find that that body has 
 recommended to the difierent States to enact laws in order to raise 
 the necessary sums for the payment of the interest of the loan office 
 certificates, held by foreigners. In effect some laws have been passed 
 for that purpose, particularly in Pennsylvania ; but in this very State 
 they have excluded foreigners from a dividend, notwithstanding the 
 pressing remonstrances of the Minister, and subsequently of the 
 Charge d' Affaires of the King. It appears that Congress is at 
 present occupied with this business, in consequence of the last note 
 transmitted. As the Assembly of Pennsylvania is about to meet, 
 and as they appear disposed to pay the holders of certificates, who 
 are inhabitants of that State, he is desirous that Congress may address 
 new recommendations, or rather that they would assign a fund for 
 the payment, as it appears the State is not disposed to conform to 
 the recommendations which have been made. 
 
 The Charg' d' Affaires of the King has had the honor to transmit 
 to Congress a note bearing date the 7th of last December, relating 
 to the claims of the heirs of different French ofiicers. Congress 
 resolved, on the 16th of the same month, to refer the subject to the 
 Paymaster General, with instructions to report thereupon as promptly 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 109 
 
 as possible. Mr. Jay will have the goodness to communicate to the 
 Charge d' Affaires of France the present state of this business. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 
 
 FKOM MONSIECTK DE MARBOIS TO J0H^ JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, January 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to send you a note, where I have recapitulated, 
 in a few words, the principal points of the conference which I had 
 the honor to hold with you yesterday. I have there also mentioned 
 some other points which we were prevented from discussing. I shall 
 be very grateful for any attention you may give to those different 
 subjects. I have also the honor to transmit to you the originals of 
 the pieces relative to the prosecution of Lpngchamps. I entreat you 
 to accept the communication, and, if it is necessary, to make it like- 
 wise to Congress, whenever I shall have the honor to address you 
 officially a demand for the surrender of the culprit. I wish, sirf to 
 consult with you upon my conduct in this affair, in order to prevent 
 its occasioning any interruption of communication between the two 
 Powers, and, if possible, to prevent any coldness, which appears to 
 me much to be apprehended, if the King does not obtain satisfaction. 
 If ulterior explanations should be required, touching any of the dif- 
 ferent subjects upon which I have had the honor to converse with 
 you, I will hasten to give them. 
 
 I am, with respectful attachment, Sic, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 NOTE TROn MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Monsieur De Marbois presents his respects to Mr. Jay, and has 
 the honor to communicate to him an extract of a letter from France, 
 which he did not receive until to-day, on account of its having taken 
 the route of Philadelphia. He places some reliance upon the news 
 which it contains. 
 
 Monday morning. 
 
110 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, 12th of the 9th Month, 1784. 
 
 "The affairs of Holland continue to give us much inquietude. 
 The government of the Low Countries has dispatched many vessels 
 which have been stopped by the Dutch upon the Scheldt. The 
 Count d'Ochra has been very active here ; but it is yet unknown 
 what he has done, and whether we shall be reconciled to the King, 
 his brother. The Imperial troops approach, but not in great num- 
 bers, as the Emperor cannot, without imprudence, weaken himself 
 on the side of Prussia. Luxemburg is destitute of troops, and the 
 militia there mount guard. It is hoped that the prudence of our 
 Minister will arrange this important affair. With respect to the 
 Hollanders, it is not the navigation of the Scheldt alone which is 
 involved ; if they suffer their rights and privileges to be attacked on 
 one point, the next attempt will be perhaps upon their independence." 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, > 
 New York, January 31, 1785. \ 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been favored with your note of this date, enclosing an 
 extract of a letter from Paris, of the 12th November last, for which 
 I thank you, and which I shall communicate to Congress in the 
 morning. 
 
 Agreeably to an act of Congress of the 15th ult., a copy of which 
 was delivered to me this day, I have the honor to inform you that 
 the United States in Congress assembled, have received your note 
 of the 19th November, with the papers enclosed, and are happy in 
 the assurance given that his most Christian Majesty will see with 
 pleasure measures taken to consolidate and maintain a good under- 
 standing between his Catholic Majesty and the United States, and 
 they flatter themselves that their disposition and endeavors to cultivate 
 the friendship of the Catholic King will produce the desired effect. 
 That Congress have a high confidence in the justice of his Catholic 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. m 
 
 Majesty, and rely that he will submit the mutual rights of Spain and 
 the United States of America to amicable discussion, without adopt- 
 ing measures which may prejudge those rights. 
 
 I Tiave the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, February 10, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to address you a note, wherein I demand the 
 surrender of Sieur Longchamps. The papers which I have had the 
 honor to transmit to you justify the demand which I make, and I 
 entreat you to return them to me when no longer necessary to you. 
 If Congress desire the perusal, it will suffice if they are returned by 
 the 20th of the month. 
 
 I have had the honor to confide to you the steps taken by Madame 
 De Marbois since the 4th of January last, and those which I pro- 
 pose to take, in favor of the culprit, as soon as Congress shall have 
 accorded the satisfaction demanded by the King. I endeavor, while 
 there is yet time, to prevent bad consequences from an afiair which 
 appears to have been excited designedly. But evil disposed persons 
 apply themselves, in the meantime, to inflame the minds of the people 
 in Philadelphia, by false representations published in the gazettes, 
 and republished in those of New York. Although similar publica- 
 tions have taken place throughout the whole course of this affair, I 
 was not willing that any reply should be made, notwithstanding the 
 advantages of every kind which my situation gave me, and there not 
 being the slightest pretext to color the attempt. I rely entirely upon 
 the justice of Congress, and their respect for the rights of nations, 
 violated in an unexampled manner. Notwithstanding the efforts of 
 the evil-minded to produce a coldness between the King and the 
 United States, I am not the less determined, even to-day, to pursue 
 the plan which I had formed, to solicit the clemency of the King, 
 as far as may be consistent with the inviolability due to public Min- 
 isters. But the publications which take place in the newspapers, 
 tend to prevent the effect of those measures. I do not doubt, sir, 
 
1 12 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 thaft you will unite with me cordially in all which can contribute to 
 the maintenance of a good understanding, and I entreat you to con- 
 sider maturely the part which ought to be taken to arrest the licen- 
 tiousness of the press. I am, with respect, Stc, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 MONSIEim DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, February 10, 1785 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to transmit to Mr. Jay an anonymous letter which 
 
 I received by yesterday's post. I am very doubtful whether it has 
 
 been written with good intention. Such as it is I thought proper to 
 
 communicate it to the honorable Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translation.. 
 
 Philadelphia, February 4, 1785. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " My attachment for you and the public good induces me to inform 
 
 you that you will not be safe in returning here. The friends of 
 
 Longchamps are enrage^ at the steps which it is said you have taken 
 
 against him. It is reported that if you return they mean to take 
 
 violent measures against you, and he himself threatens to be revenged 
 
 in an exemplary manner as soon as he is at liberty. I believe it 
 
 would be unwise in you to neglect any precaution with respect to 
 
 your safety. I pray you to reflect that tliis man has nothing to lose, 
 
 that he has no means of living, and that his debts already exceed the 
 
 property of his wife. The most desperate courses are the best for 
 
 him. I do not sign my name because I should thereby expose tnyself 
 
 to people who have told me their projects as a great secre%." 
 
 I am, with profound respect, &.C., 
 
 FBOM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MAHBOTS* 
 
 New York, February 11, 1785. 
 Sir, I have received the letters which you did me the honor to write 
 yesterday, together with the anonymous one of which you make 
 raeutiott. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. ] 13 
 
 I have this morning transmitted them to his Excellency the Presi- 
 dent to be laid before Congress, and shall take the earliest opportunity 
 of cominunicating to you the result of their deliberations on the 
 interesting subjects of them. 
 
 I have the honor, Sic, 
 
 JOHW JAY. 
 
 PROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation, 
 
 The undersigned. Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor to 
 inform Congress that his Majesty demands that the Sieur Longchamps,, 
 his subject, shall be sent to France in order to be tried there. The 
 crime of this individual being known to Congress, the undersigned 
 will enter into no detail upon the subject, but limits himself to assure 
 that assembly, in conformity with the order he has received, that 
 the United States will be permitted to exercise an entire reciprocity, 
 if there should ever happen in France a similar or analogous case 
 with respect to their Ministers or public officers. 
 
 BARBE DE MARBOIS.. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.. 
 
 New York, February 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency, herewitli 
 enclosed, the following papers which I received yesterday from M. 
 De Marbois, viz : a note demanding the surrender of M. Longchamps, 
 a letter on that subject and on certain publications respecting it, and 
 another letter enclosing an anonymous one which had been sent to 
 him. All of which I think it my duty to lay before Congress without 
 delay. 
 
 I have the honor to be, iic, 
 
 JOHN JAY., 
 Vol. L~« 
 
114 JOHN JAY-SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs to whom, on the 14th instant, was referred the requisition 
 of the Charge d' Affaires of France, that a certain Charles Julian 
 de Longchamps (now in custody at Philadelphia in pursuance of 
 the judgment of a court of law against him) be delivered up to his 
 most Christian Majesty, reports thereupon as his opinion : 
 That it appears that the said Charles Julian de Longchamps was 
 Indicted at the Court held at Philadelphia in 1784, for an infraction 
 of the law of nations, and for an assault and battery. And that both 
 these offences consisted in violences offered by him against a Consul 
 General and a Secretary to a Legation of France, residing at Phila- 
 delphia, under the faith and protection of the law of nations and the 
 . other laws of the land. 
 
 That it further appears that the said Charles Julian de Longchamps 
 was in due course of law tried for the same offences, and being thereof 
 found guilty, was judicially sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred 
 crowns, to be imprisoned until the 4th July, "which will be in the 
 year 1786, and then to give good security to keep the peace, and to 
 be of good behavior to all public ministers, secretaries of embassies 
 and councils, as well as to all the liege people of Pennsylvania, for 
 the space of seven years, by entering into recognizance, himself in 
 one thousand pounds, and two sureties in five hundred pounds each ; 
 to pay the costs of the said prosecution, and remain committed until 
 that sentence be complied with. 
 
 That it also appears that the said Charles Julian de Longchamps 
 is now actually confined in the prison of Philadelphia, in execution 
 of the said sentence. Your Secretary considers the following prin- 
 ciples to be unquestionably true, viz : 
 
 That every friendly foreigner coming to any country on lawful 
 business, is entitled to the protection of the laws of that country on 
 the one hand, and owes obedience to them during his residence on 
 the other ; 
 
 That whenever such foreigner breaks the peace, or otherwise 
 violates the laws of the land, he is as amenable to them as any other 
 person ; and that the sovereign power of the State has undoubted 
 right to punish him in the manner and degree prescribed by the laws 
 of the State ; 
 
 That where the said laws sentence such offending foreigner to 
 imprisonment for a limited time, the State has a clear right to hold 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. I15 
 
 and detain him in prison accordingly; and are not bound to release 
 or deliver him up to his Prince for any purpose whatever, before he 
 shall have satisfied the laws of the land which he has violated by 
 undergoing the punishment decreed thereby for his offence. 
 
 Your Secretary is therefore of opinion that the requisition In ques- 
 tion is premature : for, admitting Charles Julian de Longchamps to 
 be a Frenchman ; admitting that he has oiFended his Prince either 
 here or elsewhere ; admitting, further, that his Prince has a right to 
 demand him, and that the United States were bound, by treaty or 
 otherwise, to deliver him up ; yet it is not to be denied tliat he has 
 broken the peace and violated the laws of this country, and having 
 been legally condemned to imprisonment for the same, a compliance 
 with the said requisition at present cannot possibly be required by 
 the law of nations. 
 
 How far it would be right and proper for the United States after- 
 wards to demand of the State of Pennsylvania to deliver the said 
 Charles Julian de Longchamps, to be tried and judged in France, 
 for that part of the aforesaid offence against the peace, government, 
 and dignity of that Commonwealth, which consisted in his having 
 there violated the rights and privileges of his most Christian Majesty's 
 Legation, and how far such demand would be warranted by the law 
 of nations and the federal compact between the States, are questions 
 so new, so deeply and intimately connected with the nature of our 
 constitutions and confederation, and so extensive and important in 
 their consequences, as to require very ample discussion, much reflec- 
 tion, and serious consideration. 
 
 Your Secretary is further of opinion that the Minister Plenipoten- 
 tiary of the United States at the Court of France should be instructed 
 to submit the above facts and reasons to the candid consideration of 
 his most Christian Majesty, to assure hira that it would give them 
 great pain to have their conduct viewed by him in an unfavorable 
 point of view ; and that they flatter themselves the reasons which 
 render it impossible for them at present to comply with his requisi- 
 tion, will appear as conclusive to him as they do to Congress. That 
 they will maturely, candidly, and earnestly consider how far a com- 
 pliance with it, when the prisoner shall be legally released, may be 
 free from objections. That they wish, and will endeavor, in the 
 mean time, to make that very important question the subject of mutual 
 and friendly discussions ; that as the man himself can be no object 
 
116 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 with the States, and as neither their interest nor their inchnation can 
 lead them to give cause of umbrage to their first and best friend and 
 ally, they hope he will have perfect confidence in their sincerity when 
 they declare that obstacles to their complying with his requests will 
 always give then! as much concern and regret as opportunities of 
 manifesting their respect, their regard, their gratitude, and their 
 attachment to him, will always give them pleasure and satisfaction. 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 Office of Foreign Affairs, ^ 
 16 Feb. 1785. C 
 
 FROM MONSIEUK DE MAEBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, February 22, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 An express just arrived from Philadelphia obliges me to set off for 
 that place without delay. I could have wished to have taken leave 
 of you before I set off, and to have received some information respect- 
 ing the affairs I have had the honor to communicate to you, but cir- 
 cumstances prevent me. I propose to return to this place so soon as 
 the health of Mrs. Marbois will permit me ; but as I presume I shall 
 be detained in Philadelphia some weeks, I must beg you to transmit 
 to me the determinations of Congress on the different affairs on which 
 I have presented memorials, or which I have had the honor to com- 
 municate to you verbally. 
 
 Herewith you will find a memorial of the Sieur Rousille, who has 
 served on board of a frigate of the United States. I beg you to put 
 it in my power to acquaint him with the decision of Congress thereon. 
 
 I have also the honor to address to you the copy of a letter from 
 the Count de Vergennes, respecting a debt of the United States paid 
 by the royal treasury to Messrs. Sabatier and Despres, together with 
 the vouchers of that debt. I request, sir, you would communicate 
 to me whatever measures Congress may take for the liquidation of 
 this debt. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. I17 
 
 I owe it to the character with which I am honored to communicate 
 to you a gazette in which you will find an article which concerns me, 
 and which I leave to you to describe. I beg you, sir, to compare it 
 with the anonymous letter I received, and which I had the honor to 
 communicate, for you to consider that an indispensable duty calls me 
 to Philadelphia, and to acquaint me with the opinion of Congress 
 respecting such publications, and the circumstance itself. You know, 
 sir, that it is to that assembly only I can address myself in order to 
 enjoy throiUghout the whole extent of the United States the mviola- 
 bility due to my character. 
 
 I am, with a respectful attachment, &c., 
 
 DB MARBOIS. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF PIERRE ROUSILLE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Sieur Pierre Rousille, native and inhabitant of Bordeaux, 
 has the honor to represent, that he embarked the 22d May, 1778, as 
 volunteer, in the United States frigate the Boston, commanded by 
 Captain Tucker, then going on a cruise against the enemy. On the 
 1 9th of June following they made a prize of an English ship coming 
 from Spain, and the memorialist was chosen as one of those destined 
 to conduct the prize to Boston ; but, on the way thither, they had the 
 misfortune to meet the Porcupine, English frigate, who retook the 
 prize, and conducted them prisoners to Portsmouth, where they 
 arrived the 8th July, and your memorialist remained near two years 
 in prison in England, without any news of the frigate in which he 
 embarked. 
 
 At his return to France, your memorialist learnt that the frigate 
 had been fortunate enough to take several prizes, which were sold at 
 Nantz, and the proceeds paid into the hands of Captain Tucker, (as 
 is proved by a letter of the 19th of September, 1780, signed by 
 Messrs. Schweighauser and Dobree, who had been commissioned to 
 sell them.) 
 
 Your memorialist had, without doubt, a right to claim his part of 
 the prizes, though taken in his absence, and while he was detained 
 in the prisons of England, and especially as there was an express. 
 
118 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
 
 agreement and promise of Captain Tucker, made when your memo- 
 rialist went on board the prize ; he having then promised your 
 memorialist and the others, that whether they got safe to Boston or 
 whether they had the misfortune to be taken, they shonld always be 
 included in the division of any prizes the frigate might make, this 
 promise ought therefore to be carried into effect ; and the more so, 
 having regard to a captivity of two years which your memorialist 
 suffered, and to the zeal and affection for the service of the United 
 States, thus manifested by a Frenchman, and which Captain Tucker 
 and the Admiralty of the United States must both acknowledge. 
 
 Your memorialist has not neglected to get intelligence of Captain 
 Tucker. He wrote to him as well as Jo the Admiralty of the United 
 States ; but though your memorialist's letter came to hand, he never 
 could receive the least answer to them ; and this silence of both of 
 them shews a disposition which your justice, my lord, will not 
 approve. Thus circumstanced, your memorialist implores the aid 
 of your powerful recommendation to the Admiralty of the United 
 States, that payment may be made to your memorialist of his part of 
 the prizes, as well as of the pay due to him as volunteer on board 
 the said frigate Boston. This demand, just in itself, cannot any 
 longer meet with difficulty, when it is considered, that having repre- 
 sented the matter to the Marshal De Castries, our Minister of Marine, 
 he thought it so just, that by his letter of 20th August last he directs 
 me to address myself to Mr. Franklin, which I did not fail to do ; 
 and Mr. Franklin, in his letter of the 12th September, directs me to 
 address myself in America, and gives the greatest confidence in the 
 justice of the Admiralty of the United States. 
 
 But whilst taking all these steps, I received, the 7th of September 
 last, a letter dated Boston, 21st July, 1784, signed De L'Etombe, 
 containing, word for word, as follows : 
 
 " I have received, sir, the letters you did me the honor to write to 
 'me in the years 1782, 1783, and 1784. I have spoken to the 
 ' Admiralty of this city, of your antiquated claims. I had before 
 'mentioned them, and had advised you of the death of Captain 
 'Tucker and the settlement of his accounts. I am now assured that 
 ' your claims are no better than they were, and General Warner, to 
 ' whom I mentioned them, informs me there is no taking up again 
 ' accounts which have been liquidated and settled ; and that you 
 ' must take the fault on yourself for not having applied in time. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. ng 
 
 " I am sorry I cannot give you a more favorable answer ; but on 
 'any other occasion I shall always be happy to render you service, 
 ' and do assure you that I am, sir, 
 
 " Your very humble servant, &;c., 
 
 ("Signed) DE L'ETOMBE." 
 
 The perusal of this letter will shew the contradiction it contains. 
 It appears so to all who have read it, for Mr. De L'Etombe calls 
 my demands out of date, that is, not recoverable, forfeited by not 
 applying in time ; but how could he make use of such language, 
 after acknowledging the receipt of my letters of 1782, 1783, and 
 1784 ; doubtless these letters had no other object but these claims, 
 there must therefore be an error or injustice in attributing to me a 
 neglect I have not been guilty of. I need no other proof than the 
 contradiction strongly marked in this letter. 
 
 It is, however, true that after I was released from captivity in 
 England I took every method in my power to claim my due. The 
 roll of the crew of the frigate when she was paid off will shew I was 
 included in it, and the Admiralty of the United States should have 
 secured the pay, Stc, due me, as is practised in France, for it could 
 not be lost, either myself or my heirs would always have a right to 
 it, and it cannot be supposed that the United States can regard with 
 indifference the vicious and unjust decision contained in the letter 
 abovementioned, and deprive me of my pay and prize-money gained 
 in their service, and which was the cause of a two years' captivity, 
 with the loss of all I had. 
 
 It is of no consequence that Captain Tucker is dead, and that his 
 accounts are settled, since it was not in my power to object to that 
 settlement, being a prisoner in England ; and, besides, being a 
 Frenchman, and in Europe, I could not know of the settlement, nor 
 could I transport myself suddenly to the place, so that, all things 
 considered, nothing can prevent the Admiralty of the United States 
 from paying what appears due to me at the paying off the Boston 
 frigate, the rolls of which they must have preserved. It is from 
 their justice alone I expect it, as it is to them only I can look for 
 the failure of Captain Tucker in paying me my due. 
 
 P. ROUSILLE, 
 
 My address: is at Mr. Cazemeau, Broker, Rue Causse rouge, at 
 Bordeayx. 
 
120 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 FKOM THE COtffJT DE VERGENNES TO THE CHARGE d'aEF AIRES OF 
 FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Versailles, October 12, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 I annex the copy of a letter from the Comptroller-General, with 
 the account which accompanies it, relative to a sum paid from the 
 Royal Treasury to reimburse Messrs. Despres & Sabatier for 
 articles furnished by them to the United States. You will please to 
 take the necessary steps to engage Congress to rid themselves of this 
 debt, and to pay the amount into the Royal Treasury agreeably to 
 the demand of the Comptroller-General, founded on the vouchers he 
 has furnished. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 DE VERGENNES. 
 
 FROM M. DE CALONNE TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 In conformity to the letter you did me the honor to write to me 
 the 8th February, I caused payment to be made from the Royal 
 Treasury to Messrs. Despres &; Sabatier, of the sum of 134,065 
 livres 7s. 6d., due to them for articles furnished to the United States 
 of America. You were pleased to assure me that you would charge 
 yourself to demand the repayment of this advance to Congress 
 whenever I should furnish you with the vouchers. 
 
 I have, therefore, the honor to address to you the account of pay- 
 ments made to the United States on the ten millions borrowed from 
 Holland. You will see, sir, that the Royal Treasury has paid 
 134,065 livres 7s. 6d. above the ten millions, and that this excess is 
 carried to the second expedition of articles furnished by Messrs. 
 Despres &l Sabatier, whose certified accounts I annex. The original 
 vouchers of the articles furnished are deposited in my office, and M. 
 De Veimeranges has dehvered duplicates of them to Mr. Franklin. 
 
 I shall be much obliged by your endeavors to procure the return 
 of this advance to the Royal Treasury. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 121 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Advance of Ten Millions granted by the King to the United States 
 of America, payable with interest 1st January, 1783. 
 
 Articles to be carried to account of the advance of Ten Millions. 
 
 Subsidy to Mr. Lau- ) „ g.^^ „„„ Excess of 6 mon. ") 
 
 •' 5.2,500,000 , . J / lACnnn 
 
 rens, " " ) subsidy, per V 14o,000 
 
 margin, - - - ^ 
 Sum returned from) , Aon nnn I^rafts of Mr. S 
 
 Holland, $ i,4du,uuu ^^^^-^^ ^^ ^ f 1^201,100.4.8 
 
 C. Couteulx, ) 
 To Mr. Grand, for ^ Paid Mr. Grand, ^ 
 
 drafts on Mr. v 2,216,000 in February, f , „„„ „qq 
 
 Franklin, - - - } March, and ? ' ' 
 
 6,146,000 April, 1782, ) 2,647,1004.8 
 
 Military Stores. 
 
 Replacing the effects of M. de la Fayette and 
 articles furnished, viz : 
 1st. 200,000 lbs. powder, including expense of 
 
 transporting it to Brest, 196,481.15. 3 
 
 2d. To Messrs. Despres St Sa- - 
 
 batier, articles furnished 1st 
 
 time at the requisition of Col. 
 
 Laurens, - 1,011,248. 5.11 
 
 (*) 3d. Articles furnished 2d time, 
 
 including the replacing effects 
 
 of M. de la Fayette, 2,194,219. 7. 4 
 
 4th. Articles furnished by the 
 
 War Department in May and 
 
 June, 1781, 1,052,345.11. 6 
 
 5th. Ditto, by Marine Depart- 
 ment, 252,275 
 
 6th. Freight of 4 vessels sent from 
 
 Brest to transport the stores, - 293,430 
 
 — 5,000,000 
 
 Sums paid out of the Treasury to Mr. Grand in the 
 
 last seven months of 1782, 2,352,399.15. 4 
 
 10,000,000 
 
122 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 (*) The articles furnished the second time by 
 Messrs. Despres &l Sabatier amounted, by the certi- 
 fied account of M. de Veimeranges, 2,328,284.14.10 
 
 Of which is included in the 10 million only, - - 2,194,219. 7. 4 
 
 Remains to be paid, 134,065. 7. 6 
 
 Which the Royal Treasury advanced to Messrs. Despres k, Saba- 
 tier in 1784. The Count de Vergennes promised to demand the 
 reimbursement of this sum of the United States. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 United States of ^ Amount of Articles furnished and Sums 
 North America, V advanced to the United States of North 
 2d Expedition. j America. 
 
 Account of sums, forming together the amount of a second expe- 
 dition of clothing and military stores, which the Messrs. Sabatier k. 
 Despres furnished to the United States of America, at the requisition 
 of Colonel Laurens, including the expense of packages, commission, 
 gratification to the Storekeeper-General at Brest for trouble ; and 
 also the expenses of transportation from St. Denis and other places 
 to Brest, viz : 
 
 According to the accounts of the said articles furnished, No. 1, 
 endorsed A A ; extract of invoices annexed, No. 2, indorsed B 
 B ; account of their reception in the magazines at Brest, and the 
 shipment. No. 3, endorsed C C ; the certificate of examination of 
 the articles, No. 4, endorsed D D ; and the warrant of the order. 
 No. 5, endorsed E E ; two millions one hundred and ninety-three 
 thousand one hundred and six livres five sous, including six per 
 cent, allowed Messrs. Sabatier & Despres for advances, commis- 
 sion, trunks, and packages, as per said account, 2,193,106. 5 
 According to the account of sums advanced by the 
 said Sabatier &t Despres to pay the bills of 
 transportation of said effects and the commission 
 on said payments at four per cent, agreeably 
 to the account of articles, No. 6, endorsed F F ; 
 the sum of one hundred and thirty-five thousand 
 one hundred and seventy-eight livres nine sotis 
 and ten deniers, .-.. 135,178. 9.10 
 
 Total general, 2,328,284.14.10 
 
DIPLOMATrC CORRESPONDENCE. 123 
 
 The above account, amounting to tw<y millions three kundfed and 
 twenty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-four liwes fourteen 
 sols and ten deniers, certified to be just and true. 
 
 SABATIER &; DESPRES. 
 
 The above account examined by us, Principal Commissary of 
 War, amounting to the sum of two millions three htundred and twenty^ 
 eight thousand two hundred and eighty-four livres fourteen sols and 
 ten deniers, agreeably to the different accounts therein mentioned, 
 and numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and marked A A, B B, C C, D 
 D, E E, and F F. 
 
 DE CORNY. 
 
 Paris, 26th December, 1782. 
 
 The above accounts, amounting to two millions three hundred and 
 twenty-eight thousand two hundred and eighty-four livres fourteen 
 sols and ten deniers, examined and agreed to, agreeably to the differ- 
 ent vouchers and accounts therein mentioned, and also examined 
 by us. 
 
 VEIMERANGES. 
 
 Paris, 12th January, 1783. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Philadelphia, March 8, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to address to you a note, which I must request 
 you to lay before Congress. The unfortunate people whose interests 
 I have put into your hands, have patiently waited until the moment 
 of peace, and I have not ceased to support their hopes until this 
 moment. I beg you to put it in my power to acquaint them that their 
 confidence in the faith of the United States has been well founded. 
 
 In reminding you, sir, of the different notes which I have had the 
 honor to present to Congress, or to put into your hands, permit me 
 to mention that in particular which respects the demands of the 
 different French officers, or their widows or heirs. Congress has 
 referred them to the War Department. If the report has come to 
 your hands, or if there has been any resolution on the subject, I 
 must request, sir, that you will make me acquainted with it. In 
 case nothing should have been determined on the subject, I must take 
 the liberty to remind you of it. 
 
124 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 The orders which must be observed in the Department of Finance 
 ■renders it necessary to know beforehand at what periods the United 
 States can make payments of the sums payable by them into the Royal 
 Treasury in the course of this year. If particular circumstances 
 should even oblige Congress to some delay for part of the sum, it is 
 not the less necessary to be previously informed of this, that measures 
 may be taken to supply the deficiency. I shall be exceedingly 
 obliged to you for the necessary information on this subject. 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 NOTE, 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Chevalier de la Luzerne, and since his departure, the under- 
 signed Charge d'Afiaires of France, has at different times received 
 memorials, letters, and demands of French subjects possessing loan- 
 office certificates, representing how prejudicial it is to their affairs that 
 the engagements entered into by the United States for the payment 
 of the interest and redemption of the principal of those contracts, 
 have not been fulfilled. Some of then have even furnished proofs, 
 unhappily incontestible, that the confidence they had in the solemn 
 promises which were made to them have been the cause of their 
 ruin, and that the reverse of fortune they have experienced can never 
 be entirely repaired. The undersigned has had the honor to inform 
 Congress of these circumstances, in a note delivered some months 
 since ; he waited their decision to send satisfactory information to the 
 concerned, and in the mean time has written them to rest with confi- 
 dence in the respect of Congress for their engagements, and on his 
 uninterrupted efforts to procure them payment; but he has just 
 received many letters from France, in which the creditors of the 
 United States in France again complain of the little satisfaction they 
 can procure on claims so just ; they are informed that without regard 
 to the recommendation of Congress, some States have appropriated 
 funds for the payment of the interest on certificates of money bor- 
 rowed, in possession of the inhabitants, and that the foreigners have 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 125 
 
 been excluded from this partition they have made among themselves 
 of the public revenue. The undersigned takes the liberty to remind 
 Congress of these facts, and he hopes that assembly will take into 
 consideration the unhappy situation of the French creditors of the 
 United States, that they will consult justice in adopting efficacious 
 measures for their payment, at the same time considering that not 
 being inhabitants of the United States, the sums due to them can be 
 discharged only in money, and not in paper, or any effects whatever 
 which are of no value out of the United States, or are not equal in 
 value to the sums they should represent. 
 
 The undersigned, for many years witness to the constant endeavors 
 of Congress to procure justice to all their creditors, and to support 
 public faith, hopes they will enable hira as soon as possible to return 
 satisfactory answers to the French creditors,, and that they will con- 
 sider his repeated and pressing solicitations on this subject as arising 
 from his duty, and the persuasion he is in that Congress view with 
 pleasure every measure which has justice for its object, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS. 
 
 OiEce for Foreign Affairs, March 10, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to inform you that, on the 7th instant. Congress 
 was pleased to permit the honorable Benjamin Franklin, Esq., their 
 Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Versailles, to return to 
 America as soon as convenient, and that they have assigned a day 
 for the election of another to succeed him. 
 
 ' * I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 New York, March 11, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 1 have the honor of informing you that' Congress were pleased 
 
136 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 yesterday to appoint the honorable Thomas Jefferson, Esq., to be 
 their Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Versailles, in the room 
 of Dr. Franklin, who, at his request, has leave to return. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUK DE MAEBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Philadelphia, March 17, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write, commu- 
 nicating to me the appointment of Mr. Jefferson as Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary from the United States to the Court of France ; I shall 
 transmit this information for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and I 
 am persuaded his Majesty will receive the news with pleasure. 
 
 I am, &.C., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 , FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, March 21, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received, and laid before Congress, your letter of the 8th 
 instant. 
 
 The late order of Congress, that all papers in French, to be com- 
 municated to them by me, should be accompanied with translations, 
 and the number of such papers which I have lately referred to the 
 interpreters has prevented my giving all the despatch to those with 
 which you have favored me that I should otherwise have done. 
 
 You must be sensible, sir, that the long recess of Congress must 
 greatly have augmented their business, and that the same expedition 
 cannot be expected from public deliberative bodies as from executive 
 officers or boards composed of a few members. For my part, I am 
 persuaded that the affairs to which you solicit the attention of Con- 
 gress will not be neglected ; but that they will continue to treat all 
 your applications with that respect which is justly due to every 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 127 
 
 application made on the part of his most Christian Majesty. I assure 
 you, sir, it will always give me pleasure to promote the bringing all 
 these matters to a speedy conclusion, and that I will immediately 
 communicate to you whatever Congress may be pleased to refer to 
 me for that purpose. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY, 
 
 FROM MONSIEUK DE MAKBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Philadelphia, March 29, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letters you did me the honor to write to me on 
 the 21st of this month. The assurances they contain respecting 
 your disposition as well as that of Congress, cannot but be very 
 agreeable, and I await the effects with the most perfect confidence. 
 I wait also, sir, an answer to the letter I had the honor to write to 
 you the 25th of December last. I am sorry to importune you on 
 this subject, but the month of March is almost expired, and as I 
 must, without delay, leave Philadelphia, I cannot continue to be 
 answerable for the trust committed to me by Congress ; and on the 
 other hand, I will not change its destination without knowing the 
 intentions of that assembly. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 9, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you the commission of Monsieur 
 the Chevalier de Chateaufort, as Consul for the two Carolinas and 
 Georgia. I must request you to lay it before Congress, and to pro- 
 cure the resolutions customary in like cases, as well as the requisitions 
 for the exequatur from the three States, in which he is to exercise 
 
128 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the oiEce of his Majesty's Consul. I must request, also, that after 
 the commission has been registered you will return it to me, together 
 with the resolutions of Congress. Monsieur de Chateaufort will 
 receive them here before he sets o£F for his destination. 
 
 As I must return without delay to New York, and as the business 
 of the consulate must not be interrupted, my brother will do the 
 duties here during my absence, in the same manner as those of the 
 Consul of Charleston have been done to this time by the Vice Consul 
 of Georgia. 
 
 I must therefore beg, sir, that you will procure me a resolution of 
 Congress to that effect, and a requisition to the States of Pennsyl- 
 vania and Delaware for his exequatur and notification of Pierre 
 Francois Barbe de Marbois, jr., as Vice Consul to the States of 
 Pennsylvania and Delaware. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translafion. 
 
 Patent of Consul of France to the States of North and South 
 Carolina and Georgia, in favor of the Sieur Ignatius Romain Chev- 
 alier D'Aristay de Chateaufort, resident at Charleston. 
 
 LOUIS, 
 
 By the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre, 
 To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting : 
 Having thought it necessary to create an ofEce of Consul to the 
 States of North and South Carolina and Georgia, and being informed 
 of the knowledge, probity, zeal, and fidelity to our service of the 
 Sieur Ignatius Romain Chevalier D'Aristay de Chateaufort, we have 
 judged that we could not make a better choice than of his person 
 to exercise the said office, and being moved by these and other 
 causes, we have named, ordained, and established the said Chevalier 
 D'Aristay de Chateaufort, and by these presents, signed with our 
 hand, we do name, ordain, and establish him our Consul to the 
 States of North and South Carolina and Georgia, with power to 
 establish agents in such ports in his department as he may ju^e 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 129 
 
 necessary, to see to the execution of the rules and ordinances relative 
 to commerce and navigation, and to support the privileges which the 
 French should enjoy according to the treaties and conventions; and 
 further to order and do, within the extent of his consulate, whatever 
 he may judge necessary for the good of our service and the advantage 
 of our subjects, willing that he should make his ordinary residence at 
 Charleston, and that he should enjoy the honors, authority, pre- 
 eminence, and prerogatives annexed to the said ofSce of Consul, and 
 the appointment or salary thereto belonging, which appointments 
 shall be for all expenses and emoluments whatever, without any 
 pretension to exact any other benefit; and for these purposes we 
 give him our special commands, power, and authority. And we 
 command our trusty and well beloved Chevalier de la Luzurne, our 
 Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, to have 
 the ^aid Chevalier D'Aristay de Chateaufort acknowledged in his 
 said quality of Consul, and to afford him every assistance ; and we 
 do order all navigators, merchants, and others to acknowledge and 
 obey him, for such is our pleasure ; and we do pray and request our 
 very dear friends and allies, the United States of America, their 
 governors and other officers, civil and military, to let the said Sieur 
 Ignatius Remain Chevalier D'Aristay de Chateaufort enjoy, peaceably 
 and fully, the said ofiice of Consul to the States of North and South 
 Carolina and Georgia, without any molestation or hindrance, but on 
 the contrary to afford him every assistance, offering to do the like 
 whenever we shall b6 so required. 
 
 In witness whereof we have caused our privy seal to be afiixed to 
 these presents. Done at Versailles the 25th day of April, 1784, and; 
 in the tenth year of our reign. 
 
 LOUIS.. 
 By his Majesty's command, 
 
 L. M. DE Castries. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay, on a Communication from the Chargi 
 d' Affaires of France, relative to ''• Vice Consuls." 
 
 Office of Foreign Affairs, April 18, 1785. 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Vol. 1—9 
 
130 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Affairs transmits, herewith enclosed, a letter and a translation of it 
 from the Charge d' Affaires of France to him of the 9th instant, 
 and a commission, with a translation of it, from his most Christian 
 Majesty, appointing the Sieur Ignatius Komain Chevalier D'Aris- 
 tay de Chateaufort to be Consul of France for the States of North 
 and South Carolina and Georgia, to reside ordinarily at Charles- 
 ton. 
 
 Your Secretary reports that it should, in his opinion, be 
 
 Resolved, That the said commission he registered in the Secretary's 
 office ; and that thereupon an act of recognition, in due form, be 
 immediately issued to the States in question, in order that they may 
 furnish the said Consul with his exequatur or notification of his 
 quality, that the same may be made known and published. 
 
 Your Secretary is exceedingly at a loss to report whether any 
 thing, or what, ought to be done in pursuance of the last paragraph 
 in the abovementioned letter, viz : 
 
 " As I must return without delay to New York, and as the business 
 ' of the consulate must not be interrupted, my brother will do the 
 ' duties here during my absence, in the same manner as those of the 
 ' Consul of Charleston have been done to this time by the Vice 
 * Consul of Georgia. I must therefore beg, sir, that you will procure 
 ' me a resolution of Congress to that effect, and a requisition to the 
 ' States of Pennsylvania and Delaware, for his exequatur and 
 'notification of the character of Pierre Francois Barbe de Marbois. 
 'jr., as Vice Consul for the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware." 
 
 It appears from the Journal of Congress of the 11th February. 
 1784, that M. De Marbois was Consul General for the thirteen 
 United States. He, therefore, appears to have authority to appoint 
 a Vice Consul, and, consequently, to have given a proper brevet for 
 that place to his brother. No such brevet, however, appears, 
 although it has heretofore been^ the practice to produce one previous 
 to the recognition of a Vice Consul. 
 
 Your Secretary finds himself also embarrassed by the uncertainty 
 which still exists respecting the execution of the convention proposed 
 to be entered into by the United States and the King of France, for 
 the establishment of consular powers. 
 
 That convention appears to have been sent to Dr. Franklin in the 
 year 1782, with a resolution of Congress of 25th January in that 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 131 
 
 year, authorizing him to alter the words or arrangement of it, and 
 some other matters. 
 
 In a letter of his to the President of Congress, dated th^ 25th of 
 December, 1783, is the following paragraph: 
 
 ." The treaty between this Court and the United States, for regu- 
 ' lating the powers, privileges, &c., of Consuls is at length completed, 
 ' and is transcribing in order to be signed. I hope to transmit a copy 
 'by the next post." 
 
 Your Secretary cannot learn that any further information on this 
 subject has since been received. 
 
 The second article of this convention provides that the Consuls of 
 his most Christian Majesty, and of the United States, may appoint 
 any number of Vice Consuls within their respective departments, 
 upon the notification of their appointment by the Consuls to the 
 supreme executive power of the State to which they may be sent ; 
 the exequatur shall be applied for and delivered by the several States 
 to them in the same manner as to Consuls ; and thereupon the pre- 
 eminences, fee, stipulated in this convention in favor of Vice 
 Consuls, shall be allowed in all places, before all tribunals, and by 
 all persons. 
 
 From this it would seem as if any application to Congress, in the 
 case of appointing a Vice Consul, was unnecessary. And this idea 
 derives force from that part of the first article which makes it a duty 
 of the Consuls "of his most Christian Majesty to present their 
 commissions," in the first instance, to the United States in Congress 
 assembled, by whom an act shall be made recognizing them as such. 
 This act being delivered to the State to which the Consul is sent, 
 operates as a warrant to the executive power of that State to issue 
 the exequatur ; but as to the case of a Vice Consul the first article 
 is silent, and the second article appears to consider the notification 
 of his appointment to the executive power, by the Consuls making 
 it, as a sufficient warrant for issuing the exequatur. 
 
 If such be in fact a true construction of those articles, and the 
 convention should be in full force, it seems very doubtful how far 
 it would be advisable for Congress to depart from the line marked 
 out in it. 
 
 As to the case adduced, of the Vice Consul of Georgia having 
 done the duties of the Consul of Charleston, your Secretary, not 
 having as yet been able to acquaint himself with the particular 
 
132 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FbREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 circumstances of it, cannot judge how far it may or may not be 
 applicable to the one under consideration. 
 
 All which is humbly submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, May Wth, 1785. 
 
 On the report of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, accompanied 
 with -a letter of the 9th of April from the Charge d' Affaires of 
 France, and a commission from his most Christian Majesty, 
 appointing the Sieur Ignatius Romain Chevalier D'Aristay de 
 Chateaufort to be Consul of France for the States of North Carolina, 
 South Carolina, and Georgia, to reside ordinarily at Charleston, 
 
 Resolved, That the said commission be registered m the Secretary's 
 office, and that thereupon an act of recognition in due form be 
 immediately issued to the States in question, in order that they may 
 furnish the said Consul" with their exequatur or notification of his 
 quality, that the same may be made known and published. 
 
 The committee, consisting of Mr. King, Mr. Monroe, and Mr. 
 Johnson, to whom was referred a report of the Secretary for Foreign 
 Affairs, on the following paragraph in the letter of the 9th from the 
 Charge d' Affaires of France : 
 
 " As I must return without delay to New York, and as the busi- 
 ' ness of the consulate must not be interrupted, my brother will do 
 ' the duties here during my absence, in the same manner as those of 
 ' the Consul at Charleston have been done to this time, by the Vice 
 ' Consul of Georgia ; I must therefore beg, sir, that you will procure 
 ' me a resolution of Congress to that effect, and a requisition to the 
 ' States of Pennsylvania and Delaware for his exequatur and notifi- 
 ' cation of the character of Pierre Francois Barbe de Marbois, jr., as 
 ' Vice Consul for the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware," 
 
 Report, that on the 14th day of September, 1781, it was resolved 
 by Congress, " That until the ratification of some convention between 
 ' his most Christian Majesty and the United States, concerning vice 
 ' consular power, every Vice Consul of his most Christian Majesty 
 ' shall, upon the application of the Consul appointing him to the 
 ' supreme executive power of the State to which he may be sent, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 133 
 
 ' receive the exequatur in the Hke form with the exequatur dehvered 
 ' to the Consul, mutatis mutandis ; and thereupon the same pro- 
 ' ceedings shall be had with respect to publication ;" and although, 
 subsequently to this resolution, on the 11th February, 1784, five 
 brevets for Vice Consuls of France were presented to Congress, and 
 registered in the office of the Secretary, and acts of recognition 
 thereupon issued to the States concerned, in order that they might 
 be respectively furnished with their exequaturs or notification of 
 their quality, it appears that they were appointed immediately by 
 his most Christian Majesty, and therefore not within the provision 
 of the resolve of the 14th September, 1781 ; and as the United 
 States have not ratified any convention between them and his most 
 Christian Majesty concerning vice consular power, and the resolve 
 of the 14th September, 1781, aforesaid, establishes a mode for the 
 recognition and notification of Vice Consuls of France appointed 
 by any Consul of that nation, which mode is to be observed until 
 such convention may be ratified, the Committee are of opinion that 
 it would be inexpedient to vary from the mode therein established 
 until the ratification of such convention. 
 
 Resolved, That Congress agree to the report. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Office of Foreign Affairs, March 31, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Congress has directed me to cause the pictures of the King and 
 Queen of France to be removed from Monsieur De Marbois's house 
 to this place. That gentleman, intending soon to leave Philadelphia, 
 is very solicitous to be relieved from the care of them, and has 
 written to me within a few days past in pressing terms on the subject. 
 
 As Mr. Thomson purposes removing his family to this city, I 
 had intended leaving these pictures where they are until his fiirniture 
 was ready to be removed, and to request the favor of him to give 
 them a place among his goods ; but as Mr. De Marbois's leaving the 
 house soon makes it necessary that they should be carried to a place 
 of safety until a good opportunity offers of sending them here, I must 
 
134 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 request the favor of you to be at this trouble, and to charge me with 
 the expense attending it. It is not pleasant to trouble one's friends 
 with such sort of matters, but the particular circumstance of the case 
 must be my apology. 
 
 I am, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAV TO MONSIEUE DE MABBOIS. 
 
 New York, March 31, 1785. 
 
 Mr. Jay presents his compliments to Monsieur De Marbois, and 
 has the honor of informing him that he has this day, by letter, 
 requested the favor of Mr. Morris to receive and take charge of the 
 pictures of the King and Queen of France. Mr. Jay flatters him- 
 self, therefore, that Mr. De Marbois will soon be relieved from his 
 embarrassments respecting those pictures. Congress has ordered 
 that they be brought to this city, and placed in their chamber ; and 
 this will be done as soon as the season will admit of their being 
 transported with ease and safety. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM ROBERT MORRIS TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 Two days since I had the honor to communicate (by one of my 
 clerks) a letter of the 31st of March, from the honorable Mr. Jay, 
 requesting me to receive from you the pictures of the King and 
 Queen of France, and you were pleased to appoint this day or to- 
 morrow for the delivery of them. In consequence of your letter of 
 this date, I asked the favor of Mr. Wright to examine these paintings, 
 and give me his opinion of their present condition, in order that I 
 might sign a certificate and receipt agreeably to your desire. Under- 
 standing that the pictures must be taken out of the frames, I employed 
 Mr. Reynolds, an artist in that way, to take them carefoUy out, and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 135 
 
 transport them to a place of safety, until proper cases were provided, 
 and orders received for sending them forward to New York. Mr. 
 Jay's request, as it now stands, being only to receive and deposit 
 them in a place of safety. I am just informed that you have thought 
 proper to refuse the delivery ; and as I presume there must be some 
 mistake, it is only from you, sir, that I can expect an explanation, 
 I am, sir, &c., 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 FBOM MONSIEmi DE MARBOIS TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Translatbn. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 When Mr. Wright and another gentleman applied to me this day, 
 they told me your intention was to have the pictures of the King 
 and Queen ptit up in your front parlor, and they accordingly took 
 the dimensions of them, and agreed that they would fit the place. 
 I told them I^vas sensible of your care and attention, but that the 
 intention of Congress was not such ; and that according to the com- 
 munication of Mr. Jay, which I shewed to your clerk, " they had 
 'ordered that they be brought to New Yorfe, and placed in their 
 • chamber ; and tnat this would be done as soon as the season would 
 ' admit of their being transported with ease and safety by water." I 
 added, that being fourteen feet high, and eight broad, they could not 
 go from my house without putting the frames in eight parts ; that 
 dismounting and mounting them again, unscrewing and screwing 
 thirty-three gilded screws, putting them up in a chamber, and taking 
 them down again, would injure^ them, and they agreed this would be 
 the consequence. They returned a second time, and their proposal, 
 I think, was different from the first ; they said your intentions now 
 were to put them in some place in your house up stairs. I declined, 
 because they could not be so deposited, uncased, without injury, and 
 no cases of the magnitude they would require could be brought up 
 Stairs in any house here. I told them that if you would give direc- 
 tions to have them cased in my house, they might begin immediately ; 
 and I have the honor to inform you that it will be done so, if, upon 
 
136 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 this communication of the intentions of Congress, you are of their 
 sentiment. The only construction of the letters I have received is, 
 that Congress will have these pictures go from my house to New 
 York as soon as the season will admit, and certainly no season is 
 more fit than the present or latter end of this month. As to the 
 cases, they may be finished in four or five days, and in the mean- 
 while the pictures may stay in my house. If your sentiments are 
 different, I shall have the satisfaction of presenting, myself, to the 
 Congress the portraits of their allies ; and this is what I expected 
 when I applied to Mr. Jay to know their intentions on that subject. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FKOM EGBERT MORRIS TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 16, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 My intentions with respect to the pictures were never made known 
 to any of the persons who were employed to view and remove them, 
 therefore it was not in their power to disclose to you what was 
 unknown to themselves. 
 
 The information they gave must have been founded on their own 
 conjectures, from the circumstance of my having desired the height 
 of the pictures and the height of my front parlor to be taken ; and 
 afterwards, when I was informed that the frames of these pictures 
 must be taken off before they could be got out of your house, I 
 observed, in presence of one of those persons, that they might, in 
 that situation, be deposited in one of my rooms up stairs, which 
 could best be spared from the family use, until proper cases could 
 be made for packing them. The idea of removing these pictures 
 from your house is contained in Mr. Jay's letter to me, in the follow- 
 ing words : " As Mr. Thomson purposes to remove his family to 
 ' this city, I had intended to leave these pictures where they are until 
 ' his furniture was ready to be removed, and to request the favor of 
 ' him to give them a place among his goods, but as Mr. De Marbois's 
 'leaving the house soon makes it necessary that they should be 
 'carried to a place of safety, until a good opportunity offers of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 137 
 
 ' sending them here, I must requegt the favor of you to be at this 
 ' trouble, and to charge me with the expense attending it." From 
 this paragraph you must readily perceive that I supposed, especially 
 as the vendue was over, that you were about to leave the house, and 
 thence arose the necessity of removing the pictures. I was not very 
 easy under the idea of responsibility for accidents that might befall 
 them whilst in my charge, and had concluded to take them into my 
 house as the safest place, with a determination (previously made 
 knovvn) of locking up the room and keeping my key in my own 
 pocket the whole time they should remain there. Thus, sir, you 
 will see it was not in my contemplation to screw and unscrew, to 
 put them up and take them down, or make any ostentatious show of 
 them. The veneration which I entertain for their Majesties, the 
 respect I bear to Congress, and trust reposed by Mr. Jay, forbid such 
 an idle display of vanity as you have done me the honor to suppose 
 was intended on my part. 
 
 You tell me, sir, when you applied to Mr. Jay upon this subject 
 you expected to have had the satisfaction of presenting yourself these 
 valuable portraits to Congress. I am certain that if Mr. Jay had 
 known of your expectation, he would not have applied to any Other 
 person, and as my desire is only to comply with his, I have not 
 a wish to deprive you of the satisfaction you propose to yourself 
 upon this occasion, and therefore relinquish any interference, although 
 I am not insensible to the honor conferred by the trust which was 
 committed to me. , 
 
 I am, sir, &c., 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 FKOM ROBERT MORRIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 16, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 Soon after the receipt of your letter of the 31st ultimo I sent one 
 of my young men to show it to Monsieur De Marbois, and ask him 
 when he would wish to have the pictures removed. He fixed on yes- 
 terday or this day, (as his public auction was to be held on Thursday,) 
 and yesterday I received, a letter from him, of which the enclosure, 
 
133 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 No. 1, is a copy. In consequence of it I sent Mr. Wright, a portrait 
 painter, to view the condition of the pictures, and a carpenter to 
 measure the height of them, to see whether I could place them in 
 my front parlor, which, being clean and free from vermin, I thought 
 would be the safest place I could put them in until you should order 
 them for New York. It seems, from some conversation Rlr. De 
 Marbois had with the persons I sent thither, he took it into his head 
 that I was going to shew off with their Majesties' pictures, vented 
 some expressions of that purport, and finally refused the delivery of 
 them. 
 
 As I had declined personal interviews with this gentleman fOT 
 some time past, I wrote him the letter, of which No. 2 is the copy, 
 received the answer. No. 3, and have closed the correspondence with 
 No. 4. I will not take up your time by assigning what I suppose to 
 be the reasons of Mr. De Marbois's conduct ; all I wish is that mine 
 may appear as proper in your eyes as it does in my own. 
 
 I am, Stc, 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 P. S. I have just received another letter from Mr. De Marbois, of 
 this date, a copy whereof is enclosed, marked No. 5, to which I do 
 not reply. 
 
 FKOM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 PhUadelphia, April 16, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The letter which you have honored me with this morning, contains 
 the most satisfactory explanations of a mistake occasioned by your 
 commissioners' positive assertions. At the same time you may be 
 assured, had it been consistent with the intentions of Congress, and 
 the shape of the portraits and pictures, there is no house where I 
 might have seen them deposited with more confidence of their preser- 
 vation and safety than yours. As to a desire you might have had 
 of putting them up in your house, far from attributing it to an idle 
 display of vanity, I could not but be flattered with your wishes upon 
 that point. Your letter explaining everything which had occasioned 
 
DIPLOMATIC OOREESPONDEBfCE. 139 
 
 a mistake, I would not have troubled you with this letter, had I not 
 been desirous of removing, also, on your side every unbounded idea 
 which you might have formed on the occasion, and also of ^:pressing 
 my satisfaction that you do not disapprove of my forwarding myself 
 to the Congress the pictures of their Majesties. 
 I am, sir, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 17, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letters you have done me the honor to write 
 to me, respecting the portraits of the King and Queen. I have learnt, 
 with much satisfaction, the desire that Congress have to fix them in 
 the place where they sit. I wish much to have the honor to present 
 them myself. I have expressed this wish to Mr. Morris, and though 
 he was anxious to take charge of them himself, agreeably to what 
 you wrote us, he has, however, thought you would not disapprove 
 his giving them in charge to me. I am extremely sensible of his 
 complaisance on this occasion, and hope it will meet your approba- 
 tion, that I may have the honor to present you these pictures the 
 beginning of the next month. 
 
 I am, fiic, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 EROM JOHN JAY TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, April 22, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 I have been favored with yours of the 16th instant, and exceed- 
 ingly regret that your friendly compliance with m/ request, and for 
 which 1 very sincerely thank you, has been the means of drawing 
 you into so unpleasant a correspondence. 
 
140 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Be assured, my dear sir, that your conduct on the occasion appears 
 to me to have been perfectly proper, and that I cannot perceive the 
 least room to conclude or suspect that you were influenced by any 
 other motive than those delicate, friendly, and honorable ones which 
 uniformly direct and distinguish your actions. 
 With great esteem, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 JOHN JAT TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, April 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I enclose a letter I have just received from the Marquis de la 
 Fayette. It contains, among others, a very interesting paragraph 
 respecting Mr. Longchamps. Be pleased, sir, to read the whole to 
 Congress, and I sincerely wish that his communication on that subject 
 may be regarded as confidential. 
 
 I am inclined to think it might answer good purposes for me to 
 send the Marquis (in a private letter) a copy of the report on the 
 case of Longchamps. It might be the means of diffusing certain 
 ideas at Versailles on that subject, which would promote our views 
 without making Congress responsible for them, and tend to check 
 any desire they may have to press us further about the matter. 
 
 I do not mean that a formal resolution should be passed, or that 
 anything should appear on the Journals about it. Your Excellency 
 will be able to perceive from the reception of this proposition whether 
 the members generally approve of it — and a private hint to do or 
 omit it will answer every purpose. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &ic., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 -o- 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, May 16, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to send you a new memorial for Congress ; in it 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 141 
 
 I have resumed the principal afiairs respecting accounts which were 
 mentioned in our last conversation. I earnestly request you to con- 
 cur with me in adjusting these points. M. de Chateaufort only waits 
 for the despatch of the recommendations of Congress to go to the 
 place of his destination, and if I can send them to him to-morrow or 
 the day after, he will receive them soon enough to depart in a packet- 
 boat now at Philadelphia ; otherwise he will be detained for some 
 weeks. 
 
 I am, with great respect, fiic, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 ^ Translation. 
 
 New York, May 16, 1785. 
 
 The underwritten, Charge d' Affaires of his most Christian Majesty, 
 has the honor to submit to Congress several matters which have been 
 presented to him, and respecting the greater part of which this body 
 has passed several resolutions which have not received a final execu- 
 tion on account of the multiplicity of other objects in which they 
 have been engaged. The greater part of these affairs respect those 
 French subjects, who, not having received a satisfactory answer from 
 the undersigned, have addressed his Majesty's Ministers, and he has 
 received orders to press Congress, in the name of the King, to take 
 effectual measures to satisfy the French creditors of the United 
 States, and to give an account of the arrangements which shall be 
 made by this body. 
 
 One of the most important subjects is that of loan-office certifi- 
 cates. The underwritten cannot enter into the detail of the deplo- 
 rable state to which many French subjects, holders of the certificates, 
 are reduced. But he had thB honor to communicate to Congress the 
 last year a list of such certificates as came to his knowledge ; and 
 after this communication. Congress, adopting the report of their 
 Grand Committee of 27th April, 1784, recommend to the respective 
 States " to admit strangers to a participation of the payment of the 
 ' interest of loan-office certificates without distinction of citizens or 
 'strangers, and to extend to them not only the benefit of future 
 
142 JOHN JAY-SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 'payments, but also those already made." Notwithstanding these 
 recommendations, the French subjects see the payments of interest 
 made as heretofore without their participation. The interest accu- 
 mulates yearly, and the complaints of these foreign creditors are the 
 more urgent as they see, by the payments made to the citizens, that it 
 is not through the want of resources and means that they are not 
 paid, but through reasons very distressing to the friends of the United 
 States. The underwritten has addressed himself to one of the States 
 of the Union, to press them to pay respect to the recommendations 
 of Congress ; the answer he received was by no means satisfactory, 
 and clearly proves that it is from Congress alone that the French 
 creditors are to expect justice. 
 
 Other French subjects have made deposites since the estimate that 
 the underwritten has had made ; but he thinks he can calculate that the 
 sums that are due to them are not below five millions five hundred 
 thousand dollars, nor above six millions. The deposites have been 
 made at different times on account of individuals that were absent. 
 They are invested with all the fornls prescribed by law to prevent 
 abuses in cases of this nature. The justice of Congress should 
 authorize credit to be given to these individuals for the value of these 
 funds at the time the different deposites were made ; and the under- 
 written, on this occasion, prays that Congress would let him know 
 whether claims of this nature ought to be classed amongst those 
 which the resolution of the 17th March of this year has in view. 
 In which case it would be proper to consider the distance of the 
 French creditors, who cannot furnish the explanations that may be 
 necessary in the space of a year, and the difficulty of stating the 
 proof of the justice of their claims at the actual period, will perhaps 
 determine Congress to adopt the measure which the underwritten 
 takes the liberty to propose, to give an account to each of those 
 persons of the value of paper money at the respective periods when 
 the deposites were made, and tb'e interest due since the said periods. 
 Finally, if the proposition is not adopted, the underwritten prays 
 that Congress will pass some resolution in behalf of these creditors, 
 and to consider, at the same time, that the absence and distance of 
 the French subjects does not permit them to sink their paper money, 
 either by paying taxes or by purchasing lands, or by other means 
 which may suit the citizens and inhabitants of the United States ; 
 that they cannot obtain real justice but by such arrangements as they 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 143 
 
 can negotiate, or selling effects by which they shall be paid, or making 
 them serve for the payment of their particular debts. 
 
 The underwritten has had the honor of addressing Congress on 
 other different subjects which have not yet been determined. He 
 will only repeat here such as concern the liquidation of debts. 
 
 The claim made on Mr. Bingham, for several sums advanced by 
 the treasurers and the correspondent of the Commissary at Martinique, 
 has been taken into consideration by Congress the 16th December 
 last, and it appears from the information received, that Mr. Bingham 
 has been a long time paid by the United States. This affair having 
 been more than five months before Congress, the underwritten requests 
 that this assembly would inform him by what means he can come at 
 the" reimbursement of the sums due by Mr. Bingham, and as they 
 are considerable, he has received fresh demands, dated 19th April 
 last, from the Governor of Martinique, and he is lately informed that 
 many accounts are suspended by the absence of Mr. Bingham, and 
 by the delay of payment. 
 
 It is near three months since the underwritten has had the honor 
 to submit to Congress the titles of a debt due by the United States 
 to the Sieurs Sabatier h Despres, and which the Royal Treasurer 
 has -discharged. He prays that Congress would inform him of the 
 arrangements made on this subject. 
 
 Finally, the 8th March last tne underwritten renewed the demands 
 which the Chevalier de la Luzerne had made on the 9th April, 1784. 
 Congress then informed this Minister, by a resolution of 10th April 
 of the same year, " That they would, with the greatest care, adopt 
 ' subsequent measures for the punctual payment of the principal and 
 < interest at different periods, conformable to contract." This reso- 
 lution has been transmitted to the court, and the underwritten has 
 orders to inform his Majesty's Ministers with what effect it'has been 
 followed, and he prays that Congress would take up the letter which 
 he wrote the honorable Mr. Jay on this subject, the 8th March last, 
 and put him in a way of satisfying the orders he has received. 
 
 Congress will perceive the necessity of determining affairs of this 
 importance, the issue of which whilst doubtful keeps many families 
 in distress, and is inconvenient to many others ; and he would wish 
 it considered that the French creditors are the only persons who as 
 yet have not participated in the advantages which the return of peace 
 lias procured the United States. 
 
144 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 That there is not in the demands which the underwritten makes, 
 any point the justice of which has not been acknowledged by Con- 
 gress itself, and that, by renewing so frequently his demands, he but 
 obeys the obligations which his station imposes on him, and complies 
 with a duty which cannot be disagreeable to Congress whilst justice 
 is its object. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 -o- 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUB DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 18, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of informing you that the business of Monsieur 
 De Chateaufort is completed, and the papers respecting it are here- 
 with enclosed. 
 
 Permit me to assure you that the other affairs which you have laid 
 before me shall be immediately attended to. 
 
 I have the honor to be, frc, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 o 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affiiirs, May 19, 1755. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, an 
 extract from the act of Congress on the subject of that part of your 
 letter to me of the 9th ultimo which relates to the appointment of 
 your brother as Vice Consul. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, May 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I received the two letters you did me the honor to write, and the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 145 
 
 resolutions relative to the Consul of Charleston and to the Vice 
 Consulate that I had proposed for Philadelphia ; I shall transmit the 
 former \vithout delay to M. De Chateaufort, as well as its provisions. 
 
 With respect to the demand which I took the liberty to make for 
 my brother, it was founded on what has been practiced with regard 
 to the Vice Consul who has been charged with fulfilling the functions 
 of the Consul of Charleston in the absence of the latter ; but the 
 form prescribed by the resolution of Congress of the 14th September, 
 1781, is sufficient, and I shall conform to it. 
 
 A vessel has lately arrived from Marseilles, and I am assured that 
 at the time of her departure there were no accounts of the capture 
 of any other American vessels by the Barbarians, except the one 
 carried into Tangiers in October last. They add that the Moors 
 desired to enter into a treaty with the United States, and that the 
 other Powers of the Mediterranean, Africa likewise, expected over- 
 tures for treaties. I should have had the honor of communicating 
 these particulars, of which, perhaps, you are already informed before, 
 if I had not been on the eve of leaving town for a few days on my 
 tour to Long Island. 
 
 I am. Sic, 
 
 DE MARBOIS, 
 — — o 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 26, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency, herewith enclosed, 
 
 a note from M. De Marbois, dated the 16th inst., on several interesting 
 
 subjects, to which he is very solicitous that Congress would be pleased, 
 
 to pay early attention. 
 
 With great respect and esteem, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, June 1, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to communicate to you the copy of a letter which 
 Vol. I.— 10 
 
146 JOHN JAY^SEC, FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the King writes to the Congress of the United States. I request that 
 you will be pleased to inform nje when I can have the honoj; to 
 deliver the original to his Excellency the President of Congress,, 
 I am, with respect, &tc., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Translation* 
 
 Very dear great Friends and Allies, 
 
 It is with the greatest eagerness we inform you that the Queen, 
 our very dear spouse, was delivered this day of a Prince, whom we 
 have called the Duke of Normandy. We doubt not but that you 
 will sincerely participate with us in the satisfaction which this 
 fortunate event occasions, and that you are well convinced of the 
 pleasure with which we shall receive the testimonies you shall give 
 us thereof. We feel a very true one in availing ourselves of this 
 opportunity to renew the assurances of our affection, and of our 
 constant friendship for you. 
 
 And so we pray God that he will have you, very dear great friends 
 and allies, in his holy and worthy keepipg. Written at Versailles, 
 the 27th March, 1785. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, June 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 M. De Marbois has received for your Excellency a letter from the 
 King of France, announcing the birth of his son, the Duke of 
 Normandy. 
 
 He observes that Congress have not as yet been pleased to 
 prescribe any form or ceremony or rule respecting the delivery of 
 such letters to them from Sovereigns, as their Ministers residing here 
 may be charged with. He wishes, therefore, to be informed whether 
 he shall deliver the letter in question to your Excellency at your 
 Ijouse, or in the Congress Chamber, or in a private, audienpe ? 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 147 
 
 In my opinion it would be proper to make a distinction between 
 a Charge d' Affaires, a Minister Plenipotentiary, and an Ambas- 
 sador. 
 
 In the first case (which is the present) I think the Secretary for 
 Foreign Affairs should conduct him to your Excellency's house, and 
 that he should there deliver the letter. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHM JAY. 
 
 Report, of Secretary Jen/', on- a Letter from the King of France 
 announcing the birth of a Prince. 
 
 Office for Foreign Afiaira,, June 13, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of FoTeign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a letter to Congress from his most 
 Christian Majesty, of 27th March last, announcing the birth of a 
 , Prince, reports the following answer to that letter, viz : 
 
 Great, faithful, and beloved Friend and Ally, 
 
 We have received the letter which your Majesty did us the honor 
 to write on the 27th March last. 
 
 The magnanimity of your conduct towards us, in the day of our 
 distress, will always lead us to consider every event as forttinate 
 which adds to the domestic felicity of your family, and l3ie general 
 happiness of your people. 
 
 We consider the birth of a Prince as conducing to both these 
 desirable objects, and we present to your Majesty and the Queen 
 our sincere congratulations on that joyful occasion. 
 
 Permit us to assure your Majesty of our increasing gratitudier and 
 attachment, and of the sincerity with which we pray that the 
 Almighty may always keep you and yours in His holy protection. 
 
 Done at New York, day of June, 1785, by the United 
 
 States in Congress assembled, your Majesty's faithful friends and 
 allies. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
148 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, June 14, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I iiave liad the lionor of frequently representing to Congress the 
 disagreeable situation to which many of its creditors, subjects of his 
 Majesty, are reduced. I have not been able to return them any 
 satisfactory answer, and they have had too much reason to think that 
 their interests were neglected. Many among them have taken the 
 resolution to send over here Mr. Le Roy de Chaumont with their 
 powers of attorney. I have the honor to address to you a memorial 
 which he delivered to me, in which they set forth their demands, and 
 the infinite damage which the non-payment of their debts occasions. 
 I beg you to submit it to the inspection of Congress, and to remind 
 this assembly that my preceding steps have been taken by order of 
 nis Majesty, and that this is in consequence thereof. My first 
 representations, dated in the month of November last, have been 
 frequently repeated since. The Chevalier de la Luzerne had made 
 similar representations before in the year 1783. Represent, I 
 beseech you, sir, to Congress, that by taking a resolution on such 
 important points to so many families, they will prevent the complete 
 ruin of many among them. They will save, moreover, to many of 
 their French creditors the expenses of a voyage which they purpose 
 making to America, and the inconveniences of a derangement from 
 which their affairs cannot but considerably suffer. Finally, they will 
 avoid the painful sight of a number of French subjects soliciting, 
 themselves, their justice, and showing to independent America her 
 first friends ruined by refusals, in consequence of the confidence 
 which they placed in her in the time of her greatest distress. You 
 will be, sir, with pleasure the instrument of so just a demand, and I 
 will never cease assuring the creditors of the United States, that they 
 may place the fullest confidence in the justice of Congress and their 
 respect for their engagements. 
 
 I am, sir, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 149 
 
 MEMORIAL OF LE ROY DE CHAUMONT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Memorial and Petition of James D. Le Roy de Chaumont, jr., 
 
 Esq., in the name and behalf of the French Traders, who have 
 
 been adventurers to the United States of America. 
 
 The French traders who have had dealings with the United States 
 of America, and even lent sums to Congress, desire to implore its 
 justice for the acquittal of the most formal, solemn, and explicit 
 promise for the discharge of which the States in Union have pladged 
 their faith, not only in a collective capacity, but also as individuals, 
 and with a joint consent engaged to one another their " lives, their 
 fortunes, and their sacred honors." 
 
 Happily for them, the honorable Congress have themselves, in a 
 solemn, authentic, and irrevocable manner pronounced in favor of the 
 French traders, and made impracticable the injustice which the 
 enemies to their glory endeavor to make us fear. 
 
 The point in contest has a reference to the manner in which the 
 paper ftioney of the United States, owed to his most Christian 
 Majesty's subjects, shall be paid. 
 
 This paper money may be considered relatively to two different 
 epochs, that of its creation, and that of the thirteenth of September, 
 1779, when a solemn deliberation of Congress was issued, on which 
 they ground their claim. 
 
 At the creation of this paper its nominal was its real value ; when 
 the honorable Congress circulated a stamped money to the amount 
 of a hundred Spanish dollars, it is incontestable that this paper 
 represented a hundred dollars ; that it acquitted Congress of a 
 hundred dollars, with the person who received it. 
 
 The multiplied wants of Congress, and the scarcity of money in 
 numerary specie, having much increased the quantity of this paper, 
 its value fell in proportion. Suspicions and insinuations dexterously 
 propagated intimidated the people, and gave them room to fear its 
 being fully acquitted at last. These fears became more and more 
 prevalent. They themselves, for whose preservation it had been 
 emitted, refused to take it at its nominal value, which brought 
 Congress into a sad dilemna. 
 
150 JOHN JAY— SBC. rOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 They must either let these fears subsist by their silence, and then 
 the depreciation gradually increasing, no one would have received it 
 under any value whatever ; the natural consequence of which would 
 have brought them again under the tyrannical yoke which they were 
 endeavoring to break ; or else ensure, by a striking and solemn act, 
 the full payment of this paper money, notwithstanding the visible 
 losses they had sustained, by which step they resume their import- 
 ance, give fresh proofs of fortitude, enable themselves to procure 
 arms and ammunition, and by their consent to a voluntary loss, assure 
 forever their liberty and victory. This lattei' step was altogether the 
 most wise and most generous, and similar to the conduct of the 
 Romans, who sold the field on which Hannibal was encamped as 
 high as if the enemy had been dislodged from it. 
 
 The latter determination was the part Congress took in their unan- 
 imous resolution at the remarkable epoch of the 13th September, 
 1779, notified in the form of a circular letter, not only to America or 
 to France, but to the whole world. 
 
 This letter seems to have been framed with a design of interdicting 
 Congress or any of its members from ever admitting the least thought 
 of retracting so sacred an engagement, so strongly every line and 
 sentence thereof are calculated to guard against the least infringement 
 of the same. 
 
 In this letter Congress begin with laying out to the eyes of the 
 public the facilities of the United States, enabling them to pay this 
 national debt by cancelling this paper money ; the totality of the 
 national debt (as it is supposed in this letter) ought to amount at the 
 end of the war to 300,000,000 dollars. 
 
 " There are at present 3,000,000 of inhabitants in the thirteen 
 ' States ; three hundred millions of dollars divided among three mil- 
 ' lions of people would give to each person one hundred dollars ; and 
 ' is there an individual in America unable, in the course of eighteen 
 ' or twenty years, to pay it again ? Suppose the whole debt assessed 
 ' as it ought to be on the inhabitants, in proportion to their respective 
 ' estates, what would then be the share of the poorer ? perhaps not 
 'ten dollars." 
 
 After having thus held to the public view the solidity of the means 
 of payment they had in their power, this circular letter displays their 
 desire of acquitting the debt, and confirms this desire by three con- 
 vincing arguments. The first of which is, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 151 
 
 Whether and in what manner the faith of the United States has 
 been pledged for the redemption of their bills. 
 
 The second, Whether they have put themselves in a political 
 capacity to redeem them ; and 
 
 Thirdly, Whether, admitting the two former propositions, there is 
 any reason to apprehend a wanton violation of the public faith. 
 
 It is particularly on this last point that the circular letter insists 
 with the greatest power of persuasion, becoming to truly free and 
 glorious souls. 
 
 After having reminded that the United States, in order to make 
 themselves free and independent, had reciprocally bound themselves 
 to one another with their lives, fortunes, and honor, Congress exclaims 
 that " it is with grief and reluctance that they can prevail upon them- 
 ' selves to take the least notice of a question which involves in it a 
 'doubt so injurious to the honor and dignity of America. 
 
 " A bankrupt, faithless republic would be a novelty in the political 
 ' world, and appears among reputable nations like a common prosti- 
 ' tute among chaste and respectable matrons-. The pride of America 
 ' revolts from the idea : her citizens know for what purpose these 
 ' emissions were made, and have repeatedly plighted their faith for 
 ' the redemption of them. 
 
 " We are convinced that the efforts of our enemies will not be 
 ' wanting to draw us into this humiliating and contemptible situation. 
 ' Impelled by malice and the suggestion of chagrin and disappoint- 
 ' ment, and not being able to bend our necks to their yoke, they will 
 ' endeavor to force or seduce us to commit this unpardonable sin, 
 'in order to subject us to the punishment due to it, and that we 
 ' may thenceforth be a reproach and a by-word among the nations. 
 ' Apprised of these consequences, knowing the value of national 
 ' character, and impressed with a due sense of the immutable laws of 
 'justice and honor, it is impossible that America should think without 
 ' horror of such an execrable deed. 
 
 "Let it never (says the Congress at the end of this unanimous 
 'letter) be said that America had no sooner become independent, 
 ' than she became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing 
 ' fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated 
 ' faith in the very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring, 
 ' and almost adoring, the splendor of her rising." 
 
 Such are the terms by which Congress has ensured to the world 
 
152 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
 
 in general the payment of their bills of credit, or ratified it. Since 
 this circular letter is but a recapitulation of the solemn engagement 
 entered upon on this matter at the time of its original rise, and at 
 several other subsequent epochs, so that, to use the very terms of that 
 letter, " whoever examines the force of these and similar observa- 
 ' tions must smile at the ignorance of those who doubt the ability of 
 ' the United States to redeem their bills." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, Congress has been pleased to give out a 
 resolution, dated June 28, 1780, with a tariff of depreciation and 
 reduction of their paper currency, in which they fix four epochs of 
 gradual depreciation, by which this paper is so excessively reduced 
 that, for instance, the first of September, 1779, that is to say, at the 
 very period when Congrsss so solemnly ensured the payment of it, 
 eighteen paper dollars at this time were reduced to one Spanish milled 
 dollar, which makes the creditor liable to lose seventeen times the 
 real value of his own property. 
 
 Had the stroke of this immense reduction fallen on the citizens of 
 the United States only, the French traders would have had no room 
 to complain, because, upon the whole, this would have proved but 
 an internal and economical arrangement, by virtue of which all the 
 American debtors, united and represented by their own deputies, 
 would accelerate their liberation by a sudden diminution of their 
 enormous debt ; and even then the French traders would have to 
 complain about it, if such reduction should incapacitate the American 
 private proprietor to pay those he had traded with. 
 
 And the French nation maintains that this reduction cannot, with 
 the least shadow of justice, fall upon them ; that with respect to 
 them, "it would be against the immutable laws of justice and honor, 
 ' that it would be against the faith and interest of all America, to 
 ' be ever prevailed to support or countenance or permit so ruinous a 
 ' measure ; and that it would be impossible that America should think 
 ' without horror of such an execrable deed." 
 
 We need not recur to the qualifications Congress has previously 
 given to such an operation, in order to defeat and make the same 
 void. Plain reflections, arising from facts known to the whole world, 
 will sufficiently demonstrate the horrible injustice that would ensue 
 from it. 
 
 One or the other of the- two following suppositions must be 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 153 
 
 admitted, viz : either we must suppose that Congress, at the time 
 they were giving to the world the solemn and sacisfactory assurance 
 held out in their circular letter of the 13th September, 1779, enter- 
 tained a secret intention one day to break it ; or else admit that they 
 gave it out bona fide. 
 
 The first of these suppositions is inadmissible ; there would be an 
 end to all human societies in the world, mankind would be degraded 
 below the beasts of prey, if it was possible to suppose a convention 
 of fifty public men, picked out from the most illustrious and most 
 virtuous characters among thirteen United States, unanimously attest- 
 ing to the world in general, in terms expressive of the most intended 
 faithfiilness, that they are entering into the most solemn engagement, 
 which they mean to fulfil at the peril of their fortunes and lives, yet 
 in the same time unanimously plot the most abominable project to 
 baffle the world. So hateful and monstrous a project cannot be sup- 
 posed, without casting an odious slander on the human nature in its 
 generality. Therefore, it must be admitted as an incontestable tmth 
 that Congress, unanimously contracting their joint engagement of the 
 .13th September, 1779, for the realization and integral payment of 
 their paper currency, do it with a serious and real intention honestly 
 to fulfil the same. They were not ignorant at this epoch of the 
 enormous losses they were involved in by the depreciation of this 
 paper. Nevertheless, this very day they were freely delivered, clear 
 irom any deduction, constraint, or fi-aud ; no investigation or allure- 
 ments biased or influenced their judgment ; but with an even and 
 impartial hand they balanced the threatening danger of falling into 
 an inextricable slavery in consequence of the total discredit of their 
 paper, with the necessity of supporting its credit. By overlooking 
 its depreciation, the Americans remain defenceless, exposed to the 
 continual attacks of a formidable enemy ; on the other hand to submit 
 to an enormous pecuniary loss is an intolerable inconveniency ; yet 
 they, with a full knowledge of the consequence, preferred the latter. 
 
 Now let any man point out among the nations a code wherein you 
 may read thai a people that has entered into a solemn contract with 
 foreign nations, by representatives of their own choice, invested with 
 the political capacity of binding their constituents, still retain the 
 right and liberty of retroceding from the contract, and exempting 
 themselves from the execution of the same. 
 
 We might stop here, where the cause appears decided, yet let us 
 
154 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 proceed to prove the justice and validity of the engagement under 
 consideration ; it may be pronounced just, because the depreciation 
 of the paper currency is become, in fact, a contract, denominated in 
 the laws of nations a gross adventure contract, admitted as lawful 
 among all nations. 
 
 It is just also because the paper under consideration, lodged in the 
 hands of French traders, ought to be considered, not in an abstract- 
 ive, but in a collective view, as an aggregate. It is likewise so, 
 because its actual depreciation, existing at the very time that Coii- 
 gress was assuring the public of the integral payment thereof, has 
 been the salvation of America. 
 
 Finally, it is so with respect to the French traders, because, by 
 two essential reasons of incontestable diSerence, they cannot be made 
 even with the Americans. Let us briefly unfold this truth. 
 
 First, let us define what is meant by a gross adventure cmtract. 
 It is a contract wherein the peril of die real capital justifies and 
 legitimates the magnitude of the interest, however excessive they may 
 appear. 
 
 All jurisconsults and civilians agree that it is not possible to 
 determine a stated rate of interest on a sum given out by a gross 
 adventure contract, and maintain that the interest thereof is and ought 
 to be in proportion to the peril the adventurer in gross adventure 
 perceives, and right or wrong foresees his capital may be hable to. 
 
 JVow, laying aside all prejudices, notwithstanding the encouraging 
 a,ssurances exhibited in Congress's circular letter of the 13th Sep- 
 tember, 1779; notwithstanding the confidence Congress has always 
 successfully expressed in their decrees and proclamations, if all assist- 
 ance fi-om Europe had failed to the Americans before or at the 13di 
 September, 1779, to June, 1780, (and it would have certainly failed 
 had Europe been capable to think that Congress expected that no 
 more than the eighteenth and the fortieth part of that currency would 
 be realized,) was it not infinitely probable that they would have fallen 
 under the yoke of their oppressors, notwithstanding the dint of a 
 respectable fortitude, but impotent, when destitute of arms, ammuni- 
 tion, or any other resistance whatever, to oppose a powerful nation, 
 exasperated and unrelenting, hiring warriors from other na:tions at 
 the highest rates. Had this been the unhappy fate of the Amer- 
 icans, what then would have become of the paper money? It 
 would have been absolutely lost to French creditors in whose hands 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 155 
 
 it remained, and the first step of England, repossessed of the people' 
 she highly stigmatized with the opprobrious name of rebels, and which 
 the event, supreme judge of these grand questions decides, would 
 have been to declare by a decree the emission of such a paper a 
 glaring act of rebellion and felony. The French nation, then, in 
 furnishing the Americans with provisions, warlike stores of all kinds, 
 with cloths and stuffs for the clothing of the troops, and money, and 
 yet receiving in payment for these but an insignificant paper, have 
 then really laid out their property at the gross adventure, on the 
 uncertain independency of America, and consequently the integral 
 payment is justly due to them for all the paper money they are pos- 
 sessed of. Moreover, the French traders were gainers on some articles 
 and losers on some others ; one operation was advantageous, the cVther 
 injurious ; and they were obliged to sell their cargoes at a great loss 
 by unforeseen occurrences ; so that the true manner of arguing with a 
 French trader would be to tell him you have transacted twenty or 
 thirty affairs with America during the course of the war, you have 
 been gainer in some, and loser in others, sum up the whole, what 
 profit would you really have made, or could you reasonably have 
 expected to make, had you traded with us for silver, and not for 
 paper ? And then it will appear from this proposal that this would 
 lead into endless and impracticable liquidations. 
 
 Moreover, the integral payment of the paper currency is just and 
 «quitable, because its depreciation at the time that Congress assured 
 the integral payment thereof has been the salvation of America. 
 Far be from us any idea merely bright and paradoxical ; in speaking 
 on so great concerns, nothing but solid and palpable truth should be 
 advanced ; the last proposed is of this number. 
 
 Had America paid in solid silver for our imported cargoes, at the 
 very instant we are writing this she would be under the yoke. What 
 French traders would have undertaken either to pay insurances at 
 seventy-five per cent, or run the inevitable risk of enormous losses, 
 had he not expected to be indemnified from these at the end of the 
 contest, with respect to the difference between the nominal value of 
 the paper money and the real value thereof. Supposing the American 
 people had been furnished with ready cash, could they have been 
 prevailed upon to submit to the great sacrifices naturally arising from 
 the actual and rapid depreciation of the paper currency ; sacrifices, 
 however, indispensable to draw the affluence of Europe in the midst 
 
156 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 of greatest dangers, and bring all the assistance of warlike and 
 victualling supplies requisite to encourage a vigorous defence ? But the 
 French trader was arguing with himself after this manner : It is true 
 I send out an immense export, 1 expose my fortune to the greatest 
 dangers, but by the nature of the payment I shall receive in America 
 I shall make six times, perhaps ten times, the amount of my cargo ; 
 so, out of ten exportations, let one succeed, I am clear of loss, and I 
 shall have assisted in the cause of liberty. In this point of view it 
 may be said that the very insolvability of America has proved her 
 strength and safety, and having but a very limited metallic currency, 
 which soon was expended, at the very beginning of her struggles, 
 had she held up her paper currency to the strict amount of its nom- 
 inal value, Europe, urcertain on the final payment thereof, (payment 
 absolutely dependent on the great event either of victory or defeat,) 
 could not, consistently with common sense, have sent into America 
 cargoes in which the danger of a considerable loss could not have 
 been compensated by the possibility of a great gain. 
 
 We should willingly leave it to the justice and wisdom of Congress 
 to weigh this argument. In good earnest, when, notwithstanding 
 the fortitude and skilful manoeuvres of the immortal Washington, the 
 cause of liberty received repeated checks ; when the perfidious 
 Arnold was selling his country to her oppressors; when Vaughan 
 was reducing the town of Esopus to ashes, and putting all to sword 
 and fire ; when the wily savages, bought by England, burnt and 
 devastated the frontiers ; when Charleston, New York, Boston, and 
 Philadelphia itself, successively fell under the British power ; when 
 Congress was obliged to move from place to place to get an asylum ; 
 could it, consistently with reason, be presumed that ten thousand 
 dollars in paper nloney would be received by a French trader on 
 the same footing with ten thousand real dollars in solid silver ? Had 
 Congress let but a glimpse of this thought arise in the minds of the 
 people, it would instantly have cut off all assistance from Europe, of 
 all private adventurers, and war, issuing into a worse slavery than 
 before, would have been of a short course ; thus, does it plainly 
 appear that America is as much indebted to the gradual depreciation 
 of her paper as to her valor and the success of her arms, for the 
 glorious liberty she now enjoys. 
 
 Finally, the integral payment of the paper currency is an act of 
 justice with respect to the French traders, because the French and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 1 57 
 
 Americans cannot equitably be viewed under one and the same 
 predicament. This position is demonstrable by four incontestable 
 arguments, which I shall here unfold : 
 
 1st. The Americans, as a balance to this reduction, have acquired 
 a value which cannot be appreciated — their liberty. 
 
 2dly. The Americans, formerly, were in their individual capacity 
 creditors ; but in a collective capacity, and as a people, they were 
 debtors : they lie under a bounden obligation of acquitting this paper, 
 as a people. Now, for a part of this money remaining in their 
 hands, they acquit it collectively, by way of the reduction approved 
 by Congress. Where hes the difference between acquitting the said 
 paper by reduction or by a successive imposition of taxes intended 
 for the discharge thereof? By the first they save the heavy expenses 
 and the inevitable intricacies attending the imposition and collection 
 of public taxes. 
 
 3dly. The American, placed on the very stage where these 
 eventual and changeable scenes took their rise, ocular witness of the 
 daily depreciation which he himself caused, either by the refusal of 
 this currency, or (which amounts to the same) by enhancing the 
 prices of his own produce or other articles he had to sell, made con- 
 tinual gains, which enabled him one day to support the taxes neces- 
 sary for the acquitment of his paper. The French trader, on the 
 contrary, who sent out his vessel and cargoes, ignorant, at the time 
 of their landing and departure, as well as at the period of their 
 arrival, what would be the actual value of the American paper, was, 
 in fact, sending his property to a lottery, where he eventually might 
 either loose or gain ; as it was very possible that by a series of 
 successes the paper should stand at the moment he was selling out 
 his cargoes ; and vice versa, that at the time he was paying or 
 buying the return of his cargoes, a chain of unfortunate events should 
 make the same paper fall. 
 
 4thly. The American, though he had in his hands a depreciated 
 money, nevertheless his paper was a current money, and he was 
 daily laying out the same to carry on his business and commercial 
 operations ; what he was losing on this money he could retrieve, and 
 even increase, by trade ; but what use could the French traders put 
 this money to in Europe, where it had no currency at all ? Conse- 
 quently, it remained dead or dormant in their pocket-books for whole 
 years. 
 
15S JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR' FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 These differences of sitoation between the French and the Ameri- 
 cans are so striking as to make their overlooking it a matter of 
 wonder. 
 
 There is a peculiar class of French traders who deserve all' possible 
 regards, and I dare say the gratitude of Congress, I mean those who 
 have lent to Congress the paper currency they were in possession 
 of; for if Congress themselves own, in their circular letter of the 
 13th September, 1779, that the discredit of this paper raised from 
 the multiplication of the same, from the instant wherein the sum in 
 circul'ataon exceeded the sum requisite as a medium of commerce, it 
 hereby appears that if the French traders have lent to Congress the 
 tenth part of the paper currency of their own emission, they saved 
 them the trouble of increasing the same to a tenth above their first 
 emission. The French, therefore, have thus diminished that very 
 depreciation to which they are at this day threatened to be made 
 liable. 
 
 Are these the men to whom Congress would refuse payment ? 
 Let them consider the generous manner in which France has acted 
 after the cession of Canada, with respect to the Canadian paper 
 currency, which was in the hands of British proprietors. This 
 instance may, with great propriety, be offered to them as an example 
 worthy of imitation. France, at that period, was certainly bound by 
 no ties of gratitude to the British nation and its individuals, bearers 
 of her Canadian paper currency. France had no friendly connec- 
 tions then with such Britons as Congress now sustain with the 
 French traders, by a solemn and unavoidable contract. France was 
 not ignorant that a large quantity of her Canadian currency was in 
 the hands of the English by virtue of operations which could not 
 have passed a strict scrutiny. France overlooks this, to square her 
 conduct to the great principles of the laws of nations, by which 
 nations are reciprocally bound ; and she paid, without taking advantage 
 of any reduction or deduction. How, then, could Congress avoid to 
 tread in the same steps, when a fundamental principle of the laws of 
 nations joins its sacred contract, and declaration by them expressly 
 proclaimed, which will ever stand against them, " Knowing the value 
 ' of national character, and impressed with a due sense of the 
 ' immutable laws of justice and honor, it is impossible that America 
 ' should think without horror of such an execrable deed." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 159 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office, for Foreign. Affairs, Jline 27, 1785. 
 
 Six, 
 It was not until the day before yesterday that I received the letter 
 you did me the honor to write on the 14th instant, enclosing a 
 memorial of M. I>e Chaumont. I shall immediately Gommunicate 
 both to Congress, and, without delays inform you of whatever reso- 
 lution they may come to on the subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c.,, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEXJR DE MABBOIS TO JOHN JAI. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, July 1, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 There was concluded, the 25th February, 1783, a contract between 
 the King and the United States. According to the terms of this 
 contract, negotiated a little time after the peace, his Majesty had lent 
 to Congress the sum of six millions, and he has made a release to 
 the United States of the interest of part of the year 1783. But you 
 will see, sir, by the fourth article, that the interest agreed upon com- 
 menced the beginning of the year 1784, and that the jSrst payment 
 ought to have been made at the commencement of this. I beg you 
 will be pleased to lay this contract before Congress. 
 
 I am, &;c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 LOAN CONTRACT. 
 
 The United States in Congress assembled, 
 
 To all who shall see these presents, send greeting: 
 
 Whereas Benjamin Franklin, our Minister Plenipotentiary at the 
 Court of Versailles, in pursuance of the powers in him vested, did, 
 00 tke. 35th day of February, in the year 1783^ with. Charles Gravief; 
 
160 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 de Vergennes, &c., Counsellor of the King in all his Councils, Com- 
 mander of his Orders, Minister and Secretary of State, Sic, vested 
 with full powers of his most Christian Majesty for the purpose, enter 
 into, conclude, and sign a contract between his most Christian 
 Majesty and the United States of North America, in the words 
 following, viz: 
 
 Contract between the King and the Thirteen United States of North 
 
 America, 
 
 The reestablished peace between the belligerent Powers, the 
 advantage of a free commerce to all parts of the globe, and the inde- 
 pendence of the thirteen United States of North America, acknowl- 
 edged and founded on a solid and honorable basis, rendered it probable 
 that the said States would be in a condition to provide hereafter for 
 their necessities by means of the resources within themselves, without 
 being compelled to implore the continuation of the succors which 
 the King has so liberally granted during the war. But the Minister 
 Plenipotentiary of the said United States to his Majesty having rep- 
 resented to him the exhausted state to which they have been reduced 
 by a long and disastrous war, his Majesty has condescended to take 
 into consideration the request made by the aforesaid ]\Iinister in the 
 name of the Congress of the said States, for a new advance of 
 money, to answer numerous purposes of urgent and indispensable 
 expenses in the course of the present year ; his Majesty has, in con- 
 sequence, determined, notwithstanding, the no less pressing necessities 
 of his own service, to grant to Congress a new pecuniary assistance, 
 which he has fixed at the sum of 6,000,000 livres Tournois, under 
 the title of loan,und under the guarantee of the whole thirteen United 
 States, which the Minister of Congress has declared his acceptance 
 of, with the liveliest acknowledgments, in the name of the said States. 
 And as it is necessary to the good order of his Majesty's finances, 
 and also useful to the operations of the finances of the United States, 
 to assign periods for the payment of the 6,000,000 livres in question, 
 and to regulate the conditions and terms of reimbursement, which 
 should be made at his Majesty's Royal Treasury at Paris, after the 
 manner which has been stipulated for the preceding advances by a 
 former contract of the 16th July, 1782 : 
 
 We, Charles Graver Count de Vergennes, fee. Counsellor of the 
 King in his Councils, Commander of his orders, Chief of the Royal' 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 161 
 
 Council of Finances, Counsellor of State, fee. Minister and Secretary 
 of State, and of his Commands and Finances, invested with full 
 powers by his Majesty, given to us for the purpose of these presents ; 
 And we, Benjamin Franklin, Minister and Plenipotentiary of the 
 United States of North America, likewise invested with full powers, 
 by the Congress of said States, for the same purpose of these presents, 
 after having' compared and duly communicated to each other our 
 respective powers, have agreed on the following articles : 
 
 Abtici-e I. The payment of the 6,000,000 livres, French money, 
 above-mentioned, shall be made from the funds of the Royal Treas- 
 ury, in proportions of 500,000 livres, during each of the twelve 
 months of the present year, under the acknowledgments of the 
 Minister of the said United States, promising, in the name of Con- 
 gress and in behalf of the thirteen United States, to reimburse ands 
 refund the said 6,000,000 livres in ready money, at his Majesty's 
 Royal Treasury, at the house of the Sieur Grand, banker at Paris,, 
 with interest at five per centum per annum, at periods hereafter stip- 
 ulated in the third and fourth articles. The advances which his. 
 Majesty has been pleased to allow to be made on account of the 
 6,000,000 in question, shall be deducted in the payments of the first 
 month of this year. 
 
 Article II. For better understanding the fixing of periods for the 
 reimbursement of the 6,000,000 livres at the Royal Treasury, and 
 to prevent all ambiguity on this head, it has been found proper to 
 recapitulate here the amount of the preceding aids granted by the 
 King to the United States, and to distinguish them according to their 
 different classes. The first is composed of funds lent successively 
 by his Majesty, amounting in the whole to the sum of 18,000,000 
 livres, reimbursable in specie at the Royal Treasury, in twelve equal 
 portions of 1,500,000 livres each, besides the interest, and in twelve' 
 years, to commence from the third year after the date of the peace, 
 the interest, beginning to reckon at the date of the. peace, to be 
 discharged annually, shall diminish in proportion to the reimburse- 
 ment of the capital, the last payment of which shall expire in the 
 year 1798. 
 
 The second class comprehends the loan of 5,000,000 Dutch i 
 florins, amounting, by a moderate valuation, to 10,000,000 livres 
 Tournois, the said loan made in Holland in 1781, for the service of 
 Vol. I.— 11 
 
162 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the United States of North America, under the engagement of the 
 King to refund the capital, with interest at four per centum per 
 annum, at the general counter of the States General of the United 
 Provinces of the Netherlands, in equal portions, reckoning from the 
 sixth year of the date of said loan ; and under the like engagement 
 on the part of the Minister of Congress, and in behalf of the thirteen 
 United States, to reimburse the 10,000,000 of said loan, in ready- 
 money, at the Royal Treasury, with interest at four per centum per 
 annum, in ten equal portions of a million each, and in ten periods, 
 from year to year, the first of which shall take place in the month of 
 November, 1787, and the last in the same month, 1796. The whole 
 conformable to the conditions expressed in the contract of 10th July, 
 1782. 
 
 In the third class are comprehended the aids and subsidies furnished 
 to the Congress of the United States, under the title of gratuitous 
 assistance from the pure generosity of the King, 3,000,000 of which 
 Were granted before the treaty of February, 1778, and 6,000,000 in 
 1781 ; which aids and subsidies amount in the whole to 9,000,000 
 livres Tournois. His Majesty here confirms, in case of need, the 
 gratuitous gift to the Congress of the said thirteen United States. 
 
 Article III. The new loan of 6,000,000 livres Tournois, the 
 subject of the present contract, shall be refunded and reimbursed, in 
 ready money, at his Majesty's Royal Treasury, in six equal portions 
 of 1,000,000 each, with interest at five per centum per annum, and 
 in six periods, the first of which shall take place in the year 1797, 
 and so on, from year to year, until 1802, when the last reimburse- 
 ment shall be completed. 
 
 Article IV. The interest of five per centum per annum of the 
 capital of the 6,000,000, mentioned in the preceding article, shall 
 begin to be reckoned from the first of January of the year 1784, and 
 shall be paid in ready money, at his Majesty's Royal Treasury at 
 Paris, on the same day of each year, the first of which shall take 
 place the 1st January, 1785, and so on from year to year, until the 
 definitive reimbursement of the capital. His Majesty being pleased, 
 by a new act of generosity, to present and remit to the thirteen 
 United States, the partial interest of the present year, which the 
 underwritten Minister of Congress has declared to accept, with 
 acknowledgments in the name of the said United States. 
 
 Article V. The interest of the capital of the 6,000,000 shall 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 163 
 
 dimmish in proportion to the Beimbursemepts, at the jp^iods fixe,d in 
 the preceding article; dongress and the United S,tatep reserving, 
 however, the Jiberty of freeing themsekes by anticijpa,fed payiaente, 
 should the state of their finances admit. 
 
 Akiicle VJ. The contracting parties will reciprocally guarantee 
 the faithful observation of the foregoing articles, the ratifications of 
 which shall be exchanged in the space of nine months from the date 
 of this present contract, or sooner, if possible. 
 
 In faith whereof, we, the Ministers Plenipotentiary of his Majesty, 
 and the Congress of the thirteen United , States of North America, in 
 virtue of our respective full powers, have signed the present contract, 
 and thereunto affixed the seal of our arms. 
 
 Done at Versa;illes, the 25th day of February, 1783. 
 
 GRAVIER DE VERGENNES. 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Now, know ye that we, tlie said United States in Congress assem- 
 bled, impressed with a lively sense of the assistance and afiection 
 manifested by his most Christian Majesty in the above contract, have 
 ratified and confirmed, and by these presents do ratify and confirm, 
 the said contract and every article -thereofi 
 
 And we do hereby empower our Minister Plenipotentiary at the 
 Court of Versailles to deliver this our ratification, in exchange for 
 the ratification of the said contract on the part of his most Christian 
 Majesty. 
 
 In testimony whereof, we have caused our seal to be -hereunto 
 affixed, witness, his Excdlency Elias Boudinot, President, this 31st 
 day of October, 1783, and of our sovereignty and independence the 
 eighth. 
 
 Attest, CHARLES THOMSON, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 2, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the fetter which you did me the honca: to write 
 yesterday, together with the paper mentioned to be enclQse,d jWith it. 
 
164 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Agreeably to your request it shall be immediately laid before Con- 
 gress, and I shall take the earliest opportunity of communicating to 
 you whatever answer I may be directed to convey on the subject. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIE0R DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, July 18, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you a copy of a letter of the King 
 to the Congress of the United States. 
 
 I beg the favor of you to inform me when and in what manner the 
 letter should be delivered. 
 
 I am, &.C., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 In obedience to the orders of Congress I have the honor of 
 transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, a copy of a letter of the 4th 
 of April last from Mr. Read, Secretary in the Marine Department, 
 on the subject of Pierre Rousille's memorial, to which it affords an 
 answer, which I flatter myself will appear satisfactory both to you 
 and to him. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM ROBERT MORRIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Philadelphia, April 6, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 You will receive, herewith enclosed, the translation of the memorial 
 
DIPLOMATIO CORRESPONDENCE. 165 
 
 of P. Rousille, being the same that was enclosed in your letter of the 
 3d ultimo, and you will also receive herewith the report of Mr. James 
 Read, as Secretary to the Agent of Marine, he being in possession 
 of the books and papers of that department. I believe his report to 
 be very proper, and upon any fiiture occasion he will be ready to 
 obey your commands. I mention this for the sake of propriety, 
 not to save myself trouble, because I shall never think anything 
 troublesome which may enable me to comply with any request of 
 yours. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 FROU. JAMES READ TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Marine Office, 6th April, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have read with attention the memorial of P. Rousille, which was 
 transmitted by his Excellency the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, with 
 his letter to you dated the 30th of last month; upon which I beg leave 
 to observe that the officers and crews of the respective ships and 
 vessels of war belonging to the United States, had the right (and I 
 believe it was generally exercised) of choosing and appointing their 
 own agent or agents to receive and distribute the proportion of prize 
 money which should appertain to them as captors, and over which 
 the United States did not reserve any control; wherefore, I presume 
 the memorialist ought to exhibit his claims for prize money to the 
 agent or agents whom he concurred in choosing, or to their legal 
 representatives ; and from what is set forth in the memorial, I cannot 
 hesitate to suppose that Captain Tucker had been chosen by his 
 crew to be their agent. 
 
 If M. Rousille has any claim against the Marine Department of 
 the United States for pay due to him before the 1st of January, 1782, 
 it ought to be exhibited to Joseph Pennell, Esq., the Commissioner 
 appointed to liquidate and finally settle the accounts of the 
 department up to that time. I cannot discover, by any documents 
 now in this office, that M. Rousille has been in the marine service ' 
 subsequent to that period. 
 
 I have the honor, &c., 
 
 JAMES READ, Secretary. 
 
16® JOHN JAY-SEC-FOa FOREIGN AFFAIR* 
 
 TBOU l^ONSIEUB DE MABBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Tcanslation. 
 
 New York, July 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have recraved the letter of this date with which you honored me, 
 and the copy enclosed of a letter from Mr. James Read, in answer 
 to the memorial of Pierre Rousille. I shall forward it to this latter 
 that he may produce the papers which are required of him. I am 
 much obliged to you, sir, for the attention you have bestowed on this 
 subject. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 DB^MARBOIS. 
 
 FROH JOBN JAT TO MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 20, 1785. 
 
 Mr. Jat presents his compliments to M. De Marbois, and subjoins 
 an extract from a letter which he has this moment received from 
 Secretary Thomson, viz : " The design of this is to inform you that 
 ' there has happened a mistake in the delivery of the letter from his 
 ' most Christian Majesty. Your translation is of a letter dated 10th 
 ■ May, 1785, But the original letter delivered to the President is a 
 ' duplicate of the letter of 27th March, informing Congress of the 
 'birth of the Duke of Normandy." 
 
 FBOM MONSIECB DE MAjaBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Written in English. 
 
 July 20, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have at home the letter dated 10th May, 1785, at least I must 
 suppose I have it, as I received two addressed to Congress similar on 
 
piPigoMATie gob:(^espon;djsncE;. iqj 
 
 the outside, excepting that the wor^ La Fayette- have; been written 
 with a pencil on the lettCT which I had the bopoiF to deli\^er this 
 morning to his Exeellency the President. I shall bring the other 
 tOTinorjow, and shalj have the bofto? to agree y^th you, ^ir, about die 
 manner of delivering it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 8j.c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM! MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, July 29, 1785. 
 Sit, 
 The resolution of Congress, of which I subjoin a copy, has been 
 oommunicated to the heirs of the late Monsieur de Ooudray. In 
 consequence whereof they have sent me power to conclude this ^fhii 
 with Congress. I beg the favor of you to put me in capacity to 
 inform them of the resolutions of this assembly. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 On Friday last M. De Marbojs paUed upon rne to inquire whether 
 Congress had as yet directed any answers to be given to his memorial? 
 under their consideration, Jn the course of the copversatipii lip 
 mentioned the affair of Longchamps, and inforined me that his Court 
 would not persist in their demand of him. He proposed that the 
 paper containing that demand, together with thpse that accQinp^nied 
 it, should be returned to him, so that the pjatter might remain as if 
 no such demand had been made. If this ide?. should be adopted, the 
 proposed letter to his most Christian Majesty would be unnecessary 
 if not improper. He expressed a wish that Congress wpuld pass 
 
168 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 resolutions asserting the rights of Ministers, &;c., and recommending 
 to the States to pass laws to punish violations of them in an exemplary- 
 manner. If Congress should think proper to pass such resolutions, a 
 copy of them might be enclosed to the King of France in a letter 
 calculated to remove any uneasiness which may remain in his mind 
 from the case of Longchamps. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FKOM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 9, 1785. 
 
 Mr. Jay presents his compliments to M. De Marbois, and has the 
 honor of transmitting to him, herewith enclosed, a copy of an act of 
 Congress of the 3d instant, on the subject of his note respecting 
 demands on the United States by the heirs of certain French officers 
 who died in the American service. 
 
 Extract from the Journal, August 3, 1785. 
 
 "On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Grayson, Mr. 
 Howell, and Mr. King, to whom was referred a report of the 
 Paymaster General on a note from the Charge d'Afiaires of his 
 most Christian Majesty: 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That in consideration of the peculiar circumstances 
 under which Colonel Radiere, who died in the service of the United 
 States in the year 1779, entered the service, the Paymaster General 
 be, and he is hereby, directed to extend to his case the benefit of the 
 resolution of April 10th, 1780, relative to depreciation. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Paymaster General be, and he is hereby, 
 directed to settle with the widows and orphans of officers who did 
 n.ot belong to any of the United States, entitled to seven years' half- 
 pay, under the resolution of August 24th, 1780, and to issue to them 
 Qertificates therefor : 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 169 
 
 " Resolved, That existing resolutions of Congress sufficiently pro- 
 vide for a just settlement of the accounts of the late Baron de Kalb ; 
 and that the Paymaster General be, and he is hereby, directed to 
 govern himself accordingly." 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Long Island, August 10, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the resolution of Congress of the 7th instant, which 
 you did me the honor to address to me, respecting General De Kalb 
 and M. De la Radiere. They are such as the heirs of these officers 
 could wish, and I doubt not but they will be perfectly satisfied with 
 them. 
 
 I am, with respect. Sic, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, August 20, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 There has been presented to me, by several French merchants, a 
 memorial, the copy of which I have the honor to address to you ; 
 their representations having for an object the preservation and the 
 progress of a commerce reciprocally useful to the two nations. I beg 
 that you will be pleased to present it to Congress, that this assembly 
 may take it into consideration, and adopt, on this occasion, such 
 measures as they may judge proper to preserve the good correspond- 
 ence between the French and American merchants. 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
170 JOHN JAY— SgC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 BEQUEST PRESENTED BT THE FRENCH MERCHANTS TO THE CHABOf 
 
 d'affaires or the king. 
 Translation. 
 
 To M. De Marbois, Charge d^ Affaires for France. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The undersigned, French merchants and navigators, estabhshed in 
 America, have the honor of observing to you, that two laws have 
 just been published, one in the State of New Hampshire, and the 
 other in Massachusetts, which tend to destroy all commercial con- 
 nection between France and these two States. The underwritten 
 are established on this continent, and navigate there in faith of the 
 treaty of commerce, and have never had reason to foresee the meas- 
 ures, which will bring on the ruin of their operations. 
 
 These two acts import that, reckoning from the 1st of August 
 ensuing, Piscataqua, in New Hampshire, and Boston, Falmouth, and 
 Dartmouth, in Massachusetts, shall be the only ports where strangers 
 shall be admitted. This exclusion of the other ports of these two 
 States, is by so much the more hard for them as the Americans are 
 admitted into all the ports of the Kingdom without exception, and 
 that an American vessel is received in France everywhere where a 
 French vessel is admitted. There are even four free ports where they 
 enjoy the most entire liberty, and one of these ports has been spe- 
 cially opened for the Americans, and to favor their navigation they 
 pay no duties there ; they can enter and go out at pleasure. Their 
 condition, then, is very different from that of the French, who, 
 e;tcluded from the ports of the two States, except four, are moreover 
 obliged by these two laws to pay in these four ports sych exorbitant 
 duties as may be considered an absolute prohibition against entering 
 and carrying on commerce within these two States. 
 
 Without doubt the intention of these laws is to favor the American 
 flavigation ; but the Legislatures had it not in view entirely to destroy 
 the competition of strangers, and this will, however, be the effect of 
 this law. It absolutely shuts up the entrance of the ports of the two 
 States to all strangers, without distinction ; and they will be obliged 
 to seek elsewhere the different articles they formerly had from here. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CaaRRESPONDENCE. 171 
 
 The dati«s of 7^8 per ton, from which the subjects of the natiffli are 
 exemfpt, and which air© to be recdfved from strangers, added to a, 
 double doty cm the merchandizes imported, make a charge which no 
 adventore can support. It is such that when a cargo' imported by 
 the sublets of the State shall pay a duty from £400 to £500, the 
 stranger pays from £l;200 to £1,500. The laws in question are so 
 much the more hard as the Americans enjoy very great advantages in 
 the Kingdom ; they are admitted into all our ports ; they exclude us 
 from the greater part of theirs ; they have four free ports in France, 
 and so far from opening free ports to us, they establish exorbitant 
 duties. 
 
 The fifth article in the treaty of commerce secures in their favor 
 an exemption from the duty of 100 sols per ton, and they have 
 imposed on the French a duty of 7-8 per ton, equivalent to 6-14 
 Toumois, independent of other duties; so that a vessel of three 
 hundred tons will pay at her arrival 20-10, even though she should 
 be in ballast. Commerce cannot support such charges, more espe» 
 cially when they are unforeseen, that they disconcert all the calcula- 
 tions of a shipper, and surprised, as it were, in a defile, he must 
 determine to lose whether he sells his cargo at the place or transports 
 it elsewhere. 
 
 It does not belong to us to examine whether the treaty of commerce 
 has been violated by the laws in question, and we ought the rather to 
 abstain from this examination as we are persuaded that the Legisla- 
 tures had not this intention. We beg you to consider, however, that 
 the object of the treaty was equality and reciprocity, and that our 
 condition is not equal to that of the Americans, as they are received 
 in all the ports of the Kingdom, and they have just excluded us from 
 theirs in two States. 
 
 We beg, also, that you will examine whether the same fifth article 
 of the treaty of commerce does not imply that there shall be no 
 duties of tonnage established in America as long as that of 100 sols 
 shall not take place in France with respect to the Americans. 
 
 We have already had occasion to make known our sentiments 
 with regard to this law, and we have been answered that every 
 Power has a right to regulate its commerce ; that is to say, that the 
 King can suppress the free ports that he has opened to the Americans, 
 and establish in the others such high duties as may amount to a pro- 
 hibition. But, first, we are far from desiring that the Americans 
 
172 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 should be excluded from our ports ; on the contrary, we wish that 
 they may enjoy all sorts of advantages, and that there may be 
 established between the two nations, a commerce of kindnesses and 
 reciprocal services of fiiendship, founded on mutual utility. Secondly, 
 the King, according to the terms of the treaty, ought to treat the 
 Americans as the most favored nation. Thus he cannot impose on 
 their ships and merchandizes, greater duties than on those of other 
 nations. Thus the treaty obliges us to receive them in our ports, 
 whilst they can elude this stipulation, and exclude us from theirs 
 by establishing exorbitant duties. Thirdly, although we may have 
 the right and the disposition to adopt rules analogous to the two 
 laws of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, we ought only to 
 exercise this right with respect to these two States, or the other 
 eleven Republics could say we have not a right to exclude them 
 from our ports by exorbitant impositions whilst they received us in 
 theirs. It is impossible, however, to distinguish a New Hampshire 
 ship from a vessel of the other States, as they all navigate under 
 the same flag. It is impracticable, then, to fix a distinction, and 
 subject them to duties from which the other eleven States should be 
 exempt. 
 
 But we beg that you will pay attention to the following circum- 
 stances : There has been imposed, as we have already observed, a 
 
 duty of 5f. per ton 5 
 
 And also another duty of 2f.8 for light money, after the example 
 of England, and although this duty takes place in no part of 
 France on this footing 2 8 
 
 7 8 
 This light duty is an additional duty to another duty which already 
 exists, for the use and service of light-houses, and we must, moreover, 
 pay double the duties which the American merchants and navigators 
 pay. These enormous taxes are payable from the first of the 
 approaching month. Then French vessels, whose owners could not 
 be informed of this measure, will have to pay, at their arrival at the 
 ports of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, exorbitant duties, which 
 they do not expect, and it will be impossible for them to sell their 
 cargoes without a loss, seeing that the Americans, free from these 
 duties, can sell the same merchandizes at a much more reasonable 
 rate. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 173 
 
 In these circumstances it remains for us to entreat you to demand 
 that the effect of the law should be suspended with respect to 
 French vessels which are actually expected, and whose shippers 
 could not have foreseen such a measure ; we think that four months 
 will suffice for the purpose of advising the French merchants ; and 
 that they may consider whether it will be suitable for them to leave 
 off their adventures to these two States, and direct them to other 
 quarters ; or if they can continue to carry on commerce without a 
 loss, with the States of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We 
 have the more reason to hope that these two States will pay attention 
 to your representations, as their commerce is greatly favored in the 
 Kingdom and in our colonies ; and as they have had a recent proof 
 of it in the establishment of seven free ports in the said colonies, 
 although by the treaty his Majesty was only bound to keep open but 
 two for them. 
 
 We desire that the commerce between the two nations should be 
 established on a footing the most mutually advantageous. 
 
 France had done everything to accomplish this. She spares no 
 pains to facilitate the operations of the allies in Europe and her 
 colonies. She has even opened for them free ports in Asia ; and 
 those employed by her have orders to use all their efforts to encourage 
 the commerce of the Americans in India. We are persuaded that 
 the States of New Hampshire and Massachusetts have no view to 
 counteract such amicable measures, and that they will revise and 
 abrogate the laws in question, and in the meanwhile suspend their 
 execution as far as they respect the French. 
 
 AUBRY, DUBOIS & Co. 
 
 Boston, July 28,^1785. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 22, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have been honored with your letter of the 20th instant, together 
 with the paper mentioned to be enclosed with it, and as soon as they 
 can be translated shall lay them before Congress. 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
174 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO THE PKESIDENT OV CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 25, 1785 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency^ herewith 
 enclosed, a letter from the Charge d' Affaires of France of the 20th 
 instant, with a memorial that accompanied it, froig certain French 
 merchants to him, stating objections to laws lately passed in New 
 Hampshire and Massachusetts respecting commercial objects. I 
 also enclose translations of these papers ; and have the honor to be, 
 with great respect and esteem, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 REPORT OF SECRETART JAT, ON REPRESENTATIONS OF CERTAIN 
 FRENCH MERCHANTS, &C. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 7, 1785. 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred the representation of certain Frenoh 
 Merchants against the acts of New Hampshire .and Massachusetts, 
 for regulating Navigation and Commerce, Sic, reports : 
 That as the objections stated in the memorial against those acts 
 are equally applied to both of them, he presumes there is no material 
 difference between them. He has the one of Massachusetts, ibut not 
 that of New Hampshire. This circumstance induces him to take 
 the liberty of suggesting whether it would not be «spedient to collect 
 at the public expense copies of the acts of the different States, and 
 place them in the Secretary's office for the use of Congress and their 
 officers. 
 
 The complaints made of these acts may be comprised under the 
 following heads : 
 
 1st. That they exclude French vessels from all except certain 
 ports, whereas all the ports of France are open to American vessels, 
 and in some of them no duties are demanded, viz : in the four free 
 ports. 
 
 2d. That the duty of tonnage imposed by these acts is not 
 consistent with the fifth article of the treaty. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 175 
 
 3d. That they were made to take place so soon after they were 
 enacted as not to afford reasonable time for European merchants to 
 be informed of them. 
 
 In considering these objections two objects of inquiry present 
 themselves, 1st., whether these acts observe the letter of the treaty; 
 and, 2dly., whether they quadrate with those principles of reciprocity 
 in which the treaty is professedly founded. 
 
 As to the first objection, viz : the exclusion of French vessels from 
 all except certain ports, your Secretary observes that there is no 
 express stipulation in the treaty which prevents such exclusion while 
 extended to the most favored nation. 
 
 He nevertheless thinks that however lawful and consistent with the 
 letter of the treaty such exclusion may be, and however the States 
 may have good right to refuse establishing iany free ports, yet that the 
 French merchants have reason to say that they enjoy fewer privileges 
 in that respect in New Hampshire and Massachusetts than the 
 merchants of those States do in France, from none of whose ports 
 they are excluded, and in some of which they are allowed particular 
 immunities. 
 
 The second objection appears to have much weight. 
 
 The fifth article of the treaty exempts American vessels irom the 
 impost of 100 sous per ton, established in France on foreign ships, 
 unless when the ships of the United States shall load with the 
 merchandize of France for another port of the same dominion, in 
 which case they shall pay the duty above-mentioned so long as other 
 nations, the most favored, shall be obliged to pay it. 
 
 But it is understood that the United States or any of them are at 
 liberty, when they shall judge it proper, to establish duty equivalent 
 in the same case; that is in the opinion of your Secretary, in the case 
 of a French vessel loading in one port to carry her lading to another 
 port of the United States. 
 
 If this be the true construction and the meaning of the treaty, then 
 it seems to follow as of necessary consequence that none of the 
 United States can rightfully impose a duty of tonnage on a French 
 vessel in any other case. For if it was intended that they should be 
 at liberty to impose it in all cases, why was it expressly stipulated 
 that they might impose it in the same or in such a case ? It would 
 neither be a fair construction of the treaty, nor a construction 
 consistent with the most obvious dictates of reciprocity to say that 
 
176 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the French are to give up their tonnage of 100 sous in all cases but 
 one, but that the United States are to be at liberty to impose tonnage 
 equal to 100 sous per ton on a French vessel in every case without 
 exception. 
 
 The law of Massachusetts makes no distinction of cases, but 
 subjects French vessels to tonnage in every case where they enter 
 their ports after the 1st of August. In this respect, therefore, your 
 Secretary considers that act as deviating both from the letter and the 
 spirit of the treaty. 
 
 The third objection, though not very important, merits some 
 attention. 
 
 The act of Massachusetts passed the 23d June, and took place the 
 1st August last. This notice might have been sufficient to prevent 
 a ship from sailing, but it was not sufficient to prevent a ship being 
 fitted out and laden for their ports. It doubtless is wholly in the 
 discretion of the Legislature to make their acts take place when they 
 please. But it nevertheless seems reasonable that they who are to 
 be affected by laws should have seasonable notice of them. 
 
 Your Secretary takes the liberty of observing that the French have 
 extended liberty of commerce to the United States beyond what they 
 were bound to do by the treaty, and it certainly would not be kind 
 to repay their friendly relaxation by restrictions more rigid than a due 
 regard to our commercial interests may demand and justify. It is in 
 their power to retaliate, but it would not be good policy in us to 
 dispose them to it. 
 
 Your Secretary is clearly of opinion that the commerce of the 
 United States must suflfer from partial and discordant regulations, and 
 that until it is under one direction it will never be conducted in that 
 stable, uniform, and consistent manner which is necessary to produce 
 the benefits and respectability tl^at might be expected from it. 
 
 As to the acts in question he thinks it would be proper to transmit 
 these papers to the Legislatures of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 
 and to recommend to them a revision of these acts. 
 
 The confidence that may be placed in their wisdom, and in their 
 attachment to the honor and good faith of the Union, leaves no room 
 to doubt of their readiness to correct any errors which may have 
 inadvertently glided into any of their laws. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 177 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. , 
 
 New York, August 25, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Some Frenchmen who have purchased real estate within the United 
 
 States, and others who propose to purchase, have addressed themselves 
 
 to me to know whether the 11th article of the treaty of commerce 
 
 guarantied the absolute property to them, and transmissible to their 
 
 heirs or legatees resident or not in the United States. The article of 
 
 the treaty is so precise that it appears to me there can be no doubt 
 
 on this head ; however, to remove all uncertainty on the part of those 
 
 who have addressed themselves to me, I request, sir, that you v/ill be 
 
 so good as to let me know your opinion on this matter. Permit me, 
 
 also, to have the honor of reminding you that on the 14th January, 
 
 1780, Congress, on a m^otion of the Committee for Foreign Affairs, 
 
 recommended to the Legislatures of the different States to take 
 
 measures to secure to the King's subjects the same advantages which 
 
 those of the United States enjoy in France. We know that some 
 
 laws have passed on this subject in different States, but we are 
 
 ignorant whether all that belong to the Confederation have passed 
 
 similar ones ; and I request that- you will be kind enough to 
 
 communicate to me what has come to your knowledge on this 
 
 subject. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, Septemljer 2, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write on the 
 25tli ultimo, and laid it before Congress. 
 
 * I shall take the earliest opportunity of communicating to you the 
 opinion they may direct me to give on the subject, together with the 
 information which you request on that head. 
 Vol. L— 12 
 
178 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Whenever questions arise on the construction of an article of the 
 treaty, I think it will always be most advisable to submit it to their 
 consideration and decision ; and I am persuaded they will, on such 
 occasions, be uniformly guided by the spirit, true intent, and meani% 
 of the treaty. Be assured, sir, of my firm attachment to the princi- 
 ples of it, and of my disposition and desire to see it construed and 
 observed in such a manner as may most conduce to the attainment 
 of the object and mutual benefits intended by it. 
 With great respect and consideration, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 TROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 31, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 Agreeably to the ideas you suggested in our last conversation 
 respecting the case of Longchamps, Congress have ordered me to 
 return to you all the papers which I had the honor to receive from 
 you relative to it, and I now transmit them herewith enclosed. 
 
 Further measures for preserving inviolate the laws of nations 
 respecting legations are in contemplation, and I flatter myself will 
 be speedily matured. Being impressed with a high sense of the 
 obligation, as well as the expediency, of these laws, nothing in my 
 power shall be wanting to promote the observance and punish the 
 violation of them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, August 30, 1785. 
 Sir, . 
 
 I have the honor of addressing to you the note wherein I announce 
 t(j Congress the nomination ot M. Otto to the post of Charge 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 179 
 
 d'AfFaii-es for the King, with the United States. He will deliver 
 you himself that which the Count De Vergennes has written to you 
 on this occasion. I am well assured, sir, that during the course of 
 his functions he will spare no pains to deserve your confidence, and 
 from my long knowledge of him, I do not hesitate to assure you that 
 he will deserve it. 
 
 It remains for me, sir, to thank you for the support I have received 
 from you at different times, and to request of you to preserve me a 
 place ill your remembrance, and to assure you of the respect and 
 distinguished regard with which I have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAV. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, August 30, 1785. 
 
 The underwritten. Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor to 
 inform Congress that his Majesty, by naming him for the Intendancy 
 of the Colony of St. Domingo, has put a period to the functions which 
 he has had the honor of perforaiing in the United States in the 
 absence of the Chevalier de la Luzerne. The private affairs of this 
 Minister not yet permitting him to come and resume his functions 
 with Congress, and his Majesty, desirous that there should be no 
 interruption in the correspondence between him and Congress, has 
 appointed Mr. Otto to folfil the duties of his Charge d' Affaires here 
 until the return of his Minister Plenipotentiary. 
 
 Mr. Otto has the advantage of having passed many years on this 
 continent, the perfect knowledge which he has of the affairs which 
 have been transacted, and of the particular affection of the King for 
 the United States, leaves no room to doubt but that he will discharge 
 his duties to the entire satisfaction of his allies. 
 
 The underwritten, honored with the testimonies of that of the 
 King, his master, will esteem himself happy if, during a residence of 
 more than six years, and in difficult times, his conduct has shown the 
 respect which he entertains for Congress, and how advantageous he 
 cxjnsiders the alliance to be to both nations. 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
180 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 EEPORT or SECRETARY JAY RESPECTING THE REMOVAL OF 
 MONSIEUR DE MABBOIS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affaiis, September 7, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred the Letter of the 2d instant, from 
 him to his Excellency the President, with the papers therein 
 enclosed, respecting the removal of M. De Marbois, reports : 
 That in his opinion, your Secretary should be ordered to write an 
 
 answer of the following tenor to M. De Marbois's note : 
 
 " Office for Foreign Afftdrs, September, 1785. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Tlie note which you did me the honor to \vrite on the 30th of 
 last month, announcing your appointment to the Intendancy of St. 
 Domingo, and that of the Sieur Otto to succeed you here, I imme- 
 diately laid before Congress. 
 
 " In obedience to their orders I have the honor to assure you that 
 this distinguished mark of your royal master's approbation and favor 
 gives them pleasure, and they wish you happiness and prosperity in 
 the enjoyment of it. The manner in which you have filled the place 
 of his Majesty's Charge d'Affaires here has given them entire satis- 
 faction, and I am ordered to mention this to Count de Vergennes. 
 
 " The great and repeated proofs which the United States have 
 received of his Majesty's affection, and the zeal and abilities with 
 which his Minister has, on various occasions, executed his friendly 
 intentions towards them, leave no room to doubt but that such men 
 only will be charged with his affairs in this country as, from inclina- 
 tion as well as duty, will be disposed to cherish the union and cement 
 the interests and friendship of the two nations. 
 
 " In this light they consider the Sieur Otto ; and he maybe assured 
 that their respect and affection for his sovereign, as well as the good 
 opinion they entertain of him, will always induce them to render 
 his residence as agreeable to himself as they are persuaded it will be 
 to them. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 " To Monsieur De Mabbois, 
 
 Charge d'Affaires of his most Christian Majesty." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 181 
 
 Your Secretary purposes to enclose the above letter in the following, 
 
 (the former being an answer to the note, and the latter to the letter, 
 
 of M. De Marbois :) 
 
 " Office for Foreign Affairs, September, 1785. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " The letter herewith enclosed is in answer to the note which 
 accompanied the letter you did me the honor to write on the 30th 
 instant. 
 
 " M. Otto has delivered to me the letter from the Count De Ver- 
 gennes, of which you make mention, and I shall take the earliest 
 opportunity of transmitting an answer to it. 
 
 "The character you give of Mr. Otto corresponds with what I 
 should have supposed it to be from that of the Minister, and he may 
 rely on my disposition to render his residence agreeable. 
 
 " It has been, and shall continue to be, my desire so to discharge 
 the duties of my office as to give perfect satisfaction to the Ministers 
 and subjects of your magnanimous King, and I am happy to find that 
 I have succeeded with respect to you. 
 
 " We have been laborers in the same great work, and I flatter 
 myself that your removal from America will not diminish your affec- 
 tion for it. It will always give me pleasure to hear of your health 
 and happiness, and that of your amiable lady. Pennit me to offer 
 to you and to her my best wishes for your safe arrival at the place of 
 your destination, and any friendly services that may be in my power 
 to render. 
 
 " With great respect and consideration, &ic.," 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE MARBOIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, September 24, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I am sorry I could not meet you, to express the satisfaction which 
 I have received from your letter dated the 12th instant, as it mentions 
 Congress's approbation of my conduct whilst I have had the honor 
 
182 JOHN JAY-SEC. FOR FOREIGN -AFFAIRS. 
 
 to reside as the King's Charge d' Affaires in this country. I have 
 obtained the principal object of my mission, which has been to pro- 
 mote as much as in my power the good understanding and preserve 
 the friendship between the King and the States. The manner with 
 which you conveyed their sentiments to me could not but give 
 additional satisfaction. 
 
 I propose to leave this continent to-morrow; but six years' resi- 
 dence, which I shall ever consider as the most interesting of my life 
 past, both by the importance and the success of the events to which 
 I have been an active witness, and the connexion I have formed, will 
 never permit me to be a stranger to America, and I shall be happy 
 whenever duty will concur with my inclination to afford me the 
 means of evincing the sentiments I shall preserve for it. 
 
 Mrs. De Marbois is much obliged for your mention of her ; she 
 desires to be remembered to Mrs. Jay, to whom I have the honor to 
 offer my respects. 
 
 I cannot leave this place without again assuring you, sir, that I 
 shall have a particular pleasure in hearing that circumstances have 
 allowed Monsieur Longchamps to be treated with lenity. I renew 
 this- application at the very instant there are attempts made towards 
 further provocations. Mr. Otto may inform you of what nature they 
 are, if you do not already know it. I do not believe they come from 
 him ; but should it be the case, it is impossible anything could pro- 
 voke from a man in his situation, and whatever may be his behavior, 
 it will never alter the wish I have formed for his release fi'om the 
 instant the King had expressed his full approbation of my conduct. 
 
 With perfect respect and consideration, I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 DE MARBOIS. 
 
 FHOM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, September 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The departure of Monsieur De Marbois will soon place me in the 
 situation of entering upon the exercise of the functions which have 
 been entrusted to me. It is very satisfactory to me that, until the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 133 
 
 arrival of the Minister Plenipotentiary, I have to transact with a 
 person whose patriotism and affection for my Court will greatly facil- 
 itate any business with which I may be charged during my residence 
 here ; and I flatter myself that I shall merit your confidence, and 
 convince you of my personal attachment to the United States, inde- 
 pendent of those obligations my place imposes on me. 
 
 I have perused, sir, with the warmest acknowledgments, the letter 
 you were pleased to address to my predecessor the 12th instant. In 
 rendering justice to his zeal, you have, at the same time, condescended 
 to assure him of the good opinion which Congress have conceived of 
 my dispositions. I entreat you to believe that I shall esteem myself 
 very happy to have an opportunity of rendering myself worthy of 
 the approbation of that assembly, and of contributing to draw still 
 closer the bonds which unite our nations. 
 
 These ties, sir, ought forever to be held sacred and indissoluble. 
 The attachment of France to the United States proceeds, not from a 
 momentary advantage, but from a wise, enlightened, provident policy, 
 which has established, upon the permanent basis of justice and mutual 
 convenience, an alliance of which there are few examples in history. 
 The two nations, divided from each other by a vast ocean, will never 
 experience that jealousy which vicinity too often inspires. They 
 may both prosper without giving umbrage to each other ; they may 
 each aggrandize themselves without prejudice to their alliance. The 
 United States of America will always find, in the strength of one of 
 the most important Governments of Europe, a support against their 
 enemies, and France will not see, but with satisfaction, the flourishing 
 state of a Republic of which, from its first existence, she has had so 
 much care. I know so well the intentions of my Court in this respect, 
 that I can assure you, sir, that she will ever inviolably fulfil the con- 
 ditions of the treaties of alliance and commerce, which form the basis 
 of her connexion with the United States, and it will not be owing to 
 her if these treaties are not scrupulously executed. She is, at the 
 same time, persuaded that Congress is too well acquainted with its 
 interests not to cement more and more the alliance which so happily 
 subsists between France and the United States. The uniform con- 
 duct which this assembly has held in this respect leaves no doubt of 
 its true dispositions ; and if some of the States have appeared to 
 depart, for an instant, from the fundamental principle of our treaties. 
 
184 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 his Majesty is not ignorant that Congress has constantly endeavored 
 to bring them back to the right road. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, November 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you the Plan of a Treaty for a 
 correspondence between the Post Offices of France and the United 
 States, with a note announcing the same to Congress. I request 
 that you will be pleased to lay these papers before that assembly, 
 unless you are of opinion that the Postmaster General thinks himself 
 sufficiently authorized already, by his station, to negotiate this 
 treaty with the Director of the Post Office in France. 
 I am, with respect, &.C., 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 [Delivered November 28, 1785.] 
 
 The underwritten, Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor of 
 informing the United States in Congress assembled, that he has 
 received orders from his Court to present to them the plan of a treaty 
 for a correspondence between the Post Office of France and that of 
 the United States. He has no occasion to observe how interesting 
 it is to the two nations to multiply as much as possible every means 
 of connexion and correspondence, and that the exactness of the 
 mails must contribute by so much the more efficaciously, as the 
 French packets are actually under the immediate authority of Gov- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. Ig5 
 
 ernment. The underwritten has the*honor to annex the Plan which 
 has been sent to him, and he hopes that the United States in Con- 
 gress assembled will be pleased to authorize the Postmaster General 
 to make such arrangements with the Director of the French Post 
 Office as will give, in future, greater facility to a service which so 
 essentially concerns the respective nations. 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 Plan of a Treaty for the correspondence of Letters between the 
 Post Offices of France and those of the United States of North 
 America. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Articles of Agreement made for the carrying and transporting of 
 letters, despatches, and packets, sent from the cities of the Kingdom 
 of France to the city of New York and the thirteen United States 
 of North America, and of letters and packets which shall be sent 
 froni the said city of New York to the said Kingdom of France. 
 Between , who have agreed upon the following Articles : 
 
 Article I. That there shall be maintained, on both sides, a good, 
 firm, and mutual correspondence, for the sending, reception, and 
 distribution of letters, despatches, and packets. 
 
 Article II. That the letters and despatches from Paris, and 
 all the cities and provinces of the Kingdom of France, as also 
 those coming from foreign countries passing through France for the 
 provinces and cities of the United States of North America, shall be 
 directed and forwarded at the sole expense of the Post Office in 
 France, from the place of their departure, as well by land as by 
 means of the King's packets, established at L'Orient, to New York, 
 once a month. The mails which shall enclose the said letters shall 
 be delivered, immediately on their arrival at New York, to the Post 
 Office of the United States of North America, for which mails the 
 Post Office at New York shall give its receipt to the captain of the 
 packet, in the presence of the French Consul, or of the agent of the 
 administration of the packets, with whom the said office at New York 
 shall prove and determine the number of single, double, and ounce 
 letters which each mail shall contain, excepting only from said account 
 
186 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the letters and packets which sfhall be countersigned by the French 
 Ministers, or such persons as shall have the privilege, which letters 
 shall, for this purpose, be made into a separate packet, which shall 
 be inserted into the mail by the Post Office in L'Orient. 
 
 Article III. The Director of Posts in L'Orient shall send, with 
 the letters which shall go by the mails, a paper of advice signed by 
 him the day they are despatched, and addressed to the Post Office at 
 New York, which paper shall not only mention the number of single, 
 double, and ounce letters which compose the mail, but also the 
 account of the tax which shall be reckoned in French money upon 
 said letters of each kind for their postage to New York, and a 
 recapitulation which shall show the just total of said taxes. 
 
 Article IV. The said office of the United States engages, after 
 having verified the exactness of said paper, to be accountable to the 
 Post Offices in France for the total amount of each of the said mails 
 of letters and packets taxed ; it shall charge itself with the distribution 
 of them at their destination, adding to said taxes such other as may 
 be due as well on account of forwarding them, which shall be done 
 at the expense of the office, as for delivering them. 
 
 Article V. In case the said Post Office at New York shall find 
 errors in the account made of the letters which shall thus be sent to 
 it from L'Orient, it has been agreed on both sides that the said errors 
 shall be corrected by advising the French Post Office of it by the 
 first post which shall follow the receipt of the mail, so that the said 
 Post Office at New York shall not be accountable to that of France, 
 but for the amount which it shall declare to have really found in each 
 mail. 
 
 Article VI. It has moreover been agreed that the countersign 
 of the French letters, which shall not have been taxed at leaving 
 L'Orient, shall only frank such letters on their way through France 
 and for their passage. 
 
 Article VII. All letters where postage shall have been charged 
 by the French office to that of tlie United States, and which shall 
 have become refuse without having been opened, shall be retalcen 
 by the French office at the price they have been reckoned, and with 
 which they have been taxed ; the New York office returning them 
 every six months to the Post Office at L'Orient. 
 
 Article VIII. In like manner the letters and despatches from 
 New York, and from all tlie provinces and cities of the United States 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 137 
 
 of North America for the provinces and cities of the Kingdom of 
 France, shall be directed and forwarded by the office at New York, 
 that is to say, at the charge of the Post Office of the thirteen United 
 States from the place of their departure to New York, and from New 
 York at the expense of the French Posts, as well by means of the 
 return of his most Christian Majesty's packets to L'Orient as by land 
 from L'Orient to their destination in France. The mails which 
 enclose the said letters to be taken from the Post Office at New York 
 by the captain of each packet ready to sail for L'Orient, and 
 immediately on the arrival of the vessel delivered to the Director of 
 the Posts of the said city, who shall give his receipt for them to the 
 said captain, in presence of the superintendent of the administration 
 of the packets, with whom he shall ascertain and determine the 
 number of single, double, and ounce letters contained in each 
 mail. 
 
 Article IX. The said Post Office at New York shall send, with 
 the letters which shall go by said mails, a paper of advice signed and 
 dated the day the packet is despatched, and addressed to the Post 
 Office at L'Orient, which paper, like those from the latter office for 
 New York, shall signify not only the single, double, and ounce letters 
 which compose the mail, but also the amount of the tax, which shall 
 be brought into French money and not otherwise upon the letters of 
 each kind for their postage to New York only, and a recapitulation 
 which shall present the just total of said taxes. 
 
 Article X. The said Post Office of France engages, after 
 verification made on its part, at the office in L'Orient, of the 
 exactness of said paper, to be accountable to the Post Office of the 
 United States of America at New York for the total amount of each 
 of the said mails of letters in packets taxed by the posts of the United 
 States, which packets and letters they charge itself with the 
 distribution of to their destination in the Kingdom, adding to said 
 taxes such, which, according to the tariff of France, are due as well 
 on account of transportation, which shall have been made from New 
 York to the destination of such letters, as for the distribution by said 
 office. 
 
 Article XL It has been agreed by the two offices that the 
 clause inserted in the fifth article of the present treaty, relating to 
 errors which may be found in the amount of letters which the office 
 of France shall send to New York, shall be exactly the same, vice 
 
188 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 versa, with respect to the aforesaid office, as to errors which may also 
 be met with in the amount of mails of letters from North America to 
 L'Orient, where the verification shall be made. 
 
 Article XII. It has moreover been agreed upon, as in article 
 seven of the present treaty, that all letters where postage shall be 
 charged by the Post Office in New York against that of France, 
 and which shall become refuse without having been opened, shall be 
 retaken by the Post Office of the United States at the same price they 
 shall have been reckoned and taxed, the office in France returning 
 them every six months to the Post Office in New York. 
 
 Article XIII. It has moreover been covenanted and agreed on 
 both sides that all letters and packets which shall be reciprocally 
 sent, shall be exactly stamped in a legible manner on their 
 superscription, with the name of the town where they shall have 
 been written, and that the cyphers of the taxes which shall have 
 been affixed to them shall mark the sous or livres Tournois. 
 
 Article XIV. The accounts between the two offices shall be 
 rendered every six months by that office which shall find itself in debt 
 to the other, which having verified and acknowledged the said 
 accounts just shall balance them, after which the money which shall 
 be due to said office, shall immediately be paid to the person that 
 shall be authorized for the purpose. 
 
 Article XV. All the mails and bags shall be well and duly sent 
 and sealed from one office to the other, with the true and 
 acknowledged seal of each office. 
 
 Article XVI. The parties reciprocally oblige themselves to 
 prevent, by every possible means, any of the abovementioned letters 
 and packets from being sent by another mode than by their ordinary 
 posts. 
 
 Article XVII. It has been moreover agreed that the effect and 
 execution of this present treaty shall commence between the said 
 parties, the post after completing the ratification signed and sealed in 
 
 good form, on the one part by , and on the other part by . 
 
 It has moreover been agreed on both sides that the said present treaty 
 cannot be broken by one of the parties till after a yeEir's previous notice 
 to the other ; and there shall be added and transcribed the powers 
 of us. 
 
 In faith of which we have reciprocally signed this present treaty, 
 and affixed the seal of our arms. Done and agreed in duplicates, 
 between us, at Paris, &c. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 189 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO.. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, November 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write this 
 morning, enclosing a note of the same date, and a project of a treaty 
 between the Post Offices of France and of the United States. 
 
 These papers, as soon as translated, shall be laid before Congress, 
 and I cannot omit this opportunity of assuring you that every occasion 
 of extending the ties and intercourse between our countries will give 
 me pleasure. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM EBENEZER HAZARD TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 General Post Office, December 21, 1785 
 
 Sir, 
 I have considered the plan for the correspondence of letters between 
 the Post Offices of France and those of the United States of North 
 America, and think it, in general, a good one ; there are, nevertheless, 
 some parts of it which are exceptionable. The third, rtinth, and 
 thirteenth articles require that the postage shall be marked in French 
 money, sous and livres. This will be impracticable, as the French 
 moneys are not sufficiently understood in America. But the most 
 exceptionable article is the fourth ; should this be agreed to, the 
 inmiediate consequence will be that the letters must be disseminated, 
 from New Hampshire to Georgia, at the risic of the United States ; 
 and this will be evidently very great, if we consider the distances to 
 which the letters must travel, the size and situation of many of our 
 fen'ies, and our seasons, especially the winter. Great, however, as 
 the risk is, it must of course be ours, as we are to be accountable for 
 the postage of all letters, excepting the " refuse" ones, returned agree- 
 ably to the seventh article. To this may be added the difficulty of 
 keeping accounts, when both nations will be interested in the postage 
 on each letter, and that postage will be marked partly in sous and 
 livres, and partly in pennyweights and grains of silver. The whole 
 
1^0 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 business may be extremely simplified by adopting the same pkn that 
 we are upon respecting the British packets, viz : let all the packet 
 postage be paid in Europe, which will remove every difficulty ; it 
 will prevent the necessity of keeping intricate accounts ; the United 
 States will risk nothmg in the distribution of the letters, except the 
 inland postage ; the deputy postmasters will not be perplexed and 
 led into errors by a kind of money which they do not understand, 
 and it will be more advantageous to France, because the number of 
 refuse letters will be lessened by it, as all the letters put into the 
 offices in France will then be paid for, and they will have no more 
 refuse letters from this side of the water upon this plan than upon the 
 other. 
 
 The other regulations, such as giving the captains' receipts for the 
 mails, sending invoices of the letters, Sic, are equally proper upon 
 either plan. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 EBEN. HAZARD. 
 
 REPOET OT" SECKETARY JAY, RELATIVE TO THE POST OmCES OT 
 FRANCE AND THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, February 21, 1786. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a letter to him of the 28th November 
 last, from the Charge d'ASaires of France, enclosing a Plan of a 
 Treaty for the correspondence of letters between the Post Offices 
 of France and those of the United States, reports : 
 That he has submitted the said Plan to the consideration of the 
 
 Postmaster General of the United States, whose opinion thereon 
 
 appears in the following letter, viz : 
 
 " General Post Office, February 16, 1786. 
 " Sir, 
 " I have had under consideration the proposed ' Plan of a treaty 
 ' for the correspondence of letters between the Post Offices of France 
 ' and those of the United States of North America,' and observe but 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 191 
 
 one defect in it ; and that is, it is left optional with the writer to pay 
 the postage or not ; and, if we may judge from experience, they will 
 not pay it. The consequence will be, 
 
 " 1st. That a receipt must be given by the American office, 
 which will make the Urjited States accountable for the amount of the 
 postage. 
 
 " 2d. The letters must then be distributed from New Hampshire 
 to Georgia, and the dead (or refuse) letters returned to New York at 
 t}ie risk of the United States ; which will evidently be very great, if 
 we consider the distances to which the letters must travel, the size 
 and situation of many of our ferries, and our seasons, especially the 
 winter. 
 
 " 3d. Accounts must be kept between the American and French 
 offices, which, in their very nature, must be complex and intricate, 
 both nations being interested in the postage of each letter, and that 
 postage being marked partly in French money and partly in penny- 
 weights and grains of silver; the former, not being sufficiently under- 
 stood by us, will occasion many errors, and be the source of much 
 confusion. 
 
 " We were exactly upon the above plan with respect to the British 
 packets, at their first establishment, as you will observe from the 
 enclosed advertisement ; but the inconveniences attending it were so 
 great that it was found necessary to make an alteration ; and the whole 
 business was amazingly simplified by providing that all the packet 
 postage should be paid in England. By this small change in the 
 system every difficulty is removed ; and, as experience has evinced 
 its utility, I beg leave to recommend the adoption of the same mode 
 in the present case. Indeed, it will be more advantageous to France 
 than the plan now proposed, because the number of refuse letters 
 will be lessened by it, as all the letters put into the offices in France 
 will then be paid for, and the refuse letters from this side of the water 
 will not be more numerous upon this plan than upon the other ; there 
 will also be a saving of the commissions allowed to the deputy post- 
 masters for transacting the business. 
 
 " The other regulations, such as giving the captains' receipts for 
 the mails, sending invoices of the letters, Sic, are equally proper 
 upon either plan. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 "EBEN. HAZARD." 
 
192 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Your Secretary thinks the observations of the Postmaster General 
 are well founded, and, therefore, is of opinion that the said Post- 
 master General should be duly authorized to conclude the said treaty 
 with the Director of the French posts, vested with equal powers on 
 the part of his most Christian Majesty, provided the alterations in 
 questions are admitted, and provided further, that the duration of the 
 treaty shall not exceed the term of ten years. 
 
 Your Secretary is also of opinion that the said treaty should be 
 engrossed and executed in both languages. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 T-aOM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 OiRce for Foreign Affairs, December '26, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency, herewith 
 enclosed, a letter of the 28th instant, which I received from the 
 Charge d' Affaires of France, together with the project of a proposed 
 treaty between the French and the American Post Offices, which is 
 mentioned in it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, November 30, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to send you herewith a note which I request you 
 to lay before Congress. It relates to the different credits which his 
 Majesty and his subjects have against the United States. These 
 matters have been treated of at different times by M. De Marbois, 
 and principally in the letters and notes which he addressed you the 
 8th March, 16th May, and 14th June, and the 1st July, of this year. 
 It gives me pain to recur to mattere which have so long occupied the^ 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 193 
 
 Minister Plenipotentiary and my predecessor. But the silence of 
 Congress, the new formation of this assembly, and the precise order 
 which I have received from my Court on this subject, appear to 
 authorize me to make a new attempt to obtain a satisfactory answer ; 
 and I hope that the United States will only consider, in my conduct, 
 the zeal which the post I have the honor to occupy near Congress 
 ought to inspire me with. 
 
 I make no mention of the different particular subjects which my 
 predecessor has submitted to the deliberations of Congress the 16th 
 May last, such as the claims of the administrator of Martinico, for 
 the reimbursement of the advances made to Mr. Bingham ; also the 
 demands of the Royal Treasury, on account of the sums reimbursed 
 the Sieurs Sabatier &; Despres, on account of the United States. 
 Congress having as yet taken no resolution concerning these different 
 subjects, and the notes of my predecessors being constantly before 
 this assembly. I hope that they will be pleased also to add its resolu- 
 tion respecting these claims to those it shall make as to the principal 
 points of the note which I have the honor to address to you. 
 
 I have, sir, presented his Majesty's credit in a point of view which 
 appeared to me the most natural. It cannot be disputed that the 
 object of the two contracts signed by Mr. Franklin was to alleviate 
 as much as possible the weight of the debt of the United States. 
 To defer the accomplishments of these contracts is to defeat the 
 salutary end proposed, and to accumulate, without any benefit to 
 the United States, the arrearages and interests of a moderate debt. 
 The wisdom of the Ministers who have digested and signed the 
 contracts would only serve to expose more visibly the injury occa- 
 sioned by delays. 
 
 As to the subjects of French creditors of the United States, I have, . 
 sir, described their situation very faintly. Ancient commercial houses 
 find themselves reduced \o beggary from having placed too much 
 confidence in paper money and loan office certificates. They 
 viewed with astonishment, mixed with grief, the measures proposed 
 by different States to satisfy their own citizens to the exclusion of 
 foreigners. This step, projected by people who have just distin- 
 guished themselves by so many great qualities, can only be attributed 
 to too great precipitation, and not to a partiality of which they are 
 incapable. 
 
 It is elsewhere remarked, and there is still greater reason to believe 
 Vol. I.— 13 
 
194 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 from the last requisitions of Congress, that ^this measure has never 
 obtained the sanction of this assembly ; and that Congress not only 
 knew how to form a new empire, but also to give it stability by 
 erecting it on the immoveable basis of justice and virtue. 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 FKOM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, November 30, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The underwritten, Charge d' Affaires of France, has the honor of 
 informing the United States in Congress assembled, that he has 
 received orders from his Court to take notice of the measures which 
 have been adopted for fulfilling the conditions of two contracts, signed 
 in the name of the United States by Mr. Franklin, the 16th July. 
 1782, and 25th February, 1783. 
 
 The United States have engaged themselves by the first contract 
 to pay annually, reckoning from the date of the peace, the interest 
 of a loan of eighteen millions, and to reimburse the capital in twelve 
 equal portions, beginning the third year after peace. They have 
 moreover promised to reimburse, in ten equal terms, to commence 
 the 5th November, 1787, the loan of ten millions made in Holland 
 and guarantied by his Majesty, and to pay the interest thereof in 
 the mean time, at the rate of four per cent. 
 
 By the second contract, they have not only confirmed the preceding 
 articles, but they have acknowledged themselves debtors in a new 
 loan of six millions, the interest of which they have promised to pay 
 annually at five per cent., and to reimburse the capital in six equal 
 periods, to commence from the year 1797. 
 
 From the tenor of these contracts, it appears that the United 
 States have engaged to pay annually, under the title of interest, at 
 the Royal Treasury, the sum of 1,600,000 livi'es Toumois ; but 
 although this sum has been constantly comprehended in the requisi- 
 tions of Congress, his Majesty's treasurer has only as yet received 
 the amount of the interest of the Dutch loan. So that the interest 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPOfTDENCE. 195 
 
 of the present year, comprehending the arrearages of the last year, 
 amounts to 2,400,000 livres Toumois. 
 
 The underwritten need not observe that it appears for the advantage 
 of. the United States to acquit, successively, the sums due to his 
 Majesty, seeing that delays will become daily more burthensome to 
 the finances of Congress, by the progressive accumulation of arrear- 
 ages. He has no doubt but that the gratitude of the United States, 
 the desire of liberating themselves, and, above all, the consideration 
 of their own interest, will engage them to discharge a debt, the 
 weight of which his Majesty has endeavored to diminish as much as 
 was in his power, by remitting the interest till the date of the peace, 
 and by fixing distant periods for the reimbursement which will extend 
 as far as the year 1802. The regularity with which the interest of 
 the Dutch loan has been paid till now, and the assurances which the 
 underwritten has received on this subject from the Commissioners of 
 the Treasury, give him reason to hope that the United States will 
 not show less punctuality in the payment of the other interests and 
 the gradual reimbursement of the debt of twenty-four millions, whose 
 first period will be elapsed the 3d of September of the ensuing year. 
 
 The underwritten thought proper to enter into tliese details, to 
 engage the United States in Congress assembled to represent to their 
 constituents how much it imports them to provide the necessary funds 
 for the gradual reimbursement of these debts ; that the arrearages of 
 the last year have already doubled the sum to be paid this year ; 
 that the progressive accumulation of interest will soon render useless 
 the precautions which have been so wisely taken in the two contracts, 
 for dividing in the least burthensome manner the reimbursement of a 
 sum through the space of nineteen years, which it would have been 
 impossible to have discharged at once. And that the citizens of the 
 United States know too well what they owe to their posterity to 
 wish to oppress them with the weight of a debt which their delays 
 may considerably augment, without any benefit to their country. 
 
 But whilst the underwritten demands with importunity a satis- 
 factory answer to a subject which is personal with regard to his 
 Majesty, he ought at the same time to submit to the consideration 
 and the justice of Congress the claims of a large number of the 
 King's subjects. His Majesty is sensibly touched with the deplorable 
 situation of the commercial houses, which are thrown into the greatest 
 embarrassment by giving credit to the United States, and to indi- 
 
196 JOHN JAY^SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 vidual States, and by the depreciation of paper money. Among the 
 number of these merchants, there are many who, from the com- 
 mencement of the Revolution, have exposed their lives and their 
 fortunes by sending to the United States not only the articles of the 
 first necessity, but arms, ammunition, and a quantity of other objects, 
 which have greatly facilitated the operations of Congress. Others, 
 prevailed upon by the repeated demands of some individual States, 
 have sent them very rich cargoes, through the firm persuasion that 
 they would meet with no difiiculty in the payment for these advances, 
 and that people abounding so in resources as the States of America, 
 could easily find the means to satisfy them, when peace should have 
 reestablished order and tranquillity within their borders. The paper 
 money which was given them in payment for their advances bore the 
 seal of the Confederation, and a solemn promise to redeem it in 
 specie. Such a promise merited their confidence so much the more 
 as their sovereign had guarantied the independence of the United 
 States in the most solemn manner, and that they had reason to con- 
 sider this guarantee as the pledge of the reimbursement of their 
 advances. So far from directly realizing a paper which they ought 
 to believe as solid as gold and silver, they deposited more than six 
 milhons in the consular chests or in their own cofiers. This paper 
 represented the labors, the watchings, and the fortunes of a great 
 nurnber of individuals, who had come to the assistance of the United 
 States in the rnost tempestuous times. But a combination of unfore- 
 seen circumstances has annihilated these effects, even in the hsmds 
 of their possessors, and at the end of some years they see themselves 
 spoiled of their fortunes, and almost deprived of the hope of recovering 
 funds so legally due them. 
 
 The pretensions of the French merchants, possessors of paper 
 money, have been carried too far in tlie last memorial which they 
 have presented to Congress. The underwritten had no knowledge 
 of this memorial until after its delivery. They there claim the 
 reimbursement of the paper money according to its nominal value, 
 without regarding its depreciation. This demand is the less reason- 
 able as it would be too burthensome to the finances of the United 
 States ; and as the French merchants have no right to exact such 
 considerable benefits. But the justice of Congress will perhaps 
 induce them to order this reimbursement according to the scale of 
 depreciation established several years since ; and as the acts of tlie 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 197 
 
 deposits made in the different consular offices certify, in an indu- 
 bitable manner, the date at which this paper has been received, it 
 would be easy to reduce this debt to its just value. Although this 
 arrangement would be of but little advantage to the French merchants, 
 it would be the only way to satisfy them without prejudice to the 
 finances of Congress. 
 
 This assembly cannot be ignorant of the loss which a merchant 
 sustains from his stock laying dead for so many years. This circum- 
 stance alone already sufficed to overwhelm the possessors of paper 
 money, and to make interest in their favor, but the nature of paper 
 money is the source of this inconvenience, which neither Congress 
 nor the foreign merchants could avoid. To diminish these losses as 
 much as possible, and to give a new proof of confidence in the 
 operations of the finances of the United States, a great number of 
 French merchants have placed considerable sums of paper money in 
 the loan offices, which Congress had opened, and for their security 
 only received certificates, which bore, in the name of the United 
 Stiates, not only the promise of reimbursement, but also an interest 
 of six per cent. This interest, however moderate for a merchant 
 accustomed to avail himself of his whole means, might have recom- 
 pensed Individuals whom the desire of contributing towards the 
 greatest revolution which has taken place for many ages, engaged as 
 much as a momentary advantage to undertake a new commerce. 
 But they would pay too dear for this satisfaction, if it must be 
 purchased at the price of their fortunes and welfare. 
 
 His Majesty cannot see with indifference the losses sustained by 
 his subjects. He is not ignorant that different States of the Union 
 have proposed to adopt partial measures to satisfy their own citizens 
 to the exclusion of the French creditors, but he has learned with 
 satisfaction that Congress has constantly recommended to the United 
 States to support the reputation they have acquired by so many 
 titles, and to allow foreigners without distinction to participate in 
 the payment of loan office interest. The requisitions which this 
 assembly addressed to the different States the 27th September last, 
 still bear that mark of justice which has always characterized the 
 measures of Congress. According to these requisitions foreigners, 
 possessors of loan-office certificates, should be treated as well as the 
 Americans themselves. Recommendations so just and so essential 
 cannot but conciliate more and more to this assembly the friendship 
 
198 JOHN JAY— Sec. for foreign affairs. 
 
 of its allies, the confidence of European Powers, and the respect of 
 the citizens of America. The underwritten has been witness to all 
 the steps which it has taken to give consistency to its finances. He 
 knows that it is firmly persuaded that the credit of the United States, 
 their natipnal importance, and their consideration in Europe, depend 
 in a great measure on the punctuality with which it will fulfil its 
 engagements ; and that it has already perceived that the actual delays 
 of the reimbursements have done a considerable detriment to American 
 commerce by rendering foreigners less disposed to give credits, without 
 which this commerce cannot subsist. He hopes that it will condescend 
 to recommend this subject in the most serious manner to the legislative 
 assemblies, and that measures, which after a long and expensive war 
 were impracticable, will be less difficult at the time when the 
 enjoyments of the sweets of peace, and of an independence univer- 
 sally acknowledged, the astonishing progress of population, and the 
 flourishing state of navigation and agriculture have opened all the 
 channels of industry, have brought back ease into the bosom of 
 families, and order in the public administration. He has seen too 
 many examples of equity in the respective States to think that they 
 wish to avail themselves of the inestimable advantage of sovereignty, 
 without paying attention to the unfortunate situation of private 
 foreigners who have contributed thereto with all their might, and 
 who at this instant cannot recollect without pain the most memorable 
 epoch in the annals of America. 
 
 The underwritten flatters himself with the hope that Congress will 
 condescend to put it in his power to send to his Court a satisfactory 
 answer to the different subjects which he takes the liberty of laying 
 before this assembly. He is not ignorant of the different measures 
 which his predecessor has already used, and he can only attribute to 
 the importance and the difficulties in the arrangement of the finances 
 the delays which have attended these subjects. He takes the liberty 
 more especially of reminding Congress of the contents of a note which 
 M. Marbois had the honor to present to them the 16th May last, and 
 he hopes that they will be pleased to observe that this note, as well 
 as the preceding, have been constantly delivered by his Majesty's 
 order.; 
 
 OTTO. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 199 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, November 30, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write this 
 morning, and which accompanied a note of the same date. They 
 shall both be immediately translated, and laid before Congress. The 
 importance of the several subjects stated in it, as well as the delicate 
 manner in which they are handled, cannot fail to excite their attention. 
 I shall do myself the honor of communicating to you the result of 
 their deliberations on those interesting affairs, and I shall always be 
 happy to promote every measure which may tend to evince the justice 
 and gratitude of my country. 
 
 With great esteem and consideration, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, December 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you herewith a brevet which his 
 Majesty has been pleased to grant to M. de la Foret, for discharging 
 with the United States in Congress assembled the functions of Vice 
 Consul General, and those of Vice Consul in the States of Pennsyl- 
 vania and Delaware. These two employments have been united 
 through the supposition that Congress would establish its residence 
 on the banks of the Delaware. But the abode of this assembly at 
 New York has induced M. de Marbois to demand further orders from 
 the Court. The Minister has answered that the functions of the 
 Vice Consulship of Philadelphia having already been exercised by 
 the younger brother of M. Marbois, when the removal of Congress 
 had led this Consul General to New York, there was no inconvenience 
 in leaving the brevet to subsist as it was, and to acknowledge M. de 
 la Foret in quality of Vice Consul General with Congress. This 
 circumstance, sir, has deferred for four months the presenting of the 
 brevet which I have the honor to address to you. I request that you 
 
200 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 will be pleased to have it agreed to by this assembly, and send me the 
 resolutions customary in similar cases. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE SIEUK DE LA FORET. 
 
 New York, January 10, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of returning to you, herewith enclosed, the brevet 
 appointing you Vice Consul General of his most Christian Majesty 
 in the United States, and on which Congress were pleased, the 6th 
 instant, to pass an act, of which a certified copy is also enclosed. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal, January 6th, 1786. 
 
 On a report of the Secretary to the United States of America for 
 the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred his letter of 
 the 29th December, enclosing a letter of the 19th of that month 
 from the Charge d' Affaires of France, with a brevet of the 22d day 
 of June, 1785, appointing the Sieur de la Foret Vice Consul of 
 France for the United States, 
 
 Whereas the Sieur de la Foret has presented to Congress a brevet 
 from his most Christian Majesty, bearing date 22d day of June, 1785, 
 appointing him Vice Consul General in the United States : 
 
 Mesohed, That the Sieur de la Foret be, and he hereby is, received 
 and recognized as the Vice Consul General of his most Christian 
 Majesty in the United States, and that the said brevet be registered 
 in the Secretary's office. 
 
 Resolved, That all the privileges, preeminences, and authority 
 belonging to said character and quality are due to Sieur de la Foret, 
 and shall be enjoyed by him. 
 
 Ordered, That a certified copy of the above resolutions be trans- 
 mitted, by the Secretary to the United States of America for the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 201 
 
 Department of Foreign Affairs, to the said Sieur de la Foret, and 
 also to the Executive of each of the States, for their information. 
 
 FROM THE SIEUR DE LA FORET TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, January 11, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to advise you of the receipt of the letter which 
 you wrote to me yesterday, on returning my commission, and the 
 resolutions of Congress respecting the acknowledgment of my char- 
 acter. I beg that you will be pleased to receive my thanks. 
 I am, with respect, &ic., 
 
 DE LA FOR^T. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 OiSce for Foreign Affairs, March 6, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 Various considerations, arising from the local and other circum- 
 stances of the United States, induce me to think that the fourth and 
 fifth articles in the proposed convention for regulating the intercourse 
 between the Post Offices of France and the United States, will not 
 be expedient. I have the honor of enclosing a plan which, being 
 less complicated, would, in my opinion, be more easily executed. 
 
 It will give me pleasure to confer with you on this subject when- 
 ever it maybe convenient to you, for it is my wish that this and every 
 other measure interesting to both countries may be so concerted and 
 conducted as to promise the most satisfaction to each. 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 Flan of a Convention between the Post Office of France and 
 that of the United States of America, for regulating their mutual 
 intercourse and correspondence. 
 His most Christian Majesty having authorized , the Director 
 
202 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 of the Post Office of France, and the United States having authorized 
 Ebenezer Hazard, Esq., their Postmaster General, to form and 
 conclude such convention, they have accordingly agreed upon the 
 following articles, viz : 
 
 1st. There shall be maintained, on both sides, a good, constant, 
 and mutual correspondence for the transmission, reception, and distri- 
 bution of letters, despatches, and packets. 
 
 2d. All imposts, postage, and charges which may be due on letters 
 passing from the Post Offices of France to those of the United States, 
 shall be paid in France ; and, on the other hand, all letters passing 
 from the Post Offices of the United States to those of France, shall 
 be paid in the United States : That is to say, no French or other 
 postage due on letters coming from that Kingdom to the United States, 
 shall be demanded or received in the United States, nor any American 
 postage, due on letters going from the United States to France, shall 
 there be demanded or received. The packet postage on letters 
 passing by packets to or from France and the United States, to belong 
 to the sovereign whose packet shall' carry such letters. 
 
 •3d. And as his most Christian Majesty has, in order to promote 
 and facilitate the intercourse and correspondence between the two 
 countries, been pleased to establish packets at L' Orient, which sail 
 once a month from that place to New York, it is agreed that all 
 letters intended to be transmitted from L'Orient to New York by the 
 said packets, shall be put up into a mail by the Post Office at L'Orient, 
 which mail, sealed with the known and acknowledged seal of that 
 Post Office, and directed to the Post Office at New York, shall, on 
 its arrival at New York, be immediately delivered to the said Post 
 Office, where the same shall be opened by the Postmaster, in the 
 presence of the Consul or Vice Consul of France there residing, or 
 of the French agent for the said packets, and all such letters as may ' 
 be found therein franked by the French Ministers, or either of the 
 great Departments, shall be immediately delivered to the said Consul, 
 Vice Consul, or agent, to be forwarded and transmitted in such manner 
 as he or they may think proper. And further, that whenever, and as 
 often as the Postmaster at New York shall receive from a captain of 
 one of the said packets a mail so put up and directed, and being in 
 good order, he shall give to the said captain a receipt for the same, 
 mentioning therein the name of the captain and packet who brought 
 it, the time when received, and that the same was in good order. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 203 
 
 4th. That all letters intended to be transmitted from New York 
 by one of said packets to L'Orient, shall be put up into a mail by 
 the Post Office at New York, which mail, sealed with the known 
 and acknowledged seal of the said office, and directed to the Post 
 Office at L'Orient, shall, at the stated times appointed for the sailing 
 of a packet, be delivered by the said Postmaster to the captain 
 thereof, who shall thereupon give him a receipt for the same ; speci- 
 fying when he received it and that it was in good order. 
 
 5th. That whenever one of the said mails shall arrive at L'Orient, 
 and be delivered to the Postmaster there, it shall be opened in the 
 presence of the Consul, Vice Consul, or Agent of the United States, 
 there residing, to whom all such letters found therein as may be 
 franked by the President of Congress or either of the Ministers of 
 the great departments, shall be immediately delivered, and they shall 
 be forwarded and transmitted in any manner that the said Consul, 
 Vice Consul, or agent may think proper. But they, or such one of 
 them, to whom the said letters shall be so delivered, shall, without 
 delay, give a proper receipt for the same to the Post Office. 
 
 6th. The Director of the Post Office at L'Orient and the Post- 
 master at New York shall, with every mail, send each other a letter 
 of advice, specifying the number of letters enclosed in it, which said 
 letters shall be counted on the opening of the mail, to determine 
 whether the number received be the same with the number sent. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, April 18, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you, herewith, a note which I 
 request you to lay before Congress. It is in consequence of the 
 pressing orders which I have received by the last packet. I make 
 no doubt but that the importance of the objects it contains will 
 induce you to propose to that assembly to take them into considera- 
 tion as soon as possible. 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., 
 
 OTTO. 
 
204 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, April 18, 1186. 
 
 The undersigned, Charge d' Affaires of France, has received 
 express orders to remind Congress that a convention relating to the 
 functions of the respective Consuls, was signed between his Majesty 
 and the United States, on the 29th July, 1784, and that the ratifi- 
 cations have not, as yet, been exchanged. The King being desirous 
 that this formality should be no longer deferred, on account of the 
 inconveniences resulting from the delay it has met with, requests 
 that Congress will send their ratification to Mr. Jefferson as soon as 
 possible, to be exchanged for that of his Majesty. 
 
 The undersigned takes the liberty to observe that there has not, 
 as yet, been any answer returned to the memorial which he had the 
 honor to present to Congress in the name of his Majesty, the 30th 
 of November last, of the contents of which he has received orders 
 to remind this assembly. 
 
 OTTO. 
 
 KEPORi" OF SECRETARY JAT, RELATIVE TO A MOTION OP THE HON. 
 W. PINCKNET, &C. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affaii-s, Mai-di 9, 1786. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a motion of the Hon. W. Pinckney, 
 in the words following, viz : " That the Secretary for Foreign 
 ' Affairs be directed to inform the Charge d' Affaires of France 
 ' that Congress have received his late memorial. That the subject 
 ' thereof is under their consideration, and that they will use every 
 ' endeavor in their power to comply fully with their public engage- 
 ' ments ;" reports. 
 
 That, in his opinion, it will always be more proper to convey 
 what Congress may think proper to communicate to a foreign sover- 
 eign through their own Minister at his Court, than through his 
 Minister residing at theirs. Wherefore your Secretary thinks that a 
 copy of the memorial in question should be sent to Mr. Jefferson, 
 with orders to assure his most Christian Majesty that Congress are 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 205 
 
 using their utmost endeavors to fulfil all their engagements ; and that 
 although they regard all the public creditors with an equal eye, yet 
 as they find themselves particularly called upon by gratitude, as well 
 as by justice, to convince his Majesty of their regard for both, they 
 are determined to make the stipulated payments with as much punc- 
 tuality and as little delay as circumstances not in their power to 
 control may permit. 
 
 Your Secretary also thinks it would be well to permit him to 
 acquaint M. Otto with the substance of the above instruction, that 
 he may be relieved from the anxiety which the apparent silence of 
 Congress on the subject would naturally give him. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 THE SCHEME OF A CONVENTION BETWEEN HIS MOST CHRISTIAN 
 MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, FOR 
 DEFINING AND REGULATING THE FUNCTIONS AND PRIVILEGES OF 
 CONSULS, VICE CONSULS, AGENTS, AND COMMISSARIES. 
 
 The most Christian King and the United States of North America 
 having, by the 29th article of the treaty of amity and commerce 
 concluded between them, granted mutually the liberty of having 
 each in the ports of the other Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, and 
 Commissaries, and being willing, in consequence thereof, to determine 
 and fix in a reciprocal and permanent manner the functions and 
 prerogatives of the said Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, and Commis- 
 saries respectively, have agreed as follows : 
 
 Article I. It shall be the duty of the Consuls of his most 
 Christian Majesty to present their commissions in the first instance 
 to the United States in Congress assembled, by whom an act shall 
 be made recognizing them as such. This act shall be delivered by 
 the Consuls to the supreme Executive power of the State or States 
 to which they may be sent. Two copies of the exequatur, that is, 
 a pijblic notification of the quality of the Consuls, shall thereupon 
 issue from the supreme Executive power, without fees or perquisites 
 of office, and to be retained by the Consuls ; the other to be published 
 in. one or more gazettes. This being done, the preeminences, 
 
206 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 authority, and privileges stipulated in this convention shall be allowed 
 to them inl all places, before all tribunals, and by all persons. 
 
 Article II. The Consuls of his most Christian Majesty, and of 
 the United States, may appoint any number of Vice Consuls within 
 their respectivedepartments. Upon the notification of their appoint- 
 ment by the Consuls to the supreme Executive power of the State 
 to which they may be sent, the exequatur shall be applied for, and 
 delivered by the several States to them, in the same manner as to 
 the Consuls, and thereupon all the preeminences, authority and 
 privileges stipulated in this convention in favor of Vice Consuls shall 
 be allowed in all places, before all tribunals, and by all persons. 
 
 Article III. Consuls and Vice Consuls shall be subjects or 
 citizens of the Power appointing them, and interdicted from all 
 traffic or commerce for their own or others' benefit. 
 
 Article IV. Consuls may also appoint any numbeir of agents 
 within their departments, who may be of their own nation or not, 
 at pleasure. They shall receive a commission from the Consul 
 appointing. They shall not assume any preeminence, authority, or 
 privilege herein granted to Consuls or Vice Consuls, nor exact any 
 fees or reward under any pretence whatever. But they shall confine 
 themselves wholly to the assistance of merchants, mariners, and 
 vessels, and giving information respecting them to the nearest Consul 
 or Vice Consul. 
 
 Article V. There may be attached to the Consulate, at the will 
 of the Consuls, within their department, any number of persons. 
 Neither the papers nor houses of Consuls or Vice Consuls shall be 
 searched. Consuls and Vice Consuls shall enjoy full and entire 
 immunities for their persons, and be exempt from personal service, 
 pubhc offices, finding quarters for soldiers, militia duty, watch ward, 
 guardianship, attorneyship, committeeship, and from all duties, taxes, 
 and imposts whatsoever on moveable property ; but shall be liable 
 in respect of real and landed property in the same manner as the 
 subjects or citizens of the country. The arms of his most Christian 
 Majesty or of the United States, as the case may be, shall be placed 
 upon the outer door of their house, and being so placed shall entitle 
 the house to the exemptions aforesaid. But no asylum shall be 
 thereby obtained for malefactors or criminals, who shall be delivered 
 up immediately on demand. The same privileges and immunities 
 as those granted in this fifth article to Consuls and Vice Consuls 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 207 
 
 shall be granted to persons attached to the Consulate, and living 
 under the same roof with the Consuls or Vice Consuls, provided 
 approbation shall be given of their number and appointment by the 
 supreme Executive power of the State to which they may belong. 
 
 Article VI. Consuls, and Vice Consuls in places where there 
 are no Consuls, may have a chapel in their house for the celebration 
 of divine service according to their religious profession. And his 
 most Christian Majesty and the United States shall cause particular 
 care to be taken that no obstacle or hindrance be thrown in the way 
 of the funeral obsequies or ceremonies observed towards the deceased 
 of either nation. 
 
 Aeticle VII. In all cases in which it may be necessary that the 
 Consuls or Vice Consuls should perform any judicial or official act, 
 the public bodies or the persons in public authority who shall require 
 such act, shall either inform them thereof in writing or send a military 
 or civil officer with a verbal message respecting it. And the Consuls 
 or Vice Consuls shall, on their part, readily and bona fide do what- 
 soever may be demanded of them on these occasions. 
 
 Article VIII. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, 
 may establish a chancery, as a depository of the consular acts and 
 deliberations, of eflects left by the dead or saved from shipwreck, of 
 testaments, obligations, contracts, and all other acts or things done 
 by or between people of their nation. They may appoint the officers 
 of the chancery, administer to them an oath of office, entrust to them 
 the keeping of the seal, and the right of affixing the same to com- 
 missions, judgments, and other consular acts, and empower them to 
 discharge the functions of notaries and registers. 
 
 Article IX. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, shall 
 have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board 
 of vessels of their nation, all the declarations and other acts which 
 the captains, masters, seamen, passengers, or merchants of their 
 nation shall think proper to make or lodge therein ; and last wills 
 and testaments, and copies of any acts duly authenticated by the 
 Consuls or Vice Consuls, and under the seal of their consulate, shall 
 receive full faith and credit in all courts of justice, as well in France 
 as in the United States. They shall also have the exclusive right of 
 inventoring the effects of those of th«ir nation who may die within 
 their consulate, liquidating their accounts, and selling their moveable 
 property. They shall call to their assistance in this business two 
 
208 JOHN JAY—SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 merchants of their own nation, and of their own choice, and cause 
 to be deposited in the chancery the effects and papers of the deceased 
 of their own nation, without being interrupted therein by any officer, 
 military, judicial, or of the pohce. But neither the Consuls nor 
 Vice Consuls shall deliver the effects of the deceased, or the produce 
 of the sales, over to the heir or lawful successor, or his representative 
 or attorney, until all the debts which the deceased shall have con- 
 tracted by judgment, act, or bill, shall be discharged. The signature 
 or hand-writing and genuineness thereof being first certified by two 
 merchants of the same nation with the deceased, and of reputation. 
 In all other cases payment of no debt shall be made unless the 
 creditor shall first enter into a bond, with one sufficient surety at 
 least, who is a resident on the spot, for the return of all moneys 
 unduly received, as well the principal as interest and costs. The 
 surety shall not be bound beyond one year in time of peace, and two 
 years in time of war. If, however, within those terms, the creditor 
 shall call upon the lawful representative or successor to the property 
 of the deceased, by a proper legal process, and prove his title to the 
 money so received, the surety shall stand discharged. 
 
 Abticle X. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, shall 
 receive the declarations,* consulats, or other consular acts, of all 
 captains and masters of their respective nations, for damages received 
 at sea, by lealcage or the throwing of goods overboard. And all 
 consulats, or other consular acts, made by them in foreign ports for 
 accidents during the voyage, shall be lodged in the chancery afore- 
 said. If a subject of France and a citizen of the United States be 
 jointly interested in the cargo, the damage shall be settled by the 
 tribunals of the country, not by the Consuls or Vice Consuls. But 
 where subjects or citizens of their own nation are alone interested, 
 the Consul or Vice Consul shall then choose experienced persons of 
 their respective nations, to settle the same. 
 
 Article XL In every case of a wreck, the nearest Consul or 
 Vice Consul may exercise his discretion in saving the vessel wrecked, 
 with her cargo and appurtenances, and in storing and securing what 
 is saved ; and may also take an inventory thereof. In this business, 
 no officers of the customs, of justice, of the police, or naval officer, 
 shall interfere, but upon application made to them for their assistance ; 
 
 * Protests. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 209 
 
 in which case they shall exert themselves in the most effectual manner. 
 To prevent all clashing of jurisdictions in case of shipwreck, it is 
 agreed, that where there shall be no Consul or Vice Consul, or they 
 may be more distant from the place of the accident than the judge 
 of the country having authority in such cases, this judge shall imme- 
 diately proceed tq the exercise of his authority according to law ; but 
 shall retire upon the coming of a Consul or Vice Consul, into whose 
 hands he shall put the whole business, rendering an account of his 
 transactions, and receiving from the Consul or Vice Consul reim- 
 bursements for all expenses. Whatsoever is saved shall be lodged 
 in the' nearest custom-house or naval office ; or where there is no 
 custom-house or naval office, in the nearest place of security, with 
 an inventory, prepared by the Consul or Vice Consul, or, in their 
 absence, by the judge of the country as aforesaid. Upon the order 
 of the nearest Consul or Vice Consul, and without any fees or 
 perquisites for storage, when lodged in public stores, the owner may 
 reclaim the property so saved, in person or by attorney, and may 
 either reexport the same, free from all duties of exportation, or sell 
 it in the country, if goods of such a quality be not prohibited. In 
 this latter case, of a sale of unprohibited goods, there shall be an 
 abatement of the duties on importation in proportion to the damages 
 sustained by the shipwreck, to be determined by the account taken 
 by the Consul, Vice Consul, or judge of the country, or any other 
 competent officer at the time of the accident. 
 
 Article XII. The Consuls and Vice Consuls shall have, on 
 board of the vessels of their respective nations, all power and juris- 
 diction in matters of a civil nature. They shall have the power of 
 causing the laws, regulations, and ordinances of their respective 
 nations concerning navigation, to be observed on board of their said 
 vessels. For this purpose, they shall freely, and without any molesta- 
 tion or hindrance from any officer or other person, visit the said vessels. 
 They may cause to be arrested and sequestered, every vessel carrying 
 the flag of their respective nations, and even send them back to. 
 France or the United States, as the case may be, as well as arrest 
 any captain, master, seaman, or passenger, of their respective nations. 
 They may cause to be arrested and detained in the country, sailors 
 and deserters of their respective nations, or cause them to be trans- 
 ported therefrom. It shall be a sufficient evidence of the sailors and 
 deserters belonging to their respective nations, if their names appeal 
 Vol. L— 14 
 
210 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 in the register of the vessel, or the roll of their crew. Proof being 
 thus made concerning sailors and deserters, all tribunals, judges, and 
 officers whatsoever, shall be interdicted and disabled from taking 
 cognizance in any manner of complaints exhibited by such sailors or 
 deserters. But they shall be delivered up to an order signed by the 
 Consuls or Vice Consuls, without being detained, engaged, or with- 
 drawn in any manner. That these powers, vested in Consuls and 
 Vice Consuls, may be completely executed, all persons in authority 
 shall assist them ; and upon a simple requisition made by the Consuls 
 or Vice Consuls in writing, shall cause, to be kept in prison, at the 
 disposal and cost of the Consuls or Vice Consuls, the sailors and 
 deserters so arrested, until an opportunity shall be presented of 
 sending them out of the country. 
 
 Article XIII. All offences committed in France, by a citizen 
 of the United States, against a subject of his most Christian Majesty, 
 shall be inquired into and punished according to the laws of France ; 
 and those committed in any one of the United States, by a subject 
 of his most Christian Majesty, against a citizen of the United States, 
 shall be inquired into and punished according to the laws of such 
 State ; but offences commi-ited in France, by a citizen of the United 
 States, against a citizen of the United States, or committed in any 
 one of the United States, by a subject of his most Christian Majesty, 
 against a subject of his most Christian Majesty, shall be subject to 
 the jurisdiction of the Consuls and Vice Consuls of France or of 
 the United States, as the case may be. 
 
 Akticle XIV. All differences and disputes between the subjects 
 of his most Christian Majesty in the United States, or between the 
 citizens of the United States in France, and all differences and 
 disputes concerning commerce between the subjects of his most 
 Christian Majesty, one party being resident in France or elsewhere, 
 and another in the United States, or between tlie citizens of the 
 United States, one party being resident in the United States or 
 elsewhere, and another in France, shall be heard, tried, and decided 
 on by the Consuls or Vice Consuls of their respective nations, either 
 by referring the same to arbitration, or by making a decree summarily, 
 and without costs. No officer, civil or military, shall intermeddle or 
 interpose herein in any respect. Appeals shall be carried to such 
 courts as have been, or may be appointed by his most Christian 
 Majesty and the United States respectively. No disputes or differ- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 21 1 
 
 ences between a subject of his most Christian Majesty and a citizen 
 of the United States shall be determined or taken up in any manner 
 by the Consuls or Vice Consuls, but shall be decided by the courts 
 of the country in which the defendant shall be found. 
 
 Article XV. The advantages to commerce having caused the 
 erection of certain tribunals in France, and particular forms for the 
 speedy determination of commercial matters, the merchants of the 
 United States shall enjoy the benefits of those establishments in 
 France ; and the United States in Congress assembled will recom- 
 mend to the Legislatures of the several States to establish equal 
 advantages in the speedy decision of causes in favor of French 
 merchants in matters of the same nature. 
 
 Article XVI. The subjects of his most Christian Majesty and 
 the citizens of the United States shall be exempt from all personal 
 services in the place of their residence, either in France or the United 
 States as the case may be. Whensoever any person in France or 
 the United States, as the case may be, shall claim any privilege or 
 exemption as a subject of his most Christian Majesty or of the United 
 States, before any judge, tribunal, or officer whatsoever, a certificate 
 of the Consul or Vice Consul of the district containing his name, 
 surname, and the place of his residence, and the affidavit of the 
 person claiming such privilege or exemption that he is a subject of 
 his most Christian Majesty or of the United States, as the case may 
 be, shall be sufficient evidence thereof unless the contrary shall 
 manifestly appear. 
 
 Article XVII. Conformably to the 3d and 4th articles of the 
 treaty of amity and commerce between his most Christian Majesty 
 and the United States, if any other nation, by virtue of any convention 
 whatsoever, shall receive greater indulgence either in France or in 
 the United States, with regard to consular powers, privileges, or 
 authority, the Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries of 
 France and of the United States, as the case may be, shall participate 
 therein. 
 
 CONVENTION BETWEEN HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY AND THE 
 THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OP NORTH AMERICA, FOR THE PURPOSE 
 OF DETERMINING AND FIXING THE FUNCTIONS AND PREROGATIVES 
 OF THEIR RESPECTIVE CONSULS, VICE CONSULS, AGENTS, AND 
 COMMISSARIES. 
 
 His Majesty the most Christian King, and the thirteen United 
 
212 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 States of North America having, by the 29th article of the treaty of 
 amity and commerce concluded between them, mutually granted the 
 liberty of having, in their respective States and ports, Consuls, Vice 
 Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries, and being willing in consequence 
 thereof to determine and fix, in a reciprocal and permanent manner, 
 functions and prerogatives of the said Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, 
 and Commissaries, his most Christian Majesty has nominated the 
 Sieur Charles Gravier, Count of Vergennes, Baron of Welfe^ding, 
 Stc, Counsellor of the King in all his Councils, Commander of his 
 Orders, head of the Royal Council of Finances, Counsellor of the 
 state of the Sword, Minister and Secretary of State, and of his 
 Commands and Finances ; and the United States, the Sieur 
 benjamin Franklin, their Minister Plenipotentiary to his most 
 Christian Majesty, who, after having communicated to each other 
 their respective full powers, agreed upon what follows : 
 
 Article I. The Consuls and Vice Consuls nominated by his 
 most Christian Majesty and the United States, shall be bound to 
 present their commissions on their arrival in the respective States, 
 according to the form which shall be there established. There shall 
 be delivered to them without any charges the exequatur necessary 
 for the exercise of their functions ; and on the exhibition they shall 
 make of the said exequatur, the governors, commanders, heads of 
 justice, public bodies, tribunals, and other ofBcers having authority in 
 the ports and places of their consulates, shall cause them to enjoy as 
 soon as possible and without difficulty the preeminences, authority, 
 and privileges reciprocally granted, without exacting from the said 
 Consuls and Vice Consuls any duty under any pretext whatever. 
 
 Article II. The respective Consuls shall have power to establish 
 Vice Consuls in the different ports and places of their departments 
 where necessity shall require. There shall be delivered to them 
 likewise the exequatur necessary to the exercise of their functions in 
 the form pointed out by the preceding article, and on the exhibition 
 which they shall make of the said exequatur, they shall be admitted 
 and acknowledged in the terms and according to the powers, 
 authority, and privileges stipulated by the 1st, 4th, and 5th articles 
 of the present convention. 
 
 Article III. The respective Consuls and Vice Consuls may 
 establish agents in the different ports and places of their departments 
 where necessity shall require. These agents may be chosen among 
 the merchants, either national or foreign, and furnished with a 
 
biPLOMATIC CORRESPONBENQE. 213 
 
 commission from one of the said Consuls. It shall be tfteir business, 
 respectively, to render to their respective merchants, navigators, and 
 vessels all possible service, and to inform the nearest Consul or Vice 
 Consul of the wants of the said merchants, navigators, and vessels, 
 without the said agents dtherwise participating in the immunities, 
 rights, and privileges attributed to the Consuls and Vice Consuls, 
 and without power to exact from the said merchants any duty or 
 emolument whatever under any pretext whatsoever. 
 
 Article IV. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, the officers of the 
 consulate, and in general all persons attached to the consular function 
 shall enjoy, respectively, a full and entire immunity for their persons, 
 their papers, euid their houses. The list of the said persons shall be 
 approved and inspected by the executive power of the place of their 
 residence. 
 
 They shall be exempt from all personal service and public offices, 
 from soldiers' billets, militia, watchguard, guardianship, and trustee- 
 ship, as well as from all duties, taxes, impositions, and charges 
 whatsoever, except the real estates of which they may be proprietors, 
 which shall be subject to the taxes imposed on the estates of all other 
 individuals. 
 
 They shall place over the outward door of their house the arms of 
 their sovereign without ; that this mark of distinction shall give to the 
 said house the right of asylum for any malefactor or criminal, so that 
 in case it should happen that any malefactor or criminal takes refuge 
 there, he shall instantly be delivered up on the first requisition and 
 without difficulty. 
 
 Article V. Generally in all cases whatever which concerii the 
 police or administration of justice, where it may be necessary to have 
 a juridical declaration from the said Consuls and Vice Consuls, 
 respectively, the governors, commandants, chief justice, public 
 bodies, tribunals, or other officers whatever of their respective 
 residence there having authority, shall be boimd to inform them of 
 it by writing to them, or sending to them a military or civil officer 
 to let them know either the object which is proposed, or the necessity 
 there is for going to them to demand from them this declaration ; and 
 the said Consuls and Vice Consuls shall be bound on their part to 
 comply faithfully with what shall be desired of them on these 
 occasions. 
 
 Article VI. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, may 
 
214 JOHN JAY-^SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 establish a chancery, where shall be deposited the consular acts and 
 deliberations, all effects left by deceased persons, or saved from 
 shipwreck, as well as testaments, obligations, contracts, and in general 
 all the acts and proceedings done between or by persons of their 
 nation. 
 
 They may in consequence appoint for the business of the said 
 chancery capable persons, receive them, administer an oath to them, 
 give to them the keeping of the seal, and the right of sealing com- 
 missions, judgments, and other acts of the consulate, as well as there 
 to discharge the functions of notaries and registers. 
 
 Article VII. The Consuls and Vice Consuls, respectively, shall 
 have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board 
 of vessels, the declarations and all the other acts which the captains, 
 masters, seamen, passengers, and merchants of their nation would 
 make there, even their testaments, and other dispositions of last will ; 
 and the copies of the said acts, duly authenticated by the said Consuls 
 or Vice Consuls, and under the seal of their consulate, shall receive 
 faith in law in all the tribunals of Frarce and the United States. 
 
 Tliey shall have, also, and exclusively, the right to inventory, 
 liquidate, and proceed to the sale of the moveable effects of the 
 estates left by subjects of their nation who shall die within the extent 
 of their consulate. They shall proceed therein with the assistance 
 of two merchants of their said nation, of their own choosing, and 
 shall deposit in their chancery the effects and papers of the said 
 estates; and no ofBcer, military or civil, or of the police of the 
 country, shall trouble them, or interfere therein, in any manner what- 
 soever. But the said Consuls and Vice Consuls shall not deliver 
 up the same and their product to the lawful heirs or theh- attorneys, 
 until they shall have discharged all the debts which the deceased 
 shall have contracted in the country, by judgment, by acts, or by 
 notes, the writing and signing of which shall be known and certified 
 by two principal merchants of the nation of the said deceased ; and 
 in all other cases the payment of debts cannot be ordered but on the 
 creditors giving sufficient and local security to repay the sums unduly 
 received, principal, interest, and costs ; which securities, however, 
 shall remain duly discharged after a year in time of peace, and two 
 years in time of war, if the demand in discharge cannot be formed 
 before these delays against the heirs which shall present themselves. 
 
 Article VIII. The respective Consuls and Vice Consuls shall 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. . 215 
 
 receive the declarations, "comulats," and other consular acts, from 
 all captains and masters of their respective nations, on account of 
 average, losses sustained at sea by leakage or throwing merchandize 
 overboard ; and these captains and masters shall leave in the chancery 
 of the said Consuls and Vice Consuls the " consulats," and other 
 consular acts which they may have had made in other ports on 
 account of the accidents which may have happened to them on their 
 voyage. If a subject of his most Christian Majesty and a citizen of 
 the United States are interested in the said cargo, the average shall 
 be fixed by the tribunals of the country, and not by the Consuls or 
 Vice Consuls ; and the tribunals shall admit the acts and declarations, 
 if any should have been passed before the said Consuls and Vice 
 Consuls ; but when only the subjects of their own nation, or foreigners, 
 shall be interested, the respective Consuls or Vice Consuls, and in 
 case of their absence or distance, their agents furnished with their 
 commission, shall officially nominate skilful persons of their said 
 nation to regulate the damages and averages. 
 
 Article IX. In case, by storm or other accidents, French ships 
 or vessels shall run ashore on the coasts of the United States, and 
 the ships and vessels of the United States shall run ashore on the 
 coasts of France, the Consul or Vice Consul nearest to the place of 
 shipwreck shall do whatever he may judge proper, as well for the 
 purpose of saving the said ship or vessel, its cargo and appurtenances, 
 as for the storing and security of the effects and merchandize saved. 
 He may take an inventory, without any officers military, of the 
 custom-house, justices, or the police of the country interfering, other- 
 wise than to facilitate to the Consuls, Vice Consuls, captain and crew 
 of the vessel shipwrecked or run ashore, all the assistance and favor 
 which they shall ask, either for the celerity and security of the salvage 
 and effects saved, or to prevent all disturbances. 
 
 To prevent even any kind of dispute and discussion in the said 
 cases of shipwreck, it has been agreed that where no Consijl or Vice 
 Consul shall be found to attend to the salvage, or that the residence 
 of the said Consul or Vice Consul (he not being at the place of 
 shipwreck) shall be further distant from the said place than that of 
 the competent territorial judge, the latter shall immediately there 
 proceed therein with all the celerity, safety, and precautions prescribed 
 by the respective laws ; but the said territorial judge shall retire on 
 the coming of the Consul or Vice Consul, and shall resign to him 
 
216 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 the procedures by him done, the expenses of which the Consul or 
 Vice Consul shall cause to be reimbursed to him. 
 
 The merchandize and effects saved shall be deposited in the 
 custom-house, or other nearest place of safety, with the inventory of 
 them, which shall be made by the Consul or Vice Consul, or, in 
 their absence, by the judge who shall have had cognizance thereof, 
 and the said merchandizes and effects shall be afterwards delivered, 
 after levying therefrom the costs, and without form of process to the 
 proprietors, who, being furnished with a replevy from the nearest 
 Consul or Vice Consul, shall reclaim them by themselves, or by their 
 attorneys, either for the purpose of reexporting the merchandizes — 
 and in that case they shall pay no kind of duties of exportation — or 
 for the purpose of selling them in the country, if they are not pro- 
 hibited ; and in this latter case, the said merchandizes being averaged, 
 there shall be granted them an abatement of the entrance duties 
 ptoportioned to the damage sustained, which shall be ascertained by 
 the verbal process formed at the time of the shipwreck, or of the 
 vessel's running ashore. 
 
 Article X. The Consuls and Vice Consuls shall have on board 
 of the vessels of their respective nations full power and jurisdiction in 
 matters civil. They shall cause to be executed the respective laws; 
 ordinances, and rules concerning navigation on board of the said 
 vessels, and for this purpose they shall go there v/ithout being 
 interrupted by any officer or other person whatsoever. 
 
 They may cause to be arrested every vessel carrying the flag of 
 their respective nation ; they may sequester them, and even send 
 them back respectively from the United States to France, or from 
 France to the United States ; they may cause to be arrested, without 
 difficulty, every captain, master, sailor, or passenger of their said 
 respective nation. 
 
 They may cause to be arrested or detained in the country the 
 sailors and deserters of their respective nations, or send them back 
 or transport them out of the country. 
 
 It shall be a sufficient proof that the sailors and deserters belong 
 to one of the. respective nations that their names be written in the 
 ship's register or inserted in the roll of the crew. 
 
 One and the other of these proofs concerning sailors and deserters 
 being thus given, no tribunals, judges, or officers whatsoever shall,^ 
 in any manner whatever, take cognizance of the complaints which 
 
BIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 217 
 
 the said sailors and deserters may make, but they shall, on the 
 contrary, be delivered up on an order signed by the Consul or Vice 
 Consul, without its being in any one's power in any manner to 
 detain, engage, or withdraw them. And to attain to the complete 
 execution of the arrangements contained in this article, all persons 
 having authority shall be bound to assist the said Consuls and Vice 
 Consuls, and on a simple requisition signed by them, they shall cause 
 to be detained and guarded in prison, at the disposal and expense of 
 the said Consuls and Vice Consuls, the said sailors and deserters 
 until they shall have an opportunity to send them out of the country. 
 
 Article XI. In cases where the respective subjects shall have 
 committed any crime, they shall be amenable to the judges of the 
 country. 
 
 Article XII. All differences and suits between the subjects of 
 his most Christian Majesty settled in the United States, or between 
 the citizens and subjects of the United States settled in France, and 
 all differences and suits concerning commerce between the subjects 
 of his most Christian Majesty and one of the parties residing in 
 France or elsewhere, and the other in the United States, or between 
 the citizens and subjects of the United States, one of the parties 
 residing in the United States or elsewhere, and the other in France, 
 shall be determined by the respective Consuls, either by a reference 
 to arbitration or by a summary judgment and without costs. 
 
 No officer, civil or military, shall interfere or take any part what- 
 ever in the affair. Appeals shall be carried before the tribunals of 
 France or the United States, to whom it may appertain to take 
 cooTiizance thereof. The Consuls or Vice Consuls shall not take 
 cognizance of disputes or differences which shall arise betwixt a 
 subject of his most Christian Majesty and a citizen of the United 
 States ; but the said disputes shall be brought before the tribunals to 
 which the defendant shall be amenable. 
 
 Article XIII. The general utility of commerce having caused 
 to be established in France tribunals and particular forms to accel- 
 erate the decision of commercial affairs, the merchants of the United 
 States shall enjoy the benefit of these establishments in France, and 
 tlie Congress of the United States shall recommend to the Legisla- 
 tures of the different States to provide equivalent advantages in favor 
 of the French merchants, for the prompt despatch and decision of 
 affairs of the same nature. 
 
218 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Article XIV. The subjects of his most Christian Majesty and 
 those of the United States, who shall prove that they belong to the 
 body of their respective nations, by the certificate of the Consul or 
 Vice Consul of the districts, mentioning their names, surnames, and 
 place of their settlement, as inscribed in the registers of the consu- 
 late, shall not lose, for any cause whatever, in the respective domains 
 and States, the quality of subjects of the country of which they 
 originally were, conformably to the 11th article of the treaty of amity 
 and commerce, of the 6th February, 1778, of which the present 
 article shall serve as an interpretation in case of necessity, and the 
 said subjects respectively shall enjoy, in consequence, exemption 
 from all personal service in the place of their settlement. 
 
 Article XV. If any other nation acquires, by virtue of any 
 convention whatever, either in France or in the United States, a 
 treatment more favorable with respect to the consular preeminences, 
 powers, authority, and privileges, the Consuls, Vice Consuls, and 
 Agents of his most Christian Majesty or the United States, recipro- 
 cally shall participate therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated 
 therein, agreeable to the terms stipulated by the 2d, 3d, and 4th 
 articles of the treaty of amity and commerce, concluded between 
 his most Christian Majesty and the United States. 
 
 Article XVI. The ratification of the present convention shall 
 be given in proper form, and exchanged on both sides within the 
 space of six months, or sooner if possible. 
 
 In faith whereof, we, the underwritten Ministers Plenipotentiaries 
 of his most Christian Majesty and the United States of North 
 America, have signed the present convention, and have thereto 
 affixed the seal of our arms. 
 
 Done at Versailles, the 29th July, one thousand seven hundred 
 and eighty-four. 
 
 GRAVIER DE VERGENNES, 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Faithfully translated from the original, by 
 
 JOHN PINTARD. 
 
 REPORT OF SECRETARY JAY, RESPECTING FRENCH AND AMERICAN 
 
 CONSULS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 4, 1786. 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 219 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a copy of the Convention respecting 
 
 French and American Consuls, reports, 
 
 That 'the convention, of which the abovementioned is a copy, 
 having been formally executed by French and American Pleni- 
 potentiaries, nothing is wanting to perfect that compact but the 
 ratifications specified in the 16th article. 
 
 The only question, therefore, that remains to be decided is whether 
 Congress ought to ratify this convention. * 
 
 To decide this question properly it appears necessary, 
 
 1st. To recur to the powers and instructions given to their 
 Minister on this subject, and inquire whether he has pursued them 
 essentially ; and 2d, whether, in case of deviations, they are of such 
 a nature as to justify a refusal to ratify. 
 
 It is to be observed that on the 25th January, 1782, Congress 
 resolved that the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at 
 the court of Versailles be, and is hereby, authorized and instructed 
 to enter into a convention with his most Christian Majesty, on the 
 part of the United States, for the establishment of consular powers 
 and privileges, according to the scheme hereunto subjoined, unless it 
 shall be deemed by his most Christian Majesty more expedient that 
 the same should be executed in the United States. 
 
 That the said Minister Plenipotentiary use his discretion as to the 
 words or arrangement of the convention, confining himself to the 
 matter thereof in all respects, except as to so much of the 6th 
 article as relates to the erection of a chapel, taking care that recip- 
 rocal provision be made for the recognition of the Consuls and Vice 
 Consuls of the United States, and for the admission of persons 
 attached to the consulate to the privileges stipulated in the 5th 
 article, in a manner most conducive to expedition, and freest from 
 difficulty. 
 
 This is the only instruction, as well as the only authority, given 
 on the subject to the American Minister, that your Secretary finds. 
 
 SCHEME TITLE. CONVENTION TITLE. 
 
 Convention between his most Christian Convention between his most Christian 
 Majesty and the United Stales of J^orth Majesty and the Thirteen United States 
 America, for defining and regulating the of J^orth Jimeiira, for the purpose of de- 
 functions and privileges of Consuls, Vice termining and fixing the functions and 
 Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries. prerogatives of their respective Consuls, 
 
 Vice Consuls, Agents, and Coramissa- 
 
220 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 The style of the Confederacy being "The United States of 
 America," the scheme and the convention are both erroneous so far 
 as they both add the word " North." But the title of the 'conven- 
 tion departs essentially from that of the scheme, inasmuch as it limits 
 the compact to the thirteen United States of America, and conse- 
 quently excludes from it all such other States as might, before the 
 ratification of it, or in future be created by or become parties to the 
 Confederacy ; whereas, the words in the title of the scheme. United 
 States of North America, would, if used, have comprehended them 
 all. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 Article I. It shall be the duty of the Article I. The Consuls and Vice 
 Consuls of his most Christian Majesty Consuls nominated by his most Christian 
 to present their commissions in the first in- Majesty and the United States shall be 
 stance to the United States in Congress as- bound to present their commissions o» their 
 sembled, by whom an act shall be made arrival in the respective States, according to 
 recognizing them as such. This act shall the form which shall he there established. 
 be deUvered by the Consuls to the su- There shall be delivered to them, without 
 preme Executive power of the State or any charges, the exequatur necessary for 
 States to which they may be sent. the exercise of their functions; and, on 
 
 Two copies of the eiregur»(«r (that is, a the exhibition they shedl make of the 
 public notification of the quality of the exequatur, the Governor, &c. , having 
 Consuls,) shall thereupon issue from the authority in the ports and places of their 
 supreme Executive power, without fees consulates, shall cause them to enjoy, as 
 or perquisites of office; one to be retained soon as possible, and without difficulty, 
 by the Consuls, the other to be published the preeminences, &c. 
 in one or more gazettes. This being 
 done, the preeminences, &c., shall be 
 allowed to them, &c. 
 
 The scheme expressly directs that their commissions shall, in the 
 first instance, be presented to Congress, but the convention, by 
 omitting this, seems to intend something else. It indeed directs that 
 they shall present their commissions on their arrival in the respective 
 States, according to the form, " qui s'y trouvera etablie," which shall 
 be there found established, but whether established by the State or 
 by Congress, is undecided. 
 
 The second article in both appear to be alike in substance. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 Article III. Consuls or Vice Consuls 
 shall be subjects or citizens of the Power 
 appointing them, and interdicted from 
 all traffic or commerce for their own or 
 another's benefit. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 221 
 
 This article is wholly omitted in the convention, and that omission 
 is an essential, though perhaps not in itself a very important, deviation 
 from the scheme. 
 
 The fourth article in the scheme, and the third in the convention, 
 respecting agents, differ essentially only in this, that the former has 
 these words: "Nor exact any fees or reward under any pretence 
 whatever," whereas the latter seems to limit that prohibition by 
 these words ; " and without power to exact from the said merchants 
 any duty or etnoluments whatever, under any pretext whatsoever." 
 
 The fifth article in the scheme and the fourth article in the con- 
 vention have no material difference. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 Article VI. Consuls (and Vice Con- 
 suls in places where there are no Consuls) 
 may have a chapel in their houses for 
 the celebration of Divine service, accord-, 
 ing to their religious profession ; and his 
 most Christian Majesty and the United 
 States shall cause particular care to be 
 taken that no obstacle or hindrance be 
 thrown in the way of the funeral obse- 
 quies or ceremonies observed towards 
 the deceased of either nation. 
 
 This article is omitted in the conrention. By the instruction 
 given to the Minister, that matter seems to have been left to his 
 discretion. The omission, however, appears important to your Sec- 
 retary, from this consideration, that although the Catholic religion 
 may be freely and publicly professed and exercised in the United 
 States, yet the Protestant religion has no legal toleration in France. 
 This omission, thsrefore, is a departure from the line of reciprocity. 
 
 The seventh article in the scheme and the fifth in the convention 
 are much alike. 
 
 The eighth article in the scheme and the sixth in the convention 
 are similar. 
 
 The ninth article in the scheme and the seventh in the convention 
 also correspond. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 Extract from the tenth article on average. Extract from the eighth article on average. 
 
 If a subject of France and a citizen of If a subject of his most Christian 
 
 the United States be jointly interested in Majesty and a citizen of the United 
 
 the cargo, the damage shall be settled States are interested in the said cargo, 
 
222 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 by the tribunals of the country, not by the average shall be fixed by the tribu- 
 the Consuls or "Vice Consuls. nals of the country, and not by the Con- 
 
 But where subjects, citizens of their suls or Vice Consuls, and the tribunals 
 own nation, are alone interested, the shall adm,it the acts and declarations, if any 
 Consul or Vice Consul shall then choose should have been passed before the said Con- 
 experienced persons of their respective suls and Vice Consuls, 
 nations to settle the same. But when only the subjects of their 
 
 , own nation or foreigners shall be inter- 
 
 ested, the respective Consuls or Vice 
 Consuls, and in cast of their absence or 
 distance, their agents, famished with their 
 commission, shall officially nominate skilful 
 persons of their said nation to regulate 
 the damages and averages. 
 
 The convention here appears to differ materially from the scheme 
 in three respects : 1st. As it provides for the admission in evidence 
 by our tribunals of acts and declarations passed before Consuls and 
 Vice Consuls respecting the matter in controversy, and consequently 
 opens a door to ex parte affidavits. 2d. The scheme confines the 
 jurisdiction of Consuls and Vice Consuls to cases where none but 
 their own people are concerned ; whereas the convention extends it 
 to foreigners. 3d. The scheme authorizes none but Consuls or 
 Vice Consuls to appoint persons to settle the damages in question ; 
 but the convention makes an ulterior provision, and authorizes their 
 agents ex officio to do it in certain cases. 
 
 The eleventh article in the scheme and the ninth in the convention 
 are not materially different. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 Extract from 12(ft .Article. Extract from WthArHcle. 
 
 They (Consuls and Vice Consuls) may They may cause to be arrested every 
 cause to be arrested and sequestered every vessel carrying the flag of their respective 
 vessel carrying the flag of their respective nations. They may sequester them, 
 nations. They may cause to be arrested and ev(n send them hack respectively from 
 and detained in the country sailors and the United States to France, or' from 
 deserters of their respective nations, or France to the United States. They may 
 cause them to be transported therefrom. . cause to be arrested without difficulty 
 
 every captain, master, sailor, or passenger 
 of their said respective nations. They 
 may cause to be arrested and detaiijed 
 in the country the sailors and deserters 
 of their respective nations, or send thcni 
 back, or transport them out of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 These articles differ in these respects. The scheme does not 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 223 
 
 authorize the Consuls to send vessels back ; but the convention does. 
 The scheme does net authorize them to arrest captains and masters 
 of vessels; but the convention does. The scheme does not authorize 
 them to arrest passengers ; but the convention does. 
 
 CONVENTION. 
 
 11th Article. 
 
 In cases where the respective subjects 
 
 shall have committed any crime, they 
 
 shall be amenable to the judgfes of the 
 
 country. 
 
 SCHEME. 
 13th Article. 
 All offences committed in France by a 
 citizen of the United States against a 
 subject of his most Christian Majesty, 
 shall be inquired into and punished 
 according to the laws of France; those 
 committed in any one of the United States 
 by a subject ofhis most Christian Majesty 
 against a citizen of the United States, 
 shall be inquired into and punished 
 according to the laws of such State. 
 But offences committed in France by a 
 citizen of the United States against a 
 
 citizen of the United States, or committed ij 
 
 in any one of the United States by a 
 subject of his most Christian Majesty 
 against a. subject of his most Christian 
 Majesty, shall be subject to the jurisdic- 
 tion of the, Consuls and Vice Consuls of 
 France or the United States as the case 
 may be. 
 
 These two articles differ in this, that the one in the scheme gives 
 cognizance of certain offences to the Consuls and Vice Consuls, but 
 the one in the convention gives that cognizance to the Judges of the 
 country. 
 
 The 14th article in the scheme and the 12th in the convention 
 differ only in this, that the former refers certain offences, disputes, 
 and differences to the jurisdiction of the Consuls and Vice Consuls ; 
 whereas the latter is silent as to offences, and omits making any 
 mention of them. 
 
 The 15th article in the scheme and the 13th in the convention are 
 
 alike. 
 
 SCHEME. CONVENTION. 
 
 16th Article. 14th Article. 
 
 The subjects of his most Christian The subjects of his most Christian 
 
 Majesty and the citizens of the United Majesty and those of the United States, 
 
 States shall be exempt from all personal who shall prove that they belong to the 
 
 services in the place of their residence, body of their respective nations, by the 
 
 either in France or the United States, as certificate of the Consul or Vice Consul 
 
 the case may be: whensoever any person of the district, mentioning their names, 
 
224 JOHN JAY-SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 in France or the United States, as the- surnames, and place of their settlement 
 
 case may be, shall claim any privilege or as inscribed in the, registers of the consu- 
 
 exemptionof a subject of his Most Chris- late, shall not lose, /or any caust whatever, 
 
 tian Majesty, or of the United States, in the respective domains and States, tht 
 
 before any judge, tribunal, or officer quality of subjects of the country of 
 
 "whatsoever, a certificate of the Consul which they originally were, conformably 
 
 or Vice Consul of tlie district, containing to the 11th article of the treaty of amity 
 
 his name, surname, and the place of his and commerce of the 6th February, 1778, 
 
 residence, and the affidavit of the person of which the present article shall serve as 
 
 claiming such privilege or exemption an interpretation in case of necessity, 
 
 that he is a subject of his most Christian and the said subjects respectively shall 
 
 Majesty, or of the United States, as the enjoy, in consequence, exempiion from 
 
 case may be , shall be sufficient evidence all personal services in the place of their 
 
 thereof, unless the contrary shall mani- settlement, 
 festly appear. 
 
 These two articles vary from each other essentially : first, in that 
 the certificate of the Consul is by the convention made the sole and 
 exclusive proof of nationality; whereas the scheme requires also the 
 affidavit of the party, and makes that joint evidence conclusive only 
 in cases where the contrary shall not manifestly appear. Secondly, 
 in that the convention declares that persons having such certificates 
 shall not . lose, for any cause whatever, the quality of subjects of the 
 country of which they originally were ; whereas the scheme, by not 
 giving such operation to those certificates, leaves such persons within 
 the reach of naturalization. Thirdly, in that the convention makes 
 this article auxiliary to the 6th article of the treaty by declaring that 
 it shall serve as an interpretation in case of necessity ; whereas the 
 scheme does not constitute any connexion between this article and 
 the treaty. 
 
 There is no diflference between the 17th article in the scheme and 
 the 15th in the convention, except that the former refers only to the 
 3d and 4th articles of the treaty ; whereas the latter refers to the 2d, 
 3d, and 4th. 
 
 The convention contains an article, viz: the 16th, which provides 
 for the exchange of ratifications ; but there is no such artijcle in the 
 scheme. 
 
 It appeared proper to your Secretary thus particularly to state the 
 principal variances between the scheme and the convention, that 
 Congress may the more easily judge how far they correspond. The 
 deviations in question, though different in degrees of importance, yet 
 seem to be alike in this, that they depart from the matter of the 
 scheme, and not merely from the wording or arrangement of it. 
 
DIPI^OMATIC COREESPONDENCB. 225 
 
 As sovereigns treat and act with each other by their Ministers, it 
 becomes essential that the acts of those Ministers should not be 
 obligatory until after they have ratified, it being reasonable that the 
 sovereigns should have an opportunity of judging whether their 
 powers have not been exceeded, and whether their instructions have 
 been pursued. A refusal to ratify can, therefore, be warranted only 
 by the one or the other of these principles, viz : either that their 
 Ministers have exceeded the powers delegated by their commission, 
 or departed from the instructions given them to limit and regulate the 
 exercise and use of those powers which are commonly expressed in 
 very general terms. 
 
 Hence it becomes important that the sovereign refusing to ratify 
 should be in capacity to show clearly what the powers and instruc- 
 tions given were ; and also that the treaty or convention in question 
 is not conformable thereto. 
 
 In the present case there can be no difficulty, because all the 
 power and authority delegated to the American Minister, rest entirely 
 on the resolution of the 25th January, 1782, which, in a few words, 
 so blends his authority and his instructions that he could not commu- 
 nicate to the French Minister the one without the other. 
 
 Where an open and general commission is given, accompanied by 
 private and particular instructions, the one may be shown and the 
 other reserved. And though a departure from such instructions is 
 good cause to refuse a ratification, yet more difficulties attend such 
 cases than the present, because the other party being ignorant of the 
 instructions, and relying on the full powers treat in full confidence 
 and expectation that the proceedings will be ratified. But as the 
 French Minister, in this instance, knew exactly how far the American 
 Minister could go, and said plainly that he was not to depart from 
 the matter of the scheme, which accompanied and was referred to in 
 his powers and instruction, they could, in case of essential deviations, 
 only expect a ratification de gratia, and not de jure; and, conse- 
 quently, can have no reason to be dissatisfied in case it should be 
 declined. 
 
 Thus much appeared necessary to observe, in order to shew that 
 Congress have a right to refuse the ratification in question; but 
 whether it would be, politic and expedient to do it are questions which 
 must be entirely referred to the wisdom of Congress. Your Secre- 
 tary, however, in order fully to comply with what lie conceives to 
 Vol. I.— 15 
 
226 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 have been the intention of Congress in referring the convention to 
 him, will now proceed to state the several objections to which, in his 
 opinion, it is liable. 
 
 The convention appears well calculated to answer several purposes ; 
 but the most important of them are such as America has no interest 
 in promoting. They are these : 
 
 1st. To provide against infractions of the French and American 
 laws of trade. 
 
 2d. To prevent the people of one country from migrating to the 
 other. 
 
 3d. To establish in each other's country an influential corps of 
 officers, under one chief, to promote mercantile and political views. 
 
 The^r*^ of these objects is clearly evinced by the tenth article. 
 
 The second of these objects, though less explicitly, is still suffi- 
 ciently evident from the fourteenth article. 
 
 The third of these objects, as it respects mercantile views, is 
 apparent from the general tenor of the convention ; and it appears 
 plain to your Secretary, that a Minister near Congress, Consuls so 
 placed as to include every part of the country in one consulate or 
 other. Vice Consuls in the principal ports, and agents in the less 
 important ones, constitute a corps so coherent, so capable of acting 
 jointly and secretly, and so ready to obey the orders of their chief, 
 that it cannot fail of being influential in two very important political 
 respects — ^first, in acquiring and communicating intelligence ; and 
 secondly, in disseminating and impressing such advices, sentiments, 
 and opinions of men and measures as it may be deemed expedient to 
 difiuse and encourage. These being the three great purposes which 
 the convention is calculated to answer, the next question which 
 naturally occurs is, whether the United States have any such purposes 
 to answer by establishing such a corps in France. 
 
 As to the first, we have no laws for the regulation of our commerce 
 with France, or any of her dominions, and consequently we want no 
 provisions or guards against the infraction of such laws. 
 
 As to the second, we have not the most distant reason to apprehend 
 or fear that our people will leave us and migrate, either to the King- 
 dom of France or to any of its territories ; and, consequently, every 
 restriction or guard against it must be superfluous and useless. 
 
 As to the third, France being a country in whose government the 
 people do not participate, where nothing can be printed without 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 227 
 
 previous license, or said without being known, and if disliked, followed 
 with inconveniences, such a corps would there be very inefficient for 
 political purposes. Where the people are perfectly unimportant, 
 every measure to influence their opinions must be equally so. For 
 political purposes, therefore, we do not want any such corps in 
 France. As to assisting our merchants, and such other matters as 
 properly belong to Consuls, they would answer all those purposes 
 just as well without these extraordinary powers as with them. 
 
 Hence it is clear to your Secretary that the three great purposes 
 which the convention is calculated to answer, are such as the United 
 States have no interest in promoting. Whether France has any such 
 purposes to answer in the United States, and how far this convention) 
 may facilitate the pursuit of them, are questions which the discern- 
 ment of Congress renders it unnecessary for your Secretary to 
 discuss. 
 
 Your Secretary also considers this convention as greatly deficient 
 in reciprocity, inasmuch as by it we are to admit French Consuls 
 into all our ports and places without exception ; whereas no provision 
 is made for the admission of ours into any of the ports, places, and 
 dominions of his most Christian Majesty, except the Kingdom of 
 France only. 
 
 He also thinks that the omission of the article securing to Consuls 
 the right of worshipping in their own way in chapels in their own 
 houses, is a deviation from reciprocity, especially as that liberty is 
 not only permitted but established here. But independent of these 
 general circumstances and considerations, your Secretary thinks the 
 convention is liable to several strong and particular objections. 
 
 When these States assumed a place among the nations of the 
 earth they agreed upon and published to the world the style and title 
 by which they w'ere to be known and called, and your Secretary does 
 not conceive that other nations are more at liberty to alter that style 
 than the United States are to alter the title of his most Christian, 
 most Catholic^ or any other Majesty in Europe. He therefore thinks 
 that no act should be ratified by Congress until every error of this 
 kind is corrected. Though these matters are very unimportant in 
 themselves, yet they become so as precedent, one little liberty 
 unchecked often smoothing the way for a greater. 
 
 The convention directs the Consuls, on their arrival in the respective 
 States, to present their commissions according to the forms which 
 
228 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 shall be there found established ; although the word respective here 
 used relates to the two countries, and not to the individual States of 
 which our Confederacy is composed ; yet it still is doubtful whether 
 the form alluded to is to be established by Congress or the State to 
 which they may be sent, and at which they may arrive. The like 
 remarks apply to the case of Vice Consuls mentioned in the second 
 article. 
 
 In countries where the laws alone govern., it should, in the opinion 
 of your Secretary, be an invariable maxim not to permit any civil 
 power to be exercised in it but by the citizens of the country legally and 
 constitutionally authorized thereto ; and that as few persons as possible 
 should be exempt in any respect from the jurisdiction of the laws. 
 
 In his opinion, therefore, none but the immediate representatives 
 of sovereigns ought to have such exemptions. A Consul is not of that 
 description. According to the law of nations Ambassadors must be 
 received; but that law does not extend to Consuls, and, therefore, 
 every nation may admit them on their own terms. It is not easy to 
 assign a good reason for granting them a full and entire immunity for 
 their persons, papers, houses, and servants, other than such as the 
 free citizens of the country enjoy. As they are protected by the 
 laws they should be subject to them. 
 
 But the convention goes much further — ^it grants this immunity not 
 only to Consuls and also to Vice Consuls, but also to all their different 
 officers, and in general to all persons attached to the consulate. 
 Various abuses difficult to detect, and still more difficult to correct, 
 would naturally attend such extensive exemption from the process 
 and jurisdiction of our laws, which can only proceed in one open, 
 plain, direct path, without the aid of those detours and expedients 
 well known and daily practised in absolute governments. 
 
 The 5th article, respecting calling upon them for evidence, seems 
 to be an unnecessary departure from our laws. Why should Consuls 
 and Vice Consuls be called upon to give evidence in a manner less 
 formal and less coercive than the first and highest officers of our 
 Government are ? 
 
 The 6th and 7th articles establishing consular and vice consular 
 chanceries, create an imperium in imperio, which in several respects 
 must clasli with the internal policy of these States, and with which 
 it is not clear that Congress can authorize any persons to interfere ; 
 such as. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPpNDENCE. 229 
 
 1st. Their officers shall discharge the functions of notaries. If by- 
 notaries be intended such as are known in this country, they are 
 public officers that can only be appointed in the manner prescribed 
 by the governments of the different States. 
 
 2d. All effects left by deceased persons of their nation, are to be 
 deposited there, and they are to have the exclusive right to inventory, 
 liquidate, and sell the moveable effects, &c., so left. So that with 
 respect to these matters, not only the executors of the deceased are to 
 be excluded, but our judge of probates is to lose his jurisdiction. 
 And yet consular copies of such wills and acts, though unknown to 
 our laws, are to be admitted as evidence in our courts. 
 
 3d. If a Frenchman having many goods in possession and many 
 debts to pay should die, his creditors, according to this system, are 
 to have no other dependence for payment, but the integrity of the 
 Consul or Vice Consul, who alone can take possession of his goods. 
 No action can be brought against these officers, nor any process 
 touch anything in their houses. So that our courts are so far to lose 
 their jurisdiction, and American creditors in effect their right of 
 action. 
 
 4th. Notes given by Frenchmen dying here are put on another 
 footing from notes given by our citizens with respect to evidence. 
 For the convention demands that the writing and signing of them 
 shall be known and certified by two principal merchants of his nation, 
 which very materially alters our law on that subject. 
 
 From these and other circumstances, it appears that this convention 
 will make a strong line of separation between French and American 
 inhabitants in this country. 
 
 The 10th article needs no comment. It gives to Congress as 
 complete jurisdiction over French vessels in oar harbors as any of the 
 King's officers could exercise over them in the, harbors of France. 
 One circumstance, however, is very striking, and merits much 
 attention, viz : their power to arrest passengers, which, doubtless, 
 will be the case whenever passengers shall attempt to come here in 
 a manner, and for purposes not consistent with the ordinances against 
 emigration ; and the power to arrest also the captains and masters is, 
 doubtless, intended to punish neglect of those ordinances, and to 
 render them very circumspect in their conduct relative to passengers 
 and cargoes. 
 
 How far the power of arresting and reexporting sailors and 
 
230 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 deserters may operate on emigrants is not difficult to foresee, as the 
 Consuls are to be the only judges, and our courts are excluded from 
 hearing the complaints of any persons whom the Consuls may 
 describe by those appellations. 
 
 The 14th article makes the certificate of a Consul conclusive proof 
 of a man's being a Frenchman, and declares that he who shall make 
 such proof shall not lose, for any cause whatever, the quality of a 
 subject. 
 
 That the manifestation of so important a fact should depend wholly 
 on such a certificate, that no counter proof should be offered and 
 prevail, is really to make the consular chancery a court of record 
 (and that not only for judicial acts, but also for facts) against whose 
 records, and even the copies of them, there can be no averment. 
 This does not comport with the genius and spirit either of our 
 constitutions or our laws, both of which secure to every inhabitant 
 and citizen the inestimable privilege of offering, in our tribunals, 
 every species of legal evidence that may tend to elucidate the merits 
 of the cause before them. But this is not the only objection to 
 which this article is liable — one much more interesting is obvious. 
 
 Where such certificates appear, the person named in them is not 
 to lose, for any cause whatever, the quality of subject, so that even 
 legal naturalization is not to operate as a cause. That this is the 
 true construction of that clause is evident from its expressly referring 
 to the 11th article of the treaty, and declaring that it shall serve as 
 an interpretation thereof. Let us recur to that article. 
 
 After stating the privileges which persons of the two nations shall 
 enjoy in each other's country, it thus proceeds : 
 
 " But it is at the same time agreed that its contents shall not affect 
 ' the laws made, or that may he made hereafter in France against 
 ' emigration, which shall remain in all their force and vigor ; and 
 ' the United States on their part or any of them shall be at liberty to 
 'enact such laws relative to that matter as to them shall seem 
 'proper." 
 
 Now let us collect into one point of view the different parts of 
 the system from their dispersed situation in the treaty, and in the 
 articles of this convention, and see how it will operate. 
 
 The King has a right to make what laws he may think proper 
 respecting navigation and emigration. 
 
 Suppose a law directing that every passenger shall, on his arrival 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCEj 231 
 
 in America, immediately report himself to the Consul or Vice Consul 
 nearest the place of his arrival, to the end that his name and descrip- 
 tion be entered in the consular registers. 
 
 The 10th articla of the convention declares that they shall cause 
 to be executed the respective laws or ordinances and rules concerning 
 navigation on board the said vessels, and that they may cause every 
 passenger to be arrested. Hence it will happen that every passenger 
 will be noted and described in their books, before such passenger 
 can obtain naturalization. And if he should afterwards obtain it, 
 the 14th article renders it avoidable by ordaining that " They who 
 ' ghall prove they belong to the body of their respective nations 
 ' by the certificate of the Consul or Vice Consul of the district, 
 ' mentioning their names, surnames, and place of their settlement, as 
 ' inscribed in the registers of the consulate, shall not lose, for any 
 ' cause whatever, in the respective States and domains, the quality of 
 ' subjects of the country of which they originally were." 
 
 And the same article proceeds to declare, what is really not the 
 fact, that this is conformable to the 11th article of the treaty ; and, 
 as if conscious that the said article does not admit of such construc- 
 tion, it adds that it shall serve as an interpretation of it. That is, 
 that it shall be so construed in future that the 11th article does no 
 more than declare the right of the King to make what laws he pleases 
 against emigration, but there is nothing in it which says, or seems to 
 say, that his subjects producing the beforementioned certificates, 
 shall not, for any cause whatever, lose that quality in our country. 
 
 Although the true policy of America does not require, but, -on the 
 contrary, militates against such conventions ; and although your 
 Secretary is of ojiinion that the convention, as it now stands, ought 
 not to be ratified, yet as Congress have proceeded so far in the 
 present instance, he thinks that instructions should be sent to their 
 Minister at Versailles, to state their objections to the present form, 
 and to assure the King of the readiness of Congress to ratify a 
 convention made agreeable to the scheme beforementioned, provided 
 an article be added to limit its duration to eight or ten years, in 
 order that practice and experience may enable them to judge more 
 accurately of its merits than can eyer be done of mere theoretical 
 establishments, however apparently expedient. 
 
 AU of which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
232 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 REPORT OF SECRETARY JAY TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 18, 1786. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred back his report of 4th July, 1786, 
 
 on the Consular Convention between France and the United 
 
 States, reports, 
 
 That, in his opinion, a copy of that report should be transmitted 
 to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, in 
 brder that he may thereby become fully informed of the objections 
 to which the convention is liable. 
 
 That a certified copy of the act of Congress of the 25th day of 
 January, 1782, authorizing and directing the honorable Doctor 
 Franklin to conclude a consular convention, be also sent to him. 
 
 That a certified copy of the scheme of such convention, referred 
 to in the above act of Congress, be also sent to him. 
 
 That he be instructed to communicate the said act of Congress 
 and the said scheme to his most Christian Majesty, and to point out 
 to him the instances in which the convention deviates firom the said 
 scheme. 
 
 That he be also instructed to propose to his Majesty that the said 
 convention be so amended as perfectly to correspond with the scheme 
 in every part where a deviation from the same is not permitted by 
 the said act. And further, that he represent to his Majesty the 
 desire of Congress to make the said convention probationary, by 
 adding a clause for limiting its duration to eight or ten years. 
 
 That he assure his Majesty of the determination of Congress to 
 observe, on all occasions, the highest respect for candor and good 
 faith in all their proceedings, and that on receiving the convention so 
 amended, and with such a clause, they will immediately ratify it. 
 
 Your Secretary thinks it should also be resolved that the honorable 
 Thomas Jefferson, Esq., the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United 
 States at the court of Versailles, be, and he is hereby, authorized 
 and directed to conclude and sign, on the part of the United States, 
 with the Minister of his most Christian Majesty having equal 
 powers, a convention for the regulation of their respective Consuls, 
 conformably to the scheme abovementioned, in every respect except 
 where deviations from it are permitted by the said act of Congress 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 233 
 
 of the 25th day of January, 1782, and with a claUse limiting the 
 duration of the said convention to any term of years not exceeding 
 ten. 
 
 Your Secretary thinks he should be directed to write the following 
 letter to Mr. Jefferson : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I have the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, the 
 following papers, viz : 
 
 " No. 1. A copy of the consular convention signed by the French 
 and American Plenipotentiaries. 
 
 " No. 2. A copy of the act of Congress under which the American 
 Plenipotentiary signed the same. 
 
 " No. 3. A copy of the scheme of a convention, mentioned and 
 referred to in the said act. 
 
 " No. 4. A copy of a report on the said convention. 
 
 " No. 5. A copy of an act of Congress containing instructions and 
 giving authorities to you on the subject of the said convention. 
 
 " These papers will possess you fully of the whole business. 1 am 
 persuaded that it will appear to you, as it does to Congress, to be a 
 delicate one, and to require delicate management. 
 
 " The original scheme of the convention is far from being excep- 
 tionable, but a former Congress having agreed to it, it would be 
 improper now to recede ; and therefore Congress are content to ratify 
 a convention made conformable to that scheme, and to their act of 
 the 25th day of January, 1782, provided a clause limiting its duration 
 be added. 
 
 " It will be proper, therefore, to press on the court only such objec- 
 tions to the convention as arise from its departure from the scheme. 
 On making an accurate comparison, such departure will appear man- 
 ifest to his Majesty ; and there is reason to expect from his candor, 
 that he will readily consent to remove the objections occasioned by it. 
 
 " As it certainly is wise to try the merits of institutions entirely new 
 by actual experience before nations adopt them forever, the propriety 
 of rendering this convention probationary in the first instance is 
 unquestionable. Congress cannot, therefore, presume that his most 
 Christian Majesty will object to a clause for limiting its duration. 
 The design of this convention being for inutual and reciprocal benefit 
 and convenience, it would be doing injustice to his Majesty to 
 
234 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 suppose that he would wish to provide for its existing longer than it 
 should prove useful and satisfactory. If after the experience of a 
 few years it should be found to answer the purposes intended by it, 
 both parties will have sufficient inducements to renew it, either in its 
 present form or with such alterations and amendments as time, 
 experience, and other circumstances may indicate." 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 -o- 
 
 FROM MONSIEUB DE LA FOKET TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, 23, 1786. 
 
 Monsieur de la Foret has the honor to present his respects to the 
 honorable Mr. Jay, and to enclose to him an extract of a letter which 
 he received by the last packet. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from the Mareschal De Castries, of the 11th 
 August, 1786, to M. De la Foret. 
 
 " The United States must have seen our readiness to lend our good 
 offices to their agents sent to the Regencies of Barbary. But the 
 present system of that of Algiers, and the personal character of the 
 Dey, give occasion to fear that they have not the success that we 
 have desired." 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Mareschal De Castries to M. De la Foret. 
 
 Versailles, Januaiy 92, 1786. 
 
 "The King has expressly recommended to his Consuls General 
 and Charge d' Affaires at Algiers and Morocco, the persons and 
 negotiations of the Consuls whom Congress has sent to treat of 
 peace with those Powers ; but our endeavors will be fruitless, if the 
 conditions required should not be complied with ; and it would be to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 235 
 
 deceive one's self to expect that any consideration could induce the 
 Emperor of Morocco, and particularly the Regency of Algiers, to 
 forego the advantages presented to them by the interest which the 
 Americans have in living at peace with them. It will belong to their 
 agents to obtain good, or, to speak more properly, the least burthen- 
 some conditions, and no doubts should be entertained in America of 
 the services which we are pressing, to render them to that effect." 
 
 FKOM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Afiairs, April 24, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I received from M. De la Foret the enclosed extract from a letter 
 of M. De Castries, to which I have added a translation. 
 
 With great respect, fee, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, June 27, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 On the occasion of the letter which I had the honor to write to 
 you on the 28th April last, you were pleased to promise me verbally 
 to solicit with Congress the ratification of our consular convention as 
 soon as there should be nine States represented. All the members 
 of this assembly with whom I have conversed have assured me that 
 the delay which this ratification has experienced was principally 
 owing to this : that Congress had not received a copy of this con- 
 vention until long after its signature, and that since that time this 
 assembly has never found itself sufficiently numerous to take it into 
 consideration. I have transmitted this answer to my Court, and Mr. 
 Jefferson has received analogous instructions to inform the Minister 
 of the reasons of the ^ng silence of Congress respecting an object 
 on which the Plenipotentiaries of the two nations had solemnly 
 agreed. Since that period the Congress have not only been found 
 
236 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 complete, but they have ratified the treaty of commerce with Prussia, 
 ahhough the signature of that treaty was a good deal more recent 
 than that of the consular convention. 
 
 The United States being again sufficiently represented, I beg the 
 favor of you to submit this affair to their consideration. Whatever 
 may be their resolution in this respect, it is to be desired to facilitate 
 the business with which the respective Consuls are charged, that they 
 may be informed of the extent of their powers, and that they may 
 know, in a clear and precise manner, the limits which their sovereigns 
 have assigned to their authority. 
 
 I am, he, OTTO. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 3, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 On returning to town yesterday, I received the letter which you 
 did me the honor to write on the 27th of last month. 
 
 I well remember our conversation on the subject of your letter of 
 the 18th of April last; that I informed you Mr. Jefferson would be 
 instructed to explain the reasons of the delay which had retarded 
 the decision on the consular convention, and that I promised you to 
 do whatever depended on me to bring that matter to a speedy 
 conclusion. 
 
 Your letter of the 18th April was received on the 19th. It was 
 transmitted by me to Congress the 21st ; it was referred to me the 
 25th ; I reported on it the 28th ; and Mr. Jefferson's instructions 
 were sent in my letter to him of the 5th May last. 
 
 Your letter, now before me, shall (as soon as it can be translated) 
 be transmitted to his Excellency the President of Congress, and 
 whatever answer they may be pleased to direct me to convey to you 
 shall, without delay, be communicated. 
 
 I flatter myself that Mr. Jefferson will find no difficulty in assign- 
 ing very satisfactory reasons to his most Christian Majesty for the 
 delays in question ; and I am persuaded that Congress will proceed 
 to consider and terminate this affair with as much despatch as 
 circumstances may permit. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &lc., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 237 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, July 6, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I did not receive the letter which you did me the honor to write 
 to me the 3d of this month until my arrival here. I beg you to 
 accept my thanks for the particulars which you have been so kind 
 as to communicate respecting the ratification of our consular 
 convention. 
 
 I have hkewise received, sir, the information which you were 
 pleased to give me of the ceremony that took place th^ 4th instant, 
 although I had no notice of this till after my return to New York. I 
 had intended to pay my respects on an occasion so solemn as that of 
 the anniversary of American Independence ; but, unfortunately, the 
 Elizabethtown boat had sailed sooner than I expected. I purpose 
 to present my excuses to-day to his Excellency the President of 
 Congress, and I hope, sir, that you will be persuaded that, from 
 principles of duty and sentiment, I am warmly interested in whatever 
 regards the United States. 
 
 I left Governor Livingston and his family in perfect health ; they 
 charged me with a thousand tender compliments to you and Mrs. 
 Jay. I am, with respect, &c., OTTO. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIBENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 9, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I take the earliest opportunity of informing your Excellency that 
 Mr. Remsen, on reading the printed scheme of a consular convention, 
 observed that it did not exactly correspond with the copy in this 
 office. This circumstance led him to compare it with the origmal 
 scheme in the Secretary's office. As the discovery of tliis omission 
 rescues the 10th article of the convention from the charge of essential 
 deviations from the 12th in the scheme, and as it shows the latter to 
 be equally liable, with the former, to the objections made against it 
 in my report, I think it my duty to enclose a note of this variation, 
 
238 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 between the original scheme and the copy in this office, that Con- 
 gress may have an opportunity of making any further order that they 
 may think proper on the subject. 
 
 I confess that the scheme now appears to me more inehgible than 
 I before thought it, though I am still of opinion that the only 
 prudent way of getting over this unpleasant business is to conclude 
 a convention similar even to the scheme as it now appears to be, 
 and render its inconveniences temporary by an article limiting its 
 duration. 
 
 With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 P. S. The French packet will sail the 15th instant. 
 
 Note of the difference between the 12th article of the scheme of 
 the convention entered into in the year 1782, on the Journal 
 belonging to the Office for Foreign Affairs, and the said article in 
 the original scheme, recorded in the Secret Journal in the Secretary's 
 office: 
 
 12(ft Article as in the Original Scheme. 12th Article as in the Office Copy. 
 
 They (Consuls and Vice Consuls) may They (Consuls and Vice Consuls) may 
 
 cause to be arrested and sequestered cause to be arrested and sequestered 
 
 every vessel carrying the flag of their every vessel carrying the flag of their 
 
 respective nations, and even send them respective nations. They may cause to 
 
 back to France or the United States, as the be arrested, and detained in the country, 
 
 case may be, as well as arrest any captain, sailors and deserters of their respective 
 
 master, seaman, or passenger of their respect- nations, or cause them to be transported 
 
 ive nations. They may cause to be therefrom, 
 tirrested, and detained in the country, 
 sailors and deserters of their respective 
 nations, or cause them to be transported 
 therefrom. 
 
 The scored (italicised) lines shew where the copy which Mr. Jay 
 used when he made his report on the consular convention deviates 
 from the original. 
 
 N. B. There were in that copy several other variations from the 
 original, to the number of twenty in the whole, all of which are 
 now corrected ; but as none of them except the abovementioned 
 materially affect Mr. Jay's report, it is not thought necessary to 
 enumerate them in this note. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 239 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, October 9, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I take the liberty to request of you a communication of the reso- 
 lution which Congress have taken concerning the consular con- 
 vention. As that resolution has been taken in consequence of a 
 note, which I have had the honor to send to the United States by 
 order of his Majesty, it appears proper that I transmit to my Court 
 the determination which that assembly has been pleased to take. I 
 shall be much obliged to you for this new proof of your goodness. 
 I am, with respect, &;c., OTTO. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 12, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 On receiving the letter you did me the honor to write on the 9th 
 instant, I immediately communicated it to Congress, and, in obedience 
 to their order, I have now the honor of informing you, " that as their 
 'communications to his most Christian Majesty will be officially 
 ' made by their Minister resident at his Court, they do not think it 
 ' necessary to accept your polite offer of conveying any they may 
 ' direct concerning the consular convention." 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, October 23, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to address to you a letter which his Majesty 
 
 charges me to present to the United States assembled in Congress, 
 
 to acquaint them with the birth of a princess. The new assurances 
 
 of affection entertained in that letter, cannot fail of being agreeable 
 
 to the United States. They correspond so well with all the orders 
 
240 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 I have received since I have had the honor to manage the affairs of 
 the King in America, that I have reason to think myself happy to 
 have been charged vi'ith transmitting^them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., OTTO. 
 
 FROM THE KING Or FRANCE TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 To our very dear great Friends and AlHes, the President and 
 Members of the General Congress of the United States of North 
 America : 
 
 Very dear great Friends and Allies, we are well convinced that 
 you will participate in the satisfaction ,we derive from the happy 
 delivery of the Queen, our very dear spouse, of a princess. The 
 entire confidence we place in the sentiments, of which we flatter 
 ourselves you will renew the evidence on this occasion, answer to 
 you for the desire we shall always have to give you more and more 
 proofs of our affection, and of our constant friendship for you ; 
 wherefore, we pray God to keep you, very dear great Friends and 
 Allies, in His holy protection. Written at Versailles, the 9th July, 
 1786. 
 
 Your good Friend and Ally, LOUIS. 
 
 Gravier de Vergennes. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 New York, December 18, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 The letter from his most Christian Majesty to Congress, which I 
 had the honor of receiving, enclosed with yours to me of the 23d 
 October, was immediately laid before Congress. The absence of 
 the members, occasioned by their annual election and other circum- 
 stances, did not admit of conveying their answer by the last packet. 
 As soon as a sufficient number of States shall be represented, I am 
 persuaded they will be happy to embrace the earliest opportunity of 
 congratulating his Majesty on the birth of the princess, and assuring 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 241 
 
 him of the pleasure they derive from that and every other event that 
 can add to the happiness of himself and family. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY, 
 
 FROM MONSIEUB. OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, December 21, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write 
 on the 18th of this month. However long may be the delay 
 attending the answer which Congress purpose to make to the letter 
 of the King, his Majesty will never have room to doubt the sincerity 
 of the sentiments of which that assembly have so often given him 
 proofs, and of which you are pleased to give me fresh assurances. 
 
 Several members of Congress having inquiredof me, with a degree 
 of earnestness, whether the news concerning the pretended exchange 
 with Spain,- in the southern part of this continent, was well founded, 
 I cannot answer that question better than by communicating to you 
 the following passage, in a despatch from the Count De Vergennes, 
 of the 25th August last : " The exchange of Louisiana for a French 
 ' possession in the West Indies, has never been in question. And if 
 ' anything should be again said of it, you will be pleased to deny it 
 ' formally." 
 
 I am, with respect, &c., OTTO. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUB OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, October 23, 1786. . 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to address to you the subjoined extract of the 
 despatch from M. the Count De Vergennes, of which I had the honor 
 to speak to you. The gazettes mentioned in this extract contain 
 many articles by which it is insinuated that we have a great interest 
 to excite the Barbary Powers against the United States. The licen- 
 VoL. I.— 16 
 
242 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 tiousness of the public papers might be prejudicial to the good 
 correspondence which so happily subsists between the two nations, if 
 the reports of the public officers did not make known the true senti- 
 ments and moderation of the respective Powers. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, OTTO. 
 
 EXTKACT OF A LETTER FKOM MONSIEUK THE COUNT DE VERGENNES 
 TO MONSIEUR OTTO, OF AUGUST 25, 1786. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 " You can assure the Congress that the King will seize with 
 eagerness all occasions to facilitate their good intelligence with the 
 Barbary Powers. This assembly without doubt have been informed 
 of the support that his Majesty affords to the American Commissioners 
 who negotiate at Algiers and at Morocco ; the treaty which has been 
 recently signed with this last Power, and which will probably be 
 published in America, will be the best refutation of the suspicions 
 which many public papers are willing to inspire against our system 
 of policy." 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 New York, November 2, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Permit me to introduce to you the bearer. Colonel Talbot, a gen- 
 tleman greatly distinguished by gallant actions during the late war. 
 He has two sons whom he wishes to educate for the sea, and to place 
 on board a French vessel, under the orders and direction of some 
 officer of merit. Various reasons induce him to prefer one of the 
 King's packets. He is desirous to know whether his sons could be 
 received on board, and if so, requests to be favored with your advice 
 on the occasion. 
 
 It is natural to presume that young Americans brought up under 
 
 French officers will have a predilection for the French nation, and I 
 
 am persuaded that you concur with me in wishing to promote the 
 
 most friendly intercourse and connexion between our two countries. 
 
 I have the honpr to be, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 243 
 
 FROM MONSIEHR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, November 3, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I received the letter which you did me the honor to write me, 
 recommending the sons of Mr. Talbot, a distinguished ofEcer in the 
 service of the United States. I instantly conferred with M. de la 
 Foret on the subject, who is particularly charged with everything 
 relating to the Marine. It appears that since the new ordinance 
 there will be certain difficulties to surmount, either because there is 
 no regulation as to the admission of strangers into the King's service, 
 or because this ordinance expressly fixes the age of sixteen for volun- 
 teers. We flatter ourselves, however, that we shall be able to second 
 your views respecting Mr. Talbot's sons ; and though it is impossible 
 to fix them immediately on board his Majesty's packets, we will ask 
 permission irom the Minister directly, which must, however, occasion 
 a delay of five or six months. 
 
 I entirely coincide, sir, with your remarks in support of your 
 request. It is essential to facilitate more and more thei connexions 
 between the two nations, and nothing can more contribute towards 
 this than reciprocally to admit the subjects of each nation into sea 
 or land service. 
 
 I am, kc, OTTO. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, May 20, 1787. • 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to send you herewith a copy of a letter from the 
 Count de Montraorin, accompanied with another letter written to him 
 by the Marshal de Castries, on the sybject of Colonel Talbot's 
 request. It is with the greatest satisfaction I find that the new Min- 
 ister is no less disposed than Count de Vergennes was to render 
 himself agreeable to the United States by every good office, and that 
 he is particularly disposed to be serviceable to such of your fellow- 
 citizens as have the advantage of being countenanced by you. 
 
244 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 I have already advised with Colonel Talbot as to the least expen- 
 sive mode of sending his sons to France, and I hope that he will be 
 perfectly satisfied with our measures on that head. 
 
 I am, &c., OTTO. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN TO MONSIEUR OTTO. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, March 21, 1787. 
 
 Sir, 
 You addressed a letter the 4th of November to the Count de 
 Vergennes from Mr. Jay, who supported with his recommendation 
 Colonel Talbot's desire of entering his two sons on board his Majesty's 
 Navy in quality of volunteers. The Marshal de Castries, to whom I 
 communicated this request, sent me the answer of which you have a 
 copy herewith ; you will be pleased to communicate it to Mr. Jay. 
 He will assuredly see with satisfaction that the dispositions of the 
 Marshal de Castries are as he wishes. 
 
 FROM THE MARSHAL DE CASTRIES TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN. 
 
 Versailles, February 26, 1787. 
 
 The services which Colonel Talbot, an American Colonel, rendered 
 to one of our squadrons during the last war, lead me to second his 
 wishes to procure a berth for two of his sons in his Majesty's navy. 
 These young people can come to one of tlie ports in France, and 
 when I shall be informed of their arrival I will give orders for their 
 being employed in the capacity of volunteers of the third class, 
 relieving them, on account of a particular regard for the friendly 
 Power whose subjects they are, and on account of the attachment 
 their father has shewn to France, from the previous formalities and 
 conditions prescribed by the ordinance for arriving to this grade. I 
 beg that you will let Colonel Talbot know of this disposition through 
 Mr. Otto, Charge d'Affaires for France to the United States. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 245 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, February 4, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 My health being considerably reestablished, I have the pleasure 
 of addressing to you the annexed copy of my letter of credence in 
 quality of Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty to the Congress 
 of the United States, I request the favor of you to communicate it 
 to that assembly, to the end that they may fix a day which shall 
 appear to them the most convenient to give me a public audience. 
 
 I greatly regret, sir, that the fatigues of a long voyage have 
 retarded the request which I have the honor now to make to you. 
 I dare to flatter myself that the United States will not be the less 
 convinced of the zeal which animates me, and of the sincerity of the 
 assurances of friendship which I shall give them, in the name of his 
 Majesty. 
 
 I ought to suppose, sir, that on this occasion the same ceremonial 
 will be followed which was observed at the reception of my prede- 
 cessors, but as I have not received any official communication on 
 this subject, I request the favor of you previously to communicate to 
 me the intentions of Congress. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 REPORT OF JOHN JA¥ TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, February 12, 1788. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 . Affairs, to whom was referred a letter of the 4th instant, from the 
 Count de Moustier, enclosing a copy of his letter of credence, 
 requesting that a day be fixed for his public audience, and inti- 
 mating an expectation that the ceremonial will be the same as in 
 the cases of his predecessors, reports : 
 That in his opinion it would be proper to name as early a day as 
 
 may consist with the convenience of Congress, for receiving the 
 
 Count. 
 
I 
 
 246 JOHN JAY-SEG. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 That he has perused and considered the ceremonials heretofore 
 used on such occasions, and that they appear to him to put much 
 less distinction between an Ambassador and a Minister than the 
 laws and actual practice of civilized nations have established. 
 
 That considering the past and present state of American affairs, 
 he thinks it might not be so advisable to correct mistakes relative to 
 matters of ceremony and etiquette at this period, as when the pro- 
 posed plan of government shall begin to operate. He, therefore, 
 is of the opinion that it would be best to receive this Minister in 
 the same manner as his predecessor and the Dutch Minister were 
 received. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIEK TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, Febraary 4, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor of addressing to you the annexed copy of a 
 letter of the recall of the Chevalier de la Luzerne, my predecessor, 
 with a letter which that Minister has written, by order of his Majesty, 
 to the President of Congress, to take leave. I hope the expressions 
 of friendship and affection contained in those pieces will be agreeable 
 to the United States. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 FROM THE KING OF FRANCE TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Translation. 
 Very dear great Friends and Allies, 
 The Chevalier de la Luzerne having terminated the time which 
 we had fixed for his residence with you in quality of our Minister 
 Plenipotentiary, we have ordered him to take leave of you by 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 347 
 
 writing. The prudent and enlightened conduct which he constantly 
 observed during the course of his mission, add to the proofs which 
 he had before given us of his zeal for our service. We are persuaded 
 he will equally, to our satisfaction, acquit himself of the order we 
 have given him to assure you, in terms the most expressive, of our 
 affection, and of our sincere friendship for you. He cannot too 
 strongly paint to you the lively interest which we take in the pros- 
 perity of the United States in general, and in that of each of them 
 in particular. On this we pray God that He will have you, very 
 dear great Friends and Allies, in His holy keeping. 
 Done at Versailles, the 30th September, 1787. 
 
 Your good Friend and Ally, LOUIS. 
 
 Count de Montmobin. 
 
 FROM THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE TO THE PRESIDENT OF 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, 1787. 
 
 The King having thought proper to destine me to another service 
 than that of Minister Plenipotentiary near Congress, I have the 
 honor of addressing to you my letter of recall, and of requesting that 
 it may be presented to that assembly. 
 
 The advantage which I enjoyed for six years, of negotiating upon 
 the greatest and most important affairs with Congress, an intimate 
 knowledge of those great statesmen and patriots, who successively 
 composed that illustrious body, are sure guarantees of the respect 
 and admiration which I entertain for them. 
 
 I shall never forget that the most pleasing moments of my life have 
 been those when charged with the management of the interests of the 
 two great allies, I have been so fortunate as to see constantly the 
 most perfect confidence and harmony prevail. Prosperity as well as 
 adversity have served to bind still closer the ties of our union founded 
 on justice; and what has perhaps never happened before in an 
 alliance of this nature, not for a single moment has a coolness or 
 uneasiness existed ; but it has been crowned by the most brilliant, 
 the most glorious, and the mbst useful of revolutions. Never shall I 
 forget the marks of personal confidence which I have received from 
 
248 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Congress on various occasions. Absent from them I console myself 
 with the reflection that my successor, by his zeal and talents, will 
 easily place my feeble services in oblivion. 
 
 Condescend, sir, to be the interpreter of my sentiments to that 
 illustrious assembly over which you preside. My unceasing prayers 
 shall henceforth be offered up for a nation whose firmness and 
 patriotism have caused the admiration of the universe. 
 Accept, sir, individually. Sic, 
 
 DE LA LUZERNE. 
 
 REPORT OF JOHN JAY ON THE LETTER OF THE CHEVALIER DE LA 
 
 LUZERNE. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, March 13, 1788. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a letter of the day of , 
 
 1787, from the Chevalier de la Luzerne to his Excellency the 
 
 President of Congress, reports : 
 
 That in his opinion it would be proper that he should write to the 
 
 Chevalier a letter of the following tenor : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " His Excellency the President laid before Congress your letter of 
 recall, together with the one that enclosed it ; and I have the honor, 
 in obedience to their orders, to assure you that had you resumed your 
 former place near them, you would have received fresh and continued 
 marks of that esteem with which the manner in which you fulfilled 
 the duties of it very early impressed them. They have heard with 
 pleasure of the recent and honorable proof which the King has given 
 you of his confidence ; and as your attachment and services to this 
 country will always be remembered, so you will always have the best 
 wishes of Congress that success and prosperity may attend you to 
 every station to which your distinguished merit and talents may 
 induce the King to call you." 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 349 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 30, 1788. 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred two letters from his most Christian 
 
 Majesty, dated the 30th September last, reports : 
 
 That in his opinion the following answers to them would be 
 proper, viz : 
 
 " Great and beloved Friend and Ally, 
 
 " The conduct of your Majesty's Minister, the Chevalier de la 
 Luzerne, during his residence with us was commendable and satis- 
 factory, and it gives us pleasure to assure you that we entertain a 
 high opinion of his merit. The manner in which, by his Majesty's 
 order, he has taken leave of us manifests his attention to your dignity 
 and interests, and affords strong evidence of his attachment to the 
 prosperity and happiness of these States. We pray God to have 
 you, our great and beloved friend and ally, in His holy keeping. 
 
 "Written at New York, the day of by your good 
 
 friends the United States of America in Congress assembled." 
 
 " Great and beloved Friend and Ally, 
 
 "The choice you have been pleased to make of the Count de 
 Moustier to succeed the Chevalier de la Luzerne is perfectly 
 agreeable to us. We flatter ourselves that he will with equal zeal 
 and ability, with his predecessor, endeavor to promote and reconcile 
 the essential interests of both countries, and study to preserve and 
 increase the mutual attachment and intercourse which happily 
 subsists between them. 
 
 " We receive with great pleasure the kind and explicit assurances 
 of friendship contained in your Majesty's letter of the 30th September 
 last ; a long series of important good offices have afforded us ample 
 proofs of it, and we cannot omit this occasion of conveying to you 
 our sincere acknowledgments for the recent marks exhibited in the 
 commercial favors you have lately been pleased to confer on the 
 United States. We pray God to have you, our great and beloved 
 friend and ally, in His holy keeping. 
 
 "Written at New York, the day of by your good 
 
 friends the United States of America in Congress assembled." 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
250 JOHN JAY^SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 FKOM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Tuesday, February 19, 1788. 
 The Count De Moustier having just received an invitation from 
 the President of Congress to dine with him on Tuesday, the 19th, 
 presumes it means this very day, which he has also accidentally 
 heard has been fixed on by Congress for his audience. As it is not 
 to be supposed that he can be instructed on this head but through 
 Mr. Jay, and by his answer to the letter which he had the honor of 
 writing him the 4th instant, he requests that he will be pleased to 
 communicate to him the resolution of Congress, that he may regulate 
 himself accordingly. Fearing lest he should receive information too 
 late, he may not be able to obtain certain eclairecissements that may 
 be necessary for him, and which he cannot be acquainted with. 
 
 PKOM JOHN JAT TO THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, February 19, 1788. 
 
 Sir, 
 On receiving the letter which you did me the honor to write on the 
 4th instant, I immediately communicated it, together with the paper 
 it enclosed, to Congress. I have now the pleasure to inform you that 
 they have been pleased to order that you be received and admitted 
 to a public audience on Tuesday, the 26th of this month, at twelve 
 o'clock ; and that the ceremonial be such as you will find detailed in 
 the paper herewith enclosed. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Journal. 
 
 February 14, 1788. 
 The Secretary for Foreign Affairs having transmitted to Congress 
 a letter from the Count De Moustier, together with a copy of a letter 
 of credence, by which it appears that his most Christian Majesty 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 251 
 
 has appointed the Count to succeed the ChevaUer de la Luzeme 
 in quality of his Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of 
 America ; and the said Minister having requested that this may be 
 communicated to Congress that they may fix a day which shall 
 appear to them the most convenient to give him a public audience, 
 
 Resolved, That the said Count de Moustier be received as Minister 
 Plenipotentiary from his most Christian Majesty, and that agreeably 
 to his request he be admitted to a public audience on Tuesday, the 
 26th of the present month, in the room where Congress assembles. 
 
 Ordered, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform the 
 honorable the Minister of the United Netherlands, and his Catholic 
 Majesty's Encargado de Negocios of the public audience to be given 
 to the honorable the Minister Plenipotentiary of his most Christian 
 Majesty. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, February 20, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me, 
 informing me of the resolution which Congress have been pleased to 
 take the 14th of this month relative to my public audience. 
 
 In consequence of the mode prescribed by the ceremonial, which 
 you have taken the trouble to communicate to me, I enclose 
 herewith the speech which I propose to make at the time of my 
 reception. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 LE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 SPEECH OF THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 Gentlemen of Congress, 
 The relations of friendship and affection which subsist between 
 the King, my master, and the United States, have been established 
 on a basis which cannot but daily acquire a new degree of solidity. 
 
252 , JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 It is satisfactory to be mutually convinced that an alliance formed 
 for obtaining a glorious peace, after efforts directed by the greatest 
 wisdom and sustained with admirable constancy, must always be 
 conformable to the common interests, and that it is a fruitful source 
 of infinite advantages to both nations, whose mutual confidence and 
 intercourse will increase in proportion as they become better known 
 to each other. 
 
 The King, who was the first to connect himself with the Unitea 
 States, as a sovereign power, to second their efforts and favor their 
 interests, has never ceased, since that memorable period, to turn his 
 attention to the means of proving to them his affection. This 
 sentiment directs the prayers which his Majesty forms for their 
 prosperity. Their success will always interest him sensibly, and 
 there is reason to hope for it from the wisdom of the measures which 
 they will adopt. 
 
 To this ^olemn assurance of interest and attachment on the part 
 of the King, to the unanimous sentiment of the nation, and to the 
 fervent wishes of a great number of my countrymen who have had 
 the advantage to be associated in the military toils and success of 
 the United States, permit me to add those which I, in particular, 
 entertain for the growth and glory of these States. I at length 
 enjoy the satisfaction of having it in my power here to testify the 
 profound veneration with which I have been constantly penetrated 
 for a people who have been able to fix, from their birth, the attention 
 of the most considerable Powers in Europe, and whose courage and 
 patriotism have astonished all nations. My happiness will be com- 
 plete, gentlemen, if I succeed, by my zeal and most constant cares, 
 to merit your esteem, your confidence, and your approbation. 
 
 The task which I have to accomplish appears to me to be the 
 more difficult, as in succeeding a Minister who held a place near 
 you, gentlemen, with which I am now honored, I am far from 
 enjoying the advantages which he derived from his talents, his 
 knowledge, and those circumstances which placed him in the most 
 intimate relations with yoU. I will endeavor to resemble him, at 
 least, by the greatest attention to promote and give success to 
 whatever may contribute to the satisfaction, the glory, and the 
 prosperity of the United States. 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 253 
 
 REPORT OF JOHN JAY TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, February 21, 1788. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, having received a copy of the speech which Count de 
 Mbustier purposes to make on Tuesday, the 26th February instant, 
 reported the following answer to it, viz : 
 
 « Sir, 
 " It will always give us pleasure to acknowledge the friendship 
 and important good offices which we have experienced from his most 
 Christian Majesty and your generous nation ; and we flatter ourselves 
 that the same principles of magnanimity and regard to mutual 
 convenience which dictated the connexion between us, will continue 
 to operate, and to render them still more extensive in their benefits 
 to the two countries. 
 
 " We consider the alliance as involving engagements highly 
 interesting ^o both parties, and we are persuaded that they will be 
 observed with entire and mutual good faith. 
 
 " We are happy in being so explicitly assured of the continuance 
 of his Majesty's friendship and attachment, and in this opportunity 
 of expressing the high sense we entertain of their sincerity and 
 value. It is with real satisfaction, sir, that we receive you as 
 Minister Plenipotentiary; especially as your character gives us 
 reason to expect that the harmony and interests of both nations will 
 not be less promoted by your talents, candor, and liberality, than they 
 were by those which distinguished your predecessor, and recom- 
 mended him to our esteem and regard." 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 TROM THE COUNT DE MO0STIER TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, May 28, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to send you herewith a note, which, considering 
 the importance of its contents, I must request you will immediately 
 lay before Congress, so that that assembly may have time to take it 
 
254 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS; 
 
 into consideration before the departure of the packet, which is fixed 
 for the 10th of next month, and to send Mr. Jefferson such instruc- 
 tions as they may judge proper. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 Note. — [Translation.] 
 
 The undersigned, Minister Plenipotentiaiy of France, has the 
 honor of informing the United States in Congress assembled, that he 
 has received an order from his Court to demand the delivery of a 
 French captain, who has been guilty of a crime, the punishment of 
 which is equally interesting to every commercial nation. 
 
 Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier, a native of Cette, in Languedoc, 
 commanding the brig David, was despatched from the Cape, in the 
 Island of St. Domingo, for Nantz, the 1st July, 1787, with a cargo 
 of one hundred thousand pounds weight of coffee belonging to 
 different persons. Under pretence of some leaks which were 
 discovered in his vessel, he directed his course for Norfolk, in Virginia, 
 'vs'here he arrived the 26th of the Same month. 
 
 The Sieur Oster, the King's Vice Consul, having gone on board 
 to visit the yessel and appoint inspectors, in order to prove her 
 condition, in conformity with his Majesty's ordinances, found, from 
 the depositions of some passengers, that the said Ferrier had not 
 intended to go to France, as he had only taken in provisions for 
 fifteen days ; that the evening before he left the Cape, he clandes- 
 tinely sold a part of his cargo ; that, in order for a pretext to stop at 
 Virginia, and there sell his vessel, he had several leaks made on 
 purpose in the hold, by which twelve thousand pounds of coffee 
 were damaged, which the Sieur Oster was obliged to order to be sold 
 at auction ; that he had wickedl) thrown overboard an anchor of 
 seven hundred and fifty pounds, and a large cable of one hundred 
 and twenty fathoms, some topmasts, and other things belonging to 
 his brig. In short, to conceal his misdemeanors, he kept at sea a 
 false journal, which he signed himself, and caused his mate and crew 
 to do the same, in order to make it appear that he had been obliged 
 to renounce his voyage to Nantz, and stop at the Chesapeake. 
 
 Captain Ferrier being informed of these depositions, and fearing 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 255 
 
 the consequences of his crime, deserted with his mate and the other 
 accomplices, but he was taken by the inhabitants and brought back 
 to the Sieur Oster, who sent him prisoner on board the French ship 
 the Jason, after permission obtained from the Mayor of Norfolk. 
 The culprit underwent an examination on the 6th December, and 
 confessed the crime of which he was accused. The process being 
 finished, the Sieur Oster called an assembly of the merchants 
 belonging to his nation, in which it was resolved that Ferrier should 
 be sent to Nantz, to be judged by the officers of the admiralty. He 
 wrote, at the same time, to the Governor of Virginia, giving him an 
 account of all these particulars, and requesting the consent of the 
 Council to send the said Ferrier to France in the vessel which he 
 had commanded. He received no answer to this letter, which was 
 dated the 2d October, copy of which (No. 1 .) is annexed ; but on 
 the 7th November a sheriff went on board the French ship with a 
 writ to arrest the said Ferrier as a debtor for fifty pounds to a 
 Frenchman, resident at Norfolk. The criminal was accordingl}' 
 liberated, after giving bail to appear at the first county court. The 
 Sieur Oster wrote a second time to the Governor, complaining of 
 this irregular procedure, and reclaiming not only the captain, but the 
 other criminals. He received no answer but the ones annexed, 
 (Nos. 2, 3.) 
 
 After these particulars, the undersigned has the honor to represent, 
 that it is very surprising that, notwithstanding the official information 
 which had been given the 2d October concerning the crimes of 
 which Captain Ferrier had been convicted, he should be liberated 
 the 7th November under pretence of a civil action of fifty pounds ; 
 that, condemned in irons, on board a French vessel, by the Consul 
 of his nation, and with the consent of the Mayor of Norfolk, he was 
 taken away on a suit brought by a Frenchman, who ought to have 
 acknowledged the jurisdiction and authority of his Consul, but who 
 very likely was in concert with the criminal to effect his escape ; in 
 short, that the magistrates have facilitated this escape, without any 
 regard to the complaints which were made by his Majesty's Vice 
 Consul, a conduct the more extraordinary as by a law of 1779 the 
 State of Virginia authorizes the Consuls of Powers which ha^-e 
 acknowledged the independence of the United States to claim the 
 deserters from the vessels of their nations, to judge differences 
 between their subjects agreeably to the laws of the country, and to 
 
256 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 execute their sentences, provided they do not pronounce corporal 
 punishment. It was in consequence of this law that the Sieur Oster 
 obtained full and entire satisfaction in August, 1784, in a case similar 
 to the one in question. 
 
 But even were this Vice Consul unsupported by any particular 
 law, he might found his claim on the common rights of nations, on 
 the mutual ties between allied Powers, on the treaty of commerce, 
 and the consular convention, which was the consequence of it, on 
 the procedure which took place in a similar case in 1784, on the 
 reciprocity invariably established in France, on the interests of every 
 commercial nation, that a crime of this nature should not remain 
 unpunished; in short, on the dignity of Virginia, which would be 
 particularly exposed, if one could suspect that State of encouraging 
 and protecting villains proscribed by the laws of every civilized 
 nation. 
 
 In consequence of these observations, the undersigned. Minister, 
 has received orders to claim the criminal, and if by a connivance, 
 which is not very likely, and which would be very wide of the 
 principles of justice and moderation which Virginia has so often 
 displayed, Captain Ferrier has found means of escaping, he demands 
 to be infomied of the motives that determined the magistrates to pay 
 no respect to the well founded and pressing claims of the Vice 
 Consul of France, and to elude not only the law which was passed 
 in 1779, but the principles which form the basis of every consular 
 establishment, which are formally adopted by the convention between 
 his Majesty and the United States, signed by the respective Plenipo- 
 tentiaries, and which have been hitherto religiously observed in the 
 Kingdom with respect to the citizens of the United States. 
 
 The undersigned. Minister, has the honor of reminding, on this 
 occasion, the United States in Congress assembled, agreeably to an 
 express order received from his Court, of the necessity of concluding, 
 as speedily as possible, the last formalities, which may have been 
 neglected, in order to give every suitable effect to the aforesaid 
 convention, and to represent to them the propriety of giving definitive 
 instructions on this head to their Minister Plenipotentiary near his 
 Majesty. 
 
 The interest which the King has always taken in the prosperity of 
 the commerce between the Kingdom and the United States, is 
 manifested on every occasion too evidently for his Majesty not to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 257 
 
 expect on their part every necessary step to secure a perfect 
 reciprocity, the only solid basis on which the advantages granted by 
 his Majesty to the commerce of the United States can exist. 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 New York, May 28, 1788. 
 
 COPT or THE FIRST LETTER WRITTEN BY MONSIEUR OSTER, THE 
 king's VICE CONSUL, TO MR. RANDOLPH, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, 
 REFERRED TO AS NO. 1. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Norfolk, October 2, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to inform your Excellency that on the 26th 
 July last there entered this port the brig David, Captain Joseph 
 Marie Anne Ferrier, of the city of Cette, in Languedoc, under 
 pretence of distress, and that on examination of the conduct of the 
 captain by myself, he being novs^ in my power, as also from the 
 depositions made in my presence, it appears, and is proved : 
 
 That Captain Ferrier sailed the first July last, from the Cape for 
 Nantz, with a cargo on freight of above one hundred thousand 
 pounds weight of coffee, belonging to different persons ; 
 
 That he had but fifteen days' provisions for his passage, which 
 evidently proves that it was not his intention to go to the place of 
 his destination ; 
 
 That the evening before his departure from the Cape, whilst in 
 the road, he sold and clandestinely delivered in the night a great 
 part of his cargo ; 
 
 That a few days after he also sold at sea another part of his cargo 
 to a captain of a sloop, which followed him, and with whom he had 
 agreed at the Cape ; 
 
 That to accomplish this collusion, he, together with his mate, 
 named Bastard, corrupted the crew, and forced a passenger to 
 participate in his robbery ; 
 
 That to excuse his stopping, and to cause damage, in order to 
 oblige his vessel to be sold, he made two leaks, one in the hold, and 
 the other in the gun-room, which occasioned forty inches water, and. 
 Vol. I.— 17 
 
258 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 damaged twelve thousand pounds of coffee, which I ordered to be 
 sold at public sale, in order to avoid a total loss ; 
 
 That in order to give a better appearance to his fraudulent and 
 affected stopping, he wickedly threw into the sea an anchor of seven 
 hundred and fifty pounds, a large cable of one hundred and twenty 
 fathoms, topmasts, yards, and a quantity of other things belonging 
 to his brig ; 
 
 And, in short, to cover his misconduct with some show of specious- 
 ness, he kept at sea two journals, the one true, the other false, and 
 he also fabricated a false verbal process, which he dared to affirm as 
 true, and signed it, and caused it to be signed by his crew, with 
 intent to prove that he had been obliged to renounce his voyage to 
 Nantz, and to put in wherever he could. 
 
 All these facts being authentically proved, I propose, sir, with your 
 Excellency's consent, to send the criminal to France, in his own 
 vessel, with the instructions of his process agreeably to the ordinances, 
 to be judged according to the exigency of the case by the officers of 
 the admiralty of Nantz, where the vessel will be discharged. 
 
 As the sending of him away ought immediately to take place, as 
 also the punishment of his crime being necessary for the support of 
 good order and the public confidence, I hope that your Excellency 
 and the honorable Council will approve of the same, and that you 
 will be pleased, sir, to acknowledge as soon as possible the receipt of 
 this letter. 
 
 The following persons, having been Captain Ferrier's accomplices, 
 viz : Joseph Bastard, Joseph Grance, Louis Borniche, Jean Marie 
 Jouy, Noel Kequelay, Jean Aubert, Jean La Pierre, Jean Jacques, 
 and Jean Claude Martel, all composing the crew of the brig David, 
 fi-om which they have deserted, and the duty of my office compelling 
 me to seize all the abettors if possible, I must request your Excel- 
 lency to grant me the necessary order, or warrant, for the purpose of 
 apprehending them, by means of constables or other officers of justice 
 bel»nging to the State. If nothing, as I conceive, prevents the 
 granting of this order to me, I must earnestly request, sir, that you 
 will be kind enough to send it to me as soon as it shall be made out. 
 It will particularly serve to justify my diligence. 
 I have the honor to be, &;c. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 359 
 
 COPY OF THE SECOND LETTER FROM MONSIEUR OSTER, THE VICE 
 CONSUL OF FRANCE, TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. No. 2. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Norfolk, November 11, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 The 2d of last month I had the honor of giving you an account 
 of the motives which determined me to act with severity against a 
 French captain named Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier; and as this 
 criminal had accomplices, that it was my duty to search them out. 
 I, at the same time, requested that your Excellency would be pleased 
 to grant me the necessary orders to claim them, and arrest them in 
 whatever district of the State they might be found. 
 
 My letter to your Excellency on this subject being still unan- 
 swered — not knowing whether the honorable Council have any 
 reasons why they should not grant my request — and it being neces- 
 sary, on this occasion, to justify my conduct, I once more take the 
 liberty, sir, to request that you will be so good as to grant me the 
 order mentioned in my aforesaid letter ; and if there is no objection 
 against its being made out for me, I beg that you will include therein 
 Captain Ferrier, who was taken from his prison by surprise, and 
 liberated, the 7th instant, by virtue of a simple writ, obtained by a 
 person called Breton, on an ill-founded claim for fifty pounds. 
 
 This surprise having happened on board a French vessel, and 
 through a frivolous pretext, it cannot be dissembled that it is abso- 
 lutely contrary to good order, to the confidence and security of 
 commerce, which nations, closely united by solemn treaties, are 
 interested in supporting and encouraging in their respective posses- 
 sions. Jt is accordingly in consequence of these principles that, in 
 quality of his Majesty's Vice Consul in the republic of Virginia, I 
 take the first opportunity of complaining to your Excellency on this 
 subject, and of claiming, in the strongest terms, your good offices 
 and authority, that, on such occasions in future, measures may be 
 adopted as will not coimteract the functions entrusted to me respecting 
 the French subjects depending on my vice consulate, and particularly 
 such as are criminal and within my power, as was Captain Ferrier. 
 
 Agreeably to all publications on the subject of the rights of nations 
 allied in a double point of view, such as France and ike United 
 
260 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 States happily are, Captain Ferrier ought never to have heen entirely 
 withdrawn from under my dependence. As a criminal, and publicly 
 acJcnowledged such, the sheriff who tooTc him, instead of giving him 
 his liberty with bail, and without any particular reason, ought to 
 have held him a prisoner in the prison of the country, and to have 
 kept him there until he had satisfied his engagements, and afterwards 
 returned him to me. This officer should the rather have acted in 
 this manner as he knew that I had obtained permission from the chief 
 magistrate in Norfolk to apprehend the criminal. 
 
 This opinion, which arises from the principles of that justice 
 which nations ought to cultivate, and which is the basis of all society, 
 as well, as the safest bond of commerce, I am persuaded that your 
 Excellency will think so likewise, and grant that, without this virtue, 
 which ought to be respected, human society would degenerate to a 
 band of rufSans. 
 
 Such, sir, are the reasons on which I found the claim which I take 
 the liberty of now making on your authority and influence, in order 
 to prevent, in fiiture, through frivolous pretexts, that the law 
 respecting debtors be not used in favor of French transgressors, who 
 shall be found amenable to the ordinances of his Majesty, without 
 infringing those of the republic over which you with so much wisdom 
 preside. 
 
 I have the honor, Stc. 
 
 FROM GOVERNOR RANDOLPH TO MONSIEUR OSTER, VICE CONSUL OF 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Richmond, November 22, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 As soon as the Council had decided on your application of the 2d 
 ultimo, for aid in the execution of your authority upon a French 
 subject charged with an offence against the laws of France, I did 
 myself the honor, by a private hand, of informing you of the result. I 
 now find, by your letter of the 11th instant, received late last evening, 
 that my letter had not reached you. I therefore now repeat that it 
 is the opinion of the Executive that they cannot interfere or lend 
 assistance in the case which you mentioned. This opinion proceeds 
 not from any disinclination to support the consular power, but from 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 261 
 
 the fixed 'principle of our Government that no authority can be 
 exercised by any body of men to whom it has not been duly 
 delegated. The only law existing on this subject is one passed in 
 1780, and of which you have a full knowledge. I must, therefore, 
 refer you to it, and doubt not that you will discover from thence 
 that it would not justify us in granting the process which you wish. 
 
 Extract of a Law of the State of Virginia, entitled An Act for the 
 Protection and Encouragement of the Commerce of such Powers 
 as have acknowledged the Independence of the United States of 
 America. — October, 1779. 
 
 "It shall be lawful for the said Consul to take cognizance of all 
 differences, controversies, and litigations arising between subjects or 
 citizens of his own State only, and finally to determine and compose 
 them according to such rules or laws as he shall think fit, and such 
 determinations to carry into execution. And where he shall require 
 aid for executing the same, it shall be lawful for the Governor, with 
 the advice of the Council of State, using their discretion therein, to 
 order any sheriff within his own county, or any military officer 
 whatsoever, to execute, or to aid and assist in executing, any such 
 determination ; provided the same does not extend to life or limb of 
 the offender. Where any sailor, seaman, or marine, belonging to any 
 vessel of such State within this Commonwealth shall desert or be 
 found wandering from his vessel, it shall be lawful for the master of 
 such vessel to reclaim such sailor, seaman, or marine, notwithstanding 
 they may in the meanwhile have been naturalized in this Common- 
 wealth ; and any justice of the peace to whom the master shall apply 
 shall grant his warrant for taking and conveying such sailor, seaman, 
 or marine, from constable to constable, to the said vessel ; or on 
 application from the Consul, the Governor, with the advice of the 
 Council of State, may issue such orders to any sheriff, constable, or 
 military officer, who shall yield due obedience thereto." 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF FRANCE. 
 
 New York, May 29, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write yesterday. 
 As soon as the papers which accompanied it can be translated they 
 
262 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 shall be laid before Congress, and nothing on my part shall be onmitted 
 to expedite the business they respect. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, JOHN JAY. 
 
 REPORT or JOHN JAT TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, June 6, 1788. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a note from the Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of France, dated the 28th May, with the paper that 
 accompanied it, reports : 
 
 That this note, for the facts and reasons therein set forth, contains 
 a requisition that Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier, a Frenchman, now in 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia, be delivered to the orders of his most 
 Christian Majesty ; and this note also urges Congress to ratify the 
 consular convention heretofore concluded in behalf of the two 
 countries by their respective Ministers. 
 
 With respect to the requisition, your Secretary is of opinion, as the 
 facts and circumstances alleged in the note are so stated as at least to 
 imply a complaint against the Executive of Virginia, that a copy of 
 the said note, and of the papers which accompanied it, should, 
 previous to any other steps or measures, be transmitted to his 
 Excellency the Governor of that Commonwealth, and that he be 
 requested to communicate to Congress such information on the 
 subject as may appear to him proper and necessary. 
 
 With respect to the consular convention, it does not seem necessary 
 that any further communication relative to it be made to the Minister, 
 than that instructions on that head have been given to Mr. Jeffer- 
 son. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, June 13, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 In pursuance of the orders of Congress I have the honor of trans- 
 mitting to your Excellency, herewith enclosed, copies of a note from 
 the Minister of France, dated the 28th ultimo, and of the papers 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 263 
 
 which accompanied it, to the end that you may communicate to 
 Congress the necessary information on the subject. I am also directed 
 to signify to your Excellency that it is the sense of Congress that Joseph 
 Marie Anne Ferrier, mentioned in the said note, ought to be appre- 
 hended in order to be dealt with according to the nature of the case. 
 With sentiments of esteem and respect, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, June 13th, 1788. 
 
 " The committee, consisting of Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Dane, Mr. 
 Dayton, Mr. Otis, and Mr. Carrington, to whom was referred a 
 report of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs on a note from the 
 Minister Plenipotentiary of France, of the 28th May, report, 
 
 " That it appears by the said note and the papers which accompany 
 it, that the person mentioned therein, to wit : Joseph Marie Anne 
 Ferrier, commander of the brig David, is, in substance, charged 
 with betraying his trust, and running away with a cargo of coffee ; 
 that the execution of his design is alleged to have been begun at the 
 Cape, continued by certain acts on the high seas, and completed in 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia : Whereupon, 
 
 " Resolved, That the Secretary for Foreign AfTairs be, and he is 
 hereby, directed to transmit the said note of the Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of France, of the 28th May last, to the Executive of the 
 Commonwealth of Virginia, to the end that the said Executive may 
 communicate to Congress, the necessary information on the subject ; 
 and also to signify to the said Executive that it is the sense of 
 Congress that the said Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier ought to be 
 apprehended in order to be dealt with according to the nature of the 
 case ; and that the said Secretary be, and is hereby, directed to 
 inform the said Minister Plenipotentiary that instructions have already 
 been given to the Minister of the United States at the Court of 
 France concerning the consular convention referred to in his note." 
 
 o 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIEK TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, August 11, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to inform you that I am on the point of setting 
 
 out on a journey, the duration of which I cannot foresee ; and that 
 
264 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 during my absence M. Otto will be charged with the affairs of his 
 Majesty, as he was before my arrival in America. I request the 
 favor of you to inform the Congress of it, and to give full confidence 
 to the communications which he may make in that capacity. I have 
 no doubt he will continue to merit the good opinion which that 
 assembly may have already received of his zeal. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE COUNT DE MOUSTIEK. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 12, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 I hare received and communicated to Congress the letter which 
 you did me the honor to write on the 11th instant ; and with the best 
 wishes that your proposed journey may conduce to your health and 
 your pleasure, 
 
 I am, with great respect, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 TROM JOHN JAY TO THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 16, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 Agreeably to my engagement, I have now the honor of transmit- 
 ting to you, herewith enclosed, copies of the two letters from his 
 Excellency the Governor of Virginia, of the 30th June and 2d 
 July, and of the papers referred to in the letter relative to the case 
 of Ferrier. 
 
 With great respect, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM GOVERNOR RANDOLPH TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Richmond, June 30, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 Your favor of the 13th June came to hand the night before last 
 only. I could not answer it without advising with the Council of 
 State, which did not assemble until to-day. It is our purpose to give 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 265 
 
 the Count de Moustier every satisfactory information in our power ; 
 and, therefbre, have adjourned the further consideration of his note 
 until Wednesday. But in the mean time I cannot help expressing 
 a wish that the consular convention, to which the Minister alludes, 
 had been communicated to us, if it existed. If we had contravened 
 that compact, we have erred unknowingly, this being the first time 
 that we have ever heard of its completion. 
 
 I have the honor, &c., EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 
 FROM GOVERNOR RANDOLPH TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Richmond, July 2, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 The Executive of Virginia have reviewed every instance of their 
 intercourse with the representatives and subjects of his most Christian 
 Majesty. But after the most accurate and unbiased enquiry, they 
 are yet unable to discover in what respect their friendship for 
 the great ally of the United States has justly been brought into 
 suspicion. Judge then, sir, how much their sensibility has been 
 roused, when they read the note of the Count de Moustier concerning 
 Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier, intimating, in terms poignant, though 
 polite, that positive laws, the common rights of nations, mutual ties 
 between allied Powers, the treaty of commerce, a consular conven- 
 tion, and an established precedent, had been violated, to cover from 
 punishment an enemy to human society. They will not, however, 
 refuse an explanation of the motives by which they have been 
 influenced. 
 
 It is still the 6rm opinion of the Executive that it transcended 
 their powers to gratify M. Oster in his request of the 2d of October, 
 and of the 11th November, 1787. Our constitution describes their 
 functions to consist in " the exercise of the executive powers of 
 government, according to the laws of the Commonwealth;" and forbids 
 them, "-under any pretence, to exercise any power or prerogative by 
 virtue of any law,' statute, or custom of England" — thus excluding 
 implied powers. Our bill of rights, too, particularly, warns us in 
 favor of liberty, by declaring that " no man shall he deprived of it, 
 except by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers." 
 
 In no other law than that of October, 1779, (see No. 1,) do we 
 
266 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 find even a glimpse of the authority the exertion of which has been 
 solicited by the Vice Consul. But even under that act the Governor 
 cannot order any sherifl' or military officer whatsoever to arrest for an 
 offence against the laws of France \ and therefore could not command 
 the arrest of Joseph Marie Anne Ferrier, in order that he might be 
 transported for such a crime to France for trial. Nay, its context 
 and language confine the interposition of the Executive to determin- 
 ations of differences, controversies, and litigations arising between 
 subjects or citizens of a foreign State, not extending to life or limb ; 
 and to the taking and conveying of a sailor, seaman, or marine to 
 his vessel. 
 
 Could " the mutual ties between aUied Powers" permit an unlim- 
 ited , indulgence of our respect to the wishes of his most Christian 
 Majesty, or his Minister, we might, perhaps, have yielded to the 
 importunities of M. Oster. But in the use of official discretion we 
 are bound to discard considerations not warranted by duty. We are 
 bound to deny every obligation not arising from the law of nations, 
 the treaty of commerce, or some consular convention. 
 
 We shall not question the right of the' Minister to demand Ferrier 
 under the law of nations, although it is not, perhaps, indisputably 
 certain that in every nation in Europe a demand of such a culprit 
 would be obeyed. Nor shall we discuss the idea of an allegiance 
 unalterably due from him to his Christian Majesty, and a perpetual 
 amenability to his edicts ; although the genius of our Government 
 seems not to distinguish, in the present case, with regard to personal 
 protection, between foreigners owing a temporary fidelity, commen- 
 surate only with their stay in our country, and established citizens ; 
 still less are we inclined to deny the power of Congress to enforce a 
 surrender of Ferrier, although we are yet to learn in what page of 
 the Confederation it is expressly delegated to them. But we rather 
 grant, for the sake of avoiding every appearance of equivocation, 
 that these positions correspond, in truth, witli the sentiments and 
 pretensions of the Minister. Even with this powerful train of 
 concessions it will not follow that the Executive of Virginia, pos- 
 sessing certain defined powers under a constitution, can usurp others, 
 upon no other or better ground than that there is a national right, for 
 the protection of which no constitutional or legislative provision has 
 yet been made. 
 
 That the admission of Consuls is stipulated in the treaty of com- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 267 
 
 merce is true ; but it is equally well founded that, not being public 
 Ministers, they enjoy no immunities or authorities (except a certain 
 degree of inviolability in their persons) which are not marked out by 
 treaty or custom, and that none such are marked out by the treaty ot 
 commerce. "Custom, theri, (we are taught by a celebrated civilian,) 
 ' is to be the rule ; for a Prince receiving a Consul without express 
 ' conditions, is supposed to receive him on the footing of custom." 
 The existence of an American custom on the subject of Consuls is 
 to us unknown ; nay, the possibility of its existence, so recently after 
 the birth of the American Government, and in derogation of State 
 constitutions, is not, perhaps, free from doubt. Believing, too, that 
 the French customs with regai'd to Consuls are not conformable with 
 the genius of Virginia, and have never, in a single example, been 
 announced by Congress as conformable with their views ; recollecting 
 that, for the specification of consular functions, which, according to 
 the treaty of commerce, were to be settled by particular agreements, 
 a convention was begun in the year 1781, between Congress and 
 his Christian Majesty, and never having heard of its completion, we 
 cannot acknowledge the sufiiciency of the Minister's complaint on 
 this head. 
 
 We have said, sir, that the completion of the convention, if it has 
 taken place, has not been promulged to us. This fact will acquit us 
 of a designed infraction of it. 
 
 The Minister recurs to a precedent, an extract from which is now 
 sent. But neither that nor any other act which appears on our files 
 has authorized any officer of Virginia to assist the Vice Consul in 
 arresting for an offence against the laws of France. If aid has been 
 given in a case wherein such an offence was an ingredient, we must 
 have proceeded on imperfect information. See No. 2. 
 
 The foregoing observations are intended as an answer to Mr. 
 Oster's letter of the 2d of October, 1787. In a great measure it 
 will serve as a reply to that of November the 11th, 1787, by shewing 
 the defect of our authority to restore Ferrier to his Custody. But 
 we beg leave to subjoin, that if the act of the public officer in with- 
 drawing Ferrier from the Jason was unlawful, it belonged to the 
 judiciary, not the Executive, to declare it so ; that if it was lawful, 
 the Executive Could not wrest him from the hands of that. officer, 
 especially as Mr. Oster might have reclaimed him after his discharge, 
 and caused a mulct to be imposed on the sheriff if that discharge 
 was improper. 
 
268 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 It is our sincere hope that this explanation may prove satisfactory 
 to the Minister of his Christian Majesty. But should we be disap- 
 pointed, we have a thorough persuasion that the relief sought by 
 Mr. Oster was far beyond the scope of our powers. 
 
 I have the honor to be, kp., EDM: RANDOLPH. 
 
 Referred to as No. 1 in Mr. Randolph's Letter. 
 
 An Act for the Protection and Encouragement of the Commerce 
 of Nations acknowledging the Independence of the United States 
 of America. 
 
 "1. For preserving friendship and harmony with those nations, 
 who have or shall hereafter acknowledge the independence of the 
 United States of America ; speedily determining disputes wherein 
 their subjects or citizens are parties, protecting and encouraging 
 their commerce within this Commonwealth : Be it enacted by the 
 General Assembly, that it shall be lawful for the Governor, with the 
 advice of the Council of State, to receive and admit, from time to 
 time, a Consul or Consuls appointed by any such State to be resident 
 within this Commonwealth ; such Consul, if he were not a citizen 
 of this Commonwealth at the time of receiving his appointment, 
 shall be deemed a subject or citizen of the State from which he was 
 appointed, and shall be exempted from all personal services required 
 by the laws of this Commonwealth from its own citizens ; and if he 
 shall do any act which by the laws of this Commonwealth would 
 subject him to criminal prosecution, it shall be lawful for the Gov- 
 ernor, with the advice of the Couacil of State, in their discretion, 
 either before the prosecution instituted or in any stage thereof, to 
 remand such Consul to his Sovereign or State for punishment, and 
 for that purpose to command him to be delivered by any civil 
 officer in whose custody he may be. It shall be lawful for the said 
 Consul to take cognizance of all differences, controversies, and 
 litigations arising between subjects or citizens of his own State only, 
 and finally, to determine and compose them according to such rules 
 or laws as he shall think fit, and such determinations to carry into 
 execution. And where he shall require aid for executing the same, 
 it shall be lawful for the Governor, with the advice of the Council 
 of State, using their discretion therein, to order any sheriff within his 
 
DIPLOMATIC COERESPONDENCE. 269 
 
 own county, or any military officer whatsoever, to execute, or to aid 
 and assist in executing, any such determination, provided the same 
 does not extend to life or limb of the offender. 
 
 "Where any sailor, seaman, or marine, belonging to any vessel of 
 such State within this Commonwealth, shall desert, or be found 
 wandering from his vessel, it shall be lawful for the master of such 
 vessel to reclaim such sailor, seaman, or marine, notwithstanding 
 such, sailor, seaman, or marine may, in the mean time, have been 
 naturalized in this Commonwealth. And any justice of the peace 
 to whom the master shall apply shall grant his warrant for taking 
 and conveying such sailor, seaman, or marine, from constable to 
 constable, to the said vessel ; or on application from the Consul, the 
 Governor, with the advice of the Council of State, may issue such 
 orders to any sheriff, constable, or military officer, who shall yield 
 due obedience thereto. And be it further enacted, that any suit 
 cortimenced in the High Court of Chancery, or General Court, by or 
 against any subject or citizen of such State, shall be heard or tried 
 in the term to which the process shall be returned regularly executed, 
 or so soon afterwards as may be ; and to this end, subsequent process 
 to compel appearance may be returnable to any day of a term, and 
 rules to bring the matter in dispute to speedy issue may be given, to 
 expire at any shorter time than what is prescribed in ordinary cases. 
 If such suit be commenced in a court of a county, city, or borough, it 
 may, without any other reason, on the motion or petition of either 
 party, be removed by writ of certiorari, and the hearing, or trial 
 thereof shall be accelerated by like means, as if it had originated in 
 the court to which it shall be removed. And the Court of Appeals, 
 High Court of Chancery, or General Court, shall determine every 
 such suit brought before them, by writ of error or appeal, with all 
 the expedition which the necessary forms of their proceedings will 
 allow." 
 
 An extract from the laws of Virginia, truly copied. 
 
 Attest: SAM. COLEMAN, A. C. C. 
 
 In Council, August 21, 1784. 
 
 " His Excellency having laid before the Board a letter from the 
 Sieur Oster, Vice Consul of his most Christian Majesty in this State, 
 relative to the conduct of Messrs. Hallot and Amowrouk, of the 
 
270 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Amiable Louisa, the property of a French subject, encjosing the 
 sentence of a consular court on their conduct, and representing that 
 Mr. Hallot, whilst the said cause was depending, took the oath of 
 allegiance to this State, and requiring the aid of Government in 
 carrying the said sentence into execution : 
 
 " The Board advise that his Excellency, according to an act of 
 Assembly ' for the protection and encouragement of the commerce of 
 nations acknowledging the independence of the United States of 
 America,' issue his order to all sheriffs aiid military officers within 
 this State, notwithstanding Mr. Hallot has taken the oath of allegiance 
 to this Commonwealth, requiring them to aid and assist in executing 
 the said sentence, provided the same does not extend to the life or 
 limb of the offenders." 
 
 Extract from the Journals. A. BLAIR, C. C. 
 
 FKOM THE COUNT DE MOUSTIEK TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 New York, October 18, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 In conformity with our agreement, I have the honor of enclosing 
 to you a sketch of our conversation respecting Mr. Randolph's 
 answer, which you have been pleased to communicate to me. It is 
 far from satisfactory, although it is drawn up with considerable 
 address. There is certainly an irregularity in the conduct with 
 respect to Captain Ferrier. I wait the decision of Congress, to 
 inform my Court thereof. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &ic., 
 
 THE COUNT DE MOUSTIER. 
 
 SJ^etch of the Count de Moustier's Conversation with Mr. Jay. 
 
 The Minister Plenipotentiary of France observes, with much pain, 
 that the interpretations given to the laws of nations, to the treaty of 
 commerce between the King and the United States, to a particular 
 law of the State of Virginia, respecting the privileges and functions 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 271 
 
 of Consuls, and the ignorance in a particular State of the convention 
 signed by the respective Plenipotentiaries, on a subject which has 
 been treated in the name of all, according to the only usual form for 
 all their important acts, which have established the connexions and 
 engagements fonned between his Majesty and the United States, 
 have prevented attention being paid to the demand made in the 
 King's name by his Minister Plenipotentiary to the Congress of the 
 United States, for a satisfaction not only interesting to a nation that 
 is particularly allied with them, but to all nations in general, as it 
 respects a crime that is acknowledged to militate against the rights 
 of nations, a right that is imprescriptible, and not to be effaced by 
 any other positive law of any civilized State whatever. 
 
 It appears proper to extend some secondary remarks on the answers 
 which have been communicated to the Count de Moustier, without 
 touching the grounds of the question, and which are reduced to the 
 following positions : 
 
 1st. The crime which Captain Ferrier is guilty of is a kind of 
 piracy, which is not, as is attempted to be insinuated, punishable 
 only by the laws of France, but which is severely censured by the 
 laws of all commercial nations, and the prosecution of which is 
 prescribed by the rights of nations. 
 
 2dly. If by the law, a copy of which is joined to Mr. Randolph's 
 letter, a sailor simply deserting can be claimed by the Consul, much 
 more so ought a captain who deserts with his crew, after having sold, 
 for his own benefit, the cargo entrusted to him. This explanation is 
 evidently conformable to the spirit of this law, which has for its 
 object the protection and encouragement of the commerce of such 
 nations as have acJchowledged the independence of the United 
 States. 
 
 3dly. The Mayor of Norfolk having consented to the seizure of 
 Captain Ferrier, on the claim of his Majesty's Vice Consul, he has 
 acknowledged that the proceedings of this Vice Consul were not 
 contrary to the law of Virginia. Moreover, this Captain was 
 arrested, and brought to the Vice Consul by the very inhabitants of 
 the country. The same measure, therefore, has been alternately 
 regarded as legal and illegal. 
 
 Without entering into any further discussion respecting the extent 
 of tlie power of Congress or of the Executive Council of Virgmia as 
 to the case in question, the Count de Moustier will not send the 
 
272 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 answer which has been communicated to him until he has received 
 the decision of Congress. He has, therefore, the honor to request 
 that Mr. Jay will inform that assembly of his sentiments respecting 
 the Governor of Virginia's answer, and to explain more particularly 
 the desire he has of acquainting his Court with a satisfactory issue to 
 an affair alike interesting to the commerce of the Kingdom and the 
 external consideration of Virginia. 
 
 If circumstances did not promise a happy revolution in the actual 
 organization of the United States, and that the principles that have 
 been adopted in Virginia, with respect to Captain Ferrier, should 
 serve as a basis for the commercial politics of the other States, which 
 have hitherto followed very different maxims, the consequences would 
 be that no nation could safely navigate and trade in their ports, and 
 that foreign Captains might, under the protection of the law, dispose 
 of cargoes which have been entrusted to them, and might enjoy with 
 impunity the fruit of their crimes, in spite of the claims of their 
 owners ; and- notwithstanding the demands of the Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of a Power closely connected with the United States. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, September 19, 1788. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 The absence of the Minister of France (with whom it appeared to 
 me expedient, previously to converse on the subject of the letters of 
 the 30th June and 2d July, from his Excellency the Governor of 
 Virginia) induced me to postpone reporting on them. 
 
 He arrived yesterday, and I have seen him this morning. He is 
 preparing to go immediately to Boston, and prefers leaving this affair 
 in its present state until his return. 
 
 The delay will not, in my opinion, be inconvenient, and therefore 
 I took the liberty of consenting to it. 
 
 With great respect, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 o 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, September 24, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have had the honor of receiving and communicating to Congress 
 
 your letters of the 30th June and 2d July last. The receipt of them 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 273 
 
 should have been sooner acknowledged, had I not flattered myself 
 with being shortly enabled to give you some information on the 
 subject. My attendance in the convention of this State, and Count 
 de Moustier's excursion to Albany, &z;c., left me no opportunity of 
 discussing these matters with him. He returned last week ; but the 
 very day afterwards set out for Boston. I saw him just before his 
 departure, and mentioned the affair to him. He was satisfied that it 
 should be left in the state it was until his return. 
 
 The consular convention mentioned by your Excellency never was 
 ratified, and consequently cannot as yet have operation in the United 
 States. The foreign Consuls here have no other authority than that 
 which they may derive from the laws of nations, and the acts of 
 particular States. The propriety of these acts appears to me to be 
 questionable, especially as national objects should be regulated by 
 national laws. When the Count returns, I promise myself the 
 pleasure of writing to you more at large on this subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, JOHN JAY. 
 
 -o- 
 
 REPORT OF SECRETARY JAY ON THE OBLIGATION TO RATIFY THE 
 
 CONSULAR CONVENTION WITH FRANCE. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 25, 1789. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, under the former Congress, in pursuance of the following 
 resolution, viz: 
 
 "In Senate, July 22, 1789. 
 
 '■' Whereas a convention referred this day to the Senate has 
 ' reference to a convention pending between the most Christian King 
 ' and the United States, ' previous to the adoption of our present 
 ' Constitution :' 
 
 "Resolved, That the Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the 
 ' former Congress be requested to peruse the said convention, and to 
 'give his opinion how far he conceives the faith of the United States 
 ' to be engaged, either by former agreed stipulations or negotiations 
 ' entered into by our Minister at the Court of Versailles, to ratify, 
 ' in its present sense or form, the convention now referred to th& 
 'Senate. Sasiuel A. Otis, Secretary." 
 
 Vol. 1.-18 
 
274 JOHN JAY— SEC. FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Reports, That he has compared the two conventions of 1784 and 
 1788. 
 
 That the copies of them received from Mr. Jefferson, and now 
 before the Senate, are so printed and their variations so clearly- 
 marked as that he cannot contrast them in a manner better calculated 
 for an easy and accurate comparison. 
 
 That, in his opinion, there exist in the convention of 1788 no 
 variations from the original scheme sent to Dr. Franklin, in 1782, 
 nor from the convention of 1784, but such as render it less ineligible 
 than either of the other two. 
 
 That, although he apprehends that this convention will prove more 
 inconvenient than beneficial to the United States, yet he thinks that 
 the circumstances under which it was formed render its being ratified 
 by them indispensable. 
 
 The circumstances alluded to are these : 
 
 The original scheme of 1782, however exceptionable, was framed 
 and agreed to by Congress. 
 
 The convention of 1784 was modelled by that scheme, but in 
 certain instances deviated from it ; both of them were to be perpetual 
 in their duration. 
 
 On account of these deviations. Congress refused to ratify it ; but 
 promised to ratify one corresponding with the scheme, provided its 
 duration was limited to eight or ten years ; but they afterwards 
 extended it to twelve. 
 
 By an instruction to Mr. Jefferson, of 3d October, 1786, he was, 
 among other things, directed to propose to the King " that the said 
 ' convention be so amended as perfectly to correspond with the 
 ' scheme in every part where a deviation from the same is not 
 ' permitted by the said act, (of 1782;) and further, that he represent 
 ' to his Majesty the desire of Congress to make the said convention 
 ' probationary, by adding a clause for limiting its duration to eight or 
 ' ten years. That he assure his Majesty of the determination of 
 ■' Congress to observe, on all occasions, the highest respect for candor 
 ' and good faith in all their proceedings, and that on receiving the 
 ' convention so amended, and with such a clause, they will imme- 
 ' diately ratify it." 
 
 In the letter which accompanied these instructions is the following 
 paragraph : 
 
 " The original scheme of the convention is far from being unex- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDEiSrCE. 275 
 
 ' ceptionable, but a former Congress having agreed to it, it would be 
 ' improper now to recede ; and, therefore, Congress are content to 
 ' ratify a convention made conformable to that scheme, and to their 
 ' act of 25th January, 1782, provided a clause limiting its duration, 
 ' be added." 
 
 On 27th July, 1787, Congress gave to Mr. Jefferson a commission 
 in general terms to negotiate and conclude with his most Christian 
 Majesty a convention for regulating the privileges, &c., of their 
 respective Consuls. In one of the letters then written to him, is 
 this paragraph : 
 
 " Congress confide fully in your talents and discretion, and they 
 ' will ratify any convention that is not liable to more objections than 
 ' the one already in part concluded ; provided that an article limiting 
 ' its duration to a term not exceeding twelve years be inserted." 
 
 As the convention in question is free from several objections, to 
 which the one of 1784 was liable, and is in every respect preferable 
 to it, and as it contains a clause limiting its duration to twelve years, 
 it seems to follow as a necessary consequence that the United States 
 ought to ratify it. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of the Senate. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 GENERAL THE MARQUIS 
 
 DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 FROM LA FAYETTE TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Paris, December 26th, 1783 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Having received no commands from Congress by the last packet, 
 I must, however, trespass upon their time to give them a few hints 
 respecting American commerce. I have, of course, directed them 
 to Mr. Morris ; and although Dr. Franklin (the other Ministers being 
 in JEngland) will give you political intelligence, I cannot help adding, 
 that by a refined piece of cunning, the King of England has got 
 Mr. Fox out of the Ministry. After having entangled him by a 
 success in the House of Commons, he found means to stop him short 
 in the House of Lords, in consequence of which Mr. Fox has been 
 dismissed. Mr. Pitt, and the last of the Temples called in, and the 
 new administration (Lord North being also out) necessitates the 
 calling of a new Parliament. 
 
 The affairs between Russia and the Ottoman Empire are still 
 negotiating, and although in my opinion war cannot be much deferred 
 in that quarter, there is no probability of its taking place so soon as 
 next summer. The Emperor is in Italy, upon which some say he 
 has also got an eye, and there he will meet with the King of Sweden. 
 There is no change in the French Ministry since M. de Calonne has 
 succeeded to M. de Omillon, and Baron de Breteuil to M. Amelot, 
 both of whom are more sensible than their predecessors, 
 i Unless I have some commands from Congress to execute in Europe 
 I shall in the spring embark for America, and present them with the 
 
280 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 personal homage of one whose happiness is to feel himself forever a 
 zealous member in the service of the United States. 
 
 With the utmost regard and affectionate attachment, I have the 
 honor to be, fcc, LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Paris, December 26, 1783. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Although I have not by this opportunity been honored with any 
 commands from Congress, I beg their permission to acquaint them, 
 through you, with the measures respecting commerce which it has 
 been both my duty and my inclination to pursue. 
 
 On my return from Spain I heard that Bayonne and Dunkirk Were 
 the two ports pointed out for American trade. L'Orient is out of 
 the question ; and although it was wished for by the Minister and 
 Consul of the United States, their having no positive orders from 
 Congress seemed to them sufficient reason to forbear a timely appli- 
 cation. As I was a private man, I thought I might make it myself, 
 and every difficulty I met with the better convinced me of the 
 importance there was in getting that harbor. It was at last fixed 
 upon in lieu of Bayonne, and I was permitted to let it be known to 
 Mr. Barclay. But M. de Omillon being overburthened with the 
 duties of his place, an enormous time was lost in giving the affair an 
 official and complete conclusion. 
 
 Monsieur de Calonne having got into place, I have applied to him, 
 as I do to every Minister that has something to do with American 
 afTairs. Enclosed you will find answers from him, and I hope our 
 next conference will finish the affair of L'Orient. It has much 
 pleased me to hear from Colonel Gouvion that your opinion respecting 
 its conveniency coincided with mine. But since it has been decided 
 we should obtain L'Orient, 1 have made an application for an addition 
 of free ports. Because the more that are got the better it will be. 
 Dunkirk, L'Orient, Bayonne, and Marseilles, will be a very proper 
 chain. Bayonne, with the country around it, opens a good contraband 
 trade with the Spaniards. 
 
 Upon the receipt of your letter, September 30th, Mr. Franklin 
 sent it to me, requesting I would make what use of it I thought 
 proper. I had extracts of it translated, which I intend taking with 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 281 
 
 me to Versailles. Your opinion will have great weight in the affair, 
 because of the confidence Europeans have in your abilities, and the 
 respect which is paid here to your character. 
 
 The ideas upon commerce that are met with in this country are 
 far from being always right; to persuade people into their own 
 interest is sometimes as difficult a matter as it would be to obtain a 
 sacrifice. But the Ministry and the people are wishing for intimate 
 connexions with America upon a liberal policy ; one of the impedi- 
 ments is, that the trade in France is subject to many inconveniences, 
 which, by little and little, will be removed ; and the other, that the 
 merchants here, and the farming interest about Bordeaux, oppose 
 any foreign trade with the West Indies. 
 
 Those oppositions I have been every day combatting in the best 
 manner I could ; and at last have determined to present several 
 heads, by way of memorial, which I will commence in conversation. 
 It is-entirely in the capacity of a Frenchman that I write, and wish 
 as little appearance of partiality as I could. The reason is obvious ; 
 and I have sent a copy of my memorial to every one of the Ministers. 
 With it I enclose M. de Calonne's answers, and a copy of an old 
 letter from M. de Vergennes, which you must have got long ago. 
 Should you think the memorial worth reading to Congress, or any 
 committee, I must beg it will not go elsewhere, as I do not wish its 
 being propagated. 
 
 In everything I do I need not say that I will ask for directions 
 from the Ministers of Congress ; and I very much wish to see them 
 treating the matter directly with this Government. I the more desire 
 it as I know the intentions of Congress only from hearsay, and cannot 
 move a step in cases where their name is to be made use of with 
 the Ministry. 
 
 With the highest regard, I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 While I am reading over this memorial, I beg leave to observe it 
 was intended to point out the inconveniences in the French trade ; it 
 was therefore my object on the one hand to present them in their 
 worst point of view, and on the other to overlook the advantages 
 which that commerce has over other nations. It would have been 
 wrong in me not to observe that this memorial is not intended to 
 give a stated account of the affair, but to obtain favorable alterations 
 upon particular points. LA FAYETTE. 
 
282 ^^ FAYETTE. 
 
 Observations of the Marquis de la Fayette addressed to the Count 
 
 de Vergennes, on the Commerce of the United States with France 
 
 and the French Colonies. 
 
 Whilst sacrificing her treasures and the blood of her citizens in the 
 last war, France had a right to anticipate great advantages. There 
 are some advantages which no faults can take away, and while she 
 has recovered her consideration, her rival has lost a part of its 
 commerce, an immense territory, a great number of its subjects, 
 which Europe was eager to increase. France has besides done more. 
 She has secured herself against a ruin which seemed sure and near at 
 hand. It is evident to all who are Sfcquainted with the New World, 
 that on the eve of the Declaration of Independence England could 
 have secured our American possessions. But although it was our 
 duty to look with favor upon this revolution on account of advantages 
 required, and evils avoided by it, although the main point at issue be 
 a doubt whether this new-created power acquired by the United 
 States, which is now independent and peaceable, would be better 
 situated by a reunion with our rivals, there are yet some advantages 
 which appeared secured to us, but which I see with regret we have 
 lost. 
 
 During the animosity caused by the war, it would have been more 
 easy for us to form commercial ties ; but if we have now competitors 
 we still have some advantages over them. Not that I think commerce 
 appears to me a matter of sentiment. Americans love France ; they 
 are generous and grateful ; and when they are accused of carrying 
 to excess their hatred, (as, for instance, in regard to reprisals or the 
 refugees,) it would be too absurd to accuse them of being attached to 
 England. But all merchants look up to gain ; and although the 
 policy of the United States be very favorable to us, yet mercantile 
 interest is impartial. Its influence will go, it must be confessed, 
 farther yet ; it will gradually take the lead in councils over which 
 merchants have a great influence. Rivals of the British in our 
 manufactures as well as in our commerce, by the same means it is 
 that at some future day our political rivalship will be decided. 
 
 When I speak of our advantages I only mean to say that in the 
 first attempt we will find them in the favorable disposition of the 
 Americans ; but nature has given us exclusive ones ; and with little 
 trouble we might obtain still more of them ; and instead of repelling 
 this commerce, it would be easier to bring the greatest portion of it 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 283 
 
 towards us. Every delay, every error on our part becomes a sure 
 gain for England ; for, in the last resort, if America does not favor us 
 it will be favorable to others ; and if this truth is not worth some 
 sacrifices at least it is worth a prompt and very serious attention. 
 
 Being early engaged in that revolution, I regret the loss of the least 
 advantages which my country might, by proper attention, have derived 
 from it. I would cherish every thing that may draw closer an alliance 
 which is natural, and required by common interest. Had I the expe- 
 rience of a merchant, I would write on the subject of the commerce 
 with the United States. I can have no pretensions of that kind, and 
 if my reflections or my information have given me some ideas on 
 commercial affairs, they are too imperfect to induce me to venture to 
 write a memorial on that subject. What I have learned or thought 
 I have told to the Ministers of the King, and it is in obedience to 
 their order that I offer a few notes on this interesting subject. 
 
 The commerce of the Kingdom, and that of the Colonies, although 
 divided by the departments, cannot, in relation with the United States, 
 be separated. On the examination of the first part, we see on the 
 one side raw materials, and on the other manufactured articles which 
 promise great profits in the exchange. If this truth requires an 
 example, I will instance the extensive commerce in flaxseed which 
 the late colonies carried on with Ireland. From the sowing of the 
 seed until America received bleached linens, Ireland gained every 
 thing by its culture. Without injuring commerce, our fine cloths, our 
 silks of all kinds, our linens, our fancy articles, Sic, will find a 
 considerable sale ; but it may yet be increased by care, and while 
 manufactures, not in such great demand, will suit the American 
 taste, (for I have seen that in Boston the roundness of the heads of 
 our nails was an objection to them, and that the Irish way of folding 
 linens had an influence on the sale of them,) others might lessen their 
 prices by simplifying their manufacture, and some might gain by 
 adopting the English plan, which consists in employing each person 
 to the manufacture only of a single article, and by applying to each 
 article the degree of power absolutely necessary. 
 
 It is a singular fact that when the raw materials are cheaper and 
 better in our colonies, the cotton goods of Rouen should be, since the 
 peace, dearer than those of Manchester. The price of our labor, the 
 good taste, and the intelligence which distinguish us all give us hopes 
 that we can, in our goods, imitate, and even excel other nations. 
 
284 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Besides forming commercial ties and making our manufactures 
 known, we ought also to facilitate their exportation. I understand 
 that the Americans desire that they may be put on the same footing 
 on their continent that they are upon in our islands. They object to 
 that unnatural system of internal customs. They complain that from 
 the moment when the goods leave the manufacturer until they are 
 shipped, without opening the packages, formalities aggravated by 
 their uncertainty, and numberless difficulties must be encountered, 
 and from which the French merchants are not exempt. These 
 vexations lead to smuggling and fraud. They are intolerable for a 
 foreigner not acquainted with our language and customs. The 
 English manufacturers give longer credit, a consideration well worthy 
 of notice. As to our wines and our brandies, they give us an 
 exclusive advantage over England. The taste for French wines 
 increases every day ; they are asked for at the North, and are 
 necessary in the warm climates. Nothing short of the destruction of 
 this commerce would allow Portugal, the Azores, or even Madeira to 
 come in competition with us. 
 
 Here is then a new source of wealth, which gives life to our pro- 
 ductions and our manufactures. It would be wrong to stop it, and 
 it is easier to increase it. With regard to that part of the New 
 World producing raw materials but no rich metals, we ought, for the 
 purpose of paying our workmen, to follow the example of Ireland, 
 that is, encourage their planters. Whilst their furs are sent back to 
 them in the shape of hats, muffs, &ic., whilst we make use of their 
 excellent iron and their timber, we return them hence ships with 
 their sails and rigging, as they did formerly from England ; but it is 
 also necessary that their rice, indigo, and tobacco, should find in 
 , France an advantageous market. Their indigo, not as fine as ours, 
 is employed for a particular purpose. American rice is preferred to 
 that from the east, should even that trade be secured to us. The 
 most essential article is tobacco ; but that trade is destroyed by the 
 Farmers General. If there be a nation favorable to the importation 
 of codfish, we must remember that it is the principal article of 
 exchange of New England. In a word, if we wish the Americans 
 to buy of us, we must multiply their means of selling. Far from 
 fulfilling this object, our actual system has driven away their com- 
 merce. The difficulty occasioned by regulations, is more injurious 
 tlian high prices. The farmers of the revenue can only create 
 
'DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 285 
 
 obstructions, they never decide. Time, so precious to merchants, is 
 consumed by the least obstacle, as if it were the most important 
 affair. The decisions of the company, so long delayed, vary arbi- 
 trarily on every occasion. On entering a French port, the merchants 
 waver between the fear of making a declaration less than the real 
 value, which carries after it confiscation, and that of an exaggerated 
 one, which makes them pay for what they have not. 
 
 The error is still more injurious in the cargoes of tobacco, for if 
 an error is made to the disadvantage of the importer, he is accused 
 of smuggling, and this absurd measure is suspended only by a pro- 
 visional order. 
 
 In reexporting their merchandize, the Americans are desirous of 
 recovering the duties they have paid, a facility which to them 
 appears very important to commerce. The trade of tobacco is 
 e;itirely lost to France. Since the peace, two vessels only have, I 
 believe, arrived, and they were the result of an old contract ; all the 
 others go to England and Holland, where the manufacturers buy 
 their cargoes. A cargo, after having been nine months in France, 
 the Farmers General not being willing to buy it, or allow it to be 
 carried to Marseilles, where it was wanted by the Italians, was at 
 last taken to Amsterdam. Good tobacco is at present sold in Phila- 
 delphia from fifty to sixty shillings the hundred ; in France the 
 charges raise its cost to fifty-four livres of our money ; and while it 
 brings only nine sous in our ports, it yields sixteen sous in London 
 and Amsterdam. But without entering into details, in which I 
 might be mistaken, it is clear that a direct trade is the best for the 
 purchase of this production, and for the sake of our manufactures, 
 and that foreigners, to obtain possession of this trade, will do any- 
 thing, and even suffer a momentary loss ; and unless the patriotism 
 of the Farmers General be enlightened, the allurement of a transitory 
 gain, or the attachment to old usages, will work to the disadvantage 
 of our mercantile and political interests. 
 
 For a long time past these abuses have restricted our commerce, 
 they have been very troublesome to our citizens, and all acknowledge 
 that they counterbalance our natural advantages over other nations. 
 I do not pretend to give new ideas, I only point out those which are 
 obvious to the Americans. Neither does it now belong to me to 
 offer remedies ; but the example of foreign nations proves that there 
 are some. I shall. only mention free ports, which have been too 
 
286 ^^ PAYETTE. 
 
 long neglected. The treaty promises two of them ; Marseilles and 
 Dunkirk were always so. When peace took place, I represented 
 that L'Orient would suit the Americans ; that port was selected, and 
 I was ordered to assert it, and to announce a formal declaration, 
 which has not yet appeared. 
 
 The conclusion of this business and the addition of Bayonne, 
 forming a line of four ports, would be sufficient for the commerce of 
 the United States. It would, perhaps, be better for us that all the 
 ports of France should be free ; but without indulging myself in a 
 strange idea, and not willing to insist on L'Orient and Bayonne, I 
 will only add that these dispositions should be made in concert with 
 the Ministers of Congress, and their Consul in France. 
 
 Whatever may be the importations from America, France is 
 nevertheless so fortunate as to have the balance of exportation in her 
 favor. It is then necessary to find means of payment for this excess, 
 and the commerce of the United States with our islands can only 
 furnish it. Were I even profoundly versed in these matters, I 
 should hesitate to give an opinion on so important a question. The 
 French merchants do not agree in this case with the French inhab- 
 itants of the colonies. The pro and con. can be sustained. But, 
 after conversing with persons better informed than I am, the following 
 ideas on the American commerce have struck me. 
 
 As soon as that interest should be in opposition to our commerce, 
 it ought to be null in the eyes of the Government ; but it is not. so 
 with our agriculturists, our manufacturers in France, and our citizens 
 in the colonies. The sale of our productions, and the prosperity 
 which results from it, will counterbalance the advantages given to 
 merchants, and will combine in securing the public good. Eighteen 
 years have not elapsed since the chamber of commerce was opposed 
 to any communication between the colonies and foreigners. Since 
 that time they have become more liberal on some articles ; they even 
 now agree that it is better to bring our salt provisions from America 
 than from Ireland. It was with much difficulty that an entrepot 
 could be established at St. Lucia and at the St. Nicola mole. There 
 are among merchants a diversity of opinions, and all these reflections 
 give me reason to hope for a conciliatory system, where national 
 interest will accord with that of individuals. 
 
 In taking the salt meat of Ireland, we had the refuse of the 
 English, and the difference in the price and quality is not to be 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 287 
 
 compared. If the salt fish of America is carried to the colonies, 
 ours will find a better market in Europe. Competition can be 
 established by moderate duties, but as long as the sustenance of 
 negroes is subject to prohibitory laws, they will be less numerous, 
 badly fed, they will work less, and die sooner ; and since we have 
 slaves, we ought, at least, to listen to the voice of interest and 
 humanity. The revenue of the King, the consumption of manu- 
 factures, the cultivation of our colonies, will increase in proportion to 
 the freedom giv.en to trade. Are not the inhabitants of the colonies 
 the best judges of the food necessary for their slaves, or do we fear 
 that they will give them too much ? Besides codfish and salt 
 provisions, they will at the same time receive live stock, lumber, &;c., 
 which have always been furnished by the American continent. I 
 must observe here, that an intrepot requires a coasting trade, which 
 is inconvenient and expensive ; and if we expect any help from the 
 Spaniards, I will add that their commerce consists only in goats and 
 the hides of their wild cattle, which the want of fodder does not 
 allow them to raise otherwise. Margarita is the only island which 
 has pasture grounds ; but we cannot depend upon it, as that island 
 will soon adopt the same cultivation with our colonies. Americans, 
 driven away by us, will encourage the Spaniards, who require 
 always to be paid in British manufactures. The neglect of the 
 custom-house guards makes smuggling easy. Although that indolent 
 people may make promises, we ought not to depend on any thing 
 that requires their personal exertions ; but timber suitable for house 
 and ship building, staves, spars for masts, yards, &;c., and finally 
 salt provisions, which we must get from the United States, all these 
 are objects in which the Spaniards cannot compete. 
 
 It is impossible for me to doubt that fish, salt provisions, &;c., and 
 all the abovementioned articles, will be admitted in our colonies. 
 
 Flour offers a greater difficulty, which I pretend not to solve. The 
 inhabitants of the colonies say that the question on the exportation 
 of grain being yet doubtful, we ought not to be too positive as to 
 its exportation to the islands ; that negroes do not make much use 
 of flour, and that if the grain-seller loses, the consumer, and conse- 
 quently the French workman, will gain by it ; that fields will be 
 transformed into vineyards ; that the importation into the interior of 
 the kingdom, offers an opening for it, and that American flour is 
 carried every day to the ports of Europe, (France having some time 
 
288 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 received it,) it would be crael to stop the increase of the colonies, 
 by giving exclusive privileges which commonly benefit individuals 
 only. 
 
 Rum, molasses, and French manufactures will be carried from the 
 Islands to the United States ; but they insist on the sugar trade, at 
 least for their own consumption. If they cannot get it of us or 
 of the English, they will encourage its production to our disadvantage, 
 either in Brazil or the Spanish colonies. If they obtain that liberty 
 in the British Islands, they will form there conamercial ties which 
 we ought to dread. The improvement of our islands ought to be a 
 subject of interest to us ; St. Lucia, for instance, is considered as a 
 grave-yard, but might be made a flourishing island. If the increase 
 of a hostile possession be arrested, will not a great injury have been 
 done to it? And since the French commerce is not sufficient for 
 our colonies, why not give the surplus to our allied consumers ? In 
 selecting certain islands or ports, and limiting the quantity of sugar 
 exported in each vessel, or by requiring bonds for a declaration of 
 this article to be made to the French Consuls in the United States, 
 could not means be devised so that this commerce should not exceed 
 the wants of the continent, and that the Americans should not derive 
 the advantage of carrying our sugars to Europe? We apprehend 
 difficulties in the execution of such regulations, but as much can be 
 said of all restrictions. If these last do not cause sufficient embar- 
 rassments to call for an entire freedom, why should we feel compelled 
 to adopt a general prohibition ? 
 
 It is besides reasonable to make some experiments, but we must 
 not begin with those which, by causing the loss of a trade little 
 known to us, would occasion useless regrets. When this commerce 
 has been examined in its differing bearings, there is one point 
 remaining which deserves consideration. The United States possess- 
 ing superabundant productions, and tlie islands having wants in 
 common with them, which bring them together, it is to be feared 
 that the refusal of an honest freedom will lead them to a general 
 license. If every thing is forbidden to them, the Americans, as well 
 as the inhabitants of the colonies, will break all laws; but the 
 assurance of a lawful profit will drive away smuggling, which brings 
 vexations, animosities, wastes the King's revenue, destroys all 
 arrangements in favor of our commerce, and loosens the political 
 ties. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 289 
 
 If it be just to give only the surplus of our commerce to our 
 clearest allies, if they are only to be employed for its prosperity, or 
 that of our cultivators, our workmen, and our colonies, for the 
 advantage of the mother country, we should undoubtedly be very 
 wrong to sacrifice the great interest of our navigation. That of the 
 colonies, it is said, destroys more sailors than it makes, and generally, 
 the Americans do not expect for their own a very rapid increase. It 
 is true, that at this time they hasten towards the interior of the 
 country, whither they are attracted by the rich lands, which requires 
 cultivators. That navigation, besides, will be dearer than is expected. 
 If timber is cheap, it is not so with workmanship, and the rigging is 
 principally imported from Europe. Their sailors are better paid 
 and fed, and their ships do not last as long as ours. If, say the 
 Americans, ships are constructed at a cheaper rate, the French will 
 buy some of them, and they will become French property. They 
 affirm that as several other nations navigate at a cheaper rate, we 
 ought not to fear them on that account. 
 
 If I have ventured to give some ideas on the American trade, I 
 have been encouraged by the Ministers of the King, and still more 
 so by my love and attachment for the United States. These motives, 
 which I have a right to offer, should be an excuse for pretensions on 
 matters which I understand but little ; this I have not to reproach 
 myself with. I confess that the least merchant knows more than I 
 do, and if some of my ideas appear just, they should have the greater 
 weight ; inasmuch as they are offered by one ignorant of the matter, 
 they do not show to advantage. I do not offer a memorial, I only 
 put together notes which have been required of me, upon some- 
 known facts, or some opinions from Americans, which my private 
 relations have enabled me to hear. Whilst we facilitate our exporta- 
 tion for the prosperity of our commerce, of our manufactories, and 
 for the purpose of securing a payment, we favor American importa- 
 tion. It will be necessary that in fostering our navigation, the 
 interest of our merchants be combined with that of our manufactures 
 and of our colonies, for the good of the kingdom. The Ministers of 
 the liing will know better than myself how to effect these objects;, 
 but there are two reflections which do not require much knowledge. 
 The first is, that in losing time we do ourselves an irreparable injury : 
 the second is, that it is very important that the Minister of the United 
 States, and their Consul, also other American Envoys, now ia 
 Vol. I.— -19 
 
290 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 France, should be consulted, and their talents and knowledge render 
 their advice important, and their opinions will have much influence 
 on the disposition of the people of the United States. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Paris, January 10, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 On the 26th of last month I had the honor to address you a letter, 
 enclosing some observations from me to the French Ministry, and 
 answers from them to me, and also giving you an account of some 
 measures which, in my private capacity, I thought it my duty to 
 undertake. I have been much encouraged by your verbal opinion to 
 Colonel Gouvion respecting L'Orient, which I had taken upon 
 myself to recommend for a free port. A duplicate of my despatches. 
 December the 26th, is going in this packet, whereby you may see 
 that in the private applications I make Congress cannot by any means 
 be in the least committed. 
 
 Since my last letter I have had some conferences with the Ministry, 
 enforcing what I had presented in the memorial. Enclosed you will 
 find an original official letter from M. de Calonne, the Minister of 
 Finance, wherein the affair of the free ports is finally settled, and 
 some other parts of my observations are answered. I beg leave to 
 submit to Congress the propriety of its being published in the news- 
 papers, and for the facility of a translation I enclose a fair copy made 
 out in a more legible hand. 
 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM ROBERT MORRIS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Office of Finance, September 30, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I do myself the honor to enclose, for the inspection of Congress, 
 a copy of a letter of the 14th of last month, from the Marquis de la 
 Fayette ; and with it I send the originals which were delivered by 
 him to me. The unexampled attention to every American interest 
 which this gentleman has exhibited, cannot fail to excite the strongest 
 emotions in his favor ; and we must, at the same time, admire the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 291 
 
 judgment which he has shewn in the manner of his apphcations, as 
 well as the industry in selecting materials. There can be little 
 doubt that his interest at his own Court must always prove beneficial 
 to this country while the same cordiality shall continue which now 
 subsists between him and the venerable Plenipotentiary now resident 
 at Passy. 
 
 I shall not hazard opinions upon the matters which have employed 
 the attention of Monsieur de la Fayette as a negotiator from this 
 country to that which gave him birth. It would be intruding senti- 
 ments which will suggest themselves. But while I feel the delicacy, 
 and, perhaps, danger of asking from France the modification or 
 abolition of particular duties, thereby establishing a precedent for 
 similar requests on her part, I hope Congress will pardon a wish 
 prompted by the general interests of commerce, that the statement of 
 all those duties might be translated and published for the government 
 of those who may form expeditions to those difierent parts now 
 opened to us. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 PROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FATETTE TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Philadelphia, August 14, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 Enclosed you will find some lett6rs from M. de Calonne, and also 
 one from the Marshal de Castries, with a return of duties now paid 
 in the French free ports. The whole of which I have the honor to 
 lay before you, and shall be happy in any commands you may have 
 for me on these important matters. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO M, DE CALONNE. 
 
 Paris, January 31, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 In our last conversation I submitted to you some questions of 
 American merchants, of which you took a note ; and your favorable 
 disposition for the American commerce, and the quick decisions it 
 
292 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 produces, have reanimated my hopes. Whilst the Enghsh parties 
 are disputing we may repair the delays of which you have so sensibly 
 felt the inconvenience. 
 
 The four free ports are granted; and you destine the public 
 buildings there to serve as magazines for the Americans. It were 
 much to be wished that neither of the four ports may be deprived of 
 this advantage, and the compensation for the use of these magazines 
 should be as low as possible. But what ought particularly to be 
 fixed, is a list of the fees of office, of anchorage, and of the admiralty. 
 All these fees or duties, which, in fact, are always collected in a 
 vague and troublesome manner, are not so useful to the King as 
 mconvenient to the individual, and if it is of moment to fix them as 
 low as possible, it will, I believe, be still of more importance to make 
 a sacrifice of them altogether. 
 
 Seeing the difficultieB which would attend a commerce with France, 
 Messrs. Wadsworth & Carter, very rich Americans, had given up all 
 ideas of the kind. I shewed them your letter, and they determined 
 to make the experiment ; they bought silks and other articles to send 
 by a vessel which was to sail from L'Orient, but the demesnes of 
 Monsieur laying on the road, they were obliged either to pay the 
 duties, which would have eat up all the profits, or to take a circuitous 
 route, (as they did,) and thereby lose the opportunity and increase 
 the expense. 
 
 These gentleman wjsh to send to America forty thousand bottles 
 of champagne, and it would be convenient to ship them at Brest, 
 where one of their vessels will stop on its return from England. 
 They ask if they should meet with difficulties, and what duties they 
 shall be obliged to pay for the entrance and clearance of their vessel. 
 
 Mr. Nesbit, merchant at L'Orient, informs me that Mr. Pignon 
 told him Virginia tobacco is to be taken at 45, and Maryland tobacco 
 at 40 ; he is forced to lose on what he has already received ; but 
 his friends have given him orders that their tobacco shall go from 
 America to foreign ports. This monopoly of tobacco is a great 
 misfortune for the commerce of America, but since the Farmers 
 General must buy it, I cannot conceive what views they can have in 
 discouraging the Americans from bringing it directly here, when 
 the same quality sells at a higher price in the other ports of Europe. 
 
 Messrs. Wadsworth and Carter, of whom the whole army of M. 
 de Rochambeau can speak to you, have made an observation to me 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 293 
 
 which is very just : that England diminishes the duties on the articles 
 of export to America, and if France did tjie same, for example on 
 looking-glasses and all that branch of the glass manufacture, they 
 would have the advantage over the English manufactures. 
 
 When I receive your answer to these observations, I will acquaint 
 the American merchants with all that concerns them; they are 
 reanimated by your activity and decision, and it is very opportunely 
 you have stepped in, to turn the current which carried the whole of 
 the American commerce to England. 
 
 I am, &;c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQ,UIS DE LA FAYETTE TO M. DE CALONNE. 
 
 Paris, February 10, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Being on the point of writing to America, I could wish my 
 accounts to continue favorable. After opening of free ports, it 
 would be finishing your work to fix, or perhaps to abolish, the duties 
 of the admiralty, of anchorage, pilotage, and other obstructions to 
 commerce, which I had the honor to mention to you in my former 
 letter. It would be of importance to assure the Americans of a 
 market for their tobacco ; I have forwarded some complaints to you, 
 and I foresee bad consequences from the commission given by the 
 Farmers of Virginia tobacco. At present it is brought from the 
 Ukraine, and in general, instead of buying that of America, the 
 Farmers take the other at a low price and of a very bad quality. 
 You have been so generous with respect to free ports, that it would 
 be indiscreet to give a new idea of that kind; but many of the 
 Americans have told me, that if privileges were granted to the Havre, 
 it would give a superiority to the manufactures of Normandy, and 
 facilitate the vent of the articles fabricated at Paris. Vessels loaded 
 in England, tempteji by the commodiousness and the vicinity of the 
 port, would call and take in some French productions. 
 
 The observations I have the honor to make to you, sir, must be 
 attributed to my desire not to forget any American representations. 
 
 Accept the homage of my gratitude, and of the respect with 
 
 which I am, fee, 
 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
294 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO M. DE CALONNE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, February 26, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Monsieur, the Comptroller General, will find herewith the state- 
 ment he was so ^ood as to lend me ; and to fulfil his intentions, I 
 submit to him the opinion of the American merchants I have con- 
 sultsd. The duties payable in the free ports are less burthensome 
 from their amount than from they- multiplicity; to abolish them 
 entirely, would perhaps be difficult, but they might be at first 
 lessened and afterwards united under one denomination, to be paid 
 at so much for a vessel of three masts, so much for one of two masts, 
 and so on, without troubling themselves about the tonnage. This 
 method will deprive no one of their dues, for the subdivision of the 
 profits can be made by those who claim them. It will prevent the 
 exactions and impositions to which strangers may be liable, will take 
 away all embarrassments of that kind, of which the Americans 
 complain, and will much surpass the English method. 
 
 This being done, two statements should be made out and sent ; 
 one of the old duties and the other of the new regulation, should be 
 inserted in all the American papers. 
 
 An opportunity soon offers for America, and if M., the Comptroller 
 General, will be so good as to decide on this point, and some others 
 in my letters, I will, with great eagerness, fulfil his ^•ie^A's in com- 
 municating his resolution. If it will be convenient for him to receive 
 me either Saturday at Paris, or Sunday at Versailles, before or after 
 the council, I shall be happy in waiting on him. 
 
 I am, Stc, LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MAR(1UIS DE LA FAYETTE TO M. DE CALONNE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, March 5, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 In conformity to the desire of M., the Comptroller General, 1 
 waited on M. De Chardon, and though he had been bled twice, he 
 was so good as to occupy himself with our affairs. He did not think 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 395 
 
 the business could be done without having new and more particular 
 statements ; however, from the account he was to render to-day, I 
 hope to receive the letters which will encourage the Americans witli 
 respect to the two departments. 
 
 Besides this letter which the Comptroller General has promised 
 me, I take the liberty to mention that it is now a month since they 
 have received the information at New York, of the four free ports ; 
 consequently, vessels may be expected every day ; and as nothing 
 remains to be done but a simple formality, it were to be wished that 
 it was finished as soon as possible. I have even detained the 
 American officer, in the hope that the Sunday's journey to Versailles 
 will put it in my power to send the printed copy. 
 
 In conversing with the Americans on the importation of their 
 flour into the islands, one of them mentioned that we might take 
 measures to have the returns made in part, in wines, or goods of our 
 manufacture. This engagement of contracting with the Americans, 
 may be joined with the excellent idea which M., the Comptroller 
 General, as well as the Count D'Estaign, gave me, of a moderate 
 duty subject to drawback. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., lA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM M. DE CALONNE TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, March 8, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have examined with much attention the representations which 
 you have done me the honor to make to me, on the duties payable 
 by American vessels in the four free ports which his Majesty has 
 assigned them. You complain of these duties being too high, of their 
 multiplicity, and of the facility they will give to bad people to deceive 
 strangers not acquainted with the French language and the customs 
 of the place. You require the suppression of the greater part of them, 
 and that those which are left should be reduced under one single 
 head, payable according to the vessels being of one, two, or three 
 masts, Sic, thereby avoiding the detail, which would take place if 
 the duty was laid on according to the tonnage. 
 
 I must in the first place observe that the duties payable by American 
 
296 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 vessels in the ports of France are the same as for other foreign vessels, 
 and do not exceed the duties exacted by the English. But you repre- 
 sent that the Americans are not acquainted with the nature and quality 
 of the duties payable in France on their vessels as well as all others. 
 On this subject I can propose nothing for his Majesty's decision before 
 I have verified to certainty in what these duties consist, for whose 
 profit they are levied, and under what title they are established. To 
 come at this knowledge I have engaged his Majesty to issue orders to 
 the Admiralty of the four free ports to furnish without delay, an 
 account certified by them, of all duties whatever payable by American 
 vessels, both on their arrival and departure. When this account 
 comes to hand I shall lay the result before his Majesty, and then 
 will be the moment to propose to him to take measures, as well to 
 diminish the duties as much as possible as to unite under one denom- 
 ination all which may be left, and make them payable according to 
 the size of the vessel. This will also afford me an opportunity of 
 proving to the United States the favorable disposition of our Court in 
 every thing which interests them. You may be assured I have let 
 no opportunity escape, and the determination that his Majesty has 
 just taken, on my report, to suppress all duties on the exportation of 
 our brandies, is a further proof of the attention given to every part of 
 our commerce with the United States. I flatter myself that you will 
 do justice to the desire I have to prove to you the sentiments of, 
 
 DE CALONNE. 
 
 TROM M. DE CALONNE TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Pai-is, May 17, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 It has not been possible to obtain the printed copies of the act, 
 relative to the free ports, so quick as you desired. I have the honor 
 to send you twenty-four copies. It has appeared necessary to fix a 
 term when the act should take effect at L'Orient and Bayonne that 
 the Farmers General might have time to form separate establishments 
 between the places which are free and those subject to duties ; but you 
 need be under no apprehension that any thing will result therefrom 
 contrary to my letter of the 9th January last which you have sent to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 297 
 
 America, or that any expeditions which may have been made in 
 consequence will meet any difficulties in either of the free ports. I 
 have provided against this by particular orders, and every proper 
 measure is taken that vessels which sailed within three or four months 
 from America, and which, on their arrival, shall declare they were 
 laden in consequence of what I wrote and you announced, shall 
 immediately enjoy all the advantages of a free port. 
 
 I have read with great attention the memorial of M. de Coulteux 
 on tobacco. He is very reasonable, but the facts are not admitted. 
 It is alleged, for example, that an American vessel, which was made 
 to pay the expenses of putting into L'Orient uselessly, afterwards 
 carried her cargo elsewhere, and will not return. This fact is not 
 agreed to. The packet St. Mary was cited, but the verification of 
 the fact has proved its falsity, and so with respect to another vessel 
 which had put into the mouth of the Loire. 
 
 With respect to the two propositions which terminate the memorial, 
 the first to order the Farmers General not to buy tobacco but in France 
 or America ; and the second to form a magazine in the port of 
 L'Orient, where the merchant may lodge his tobacco until he can 
 sell it to his greatest advantage, they are susceptible of no difficulty, 
 nor have I had any trouble to get the Farmers General to consent to 
 them. You may, therefore, sir, obviate any uneasiness the United 
 States may have conceived with respect to their commerce with 
 France, it being the intention of the King to remove every ob. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, DE CALONNE. 
 
 FROM M. DE CALONNE TO THE MARQ,UIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, June 11, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 1 have collected together, as I informed you, a list of the different 
 duties payable to the Admiral, to the officers of the Admiralty, to the 
 cities, or to particular noblemen by vessels of the United States in the 
 ports of Marseilles, Dunkirk, Bayonne, and L'Orient, on their arrival 
 and departure. These duties are brought together in a tabular form 
 which shows, at the same time, the title of each receipt, and the law 
 
29§ LA PAYETTE. 
 
 which authorizes it. I have the honor to send it to you that you may 
 communicate it to the United States, and they may mark, in the 
 column of observations, the demands they have to make with respect 
 to each kind of duty. Till this is done it will be impossible to propose 
 to his Majesty, either the suppression, the modification, or the uniting 
 under one head the different duties since the United States themselves 
 are not acquainted with them, and it is indispensable that the amount 
 and nature of each duty should be perfectly known to them. So soon 
 as the answer of the United States comes to hand, I shall lose no time 
 in laying it before his Majesty, and I hope you will do me the justice 
 to believe that the desire of obliging you is increased by that of being 
 useful to the United States. 
 
 I have the honor to be, he, DE CALOIVNE. 
 
 FKOM M. DE CALONNE TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, June 16, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 Mr. Chardoji has just communicated to me the letter you wrote 
 him this morning, in which you demand that the duties payable by 
 American vessels in the ports of Marseilles, Dunkirk, Bayonne, and 
 L'Orient, should be united under one head, payable at so much 
 per vessel of one, two, or three masts. You mention also your 
 desire to take with you to the United States a decision on the 
 suppression or modification of these duties. Notwithstanding the 
 pleasure I should take in doing any thing agreeable to the United 
 States, and in showing you personally how much concern I take in 
 whatever interests you, it is impossible for me to propose it to his 
 Majesty before your departure. The duties payable by the United 
 States belong to the Admiral, to officers of the Admiralty, and to 
 particular cities, and noblemen — both one and the other would be 
 apt to lay claims of indemnity for the privation or reduction of their 
 duties, and you will agree that it would not be just to reduce them, 
 or even to suspend them, without hearing the parties interested. 
 The same may be urged against reducing the whole of the duties to 
 one denomination, payable at so much per vessel, according to 
 the number of its masts. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 399 
 
 It will then be necessary, sir, that the United States, after exam- 
 ining the statement of the duties, which I had the honor to address 
 you, should establish, with precision, the demands they have to make 
 with respect to each duty. On the receipt of this, and not before, 
 I can lay the whole before his Majesty, and the United States may 
 be persuaded, they will find his Majesty disposed, on every occasion, 
 to give proofs of the friendship which ought to exist between him 
 and the United States, and which will be founded on equity and 
 justice. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE CALONNE. 
 
 P. S. The' operation you desire must, whatever attention is paid 
 to it, necessarily take up the space of three or four months. It 
 will be doing in your absence, and you shall be informed of the 
 result. I send back the statement of the duties as they now exist. 
 It will be proper you should have it. 
 
 FROM THE MARSHAL DE CASTRIES TO THE MARQUIS DE LA 
 
 FAYETTE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Veraailles, June 27, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The regulation of the commerce between the United States and 
 our colonies cannot be finished before your departure. All that you 
 said to me in favor of your system is present in my ideas ; but it 
 will be impossible for us to give that degree of liberty which you 
 desire. All that I can foresee is, that there will be a free port for 
 the Americans in each colony, that everything which was formerly 
 received will meet no difficulty, and that the duties will be as 
 moderate as possible. 
 
 With respect to the regulations concerning the flour and sugar, I 
 cannot, as yet, fix anything. The interest of our own commerce 
 demands some consideration, and I will treat fully on these subjects 
 with Mr. Frankhn and the Consul General of the United States. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE CASTRIES. 
 
JOO LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Mount Vernon, November 25, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Although I hope in a few days to have the pleasure of seeing you, 
 I must beg leave to mention a matter, which has not a little hurt my 
 feelings. You probably know that on my way, passing through 
 New York, and particularly on my visit to Albany, it was intimated 
 my presence at the Indian treaty would be of some use to the 
 public. At Fort Schuyler I was desired to speak to the Indians, 
 which I did, and the Commissioners had the papers filled up with 
 their other transactions. But copies were taken, which was thought 
 then a matter of no consequence. The enclosed letter firom Mr. St. 
 John, and the gazette that accompanied it, will show you that from 
 the most obliging and humble motives in the world, he attempted to 
 translate and print such incorrect parts of the relation as he had 
 been able to come at. Had his kind intentions only given an instant 
 to reflect, he might have seen the impropriety of that measure, 
 but, in the meanwhile, it looks as if it had my consent ; and such 
 deviation is it from the manner in which our servants of the United 
 States ever did business, that out of respect for Congress, for the 
 Commissioners, and myself, I could not rest easy until the matter 
 should be fully explained. Enclosed is my letter to the French 
 Consul, which, after you have taken out such extracts as you think 
 proper, I beg you will seal up and send by the bearer. Indeed, my dear 
 sir, upon your friendship I depend to have this little circumstance 
 oiBcially laid before Congress, and should these letters be worth their 
 reading, it will be, I hope, a satisfactory explanation of the affair. 
 
 In the first days of next month, I shall have the pleasure to meet 
 you at Trenton, and at that time will have the opportunity of 
 conversing with you on the several subjects. No answer from you 
 ever came to hand. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., LA FAYKTTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARqUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Versailles, February 8, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 After thirty days' passage I was safely landed at Brest, and am so 
 lately arrived in Paris that I had better refer you to your ministerial 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 301 
 
 intelligence. In consequence of Austrian demands upon the Dutch, 
 
 and the gun these have fired at , forty thousand men were 
 
 sent to the Low Countries by the Emperor, and a second division 
 was in motion the same way, when France gave orders for two 
 armies to be got in readiness, the one probably in Flanders , and the 
 other in Alsace. Holland is gathering some troops, the greater 
 number purchased in Germany, and will have at the utmost thirty 
 thousand men in the field. Count de Maillebois, an old and able 
 French General, has been demanded by them. Russia seems friendly 
 to the Emperor; and although the Stadtholder is a friend to the 
 King of Prussia, while the patriots are wholly attached to France, 
 yet Prussia will, no doubt, side in politics with France, and the 
 Stadtholder will command his own country's troops. 
 
 A grand plan is spoken of, whereby the Emperor would endeavor 
 to obtain Bavaria, and, in return, give the Low Countries to the 
 Palatine House ; a bargain which betters and increases the Imperial 
 forces. Under these circumstances negotiations cannot but be very 
 interesting. Although the freedom of Holland and the protection of 
 the German Princes are very proper objects for France to support, 
 yet a war with the Emperor must be peculiarly disagreeable to the 
 Court. It will certainly be avoided, if consistent with the liberties 
 of Holland, with faith and dignity; and, upon the whole, I am 
 strongly of opinion that no war will take place, at least for this year. 
 The appearance of things, however, is still warlike enough to have 
 made it proper for me to be arrived at the time I did ; an idea, I 
 confess, the more necessary for the situation of my mind, as I most 
 heartily lamented the shortness of this visit to America, and the 
 obligation I had been under to give up favorite plans and break off 
 more agreeable arrangements. The officers of the regiments under 
 marching orders, colonels excepted, have joined their corps. But I 
 hope matters will be compromised, and such, at least, is my private 
 opinion ; but even they, who know more than I do on the subject, 
 would, perhaps, find it difficult to form a precise one. 
 
 The Ministers of Congress will, no doubt, inform you of the 
 situation of their negotiations in Europe. You will have seen M. 
 de Castine's compliance with engagements. He had taken a letter 
 to me which Mr. Morris laid before Congress. Nothing new was 
 granted ; and although the suspended decisions about flour and sugars 
 were favorable to them, the French merchants have complained of 
 
303 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 what has been obtained. In every country mercantile prejudices 
 wear off by Uttle and little. 
 
 I beg, my dear sir, you will forgive the hurry in which I write. 
 Be pleased to remember me to all our jfriends. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., LA FAYETEE. 
 
 FROM THE MAECiUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, March 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been honored with your letter of January the 19th, and 
 am happy to hear that Federal ideas are thriving in America. The 
 more I see, hear, and think in Europe, the more I wish for every 
 measure that can ensure to the United States dignity, power, and 
 public confidence. Your three Ministers being in Paris, they will, 
 of course, acquaint you with the present state of America, and also 
 of European politics. Great Britain perseveres in her ill humor : 
 Spain in her ill-understood policy. On my arrival I repeated what I 
 had written, namely, the idea of getting New Orleans, or, at least, to 
 advise the Spaniards to make it a free port. The former is impossible. 
 As to the second, I had no positive answer ; but I am sure my opinion 
 was not thrown away. However, I confess it is diiEcult to make con- 
 verts of a Spanish Cabinet. You know them better than I do. 
 
 Negotiations in Europe are still going on, and there is every reason 
 to hope this will be terminated without bloodshed. Enclosed you 
 will find a declaration which has been published officially, in some 
 measure, in the Leyden Gazette. Count de Maillebois is now in 
 Holland, where they are raising troops, and where parties run very 
 high. In the meanwhile the Emperor had another plan in view, 
 of which I wrote to you in my last letters ; it was to exchange his 
 dominions in the Low Countries for the Electorate of Bavaria. But, 
 fortunately for all the members of the Empire, the Duke of Deux 
 Fonts, nephew and heir to the Elector, has firmly opposed it. A 
 report has been spread that the Emperor had intended to surprise 
 Maestricht. But although matters are not yet finally settled, I am 
 pretty certain there will not be this year any Dutch war, nor Bavarian 
 war, both of which could not fail to involve France. It is, however, 
 difficult to be decided in an opinion upon a matter which the ideas 
 of one man may derange. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 303 
 
 You speak to me of the introduction of flour in the West Indies. 
 My wishes and my efforts are not unknown to you. But such 
 clamors have been raised by the merchants against what we lately 
 have obtained that our efforts now must be directed towards holding 
 it fast. These people are encouraged by the narrow politics of 
 England, who, say they, have all the trade of America. I have 
 appointed a conference with the Due de la Vauguyon, who is setting 
 out for Spain, and I will tell him everything I know respecting the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Your Ministers will probably write to you respecting the Alge- 
 rine business. What ijiformation I can collect will be presented to 
 them. 
 
 I have the honor, &c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Accept my thanks for your interesting letter of the 19th March, 
 wiiich was immediately communicated to Congress. I consider it as 
 a new proof of that constant and useful attention to our affairs from 
 which the United States so often derived both pleasure and advantage. 
 Let me request the continuance of your correspondence ; and be 
 assured that it will always give me pleasure to communicate to you 
 such intelligence respecting American occurrences as may appear 
 interesting. 
 
 Don Diego de Gardoqui is arrived, and has been received so much 
 in the spirit of friendship that I hope his master and himself will be 
 well pleased. Our negotiations with him will soon commence, and I 
 sincerely wish that the issue of them may be satisfactory to both 
 countries. To prepare for war, and yet be tenacious of peace with 
 all the world is, I think, our true interest. I wish M. Gardoqui's 
 instructions may be sufficiently extensive to admit of a settlement of 
 our boundaries. Sic, on principles which alone can create and 
 perpetuate cordiality. 
 
 The British shew no disposition to evacuate our frontier posts. 
 What their real designs are can at present be only inferred and 
 
304 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 conjectured from appearances ; and present appearances induce a 
 suspicion that they mean to hold them. The letters we expect from 
 Mr. Adams will probably remove all doubts on that head. It is 
 certain that they pay great attention to the Indians, and give great 
 encouragement to emigrants from us. Their expectations from the 
 latter circumstance will fail them. I wish that every acre of ground 
 they hold in America was settled by natives of the United States. 
 They would transplant their love of liberty, their spirit of enterprise, 
 and their attachment to republicanism into countries in which it is 
 our interest that such plants should be propagated and flourish. In 
 time they will bear fruit. 
 
 The commercial class of our people sensibly feel the restraints on 
 our trade, and look up to Congress for a remedy. Good will come 
 out of evil. These discontents nourish Federal ideas. As trade 
 diminishes agriculture must suffer, and hence it will happen that our 
 yeomen will become as desirous of increasing the powers of Congress 
 as our merchants now are. All foreign restrictions, exclusions, and 
 unneighborly ordinances will tend to press us together, and strengthen 
 our bonds of union. 
 
 I send you herewith a number of gazettes, from which you will 
 discern something of the spirit which prevails. 
 
 Congress go on doing business with great concord, temper, and 
 harmony. I enclose a copy of the ordinance for regulating the Land 
 Office. They are now on the subject of requisitions, and I flatter 
 myself that as the highest respect for good faith prevails in tlie House 
 that exertions will be made by the States to preserve the public 
 credit. 
 
 Governor Livingston was appointed for the Hague, but declining 
 that place Govenior Rutledge has been elected for it. His answer 
 has not reached us. 
 
 When, my dear sir, will your Court send us a Minister ? Our 
 having one at Versailles affords reason to expect one from thence. 
 The report of Monsieur de Moustier's coming over in that capacity 
 dies away ; from the little I saw of him at Paris, I am inclined to 
 think he would be an agreeable as well as an able Minister. 
 
 Mrs. Jay joins rne in requesting the favor of you to present our 
 compliments to the Marchioness. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, &c., JOHN JAY". 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 305 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, April 18, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Having been requested by some persons in this Court to lay before 
 Congress the case of an orphan lady who has a sum of money in the 
 continental funds, I think it is more proper to address this letter to 
 you, as it is connected with the Department of Foreign Affairs. The 
 young lady's mother was Miss Stonestreet, by her family name, and 
 her father was a Mr. Thomas, merchant of Martinico. Her guardian, 
 the Sieur de Poisson, town major of the city of Quesnoy, will apply 
 to Congress by means of M. de Marbois, who is the proper channel 
 for that business. But after I had said that the justice of Congress and 
 the principles of the American Government made a recommendation 
 an useless thing, I could not refuse this letter, unless I had seemed to 
 entertain a doubt of the good effect the case of this orphan will certainly 
 have in her behalf, provided her demands are well grounded. 
 
 With affectionate regard, I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, April 18, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 This letter will be delivered by M. Barre, a French officer, who 
 has served on board our continental ships of war, and whose sufferings 
 in that capacity have been explained in the petition I did myself the 
 honor to send to you to Trenton. He has requested me to give him 
 this line of introduction, and seems to me to have behaved very well 
 in his expeditions. 
 
 With the highest and most affectionate regard, I have the honor ta 
 be, &c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE CHEVALIER BARRE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 L'Orient, June 29, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 An unfortunate event has prevented my having the honor of 
 presenting to you, myself, the letter from the Marquis de la Fayette, 
 which he sent me from Paris, for the purpose of reminding you of a 
 Vol. L— 20 
 
306 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 memorial which he presented the last time he was at Trenton. He 
 has assured me that you were informed of the event, which places me 
 in the condition to claim your good offices with Congress for a 
 recompense for my services in the unfortunate events which befel me 
 under the American flag. If you have condescended to consider my 
 memorial, you will have seen the frightful detail of the torments which 
 I suffered at that time, and I hope that you will pay regard thereto — 
 my acknowledgments shall be eternal. I have sent herewith the letter 
 of the Marquis de la Fayette. , His protection, added to my services, 
 will surely merit your kindness. At the time of my last voyage to 
 America I had reasons to expect the cross of Cincinnati and a gi'ade 
 in the American marine. As I have served in the quality of ensign 
 on board of two frigates in the service of Congress, in this capacity, 
 I dare hope that my demand will be granted to me. 
 
 I have the honor of being, with respect, &c., BARRE. 
 
 P. S. M. Deveau, an officer on board the packet, is the person 
 who has the honor to deliver you this letter. If you have the good- 
 ness to do anything for me, I beg of you to send the same to the 
 Marquis de la Fayette, and to advise me thereof. 
 
 This is my address : M. the Chevalier Barre, officer of the Marine, 
 at the Hotel of M. Merenard, L'Orient. 
 
 MEMORIAL PBOM THE CHEVALIER BAERE TO THE PRESIDENT OF 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 Sir, 
 The Sieur Barre, lieutenant of a frigate in the service of France, 
 has the honor to represent to your Excellency that he was taken by 
 Sir James Luttrell, commanding the Mediator, a ship of fifty guns, 
 in an American frigate of twenty-eight nine-pounders, cdmmanded 
 by the Sieur Gregory, lieutenant of a vessel in the service of Con- 
 gress. The Sieur Barre was ensign on board this frigate, and claims 
 the protection of Congress, that he may have a brevet, and be 
 advanced in the American marine. The cruelty with which he was 
 treated by the English will surely operate in his favor ; and he it 
 certain that the gentlemen are acquainted with the affair, the recital 
 of which he subjoins. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 307 
 
 The Mediator came up with us on the 12th December, 1782, at 
 nine o'clock in the morning, we being then to leeward of her, in 
 company with the Menagere, a vessel armed , en flute, belonging to 
 the King of France, on her way to America. The Menagere left 
 us after firing the first shot, making a signal for safety; the Sieur 
 Gregory would not attempt to escape, but held out as long as he 
 could ; however, two shots between wind and water, and the 
 inequality of force obliged us to strike to avoid being sunk ; the 
 ship's boats came immediately on board, and their people treated us 
 exceedingly ill, killed two of our men, and made us embark without 
 allowing us to take the smallest part of our effects. When we 
 arrived on board the ship the captain put us in the boatswain's state- 
 room, and kept us there until night. At midnight we were ordered 
 upon deck, and were sent into the gunner's room. Until this time, 
 nothing appeared to presage the unfortunate event which caused my 
 detention for five months. 
 
 The next day, about ten o'clock in the evening, after everybody 
 had gone to bed, an eighteen-pounder was fired off near the place 
 where I was ordered to sleep. The explosion was terrible ; the port 
 was carried away, the side planks were burst off, and the several 
 cabins near were overturned ; the alarm was universal, and I was 
 instantly accused of firing off the cannon as a signal for raising the 
 sailors who were on board, prisoners, to surprise the ship. I was 
 obliged to defend my life against twenty assailants, and prevent, by 
 a steady countenance, the whole effect of their rage. I could no 
 longer resist, and was obliged to yield. Captain Gregory and myself 
 were dragged by the hair and driven with blows of the sword into 
 the captain's cabin, where we underwent a frightful examination ; 
 and putting his feet on our necks, the swords to our breasts, and 
 our feet before a glowing fire, but not being able to draw any 
 discovery from us, he resolved to tie us hand and feet, and ordered 
 us on the quarter-deck, and then put a rope round our ancles and 
 balls to our feet ; in short, everything was prepared for the most 
 frightful punishment. Having no proof of what we were accused, 
 he concluded to put our hands and feet in irons, and made us remain 
 at the door of his cabin for seventeen days ; and at his arrival at 
 Plymouth he sent us to a dungeon in the same situation, where we 
 remained twenty days, from whence we were taken, because, having 
 no proof, we could not be Convicted, We were enlarged and put 
 
308 LA PAYETTE. 
 
 into the American prison with our sailors ; and we still continued 
 three months and a half in the same distress, having nothing but 
 what we had on at the time of action. In short, the 12th June, 
 1783, we were sent away in a flag to France, and I conducted the 
 Americans from Roscour to Nantz, where they found a Consul 
 belonging to their nation. I conceive, therefore, gentlemen, that I 
 have a right to ask your kindness in advancing me in your marine, 
 and giving me rank. Whatever you may do for me shall be an obli- 
 gation on my part towards you, should any accident occasion new 
 troubles to derange the order your Excellencies have established. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE MAKq,UIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, September 16, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been honored with your letter of the 18th April last, 
 
 together with one from M. Barre, respecting his case. These papers 
 
 are now before Congress. I shall do myself the honor to inform you 
 
 of the result ; and am, with great esteem and regard, dear sir, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FEOM JOHN JAY TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, October 21, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The interest which you have benevolently taken in the case of 
 M. Barre renders it proper that I should inform you of the result of 
 his application. This will be best done by sending you a copy of 
 my letter to him on the subject, and you will find it herewith 
 enclosed. 
 
 Monsieur Barre speaks of his serving as an ensign on board an 
 American frigate, commanded by M. Gregory, and being taken by 
 the Mediator, Captain Luttrell. 
 
 The enclosed copy of a letter from Mr. Hardy to Secretary 
 Thompson, places that matter in a different light from the one in 
 which M. Barre represents it ; for it seems from thence that instead 
 of an American frigate, she was a private-armed French vessel. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., JOHN JAY.' 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 309 
 
 FROM MR. HARDY TO SECRETARY THOMSON. 
 
 Treasury Office, September 13, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Agreeable to your request I shall do myself the honor to give you 
 such information respecting Mr. Stephen Gregoiy as the length of 
 the time past and my memory will admit of. 
 
 Before I proceed further it may not be improper to inform you 
 that Mr. Gregory was a lieutenant on board the Confederacy frigate, 
 in the service of the United States, in which ship I had also the 
 honor of bearing the rank of captain of marines. In the month of 
 April, 1781, we were captured on the coast and brought into this 
 port, from whence we were sent prisoners to England. We escaped 
 at different periods, and happily met again in Nantes ; at which place 
 Mr. Gregory, in the month of April or May, 1782, was appointed 
 to the command of a merchant ship then lying at Bayonne, called 
 the Alexander, belonging to M. Beaumarchais, merchant in Paris, 
 by his partner, (I think,) a Mr. Francis, then at Nantes, from whence 
 he proceeded and took command of her. On his route from Bayonne 
 to Bordeaux, in the month of October following, with several vessels 
 under his convoy, he fell in with and engaged an enemy's cruiser ; 
 his ship was considerably damaged in the action, which obliged him 
 to put into Rochelle. Whether from that ship's being so much 
 disabled, or what other circumstance I cannot recollect, but Mr. 
 Gregory was turned over to another ship of twenty guns at Bor- 
 deaux — ^her name I do not recollect — and, as I always understood, 
 in the same employ. From that port he sailed, in the latter end of 
 the year 1782, in company with the Menagere, of thirty-six guns, 
 and the Iphigine, a new ship, mounting twenty-four guns, built at 
 Nantes whilst I was there, (both in the same employ,) and two or 
 three others, bound for Cape Frangois. Before they got out of the 
 Bay of Biscay they fell in with the Mediator, an English forty-gun 
 ship, and unfortunately, after an action in which Gregory's ship 
 suffered considerably, he was captured, together with the Menagere. 
 
 A particular detail of this capture, and Mr. Gregory's attempt to 
 rise and take the Mediator whilst he was a prisoner on board of her, 
 you will find by a letter from Captain Luttrell to the Admiralty ,_ 
 published ' in the Philadelphia papers the beginning of the year 
 1783. 
 
310 I-A FAYETTE. 
 
 From the aforegoing circumstances, and my intimacy with Mr. 
 Gregory, together with the frequent communication that was Icept up 
 between us by letters, before he sailed, (some of which I have 
 preserved,) I have every reason to conclude that Mr. Gregory at 
 that time was in private French service, though bearing an American 
 commission. ' 
 
 Should this information answer the desired purposes, I shall be 
 happy in giving it, and equally ready in rendering any further that 
 may be in my power. 
 
 1 am, with the utmost respect, &c., 
 
 JOSEPH HARDY. 
 
 FROM THE MAK^UIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 11, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 This opportunity being very safe, Congress will have been fully 
 informed by their Minister and the bearer, Mr. John Adams's son, 
 who is himself very well fit to give them proper intelligence. 
 
 The appearances of a war are more and more remote. Politicians, 
 however, look towards the Ottoman Empire. The Emperor is 
 restless ; the Empress of Russia is ambitious ; the King of Prussia 
 is old ; a King of the Romans is to be elected ; an arrangement for 
 Bavaria ; a reason or a pretence, an interest or a whim might set fire 
 to combustible matter ; but it is not expected for the present. 
 
 As it seems to me that favors granted to American importations 
 are the best services that can be rendered to American trade, I wish 
 it had been possible to obtain a total abolition of duties upon whale 
 oil. But in this moment Government are taken up with a scheme 
 to revive that fishery in France. It was therefore necessary to follow 
 aroundabout course, and Mr. Adams is charged with some private 
 proposals, which may be advantageous. 
 
 In a few days I intend visiting Nismes, Montpelier, and Rochelle, 
 which are manufacturing and trading towns. I hope my little 
 journey may not be quite useless ; after which I shall go to Berlin 
 and Silesia, to Vienna and Bohemia, where the King of Prussia and 
 the Emperor, at several periods of the summer, have grand manoeu- 
 vres executed by their troops. Should I in those visits find the least 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 311 
 
 opportunity to gratify my zeal for the United States, I should think 
 myself more happy than I can expect, and as much so as your 
 patriotic heart can feel. 
 
 With the most sincere regard and affection, I have the honor to 
 be, &1C., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Vienna, September 4, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 This letter will be delivered to you by a private courier of M. de 
 Noailles, who has been in my family, and who, I am sure, will take 
 proper care of my despatches. 
 
 Since I had the pleasure to see you I have been at the Prussian 
 Court and the Prussian camps, with which I was much pleased, and 
 now am at Vienna, with an intention soon to return to Potsdam, 
 where there will be a great deal of manoeuvring. 
 
 The kind reception I met with in every part of my journey has 
 given me the means to hear and to speak much on the affairs of 
 America. I find the misrepresentations of Great Britain have not 
 been fruitless. The strength of the Union, the powers of Congress, 
 the dispositions of the people, and the principles of trade, are points 
 upon which I have had many opportunities to give the lie to false 
 assertions of newspapers, and to set to rights the false ideas of 
 misinformed people. 
 
 It is useless to observe I wish the good measures now in contem- 
 plation may be soon executed ; but in the meanwhile I more than 
 ever wish we may, in newspapers, counteract the uncandid accounts 
 that are sometimes given. 
 
 On the first day I saw the King of Prussia ; he spoke with me on 
 the present situation of American affairs. 
 
 The Marquis de Tuchesiny, his friend, paid me a visit in the 
 afternoon, wherein I introduced the subject of the treaty of commerce 
 between his Majesty and the United States. Since which the King 
 has, sometimes at dinner, put his questions to me on the resources, 
 the Union, and the future existence of America; and I do not think 
 
312 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 they would have been so properly answered by the Duke of York or 
 Lord Cornwallis, who were two of the guests. I fancy I may have 
 still more particular opportunities to know his opinions, and to 
 introduce my ideas. 
 
 On the day before yesterday I arrived at Vienna, and yesterday 
 morning waited on the Emperor. The misrepresentations about 
 America, the good measures that had been and were to be taken, the 
 necessity to improve this moment, and come early into liberal treaties 
 that would open the door to American importations, in order to pay 
 for Austrian goods. Such were the points to which I directed, and 
 sometimes forced the conversation. It was a great object with him 
 to know if the Americans would be their own carriers. 
 
 The same day, in the evening. Prince, Kaunitz, the Prime 
 Minister, very willingly came into the subject of American trade, 
 which I had brought about in a private conference — ^that carrying 
 trade was again the topic ; I advised them to send Consuls to settle 
 partnerships in America, as no trade could last but what was mixed 
 and reciprocal. I detailed out the objects of American exportations, 
 as I had done to the Emperor. Why then (said Prince Kaunitz) 
 don't they make advances to us ? I answered, advances had been 
 made, and more, in my opinion, than were necessary, but they had 
 not been listened to in that time, and for the present, that I had 
 heard something as if an answer was expected from the Emperor. 
 He said the demand had been an indirect one. At last I concluded 
 the conversation with telling him that I knew nothing of particulars, 
 but had heard Congress, the people, and their Ministers in Europe 
 express a desire to be upon a very friendly footing with the Emperor ; 
 that as a friend I advised him to lose no time, and he knew very well 
 no treaty could go on without reciprocity. I, therefore, thought the 
 first measure was to open the Italian ports for the salt fish of America. 
 From our conversation, I am apt to think he may order his Ministers 
 to talk with you or Mr. Adams, and I wish to write you what had 
 passed between us, wherein I spoke as a man who, 'being ignorant of 
 particulars, could only offer an humble advice to his Imperial 
 Majesty, but upon the whole, I don't think you will have a very 
 great trade this way. 
 
 As I think these hints may be agreeable to our friend Mr. Adams, 
 I beg you will send the letter by a safe hand, as opportunities often 
 offer. There is such a distance between Congress and myself, that 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 313 
 
 I will leave to you to trouble them with the news of my German 
 tour. 
 
 Adieu, my dear sir ; my compliments to Humphreys, Mr. Short, 
 and our other friends at Paris. 
 
 Most respectfully, &;c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM THE MARqUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHif JAY. 
 
 Vienna, September 6, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The enclosed is a memorial in behalf of M. d'Argaynarats, who 
 has been recommended to me by persons of the most respectable 
 character. It seems M. d'Argaynarat's situation is very particular, 
 and the distress of himself and family very urgent. As in the 
 number of petitions that may be received, it is not possible for 
 Congress to be acquainted with the family affairs of individuals, I 
 hope it is not improper for me to lay before them this particular case ; 
 and while it is officially presented by others, not to withhold my 
 certificate of the accounts, which respectable characters have given 
 me about M. d'Argaynarat's present distresses. 
 
 With the highest and most affectionate regard, I have the honor 
 to be, Sic, L^ FAYETTE. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE SIEUR D ARGAYNARATS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Sieur d'Argaynarats, at the same time attached to the military 
 State, and engaged in commerce at St. Jean de Luz, desirous to 
 concur with all his feeble power towards the liberty of the United 
 States of America, freighted a ship in 1778, to send them different 
 merchandizes and warlike stores, among others, twenty pieces of 
 cannon. 
 
 His ship arrived safely at Salem, where all his merchandizes and 
 stores were sold by a Mr. La Fitte, merchant ; but there was only 
 remitted for their amount one hundred forty-three thousand six 
 hundred sixteen dollars, in paper money, of the old continental 
 
314 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 emission, which were deposited in the Consul General's ofBce at 
 Boston, the 26th March, 1782 ; the Sieur d'Argaynarats having no 
 news thereof till that time. This paper still remains there, so that 
 he has not touched a single farthing of the proceeds of the said 
 merchandizes and stores. 
 
 The risks which he has run in sending those provisions, the 
 distressing and cruel situation in which this affair involves him, lead 
 him to hope that the United States will be pleased to distinguish 
 him amongst the other merchants. 
 
 The value of the said stores and merchandizes formed the whole 
 of his fortune. 
 
 He has a wife and six children, whom he has brought up in habits 
 of industry and virtue, and who, by this event, are involved in 
 absolute indigence, and the entire want of the first necessaries of 
 hfe. This cruel situation, which has no example, is the motive 
 which has determined this application, The interest which the 
 French Minister will be pleased to take therein, gives him the 
 assurance that the United States will relieve an unfortunate father, 
 who, carried away by his zeal, has sacrificed for them his subsistence 
 and that of his whole family. 
 
 There is not a single person among the holders of similar paper 
 money, whose case can any away be like his own. Should, however, 
 the United States fear that by ordering payment to him, they may 
 give reasons for their other creditors, after this example, to demand 
 theirs, he at least flatters himself that they will be pleased to provide 
 for his just indemnification by some indirect means, whatever they 
 may be. 
 
 o 
 
 FKOM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, February 11, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have not for a long time had the honor to address you, either in 
 public or private letters. This has been owing to a tour I made 
 through several parts of Europe, and to a derangement in the 
 packets, which, to my great concern, I found to have taken place 
 during my absence. 
 
 In the course of a journey to Prussia, Silesia, the Austrian 
 dominions, and back again to Berlin, I could not but have many 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 315 
 
 opportunities to improve myself by the inspection of famous fields of 
 battle, the conversation of the greatest generals, and the sight of 
 excellent troops ; those of Prussia particularly exceeding my expect- 
 ations. I had occasions not less numerous to lament the folly of 
 nations who can bear a despotic Government, and to pay a new 
 tribute of respect and attachment to the constitutional principles we 
 had the happiness to establish. Wherever I went, America was of 
 course a topic in the conversation. Her efforts during the contest 
 are universally admired ; and in the transactions which have so 
 gloriously taken place, there is a large field of enthusiasm for the 
 soldier, of wonder and applause for the politician ; and to the 
 philosopher and philanthropist they are a matter of unspeakable 
 delight, and I could say of admiration. Those sentiments I had the 
 pleasure to find generally diffused. But to my great sorrow, (and 1 
 will the more candidly tell it in this letter, as it can hurt none more 
 than it hurts myself,) I did not find that every remark equally turned 
 to the advantage of my pride, and of that satisfaction I feel in the 
 admiration of the world for the United States. 
 
 In countries so far distant, under constitutions so foreign to repub- 
 lican notions, the affairs of America cannot be thoroughly understood, 
 and such inconveniences as we lament ourselves are greatly exag- 
 gerated by her enemies. 
 
 It would require almost a volume to relate how many mistaken 
 ideas I had the opportunity to set to rights. And as it has been 
 painful for me to hear, so it is now disagreeable to mention, the bad 
 effect which the want of federal union, and of effective arrangements 
 for the finances and commerce of a general establishment of militia, 
 have had on the minds of European nations. It is foolishly thought 
 by some that democratical constitutions will not, cannot, last, that 
 the States will quarrel with each other, that a King, or at least a 
 nobility, are indispensable for the prosperity of a nation. But I 
 would not attend to those absurdities, as they are answered by the 
 smallest particle of unprejudiced common sense, and will, I trust, be 
 forever destroyed by the example of America. But it was impossible 
 for me to feel so much unconcerned, when those points were insisted 
 upon, for which I could not but acknowledge within myself there 
 was some ground ; although it was so unfairly broached upon by the 
 enemies of the United States. It is an object with the European 
 Governments to check and discourage the spirit of emigration. 
 
316 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 which, I hope, will increase among the Germans, with a more 
 perfect knowledge of the situation of America. And while I was 
 enjoying the admiration and respect of those parts of the world for 
 the character of the United States ; while I was obliged to hear 
 some remarks which, although they were exaggerated, did not seem 
 to me quite destitute of a foundation, I heartily addressed my prayers 
 to Heaven, that by her known wisdom, patriotismj and liberality of 
 principles, as well as firmness of conduct, America may preserve the 
 consequence she has so well acquired, and continue to command the 
 admiration of the world. 
 
 What I now have the honor to write, is the result of conversations 
 with the principal characters in the countries I have visited ; and 
 particularly the Austrian and Prussian Ministers, the Emperor, 
 Duke of Brunswick, Prince Henry, a man equally great and virtuous, 
 the Prince Royal, and the King of Prussia. With the last I have 
 often dined in the company of the Duke of York, second son to his 
 Britannic Majesty, when American affairs, past and present, were 
 brought on the carpet, and sometimes in a manner not a little 
 embarrassing for an English prince. My stay at Vienna was short, 
 but I had a very long conference with the Emperor, in whicli he 
 spoke much of the American trade, and I found he had imbibed 
 British prejudices. The next day Prince de Kaunitz introduced the 
 same subject to me, and expressed some astonishment that the 
 United States did not make advances towards the Emperor. I 
 answered advances had been made formerly, and more than were 
 necessary on the part of America, whom there was as much occasion 
 to court as for her to seek for alliances. But that my attachment to 
 his Imperial Majesty made me wish he would address, on that 
 business, the Ministers of Congress, now at Paris and London, 
 through the medium of his Ambassadors. I added, that the best 
 measure to be taken immediately, was to open the Italian ports to 
 American fish. But I do not think the United States will ever find 
 a very extensive commercial benefit in her treaties with that Court. 
 
 In everything that concerns France, my respected friend, Mr. 
 Jefferson, will give you sufficient information. The affair of Ameri- 
 can commerce wears a better prospect than it has hitherto done ; so 
 far, at least, that a committee has been appointed to hear what we 
 have to say on the trade between this Kingdom and the United 
 States. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 317 
 
 The King of Prussia is very unwell, and cannot live many months. 
 His nephew is an honest, firm, military man. From the Emperor's 
 temper, a war could be feared ; but our system is so pacific, and it 
 will be so difficult for England to involve us in a quarrel without 
 acting a part, which she has no interest to do, that I do not think 
 the tranquillity of Europe will be deranged. Holland is checking 
 Stadtholderian influence, but no further. The King of Naples and 
 his father are quarrelling on account of a Minister's leaning to the 
 House of Bourbon, and being devoted to other Powers, whom the 
 son wants to keep. I had lately an opportunity to know, that the 
 last revolt in Peru has cost a hundred thousand lives ; but from 
 the same account I find thq,t those people are far remote from the 
 ideas which lead to a sensible revolution. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FATETTE. 
 
 New York, June 16, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 During your absence from France, I omitted being so regular in 
 toy correspondence as I should otherwise have been. 
 
 I have been honored with your letters of the 18th April and 6th 
 September in the last year, and with one of Uth February last ; 
 they were all communicated to Congress. 
 
 The account of your German excursion is concise and interesting ; 
 the sentiments and opinions respecting the United States and American 
 affairs, which you found there prevailing, appears to me very natural. 
 Successful revolutions and victorious arms have always a degree of 
 splendor about them which shines at a great distance, and excites 
 admiration whether well or ill founded. Few have been at the pains 
 of examining and understanding the merits of the case between 
 Britain and us, and nine-tenths of that few have taken their sides, 
 less from conviction and opinion of right than from some of the many 
 other more common and more stimulating motives which usually 
 govern the declarations and conduct of the mass of mankind. It is 
 equally natural that reports to our disadvantage, composed of such 
 proportions of truth and falsehood as might render them probable and 
 
318 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 palatable, should be generally difiused and believed. There are very- 
 few States and very few Ministers in them who think it convenient to 
 magnify America, either by word or deed. Politicians, like critics, 
 are often more disposed to censure than to commend the works of 
 others, and patriotic manceuvres, pro hono publico, like pious frauds, 
 fro salute animarum, were never uncommon. As there is and always 
 was and will be an actual though involuntary coalition between the 
 men of too much art and the men of too little, so they who, either 
 officially or from choice, fabricatp opinions for other people's use, will 
 always find many to receive and be influenced by them. Thus errors 
 proceeding from the invention of designing men are very frequently 
 adopted and cherished by others who mistake them for truths. It 
 must be easy for the maritime nations to make the rest of Europe 
 believe almost what they please of this country for some years yet 
 to come ; and I shall be much mistaken if fame should soon do us 
 justice, especially as her trumpet is in rctany places employed and 
 hired for other purposes. 
 
 Whence it happens I know not, but so the fact is that I have 
 scarcely met with six foreigners in the course of my life who really 
 understood American affairs. The cause of truth will probably be 
 little indebted to their memoirs and representations ; and when I 
 consider what mistakes are committed by writers on American 
 subjects, I suspect the histories of other countries contain but very 
 imperfect accounts of them. 
 
 I can easily conceive that at the German Courts you visited, you 
 have done us service, because I know how able, as well as how willing, 
 you are to do it. I wish all who speak and write of us were equally 
 well informed and well disposed. It is a common remark in this 
 country that wherever you go you do us good ; for my part I give 
 you credit, not merely for doing us good, but also for doing it 
 uniformly, constantly, and upon system. 
 
 Do you recollect your letter of 2d March, 1783, containing what 
 passed between you and Count de Florida Blanca, respecting our 
 western limits ? I communicated that part of it some months ago to 
 M. Gardoqui, in opposition to his pretensions and claims. He lately 
 told me you had mistaken the Count, for that he never meant to 
 convey to you any thing like a dereliction of those claims, which, by- 
 the-by, are too extensive to be admitted. In a word they do not 
 mean to be restricted to the limits established between Britain and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 319 
 
 us. Why should people, who have so much more territory than 
 they know what to do with, be so solicitous to acquire more ? 
 
 The moneys due by the United States to subjects of France have 
 given occasion to applications by M. de Marbois, and to reports on 
 them by the Board of Treasury, which are now under the consid- 
 eration of Congress. You, my dear sir, are not unacquainted with 
 the state of our finances, nor with tlie difficulties resulting from the 
 inefficiency of our Federal Government. Time and more experience 
 must and will cure these evils ; when or how is less certain, and can 
 only be conjectured. 
 
 I had the honor last summer of writing a letter to the Marchioness, 
 in answer to one she was so obliging as to favor me with. Did it 
 ever come to hand ? Mrs. Jay writes to her by this conveyance. 
 We and many others are pleased with the expectation of seeing you 
 both here, and with the opportunity we shall then have of personally 
 assuring you of our esteem and attachment. 
 
 I am, dear sir, fcc, JOHN JAY. 
 
 TROM THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, October 28, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Owing to several circumstances, and particularly to a journey I 
 have made through some garrison towns, your favor of June 16th has 
 reached me very lately. That there should remain the least doubt 
 with M. Gardoqui, respecting the adoption of the English limits, is a 
 matter of amazement to me. The original letter having been sent, 
 I herewith enclose a copy with a few observations. I think its 
 presentation to M. Gardoqui will the better convince him, as he 
 knows Count de Florida Blanca's respect for his own word of honor. 
 And may I be allowed to add that the more this letter is known, the 
 better it will impress the public with ideas favorable to the Spaniards ; 
 and the Spaniards with a sense of engagements which men of honor 
 cannot trifle with. 
 
 ^s to the navigation of the Mississippi, you know better than T 
 
320 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 what are the strong prejudices of that Court against it. But we both 
 know equally well that in a little time we must have the navigation 
 one way or other, which I hope Spain may at last understand. 
 
 It has been said in some newspapers that the Floridas should be 
 given up to France. But nothing has come to our knowledge which 
 gives the least ground for an idea of that kind. As Mr. Jefferson 
 sends you a letter relative to commerce, which improves the condition 
 of the treaty with England, whereby she has no claims on the favors 
 enjoyed by the United States, although she is to be treated like the 
 other most favored nations, and as M. Dumas is writing on Dutch 
 affairs, I will only beg leave to inform you that the appointment of 
 the convention has had already a good effect in Europe, and that 
 great benefit will be derived on this side of the water also from the 
 commercial and Federal measures, which it is my happiness to hear 
 are now under consideration. 
 
 Although there may be a diversity of opinions,^whether a peace 
 must be purchased at any rate from the Barbary Powers, or a war 
 must be carried on against them until they come to proper terms, 
 there can in no mind be any doubt about the advantages of a third 
 measure, which is a confederacy of six or seven powers, each of them 
 giving a small quota, and the reunion of which would ensure a 
 constant and sufficient number of cruisers against those pirates, and 
 after they are brought to terms, would guard against the breaking of 
 a peace which the Powers would mutually guaranty to each other. 
 Portugal, Tuscany, Naples, Venice, and Genoa, are now at war with 
 those regencies. I would like at the same time to have the armament 
 so managed as to use American flour, fish, and naval stores. This 
 plan is not as yet very well digested in my head, but I beg leave to 
 submit to Congress the propriety of empowering their Ministers to 
 stipulate for such an arrangement. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 P. S. In case Congress have no particular orders for me, (if they 
 had I should be most happy to wait on them, either as a soldier in 
 their armies, or in any other manner,) I may, perhaps, accept the 
 invitation of the Empress of Russia, to be presented to her next 
 spring in her new dominions of the Crimea, which excite my 
 curiosity. Should any thing turn out that may employ me as a 
 servant of the United States, I hope they know my zeal. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 32] 
 
 FKOM JOHN JAT TO THE MABQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, February 16, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 Congress being again convened, I have communicated to them 
 the letter you did me the honor to write on the 28th October last. 
 The paper it enclosed had been laid before M. Gardoqui, and made 
 kno\vn to his Court ; but it seems the Count de Elorida Blanca does 
 not consider it in the same point of light that we do, viz : as a 
 conclusive approbation of, and consent to, the limits fixed by our 
 treaty with Britain. On the contrary, he extends the claims of 
 Spain higher up the river. That and the navigation of the river 
 present serious points of opposition between us. I think with you 
 that Spain deviates from the line of true policy respecting those 
 objects ; but in this, as in other cases, it is often more easy to perceive 
 errors than to correct them. 
 
 You have heard long before this that the convention you allude to 
 miscarried. Another is now in contemplation, and some of the 
 States have delegated distinguished characters to represent them at 
 it. Whether all or how many of the States will adopt that measure 
 is uncertain, the people being divided in sentiment respecting the 
 expediency of it. 
 
 Our frontiers yet enjoy peace, but whether owing to the season of 
 the year, or to the pacific disposition of the Indians, is problematical; 
 
 The insurrection in Massachusetts appears to be suppressed ; but 
 time only can discover whether that suppression is radical or 
 temporary. The public papers, herewith enclosed, will give you 
 the details. 
 
 What plan or system Congress will adopt relative to the hostile 
 Barbary States is not yet decided. The one you suggest has 
 advantages. The great question, I think, is whether we shall wage 
 war or pay tribute ? I, for my part, prefer war, and consequently 
 am ready fbr every proper plan of uniting and multiplying their 
 enemies. 
 
 Mrs. Jay joins with me in requesting the favor of you to present 
 our compliments and best wishes to the Marchioness. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 Vol. L— 21 
 
322 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FEOM THE MARQ,UIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, February 7, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 This letter goes in the first packet from Havre, a change advan- 
 tageous both to passengers and correspondents, and through the hands 
 of Colonel Franks, whose good conduct at Morocco has entitled 
 him to a share of that respect which has been deservedly paid to the 
 American Embassy. Mr. Barclay's refusal of the presents has been 
 a matter of wonder to every African, and I dare say to some 
 Europeans, whose accounts do full justice to him. 
 
 To Mr. Jefferson's despatches I refer for useful intelligence. The 
 affairs of Holland do not make a progress towards conciliation. It 
 seems that the King of Prussia will not find himself the better for 
 counteracting, in many points, the line of conduct of his deceased 
 uncle. A treaty of commerce is signed between France and Russia. 
 The Empress has set out on her journey towards the Crimea. She 
 had permitted my waiting on her ; but I am detained by the assembly 
 of Notables, an event not very common, neither expected, which does 
 honor to the King and his Ministry, and will, I trust, be productive 
 of public good. 
 
 I have had the honor to send copies of my old correspondence 
 with the Count de Florida Blanca. The enclosed one will supply 
 any accident that may have befallen the others. We are told that 
 the unhappy disturbances in New England have subsided. To us 
 they do not appear so dangerous as to Europeans ; but sufficiently 
 so to give us a great deal of concern. May all Americans know the 
 blessings of their own constitutions, and from comparison judge, 
 that if they are to correct, it would be madness in them to destroy. 
 
 I hope the convention at Philadelphia will answer the essential 
 and urgent purposes of the Confederation, commerce, and the 
 establishment of a uniform and republican militia. Each State has 
 within itself the means fully sufficient to set right the opinions of mis- 
 taken citizens, and those means seem to me principally founded on the 
 good sense, knowledge, and patriotic liberality of the people. Every 
 wrong measure of theirs would hurt, not only the consequence of the 
 United States ; but also the cause of liberty in all parts of the world. 
 
 With the most sincere regard and attachment, I have the honor 
 to be, fcc, LA FAYETTE. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 333 
 
 FROM THE MARQ,riS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 30, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 Had I been sooner acquainted with Mr. Forrest's departure 1 
 would have given you more particular accounts of the latter part of 
 our session, but have only time to enclose the speeches that were 
 made by the heads of the several departments. Not that such 
 etiquette speeches are in any way interesting on the other side of the 
 Atlantic, but because you will in the same book find that of the 
 Archbishop of Toulouse, wherein he gives the King's answer to the 
 several denrands of the Bureau. You will see that if the madness 
 and corruption of the late Administration have laid us under a 
 necessity to acknowledge that, after all other means would be 
 exhausted, taxes must be employed to fill up the vacancy, yet we 
 have gained not a little by the convocation of the Assembly. A 
 more equal repartition of taxes, including the clergy, who hitherto 
 had escaped them, and the powerful ones among the noblesse, who 
 were not very exact ; Provincial Assemblies on an elective principle, 
 which, by-the-by, are big with happy, very happy consequences, 
 that will come to light as we go on ; economy to the amount of forty 
 millions, at least ; the destruction of interior custom-houses ; a 
 modification of the Gabelle;* an annual publication of the account 
 of the finances ; the printing of all pensions, gifts, fee. ; more proper 
 arrangements within some departments ; and a more general instruc- 
 tion, habit of thinking on public afiairs, &;c., &;c., are the good 
 effects of this assembly, which, although it was not national since 
 wf^. were not representatives, behaved with great propriety and 
 patriotism. 
 
 On the last day of our session I had the happiness to carry two 
 motions in my Bureau, which were, I may almost say, unanimously 
 agreed to : the one in favor of the Protestant citizens of France, the 
 other for an examination of the laws, particularly the criminal ones. 
 Enclosed is the resolve framed by the Bureau, which Count D'Artois, 
 our President, presented to the King, and was graciously received. 
 I was the more pleased with it, as some step of the kind with respect 
 to the Protestants, which had been tried in the Parliament of Paris, 
 
 * Imposts. 
 
324 '-'A fAYETTE. 
 
 had not the proper success. So far are we from religious freedom, 
 that even in asking for tolerance we must measure our expressions. 
 I was more liberally supported by a learned and virtuous prelate, the 
 Bishop of Langres, who spoke admirably on the religious motion I 
 had introduced. You will see that the Bureau clogged it with 
 many compliments to the Roman creed to appease the priests and 
 devotees. 
 
 I cannot express to you, my dear sir, what my feelings have been 
 whenever the unpaid interest of the American debt has been spoken 
 of in the; examination of the accounts. May the convention be the 
 happy epocha of Federal, energetic, patriotic measures 1 May the 
 friends of America rejoice ! May her enemies be humbled, and her 
 censors silenced at the news of her tioble exertions in the continuance 
 of those principles which have placed her so high in the annals of 
 history and among the nations of the earth. 
 
 The Archbishop of Toulouse is the ablest and one of the most 
 honest men that could be put at the head of the Administration. He 
 will be the prime influencer in everything, and we may depend upon 
 him as a man equally enlightened and liberal. 
 
 I beg you will present my respectful compliments, and those of 
 Madame de la Fayette to Mrs. Jay. Remember me to General 
 Knox, Colonel Hamilton, Colonel Wadsworth, the Chancellor, Mr. 
 Madison, Doctor Cochran, the Governor; in a word, to all friends. 
 
 Please send the enclosed printed speeches and copied resolves 
 of the Bureau to Mr. Otto, who must be very desirous of getting 
 them. 
 
 Most respectfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 raOM THE MAKQUIS DE LA FAYETTE TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, October 15, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 The present state of politics having been laid before Congress, I 
 shall the less intrude on their time with repetitions, as the late trans- 
 actions in Holland have nothing pleasing to dwell upon. That the 
 republican party have been disunited in many respects, and blinded 
 in the choice of a General, that our Cabinet have been treacherously 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 325 
 
 deceived, are true but insufBcient apologies. The Ottomans, roused 
 by England, will probably pay for their folly with one half of their 
 Empire. It now lies with England whether a maritime war is to 
 break out, which must involve the continent, and connect France 
 with the two Imperial Courts. France is sincere in her politics and 
 moderate in her pretensions, as it is the ardent wish of the King, 
 Ministers, and nation to devote themselves to internal improvements. 
 But the aiFairs of Holland, those in the East, the giddiness of the 
 King of Prussia's head, and British rancor for the assistance given 
 to America, are causes of war, which, notwithstanding the disposition 
 of the Ministry, may, probably, be blown up in Great Britain. 
 
 It is natural for a citizen and servant of the United States to 
 consider what effect a maritime war would have upon thern ; and I 
 am happy to find in their indulgence and long-experienced confidence 
 every encouragement to offer my opinion. 
 
 A cooperation against a proud and rancorous enemy would equally 
 please my politics as a Frenchman, my feelings as an American, and 
 my views as an individual. I was nine years ago honored by the 
 choice of Congress to command an army into Canada, and never 
 have I ceased to enjoy the prospect of its enfranchisement. A 
 successful war, too, might divide the -fisheries between France and 
 America. But are not the United States so circunistanced for the 
 present as to render a war too expensive for them, and too dangerous 
 to their commerce ? 
 
 Convinced, as I am, that it is the case, I think myself bound in 
 duty and love for them not to indulge my ambition further than a 
 neutrality useful to them and favorable to their allies. Every 
 American harbor will offer a shelter for the French ships, a market 
 for their prizes, and all the conveniences of repair and victualling ; 
 all which being consistent with treaties, gives no ground of complaint. 
 Although the trade is going on between England and America, it 
 does not hinder the French colonies from being supplied with all 
 their wants. Privateering itself, if under French colors, does no 
 harm ; and so may the United States enrich themselves with a free 
 trade with both nations at the same time that they maintain their 
 own tranquillity and help their allies. And should they be forced 
 into a war, I would wish at least it might be delayed as long as 
 possible, and postponed, for obvious reasons, to the last campaign. 
 
 It is to be copfessed that France might lay some claims on more 
 
326 LA FAYETTE. 
 
 decisive measures, but sensible as she is of the unavoidable situation 
 of affairs in America, I have reasons to believe she would not hurry 
 her into a war, and will be satisfied with such a friendly, helping 
 neutrality. 
 
 But I consider the present time as a proper one to obtain the 
 restoration of the forts, and perhaps the navigation of the Mississippi, 
 two points which I confess I could never submit to the idea of giving 
 up. The one is ours* by the laws of nations, the other by the laws 
 of nature ; and may I be permitted to add that either concession 
 would be inconsistent with the character of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson gives an account of the measure taken, respecting 
 the commerce between this Kingdom and America. I wish that 
 affair had been terminated in time for the departure of Count de 
 Moustier, a gentleman whose personal character will, I trust, deserve 
 the confidence and approbation of Congress. 
 
 We are anxiously waiting for the result of the convention at 
 Philadelphia, as an event which, being engrafted in the present 
 dispositions of the people, will probably add a lustre and a proper 
 weight to the affairs of America in Europe ; and while it ensures 
 internal happiness and prosperity will baffle the insidious wishes, and 
 annihilate the absurd reports of her enemies. 
 
 The next month is the appointed time for the session of all 
 Provincial assemblies, an establishment which will be productive of 
 the best consequences. 
 
 The liberty 1 have taken in expressing my opinion on an event not 
 certain, but not improbable, cannot be referred, I am sure, to any 
 principles of vanity or self-sufficiency ; but to the gratitude so well 
 grounded, and the zeal which shall ever rank me among the most 
 devoted servants of the United States. 
 
 With every sentiment, &c., LA FAYETTE. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, April 26, 1788. 
 
 Sir, 
 Since last fall I have enjoyed so little health that it has not been in 
 my power to be so punctual in my correspondence as I wished. I 
 
 * It must be remembered that in these letters General La Fayette always speaks of 
 himself as an American. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 337 
 
 have had the pleasure of receiving and communicating to Congress 
 your favor of the 15th October last. The apprehensions you then 
 entertained have been removed by the subsequent arrangements 
 between France and Britain. For my part I wish they may 
 continue at peace, as well because war always brings distress upon 
 great numbers as because the present state of our affairs is not 
 accommodated to the circumstances and consequences which such a 
 war would produce. 
 
 You have doubtless seen the plan of Government recommended by 
 the late convention at Philadelphia. Six States have adopted it. 
 What the others wUl do is not certain. It is the subject of animated 
 discussions among the people. In this State the opposition is consid- 
 erable. A few months more will decide that great question. 
 
 The late commercial regulations of France, relative to this country, 
 are certainly very acceptable ; but my private opinion is that much 
 more is yet to be done before the interests of France and America 
 will be properly provided for. I fear the prejudices and partial views 
 of your people will restrain the Court from going all the lengths 
 which true policy seems to dictate ; nor can I answer for opinions on 
 this side of the water. I will tell you very candidly what I think 
 on the subject. It is this : that your people should have all the 
 commercial privileges of American citizens, and our people all the 
 commercial privileges of French subjects. I have not at present 
 health or leisure to explain the reasons on which this opinion rests ; 
 nor is it necessary, for I am persuaded that few of them will escape 
 your observation. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's letters mention your constant attention and attach- 
 ment to the interests of this country, and how much he and we are 
 indebted to your friendly aid and exertions. 
 
 With very sincere esteem and regard, I have the honor to be, 
 
 &c 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 THOMAS BAECLAY. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 FROM EOBEKT MORRIS TO THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Office of Finance, December 5, 1782. 
 Sir, 
 On the 28th May laist the United States in Congress assembled 
 resolved that a commissioner be appointed to liquidate and finally 
 settle the accounts of all the servants of the United States who have 
 been entrusted with the expenditure of public moneys in Europe. 
 On the 29th of July last it was resolved that the resolution of the 
 28th May be considered ; and on motion it was ordered that the 
 said resolution be committed. On the 18th of November last, on 
 the report of a comnlittee to whom, upon a reconsideration, the 
 resolution of the 28th May last was referred, it was resolved that 
 a commissioner be appointed by Congress, with full power and 
 authority to liquidate, and finally to settle, the accounts of all the 
 servants of the United States in Europe, and to commence and 
 prosecute such suits, causes, and actions as may be necessary for 
 that purpose, or for the recovery of any property of the said United 
 States in the hands of any person or persons whatever. That 
 the said commissioner be authorized to appoint one or two clerks, 
 with such allowance as he may think reasonable ; and that the 
 said commissioner and clerks, respectively, take an oath before 
 some person duly authorized to administer an oath, faithfully to 
 execute the trust reposed in them respectively. On the same day 
 
332 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 you were elected the commissioner it was resolved that Congress 
 would hereafter make adequate provision for the said commissioner, 
 according to the nature and extent of the services which he shall 
 perform. And on the 20th of November last it was resolved that 
 the Superintendent of Finance be directed to instruct the commis- 
 sioner for settling the public accounts in Europe to take proper 
 measures for adjusting, without delay, the accounts of M. de Beau- 
 marchais, or Roderique Hortales and company, and to report such 
 settlement to Congress, that order may be taken for the payment of 
 the balance, if any shall be justly due ; and that in the mean time 
 no farther remittances or payments be made to M. de Beaumarchais, 
 or Roderique Hortales and company, by virtue of any former reso- 
 lutions of Congress, 
 
 Enclosed herein you will find a commission authorizing you to act 
 in this business, and I shall now endeavor to give you such explana- 
 tions and directions as may be necessary for the accomplishment of 
 it, consistently with the views and intentions of the United States in 
 Congress. You will undoubtedly remark that no sum is fixed upon 
 as the compensation for this duty, the reason of which is apparent, 
 namely: that, until the completion of it, neither the nature nor 
 extent can perfectly be known. This might, perhaps, have induced 
 a monthly or annual stipend to any other commissioner ; but as your 
 other duties may, and probably will, occupy a part of your time and 
 attention, which must, nevertheless, be indeterminate, so it follows 
 that no points could properly be assumed by which the reasonable 
 extent of such a stipend could be known. I have every reason to 
 believe that it is the intention of Congress to make a generous 
 allowance for the performance of this service, and I am persuaded 
 that, by attention, assiduity, and the faithful exertion of your talents 
 and abilities, you will merit their regard. 
 
 The appointment of your clerks, as well as the ascertaining their 
 number and reward, are left to your discretion. You will, on this 
 occasion, consult the principles of true economy, which dictate the 
 employing as many persons as are capable of performing the service, 
 and no more ; the taking care that those employed are capable of 
 performing the business committed to them; and the obtaining such 
 a number of such persons on the cheapest terms for which they can 
 be procured. But the worst economy in the world is to employ 
 improper men. That you may be enabled to form a judgment of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 333 
 
 the talents necessaiy to a clerk, you will observe that Congress, in 
 their ordinance of the 11th of Septeraiber, 1781, for regulating the 
 Treasury and adjusting the public accounts, ordained and declared 
 that the clerks, the number of whom should be regulated by the 
 Superintendent of Finance, should be appointed by the Comptroller. 
 That it should be their duty, respectively, to examine all accounts 
 which should be committed to them by the Comptroller, to correct 
 all errors, and note in writing what may appear exceptionable, either 
 as to the propriety of the charges or the validity of the vouchers, 
 and transmit the accounts, with his remarks, to the Auditor. And 
 that the party, for himself, and the clerk, on behalf of the public, 
 should be heard before the Auditor. From the nature of the com- 
 mission entrusted to you, it follows that you must both commit the 
 account to the clerk and afterwards audit it, as well as finally 
 determine on and adjust it, which last is done here by the Comp- 
 troller, except in cases where the appointment of a commissioner 
 has been necessary, with authority similar to yours. It is to be 
 apprehended that the accounts will, in many instances, be exhibited 
 to you informally, and as it is not only useful in the first settling of 
 complicated accounts, to adhere to settled forms, but absolutely 
 necessary to the clear and easy understanding of them after they are 
 settled, so it will frequently become, necessary to have the accounts 
 restated, and all the vouchers to them numbered by your clerks. 
 And although your own care and attention will always be requisite 
 to detect and discover errors and frauds, yet so much will depend on 
 the accuracy and abilities of the clerics in these investigations, that 
 1 cannot too strongly recommend to your attention the choice of 
 able accountants for that purpose. 
 
 With respect to the accounts of M. de Beaumarchais, much has 
 been said, and therefore I might dispense, perhaps, with saying 
 anything, but as I have reason to believe that whatever may be the 
 character of the persons concerned, either for abilities or integrity, 
 the business which has passed through their hands has not been well 
 done. I must desire that these accounts undergo your strictest 
 scrutiny. You will probably find some other large accounts which 
 merit a hke attention. In every such case, the observations made 
 here will be equally applicable. You are too well acquainted with 
 mercantile business not to know when, and how, and what commis- 
 sions are chargeable on a transaction. I believe that knowledge and 
 
334 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 information on this subject will be found very necessary. They 
 will be indispensable, should it be attempted to charge several com- 
 missions on the same thing, whether it be done openly as such, or 
 covertly, as brokerage, factorage, and the like ; or still more covertly, 
 by an increase of the original price. Hence, therefore, it will be 
 found necessary to consider the original prices ; and it is much to be 
 lamented that samples of the articles cannot be laid before you, 
 because many have been received, of a quality not only base, but 
 despicable. It is not possible, at this distance of time and place, to 
 ascertain by whom such articles were purchased, and, indeed, many 
 of those which have been shipped have never arrived. Under such 
 circumstances, it becomes your duty to require proof of the quality 
 of such articles as appear charged to the United States ; and the 
 idea will naturally suggest itself, that the character of the party 
 making the charge will influence the necessity of such proof, just as 
 the validity of the proof itself will be influenced by the character of 
 the witnesses. Had these transactions been merely confined to the 
 purchase and delivery of goods, they might, perhaps, easily have 
 been investigated ; but they extend themselves to many other things, 
 among which is the transportation and expenses incident to it. 
 Under this head, two objects present themselves immediately to 
 view : First, whether due care was taken in the modes of trans- 
 portation adopted ; and, secondly, whether the expense has been 
 reasonable or exorbitant. With respect to the latter, it will certainly 
 be your duty to correct improper or exorbitant charges ; but in the 
 former case your conduct must be directed by circumstances in their 
 nature so various as to admit of no prescribed rule, and, therefore, I 
 can only recommend it to you to consult the interests of the United 
 States, as far as the principles of justice will permit. I know it is 
 unnecessary to tell you that the delivery of goods purchased and 
 transported should be shewn before the charges are admitted ; but I 
 must desire that the evidence on this subject may be so clear and 
 plain as to enable us to call the receivers of them to account. Cases 
 will doubtless occur of loss by the accidents of the sea and by 
 enemies ; these also should be clearly proved, and the causes, as 
 much as possible, investigated. 
 
 Your commission will entitle you to aid and protection in the 
 execution of the duties committed to you ; and you will make the 
 necessary applications on that subject to the proper persons, when- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 335 
 
 ever circumstances shall require. A primary object will be, to 
 discover what sums have at any time or times been paid to the use 
 of the United States. These can, I suppose, be discovered, and the 
 names of the persons to whom they have been paid ; although it is 
 possible that in certain cases the persons by whom they have been 
 paid will not be known to you. The first account you form will be 
 a general one, under the title of loans and subsidies obtained in 
 Europe, on account of the United States. The debit of this account 
 you may leave in blank ; but the credit side will consist of the sums 
 paid to the use of the United States, and the persons to whom they 
 were paid. Every of these persons will of course be debited in 
 particular accounts for the respective sums so credited. These 
 sums, ihen, they are to account for, and where they have paid them 
 over to others, such payments are again to be accounted for, until 
 they are traced to a final appropriation, which will be of articles 
 purchased for, or services rendered to, the United States. In the 
 course of this investigation, however, it may happen, that in some 
 case of payment by one to another, the receiver shall not account 
 properly, on which the question will arise, how far the payment is 
 to operate a discharge to the party by whom it was made. This 
 question admits of so many modifications, according to the varieties 
 of possible circumstances, that no provision can be made which will 
 be applicable to all. I have, therefore, thought it best to enclose, 
 for your perusal, the instructions on this subject to the commissioners 
 appointed for settling the old accounts of the civil departments. 
 You will govern yourself by the spirit of these instructions, according 
 to circumstances as they arise. 
 
 ' I have already observed that the final appropriation of moneys 
 must be traced to articles purchased and services rendered ; but such 
 a general distinction would not be sufficiently clear in the stating of 
 accounts. You will place this final appropriation, therefore, under 
 one or other of these following general heads : 
 
 1st. Salaries and expenses of public Ministers, Commissioners, 
 and Agents. In this account you will charge all moneys advanced 
 to any public servants of the United States in Europe, on account of 
 their salaries or expenses. 
 
 2d. Clothier General's Department. In this account you will 
 charge every article of clothing which may have been purchased. 
 
 3d'. Commissary of Military Stores Department. In this account 
 you will charge all arms, ammunition, and the like. 
 
336 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 4th. Quartermaster General's Department. In this you will 
 charge tents, sheet-tin for camp-kettles, and other articles properly 
 belonging to that department. 
 
 5th. Marine Department. In this you will charge all moneys 
 expended in building or buying ships of war, and fitting them out, 
 with the incidental charges ; eUso naval stores purchased for the 
 United States, and the like. 
 
 6th. Hospital Department. In this you will charge all instru- 
 ments, medicines, &tc., &;c., appertaining to that department. 
 
 7th. Merchandize General. In this you will charge such articles 
 of stores as do not fall within the second, third, fourth, fifth, and 
 sixth heads, if any such there be ; and also any articles which you 
 shall be doubtful as to the account they ought to be carried to. 
 
 8th. Transport Service. In this you will charge the purchase, 
 freight, hire, insurance, and the like, of ships or vessels, for the 
 purpose of bringing any articles to America. 
 
 9th. Contingent Service. In this you will charge the expense of 
 land transportations, expresses, storage, wharfage, and other like 
 articles ; also, all those things which do not fall properly under some 
 other general head. 
 
 10th. Prisoners and Americans in Europe. In this you will 
 charge all moneys paid for or to American prisoners, or other Ameri- 
 cans, taking care so to designate and specify these charges and the 
 parties, that those who are able may be called on for repayment. 
 The names and usual places of abode will, as far as they are attain- 
 able, be of importance. 
 
 11th. Foreign Officers. In this you will charge all sums advanced 
 or paid to foreign officers coming to or returning from America. 
 
 12th. Interest of Debts. In this you will charge all sums paid 
 on the interest, bills of exchange, issued from the several loan 
 offices, and any other interest moneys which may have been paid. 
 
 13th. Bills of Exchange. In this you will charge all sums paid 
 on bills of exchange drawn by order of Congress. 
 
 It is not improbable that, in the course of your business, you may 
 find it necessary to raise some other such general accounts, and, if 
 so, you will raise them accordingly. You will take care to attend 
 strictly to the propriety of all charges made, and to the validity of 
 the vouchers by which they are supported. You will examine very 
 particularly into the accounts of armed vessels fitted out in Europe 
 on account of the United States, especially of those wherein any 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 337 
 
 individuals shall appear to have been interested. And you will bring 
 those persons to account into whose hands any prizes, or moneys 
 for the sales of prizes, may have come, so that justice may be done 
 as well to the public as to the captors concerned therein. 
 
 Whenever you finally settle an account, you will take care to be 
 possessed of the several vouchers, which, together with the account, 
 are to be kept in your consular office until further orders ; but you 
 will transmit quadruplicate copies of the several general accounts by 
 safe conveyances as soon as possible". 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 L'Orient, February 9, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor to address you on the 27th, since which I received 
 your favor ' of the 5th December, covering a commission from 
 Congress, empowering me to examine and settle all the public 
 accounts in Europe. This is a very arduous undertaking, and will 
 require a great deal of industry and attention. All I can at present 
 say is that I shall endeavor to acquit myself in the best manner my 
 abilities will permit me, assuring you that I shall think myself very 
 happy, if I can be made serviceable to my country. I am perfectly 
 satisfied with the determination of Congress respecting the payments 
 intended for my trouble, and I acknowledge very sincerely the great 
 honor their confidence has done me. 
 
 I shall pay due regard to the plan you have sketched out for me, 
 and I hope you will occasionally give me such hints and instructions 
 as you think will strengthen me in the pursuit of this great object. 
 1 shall not detain you at present longer than to tell" you I had a. 
 letter a few days ago from Mr. Grand, at Paris, informing rrie the 
 ratification of the preliminaries were arrived from England, and 
 those from Holland either on the way or would soon follow. 
 I have the honor to be, he, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, July 20, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Foreseeing that, in the course of the settlement of the public 
 accounts, I should be under the necessity of making frequent appli- 
 VoL. I.— 22 
 
338 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 cation to Dr. Franklin for explanation, I have taken a house near 
 Passy, where I shall remain for the sole purpose of executing the 
 commands of Congress. Agreeably to the powers communicated to 
 me, I have chosen Mr. Matthew Ridley, a gentleman of unblemished 
 reputation and uniform attachment to America, to associate with me 
 in the undertaking, and we shall lose no time in proceeding to do 
 every thing in our power to answer the end of our appointment. 
 At present we have several of Mr. Grand's accounts before us, 
 which musjt serve as a foundation for the settlement of all others, but 
 we wait for his vouchers, which have been hitherto detained through 
 the indisposition of a clerk. 
 
 As M. de Beaumarchais does not choose to settle his accounts in 
 Europe, but has sent them out for the immediate inspection of 
 Congress, it will be unnecessary to say much relating to them. He 
 has stated his reasons in a letter addressed to Congress, which he has 
 shewn to me, and I do not recollect any thing in it which I have 
 occasion to remark, but a misapprehension of M. de Beaumarchais, 
 when he says that Mr. Ridley and myself approved of his appealing 
 to Congress, for neither of us in the smallest degree, directly or 
 indirectly, approved or disapproved of the measure. Our business 
 with M. de Beaumarchais was very simple, it was either to investi- 
 gate his accounts minutely, or to have nothing to do with them. 1 
 have read several letters from Mr. Deane to him, copies of which M. 
 de Francy takes to America, certified that they were compared with 
 the originals ; he also takes a certificate that two persons, who 
 have witnessed some papers for M. de Beaumarchais, are notaries 
 appointed by authority ; but none of these papers will, in the least, 
 verify any of the charges made in the accounts. The principal 
 inquiries necessary to be made seem to be the propriety of the charge 
 of insurance, which will alone amount to a million of livres, the 
 reasonableness of the prices charged for each article, and the 
 commission for transacting the business. 
 
 The settlement of the public accounts in Europe will be a work 
 of considerable time and expense, though my endeavors to get 
 tlirough them as soon as possible shall not be wanting. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 339 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR LE VAIGNEUR TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to enclose to your Excellency a letter from M. 
 de Beaumarchais, which I request you will be pleased to read and 
 lay before Congress. M. de Francy was at first to have been the 
 bearer of it ; but a consumptive disorder under which he has labored 
 for more than two years has hindered him from setting off at the 
 very moment the ship was gomg to sail, and I had just time to 
 embark in his place, in order to carry on, together with Messieurs 
 Monbos, Latil &; Co., of Baltimore, the affairs which had been 
 entrusted to him. 
 
 We would sooner have addressed ourselves to your Excellency, if 
 the removal of Congress to Annapolis (which took place about the 
 time of my arrival) and the multitude of public business ■v<rhich we 
 supposed that they had to despatch, had not made us fear their not 
 being able to give their attention to private concerns. We now hope 
 that that sovereign body will be pleased to honor M. de Beaumarchais 
 with an answer, and we take the liberty of soliciting it in his be- 
 half. 
 
 It would be impossible for me to add any thing to the force of his 
 reasoning. I shall only take the liberty to sum up, in a few words, 
 his present demands, in order to fix with more precision the two 
 points on which the determination of the honorable Congress ought 
 to bear. 
 
 1st. If M. de Beaumarchais chooses to abide by the settlement of 
 his accounts made by Mr. Deane, it is not that he wishes Congress 
 to give a blind assent to what that commissioner has signed, nor does 
 he seek to elude their minutest discussion ; he has, on the contrary, 
 annexed to them those pieces which may serve to justify them, and 
 on which even new accounts might be established, if the form of the 
 former could be attained without injuring M. de Beaumarchais's 
 interests; but he abides by the accounts closed by Mr. Deane, 
 because they have been closed since the month of April, 1781, when 
 there was nothing to ascertain that that agent, who till then had been 
 competent to effect all the purchases, had ceased to be so to regulate 
 accounts, which he alone could properly regulate, since he alone 
 knew the nature and could ascertain the value of M. Beaumarchais's 
 
340 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 operations. From that same year, 1781, M. de Francy had deter- 
 mined to return to America, in order to terminate the object of his 
 commission. Supposing then that the unhappy state of his health 
 had not been an obstacle to his return, and that he had then presented 
 himself there with the accounts of M. de Beaumarchais closed by Mr. 
 Deane, it is to be believed that Congress would not have declined 
 receiving them, although they might have had them examined and 
 verified afterwards. It would have been the same thing in 1782, if 
 M. de la Couche, who commanded the Aigle, and who had been 
 pleased to take charge of these accounts, had not had the misfortune 
 to lose his frigate. Thus, Mr. Barclay's orders, which were received 
 and notified only in 1783, may well extend to the settlement of 
 accounts not yet regulated ; but not to those which have been closed 
 for about two years, and would have been laid before Congress two 
 years ago, but for the unlucky circumstances which have constantly 
 prevented it. M. de Beaumarchais has never known any body but 
 Mr. Deane, in all the outfittings he has made to the continent of 
 America ; he never treated but on the faith of that agent, and has 
 never been acquainted with any act of Congress taking fi:om him the 
 power of settling the accounts of those very same outfittings which he 
 himself had ordered in the name of the United States. He has then 
 the most powerful motives to abide solely by the account approved 
 and certified by Mr. Deane, and begs that the honorable Congress of 
 the United States will please to acknowledge the same. 
 
 2d. Whatever may be the opinion and determination of Congress 
 upon this subject, it is an incontestable truth that the United States 
 are still indebted in considerable sums to M. de Beaumarchais. No 
 remittances have been made him since the year 1780, when M. de 
 Francy brought him bills of exchange ; he did not choose to solicit 
 new ones as long as the war lasted ; but now that peace and liberty 
 have crowned the noble labors of the Americans, he dares flatter 
 himself that his claims will be hearkened to. The presentation of his 
 accounts has already experienced long delays ; new ones may arise 
 before the balance which remains due to him be finally settled; 
 during that interval his necessities are increasing and his operations 
 slackening. The ship Comte d'Estaing, which he has sent to the 
 continent with the sole hope of obtaining remittances, is obliged to 
 return to Europe in ballast ; the want of his funds may at last throw 
 him into the greatest distress. M. de Beaumarchais, therefore, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 341 
 
 earnestly requests Congress to grant him a good sum on account of 
 what they owe him until his accounts are finally adjusted and 
 determined. 
 
 He only demands a sum on account, in order to give Congress the 
 necessary time to discuss the remainder ; and in case Congress cannot 
 give him ready money or produce, he will be satisfied with draughts 
 on the American Ministers in France similar to those which he 
 received in 1780, part at six and twelve months, part at eighteen 
 months, or even two years sight, in order to give a greater facility to 
 raise the funds at the various terms. This proposition is too just and 
 too moderate not to be well received, and I beg your Excellency will 
 support it with Congress. 
 
 I refer as to every thing else to the letter itself of M. de Beaumar- 
 chais, to which he expects an answer by the return of his ship Comte 
 d'Estaing, which will sail in the beginning of June. This answer 
 must be very easy to give by the above exposition of his demands, 
 which reduces them to two principal objects, about which Congress 
 are requested to give an immediate determination. It cannot be but 
 a favorable one, considering the goodness of the cause of M. de 
 Beaumarchais, and the acknowledged equity of the Areopagus before 
 whom he supports it. 
 
 I am, &IC., LA VAIGNEUR. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE BEAUMARCHAIS TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 To his Excellency the President and Honorable Members of Congress 
 of the Thirteen United States. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Mr. Barclay, your Consul General in France, and his respectable 
 associate, Mr. Ridley, have done me the honor to communicate the 
 order and powers which Mr. Barclay has from you, for regulating all 
 the accounts which may concern the United States of America. 
 
 In consequence, they very politely desired me to lay before them 
 all my accounts, in order, they said, to accelerate my reimbursement, 
 which thenceforth would not take place but after a settlement by 
 Mr. Barclay of all my advances and receipts relative to Congress. 
 
342 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 I gave for answer to Messrs. Barclay and Ridley that all the 
 accounts of my advances to Congress had been discussed, regulated, 
 and closed in April, 1781, by Mr. Silas^ Deane, the only one of your 
 agents with whom I treated in Europe ; who, with me, gentlemen, 
 entered into engagements in your name, and who obtained from me 
 all the advances I made for Congress. 
 
 I shewed Messrs Barclay and Ridley the settlement of Mr. Silas 
 Deane, with the vouchers which supported it. 1 informed them that 
 the accounts of the sums received from Congress in cash and mer- 
 chandize, in part of my supplies, were the only ones which had not 
 been settled, because they had come to my hands at different times, 
 and even the greatest part after the adjustment by Mr. Silas Deane. 
 I proposed to submit them to these gentlemen, and I begged, for this 
 part of my accounts, that speedy settlement which they had the 
 goodness to offer me for the whole. 
 
 Mr. Barclay, gentlemen, has been pleased to inform me that, 
 according to the letter and spirit of his commission, he could not 
 thus separate matters, and that he must regulate anew all my 
 accounts, as if they had not been done by another, otherwise he 
 could take no partial cognizance of any of them. That he was not 
 instructed to acknowledge any settlement made by Mr. Silas Deane, 
 unknown, without doubt, in America. And without paying regard 
 to it, he asked if I was willing to lay before him the whole of my 
 accounts with the States, to discuss, regulate, and proceed to their 
 liquidation. 
 
 I will most willingly submit to your examination, sir, said I, the 
 account balanced by Mr. Deane, not to take from my title the force 
 which to his settlement, made more than two years ago, so justly 
 belongs ; but in order that you may make to the honorable Congress 
 your observations on this account and its settlement. For this 
 purpose, sir, I shall furnish you with all the vouchers, as I wish for 
 nothing more than to make evident to yourself the exactness and 
 justice of the arrangement of Mr. Silas Deane. 
 
 Then delivering, with perfect confidence, to Mr. Barclay the 
 original of my account closed by Mr. Deane, and which he kept as 
 long as he thought proper, I added : My correspondence with Mr. 
 Deane, agent of Congress, sir, which I here lay before you, along 
 with my general account, will prove to you that Mr. Deane alone 
 could undertake the regulation of it ; because, having accompanied 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 343 
 
 me through every stage of my operations, he alone was able to judge 
 of the trouble and cares they occasioned to me, form a just idea of 
 the difficulties I had to overcome, and recollect the obstacles of every 
 kind which I had to remove. Their reading will convince you that 
 he who saw me scattering gold profusely as I went along, (the only 
 means I had of rendering my way practicable,) was the person who 
 could rightly judge of the sums I have expended in thp service of 
 your country, and consequently the only proper person to regulate 
 my accounts. They were not the accounts of an ordinary merchant, 
 to whom orders had been sent, while his funds were either assured 
 or remitted beforehand ; but those of the indefatigable friend of a 
 virtuous and oppressed people, for whom he sacrificed his time, his 
 health, his own fortune and that of his friends, with no other 
 security for returns but the bare word and powers of this agent of 
 Congress. 
 
 Without, laying aside the politeness and regard which Messrs. 
 Barclay and Ridley have not ceased to shew me, Mr. Barclay 
 observed, gentlemen, that he did not believe that in April, 1781, 
 Mr. Silas Deane was still invested with necessary powers for regu- 
 lating an account such as mine. 
 
 My answer, which was quite plain, and which I now submit to 
 you, gentlemen, was, that before Mr. Deane's departure in 1778, all 
 my accounts were ready and verified by him, and nothing remained 
 on his part but to give them his final sanction, make three copies, 
 and sign them, when he departed secretly to embark at Toulon with 
 the Count D'Estaign. That, upon his return to France, he came to 
 finish with me what had been left imperfect, assuring me he was 
 sent back to Europe for the sole purpose of regulating all the 
 accounts of supplies with which he had been charged for America, 
 and particularly mine, without having for his country any other 
 public employment. Such was my answer to Mr. Barclay. I also 
 added, that no act, letter, or explanation on the part of Congress, 
 having then come to instruct me whether Mr. Deane had or had not 
 ceased to have the power of regulating affairs which were entered 
 upon solely by himself, I had no reason to refuse credit to the 
 continuance of his commission, and lay before him my accounts with 
 so much the more security on my part, that in his settlement of 1781, 
 his constant signature was Silas Deane, agent of Congress for the 
 said purchases and supplies in Europe. 
 
344 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 That since this settlement was concluded, of which I haye made 
 exact and certified copies, and sent them to every person interested 
 in my affairs with America, all the subsequent payments and trans- 
 actions which have taken place between us have been up6n the 
 footing of that settlement ; and, in short, I had neither liberty or 
 power to submit it now, but for the purpose of verification upon 
 proper vouchers, not to destroy or alter it, so as to affect the validity 
 which it receives from all the formalities which could render it 
 authentic and perfect before all the tribunals of Europe. 
 
 Besides, said I to your Consul General, have you the power, sir, 
 to allow me those sums for which I neither ought nor was able to 
 procure a discharge, having thrown them away by handfull for the 
 service of the United States ? Have you power, also, to allow me 
 the losses which I have been forced to suffer on bills of exchange, 
 absolutely without credit in Europe, which I was obliged to negotiate 
 at a heavy loss to save myself from ruin, being unable to wait a term 
 of three years for the payment of advances made above six years 
 before ? Mr. Deane could regulate the insurances at the rate they 
 then were because he was witness to the dreadful uneasiness of all 
 my copartners when they observed none of these remittances to 
 arrive which he had taught them so long to expect. He might, he 
 was even obliged to give his advice to Congress on the commission 
 suitable to be paid me, because he had observed the extraordinary 
 labors, pains, and disinterested cares of him who, without previously 
 making any stipulation for his generous advances, consented to 
 become the factor of the United States solely because it was agreeable 
 to them. 
 
 Again, if differences should arise between us on the subject in 
 debate between us, must we not at last refer them to the determin- 
 ation of Congress, and will, whatever is said here, exempt me from 
 sending my agent to America in order to conclude with the supreme 
 power upon the terms and conditions of the payments to be made 
 me? Let us, then, come to a point ; either verify my account which 
 is settled upon vouchers without destroying it, or agree that I imme- 
 diately send my agent to Philadelphia to humbly present to the 
 Congress my equitable demands, this account, and all the vouchers 
 which justify it. 
 
 Mr. Barclay, gentlemen, as well as Mr. Ridley, struck with the 
 force of my reasons, have concluded that I should address myself to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 345 
 
 Congress themselves, and send to the continent, by M, de Francy, 
 these accounts with their vouchers. Since, in fact, the first question 
 on which we were divided in opinion (viz : if the settlement made by 
 Mr. Silas Deane in 1781 was valid or not) could only be decided 
 by that body, and then my agent, M. de Francy, will lay before 
 them the just motives of the opposition by my company to the 
 destruction of the only authentic title which we possess in Europe 
 for our debts in America. 
 
 This point being fixed I begged these gentlemen to sign and certify 
 that the copies of the papers in support of my accounts regulated by 
 Mr. Deane, were conformable to the originals which I presented to 
 them, and wished to retain in France, being afraid to expose them to 
 the dangers of the sea. 
 
 Messrs. Barclay and Ridley have preferred, even desired, that 
 these copies be certified by a notary of Paris, and afterwards authen- 
 ticated by the city magistrates. But we did not foresee, gentlemen, 
 that by a system of our finance establishment the copies of any 
 accounts cannot be attested by a notary public, without being subject 
 to a particular duty called droit du eontrole, which is always propor- 
 tionable to the sums contained in the accounts, and this would have 
 cost me above twenty thousand livres. I resolved upon procuring 
 from as many of those who had supplied me as I could find in Paris, 
 duplicates of their general accounts and accounts current with me. 
 They went before a notary to certify the truth of these accounts and 
 sigh them. The instrument which attests them, well authenticated, 
 with an original duplicate of each account, will be delivered to you by 
 M. de Francy. He will also present you with similar duplicates from 
 those who were absent from Paris, also certified by notaries or 
 magistrates of the places where they reside. 
 
 However, gentlemen, I will be permitted to enter seriously upon 
 the principles of this great affair before an august body who are 
 always subsisting ; but often composed of new members to whom the 
 nature of my demands and the justice of my complaints are not 
 sufficiently known, if I may judge by the terms of the resolves of 
 Congress, 20 November, 1782, which have been shown me by Mr. 
 Barclay, your Consul General. 
 
 These claims, gentlemen, do not deviate from the profound respect 
 which I profess for the honorable Congress, before whom I now have 
 the honor to support them ; they are, on the contrary, the strongest 
 
346 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 proof of the great value I set upon the esteem and opinion of a brave 
 people for whose sake I have sacrificed my all, and the greater the 
 disparity there is between a simple individual of Europe and the 
 illustrious nation whom you represent, so much the more the great 
 efforts and numerous toils of that man to promote your service, have 
 a right to your esteem, I may add to your gratitude ; you cannot, I 
 am sure, refuse a candid hearing to the first European who generously 
 stepped forth to your assistance. Every citizen of the thirteen States 
 was bound to sacrifice to the common cause, to his country, his life, 
 property, and abilities. But I, gentlemen, a stranger to your preten- 
 sions and to your contest, born a French citizen, enjoying a quiet life 
 in my own country, devoted myself for yours : ought I to have 
 expected the disgrace I have now incurred of claiming rights too 
 much forgotten, and troubling you with my sad complaints ? 
 
 Call to mind, gentlemen, those unhappy times, when borne down 
 by the war and British persecution, you sent secret emissaries to all 
 the Powers of Europe, that time when you applied to the great 
 commercial houses of the different Powers without obtaining any 
 succors. Then I alone, gentlemen, the subject of a monarchy, and 
 without any other incitement than my love for the liberty of mankind, 
 and my respect for the virtuous efforts which entitled you to them, I 
 had been laboring for two years to procure you friends in Europe by 
 every means which persuasion and argument could furnish. 
 
 A single public paper was proper to give our nation liberal and 
 just notions of your rights, and the wrong done to you by Britain. 
 This was Le Courier de L'Europe. It was I, gentlemen, who 
 solicited, who obtained its admission into France, in which there was 
 great difficulty. It was I who composed the first articles which 
 were there read in favor of your cause, and who established the 
 justice of it upon principles since adopted by all sensible people in 
 Europe. 
 
 It was I who found out your friends and secret agents in England 
 at the risk of my person, who promised them my cares and efforts, 
 with our Ministers, who in fact returned to plead strongly for you in 
 France, and remind those powerful persons (who knew it better than 
 myself, but whom your situation, and the policy and youth of the 
 King rendered then wavering and circumspect) that the separation of 
 England and America was the greatest interest which could occupy 
 the French Government. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 347 
 
 It was I who first solicited the necessary succors for your situation, 
 in a memorial where I strongly maintained the extent of the rights 
 of neutrality, and made application of my principles to present 
 circumstances, and the possibility of my making use of them, in order 
 to assist you ; but which could only obtain a bare connivance, and 
 even that very limited and confined, for the animated zeal of a 
 company of merchants which I formed, whose measures not only 
 were unsupported, but their efforts punished upon becoming in the 
 least public. See, upon this subject, gentlemen, my correspondence 
 in cyphers with one of your private agents, Mr. Arthur Lee, then in 
 England, which will be laid before you. 
 
 At that very time your acknowledged agent; Mr. Silas Deane, 
 arrived in France ; but alone, without money, without credit, or 
 knowledge of any person, and unable to speak French. I met with 
 him at Bordeaux ; my regard for your great undertakings attached 
 him soon to my person. He implored my zeal and support, and 
 coming to Paris he disclosed his powers and embarrassment. In 
 vain did he address himself to Ministers ; he returned to me, knowing 
 my courage and frankness, and at last began with me to solicit a plan 
 and to carry on the supplies which I have repeatedly made you, and 
 which have been productive of nothing but pain and disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 But what bargain, gentlemen, do you think that this agent made 
 with me? His application to us was by the most earnest entreaties, 
 which we considered as orders. His promises were our only security 
 of payment, but he held out to us the noble reward of being forever 
 reckoned among the best friends of America, and the temptation was 
 too strong to be resisted. 
 
 Nobody, then, gentlemen, accosted me in your name without 
 loading me with encomiums, even excessive; every thing which 
 could swell the pride or flatter the vanity of an ordinary man was 
 offered to me. Above all, said they, you will forever be cherished 
 by a virtuous people as one of the first supporters of their liberty. 
 My respect for the cause which they pleaded, and which you 
 supported so nobly with your arms, warming my heart and mind 
 much more than their discourses. I gave myself up entirely to your 
 service, and, regarding nothing else, I became the agent, the apostle, 
 and martyr of your cause in Europe. Read my answer to the 
 English manifesto of Gibbons, in which I was called the instrument 
 
348 THOMAS BARCLAY, 
 
 of the perfidy of our Ministers. But above all, read attentively my 
 correspondence with Mr. Deane ; it will give you an idea of my 
 labors, my efforts, my disappointments, and indefatigable activity in 
 your service. It will show what a single man could do for you — a 
 man who now blushes to have to justify before your assembly his 
 conduct and generous proceedings. 
 
 Surely, gentlemen, had I been only an ordinary merchant, greedy 
 to increase his substance from your distresses, is there a single 
 advantage which I could not then h^ve exacted and demanded from 
 you. 
 
 I could have fixed the profits which my avidity would have 
 prompted me to impose, and would have obtained them. Far from 
 me these vile motives and mercenary precautions. From a French- 
 man, that I was, I became an American merchant, a politician, and 
 a writer. I imparted my warmth to honest but timid minds, and 
 formed a society under a name unknown] I gathered together mer- 
 chandize and warlike stores in all our ports, always under fictitious 
 names. Your agent was to have provided vessels to transport them 
 to America, but not one could he find ; and it was still I who, with 
 double zeal and labor, succeeded in procuring them for him at Mar- 
 seilles, Nantes, and Havre, paying out of my own pocket two thirds 
 of the freight in advance, and finding surety for the remainder. 
 
 The most severe orders thwarted every where my operations. 
 What I could not accomplish in open day was executed in the night. 
 If Government caused my vessels to be unloaded in one port, I sent 
 them secretly to reload at a distance in the road. Were they stopped 
 under their proper names, I changed them immediately, or made 
 pretended sales, and put them anew under fictitious commissions. 
 Were obligations in writing exacted from the captains to go no where 
 but to the West India Islands, powerful gratifications on my part 
 made them yield again to my wishes. Were they sent to prison on 
 their return for disobedience, I then doubled their gratifications to 
 keep their zeal from cooling, and consoled them with gold for the 
 rigor of our Government. Voyages, messengers, agents, presents, 
 rewards, no expense was spared. One time, by reason of an unex- 
 pected counter order, which stopped the departure of one of my 
 vessels, I hurried by land to Havre twenty-one pieces of cannon, 
 which, if they had come from Paris by water, would have retarded 
 us ten days. 
 
DIPX.01VrA.TIC CORRESPONDENCE. 349 
 
 Thus I scattered money every where to surmount the obstacles 
 which constantly came in the way, and thinking it injurious to the 
 nation which I served to doubt of her gratitude being fraught with 
 the generous sentiments which actuated myself, I regarded as straw 
 the money I distributed for her, happy in the power at such a price 
 to procure her speedy assistance. 
 
 And when your agent, gentlemen, admired, encouraged these 
 sacrifices, in boasting of the obligations his country was forever laid 
 under to me, I was far from imagining that this nation, after obtaining 
 her freedom, instead of acquitting herself towards me of the engage- 
 ments made on her behalf, should send new agents to sift minutely 
 every article of my account, already regulated ; oblige me, after 
 seven years' patience and suffering, to submit to the injurious discus- 
 sion, to the minute calculation of every object of my advances, and, 
 forgetting my character and services, at last treat me as a petty trader, 
 who thinks himself too happy in receiving a commission and money 
 to purchase rkgs in Europe. 
 
 By what inconceivable subversion of every principle, gentlemen, 
 have I, then, experienced, from the time of my supplies to this day, 
 nothing but ingratitude, injustice, and hardships in every thing which 
 relates to your service ? 
 
 Not only have the returns so solemnly prorrtised, which should 
 have arrived in Europe within one year at farthest, never appeared 
 in our ports, but when my own vessels, at the expense of millions, 
 have brought me from the continent trifling quantities of merchandize, 
 I must be obliged, in order to have them, to enter into disputes with 
 your agents in Europe, who took possession of them by authority 
 under pretence of their necessity. To wrest them from me has it 
 not been scandalously carried so far as to go to law with me, and 
 have I not beeu forced to betake myself to menaces, to complain to 
 our Ministers, to France, to America, to all Europe. 
 
 If the astonishment of this recital leads you to think, gentlemen, 
 that I am imposing, see upon the return of the Amphitrite, Amelia, 
 and Theresa, my letter to your agents in France, the one 1 wrote to 
 the Count de Vergennes, the answer of that wise Minister, and his 
 reproaches for the vivacity of my expressions, although he acknowl- 
 edged kindly all the justice of my resentment and complaints. 
 
 The strongest and most just anger, gentlemen, could thus of itself 
 alter my disposition and style with your agents, and ought, perhaps, 
 
350 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 to excuse the sharpness of it. But compare, gentlemen, that pointed 
 letter with those I had the honor to write to yourselves in 1776, full 
 of nothing but that ardent zeal which made me espouse your cause. 
 In reading them, gentlemen, conceive, if possible, my grief and 
 amazement at having never re;;eived from you any answer, and to 
 have been three years in searching for, without finding, a solution of 
 that incredible problem. 
 
 In truth, gentlemen, I was ignorant that every one seeking to draw 
 to himself the merit of what I alone had performed, deceived you 
 shamefully with regard to me. According to these intriguers I was 
 but an obscure fantastic being, who served as a cloak to cover the 
 generous acts which each of them -boasted to have been the means 
 of obtaining gratuitously from the King ; and while I was undoing 
 myself by loans, payments, interest, and hazardous operations, in 
 order to ward off my ruin in waiting for your returns, which never 
 came to hand, they thought it was too much honor on the continent 
 to make use of my supplies without being at the trouble of acknowl- 
 edging even their receipt. 
 
 So many outrages, gentlemen, your obstinate silence, the want of 
 returns, which Mr. Deane excused, as he was able on account of 
 the unhappiness of the times, have at last obliged me to send you 
 an agent, to whom I have promised the commission of two and a 
 half per cent, on all my payments which is placed to your account. 
 This is M. de Francy, who has again the honor to lay before you 
 my claims. 
 
 By him I have been informed of the horrible, unworthy, and 
 miserable conduct of all those who wanted to prejudice you against 
 me. 
 
 It is to his care I owe the tardy acknowledgment which you at 
 length made of my debt, and the bills of exchange which you sent 
 me in 1779, payable at three years' date, for what had been 
 advanced above six years, and should have been paid in six months. 
 
 Finally, it was with him that in 1781 my accounts were regu- 
 lated by Mr. Silas Deane, and was interpreter for him in 1776, when 
 we did not speak the same language. 
 
 I send him now, gentlemen, to present you with this letter, to 
 call upon your justice, to lay before you my accounts of every kind 
 in your affairs, to obtain the liquidation, and to receive payment. 
 I expect from you, gentlemen, honorable treatment, and such as my 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 351 
 
 zeal and conduct to\Vards you have given me a right to depend 
 upon ; and as the acquittance of a debt of honor is no reward for 
 such services as mine, when you have done me this justice, I 
 demand from you, gentlemen, public marks of your esteem. Let 
 them be the noble recompense of my exertions for you in Europe, 
 where I have not ceased, for eight years, to solicit our Ministers, by 
 repeated memorials, on the political and commercial interests of 
 your new Republic. These wise Ministers are still existing to bear 
 me an exalted testimony. They have been more than once aston- 
 ished at the constant activity of my zeal, for they were not ignorant 
 of the heavy subjects of complaint which I had to make against 
 those whom I served so warmly. Give me, then, gentlemen, my 
 due, and distinguishing the zealous friend who" relieved your neces- 
 sities from those whom your misfortunes have enriched, do not 
 lengthen out my sufferings by referring to other judges a settlement 
 which I will not receive but from yourselves. 
 
 If I should have the misfortune not to obtain that honorable 
 justice, in return for so many proofs of attachment ; stung witli 
 vexation, and mortally wounded^ what, then, remains for me to do. 
 Must I, gentlemen, shaking the dust off my feet, upon all my 
 American connexions, demand justice at the bar of Europe, by 
 publishing what I have done, advanced, suffered, and kept secret to 
 this moment, for the support of your cause and maintenance of your 
 honor. 
 
 You will not reduce me, geiitlemen, to that horrible extremity. 
 My heart, my conduct, and your equity, assure me of it. 
 
 Ye Representatives of a noble and free nation, rivals of the most 
 haughty sovereigns, the friends and the allies of my King, you are 
 sensible that it is just, honorable, and without danger to your glory, 
 to recollect that an individual of Europe has had the courage to 
 espouse your interests when every one disdained them ; and that he 
 dared to send you, at the risk of his health, of his fortune, and of his 
 life, the first generous succors you received from our continent. 
 
 I am, with the most profound respect, gentlemen, your very 
 humble and very obedient servant, 
 
 CARON DE BEAUMARCHAIS, 
 Formerly Jcnown in America as the firm of 
 Roderique Hortales Sf Co. 
 
352 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS BARCLAY TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 
 
 Auteuil, near Passy-, September 14, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 To the copy of what I had the honor of writing to you the 20th 
 July, which accompanies this letter, I beg leave to inform you that 
 the Marquis de la Fayette, who is now in Lorrain, thought proper, 
 sometime ago, to consult me on the propriety of his immediately 
 embarking for America. He seemed much at loss upon the subject, 
 as, on the one hand, he supposed that his presence with the army 
 might be of some service ; and, on the other, that he might be very 
 useful here, as the Court of France seems determined on adopting 
 some commercial regulations respecting the trade to be carried on 
 between the United States and their West India colonies. Upon 
 considering the matter, I did not hesitate to give the Marquis my 
 opinion that it would be best for him to remain in France, either 
 until he received the commands of Congress to return, or until the 
 necessity of his going to America would be more apparent. He 
 seems to have adopted this opinion, for he not only requested that I 
 would communicate what passed to Congress, but has written to me 
 from Nancy, to put me in mind of it ; and, therefore, his desire that 
 I would do it will be my apology for troubling you about the matter. 
 The Marshal de Castries has been so obliging as to converse with a 
 few Americans on the subject of the intended regulations. The 
 hints which he let fall came very short of my wishes, and therefore 
 I shall endeavor, before any thing is done, to procure a consultation 
 between him and the American Ministers at this Court. He pro- 
 poses seeing me some time hence upon this business, when I shall ' 
 refer him finally to Mr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jay, to 
 whom I will communicate my sentiments in the mean time. I 
 believe it is intended to make L'Orient a free port, but I know 
 nothing officially about it. My next will give you some particular 
 information ; meantime I have the honor to be, sir, he, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 -0- 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 L'Orient, September 17, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 have the honor to inform your Excellency that an express 
 
 arrived here yesterday from Paris, with letters from the agents who 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 353 
 
 were employed to adjust the privileges and immunities of this place, 
 with information that his Majesty's arret of the 14th May last would 
 be renewed in every particular, except that the manufacturing of 
 tobacco will not be permitted. In this case the port and town will 
 be equally free, and the new arret is expected in a few days. 
 
 Some months ago. Lieutenant Colonel Franks arrived in France, 
 with very strong recommendations from several of the most respect- 
 able merchants of Philadelphia, and from Mr. Livingston, the late 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs. His object was the Vice Consulship 
 of Marseilles ; but the office was filled by Mr. Etienne Cathalan, of 
 that place, who is a gentleman of character and ability. I declined 
 making any alteration, though Colonel Franks informed me that 
 Congress were making such regulations in the consular department as 
 would not admit that office being filled by any other than a citizen 
 of the United States. A copy of these regulations having been 
 transmitted to me by his Excellency Doctor Franklin, and Mr. Franks 
 having renewed his application, I do not think myself at liberty longer 
 to decline it, and, therefore, I shall give him a commission for the 
 execution of the office. I have thought it proper to apprize you of 
 this appointment, and remain, with the greatest respect, 8ic., 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM H.0BEKT MORRIS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Office of Finance, March 8, 1784 
 
 Sir, 
 I do myself the honor to enclose to your Excellency for the 
 inspection of the United States in Congress, the copy of a letter of 
 the 23d of last Octqber, from Thomas Barclay, Esq., which did not 
 come to hand until this morning. 
 
 With proper respect, &;c., ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 L'Orient, October 23, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 Enclosed is the account of the sales of the ship Due de La^izun, 
 balanced by the payment being remitted to Mr. Grand, on account of 
 the United States, forty thousknd two hundred and fifty-eight livres. 
 Vol. I.— 23 
 
354 THOMAS BARCLAY.. 
 
 This sale would have been made long ago, but I was obliged to 
 postpone it twice from the bad prospect of selling her. I was once 
 in hopes that Government would have purchased her for a packet- 
 boat ; but the Mareschal de Castries, to whom I offered her, declined 
 it. Mr. Ridley and myself have been for some time at work on the 
 public accounts, and will continue our best endeavors to arrange 
 them. They are mixed and perplexed a good deal, much inquiry 
 and explanation is necessary, and the work will be tedious. I do 
 not expect to be able to exhibit any thing satisfactory for a consid- 
 erable time; and if I can, by the month of October next, make a 
 tolerable settlement, I shall think myself happy. 
 
 Give me leave just to take notice of two accounts, which are in 
 a state of suspense, and concerning which applications probably 
 have been made to Congress. The one is that claimed by Messrs. 
 Scihweighauser &; Dobre, of Nantz, for supplies furnished the 
 Alliance ; there is no doubt but the ship received all the articles 
 charged, for I have examined the vouchers ; but the Court of France 
 had taken upon itself the outfit at that time ; Docter Franklin had 
 absolutely prohibited Mr. Schweighauser from furnishing any thing ; 
 Mr. Schweighauser confirmed those orders from Nantz to his house 
 of Puchelberg h Co. here, who, contrary to the instructions of their 
 principal, fitted out the Alliance, and continue to claim from the 
 United States an expense which, if they had not forced their services, 
 would have been furnished by the Court of France, agreeably to the 
 arrangement of Mr. de Sartine, the Marine Minister. There are, 
 however, a few articles that ought to be paid for, which I have 
 offered to settle with Mr. Dobre, Mr. Schweighauser being dead. 
 For this demand the public stores in the arsenal at Nantz are under 
 attachment, and were so several months without my knowing it, when 
 I took some arrangements for the transporting a part to America, and 
 was refused them. I believe, however, that this attachment will be 
 taken off by the time I return to Nantz, as I am informed that the 
 Mareschal de Castries has written to this place on the subject, and 
 has recommended the removal of it. The other account which I 
 allude to, is that of Messrs. John de Neufville & Son, of Amsterdam. 
 When 1 was at tliat place, those gentlemen produced an account, 
 on which they claimed a considerable balance from the United 
 States. At that time I had no commands from Congress to liquidate 
 any of the public accounts ; but, with the concurrence of Messrs. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 355 
 
 de Neufville, I wrote to Dr. Franklin, recommending it to him to 
 permit me finally to settle this one by an arbitration of two or more 
 persons, to be indifferently chosen at Amsterdam, to which Mr. 
 Franklin readily consented. 1 remained at Amsterdam on purpose 
 for this answer, but when it came, Messrs. de Neufville altered their 
 minds, and refused to submit the matter to any persons. I write the 
 fact simply without any observations ; but I thought the accounts 
 merited an investigation. And my only motive for now giving you 
 the trouble of these particulars is to shew ybu that there were no 
 obstructions thrown in the way by tljs ssr-ijaDis of Congress to .a 
 settlement in Holland. 
 
 The underwriters on the Elizabeth have an action depending in 
 England, and insist on my waiting the determination. I expect a 
 suit at law with them. 
 
 Mr. Franklin is making out a copy of his bill book, Mr. Jay has 
 written to Madrid concerning his, and Mr. Adams has furnished 
 his; in which, from an inspection I have made, there appears one 
 bill to have been twice paid. I shall give you a more particular 
 statement when I have been enabled to compare the bills which are 
 in the hands of Fizeaux Grand &; Co., of Amsterdam, with the 
 account. The Polacre Caprice, Joachim la Douarin, master, from 
 Rochfort to Philadelphia, with the remainder of the public stores 
 that lay there, will proceed as soon as possible, and the bills of lading 
 will be forwarded you from thence by Mr. Zachariah Loreilhe. 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BAKCLAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 L'Orient, November 15, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 1 have the honor to enclose you two letters, one of which was sent 
 to my care by Mr. Adams, the other from Mr. Dumas at the Hague, 
 together with one addressed to Mr. Van Berckel. 
 
 You will doubtless have information in these letters that the 
 Emperor is marching forty-five thousand troops to the Low Coun- 
 tries, and that the Imperial and Dutch Ministers are withdrawn fi-om 
 the Courts of each other. This seems to be the only news at present 
 
356 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 of any consequence. The town and port of L'Orient are now free to 
 the vessels of every nation, and open for the reception and sale of any 
 article of commerce save manufactured tobacco and the private trade 
 from India, the last continuing under the late prohibition. 
 I beg leave to assure you that I am, with great respect, &Ci, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS BAKCLAT. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, April 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor of sending you, herewith enclosed, foUr copies of 
 " a statement of the duties payable by vessels of the United States of 
 America in the ports of Marseilles, Bayonne, L'Orient, and Dunkirk." 
 I think it would be well to inform yourself and me whether Spain pays 
 exactly the same duties. 
 
 I also send by this opportunity a copy of it to Mr. Jefferson, whom 
 Congress has been pleased to appoint their Minister Plenipotentiary 
 at the Court of Versailles, in the room of Doctor Ftanklin, who, at 
 his request, has leave to return. 
 
 The Treasury Department is again organized. Mr. Osgood and 
 Mr. Walter Livingston, two of the commissioners lately appointed, 
 having accepted and proceeded to do business. Mr. Gervais, of 
 South Carolina, who had also been appointed, declining to serve, 
 others have been put in nomination, and a third commissioner will 
 soon be elected. 
 
 I shall be happy to receive from you such information from time to 
 time as you may think useful or interesting. Be pleased to make 
 my compliments to Mrs. Barclay, and believe me to be, dear sir, with 
 great esteem, fee, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 L'Orient.April 17,1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 must entreat the favor of you to lay a request, which I make 
 through you, before Congress ; and beg you will favor me with an 
 answer as soon as convenient. 
 
 It is for permission to return to America, where the state of my 
 
DIPLOMATIC COERESPONDENCE. 357 
 
 private affairs very much requires my presence for a short time, and 
 where I may, personally, be able to communicate the particulars of 
 those transactions that have passed through my hands since I had thte 
 honor of being a servant of the public. Added to these considerations 
 there are some arrangements necessary to be made in the consular 
 department, and it v/ould be a favorable opportunity for me to take 
 the commands of Congress on that subject. 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have now the ple^isure of enclosing a copy of an act of Congress, 
 granting you the permission requested in your letter of the 17th April 
 last to return to this country in the fall, and pass the winter in it. 
 This letter will be accompanied by a packet of newspapers, which 
 will inform you of the most recent occurrences here. Governor 
 Rutledge is appointed Minister to the Hague, and we hope it will be 
 agreeable to him to accept that place ; but his answer has not yet 
 reached us. As yet we have no advices of Mr. Adams being in 
 London, though we have reason to think that he must have gone 
 there long before this time. Doctor Franklin is probably on his way 
 here ; if not be pleased to inform me of it by the next packet, for I 
 omit writing to him only from an apprehension that my letters would 
 arrive in his absence. 
 
 • I am, Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, August 7, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 Having just heard of a ship bound from Amsterdam to America, 1 
 take the chance of reaching her by this post to inform you that I have 
 received a letter from Bordeaux, with advices that the Algerines have 
 declared war with the Unhed States, and are fitting out several vessels 
 to cruise against them. I have this matter confirmed from L'Orientj 
 
358 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 and, therefore, though possibly it may not prove true, I think it my 
 duty to mention it to you, submitting to your judgment what use you 
 will make of the report, or Whether it will be proper to mention it at 
 all until it is confirmed or contradicted, which shall be as soon as I 
 get any further information. I would forward you the original 
 intelligence, but I sent it to Mr. Jefferson, and cannot recover it in 
 time for the post in Holland. 
 
 A few days ago I received your letter, with the enclosures, relative 
 to the expenses of the free ports ; and will send you the papers you 
 want as soon as they can be completed. 
 
 I remain, &ic., THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM MK. FOULANGE TO THE DIRECT0B.S OF COMMERCE OF THE 
 PROVINCE or GUYENNE. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Toulon, July 14, 1785. . 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 Mr. de Ligondes, who has just arrived from Algiers, on board of 
 the frigate Minerva, of which he is commander, informs me that that 
 Regency was arming eight vessels (xebecks and barques) of from 
 eighteen to thirty-four guns, destined to cruise from Cape St. Vincent 
 to the Azores, for the purpose of capturing vessels of the United 
 States, against whom they have declared war. I hasten, gentlemen, 
 to give you notice of this, not only on account of the interest which 
 your place may have in those vessels, but also that you will have the 
 goodness to make it known to the American captains. The Algerines 
 have another division of four vessels, but they are too small to cause 
 uneasiness. 
 
 1 have the honor, &jc.. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 3, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 In my letter to you of the 15th ultimo, by the French packet, 1 
 had the pleasure of enclosing the copy of an act of Congress, (of 
 which I now send a duplicate,) permitting you to come here in the 
 fall, and return early in the spring. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 359 
 
 I have now the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, 
 a copy of another act of Congress of the 18th ultimo, calling for an 
 abstract of the settlement you have made of the accounts of the 
 United States, and others who have been entrusted with the expend- 
 itures of public moneys in Europe. 
 
 With sincere esteem and regard, I am, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Journal of Congress, July 3, 1785. 
 
 On motion of Mr. McHenry, 
 
 Ordered, That T. Barclay, Commissioner for Accounts in Europe, 
 report to Congress an abstract of the settlement he has made of the 
 accounts of -the servants of the United States, and others who have 
 been entrusted with the expenditure of public moneys in Europe. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, October 11, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am favored with your letter covering a resolution of Congress 
 that I shall furnish an abstract of the public accounts which I have 
 settled. 
 
 I shall leave Paris in about ten days, before which time I expect 
 to be able to send out some that are now arranging, together with 
 the abstract desired and my own account with the United States. 
 In the mean time, 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Cadiz, May 14, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 Before my departure from Paris I had the pleasure of receiving a 
 letter from you, desiring me to send you an account of the expenses 
 which are paid at the four free ports in France by American and 
 Spanish vessels. It was my intention, after collecting these papers, 
 to send them out to you under one view ; but I have been disap- 
 
ggO THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 pointed in procuring them, for reasons that I cannot well explain, 
 because I am not entirely master of them. 
 
 That from Mr. Francis Coffin, of Dunkirk, has got to St. Ger- 
 mains, where my papers and family are, and I have directed Mr. 
 I'Vederick Ast to forward you three copies of it. 
 
 Mr. Etienne Cathalan, of Marseilles, wrote me that he made 
 various applications there without success, and that a great back- 
 wardness appeared both in the Spanish Consuls and in the custom- 
 house officers to give it to him. I have again requested his attention 
 to the subject. 
 
 At L'Orient I met with the same obstacle ; was repeatedly promised 
 the papers, and my stay there being short, Mr. Zachariah Loreilhe 
 undertook to send it to you. 
 
 Enclosed you have that from Bayonne, in which the charges of 
 Spanish and American ships are the same, and amount to 150 livres 
 12 sols. There is one article in all the ports of France which 
 appears to me a grievance, and which I wish our ships could get 
 clear of; I mean that of brokerage, a charge for little or no service, 
 from 40 to 80 livres on each vessel. What I think much wanted, is 
 a permission for the Americans to do tlieir business themselves, 
 and not to be obliged to pay a broker whether he is employed or 
 not. 
 
 The charge for this article at L'Orient would by this time have 
 been 100 or 120 livres, owing to the encroachment of the broker, 
 had I not opposed him, and even suffered an action at law to be 
 brought against me. In all your commands I beg you will believe 
 me, with great respect, dear sir. 
 
 Your very obedient humble servant, 
 
 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 361 
 
 CHARGES AT THE PORT OF BATONNE. 
 
 Liv. s. d. 
 
 Entry at the bar, where a boat must be taken 16 6 O 
 
 Another boat must be taken to come up the harbor 13 6 
 
 And if any more boats are employed, which are optional, 
 
 the same ppice for each. 
 Brokerage for doing the ship's business, entering, and 
 
 clearing her 40 
 
 Charges of Admiralty and passports 82 
 
 Livres, 151 12 
 
 Particulars of Port Charges at Dunkirk on a French or Spanish 
 Vessel of the burthen of one hundred tons, from a Coasting 
 
 Voyage, viz : 
 
 Liv. s. d. 
 
 Assistance of a boat inwards 9 
 
 Pilotage inwards, at 3s. per ton 15 
 
 Report of the Admiralty 4 6 
 
 Hire of skeeds when employed 3 
 
 Gauger's fees for measuring 1 10 
 
 Admiral's passport 2 8 9 
 
 Registering the same, key-master's fees, searchers, &;c. ... 6 17 6 
 
 Ballast, 20 tons, at 12s. per ton 12 
 
 Pilotage outwards, at 2s. per ton 10 
 
 Broker's and Interpreter's fees 40 
 
 Livres, 103 16 9 
 
 N. B. When an anchor and cable is left in the roads, 6s. per ton 
 on the burthen of the ships is pdd for salvage. The French and 
 Spanish ships pay no bank pilotage. 
 
362 THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Particulars of Port Charges at Duiikirjc on a Foreign Ship of 
 
 the burthen of one hundred tons from a Coasting Voyage, (i. e.) 
 English, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Americans, and others, viz : 
 
 Liiv. s. d. 
 
 Assistance of a boat inwards 9 
 
 Pilotage inwards, 5s. per ton 25 
 
 Report of the Admiralty 4 9 
 
 Hire of skeeds when employed 3 
 
 Ganger's fees for measuring the ship 3 
 
 Anchorage, at 3s. per ton 15 00 
 
 6s. per livre on do 4 10 
 
 19 10 
 
 Admiral's passport 2 8 9 
 
 Registering the same, key-master's fees, searchers, &.C 6 17 6 
 
 Ballast, 20 tons, at 12s. per ton 12 
 
 Pilotage outwards, at 4s. per ton 20 
 
 Broker's and Interpreter's fees for assisting the master in 
 his report at the Admiralty, custom, and Navy offices, 
 proving his clearances, and assisting in all his transac- 
 tions 40 
 
 Livres, 144 16 9 
 
 N. B. When an anchor and cable is left in the roads, 3s. per ton 
 is paid on the burthen of foreign vessels for salvage, such vessels pay 
 for bank pilotage 4s. per ton over and above the in and outward 
 pilotage mentioned in the above account when the masters take a 
 pilot to carry them through the banks. 
 
 The report of a vessel from a long voyage called long cours, Us 
 l2Uv. 10s. 6d., instead of 4Uv. 
 
 The Admiral's passport for a long voyage is IQliv. 8s. 9d., and 
 the registering the same, key-master's fees, searchers, &c., is 15liv. 
 Is. 6d., instead of 6Uv. lis. 6d. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 363 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Pasay, September 10, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 have received a letter from a very respectable person in America 
 containing the following words, viz : 
 
 "It is confidently reported, propagated, and believed by some 
 ' among us, that the Court of France was at the bottom against our 
 ' obtaining the fishery and territory in that great extent, in which both 
 ' are secured to us by the treaty ; that our Minister at that Court 
 ' favored, or did not oppose this design against us, and that it was 
 ' entirely owing to the firmness, sagacity, and disinterestedness of 
 ' Mr. Adams, with whom Mr. Jay united, that we have obtained 
 'these important advantages." 
 
 It is not my purpose to dispute any share of the honor of that 
 treaty which the friends of my colleagues may be disposed to give 
 them ; but having now spent fifty years of my life in public offices 
 and trusts, and having still one ambition left, that of carrying the 
 character of fidelity, at least, to the grave with me, I cannot allow 
 that I was behind any of them in zeal and faithfulness. I, therefore, 
 think that I ought not to sufier an accusation, which falls little short 
 of treason to my country, to pass without notice, when the means 
 of effectual vindication are at hand. You, sir, were a witness of 
 my conduct in that affair. To you and my other colleagues I appeal 
 by sending to each a similar letter with this, and I have no doubt of 
 
366 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 your readiness to do a brother Commissioner justice by certificates 
 that will entirely destroy the effect of that accusation. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO BENJAMIN FKANKLIN. 
 
 Passy, September 11, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have been favored with your letter of yesterday, and will answer 
 it explicitly. I have no reason whatever to believe that you were 
 averse to our obtaining the full extent of boundary and fishery 
 secured to us by the treaty. Your conduct respecting them through- 
 out the negotiation indicated a strong, a steady attachment to both 
 those objects, and, in my opinion, promoted the attainment of them. 
 
 I remember that in a conversation which M. de Rayneval, the 
 first Secretary of Count de Vergennes, had with you and me, in the 
 summer of 1782, you contended for our full right to the fishery, and 
 argued it on various principles. 
 
 Your letters to me when in Spain, considered our territory as 
 extending to the Mississippi, and expressed your opinion against 
 ceding the navigation of that river in very strong and pointed terms. 
 
 In short, sir, I do not recollect the least difference in sentiments 
 between us respecting the boundaries or fisheries. On the contrar}-, 
 we were unanimous and united in adhering to and insisting on them. 
 Nor did I perceive the least disposition in either of us to recede from 
 our claims to be satisfied with less than we obtained. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Paris, September 13, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write on 
 
 the 10th of this month, in which you say you have received a letter 
 
 from a very respectable person in America, containing the following 
 
 words, viz: "It is confidently reported, propagated, and believed by 
 
 ' some among us, that the Court of France was at the bottom against 
 
 ' our obtaining the fishery and territory in that great extent in which 
 
 ' both are secured to us by the treaty ; that our Minister at the 
 
 ' Court favored, or did not oppose this design against us, and that it 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 367 
 
 ' was entirely owing to the firmness, sagacity, and disinterestedness of 
 ' Mr. Adams, with whom Mr. Jay united, that we have obtained 
 'those important advantages." 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to say any thing upon this subject more 
 than to quote the words which I wrote in the evening of the 30th 
 of November, 1782, and which have been received and read in 
 Congress, viz : "As soon as I arrived in Paris, I waited on Mr. Jay, 
 'and learned from him the rise ^.nd progress of the negotiation. 
 ' Nothing that has happened since the beginning of the controversy 
 'in 1761, has ever struck me more forcibly or affected me more 
 ' intimately than that entire coincidence of principles and opinion 
 .' between him and me. In about three days I went out to Passy, 
 ' and spent the evening with Dr. Franklin, and entered largely into 
 'conversation with him upon the course arid present state of our 
 ' foreign affairs. I told him my opinion without reserve of the policy 
 'of this Court, and of the principles, wisdom, and firmness with 
 ' which Mr. Jay had conducted the negotiation in his sickness and my 
 ' absence, and that 1 was determined to support Mr. Jay to the utmost 
 ' of my power in pursuit of the same system. The Doctor heard me 
 ' patiently, and said nothing." 
 
 "The first conference we had afterwards with Mr. Oswald in 
 ' considering one point and another. Dr. Franklin turned to Mr. Jay, 
 ' and said, ' I am of your opinion, and will go on with these gentlemen 
 ' without consulting this Court.' He has accordingly met us in most 
 ' of our conferences, and has gone on with us in entire harmony and 
 ' unanimity throughout, and has been able and useful, both by his 
 ' sagacity and reputation, in the whole negotiation."* 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO THE FRESIBENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, September 13, 1783. 
 
 Sir, I received, a few days since, the private letter your Excellency 
 did me the honor of writing to me of the 13th of June. I regret 
 with you the resignation of the late Secretary. Your present cares 
 are increased by it, and it will be difficult to find a successor of 
 equal abilities. 
 
 * For further information on this subject, and particularly for an account of the 
 part taken by Dr. Franklin in the negotiation before he was joined by Mr. Jay and 
 Mr. Adams, see the North American Review for January, 1830, p. 15 et seqq. 
 
368 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 We found no difficulty in decyphering the resolution of Congress. 
 The commissioners have taken no notice of it in our public letter. 
 
 I am happy to hear that both the device and workmanship of the 
 medal are approved with you, as they have the good fortune to be 
 by the best judges on this side of the water. It has been esteemed 
 a well-timed as well as a well-merited compliment here, and has its 
 good effects. Since the two first, which you mention as received, I 
 have sent, by different opportunities, so many as that every member of 
 Congress might have one. I hope they are come to hand by this time. 
 
 I wrote a long letter to Mr. Livingston, by Mr. Barney, to which 
 I beg leave to refer, enclosing a copy. 
 
 We had, before signing the definitive treaty, received the ratifica- 
 tion of the preliminary articles by his Britannic Majesty, exchanged 
 with us by Mr. Hartley for that of the Congress. I send herewith 
 a copy of the first and last clauses. 
 
 In a former letter I mentioned the volunteer proceedings of a 
 merchant at Alicant towards obtaining a treaty between us and the 
 Emperor of Morocco. We have since received a letter from a 
 person who says, as you will see by the copy enclosed, that he is 
 sent by the Emperor to be the bearer of his answer to the United 
 States, and that he is arrived in Spain on his way to Paris. He has 
 not yet appeared here, and we hardly know what answer to give 
 him. I hope the sending a Minister to that Court, as recommended 
 in my last, has been taken into consideration, or at least that some 
 instructions respecting that nation have been sent to your Minister 
 in Spain, who is better situated than we are for such a negotiation. 
 
 The Minister from Denmark often speaks to me about the pro- 
 posed treaty, of which a copy went by Mr. Barney. No commis- 
 sion to sign it, nor any instructions from Congress relating to it, are 
 yet received ; and though pressed, I have not ventured to do any 
 thing further in the affair. 
 
 I forward herewith a letter to the Congress from the city of Ham- 
 burg. I understand that a good disposition towards us prevails there, 
 which it may be well to encourage. 
 
 No answer has yet been given me from the Court of Portugal, 
 respecting the plan of a treaty concerted between its Ambassador 
 here and me. He has been unwell and much in the country, so 
 that I have not seen him lately. I suspect that the false or exag- 
 gerated reports of the distracted situation of our Government, indus- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 369 
 
 triously propagated throughout Europe by our enemies, have made 
 an impression in that kingdom to our disadvantage, and inclined 
 them to hesitate in forming a connexion with us. Questions asked 
 me, and observations made by several of the foreign Ministers here, 
 convince me that the idle stories of our disunion, contempt of 
 authority, refusal to pay taxes, fee, have been too much credited, 
 and been very injurious to our reputation. 
 
 I sent before a copy of the letter I wrote to the Grand Master of 
 Malta, with a present of our medal. With this you will have a 
 copy of his answer. I send also a copy of a note I received from 
 the Pope's Nuncio. He is very civil on all occasions, and has 
 mentioned the possibility of an advantageous trade America might 
 have with the Ecclesiastical State, which he says has two good 
 ports, Civita Vecchia and . 
 
 This Court continues favorable to us. Count de Vergennes was 
 resolute in refusing to sign the definitive treaty with England before 
 ours was signed. The English Ministers were offended, but com- 
 plied. I am convinced that Court will never cease endeavoring to 
 disunite us. We shall, I hope, be constafttly on our guard against 
 those machinations, for our safety consists in a steady adherence to 
 our friends, and our reputation in a faithful regard to treaties, and in 
 a grateful conduct towards our benefactors. 
 
 I send herewith sundry memorials recommended to my care by 
 Count de Vergennes, viz : one respecting a claim of Messieurs Fosters,, 
 of Bordeaux ; one of M. Pequet ; and one of M. Bayard. The, 
 Congress will take such notice of them as they shall think proper. 
 
 With great esteem, &c., BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.. 
 
 Passy, September 14, 1783.. 
 Sir, 
 I received by the Washington the bills and accounts mentioned 
 in yours of the 5th June, and shall soon send you an account of the 
 disposition of the money. 
 
 My account as stated by you appears to be correct. 
 
 With much esteem, &tc., BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 "Mr. Morris was a Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs. 
 Vol. I.— 24 
 
370 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM DAVID HARTLEY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Bath, September 24, 1783. 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 1 am at present at Bath, with my dearest sister, whom I have 
 found as well as I could have expected, and I hope with reasonable 
 prospect of recovery in time. I have seen my friends in the 
 ministry, and hope things will go on well ; with them I am sure all 
 is right and firm. The chief part of the Cabinet Ministers are out 
 of town, but there will be a full Cabinet held in a few days, in 
 which a specific proposition, in the nature of a temporary convention, 
 will be given in instructions to me ; I imagine nearly upon the 
 ground of my memorial of May 19th, 1783, which I delivered to the 
 American Ministers, viz : " American ships not to bring foreign 
 manufactures into Great Britain, nor to trade directly between the 
 British West Indies and Great Britain ;" all the rest to be as before 
 the war. I expect that something to this effect will be their 
 determination in the affair, and if it should be so, I shall hope not to 
 meet with difficulty on your parts. I want to see some specific 
 beginning. As to any further proposition respecting the trade 
 between Great Britain and the British West Indies, I doubt whether 
 any such can be discussed before the meeting of Parliament. I 
 wish to look forward not only to the continuation of peace between 
 our two countries, but to the improvement of reconciliation into 
 alliance, and therefore I wish the two parties to be disposed to 
 accommodate each other, without the strict accounts by weights and 
 scales, as between aliens and strangers, actuated towards each other 
 by no other principle than cold and equalizing indifference. Friendly 
 dispositions presumed have their fairest chance of being realized, but 
 if we should set out presuming against them, the good which might 
 have happened may be prevented. Fray remember me to your 
 three colleagues, and to all friends. 
 
 Yours ever, most affectionately, D. HARTLEY. 
 
 P. S. I have put in a word for our Quaker article, and I hope with 
 some impression. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 371 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FEANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, September 27, 1783 , 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Mr. Thaxter, late Secretary of Mr. Adams, who is charged with 
 all our despatches that were intended to go by the French packet 
 boat, writes from L'Orient, that though he arrived there two days 
 before the time appointed for her sailing, he missed reaching her by 
 four hours ; but another light vessel was fitting, and would sail the 
 2lst instant, in which he hoped to arrive at New York nearly as 
 soon as the packet. We shall send duplicates by the next from 
 hence. 
 
 In the meantime I enclose a printed copy of the definitive treaty, 
 which I hear is ratified. Indeed we have the ratification of the 
 preliminaries. 
 
 Mr. Hartley, when he left us, expected to return in three weeks, 
 in order to proceed with us in forming a treaty of commerce. The 
 new commission that was intended for us is not yet come to hand. 
 
 With great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO DAVID HARTLEY. 
 
 Passy, October 16, 1783. 
 My dear friend, 
 
 1 have nothing material to write to you respecting public affairs, 
 but I cannot let Mr. Adams, who will see you, go without a line to 
 inquire after your welfare, to inform you of mine, and assure you of 
 my constant respect and attachment. 
 
 I think with you that your Quaker article is a good one, and that 
 men will in time have sense enough to adopt it ; but I fear that time 
 is not yet come. 
 
 What would you think of a proposition, if I should make it, of a 
 compact between England, France, and America ? America would 
 be as happy as the Sabine girls, if she could be the means of uniting 
 in perpetual peace her father and her husband. What repeated follies 
 are those repeated wars ! You do not want to conquer and govern 
 one another. Why then should you be continually employed in 
 injuring and destroying one another? How many excellent things 
 might have been done to promote the internal welfare of each 
 country ; what bridges, roads, canals, and other useful public works 
 
372 BENJAMIN FRANLKIN. 
 
 and institutions, tending to the common felicity, might have been 
 made and established with the money and men foolishly spent during 
 the last seven centuries by our mad wars in doing one another 
 mischief! You are near neighbors, and each have very respectable 
 qualities. Learn to be quiet, and to respect each other's rights. You 
 are all Christians. One is the most Christian King, and the other 
 defender of the faith. Manifest the propriety of these titles by your 
 future conduct. " By this," says Christ, " shall all men know that ye 
 are my disciples, if ye love one another." Seek peace, and ensure it. 
 Adieu, yours, &c., BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO DAVID HARTLEY. 
 
 Passy, October 22, 1783. 
 
 I received my dear friend's kind letter of the 4th instant from Bath, 
 with your proposed temporary convention, which you desire me to 
 show to my colleagues. They are both by this time in London, 
 where you will undoubtedly see and converse with them on the 
 subject. The apprehension you mention that the cement of the 
 confederation may be annihilated, &;c., has not, I think, any founda- 
 tion. There is sense enough in America to take care of their own 
 china vase. I see much in your papers about our divisions and 
 distractions, but I hear little of them from America ; and I know that 
 most of the letters said to come from there with such accounts, are 
 mere London fictions. I will consider attentively the proposition 
 abovementioned against the return of my colleagues, when I hope 
 our commission will have arrived. 
 
 I rejoice to hear that your dear sister's recovery advances, and that 
 your brother is well. Please to present my affectionate respects to 
 them, and believe me ever yours, Sic, 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 GIACOMO FRANCISCO CROCCO TO B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Cadiz, November 25, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 On the I5th of July last I had the honor to acquaint your Excel- 
 lency of my arrival in Europe, and that I was appointed by his 
 Majesty the Emperor of Morocco, 'bearer of the answer to the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 373 
 
 Congress, sovereign of the thirteen United States of North America, 
 and that according to my instructions I was to meet at Paris the 
 Ambassador that would be appointed by Congress to sign at the 
 Court of Morocco the treaty of peace and commerce, agreeably to 
 the proposals made to his Imperial Majesty by Robert Montgomery, 
 in his letter dated at Alicant, the 4th of January, 1783. Since I have 
 been at the Court of Madrid, where I had some commissions from 
 the Emperor, and to see the execution of them, I came to this place, 
 from whence I intend to embark in three or four months for Barbary, 
 unless in the meantime I should receive an answer from your Excel- 
 lency, with orders that Mr. Richard Harrison should give me, for my 
 travelling charges, fifteen hundred hard dollars, although the Courts 
 of Europe are accustomed to allow the Minister of my master at the 
 rate of ten pounds sterling per day, while they are in Europe, to 
 defray their expenses, besides presents for their good offices in those 
 important affairs. 
 
 His Imperial Majesty was graciously pleased at my solicitation to 
 agree, at the request of Congress, to grant them a treaty of peace, 
 (which other Powers of Europe could not obtain but after many 
 years,) and my return, without the full execution of his commands, I 
 apprehend may forever indispose him against the United Provinces. 
 
 I remain most truly, sir. Sic, 
 
 GIACOMO FRANCISCO CROCCO. 
 
 FROM B. FRANKLIN TO GIACOMO FRANCISCO CROCCO. 
 
 Passjr, December 15, 1783. ^ 
 Sir, 
 
 I have just received the letter you did me the honor of writing to 
 me the 25th past. I did, indeed, receive your former letter of July, 
 but being totally a stranger to the mentioned proceedings of Mr. 
 Montgomery, and having no orders from Congress on the subject, I 
 knew not how to give you any satisfactory answer till I should 
 receive further information ; and I communicated your letter to Mr. 
 Jay, Minister of the United States for Spain, in whose district Mr. 
 Montgomery is, and who is more at hand than I am for commencing 
 that negotiation. 
 
 Mr. Jay, who is at present in England, has possibly written to you, 
 though his letter may have miscarried, to acquaint you that Mr. 
 
374 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Montgomery had probably no authority from ■Congress to take the 
 step he has done, and that it was not likely that they, desiring to 
 make a treaty with the Emperor, would think of putting his Majesty 
 to the trouble of sending a person to Paris to receive and conduct 
 their Minister, since they have ships, and could easily land him at 
 Cadiz, or present him at one of the Emperor's ports. We have, 
 however, written to Congress, acquainting them with what we had 
 been informed, of the good and favorable disposition of his Imperial 
 Majesty, to enter into a treaty of amity and commerce with the 
 United States, and we have no doubt but that, as soon as their affairs 
 are a little settled, which, by so severe a war carried on in the bowels 
 of 'their country by one of the most powerful nations of Europe, 
 have necessarily been much deranged, they will readily manifest 
 equally good dispositions, and take all the proper steps to cultivate 
 and secure 4he friendship of a monarch whose character I know they 
 have long esteemed and respected. 
 
 I am, sir, &lc., B. FRANKLIN. 
 o 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO WILLIAM CAKMIOHAEL. 
 
 Passy, December 15, 1783. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 I am much concerned to find by your letter to my grandson that 
 you are hurt by my long silence, and that you ascribe it to a supposed 
 diminution of my friendship. Believe me that is by no means the 
 case ; but I am too much harassed by a variety of correspondence, 
 together with gout and gravel, which induce me to postpone doing 
 what I often fully intend to do, and particularly writing, where the 
 urgent necessity of business does not seem to require its being done 
 immediately, my sitting too much at the desk having already almost 
 killed me ; besides, since Mr. Jay's residence here, I imagined he 
 might keep you fully informed of what was material for you to know, 
 and I beg you to be assured of my constant and sincere esteem and 
 affection. 
 
 I do not know whether you have been informed that a Mr. Mont- 
 gomery, who lives at Alicant, took upon himself (for I think he had 
 no authority) to make overtures last winter in behalf of our States 
 towards a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco. In consequence of 
 his proceedings, I received a letter in August from a person who 
 acquainted me that he was arrived in Spain by the Emperor's order, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 375 
 
 and was to come to Paris, there to receive and conduct to Morocco 
 tlie Minister of Congress appointed to make that treaty, intimating, 
 at the same time, an expectation of money to defray his expenses. 
 I communicated the letter to Mr. Jay. The conduct of Mr. Mont- 
 gomery appeared to us very extraordinary and irregular, and the idea 
 of a messenger from Morocco coming to Paris to meet and conduct 
 a Minister of Congress appearing absurd and extravagant, as well as 
 the demand of money by a person unknown, I made no answer to 
 the letter, and I know not whether Mr. Jay made any to Mr. Mont- 
 gomery, who wrote about the same time. But I have lately received 
 another letter from the same person, a copy of which I enclose, 
 together with ray answer, open for your perusal, and it is submitted 
 to your discretion whether to forward it or not. The Mr. Crocco 
 who writes to me, having been, as he says, at Madrid, you possibly 
 may know more of him than I can, and judge whether he is really 
 a person in credit with the Emperor, and sent as he pretends to be, 
 or not rather an Escroc, as the French call cheats and imposters. 
 
 I would not be wanting in any thing proper for me to do towards 
 keeping that Prince in good humor with us till the pleasure of 
 Congress is known, and therefore would answer Mr. Crocco if he be 
 in his employ, but am loth to commit myself in correspondence with 
 a Frvpon. It will be strange if, being at Madrid, he did not address 
 himself to you. 
 
 With great and unalterable regard, I am ever, my dear friend, 
 yours most affectionately, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 o 
 
 PROM BENJAMIN FKANKLIN TO ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Passy, December 25, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 The remissness of our people in paying taxes is highly blameable ; 
 the unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see in some reso- 
 lutions of town meetings a remonstrance against giving Congress a 
 power to take, as they call it, the people's money out of their pockets, 
 though only to pay the interest and principal of debts duly con- 
 tracted. They seem to mistake the point. Money justly due from 
 the people is their creditor's money, and no longer the money of the 
 people, who, if they withhold it, should be compelled to pay by some 
 law. All property, indeed, except the savage's temporary cabin, his 
 
376 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 bow, his matchuat, and other Httle acquisitions absolutely necessary 
 for his subsistence, seems to me to be the creature of public convenr 
 tion. Hence the public has the right of regulating descents, and all 
 other conveyances of property, and even of limiting the quantity 
 and uses of it. All the property that is necessary to a man for the 
 conservation of the individual and the propagation of the species 
 is his natural right, which none can justly deprive him of; but all 
 property superfluous to such purposes is the property of the public, 
 who by their laws have created it, and who may, therefore, by other 
 laws dispose of it whenever the welfare of the public shall desire 
 such disposition. He that does not like civil society on these terms, 
 let him retire and live among the savages. He can have no right to the 
 benefits of society who will not pay his club towards the support of it. 
 
 The Marquis de la Fayette, who loves to be employed in our 
 afiairs, and is often very useful, has lately had several conversations 
 with the Ministers and persons concerned in forming new regulations, 
 respecting the commerce between our two countries, which are not 
 yet concluded. I thought it therefore well to communicate to him 
 a copy of your letter, which contains so many sensible and just 
 observations on that subject. He will make a proper use of them, 
 and perhaps they may have more weight, as appearing to come from 
 a Frenchman, than they would have if it were known that they were 
 the observations of an American. I perfectly agree with you in all 
 the sentiments you have expressed on this occasion. 
 
 I am sorry, for the public's sake, that you are about to quit your 
 office ; but on personal considerations, I shall congratulate you, for 
 I cannot conceive of a more happy man than he who, having been 
 long loaded with public cares, finds himself relieved from them, and 
 enjoying private repose, in the bosom of his friends and family. 
 With sincere regard, &c., 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, December 26, 1783. 
 Sir, 
 
 If the Congress should think it fit to have a Consul for the United 
 
 States in London, and do not appoint one of our own countrymen to 
 
 that office, I beg leave to mention the merits of Mr. William Hodg- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 377 
 
 sqn, a merchant of that city, who has always been a zealous friend 
 of America, was a principal promoter of the subscription for the 
 relief of American prisoners, and chairman of the committee for 
 dispensing the money raised by that subscription. He also took the 
 trouble of applying the moneys I furnished him with, when the 
 subscription was exhausted, and constantly assisted me in all the 
 negotiations I had with the British Ministers, in their favor, wherein 
 he generally succeeded, being a man of weight and credit, very 
 active, and much esteemed for his probity and integrity. These his 
 services, continued steadily during the whole war, seem to entitle 
 him to the favorable notice of Congress, when any occasion offers of 
 doing him service or pleasure. 
 
 With great respect, I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 EROM DAVID HARTLEY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 London, March 2, 1784. 
 
 My dear Friend, ' 
 Will you be so good as to transmit the enclosed to Mr. Jay ? I 
 am sorry that we are going to lose him from this side of the Atlantic. 
 If your American ratification should arrive speedily, I might hope to 
 have the pleasure of seeing him again before his departure. As soon 
 as I hear from you of the arrival of your ratification, I will imme- 
 diately apply for the despatch of the British ratification. I wish 
 very much to have the pleasure of conversing with you again. In 
 hopes that that time may come soon, I have nothing further to say 
 at present. Believe me always to be, what you have always known 
 me to have been, a friend of general philanthropy, and particularly 
 your ever most affectionate, 
 
 D. HARTLEY. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO CHARLES THOMSON. 
 
 Passy, March 9, 1784. 
 , Sir, 
 I received, a few days since, a letter from Annapolis, dated June 
 the 5th, in your handwriting, but not signed, acquainting the Com- 
 missioners with the causes of delay in sending the ratification of the 
 definitive treaty. The term was expired before that letter came to 
 
_378 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 hand ; but I hope no difficulty will arise from a failure in a point nqt 
 essential, and which was occasioned by accidents. I have just 
 received from Mr. Hartley a letter on the subject, of which I enclose 
 a copy. 
 
 We have had a terrible winter, too, here, such as the oldest men 
 do not remember, and indeed it has been very severe all over 
 Europe. 
 
 I have exchanged ratifications with the Ambassador of Sweden, 
 and enclose a copy of that I received from him. 
 
 Mr. Jay is lately returned from England. Mr. Laurens is still 
 there, but proposes departing for America next month, as does also 
 Mr. Jay, with his family. Mr. Adams is in Holland, where he has 
 been detained by business and bad weather. These absences have 
 occasioned some delays in our business, but not of much importance. 
 
 The war long expected between the Turks and Russians is pre- 
 vented by a treaty, and it is thought an accommodation will likewise 
 take place between them and the Emperor. Every thing here con- 
 tinues friendly and favorable to the United States. I am pestered 
 continually with numbers of letters from people in different parts of 
 Europe, who would go to settle in America, but who manifest very 
 extravagant expectations, such as I can by no means encourage, and 
 who appear otherwise to be very improper persons. To save myself 
 trouble, I have just printed some copies of the enclosed little piece, 
 which I purpose to send hereafter in answer to such letters. 
 
 Be pleased to presetit my dutiful respects to Congress, and believe 
 me to be, with sincere esteem, &jc., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF 
 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, April 16, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 We duly received the letters your Excellency did us the honor of 
 
 writing to us the 14th of January, by Colonel Harmar and Lieut. 
 
 Col. David Franks, with the ratification of the definitive treaty, the 
 
 proclamation, and the recommendatory resolves of Congress. On 
 
 the arrival of Col. Harmar, we immediately wrote to Mr. Hartley, 
 
 acquainting him that we were now ready to exchange with him; 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. ,379 
 
 sending him at the same time copies of the proclamation and reso- 
 lutions. We have this day received from him the enclosed answer 
 and we expect he will soon be here, and put, with us, the finishing 
 hand to this important business. 
 
 With great respect, we have to be. Sic, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM D. HAETLEY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND JOHN JAY. 
 
 Aptil 9, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have received the honor of your letter dated March 21, 1784, 
 with the enclosures, which I have communicated to his Majesty's 
 Ministers. I have the pleasure to inform you that the ratification on 
 our part is now making out ; and that I have received orders to 
 prepare for the exchange at Paris with all convenient speed. 
 
 Before my departure, I shall propose such general sentiments for 
 the consideration of his Majesty's Ministers as have occurred to me 
 in our former negotiations ; my utmost wish at all times being to 
 give every possible assistance in my power to efiect a cordial and 
 conciliatory intercourse and connexion between our countries. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., D. HARTLEF. 
 
 from: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Paris, May 12, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 In my last I acquainted your Excellency that Mr. Hartley was 
 soon expected here to exchange ratifications of the definitive treaty. 
 He is now arrived, and proposes to make the exchange this afternoon. 
 I shall then be enabled to send a copy. Enclosed is the new British 
 proclamation respecting our trade with their colonies. It is said to 
 be a temporary provision till Parliament can assemble and make 
 some proper regulating law, or till a commercial treaty shall be 
 fi:amed and agreed to. Mr. Hartley expects instructions for planning 
 with us such a treaty. The Ministry are supposed to have been too 
 busy with the new elections when he left London to think of those 
 matters. 
 
380 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 This Court has not completed its intended new system for the 
 trade of their colonies, so that I cannot give a certain account of the 
 advantages that will in fine be allowed us. At present, it is said we 
 are to have two free ports, Tobago and the Mole, and that we may 
 carry lumber and all sorts of provisions to the rest, except flour, 
 which is reserved in favor of Bordeaux, and that we shall be per- 
 mitted to export coffee, rum, molasses, and some sugar, for our own 
 consumption. 
 
 We have had under consideration a commercial treaty proposed 
 to us by the King of Prussia, and have sent it back, with our 
 remarks, to Mr. Adams, who will, I suppose, transmit it immediately 
 to Congress ; those planned with Denmark and Portugal wait its 
 determination. 
 
 Be pleased to present my dutiful respects to the Congress, and 
 believe me to be, with sincere and great esteem, sir, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKHjV. 
 
 May \Zth. I now enclose a copy of the ratification of the definitive 
 treaty on the part of his Britannic Majesty. 
 
 o 
 
 FROM DAVID HARTLEY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Paris, June 1, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 i have the honor to inform you that I have transmitted to London 
 the ratification on the part of Congress of the definitive treaty of 
 peace between Great Britain and the United States of America ; and 
 I am ordered to represent to you that a want of form appears in the 
 first paragraph of that instrument, wherein the United States are 
 mentioned before his Majesty, contrary to the established custom in 
 every treaty in which a crowned head and a republic are parties. 
 It is likewise to be observed that the term definitive articles is used 
 instead of definitive treaty, and the conclusion appears likewise 
 deficient, as it is neither signed by the President nor is it dated, and 
 consequently is wanting in some of the most essential points of form 
 necessary towards authenticating the validity of the instrument. 
 
 I am ordered to propose to you, sir, that these defects in the 
 ratification should be corrected, which might very easily be done, 
 either by signing a declaration in the name of Congress for pre- 
 venting the particular mode of expression, so far as it relates to 
 precedency in the first paragraph being considered as a precedent 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 381 
 
 to be adopted on any future occasion, or else by having a new copy 
 made out in America, in which these mistakes should be corrected, 
 and which might be done without any prejudice arising to either of 
 the parties from the delay. 
 
 I am, with great respect, fcc, DAVID HARTLEY. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN I'KANKLIN TO DAVID HARTLEY. 
 
 Papsy, June 2, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have considered the observations you did me the honor of com- 
 municating to me concerning certain inaccuracies of expression and 
 supposed defects of formality in the instrument of ratification, some 
 of which are said to be of such a nature as to affect the validity of 
 the instrument. 
 
 The first is, " that the United States are named before his Majesty, 
 contrary to the established custom observed in every treaty in which 
 a crowned head and a Republic are the contracting parties." With 
 respect to this, it seems to me we should distinguish between that 
 act in which both join, to wit, the treaty, and that which is the act 
 of each separately, the ratification. It is necessary that all the modes 
 of expression in the joint act should be agreed to by both parties, 
 though in their separate acts each party is master of, and alone 
 unaccountable for, its own mode. And, on inspecting the treaty, it 
 will be found that his Majesty is always regularly named before the 
 United States. Thus "the established custom in treaties between 
 crowned heads and republics," contended for on your part, is strictly 
 observed ; and the ratification following the treaty contains these 
 words : " Now know ye, that we, the United States in Congress 
 'assembled, having seen and considered the definitive articles afore- 
 'said, have approved, ratified, and confirmed, and by these presents 
 ' do approve, ratify, and confirm the said articles, and every part 
 'and clause thereof," &c. Hereby all those articles, parts, and 
 clauses, wherein the King is named before the United States are 
 approved, ratified, and confirmed, and this solemnly under the signa- 
 ture of the President of Congress, with the public seal affixed by 
 their order, and countersigned by their Secretary. 
 
 No declaration on the subject more determinate or more authentic 
 can possibly be made or given, which, when considered, may prob- 
 ably induce his Majesty's Ministers to waive the proposition of our 
 
382 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 signing a similar declaration, or of sending back the ratification to be 
 corrected in this point, neither appearing to be really necessary. I 
 will, however, if it be still desired, transmit to Congress the observa- 
 tion and the difficulty occasioned by it, and request their orders upon 
 it. In the meantime I naay venture to say that I am confident there 
 was no intention of affronting his Majesty by their order of nomi- 
 nation, but that it resulted merely from that sort of complaisance 
 which every nation seems to have for itself, and of that respect for 
 its own Government, customarily so expressed in its own acts, of 
 which the English, among the rest, afford an instance when, in the 
 title of the King, they always name Great Britain before France. 
 
 The second objection is, " that the term definitive articles is used 
 instead of definitive treaty." If the words definitive treaty had 
 been used in the ratification instead of definitive articles it might 
 have been more correct, though the difference seems not great nor of 
 much importance, as in the treaty itself it is called the present 
 Definitive Treaty. 
 
 The other objections are, "that the conclusion likewise appears 
 'deficient, as it is neither signed by the President nor is it dated, and 
 'consequently is wanting in some of the most essential points of 
 ' form necessary towards authenticating the validity of the instru- 
 ' ment." The situation of seals and signatures in public instruments 
 differs in different countries, though all equally valid ; for when all 
 the parts of an instrument are connected by a ribband, whose ends 
 are sedured under the impression of the sealj the signature and seal, 
 wherever placed, are understood as relating to and authenticating the 
 whole. Our usage is to place them both together in the broad 
 margin near the beginning of the piece, and so they stand in the 
 present ratification, the concluding words of which declare the 
 intention of such signing and sealing to be giving authenticity to the 
 whole instrument, viz : "In testimony whereof, we have caused the 
 ' seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed ; Witness his Excel- 
 ' lency Thomas Mifflin, Esquire, President ;" and the date, supposed 
 to be omitted, perhaps from its not appearing in figures, is, never- 
 theless, to be found written in words at length, viz : " this fourteenth 
 day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred 
 and eighty-four," which made the figures unnecessary. 
 
 With great esteem and respect, &;c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 383 
 
 FROM B. FRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, June 16, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 My letter by Mr. Jay acquainted your Excellency that the ratifi- 
 cations of the definitive treaty were exchanged. A copy of the 
 British part was also sent by him. 
 
 Mr. Hartley remained here expecting instructions to treat with us 
 on the subject of commerce. The bustle attending a new election 
 and meeting of Parliament, he imagined, might occasion the long 
 delay of those instructions. He now thinks that the affair of the 
 American trade being under the consideration of Parliament, it is 
 probable no treaty will be proposed till the result is known. Mr. 
 Jay, who sailed for America the first instant from Dover, and who 
 saw there several of our friends from London before his departure, 
 and Mr. Laurens, who left London on the 6th to go on in the Fal- 
 mouth packet, will bb able to give you more perfect informations 
 than I can of what may be expected as the determination of the 
 British Government respecting our intercourse with their islands, 
 and, therefore, I omit my conjectures, only mentioning that, from 
 various circumstances, there seems to be some lurking remains of 
 ill humor there, and of resentment against us, which only wants a 
 favorable opportunity to manifest itself. 
 
 This makes it more necessary, for us to be upon our guard and 
 prepared for events that a change in tbe affairs of Europe may 
 produce ; its tranquillity depending, perhaps, on the life of one man, 
 and it , being impossible to foresee in what situation a new arrange- 
 ment of its various interests may place us. Ours will be rpspected 
 in proportion to the apparent solidity of our Government, the support 
 of our credit, the maintenance of a good understanding with our 
 friends, and our readiness for defence. All which I persuade myself 
 will be taken care of. 
 
 Enclosed I send a copy of a letter from Mr^ Hartley to me, 
 respecting some supposed defects in the ratification, together with 
 my adswerj which he has transmitted to London. The objections 
 appeared to me trivial and absurd; but I thought it prudent to treat 
 them with as much decency as I could, lest the ill temper should be 
 augmented, which might be particularly inconvenient while the 
 commerce was under consideration. There has not yet been time 
 
384 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 for Mr. Hartley to hear whether my answer has been satisfactory, or 
 whether the Ministers will still insist on my sending for an amended 
 copy from America, as they proposed. 
 
 I do not perceive the least diminution in the good disposition of 
 this Court towards us, and I hope care will be taken to preserve it. 
 
 The Marquis de la Fayette, who will have the honor of delivering 
 this to you, has, ever since his arrival in Europe, been very indus- 
 trious in his endeavors to serve us and promote our interest, and has 
 been of great use on several occasions. I should wish the Congress 
 might think fit to express, in some proper manner, their sense of his 
 merit. 
 
 My malady prevents my going to Versailles, as I cannot bear a 
 carriage upon pavement, but my grandson goes regularly on Court 
 days to supply my place, and is well received there. The last letters 
 I have had the honor of receiving from you, are of 14th pf January. 
 
 With great respect, I am, sir, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAJIIN FRANKLIN TO COUNT DE MERCY ARGENTEAU. 
 
 Passy, July 30, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to communicate to your Excellency an extract 
 from the instructions of Congress to their late Commissioners for 
 treating of peace, expressing their desire to cultivate the friendship 
 of his Imperial Majesty, and to enter into a treaty of commerce for 
 the mutual advantage of his subjects and the citizens of the United 
 States, which I request you will be pleased to lay before his Majesty. 
 The appointing and instructing Commissioners for treaties of com- 
 merce with the Powers of Europe generally has, by various circum- 
 stances, been long delayed, but is now done ; and I have just 
 received advice that Mr. Jefferson, late Governor of Virginia, com- 
 missioned with Mr. Adams, our Minister in Holland, and myself, 
 for that service, is on his way hither, and may be expected by the 
 end of August, when we shall be ready to enter into a treaty with 
 his Imperial Majesty for the above purposes, if such should be his 
 pleasure. 
 
 With great and sincere respect, &c., B. FRANKLIN. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 385 
 
 FROM COUNT DE MERCY ARGENTEAU TO B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation 
 
 Paris, July 30, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I received the letter you did me the honor to write to me this 
 morning, and I shall lose no time to transmit the contents to my 
 Court. 
 
 The sentiments of the Emperor towards the United States of 
 America make me foresee the satisfaction which his Majesty will 
 have to enter into reciprocal, suitable, and advantageous connexions 
 with them. I have not the least doubt but that measures will be 
 instantly taken on this subject to concert with you, sir, and with the 
 appointed Ministers Plenipotentiary ; and as soon as the answer from 
 my Court shall come, I shall instantly communicate it to you. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 DE MERCY ARGENTEAU. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO B. FRANKLIN.. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, August 27, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 You have communicated to me an extract from the instructions 
 which Congress addressed to you on the 11th of May last, which 
 imports that the United States will in no case treat any other nation 
 with respect to commerce, more advantageously than the French. 
 This disposition is much the wisest, as it will prevent those misun- 
 derstandings which might arise from the equivocal terms in which, 
 the 2d article of the treaty of amity and commerce, signed February 
 6th, 1 778, is conceived. But that the resolution of Congress on this 
 subject may be clearly stated, it would be best, sir, that you furnish 
 me with it in the form of a declaration, or at least in an ofScial note^ 
 signed by yourself. I have no doubt that you will adopt one of these 
 two forms. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Vol. I.— 25 
 
386 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM B. FKAJJKLIN TO COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Paasy, September 3, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency, by order of 
 Congress, a resolution of theirs, dated the 11th of May last, which 
 is in the words following, viz : 
 
 "Resolved, That Doctor Franklin be instructed to express to 
 the Court of France the constant desire of Congress to meet their 
 wishes ; that these States are about to form a general system of 
 commerce by treaties with other nations ; that at this time they 
 cannot foresee what claimi might be given to those nations by the 
 explanatory propositions from the Count de Vergennes on the 2d and 
 3d articles of our treaty of amity and commerce with his most 
 Christian Majesty, but that he may be assured it will be our con- 
 stant care to place no people on more advantageous grounds than 
 the subjects of his Majesty." 
 
 With great respect, I am, &c., B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FEOM MR. GRAND TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, August 28, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Mr. Morris, in his former letter of May 27th, informs me that he 
 was waiting for an opportunity to answer me on the subject of the 
 funds of the United States, all my letters having advised him of my 
 wants. This opportunity has offered, as I have received several of 
 his letters since ; but there is no mention made in either of them of 
 this object, notwithstanding its importance ; and although I have 
 made known to him that the funds left me were not sufficient to 
 meet the current expenses, and that it was necessary, besides, to 
 provide for the payment of interest due to the Government, amount- 
 ing, according to Mr. Gojard's calculation, to eight hundred thirty- 
 seven thousand five hundred livres. Yet, notwithstanding so mis- 
 placed a silence, willing to judge more favorably of Mr. Morris than 
 appearances warranted, and in consequence of my feelings and zeal, 
 I could not refuse to continue the payment of what has been 
 presented to me, such as salaries, loan office drafts, &c., persuaded 
 as I was that I should not be left long in arrear of my advances, 
 which amount, this day, to nearly fifty thousand livres. But far 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 387 
 
 from attending to this affair, it seems, on the contrary, that he does 
 not even think of it. I have a painful and additional proof of this 
 in a letter which I have just received from Mr. Morris, bearing date 
 August 12th, in which there is no more mention made of- the Super- 
 intendent of Finances, than if he never existed. It gives me, truly, 
 great uneasiness, not on account of my actual advances, but for 
 future ones, to which, notwithstanding my own inclination, I shall 
 be obliged to set bounds if I do not soon receive funds. 
 
 I have thought it my duty, sir, to apprize you of the situation of 
 affairs, and at all events to give you these details for my own justifi- 
 cation. If I should suffer by such a resolution, I shall have at least 
 the consolation to think that I have done all in my power, and all 
 that could be expected from the zeal by which I have been constantly 
 animated. I hope, sir, that you will do me the justice to think so, and 
 that you will accept the respectful sentiments with which I am, sir, 
 your very humble and very obedient servant, 
 
 GRAND. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO RENJAMIN FRANKLIN'. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, September 9, 1784. 
 Sir, ,, , 
 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me 
 the third instant. You there declare, in the name of Congress, that 
 the United States will be careful not to treat any other nation, in 
 matters of commerce, more advantageously than the French nation. 
 This declaration, founded on the treaty of the 6th of February, 1778, 
 has been very agreeable to the King; and you, sir, can assure 
 Congress that the United States shall constantly experience a perfect 
 reciprocity in France. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, DE VERGENNES. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE MERCY ARGENTEAU TO RENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 28, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 With respect to the proposition of the United States of America 
 that I forAvarded to my Court, concerning the arrangements of 
 
388 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 commerce to be adopted by the respective Powers, I have received 
 the order, sir, which I have the honor to communicate to you that 
 his Majesty the Emperor has agreed to the said proposition, and that 
 he has directed the Government General of the Low Countries to. 
 adopt measures to put it in execution. 
 
 When the particulars respecting this matter shall be sent to me, I 
 will instantly communicate them. 
 
 I avail myself of this opportunity to renew the assurances of the 
 most perfect attachment, with which I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 DE MERCY ARGENTEAU. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKliIN TO CHAEX,ES THOMSON. 
 
 Passy, October 16, 1784. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 It was intended by the Commissioners to write a joint letter to 
 Congress, but I am afraid the opportunity may be missed. This 
 may serve to inform you that propositions of treating have been made 
 by us to all the Powers of Europe, according to our instructions, and 
 we are waiting for their answers. There are apprehensions here of 
 a war between the Emperor and Holland, but as the season is not 
 proper for opening a campaign, I hope the winter will give time for 
 mediators to accommodate matters. We have not yet heard that Mr. 
 Jay has accepted the Secretaryship of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 I am ever, my dear friend, yours, most affectionately, 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Versailles, October 30, 1'!'84. 
 Sir, 
 I am informed by a letter from M. de Marbois, dated Philadelphia, 
 August 24th ultimo, that he had communicated with Mr. Morris, 
 respecting the interest of the loan of Holland made on account of the 
 United States of America under the guarantee of the King ; also for 
 the other debts of said States towards his Majesty, acknowledged and 
 stipulated in the contracts passed between us on the 16th July and 
 25th February, 1783. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 389 
 
 M. de Marbois informs me that in pursuance of his conversation and 
 correspondence on this matter with the Superintendent of Finances, 
 Mr. Gouverneur Morris, his assistant took the trouble to call on him, 
 and has verbally announced to him that the Superintendent would be 
 able to cause to be paid at the treasury the four hundred thousand 
 livres, being the amount of interest due in November next on the 
 loan of ten millions guarantied by the King ; and that orders would 
 be sent in consequence to Amsterdam as well as to Mr. Grand, at 
 Paris. I have no doubt but that this banker has already received 
 the orders and necessary instructions to fulfil this object, and also for 
 the execution of the other engagements made by Congress, stipulated 
 in the two contracts abovementioned. I mean by this the interest 
 and such part of the capital of the debt of the United States, to his 
 Majesty, as will become due next year. Although 1 have no doubts 
 as to their punctuality to fulfil their engagements on this point, yet, 
 sir, I think it my duty to bring them to your recollection, wishing you 
 to write on the subject to the general Congress, in order that they 
 may, beforehand, take the necessary measures for the execution of 
 the points agreed upon by our treaties. I will be much obliged to 
 you to inform me of the steps you have taken on this subject, and 
 afterwards of the resolutions of Congress accordingly. In the mean- 
 time, I have first communicated M. de Marbois's opinion to the 
 Comptroller General, and have desired him to consult on the subject 
 with Mr. Grand, who must have received orders from Congress 
 touching the interest of the Dutch loan. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE VERGENNES. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FKANKLIN TO CHARLES THOMSON. 
 
 Passy, November 11, 1784. 
 
 Dear Friend, 
 
 I received your kind letter of August 13th, with the papers 
 annexed, relative to the affair of Longchamps. I hope satisfaction 
 will be given to M. Marbois. The Commissioners have Written a 
 joint letter to Congress. This serves to cover a few papers relative 
 to matters with which I was particularly charged in the instructions. 
 I shall write to you fully by the next opportunity, having now only 
 time to add that I am, as ever. 
 
 Yours, most affectionately, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
390 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 P. S. I executed the instructions of October 29th, 1783, as soon 
 as I knew the commissions for treating with the Emperor, Sic, were 
 issued, which was not till July, 1784. The three letters between 
 the Emperor's Minister and me are what passed on that occasion. 
 
 B. F. 
 
 FKOM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO M. GRAND. 
 
 Passy, January 9, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I received your letter of the 29th past, with the state of the 
 interest money claimed by the Department of Finance, as due the 
 first inst., the accounts of your advances for the United States, and 
 a copy of the letters of Messrs. Willink and Staphorst, offering you, 
 by order of Mr. Morris, four hundred thousand livres, the sum due 
 in November last, for the interest of the Dutch loan, on all which 
 you propose it for consideration, whether (that interest being already 
 advanced for us, and duly paid by this Government, according to its 
 guarantees) it would not be more prudent to delay the full reim- 
 bursement of that sum, reserving one half to answer the still arriving 
 old loan office drafts. Ministers' salaries, and contingent expenses, 
 and to reimburse you of your advances, unless Messrs. Willink and 
 Staphorst, having more money of the States in their hands, would, 
 on an order from us, advance two hundred thousand livres^ which 
 are necessary for those purposes. I communicated your letter, with 
 the other papers, to Mr. Adams, under whose directions the loans 
 managed by Messrs. W. & S. have been transacted. He undertook 
 to write to those gentlemen for information, what money they might 
 have on hand beyond four hundred thousand livres ; and they have 
 written in answer, that the two loans being nearly full, they shall 
 have (if I remember right) above a million of florins, which would 
 discharge honorably all our engagements to this Court, a thing I 
 much wish would be done ; but Mr. Adams alleges that he has no 
 power to draw on or dispose of that fund, without orders from 
 Congress ; and Mr. Jefferson and myself have, without him, no such 
 power. I have since received your letter of the 5th instant, on the 
 same subject, and being of opinion with you, that (unless there be 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 391 
 
 reasons for delaying the payment, which we are unacquainted with) 
 the Congress cannot be pleased with this breach of punctuality, 
 while they have money lying dead in the hands of those merchants 
 in Holland. I communicated also this, your second letter, to Mr. 
 Adams, but he continues of the same opinion, and was rather dis- 
 pleased with my importunity, so that I can carry it no farther. 
 
 With regard to your request that I would give you orders in 
 writing for the payment to Government of a part of the four hundred 
 thousand livres, it does not seem necessary or proper for me to give 
 such orders. I can only give you my opinion of what I should do 
 were I in your case. Your advances have been considerable, the 
 inconveniency to you not little, the mentioned sum has already been 
 advanced for th^ States by this Government, and our credit in 
 Holland thereby saved till the next year's interest becomes due, 
 before which time funds will probably be prepared for the regular 
 discharge of all interests due to our European creditors. I would, 
 therefore, at least retain the reimbursement of any advances, and 
 sufficient to pay the salaries engaged for to the end of ] 784, and 
 discharge the probable demands by loan office bills still coming, 
 for there is no reason why you should continue longer in advance, or 
 advance farther. 
 
 The house of Fizeaux &t Grand have written to me that they 
 have drawn on me for the last year's interest of their loan. You 
 will please to pay the draft as usual. Do, you think it probable, in 
 the present stote of things, that loan could now be extended ? If 
 so, I still have by me the promises and compact which that house 
 returned to me. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM M. GRAND TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY. 
 
 Paris, February 8, 1785. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I take the liberty to refer you to my last respects, dated the 30th 
 September, 1784, which I forwarded by duplicates, with the account 
 current of the States, closed by a balance due to me of liv. 
 38,592.18.9. 
 
 I have the honor to acquaint you, gentlemen, that a few days 
 
392 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 after I received from Messrs. William &i Jan Willink, Nicolas & 
 Jacob Van Staphorst, and De la Lande &; Fynje, under date of 2d 
 December, a remittance of several bills, amounting to liv. 400,131.6.6, 
 which, as they fall due, shall be carried to the credit of the United 
 States, as well as several others, enclosed in a letter from the same 
 gentlemen, dated the 30th December, amounting to liv. 217,463.3.10, 
 the particulars whereof will be found in the next extract of the 
 account current of the States, which I shall have the honor to 
 transmit. 
 
 According to the orders of the Honorable Robert Morris, Esq., 
 I have taken due note of several bills which he advised me, under 
 date of the 4th October, having drawn on me, amounting together 
 to liv. 113,088.10.9, which shall be exactly discharged; and I 
 have paid to General Armand, whose receipt I here enclose, liv. 
 33,794.13.11, wherewith the States will likewise be debited, as well 
 as with liv. 23,329.4, for the amount of several sums paid by Mr. 
 Morris per order for interest on the certificates granted to the foreign 
 officers, whose receipts will also be annexed to this letter, and I 
 shall continue to pay the like objects mentioned in the list which 
 this gentleman transmitted to me for this purpose. 
 
 General Armand having sent over to America his certificate for the 
 abovementioned liv. 33,794.13.11, I desired his Excellency Dr. 
 Franklin's approbation of my paying the said sum, and he was 
 pleased to signify it to me on General Armand's promise to deliver 
 the certificate. 
 
 You will, gentlemen, have seen, out of my sincere respects, how 
 anxious I was to be enabled to discharge several engagements of the 
 States, many of which are now due. I applied, in consequence, to 
 their Excellencies, Dr. Franklin, and John Adams, Esq., in order to 
 get some part of the money lying dead in Holland remitted to me and 
 paid to Government, and it was not without much concern that I saw 
 the want of success of my reiterated entreaties to gain that point. I 
 beg leave to lay before your eyes a copy of the last letter which Dr. 
 Franklin wrote me on this subject. My earnest wish is that you may, 
 gentlemen, have now adopted such measures whereby the claims of 
 our Government may be answered, and the credit of the United States 
 daily strengthened. I shall be happy to hear of them. 
 
 His Excellency Dr. Franklin having been so kind as to apply to 
 Messrs. Le Couteulx Si Co., in order to know what balance they 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 393 
 
 might throw into my hands for account of the United States, I hear 
 with concern that it consists but in a very slender sum of about 
 liv. 19,000, which is of no consideration, if compared with the 
 claim of our Government. 
 
 I cannot take upon myself to make him the tender of part only of 
 the liv. 400,000 due for interest on the Dutch loan, and I shall wait 
 your orders, gentlemen, before I take a step which, in my opinion, 
 would rather be beneath the dignity of Congress. Should, however, 
 Government become urgent on this head, I should then offer them 
 what would at that moment be found of vacant funds in my hands. 
 
 Being with great truth and respect, gentlemen, &c., 
 
 GRAIND. 
 
 FROM B. TRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, February 8, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I received by the Marquis de la Fayette the two letters you did 
 me the honor of writing to me the 11th and 14th of December, the 
 one enclosing a letter from Congress to the King, the other a resolve 
 of Congress respecting the convention for establishing Consuls. The 
 letter was immediately delivered and well received. The resolve 
 came too late to suspend signing the convention, it having been done 
 July last, and a copy sent so long since that we now expected the 
 ratification. As that copy seems to have miscarried, I now send 
 another. 
 
 I am not informed what objection has arisen in Congress to the plan 
 sent me. Mr. Jefferson thinks it may have been to the part which 
 restrained the Consuls from all concern in commerce. That article 
 was omitted, being thought unnecessary to be stipulated, since either 
 party would always have the power of imposing such restraints on its 
 own officers whenever it should think fit. I am, however, of opinion 
 that this or any other reasonable article or alteration may be obtained 
 at the desire of Congress, and established by a supplement. 
 
 Permit me, sir, to congratulate you on your being called to the high 
 honor of presiding in our national councils, and to wish you every 
 felicity, being with the most perfect esteem, Stc, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
394 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM B. FKANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Passy, April 12, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 M. de Chaumont, who will have the honor of presenting this line to 
 your Excellency, is a young gentleman of excellent character, whose 
 father was one of our most early friends in this country, which he 
 manifested by crediting us with a thousand barrels of gunpowder and 
 other military stores in 1776, before we had provided any apparent 
 means of payment. He has, as I understand, some demands to make 
 on Congress, the nature of which I am unacquainted with ; but my 
 regard for the family makes me wish that they may obtain a speedy 
 consideration, and such favorable issue as they may appear to 
 merit. 
 
 To this end I beg leave to recommend him to your countenance 
 and protection, and am, with great respect, Stc, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Passy, May 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency that I have at length 
 obtained, and yesterday received, the permission of Congress to return 
 to America.. As my malady makes it impracticable for me to pay my 
 devoirs at Versailles personally, may I beg the favor of you, sir, to 
 express respectfully for me to his Majesty the deep sense I have of all 
 the inestimable benefits his goodness has conferre'd on my country ; 
 a sentiment that it will be the business of the little remainder of life 
 now left me to impress equally on the minds of all my countrymen. 
 My sincere prayers are that God may shower down his blessings on 
 the King, the Queen, their children, and all the royal family to the 
 latest generations. 
 
 Permit me, at the same time, to offer you my thankful acknowl- 
 edgments for the protection and countenance you afforded me at my 
 arrival, and your many favors during my residence here, of which I 
 shall always retain the most grateful remembrance. 
 
 My grandson would have had the honor of waiting on you with this 
 letter, but he has been some time ill of a fever. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 395 
 
 With the greatest esteem and respect, and best wishes for ^the 
 constant prosperity of yourself and all your amiable family, I am, sir, 
 your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM MONSIETJK DE KATNEVAL TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, May 8, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have learned with the greatest concern that you are soon to 
 leave us. You will carry with you the affections of all France, for 
 nobody has been more esteemed than you. I shall call on you at 
 Passy, to desire you to retain for me a share in your remembrance, 
 and renew to you personally the assurances of the most perfect 
 attachment, with which I have the honor to be, sir, Sic, 
 
 DE RAYNEVAL. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Passy, May 10, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I received your kind letter of the 8th of March, enclosing the 
 resolution of Congress permitting my return to America, for which 
 I am very thankful, and am now preparing to depai^t the first good 
 opportunity. Next to the pleasure of rejoining my own family will 
 be that of seeing you and yours well and happy, and embracing once 
 more my little friend, whose singular attachment to me I shall always 
 remember. 
 
 I shall be glad to render any acceptable services to Mr. Randall. 
 I conveyed the bayberry wax to Abbe de Chalut, with your compli- 
 ments, as you desired. He returns his with many thanks. Be 
 pleased to make my respectful compliments acceptable to Mrs. Jay, 
 and believe me ever, with sincere and great respect and esteem, &c., 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 P. S. The striking of the medals being now in agitation here, 1 
 send the enclosed for consideration. B. F. 
 
396 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO CHARLES THOMSON. 
 
 Passy, May 10, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 An old gentleman in Switzerland, long of the magistracy there, 
 having written a book entitled Du Gouvernement des Maws, which 
 is thought to contain many matters that may be useful in America, 
 desired to know of me how he could convey a number of the printed 
 copies, to be distributed gratis among the members of Congress. I 
 advised his addressing the package to you, by way of Amsterdam, 
 whence a friend of mine would forward it. It is accordingly shipped 
 there on board the Van Berckel, Captain W. Campbell. There are 
 good things in the work ; but his chapter on the liberty of the press 
 appears to me to contain more rhetoric than reason. 
 With great esteem, I am, ever. Sic, 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE TERGENNES TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 VersaiUes, May 23, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 have learnt with much concern of your retiring, and of your 
 approaching departure for America. You cannot doubt but that the 
 regrets which you will leave will be proportionate to the considera- 
 tion you so justly enjoy. 
 
 I can assure you, sir, that the esteem the King entertains for you 
 does not leave you anything to wish ; and that his Majesty will 
 learn with real satisfaction that your fellow-citizens have rewarded, 
 in a manner worthy of you, the important services that you have 
 rendered them. 
 
 I beg, sir, that you will preserve for me a share in your remem- 
 brance, and never doubt the sincerity of the interest I take in your 
 happiness. It is founded on the sentiments of attachment of which 
 I have assured you, and with which I have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 DE VERGENNES. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 397 
 
 FROM B. TRANKtlN TO THOMAS BARCLAY. 
 
 Passy, June 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 With respect to my continuing to charge £2,500 sterling per 
 annum as my salary, of which you desire some explanation, I send 
 you, in support of that charge, the resolution of Congress, which is 
 in these words : 
 
 " In Congress, October 5th, 1779. Resolved, That each of the 
 ' Ministers Plenipotentiary be allowed at the rate of two thousand five 
 ' hundred pounds sterling per annum, and each of their secretaries at 
 ' the rate of one thousand pounds sterling per annum, in full for their 
 ' services and expenses respectively. That the salary of each of the 
 ' said officers be computed from the time of his leaving his place of 
 ' abode to enter on the duties of his office, and be continued three 
 ' months after the notice of his recall." 
 
 The several bills I afterwards received drawn on the Congress 
 banker, Mr. Grand, for my salary, were all calculated on that sum 
 as my salary ; and neither the banker nor myself has received notice 
 of any change respecting me. He has accordingly, since the draw- 
 ing ceased, continued to pay me at the same rate. I have, indeed, 
 heard that a resolution was passed last year that the salaries of 
 Plenipotentiaries should be no more than £2,000 sterling per 
 annum. But the resolution, I suppose, can relate only to such 
 Plenipotentiaries as should be afterwards appointed ; for I cannot 
 conceive that the Congress, after promising a Minister £2,500 a 
 year, and when he has thereby been encouraged to engage in a way 
 of living for their honor, which only that salary can support, would 
 think it just to diminish it a fifth, and leave him under the difficulty 
 of reducing his expenses proportionably — a thing scarce practicable — 
 the necessity of which he might have avoided if he had not confided 
 in their original promise. 
 
 But the article of salary, with all the rest of my accounts, will be 
 submitted to the judgment of Congress, together with some other 
 considerable articles I have not charged, but on which I shall expect, 
 from their equity, some consideration. If for want of knowing pre- 
 cisely the intention of Congress what expenses should be deemed 
 public and what private, I have charged any article to the public 
 which should be defrayed by me, their banker has my order, as soon 
 
398 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 as the pleasure of Congress shall be made known to him, to rectify 
 the error by transferring the amount to my private account, and 
 discharging by so much that of the public. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM M. DE CASTRIES TO B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, July 10, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I w^as not apprized, until within a few hours, of the arrangements 
 which you have made for your departure. Had I been informed of 
 it sooner, I should have proposed to the King to order a frigate to 
 convey you to your own country in a manner suitable to the known 
 importance of the services you have been engaged in, to the esteem 
 you have acquired in France, and the particular regard which his 
 Majesty entertains for you. 
 
 I pray you, sir, to accept my regrets and a renewed assurance of 
 the most entire consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, 
 your very humble and very obedient servant, 
 
 DE CASTRIES. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Pliiladelphia, September 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to acquaint you that I left Fsu-is the 12th of July, 
 and, agreeably to the permission of Congress, am returned to my 
 country. Mr. Jefferson had recovered his health, and was much 
 esteemed and respected there. Our joint letters have already 
 informed you of our late proceedings, to which I have nothing to 
 add, except that the last act I did, as Minister Plenipotentiary for 
 making treaties, was to sign with him, two days before I came away, 
 the treaty of friendship and commerce that had been agreed on with 
 Prussia, and which was to be carried to the Hague by Mr. Short, 
 there to be signed by Baron Thulemeier on the part of the King, 
 who, without the least hesitation, had approved and acceded to the 
 new humane articles proposed by Congress. Mr. Short was also to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE, 399 
 
 call at London for the signature of Mr. Adams, who, I learnt when 
 at Southampton, was well received at the British Court. 
 
 The Captain Lamb who, in a letter of yours to Mr. Adams, was 
 said to be coming to us with instructions respecting Morocco, had 
 not appeared, nor had we heard anything of him ; so nothing had 
 been done by us in that treaty. 
 
 I left the Court of France in the same friendly disposition towards 
 the United States that we have all along experienced, though con- 
 cerned to find that our credit is not better supported in the payment 
 of the interest money due on our loans, which, in case of another 
 war, must be, they think, extremely prejudicial to us, and, indeed, 
 may contribute to draw on a war the sooner, by affording our enemies 
 the encouraging confidence that those who take sO' little care to pay 
 will not again find it easy to borrow. I received from the King at 
 my departure the present of his picture set round with diamonds, 
 usually given to Ministers Plenipotentiary who have signed any 
 treaties with that Court, and it is at the disposition of Congress, to 
 whom be pleased to present my dutiful respects. 
 
 I am, &c., B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 p. S. Not caring to trust them to a common conveyance, I send 
 by my late Secretary, who will have the honor of delivering them to 
 you, all the original treaties I have been concerned in negotiating 
 that were completed. Those with Portugal and Denmark continue 
 in suspense. B. F. 
 
 FKOM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Philadelphia, July 6, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 The enclosed paper will inform you of what has" passed here, 
 between Scotosh, a Chief of the Wyandot nation, and this Govern- 
 ment, on his way to Congress. He is recommended as having been 
 always very friendly to our people ; and the Council have defrayed 
 the expense of him and his company here, and to New York, where, 
 as Colonel Harmar informs, he is to visit Congress. He expresses a 
 strong desire of going to France, but, as it must cost something 
 considerable to support him thither, there and back again, we have 
 given him no expectation that the Congress will approve of it. But 
 
400 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 if it could be well afforded, I should conceive it might be of use to 
 our affairs in that part of the country, if, after viewing the Court, 
 and troops, and population of France, he should return impressed 
 with a high idea of the greatness and power of our ally, and thence 
 be able to influence the western Indians with opinions proper to 
 defeat the insinuations of the Ej:iglish who are posted on those fron- 
 tiers. 
 
 With great regard, he, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Philadelphia, July 3, 1786. 
 
 Scotosh, an Indian Chief of the Wyandots, and son to the half 
 King of that nation, visited the President, accompanied by Monsieur 
 Pierre Drouillier, a French trader, of Detroit, as interpreter, who 
 acquainted the President that the Chief had a few words to deliver 
 from his father. 
 
 The Chief then, taking in his hands three strings of white Wam- 
 pum, said: 
 
 " Brother, I come from my father to speak to you of good and bad 
 'affairs, good and bad news; my father now speaks: 
 
 " My Brothers, I inform you that among my people all is good ; 
 ' we have no bad afiairs, no bad news to relate to you ; nor have I 
 ' heard of any bad news from Detroit. A string. 
 
 " Near the falls I have heard there are bad affairs ; but that 
 ' country is far from mine. There are some bad people thereabouts, 
 ' vagabonds from different nations, but none of my people are among 
 ' them." A String. 
 
 " My Brothers, I shall be very glad to hear that the measuring 
 ' the Indian country may be delayed. For the bad people will, I 
 ' fear, take occasion from the measuring to do more mischief. Per- 
 ' haps the measurers will be killed, and it would give pain to me and 
 ' my nation to hear such bad news." 
 
 The Chief then spoke as from himself. 
 
 " Brothers, you have made a good, clear road for us to come to 
 ' you without danger or inconvenience. I have found it good and 
 ' safe, having been kindly treated every where by your people. We 
 ' will do the same for them, when they have occasion to pass through 
 ' our country. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 401 
 
 " Brothers, I request you would, as soon as possible, let me know 
 ' what you think of the words I brought from my father, that I may 
 ' acquaint him therewith, and that mischief to the measurers may be 
 ' prevented." 
 
 He added, that he was going to New York to visit the Congress, 
 and that he had a curiosity to cross the seas and see France. 
 
 The President replied, that he would communicate the words to 
 the Council, and on Wednesday give an answer. He had no 
 expectations of so much formality in this visit, or he should have 
 requested a meeting of , Council to receive it. 
 
 July 5, 1786. 
 
 Scotosh, son to the half King of the Wyandots, with Monsieur 
 Drouillier, his interpreter, coming again to the President's House, 
 the President spoke to him as follows : 
 
 " Brother, I have communicated to the Council the words you 
 ' delivered to me from your father, and we now return the -answer I 
 ' am about to give you, to be sent him. 
 
 " Our Brother, we are glad to learn from you that there are no 
 ' bad aiFairs in your country, and that all is well with you ; we hope 
 ' it may long continue." A String. 
 
 "We know there are some bad people about the falls, from 
 ' whence we sometimes hear of mischief done by them ; we are glad 
 ' that none of our friends, the Wyandots, are among them ; for they 
 ' will probably soon suffer for their evil actions." A String. 
 
 " Our Brother, this State of Pennsylvania measures no lands but 
 ' what has been fairly purchased of the Six Nations. The country 
 ' you speak of is far beyond our limits, and the measuring of it under 
 'the direction of the Congress. It is therefore with that great 
 ' Council to consider your friendly advice on that subject." A 
 String. I 
 
 The President then acquainted Scotosh, that as he was going to 
 New York, the Council had ordered some money to be given to him 
 for his travelling expenses, (which was accordingly done,) and that 
 the charge of their entertainment while here would also be defrayed ; 
 for which he returned hearty thanks. He was, at the same time, 
 assured that we should endeavor always to keep the road between uS; 
 as open, clear, and safe as he had found it. 
 Vol. I.— 26 
 
402 BENJAMIN FRANKLIK 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO M. GRAND. 
 
 Philadelphia, July 11, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 I send you enclosed some letters that have passed between the 
 Secretary of Congress and me, respecting three millions of livres, 
 acknowledged to have been received before the treaty of February, 
 1778, as don gratuit from the King, of which only two millions are 
 found in your accounts, unless the million from the Farmers General 
 be one of the three. I have been assured that all the money 
 received from the King, whether as loan or gift, went through your 
 hands ; and as I always looked on the million we had of the Farmers 
 General to be distinct from what we had of the Crown, I wonder 
 how I came .. sign the contract acknowledging three millions of 
 gift, when, in reality, there was only two, exclusive of that from the 
 Farmers ; and, as both you and I examined the project of the con- 
 tract before I signed it, I am surprised that neither of us took notice 
 of the error. 
 
 It is possible that the million fiamished ostensibly by the Farmers, 
 was in fact a gift of the Crown, in which case, as Mr. Thomson 
 observes, they owe us for the two ship loads of tobacco which they 
 received on account of it. I must earnestly request of you to get 
 this matter explained, that it may stand clear before I die, lest some 
 enemy should afterwards accuse me of having jreceived a million not 
 accounted for. 
 
 I am, &c., B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DURIVAL TO M. GRAND. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, August 30, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write on 
 the 28th of this month, touching the advance of a million, which 
 you say was made by the Farmers General to the United States of 
 America the 3d of June, 1777. I have no knowledge of that 
 advance. What I have verified is, that the King, by the contract 
 of the 25th of February, 1783, has confirmed the gratuitous gift 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPQ'NDENCE. 403 
 
 which Ms Biajesty had previotisfy Made, of flie teee miltioAs= here- 
 after mentioned, viz : one million delivered by fh6 Royal Treasury 
 the 10th of June, 177-6, and two other miiffioris, adt^anced also by 
 the Royal Treasury, in 1777, on four receipts of the deputites of 
 Congress, of the I7th of January, 3d of April, lOth of June,' and 
 15th of October, of the same year. This explanation will, sir, 1 
 hope, resolve your doubt touching the advance of the 3d of Jun6, 
 1777. I further recommend to you, sir, to confer on this subject 
 with M. Gojard', who ought to be better iiifermed thEtn we, who had 
 no knowledge of any advances but those madfe by the Roya;! 
 Treasury. 
 
 I have the lioMt to be, &;c., , DURIVAL; 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR BURIVAL TO M, GRAND. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailks, September- 5^ 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I laid before the Count de Vergennes the two letters you did me 
 the honor to write, touching the three millions, the free gift of which 
 the King has confirmed in favor of the United States of America. 
 The Minister, sir, observed that this gift has nothing to do with the 
 million which the Congress may have received firom the Farmers 
 General in 1777 ; consequently, he thinks that the receipt, which you 
 desire may be communicated to you, cannot satisfy the object of your 
 view, and that it would be useless to give you the copy w'hich you 
 desire. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &C., DURBVAIL. 
 
 FROM M. GRAND TO BENJAMIN FiRANKLlN. 
 
 Paris,) S^tember 9, 1786. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 The letter you honored me with covered the copies of three letters 
 
 which Mr. Thomson wrote you to obtain an explanation of a million 
 
 which is not to be found in my accounts. I should have been very 
 
 much embarrassed in satiefying and proving to him that I had not 
 
404 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 put that mfllion in my pocket, had I not applied to M. Durival, who, 
 as you will see by the answer enclosed, informs me that there was a 
 million paid by the Royal Treasury on the 10th of June, 1776. This 
 is the very million about which Mr. Thomson inquires, as I have 
 kept an account of the other two millions which were also furnished 
 by the Koyal Treasury, viz : the one million in January and April, 
 1777, the other in July and October of the same year, as well as that 
 furnished by the Farmers General in June, 1777. 
 
 Here then are the three millions exactly which were given by the 
 King before the treaty of 1778, and that furnished by the Farmers 
 Gen6tal. Nothing then remains to be known but who received the 
 first million in June, 1776. It could not be myself, as I was not 
 charged with the business of Congress until January, 1777. I 
 therefore requested of M. Durival a copy of the receipt for the one 
 million. You have the answer which he returned to me. I wrote 
 to him again renewing my request, but as the courier is just setting 
 oS, I cannot give you his answer, but you will receive it in my next 
 if I obtain one. 
 
 In the meanwhile, I beg you will receive the assurances of the 
 seiftlHSeStS of respectj with which I have the honor to be, sir, &c., 
 
 GRAND. 
 
 FROM M. DURIVAL TO M. GRAND. 
 
 Translation, 
 
 Versailles, September 10, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 haVe laid before the Count de Vergennes, as you seemed to 
 deSife, the letter which you did me the honor to write yesterday. 
 The Minister persists in the opinion that the receipt, the copy of 
 which you request, has no relation to the business with which you 
 were entrusted on behalf of Congress, and that this piece would be 
 useless in the new point of view in which you have placed it. 
 Indeed, sir, it is easy for you to prove that the money in question 
 was not delivered by the Royal Treasury into your hands, as you 
 did not begin to be charged with the business of Congress until 
 January, 1777, and the receipt for that money is of the 10th of June, 
 1776. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DURIVAL. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 405 
 
 FROM M. GRAND TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 12, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I hazard a letter in hopes it may be able to join that of the 9th at 
 L'Orient, in order to forward to you the answer I have just received 
 from M. Durival. You will there see that notwithstanding my 
 entreaty the Minister himself refuses to give me a copy of the receipt 
 which I asked for. I cannot conceive the reason for this reserve, 
 more especially since if there has been a million paid, he who has 
 received it has kept the account, and it must in time be known. I 
 shall hear with pleasure that you have been more fortunate in this 
 respect in America than I have been in France ; and I repeat to you 
 the assurance of the sentiments of regard, with which I have the honor 
 
 to be, ^c, 
 
 GRAND. 
 o 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Philadelphia, Novembel: 21, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I send the enclosed papers, requesting your pefusal of them, and 
 that you would let me know what answer I may make to Sir Edward 
 Newenham and General Washington. I have known Sir Edward 
 many years, and that he was always a firm friend to our cause, and 
 rendered many substantial services to our countrymen that happened 
 to be prisoners in Ireland. Hitherto we have parried the infinite 
 number of French applications for consulships in their ports by 
 acquainting them with the law of Congress to appoint none but 
 citizens. I know not whether the Congress will think fit to deviate 
 in this instance, as it will open a door for boundless solicitation ; 
 though I could wish Sir Edward's merit could have some mark 
 conferred on it of the gratitude and regard of our States. I do not 
 pretend to solicit Congress in his favor, having no opinion of my 
 interest. 
 
 With great respect, I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 Please to return the letters when done with. 
 
406 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 SIR EDWARD NEWENHAM TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Belle Champe, July 10, 1786. 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 I know not how to apologize for the Hberty I now take. Your own 
 goodness of heart must seal my pardon. I can only say that were 
 our situations changed, I should do the same for you. 
 
 I have fixed my son, Mr. Robert O'Callaghan JVewenham, at 
 Marseilles, where his sister lives. She is married to Mr. Folsch, of 
 that city, and Consul for Sweden at that and the neighboring ports. 
 I invest all his fortune in the trade of that rising city, where he will 
 spend the rest of his days. 
 
 He has often addressed me to solicit this favor, at last his perse- 
 verance and sanguine hopes of success have induced me to second 
 his wish : It is to have the distinguished honor conferred upon him 
 by the Congress of the United States of North America of being 
 appointed their Consul at the port of Marseilles. I will be bound 
 in any penal sum for his good conduct. I can assert, on the most 
 sacred word of man, that he is blessed with the purest principles of 
 integrity and virtue ; he is attentive to his religious and civil duties ; 
 he has exceeding good natural parts, and is well read in history ; 
 speaks French perfectly, and is now learning all other languages. 
 Though he is my son, I would not ascribe merits or virtues to him 
 'V?hich he djd not really possess. He was always warm in the cause 
 of America, as all the rest of my family (one only excepted) have 
 been. May I then, rny dear and respected friend, entreat your 
 parental solicitation in favor of a beloved and dutiful son, thus to 
 honor the parent and raise the son into future consequence. It will 
 be mine and my family's pride to have niy son distinguished by 
 Congress, (that glorious assenibly of patriots,) in whose cause I so 
 early engaged, whose interest I supported, whose suffering sailors I 
 often relieved; and I believe the active part I took in preventing 
 more troops to be sent out of this kingdom to keep up the devastation 
 of war in America, is well known to Congress. I never deserted 
 their cattle when victory appeared doubtful, though my estate, and 
 perhaps my life, would have been forfeited had not their own perse- 
 verance (aided by Heaven) overcome diiBculties then deemed 
 insurmonntstble, 
 
 This request and circutnstances being laid before Congjess by 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 407 
 
 TOTT, will, I trast, ensure success. I shall be proud to shew my 
 countrymen that my zeal for American independence has been 
 rewarded in the most honorable manner, and that the saviors of 
 American freedom bear a reciprocal regard for their Irish friends. 
 
 I shall impatiently expect the honor of an answer. 
 
 I have the honor to be, dear sir, with the most sincere and perfect 
 respect and esteem, your most obliged and obedient humble ser- 
 vant, 
 
 EDWARD NEWENHAM. 
 
 FKOM SIR EDWARD NEWENHAM TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Belle Champe, August 12, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I beg leave to enclose you two letters, one for the President and 
 the other for Congress, towards obtaining what I really think my 
 services have some claim to, if it was no more than being the chief 
 means of stopping the sending off the whole army of Ireland to assist 
 in the subjugation of the freemen of North America. I leave the 
 introduction of this matter to your superior wisdom. It is a novel 
 and free mode of a private freeman soliciting a faVor and honor from 
 an assembly of freemen ; but, conscious of my services and zeal in 
 support of their cause, I entertain the fondest hopes of success. 
 
 My son is really deserving of any trust ; he has the best of prin- 
 ciples ; and as he is now, forever, become a subject of your magnan- 
 imous ally, he is a fit object for American honors. You can easily 
 form an idea how proud it would make me, and how pleased the 
 friends of America in this kingdom will be at his promotion. 
 
 I have lately received a valuable present of trees and seeds from 
 Colonel Wadsworth, of Connecticut State, and the trees promise 
 well. Planting is my chief amusement, as I do all the nice parts 
 myself, sowing the seed, pruning, budding, &;c. I never leave any 
 thing to a gardener, therefore I have one of the most healthy and 
 promising plantations in the kingdom. I brought the seeds of the 
 largest fir trees in that part of the Alps near St. Bernard to this place, 
 and the plants are in the most promising state ; it is the finest deal 
 in Europe, but not much used, as the expense is so great in bringing 
 the timber over such a tract of mountains ; it is peculiar only to one 
 spot. 
 
408 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 I send you a few newspapers ; by them you will see the accounts 
 of the White Boys in this country, who never would have got up if 
 Government had not insulted the volunteers. They now wish for 
 the volunteers to repel them ; but none will march against them, 
 except a few Ministerial dependents. 
 
 Lady Newenham joins me in the warmest respects and highest 
 regards for you and your grandson. She is so anxious in this affair 
 that, if it could ensure success, she would cross the Atlantic to obtain 
 it, her parental heart is so elated with the idea of it. 
 
 I shall, towards the latter end of November, impatiently hope for 
 the honor of an answer. I have written to Gen. Washington and 
 Mr. Jay to request their support. 
 
 This goes by the Dublin packet. Captain Alcorn. 
 
 I have the honor to be, my dear sir, and ever respected friend, 
 with every sentiment of esteem, your most obedient servant, 
 
 EDWARD NEWENHAM. 
 
 TKOM SIR EDWARD NEWENHAM TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Belle Champe, near Dublin, Aug:ust 12, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to enclose your Excellency a letter for the 
 honorable Congress. I might give a list of services done in the 
 most perilous times ; I might give my account of expenditures ; but 
 those having been done and incurred through principle, I cannot 
 claim credit for them ; my wish is to be honored by my fellow- 
 patriots; that will be my glory, and the pride of a family early 
 attached to yours and the liberties of your countrymen. 
 
 I may have erred in the mode of application, but I have not 
 wilfully omitted applying in the most respectful manner, therefore 
 entreat indulgence for any mistakes. 
 
 I now beg leave, sir, to apologize to you for the liberty I have 
 taken, and the trouble I presume to give you, to lay the enclosed 
 before you. The honorable Dr. Franklin will readily inform you of 
 his opinion on this subject as far as it relates to me. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir, Sic, 
 
 EDWARD NEWENHAM. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 409 
 
 FROM SIR EDWARD NEWENHAM TO CONGRESS. 
 
 To the Right Honorable the President and Members of the Congress 
 of the United States of North America. 
 
 Belle Champe, near Dublin, August 12, 1786. 
 Sirs, 
 
 I trust that this mode of addressing so respectable and magnan- 
 imous an assembly will not be deemed presumptuous in a private 
 individual, who so early and warmly supported the just rights of the 
 freemen of North America. 
 
 It will be my pride to have one of my family honored by you. It 
 will shew my friends and yours in this Kingdom that my zealous 
 endeavors to support American independence are most amply 
 rewarded. 
 
 My humble desire is to have my son, Robert O'Callaghan New- 
 enham, honored with the important trust of being Consul for the 
 United States of North America at the port of Marseilles, in the 
 kingdom of France. 
 
 He is settled there in the mercantile line, his whole fortune is to 
 be remitted, and he is to spend the remainder of his days there. 
 
 In my pretensions to so distinguished an honor, I beg leave to 
 refer to the Honorable Doctor Benjamin Franklin. I believe I need 
 not refer to the public prints of those days, when a friend to the 
 liberties of America was deemed a bold character for an Irishman to 
 support. That friend I gloried in being and ever shall. 
 
 I shall not presume to add more, only that you cannot find a man 
 of better principles, purer integrity, or warmer zeal in your service 
 than my son. As such I recommend him, and will be answerable 
 for the faithful discharge of his duty. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &.C., 
 
 EDWARD NEWENHAM. 
 
 EROM LADy GRACE ANNA NEWENHAM TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Belle Champe, August 21, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 Permit me to solicit your support towards obtaining the honor of 
 my son, Robert O'Callaghan Newenham, being appointed Consul of 
 
410 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the United States of America at Marseilles. Sir Edward has settled 
 him there, probably for life. This appointment must be of service 
 to him, as well as an honor to his fether and me. 
 
 I would not offer to solicit your respectable friendship did I not 
 know he will not disgrace your protection — his heart and his prin- 
 ciples are equally good, and he possesses an intelligence and sobriety 
 of conduct much beyond his years. 
 
 Believe me, sir, I am fully sensible of the impropriety of my thus 
 intruding upon you ; but when 1 consider the character I am address- 
 ing, I am encouraged to expect every allowance for a mother's 
 pleading for the interest and honor of a beloved son ; and if I do not 
 succeed in my wishes for him, I shall feel secure of pardon from 
 the universal philanthropy with which you are so eminently 
 distinguished. 
 
 I am, &;c., GRACE ANNA NEWENHAM. 
 
 I request my compliments to your grandson. 
 
 FKOM-GEOEGE WASHINGTON TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Mount Vernon, Norember 3, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The letter, of which I have the honor to enclose your Excellency 
 an extract, and the addresses, came to my hands a few days since. 
 Whether the latter are originals or copies, or whether any steps have 
 been taken in compliance with Sir Edward Newenham's wishes, you 
 can better decide than I ; also, if there has" not, what is best to be 
 done with the application. 
 
 If I mistake not, this case militates with a resolve of Congress, 
 which declares that none but citizens of these United States shall 
 hold consular appointments under it. But how far the singularity of 
 the application, from such a character and under such enumeration of 
 circumstances may occasion a departure therefrom, (if my belief is 
 founded,) is not for me to decide. 
 
 This letter to you, my good sir, is the first move I have made in 
 this business, and I will await your sentiments before I make another. 
 I am, &c., GEO. WASHINGTON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC COBRESPONDENCE. 4H 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM SIR EDWARD NEWENHAM TO GEORGE 
 
 WASHINGTOIJ. 
 
 Belle Champe, near Dublin, August 12, 1786. 
 DeajT Sir, 
 
 May I presume to solicit your friendship in obtaining the wish of 
 a whole family, viz : to have one of them honored by the Congress 
 of American patriots. The idea originated with my son — ^he is so 
 good and virtuous a young man that I can boldly assert he never 
 will dishonor any confidence reposed in him. He has been warm in 
 yours and your country's cause from the beginning ; his future life is 
 fixed at Marseilles, where his fortune is vested ; his third sister is 
 married there. He wants no salary — it is the honor he solicits for. 
 
 I cannot express how anxious I am to obtain his wish. The mode 
 I have adopted is novel, but it occurred to me as the meet respectful. 
 I have acquainted Doctor Franklin and Mr. Jay with this affair, and 
 had time been alloyed, I am confident that the Marquis de la Fayette 
 would write most warmly in our favor ; but as this is the only oppor- 
 tunity of a safe conveyance that I can have for some time, I could 
 not delay it ; the ship Dublin Packet, Captain Alcorn, sails to-mor- 
 row for Philadelphia, and this will be committed to his care. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 New York, December 30, 1786, 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write on the 27th 
 day of November last, with the papers mentioned to be enclosed with 
 it, which shall be laid before Congress as soon as they make a House. 
 
 Letters from Sir Edward Newenham, on the same subject, had 
 been previously received, but the want of an adequate representation 
 in Congress has hitherto prevented, and still prevents, a decision on it. 
 
 With sentiments of great respect, Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PRESIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 New York, February 8, 1787. 
 
 Mr. Jay presents his compliments to his Excellency Doctor 
 Franklin, and, agreeable to his request, has the honor of returning, 
 herewith enclosed, the letters transmitted in the Doctor's letter of 
 
412 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 the 21st November last. Those letters, with others on the same 
 spbject, were laid before Congress, and had it not been for the act 
 which confines their appointment of Consuls to citizens, there is no 
 doubt but that Congress would most readily have complied with Sir 
 Edward Newenham's request. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THE PKESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 New York, February 24, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 I have just received a letter from Lady Newenham on the subject 
 of the application of Sir Edward for the consulship of Marseilles for 
 their son. The solicitude of that amiable family to obtain that mark 
 of the notice of the United States seems so fervent, that, considering 
 their uniform and zealous attachment to America, the necessity of 
 disappointing their hopes is to be regretted, especially, too, as the 
 object of their wishes is far from being a very important one. If Mr. 
 Newenham would come to this country, and be naturalized, in either 
 of the States, I presume the objection arising from the act of Con- 
 gress, which confines these appointments to citizens, would be 
 removed ; and on the least intimation that he would then have the 
 honor he solicits, I apprehend he would not hesitate to take this 
 step. It would, however, be improper for me to suggest such a hint 
 to Sir Edward, unless authorized by Congress to do it ; and I take 
 the liberty of mentioning this expedient, from an opinion that nothing 
 but the act in question restrains Congress from complying with his 
 request, and gratifying the wishes of that good friend of our country. 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 3d, 1787. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Mr. Samuel Vaughan, jr., has informed me that he purposes 
 
 applying to Congress for an employment in their intended Mint, and 
 
 for some encouragement to explore the United States wrth respect to 
 
 the ores, minerals, Sic, that may be contained in their territories, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 41 3 
 
 and has requested of me a line of recommendation to you. I do not 
 know how far his views ftiay be compatible with those of Congress, 
 nor do I presume to have any interest that may promote them ; but 
 if it may be of use to him, I, with pleasure, give this testimony, that 
 I have known him some years, during which he has been constantly 
 engaged -in the diligent study of metallurgy and mineralogy, and in 
 travelling through most of the countries of Europe, where there are 
 mines, and where those sciences flourish, to inspect the one and 
 converse with the learned and experienced professors of the other ; 
 that he has brought with him to this country a most valuable collec- 
 tion of books on the subject, as well as a very great assortment of 
 all the different ores, Sec, and that I esteem him as a man of 
 probity and integrity, as well as of great skill and ingenuity, so that, 
 in my opinion, if induced to stay among us with his collections, it 
 will be a valuable acquisition to our country. 
 
 With great respect, I have to be. Sic, B. FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM SAMUEL VAUGHAN TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Philadelphia, December 29, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since I had the pleasure of seeing you I have entertained some 
 thoughts, with the concurrence of my friends, of offering myself as 
 a candidate for one of the offices in the Mint lately established by 
 Congress ; and in this case I have little doubt your favoring me with 
 your counsel, and if the idea meets your approbation, of then assisting 
 me with that recommendation only, for which your acquaintance 
 with me might be a foundation. As to a friend, I shall take the 
 liberty of speaking fully of my views, and I shall hope for your 
 indulgence, in attending for a few moments to them. 
 
 I am too much an advocate for liberty of retirement, ever to seek 
 an office to form my object in life ; my circumstances and connexions 
 render me perfectly independent of every pecuniary motive ; and I 
 hope I have more meritorious reasons for my conduct than any 
 external applause, I am induced, sir, to offer myself in this line, as 
 the one in which I could be the most eminently useful, and which I 
 could execute with the greatest self-approbation. I appeal, sir, to 
 
414 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 your own knowledge of my studies and travels, for a presumption of 
 my ability for this office, as coinage is, particularly in Germany, one 
 of the inferior branches to chemistry and mineralogy. However, 
 the best chosen collection of books in this continent, in this line, a 
 collection of minerals that would be very respectable even in 
 Europe, and a perfect apparatus for every operation, jJarticularly for 
 assaying, which I have just received from Europe, will carry a still 
 stronger proof of my having made metallurgy a considerable object 
 of my attention. Exclusively, I pretend to connexions in Europe 
 that lead me to imagine J could execute the proposed plan more 
 perfectly and more economically than it is likely may be done by 
 perhaps any one on this continent. I should be happy to be nomi- 
 nated to the appointment in question, provided that it was not to be 
 considered as binding for more than from three to six years, and 
 provided that six weeks or two months in the year might be allowed 
 me, when the Mint was once in a regular train, for an attention to 
 my private concerns. I cannot help here observing, that there 
 seems to be an error made by Congress in the arrangement of the 
 Mint. It is the establishment of separate offices, to appearance, 
 also independent of each other, and nearly on a level. One director, 
 to which every department should be subservient, would be less 
 expensive, more regular and expeditious, and less liable to mis- 
 carriage. 
 
 My ultimate object, sir, in seeking this employment, is not the 
 Mint, the direction of which, in itself, would be a trifle ; but another, 
 more important and extensive. It is the exploring the mineral pro- 
 ductions of the United States. It is the public utility and my 
 inclinations that I consult; not my personal emolument. The 
 object would require some years, and to pursue it at my own private 
 expense would be too great a sacrifice. I shall not only be satisfied 
 if my extraordinary disbursements are paid, but I wish to saVe that 
 expense to the State, by uniting the pursuit with an office the duties 
 of which will be extremely cumbersome ; and" as unconnected with 
 my own plan, I should derive neither satisfaction, honor, or profit. 
 If my own ideas are not approved of by yourself, I beg you to 
 interest yourself no further on the subject. I, however, imagine that 
 there will be no difficulty in the union, arid that when the Mint is 
 once established, and in a regular train, as much time may be spared 
 as the seasons would allow, to apply to the object in question. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 415 
 
 The plaa that I would have the honor to propose, would be to 
 travel through the most inhabited parts of the country to determine 
 the different mineral productions, and give the result of my inquiries 
 to the public in different and easy modes of information. To point 
 out the ores proper for the extraction of the several metals ; clay for 
 bricks, crucible work in the various manufactures, pottery, queen's 
 ware or porcelain ; lime and marl for fluxes, manure or cement ; sand 
 proper for making of glass, for casting, or colors ; coal for its various 
 applications ; common salt in countries distant from navigation, and 
 salt springs ; and strata of other salts for alum, soap, powder. Sic, 
 besides an infinity of other mineral productions necessary to society. 
 Mineralogy" is at present reduced to a regular science ; it is found of 
 late that the mountains in the universe are not the confused mass of 
 substances formerly supposed, but are so homogeneous as to give 
 sufficient grounds for systems of subterranean geography ; and have 
 a certain regularity that to one informed in this science renders the 
 exploring of a country but seldom difficult. The only objections to 
 my mind arise from the badness of the roads in some parts, and the 
 prejudices of individuals in others ; and this latter renders the sanction 
 6f the public authority the more necessary. 
 
 Not, however, to occasion too high expectations being formed of 
 this plan, I must add, sir, that I cannot, notwithstanding what I have 
 said above, pretend in every ease to point out directly the place where 
 a man may find the substance he stands in need of, particularly the 
 metals. My province will only be to indicate the most probable 
 place? of research. It is possible, with considerable accuracy, to 
 determine every kind of strata in a country, but not to point out the 
 presence of every adventitious substance, not a necessary and 
 constituent part of that strata, but which, when existing, might be 
 found in that strata alone. Thus there is a kind of copper ore found 
 only in a certain species of slate. I might discover where that slate 
 is, but it is a chance to determine whethei; the ore is in it, and will 
 be impossible further to determine whether in sufficient quantity to 
 deserve notice. It is again easy to determine whether certain strata 
 exist in a country, but not whether they are proper for the uses we 
 require. Thus clay or coal may be found, but it must be the object 
 of particular research to know whether the first is sufficiently free from 
 metals or acids for porcelain, or the latter of a proper purity to apply 
 to the working of metals. Li short, it is not to discover the particular 
 
416 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 spot where every substance may be found with every necessary 
 circumstance for application to the various manufactures in which 
 the same mineral may be used, but to give the general system of the 
 country, and the probable places in which different manufacturers 
 may search for their several objects. The assertion which I have 
 made of there being a certain determinate order of strata in every 
 part of the globe, of which we have as yet any accounts, you may 
 imagine to have some foundation also in this continent, from the 
 common observation of the mountains running in ranges; but, at the 
 same time, the extent of this continent points out the labor and time 
 that it will be requisite to devote to the subject before we can flatter 
 ourselves with any considerable return. So far, sir, for my plan ; I 
 will now touch upon the expediency of it. 
 
 The encouragement of mining has, by many sensible people on this 
 continent, been highly reprobated as likely to turn to the prejudice of 
 the community ; many examples offering in this country in their favor 
 in cases of a want of success, and that of Spain, where they have 
 the most decided. But, sir, in this, as in every thing else, ignorance 
 is the source of error. What should a, rational man, short of disap- 
 pointment, expect in the application of a science, with the first 
 rudiments of which he was totally unacquainted ? Mining in Sweden, 
 Denmark, Germany, and lately in France and Russia, where they are 
 guided by experience and instruction, is a manufacture in the strictest 
 point of view ; being, as in the case of every manufacture, governed 
 by the rarity of the first materials, and the labor spent in producing 
 them. And, further, they are as well calculated, and carried on with 
 as much certainty of the produce, in relation to the expense, as almost 
 in any other manufacture. On the other hand evil effects are produced 
 in Spain, not by the pursuit of mining, but by the depravity of the 
 Legislature. In a free country every thing tends to an equality, and 
 there is only that difference existing necessary to reward the indus- 
 trious. No evil can arise but luxury, which carries with it its own 
 cure ; and otherwise I believe it would be very difficult to prove any- 
 gift of nature to be hurtful where freedom of inquiry is permitted, and 
 still less where it is encouraged, and the human mind guided by the 
 precepts of reason. But although mining forms a capital object in 
 the present plan, it is by no means the principal one, and much less 
 does the valuable metals form a considerable part of it. As we have 
 as yet had but little information of any signs of gold or silver in these 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 417 
 
 States, there is little likelihood of their presence in any considerable 
 quantity. The most necessary ones in our common economy are the 
 most plentiful. If, sir, you pursue the list which I have begun, some 
 pages back you will find that the metals are the least numerous 
 subjects of demand ; and if you consider the attention of most 
 European nations to the procuring, working, and combining the 
 metals, and the knowledge requisite, you will perhaps agree that 
 America is likely to attend to more simple manufactures. It is true 
 that America offers little encouragement in the present moment for 
 the establishment of manufactures ; but whoever understands the 
 causes of this situation must at the same time perceive their daily 
 and rapid decrease. It is impossible but America must be a manu- 
 facturing country as well as an agricultural one. Its nature and 
 situation will render their existence necessary. And if in the 
 neighborhood of navigation the cheapness of European labor may 
 prevent their pursuit, yet when the inland parts become inhabited, 
 the expense of both water and land carriage will render their estab- 
 lishment, in such situations, easy and profitable. But let this period 
 happen when it will, no argument can arise from it against the present 
 plan. The time of inquiry should precede the want, and the greater 
 the present difficulties the more necessary to lend a helping hand. 
 England, famous for its manufactures, particularly of mineral produc- 
 tions, blessed as it is with the utmost exclusive possession of some 
 substances to distribute to its sister nations, greatly fails in most 
 sciences that would assist the research of individuals for raw 
 materials, or when found of procuring them with the greatest 
 economy. There is not a single book I am acquainted with in the 
 English language, made for the instruction of individuals in the 
 several sciences, requisite to give them proper views of those objects ; 
 and it is the reason why in England mining is so hazardous and 
 uncertain ; nay, often ruinous. It is the reason also why mineral 
 pursuits are so contracted there, and why the inhabitants of these 
 States labor under the same disadvantages. 
 
 The inactivity or inadvertency of Government in not procuring 
 proper instructions for its subjects is the cause of the backwardnes.; 
 of England in almost every branch of mineral knowledge. The 
 object is too expensive for patriotic individuals, requires the union of 
 too many branches of science, and the sacrifice of too considerable a 
 proportion of time. In more despotic countries, where the education 
 Vol. I.— 27 
 
418 BENJAMIN FRANKLDNf. 
 
 of the people depends more on the Government, the rulers, if they 
 have cramped their ideas on subjects where the light of nature is 
 almost a sufficient director, have thought it necessary to instruct them 
 in those which required extent of knowledge, experience, and pene- 
 tration. France, ambitious that its subjects should enjoy the greatest 
 blessings offered by nature compatible with the constitution of its 
 Government, employed four eminent men the greatest part of their 
 lives in travelling through different countries to determine the subter- 
 ranean geography of the earth, the modes of procuring the different 
 mineral productions, and their different applications. Their publica- 
 tions form one of the most important guides mankind possess in this 
 line ; and frbra that tinie the French have constantly had some 
 persons travelling with this view, and daily reaped advantage from 
 the pursuit. The Elector of Saxony employed a well-instructed 
 officer to examine the whole of bis territory, and has published his 
 account for the benefit of his subjects^ The Elector of Hanover 
 has trod nearly in the same path. The King of Sweden and the 
 Emperor of Germany have instituted similar inquiries, and although 
 the result has not been published from authority, yet it is taught in 
 their schools for mineral officers. Lastly, the Empress of Russia 
 sent the famous Pallas/to the various parts of her immense dominions, 
 and after his drawing up a general plan of the country, which has 
 been published for the instruction of the inhabitants in four quarto 
 volumes, she sent, under his direction, properly-instructed persons to 
 all parts of her dominions, to make still more particular researches, 
 and in which they are at present employed. It is the department 
 that Mr. Pallas has successfully executed that I am endeavoring to 
 establish, confident that nowhere can so much good proceed from 
 inquiry and knowledge, as where the pursuit and use of it is guarded 
 by freedom. 
 
 This, sir, is the outline of my motives for applying to you at 
 present ; the explanation was rather too long for a letter, but yet the 
 novelty of the subject in this country required it. K you think the 
 plan reasonable, likely to be beneficial to the community, and to be 
 carried into execution, I beg you will present the enclosed to the 
 present Treasurer, aided with your support. 
 
 I beg my particular compliments to Mrs. Jay, and remain, with 
 the most respectful sentiments, fee, 
 
 SAMUEL VAUGHAN, Jr. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 419 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, January 12, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 was this morning honored with your Excellency's letter of the 
 3d instant, which, relating to a matter within the Treasury Depart- 
 ment, shall be immediately laid before the honorable Commissioners, 
 to whom Mr. Morris and Mr. Vaughan have written on the same 
 subject. 
 
 Your sentiments of Mr. Vaiughan cannot fail to impress a very 
 favorable opmion of him. I have long been in the habit (if I may 
 say so) of wishing well to him and his family, and that he and they 
 might become citizens of America, and derive from it as much 
 satisfaction as they have manifested attachment to our cause and 
 country. 
 
 With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 PROM JOHN JAY TO SAMUEL VAUGHAN, JR. 
 
 New York, January 12, 1787. 
 Dear sir, 
 
 I have been favored with your letter of the 29th ultimo, which, 
 together with those that were enclosed with it, shall, without delay, 
 be laid before the Commissioners of the Treasury ; for, as your plan 
 evidently merits their attention, I think it is proper for me to commu- 
 nicate it to them, without having previously formed an opinion 
 whether it should now be adopted, either in the whole or in part. 
 What I may probably think and do respecting it, I forbear to mention 
 or to hmt ; for I find it best to make no promises nor professions on 
 such occasions, but to keep myself free from engagements, and at 
 liberty to act, and in such manner as, after due investigation and 
 reflection, my judgment may dictate. 
 
 Be pleased to present my best compliments to your father and 
 
 brother, and believe me to be, with sentiments of esteem and regard, 
 
 &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
420 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FEOM JOHN JAY TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE BOARD OF TREASURY. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, January 18, 1787. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, two 
 letters di^gcted to you, and two others directed to me, one of which 
 is from Mr. Samuel Vaughan, dated the 29th December last, and 
 the other from his Excellency Doctor Franklin, dated the 3d day of 
 January instant. 
 
 Mr. Vaughan's letter to me treats fully and at large the subject to 
 which the others also relate, and which being within your depart- 
 ment, I forbear making any other remarks on, than that I consider 
 Mr. Vaughan as being a gentleman of merit, and that several of the 
 ideas he suggests appear to me to deserve attention. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM COMMISSIONERS OF THE BOARD OF TREASURY TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Board of Treasury, February 25, 1787. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We are honored with your letter of the 18th instant, enclosing 
 two letters directed to this Board, from Mr. Robert Morris and Mr. 
 Samuel Vaughan, and two others directed to yourself. 
 
 From Mr. Vaughan's letter to the Board we are not able to 
 determine what office in the Mint department he would wish to 
 occupy; though from the detail he has entered into in his letter to 
 you, we have reason to conclude that the office he has in view is in 
 no degree connected with the present establishment of the Mint. 
 As we have no authority under the late ordinance of the Mint to 
 nominate any of the officers who are to execute the various duties of 
 that establishment, we can only engage to lay before Congress the 
 communications you have been pleased to make to this Board on the 
 subject of Mr. Vaughan's application. 
 
 Enclosed you will be pleased to receive the letters directed to 
 yourself from his Excellency Doctor Franklin and Mr. Samuel 
 Vaughan. 
 
 We have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, &c., 
 
 SAMUEL OSGOOD, 
 WALTER LIVINGSTON, 
 ARTHUR LEE. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDEJSrCE. 421 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO CHARLES THOMSON. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 27, 1787. 
 Dear Friend, 
 
 You may remember that, in the correspondence between us in 
 June last, on the subject of a million free gift of the King of France, 
 acknowledged in our contract to have been received, but which did 
 not appear to be accounted for in our banker's accounts, unless it 
 should be the same with the million said to be received from the 
 Farmers General, I mentioned that an explanation might doubtless 
 be easily obtained by writing to Mr. Grand or Mr. Jefferson. I 
 know not whether you have accordingly written to either of them, 
 but being desirous that the matter should speedily be cleared up, I 
 wrote myself to Mr. Grand a letter upon it, of which I now enclose 
 a copy, with his answers, and several letters from M. Durival, who 
 is Chef du Bureau des Fonds (and has under his care the finance) 
 des Affaires Etrangeres. 
 
 You will see by these letters that the million in question was 
 delivered to somebody on the 10th of June, 1776, but it does not 
 appear to whom. It is clear, however, that it could not be to Mr. 
 Grand, nor to the Commissioners from Congress, for we did not meet 
 in France till the end of December, 1776, or beginning of January, 
 1777, and that banker was not charged before with our affairs. 
 
 By the Minister's reserve in refusing him a copy of the receipt I 
 conjecture it must be money advanced for our use to M. de Beau- 
 marchais, and that it is a Mystere du Cabinet, which, perhaps, should 
 not be further inquired into, unless necessary to guard against more 
 demands than may be just from that agent ; for it may well be sup- 
 posed that if the Court furnished him with the means of supplying 
 us, they may not be willing to furnish authentic proofs of such a 
 transaction so early in our dispute with Britain. Pray tell me, has 
 he dropped his demands, or does he still continue to worry you with 
 them? 
 
 I should like to have these original letters returned to me, but you 
 muy, if you please, keep copies of them. It is true the million in 
 question makes no difference in your accounts with the King of 
 France, it not being mentioned or charged as so much lent and to be 
 repaid, but stated as freely given. Yet, if it was put into the hands 
 of any of your agents or Ministers, they ought certainly to accoua' 
 
422 BENJAMIN FE.ANKLIN. 
 
 for it. I do not recollect whether Mr. Deane had arrived in France 
 before the 10th of June, 1776;* but from his great want of money 
 when I joined him a few months after, I hardly think it could have 
 been paid to him. Possibly Mr. Jefferson may obtain the informa- 
 tion, though Mr. Grand could not, and I wish he may be directed to 
 make the inquiry, as I know he would do it directly ; I mean if, by 
 Hortales &. Ck).'s further demands, or for any other reason, such an 
 inquiry should be thought necessary .f 
 
 I am, fee, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FKOM BENJAMIN FBANKLIN TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Philadelphia, June 27, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 In arranging some old papers I lately found the enclosed letter 
 from Mr. Blunt, enclosing copy of a certificate of Commodore Jones 
 in favor of John Jackson. I ought (though so long delayed) to send 
 some answ«r. Can you inform me whether anything has been done 
 for Jackson in consequence of the Commodore's promise? 
 
 I send you, also, two other papers respecting services formerly 
 done the United States by Mr. Limozin, of Havre, and Mr. Milliet, 
 of Lisbon, for your consideration, and to be disposed of as you shall 
 think proper. 
 
 Please to inform me whether Dohrman is still in America. With 
 ^eat and sincere esteem, &.C., 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM JAMES BLUNT TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 London, August 2, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Well acquainted as I am with your sentiments of philanthropy and 
 
 benevolence, from the testimony of those friends of yours whom I 
 
 have the pleasure of being acquainted with, I deem an apology 
 
 * Deane did not arrive in Paris till the first week in July. 
 
 ■f This matter was not cleared up till 1794, when Gouverneur Morris was Ameri- 
 can Minister in Paris. By application to the Government he procured a copy of 
 the receipt of the person who received the million of francs on the 10th of June, 
 1775. It proved to be Beaumarchais, as Dr. Franklin had conjectured. See Pitkin's 
 Hislory of the United Slates, vol. I. p. 422. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 433 
 
 unnecessary for the liberty I take of intruding on your time, as it is 
 to lay before you a case of real distress. A friend of mine has shewn 
 me the originals of the enclosed papers, and tells me the poor man 
 has placed his whole dependence 6n the allowance mentioned in 
 them. He has waited for some time the arrival of the American 
 Ambassador at this Court, to whom he has shown his claim ; but he 
 has been referred by him to Mr. Jefferson, at Paris. If you would 
 be so kind as to inform me what are the proper .measures to be taken 
 for assisting this poor man, and your opinion on his case, you will 
 oblige me, and increase the veneration and respect which your illus- 
 trious character has excited in me. 
 
 I beg leave to congratulate you, as well in my own name as in 
 that of my father, Mr. William ^^lunt, and all our family, on your 
 safe return to this country, and with sincerest wishes for your health 
 and enjoyment, 
 
 I remain, kc, JAMES BLUNT. 
 
 Copy. 
 
 I do hereby certify that the bearer, John Jackson, of Hull, came 
 on board the American ship-of-war the Bon Homme Richard, under 
 my command, off the Spurn, on the coast of England, on the morn- 
 ing of the 22d September last, he having mistaken the Bon Homme 
 Richard for a British ship-of-war ; that I found it necessary to detain 
 him on board while near the banks on that coast, and afterwards 
 purposed to set him, with his companion and their boat, at liberty, 
 and reward them for the service that T had obliged them to perform ; 
 but on the day following, when I met with the Baltic fleet, as the 
 pilot-boat was some incumbrance, the partner of the bearer was put 
 on board to keep the boat out of harm's way during the action 
 between the Bon Homme Richard and Serapis, after which he Was 
 to return and take in the bearer, that they might return home 
 together. The boat, however, did not return, and the poor man 
 had, in the action, the irreparable misfortune to lose an arm. Deeply 
 impressed with a sense of his misfortune, and earnestly desiring to 
 make this poor man and his family what recompense lays in my 
 power, I have given him this day an hundred ducats ; and I do also 
 promise, in behalf of the United States, that he shall receive half 
 
424 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 pay as a pilot the remainder of his hfe, to commence from the date 
 hereof, payable every six months by the American Ambassador at 
 the Court of France, upon certificate at each payment from two or 
 more magistrates, expressing the place where the bearer^ John 
 Jackson, is then living, and that he is really and truly the person in 
 whose favor this obligation is granted. 
 
 Given on board the Serapis at the Texel, November 15, 1779. 
 
 JOHN PAUL JONES. 
 
 Copy. 
 
 Town and County of Kingston upon Hull. 
 
 We, two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the town of 
 Kingston upon Hull aforesaid, and county of the same town, do 
 hereby certify that John Jackson, of the same town, mariner, (to 
 whom a certificate was given dated November 15, 1779, under the 
 hands of John P. Jones, thereby promising on behalf of the United 
 States of America, that the said John Jackson should receive half 
 pay as a pilot the remainder of his life, to commence from the date 
 thereof, payable every six months by the American Ambassador at 
 the Court of France,) is now living in the parish of the Holy 
 Trinity, in the town of Kingston upon Hull aforesaid, that he is 
 really and surely the person in whose favor the said certificate was 
 granted. 
 
 Given under our hands this 10th day of June, 1785. 
 
 HEN. BROADLEY, Mayor. 
 H. ETHERINGTON. 
 
 FROM JAMES MADISON TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Virginia, April 20, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 1 have the honor to enclose herewith a letter of Mr. Limozin, of 
 Havre de Grace. The external address to me was made on a sup- 
 position of my being an attending member of Congress, as I find 
 from a note within the letter, in order to make me acquainted with 
 the circumstances which are to be laid before Congress. 
 
 With the highest respect and esteem, fcc, 
 
 JAMES MADISON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 425 
 
 FROM ANDREW LIMOZIN TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Havre de Grace, January 26, 1788. 
 Most Honored Sir, 
 
 I have learnt with the greatest pleasure that your Excellency 
 enjoys a good health, for I am enquiring about it from all the trav- 
 elers who are coming from America. I am now forwarding to 
 Congress an act passed in our King's Council for sundry favors 
 granted to the American trade. Mr. Jefferson applied to me for 
 advice relating to that matter a long while before that act took place ; 
 but I was sorry to find that only a small part of the favors I had 
 required were granted. It is a very great pity that the French 
 Ministers are not thoroughly acquainted with all particulars concern^ 
 ing trade, and know but very little about the duties received in our 
 custom-houses, which increases the troubles of a foreign Ambassador. 
 I am in good hopes that as soon as your country will be entirely 
 settled, in the regulation of its administration, your Excellency will 
 not forget that when peace was made a very considerable number of 
 American prisoners came from' England to this port ; that they were 
 in the greatest distress, and that they had neither shoes nor stock- 
 ings — ^nay, even a great many had no breeches ; that we had at that 
 time very severe cold weather ; that these poor souls, having no money, 
 could not provide themselves either with these articles, or even with 
 victuals. Hunger is a necessity which forces sometimes the most 
 virtuous people to forget their duty, and in consequence will force a 
 man to extremes. I have experienced it during almost a fortnight, 
 that we had such a great number of American prisoners landed here, 
 coming from the English prisons. These unhappy men, who had 
 sacrificed their liberty in working and fighting for their country, 
 expected to find relief when they came back to a country which 
 they knew had fought for their cause. When I showed to these 
 unhappy fellows the orders I had from Mr. Barclay not to let them 
 have a farthing, because Congress had not provided for them, I heard 
 at once four or five hundred tongues threatening me to pull down my 
 house. I was obliged to assist every one of them in proportion of 
 their distress — to give six livres to some, nine to others, and twelve 
 to them who had neither shoes nor shirts nor stockings, and had only 
 a very poor pair of trowsers. I mentioned it when I had the honor 
 to enjoy yoiir Excellency's company at my house ; your Excellency 
 
426 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 was so obliging as to promise to mention it to Congress, in order tliat 
 I should be, if not reimbursed entirely, at least rewarded. Since 
 that time I have performed the duty of the agency for the United 
 States of America ; and I am happy enough to say that I have done 
 it to the great satisfaction both of the American masters and of the 
 sailors. I have procured them redress, justice ; and I can with 
 pleasure say that, until this day, not one single American master — 
 nor one single American sailor — ^has complained that I have not done 
 justice. When I have seen masters refusing to acknowledge my 
 authority, and in consequence to comply with my advice, I have 
 advanced money to the sailors whom the masters (very often Scotch) 
 wanted to impose upon them, to procure redress to these poor people. 
 Mr. Thomas Jefferson has been informed of all my proceedings, 
 which have met with his approbation. An American ship, called 
 the Polly and Sally, Captain Thomas, was under the risk of being 
 seized three weeks ago, for having taken a freight at Senegal for this 
 place, although the master had got permission from the Senegal 
 governor to undertake that voyage. I applied to Mr. Jefferson, and 
 claimed his protection in behalf of that captain. He found that the 
 master, having transgressed, it would not be possible, considering his 
 appointment, for him to take the defence of that master. I have done 
 it myself, and succeeded not only to get for the master leave to unload 
 here, but procured him justice for his freight and due demurrage. 
 
 I should have never repeated these circumstances, had I not 
 observed that Congress having lately taken into consideration the 
 services of one Mr. Dohrman, have rewarded him for the same, I 
 must own that I never expected to be reimbursed for the money I 
 had distributed amongst the American prisoners, because I was not 
 entitled to do it .; on the contrary, Mr. Barclay had informed me that 
 fiinds were appointed by Congress for that purpose. I must own 
 likewise that if I had not seen these poor people so angry and in such 
 passion, fomented by their extreme distress, I should not have given 
 them that assistance, 
 
 I shall not enlarge myself any further on that subject. I shall be 
 perfectly satisfied with what Congress will do in my behalf. I enjoy, 
 thank God, a fortune which is not much lessened by the above 
 expenses. If Congress will defray nothing about it, I must beg that 
 I should be legally appointed agent, with power in behalf of my son, 
 Edward Limozin, to act such in my absence. I hope your Excel- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 437 
 
 lency will not refuse to make in my name the above petition to 
 Congress, and hraior it with your recommendation, 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., ANDREW LIMOZIN. 
 
 o 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THE SIEDR GABRIEL MILLIET, FORMERLY MERCHANT 
 AT LISBON, BUT NOW RESIDING AT CHAILLOT, NEAR PARIS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Sieur Arnold Henry Dohrman, commissioned by Congress to 
 give every necessary assistance to such Americans as the fortunes of 
 war might bring into this port, called upon me in the month of 
 January, 1780, and proposed to me to engage in some adventures to 
 America in mutual concern with him, not daring to undertake it of 
 himself, he said, lest he should render himself suspicious to the 
 Portuguese Government. He showed me so many advantages in 
 these operations that I consented to make at least one trial. We 
 therefore agreed that I should purchase a ship, that I should fit, her 
 out, and that he would load her with wines to the amount of the cost 
 of the ship ; and that for greater security she should be cleared out 
 for St. Eustatia, and stop at Cadiz to be made a Spanish bottom, and 
 take out letters of marque in order to cruise for prizes between 
 Europe and America. 
 
 These points being agreed upon, I ordered Mr. Roze, my clerk, a 
 Portuguese, to purchase a ship. He immediately executed my orders, 
 and purchased, in his own name, but for me and with my money, at 
 auction, the 29th January, 1780, an American vessel called the 
 Roebuck; this ship, which had been captured by an English 
 privateer, and brought into this port, was sold by Messrs. Breton k, 
 Brothers, to whom it was consigned. 
 
 The purchase money, duties, petty charges, and provisions, run 
 this ship up to about twenty-four thousand livres, and I think that 
 Mr. Dohrman put in her to the amount of eighteen to nineteen 
 thousand livres in wines of different qualities. He, moreover, put 
 on board fifty or sixty American passengers, who were all supported 
 by the provisions I had put on board. 
 
 Mr. Dohrman has undoubtedly claimed payment from Congtess 
 for the advances made the Americans, both on account of their 
 expenses at Lisbon, as well as their passage from Lisbon to America; 
 but I will not anticipate, and will relate facts as they happened. 
 
428 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 This ship took out Portuguese papers, and was called the St. 
 Francis and St. Rose, and sailed the 23d February for Cadiz, where 
 she arrived the 26th of the same month. Mr. Dohrman then took 
 charge of her, and addressed her to Messrs. Grepy Agazino &; Co., 
 of that place. These gentlemen, in conformity with orders, made a 
 pretended sale of her to Don Joseph de Mirande, a Spanish merchant, 
 who accordingly furnished her with Spanish papers, and obtained 
 letters of marque, and despatched her for English America. 
 
 As I have said above, there was on board this ship between fifty 
 and sixty American passengers, who were maintained at my expense, 
 as well on board said vessel as in Cadiz, where I paid about one 
 thousand crowns in further supplies of provisions. I make no doubt, 
 as already remarked, that Mr. Dohrman has been reimbursed by 
 Congress for all the expenses relating to these passengers, but I have 
 heard nothing concerning the matter, nor has Mr. Dohrman ever made 
 me the least remittance. 
 
 But let us come to the chief point. This vessel arrived fortunately 
 at Boston, but as the Spanish captain who commanded her was not 
 furnished with such titles as would justify the purchase of this vessel 
 at Lisbon, she was claimed by her former owner, who was a merchant 
 at Boston ; the wine was also seized with the vessel, and the whole 
 sold. Such, in a few words, is the news I have received concerning 
 this vessel, and I had no other accounts as late as the month of May, 
 1783, when Mr. Dohrman departed from this city for North America, 
 at which time, being deceived by the said Dohrman respecting the 
 fate of this vessel, I consented to a settlement with him, in which it 
 is said that in order to terminate all differences that might attend a 
 surrender of accounts relating to this ship, I would give up all my 
 pretensions, and would content myself with the sum of sixteen 
 thousand livres, payable in the month of May, 1785, in lieu of about 
 twenty-six thousand livres which this vessel cost me. 
 
 Since that time I have learned, from a person who transacted 
 business for Mr. Dohrman in America, and has returned from that 
 country, that the said Mr. Dohrman had obtained a replevy of the 
 seizure made at Boston, and that he received, in the year 1781, the 
 amount of the ship, which was not sold to a loss, and also of the 
 wines which composed her cargo, that had been sold to a considerable 
 profit. 
 
 Will not this deception on the part of Mr. Dohrman annul the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 439 
 
 agreement of the month of May, 1783, and justify a prosecution for 
 the surrender of accounts concerning this transaction? Several 
 lawyers whom I have consulted in this country are for the affirm- 
 ative. 
 
 I have also another account to settle with Mr. Dohrman. In 
 January, 1780, I sent him seven cases, containing one thousand five 
 hundred and eighty-four hats, amounting to fifteen thousand eight 
 hundred and sixty-seven livres ; they were shipped in his name, on 
 board the ship Juftrouw Catharine, as you may see by the copy of 
 bill of lading, which is annexed to this memorial, but his declaration 
 of 3d January, 1780, of which I likewise send a copy, proves my 
 property incontestably. 
 
 When Mr. Dohrman went out for North America last year, he 
 would neither pay me for this article, nor take any steps to secure 
 me payment, on pretence of not knowing what had become of the 
 hats ; but I am informed by the aforementioned person, that the said 
 hats have been sold, and that Mr. Dohrman has received the amount 
 of them, and I know also that they yielded a profit. I ask, there- 
 fore, what steps I have to pursue in these two cases. 
 
 I have a copy of the bill of lading, of Mr. Dohrman's declaration 
 of 3d January, 1780, and all his other acknowledgments. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO BENJAMIN FRANKLTN. 
 
 New York, Septembel- 3, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 During my late absence from the city, the letter you did me the 
 honor to write on the 27th June, arrived. You mentioned to have 
 enclosed in it a letter from Mr. Blunt, enclosing a copy of a certifi- 
 cate from Commodore Jones in favor of John Jackson. But by 
 some mistake neither of those letters were enclosed. The two other 
 papers respecting services done the United States by Mr. Limozin 
 and Millietj were enclosed ; and I expect soon to be enabled to 
 write to you particularly on the subject of them. Mr. Dohrman is 
 still in this city, and the letter enclosed in yours for him has been 
 sent to him. I- cannot learn that any thing has been done for Jack- 
 son in consequence of the Commodore's promise. 
 
 I am, &c., , JOHN JAY. 
 
430 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 FROM BENJAMIN TRANKLIN TO THE PRESIDENT Of CONGRESS. 
 
 Philadelphia, November 29, 1788. 
 Sir, 
 
 When I had the honor of being the Minister of the United States 
 at the Court of France, Mr. Barclay arriving there, brought me the 
 following resolution of Congress : 
 
 " Resolved, That a Commissioner be appointed by Congress, with 
 'full power and authority to liquidate, and finally to settle, the 
 ' accounts of all the servants of the United States, who have been 
 ' entrusted with the expenditure of public money in Europe, and to 
 ' commence and prosecute such suits, causes and actions, as may be 
 ' necessary for that purpose, or for the recovery of any property of 
 ' the said United States in the hands of any person or persons what- 
 ' soever. 
 
 " That the said Commissioner be authorized to appoint one or 
 ' more clerks, with such allowance as he may think reasonable. 
 
 " That the said Commissioner and clerks, respectively, take an 
 ' oath before some person duly authorized to administer an oath, 
 ' faithfully to execute the trust reposed in them respectively. 
 
 "Congress proceeded to the election of a Commissioner, and 
 ' ballots being taken, Mr. T. Barclay was elected." 
 
 In pursuance of this resolution, and as soon as Mr. Barclay was 
 at leisure from more pressing business, I rendered to him all my 
 accounts, which he examined, and stated methodically. By this 
 statement he found a balance due me on the 4th of May, 1785, of 
 7,533 livres 19 sols 3 den., which I accordingly received of the 
 Congress banker; the difference between my statement and his 
 being only seven sols, which by mistake I had overcharged ; about 
 three pence halfpenny sterling. 
 
 At my request, however, the accounts were left open for the 
 consideration of Congress, and not finally settled, there being some 
 articles on which I desired their judgment, and having some equitable 
 demands, as I thought them, for extra services, which he had not 
 conceived himself empowered to allow, and therefore I did not put 
 them in my account. He transmitted the accounts to Congress, 
 and had advice of their being received. On my arrival at Phila- 
 delphia, one of the first things I did was to despatch my grandson, 
 William T. Franklin, to New York, to obtain a final settlement of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 431 
 
 those accounts ; he having long acted as my secretary, and being, 
 well acquainted with the transactions, was able to give an explanation 
 of the articles that might seem to require explaining, if any such there 
 were. He returned without effecting the settlement, being told that 
 it could not be made till the arrival of some documents expected 
 from France. What those documents were, I have not been 
 informed, nor can I readily conceive, as all the vouchers existing 
 there had been examined by Mr. Barclay. And I, having been 
 immediately after my arrival engaged in the public business of this 
 State, waited in expectation of hearing from Congress, in case any 
 part of my accounts had been objected to. 
 
 It is now more than three years that those accounts have been 
 before that honorable body, and to this day no notice of any such 
 objection has been communicated to me. But reports have, for 
 sometime past, been circulated here, and propagated, in the news- 
 papers, that I am greatly indebted to the United States for large 
 sums that had been put into my hands, and that I avoid a settlement. 
 This, together with the little time one of my age may expect to live, 
 makes it necessary for me to request earnestly, which I hereby do, 
 that the Congress would be pleased, without further delay, to 
 examine those accounts, and if they find therein any article or 
 articles which they do not understand or approve, that they would 
 cause me to be acquainted with the same, that I may have an 
 opportunity of offering such explanations or reasons in support of 
 them as may be in my power, and then that the accounts may be 
 finally closed. 
 
 I hope the Congress will soon be able to attend to this business 
 for the satisfaction of the public, as well as in condescension to my 
 request. In the meantime, if there be no impropriety in it, I would 
 desire that this letter, together with another relating to the same 
 subject, the copy of which is hereunto annexed, may be put upon 
 their minutes. 
 
 With every sentiment of respect and duty to Congress, I am, sir, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO HOLLAND. 
 
 Vol. I.— 28 
 
 433 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, March 9, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 On the 18th day of Febraary the Baron de Thulemeier, Envoy 
 Extraordinary to their High Mightinesses from the King of Prussia, 
 did me the honor of a visit, but as he found I had company, he soon 
 took his leave, and as I accompanied him to the head of the stairs, 
 he told me he had something to propose to me from the King, and 
 desired to know when he might call again. I offered to return his 
 visit any hour he pleased. He chose to call upon me, and named 
 eleven the next day ; at which hour he came and told me, " TJiat 
 ' the King, who honored him with a personal correspondence, and 
 ' was acquainted with my character, had directed him to make me a 
 ' visit, and to say to me that as his subjects had occasion for our 
 ' tobacco and some other things, and as we had occasion for Silesia 
 ' linens and some other productions of his dominions, he thought an 
 ' arrangement might be made between his Crown and the United 
 ' States which would be beneficial to both ;" and the Baron desired 
 to know my sentiments of it. 
 
 I answered him. That I was very sensible of the honor done by 
 his Majesty, but that I had singly no authority to treat or enter into 
 conferences officially upon the subject ; that Congress had been pleased 
 to confer upon their Ministers at the late peace authority to enter into 
 conferences ; that I could do nothing but in concurrence with Mr. 
 Franklin and Mr. Jay, who were at Paris, but I thought I could 
 435 
 
436 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 answer for the good disposition of those Ministers as well as my 
 own, for forming an arrangement between the two Powers which 
 might be beneficial to both ; that I would write to those Ministers an 
 account of what had passed. He desired I would, and said he would 
 write by the first post to the King, and inquire if his Majesty had any 
 thing in particular to propose, would inform him of my answer, and 
 wait his further orders, which probably he should receive as soon as 
 I should have an answer from Paris. 
 
 I wrote the next day, and on Saturday last received an answer 
 from Doctor Franklin and Mr. Jay, in which they say that they are 
 persuaded that the communication of the friendly disposition of his 
 Prussian Majesty, made to you by the Baron de Thulemeier, will give 
 great pleasure to Congress. The respect with which the reputation 
 of that great Prince has impressed the United States, early induced 
 them to consider his friendship as a desirable object, and we are 
 happy in being authorized to assure his Majesty that they will most 
 cheerfully enter into such a commercial treaty with him, as, being 
 founded upon principles of reciprocity, may be productive of equal 
 benefit to both countries. Although we have no commission to 
 conclude such a treaty, yet our instructions firom Congress enable us 
 to join with the King's Minister in preparing a draft of such a treaty, 
 which, being sent to Congress, they would, together with a commission 
 to conclude the treaty, give us pointed instructions on the subject, 
 and much time might thereby be saved. If you are of this opinion, 
 and his Majesty should be pleased to approve such a measure, we 
 think the articles may be discussed between you and the Baron, in 
 the first instance, on the principles which govern in the treaties you 
 mention, both of which have been approved and ratified, (i. e. with 
 Holland and Sweden.) That being done we might confer together, 
 and write a joint letter to Congress on the subject. We shall, 
 nevertheless, make this communication a part of our next despatch 
 to Congress. 
 
 Yesterday meeting the Baron at Court, on occasion of the Prince 
 of Orahge's birthday, he told me he had received another letter from 
 the King, and would call upon me in the evening, which he did, and 
 informed me that the King had written to him that he was collecting 
 all necessary papers, and would soon send them to him, with his 
 further propositions to be made to me. I shewed him my letter from 
 Paris, with which he was well satisfied. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 437 
 
 He added that the King had directed him to mention rice and 
 indigo as articles in demand in his ports of Embden and Stettin ; and 
 that a large quantity of Virginia tobacco had been this year purchased 
 "i those ports for the Baltic market ; and that the excellent porcelain 
 of Saxony might be a desirable article for the Americans. 
 
 I beg leave to submit to Congress whether the model of the treaty 
 with Holland or Sweden may not, in general, be convenient for one with 
 Prussia ; as also the propriety of sending a full power to their Ministers 
 at the late peace, or one or more of them to conclude this business. 
 
 With a great deal of difficulty and at a dear rate, I have at last 
 obtained money to save Mr. Morris's bills, which are payable this 
 month, from going back. Messrs. Willink k, Co. will transmit the 
 contract for the ratification of Congress. It is much to be lamented 
 that we are obliged to agree to so high terms, but there was absolutely 
 no other alternative but this or protesting the bills. This business 
 has hitherto necessarily prevented me from joining my colleagues at 
 Paris, in the execution of our instructions. 
 
 With great respect, Sic, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, February 1st, 
 
 1785. 
 
 On the report of a Grand Committee, consisting of Mr. Read, Mr. 
 Foster, Mr. Partridge, Mr. Howell, Mr. Cook, Mr. Piatt, Mr. 
 Cadwallader, Mr. Henry, Mr. McHenry, Mr. Hardy, Mr. William- 
 son, and Mr. Houston, to whom was referred a letter of the 30th 
 September, from the late Superintendent of Finance, enclosing the 
 terms of a loan of two millions of guilders, negotiated in the United 
 Netherlands by the Honorable John Adams, and an obligation for 
 the same, entered into the 9th of March, 1784, by him on behalf of 
 the United States of America : 
 
 •Resolved, That three fair copies of the obligation be made out, and 
 that a ratification be endorsed on each of them, duly attested, and that 
 the Secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs transmit the same 
 by several conveyances to the Minister of the United States, to their 
 High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands. 
 
 Resolved, That the ratification be in the following terms : 
 
 Be it remembered, that the within contract or engagement, entered 
 into by the Honorable John Adams, Esquire, Minister Plenipoten- 
 
438 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 tiary of the United States of America to their High Mightinesses 
 the Lords the States General of the United Netherlands, in behalf 
 of the said States, with Messrs. Willemn and John Willink, Nicholas 
 and Jacob Van Staphorst, and de la Lande and Fynje, and their 
 successors or assignees, for a loan of two millions of guilders, dated at 
 the Hague, March 9th, 1784, hath been read in Congress, approved and 
 ratified, and declared obligatory on the United States of America. 
 
 Done in the City Hall, in the city of New York, by the United 
 States in Congress assembled, this first day of February, in the year 
 of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, and in the 
 ninth year of our sovereignty and independence. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, March 27, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to enclose copies of three notes from the Prus- 
 sian Minister, the Baron Thulemeier, by which Congress will see 
 that the King has agreed to take our treaty with Sweden for a model, 
 reserving to each party the right of suggesting such alterations as 
 shall appear to him convenient. My request to Congress is, that 
 they would be pleased to send instructions at the same time when 
 they send a commission what articles of the treaty with Sweden 
 they would have expunged, and what new ones inserted, if any. I 
 mention the sending of a commission because I suppose it is the 
 intention of Congress to send one. The instructions already received 
 are not a full power under which any sovereign can conclude, nor 
 regularly even treat ; we can only confer. There will be some diffi- 
 culty about the signature, since his JMajesty chooses the negotiation 
 should be conducted by M. de Thulemeier. If Congress send the 
 commission to their Ministers at the late peace as they did the 
 instructions, M. de Thulemeier must take a journey to Paris, or a 
 majority of the American Ministers must be at the Hague. 
 
 It is a great pleasure to me to be able to inform Congress that I 
 have obtained tlie promise of a sum sufficient upon the new loan to 
 save the honor of the Financier's bills, although I regret the severity 
 of the terms. They were the most moderate which would obtain the 
 money. I hope for the approbation of Congress, and their ratification 
 of the contract as soon as may be. Money is really so scarce, and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 439 
 
 there are so many loans open on even higher conditions, that it will 
 not be possible, I fear, to obtain more money here on more reasonable 
 ones. An impost once laid on -to pay the interest, whether by the 
 authority of Congress, if that should be agreed to, or by that of 
 several States, would soon give us better credit here. But in order 
 to keep our reputation, upon which our credit depends, there should 
 be somebody constantly residing here to publish illustrations of our 
 affairs, and . to confute the calumnies of our enemies of all denomi- 
 nations. 
 
 With great and sincere respect, fcc, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 NOTE FKOM BARON THULEMEIER TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, March 14, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The King being desirous to give every possible consistence to the 
 treaty of commerce to be concluded on between his Majesty and the 
 United States of America, very willingly adopts your idea of taking 
 for a model the one which has been negotiated with Sweden, and 01 
 afterwards introducing such changes as a difference of circumstances 
 and position may render necessary. A copy of this treaty has been 
 asked of me, but as I have none at my disposal, I take the liberty of 
 having recourse to you, sir, and requesting you to give it to me. If 
 I receive it in the course of to-morrow I may be able to forward it 
 by Tuesday's post, which goes, as you may perhaps be informed, 
 before noon. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., THULEMEIER. 
 
 P. S. If the treaty of commerce with Sweden should not be in 
 print, I will have that which you shall send me copied immediately, 
 and I will have the honor, sir, to return you the original. 
 
 NOTE FROM BARON THULEMEIER TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, March 25, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 You have desired information of the merchandizes and productions 
 
 which may be the object of a reciprocal, commerce between the 
 
440 ^OHN ADAMS. 
 
 States of his Prussian Majesty and those of the United States of 
 America. I am too much flattered with the idea of establishing these 
 new commercial connexions in conjunction with you, not to be 
 earnestly desirous of communicating to you the ideas I have collected, 
 both from the instructions which my Court have furnished me with 
 in the first instance, and such as I have obtained from other channels. 
 The description that I offer you will be, however, very succinct. 
 Confining myself to the most essential articles, I tender you, sir, 
 every eclairissement you may wish for, and which may be necessary, 
 perhaps, when the negotiation with which we are charged shall have 
 taken some consistence. 
 
 Importations into Ms Prussian Majesty's Dominions. 
 
 A. Virginia tobacco. 
 
 B. Rice. 
 
 C. Indigo. 
 
 D. Whale oil. 
 
 Exportations from his Majesty's Dominions to the United States of 
 
 America. 
 
 A. Silesian linens of general sale throughout the continent of 
 America, as also in the West Indies. 
 
 B. Russian hemp, the best that is known. 
 
 C. Berlin Porcelain, a finer kind than that of Saxony, and not so dear. 
 D; Some productions of Prussian industry, such as hardware from 
 
 the county of Mark, which till now, as Well as the Silesian linens, 
 have gone through the hands of the English, and have consequently 
 increased their price on their entry into America. 
 
 E. Cloths of all kinds, camblets, and such like merchandizes. 
 
 I shall add, sir, that the King leaves to Congress the choice of 
 such of his ports , for the commerce of exchange, or the deposit of 
 merchandize, ag may be most suitable to them. Embden, situated 
 towards the North Sea, opens the ports to a trade with the western 
 part of Germany. Stettin, a maritime place on the Baltic with the 
 interior of this vast region, by means of the Oder. Finally, the 
 ports of the two Prussias establish a beneficial commerce with the 
 Kingdom of Poland, where the American fish, and especially the 
 codfish, may be sold to the greatest advantage. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 THE BARON DE THULEMEIER. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 441 
 
 NOTE FROM BARON THCLEMEIER TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, March 25, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 The Sieur Christian Ravenhorst, Lutheran Minister at Ebenezer, 
 in Georgia, died there some years ago ; and his widow, Anne Bar- 
 barine Krafftin, died in the same place, the 1st July, 1779. By a 
 reciprocal will made between them, the husband bequeathed the sum 
 of £300 sterling to his three sisters, settled in his Prussian Majesty's 
 dominions ; and the wife stipulated the same advantages in favor of 
 her family, residing in Ravensburg. The remainder of the estate 
 was to be divided in equal portions between the heirs of the testators, 
 deducting two legacies of £40 sterling each in favor of the religious 
 missions in India, and the orphan house at Halle ; Messrs. Joseph 
 Schubtrin and Jacob Waldhauer, at Ebenezer, were appointed 
 executors; and it appears that they administered to the inheritance 
 in this capacity, from a letter they dated 4th May, 1780, to Mary 
 Hoppin, living at Daber, in Pomerania, and one of the sisters of the 
 defunct Ravenhorst. From their own account the moveables of the 
 estates were estimated at £487 19s. sterling; there was £400 in 
 debts, the recovery of which was put into an attorney's hands; 
 there was, moreover, in property, 1,300 acres of land provisionally 
 administered to by the executors, during the troubles of the American 
 war ; the heirs received no news concerning the arrangement of the 
 estate ; but in the last instance the Professor Freylinghausen, one of 
 the directors of the orphan house at Halle, was informed by a letter 
 from Pennsylvania that Mr. Schubtrin, one of the executors, had 
 died in the meanwhile, and that the second, Mr. Waldhauer, had 
 been plundered by a band of robbers, of all the ready money and 
 effects arising from the inheritance, committed to his care ; supposing 
 that this event was supported by legal proofs, the just pretensions of 
 the heirs to the debts subsist still in full force, since the recovery of 
 them does not appear to have taken place ; as likewise the immove- 
 ables, the alienation of which was declared as impossible during the 
 course of the war. One Sophia Newman, of the family of Raven- 
 horst, settled in Berlin, and sister of the Minister deceased, in Geor- 
 gia, has claimed her Sovereign's protection ; and it is in consequence 
 
442 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 of the King's orders that the underwritten, his Majesty's Envoy 
 Extraordinary, has been authorized to place the particulars of this 
 affair before Mr. Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United 
 States at the Hague. He flatters himself that this Minister will be 
 so good as to employ his services to obtain for the heirs an authentic 
 copy of the will and inventory, and make the necessary representa- 
 tions where it may be proper that the executor may be obliged to 
 give an account of the profits of the estate, of the moneys he has 
 administered, and the capital and property, the liquidation of which 
 has not yet been determined. 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 FKOM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, AprH 10, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to enclose to Congress a copy of a letter from 
 the Baron de Thulemeier, and a copy of a project of a treaty trans- 
 mitted to me by the order of the King of Prussia. I should hope it 
 might be examined in Congress, or by a committee, and that 
 instructions may be sent concerning any changes to be made in the 
 articles, together with a commission to treat and conclude, to such 
 person or persons as Congress shall please to appoint. 
 
 With the greatest respect, fee, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THTJI.EMEIER TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Translation. 
 Sir, 
 I have the honor to send you herewith, in original, the proposition 
 of a treaty of commerce to be concluded on between his Prussian 
 Majesty and the United States of America, in the same condition as 
 the King sent it to me, requesting of you to return it to me as soon 
 as you shall have copied it. It will be infinitely agreeable to me, 
 sir, and very satisfactory to our masters, to conduct, in concert with 
 you, this negotiation to the desired point. If to-morrow, between 
 seven and eight o'clock in the evening, you could grant me a 
 moment's conversation, I shall, with great earnestness, call on you 
 to know your sentiments. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 443 
 
 I have added, sir, a description of Silesian linens, which, hitherto, 
 have been in great demand by your countrymen ; that is to say, if I 
 am rightly informed by the Silesian merchant who furnished it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Stc, DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 Description of the principal articles of Silesian linens which have 
 been sent hitherto to the United Provinces of North America, by the 
 Sieur John Godfrey Linckh, merchant and manufacturer at Hirs- 
 berg. 
 
 1. Hamburg Lawns, 5. Tandem double Silesias, 
 
 2. Long Lawns, 6. Tandem quadruple Silesias, 
 
 3. Pistol Lawns, 7. Brown quadruple Silesias, 
 
 4. Single Silesias, 8. Estopills Unies. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Project of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between his Majesty 
 the King of Prussia and the United States of North America. 
 
 The King of Prussia and the Thirteen United States of North 
 America desiring to fix in a stable and permanent manner the rules 
 to be observed in the intercourse and commerce between ' their 
 respective countries. States, and subjects, his Majesty and the 
 United States have judged that the end cannot be better obtained 
 than by taking the reciprocal utility and advantages of the two 
 nations for the basis of their arrangements, by avoiding all burthen- 
 some preferences, which are commonly the occasion of dissensions, 
 embarrassments, and discontents, allowing at the same time each 
 party to make such interior regulations respecting commerce and 
 navigation as may be suitable to themselves. 
 
 With this view his Majesty the King of Prussia has nominated 
 
 and constituted as his Plenipotentiary the , and the 
 
 United States have on their part given full power to , 
 
 which Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, 
 and on mature deliberation, have concluded, settled, and signed the 
 following articles : 
 
 Article I. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, 
 and a true and sincere friendship between the King of Prussia, his 
 heirs and successors, and the United States of America, also between 
 
444 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 his Majesty's subjects and those of the said States, as well as between 
 the countries, islands, cities, and places under the jurisdiction of the 
 King and the United States, without excepting any persons or places ; 
 the conditions stipulated in the present treaty shall be perpetual and 
 permanent between the King, his heirs and successors, and the said 
 States. 
 
 Article II. The King of Prussia and the United States of 
 America mutually engage not to grant hereafter any particular favor, 
 with respect to commerce and navigation, to other nations that shall 
 not immediately become common to either of the contracting parties 
 of the present treaty, who shall partake of this favor gratuitously if 
 the concession is gratuitous, or by giving the same compensation if 
 the favor is conditional. 
 
 Article III. The principal end of this treaty being to open a 
 reciprocal commerce between the subjects of the two States, and to 
 procure for them by that means a sure and easy vent for their national 
 productions ; the two contracting parties agree that the merchandizes 
 of Prussian manufactory, particularly linens of Silesia and other 
 provinces belonging to the King, cloths and woolen stuffs, &z;c., shall 
 not pay other or heavier duties in the United States of North America 
 than what similar merchandizes of the most favored nation pay in the 
 said States on entry and exportation. In like manner the merchan- 
 dizes of America, such as Virginia tobacco, rice, indigo, fiirs, &c, 
 shall only be subject, on their entry and exportation in the ports and 
 maritime places belonging to the King of Prussia, to the imposts paid 
 by the most favored nations. It is understood, however, that the 
 subjects of the two respective States shall not be allowed to trade to 
 the ports and maritime places of either State, unless they submit to 
 the established laws and customs of the country where they would 
 wish to trade. 
 
 Article IV. The King of Prussia and the United States of 
 America reserve for themselves the right to prohibit, in their 
 respective countries, the importance or exportation of all merchandize 
 whatsoever when reasons of state require it. In this case the subjects 
 of either of the contracting parties of the present treaty shall not 
 import or export the merchandizes prohibited by the other. But if 
 one of the contracting parties permits any other nation to import or 
 export the same articles, the subjects of the other contracting party 
 shall enjoy the same liberty. It therefore follows that all kinds of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 445 
 
 merchandize that are not declared eontrabarad, may be freely 
 imported and exported by the subji^ts of the two respective 
 States. 
 
 Abticle V. For the purpose of avoiding the least oecasion for 
 discontent, it is agreed on between both parties that when the 
 merchandize shall be laden on board the ships or vessels of either of 
 the two coHtracting parties, they shall be no longer subject to any 
 visit. All visits and searching shall be made before the loading, and 
 the prohibited merchandize shall be seized on the shore before it can 
 be embarked, unless there be manifest signs and proofs of a fraudulent 
 loading on the part of the proprietor of the ship or of the commander.. 
 In this case alone he shall be responsible and subject to the laws of 
 the country he shall be in. In any other case, neither the subjects 
 of one of the contracting parties, who shall be with their ships in the 
 ports of the other, nor their merchandize, shall be: seized or molested 
 on account of the contraband articles they intended taking on board, 
 nor any kind of embargo put on their ships ; the subjects or citizens 
 of the States where these merchandizes are declared contraband, or 
 the exportation of them is prohibited, and who, notwithstanding, shall 
 have sold, or would have sold and alienated the said merchandizes, 
 are to be the only persons who shall be punished fijr such an in^ 
 fraction. 
 
 Akticle VI. The subjects of the King of Prussia shall not pay 
 in the ports, harbors, roads, islands, cities, and places of the United 
 States of America, and reciprocally the subjects and inhabitants of 
 the said States shall not pay in the ports, harbors, roads, cities, and 
 maritime places within the dominions of the King of Prussia, other 
 or greater duties and imposts of any kind whaitever than the most 
 favored nations are or shall be obliged to pay, and they shall enjoy 
 all the rights, liberties, privileges, humanities, and exemptions, which 
 the said nations do or shall enjoy, whether they go from one port to 
 the other of the respective States, or whether they go or return from 
 any part of the world whatever. 
 
 Article VII. A perfect. liberty of conscience shall be granted to 
 the inhabitants and subjects of both the contracting parties within the 
 jurisdiction of the other, and no one shall be molested on account of 
 his mode of woishi^^ provided he mbmits to such public demonstrations 
 as are enjoined by the laws of the country. Moreover, the respective 
 inhabitants and subjects shall be permitted to bury their dead in 
 
446 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 suitable decent places appointed for this purpose, and the two 
 contracting parties shall each of them, within their jurisdiction, 
 provide that the respective subjects and inhabitants may be able to 
 obtain certificates of the death of a person in case they shall be 
 requested to grant them. 
 
 Article VIIL The subjects of the two contracting parties shall 
 have power within the respective States freely to dispose of their 
 personal goods or effects by testament, donation, or otherwise, to 
 whomsoever they please, and their heirs, wherever they may reside, 
 shall succeed to the said effects, ab intestato, either by themselves or 
 by others acting for them, without the necessity of obtaining letters 
 of naturalization. These inheritances, as likewise the capitals and 
 fiinds which the subjects of the contracting parties in moving would 
 wish to carry with them from the place of their residence, shall be 
 exempted from all rights of detraction on the part of the government 
 of the respective States. But it is at the same time agreed that the 
 contents of this article shall not derogate in any manner from the 
 ordinances promulgated by the King against emigrations, or that may 
 hereafter be published on this matter, the United States on their part, 
 or each State in particular, may enact such laws as they shall see fit 
 on this same head. 
 
 Article IX. It shall be permitted to every subject and inhab- 
 itant of the States of the King of Prussia, as likewise to the citizens 
 and inhabitants of the United States of America, to navigate with 
 their vessels in perfect security and liberty wherever they please, 
 without distinguishing whom the merchandize and cargo belong to ; 
 it shall also be permitted for the subjects and inhabitants of the two 
 States to navigate and trade with their vessels and merchandizes in 
 full security to the parts, ports, and harbors of Powers at enmity 
 with the two contracting parties, or either of them, without being 
 anywise molested or troubled, whether they carry on this commerce 
 directly or from one port to another, both belonging to an enemy 
 under the government of the same or of different princes ; moreover, 
 the contracting parties adopt by the present treaty the principle, that 
 free vessels shall make free goods, and that every thing shall be 
 regarded as free which shall be on board of vessels belonging to the 
 subjects of either of the contracting parties, even though the cargo 
 shall belong entirely or in part to the enemies of one of the two ; it 
 being understood, however, that contraband articles shall be always 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENPE. 447 
 
 excepted, and that when such articles shall be intercepted, they 
 shall be proceeded against according to the spirit of the following 
 articles. The same liberty shall extend to persons sailing in a free 
 vessel, so that although they may be subjects of Powers inimical to 
 the two contracting parties, or either of them, they shall not be taken 
 out of the free vessels, excepting they shall be military characters 
 actually in the enemy's service. 
 
 Article X. This liberty of navigation and commerce shall 
 extend to all kinds of merchandize, excepting only such as are 
 expressed in the following article, and designated under the name of 
 contraband merchandize. 
 
 Akticle XI. By prohibited or contraband articles, are understood 
 arms, cannon, ball, arquebusses, muskets, mortars, shells, petards, 
 grenades, saucisses, hoops, carriages, rests for muskets, shoulder- 
 belts, gunpowder, matches, sulphur, shot, pikes, sabres, swords, 
 morions, helmets, halberds, javelins, pistols and holsters, belts, 
 bayonets, horses and harnesses, and every other kind, of arms and 
 instruments of war serving for the use of troops. 
 
 Article XII. The following shall not be reckoned among the 
 contraband articles, viz : all kinds of cloths and other manufactures 
 of linens, wool, silk, cotton, or other materials, all kinds of clothing, 
 and what commonly serves for that purpose, coined or uncoined 
 silver, tin, iron, lead, copper, brass, furnace coals, wheat, barley, 
 and all 6ther kinds of grains and vegetables, tobacco, all kinds of 
 aromatics, salted and smoked beef, salted fish, cheese and butter, 
 beer, oil, wine, sugar, all kinds of salt, and provisions which serve 
 for the nourishment and subsistence of man, cotton, hemp, flax, 
 cordage, cables, sails, sailcloths, anchors and parts of anchors, masts, 
 planks, staves, beams, and all kinds of joists ; in short, every thing 
 that is necessary for building and repairing vessels. 
 
 Moreover, nothing shall be considered as contraband which is not 
 in the form of any instrument or machine for the purpose of \ar by 
 land or sea, much less any thing fabricated or intended for any other 
 purpose. All such articles shall be deemed free merchandize, as 
 also in general all such as are not comprehended and particularly 
 pointed out in the preceding article, so that they cannot, by any 
 pretended construction, be comprehended within prohibited or con- 
 traband merchandizes, but may be freely transported by the King's 
 subjects, and by the citizens of the United States, even to the 
 
448 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 enemy's territOTies, excepting only places besieged, blocked up, or 
 invested, and those only shall be considered as such which are 
 closely surrounded by any of the belligerent Powers. 
 
 Article XIIL In order to remove and prevent, on both sides, all 
 discussion and disorders, it is agreed, that where one of the two 
 contracting partakes shall be engaged in a war, the ships and vessels 
 belonging to the subjects of the other shall be provided with sea 
 letters or passports,; expressing the name, the property, and burthen 
 of the vessel, as also the name and dwelling of the master or com- 
 mander, so that it may, by this means, appear that the vessel really 
 and truly belongs to the subjects and citizens of one or the other 
 contracting parties. These passports, which shall be made out in 
 good and due form, shall on both sides be renewed as often as the 
 vessels return home in the course of a year. The said vessels shall, 
 moreover, be provided' not only with sea-letters, but also with certifi- 
 cates, containing the particulars of the cargo, the place from which 
 th« vessel sailed, and where she is destined, in order that it may be 
 known that she carries no prohibited or contraband goods, specified 
 in the eleventh article of this present treaty, which certificates shall 
 be alike made out by the officers of the place from which the vessel 
 sails. 
 
 Article XIV. Although the vessels of either of the contracting 
 parties may navigate freely and in full security, as is explained in 
 the ninth article, they shall, notwithstanding, be obliged, every time 
 they are demanded, to show, as well at sea as in port, the before- 
 mentioned passports and certificates, and if they are not loaded with 
 contraband articles for an enemy's port, they shall be allowed freely 
 and without restriction to pursue their voyage towards the place of 
 their destination. 
 
 Article XV. If, Of\ producing the certificates, it shall be dis- 
 covered that the vessel has on board any of the articles which are 
 declared prohibited or contraband, and which are consigned to an 
 enemy's port, it shall not, however, be permitted to break open the 
 hatches of said vessel, nor to open any case, box, bale, or cask, or 
 to displace them, or to overturn the least part of the merchandize 
 until the cargo has been landed in the presence of officers appointed 
 for this purpose, and the inventory taken. Moreover, it shall not be 
 permitted to sell, exchange, or alienate the cargo, or any part thereof, 
 before legal process is obtained against the prohibited good.s, and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPOKDENCE. 449 
 
 that they shall have been declared confiscated by sentence, reserving, 
 nevertheless, as well the ship as the other goods which were on board, 
 and which, in virtue of the present treaty, are judged free ; they shall 
 not be restrained under pretence that they were loaded with pro- 
 hibited articles, and still less confiscated as lawful prize. And on 
 supposition that the said contraband goods making but a part of the 
 cargo, the master of the vessel agrees, consents, and offers to deliver 
 them on board the vessel which shall have detected them ; in this 
 case the latter, after havuig received the goods as lawful prize, shall 
 be bound to let the vessel go immediately, and shall not prevent her 
 by any means to pursue her route towards the place of her destina- 
 tion. If any vessel, taken and carried into one of the ports of the 
 contracting parties, under pretence of contraband, is found, upon 
 visiting, to be only loaded with goods declared to be free, the owner, 
 or the person who shall have made the .capture, shall be obliged to^ 
 pay all expenses and damages to the master of the vessel unjustly 
 detained. 
 
 Abticle XVI. It is mutually agreed that every thing that should 
 be found laden by the subjects of one of the contracting parties on 
 board a vessel belonging to the enemies of the other party, shall be 
 wholly confiscated, although these effects may not be among the 
 number of those declared contraband, in the same manner as if these 
 articles belonged to the ejremy themselves, excepting, however, 
 effects and merchandizes which shall have been laden on board of 
 vessels belonging to the enemy before the declaration of war, and 
 also nine months after the declaration, after which time it shall be 
 supposed it could not be unknown. The merchandizes shall in 
 nowise be subject to confiscation, but shall be faitlifully restored to. 
 the owners, who shall reclaim, or cause them to be reclaimed, before 
 their confiscation and sale, where the claim cannot be made within 
 the space of eight months after the sale, which must be public ; the- 
 proceeds shall be returned to the owner ; it being understood, how- 
 ever, that if the said merchandizes are contraband they shall by no 
 means be permitted to transport them afterwards to any port belonging 
 to the enemy. 
 
 Article XVIL- And in order to provide more effectually for the 
 
 security of the two contracting parties and their subjects, all captains 
 
 and commanders of vessels belonging to his Prussian Majesty and 
 
 the United States of America, as also all their subjects, shall be- 
 
 Vol. I.— 29 
 
450 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 forbid to commit any damage or insult against the vessels of the other 
 party, and in case that any one shall contravene this prohibition, and 
 upon examination shall be found culpable before his own judge, he shall 
 be bound to give satisfaction for all damages and interests, and to in- 
 demnify them under penalty and obligation of his person and effects. 
 
 Abtigle XVIII. For this purpose, every person who would fit 
 out a privateer shall be obliged, before he receives his patents or 
 special commissions, to give security, before a competent judge, of 
 good substantial persons, severally and conjointly, in a sum sufficient 
 for the purpose of answering for all damages and wrongs which the 
 owner, his officers, or others in his service may do, during their 
 cruise, against the tenor of the present treaty, and against the edicts 
 made on both sides, in virtue of the same treaty, by the King of 
 Pmssia and the United States, and this under penalty of revoking 
 and annulling said patents and special commissions. 
 
 Article XIX. One of the contracting parties being at war, and 
 the other remaining neuter, should it so happen that a merchantman 
 of the neutral Power be taken by the enemy of the Power at war, 
 and retaken afterwards by a vessel or privateer of said Power at 
 war, these ships, as likewise all the ships and merchandizes of what 
 kind soever which shall have been taken in the hands of any pirate 
 or rover of the seas, shall be brought into some port of either of the 
 two States, and put under the care of the officer of said port, in 
 order that they may be entirely restored to their true owner as soon 
 as he shall produce sufficient proofs of his property. The merchants, 
 masters, and owners of vessels, .sailors, Sic, the ships and vessels, 
 and, in general, any kind of merchandizes or effects of one of the 
 contracting parties or their subjects, shall not be subject to any 
 embargo, nor detained in any of the countries, territories, islands, 
 cities, places, shores, or dominions whatever of the other party, for 
 any military expedition, public or private use of any person whatever, 
 by seizure, force, or any like manner. Much less shall the subjects 
 of one of the contracting parties be allowed to take or seize on any 
 thing by force belonging to the subjects of the other party, without 
 the consent of the owner, which, however, is not to extend to 
 seizures and arrests which shall be made by order and authority of 
 the justice, and according to the ordinary measures on account of 
 debts or crimes, on which subjects process is to be had agreeably to 
 the forms of justice. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 451 
 
 Article XX. Should it happen that the two contracting parties 
 should be engaged in war at the same time against a common enemy, 
 the following points shall be observed between them : 
 
 1st. If the vessels of one of the two nations, retaken by the 
 privateers of the other, shall not have been in possession of the 
 enemy more than twenty-four hours, they shall be restored to the 
 first owner for one third of the value of the vessel and cargo ; if, on 
 the contrary, the retaken vessel shall have- been more than twenty- 
 four hours in possession of the enemy, she shall belong wholly to 
 the recaptor. 
 
 2d. Where it shall happen that a ship Is retaken by a vessel of 
 war belonging to the Government of one of the two contracting 
 Powers within the interval of twenty-four hours, she shall be restored 
 to the first owner for one thirtieth of the value of the ship and cargo, 
 and the tenth if she has been retaken after the twenty-four hours, 
 which sums shall be distributed in gratuities to the crews of the 
 vessels which shall make the recapture. 
 
 3d. The prizes made in the aforesaid manner shall be restored to 
 the proprietors, after proof made of the property, with surety given 
 for the part to which the party who has retaken the vessel from the 
 enemy is entitled. 
 
 4th. The vessels of war of the two contracting parties, and of 
 their subjects, shall be reciprocally admitted with their prizes into 
 the respective ports ; but these prizes shall not be discharged or sold 
 until their legality shall have been decided according to the laws and 
 regulations of the States to which the privateers belong, but by the judi- 
 cature of the place into which the prize shall have been conducted. 
 
 5th. Moreover, it shall be free to the contracting parties to make 
 such regulations as they shall judge necessary for the conduct of 
 their respective vessels and privateers relative to the vessels which 
 they shall take and carry into the ports of the two Powers. 
 
 Article XXI. The armed vessels may conduct with full liberty 
 the prizes they shall have taken from their enemies, in the op^ ports 
 in time of war, to other friendly nations ; and these prizes, so enter- 
 ing into said ports, shall not be subject to be stopped or seized, nor 
 shall the officers of the place have any right to take cognizance of 
 the validity of said prizes, which shall be allowed to go out, and be 
 carried in full liberty to the places mentioned in the commissions, 
 which the captains of said vessels shall be obliged to show. 
 
452 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Article XXII. In case that any vessel belonging to one of the 
 two States, or their subjects, shall run aground, be shipwrecked, or 
 suffer any other damage on the coasts or dominions of the other 
 State, every assistance shall be given to the shipwrecked persons, or 
 to those who are in danger; and passports shall be granted to. them 
 to secure their return to their own country ; the ships and ship- 
 wrecked merchandizes, or their proceeds, if they shall have been 
 sold, being claimed by their owners or their agents within a year and 
 a day, shall be restored on paying the expenses of salvage, conform- 
 ably to the laws and customs of the two nations. 
 
 Article XXIII. When the subjects and inhabitants of one of 
 the contracting parties, with their vessels, public or private, armed 
 or merchantmen, shall be compelled by storm', by the pursuit of 
 pirates, or enemy's vessels, or by any other urgent necessity, to take 
 refuge and enter into any river, bay, road, or port of the other party, 
 they shall be received with humanity and kindness, and shall meet 
 with every friendship, protection, and assistance. They shall be 
 allowed to provide themselves with refreshments, provisions, and 
 every necessary for the subsistence, the reparation of their vessels, 
 and the continuation of their voyage, at a reasonable price, and they 
 shall not be in anywise detained or prevented from going out of said 
 ports, or road, but may withdraw how and when they please, with- 
 out any let or molestation. 
 
 Article XXIV. The vessels of subjects or inhabitants of- one of 
 the two contracting Powers, approaching the coast belonging to the 
 other party, but not intending to enter into port, or entering therein, 
 not desiring to discharge their cargoes or break bulk, shall not be 
 obliged to do it, but on the contrary shall enjoy all the franchises 
 and exemptions allowed by the regulations which subsist on this 
 head. 
 
 Article XXV. When a vessel belonging to the subjects and 
 inhabitants of one of the contracting parties sailing on the high seas, 
 shall be met by a ship-of-war belonging to the other party, to prevent 
 disorder, the said ship-of-war shall not approach within cannon shot, 
 but shall send, if she pleases, her boat aboard the merchantman, and 
 enter her with two or three men, the master or commander of said 
 ship, on shewing his passport, which proves the property of the ship, 
 to said persons ; after said vessel shall have exhibited this passport, 
 she shall have liberty to continue her voyage, and it shall not be 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 453 
 
 lawful to molest her, nor to seek in any manner to chase her, or to 
 oblige her to quit her intended course. 
 
 Article XXVI. The two contracting parties mutually grant 
 each other the liberty of having, in their respective ports^ Consuls, 
 Vice Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries, who shall exercise their 
 consular functions upon the same footing as the Consuls of the other 
 friendly nations exercise them in such places as they reside ; but if 
 they shall exercise commerce, they must do it in subjection to the 
 received laws and usages of the place of their residence. 
 
 Article XXVII. The present treaty shall be ratified on both 
 sides. The ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of eight 
 months, or sooner if possible, reckoning from the day of its signa- 
 ture. 
 
 In testimony whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed 
 the foregoing articles, and have thereunto afiixed their seals. 
 
 Done at 
 
 SEPARATE ARTICLE. 
 
 The King of Prussia and the United States of North America 
 agree that the present treaty shall be in full force during the term of 
 fifteen successive years, counting from the day of its ratification, and 
 the two Powers reserve to themselves the power of renewing it at 
 the expiration of that time. 
 Done at 
 
 Copied and examined by the original. 
 
 J. Q. ADAMS. 
 
 At the Hague, April 13, 1784. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, April 22, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 I received some time since a .letter from an American gentleman, 
 now in London, a candidate for orders, desiring to know if American 
 candidates might have orders from Protestant Bishops on the conti- 
 nent, and complaining that he had been refused by the Bishop of 
 London and the Archbishop of Canterbury, unless he would take the 
 oath of allegiance, Sic. 
 
454 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Meeting soon afterwards the Danish Minister, I had the curiosity 
 to inquire of him whether ordination might be had in Denmark ; he 
 answered me that he knew not, but would soon inform himself. I 
 heard no more of it till to-day, when the Secretary of his embassy, 
 Mr. de Rosenkrantz, made me a visit and delivered me the papers, 
 copies of which are enclosed. 
 
 Thus it seems that what I meant as current conversation only, has 
 been made the subject of deliberation of the Government of Den- 
 mark and their faculty of theology, which makes it necessary for me 
 to transmit to Congress. I am happy to find the decision so liberal. 
 I have the honor to be, he, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM M. DE ST. SAPHOKIN TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 The Hague, April 21, 1784. 
 
 M. de St. Saphorin has the honor to communicate to Mr. Adams 
 the answer he has received from his Excellency the Count de Rosen- 
 crone, Privy Counsellor and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 
 of his Danish Majesty, relative to what Mr. Adams desired to know. 
 He shall be happy if this answer be agreeable to him, as well as to 
 his superiors, and useful to his fellow-citizens. He has the honor to 
 
 assure him of his respect. 
 
 DE ST. SAPHORIN. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from his Excellency the Count de Rosencrone, 
 Privy Counsellor of his Majesty the King of DenmarJc, to M. de 
 St. Saphorin, Envoy Extraordinary from his Majesty to the States 
 General. 
 
 Sir, 
 The opinion of the Theological Faculty having been taken on the 
 question made to your Excellency by Mr. Adams, if the American 
 Ministers of the Church of England can be consecrated here by a 
 Bishop of the Danish Church ? I am ordered by the King to 
 authorize you to answer that such an act can take place according 
 to the Danish rites ; but for the convenience of the Americans, who 
 are supposed not to know the Danish language, the Latin language 
 will be made use of on the occasion. For the rest nothing will be 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 455 
 
 exacted from the candidates, but a profession conformable to the 
 articles of the English Church, omitting the oath called Test, which 
 prevents their being ordained by the English Bishops. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, March 21, 1785. 
 
 On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Holton, Mr. W. 
 C. Houston, Mr. Read, Mr. Bedford, and Mr. Hardy, to whom were 
 referred sundry letters from the Ministers of the United States at 
 Foreign Courts : 
 
 Resolved, That the Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States 
 to the States General of the United Netherlands, be instructed to 
 communicate to Monsieur de St. Saphorin, Envoy Extraordinary 
 from his Danish Majesty to the States General, the high sense the 
 United States in Congress assembled entertain of the liberal decision 
 made by his Majesty on the question proposed to his Majesty's 
 Minister at the Hague by Mr. Adams, Minister from the United 
 States, respecting the ordination of American candidates for holy 
 orders in the Episcopal Church, commonly called the Church of 
 England. 
 
 Ordered, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs transmit to the 
 Executives of the several States copies of Mr. Adams's letter of the 
 22d day of April, 1784, as' well as of the papers therein enclosed 
 relative to Episcopal ordination. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PEESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, May 13, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since my last arrival in Holland I have not transmitted to Congress 
 
 the details of the politics of this Court and nation, nor of those 
 
 neighboring Courts which are exciting disputes with it. Mr. Dumas 
 
 has been in the habit and train of that history, and I have not 
 
 thought fit to interrupt him. But if 1 should reside here regularly, 
 
 the whole business of the mission will of course go through my hands. 
 
 I therefore wish to know in what light I am to consider this gentleman, 
 
 and what relation he is to stand in to me. I wish it for the govern- 
 
456 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 ment of my own conduct, and still more from regard to him, whom 
 I esteem as a very worthy man, and one who has, for a course of 
 years, been indefatigable in the service of the United States, and who 
 is not adequately rewarded or supported by the pittance which is 
 allowed him. But what is more disagreeable, he has never had any 
 character or commission from Congress, and one knows not what to 
 call him, whether Secretary or Agent. I cannot ask him to act as 
 my private secretary, which is really much beneath him. Although 
 he is ever ready to assist me in all things, I should be happy to know 
 the pleasure of Congress in this respect, and to receive their instruc- 
 tions from time to time in all things which relate to the United 
 Netherlands, which I shall endeavor to execute to the best of my 
 power. 
 
 Enclosed is another copy of the project of a treaty with Prussia, 
 which I transmitted to Paris to Messrs. Franklin and Jay, and have 
 received back again from them with their approbation, excepting the 
 few corrections and inquiries marked upon it by those Ministers. 
 The King will send a full power probably to M. de Thulemeier, and 
 I should be happy to know the pleasure of Congress. 
 
 With great respect, fee, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, May 13, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 The measures taken by the neighboring Powers are likely to produce 
 an intimate friendship and connexion between this Republic and 
 France. England has mistaken her policy so much as to delay the 
 signature of the definitive treaty, and to keep up a coldness and 
 distance, which instead of exciting the populace in favor of England 
 as she expected, has only accelerated the union with France, which 
 if she had not been blind she might have foreseen. The Emperor, 
 too, who certainly does not wish a close connection between this 
 country and France, has revived so many ancient pretensions as have 
 alarmed this nation, and produced an application to Versailles for her 
 mediation. The King of Prussia perhaps would not be sorry to see 
 the Republic allied to France ; but whether he had it in view or not, 
 his letters have contributed somewhat to that end. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 457 
 
 Hitherto there are only two or three provinces which have declared 
 for a treaty with France ; but probably the whole number will soon 
 embrace the same policy. The first step will be a treaty of 
 commerce. This will be a bar to the renovation of the ancient 
 alliance -v^ith England ; but if a war should break out, it will occasion 
 an alliance with France. War may happen, for there are manifest 
 symptoms of a fermentation in the Several courts of Europe, and of a 
 jealousy between the two imperial Courts and the House of Bourbon ; 
 but still I hope the public tranquillity will not be interrupted. The 
 difSculty of commanding money will be its best security. England 
 would not be sorry to see a war if she could be neutral, but she is 
 not in a condition to foment it by furnishing subsidies. 
 
 The Emperor has large views, as it is supposed, both for his people 
 and his family ; he is suspected of vast projects of ambition, some of 
 wkich have Silesia for their object. But hitherto his ambition has 
 not been unjust in general, but has appeared in beneficent designs for 
 his subjects and mankind, and it is much to be wished it may never 
 overleap those bounds. If his life and that of the Empress of Russia 
 should be prolonged for some years, and England should recover the 
 command of money, she may probably furnish that instrument of 
 mischief, and blow up a general war. It is good to look forward as 
 far as we can that we may be prepared for our own part. 
 
 With great regard, &.c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, May 14, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 As I had the honor to observe, in a former letter, there is a 
 fermentation in the Courts of the two Empires and those of Bour- 
 bon, which appears in several particulars, which may be explained 
 hereafter. 
 
 A question of etiquette, which amounts to no more than which of 
 two persons shall enter or leave a room the first, may set all Europe 
 in a flame. The Prince de Gallitzin, the Russian Ambassador at 
 Vienna, has informed the Court that he could not, any longer, give 
 place to the Ambassadors of the Courts of Bourbon. The Chan- 
 cellor, De Kaunitz, communicated this information to the Ambas- 
 sadors of France and Spain, who answered that they would not 
 
458 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 appear at Court until they should receive the instructions of their 
 masters. So necessary it is for Governments to fix the eyes of their 
 own subjects upon some objects which will keep up in their own 
 minds a sense of their importance ; the step of an Ambassador, or 
 the hoisting of a flag, is enough to raise or sink the pride and spirit 
 of a mighty nation. This affair, however, may be accommodated. 
 
 The death of the Bishop of Liege will occasion another contest ; 
 the Emperor will endeavor that his brother Maximilian should be 
 chosen. France will oppose this, and set up others; this will try 
 their talents at electioneering, and occasion a heat, but not probably 
 a war. 
 
 With great respect, &c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGKESS. 
 
 The Hague, June 7, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Some weeks ago the Baron de Thulemeier called upon me and 
 delivered me the paper, a copy of which is enclosed marked 1. It 
 is a letter written by the Envoy to the King. 
 
 Last evening the Baron called upon me again, and delivered me 
 the answer of the King, contained in the paper, a copy of which is 
 enclosed, marked 2. 
 
 I have heretofore transmitted to Congress, by different oppor- 
 tunities, copies of the project of a treaty; and the papers herein 
 transmitted complete the negotiation, and the treaty is ready for 
 signature, unless Congress have other alterations to propose. 
 
 As his Majesty seems to choose that this business should be con- 
 ducted by his Envoy here, who is also desirous of finishing it, 
 perhaps Congress may not judge it too much complaisance, in 
 framing their commission, to give authority to any one to conclude 
 this treaty, in case they should name more than one, as it would be 
 impossible for Mr. Thulemeier to go to Paris. It is not every 
 Ambassador, however high his rank, or numerous his titles, or mag- 
 nificent his appointments, who arrives at the honor of concluding any 
 treaty. It is a distinction which is made an object of ambition, and 
 is much desired, so that the Baron's inclinations, I suppose, will not 
 be thought inexcusable. 
 
 I should hope that Congress might despatch their instructions and 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 459 
 
 authority to some one, or more, to conclude this affair, with as little 
 delay as possible. 
 
 With great respect. Sic, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Observations made by Mr. Adams, on the project of a Treaty of 
 Amity and Commerce, to be concluded between his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia and the United States of America, with the 
 alterations which this Minister desired might be adopted by his 
 Prussian Majesty, after a previous agreement on those points 
 between him and his colleagues, Messrs. Franklin and Jayi 
 
 1st. Instead of expressing, through the course of the treaty, the 
 denomination of the United States of North America, simply the 
 United States of America. 
 
 2d. Instead of respective subjects, with respect to the United 
 States of America, the word citizens. 
 
 3d. Article III. In like manner, to the merchandizes of America, 
 add productions, manufactures, and merchandizes. 
 
 4th. Article VII. And no one shall be molested on account of 
 his religion, provided he submits to such public demonstrations as 
 are enjoined by the laws of the country. On this head a more 
 explicit article is desired, such as the fourth of the treaty concluded 
 between the United States of America and the Republic of the 
 United Provinces. " Entire and perfect liberty of conscience shall 
 ' be granted to the subjects and inhabitants of each party, and their 
 ' famihes ; and no one shall be molested on account of his religion, 
 'provided he submits in the public demonstrations thereof, to the 
 "laws of the country. Liberty shall, moreover, be granted, on the 
 ' death of the subjects or inhabitants of either party, in the territory 
 ' of the other, to inter them in the usual burial-grounds, or in decent 
 'or suitable places appointed for the purpose; and the bodies of the 
 ' interred shall in no wise be molested ; and the two contracting 
 'Powers shall provide, each within its respective jurisdiction, that the 
 ' respective subjects and inhabitants may hereafter obtain the requisite 
 ' certificates in case of death, when they may be interested therein." 
 
 5th. Article XV. Until the cargo has been Janded in the 
 presence of officers appointed for the purpose, and that the opening 
 has been made. 
 
 N. B. Instead of opening, inventory. 
 
 6th. The twenty-first article may require some explanation, 
 
460 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 since it is found to be contradictory to the seventeenth article of 
 the treaty of amity and commerce between his most Christian 
 Majesty and the United States of America, which contains the 
 following expressions : And, on the contrary, no shelter or refuge 
 shall be given in their ports or harbors to such as shall have made 
 prizes of the subjects of his Majesty or said United States, and if 
 they are forced to enter by distress of weather or the danger of the 
 sea, they shall be obliged to leave it again as soon as possible. 
 After the declaration of this article, it appears that in case of a war 
 between Prussia and France, it would not be admissible for the 
 United States of America to derogate from antecedent treaties con- 
 cluded with the most Christian King, in favor of a more recent 
 obligation contracted with his Prussian Majesty. 
 
 Observations made by Mr. Adams on the project of a Treaty of 
 Amity and Commerce to be concluded between his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia and the United States of America, with the 
 alterations which this Minister desired might be adopted by his 
 Prussian Majesty, after a previous agreement on these points 
 between him and his colleagues, Messrs. Franklin and Jay. 
 
 Answers to the prfceding oh- 
 Article III. serhations. 
 
 The principal end of this 1st. Instead of express- May be changed with- 
 treatybeingtoopenarecip- ing through the course of out any difficulty, 
 rocal commerce between the treaty the denornina- 
 the subjects of the two tion of the United States 
 States, and by that means of J^orth America, simply 
 to. procure for them a sure the United Stales afMmerica. 
 and easy vent for their 2d. Instead of respective The same, 
 national productions, the subjects, with respect to 
 two contracting parties the United States of Amer- 
 agree that the merchan- ica, the word cilizens. 
 dizes of Prussian manu- 
 facture, particularly linens 
 of Silesia and other prov- 
 inces belonging to the 
 King, cloths and woolen 
 stuffs, &<;., shall not pay 
 othnr or heavier duties in 
 the United States of North 
 America than what similar 
 merchandizes of the most 
 favored nations pay in the 
 said States on importation 
 and exportation. In like 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 461 
 
 manner, the mercliandizes 
 of America, such as Vir- 
 ginia tobacco, rice, indigo, 
 furs, &c., shall only be 
 subject, on their importa- 
 tion and exportation in the 
 maritime places belonging 
 to the King of Prussia, to 
 the same imposts as are 
 paid by the most favored 
 nation. 
 
 Add the productions. Granted, the rather as 
 manufactures, and nler- the general term of mer- 
 chandizes, chandizea comprehends 
 alike productions that 
 grow and manufactures. 
 
 Article VII. 
 Perfect liberty of con- 
 science shall be granted to 
 the inhabitants and sub- 
 jects of either of the con- 
 tracting parties within the 
 jurisdiction of the other, 
 and no one shall be mo- 
 lested on account of his 
 mode of worship, provided 
 he submits to such public 
 'demonstrations as are en- 
 joined by the laws of the 
 country. Moreover, the 
 respective inhabitants and 
 subjects shall be permitted 
 to be buried in suitable and 
 decent places which' shall 
 he appointed for this pur- 
 pose; and the two con- 
 tracting parties shall each 
 of them provide, within 
 their jurisdiction, that the 
 respective subjects and in- 
 habitants may be able to 
 obtain certificates of the 
 death of a person, in case 
 they should be requested 
 to grant them. 
 
 On this head a more ex- 
 plicit article is required, 
 such as the 4th article of 
 the treaty concluded be- 
 tweed the United States of 
 America and the Republic 
 of the United Provinces: 
 "Entire and perfect lib- 
 erty of conscience shall be 
 granted to the subjects and 
 inhabitants of each party 
 and their families, and no 
 one shall be molested on 
 account of his religion, 
 provided he submit, in 
 the public demonstration 
 thereof, to the laws of the 
 country. Liberty shall, 
 moreover, be • granted, on 
 the death of the subjects 
 or inhabitants of either 
 peirty in the territory of 
 the other, to inter them in 
 the usual burial grounds, 
 or in decent and suitable 
 places appointed for the 
 purpose ; and the bodies of 
 the interred shall in no wise 
 be molested. And the two 
 contracting Powers shall 
 provide, each within its 
 respective jurisdiction, that 
 the respective subjects and 
 inhabitants may hereafter 
 obtain requisite certificates 
 in case of death, when they 
 may be interested there- 
 in." 
 
 This article can be mi- 
 nuted as is desired in the 
 observations. 
 
462 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Article XV. 
 If on producing said cer- 
 tificates it shall be discov- 
 ered that the -vjessel has on 
 board any of the articles 
 ■which are declared prohib- 
 ited or contraband, and 
 which are consigned to an 
 enemy's port, it shall not, 
 however, be permitted to 
 break open the hatches of 
 said vessel, nor to open 
 any case, box, bale, or 
 cask, or to displace them, 
 or to overturn the least 
 part of the merchandize, 
 until the cargo has been 
 landed in the presence of 
 officers appointed for this 
 purpose, and that the open- 
 ing has been made, &c. 
 
 Article XXI. 
 The armed vessels may 
 conduct, with full liberty, 
 the prizes they shall have 
 taken from their enemies, 
 into the ports open in time 
 of war to other friendly 
 nations, and these prizes 
 so entering into said port 
 shall not be subject to be 
 stopped nor seized, nor 
 shall the officers of the 
 place have any right to 
 take cognizance of the va- 
 lidity of said prizes, which 
 shall be allowed to go out 
 and be carried in full lib- 
 erty to the places men- 
 tioned by the commissions, 
 which the captains of said 
 vessels shall be obliged to 
 show. 
 
 Instead of the opening, 
 the inventory. 
 
 This article may require 
 some change, since it ia 
 found to be contradictory 
 to the 17th article of the 
 treaty of amity and com- 
 merce between his most 
 Christian Majesty and the 
 United States of America, 
 which contains the follow- 
 ing expressions: "And on 
 the contrary, no shelter 
 nor refuge shall be given 
 in their ports or harbors 
 to such as shall have made 
 prizes of the subjects of 
 his Majesty, or of the said 
 United States ; and if they 
 are forced to enter by dis- 
 tress of weather or the 
 danger of the sea, they 
 shall be obliged to leave 
 it again as soon as possi- 
 ble." 
 
 After the declaration of 
 this article it appears that, 
 in case of a war between 
 Prussia and France, it 
 would not be admissible 
 for the United States of 
 
 Granted. 
 
 This article may be 
 minuted in the following 
 meuiner: "The armed ves- 
 sels of one of the con- 
 tracting parties shall not 
 conduct the prizes they 
 shall have taken from their 
 enemies into the ports of 
 the Other unless they are 
 forced to enter therein by 
 stress of weather or dan- 
 ger of the sea. In this 
 Isist case, they shall not be 
 stopped nor seized, but 
 shall be obliged to go 
 away as sooaas possible. " 
 
DIPLOMATIC COURESPONDENCE. 463 
 
 America to derogate from 
 antecedent treaties con- 
 cluded -Hrith the most 
 Christian King in favor of 
 a more recent obligation 
 contracted with his Prus- 
 sian Majesty. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS. 
 
 The Hague, June 22, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 If my memory does not deceive me, I have heretofore transmitted 
 to Congress the advice of some of the foreign Ministers here that 
 the United States in Congress assembled should write a letter to 
 each of the sovereigns of Europe, informing them of the complete 
 establishment of their independence. 
 
 Lately, in separate conversations with the Ministers of the two 
 Empires and the King of Sardinia, they all repeated this advice. 
 They say that this is the rule, the practice, and that the precedents 
 are uniform. The Empress of Russia did it lately, when she 
 ascended the throne. They add that this is the precise point of 
 time, now that the ratifications of the definitive treaty of peace are 
 exchanged, which is the most proper to make the communication, 
 and that their Courts expect it from Congress. 
 
 Congress, no doubt, will write an elegant letter upon the occasion ; 
 but it would, in substance, be sufficient to say, that on the 4th of 
 July, 1776, they found it necessary to declare themselves a sovereign 
 State ; that they have since entered into treaties with several Powers 
 of Europe, particularly a treaty of peace with the King of Great 
 Britain, wherein that Crown has acknowledged, formally and 
 solemnly, their sovereignty ; and that it is their desire to live in good 
 intelligence and correspondence with the sovereigns of Europe, and 
 of all other parts of the world, and with the one in particular ; and 
 that there may be friendship and harmony between their respective 
 citizens and subjects. These letters may be transmitted to all or 
 any of your Ministers in Europe, to be by them communicated 
 through the foreign Ministers at the court where they reside, or they 
 may be transmitted directly. If Congress are, at a loss for the titles 
 of any Sovereign, they may leave a blank, to be filled by the Minister 
 to whom the letter is sent for communication. 
 
464 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 The answers which will be respectively given to these letters will 
 prevent many questions, discussions, and chicaneries, because that 
 orders will then be given to all Ambassadors, Governors, Generals, 
 Admirals, Sic, to treat all American citizens of the United States 
 according to their characters. 
 
 With great respect, &c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on the Letter of John Adams, Esq., dated 
 22d June, 1784. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, March 4, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States of America for the Department 
 
 of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred a letter of the 22d 
 
 June, 1784, from the Honorable John Adams, Esq., reports, as his 
 
 opinion : 
 
 That Congress, by their Declaration of the 4th July, 1776, 
 announced the independence of the United States to all the nations 
 of the world, and that it was then as perfect and complete as it now 
 is or ever can be. 
 
 That it would be most prudent, in the opinion of your Secretary, 
 for Congress, in speaking of the treaty of peace, to avoid, as much 
 as possible, connecting their independence with it, lest such connexion, 
 unless exceedingly guarded, might afford matter to argue an admis- 
 sion that their independence was indebted for legal validity to the 
 acknowledgment of it by Great Britain. 
 
 That as a state of war between any two nations calls upon the 
 others to observe and fulfil those duties which either the laws of 
 neutrality, of particular treaties, and compacts may prescribe, it is 
 important to all to be properly informed of the time when such war 
 commences, and when it ceases. 
 
 Your Secretary therefore thinks it would be right for Congress, by 
 letter, to announce to the Sovereigns of Europe that the war which 
 lately subsisted between his Britannic Majesty and the United States 
 was terminated by the treaty of peace made between them at Paris, 
 on the 3d day of September, 1783, and that to avoid the necessity 
 of saying any thing on the subject of it, a copy of the treaty should 
 be enclosed in the letter. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 465 
 
 Your Secretary submits the following draft of such a letter to the 
 consideration of Congress : 
 
 To 
 
 It gives us pleasure to inform your Majesty that the war which 
 for many years had subsisted between his Britannic Majesty and the 
 United States of America, was happily terminated on the 3d day 
 of September, 1783, by a treaty of peace, which has since been 
 formally ratified by both parties. 
 
 The respect we entertain for your Majesty induces us to inform 
 you of this important event, and, for your further satisfaction, to 
 enclose you a copy of the treaty. 
 
 Permit us to assure your Majesty of our sincere desire to cultivate 
 harmony and a friendly intercourse between your Majesty's subjects 
 and our citizens ; and that we wish to see the commerce of these 
 States with other nations so regulated as to become reciprocally 
 beneficial to them and to us. 
 
 When it is considered that monopoly and restraint on one side 
 always produce monopoly and restraint on the other, and that 
 attempts to obtain partial advantages usually occasion equivalent 
 embarrassments, we flatter ourselves that in this enlightened age a 
 policy more consonant to the honor and happiness of mankind will 
 by degrees prevail. 
 
 We, for our parts, shall be happy to enter into a treaty of amity 
 and commerce with your Majesty on the most liberal principles ; and 
 we have reason to hope that the various productions and rapid popu- 
 lation of our thirteen countries, will give them some weight in the 
 commercial State. 
 
 We pray God to keep your Majesty under his holy protection. 
 
 Done by the United States of America in Congress assembled, at 
 
 their Chamber in the city of New York, on the day 
 
 of , one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 o 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, October 20, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 The enclosed letters from Mr. Dumas will communicate to Con- 
 gress the present state of affairs between their High Mightinesses 
 Vol. L— 30 
 
466 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 and the Government General of the Austrian Low Countries. Those 
 who have negotiated for the Emperor appear to have presumed too 
 much upon the fears and divisions of the Dutch, and to have com- 
 promised too hastily his authority and dignity. The Dutch, neither 
 terrified nor dejected, are arming for the defence of their country 
 with unanimity, and are laboring to accomplish a coalition of parties 
 among themselves ; which, if it can be effected, will be much for 
 the honor, happiness, and prosperity of the nation. 
 
 If the words of the Count de Belgioso were to be taken literally, 
 the war is already commenced, as guns have been fired, and Aus- 
 trian vessels stopped ; but winter approaches too fast for forces 
 to take the field, and before the season for opening a campaign will 
 arrive, there will be much room for negotiation. France will endeavor 
 to reconcile, but if she cannot succeed in this, she must take the part 
 of Holland ; besides her general interest in the independence of that 
 republic, and her particular interest in their friendship, which she 
 lately found useful, both to her finances and her possessions in the 
 two Indies, she is not less interested than Holland itself in preventing 
 Brabant and Flanders from becoming rich commercial countries in 
 the hands of the house of Austria, in preventing their trade to the 
 East and West Indies. 
 
 How the English will act is a problem. But if they can find an 
 interest in opening the commerce of that country, they have more 
 sagacity than their ancestors, or than any but themselves now living. 
 
 Upon the whole there is still room to hope that the peace will be 
 preserved ; if it is not there is great reason to fear that the war will 
 be very general. The object the Emperor has in view would be 
 useful to America, as it would open to us some good ports and noble 
 markets, and thereby compel France, England, and Holland to be 
 more complaisant. But we need not wish such an advantage to 
 ourselves at the expense of so general a calamity to mankind, as we 
 have already commercial advantages enough to satisfy a reasonable 
 people. France and Holland are sensible of the advantages we 
 should have ; whether England is I know not. A youth of five and 
 twenty, although very promising and very virtuous, appears to have 
 an object in his hands too great for his forces. He does not appear 
 to enter into the true system of his country, nor to comprehend at all 
 her situation relative to foreign Powers. 
 
 With great respect, he, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 467 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, November 3, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 Dr. Franklin has lately communicated to Mr. Jefferson and me a 
 letter he has received from the Count de Vergennes, and another 
 from M. Grand. The first informs that M. Marbois has informed 
 him that upon his application to the Superintendent of Finances he 
 had received an answer from Mr. Gouverneur Morris, that letters 
 should be written both to Amsterdam and Paris to provide for the 
 payment of the interest of the ten millions of livres borrowed for the 
 United States in Holland by the King, and reminds the American 
 Minister that other interest is due, and that the first payment of the 
 capital will become due next year. M. Grand informs that he is 
 already about fifty thousand livres in advance for loan-office certifi- 
 cates, salaries, &;c. These letters the Doctor will no doubt transmit 
 to Congress ; and as they relate to matters within his department, I 
 might have been excused from mentioning them, if the mention of 
 Amsterdam had not made it probable that Mr. Morris had it in 
 contemplation to draw upon our bankers there for money to discharge 
 this interest ; and I cannot excuse myself from observing that if such 
 drafts should be made, I am apprehensive they will be protested. 
 France is at present in so much danger of being forced to take part 
 in a war in the Low Countries that I am not surprised at the Count 
 de Vergennes's attention to matters of revenue, and that I cannot see 
 any hope that Doctor Franklin will be able to obtain any relief fi-om 
 this Court. 
 
 It will be remembered that there is a debt of near a million and a 
 half sterling to France, and another debt of more than half a million 
 sterling in Holland, whose interests are constantly accruing. There 
 are also salaries to Ministers, and there is another call for money 
 which is very pressing ; the commerce of the Mediterranean is of 
 great importance to the United States, and to every one of them, 
 and this commerce cannot be enjoyed with freedom without treaties 
 with the Barbary Powers. It will be not only in vain, but dangerous 
 and detrimental to open negotiations with these Powers without money 
 for the customary presents. How are all these demands for money 
 to be satisfied ? If cash, bills, or produce can be sent to Europe for 
 the purpose, it will be happy for us ; but I suppose that no man 
 
468 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 believes it possible, and therefore we must not only forego great 
 future advantages, but violate contracts already made, and faith 
 already pledged, and thereby totally ruin our credit, if not expose 
 the property of our merchants to be seized abroad, or we must 
 borrow more money in Europe. Now, there is no part of Europe in 
 which we can expect to borrow unless it be in Holland, and there we 
 may rely upon it all our hopes will fail us, if effectual measures are 
 not taken to fund our foreign debt. 
 
 If adequate funds were established for discharging the interest, we 
 may hope for further credit; without them our circumstances are 
 absolutely desperate. 
 
 It is not for me to enter into the question how this is to be done, 
 so far distant and so long absent. It would be impossible for me to 
 form a judgment, if the subjects were within my province, which it 
 is not. The ability of our people for this and much greater things 
 cannot be doubted by any man who knows anything of their afiairs, 
 and it is a pity that any questions about the mode should retard this 
 most necessary provision for the existence of our credit abroad. 
 
 I have this moment a letter from our bankers at Amsterdam, dated 
 the 28th of October, in which they inform me that they have not 
 received the ratification of my last loan ; perhaps it did not arrive 
 until after the recess of Congress. I must earnestly request that 
 Congress would despatch it as early as possible after their meeting, 
 because the delay of it may excite an alarm, and dash all our hopes 
 at once. The half a million sterling which we have obtained in 
 Holland, has been all transmitted to America in dollars by the way 
 of the Havana, or paid in redeeming bills of exchange sold in America 
 for very advantageous premiums. None of it has been laid out in 
 , goods, and therefore every other consideration calls upon us to be 
 punctual, as well as our honor, which alone ought to be sufficient. 
 Enclosed are copies of papers received firom Mr. Dumas with my 
 answers. I cannot forbear recommending this gentleman to Con- 
 gress upon this occasion, as the critical circumstances in the Low 
 Countries at this time will render his intelligence very interesting, 
 and his services at the Hague perhaps indispensably necessary. 
 With great respect, Stc, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 469 
 
 The following Questions, submitted by their High Mightinesses to 
 M. Dumas, were by him transmitted to Mr. Adams, whose Answers 
 are appended: 
 
 aUESTIONS. 
 
 1st. On proof of a transfer in good and 
 due form, the property of a vessel to be 
 American, can the necessary sea letters 
 be obtained at the Hague ? 
 
 2d. Is it necessary that the purchaser 
 should be a citizen of some town belong- 
 ing to one of the thirteen States, or will 
 it suffice that he is settled there, though 
 only since the acknowledgment of the 
 independence of America.^ Has a citizen 
 greater claims to the protection of Con- 
 gress than an inhabitant ? 
 
 3d. The property of a vessel being 
 proved Atnerican, (agreeably to the first 
 question,) is it indifferent in what port 
 she is, and to what port she is destined, 
 or is this confined to a certain port in 
 Europe and to a certain port in America, 
 and Dice versa } 
 
 4th Is it necessary that the captain of 
 such vessel should be an American citi- 
 zen, 6r will it answer if he has been born 
 in a city, town, or village actually de- 
 pendent on Congress ^ 
 
 5th In case of jjurcliasing a vessel on 
 account of an American, for which there 
 is an immediate employment, may she 
 not be commanded by a captain of another 
 nation, supposing that at the time no 
 American captain could be found who 
 might be entrusted with the command .' 
 
 6tli. Should a vessel, sold and trans- 
 ferred to a citizen or inhabitant of the 
 continent, be taken by the enemy, sailing 
 under foreign colors, could a reclaim by 
 Congress be expected .' 
 
 7th In case sucli vessel should be 
 bound from a port in Europe or America 
 for a Mediterranean port, or should actu- 
 ally be at some port in the Mediterranean, 
 and elsewhere destined, what means are 
 to be taken, and what papers are to be 
 shown, to obtain the necessary Turkish 
 passports to navigate that sea.' 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 1st. There is no man at present in 
 Holland legally authorized by the Uni- 
 ted States in Congress assembled to 
 issue sea letters. 
 
 2d. Both citizens ahd inhabitants have 
 a right to protection. But every stranger 
 who has been in the United States, or 
 who may be there at present, is not an 
 inhabitant. Different States have differ- 
 ent definitions of this word. The domi- 
 cile, and the "animus habitandi " is neces- 
 sary in all. 
 
 3d. All vessels ^ fide the property 
 of American citizens or inhabitants, have 
 a right to protection. 
 
 4th. American citizens and inhabitants 
 have a right to navigate their vessels by 
 captains and seamen of any nation. 
 
 5. Undoubtedly. But let the parties 
 look to • themselves that the translation 
 be bona fide and clearly proved. 
 
 6th. The evidence of this must be very 
 clear. The United States will scarcely 
 interfere in such a case, if there is a 
 doubt of the fact or a supicion of collu- 
 sion. 
 
 7th . The United States have not yet 
 a treaty with the Turks or Barbary 
 Powers, and therefore no such papers 
 are to be had. 
 
470 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 AuTEuiL, Mveniber 3, 1784. 
 Mr. Dumas: 
 
 I have given to the several preceding 
 questions the only answers in my power, 
 and hope they will be satisfactory. It 
 is in the power of Congress alone to 
 authorize any other answers. To that 
 august assembly, therefore, you will do 
 well to write a full account of all these 
 things, and if it is consistent with their 
 wisdom, it will be very pleasing to me 
 if they should send you a commission as 
 Charge d'Affaires ; for such an officer, or 
 ■ another Minister, seems now to be ne- 
 cessary, on account of the danger of a 
 
 war. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Hxtract from the Secret Journal of Foreign Affairs, January 20, 
 
 1785. 
 
 On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. Monroe, Mr. 
 Piatt, Mr. Read, Mr. Hardy, and Mr. Speight, to whom was referred 
 a letter of the 3d November, 1784, from the Honorable John 
 Adams, and a letter of the 11th of the same month from the Honor- 
 able John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson : . 
 
 Resolved, That the paragraph in the joint letter respecting the 
 communications they have received from the Count de Vergennes 
 upon the subject of the Dutch loans guarantied by France, and the 
 particular loans of France, as also the paragraph respecting the letter 
 of Monsieur Le Grand to Mr. Franklin, and the letter of Mr. Adams, 
 be transmitted to the several Executives, and that they be requested 
 to lay them before their respective Legislatures, for their information 
 upon the subjects which they treat, under injunctions of secrecy. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, December 15, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 I venture to address myself to you as Minister of Foreign Aflairs, 
 because I sincerely hope that you have accepted that important 
 office. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 47 1 
 
 The Emperor of Morocco sent an Ambassador last winter to Hol- 
 land to demand materials for some frigates ; and as none of the great 
 maritime Powers have the courage or the will to refuse such requisi- 
 tions, obtained them. It now appears probable that they have been 
 employed in corsairs against American trade, and one Virginia vessel 
 appears to have been taken and carried to Tangier. This has spread 
 an alarm, and raised the insurance on American vessels, and ren- 
 dered it necessary .that something should be soon done. 
 
 There is danger of our making mistakes upon this occasion. 
 Some are of opinion that our trade in the Mediterranean is not worth 
 the expense of the presents we must make the piratical States to 
 obtain treaties with them. Others think it humiliating to treat with 
 such enemies of the human race, and that it would be more manly 
 to fight them. The first, I think, have not calculated the value of 
 our Mediterranean trade, in which every one of our States is deeply 
 interested. But this is not all. The piratical corsairs will go all 
 over the ocean, and will even raise the insurance upon all our com- 
 merce so high as to cost us more in this single article than all the 
 presents exacted would amount to. The last have more spirit than 
 prudence. As long as France, England, Holland, the Emperor, &z;c.. 
 will submit to be tributary to these robbers, and even encourage 
 them, to what purpose should we make war upon them ? The reso- 
 lution might be heroic, but would not be wise. The- contest would 
 be unequal. They can injure us very sensibly, but we cannot hurt 
 them in the smallest degree. We have, or shall have, a rich trade 
 at sea exposed to their depredations. They have none at all upon 
 which we can make reprisals. If we take a vessel of theirs, we get 
 nothing but a bad vessel, fit only to burn, and a few guns and a few 
 barbarians, whom we may hang or enslave if we will ; and the 
 unfeeling tyrants whose subjects they are will think no more of it 
 than if we had killed so many caterpillars upon an apple tree. When 
 they take a vessel of ours, they not only get a rich prize, but they 
 enslave the men ; and if there are among them men of any rank or 
 note, they demand most exorbitant ransoms for them. If we could 
 even send a force sufficient to burn a town, their unfeeling governors 
 would only insult and deride. Unless it were possible, then, to 
 persuade the great maritime Powers of Europe to unite in the 
 suppression of these piracies, it would be very imprudent for us to 
 entertain any thoughts of contending with them, and will only lay 
 
472 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 a foundation (by irritating their passions and increasing their insolence 
 and their demands) for long and severe repentance. I hope, there- 
 fore, we shall think of nothing but treating with them. 
 
 But how ! where is the money ? France calls upon us to fulfil 
 our engagements with her, both for interest and principal, and our 
 creditors in Holland, who are very numerous, will soon be uneasy, 
 unless something is done for their security. Holland is the only 
 place where we can borrow money, and there it will be impracticable, 
 unless our European debt at least be consolidated. 
 
 If Congress, therefore, think of borrowing in Holland, they must 
 begin by laying duties at home to pay the interest. 
 
 I have not time to enlarge at present on any subject. This is the 
 most pressing, and deserves the immediate attention of Congress 
 and their Ministers, of whom I hope you are one, as I am very sure 
 no man is better qualified or better disposed, but if, unfortunately, 
 you should not be in office, let me pray you to transmit the substance 
 of this letter to Congress. 
 
 With great and sincere respect, &c., JOHN ADAI\IS. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Auteuil, neai' Paris, January 10, 1765. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the satisfaction to inform Congress, that by a letter from 
 our bankers in Amsterdam, I am informed they have in hand near a 
 million of guilders, and consequently, that the two loans I have 
 opened, amounting in the whole to seven millions of guilders, are 
 almost full. This is a full proof of an amelioration of our credit, siace 
 January, 1784, when I was obliged, in a very tender state of con- 
 valescence, and an uncommonly rigorous season, to undergo the 
 hardships and dangers of a voyage and journey in packet-boats, ice 
 boats, and boors' waggons, to obtain money to save Mr. Morris's bills 
 from being protested. 
 
 This is a very fortunate circumstance for us at this time, both as 
 it furnishes us the means of treating with the Barbary Powers, if 
 Congress should authorize us to make the necessary presents ; upon 
 which points we wait their instructions, and as it will enable Con- 
 gress to pay the interest of their debt to France. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 473 
 
 Four letters upon the subject of this interest have been communi- 
 cated to his colleagues, by Doctor Franklin, one from the Count de 
 Vergennes, and three from M. Grand, and no doubt transmitted to 
 Congress. 
 
 Doctor Franklin has sounded me several times, to know if I was 
 willing to pay the salaries of Ministers, and Mr. Carmichael's salary, 
 Mr. Dumas's salary, and Colonel Humphreys's ; in short, there is 
 no money in Europe at present, but what has been obtained in Hol- 
 land by my signature, and is supposed to be under my inspection ; I 
 shall, therefore, be very soon embarrassed, as there will be many 
 applications to me for money, and I shall not dare to advance it 
 without orders ; I therefore pray for the explicit instructions of 
 Congress upon this subject. Four Ministers in Europe must not 
 starve on the one hand, and I must not on the other presume to 
 appropriate money unappropriated by Congress, without necessity. 
 
 If it should be the pleasure of Congress that I should draw for 
 necessary moneys upon the certificate of their Ministers here, or that 
 they should draw upon my bankers in Amsterdam, this would relieve 
 me from a great anxiety ; at all events, it is absolutely necessary 
 that Congress should communicate to me their commands. 
 
 I wish also to know whether it is the expectation of Congress that 
 I should open a new loan, as one of the old ones is full, and the 
 other very near it. 
 
 I conYess it grieves me to put my hand to an obligation, as it 
 always brings home to my heart the reflection that I am burthening 
 the industry and labor of my fellow-citizens and countrymen with a 
 heavy load ; and when demands are laid before me for millions of 
 livres for interest already due, I cannot help wishing that I might 
 never have occasion to sign another obligation. It will, nevertheless, 
 be absolutely necessary, as I believe, to borrow somewhat more ; but 
 it behooves the people to consider the necessity they are under of 
 exerting themselves in season to provide for the payment of their 
 foreign debt, and especially to avoid as much as possible the necessity 
 of increasing it. They will find it very impoverishing to send annu- 
 ally out of their country such large sums for the payment of interest ; 
 an enormous bulk of the produce of the country must go to make 
 up these sums, and we shall find the drain very exhausting to our 
 patience, if not to our strength. 
 
 With great respect, &c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
474 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Report of Secretary Jay on Mr. Adams's letter of \Oth January 
 
 last, (1785.) 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, April 1, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a letter from the Honorable John 
 
 Adams to his Excellency the President of Congress, dated 10th 
 
 January last, reports : 
 
 That the said letter contains nothing but what comes directly 
 within the Treasury Department, except the hint respecting treaties 
 with the Barbary States ; for negotiating which Congress have 
 already been pleased to provide. 
 
 Your Secretary takes the liberty of observing, that the state of our 
 foreign affairs renders it highly necessary that the Commissioners of 
 the Treasury should be speedily convened, and proceed to business : 
 for without a general knowledge of the affairs of a department, it 
 must be difficult to conduct, properly, any particular branch of them ; 
 especially in money matters, where the relations between debts, 
 funds, and expenditures are so intimate and extensive as to render 
 order and system in a great degree indispensable. 
 
 For these reasons it appears expedient to refer Mr. Adams's letter 
 to the Treasury, and, until their report can be obtained, to postpone 
 deciding whether a new loan is necessary to be opened, and to what 
 amount, as well as purposes to which the remainder of the money in 
 Holland ought to be appropriated. 
 
 But as the justice, as well as the dignity, of the United States, 
 requires that their Ministers and servants should be punctually 
 supplied, without the intervention of personal credit, and such like 
 expedients, your Secretary is of opinion that Mr. Adams should be 
 authorized, until the further order of Congress, to cause the salaries 
 of your Ministers and Secretaries in Europe to be regularly paid out 
 of the moneys in Holland, and that by orders under his hand to the 
 bankers, to be from time to time given, as the said salaries become 
 due. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 475 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, March 9, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Permit me to congratulate the United States upon the acquisition 
 of a Minister of Foreign Affairs whose long services have so justly 
 acquired their confidence, and whose experience, as well as his 
 talents, so fully qualify him for this important trust. 
 
 The joint despatches of their Ministers here will inform Congress 
 of the slow progress of the negotiations entrusted to their care. 
 These delays are owing to the ordinary character of the deliberations 
 of Courts, and are in no measure occasioned by any inattention or 
 inactivity on our part, and, as they are irremediable, must be sub- 
 mitted to with patience, 
 
 I must beg leave to repeat a request mentioned in several of my 
 late letters, that Congress would be pleased to transmit the ratification 
 of my last loan, which I opened a year ago in Holland, and is long 
 since full. The delay of the ratification has an ill effect. Congress 
 will be pleased to give orders, if it is not yet done, as I hope it has 
 been, concerning near a million of guilders which remain in the 
 hands of their bankers at Amsterdam, as appears by some extracts 
 of letters enclosed. 
 
 I have lately enquired of the Baron de Stael, the Swedish Ambas- 
 sador, and of Mr. d'Asp, the Swedish Charge d' Affaires, an old 
 acquaintance at the Hague, who has been lately removed to this 
 Court, concerning the presents given by their Court to the Barbary 
 Powers. Both very obligingly promised to write to Stockholm for 
 full information upon this subject. I have written to Mr. Dumas to 
 apply to Mr. Bisdom and Mr. Vander Hope to learn the sums given 
 by the Republic. The answers of those gentlemen I have commu- 
 nicated to my colleagues, and copies of them will be transmitted to 
 Congress by Mr. Humphreys in the joint despatches. If we can 
 avoid this humiliating tribute I should wish it with all my heart, but 
 am afraid we must sooner or later submit to it. I cannot find it in 
 my heart to wish ill success to the two Empires, if they really have, 
 as they are suspected to have, the project of driving wholly out of 
 Europe the Turkish Empire, because the Barbary Powers and their 
 hateful piracies would probably come to an end at the same time. 
 We wait for orders relative to those , States, thinking it dangerous 
 saying a word to Morocco before we are ready to treat with all. 
 
476 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 There is at this time so intimate a connection between France, 
 Sweden, and Holland, that I fancy we shall scarcely persuade either 
 of the latter to agree to any supplementary treaties unless the former 
 should set the example, which we cannot expect, considering the 
 opposition the Ministry meets with from the merchants of the sea-port 
 towns, and even from some sovereign Courts. The ordinance of 
 30th August, 1784, which moderates the rigor of the letters patent 
 of October, 1727, and admits foreigners to the commerce of the 
 colonies under certain restrictions, has excited remonstrances from 
 the merchants of Marseilles, Bordeaux, Rochelle, Nantes, St. Maloes, 
 and Havre de Grace ; and the Parliament of Bordeaux has remon- 
 strated, and that of Bretagne was very near it. The Marshal de 
 Castries is yet unmoved; but this opposition will, I fear, discourage 
 him from going further. 
 
 These remonstrances attack every part of the first article ; they 
 oppose the free ports, or entrepots ; they oppose the liberty to 
 strangers to import timber, coal, even live-stock, but especially salt 
 beef, salt fish, rice, Indian corn, vegetables, leather tanned or in the 
 hair, pitch, tar, turpentine ; they are eager for reviving the regula- 
 tions of 1727, and totally excluding all foreigners from their islands. 
 In short, I see that French merchants consider their colonies and 
 colonists as English merchants considered us twenty years ago. It 
 is true that all have not been equally extravagant ; some have gone 
 in their remonstrances no further than against salt beef and fish. 
 
 Merchants, whether French, English, or Dutch, are very bad 
 rulers of colonies at a distance ; and their mistakes, if not firmly 
 corrected by their Governments, will make a serious common cause 
 between Americans, northern, southern, and western. 
 
 The French fisheries, in consequence of the extension of their 
 limits by the treaty of peace, upon the Island of Newfoundland, and 
 the free communication between the United States and St. Peters 
 and Miquelon, have succeeded the last year in a remarkable manner. 
 Marseilles, Bordeaux, and Rochelle, and many other places, have 
 engaged in the Newfoundland fishery with a new ardor and uncom- 
 mon profit. This is one striking advantage, arising wholly from 
 their alliance with us ; and they ought to be too sensible of it to 
 wish so soon to exclude us wholly from their islands. The Govern- 
 ment and more enlightened part of the nation are so, and will not 
 give way to the interested clamors of those who see no further than 
 their own private profit. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 477 
 
 Nothing is more extravagant than the confident pretensions of 
 French and English merchants that they can supply their own 
 islands. It is whimsical, but it is true, that the mercantile spirit 
 should be the most hostile to the freedom of commerce ; Govern- 
 ments the most disposed to favor it are continually solicited by bodies 
 of merchants, from partial views and private interests, to restrain and 
 shackle it. 
 
 England, it is plain, will never treat with us here, and it is for 
 Congress to determine whether they will accept the proposition of 
 the Court of St. James, and send a Minister there, or renounce all 
 thoughts of treating with it upon any thing. Spain seems equally 
 averse to treating here, but if Mr. Gardoqui has arrived, who has full 
 powers. Congress may treat with him at New York. 
 
 The general state of Europe is critical ; but the claims of the 
 Emperor are so directly against treaties, which interest so essentially 
 all Europe, that I do not believe he will urge on a war that must 
 embroil all the world, and end not at all to his advantage or honor. 
 
 With very great esteem, &c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FB.0M MESSRS. WILLINK TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 In conformity to our promise of last Thursday, we have now the 
 honor to advise your Excellency that the balance of the accounts of 
 
 the United States, now in our hands, amounts to /.1, 301, 760.4 
 
 From this must be deducted the following sums : 
 For payments which are at hand, interest 
 
 of the last loan, due 1st February. . . ./.65, 986.4 
 
 Premiums of the same 50,000 
 
 Accepted draughts of Mr. Morris 200,000 
 
 Not appeared draughts of do 12,150 328,136.4 
 
 Ren^ains . . .., /•973,624 
 
 So it appears from this that there is still to the disposition of 
 'Congress a capital of 973,000 florins, current money. The sums 
 that at present are in the hands of each house or their bankers 
 amount to, viz : 
 
478 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Wilhem and Jan Willink /.575,000 
 
 Nic and Jacob Van Staphorst '. 525,000 
 
 De la Lande and Fynje 200,000 
 
 Together with the abovementioned balance of /.1,300,000 
 
 The whole number of bonds which are at present unsold in our 
 hands is 252 of the 5 per cent. loan of 5 millions, viz : 
 
 Wilhem and Jan Willink have in their possession 110 
 
 Nic and Jacob Van Staphorst 135 
 
 De la Lande and Fynje 7 
 
 We hope, sir, that tliis very particular account of the state of 
 business of the United States, trusted to our care, will give you satis- 
 faction ; and we now expect your orders whether you desire that we 
 shall put the whole balance or part of it into the bank of Amsterdam 
 or not. In the meantime we have the honor to subscribe ourselves, 
 with sincere esteem, sir, &;c., 
 
 WILHEM & JAN WILLINK. 
 
 NIC & JACOB VAN STAPHORST. 
 
 DE LA LANDE &i FYNJE. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Messrs. Willink &f Co. 
 
 Amsterdam, February 2, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 Last week we received your much esteemed favor of 10th January, 
 and observed with much pleasure your satisfaction on the flourishing 
 state of the Treasury of the United States in our hands. Your 
 Excellency desires our opinion whether the prospect of making new 
 loans for the Congress would be favorable. In answer to this we 
 heartily wish that we may not very soon be charged to try it, and 
 that before it may become necessary Congress may be put in the 
 situation, by a unanimous consent of all the American States of the 
 Confederation, to point out a sufficient fund for the punctual payment 
 of the capital and interest, which, as you know, has not been the case 
 with the two first loans, and which at present would absolutely be 
 required, because the people in this country know that the States 
 have not agreed upon this capital point j a circumstance that 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 479 
 
 certainly occasions that the credit of the United States cannot be 
 carried to the point, which we believe it deserves, in consequence of 
 the inward solidity and promising prospect of the source of her 
 welfare. Besides this, we are daily questioned about the ratification 
 of the last loan, and we are at a loss what we shall answer, having 
 received no letters from the office of Finance since the time when 
 Mr. Morris resigned. But, sir, whenever our wishes in these points 
 shall be fulfilled, which certainly will strengthen greatly the American 
 credit, we should not advise to try another loan for some time, 
 because we know that a great number of bonds of both of the former 
 remain still in the hands of the undertakers, which, as you know, is 
 the second hand, and there is no great prospect that they will sell 
 their shares so soon, on occasion that we have every day new loans 
 opened here, as for instance, one of seven millions in favor of the 
 East India Company, one of twelve hundred thousand florins for the 
 States of Zealand, one of two millions for Sweden, and we expect 
 every day a loan for our province ; added to this, large sums are 
 employed in the French loan, and you will easily conclude that 
 money becomes very scarce, which we hope will not be the case next 
 year ; and if then Congress might wish to pay off their loans in France, 
 and raise the money in this country, it would give us much pleasure 
 to give her again satisfaction with our endeavors, and at the same 
 time to observe an unlimited confidence with our countrymen. 
 
 FKOM JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 New York, February 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have now the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, a 
 ratification made the 1st instant of the contract or engagement which 
 you entered into as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of 
 America to their High Mightinesses, the Lords the States General of 
 the United Netherlands, in behalf of the said States, with Messrs. 
 Wilhem, and Jan Willink and others, for a loan of two millions of 
 guilders, the 9th March, 1784. 
 
 As the letters received from you, between my ^_ ,decessors resig- 
 nation and my acceptance of this office, are yet in the hands of a 
 committee of Congress, I am not in capacity to say anything of their 
 dates or contents. 
 
480 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 On the 14th ultimo I wrote a short letter to you, Doctor Franklin, 
 and Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 Congress have resolved to send a Minister to the Court of London, 
 and I flatter myself with being soon enabled to write you particularly 
 on this subject. 
 
 It would give me great pleasure to hear from you frequently, and 
 to be favored not only with such information as you may think 
 interesting, but also with such remarks and opinions on affairs in 
 this department as may the better enable me to discharge the duties 
 of it. 
 
 M. de Marbois, in pursuance of the orders of his Court, has 
 demanded that M. Longchamps be delivered up. I wish that 
 matter had not been pressed. I have laid the requisition before 
 Congress, and shall inform you of the result of their deliberations on 
 the subject. It is in contemplation to appoint a Minister for Spain, 
 and we are informed that an Envoy from that Court may daily be 
 expected here. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FKOM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, April 13, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have written, by the late packets, for the orders of Congress 
 concerning near a million of guilders in the hands of Messrs. Willink 
 &; Co., in Amsterdam, and requesting the ratification of my last loan, 
 and other subjects. By the February packet, hourly expected, I 
 hope to have the honor of letters from you, with the pleasure of 
 Congress relative to these matters. 
 
 Our joint despatches will show all the information we have yet 
 obtained concerning the power of the Barbary States, and the costli- 
 ness of their friendship. We must proceed slowly and cautiously. 
 I often hear the trade of the Mediterranean, and of the Levant, 
 slightly spoken of, and represented as of small value to the United 
 States. I think very differently, with an absolute certainty that time 
 will demonstrate me in the right. But the rise of insurance on all 
 of our trade is to be added to the full value of the trade we may 
 have in the Mediterranean and Levant ; and, what is worse, we have 
 the cries of our countrymen in captivity, in chains, and exposed to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 481 
 
 many cruelties, to consider. It is not the loss of property which has 
 induced any nation to become tributary to them, but this inhuman 
 practice of enslaving captives. France, England, and Holland have 
 avoided stipulating in treaties to pay a tribute; but Sweden and' 
 Denmark have not. I hope we shall not imitate the example of 
 these last. If we are directed to negotiate, we shall probably 
 negotiate through the French Consul, but it will be necessary, 
 finally, for Congress to send Consuls to sign the treaties and to make 
 the presents. We have collected some information, which will be 
 useful to our country, respecting these Powers. I wish we were 
 able to do as much under our commission to Spain ; that Court will 
 not treat here, and for us to go to Madrid is a dangerous measure ; 
 we know not how much time the negotiation there may require, and 
 if we go and return without success, it will be industriously spread 
 by all the diplomatic corps, and will hurt the reputation of our 
 country in Europe, and elate the English beyond measure, incon- 
 veniences which may be avoided by your conducting the negotiation 
 with Mr. Gardoqui, at New York, or by Congress, sending a Minister 
 to Madrid. This, I know, is much desired by the Spanish Court, 
 and by this Court, as many symptoms have indicated, particularly a 
 conversation between the Duke de la Vauguion and me, a few days 
 before his departure for Madrid. A Minister at Madrid would be 
 useful to us in conducting this business with the Barbary Powers, 
 and is in all respects, as far as I can see, a desirable measure. The 
 expense of maintaining three Ministers is the same, whether they 
 reside at Auteuil, Passy, and Paris, or at Madrid, Versailles, and the 
 Hague, and I am sure we could not do Jess, separately, than we are 
 likely to do together. 
 
 You remember, sir, that one of the first things Mr. Hartley said to 
 us was, to propose, in the name of the King, his master, and his 
 Minister, Mr. Fox, that Ministers should be exchanged immediately 
 between Congress and St. James. You have received, before now, 
 the formal proposition from the Marquis of Carmarthen, transmitted 
 to us, through the Duke of Dorset, to the same effect. The appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Temple as Consul General, is a still stronger indication 
 of a real wish in the Ministry that this measure may be pursued, and 
 of a secret consciousness that they shall be obliged to treat. In 
 their refusal to treat here, they would be justified by all the courts 
 and diplomatic bodies in the world. I make no scruple, no hesitation 
 Vol. I.— 31 
 
482 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 to advise that a Minister may be sent, nor will I be intimidated from 
 giving this advice, by any apprehension that I shall be suspected of 
 a design or desire of going to England myself. Whoever goes will 
 neither find it a lucrative nor a pleasant employment, nor will he be 
 envied by me. I know that for years, if he does his duty, he will 
 find no personal pleasure or advantage. But the measure of sending 
 a Minister to England appears to me the corner-stone of the true 
 American system of politics in Europe, and if it is not doue, we 
 shall have cause to repent it for a long time, when it will be too late. 
 Every thing is calculated, as it appears to me, to involve us in a war 
 with England. Cries and prejudices are fomented in England and 
 America, which have no other tendency but to involve us in a war 
 long before we shall be ready. Ten or fifteen years hence we should 
 have nothing to fear from a war with England, if they should be 
 mad enough to force us upon it. At present it would distress us 
 extremely, although it would ruin England. My system is a very 
 simple one ; let us preserve the friendship of France, Holland, and 
 Spain, if we can, and in case of a war between France and England, 
 let us preserve our neutrality, if possible. In order to preserve our 
 friendship with France, and Holland, and Spain, it will be useful for 
 us to avoid a war with England. To avoid a war with England, we 
 should take the regular diplomatic steps to negotiate, to settle 
 disputes as they rise, and to place the intercourse between the two 
 nations upon a certain footing ; then we may understand one 
 another, avoid deceits and misrepresentations. It is so much the 
 interest of England that we should be neutral in a future war, that I 
 am persuaded cool and candid reasoning with their Ministers upon 
 the subject would convince them of it. The force of truth is greater, 
 even upon the minds of politicians, than the world in general is 
 aware of. England is now mad with the hope of our having a war 
 with Spain, and even France, in consequence of the family compact, 
 and of our courting them to become our allies and undertake our 
 defence. Surely it would not be difficult for an American Minister 
 to convince a British one that this is chimerical, and that the only 
 thing they ought to expect from America is neutrality. The real 
 thing the English have to fear is our joining their enemies against 
 them in a future war. She has no alliance to hope from us, unless 
 Spain should force us into a war ; and even then we ought not to 
 ask or accept aid from England, if we could avoid it, unless France, 
 from the family compact, should join Spain. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 483 
 
 This reasoning and this system, you see, goes upon the supposition 
 that we are independent of France in point of moral and political 
 obligation ; but if the sentiments of America are otherwise, and these 
 principles are general, which you and I once heard delivered with 
 great formality and energy, viz : " That America ought to join 
 ' France against England in two future wars, one to pay the debt of 
 ' gratitude already contracted, and the other to shew ourselves as 
 ' generous as France had been," I confess myself all wrong, and to 
 be so totally ignorant of the right duties and interests of my country 
 as to be altogether unfit for any share in their public affairs, foreign 
 or domestic. 
 
 At any rate, our negotiations in this place have not answered the 
 ends proposed by Congress and expected by the people of America ; 
 nor is there now scarcely a possibility that they should. I am very 
 happy in my friend, Mr. Jefferson, and have nothing but my inutility 
 to disgust me with a residence here. But I presume Congress will 
 not think it expedient to renew the commission, or attempt any 
 longer to carry on negotiations with the rest of the world in this 
 place. If they should, however, I hope they will think of some 
 other gentleman in my place, as it is my desire to return home at the 
 expiration of the term of the present commissions. 
 
 With great respect and sincere esteem, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FBOM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, April 24, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The letter you did me the honor to write me on the 11th of 
 February last, containing the ratification of my last loan of two 
 millions of guilders, having been properly addressed to me as Min- 
 ister at the Hague, by a mistake of the post office at Paris was sent 
 to Holland, from whence it returned to me last night. This loan is 
 long since full, as my last loan of five millions of guilders is nearly 
 so; I must, therefore, solicit the further instructions of Congress 
 whether I am to open any new loan or not. 
 
 Your letter to Doetof Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and me, of the 14th 
 of January, has been duly received and answered. 
 
484 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 If I had known a few weeks sooner that Congress had resolved 
 to send a Minister to London, it would have saved. you the trouble 
 of a letter upon the subject, which you will receive by the packet. 
 It has appeared to me for some time to be an important and necessary 
 measure ; and although the gentleman who may be sent there, who- 
 ever he may be, will probably find himself in a thicket of briars, from 
 which he will hardly get free without tearing his flesh, yet I am 
 persuaded that the appearance of an American Minister at the British 
 Court will have good effects upon our affairs, even in France and 
 Spain, and the nations in alliance with them, as well as in the courts 
 and nations in the opposite scale of the balance, but especially upon 
 the British and American nations. 
 
 Will it be foreign to the purpose, upon this occasion, or improper 
 for me to observe that the people in America, and their Legislatures 
 in the several States, should prepare the way for their Ministers in 
 England, to require a faithful execution of treaties by setting the 
 example of a punctual execution on their part ? If we establish the 
 principle that we have a right to depart from the treaty in one article 
 because they have departed from it in another, they will certainly 
 avail themselves of the same principle, and probably extend it as 
 much farther, as their sense of justice is less, and their opinion of 
 their own power, however ill founded, is greater. It cannot, I think, 
 be too often nor too earnestly recommended to our countrymen to 
 consider the treaty as sacred, and to fulfil it in all its parts, according 
 to its real spirit and intention, in good conscience, in that most 
 delicate point of all respecting refugees. I even wish that the 
 people could conquer their natural feelings and suppress their just 
 resentments. This I am confident is the best revenge that can be 
 taken, and will most effectually disarm even those among them who 
 are most distinguished for their enmity. If we have any thing to 
 fear from Canada and Nova Scotia, or for our whale fishery, it arises, 
 and will arise, from our own severity to these people ; and the same 
 observations may be applied to the fur trade and the posts upon the 
 frontier. 
 
 Your desire, sir, to hear from me frequently, and to have my poor 
 opinion on the affairs of your department, does me great honor, and 
 shall be complied with to the utmost of my power. But I shall 
 much oftener have occasion for your advice in such afiairs as are 
 entrusted to me. I think myself extremely happy, in common with 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 485 
 
 our countrymen, that I have to correspond with a gentleman to whom 
 our foreign affairs are very familiar, by long experience — who knows 
 where our difficulties and dangers lie, and who has proved himself, 
 upon all occasions, superior to them. 
 
 I am sorry to learn that the French Charge d' Affaires has 
 demanded Monsieur Longchamps to be delivered up, and am the 
 more surprised because I had understood from such sources as I 
 thought authentic that the punishment to which he has been sentenced 
 was satisfactory at Court. It may not, however, be amiss for the 
 French Government to keep up a claim which may be a standing 
 restraint to their own subjects in all foreign countries. But it cannot 
 be doubted that the French Ministry know our right to refuse, as 
 well as theirs to demand ; as there is no positive stipulation between 
 the two Powers that criminals shall be mutally given up. And 
 surely it is no perfect right, by the law of nations, nor is it a common 
 practice ; so far from it that it will be difficult to show an example 
 of it, where there is no convention. 
 
 Your packet for Mr. Carmichael shall be delivered to the Spanish 
 Ambassador, to go by his courier, as you desire. 
 
 With the utmost respect and esteem, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FKOM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, May 4, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The day before yesterday I received the letter you did me the 
 honor to write me on the 18th of March, enclosing a commission, 
 instructions, and letter of credence to the Court of Great Britain, 
 and a duplicate of your letter of February 11th, with the ratification 
 of the loan in Holland. 
 
 The appointment to the Court of Great Britain demands my most 
 grateful acknowledgments to Congress, and the utmost care and 
 diligence in the execution of it. 
 
 I am happy to see, by the resolution of March 7th, that a Minister 
 is to be appointed to succeed me at the Hague, both because a Min- 
 ister will be necessary there, and because that the Minister in London 
 will find employment for all his time, and should devote himself 
 
486 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 wholly to the duties of that mission. As no letter of recall is as 
 yet arrived to me, I am a little perplexed. I have been a witness of 
 SO much friendship to the United States, and have experienced so 
 much kindness to myself in Holland, that I ought not finally to quit 
 that country without taking leave of their High Mightinesses, even 
 if established forms had not rendered such a ceremony indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 iThere is no time to be lost unnecessarily in executing the mstruc- 
 tiohs of Congress ; but you are very sensible, sir, of the necessity of 
 taking leave of this Court and of the foreign Ministers here, and of 
 the time which such a formality takes up. It will, therefore, be 
 longer before I Can be in London than you may wish, perhaps five 
 or six weeks. In the meantime Colonel Smith, I hope, will arrive 
 with the additional information, and I may take such measures as I 
 cani to prepare the way before us. The Duke of Dorset has offered 
 me all the service in his power, and professes to wish me success. 
 It may not be useless for me to see Mr. Harris at the Hague. 
 
 The instructions are perfectly agreeable to my own inclinations ; 
 but it would be my duty to carry them into punctual execution to 
 the utmost of my power if they were not so. It is not the first time 
 that a public trust of some importance has been committed to me, 
 but I do not know that any ever made a deeper impression upon my 
 spirits, or gave me more serious reflections. To do my duty to our 
 country and her allies, and to reconcile the Americans and English 
 upon principles and terms which may give satisfaction to all, is no 
 easy task. I can promise nothing but industry — the prospect of 
 success is far from being encouraging. The measure of sending a 
 Minister had become indispensable ; Congress will have tried the 
 experiment, and done all that, in the opinion of the world, was 
 incumbent on them ; and if the English nation perseveres in obsti- 
 nacy and delusion, the United States will be fully informed of it, 
 and have it undoubtedly in their power to do themselves justice. 
 The resolutions of New York and Rhode Island, the former laying 
 heavier duties upon British ships and merchandizes, and the latter 
 adopting the impost of five per cent., if the public papers inform us 
 truly, are symptoms of a spirit rising in America which will either 
 jnake the English friendly to us or their enmity a blessing. 
 
 The Count D'Aranda told me yesterday that your packet to Mr. 
 Carmicha,el was gone to Madrid. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 487 
 
 I forgot to mention in its place your letter of March 15th. The 
 confidence you express is mutual, which 1 esteem one of the happiest 
 circumstances in my whole life. I have not the honor to be person- 
 ally known to Mr. Smith, but he shall receive from me all the regard 
 which becomes the relation between us. 
 
 With sincere esteem I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, May 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The Britons boast that all the prophecies of the loss of the 
 American trade from the independence of the United States have 
 proved false ; that the experiment has been tried, and the contest 
 decided ; that there was at the peace a competition of the commercial 
 nations of Europe for the prize ; that the superior abilities of the 
 British manufacturers, and the greater capitals of their merchants, 
 have enabled them to give our traders better bargains and longer 
 ctedit than any others in Europe ; that, as we love our interests and 
 have small fortunes, we must come to them who can furnish us with 
 goods of the best qualities at the cheapest rates, and allow us the 
 longest time to pay ; that Britain has monopolized our trade beyond 
 credibility ; that all the foreign merchants, French, Dutch, and even. 
 Spanish and Portuguese, who had engaged in our trade have failed, 
 while few of theirs have suffered. 
 
 While, on the one hand, it is certain that in all this there is much 
 exaggeration, it must be confessed, on the other, that there is too 
 much truth, and the success of your mission to London will depend 
 very much upon the researches of Congress and the States into this 
 subject, and the measures they may take in consequence of their 
 inquiries. You will negotiate for reciprocities in commerce to very 
 little purpose while the British Ministers and merchants are certain 
 that they shall enjoy all the profits of our commerce under their own 
 partial regulations. 
 
 It behooves the whole people of America, then, to turn their atten- 
 tion to this subject. It would be presumption in me to discuss the 
 question whether it is necessary the States should give to Congress 
 a plenary power to govern the commerce of the whole Confederation. 
 
488 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 I have been too long absent, and at too great a distance to be able 
 to form a judgment, even to my, own satisfaction. But I can see 
 numberless mischiefs and inconveniences arising from the want of 
 unity and system in, the direction of such complicated interests, and 
 every State will find itself necessitated frequently to apply to 
 Congress for their interposition, either by recommendations or 
 decisions. 
 
 You will give me leave, then, to inquire whether it may not be 
 proper for Congress to call upon the States in such manner as they 
 may judge constitutional to furnish them with authentic accounts of 
 all the exports and imports of every State since the peace, of the 
 vessels which have entered or cleared out, the nation to which they 
 belong, and all other particulars which may be thought proper. It 
 should seem impossible that the Union can be preserved without 
 some such general repository of the commercial interests and knowl- 
 edge ; the information to be derived from it would bring the States 
 to act in concert by shewing the necessity of it to all ; and Congress 
 or the States might take such measures as would insure them justice 
 against the English. From such a view they might lay such dis- 
 couragements on British ships and manufactures, and procure such 
 advantages to their own, as would be beneficial to our country, while 
 it would show the English their own weakness ; heavy duties might 
 be laid upon articles of luxury wrought in England and imported 
 from thence, which would discourage the extravagant use of them 
 among ourselves, place other nations upon as good and better footing 
 than the English, and raise the revenue for the public out of that 
 enthusiasm for England which has been and is still so unwise in 
 itself and so hurtful to our country. Such measures as these would 
 discover to the English that we know our own strength and their 
 weakness, and would have probably a greater tendency to influence 
 the Ministry, by preparing the nation, than any reasoning which can 
 be used. It is a diplomatic axiom, " that he negotiates ill who is 
 not in a condition to make himself feared ;" but measures for this 
 purpose must be taken by the people of America. Our army will 
 be no terror to them, because they think at present they shall never 
 send an army to fight us in our own country, and they do not believe 
 that ours will go abroad to attack them. They are too proud of 
 their own navy, and have too much disregard of ours, to dread us 
 upon the sea; although experience should have taught them that 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDEICCE. ^ 489 
 
 their commerce might be much endangered by our cruisers ; so that 
 we have no means to make an impression on them but by commercial 
 regulations, which the vulgar may see strike essentially at their 
 interests without injuring our own. 
 
 With great and sincere esteem, &c., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 PROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, May 7, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 In a former letter I expressed a doubt whether I should go directly 
 to London or first to the Hague, in order to take leave; but upon 
 further reflection, as I have not received a regular letter of recall, 
 and another Minister to their High Mightinesses is not yet arrived, it 
 seems best to avoid occasion of too much speculation among our 
 creditors in that country for the present. The Minister who shall 
 do' me the honor to succeed me will probably bring my letter of 
 recall, and I hope the permission of Congress for me to go over to 
 Holland to pay there my last official respects, provided the state of 
 our affairs will admit of my absence for the space of time necessary, 
 which may be three weeks ; but if Congress should think this cere- 
 mony unnecessary, or I should be engaged in business for the public, 
 which cannot conveniently be left, I may take leave of their High 
 Mightinesses and of his most Serene Highness by a respectful letter, 
 which perhaps may answer the end. I hope to be in London by the 
 end of this month. 
 
 As we have no friends in England or any other part of Europe but 
 in Holland, I must ask the favor of Congress to transmit me their 
 authority by a resolution to draw upon their bankers in Holland for 
 the amount of my salary, and the salary of Mr. Smith, and some little 
 disbursements which may be indispensable. 
 
 My friend and colleague, Mr. Jefferson, brought with him an order 
 to receive of M. Grand a sum of money in advance to furnish his 
 house ; but M. Grand having no money in his hands, but, on the 
 contrary, being much in advance, made some difficulties, which 
 induced Mr. Jefferson to apply to me. I accordingly drew upon 
 your bankers in Amsterdam a bill in his favor for six thousand 
 guilders, which he has received. As M. Grand could only have 
 
490 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 advanced the money by drawing on the same fund, one commission 
 has been saved by this means, and I hope for the approbation of 
 Congress. 
 
 Colonel Humphreys brought with him an order upon M. Grand, 
 for money to pay for a medal to be struck for each of the Generals, 
 Washington, Gates, and Greene, and for some swords adjudged by 
 Congress to other officers ; and upon M. Grand's inability to make 
 the advances, he applied to me. As we supposed it to be the 
 undoubted intention of Congress that these small presents should be 
 made in honor of those great events and immortal actions, I consented 
 to draw for the money upon the same bankers to the amount of about 
 a thousand pounds. This also I hope wilt meet the approbation of 
 Congress. 
 
 If you will pardon, sir, a transition to a subject not much connected 
 with the foregoing, I may fill the rest of my paper with an observation 
 which may have its uses. The eitreme severity of cold and drought 
 which have continued through the months of February, March, April, 
 and to this day, has brought upon this country, and perhaps others, 
 a serious calamity. There is such a scarcity of herbage and pasturage 
 that the poor people in many places have been obliged to kill their 
 cattle to prevent them from starving. In many other places they 
 have been necessitated to feed the cattle with grain and bread, and 
 other things necessary for the support of their families. The daily 
 processions which pass before my door, in prayers for warmth and 
 rain, are afflicting to humanity. These circumstances, however, have 
 contributed to silence the clamors of various provinces against the 
 commerce between us and the French West India Islands more than 
 all the authority of the King and influence of Government. The 
 whole nation must see, and the English too will probably see the 
 impossibility of supporting their islands with wheat and flour, and 
 even the necessity of importing considerable quantities of these 
 articles, as well as rice, from the United States into Europe. It is 
 generally agreed that the crops of grass will be so diminished that 
 even if the wheat should not fail, they shall be obliged to apply so 
 much of the latter to the subsistence of their cattle that they must 
 import from us. I wish you a plentiful season and industrious 
 husbandmen, that you may be able to support the wants of all 
 Europe as well as your own. 
 
 With the greatest respect, fee, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 49^ 
 
 PROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, May 8, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 In executing the instructions of Congress of the seventh of March 
 last, as well as all former orders which concern the Court of Great 
 Britain, the Ministry will no doubt find my commission and letter of 
 credence sufficient authority. But you will see by a letter firom the 
 Duke of Dorset, which your Ministers have sometime since trans- 
 mitted, that the British Cabinet have conceived doubts whether 
 Congress have power to treat of commercial matters, and whether 
 our States should not separately grant their full powers to a Minister. 
 I think it may be taken for granted that the States will never think 
 of sending separate Ambassadors, or of authorizing directly those 
 appointed by Congress. The idea of thirteen Plenipotentiaries 
 meeting together in a congress at every Court in Europe, each with 
 a full power and distinct instructions from his State, presents to view 
 such a picture of confusion, altercation, expense, and endless delay, 
 as must convince every man of its impracticability. Neither is there 
 less absurdity in supposing that all the States should unite in the 
 separate election of the same man, since there is not, never was, and 
 never will be a citizen whom each State would separately prefer for 
 conducting the negotiation. It is equally inconceivable that each State 
 should separately send a full power and separate instructions to the 
 Ministers appointed by Congress. What an heterogeneous mass of 
 papers, fuU of different objections, various views, and inconsistent 
 and contradictory orders must such a man pull out of his forte 
 feuille from time to time to regulate his judgment and his conduct ! 
 He must be accountable, too, to thirteen different tribunals for his 
 conduct : a situation in which no man would ever consent to stand, 
 if it is possible, which I do not believe, that aiiy State should ever 
 wish for such a system. 1 suppose, too, that the Confederation has 
 already settled all these points, and that Congress alone have authority 
 to treat with foreign Powers, and to appoint Ambassadors and foreign 
 Ministers, and that the States have separately no power to do either. 
 Yet it is plain from the Dukfc of Dorset's letter that the British 
 Cabinet have conceived a different opinion. This is to be accounted 
 for only by conjecturing that they have put an erroneous construction 
 on the limitation, restriction, or exception in the article of our Confed- 
 
492 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 eration, which gives ito Congress the power of appointing Ambassadors 
 and making treaties. This limitation is confined to treaties of com- 
 merce; all others Congress have full power to make. From this 
 limitation, however, will probably arise a great deal of difficulty and 
 delay to me. K the British Ministry wish and seek for delays, this 
 will be their pretext. But even if they should wish for despatch, 
 which is not likely, they may have propositions to make which will 
 fall within the limitation, and in such case it will not be in my power 
 to agree with them. 
 
 I can only transmit the proposition to Congress, who will perhaps 
 transmit them to the States, and no man can foresee when the 
 answers will be received, so that the business can be brought to a 
 conclusion. It is a long time that Congress have appeared to be 
 aware of these obstructions in the way of our prosperity ; but it does 
 not yet appear that the States have been sufficiently attentive to 
 them to remove them. It is not to be supposed that Congress will 
 ever frame any treaty of commerce, with any foreign Power, which 
 shall be unequal and impartial among the States, or oppressive upon 
 any one of them ; and it is very clear, from the situation and circum- 
 stances of the country, that no such treaty can ever be carried into 
 execution, or last long. If the States should be unwilling to confer 
 upon Congress a power to make treaties of commerce unlimited in 
 point of time, it should seem that time alone might be a sufficient 
 restriction, or the limitation might be a particular nation, as the 
 English for example, for a certain time, although it must be always 
 remembered that we cannot favor the English with any thing which 
 will not become common to other nations — the French, the Dutch, 
 and Swedes, at least. 
 
 It is very possible that the Cabinet of St. James may decline even 
 entering into any conferences at all, upon the subject of a treaty of 
 commerce, until the powers of Congress are enlarged. If they 
 should, the people of America cannot be too soon informed of it, 
 and turn the deliberations in their assemblies to this object. 
 
 In this case, the only present hope of your Minister will be, in 
 obedience to his orders, to convince the British Ministry of the 
 necessary tendency of their restrictions on our trade, to incapacitate 
 our merchants in a certain degree to make remittances to theirs, to 
 urge the surrender of the posts, the restitution of the negroes, the 
 explanation respecting debts, and those other matters pointed out in 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 493 
 
 his instructions, in which the right, and power, and equity, are too 
 clear to leave any plausible pretences for delay, and to transmit, by 
 the earliest opportunities, to Congress, full and true accounts of his 
 proceedings. 
 
 On the 30th of April, 1784, Congress recommended to the Legis- 
 latures of the States to vest them, for fifteen years, with the power 
 to prohibit any merchandizes from being imported or exported in 
 vessels belonging to or navigated by the subjects of any Power with 
 whom we shall have no treaty of commerce ; and to prohibit the 
 subjects of any foreign State, unless authorized by treaty, from 
 importing into the United States any merchandizes which are not 
 the produce or manufacture of the dominions of the sovereign whose 
 subjects they are, provided that the assent of nine States be neces- 
 sary. 
 
 To suppose that the British Cabinet intended, by the doubts of 
 our powers, expressed in the Duke of Dorset's letter, to assist 
 Congress in obtaining from the Legislatures a compliance with those 
 recommendations, would be more charitable than their conduct in 
 any other instance would justify. I rather think it was a mere 
 excuse for delay, but it ought to operate upon the minds of the 
 people of the States and their Assemblies, as a powerful incentive to 
 compliance ; but it may be still a question whether a compliance of 
 all the States will still satisfy the British Cabinet, and they may 
 require an express vote of unlimited authority to Congress, for a 
 certain time at least, from each State, to enter into a treaty of com- 
 merce with them. 
 
 I have not yet been able to learn, with certainty, how many, and 
 which, of the States have agreed to those recommendations of Con- 
 gress. It will now be necessary for me to be very attentive to this, 
 and to request of you, sir, the earliest and most minute intelligence 
 of every proceeding of Congress and the States relative to it. 
 
 The last year must have been a prosperous period in the United 
 States ; the high prices of their produce, and the low prices of 
 foreign merchandizes, are a demonstration of it. Yet our shipping, 
 our seamen, our carrying trade, have been discouraged. Present 
 ease, and even wealth, should not be our only object. 
 
 We ought to attend to considerations of strength and defence. 
 Our situation is different from some of the Powers of Europe, who 
 have neglected their own defence. Switzerland is situated so, that 
 
494 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 if she should be attacked by one neighbor, she would infallibly be 
 defended by two others. If attacked by Sardinia, she would be 
 defended by France and the Emperor ; if by the Emperor, France 
 and Sardinia would support her ; and if by France, the Emperor 
 and Sardinia would unite to protect her. This is so fully known to 
 her and all her neighbors, that she fears nothing, and is at no 
 expense. Holland, attacked by France, found a friend in England ; 
 when attacked by England, France supported her; when the 
 Emperor threatened her, she found a friend in France, too, and she 
 will forever be sure that neither of these three great Powers can ever 
 suffer her to fall a prey to any of the others. She has relied so 
 much upon this as to neglect her defence, to her great regret at 
 present. But what are Switzerland and Holland, small Powers 
 limited by nature, so that they never can be great, to the United 
 States of America, destined, beyond a doubt, to be the greatest 
 Power on earth, and that within the life of man. This is so well 
 known, that instead of being overlooked among the Powers, like 
 Holland and Switzerland, we shall be' more an object of jealousy 
 than any other upon earth. All the Powers know that it is impos- 
 sible for any, the proudest of them, to conquer us ; and therefore, if 
 we should be attacked by any one, the others wUl not be fond of 
 undertaking our defence ; knowing we can defend ourselves, they 
 will leave us to do it, and if they assist us at all it will not be until 
 we have done the work, and then it will be feebly, and only with a ~ 
 view of deriving more benefit and reputation from it than they do us 
 good. They will be pleased to see us weakened and our growth a 
 little retarded. It behooves the United States, then, to knit them- 
 selves together in the band of affection and mutual confidence, 
 search their own resources to the bottom, form their foreign com- 
 merce into a system, and encourage their own navigation and 
 seamen, and to these ends their carrying trade ; and I am much 
 afraid we shall never be able to do this, unless Congress are vested 
 with full power, under the limitations prescribed of fifteen years, and 
 the concurrence of nine States, of forming treaties of commerce with 
 foreign Powers. 
 
 With great esteem, fee, JOHN ADAMS, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 495 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Auteuil, near Paris, May 13, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We meet, as you know very well, so often with foreign Ministers 
 at Court and other places, and have so many transient conversations 
 upon subjects in which America is more or less concerned, that I 
 scarcely know when it is worth while to transmit it to you, and when 
 it is not. There is danger on one hand of degenerating into minute- 
 ness, and on the other of omitting something which may be of 
 consequence. 
 
 The Duke of Dorset has been, in general, very civil to Doctor 
 Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and me ; and I believe I may say, with 
 exact truth, that he has shown us as much respect and attention as 
 he has to the Ministers of any Power whatever; but since the 
 English papers, from the gazettes of New York, have published my 
 appointment to his Court, he has been more assiduous, if I may use 
 that expression, than ever. 
 
 He congratulated me at last Court, very politely, on my appoint- 
 ment, and said if he could be of any service to me in public or 
 private, by writing to Mr. Pitt or Lord Carmarthen, or to any of his 
 private friends, it would give him pleasure to do it. I thanked his 
 Grace in general terms, and said it was very possible he might be of 
 service to me — and to his own country, too, as well as mine — if his 
 Grace and his humble servant thought alike upon certain points. 
 He thought then, as well as I, that it was proper we should compare 
 notes, and said he would come out to Auteuil and see me on Satur- 
 day at twelve. Accordingly he came, and repeating his professions 
 of good will and his offers of service, I told his Lordship I did not 
 mean to give him the trouble of any official representations, but as 
 he was willing to enter into private conversation with me upon 
 affairs, I might ask what ''could be the reason why the posts upon 
 our frontiers were not evacuated. He said he could not tell. 1 
 added there had undoubtedly been full time, and it could not but be 
 considered as inconsistent with the treaty; that he might well 
 imagine it must be a tender point with us, and that jealousies and 
 apprehensions would be very justly kept alive among all our people 
 until the treaty was fulfilled in this particular. He seemed wholly 
 at a loss upon this subject, and did not incline to compromise himself 
 by hazarding any opinion. 
 
496 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 I then mentioned the debts, and said it was certainly for the 
 mutual advantage of both sides that we should come to an explana- 
 tion upon that article. That to let loose the law, and perhaps the 
 inflamed passions of some creditors, upon the debtors and their 
 estates, might ruin the latter without paying the former. That A 
 execution was served upon the person of a debtor for want of estate, 
 by the ancient as well as modem laws, he might, in a stated period, 
 obtain his liberty upon his oath, and the debt would be lost. If 
 execution should be levied upon estate, it must be sold at vendue, 
 and in the present scarcity of money would not be sold for half its 
 value, so that the creditor might lose as well as the debtor. That 
 it would surely be better for both cbuntries, as well as for creditor 
 and debtor, that the latter should be allowed time to turn himself, 
 and make the most of his property. The Duke replied that if the 
 matter should be represented in this light, and made appear to be so, 
 perhaps the Ministry and the creditors might be satisfied ; but, he 
 added, interest should be paid. I answered that the question con- 
 cerning interest would not be changed at all by delay ; it would be 
 the same whether the principal were paid now or some time hence. 
 But I found his Lordship here again unwilling to hazard any opinion 
 of his own. 
 
 I then mentioned the negroes, and asked why the treaty was so 
 little attended to in this article ? He asked whether any consider- 
 able number had been carried off? I answered, a very great number, 
 and not only against the treaty, but confessedly so ; for that Sir 
 Guy Carleton had at the time of his carrying them away acknowl- 
 edged it to be against the treaty ; but alleged that their treaties with 
 the negroes obliged them to do it, and therefore they must pay for 
 them. I added, that this made it still harder upon the American 
 debtors, and, indeed, made it perfectly just for them to withhold 
 payment, because that the property of many of them was thus 
 wrongfully withheld from them — property by which they might have 
 been enabled to pay at least much of their debts ; but I found that 
 either his Grace had not thought much upon these subjects, or that 
 his prudence restrained him from speaking freely, and he chose to 
 waive particulars by repeating offers of his service. I replied that 
 I did not think it was proper for me to desire his Grace to make any 
 official representations, because my first address of that kind should 
 be made to Lord Carmarthen ; but that noblemen and gentlemen of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 497 
 
 high rank were often here and in company with his Grace, and, as 
 conversation turned often upon American affairs, it might be in his 
 Grace's power to rectify many mistakes relative to these subjects. 
 It would be still more in his power by his private correspondences. 
 I could not, however, obtain any specific promises, but he concluded 
 by more general assurances that he sincerely wished that all questions 
 might be settled to mutual satisfaction, and entire harmony and 
 affection restored, Ssc, &c. 
 
 A few days after the Duke came out a second time to see me at 
 Auteuil, and brought me some letters to the custom-house at Dover, 
 which he believed would save me any troublesome visits of those 
 gentry, and said he had written to Mr. Pitt, to desire him to send an 
 order to the custom-house, which would certainly answer the end. 
 
 He then told me I must be in London time enough to pay my 
 respects to the King on the 4th of June, his birthday ; that to that 
 end I must carry over from hence a fine new coat, ready-made, for 
 that it was a rule of etiquette there for everybody to have new 
 clothes upon that day who went to Court, and very rich ones ; and 
 that my family must be introduced to the Queen. I told him I was 
 sorry to hear that, but that I hoped it was not indispensable, for that 
 at the Court of Versailles the families of Ambassadors only were 
 required to be presented, and Ministers Plenipotentiaries and Envoys 
 had their option ; my family had chosen to avoid it here, for many 
 reasons. He said it was true, that here the etiquette required only 
 the presentation of Ambassadresses, but in England it was otherwise, 
 and the ladies and daughters of all the Ministers must be presented 
 to the Queen. 
 
 I hope, sir, you will not think this an immaterial or a trifling con- 
 versation when you consider that the single circumstance of presenting 
 a family to Court will make a difference of several hundred pounds 
 sterling in my inevitable- annual expenses. This is not the first 
 serious lecture that I have had upon the subjects of etiquette, and 
 even dress. I have formerly related to you in conversation another 
 much more grave, which I had five years ago from the Count de 
 Vergennes. I believe I have also repeated to you similar exhorta- 
 tions made to me even by the best patriots in Holland. There is a 
 certain appearance in proportion to rank which all the Courts of 
 Europe make a serious point of exacting from everybody who is 
 presented to them. 
 Vol. I.— 32 
 
498 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 I need not say to you, sir, because you know it perfectly, that 
 American Ministers have never yet been able to make this appearance 
 at any Court; they are now less able to do it than ever. I lament 
 ■ this necessity of consuming the labor of my fellow-citizens upon 
 such objects as much as any man living, but I am sure that the 
 debasing your Ministers so much below their rank will one day have 
 consequences of much more importance to the husbandman, artisan, 
 and even laborer. 
 
 With the most cordial esteem, etc., JOHN ADAMS. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON, 
 
 JOINT COMMISSIONERS AND MINISTERS PLENIPOTENTIAHY 
 
 FORMATION OF TREATIES OF AMITY AND COM- 
 MERCE WITH FOREIGN POWERS. 
 
 499 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 On the 3d day of June, 1784, Congress issued a joint commission 
 to John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, granting 
 to them, or a majority of them, plenary power to negotiate and 
 conclude a supplementary treaty with Sweden, for the purpose of 
 perfecting the commercial intercourse already entered into between 
 the two nations. 
 
 A joint commission had been issued to John Adams, Benjamin 
 Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, on the 13th day of May, 1784, 
 empowering said Commissioners, or a majority of them, to treat with 
 Russia respecting a treaty of amity and commerce. 
 
 Commissions of the same tenor and date were issued for treating 
 with the Courts hereafter specified, except that the expressions 
 thereunto severally annexed were substituted for those marked in the 
 preceding commission. 
 
 Germany — His Imperial Majesty. 
 
 Prussia — ^His Prussian Majesty. 
 
 Denmark — His Majesty the King of Denmark. 
 
 Saxony — The citizens of the United States and the subjects of 
 the most serene Elector of Saxony. 
 
 Hamburg— ^The citizens of the United States of America and the 
 Imperial City of Hamburg. 
 
 England — His Britannic Majesty. 
 
502 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON, 
 
 Spain — His Catholic Majesty. 
 
 Portugal — Their most Faithful Majesties. 
 
 Naples — His Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies. 
 
 Sardinia — His Sardinian Majesty. 
 
 The Pope — The United States of America and the dominions of 
 his Holiness the Pope. 
 
 Venice — The United States of America and the most serene 
 Republic of Venice. 
 
 Genoa — The United States of America and the most serene 
 Republic of Genoa. 
 
 Tuscany — The citizens of the United States of America and the 
 subjects and people of the most serene Grand Duke of Tuscany. 
 
 The Porte— The Sublime Porte. 
 
 Morocco — The high, glorious, mighty, and most noble Prince, 
 King, and Emperor of the Kingdom of Fez, Morocco, Taffilete, 
 Sus, and the whole Algasbe and the territories thereof; a treaty of 
 amity, or of amity and commerce. 
 
 Algiers — The citizens of the United States of America and the 
 subjects of the Uey and Government of Algiers ; a treaty of amity, 
 or of amity and commerce. 
 
 Tripoli — The citizens of the United States of America and the 
 city and kingdom of Tripoli ; the most illustrious Lords and Gov- 
 ernors of the City and Kingdom of Tripoli ; a treaty of amity, or of 
 amity and commerce. 
 
 Tunis — The citizens of the United States of America and the 
 people of the State and Kingdom of Tunis, the Regency or Gov- 
 ernment of Tunis ; a treaty of amity, of of amity and commerce. 
 
 Appointment of Secretary by the United States in Congress assem- 
 bled, May 12, 1784. 
 
 Congress proceeded to the election of a Secretary to the Commission 
 for negotiating treaties of commerce with foreign Powers, and the 
 ballots being taken, Mr. David Humphreys was elected. 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 May 7, 1784. — Resolutions were adopted by Congress, instruct- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 503 
 
 ing their Commissioners in Europe with regard to the formation of 
 treaties. — [^ee p. 80.] 
 
 On the 11th May, 1784, further instructions were issued by- 
 Congress in the shape of resolutions, having reference to instructions 
 of a former date, May 30, 1783, "the objects of which they are 
 directed to urge with perseverance." — [See p. 83.] 
 
 June 3, 1784. — Instructions relative to the navigation of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Minutes of the Proceedings of the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the 
 United States of America for forming Treaties of Amity and 
 Commerce with Foreign Powers. 
 
 Passy, August 30, 1784. 
 
 Present, Mr. Adams, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, Ministers — 
 D. Humphreys, Secretary. 
 
 After having read the instructions, paragraph by paragraph, noted 
 their contents, and agreed to meet every day at this place until the 
 objects of the commissions should be properly arranged, and put as 
 far as may be into the best train of execution : 
 
 Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Ministers Plenipotentiary 
 that Captain John Paul Jones (who is authorized by Congress to 
 receive all the prize moneys which may be due in Europe) should 
 apply to the Court of Denmark for the recovery of an adequate 
 compensation for the prizes which were captured by the Alliance 
 frigate, carried into Bergen, and delivered by the orders of that Court 
 to the British, that it would be well for him to obtain the patronage 
 of the Court of Versailles in this application if practicable ; and that 
 he be informed he may expect to receive any assistance which the 
 Plenipotentiaries may be able to afford, in case he should have 
 occasion for it. 
 
 Passy, August 31, 1784. 
 It was agreed by the American Plenipotentiaries to announce 
 officially to the Court of Versailles the object of their mission as 
 early as possible ; they also gave information to Mr. David Hartley, 
 Minister Plenipotentiary from his Britannic Majesty, that they had 
 received a commission for negotiating a treaty of amity and commerce 
 
504 J- ADAMS, E. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 with the Court of London, and desired that he would announce to his 
 Court that they were ready to proceed on the negotiation ; whereupon, 
 Mr. Hartley informed them verbally that he did not doubt his Court 
 would at all times be ready to concur in forming such a system as 
 might fully answer every purpose of commercial as well as political 
 advantage to the two countries, and fix and establish a permanent 
 and beneficial intercourse between them. 
 
 Passy, September 1, 1784. 
 
 The Ministers Plenipotentiary having received a letter from the 
 Secretary of Congress, on the 16th of July, covering a resolution of 
 the Committee of the States, bearing date July 10th, 1784, referring 
 copies of the papers relating to the brjg L'Aimable Elizabeth, a 
 French vessel, that was deserted by her crew at sea, and taken up 
 by the citizens of the United States, on the 5th April, 1783, to the 
 Ministers for negotiating treaties of commerce with foreign Powers, 
 and instructing them that they should require of the British Court 
 that the full value of the said brig and her cargo be restored for the 
 benefit of Robert Sewel, by whose order she was taken up at sea, 
 ordered that the Secretary of Legation write a letter to Mr. Barclay, 
 Consul General of the United States at L'Orient, requesting that he 
 would inform them of all the facts respecting the said brig L'Aimable 
 Elizabeth which can be obtained. 
 
 It was agreed to request the Baron de Walterstorff to meet the 
 Plenipotentiaries at Passy, in order to confer respecting the mode of 
 proceeding in negotiating a treaty of amity and commerce with the 
 Court of Denmark. 
 
 Passy, September 4, 1784. 
 The American Ministers Plenipotentiary gave information to the 
 Baron de Walterstorff, Minister Plenipotentiary from his Majesty the 
 King of Denmark, that they had received a commission for negotiating 
 a treaty of amity and commerce with the Court of Denmark, and 
 desired that he would announce to his Court that they were ready to 
 proceed on the negotiation. 
 
 The object of the commission, with respect to the completion of a 
 treaty of ajgity and commerce, between the United States of America 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 505 
 
 and his Majesty the King of Prussia, was communicated in the 
 subsequent letter to the Baron de Thulemeier, Envoy Extraordinary 
 fiom his Prussian Majesty at the Hague, viz : 
 
 Passy, near Paris, September 9, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled, judging that 
 an intercourse between the subjects of his Prussian Majesty and the 
 citizens of the said States, founded on the principles of equality, 
 reciprocity, and friendship, may be of mutual advantage to both 
 nations, on the twelfth day of May last issued their commission under 
 the seal of the said States, t(5 the subscribers, as their Ministers 
 Plenipotentiary, giving to them, or the majority of them, full power 
 and authority for them, the said States, and in their name to confer, 
 treat, and negotiate with the Ambassador, Minister, or Commissioner 
 of his said Prussian Majesty, vested with full and sufficient powers 
 of, and concerning a treaty of amity and commerce, to make and 
 receive propositions for such treaty, and to conclude and sign the 
 same, transmitting it to the said United States in Congress assembled 
 for their final ratification. 
 
 We have now the honor to inform your Excellency that we have 
 received this commission in due form, and that we are here ready to 
 enter on the negotiation, and to reconsider and complete the plan of 
 a treaty which has already been transmitted by your Excellency to 
 your Court, whenever a full power from his Prussian Majesty shall 
 appear for that purpose. 
 
 We have farther the honor to request of your Excellency that you 
 
 would transmit this information to your Court, and to be with great 
 
 respect, 
 
 Your Excellency's, he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 P. S. A similar letter was addressed, at the same time, to his 
 Excellency the Count de Souza de Coutinho, Ambassador from their 
 most faithful Majesties at the Court of Versailles. 
 
506 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM M. SPINOLA TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 9, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The most serene Government of Genoa, being desirous to favor, 
 as much as possible, tlje commerce of his subjects with the provinces 
 and ports of the United States of North America, which you have 
 the honor to represent, has taken the determination , to send to 
 Boston a Consul or agent, for the purpose of protecting and for- 
 warding the interest of the Genoese in the United States ; but this 
 Government, being anxious to observe the regard which princes owe 
 to each other, has ordered me to inquire of you, in the first place, if 
 this determination will be agreeable to the United States. 
 
 I am much flattered, sir, that this commission will furnish me 
 with the opportunity of corresponding with you on a subject which 
 must be very advantageous to two nations we have the honor of 
 serving. 
 
 I am, with great respect, 8ic., SPINOLA. 
 
 FROM B. FRANKLIN TO M. SPINOLA. 
 
 Passy, September 13, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 I received the letter you did me the honor of writing to me the 
 9th instant, respecting the appointment of a Consul to reside at 
 Boston, on the part of your State, to protect the interests of your 
 commerce and people in America. On consideration, I thought it 
 right to communicate the same to my colleagues, now here, Mr. 
 Adams and Mr. Jefferson, they being with me commissioned to 
 make treaties of commerce with such maritime nations as may be 
 desirous of trading with our States. We are sensible of the delicacy 
 with which your most serene Government has proceeded in the 
 proposition, and we are persuaded that on all occasions equal respect 
 will be shewn by the Congress. But being of opinion that previous 
 to the appointment of a Consul, some convention will be necessary, 
 that may ascertain his powers, privileges, &c. ; and that such a 
 convention will most naturally follow a treaty of amity and com- 
 merce, we take this occasion to inform you of our having full 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 507 
 
 powers for making such treaties, and that we are willing and ready 
 to enter into a negotiation for that purpose with the most serene 
 Government of Genoa, whenever it shall be to them agreeable. 
 
 The copy I have the honor of enclosing to you, of some late 
 resolutions of Congress, will show the utility and necessity of such a 
 treaty to the freedom of trade between our countries. 
 
 I am, with great respect, &c., BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Versailles, Septeniber 15, 1784. 
 
 The American Ministers Plenipotentiaiy exhibited officially. to the 
 Count de Vergennes, Minister and Secretary of State, having the 
 department of foreign affairs, the commission of the United States in 
 Congress assembled, authorizing them to negotiate and conclude a 
 supplementary treaty between the United States and his most 
 Christian Majesty, a copy whereof was left with the Count, who 
 informed them in substance as follows : " That he should always be 
 'ready to enter on negotiations, and receive propositions, which 
 ' might be of mutual advantage, and tend to cement the union and 
 ' increase the harmony which prevailed between the two nations." 
 
 Passy, September 16, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Hartley, Minister Plenipotentiary from his Britannic Majesty, 
 having previously requested a meeting with the American Ministers, 
 now gave them information that he had received orders from his 
 Court to return to London, and that he was authorized to assure 
 them of " the ready and friendly disposition of the Court of London 
 ' to receive any proposals from the United States, for forming such 
 'regulations as might tend to the mutual reciprocal advantage of 
 ' both countries." 
 
 On the 22d day of September, the following communication 
 was made to his Excellency the Count de Aranda, Ambassador 
 Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from his Catholic Majesty the 
 King of Spain, at the Court of Versailles, viz : 
 
508 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Passy, near Paris, September 22, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled, judging 
 that an intercourse between the subjects of his Catholic Majesty and 
 the citizens of the said States, founded on the principles of equality, 
 reciprocity, and friendship, may be of mutual advantage to both 
 nations, on the 12th day of May last, issued their commission under 
 the seal of the said States, to the subscribers as their Ministers 
 Plenipotentiary, giving to them, or a majority of them, full power 
 and authority for them, the said States, and in their name, to confer, 
 treat, and negotiate, with the Ambassador, Minister, or Commis- 
 sioner, of his said Catholic Majesty, vested with full, and of sufScient 
 powers, of and concerning a treaty of amity and commerce, to make 
 and receive propositions for such treaty, and to conclude and sign 
 the same, transmitting it to the said United States in Congress 
 assembled, for their final ratification. 
 
 We have now the honor to inform your Excellency that we have 
 received this commission in due form, and that we are here ready to 
 enter on the negotiation whenever a full power from his said Catholic 
 Majesty shall appear for that purpose. 
 
 We have iurther the honor to request of your Excellency that 
 you would transmit this information to your Court ; and to be, with 
 
 great respect, &tc., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 At the same time letters of the same tenor, changing only the 
 style of the several Courts, exactly in conformity to the expressions 
 made use of in the original commissions, were written to his Excel- 
 lency Prince Bariatinski, Minister Plenipotentiary from her Imperial 
 Majesty of all the Russias at the Court of Versailles ; 
 
 Mr. Riviere, Charge d' Affaires from the Elector of Saxony at the 
 Court of Versailles ; 
 
 Mr. De Pio, Charge d' Affaires from his Sicilian Majesty at the 
 Court of Versailles ; 
 
 His Excellency the Count de Scarnafis, Ambassador of the King 
 of Sardinia at the Court of Versailles ; 
 
 His Excellency Monseigneur Prince Doria Phamphili, Nuncio 
 Ordinary of the Pope at the Court of Versailles ; 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 509 
 
 His Excellency the Chevalier Delfino, Ambassador from the 
 Republic of Venice at the Court of Versailles ; 
 
 And to Mr. Favi, Charge d'AfFaires from the Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany, which letter, from a mistake in transcribing, was not dated 
 or sent until the 30th of September. 
 
 FROM THE AMBASSADOR OF PORTUGAL TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 27, 1784. 
 
 The Ambassador of Portugal has the honor to inform Messrs. 
 Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson, that he has received their letter, 
 and that he immediately transmitted it to his Court, from whence 
 he awaits an answer, in order to communicate with them upon the 
 articles relative to the treaty of commerce. 
 
 FROM M. RiyiEBE TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 37, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have received the letter with which you honored me the 22d 
 instant, and I did not fail to transmit it to my Court, according to 
 your desire. As soon as I receive an answer, I will make it a duty 
 to submit it to you. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., RIVIERE, 
 
 Charge d^ Affaires of the Court of Saxony. 
 
 FROM M. DE PIG TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 26, 1784. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write to 
 me on the 23d instant upon the subject of a treaty of amity and 
 
510 J. ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 commerce, which the United States of America would wish to form 
 with the King my master, for the welfare respectively of his subjects 
 and their citizens. I hastened, gentlemen, to place before his 
 Sicihan Majesty your proposition, and will communicate to you the 
 answer as soon as it is received from my Court. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., DE PIO, 
 
 Charge d^ Affaires oj the Court of Naples. 
 
 FROM M. DE SCABNAFIS TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, October 26, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write the 
 22d of September, wherein you inform me that the United States of 
 America in Congress assembled have granted you power to form a 
 treaty of amity and commerce with his Majesty the King of Sardinia. 
 r have just communicated it to my Court; and if any particular 
 order should be taken on the subject, I will not fail to inform you. 
 
 1 seize this occasion, gentlemen, with true eagerness, to assure you 
 of my perfect respect, and have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 DE SCARNAFIS, 
 Ambassador of Sardinia. 
 
 FROM THE CHEVALIER DELFINO TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 It is with the greatest satisfaction that I have just received the 
 letter which you have done me the honor to write. I will not fail, 
 gentlemen, to transmit your information to the Senate ; and as soon 
 as I receive an answer I will consider it a duty to communicate it to 
 you. 
 
 In the interim, I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 LE CHEV. DELFINO, 
 Ajnimmdar of Femcfi- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 511 
 
 FROM M. FAVI TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, October 10, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write the 
 30th ultimo, wherein you have done me the favor to announce the 
 commission and full power with which you have been clothed by the 
 United States of America in Congress assembled, in order to propose 
 and to form bonds of amity and commerpe with the States of Tus- 
 cany. 
 
 I shall esteem it a duty to communicate this information to my 
 Court conformably to your desire, not doubting that it will be equally 
 agreeable with the proposition enclosed. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 8tc., FAVI, 
 
 Charge d' Affaires of Tuscany. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONEilS TO THE BARON STAEL DE HOLSTEIN. 
 
 Passy, near Paris, October 2, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled, judging 
 that it might be necessary, for the purpose of promoting and per'- 
 fecting the commercial intercourse so happily begun between his 
 Swedish Majesty and them, that supplementary treaties be formed, 
 in addition to the treaty of amity and commerce already entered into 
 between the two nations, on the third day of June last, constituted 
 the subscribers their Ministers Plenipotentiary, giving them, or a 
 majority of them, full power for the said States, and in their name 
 to confer, treat, and negotiate with the Ambassadors, Minister, or 
 Commissioner of his said Swedish Majesty, with full and sufficient 
 powers of and concerning such supplementary treaty or treaties, to 
 make and receive propositions for such treaty or treaties, and to 
 conclude and sign the same, transmitting it or them to the said 
 United States in Congress assembled for their final ratification. 
 
 We have now the honor to inform your Excellency that we have 
 received the full power for the purposes abovementioned, and are 
 here ready to enter on the negotiation whenever a full and sufficient 
 
512 J- ADAMS, B. FS.ANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 power from his Swedish Majesty shall appear, and to request your 
 Excellency to lay this information before his Majesty, that such order 
 may be taken as to his wisdom shall seem convenient. 
 
 With great respect, &c., JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FEOM BARON STAEL DE HOLSTEIN TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, October 5, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I had the honor to reply in the first instance to the Secretary of ^ 
 the commission, Mr. Humphreys, for the formation of treaties by 
 the United States of America, on receiving the letter which the 
 Ministers Plenipotentiary have done me the honor to write, that 1 
 would not fail to place it before his Majesty ; but I was desirous of 
 gaining time in order to be enabled to communicate to his Majesty 
 some ideas upon the amendments which are to be proposed on the 
 part of the United States. Supposing, gentlemen, that you entertain 
 this opinion, I will not delay to inform you that a Swedish courier 
 departs hence in a couple of days, by whom a sure opportunity is 
 offered of transmitting papers relative to this affair. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &ic., 
 
 E. M. STAEL DE HOLSTEIN. 
 
 October 8, 1784. 
 
 In consequence of the preceding letter the subsequent verbal 
 information was remitted to his Excellency the Ambassador by Mr. 
 d'Asp, Secretary to the Swedish Embassy, viz : 
 
 " The objects of the supplementary treaty proposed on the part 
 ' of the United States with his Swedish Majesty, are, in substance, 
 ' these : , 
 
 " 1st. To bring the condition of the subjects and citizens of each 
 ' party trading in the dominions of the other more nearly to that of 
 ' the natives than it is at present. The Island of St. Bartholomew 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 513 
 
 'presents itself as a part of this object which the United States would 
 ' wish to have laid as open to them, as they will lay their countries to 
 ' the subjects of his Swedish Majesty. 
 
 " 2d. To provide by stipulations, while the two nations are in terms 
 ' of friendship with each other, that if ever a war should unhappily 
 ' fall out between them, it shall not interrupt commerce or agriculture, 
 ' and that prisoners of war shall be favorably treated." 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE ARANDA TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, September 27, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I received yours of the 22d, the day before yesterday, by the hand 
 of Mr. Humphreys, Secretary of Legation. I am there informed of 
 the wish of the United States of America to establish with the 
 Catholic King a correspondence which may prove convenient to 
 both Powers, founded upon the principles of equality, reciprocity, 
 and friendship, and which will be mutually advantageous to the two 
 nations. That for this purpose the United States have, by their act 
 of the 12th May, authorized your Excellfencies, in due form, as their 
 Ministers Plenipotentiary, to confer, to treat, and to conclude with 
 the King, my master, a treaty of amity and commerce, to be sent 
 for ratification to the said States. 
 
 Certainly such dispositions in the United States, and such prin- 
 ciples of equality, reciprocity, and friendship, will be very pleasing 
 to the purity of his Catholic Majesty's heart, to whom I will transmit 
 your communication as I received it. 
 
 With the same end in view, and to enable his Majesty to take this 
 step, allow me, gentlemen, to inquire if either or any of you will 
 repair to Madrid for the purpose of negotiating and concluding this 
 treaty? This request your Excellencies will not consider improper 
 when it is understood that the customs of my Court, (the most regular 
 and systematic of all others,) in matters between its Crown and any 
 other Power, is to negotiatei between themselves, without availing 
 themselves of a third place. 
 
 It is difficult in adjusting a peace between more than two Powers, 
 or between many parties whose interests are to be conciliated. A 
 Vol. I 33 
 
514 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 point of reunion is then indispensable, as happened at the last peace ; 
 on which subject I may mention to your Excellencies that the prin- 
 cipal points being agreed to, the incidental ones of commerce, limits, 
 and other affairs between Spain and England, were not embraced in 
 my power of treating at Paris, but were to be discussed at one of 
 the two Courts, or at both, in conformity with the general rule, which 
 has ordinarily no exception, save in cases where a continuance is 
 required in a third place — it being the place of beginning. 
 
 This being the first treaty between us, and there being but two 
 parties, I have deemed it proper at the time to make these observa- 
 tions to your Excellencies with a view at once to inform the King 
 my master, to prevent delay, by giving him timely information in the 
 beginning. 
 
 As soon as your Excellencies shall have acquainted me with your 
 intentions upon this point, I will expedite the matter ; being always 
 desirous that friendship and a good understanding may be the satis- 
 factory result to the two States. 
 
 On this occasion I offer to your Excellencies my personal desires 
 to serve you. May God preserve you many years. 
 
 I am, &c., EL CONDE DE ARANDA. 
 
 TROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE COUNT DE ARANDA. 
 
 Passy, October 28, 1784. 
 Sir," 
 
 We have received the letter you did us the honor to write us on 
 the 27th day of September last, and we thank you for your care in 
 transmitting to your Court the information of our appointment to 
 treat with it. 
 
 You desired to be informed if one or more of us can repair to 
 Madrid, for the purpose of conducting and concluding the negotiation ; 
 because that is the system of your Court in matters between its 
 Crown and another Power, to treat in one of the two Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 In answer to this inquiry, we have the honor to inform you that 
 the United States in Congress assembled have thought fit to propose 
 treaties with most of the maritime Powers of Europe, and for the 
 accommodation of those Powers have been willing that their Ministers 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 515 
 
 should attend on this side the Atlantic. We have already commu- 
 nicated to many Courts, through their Ministers at this, our residence 
 here, in order to enter into negotiations with such as shall judge 
 convenient to transmit full powers to treat with us. So that, how- 
 ever desirous we might be of showing our respect to the Court of 
 Madrid by repairing thither, it will be difficult for us to leave this 
 place until we shall have finished the business already begun, which 
 may take up much time. We therefore hope that^ considering the 
 peculiarity of the circumstances, the Court of Madrid may find it 
 convenient to make this case an exception to their general rule. 
 With great respect, &;c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET. 
 
 Pasay, near Paris, October 28, 1784. 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled, judging 
 that an intercourse between the subjects of his Britannic Majesty 
 and the citizens of the said States, founded on the principles of 
 equality, reciprocity, and friendship, may be of mutual advantage to 
 both nations, on the twelfth day of May last issued their commission, 
 under the seal of the said States, to the subscribers, as their Ministers 
 Plenipotentiary, giving them, or the majority of them, full power and 
 authority for them, the said States, and in their name to confer, treat, 
 and negotiate with the Ambassador, Minister, or Commissioner of his 
 said Britannic Majesty, vested with full powers of and concerning a 
 treaty of amity and commerce, to make and receive propositions for 
 such treaty, and to conclude and sign the same, transmitting it to 
 the said United States, in Congress assembled, for their final ratifi- 
 cation. 
 
 Of the receipt of these powers, and of our being ready to enter 
 on the execution of them, we gave information to Mr. Hartley, who 
 had been appointed on the part of his Britannic Majesty to treat on 
 the same subjects with the Ministers of the United States ; and we 
 received through him assurances from his Court " of their ready and 
 ' friendly disposition to receive propositions from the United States 
 ' for the forming such regulations as might tend to tbe mutuaj tod 
 
516 J ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 'reciprocal advantage of both countries." The subsequent return of 
 this Minister to London renders it proper for us to repeat to your 
 Excellency the communications, to express to you the satisfaction 
 with which we have received assurances of the friendly disposition of 
 the Court of London, and to inform you that we shall be ready to 
 make proposals on our part as soon as they shall be pleased to advise 
 us of the person to whom they would choose to have them addressed. 
 With great respect, he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONEKS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET. 
 
 Passy, October 28, 1784. 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 While Mr. Hartley was here as Minister from the Court of Great 
 Britain, we had the honor of mentioning to him that we were 
 instructed by the Congress to treat on some points distinct from any 
 regulations of commerce. He communicated this to his Court, and 
 the very satisfactory answer which he received, and made to us of 
 its good disposition and willingness to receive and consider any 
 propositions that might tend to promote and secure a good under- 
 standing between the two countries, confirm us in the opinion that 
 those we have to make will be readily taken into consideration. For 
 that purpose we now communicate them to your Excellency, as 
 follows : 
 
 In the preliminaries of peace between England and France, 
 signed on the 20th of January, 1783, and acceded to the same day 
 by the Ministers of the United States, the clause relative to captures 
 is in these words, viz : "Les vaisseaux et effets qui pourroient etre 
 ' pris dans La Manche et dans les mers du Nord apree Vespace de 
 ' douze jours a compter depuis la ratification des presens articles 
 'preliminaires, seront de part et d'autre restitues. Le terme sera 
 ' d'un mois depuis La Manche et les mers du Nord jusqu' aux Isles 
 ' Canaries inelusivemenf, soit dans I' Ocean, soit dans le Mediterranee, 
 ' de deux mois depuis les dites Isles Canaries jusqu' a la ligne equi- 
 ' noctiak oui I'Equateur ; et enfin de cinq mois dans tous les autres 
 ^'Cfhdroit^. d% m,0jide., sans aucune exception ni autre. descriptiotjb plus 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 517 
 
 'particuUere de terns et de Ueux." On this article some doubts have 
 arisen, and the final decision of sundry captures and questions of 
 insurance have been suspended till those doubts should be obviated. 
 This may be done, we think, by agreeing to insert the words 
 "jusqu' a la latitude des Isles Canaries," instead of "jusqu' aux 
 Isles Canaries ;" and also the words, " depuis la latitude des dites 
 Isles Canaries," instead of " depuis les dites Isles Canaries," it being 
 apparent from the mention of the Mediterranean as in the same stage 
 with the Canaries, and of the equinoctial line as the next stage, that 
 the line of latitude of the Canaries was intended. 
 
 The fourth article of the definitive treaty declares it to be agreed 
 that the creditors on either side shall meet with no legal impediment 
 to the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bond fide 
 debts heretofore contracted. 
 
 It is undoubtedly just that law should rather aid than impede the 
 execution of bqna fide contracts ; but there are some unusual circum- 
 stances attending the English debts in America, contracted prior to 
 the war, that seems to merit consideration ; and to shew the reason- 
 ableness and utility of explaining and modifying that article by some 
 provisions which we have 1;o propose that may make the collection of 
 such debts more practicable, and more advantageous to the creditors, 
 as well as debtors, than the methods' that are otherwise likely to be 
 pursued. 
 
 We have further to propose that provision should be speedily made 
 for the satisfaction of the masters, whose negroes were carried away 
 with other property, contrary to the express stipulations of the 7th 
 article of the treaty ; and further, we propose that measures be taken 
 for liquidating the charges of prisoners of war on both sides, in order 
 to the payment of the balances. 
 
 We apprehend that a fair, equitable, and friendly discussion and 
 adjustment of these matters may contribute much to a future good 
 understanding and amity between the two countries. With that 
 view we have stated them, and shall hold ourselves ready to meet 
 and confer thereon with any Minister authorized by your Court for 
 the purpose. 
 
 With great respect, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
518 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM D. HUMPHKEYS TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Paris, October 30, 1784. 
 The Secretary of the Commission, by appointment, waited on the 
 Duke of Dorset, and delivered to him two letters from the American 
 Ministers, dated the 28th instant ; whereupon, the British Ambassador 
 desired Mr. Humphreys to inform the Ministers of the United States, 
 " That being entirely unacquainted with the negotiations proposed 
 ' through Mr. Hartley to the Court of London, he could say nothing 
 ' on that subject, except that he would write concerning it to his 
 ' Court. With respect to the explanations and arrangements 
 'suggested in the other letter, (which he would also transmit,) he 
 ' did not doubt that whatever was equitable would be done ; in the 
 ' meantime he wished the American Plenipotentiaries to be informed 
 ' that he would make them acquainted with the result so soon as he 
 ' should receive the necessary instructions." The foregoing is the 
 purport of the verbal answer of the Duke of Dorset, according to the 
 best of my recollection. 
 
 D. HUMPHREYS. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THE COMJIISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, October 8, 17S4. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have lost no time in communicating to the King, my Master, the 
 wishes of the United States of America, for the conclusion of the 
 treaty of commerce and friendship, which you have made known to 
 me in the letter you have honored me with, bearing date September 
 9. His Majesty having thought proper to furnish me with the full 
 power requisite, to give the desired stability to the said treaty, I 
 hasten to transmit to you a copy of this instrument. 
 
 I shall ever remember, with the greatest satisfaction, the part I 
 have had the good fortune to bear in the formation of those bonds, 
 which are to connect the Prussian nation with the United States of 
 America. 
 
 It appears to be needless to send you a copy of the treaty of 
 commerce in question, which has been the object of the united labors 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 519 
 
 of Mr. Adams and myself, as I have no doubt that Mr. Adams has 
 kept the draft which I have seen in' his hands. I shall make it my 
 duty to hasten the conclusion of this negotiation, and I flatter myself, 
 gentlemen, that you will have the goodness to communicate your 
 ideas to me on the manner in which you desire to proceed. 
 
 The King will be pleased to know what city has been selected by 
 the United States for the exchange of commerce between the 
 merchants of the two nations. Stettin and Embden, both Prussian 
 sea-ports, or some port of France or Holland, would answer the 
 object. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with the most distinguished considera- 
 tion. Sic, 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 Full power to conclude a Treaty of Commerce and Friendship 
 between Prussia and the United States, conferred by the King of 
 Prussia upon M. de Thulemeier. 
 
 We, Frederick, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia, Margrave 
 of Brandenbeasg, Arch Chancellor and Electoral Prince of the Holy 
 Roman Empire, Sovereign Duke of Silesia, Sovereign Prince of 
 Orange, Neuf-Chatel, Vallengin and Glatz, Duke of Guelders, 
 Magdeburg, Cleves, Juliers, Berg-Stettin, Pomerania, and of the 
 Cassubians and Vandals, Duke of Mecklenburg and Crosne, Bur- 
 grave of Nuremburg, Prince of Halberstadt, Minden, Camin, 
 Vandalia, Schwerin, Ralzeburg, Ea.st Friesland and Meurs, Count 
 of Hohenzollem, Ruppin, the Mark of Ravensperg, Hohenstein, 
 Tecklenburg, Schwerin, Lingen, Buren, and Lierdam, Lord of 
 Ravenstein, Rostock, Stargard, Lauenburg, Butau, Artag, and 
 Breda, &;c., Sic, make known to all whom it may concern : 
 
 That it being our intention to enter into a treaty of friendship and 
 commerce with the United States of North America, for the benefit 
 of the inhabitants of the respective countries, we have charged and 
 authorized M. de Thulemeier, our Privy Counsellor and Envoy 
 Extraordinary near the Republic of the United Provinces of the 
 Netherlands, and do, by these presents, confer on him full power to 
 negotiate and treat for that purpose, with such person or persons as 
 may be furnished with a hke full power on the part of the United 
 States of North America ; and to conclude and sign, in our name, 
 
520 J. ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 the treaty of friendship and commerce on which they may agree, 
 and which we shall not fail to ratify and to fulfil religiously in all 
 points. 
 
 In virtue whereof we have signed this full power with our hand, 
 and affixed thereto our royal seal. 
 
 Given at Berlin, this thirtieth day of September, one thousand 
 seven hundred and eighty-four. 
 
 FREDERICK. 
 Finclcenstein, Hertsberg. 
 
 In consequence of these communications, the following draft of a 
 Treaty was enclosed to the Baron de Thulemeier, in a letter which 
 succeeds the said project : 
 
 Counter Project of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between 
 Ms Majesty the Ming of Prussia and the United States of 
 America. 
 
 The parties being willing to fix, in a permanent and equitable 
 manner, the rules to be observed in the commerce they desire to 
 establish between their respective countries, have judged that the 
 said end cannot be better obtained than by taking the most perfect 
 equality and reciprocity for the basis of their agreement. On these 
 principles, after mature deliberation, they have agreed to the follow- 
 ing articles : 
 
 Article I. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, 
 and sincere friendship between his Majesty the King of Prussia, his 
 heirs, successors, and subjects, on the one part, and the United 
 States of America and their citizens on the other, without exception 
 of persons or places. 
 
 Article II. The subjects of his Majesty the King of Prussia 
 may frequent all the coasts and countries of the United States of 
 America, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, manu- 
 factures, and merchandize, and shall pay within the said United 
 States no other or greater duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, than 
 the most favored nations are or shall be obliged to pay ; and they 
 shall enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions in navigation 
 and commerce which the most favored nation does or shall enjoy. 
 
 Article III. In like manner the citizens of the United States of 
 America may frequent all the coasts and countries of his Majesty the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 521 
 
 King of Prussia and reside and trade, there in all sorts of produce, 
 manufactures, and merchandize, and shall pay, in the dominions of 
 his said Majesty, no other or greater duties, charges, or fees whatso- 
 ever, than the most favored nation is or shall be obliged- to pay ; and 
 they shall enjoy all the rights, privileges,, and exemptions in navi- 
 gation and commerce which the most favored nation does or shall 
 enjoy. 
 
 Article IV. More especially each party shall have a right to 
 carry their own produce, manufactures, and merchandize, in their 
 own vessels, to any parts of the dominions of the other, where it 
 shall be lawful for all the subjects or citizens of that other freely to 
 purchase them, and thence to take the produce, manufactures, and 
 merchandize of the other, which all the said citizens or subjects shall 
 in like manner be &ee to sell to them, paying, in both cases, such 
 duties, charges, and fees only as are or shall be paid by the most 
 favored nation. 
 
 Article V. All merchants, commanders of vessels, and other 
 subjects and citizens of each party, shall have free liberty in all 
 places within the dominion or jurisdiction of the other, to manage 
 their own business themselves^ or to employ whomsoever they please 
 to manage the whole or any part thereof for them, and shall not be 
 obliged to make use of any interpreter, broker, or other person 
 whatsoever, nor to pay them any salary or fees, unless they choose 
 to make use of them. Moreover, they shall not be obliged, in 
 loading or unloading, their vessels, to make use of those workmen 
 who may be appointed by public authority for that purpose, but it 
 shall be entirely free for them to load or unload them by themselves, 
 or to make use of such persons in loading of unloading them as they 
 shall think fit, without paying any fees or salary to any other 
 whomsoever; neither shall they be forced to unload any sort of 
 merchandize into any vessels, or to receive them into their own, or 
 to wait for their being loaded longer than they please. 
 
 Article VI. That the vessels of either party loading within the 
 ports and jurisdiction of the other, may not be uselessly harassed or 
 detained, it is agreed that all examinations of goods required by the 
 laws sh^ll be made before they are laden on board the vessels, and 
 that there shall be ho examination after, nor shall the vessel be 
 searched. at any time, unless articles shall have been laden therein 
 clandestinely and illegally, in which case the person by whose order 
 
522 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 they were carried on board, or who carried them without order, shall 
 be liable to the laws of the land in which he is ; but no other person 
 shall be molested, nor shall any other goods, nor the vessel, be seized 
 or detained for that cause. 
 
 Article VII. Each party shall endeavor, by all the means in 
 their power, to protect and defend all vessels and other effects 
 belonging to the citizens or subjects of the other which shall be 
 within the extent of their jurisdiction, by sea or by land, and shall 
 use all their efforts to recover and cause to be restored to the right 
 owners their vessels and effects which shall be taken from them 
 within the extent of their said jurisdiction. 
 
 Article VIII. The vessels of the subjects or citizens of either 
 party coming on any coast belonging to the other, but not willing to 
 enter into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload 
 their cargoes or break bulk, shall have liberty to depart and pursue 
 their voyage without molestation, and without being obliged to pay 
 any duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, or to render any account of 
 their cargo. 
 
 Article IX. When any vessel of either party shall be wrecked, 
 foundered, or otherwise damaged, on the coast or within the dominion 
 of the other, their respective subjects or citizens shall receive, as 
 well for themselves as for their vessels and effects, the same assist- 
 ance which would be due to the inhabitants of the country where 
 the damage happens, and shall pay the same charges and" dues only 
 as the said inhabitants would be subject to pay in a like case, and if 
 the operations of repair shall require that the whole or any part of 
 the cargo shall be unloaded, they shall pay no duties, charges, or 
 fees on the part which they shall relade and carry away. 
 
 Article X. The citizens or subjects of each party shall have 
 power to dispose of their personal goods within the jurisdiction of 
 the other, by testament, donation, or otherwise ; and their represent- 
 atives, being subjects or citizens of the other party, shall succeed to 
 their said personal goods, whether by testament or ab intestato, and 
 may take possession thereof either by themselves or by others acting 
 for them, and dispose of the same at their will, paying such dues 
 only as the inhabitants of the country wherein the said goods are 
 shall be subject to pay in like cases ; and in case of the absence of 
 the representative, such care shall be taken of the said goods, and 
 for so long a time, as would be taken of the goods of a native in like 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 523 
 
 case, until the lawful owner may take measures for receiving them. 
 And if a question shall arise aniong several claimants, to which of 
 them the said goods belong, the same shall be decided finally by the 
 laws and judges of the land wherein the said goods are, and where, 
 on the death of any person holding real estate within the territories 
 of the one party, such real estate would, by the laws of the said 
 land, descend on a citizen or subject of the other, were he not dis- 
 qualified by alienage, such subject shall be allowed a reasonable 
 time to sell the same and. to withdraw the proceeds, without moles- 
 tation. 
 
 Article XI. The most perfect freedom of conscience and of 
 worship is granted to the citizens or subjects of either party within 
 the jurisdiction of the other, without being liable to molestation in 
 that respect for any cause other than an insult on the religion of 
 others. Moreover, when the subjects or citizens of the one party 
 shall die within the jurisdiction of the other, their bodies shall be 
 buried in the usual burying-grounds, or other decent and suitable 
 places, and shall be protected from violence or disturbance. 
 
 Article XII. If one of the contracting parties should be engaged 
 in a war with any other Power, the free intercourse and commerce 
 of the subjects or citizens of the party remaining neutral with the 
 belligerent Powers shall not be interrupted. On the contrary, in that 
 case, as in full peace, the vessels of the neutral party may navigate 
 freely to and from the ports and on the coasts of the belligerent 
 parties, free vessels makihg free goods, insomuch that all things shall 
 be adjudged free which shall be on board any vessel belonging to 
 the neutral party, although such things belong to an enemy of the 
 other. And the same freedom shall be extended to persons who 
 shall be on board a free vessel, although they should be enemies to 
 the other party, unless they be soldiers in actual service of such 
 enemy. On the other hand, enemy vessels shall make enemy goods, 
 insomuch that whatever shall be found in the vessels of an enemy 
 shall be confiscated without distinction, except such goods and mer- 
 chandize as were put on board such vessel before the declaration of 
 war, or within six months after it, which shall be free. 
 
 Article XIII. And in the same case of one of the contracting 
 parties being engaged in war with any other Power, to prevent all 
 the difficulties and misunderstandings that shall arise respecting the 
 merchandize heretofore called contraband, such as arms, ammunition. 
 
524 J' ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 and military stores of every kind, no such articles, carried in the 
 vessels or by the subjects or citizens of one of the parties to the 
 enemies of the other, shall be deemed contraband, so as to induce 
 confiscation or condemnation and a loss of property to individuals. 
 Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such vessels and articles, and 
 to detain them for such length of time as the captors may think 
 necessary to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue 
 from their proceeding ; paying, however, a reasonable compensation 
 for the loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors. And it 
 shall further be allowed to use, in the service of the captors, the 
 whole or any part of the military stores so detained, paying the 
 owners the full value of the same, to be ascertained by the current 
 price at the place of its destination. 
 
 Article XIV. And in the same case, where one of the parties 
 is engaged in war with another Power, that the vessels of the neutral 
 Power may be readily and certainly known, it is agreed that they 
 shall be provided with sea-letters or passports, which shall express 
 the name, the property, and burthen of the vessel, as- also the name 
 and dwelling of the master ; which passports shall be made out in 
 good and due forms, (to be settled by conventions between the 
 parties,) whenever occasion shall require, shall be renewed as often 
 as the vessel shall return into port, and shall be exhibited whenever 
 required, as well in the open sea as in port ; but if the said vessel 
 be under convoy of one or more vessels of war belonging to the 
 neutral party, the simple declaration of tMe officer commanding the 
 convoy that the said vessel belongs to the party of which he is, 
 shall be considered as establishing the fact, and shall relieve both 
 parties from the trouble of further examination. 
 
 Akticle XV. And to prevent all disorder and violence in such 
 cases, it is stipulated that when the vessels of the neutral party, 
 sailing without convoy, shall be met by any vessel of war, public or 
 private, of the other party, such vessel of war shall not approach 
 within cannon-shot of the said neutral vessel, nor send more than 
 two or three men in their boat on board the same, to examine her 
 sea-letters or passports ; and all persons belonging to any vessel of 
 war, public or private, who shall molest or injure, in any manner 
 whatever, the people, vessel, or effects of the other party, shall be 
 responsible in their persons and property for damages and interest ; 
 sufficient security for which shall be given by all commanders of 
 private-armed vessels before they are commissioned. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 535 
 
 Article XVI. It is agreed that the subjects or citizens of each 
 of the contracting parties, their vessels and effects, shall not be liable 
 to any embargo or detention on the part of the other for apy military 
 expedition or other public or private purpose whatsoever ; and in all - 
 cases of seizure, detention, or arrest, for debts contracted or offences 
 committed by any citizen or subject of the one party within the 
 jurisdiction of the other, the same shall be made and prosecuted by 
 order and authority of the law only, and according to the regular 
 course of proceedings usual in such cases. 
 
 Article XVII. If any vessel or effects of the neutral Power be 
 taken by an enemy of the other, or by a pirate, and retaken by the 
 other, they shall be brought into some port of one of the parties, 
 and delivered into the custody of the officers of that port, in order 
 to be restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as due proof shall 
 be made concerning the property thereof. 
 
 Article XVIII. If the citizens or subjects of either party, in 
 danger from tempests, pirates, or other accidents, shall take refuge 
 with their vessels or effects within the harbors or jurisdiction of the 
 other, they shall be received, protected, and treated with humanity 
 and kindness, and shall be permitted to furnish themselves at reason- 
 able prices with all refreshments, provisions, and other things 
 necessary for their subsistence, health, and accommodation, and for 
 the repair of their vessels. 
 
 Article XIX. The vessels of war, public and private, of both 
 parties, shall carry freely, wheresoever they please, the vessels and 
 effects taken from their enemies, without being obliged to pay any 
 duties, charges, or fees, to officers of admiralty, of the customs, or 
 any others ; nor shall, such prizes be arrested, searched, or put under 
 legal process, when they come to and enter the ports of the other 
 party, but may be freely carried out again at any time by their 
 captors to the places expressed in their commissions, which the 
 commanding officer of such vessels shall be obliged to shew; but no 
 vessel which shall have made prizes on the subjects of his most 
 Christian Majesty the King of France, shall have a right of asylum 
 in the ports or havens of the United States ; and if any such be 
 forced therein by tempest or dangers of the sea, they shall be obliged 
 to depart as soon as possible, according to the tenor of the treaties 
 existing between his said most Christian Majesty and the said United 
 States. 
 
 Article XX. No citizen or subject of either of the contracting 
 
526 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 parties shall take from any Power with which the other may be at 
 war, any commission or lettfer of marque for arming any vessel to 
 act as a privateer against the other, on pain of being punished as a 
 pirate. Nor shall either party here lend or give any part of their 
 naval or military force to the enemy of the other, to aid them offen- 
 sively or defensively against that other. 
 
 Article XXI. If the two contracting parties should be engaged 
 in war against a common enemy, the following points shall be 
 observed between them : 1st. If a vessel of one of the parties, 
 retaken by a privateer of the other, shall not have been in possession 
 of the enemy more than twenty-four hours, she shall he restored to 
 the first owner for one third of the value of the vessel and cargo ; 
 but if she shall have been more than twenty-four hours in possession 
 of the enemy, she shall belong wholly to the recaptors. 2d. If in 
 the same case the recapture were by a public vessel of war of the 
 one party, restitution shall be made to the owner for one thirtieth 
 part of the value of the vessel and cargo, if she shall not have 
 been in possession of the enemy more than twenty-four hours ; and 
 one tenth of the said value where she shall have been longer, which 
 sums shall be distributed in gratuities to the recaptors. 3d. The 
 restitution in the cases aforesaid shall be after due proof of property 
 and surety given for the part to which the recaptors are entitled. 
 4th. The vessels of war, public or private, of the two parties, shall 
 be reciprocally admitted, with their prizes, into the respective ports 
 of each ; but the said prizes shall not be discharged or sold there 
 until their legality shall have been decided according to the laws 
 and regulations of the State to which the captors belong. 5th. It 
 shall be free to each party to make such regulations as they judge 
 necessary for the conduct of their respective vessels of war, public 
 and private, relative to the vessels which they shall take and carry 
 into the ports of the two parties. 
 
 Article XXII. Where the parties shall have a common enemy, 
 or shall both be neutral, the vessels of war of each shall, upon all 
 occasions, take under their protection the vessels of the other going 
 the same course, and shall defend such ve:sels as long as they hold 
 the same course, against all force and violence, in the same manner 
 as they ought to protect and defend vessels belonging to the party of 
 which they are. 
 
 Article XXIII. If war should arise between the two contracting 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 537 
 
 parties, the merchants of either country then residing in the other 
 shall be allowed to remain nine months to collect their debts and 
 settle their affairs, and may depart freely, carrying all of their effects 
 without molestation or hindrance; and all women and children, 
 scholars of every faculty, cultivators of the earth, artizans, manufac- 
 turers, and fishermen, unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, 
 villages, or places, whose occupations are for the common subsistence 
 and benefit of mankind, shall be allowed to continue their respective 
 employments, and shall not be molested in their persons, nor shall 
 their houses or goods be burnt or otherwise destroyed, nor their fields 
 wasted by the armed force of the enemy, into whose power, by the 
 events of war, they may happen to fall ; but if any thing is necessary 
 to be taken from them for the use of such armed force, the same 
 shall be paid for at a reasonable price ; and all merchant and trading 
 vessels employed in exchanging the products of different places, and 
 thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of 
 human life more easy to be obtained and more general, shall be 
 allowed to pass free and unmolested ; and neither of the contracting 
 Powers shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed 
 vessels empowering them to take or destroy such trading vessels, or 
 interrupt such commerce. 
 
 Article XXIV. And to prevent the destruction of prisoners of 
 war, by sending them into distant and inclement countries, or by 
 crowding them into close and noxious places, the contracting parties 
 solemnly pledge themselves to each other, and to the world, that 
 they will not adopt any such practice ; that neither will send the 
 prisoners whom they may take from the other into the East Indies, 
 or any other parts of Asia or Africa ; but that they shall be placed 
 in some part of their dominions in Europe or America, in wholesome 
 situations ; that they shall not be confined in dungeons, prison-ships, 
 or prisons, nor be put into irons, nor bound, nor otherwise restrained 
 in the use of their limbs ; but the officers shall be enlarged on their 
 paroles, within convenient districts, and have comfortable quarters ; 
 and the common men be disposed in cantonments, open and exten- 
 sive enough for air and exercise, ahd lodged in barracks as roomy 
 and good as are provided by the party in whose power they are, for 
 their own troops ; that the officers shall also be daily furnished by 
 the party in whose power they are with as many rations, and of the 
 same articles and quality, as are allowed by them, either in kind or 
 
528 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 by commutation, to officers of equal rank in their own army ; and 
 all others shall be daily furnished by them with such ration as they 
 allow to a common soldier in their own service ; the value whereof 
 shall be paid by the other party on a mutual adjustment of accounts 
 for the subsistence of prisoners at the close of the war ; and the said 
 accounts shall not be mingled with, or set off against, any other, nor 
 the balance due on them be withheld as a satisfaction or reprisal for 
 any other article or for any other cause, real or pretended, whatever ; 
 that each party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of prisoners 
 of their own appointment, with every separate cantonment of 
 prisoners in possession of the other, which commissary shall see the 
 prisoners as often as he pleases, shall be allowed to receive and 
 distribute whatever necessaries may be sent to them by their fsiends, 
 and shall be free to make his reports in open letters to those who 
 employ him ; but if any officer shall break his parole, or any other 
 prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after they shall 
 have been designated to him, such individual, officers, or other prisoners 
 shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article as provides for his 
 enlargement on parole or cantonment. And it is declared that 
 neither the pretence that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other 
 whatever, shall be considered as annulling or suspending this and 
 the next preceding article, but on the contrary that the state of war 
 is precisely that for which they are provided, and during which 
 they are to be as sacredly observed as the most acknowledged 
 articles in the law of nature and nations. 
 
 _ Article XXV. The two contracting parties grant to each other 
 the liberty .of having, each in the ports of the other. Consuls, Vice 
 Consuls, agents, and commissaries of their own appointment, whose 
 functions shall be regulated by particular agreement whenever either 
 party shall choose to make such appointment. 
 
 Article XXVI. If either party shall hereafter grant to any other 
 nation any particular favor in navigation or commerce, it shall imme- 
 diately become common to the other party, freely where it is freely 
 granted to such other nation, or on yielding the compensation where 
 such nation does the same. 
 
 Article XXVII. His Majesty the King of Prussia and the 
 United States of America agree that this treaty shall be in force 
 
 during the term of years from the exchange of ratifications ; 
 
 and if the expiration of that term should happen during the course 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 529 
 
 of a war between them, then the articles before provided for the 
 regulation of their conduct during such a war, shall continue in force 
 until the conclusion of the treaty which shall reestablish peace, and 
 that this treaty shall be ratified on both sides, and the ratifications 
 exchanged within one year from the date of its signature. 
 
 REPORT OF JOHN JAY ON A PLAN OF A TREATY OF AMITY AND 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 17, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 
 Affairs, to whom was referred the draft of a Treaty of Amity and 
 
 Commerce, transmitted by the American Ministers, reports : 
 
 That, in his opinion, a system for regulating the trade of the United 
 
 States should be formed and adopted before they enter into further 
 
 treaties of commerce ; it appearing to him more wise that such 
 
 treaties should be accommodated to their system, than that their 
 
 system should be accommodated to such treaties. , 
 
 That in forming this system many important questions will arise, 
 such as whether American exports shall be wholly, or how far 
 confined to American bottoms ; whether any and what distinction 
 shall be made in that respect between the vessels of one foreign 
 nation and another ; whether American exports, to whatever nation 
 bound, shall be charged with any or the same, or what different 
 duties ; whether all foreign merchandizes, by whatever nation 
 imported, shall be charged with the same imposts ; whether any, and 
 which species or denomination of foreign productions or manufac- 
 tures shall be prohibited. These and other questions of the like 
 nature will probably arise, and these treaties will anticipate, if not 
 embarrass the discussion and decision of some of them. 
 
 As to the draft of a treaty referred to him, he thinks the policy of 
 some of these articles in it questionable. 
 
 I. It appears to him inexpedient to make the conduct of the 
 parties towards the most favored nations the rule of their conduct 
 towards each other: 
 
 (1.) Because, as other nations have regulated their trade and we 
 not, their systems cannot be deranged by it, but it may much perplex, 
 the formation of ours. 
 Vol. I.— 34 
 
530 J ADAMS, & FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 (2.) Because the interchange of favors between us and a nation 
 merely European, will probably be regulated by principles and 
 considerations distinct in a certain degree from those which should 
 regulate such an interchange between us and nations partly European 
 and partly American. 
 
 (3.) Because it may give occasion to difficulties and disputes not 
 easily to be settled. 
 
 (4.) Because the inducement to those favors may arise from 
 advantages not in the power of the other to afford m kind, and the 
 twenty-sixth article does not provide for an equivalent consideration, 
 where it is not in the power of the party to grant a similar one. 
 Besides, considerations may be exactly similar in kind, and yet very 
 different in value, and the article in question does not seem to attend 
 to that circumstance. 
 
 (5.) Because we may have reasons for freely granting to one 
 nation what we may have no reason to grant to another. 
 
 (6.) Because as our trade is at present free to all, we have few 
 favors to grant to any; whereas, their trade being charged with 
 various duties and restrictions, they need only relax to have favors 
 to grant. 
 
 He thinks it would be better, therefore, to let each party stand 
 alone, without reference to or connection with any other. 
 
 11. Your Secretary doubts /the expediency of agreeing absolutely 
 that any foreign nation shall be at liberty to bring and vend in the 
 United States all or any of their productions and manufactures 
 without exception. Because it may be necessary, either for the 
 purpose of checking the progress of luxury, or for the purpose of 
 promoting our own manufactures, to prohibit the importation of 
 certain merchandizes. 
 
 He thinks it a mistake that high duties can answer the purpose of 
 a prohibition ; because, if the obnoxious articles are permitted to be 
 entered at all, it will be impossible always to decide whether their 
 importation was regular or clandestine. 
 
 These objections cannot have equal force with other nations in 
 their connections with us, because we have little or nothing to carry 
 to them, which could either injure their manufactories or increase 
 their luxury. 
 
 ni. Your Secretary has doubts respecting the sixteenth article, 
 which suspends laying embargoes. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 531 
 
 To an European nation at war with an European nation, embar- 
 goes are of little consequence, because surrounding nations can and 
 will supply to each party whatever they may want. But an 
 European nation at war with us, can, by means of neutral vessels, 
 obtain great supplies from us, which. Under certain circumstances 
 and in particular emergencies, they could not easily acquire else- 
 where. 
 
 Your Secretary is of opinion that the duration of these treaties 
 should be very limited, because the increasing importance, as well 
 as the increasing experience of the United States, will almost from 
 year to year increase their capacity of making such connections and 
 compacts more and more correspondent to their views and wishes. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO BARON THULEMEIER. 
 
 Passy, NoTember 10, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 We received the letter your Excellency did us the honor of 
 writing to us the 8th ultimo, together with the copy of your full 
 power to treat with us. Mr. Adams had, as you suppose, preserved 
 a copy of the project of a treaty that had been concerted between 
 your Excellency and him, but having, by instructions from the 
 Congress, our sovereign, certain new articles to propose in all our 
 treaties with European Powers, which articles, if agreed to, would 
 render some of those heretofore in use unnecessary, and judging 
 also that some change in the order, by bringing together what relates 
 to the same subject, would render the whole more clear, we have 
 made a new draft of the project, adding the new articles, and send 
 it herewith for your consideration. 
 
 Those new articles are the 13th and the 23d. The first contains 
 its own reasons, to wit : The prevention of difficulties and misunder- 
 standings heretofore constantly arising with regard to merchandize 
 called contraband in time of war. In support of the other, we oifer 
 a few reasons contained in a separate paper, to which we shall only 
 add here, that the article being in favor of humanity, by softening 
 and diminishing the calamities of war, we think it will be honorable 
 to the first Powers who agree to it, and more particularly to his 
 
532 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Majesty the King of Prussia — if he, whose subjects are known to be 
 so well defended by his power and abilities, as to make the stipula- 
 tion of any favor for them during the war unnecessary, should be the 
 foremost in setting the example of agreeing to such an article. The 
 part, too, which engages not to commission privateers, nor make 
 prize of merchant ships, will, we think, show the disinterestedness 
 of the United States, since their situation is suited to prey with ease 
 on the rich commerce of Europe with the West Indies, which must 
 pass before their doors ; while their own, consisting of lumber and 
 provisions, is of so little value as that the loss in that kind of war is 
 vastly inferior to the profit, which was demonstrated in their late 
 contest with Britain, whose mighty fleets were insufficient to protect 
 their trade from the depredations of a people as able and as expert 
 seamen as themselves. 
 
 With regard to the mannes of conducting this negotiation, we 
 think it may continue to be by letters, till the articles are agreed on ; 
 after which, as the many affairs we have on hand make it incon- 
 venient for us to leave Paris, we shall be glad to receive you here, 
 or if that should not be suitable for you, to meet you in any inter- 
 mediate place that you may nominate. 
 
 We send herewith the copy of our commission, and we are, with 
 respect, Stc, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Reasons in support of the new proposed Articles in the Treaties of 
 Commerce, transmitted to the Baron de Thulemeier, in the letter 
 addressed to him November 10, 1784, and enclosed with a copy 
 of the said letter to Congress the next day. 
 
 By the original law of nations, war and extirpation were the 
 punishment of injury ; humanizing by degrees, it admitted slavery 
 instead of death ; a farther step was, the exchange of prisoners 
 instead of slavery ; another to respect more the property of private 
 persons under conquest, and be content with acquired dominion. 
 Why should not this law of nations go on improving ? Ages have 
 intervened between its several steps ; but as knowledge of late 
 increases rapidly, why should not those steps be quickened, why 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 533 
 
 should it ndt be agreed to as the future law of nations, that in any- 
 war hereafter the following descriptions of men should be undisturbed, 
 have the protection of both sides, and be permitted to follow their 
 employments in surety, viz : 
 
 1st. Cultivators of the earth, because they labor for the subsistence 
 of mankind. 
 
 2d. Fishermen, for the same reason. 
 
 3d. Merchants and traders, in unarmed ships, who accommodate 
 different nations by communicating and exchanging the necessaries 
 and conveniences of life. 
 
 4th. Artists and mechanics inhabiting and working in open towns. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add that the hospitals of enemies should 
 be unmolested ; they ought to be assisted. 
 
 It is for the interest of humanity in general, that the occasions of 
 war, and the inducements to it, should be diminished. 
 
 If rapine is abolished, one of the encouragements to war is taken 
 away, and peace therefore more likely to continue and be lasting. 
 
 The practice of robbing merchants on the high seas, a remnant of 
 the ancient piracy, though it may be accidentally beneficial to par- 
 ticular persons, is far from being profitable to all engaged in it, or to 
 the nation that authorizes it. In the beginning of a war, some 
 rich ships, not upon their guard, are surprised and taken. This 
 encourages the first adventurers to fit out more armed vessels, and 
 many others to do the same, but the enemy, at the same time, 
 become more careful, arm their merchant ships better, and render 
 them not so easy to be taken ; they go also more under the protec- 
 tion of convoys. Thus, while the privateers to take them are 
 multiplied, the vessels subject to be taken and the chances of profit 
 are diminished, so that many cruises are made wherein the expenses 
 overgo the gains, as it is the case in other lotteries ; though indi- 
 viduals have got the prizes, the mass of adventurers are losers, the 
 whole expense of fitting out all the privateers during a war being 
 much greater than the whole amount of goods taken. Then there 
 is the national loss of all the labor of so many men, during the time 
 they have been employed in robbing, who, besides, ipend what they 
 get in riot, drunkenness, debauchery, lose their habits of industry, 
 are rarely fit for any sober business after a peace, and serve only to 
 increase the number of highwaymen and housebreakers. Even the 
 undertakers who have been fortunate are, by sudden wealth, led into 
 
334 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 expensive living, the habit of which continues when the means of 
 supporting it cease, and finally ruins them,. A just punishment for 
 their having wantonly and unfeelingly ruined many honest, innocent 
 traders and their families, whose substance was employed in serving 
 the common interests of mankind. 
 
 FIRST REPORT Or THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Paris, November 11, 1784. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 Having assembled together at this place about the latter end of 
 August, we proceeded, in obedience to the commands of Congress, 
 to notify our appointment and its objects to such Powers as we 
 thought it advisable at that time to address. 
 
 We wrote a circular letter, in the form No. 1, to the Ambassadors 
 or other Ministers residing here from the Courts of Saxony, the Two 
 Sicilies, Sardinia, Venice, Tuscany, Russia, and Rome. Copies of 
 the answers from those of Saxony, the Two Sicilies, Sardinia, 
 Venice, Tuscany, are contained in the enclosed papers, Nos. 2, 3, 
 4, 5, and 6. The Minister of Russia ansWered verbally to Colonel 
 Humphreys, who delivered the letter, " that he would transmit it to 
 his Court." From the Nuncio of the Pope we have received no 
 answer, either written or verbal. Our letter to him was dated 
 September 22d. 
 
 Our letter to the Ambassador of Spain was in the same form ; 
 his answer, a translation of it, and our reply, is contained in Nos. 7, 
 8, and 9. 
 
 A project of a treaty having been before concerted with the Court 
 of Lisbon, a small alteration in the form of our general letter, as 
 noted in No. 1, adapted it to that circumstance. No. 10 is a copy 
 of the answer of their Ambassador. 
 
 A like circumstance with the Court of Berlin rendered a letter in 
 the same form proper for that ; but as that negotiation had began 
 with the Baron de Thulemeier, their Envoy at the Hague, we thought 
 it proper that our letter proposing a continuation of it should be 
 addressed to him, and not to the Minister here. No. 1 1 is a copy of 
 his answer, and No. 12 of our reply. 
 
 Our commission to Sweden, and instructions accompanying it, 
 proposing a supplementary treaty to that Power, we addressed a 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 535 
 
 letter, of which No. 13 is a copy, to the Swedish Ambassador here. 
 No. 14 is his answer, and No. 15 our verbal communication in 
 consequence of it. 
 
 Doctor Franklin having had occasion to write to the Imperial 
 Minister after his receipt of the new instructions, but before our 
 meeting, had taken that opportunity of notifying to him the commis- 
 sion with which we were honored for that Court. A copy of his 
 answer will be found in No. 16. 
 
 A letter from the Minister of Genoa, of which No. 17 is a copy, 
 addressed to Doctor Franklin, and received before we had sent out 
 our general letters, furnished a like occasion of notifying our powers 
 to him, which Doctor Franklin did in a letter, of which No. 18 is a 
 copy. 
 
 To the Court of Versailles we announced our commission ver- 
 bally, shewed the original, and left a copy with the Count de Ver- 
 gennes, from whom we received a verbal apswer, " that he would 
 ' always be ready to enter on negotiations and receive propositions 
 'which might be of mutual advantage and tend to cement the 
 ' union and increase the harmony which prevailed between the two 
 ' nations." 
 
 A project of a treaty between the United States and Denmark 
 had before been communicated to Congress. Baron de WalterstorfF, 
 the person with whom this had been concerted, was still here, 
 expecting that powers would be sent from Congress to conclude it. 
 Hp was himself furnished with a letter from his Minister, authorizing 
 him to take the measures which had been taken, and assuring him 
 of regular powers as soon as those on our part should arrive to him ; 
 therefore we notified verbally that we were furnished with powers 
 for concerting and concluding a treaty, and he assured us verbally 
 he would immediately transmit our notification to his Court, and 
 that we might rely on their sending corresponding powers. 
 
 Mr. Hartley had been sent here from the Court of London, with 
 a Plenipotentiary commission for the perfecting and establishing 
 peace, friendship, and good understanding between the United States 
 and the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, and for opening, pro- 
 moting, and rendering perpetual the mutual intercourse of trade and 
 commerce between them. This commission had been regularly" 
 communicated to our Ministers at the time of concluding the defin 
 i)tive treaty of peace, and had been in part executed by the actual 
 
536 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 signature of that treaty. The second part, however, for opening, 
 promoting, and rendering perpetual a mutual intercourse of trade 
 and commerce, remaining unexecuted, for want of proper powers 
 from the United States, that Minister had continued here. On the 
 31st of August ^e notified to him verbally that we were furnished 
 with powers for entering into a treaty of amity and commerce with 
 his nation. He answered verbally, also, "that he would immediately 
 ' communicate it to his Court, and that he did not doubt that his 
 ' Majesty's Government would at all times be ready to concur in the 
 ' forming such a system as may fully answer every purpose of com- 
 ' mercial as well as political advantage to the two countries, and fix 
 ' and establish a permanent and beneficial intercourse between them." 
 Some time after this he asked a meeting with us at Passy, at which 
 he informed us that he had communicated our notification to his 
 Court, and had received a letter in answer, in which was a clause to 
 this effect : You may with great truth assure the American Ministers 
 of our ready and friendly disposition to receive any proposals from 
 the United States for the forming such regulations as may tend to 
 the mutual and reciprocal advantage of both countries. He informs 
 us at the same time, however, that he was ordered to return to 
 London, which he accordingly did in a few days. This official 
 answer had been given us on the 16th September, and having waited 
 a sufficient time to have heard further from him after his return, and 
 receiving nothing further, we wrote on the 28th of October two 
 letters to the Duke of Dorset, the British Ambassador at this Court, 
 of which Nos. 19 and 20 are copies. On the receipt of which he 
 desired Colonel Humphreys, who delivered them, to inform us that, 
 being entirely unacquainted with the negotiations proposed through 
 Mr. Harriey to the Court of London, he could say nothing on that 
 subject, except that he would write concerning it to his Court. With 
 respect to the explanations and arrangements suggested in the other 
 letter, (which he would also transmit,) he did not doubt but that 
 everything which was equitable would be done ; and in the mean- 
 time he wished us to be informed that he would make us acquainted 
 with the result as soon as he should receive the necessary instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 We have not yet communicated our powers or propositions to 
 Hamburg or the United Netherlands. From the former there is 
 at present no public Minister here, and when communicated to the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 537 
 
 latter, we knew that from the States General they would be carried 
 to the regencies of the several States, and from these again to their 
 several towns, so that their publication would be inevitable. We 
 thought it better that this should not take place till they should have 
 been discussed and concluded with those nations whose system of 
 negotiation is more private. 
 
 To the Porte, the Emperor of Morocco, and the Regencies of 
 Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, no communications have been made. 
 Treaties with these Powers are formed under very peculiar circum- 
 stances. Not only the expenses of the negotiations on their part are 
 to be borne by the other negotiating Power, but great presents and 
 an annual tribute are requisite with some of them. The contributions 
 under which they thus lay the Powers of Europe are as heavy as 
 they are degrading. We feel for our country under both these points 
 of view, and as we cannot proceed at all till the money necessary is 
 actually ready at our command, we have thought it proper to give 
 this information to Congress. We wish it was in our power to 
 conjecture the sums which might be necessary ; and have endeavored 
 to learn what is given by the European Powers, as we might thence 
 form some estimate what would be required from us. As yet we 
 have been unable to obtain this information, and we know not what 
 measures to suggest should Congress determine to proceed in these 
 treaties, other than to limit us to some ultimate sum, to place that 
 actually at our command, and to rely on our assurances that we shall 
 use our best endeavors to reduce the contributions as far below this 
 as shall be in our power. Presents or war is their usual alternative. 
 Should Congress, however, determine against the first, they might 
 perhaps think it proper that some intelhgent person should be sent 
 to make himself acquainted with the wants of those States, and to 
 know whether we could not offer to them such a commercial inter- 
 course as might make an equal treaty acceptable. 
 
 We have made to the Count de Vergennes the communications 
 directed by our instructions of May 11th, 1784, as to the claim of 
 the five Fosters, brothers, for the prize of their vessel, the Three 
 Friends, and have received no answer on the subject ; from which 
 circumstance we hope that the Court is satisfied as to that article. ^ 
 
 A letter received from the Count de Vergennes, and another from 
 Monsieur Grand to Dr. Franklin, of which No. 21 and 22 are copies, 
 give us reason to apprehend an uneasiness in this Court, lest we 
 
538 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 should fail not only in the punctual payment of the interest on their 
 particular loans, but should permit the payment on the Dutch loan, 
 which this Court guarantied to fall in the first instance on them. 
 This circumstance, under the present probability of a war in Europe, 
 might be really inconvenient to them, and give unfavorable ideas of 
 the sense we entertain of their past favors. Congress will know 
 whether measures have been taken to make timely payments here, 
 and they can best judge of what exertions the States are capable for 
 reducing their foreign debt even faster than their stipulations require. 
 A hearty disposition in the people goes far towards making them 
 equal to whatever it is their duty and interest to do, and we cannot 
 help supposing that if our countrymen would boldly look that part of 
 their foreign debt in the face, which they have a right to discharge, 
 if they would view it and view themselves, they would find they 
 could master it perhaps with a single effort. Of this we can assure 
 them that nothing would produce such a revolution in the opinion 
 entertained in Europe of their powers, of their justice, and of the 
 tone of their Government. If a reputation for equity and gratitude ; 
 if a demonstration of our resources and of our resolution ; if the 
 subjection of the riches of Europe to our wishes, on any future 
 emergency, may be bought at half a guinea a head, cannot our 
 countrymen be roused to make the purchase ? Add to this that it 
 would command for us a respect, which might save us in the end 
 millions of money and torrents of blood. Congress, we hope, will 
 pardon us these reflections ; we are on a field where every circum- 
 stance tends to produce them. 
 
 Our instruction as to gratification and indemnification to John 
 Baptist Pequet has not yet been complied with. Mr. Grand's letter 
 will assign the reason. 
 
 The honor of our country, as well as our own feeling, will not 
 permit us to pass unnoticed, that we are now depending for daily 
 subsistence on the bounty of a subject of this kingdom, a bounty to 
 which he tells us in his letter, " qu'il sera force mettre des homes." 
 We trust that Congress will be so good as to order us effectual and 
 instantaneous relief from this situation. 
 
 We are to acknowledge the receipt of two letters from the 
 Committee of the States, the one dated July 16, the other August 
 13. This covered the British roll of one hundred and forty-two 
 men, ninety women, and fifty-four children, negroes, part admitted 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 539 
 
 to be slaves, and a part said to be free, which were carried from New 
 York at the time of the evacuation ; the only voucher we have yet 
 received in support of that article in our instructions which respects 
 this subject. The former contained papers on the subject of the brig 
 I'Aimable Elizabeth, scuttled and abandoned by her master and crew 
 while in company with Captain Shewel from Philadelphia, taken 
 possession of by him, sent into Newfoundland under the care of his 
 second lieutenant, John Justice, where she is said to have been seized 
 and disposed of without trial or condemnation by a Nicholas Gill, 
 Commissary and Judge of the Vice Admiralty there. The circum- 
 stance of scuttling the vessel awakening suspicion, (as it is difficult 
 to assign ap honest reason for it,) and the brig having gone from 
 L'Orient, and the master and crew returned thither with Captain 
 Shewel, we desired Mr. Barclay to procure what testimony he could 
 on the subject, and communicate it to us. He has sent us the 
 protests of both the French and American masters, and it is a little 
 remarkable that the French captain makes no mention of the American 
 one having taken possession of the vessel and put men on board of 
 her, and expressly supposes she sunk that night ; and that Captain 
 Shewel is equally silent as to the same circumstance of his having 
 manned her. Mr. Barclay is still engaged in searching into this 
 matter ; ajad as the investigation will take some little time, we submit, 
 in the meanwhile, some other considerations to the wisdom of Con- 
 gress, because it is of importance to the character of a nation to make 
 no demands on another, which cannot be substantially supported. 
 If there was no judiciary trial or condemnation, as the papers 
 suppose, this seems to have been a trespass in Nicholas Gill, 
 committed within the jurisdiction of the British Courts, and reme- 
 diable by a common action at law, which does not seem to have been 
 denied to or demanded by the sufferer. If there were a judiciary 
 condemnation, yet it was in an inferior court, from which an appeal 
 might have been demanded to a higher court, where the presumption 
 always is that the injustice would have been redressed. Persons 
 who go into a foreign country, submit themselves to the laws of that 
 country, and in every civilized nation its courts are open to redress 
 any injury they may receive. It is not till they shall have tried these 
 courts, through all their possible stages, till they shall have been 
 denied redress by them, and that too against palpable justice, that it 
 is usual for their own sovereign to take it up, and make it a cause of 
 
540 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 national complaint. Nations would keep each other in a constant 
 state of irritation, and much oftener proceed further, were every 
 private dispute between their citizens to be taken up by their sover- 
 eign in the first instance. Congress will be pleased to determine 
 whether these considerations have weight enough to induce them to 
 suspend, our application to the British court in this case, till their 
 pleasure shall be further signified to us. 
 
 With great respect, we have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Immediately after despatching the preceding letter to Congress, 
 the Plenipotentiaries received by the hand of the Secretary to the 
 Portuguese Embassy the following : 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Monsieur de Sa, dated at Queluz the 2ith 
 October, 1784, to M. de Souza. 
 
 In consequence of what the agents of the United States of America 
 have written to your Excellency, you can assure them that her most 
 Faithful Majesty will be much pleased to have a better correspond- 
 ence with the United States. It is her wish that their agents explain 
 themselves, and make known the intentions of Congress, in order 
 that your Excellency may communicate to your Court, which will 
 listen to them with much attention. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO COUNT DE SOUZA. 
 
 Passy, November 30, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 
 We have received the extract of the letter from M. de Sa of the 
 24th October, 1784, which your Excellency was pleased to send us 
 by the hand of the Secretary of your Legation. 
 
 That in consequence of our letter, your Excellency might assure 
 us that her most Faithful Majesty will be very glad to have the best 
 correspondence with the United States, and that we may explain to 
 your Excellency the intentions of Congress, to be communicated to 
 your Court, who will listen to them with much attention. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 541 
 
 Conformably to the desires of her most Faithful Majesty, expressed 
 in this extract of the letter of her Minister, we have the honor to 
 enclose a draft* of a project of a treaty of amity and commerce 
 to be concluded between the two Powers, if this project should be 
 approved by her Majesty, and a full power should be sent to your 
 Excellency to conclude, we are ready to sign such a treaty on the 
 part of the United States. If your Court have any objections or 
 alterations to propose, we shall give them all the attention and 
 consideration consistent with the views of our constituents. 
 With great respect, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM M. FAVI TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, November 16, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have not failed to transmit to my Court the letter with which 
 you honored me on the 30th September last relative to a treaty of 
 amity and commerce between the subjects of my master the Arch 
 Duke, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the citizens of the United States 
 of America. 
 
 I have the honor to inform you, gentlemen, that the invitation has 
 been very agreeable to his Royal Highness, and that he will receive 
 with pleasure the communication of propositions, and a plan upon 
 which the agreement may be negotiated, in order that he may take 
 them into consideration. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, FAVI, 
 
 Charge d' Affaires of Tuscany. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO M. FAVI. 
 
 Passy, December 9, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 We have received your letter of the 16th November, wherein you 
 are pleased to inform us that you had communicated to his Royal 
 
 * The draft of the treaty was the same as that enclosed to the Baron de Thule- 
 meier. Vide page 519. 
 
542 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Highness, the > Grand Duke of Tuscany, the overtures we had the 
 honor of making for the establishment of a treaty of amity and 
 commerce between the subjects of his Royal Highness and the 
 citizens of the United States of America ; that these were agreeable 
 to him, and that our proposition on this subject would be received 
 with pleasure, and taken into consideration. 
 
 We have now the honor of enclosing to you, for the consideration 
 of your Court, a plan of such a treaty of amity and commerce as we 
 shall be ready to sign, if it shall meet their approbation. We flatter 
 ourselves they will find it founded on those principles of equal right 
 which are the surest guardians of every treaty, and calculated to 
 promote the interests of humanity in general. We shall receive, 
 with great respect and attention, any amendments which may be 
 proposed, and concur cheerfully in accommodating it more perfectly 
 to the true interests of commerce and happiness of the two nations, 
 well knowing that we cannot better gratify the wishes of our 
 constituents, and the respect which they entertain for his Royal 
 Highness, than by opening a liberal and friendly intercourse between 
 his subjects and them. 
 
 With great respect, we have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FKOM THE DtJKE OF DORSET TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Paris, November 24, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have transmitted, without loss of time, to the Marquis of Car- 
 marthen, his Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, copies 
 of the two letters which you had done me the honor of addressing 
 to me, and am in consequence authorized to assure you, on the part 
 of his Majesty's Ministers, of their readiness to take into consideration 
 any proposals coming from the United States that can tend to the 
 establishing a system of mutual and permanent advantage to the two 
 countries ; for the more ready accomplishment of which I am 
 instructed to notify you, gentlemen, the previous stipulation proposed 
 by my Court, that the United States should send a person properly 
 authorized and invested with the necessary powers, to London, as 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 543 
 
 more suitable to the dignity of either Power than would be the 
 carrying on, at any third place, negotiation of so great importance. 
 
 I have not yet received any instructions upon the subject of your 
 letter stating certain propositions in regard to particular articles of the 
 preliminaries of peace between England and France, signed on the 
 20th of January, 1783, and acceded to by the Ministers of the 
 United States. But I have every reason to believe that a full and 
 candid discussion of those points will be entered into by my Court, 
 with the sincere view, I can venture to say, of effecting a fair and 
 equitable adjustment of the several matters offered for consideration, 
 and from an earnest -desire of promoting a friendly and confidential 
 intercourse between Great Britain and America. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with great truth, Sjc, 
 
 DORSET. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONEKS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET. 
 
 Passy, December 9, 1784. 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 We have received the letter which your Grace did us the honor 
 of writing us on the 24th day of last month, and we receive with 
 much satisfaction the assurances on the part of his Britannic Majesty's 
 Ministers of their readiness to take into consideration any proposals 
 coming froip the United States of America that can tend to the 
 establishing a system of mutual and permanent advantage to the two 
 countries. 
 
 As to the previous stipulations proposed by your Court, " that 
 ' the United States should send a person properly authorized and 
 ' invested with the necessary powers to London, as more suitable to 
 ' the dignity of either Power than would be carrying on in any third 
 ' place a negotiation of so gr^at importance," we can only say, that 
 if by this proposition it is intended that the United States should 
 send a public Minister to reside constantly at the Court of Great 
 Britain, we are not authorized to answer it, but we shall transmit a 
 copy of your Grace's letter to Congress, who will determine upon it 
 according to their wisdom ; but if it is intended only that the pro- 
 posed negotiation should be conducted in London, we can inform 
 your Grace and his Majesty's Ministers that we have a full power, 
 in due form, as Ministers Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty, 
 
544 J. ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 not only to treat but conclude upon all the subjects in question, and 
 although we have no apprehension that it is inconsistent with the 
 dignity of the United States to treat in any third place, and although 
 it would be inconvenient for us to leave Paris, where we have already 
 commenced negotiations with several other Powers, for any long 
 time, yet we are so desirous of showing a respect to the sentiments 
 of your Court, that we would readily repair to London, as we are 
 not limited by our commission nor instructions to any place. 
 
 We shall, therefore, wait for further information from your Grace, 
 and from his Majesty's Ministers ; and if it shall appear to be their 
 desire to meet us in London, we shall do ourselves the honor of 
 paying our respects to them in person without loss of time. 
 With great respect^ he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 SECOND EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Paris, December 15, 1784. 
 Sir, 
 In our letter of November 1 1 , we had the honor of laying before 
 Congress a state of our proceedings till that date. As from that it 
 would appear that the last communication had passed from us to the 
 other parties, we can now only add the answers of such of them as 
 have yet answered, and our replies — these are the Courts of Portugal, 
 Tuscany, and Great Britain. No. 1 is a copy of the communication 
 from the Ambassador of Portugal to us ; No. 2, a copy of our reply ; 
 No. 3, a copy of a draught of a treaty which we enclosed to him ; 
 No. 4, is a copy of a letter from the Chai-ge d' Affaires of Tuscany, 
 and No. 5 our answer, which enclosed a copy of the same draught 
 of a treaty, only changing the style of the other party. We must 
 observe that the draught of a treaty which has accompanied our 
 letter to Baron Thulemeier, the Prussian Minister at the Hague, 
 which letter was enclosed in our last to Congress, but. without the 
 plan of the treaty, was verbatim the same with those to Portugal 
 and Tuscany, with only a like change in the style of the other party. 
 No. 6 is a copy of a letter to us from the British Ambassador here, 
 and No. 7, of our reply. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 545 
 
 We received information from the public papers that an American 
 vessel, which had just sailed from Cadiz, was captured on the 11th 
 of October by a frigate of the Emperor of Morocco, being one of 
 tlie five which he had cruising in the ocean, and that she was carried 
 into Tangiers on the 16th of October. This intelhgence is con- 
 firmed in a letter from Mr. Carmichael, who adds that the vessel 
 captured belonged to the State of Virginia. We think it our duty 
 to mention this event to your Excellency, as it will show the necessity 
 that immediate measures be taken with the piratical States for the 
 preservation of our trade to the Mediterranean, to Spain, and to 
 Portugal, and perhaps to countries still more distant, as their vessels 
 may extend their cruising grounds. 
 
 With the most perfect consideration and respect, we have the 
 honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM M. DE SOUZA TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation, ^ 
 
 Paris, December 22, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have received th« letter you did me the honor to write, with the 
 plan of a treaty which the United States of North America propose 
 to the Queen, my Sovereign, all of which I transmitted to the Court 
 of Lisbon. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE SOUZA, 
 
 ^ Ambassador of Portugal. . 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIEK TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 The Hague, December 10, 1784. . 
 Gentlemen, 
 The letter you have done me the honor to write to me, dated 
 November 10th, reached me on the 26th of the same month by a 
 Dutch courier. I have transmitted to the King a French translation 
 Vol. L— 35 
 
546 J- ADAMSj B. FRANKLIN, T. JEPPRRSON. 
 
 of the project of a treaty of commerce, to be concluded for the 
 reciprocal advantages of the subjects of his Majesty and of the 
 citizens of the United States of America, to which the recent orders 
 of Congress have compelled you to make some alterations in oppo- 
 sition to the project I had the honor to place in the hands of Mr. 
 Adams on the 9th of April of the present year. 
 
 As soon as the orders from my Court reach me I shall lose no 
 time, gentlemen, in informing you of the observations which the 
 King will think proper to make on this new project. The twenty- 
 third article is dictated by the purest zeal in favor of humanity. 
 Nothing can be more just than your reflections on the noble disinter- 
 estedness of the United States of America. It is to be' desired that 
 these sublime sentiments maybe adopted by all the maritime Powers 
 without any exceptions. The calamities of war will be much soft- 
 ened, and hostilities, often provoked by the cupidity and inordinate 
 love of gain, of more rare occurrence. 
 
 Allow me, gentlemen, to bring to your recollection the requisition 
 which I had the honor to make to you in the last lines of my letter 
 of 18th of October of the present year. 
 
 The King having expressed to me that he would learn with 
 pleasure the choice which the United States might make of any city 
 for the exchange of commerce between the merchants of the two 
 nations, I desired you, accordingly, to let me know your ideas on 
 this subject. I added that Stettin and Embden, both Prussian 
 maritime places, or even some French or Dutch ports, might fulfil 
 this object. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO BAEON DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 Passy, January 21, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We have received the letter you did .us the honor to write us on 
 the 10th day of December last. 
 
 We supposed that the principles contained in the project of a 
 treaty, which we had the honor to transmit to you, were a virtual 
 answer to the requisition in the last lines of your letter of the 18th 
 of October. By the second and third articles, the citizens and 
 subjects of each Power may frequent all coasts and countries of the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 547 
 
 Other, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, manu- 
 factures, or merchandizes, paying no greater duties than the most 
 favored nation. By the fourth article, each party shall have a right 
 to carry their own produce, manufactures, and merchandi,zes in their 
 own vessels, to any ports of the dominions of the other, where it 
 shall be lawful for all the subjects or citizens of that other party to 
 purchase them ; and thence to take the produce, manufactures, and 
 merchandize of that other, which all the said citizens or subjects 
 shall in like manner be free to sell them, paying, in both cases, such 
 duties, charges, and fees only as are or shall be paid by the most 
 favored nation. 
 
 But if by a city for the commerce of exchange between the 
 merchants of the two nations be meant a port more, free than any 
 intended in the said second, third, or fourth articles ; that is to say, 
 a port absolutely free from all duties and charges, or a port where 
 merchandize may be landed and stored, and afterv/ards reembarked 
 and exported, without paying any imposts or duties, we submit to 
 your consideration whether it will not be for the interest of Prussia 
 that both Embden and Stettin, at least, should be made such ; how- 
 ever, should it be thought otherwise, and be still desired to elect one 
 of the two ports, we should ask for time to communicate the propo- 
 sition to Congress, and to receive their instructions thereon. 
 We have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 The Baron de WalterstorfF having personally informed each of 
 the American Ministers that he had obtained permission to return to 
 Copenhagen, and that he had it in charge to solicit such communi- 
 cations as they should judge it might be useful to make, on the 1st 
 February, 1785, announced the same officially in the following 
 letter : 
 
 Translation. 
 
 "Paris, February 1, 1785. 
 " Gentlemen, 
 " Monsieur the Count de BernstoriF, in communicating to me the 
 permission of the King to make a visit to Copenhagen, where my 
 
548 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 private affairs demand my presence at this time, has recommended 
 that 1 should request of the American Ministers to be pleased to 
 furnish me with such ideas as they may judge useful to hasten the 
 end we have in view. I have nothing so pressing on hand as the 
 conveying to you the information of the little voyage I am about to 
 make. I have even had the honor of seeing Messrs. Adams and 
 Franklin, and I have now that of informing you that I have fixed 
 upon Friday next as the day of my departure, if by that time you 
 can prepare the documents with which I am to be entrusted. Permit 
 me, gentlemen, in the meantime, to assure you that I shall always 
 regard the having made your acquaintance as one of the greatest 
 advantages of my residence at Paris. I hope that events will be 
 sufBciently favorable to my prayers, to find other occasions of culti- 
 vating it, and of repeating the assurances of my perfect attachment, 
 and the consideration with which I have the honor to be, &ic., 
 
 "DE WALTERSTORFF, 
 
 " Ambassador of Denmark.'" 
 
 FBOM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE BARON DE WALTEHSTORFF. 
 
 Paris, February 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor of receiving yesterday the letter you were pleased 
 to address to me, wherein 3''ou mention (as you had before done to 
 Mr. Adams and Doctor Franklin) that the Count de BernstorfF, in 
 cornmunicating to you the permission of your Sovereign to pay a visit 
 to Coj)enhagen, had desired you to ask of the American Ministers 
 their proposition for forwarding the objects respecting the two 
 nations. I immediately communicated your letter to Mr. Adams 
 and Dr. Franklin, and in consequence thereof have now the honor 
 of enclosing to you the draft of a treaty of, amity and commerce, in 
 such form as we would wish to see established between our two 
 sovereigns. To emancipate commerce from the shackles which 
 oppress it, to increase the general happiness, and lessen the miseries 
 of mankind, are the objects of these propositions ; and we flatter our- 
 selves that the means proposed are founded in the most perfect 
 equality and reciprocity of right. We shall attend, with great 
 respect, to such improvements as your Court may wish to make, for 
 the furtherance of the same good objects. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 549 
 
 I wish you a much pleasanter journey than the season and weather 
 seem to promise, and shall ^ at all times be happy to hear of your 
 welfare, and to take every occasion of assuring you of the esteem, 
 with which I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR DE PIO TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, January 22, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Having had the honor to place your letter of the 27th September, 
 1784, before the King, my master, and his Majesty having caused 
 the propositions and offers contained in it, in regard to the conclusion 
 of a treaty of commerce and friendship with the United States, to be 
 seriously examined, he has ordered me to declare to you that nothing 
 could be more agreeable to him, inasmuch as he devotes all his cares 
 to the increase of the internal and external commerce of his kingdom. 
 It is with that view that his Majesty has lately opened and established 
 Messina, on the Island of Sicily, as a free port, to which all nations 
 are invited to resort, with full assurance that they will meet there a 
 very favorable reception, and that they shall certainly enjoy there all 
 kinds of privileges and immunities, as you will see by the annexed 
 ordinance. I wish you, gentlemen, to consider well the advantages 
 whieh your countryrnen can derive by resorting to that port. 
 
 I am besides ordered, gentlemen, to make, in the name of his 
 Majesty, a formaJ declaration to you, that all merchant vessels under 
 the flag of the United States shall be received in Messina with marks 
 of the most sincere friendship, and that they will find there the greatest , 
 hospitality. That they shall also be treated with all possible consid- 
 eration in all the ports of his dominions ; that they shall always find 
 assistance by being furnished with all they may want ; and that they 
 shall have the liberty to trade in the productions of their country, as 
 well as their manufactured articles, and those of other nations. 
 
 Tobacco being the most important item of the commerce of the 
 United States, as you have done me the honor to observe in one of 
 our private conversations, I must give you notice, gentlemen, that 
 
550 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 this plant is now, in the States of the King, my master, free from all 
 the duties to which it was subjected. As to other productions, you 
 shall have not only the liberty to introduce them in his dominions, 
 in as great quantities as may be wanted for the consumption of the 
 Neopolitans, but you shall also have the privilege to import for the 
 rest of Italy, for the East, and for any other countries, such quantity 
 of goods as you may find advantageous for your speculations. You 
 shall also have the same liberty and facilities to export from the 
 kingdom of Sicily, oil, wine, silks, and all other productions that 
 Sicily can famish you, and which can be usefiil or agreeable to 
 you. 
 
 The King, my master, would not delay any longer to give you the 
 most convincing proofs of the desire he has to form ties with the 
 United States, and to show them by his good will to begin as soon 
 as possible a commerce advantageous to both nations, his Majesty 
 reserving to himself the right to deliberate on the subject, and to take 
 such resolutions as may be necessary to conclude a treaty of com- 
 merce in all its forms, as you appear by your letter to desire. 
 
 During the time that may elapse before my Court can examine and 
 consider seriously the objects which are to be regulated in a treaty of 
 this nature, I think, gentlemen, that it would be very advantageous 
 to the Americans to begin now to frequent the ports of Sicily, and 
 particularly that of Messina, for the purpose of establishing there 
 some relatiQns of commerce which can be stipulated more precisely 
 in the proposed treaty. Allow me, gentlemen, to observe to you, 
 that to establish and to carry the operation of a new treaty of any 
 extent, and in whatever country, it is not necessary that it be 
 authorized by a previous treaty. It suffices that foreigners should 
 be received there with friendly feelings, and protected by the Gov- 
 ernment. As a proof of this, I will observe that all nations which 
 trade the most with Sicily, such as England, France, Genoa, Venice, 
 Ragusa, Hamburg, have no treaty of commerce with my Court; 
 and although France has commenced a treaty with this nation, the 
 French have not waited for the conclusion of it to establish the most 
 advantageous commerce. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with the most distinguished considera- 
 tion, Sic, 
 
 DE PIO, 
 Charge d' Affaires of Naples. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 551 
 
 FROM M. DE SCARNAFIS TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, February 2, 1785. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 Having communicated to my Court the letter which you did me 
 the honor to write the 22d October last, informing me that you were 
 authorized on the part of the United States of America to negotiate 
 with his Majesty the King of Sardinia, relative to the, establishment 
 of commerce between the two nations, I have now that of informing 
 you that the King will be pleased to see the ships of the United 
 States frequenting his free port of Nice, where they will always be 
 well received ; and if hereafter an opportunity should offer of forming 
 commercial ties, which may be suitable and of reciprocal utility, he 
 \vill make with the United States all the necessary arrangements 
 which will be necessary to ensure their stability. 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 DE SCARNAFIS, 
 Ambassador of Sardinia. 
 
 THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS. 
 
 Paris, February, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 In our last of December Ibth, we had the honor of communicating 
 to Congress our letter to the Ambassador of Portugal, which accom- 
 panied the draught of a treaty of amjty and commerce proposed on 
 our part. Since that date he addressed to us the letter No. 1, 
 acknowledging the receipt of ours, and informing us that he had 
 forwarded it to his Court. 
 
 The Baron de Thulemeier, also, the Prussian Minister at the 
 Hague, has given us similar information in his letter No. 2, herewith 
 enclosed. He therein also desires, as he had done in his letter of 
 October 8th, that we would make choice of some port within the 
 dominions of his sovereign, at which the commerce between the two 
 countries niight be carried on. We supposed that we had answered 
 this by proposing, in our draught of the treaty, that all places in the 
 dominions of either party should be open to the subjects or citizens 
 
552 J. ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 of the other, for the purposes of commerce. As he thought proper, 
 however, to repeat the desire of the King, that we Avould rnake 
 choice of some place, we wrote him an answer, of which No. 3 is a 
 copy, and we have now to ask of Congress their instructions as to 
 the choice of a place for the purposes proposed. 
 
 The Baron de Walterstorff, who had been formerly appointed by 
 the Court of Denmark to negotiate a treaty with the United States 
 of America, and to whom we had notified our full powers for that 
 purpose, called on us separately a few days ago, and informed us 
 that he had obtained permission from his Court to make a visit to 
 Copenhagen, where his private affairs required his presence, and 
 that the Minister had, at the same time, instructed him to ask from 
 us our propositions, that they might be considered during his stay at 
 Copenhagen, and the sentiments of his Court thereon be fully made 
 known to him. This he afterwards communicated more particularly 
 in the letter, No. 4, to which an answer was returned, of which No. 
 5 is a copy, enclosing a draught of a treaty similar to the one we 
 had the honor to communicate to you in our letter of December 15. 
 
 We have also, since our last, received an answer from the Court 
 of Naples, through their Charge d' Affaires, and firom that of Turin 
 through their Ambassador at this Court, (the answer of Naples is 
 accompanied by a printed ordinance establishing the privileges of 
 Messina as a free port,) which we now enclose, distinguished by the 
 Nos. 6 and 7. To these we do not propose to make any reply, 
 unless future overtures from them, or other circumstances, should 
 render it necessary or proper. 
 
 With great respect, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 O' 
 
 Paris, Febiiuary 8, 1785. 
 
 About this time came to hand, through the French post office, 
 thirteen large packets, all of them addressed " A Messieurs Messrs. 
 Les deputes des Etats Unis de I'Amerique a Paris," containing the 
 Minutes of the proceedings of the Court of Admiralty at the Cape, 
 and the adjudications as legal prizes of an equal number of British 
 vessels captured by armed vessels belonging to the United States of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 553 
 
 America during the late war ; which said prizes were ordered to be 
 disposed of for the benefit of the captors, until it should be otherwise 
 determined by the American Ministers at the Court of Versailles. 
 Whereupon, the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States have 
 thought proper that the aforesaid papers should be deposited in the 
 office of the Minister actually resident at that Court, which was done 
 accordingly. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR FAVI TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, February 10, 1785. 
 G'entlemep, 
 
 In due season I transmitted to my Court the project of a treaty 
 which you did me the honor to address to me. 
 
 The principles upon which it is based are too much in conformity 
 with those of the Tuscan Government to prevent its adoption. You 
 must not doubt, gentlemen, that the citizens of the United States 
 of America will obtain, upon a footing of the most perfect reciprocity, 
 all the facilities and advantages in the ports of Tuscany which are 
 accorded to the most favored nations. 
 
 As soon as an answer is received, I will do myself the honor of 
 communicating it to you. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &z;c., FAVI, 
 
 Charge d' Affaires of Tuscany. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, January 94, 1785. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 The King, my master, having thought proper to authorize me to 
 place in your hands some observations on the counter project of the 
 treaty of commerce, to be concluded' for the reciprocal advantages of 
 his subjects and the citizens of the United States, such as you did 
 me the honor to address me, bearing date November 10th ultimo, 
 and brought to the Hague by a Dutch courier, the 26th of the same 
 month, I hasten to fulfil the orders of his Majesty. An express, 
 
554 J- ADAMS, E. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 with despatches for the Ambassadors from Holland, furnishes me 
 to-day with a sure and prompt opportunity. The English language 
 being familiar neither to the Prussian Chancery, nor to the King, nor 
 his Ministry, it has become necessary that I should make a French 
 translation, and to prove its exactness, I have caused it to be placed 
 by the side of the annexed observations. I flatter myself that these 
 last will appear to you, gentlemen, dictated by that spirit of justice, 
 equity, and humanity, which characterize all the proceedings of the 
 Monarch in whose service I have the honor to be. I shall, with the 
 most lively zeal, employ myself in consolidating a negotiation, the 
 issue of which cannot but be infinitely advantageous to both nations, 
 and I have no doubt but that the contents of the first letter with 
 which you may honor rtie will facilitate the means of terminating, in 
 concert with you, gentlemen, the projected treaty. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 o 
 
 ANSWER OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 PROJECT OF A TREATY WITH PRUSSIA, TRANSMITTED BY BARON 
 THULEMEIER. 
 
 Passy, March 14, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We had the honor of receiving your letter of January 24, 
 covering a translation into French of the draft of a treaty proposed 
 between his Majesty the King of Prussia and the United States of 
 America, together with answers to the several articles. We have 
 considered them with attention, and with those dispositions to accom- 
 modate them to the wishes of his Majesty, which a respect for his 
 character and a desire of connecting the two nations in amity and 
 commerce would naturally produce. We Viill now take the liberty 
 of troubling you with the result of our deliberations, article by 
 article. 
 
 Article II. We agree to add the restriction proposed to the end 
 of this clause, to wit: "submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the 
 ' laws and usages there established, and to which are submitted the 
 'citizens of the United ' States and the citizens and subjects of the 
 ' most favored nations." 
 
 Article III. Agreed to add a like clause, to wit : " submitting 
 ' themselves, nevertheless, to the laws and usages there established, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 555 
 
 ' and to which are submitted the subjects of his Majesty the King 
 ' of Prussia, and the subjects and citizens of the most favored 
 'nations." 
 
 Abticle IV. Three effects of this are objected to : 
 
 1st. The permission to export and import all the merchandize of 
 either country without exception. 
 
 2d. The permission to jLll persons to be buyers and sellers. 
 
 3d. The not extending, in express terms, the right of transporta- 
 tion beyond the vessels of the two contracting parties. 
 
 As to the first, we agree to make to the clause the addition pro- 
 posed, to wit : " nevertheless, the King of Prussia and the United 
 ' States, and each of them, reserve to themselves the right to prohibit 
 ' in their respective countries the importation and exportation of all 
 ' merchandize whatsoever, when reasons of State shall require it ; in 
 ' this case the subjects or <;itizens of either of the contracting parties 
 ' shall not import or export the merchandize prohibited by the other. 
 ' But if one of the contracting parties permits any other nation to 
 ' import or export the same merchandize, the subjects or citizens of 
 ' the other shall immediately enjoy the same liberty." 
 
 With respect to the second object, a permission to all persons to 
 become buyers and sellers in this intercourse, it does, indeed, inter- 
 fere with the practice of some nations of Europe, wherein the right 
 of buying and selling particular articles of merchandize is frequently 
 given to particular persons or descriptions of persons exclusively. 
 The origin of this practice is to be found in a very remote and 
 unenlightened period, when religious physics and every other branch 
 of science was sophisticated and abused. The progress of informa- 
 tion and of liberal sentiment has led to reformations in those, and in 
 this, also, seems to have matured principles which should produce 
 a reformation equally wanted. Commerce performs the important 
 office of procuring vent for superfluities, of supplying wants, and of 
 adjusting prices on a reasonable scale. This it does best where it is 
 freest. Casting an eye over the States of Europe we find them 
 wealthy and populous nearly in proportion to the freedom of their 
 commerce ; and we may conclude from thence that were it perfectly 
 free, they would probably attain the highest points of wealth and 
 population of which their other circumstances would admit. A free 
 competition between buyers and sellers is the most certain means of 
 fixing the true worth of merchandize ; on the other hand, the restraint 
 
556 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 of this right to particular persons, which constitutes a monopoly, has 
 been found in experience the most powerful engine ever employed 
 for the suffocation of commerce. It is interesting to both parties, 
 therefore, to guard against this in their stipulations. The law of 
 Konigsberg, which prohibits a foreigner from selling his merchandize 
 to any but native subjects, is a monopoly in a certain degree. It 
 would rather seem desirable that foreigners should come into our 
 ports, and there tiansact together all their business of exchange. It 
 is not for us to judge whether under actual circumstances this law of 
 Konigsberg is a proper object of reformation. His Prussian Majesty 
 will decide this, who has already so much extended the limits of 
 happiness for his subjects by the removal of other bars to which 
 time and habit had given their sanction. Should it be indispensable 
 to save the force of this law, we would propose to retain the expres- 
 sions in this article which give freedom to all buyers and sellers ; but 
 that at the end of the addition before agreed to, a further one should 
 be made in this form : " nor shall this article derogate from the force 
 ' of the laws of the city of Konigsberg which forbid traffic between 
 'foreigners within the limits of their jurisdiction." This will guard 
 against monopoly so much of the field of commerce as is not already 
 occupied by it. We wish, however, that in this article the word 
 "persons" should be substituted instead of the "subjects or citizens 
 of that other," and again, instead of "the said subjects or citi- 
 zens." 
 
 The third objection to this article is, that it does not extend the 
 right of transportation beyond the vessels of the two countries. It 
 was thought that the securing this right so far was making a valuable 
 step towards the freedom of intercourse. A right would remain to 
 each party of refusing that privilege to vessels foreign to botli ; a 
 right which probably would never be exercised but in retaliation on 
 any particular nation adopting that narrow principle. We abandon 
 freely the reservation in its general fonn in pursuit of an object so 
 valuable to mankind as the total emancipation of commerce and the 
 bringing together all nations for a free intercommunication of happi- 
 ness, and agree, after the words " in their own," to insert " or any 
 other ;" but we still propose it for consideration, whether it will be 
 expedient to either party to disarm itself entirely of the power of 
 retaliating on any particular nation which may restrain the loading 
 of vessels to articles of the growth or manufacture of the country to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 557 
 
 which they belong. Circumstances may be produced which would 
 render the retaliation essential to the honor and interests of the 
 parties. We therefore propose, after the words "reserve to them- 
 selves the right," in the amendment before agreed to, to insert these: 
 "where any nation restrains the transportation of merchandize to 
 ' the vessels of the country of which it is the growth or manufacture, 
 ' to establish against such nation retaliating regulations, and also the 
 ' right." 
 
 This fourth article, with the several amendments which we have 
 proposed or agreed to, will stand thus : More especially each party 
 shall have a right to carry their own produce in their own or any 
 other vessels, to any parts of the dominions of the other, where 
 it shall be lawful for all persons freely to purchase them, and thence 
 to take the produce, manufactures, and merchandize of the other, 
 which all persons shall in like manner be free to sell them, paying in 
 both cases such duties, charges, and fees only as are or shall be paid 
 by the most favored nation. Nevertheless, the King of Prussia and 
 the United States, and each of them, reserves to themselves the right 
 where any nation restrains the transportation of merchandize to the 
 vessels of the country of which it is the growth or manufacture, to 
 establish against such nation retaliating regulations ; and also the 
 right to prohibit, in their respective countries, the importation and 
 exportation of all merchandize whatsoever, when reasons of State 
 shall require it. In this case the subjects or citizens of either of 
 the contracting parties shall not import or export the merchandize 
 prohibited by the other. But if one of the contracting parties 
 permits any other nation to import or export the same merchandize, 
 the citizens or subjects of the other shall immediately enjoy the same 
 liberty; nor shall this article derogate from the laws of the city of 
 Konigsberg, which forbid traffic between foreigners within the limits 
 of their jurisdiction. 
 
 Article V. We agree that the fifth article shall stand in the form 
 proposed, to wit : " The merchants, commanders of vessels^ or other 
 ' subjects or citizens of either party shall not, within the ports or 
 'jurisdiction of the other, be forced to unload any sort of merchandize 
 ' into any other vessels, nor to receive them into their own, nor wait 
 ' for their being loaded longer than they please." 
 
 Akticle VIII. Agreed to omit the words, "and without being 
 ' obliged to pay any duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, or to render 
 
558 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 ' any account of their cargo ;'' and to substitute those proposed, to 
 wit : " And without being obliged to render any account of their 
 'cargo, or to pay any duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, except 
 ' those established for vessels entered into port, and appropriated to 
 ' the maintenance of the port itself, or of other establishments for the 
 ' safety and convenience of navigators, which duties, charges, and 
 ' fees shall be the same, and shall be paid on the same footing as in 
 'the case of subjects or citizens of the country where they are 
 ' established." 
 
 Article IX. We agree to the amendment proposed by adding to 
 this article the words : " The ancient and barbarous right to wrecks 
 ' of the sea shall be entirely abolished with respect to the two 
 ' contracting parties." 
 
 Akticle X. By the laws of the United States, copied in this 
 instance from those of England, aliens are incapable of holding real 
 estate. When an estate of that nature descends to an alien, it passes 
 on by escheat to the State ; the policy of the United States does not 
 permit the giving to the subjects of any other Power a capacity to 
 hold lands within their limits, which was proposed by the project 
 formerly delivered to Mr. Adams. But they are perfectly willing to 
 relieve such persons from all loss on this account, by permitting them 
 to sell the inheritance and withdraw the proceeds without any 
 detraction. Again, though with them it is a fundamental principle 
 that every man has a natural right to quit the country in which 
 either chance or choice has placed him, and to become a member of 
 any other where he thinks he can be happier, and the laws of some 
 of them direct the particular form in which it is to be done, and 
 therefore these States can pass no law to prevent the emigration of 
 their fellow-citizens — yet they will respect the principles of other 
 Governments where the practice is different. We consent, there- 
 fore, to add to the end of this clause, from the eighth of the project, 
 these words : " And exempt from all rights of detraction on the part 
 ' of the government of the respective States ; but this article shall not 
 ' derogate in any manner from the force of the laws already published, 
 ' or hereafter to be published, by his Majesty the King of Prussia, 
 ' to prevent the emigration of his subjects." 
 
 Article XII. Agreed to omit the clause : " On the other hand, 
 enemy vessels shall make enemy goods," and to the end of the 
 article, and to leave that question undecided. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 559 
 
 Article XIII. The stipulation " to pay a reasonable compensa- 
 tion for the loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors," is not 
 so determinate as to save the necessity of a future arrangement. It 
 was thought questionable whether any mode which might now be 
 thought of might not, by a change of circumstance before the case 
 should arise, become incapable, and that arrangements would then 
 be easily and amicably taken for doing justice to the individuals 
 interested. We are ready, however, to receive a proposition for 
 defining the mode at this time. We agree, also, to the addition 
 proposed to this clause, to wit : " But in the case supposed of a 
 ' vessel stopped for articles heretofore deemed contraband, if the 
 ' master of the vessel stopped will deliver out the goods supposed to 
 ' be of contraband nature, he shall be admitted to do it, and the 
 ' vessel shall not, in that case, be carried into any port, nor further 
 ' detained, but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage." 
 
 Article XIX. A clause in the treaty with France, the first the 
 United States ever entered into, renders necessary the exceptions 
 subjoined to this article. It has not been repeated, nor is proposed 
 to be repeated in any subsequent treaty. If any antecedent treaties 
 would require a like exception on the part of his Prussian Majesty, 
 we shall cheerfully concur in its insertion, the case being either 
 particularly specified or generally described. The practice of carry- 
 ing prizes into neutral ports and there selling them is admitted by 
 the usage of nations, and can give offence to none who have not 
 guarded against it by particular contract. Were the clause now 
 under consideration to be so changed as to exclude the prizes made 
 on the enemies of either from being sold in the ports of the other, and 
 that kind of stipulation to take place generally, it would operate 
 very injuriously against the United States in cases wherein it is not 
 presumed his Majesty would wish it. For, suppose them to be 
 hereafter in war with any Power in Europe — their enemy, though 
 excluded from the ports of every other State, will yet have their own 
 ports at hand into which they may carry and sell the prizes they 
 shall make on the United States ; but the United States, under a 
 like general exclusion, having no ports of their own in Europe, 
 their prizes in these seas must be hazarded across the ocean to seek 
 a market at home, an incumbrance which would cripple all their 
 efforts on that element, and give to their enemies great advantage 
 over them. 
 
560 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JfiFFERSON. 
 
 Article XXI. Agreed to add as proposed — " but by the judica- 
 tures of the place into which the prize shall be conducted." 
 
 Article XXV. Agreed to as proposed — ^"but if any such 
 'Consuls shall exercise commerce, they shall be submitted to the 
 •same laws and usages to which the private individuals of their 
 ' nation are submitted in the same place." 
 
 Upon the whole it will be seen that we accommodate ourselves to 
 the amendments proposed to the 2d, 3d, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 
 1.3th, 21st, and 25th articles; that we agree to the amendments 
 , proposed to the 4th article with certain qualifications ; and we cannot 
 but hope that the 4th and 19th articles, so amended and qualified, 
 may be permitted to stand. 
 
 We have the honor to be, he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, February 11, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The letter you have done me the honor to write to me in the 
 month of January without date, reached me a few days ago. I have 
 transmitted to the King the offer to establish the ports of Embden 
 and Stettin as free ports, and I am waiting for the orders of his 
 Majesty, which orders, when received, I will hasten to communicate 
 to you. The counter project also which follows my letter of January 
 24th must have reached you, and I have hopes of seeing the work, 
 which has been the object of our mutual cares, consolidated. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 o 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 * Translation. 
 
 The Hague, Mai-ch 4, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The orders of the King, with which I am at present furnished, 
 
 have enabled me to answer more fully the last letter you have done 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 561 
 
 me the honor to write to me, and the reception of which I have 
 advised you, by my letter of February 11th. His Majesty thinks 
 that the estabhshing of one or two free ports would be absolutely 
 useless, agreeably to the correct remark made by the American 
 Plenipotentiaries, that the second and third articles of the counter 
 project grant to both nations reciprocally, in all the ports where they 
 wish to trade, all the adva,ntages enjoyed by the most favored nations. 
 This observa:tion has put an end to the question, inasmuch as the 
 intentions of the King are in no way to limit the commerce of the 
 citizens of the United States to any particular ports. In case, how- 
 ever, that the establishment of a free port should appear to be of 
 some utility, it might be complied with without much difficulty in 
 regard to Embden, but a similar concession for the port of gtettin 
 would be objected to for several reasons. The letter of the Plenipo- 
 tentiaries having been written before the receipt of the observations 
 on the last counter project, accompanied by my letter of January 
 24th of the present year, it is to be presumed that any further 
 explanations would appear useless. I flatter myself, gentlemen, that 
 the first letter which I shall have the honor to receive from you, will 
 facilitate the means of giving, in concert with you, the desired 
 stability to the negotiation which is the object of our mutual cares. 
 The success of this transaction 3vill answer my wishes as well as the_ 
 common interest of both our nations. 
 I have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 FROM THE POPE S NUNCIO TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, December 15, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have made known to my Court the proposal contained in the 
 
 letter you have done me the honor to write the 22d September last, 
 
 his Holiness, considering no less the convenience of your proposition, 
 
 than that the right of the Roman Catholic inhabitants and citizens of 
 
 the United States shall be maintained, orders me to declare to you 
 
 that all vessels under the flag of the United States, which shall enter 
 
 the ports of Civita Vecchia, in the Mediterranean, ahd Ancona, in the 
 
 Adriatic, shall meet there with the best reception that can be desired ; 
 
 Vol. I.—S6 
 
562 J- ADAMS, E. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 provided that the vessels and property of the subjects of the Holy 
 
 See shall, reciprocally, be treated in the same manner in the ports of 
 
 the United States. I must add to this declaration, by an express 
 
 order of his Holiness, that the citizens of the United States shall find, 
 
 in the abovementioned ports of his dominion, a person appointed to 
 
 give them every assistance which they may want. 
 
 I am happy to declare to you these intentions of my Court, which 
 
 cannot but be agreeaTile to the United States of America. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF SELUCIE. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAT TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, New York, January 14, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 On the 21st ultimo I accepted the place of Secretary for Foreign 
 Afiairs. All the foreign letters which had been received during the 
 recess of Congress were then, and are still, in the hands of a committee 
 to whom they had been referred. None have since arrived. 
 
 The adjournment from Trenton to this place necessarily occasioned 
 delay in business. Congress yesterday made a House, and I expect 
 some of these more important measures will soon be matured. 
 
 By the next opportunity, I flatter myself with having the pleasure 
 of writing to you more particularly. Judges are nominated, and will 
 doubtless be appointed, to decide the interfering claims of Massa- 
 chusetts and New York. Advices, just received, give reason to 
 apprehend an attack of the Cherokees on Kentucky, a settlement 
 which increases with a degree of rapidity scarcely credible. It is 
 rumored, but not ascertained, that the Spaniards encourage them. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FOURTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED 
 TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Paris, March 18, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 We received, by the last packet, the favor of your letter of Jan- 
 uary 14th, in which we have the agreeable information of your 
 
DIPLOMAtiC CORRESPONDENCE. 563 
 
 having accepted the appointment of Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
 Besides the general interest we feel in this event as members of the 
 Uhion which is to be availed of your services, we are particularly 
 happy that a channel of communication is opened for us with 
 Congress, in whose justice and abilities we so perfectly confide. 
 
 In our letter by the February packet, which we addressed to his 
 Excellency the President of Congress, we had the honor of trans- 
 mitting the state of our transactions intervening between the date of 
 that and of our preceding letter. We now beg leave, through you, 
 to inform them of our progress since the last period. 
 
 No. 1, is a letter from the Pope's Nuncio at this Court, which, 
 though dated at this place the 15th December, 1784, was not 
 delivered to us till late in February, we consider it as definitive of 
 our commission to the Holy See, unless new instructions or circum- 
 stances should render a further proceeding under it proper. 
 
 No. 2, from the Charge d' Affaires of Tuscany here, came also to 
 hand after the closing of our letter by the last packet. 
 
 From Baron de Thulemeier, Prussian Minister at the Hague, we 
 have received the enclosed letter. No. 3, covering a French transla- 
 tion of the draft of a treaty which we had proposed through him to 
 the Court of Berlin, as formerly reported to Congress, with observa- 
 tions on the several parts of it. This paper is numbered 4, and has 
 been answered by our letter, of which No. 5 is a copy. 
 
 We have also received from the Baron de Thulemeier, the letters 
 No. 6 and 7, in answer to ours (formerly communicated to Congress) 
 on the subjects of the free ports within the territories of his 
 Sovereign. 
 
 In consequence of a letter written by Mr. Adams to Mr. Dumas, 
 praying his enquiries and information as to the presents, whether 
 periodical or occasional, made by the United Netherlands to the 
 several piratical States, he has favored us with the enclosed authentic 
 information, marked No. 8. We learn, from public papers, that the 
 Republic of Venice pays, annually, to Tripoli a tribute of three 
 thousand five hundred sequins.* From a comparison of the strength 
 of this with that of the other piratical States, some grounds are 
 furnished for conjecturing what is paid by them to the others when 
 in peace with them. We have promises of some further information 
 on the subject of these tributes, which the envy or pride of nations 
 
 • The sequin of Venice is $2 40. 
 
564 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 endeavors to cover under mystery. The sum of them will serve to 
 form a judgment of the contributions w^hich will be required from us. 
 With great respect, &ic., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
 
 Madrid, February 27, 1784. 
 Dear Sir, 
 I have delayed writing to your Excellency in expectation of 
 having it in my power to advise you that the unfortunate Mr. Hart- 
 well would be entirely extricated from the situation to which, how- 
 ever, as you will see by the enclosed papers, his imprudence exposed 
 him. Much about the time I received your letter respecting his 
 confinement at Logrono, one written to me from Bordeaux gave me 
 the same information. I immediately wrote to Bilboa to obtain a 
 circumstantial account of the abovementioned gentleman, but not 
 receiving in course of post an answer to my letters, I mads use of 
 that of your Excellency, in an office I passed, to his Excellency the 
 Count de Florida Blanca, reclaiming his liberty and the restitution 
 of his property. The annexed. No. 1, is a copy of the answer 
 thereto. Your Excellency will perceive, by its contents, that some 
 time must elapse, owing to the forms established by the tribunal of 
 inquisition, before the prisoner could receive any material benefit 
 from my application, and in consequence, although I frequently 
 pressed despatch in an affair which affected the liberty and interests 
 of a countryman, I did not receive further advice from the Minister 
 until the 2d of last month. No. 2 is a copy of the Count de Florida 
 Blanca's letter, in the interval between the reception of the above- 
 mentioned letters. The enclosed. No. 3, was sent me without 
 signature by a person at Bilboa, whom I know to be connected with 
 Mr. Hartwell. On receiving the answer of the Court, No. 2, I 
 wrote Mr. Hartwell to know what I could do further for his service. 
 I have lately received a letter from him requesting me to procure 
 him entire liberty. The Count de Florida Blanca will readily grant 
 his request, on condition that he will leave Spain. The condition 
 is not made by the Minister, but by the Confessor and Inquisitor 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 565 
 
 General. The altercation which the case of Mr. Hartwell has 
 occasioned between the Count de Florida Blanca and the two latter 
 will give a great shock to the power of the Inquisition, as I am 
 assured that the tribunal will be restricted in future from passing 
 sentence on any grandee of Spain, on all persons employed in the 
 councils, in the army, navy, he, or on any foreigner, until the 
 process has been submitted to his Majesty, that is to his Minister. 
 
 In the month of November I received advice from Cadiz of the 
 capture of an American vessel by a corsair of the Emperor of 
 Morocco. I was also informed you had been applied to on the 
 same subject. I immediately requested the Charge d' Affaires of 
 France, agreeably to the 8th article of our treaty, to write to the 
 Consul -of his nation to employ his good offices to procure the 
 liberation of the vessel and crew, and endeavor to induce the 
 Emperor to suspend further hostilities until Congress have time to 
 take such measures as they might judge proper, to produce a good 
 understanding between the two countries. I also prevailed pn the 
 Ambassador of Holland, the Minister of Sweden, and the Charge 
 d' Affaires of Denmark, to write to their respective Consuls for the 
 same purpose. Finding, by letters! received from the seaports of 
 this kingdom, that the merchants were under the greatest appre- 
 hensions for vessels expected from America, I took occasion to 
 insinuate to the Count de Florida Blanca how agreeable it would be 
 to the peoplq of America to learn that his C. M. had interposed his 
 interference on a subject of such importance to their commercial 
 interests, that not being authorized, I could not officially request it, 
 but that, animated by a sincere desire to promote good understanding 
 between the iwo countries, I could not let slip the occasion of giving 
 his Excellency an opportunity of exerting his influence with his 
 Majesty to render a service, which could not but be productive of 
 the happiest consequences. That Minister, with much apparent 
 candor, assured me of his readiness to serve us on this occasion, but 
 seemed to think it requisite that I should write to him on the subject. 
 This I did, and No. 4 is the copy of his answer. The enclosed 
 copies of letters which I have received from jBarbary will show 
 your Excellency the situation in which this affair remains. 
 
 I lately received letters from Robert Morris, Esq., containing a 
 letter from the President of the Committee of the States, and copies 
 of letters from Mr. Pollock and others at the Bavanu, complaming 
 
566 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 of the cruelty and injustice of the Spanish Government. I imme- 
 diately laid these complaints before the Minister, and have obtained 
 orders to render justice to the parties aggrieved. 
 
 The Governor will be reprimanded by the King's direction. I 
 have not yet received these assurances in writing, but have been 
 promised an answer to my office in time for the March packet. I 
 meant to have written more fully to your Excellency, but as the 
 person to whose care I commit this is only waiting for my letters, I 
 must conclude with praying you to make the proper compliments for 
 me to Messrs. Adams and Jefferson, to the Marquis de la Fayette, 
 and my namesake, and believe me, with much respect and affec- 
 tion, Sic, 
 
 WM. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 KEPOHT OF JOHN ADAMS TO THE OTHER MINISTERS. 
 
 Auteuil, March 20, 1785. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 According to your desire, I went early this morning to Versailles, 
 and finding the Count de Vergennes unembarrassed with company, 
 and only attended by his private secretaries, I soon obtained the 
 honor of a conference, in which I told him that my colleagues were 
 veiy sorry that indisposition necessarily prevented their paying their 
 respects to him in person, and obliged them to request me alone to 
 wait on him and ask his advice upon a thorny question we had 
 with the Barbary Powers. He asked what it was, and I put into 
 his hand all the letters upon the subject, in French, Spanish, Italian, 
 and English, all of which he read very attentively, and observed 
 that it was obvious what was wanted, and what had piqued the 
 Emperor of Morocco, viz : that Congress had not written to him, 
 nor sent him a Consul with the customary presents, for that he was 
 the most interested man in the world, and the most greedy of money. 
 Ho asked whether we had written to Congress and obtamed their 
 instructions? I answered that we had full powers to treat with 
 Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the rest, but that it was 
 Impossible for us to go there, and that we had not a power of substi- 
 tution. He said then we should write to the Emperor. I asked if 
 he would do us the favor to convey a letter for us through the French 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 567 
 
 Consul ? He said he could not do this himself, because it was not 
 m his department, but if we would make an office of it, he would 
 communicate it to the Marshal de Castries, and return us his 
 answer. 
 
 I told him that, in looking over the treaties between the several 
 Christian Powers and the Barbary States, we found that the treaty 
 between the Crown of France and Algiers, of the 25th of April, 
 1684, was expired, or near expiring, and we were desirous of knowing 
 (if the question was not indiscreet) whether it had been renewed. 
 He smiled upon this, and said it was true their treaty was upon the 
 point of expiring, but he could not tell me whether it were renewed, 
 as it was not in his department, but if we should insert this inquiry 
 in our office, he would endeavor to obtain the Marshal de Castries's 
 answer. 
 
 I told him, that in order to lay before Congress all the information 
 we could, and to enable them to judge the better what other orders 
 to give us, or what other course to take, we had obtained authentic 
 information from Mr. Bisdom and Mr. Vander Hope concerning the 
 presents annually given by their High Mightinesses, and that we 
 should be very glad to know (if it was not improper) what was the 
 annual amount of the presents made by his Majesty to each of those 
 States, and in what articles they consisted. He said the King never 
 sent them any naval or military stores, but he sent them glasses and 
 other things of value ; but that as it was not in his department, he 
 could not give me particular information, but that we might put this 
 into our office with the other things. 
 
 I asked if there was not a considerable trade and frequent inter- 
 course between parts of this Kingdom and the coast of Barbary. 
 He said there was from Marseilles and the other ports upon the 
 Mediterranean, but he thought if we had presents to send, it would 
 be more convenient to send them from Cadiz. 
 
 I then asked the favor iDf his advice, whether, in our letter to the 
 Emperor of Morocco, we should leave it to his option to send a 
 Minister to treat with us here, or to wait until we could write to 
 Congress and to recommend to them to send a Consul. He said he 
 would by no means advise us to invite the Emperor to send a Minister 
 here to treat with us, because we must maintain him here and bear 
 all the expenses of his voyages and journeys, which would be much 
 more costly than for Congress to send a Consul. 
 
568 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 But the Count concluded the whole conference by observing that 
 everything relative to this business was out of his department, and 
 that we must state to him in writing all we desired to know or to 
 have done, and he would convey it tb the Minister of Marine, and 
 communicate to us his answer, and that we might depend upon it 
 that whenever we thought proper to make any office to him, it should 
 be carefully attended to. 
 
 He added very particular inquiries concerning the health of Dr. 
 Franklin and Mr. Jefferson, which I answered to the best of my 
 knowledge, and took my leave. 
 
 With great respect, he, JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Passy, March 28, 1786. , 
 
 Sir, 
 We have the honor to enclose an extract of a letter from the 
 Commissioners of the United States of America to your Excellency, 
 dated August 28, 1778, a copy of your Excellency's answer, dated 
 27th September, 1778, and a copy of M. de Sartine's letter to your 
 Excellency, of the 21st September, 1778, all relative to a proposed 
 negotiation with the States of Barbarjr. Not having any particular 
 authority or instructions from Congress at that time to treat with those 
 States, the Commissioners desisted from any further pursuit of the 
 negotiation until Congress should have an/ opportunity to deliberate 
 and decide upon it. We are now able to inform your Excellency 
 that we have received from the United States in Congress Eissembled 
 special full powers to treat with each of the Powers of Barbary, 
 Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the rest, and we have lately 
 received authentic information that one of those Powers at least, the 
 Emperor of Morocco, has commenced hostilities against the United 
 States, by the capture of a vessel belonging to Philadelphia by one 
 of his frigates, which has spread an alarm among the American 
 merchants and mariners, raised the price of insurance, and made it 
 necessary for us to do all in our power to prevent the further progress 
 of the war, as well as to procure the liberation of our countrymen 
 who are made prisoners. As it is impossible for us to go to Morocco, 
 and we have no power of substitution, we can do no more than write 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 569 
 
 a letter to the Emperor, and either invite him to send a Minister or 
 autliorize his Consul in France to treat with us here, or to carry on 
 the negotiation in writing at this distance, through the French Consul 
 at Morocco, or propose to him to wait until we can write to America, 
 and Congress can send a Consul to the Emperor. 
 
 We therefore request the honor of your Excellency's advice, 
 which of these measures is the most eligible, and whether your 
 Excellency, or the Minister in whose department it is, would do us 
 the favor to transmit a letter from us to the Emperor, through the 
 French Consul. 
 
 Looking over several treaties between Christian Powers and the 
 Barbary States, we find that the treaty between the Crown of 
 France and Algiers, of April, 1684, is upon the point of expiring ; 
 and we are desirous of knowing (if it is not improper that we 'should 
 inquire) whether this treaty is or is not likely to be renewed ; because, 
 if there is a probability of a war. Congress would probably prefer 
 joining in the war, rather than to treat with nations who so barba- 
 rously and inhumanly commence hostilities against others who have 
 done them no injury. 
 
 In order to lay before Congress all the information necessary to 
 enable them to judge what is best for them to do, we have obtained 
 from Holland a certain account of the presents given annually and 
 occasionally by the States General to the Barbary Powers, and have 
 taken measures, v/hich promise success, for procuring similar intelli- 
 gence from other Christian States, and, if there is no impropriety in 
 the request, we should desire to be informed what is the annual 
 amount of the presents given by France to each of those States, and 
 in what articles they usually consist. 
 
 We have the further honor to propose to your Excellency, that his 
 Majesty's good offices and interposition may be employed with the 
 Emperor, in order to provide, as fully as possible, for the convenience 
 and safety of those inhabitants of the United States, their vessels and 
 effects, who are now, or may hereafter be, in captivity in Morocco, 
 according to the tenor of the eighth article of the treaty of com- 
 merce. 
 
 With the highest respect. &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
570 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 [The three following papers, alluded to in the beginning of the 
 preceding letter, are inserted here, because they serve to shew in one 
 point of view all the transactions respecting the Barbaiy Powers, and 
 because they were made use of on the present occasion, as the basis 
 for recommencing a correspondence on the subject with the Court of 
 Versailles.] 
 
 Extract of a Letter from the Commissioners of the United States of 
 America to M. le Comte de Vergennes, dated Passy, August 28, 
 
 1778. 
 
 By the eighth article of the treaty of commerce, his Majesty has 
 engaged to employ his good offices and interposition with the 
 Emperor of Morocco, and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, 
 and the other Powers on the coast of Barbary, in order to provide, 
 as fully as possible, for the convenience and safety of the inhabitants 
 of the United States, and their vessels and effects, against all violence, 
 insult, attacks, or depredations on the part of the said Princes and 
 States of Barbary and their subjects. 
 
 We have received information that there are already American 
 vessels in Italy desirous of returning home ; and that there are mer- 
 chants in Italy desirous of entering into the American trade, but that 
 an apprehension of danger from the corsairs of Barbary is a 
 discouragement. We therefore request your Excellency's attention 
 to this case, and such assistance from his Majesty's good offices as 
 was intended by the treaty. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THE COMMISSIONEHS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, September 27, 1778. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 In the letter which you did me the honor to write to me the 20th 
 
 of last month, you recall the promise which the King made in the 
 
 eighth article of the treaty of friendship and commerce, signed the 
 
 6th February last, to employ his good offices with the Regencies of 
 
 Barbary to procure for the subjects of the United States every 
 
 security in the Mediterranean for their commerce and navigation. I 
 
 have communicated your request to M. de Sartine, to whose depart- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 57] 
 
 , ment this subject belongs, and you will find by this Minister's 
 answer, a copy of which you have enclosed, that he thinks it well 
 founded. But before the orders of the King are taken in this 
 respect, he requires several eclair cissements. 
 
 I request of you, gentlemen, to address them to me, and to be 
 beforehand assured that the King will very willingly do whatever is 
 in his power to satisfy the United States, and to render their wishes 
 approved of by the Princes of Barbary. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE VERGENNES, 
 
 FROM M. DE SARTINE TO M. THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, September 21, 1778. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write to me 
 the 5th of this month to inform me of the commission which the 
 deputies of the United States of North America have given you, for 
 the purpose of engaging the King to take the necessary measures 
 with the Regencies of Barbary to fulfil the engagements which he 
 has made in the fifth articfe of the treaty of the 6th of February of 
 this year. I have examined this article, and find that the King has 
 promised to employ his good offices with the King of Morocco and 
 the Princes of Barbary, to provide as extensively as possible for the 
 advantage, convenience, and security of the subjects of the United 
 States, and their vessels and cargoes, against all violence, insult, 
 attack, or depredation from the Barbarian Princes and their sub- 
 jects. 
 
 After these engagements, it seems to me proper to think of the 
 means to realize them, notwithstanding all the difficulties which 
 appear to be in the way. But before the plan we may adopt is 
 presented to the King, it appears necessary to be assured of the true 
 inclinations of the United States of North America, and those steps 
 they desire to be taken on the part of France. 
 
 Are the United States of America determined to conclude treaties 
 with the Princes of Barbary, or do they only wish that we should 
 employ our good offices to make their flag respected by the Powers 
 of Africa ? This last matter we can never obtain, or if by chance 
 
b72 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEPFERSbN. 
 
 we should procure from some of them the privilege of trade for the. 
 United States, their permission would be but deceitful, momentary, 
 and very precarious ; and it would undoubtedly expose us, without 
 being of the least service to the subjects of the United States. The 
 Algerines particularly would never respect the flag of the United 
 States, without they received considerable advantages. You know 
 too well, sir, the character of the barbarians, and the policy of their 
 Government, not to see the inutility and dangerous consequences of 
 such an overture. 
 
 It would be less difficult, perhaps, to engage them to acknowledge 
 the independence of the United States of North America, and to 
 conclude treaties with this new Power. It is necessary first to know 
 what may be the instructions of the deputies of Congress, and 
 whether they are authorized to enter into negotiations with the 
 Princes of Africa, through the interposition of France. If Congress 
 has this design, I can then take the orders of the King to give his 
 deputies instructions how to enter upon a negotiation with the 
 Sovereigns of Barbary ; and we, sir, can concert measures that may 
 be effectually eniployed to obtain the end proposed, without hazard- 
 ing our own interests for those of the United States. This negotia- 
 tion will be long and difficult, but I will neglecj. nothing to secure 
 its success, if the Congress is determined on it, and you think that 
 the " King is engaged to favor it." I shall wait your answer before 
 I make any overture. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., SARTINE. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, April 28, 1784. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I have communicated to M. Marshal de Castries all the papers 
 which you have done me the honor to address to me respecting the 
 Barbary Regencies, and I cannot do better than send you a copy 
 herewith of the answers which this Minister made to me on this 
 subject. 
 
 I have the honor, gentlesmen, to be, fee, 
 
 DE VERGENNES. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 573 
 
 Copy of the Letter from M. Marshal de Castries to the Count de 
 Vergennes at Versailles. 
 
 Translation, 
 
 April 24,1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write 
 the 21st instant, and the different pieces which accompanied it. 
 
 I have perused them with attention, and I hasten to let you know, 
 as you desire, my opinions on the questions proposed by the American 
 Ministers. 
 
 I begin by informing you that about three weeks since they have 
 been furnished with extensive instructions of the contributions and 
 presents of the Christian Powers, and of the value and species of 
 those which France has made them for purposes of State. It 
 remains for Congress to judge whether a good understanding with 
 the Barbarians is worth the sacrifice, without which it would be 
 superfluous to pretend to it. Should they happen to obtain it from 
 the King of Moroccp and the Regency of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli 
 would easily follow their example, and certainly at less expense. 
 
 The particular affair which they have had with Morocco seems 
 to invite them to begin with that Power ; and, of the three modes 
 which they propose, I only think the last advisable. 
 
 The King of Morocco supports no authorized Consul in France ; 
 and besides his pretensions to being sought after, I doubt whether 
 he would consent to send a Minister to meet those of the United States. 
 This proceeding would be inefficacious, and the agent would not have 
 sufiicient power to conclude a treaty or a solid arrangement. The 
 same would be the consequence of a negotiation carried on by 
 writing. It remains, then, to propose to the King of Morocco to 
 wait until they can have advised Congress to send him a Consul. I 
 will willingly charge myself with the care of forwarding their letter 
 to this Prince ; and the officer of the King shall have orders to render 
 every service in his power to the American prisoners until the 
 negotiation shall actually be set on foot. Whenever the thirteen 
 United States shall have entered thereon, they may rely on the 
 interposition and assistance of his Majesty's Consul. I see, with 
 pleasure, that they have already procured those of his Catholic 
 Majesty, whose powerful influence will be infinitely useful to them. 
 
574 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 When our treaty with Algiers shall expire, we shall desire to 
 renew it, and even may flatter ourselves to be able to do it without 
 any difficulty. But should any occur that must be surmounted, the 
 King is accustomed to use no foreign interventions to establish or 
 preserve the good understanding which it suits him to maintain with 
 the Barbary Powers. 
 
 As to the rest, sir, you can assure the American Ministers that 
 they will always find the King inclined to favor their negotiations with 
 these States ; and on all occasions to assist them with his cares and 
 offices, which he would render them, though he were not engaged by 
 the convention they claim. But, at the same time, it is necessary 
 that they adopt measures of similar execution. 
 
 I hope, sir, that I have precisely answered all the points of the 
 letter which Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson have written to 
 you, and to every thing essential contained in the pieces which 
 accompanied it. 
 
 I have the honor to send you the originals, &;c., 
 
 DE CASTRIES. 
 
 FROM THE DUKE OF DOBSET TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Paris, March 26, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Having communicated to my Court the readiness you expressed 
 
 in your letter to me of the 9th of December, to remove to London, 
 
 for the purpose of treating upon such points as may materially 
 
 concern the interests, both political and commercial, of Great Britain 
 
 and America ; and having, at the same time, represented that you 
 
 declared yourselves to be fully authorized and empowered to 
 
 negotiate, I have been, in answer thereto, instructed to learn from 
 
 you, gentlemen, what is the real nature of the powers with which 
 
 you are invested, whether you are merely commissioned by Congress, 
 
 or whether you have received separate powers from the respective 
 
 States. A committee of North American merchants have waited 
 
 upon his Majesty's principal Secretaiy of State for Foreign Affairs, to 
 
 express how anxiously they wished to be informed upon this subject, 
 
 repeated experience having taught them in particular, as well as the 
 
 public in general, how little the authority of Congress could avail in 
 
 any respect, where the interests of any one individual State was 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 575 
 
 even concerned, and particularly so where the concerns of that par- 
 ticular State might be supposed to militate against such resolutions 
 as Congress might think proper to adopt. 
 
 The apparent determination of the respective States to regulate 
 their own separate interests, renders it absolutely necessary towards 
 forming a permanent system of commerce, that ray Court should be 
 informed how far the Commissioners can be duly authorized to enter 
 into any engagements with Great Britain, which it may not be in 
 the power of any one of the States to render totally fruitless and 
 ineffectual. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sec, DORSET. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONEKS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET. 
 
 Passy, near Paris, May 16, 1785. 
 My Lord Duke, 
 
 We received, in due time, the letter which your Grace did us the 
 honor to write us on the 26th day of March last, and have delayed 
 the acknowledgment of it, in expectation of the arrival of the packets, 
 by which we hoped for further instructions from Congress. 
 
 We have now the honor to inform your Grace that Congress, on 
 
 the 24th day of February last, appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary 
 
 to reside at the Court of his Britannic Majesty, who proposes to 
 
 proceed to London in the course of two or three weeks ; which 
 
 makes a more particular answer unnecessary. 
 
 We have the honor to be, he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FIFTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED 
 f 
 TO JOHN JAT, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Paris, April 13, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 Our letter to you the 18th day of March, with those preceding, 
 which we had addressed to the President of Congress, have con- 
 veyed exact details of our transactions till that time. Since the 
 making of that despatch the following proceedings haye taken place. 
 
 The letter. No. 1, from Mr. Carmichael to Dr. Franklin, dated 
 February 27th, 1784, (instead of 1785,) will apprize you that there 
 
576 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 is a prospect of Mr. Hartwell's regaining his liberty and property, 
 though not without some delay and probably some loss. 
 
 The same letter will inform you of Mr. CarmichaeJ's proceedings 
 in the case of the brig Betsy, taken by the Emperor of Morocco, 
 and the papers which accompanied that letter, marked No. 1 a, b, 
 c, d, e, f, g, will show the process in that business to the 15th of 
 January last, and a subsequent communication from Mr. Carmichael, 
 marked No. 2, being a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to 
 him, dated March I6th, 1785, will show its situation at that time. 
 
 With this last Mr. Carmichael also sent us the papers, No. 3, a 
 and b, the first being a letter from a spy employed by the Spanish 
 Court, a holy father of the order of Redemption of Captives, and the 
 second a statement made out by the Algerines from February 1st, 
 1777, to September 8th, 1783, the revolution it underwent during 
 that period, the number of cruizes they made, prizes they took, and 
 the nations from whom taken. While these give a smaller idea than 
 had been entertained of this, the most formidable of the piratical 
 States, the following papers, marked No. 4 a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, 
 k, 1, m, n, o, p, q, will show that the price of their peace is higher 
 than the information heretofore communicated had given us reason 
 to expect. The paper. No. 4 a, is a letter from the Marquis de la 
 Fayette, to whose means of access to the depositories of this species 
 of information, and his zeal for the service of the United States, we 
 are indebted for the intelligence it contained, as well as for the 
 report No. 4 b, and the details. No. 4 c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, 
 n, o, p, q. From these it will appear that Powers which, like 
 France and England, can combine the terror of a great naval force, 
 with the persuasive of pecuniary tribute, yet give occasionally as far 
 as fifteen thousand guineas to Morocco, vi^hich holds but the second 
 rank amongst these States. This information is still very incom- 
 plete, giving only a view of detached parts of the transactions 
 between the European and African Powers, it will contribute, how- 
 ever, with what we have formerly laid before Congress, to enable 
 them to form some estimate of what will be required from a people 
 possessing so weak a navy and so rich a commerce as we do. 
 These rovers will calculate the worth of the prizes they may 
 expect to take from us in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, 
 and making some allowance for the expense and losses they will 
 incur in these enterprises, they will adjust their demand by the 
 result, regarding little the representations we may make of our 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 577 
 
 poverty. They couni highly, too, among the motives which will 
 induce us to give a good price, the horrors we feel on the idea of 
 our countrymen being reduced to slavery by them. Some of the 
 European merchants, and perhaps Consuls resident with them, will, 
 probably, not be backward in supplying their want of knowledge as 
 to the extent and nature of our commerce and the degree of protec- 
 tion we are able to afford it. We have been many days in expecta- 
 tion of the arrival of the French packet, which should have sailed 
 from New York the middle of February, having been informed that 
 as early as December Congress had referred sundry foreign affairs to 
 the consideration of a committee, and that the packet arrived at 
 New York, January 17, which conveyed our letter of. November, 
 with a detail of the situation in which their business was on this 
 side the Atlantic. We hope that the packet sailing a month after- 
 wards, and now expected here, will bring us further instructions. 
 In the meantime, the situation of our trade rendered it necessary to 
 admit as little delay as possible with the Barbary Powers. We 
 therefore thought it best to put that business into train. For this 
 purpose we resumed a correspondence which had formerly taken 
 place between the American Commissioners and this Court, copies 
 of which are herewith given in the papers marked No. 5 a, b, &ic. 
 The want of money and of powers had discontinued this correspond- 
 ence. We thought it a proper ground, however, whereon to found 
 applications to this Court for their aid in the treaties which may 
 now be proposed. Mr. Adams accordingly waited on the Count de 
 Vergennes, with copies of that correspondence, (his colleagues being 
 prevented by indisposition from accompanying him on that occasion.) 
 No. 5 is his report of what passed, and No. 5 a, e, copy of the 
 letter we addressed to the Count de Vergennes, according to his 
 desire. To this no answer has as yet been received. We propose 
 to make no actual overtures to the Barbary States till the arrival of 
 the packet now expected, which we suppose will convey us the 
 ultimate will of Congress on this subject. 
 
 A similar expectation of new information and instructions from 
 Congress as to our affairs with the British Court, suspend, till the 
 arrival of this packet, our taking any measures in consequence of the 
 enclosed letter. No. 6, from the Duke of Dorset, the British Am- 
 bassador at this Court. That their definitive answer must be required 
 as to the articles in our instructions, distinct from the treaty of 
 Vol. L— 37 
 
578 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 commerce, admits of no question ; but as to the doubts they pretend, 
 
 and the information they ask, with respect to the powers of Congress, 
 
 we do not decide what we shall say or do till we see whether. we 
 
 receive by this conveyance any new instructions. 
 
 We have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FEOM M. FAVI TO THE COspiSSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, August 26, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The project of a treaty, which you did me the honor to address to 
 me, in the month of last December, and which you proposed to his 
 Royal Highness, my Lord the Archduke, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 my master, was too conformable to his principles not to be acceded to. 
 
 This Prince, after having had it under his consideration, has 
 determined to accept it ; and it is by his order that I have the honor 
 to communicate to you the accompanying translation. There are 
 some amendments which do not change the substance of the 
 convention, but which local circumstances, and the regulations of 
 the country, which all nations must respect, render indispensable. 
 You will see, gentlemen, that the citizens of the United States of 
 America will ije treated in every case at Leghorn as the most favored 
 nation,/ -and that they will consequently enjoy all the advantages 
 which are granted to others. We ask the same conditions and 
 reciprocity for Tuscany. Thus a basis of a treaty could not be 
 adopted on a more perfect equality than this. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., FAVI, 
 
 Charge d' Affaires of Tuscan^/. 
 
 FEOM BARON THULEMEIER TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, May 3, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The orders of the King, which I have just received, enable me to 
 
 give you, the explanations you required of me in the letter you have 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 579 
 
 done me the honor to write, bearing date March 14th of the present 
 year. His Majesty approves the 19th article as it was last drawn up : 
 "That armed vessels of either of the two nations will be allowed to 
 ' enter, with the prizes taken from their enemies, into the ports of the 
 ' other, to depart freely or sell them there." 
 
 He flatters himself that the United States will appreciate this 
 condescension, and will perceive the desire of his Majesty to give 
 them proofs of friendship, inasmuch as he does not equip cruising 
 vessels, and that consequently his subjects are not enabled to make 
 prizes at sea. 
 
 His Majesty is also willing to let the clause added to the 19th 
 article remain : " That no vessels which shall have made prizes on the 
 ' subjects of his most Christian Majesty, shall find an asylum in the 
 ' ports or havens of the United States." 
 
 His Majesty consents also that the 4th article may be drawn up as 
 it is proposed to me by the American Plenipotentiaries, in the letter 
 abovementioned, except that the words subjects and citizens, which 
 are found in the counter-project, may be restored in lieu of the words 
 persons or of each and every one; and that the following passage will 
 be omitted: "That the present article shall not work to the dis- 
 ' advantage of the laws of the city of Konigsberg, which prohibit 
 ' commerce between foreigners within its jurisdiction ;" the transit 
 duty of the city of Konigsberg having only been quoted to illustrate 
 and to show the necessity of the general clause of the 2d and 3d 
 articles, it being, nevertheless, submitted to the laws and usages 
 established there. 
 
 I congratulate myself, gentlemen, that I may consider the negotia- 
 tion, for which I have had the honor to treat with you, as nearly 
 ended. The United States of America will certainly consider the 
 readiness with which the King has yielded to the different alterations 
 of the projected treaty of commerce, as an additional motive to protect 
 and favor the trade and ties which the subjects of his Majesty may 
 form with the citizens of the Republic. 
 
 It only remains with me, gentlemen, to submit to you whether it 
 would not be proper to cause the treaty to be transcribed, so that 
 after being signed by us, it may be exchanged with the usual forms, 
 according to our powers. 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
580 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO BARON THULEMEIER. 
 
 Passy, May 26, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We received the letter you did us tlie honor of writing to us the 
 3d instant, and are happy to find that all points of the proposed 
 treaty being, through the King's goodness and condescension, now 
 agreed, nothing remains but to transcribe it fairly, and to sign and 
 exchange the copies, according to our powers and the usual forms. 
 But the signature of at least two of our number being necessary, and 
 Mr. Adams being called away by his mission to the Court of Great 
 Britain, and another of us rendered unable, by age and a painful 
 malady, to perform a land journey, there is difficulty in meeting with 
 your Excellency for the purpose, either at any intermediate place, 
 or at that of your residence, (which, in respect to the King, we 
 might otherwise willingly do,) we, therefore, propose it for your 
 consideration, whether, though not usual, the act would not be 
 equally valid if, in case it should not suit you to come to Paris, 
 (where, however, we should be glad to see you,) we were to sign 
 separately the instruments, dating our respective signatures with time 
 and place, and exchanging them by some confidential person who 
 might deliver to you that which shall be signed by us, to be there 
 signed and kept by you, and receive that signed by you, which we 
 can afterwards sign here. We request your opinion and determina- 
 tion, and are, with great respect, sir, &;c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 P. S. We have the honor to enclose a copy of the treaty as we 
 understand it to be settled, and to propose that the blank in the last 
 article for its contiuance shall be filled up with the number ten. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, June 17, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I received, on the 4th instant, the letter you have honored me 
 
 with, bearing date May 26th. My first care has been to cause the 
 
 annexed treaty to be translated into the English language, and to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 581 
 
 transmit it to my Court. The King will certainly learn with much 
 satisfaction that the negotiation which has been confided to us has 
 reached such a point that there is nothing left to be done but to 
 cause the treaty to be engrossed in the usual form. If you are 
 willing, gentlemen, the exchange which you propose to be made by 
 a confidential person might, in consideration of the distance between 
 your actual residence and that of Mr. Adams and mine, be made at 
 the Hague by Mr. Dumas, Charge d' Affaires of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 I have communicated this to the Jfing, and have besides this 
 informed his Majesty that you proposed, gentlemen, to fix the dura- 
 tion of the treaty to the term of ten years. I anticipate for your 
 country and mine many lasting advantages from these new commer- 
 cial ties, established on the bas^s of reciprocal duties and perfect 
 equality. I should have desired to be able to assure you verbally 
 that I never will cease to be, with sentiments of high considera- 
 tion, Sic, 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 SIXTH REPORT TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY 
 FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Paris, May 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Our last letter to you was dated April 13th, 1785, and went by 
 
 the packet of that month from L'Orient. Since that date the letter 
 
 No. 1 a, directed to Dr. Franklin, enclosing those marked No. 1 b, 
 
 &.C., and also the paper No. 2, have come to hand. These relate 
 
 to supplies furnished by Mr. Harrison to the crew of the ship Betsy, 
 
 taken by the Emperor of Morocco, on which subject Congress will 
 
 be pleased to make known their pleasure to Mr. Harrison or Mr. 
 
 Carmichael. They relate, further, to the general affairs of the 
 
 Barbary States. A letter from the Marshal de Castries, forwarded 
 
 to us by the Count de Vergennes, as marked No. 3 a, b, will shew 
 
 the opinion of that Minister on the best method of conducting a 
 
 treaty with those States, as we are yet uninstructed from what sources 
 
 to call for the moneys necessary for conducting and concluding 
 
 treaties with them, and no steps can be taken without cash in hand ; 
 
 we wait orders on this subject, and in the meantime wish to keep 
 
 matters with the Emperor of Morocco suspended in their present 
 
582 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 State. The attention of Congress will have been called to this 
 circumstance by our letter of November 11th, and several letters 
 subsequent to that date. 
 
 As it is always well to know the dispositions of our neighbors, we 
 enclose the letter No. 4, from a refugee of Louisiana to Dr. Frank- 
 lin. It contains, moreover, a proposition for the consideration of 
 Congress. 
 
 No 5, a and b, are a counter project, with a letter covering it, 
 from the Charge d' Affaires of Tuscany at this Court, as some of the 
 alterations of our draft which the counter project proposes requires 
 explanations, these have been desired and obtained in verbal confer- 
 ences with M. Favi. In consequence of these, we shall immediately 
 communicate to him in, writing our dispositions on the several parts 
 of it. 
 
 The letter No. 6, from the Baron de Thulemeier, received the 9th 
 instant, contains the decisions of the King of Prussia on our last 
 propositions. We shall close with him on the ground established in 
 the several papers which have passed between us, and take imme- 
 diate measures for putting the last hand to this treaty. 
 
 We have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FBOM THE COMMISSIONERS TO M. FAVI. 
 
 Passy, June 8, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We have the honor of transmitting herewith our sentiments on the 
 counter draft of the treaty proposed to be established between his 
 Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the United States 
 of America. You will therein perceive that we agree to most of the 
 changes proposed by the counter draft. Some of them we wish to 
 modify, and on others we offer reasons we hope will be satisfactory 
 to your Court. It is with great pleasure that we meet its dispositions 
 to promote by this establishment the friendship and happiness of the 
 two nations. 
 
 We have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 583 
 
 FHOM M. FAVl TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 1 have received, with your letter which you did me the honor to 
 write on the 8th of this month, the observations which it encloses on 
 the alterations which the Court of Tuscany has made in some 
 articles of the treaty, which you proposed to it. 
 
 I shall forward them to it immediately, and shall have the honor 
 to inform you in due season of the answer which I shall receive, 
 presuming that the Court will be for concluding this convention, 
 which cannot but be useful to the two countries. 
 
 I am, with the greatest respect, &c., FA VI. 
 
 -o- 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE ALTERATIONS PROPOSED ON THE PART OF 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE GRAND DUKE OE TUSCANY, IN THE 
 ARTICLES or A TREATY OFFERED BY THE COMMISSIONERS OF 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 We agree that the second and third articles shall stand with the 
 changes proposed, as follows : 
 
 Article IL The subjects of his Royal Highness may frequent 
 all the coasts and countries of the United States of America, and 
 reside and trade therein, in all sorts of produce, manufactures, and 
 merchandize, without exception of any, and shall pay, within the 
 said United States, no other or greater duties, charges, and fees 
 whatsoever, and shall be obliged to observe no other or stricter for- 
 malities, restrictions, or cautions, than the most favored European 
 nations are or shall be obliged to pay and observe ; and they shall 
 enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions for their persons and 
 property, and in navigation and commerce, which the most favored 
 European nation does or shall enjoy. 
 
 Article III. In like manner the citizens of the United States of 
 America may frequent the coasts and countries of his Royal Highness 
 the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and reside and trade therein, in all 
 sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, without exception 
 of any, and shall pay, in the dominions of his said-Royal Highness, 
 
584 J- ADAMS, E. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 no other or greater duties, charges, and fees whatsoever, and shall be 
 obliged to observe no other or stricter formalities, regulations, or 
 cautions, than the most favored European nations are or shall be 
 obliged to pay and observe; and they shall enjoy all the rights, 
 privileges, and exemptions for their persons and property, and in 
 navigation and commerce, which the most favored European nation 
 does or shall enjoy. 
 
 Article IV. We accede to the alterations proposed for the 4th 
 article, but we wish then to add two modifications to that article 
 which seem equally necessary and proper for both parties. 1st. 
 That each party reserve a power to prohibit absolutely, within their 
 own territories, the exportation or importation of any particular 
 commodity, when necessity or reasons of State require it. As, for 
 instance, the exportation of grain when a famine prevails or is appre- 
 hended, or the importation of any particular manufacture which 
 either party wishes to encourage at home by excluding what would 
 come from abroad. It is only necessary in these cases to provide 
 that the moment such exportation or importation is allowed to any 
 persons at all, it shall be permitted to the other party also. The 
 second modification is, that where any nation restrains the trans- 
 portation of commodities to the vessels of the State of which they 
 are the produce, each party shall have a right to establish against 
 that nation retaliating restraints. We therefore propose that the 4th 
 article, with the alterations offered on the other part, and the modifi- 
 cations abovementioned, shall stand in this form : 
 
 Article IV. More especially each party shall have a right to 
 carry any kinds of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, of 
 whatever place they be the growth or manufacture, in their own or 
 any other vessels, to any parts of the dominions of the other, where 
 it shall be lawful for all persons freely to purchase them, and thence 
 to take produce, manufactures, and merchandize of whatever place 
 or growth, which all persons shall in like manner be free to sell them, 
 paying in both cases such duties, charges, and fees, and observing 
 such formalities, regulations, and cautions only as are or shall be 
 paid or observed by the most favored European nation. Never- 
 theless, his Royal Highness and the United States, and each of them, 
 reserve to themselves the right, where any nation restrains the trans- 
 portation of merchandize to the vessels of the country of which it is 
 the growth, produce, or manufacture, to establish against such nation 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 585 
 
 retaliating regulations, and also the right to prohibit, in their respective 
 countries, the importation and exportation of all merchandize what- 
 soever, when reasons of State shall require it. In this case the 
 subjects or citizens of the contracting parties shall not import or 
 export the merchandizes prohibited by the other. But whenever 
 one of the contracting parties permits any other nation, or its own 
 citizens or subjects, to import or export the same merchandize, the 
 citizens or subjects of the other shall immediately enjoy the same 
 liberty. 
 
 Article V. This article had in view to authorize the merchants 
 on each side to employ, 1st, what persons they please, and 2d, what 
 vessels they please, in the transaction of their business, lading and 
 unlading their ships. The Tuscan regulations of commerce having 
 rendered it necessary as to the first object to add a proviso " that the 
 person so employed be thereto authorized ;" and again, " that they 
 should use the public porters in places where they are or shall be 
 established." It is apprehended that these restrictions of the first 
 branch of the article are so broad as to leave very little for it to 
 operate on, while at the same time it might in some cases produce 
 embarrassment and contrary constructions. It is therefore proposed 
 to omit altogether what relates to the persons to be employed, and 
 retain only what relates to vessels, so that this article may stand 
 thus : 
 
 Article V. The merchants, commanders of vessels, or other 
 subjects or citizens of either party, shall not, within the ports or 
 jurisdiction of the other, be forced to unload any sort of merchandize 
 into any other vessels, or to receive them into their own, or to wait 
 for their being loaded longer than they please. 
 
 Article VI. The additions proposed to this article are, 1st, that 
 the laws as to prohibited merchandize shall be observed by the vessels 
 of each party ; 2d, that they shall receive on board the usual custom- 
 house guards ; and 3d, that vessels in harbor shall not be asylums 
 for delinquents. It is supposed that these effects flow from the laws 
 of every State ; and as there is no stipulation proposed in this treaty 
 which would suspend the force of these laws, it is submitted whether 
 it be necessary to stipulate their observance, and whether the referring 
 the obligation of these laws to a false basis, that of national conven- 
 tion, when the true basis of their obligation is the authority of the 
 Legislature wjthin its own territories, might not weaken the energy 
 
i 
 
 586 J ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 of the laws in some other possible cases, and in the end produce 
 more doubt than the stipulations would remove. Nevertheless, the 
 American Commissioners, not objecting to the effect of the additions, 
 but only supposing they will take place without express stipulation, 
 are ready to acquiesce in them if it will be more satisfactory to the 
 other party. But if thought indifferent by them, we propose that 
 the 6th article shall remain as originally formed. 
 
 Article VIIL We agree to the 8th article in the following form, 
 which it is apprehended will include the additions proposed : 
 
 Article VIIL The vessels of the subjects or citizens of either 
 party coming on any coast belonging to the other, but not willing to 
 enter into port, or being entered into port and not willing to unload 
 iheir cargoes or break bulk, shall put out and send their boats to the 
 proper place, and shall give due account of themselves ; but they 
 shall then have liberty to depart and to pursue their voyage without 
 molestation, and without being obliged to pay any duties, charges, or 
 fees whatsoever, except those established for vessels entered into 
 port and appropriated to the maintenance of the port itself, or of 
 other establishments for the safety and convenience of navigators, 
 and except, also, the charges of the visits of the health officers, 
 which duties, charges, and fees shall be the same, and shall be paid 
 on the same footing as in the case of subjects or citizens of the 
 country where they are estabhshed. 
 
 Article IX. We agree to the alterations proposed in this article, 
 the latter clause of which will stand, with the alterations, in these 
 words : " And if the operations of repair shall require that the whole 
 ' or any part of the cargo be unladed, the same rules shall be observed 
 ' as to the payment of dues which are observed in like cases with the 
 ' inhabitants of the country, and with the other, the most favored 
 ' nations of Europe." 
 
 Article X. One of the alterations proposes that a subject or 
 citizen of either party, dying in the country of the other, and leaving 
 no person on the spot to take care of his goods, ^the courts of the 
 country shall take them into their custody and keep them, &;c. But 
 by the laws of our States, the courts do not take into their own 
 custody the goods of persons dying, but appoint trusty persons to do 
 it, and make those persons accountable to the owners. Therefore, 
 we proposed that in such cases the goods should be taken cai-e of in 
 the same way as those of the natives are in like cases, leaving the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 587 
 
 particular mode to the laws of the country. We still suppose this 
 will be best for both parties, and therefore propose the 10th article 
 with the alteration, to which we accede in the following form : 
 
 Article X. The citizens or subjects of each party shall have 
 power to dispose of their personal goods within the jurisdiction of the 
 other, by testament, donation, or otherwise ; and their representatives, 
 whosoever they be, shall succeed to their said personal goods, whether 
 by testament or ab intestato ; and may take possession thereof, either 
 by themselves, or by others acting for them, and dispose of them at 
 their will, paying such dues only as the inhabitants of the country, 
 and of the nations of Europe the most favored, shall be subject to 
 pay in like cases. And in case of the absence of the executor, 
 attorney, and other representatives, such care shall be taken of the 
 said goods, and for so long a time as would, by the laws of the 
 country, be taken of the goods of a native in like case until the 
 lawfiil owner may take measures for receiving them'; and if question 
 shall arise a:mong several claimants to which of them the said goods 
 belong, the same shall be decided finally by the laws and judges of 
 the land wherein the goods are. And where, on the death of any 
 person holding real estate within the territories of the one party, such 
 real estate would, by the laws of the land, descend on a subject or 
 citizen of the other, were he not disqualified by alienage, such subject 
 shall be allowed a reasonable time to sell the same, and to withdraw 
 the proceeds without molestation. 
 
 We agree to the alterations proposed in the thirteenth article, and 
 that it shall stand thus : 
 
 Article XIII. And in the same case of one of the contracting 
 parties being engaged in war with any other Power to prevent all the 
 difficulties and misunderstandings that usually arise respecting the 
 merchandize heretofore called contraband, such as arms, ammuni- 
 tion, and military stores of every kind, no such articles carried in the 
 vessels, or by the subjects or citizens of one of the parties to the 
 enemies of the other, shall be deemed contraband, so as to induce 
 confiscation or condemnation and a loss of property to individuals. 
 Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such vessels, and to make 
 them unlade such articles in the nearest port, putting them under 
 safe-keeping, and to detain them for such length of time as the 
 captors may think necessary to prevent the inconvenience or damage 
 that might ensue from their proceeding, paying, however, a reason- 
 
588 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 able compensation for the loss such arrest shall occasion to the 
 proprietors. And it shall further be allowed to use in the service of 
 the captors the whole or any part of the military stores so detained, 
 paying the owners the full value of the same, to be ascertained by 
 the current price at the place of its destination. And to remove all 
 doubts respecting the merchandize and effects which shall be subject 
 to the arrangements in this article, it is declared that they are the 
 following : cannon, mortars, &;c. ; but these articles shall not be 
 subject to be stayed, provided they be not in greater quantity than 
 may be necessary for the use of the ship, or of the persons in it. 
 
 Article XIV. We agree to the alterations proposed in the 
 fourteenth article ; and that the clause " shall be provided," &c., 
 shall stand thus : " shall be provided with sea letters or passports, 
 ' which shall express the property and burthen of the vessel, as also 
 ' the name and dwelling of the master," which passports shall be 
 made out in good and due forms, and in the manner and for the time 
 which is usual with the respective nation in time of peace, on which 
 subject such further explanations shall be entered into as occasion 
 may render necessary ; and shall be exhibited whensoever required, 
 Sic, to the end of the clause as proposed in the original draft. 
 
 Article XVI. The sixteenth article, among other things, proposes 
 that no other than the ordinary legal procedure shall be used against 
 subjects or citizens of the one party committing offences within the 
 jurisdiction of the other. It has been proposed to add : " and with 
 the subjects, citizens, or inhabitants of the other." If the effect of 
 this addition is rightly understood, it would be contrary to our wish 
 in such cases as these. A Tuscan commits an offence against an 
 Englishman, both of them being transiently in a port of America. 
 This article would not prohibit an extraordinary procedure contrary 
 to the common course of law against the Tuscan. It is submitted, 
 therefore, whether it is not better to extend to our people the benefit 
 of the ordinary course of procedure in every case of offence commit- 
 ted by one of them, without the jurisdiction of the other, whether the 
 party offended be an inhabitant or not. This is what was proposed 
 by the article as it stands in the original draft. 
 
 We agree to the alterations proposed to the 17th article, and that 
 it shall stand thus : 
 
 Article XVII. If any vessel or effects of the neutral Power be 
 taken by an enemy of the other, and retaken by that other, they 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 589 
 
 shal^ be brought into some port of one of the parties, and dehvered 
 into the custody of the officers of that port to be restored entire to 
 the true proprietor as soon as due proof shall be made concerning 
 the property thereof, without any pretensions whatever to salvage. 
 But if a vessel of the one party be taken by pirates or sea-rovers, 
 and retaken by a vessel of the other, one third part of the value of 
 the vessel and cargo retaken shall be given to the recaptors. 
 
 Two additions are proposed in tjie 18th article. 1st. To insert 
 among the causes of refuge in each other's ports that for the ordinary 
 affairs of their commerce and navigation. But as the 2d and 3d 
 articles relate solely to causes of commerce, and give every privilege 
 and still more in all such cases, it is submitted whether the insertion 
 here proposed is necessary, or can give any additional advantage to 
 our merchants and sailors ; and if it cannot, then whether it is not 
 better omitted, as two articles relating to the same subject, but 
 indifferently expressed, may sometimes produce confusion. The 
 second addition is of these words : " Nevertheless in every case the 
 vessels which shall come into the respective ports, scales, or roads, 
 shall exactly observe the laws," Sic. We beg leave to refer to our 
 observations on the 6th article as containing our sentiments on this 
 addition also ; we propose, therefore, that this 18th article shall retain 
 its original form. 
 
 The 19th article had provided that the armed vessels of either 
 party might carry their prizes freely wheresoever they please. The 
 words, "within the jurisdiction of the other," are proposed to be 
 added, to which there could be no objection ; but that they produce 
 an implication that they may not be carried out of their jurisdiction 
 - when once they shall have entered into it. 
 
 We agree to all the other alterations of this article, only proposing 
 that the last shall be in these words : " And the same shall take 
 ' place in all those cases in which the Most Serene Grand Duke of 
 ' Tuscany has made like conventions with other Powers." It is just 
 that preceding obligations should prevail against the present treaty, 
 but that the present should prevail against those which shall be 
 subsequent. The article, with its alterations, will stand thus : 
 
 Akticle XIX. The vessels of war, public and private, of both 
 parties, shall carry freely, wheresoever they please, the vessels and 
 effects taken from their enemies, without being obliged to pay to 
 officers of admiralty, of the customs, or any others, any duties, 
 
590 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 charges, or fees, other than those established for other vessels and 
 merchandize, and which are paid by the most favored nations of 
 Europe. Nor shall such prizes be arrested, searched, or put under 
 legal process, when they come to and enter the ports of the other 
 party, except the case where the prize is charged to have been 
 made against the laws of neutrality existing in the country ; but 
 may be freely carried out again at any time by the captors to the 
 places expressed in their commission, or wherever they please — 
 the commanding officer of the vessels making the capture being 
 obliged to shew his commission and instructions, or to give other 
 sufficient proofs whenever it shall be alleged that he was not author- 
 ized to hoist the flag of the nation under which he made the prize. 
 But no vessel which shall have made prizes on the subjects of his most 
 Christian Majesty the "King of France, shall have a right of asylum 
 in the ports or havens of the United States ; and if any such be 
 forced therein by tempest or dangers of the sea, they shall be obliged 
 to depart as soon as possible, according to the tenor of the treaties 
 existing between his said most Christian Majesty and the United 
 States. And the same shall take place in all those cases in which 
 the most Serene Grand Duke of Tuscany has made like conventions 
 with other Powers. 
 
 Article XX. Our laws do not assume cognizance of acts done 
 neither within their jurisdiction nor by their citizens. Therefore, a 
 subject of Tuscany, committing hostilities on us at sea under the 
 flag of another Power, would not be liable to their sentence. But a 
 stipulation by his Sovereign that he should be liable, would give that 
 authority. It would be necessary, however, to say in what predica- 
 ment he should stand liable. That of a pirate seems most analogous 
 to his proceedings. We propose, therefore, to retain that word, in 
 order to adapt the article to our laws, whilst those proposed on the 
 other part may be also retained to adapt it to the laws of Tuscany, 
 and that the article shall stand thus : 
 
 Article XX. No citizen or subject of either of the contracting 
 parties shall take from any Power with which the other may be at 
 war any commission or letter of marque for arming any vessel to act 
 as a privateer against the other, on pain of being punished as a 
 pirate, or otherwise severely according to the rigor of the laws. 
 
 We agree that the 4th section of the 21st article shall stand as 
 proposed, thus : 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 591 
 
 Article XXI. 4thly. The vessels of war, public and private, of 
 the two parties, shall be reciprocally admitted, with their prizes, 
 into the respective ports of each ; and shall be freely at the disposal 
 of the captors, according to the laws, usages, and regulations of the 
 State to which the captor belongs. 
 
 Abticle XXIV. The 24th article proposed that ofScers breaking 
 their parole, and privates escaping from their cantonments, should 
 lose so much of the benefit of the article as provides for their enlarge- 
 ment on parole or in cantonment. It is proposed, on the other part, 
 that they shall lose the benefit of this article^that is to say, the 
 whole benefit of it. But it would seem to be a rigor neither laudable 
 nor useful, to deprive them of their wholesome and plentiful ration, 
 and all other benefits of this article, for a breach of the limits of their 
 confinement. We would therefore repeat our wish that they should 
 thereupon be subject only to close confinement, as originally pro- 
 posed, and of course that this article should remain in its first form. 
 
 We agree that the 25th article shall be as proposed, thus : 
 
 Article XXV. The two contracting Powers grant to each other 
 the liberty of having each in the ports of the other, Consuls, Vice 
 Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries of their own appointment, 
 observing the usual forms of notification and admission, and on the 
 same footing as is or shall be allowed to any other of the most favored 
 European nations. 
 
 We agree, also, that the first part of the 26th article shall stand 
 thus: 
 
 Article XXVI. If either party shall hereafter grant to any other 
 European nation, &;c. 
 
 The articles on which no observations have been made — that is to 
 say, the 1st, 7th, 11th, 12th, 15th, 22d, 23d, and 27th — to remain 
 in the form originally proposed. 
 
 FROM MONSIEUR FAVI TO THE COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, June 11, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write the 
 8th of this month, enclosing observations upon the alterations made 
 by the Court of Tuscany, upon some articles of the treaty which you 
 
592 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 had proposed. I forwarded them without delay. I will have the 
 honor to inform you in due season of the reply, which I shall receive, 
 and which I presume will be for the conclusion of this convention, 
 and which cannot fail to be useful to both countries. 
 
 I am, &;c., FA VI, 
 
 Charge d^ Affaires of Tuscany. 
 
 -o- 
 
 SEVENTH REPOBT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED 
 TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Passy, June 18, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 In our last to you, of May 11th, we had the honor of enclosing, 
 among other papers, a letter from Baron Thulemeier, drawing to a 
 close our negotiation with the Court of Berlin. We have now that 
 of forwarding our answer, marked No. 1 . 
 
 No. 2 a, contains our observations of the counter-draft from the 
 Court of Tuscany. No. 2 b, the letter enclosing them, and No. 2 c, 
 Mr. Favi's answer acknowledging their receipt. 
 
 Mr. Adams's appointment to the Court of London, rendering it 
 more convenient, more speedy, and probably more effectual that that 
 negotiation should be conducted on the spot, we wrote to the Duke 
 of Dorset a letter of which No. 3 is a copy, in answer to one received 
 from and transmitted to you in April. Since Mr. Adams's departure, 
 we have been favored by him with information which he received 
 from you, that a Mr. Lamb had been chai-ged with letters and 
 instructions for us on the subject of the treaties with the State of 
 Barbary. He sent us, at the same time, the copy of a resolution of 
 Congress on that subject. As yet we have heard nothing more of 
 Mr. Lamb, but hope his arrival hourly, that we may take decisive 
 measures for establishing an amity with those Powers. 
 
 Mr. John Bapt. Pecquet, of Lisbon, who was the subject of an 
 instruction to us of May 11, 1784, is now in Paris, and has applied 
 for such acknowledgments for his services as may be thought proper. 
 He seemed to desire most some appointment at Lisbon, either for 
 himself or his son. We informed him none such were in our gift, 
 and that all we could do in that line, would be to mention him to 
 Congress as worthy of their recollection, if they should make any 
 appointment there analogous to his talents. We have written to Mr. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 593 
 
 Adams, proposing to give Mr. Pecquet, iil addition to ten guineas 
 which he has received for present supply, one hundred and fifty- 
 guineas, or perhaps four thousand livres, as a compensation for his 
 expenses and good disposition. His expenses on our prisoners had 
 been about fifty moidores. 
 
 Our first letter to Congress vi^as of the 11th November, and was 
 sent by a Colonel Lemaire. Having lately received proofs that he 
 omitted to deliver private letters with which he was charged, though 
 he saw in New York the persons to whom they were addressed, we 
 begin to fear he was capable of omitting to deliver also that to the 
 President of Congress. We are equally uncertain whether our sub- 
 sequent letters may have got to hand. To relieve our anxieties on 
 this subject, we will pray you to be so good as to inform us which of 
 them may have been received. Their dates have been November 
 11, 1784, December 15, 1784, and February, 1785, addressed to the 
 President of Congress, and March 18, April 13, and May 11, 
 addressed to yourself. 
 
 With the highest esteem, we have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 B. FRANKLIN, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, July 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The King has entirely approved the projected treaty of commerce 
 and friendship with the United States of America, which has been the 
 result of our common labors, and as it is found in the last letter you 
 have honored me with, bearing date of May 26th of the present year. 
 His Majesty consents, besides, that agreeabjy to your proposition, and 
 that of your colleagues, the duration of the said treaty be fixed at ten 
 years, and it is according to my instructions that in the twenty- 
 seventh article the term mentioned has been inserted. He orders 
 me now to proceed to the signature with the Ministers of the United 
 States of America, and to digest, jointly with them, the introduction, 
 according to that which has been used in the treaty of commerce 
 which has been concluded with the King of Sweden. The annexed 
 Vol. L— 38 
 
594 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 treaty, which I intend to sign, according to my powers, fulfils these 
 different objects, and it only remains with me to bring to your recol- 
 lection, sir, the proposition which I have taken the liberty to make 
 to you in my letter of June 17th last, to authorize Mr. Dumas, 
 Charge d' Affaires at the Hague, to concur with me in the usual 
 exchange. The King is only waiting for the instrument, signed by 
 the American Plenipotentiaries, to cause the ratification of it to be 
 transmitted in the usual manner. 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO MR. SHORT. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States of 
 America and his Majesty the King of Prussia, having been arranged 
 with the Baron de Thulemeier, his Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary 
 at the Hague, specially empowered for this purpose, and it being 
 inconsistent with our other duties to repair to that place ourselves, 
 for the purpose of executing and exchanging the instruments of 
 treaty, we therefore appoint you special Secretary for that purpose. 
 
 You will receive from Colonel Humphreys, Secretary of our lega- 
 tion, the original of our full powers, and a copy of the same attested 
 by him, the full power heretofore communicated to us by the Baron 
 de Thulemeier, and the two instruments of treaty arranged between 
 us, each in two columns, the one in English and the other in French, 
 equally originals. From us you receive a letter to Charles Dumas, 
 Esq., agent for the United States at the Hague, associating him with 
 you in the objects of your mission. 
 
 You will proceed immediately to the Hague, and being arrived 
 there will deliver the letter to Mr. Dumas, and proceed conjointly 
 with him in the residue of your business, which is to be executed 
 there. 
 
 The original of our full powers is to be exhibited to the Plenipo- 
 tentiary of his Majesty the King of Prassia, and the attested copy is 
 to be left with him, you taking back the original ; you will in like 
 manner ask an exhibition of the original of his full powers, and also 
 a copy duly attested ; you will compare tlie copy with the original, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 595 
 
 and being satisfied of its exactness you will return the original and 
 keep the copy. That you may be under no doubt whether the full 
 powers exhibited to you be sufBcient or not, you will receive from 
 Colonel Humphreys those which the Baron de Thulemeier hereto- 
 fore sent to us. If those which shall be exhibited agree with these 
 in form or substance, they will be sufficient. 
 
 The full powers being approved on each side and exchanged, you 
 will obtain the signature and seal of the Prussian Plenipotentiary to 
 the two instruments of treaty with which you are charged, and your- 
 self and Mr. Dumas will attest the same. One of those original 
 instruments will remain in the hands of the Prussian Plenipotentiary, 
 the other you will retain. 
 
 You will ask that the ratification of his Majesty the King of 
 Prassia be made known to us as soon as it shall have taken place, 
 giving an assurance on our part that that of Congress shall also be 
 communicated as soon as it shall have taken place. When both 
 ratifications shall be known, measures may be concerted for exchang- 
 ing them. You will confer with the said Plenipotentiary on the 
 expediency of keeping this treaty uncommunicated to the public 
 until the exchange of ratifications, and agree accordingly. 
 
 You will then return to Paris, and redeliver to the Secretary of 
 our legation our original full powers, the copies of those of Prussia 
 before mentioned, and the original instrument of the treaty which 
 
 you shall have retained. 
 
 \ 
 
 FROM MESSRS. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON TO C. F. W. DUMAS. 
 
 Sir, 
 A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States of 
 America and his Majesty the King of Prussia, having been arranged 
 by us with the Baron de Thulemeier, his Majesty's Envoy Extraor- 
 dinary at the Hague, specially empowered for this purpose, and it 
 being inconsistent with our other duties to repair to that place 
 purselves for the purpose of executing and exchanging the instruments 
 of treaty, we have delivered the same, duly executed on our part, 
 to the bearer hereof, William Short, Esq., to be by him carried 
 with the other necessary papers to the Hague. When arrived there, 
 we ask and authorize you to manage, in conjunction with hira, the 
 
596 J- ADAMS, B. i^RANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON, 
 
 execution and exchange of the instruments of treaty according to 
 the instructions which he receives from us, and will communicate to 
 you. Your former attention to the interests of the United States 
 and readiness to promote them give us an assurance that you will 
 not withhold them on the present occasion. 
 We have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 (At London.) JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 (At Paris.) THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON TO BARON DE THULEMEIEB, ACCOMPANTING 
 THE PRECEDING INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 Paris, July, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I was honored with the receipt of your letter on the 21st instant, 
 together with the French draft of the treaty proposed. As it 
 ultimately meets his Majesty's approbation. Doctor Franklin, our 
 colleague, having assisted us through the progress of this business, 
 we were desirous he also should join in the execution. Duplicate 
 instruments were, therefore, prepared, each divided into two columns, 
 in one of which we entered the English form as it had been settled 
 between us, leaving the other blank to 'receive the French we 
 expected from you* In this state, the Doctor, before his departure, 
 put his signature and seal to the two instruments. We have since 
 put into the blank column the French form received from you 
 verbatim. As we thought that such instruments should not be 
 trusted out of confidential hands, and the bearer hereof, William 
 Short, Esq., heretofore a member of the Council of State in Virginia, 
 happened to be in Paris, and willing to give us his assistance 
 herein, they are delivered into his hands, with other necessary 
 papers, according to an arrangement previously made between Mr. 
 Adams, Doctor Franklin, and myself. He will proceed to London 
 to obtain Mr. Adams's signature, and thence to the Hague, where we 
 have, according to your desire, associated Mr. Dumas with him, to 
 concur with you in the final execution. It is with singular pleasure 
 I see this connexion formed by my country with a sovereign whose 
 character gives a lustre to all the transactions of which he makes 
 a part. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Uc, THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 597 
 
 EIGHTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED 
 TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Paris, August 14, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The letter of June 18, signed by Doctor Franklin and myself, 
 is the last addressed to you from hence on the part of the general 
 commission. As circumstances rendered it necessary that the 
 signature of the Prussian treaty, whenever it should be in readi- 
 ness, should be made separately, the intervention of a person of 
 confidence between the Prussian Plenipotentiary and us, became 
 also requisite. His office would be to receive the duplicates of 
 the treaty here, signed by Doctor Franklin and myself, to carry 
 them to London to Mr. Adams, and to the Hague, to Baron Thul- 
 emeier, for their sigriature. Moreover, to take hence the original 
 of our full powers, to shew to Baron Thulemeier, and the copy 
 of his, which he had before communicated to us, to ask from 
 him a sight of the original, to compare the copy with it, and 
 certify the latter to be true. Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, and myself, 
 therefore, had concluded to engage Mr. Short (a gentleman of 
 Virginia who lives with me at present) to transact this business, and 
 to invest him with the character of Secretary pro hac vice, in order 
 that his signature of the truth of the copy of Baron Thulemeier's full 
 powers might authenticate that copy. On the receipt of the letter. 
 No. 1, therefore, from that Minister, Mr. Short set out hence with 
 the necessary papers. By a letter lately received from him, I expect 
 he left London for the Hague about the 10th instant, and that the 
 treaty is ultimately executed by this time. In respect to the desire 
 expressed by Baron Thulemeier in his letter, we associated Mr. 
 Dumas with Mr. Short, to assist in the exchange of signatures and 
 other ceremonies of execution. We agreed to bear Mr. Short's 
 expenses, and have thought that a guinea a day (Sunday excepted) 
 would be a proper compensation for his trouble and the necessary 
 equipments of his journey, which could not enter into the account of 
 his travelling expenses. I hope, by the first safe conveyance, to be 
 able to forward to you the original of the treaty. No. 2 is my 
 answer to Baron Thulemeier's letter. No. 3 our instructions to Mr. 
 Short, and No. 4 our letter to Mr. Dumas. 
 
598 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 Mr. Lamb's delay gives me infinite uneasiness. You will see, by 
 tlie enclosed papers, Nos. 5, 6, and 7, sent me by Mr. Carmichael, 
 that the Emperor of Morocco, at the instance of the Spanish Court, 
 has delivered up the crew of the Betsy. No. 8, also received from 
 Mr. Carmichael, is a list of articles given the Emperor of Morocco 
 the last year by the States General. It is believed that the Spanish 
 negotiator at Algiers has concluded a peace with that State, and has 
 agreed to give them a million of dollars, besides a very considerable 
 quantity of things in kind. The treaty meets with difficulties in the 
 ratification, perhaps the exorbitance of the price may occasion them. 
 Rumors are spread abroad that they are pointing their preparations 
 at us. The enclosed paper. No. 9, is the only colorable evidence 
 of this which has come to my knowledge. I have proposed to Mr. 
 Adams, that if Mr. Lamb does not come hither in the French or 
 English packet then (August 6th) next expected, to send some 
 person immediately to negotiate these treaties, on the presumption 
 that Mr. Lamb's purpose has been changed. We shall be at a loss 
 for the instructions of which he is said to be the bearer. I expect 
 Mr. Adams's answer on this subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 BEPOBT OF JOHN JAY ON A TBEATT WITH PEUSSIA. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, March 9, 1786. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred the treaty lately concluded with 
 Prussia, and transmitted with a joint letter from Mr. Adams and 
 Mr. Jefferson, reports : 
 
 That on considering the several articles in the said treaty, he 
 observes that each party is to enjoy, in the dominions of the other, 
 the same rights and privileges as to commerce, &.C., as are or shall 
 be granted to the most favored nation. 
 
 On this point your Secretary adheres to the same opinion which 
 he heretofore communicated to Congress in his report of 17th May 
 last, on the draft of a treaty of amity and commerce, transmitted by 
 the American Ministers. He also thinks that much of the reason 
 in that report applies to certain other articles in the treaty under 
 coiisideration. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE 599 
 
 Your committee suspects that the following article is a little 
 equivocal, viz : 
 
 " More especially each party shall have a right to carry their own 
 ' produce, manufactures, and merchandize, in their own or any other 
 ' vessels, to any part of the dominions of the other, where it shall be 
 ' lawful for all the subjects or citizens of that other freely to purchase 
 'them, and thence to take the produce, manufactures, and mer- 
 ' chandize of the other, which all the said citizens or subjects shall 
 ' in like manner be free to sell them, paying," Sic. 
 
 Although the meaning of this article appears obvious, yet it might 
 perhaps be construed to imply that there are or will be certain free 
 ports, where every thing brought by or belonging to either party may 
 be freely sold and bought, in contradistinction to other ports and 
 places in the same dominion, where such liberty is not allowed. 
 The intention of the article doubtless is, that such liberty is to be 
 enjoyed at every port and place. 
 
 The latter part of the tenth article is not quite reciprocal, viz : 
 
 " And where, on the death of any person holding real estate 
 ' within the territories of the one party, such real estate would, by 
 ' the laws of the land, descend on a citizen or subject of the other, 
 ' were he not disqualified by alienage, such subject shall be allowed 
 ' a reasonable time to sell the same, and to withdraw the proceeds 
 ' without molestation," &c. " But this article shall not derogate in 
 ' any manner from the force of the laws already published or hereafter 
 ' to be published by the King of Prussia, to prevent the emigration of 
 ' his subject." 
 
 This latter clause reserves to the King of Prussia the right of 
 making laws to prevent emigrations, but does not so limit the extent 
 of these laws as that they shall not operate against the right to sell, 
 fee, granted in the preceding one, for, instead of saying that such 
 laws shall not derogate in any manner from the true intent and 
 meaning of this article, it says that this article shall not derogate in 
 any manner from the force of his laws, &;c., besides, the like right is 
 not reserved to the United States. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, and particularly considering that the 
 duration of this treaty is limited to ten years, your Secretary thinks 
 that it will be prudent and best to ratify it. 
 
 A year from the day of the signature is allowed for the. exchangb 
 of ratifications. 
 
600 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 It appears to have been signed by Baron Thulemeier, Septem- 
 ber 10, 1785; Mr. Adams, August 5, 1785; Doctor Franklin, 
 July 9, 1785 ; Mr. Jefferson, July 28, 1785. 
 
 This term of a year is doubtless to be computed from 10th Sep- 
 tember last, for as the Prussian Minister appears to have signed it 
 last, and it was not until then complete, there can be no room for the 
 questions that might have otherwise arisen on this subject. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 o 
 
 NINTH EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED 
 TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We have the honor to transmit to Congress, by Mr. Fitzhugh, the 
 treaty betweeil the United States and the King of Prussia, signed 
 separately by your Ministers at the several places of their residence, 
 and by the Baron de Thulemeier at the Hague, in English and 
 French, and exchanged at the Hague in presence of Messrs. Short 
 and Dumas. As this treaty may be of considerable importance to 
 the United States, and will certainly promote their reputation, it is 
 certainly to be wished that the ratification may be exchanged and 
 the publication made as soon as possible. The admission of our 
 privateers into the Prussian ports by a treaty signed at the moment 
 of the negotiation of a league in which Brandenburg and Hanover 
 are parties, is a little remarkable. It certainly merits the considera- 
 tion of Congress and the States. 
 With great respect, &c., 
 
 London, 2d October, 1785. JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Paris, Uth October, 1785. THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 from THE COMMISSIONERS TO JOHN JAY, 
 
 Grosvenor Square, April 25, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Soon after our meeting together in London we had a conference 
 with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which we com- 
 municated to him the joint commission of Congress for negotiating a 
 treaty of commerce with Great Britain, and left an attested copy of 
 it in the hands of his Lordship. At the same time his Lordship was 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 601 
 
 informed that as the commission was hmited to two years' duration, 
 which would expire on the 12th of May, we should be ready to 
 confer upon the subject of it with his Majesty's Ministers ; but as 
 one of us would be obliged to return in a short time to Paris, it was 
 wished that an early opportunity might be taken to see upon what 
 points we could agree, and to discuss those in whicih at first we might 
 differ. His Lordship, after harping a little on the old string, the 
 insufficiency of the powers of Congress to treat and compel com- 
 pliance with treaties, said he would lay the matter before the Ministry 
 and the King. In a few days his Lordship meeting one of us, pro- 
 posed, in his own name and that of Mr. Pitt, that as the project 
 already communicated contained many political regulations, we should 
 propose a project of a treaty merely commercial. The next day, at 
 the office, it was said to the Under Secretary of State, Mr. Frasier, 
 his Lordship not being there, that the project already prepared was 
 in our opinion the best that could be proposed for the mutual interest 
 of the two nations, but if any part of it were objectionable in the 
 minds of the Ministry, we were ready to enter into a candid disqui- 
 sition of them, and to receive any counter project which might 
 contain the sense of the Cabinet ; but until we know which articles 
 were objected to, it would be vain for us to attempt a new draft. 
 We could only repeat the proposition of the former one. Mr. Frasier 
 reported this conversation to his principal, who directed him to write 
 us that, as the former project contained many political regulations, 
 his Lordship wished to receive a plan of a treaty merely commercial. 
 We accordingly sent five or six articles of the former plan, and pro- 
 posed them as a treaty of commerce, which we suppose would be a 
 good one, and, except in one point, as complete as we can expect. 
 The point we mean is the privilege of ships built in the United 
 States. It is much to be wished that such ships might enjoy in the 
 British dominions as ample privileges as British-built ships, whether 
 owned or navigated by Americans or not, and we should now add 
 an article to that purpose if there was the smallest symptom of an 
 intimation to treat at all. But there is not. There is no party nor 
 individual here in favor of a treaty, but upon the principle that the 
 United States will retaliate if there is not one. All agree that if 
 America will suffer England to pocket (that is the expression) all 
 her navigation, England would be unwise not to avail herself of the 
 advantage. 
 
602 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 The negotiation with Portugal is brought to a conclusion as far as 
 her Minister here has authority to proceed. We propose to execute 
 the treaty, and hope to see the counterpart executed by the Chevalier 
 de Pinto, before our commission expires. The treaty itself, shall be 
 transmitted to Congress as soon as it is finished, and we shall not 
 trouble you with a tedious detail of projects and counter-projects. 
 Yet the enclosed copies of parts of a letter, concerning flour and 
 privateering and contraband, may be necessary for our justification. 
 
 We have the honor to enclose copies of letters from Mr. Carmichael 
 of the 5th April, from Mr. Barclay of the 5th April, from the Count 
 d'Espilly and Mr. Lamb to Mr. Carmichael, dated Algiers, 26th 
 March. 
 
 We have every reason to fear that the negotiations with the Turks 
 will be very tedious and expensive upon the present plan, and without 
 success. Our commission to Constantinople expires in a few days, 
 and we have no new commission to this Power which enables us to 
 find agents ; and, indeed, the Sublime Porte is so great a Power that 
 its dignity would be offended if such a measure were attempted. 
 There are reasons to expect that a Minister to that Court would be 
 well received, and that our commerce and naval stores would be then 
 an object. 
 
 With great respect, &c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
 FEOM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE MARqUIS OF CAKMARTHEN. 
 
 Grosvenor Square, April 4, 1786. 
 My Lord, 
 Agreeably to your Lordship's request, expressed to one of us in 
 conversation, and again communicated to us through Mr. Frasier, we 
 have drawn up the enclosed project of a treaty of commerce, which 
 we do ourselves the honor to propose to the consideration of his 
 Majesty's Ministers. 
 
 We have the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 603 
 
 Article I. The subjects of his Britannic Majesty may frequent 
 all the coasts and countries, bays, harbors, creeks, rivers, and ports, 
 of the United States of America, and reside and trade there in all 
 sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, in ready-built ships, 
 and shall pay, within the said United States, no other or greater 
 duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, than the natural-born citizens of 
 the United States themselves, are or shall be obliged to pay ; and 
 they shall enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions, in trade, 
 navigation, and commerce, which the natural-bom citizens of the 
 said United States do or shall enjoy. 
 
 Article II. In like manner the citizens of the United States of 
 America may frequent all the coasts and countries, bays, harbors, 
 creeks, rivers, and ports of his Britannic Majesty, and reside and 
 trade there in all sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, 
 and shall pay, in the dominions of his said Majesty, no other or 
 greater duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, than the natural-born 
 subjects of Great Britain are or shall be obliged to pay ; and they 
 shall enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions, in trade, navi- 
 gation, and commerce, which the natural-born subjects of Great 
 Britain do or shall enjoy ; saving, nevertheless, to the chartered 
 companies trading to the East Indies and to Hudson Bay their 
 rights. 
 
 Article III. More especially each party shall have a right to 
 carry all kinds of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, of what- 
 ever place they may be the growth or manufacture, in their own 
 vessels, navigated by their own or any other seamen, to any parts of 
 the dominions of the other, where it shall be lawful for all persons 
 freely to purchase them, and thence to take produce, manufactures, 
 and merchandize, of whatever place or growth, which all persons 
 shall, in like manner, be free to sell them, paying, in both cases, such 
 duties, charges, and fees only as are or shall be paid by the natural- 
 born subjects of Great Britain, in the dominions of his Britannic 
 Majesty, and the natural-born citizens of the said United States 
 within their dominions; nevertheless, each party reserves to itself 
 the right to prohibit, in their respective countries, the exportation or 
 importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever. In 
 this case the subjects or citizens of either of the contracting parties, 
 shall not import or export the merchandize prohibited by the other. 
 But if one of the contracting parties permits any person of their 
 
604 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 own or any other nation to import or export the same merchandize, 
 the citizens or subjects of the other shall immediately enjoy the same 
 liberty. 
 
 Article IV. His Britannic Majesty and the United States of 
 America agree that this treaty shall be in force during years 
 
 from the exchange of ratification ; and that this treaty shall be 
 ratified on both sides, and the ratifications exchanged within one 
 year from the date of its signatures. 
 
 Akticle V. The contracting parties grant to each other the 
 liberty of having, each in the ports of the other. Consuls, Vice 
 Consuls, Agents, and Commissaries of their own appointment. But 
 if any such Consuls shall exercise commerce, they shall be submitted 
 to the same laws and usages to which the private individuals of their 
 nations are submitted in the same place. 
 
 FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Grosvenor Square, March 28, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Mr. Jefferson in London, we had a con- 
 ference with the Ambassador of Tripoli at his house. 
 
 The amount of all the information we can obtain from him was, 
 that a perpetual peace was in all respects the most advisable, because 
 a temporary treaty would leave room for increasing demands upon 
 every renewal of it, and a stipulation for annual payments would be 
 liable to failures of performance, which would renew the war, repeat 
 the negotiations, and continually augment the claims of his nation ; 
 and the difference of expense would by no means be adequate to 
 the inconvenience, since 12,500 guineas to his constituents, with ten 
 per cent, upon that sum for himself, must be paid if the treaty was 
 made for only one year. 
 
 That 30,000 guineas for his employers, and £3,000 for himself, 
 was the lowest terms upon which a perpetual peace could be made ; 
 and that this must be paid in cash on the delivery of the treaty, 
 signed by his Sovereign ; that no kind of merchandizes could be 
 accepted. 
 
 That Tunis would treat upon the same terms, but he could not 
 answer for Algiers or Morocco. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE, 605 
 
 We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground 
 of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them 
 no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends 
 who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation. 
 
 The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of 
 their Prophet ; that it was written in their Koran ; that all nations 
 who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners ; 
 that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever 
 they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as 
 prisoners ; and that every Mussulman who was slain in battle was 
 sure to go to Paradise. 
 
 That it was a law that the first who boarded an enemy's vessel 
 should have one slave more than his share with the rest, which 
 operated as an incentive to the most desperate valor and enterprize ; 
 that it was the practice of their corsairs to bear down upon a ship, 
 for each sailor to take a dagger in each hand and another in his 
 mouth, and leap on board, which so terrified their enemies that very 
 few ever stood against them; that he verily believed the devil 
 assisted his countrymen, for they were almost always successful. 
 We took time to consider, and promised an answer ; but we can give 
 him no other than that the demands exceed our expectation and that 
 of Congress so much that we can proceed no further without fresh 
 instructions. 
 
 There is but one possible way that we know of to procure the 
 money, if Congress should authorize us to go to the necessary 
 expense ; and that is to borrow it in Holland. We are not certain 
 it can be had there, but if Congress should order us to make the 
 best terms we can with Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco, and to procure 
 this money wherever we can find it, upon ternls like those of the 
 last loan in Holland, our best endeavor shall be used to remove this 
 formidable obstacle out of the way of the prosperity of the United 
 States. 
 
 Enclosed is a copy of a letter from Paul R. Randall, Esq., at 
 
 Barcelona. The last from Mr. Barclay was dated Bayonne. It is 
 
 hoped we shall soon have news from Algiers and Morocco, and we 
 
 wish it may not be made more disagreeable than this from Tunis and 
 
 Tripoli. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 THOS. JEFFERSON. 
 
606 J- ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 REPORT OF JOHN 3A1 ON A JOINT LETTER FROM MESSRS. ADAMS 
 AND JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 29, 1786. 
 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs, to whom was referred a joint letter from Mr. Adams and 
 Mr. Jefierson, of 28th March last, together with a motion of the 
 Honorable Mr. Pinckney on the subject of it, reports : 
 
 That those gentlemen in this letter mention that in a conference 
 with the Ambassador of Tripoli, he informed them that 12,500 
 guineas to his constituents, with ten per cent, on that sum for himself, 
 must be paid if the treaty was made for only a period of one year. 
 
 That thirty thousand guineas for his employers, and three thousand 
 for himself, were the lowest terms on which a perpetual peace could 
 be made. 
 
 That Tunis would treat on the same terms, but that he could not 
 answer for Algiers or Morocco. 
 
 They further observe that if Coilgress should order them to make 
 the best terms they can with Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco, 
 and to prqcure the money wherever they can find it, upon terms like 
 those of the last loan in Holland, their best endeavors should be used, 
 &c. 
 
 The motion in question proposes an instruction conformable to the 
 above suggestion. 
 
 Two questions seem to arise on this letter : 
 
 1st. Whether those Ministers shall be authorized and instructed to 
 make the best terms with those Powers. 
 
 2d. Whether they shall be authorized and instructed to endeavor 
 to borrow money in Europe for the purpose. 
 
 Your Secretary thinks full confidence may be reposed in the 
 integrity and discretion of those Ministers, and therefore is of opinion 
 that it would be expedient to leave the terms of the proposed treaties 
 to their prudence. 
 
 As to authorizing and instructing them to endeavor to borrow 
 money for the purpose in Europe, your Secretary much doubts the 
 policy of it. 
 
 The probability of their borrowing so much money appears ques- 
 tionable. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 607 
 
 Because those nations to whom our war with the Barbary States 
 is not disagreeable, will be little inclined to lend us money to put an 
 end to it. 
 
 Because no funds are yet provided for paying even the interest of 
 our former loans, either foreign or domestic. 
 
 Because the payments due to France, though pressed, have not 
 been completed. 
 
 Because the reluctance of the States to pay taxes, or to comply 
 with the economical requisitions of Congress, or to give efficacy to 
 their Federal Government, are topics of common conversation in 
 Europe. 
 
 If a loan should be attempted and not succeed, the credit and 
 respectability of the United States would be diminished by the 
 attempt. 
 
 Your Secretary thinks that neither individuals nor States ^lould 
 borrow money without the highest probability at least of being able 
 punctually to repay it ; and that States should never attempt a loan, 
 without having previously formed and arranged adequate funds for 
 its discharge. 
 
 It appears to your Secretary improper to open such a loan, even if 
 the success of it were certain. 
 
 Because, as the Federal Government in its present state, is rather 
 paternal and persuasive than coercive and efficient. Congress can 
 make no certain dependence on the States for any specific sums to 
 be required and paid at any given periods, and consequently are 
 not in capacity safely to pledge their honor and their faith for the 
 repayment of any specific sums they may borrow at any given 
 period, which must be the case if they should make this or any other 
 loan. 
 
 Because, as the people or generality will never provide for the 
 public expenses unless when moved thereto by constitutional coer- 
 cion, or by the dictates of reason, or by their feelings ; and as the 
 first of these motives is here out of the question, your Secretary 
 thinks it probable that the States, on being applied to, will be more 
 disposed to supply money to purchase these treaties of peace, while 
 they feel the evils resulting from the war, than they will to supply 
 money to repay borrowed sums, when all their fears and dangers from 
 Sallee rovers, Algerine corsairs, and the pirates of Tunis and Tripoli 
 are vanished and gone. 
 
608 J- ADAMS, E. FRANKLIN, T. JEFFERSON. 
 
 For these reasons your Secretary is much inclined to think that a 
 fair and accurate state of the matter should be transmitted to the 
 States, that they should be informed that the sum of will be 
 
 necessary to purchase treaties from the Barbary States, and that until 
 such time as they furnish Congress with their respective proportions 
 of that sum, the depredations of those barbarians will, in all proba- 
 bility, continue and increase. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 THOMAS JEFFEESON, 
 
 ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE FORMATION OF 
 TREATIES OF AMITY AND COMMERCE, AND MIN- 
 ISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO FRANCE, 
 
 THE ANSWERS OF JOHjSf JAY, 
 
 SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Vol. I.— 39 609 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFEKSON. 
 
 New York, March 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, an 
 extract from the Journal of Congress, respecting your appointment 
 to represent the United States at the Court of Versailles as their 
 Minister. On which be pleased to accept my sincere congratula- 
 tions. 
 
 The next packet will bring you a letter of credence, and such 
 other papers as this appointment may, in the opinion of Congress, 
 render proper. 
 
 Mr. Randall, who is the bearer of this, has also in charge a packet 
 of newspapers, directed to Mr. Adams, Doctor Franklin, and your- 
 self. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JA¥ TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, iVTarch 22, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The packet being still here, I have the honor of transmitting to 
 you, herewith enclosed, your commission and letter of credence. 
 611 
 
Q12 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Mr. Randall, who goes as a passenger in the packet, has my other 
 letters, and will be the bearer of this. Permit me to recommend 
 him to your attention. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, JOHN JAY. 
 
 Extract from the Secret Journal of Congress, March 22, 1785. 
 
 The Secretary for Foreign Affairs reported the following Commis- 
 sion to Mr. Jefferson, to which the seal was affixed : 
 
 "The United States of America in Congress assembled, to our trusty 
 and well-beloved Thomas Jefferson, Esq., send greeting : 
 
 " We, reposing special trust and confidence in your integrity, 
 ' prudence, and ability, have nominated, constituted, and appointed, 
 ' and by these presents do nominate, constitute, and appoint, you, the 
 ' said Thomas Jefferson, our Minister Plenipotentiary to reside at the 
 ' Court of his most Christian Majesty, and do give you full power and 
 ' authority there to represent and to do and perform all such matters 
 ' and things as to the said place or ofiice doth appertain, or as may 
 ' by our instructions be given unto you in charge. This commission 
 ' to continue in force for the space of three years from this day, 
 ' unless sooner revoked. 
 
 " In testimony whereof we have, caused the seal of the United 
 ' States to be hereunto affixed. Witness his Excellency Richard 
 ' Henry Lee, President, at the city of New York, this tenth 
 ' day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, 
 ' and of our sovereignty and independence the ninth. 
 
 "RICHARD HENRY LEE. 
 ".Attest: Charles Thomson." 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, April 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Mr. Randall, who sailed in the last French packet, was charged 
 
 with despatches for you and other Ministers. Among them were 
 
 your commission, Sic, to succeed Dr. Franklin at the Court of 
 
 Versailles. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 613 
 
 The probability of your now being in England renders it less 
 necessary and perhaps expedient that I should not go into minute 
 details, especially as this letter would in that case pass through the 
 British Post Office, 
 
 I enclose a " statement of the duties payable by vessels of the 
 ' United States in the ports of Marseilles, Bayonne, L'Orient, and 
 ' Dunkirk." You may find it useful on several occasions. 
 
 Two of the Commissioners lately appointed for the Treasury, viz : 
 Mr. Osgood and Mr. Walter Livingston, have accepted and pro- 
 ceeded to business. The third, viz : Mr. Gervais, of South Carolina, 
 having declined, another will soon be elected to supply his place. 
 So we may hope soon to see the affairs of that department arranged 
 and regulated. 
 
 The making adequate provision for our debts, and other exigencies 
 of Government, has been too long delayed, and still meets with 
 obstacles. An opinion of the necessity of it however gains ground, 
 and I flatter myself will eventually become general and operative. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 11, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I was honored, on the 2d instant, with the receipt of your favor 
 of March 15th, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 10th of 
 the same month, appointing me their Minister Plenipotentiary at this 
 Court ; and also of your second letter, of March 22d, covering the 
 commission and letter of credence for that appointment. 
 
 I beg permission, through you, sir, to testify to Congress my 
 gratitude for this new mark of their favor, and my assurances of 
 endeavoring to merit by a faithful discharge of the duties annexed 
 to it. 
 
 Fervent zeal is all which I can be sure of carrying into their 
 service, and where I fail through a want of those powers which 
 nature and circumstances deny me, I shall rely on their indulgence, 
 and much also on the candor with which your goodness will present 
 my proceedings to their eye. The kind terms in which you are 
 
614 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 pleased to notify this honor to me, require my sincere thanks. I beg 
 you to accept them, and to be assured of the perfect esteem with 
 which I have the honor to be, sir, Stc, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, May 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 As it frequently happens that we cannot meet with passengers 
 going hence to the packet to whom we may commit our letters, and 
 it may be often necessary to write to you on subjects improper for 
 the inspection of this Government, to which the letters by post are 
 subject, I have made out a cypher, which I now enclose, and deliver 
 to young Mr. Adams, who will have the honor of delivering you 
 this. 
 
 The plate and impression have been made under my own eye, 
 with circumstances of such caution as may give you the most perfect 
 confidence it it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, he, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, June 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have had the honor of receiving the joint letters from Mr. 
 Adams, Doctor Franklin, and yourself, with their several enclosures 
 of December, 1784, and 9th February, 18th March, and 13th 
 
 April, 1785. 
 
 At present I am not charged with communicating to you any 
 instructions of Congress on the subjects of them, though it is possible 
 they may give occasion to some. 
 
 I have now the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, a 
 letter from Congress to his most Christian Majesty ; and for your 
 satisfaction I also enclose a copy of it. Permit me to hint that, 
 as the United States have a Minister Plenipotentiary residing at the 
 Court of Versailles, it is natural for them to expect one from thence. 
 
 I have directed a packet of the latest newspapers to be prepared 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 615 
 
 and sent with this, from which you will be enabled 4o acquire a 
 knowledge of the most material public occurrences in detail. 
 
 Our commercial people grow uneasy and dissatisfied with restric- 
 tions on our foreign trade, and particularly with the British dominions. 
 This uneasiness promotes the system of perfecting our Union and 
 strengthening the Federal Government. There is reason to hope that 
 the Legislatures, in the ensuing winter sessions, will direct much of 
 their attention to these important objects. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, July 13, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since mine to you of the 15th June last, which mentioned to you 
 the receipt of such of your letters as had then come to hand, I have 
 not been favored with any from you. Those letters were immedi- 
 ately laid before Congress, and are still under their consideration. 
 Whether any, and what further resolutions or instructions will result 
 from their deliberation, is as yet uncertain ; and, therefore, lest their 
 sentiments and mine should clash, I forbear saying any thing officially 
 on the subject for the present. 
 
 The convention respecting Consuls, or rather a copy of it sent by 
 Doctor Franklin, has also been received and laid before Congress ; 
 they have taken it into consideration, but have as yet come to no 
 resolutions. 
 
 We have intelligence (which though not entirely authentic is 
 believed by many) that the British are enticing our people to settle 
 lands within our lines under their Government and protection, by 
 gratuitous supplies of provisions, implements of husbandry, &z;c. The 
 truth of this report will soon be ascertained. I wish it rriay prove 
 groundless. If true, the evacuation of the frontier posts is not 
 to be expected, and another war is to be looked and prepared for. 
 
 We suppose, but have not heard, that Mr. Adams is in London. 
 We are anxious to receive letters from him, and to learn with certainty 
 the intentions of that Court with respect to those posts, and other 
 interesting subjects. 
 
616 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 M. Gardoqui has at length arrived. He is charged with the affairs 
 of Spain with Plenipotentiary powers. 
 
 Congress appointed Governor Livingston to succeed Mr. Adams 
 at the Hague ; but he declining it they have since elected Governor 
 Rutledge, whose answer cannot be expected for some time yet. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFEBSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, August 13, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Since the date of my last to you, which was the 13th ultimo, I 
 have been honored with your joint letter of the 11th May, and with 
 two others from you of the same date. 
 
 As yet Congress have not communicated to me any resolutions on 
 the subjects of the several letters from their Ministers which have 
 been received and laid before them ; and the convention respecting 
 consular powers is still under their consideration. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners for the Treasury is now complete, 
 Congress having been pleased to appoint Mr. Arthur Lee to be one 
 of them. 
 
 The answer of Governor Rutledge, who has been elected for the 
 Hague, has not yet come to hand. 
 
 A requisition on the States for supplies is preparing, and it is 
 thought will pass in the course of the next month. If punctually 
 complied with it will greatly reestablish our credit with those who 
 entertain doubts respecting it. 
 
 Our harvest is good, and though the productions of the country 
 are plenty, yet they bear a high cash price ; so that the complaint of 
 the want of money in the country is less well founded than a com- 
 plaint of distrust and want of credit between man and man would 
 be ; for the apprehension of paper money alarms those who have any 
 thing to lend, while they who have debts to pay are zealous advocates 
 of the measure. Until that matter is decided there will be little 
 credit, and I sometimes think the less the better. 
 
 The letters I have received from Mr. Adams were written imme- 
 diately after his presentation, and contain nothing of business, so that 
 our suspense on certain interesting points still continues. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 6I7 
 
 I herewith enclose, by order of Congress, some papers on the 
 subject of our trade with the French, which it may be useful for you 
 to Icnow the contents of; and also some late newspapers, which, 
 though not very interesting, may not be altogether useless. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Pcu-is, June 17, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor of addressing you on the 11th of last month by 
 young Mr. Adams, who sailed in the packet of that month. That of 
 the present is likely to be retarded to the first of July, if not longer. 
 
 On the 14th of May, I communicated to the Count de Vergennes 
 my appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary to this Court, and on the 
 17th delivered my letter of credence to the King at a private 
 audience, and went through the other ceremonies usual on such 
 occasions. 
 
 We have reason to expect that Europe will enjoy peace another 
 year. The negotiations between the Emperor and United Nether- 
 lands have been spun out to an unexpected length, but there seems 
 little doubt but that they will end in peace. 
 
 Whether the exchange projected between the Emperor and 
 Elector of Bavaria, or the pretensions of the former, in his line of 
 demarcation with the Ottoman Porte, will produce war, is yet 
 uncertain. If either of them does, this country will probably take 
 part in it to prevent a dangerous accession of power to the house of 
 Austria. The zeal with which they have appeared to negotiate a 
 peace between Holland and the Empire, seems to prove that they 
 do not apprehend being engaged in war against the Empire or any 
 other Power, because, if they had such an apprehension, they would 
 not wish to deprive themselves of the assistance of the Dutch ; and 
 their opinion on this subject is better evidence than the details we 
 get from the newspapers, and must weigh against the affected delays of 
 the Porte, as to the line of demarcation, the change in their Ministry, 
 their preparations for war, and other symptoms of like aspect. 
 
 This question is not altogether uninteresting to us. Should this 
 country be involved in a continental war, while differences are 
 existing between us and Great Britain, the latter might carry less , 
 moderation into the negotiations for settling them. 
 
QIQ THOMAS JEFFERSON- JOHN JAY. 
 
 I send you herewith the gazettes of Leyden and that of France for 
 the last two months. The latter, because it is the best in this 
 country ; the former, as being the best in Europe. The Courier de 
 I'Europe you will get genuine from London ; as reprinted here it is 
 of less worth. 
 
 Should your knowledge of the newspapers of this country lead you 
 to wish for any other, I shall take the greatest pleasure in adding to 
 the regular transmissions of the two others which I shall make you in 
 future. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, September 14, 1785. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your joint lettere of the 11th November and December, 1784, 
 were received by Congress. I have had the honor of receiving other 
 joint ones of 9th February, 13th April, 11th May, and 18th June 
 last; and also three from you, viz : two of the 11th May, and one of 
 the 17th June last. 
 
 By the last packet, I had the pleasure of writing two letters to 
 you of the 13th August, 1785, which I hope have come safe to your 
 hands. 
 
 As yet I have heard npthing of or from Captain Lamb, who was 
 the bearer of several important papers relative to our afiairs with the 
 JBarbary States. 
 
 Your correspondence with Mr. Adams, doubtless, fiimishes you 
 with ample information relative to the objects of his legation. His 
 letters to me were dated at a time when he had not yet entered on 
 business. His reception is satisfactory, and I wish the result of his 
 negotiations may be equally so. In my opinion we have little to 
 expect from the liberal policy of that Court. If we obtain justice 
 from them, my expectations will be fulfilled ; but even of that I am 
 not without my doubts. 
 
 I wish it was in my power to enter minutely into the subjects of 
 your letters, but it is not. They still remain, with my reports on 
 some of them, under the consideration of Congress ; so that at present 
 I am not enabled to convey to you their sentiments respecting those 
 matters. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. QIQ 
 
 At present they are employed in forming a requisition for supplies. 
 When completed you shall have a copy of it. 
 
 The affair of Longchamps is agreeably terminated. His most 
 Christian Majesty will not persist in that demand, and the paper 
 containing it has been returned to M. de Marbois, in consequence of 
 a conference I had with him on that subject. I admire the wisdom 
 of the French Minister in forbearing to press this point. It would 
 have produced discontent without answering useful purposes. I am 
 sure he has gained more with us by this temperate and prudent 
 conduct than could possibly have been done by harsh and irritating 
 measures. 
 
 Governor Rutledge declines going to Holland, so that it is yet 
 uncertain who will succeed Mr. Adams there. 
 
 The vacant seat at the Treasury Board has been given to Mr. A. 
 Lee. That Board is now full, and consists of Mr. Osgood, Mj. 
 Walter Livingston, and Mr. A. Lee. 
 
 A court to decide the controversy between Massachusetts and New 
 York, is to meet this fall at Williamsburgh. It is much to be wished 
 that all our boundaries were adjusted ; and that the vigor of Govern- 
 ment may abate the rage for making new States out of parcels of the 
 old, which prevails in some of them. North Carolina and this State 
 suffer by such unauthorized proceedings, and Massachusetts has her 
 fears. Our Federal Government wants power, and is, in many 
 respects, inadequate to its objects. Much is expected from the 
 ensuing sessions of the Legislature ; but for my part I think the love 
 of popularity restrains many from promoting the measures which, 
 though essential to the public welfare, may not be pleasant to the 
 many whose views and wishes are chiefly personal. 
 
 The papers, herewith enclosed, are a copy of a letter to me from 
 Mr. Shaw, and a letter from me to his Excellency the President 
 respecting it. Congress adopted thei opinion I expressed in the 
 letter, and referred it to me to take order. As both letters are 
 particular and in detail, it would be useless to repeat in this what 
 you will find in them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. 
 
620 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, September 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I herewith enclose a letter from Count de Vergennes, and also a 
 copy of it for your perusal and information. Although certain 
 circumstances have left to M. de Marbois a less share in the confi- 
 dence and attachment of our people than it was in his power to 
 have acquired, yet his conduct as Charge d' Affaires having been 
 unexceptionable, he merited, and has received commendation for it. 
 He is still here, and until his departure Mr. Otto will probably 
 postpone entering on the business of his place. The idea of 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne's return still prevails ; and I think it would 
 be useful that he should, because it is generally thought that his 
 private sentiments and wishes are friendly to this country. It is 
 much in the power of Ministers to cherish or diminish harmony ; 
 and it is much to be wished that France may send none here who 
 may be more disposed to blame than to approve. The Chevalier 
 already possesses rank and character, and, therefore, is not exposed 
 to temptations to endeavor to raise himself by the means of the first 
 step he may meet with, whether clean or otherwise. 
 
 I am, dear sir, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Palis, July 12, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 My last letter to you was dated the 17th of June. The present 
 serves to cover some papers put into my hands by Captain Paul 
 Jones. They respect an ancient matter, which is shortly this : 
 
 While Captain Jones was hovering on the coast of England, in 
 the year 1779, a British pilot, John Jackson by name, came on 
 board him, supposing him to be British. Captain Jones found it 
 convenient to detain him as a pilot, and, in the action with the 
 Serapis, which ensued, this man lost his arm. It is thought that this 
 gives him a just claim to the same allowance with others who have 
 met with the like misfortune in the service of the United States. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 621 
 
 Congress alone being competent to this application, it is my duty to 
 present the case to their consideration, which I beg leave to do 
 through you. 
 
 Doctor Franklin will be able to give you so perfect a statement of 
 all transactions relative to his particular office in France, as well as 
 to the subjects included in our general commission, that it is unne- 
 cessary for me to enter on them. His departure, with the separate 
 situation of, Mr. Adams and myself, will render it difficult to 
 communicate to you the future proceedings of the commission as 
 regular as they have been heretofore. We shall do it, however, 
 with all the punctuality practicable, either separately or jointly, as 
 circumstances may require and admit. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., ' TH : JEFFERSON, 
 
 FROM PAtTL JONES TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 
 
 Paris, September 23, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I return you, enclosed, the letter addressed to you by John 
 Jackson, pilot of Hull, dated at Hull, the 16th of October, 1780, 
 The certificate joined with that letter is (at least in substance) a 
 copy of the one I gave him at the Texel, after his arm had been 
 amputated, and he had recovered. It does, however, I observe, 
 take notice that a second pilot-boat came off from the Spurn imme- 
 diately after that belonging to Jackson. I had occasion to detain 
 both of these boats ; and it was on board the second that the partner 
 of Jackson embarked from the Bon Homme Richard, before the 
 action with the Serapis. The second lieutenant of the Bon Homme 
 Richard was, with twenty men, all the time of the battle on board 
 Jackson's pilot-boat at a distance, and when I found it impossible to 
 prevent the Bon Homme Richard from sinking, Jackson's pilot-boat 
 was of singular service in saving the men, particularly the wounded, 
 some of whom 1 am persuaded would have been drowned, had I 
 been without that means of saving them. 
 
 Humanity and justice require that I should earnestly recommeind 
 that unfortunate man, John Jackson, for a reward for the important 
 service he performed, and the great loss and suffering he sustained. 
 
622 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I thought, and I think still he merited half pay as a pilot in the 
 service of the United States, which I believe is six dollars per 
 month. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., PAUL JONES. 
 
 FROM JOHN JACKSON TO THE AMEBICAN AMBASSADOR AT THE 
 
 COURT OF FRANCE. 
 
 Hull, October 16, 1780. 
 Sir, 
 
 This is to certify by the copy you will receive, enclosed, that 
 
 John Jackson, a pilot of the town of Kingston-upon-HuU, in 
 
 England, was on board Captain P&ul Jones in the action of 22d 
 
 September, 1779, in which the said John Jackson, the pilot, had 
 
 the misfortune to lose an arm in the action, therefore Mr. Paul Jones 
 
 gave John Jackson an hundred ducats, and, at the same time, 
 
 promised him that he should be paid by the American Ambassador 
 
 at the Court of France half pay of a pilot the remainder of his life, 
 
 to commence from the 22d day of September, 1779, payable every 
 
 six months, therefore humbly begs you will take his case into 
 
 consideration, that he may be paid agreeably to Mr. Paul Jones's 
 
 writing, as he is rendered incapable of getting bread for his poor 
 
 family. 
 
 Witness his hand this 16th October, 1780. 
 
 Who is, sir, Sic, his 
 
 JOHN X JACKSON. 
 
 Witness : mark. 
 
 Benjamin Lister, 
 
 William Andrew. 
 
 N. B. The Mayor of this town has taken the real writing from 
 
 me, by which me and my family are very much distressed. 
 
 his 
 
 JOHN X JACKSON. 
 
 mark. 
 
 If it please your Excellency to send me anything at present, I 
 shall be obliged to you to direct it for John Jackson, to be left for 
 him at Captain Ary de Jong, one of the Hull traders at Ostend.* 
 
 * For letter of Dr. Franklin, and other papers on this subject, see page 419 et 
 seq. of this volume. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 623 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JErFERSON. 
 
 New York, November 2, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 My last to you was of the 15th September, since which I have 
 been honored with yours of the 12th July, by Doctor Franklin. 
 He arrived at Philadelphia in as good health as when he left France ; 
 but travelling by land being painful to him, we have not had the 
 pleasure of seeing him here. 
 
 We have been for some time past looking in vain for a French 
 packet. Late advices of the Algerines having commenced hostilities 
 against the United States make us anxious to receive letters from 
 you, and to know whether Captain Lamb is still absent. Duplicates 
 of the papers he was charged with will be sent to-morrow to Mr. 
 Adams by a passenger in the English packet. 
 
 The English give us some trouble on our Eastern borders, the 
 true river St. Croix is disputed, and they wish to extend their juris- 
 diction to lands actually held by Massachusetts. Mr. Adams has 
 instructions to represent this matter to the British Court, and endeavor 
 to get the dispute amicably terminated. 
 
 Our frontier posts still remain occupied by British garrisons, nor 
 are we informed when they will be evacuated. 
 
 The late requisition of Congress has been sent you ; another copy 
 and the subsequent public papers accompany this. The measures of 
 the Legislatures at their ensuing sessions will be very interesting, and 
 you shall be informed of them. 
 
 The convention respecting Consuls still lays before Congress, and 
 I have as yet no orders on that subject. 
 
 Mr. Houdon is the bearer of this. Congress think of employing 
 him, but he is not prepared to make an estimate of the expense 
 of the statue they have voted, so that this matter must rest for the 
 present. 
 
 A Federal court, to decide the claims of Massachusetts on the 
 part of New York, is forming, and there is reason to hope that 
 disagreeable business will be finally concluded. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. 
 
Q24 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFEESOfT TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, August 14, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I was honored, on the 22d ultimo, with the receipt of your letter 
 of June 15th, and delivered the letter therein enclosed, from the 
 President of Congress, to the King. I took an opportunity of asking 
 the Count de Vergennes whether the Chevalier Luzerne proposed 
 to return to America ? He answered me that he did, and that he 
 was here for a time, only to arrange his private affairs. Of course 
 this stopped my proceeding further, in compliance with the hmt in 
 your letter. I knew that the Chevalier Luzerne still retained the 
 character of Minister to Congress, which occasioned my premising 
 the question I did. But notwithstanding the answer, which, indeed, 
 was the only one the Count de Vergennes could give me, I believe 
 that it is not expected that the Chevalier will return to America ; 
 that he is waiting an appointment here to some of their embassies, 
 or some other promotion, and in the meantime, as a favor, is per- 
 mitted to retain his former character. Knowing the esteem borne 
 him in America, I did not suppose it would be wished that I should 
 add anything which might occasion an injury to him, and the rather 
 as I presumed that at this time there did not exist the same reason 
 for wishing the arrival of a Minister in America, which perhaps 
 existed there at the date of your letter. 
 
 Count Adhemar has just arrived from London, on account of a 
 paralytic disease with which he has been struck. It does not seem 
 improbable that his place will be supplied, and perhaps by the 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne. 
 
 A French vessel has lately refused the salute to a British armed 
 vessel in the Channel. The Charge d' Affaires of Great Britain at 
 this Court (their Ambassador having gone to London a few days 
 ago) made this the subject of a conference with the Count de Ver- 
 gennes on Tuesday last. He told me that the Count explained the 
 transaction as the act of the individual master of the French vessel, 
 not founded in any public orders. His earnestness and his endeavors 
 to find terms sufficiently soft to express the Count's explanation, had 
 no tendency to lessen any doubts I might have entertained on this 
 subject. I think it possible the refusal may have been by order ; 
 nor can I believe that Great Britain is in a condition to resent it if it 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 625 
 
 was so. In this case we shall see it repeated by France, and the 
 example will then be soon followed by other nations. 
 
 The news writers bring together this circumstance with the depar- 
 ture of the French Ambassador from London, and the English 
 Ambassador from Paris, the manoeuvring of a French fleet just off 
 the Channel, the collecting some English vessels of war in the 
 Channel, the failure of a commercial treaty between the two countries, 
 a severe arret here against English manufactures, as foreboding war. 
 
 It is possible that the fleet of manoeuvre, the refusal of the salute, 
 and the English fleet of observation, may have a connexion with one 
 another. But I am persuaded the other facts are totally independent 
 of these and of one another, and are accidentally brought together 
 in point of time. Neither nation is in a condition to go to war — 
 Great Britain, indeed, the least so of the two. The latter Power, 
 or rather its monarch, as Elector of Hanover, is lately confederated 
 with the King of Prussia and others of the Germanic body, evidently 
 in opposition to the Emperor's designs on Bavaria. An alliance, 
 too, between the Empress of Russia and Republic of Venice, seems 
 to have had him in view, as he had meditated some exchange of 
 territory with that Republic. 
 
 This desertion of the Powers heretofore thought friendly to him, 
 seems to leave no issue for his ambition but on the side of Turkey. 
 His demarcation with that country is still unsettled. His diiFerence 
 with the Dutch is certainly agreed. The articles are not yet made 
 public ; perhaps not quite adjusted. Upon the whole, we may count 
 on another year of peace in Europe, and that our friends will not 
 within that time be brought into any embarrassments which might 
 encourage Great Britain to be difficult in settling the points still 
 unsettled between us. 
 
 You have doubtless seen in the papers that this Court was sending 
 two vessels into the South Sea, under the conduct of a Captain 
 Peyrouse. They give out that the object is merely for the improve- 
 ment of our knowledge of the geography of that part of the globe, 
 and certain it is that they carry men of eminence in different branches 
 of science. Their lading, however, as detailed in conversation, and 
 some other circumstances, appeared to me to indicate some other 
 design ; perhaps that of colonizing on the western coast of America, 
 or perhaps only to estabhsh one or more factories there for the fur 
 trade. 
 
 Vol. L— 40 
 
626 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 We may be little interested in either of these objects ; but we are 
 interested in another, that is to know whether they are perfectly 
 weaned from the desire of possessing continental colonies in America. 
 Events might arise which would render it very desirable for Congress 
 to be satisfied they have no such wish. K they would desire a 
 colony on the western side of America, I should not be qi^ite satisfied 
 that they would refuse one which should ofier itself on the eastern 
 side. Captain Paul Jones being at L'Orient, within a day's journey 
 of Brest, where Captain Peyrouse's vessels lay, I desired him, if he 
 could not satisfy himself at L'Orient of the nature of this equipment, 
 that he would go to Brest for that purpose, conducting himself so as 
 to excite no suspicion that we attended at all to this expedition. 
 His discretion can be relied on, and his expenses for so short a 
 journey will be a trifling price for satisfaction on this point. I hope, 
 therefore, that my undertaking, that the expenses of his journey shall 
 be reimbursed him, will not be disapproved. 
 
 A gentleman lately arrived from New York tells me that he thinks 
 it will be satisfactory to Congress to be informed of the effect pro- 
 duced here by the insult of Longchamps to Monsieur de Marbois. 
 Soon after my arrival in France last summer, it was the matter of a 
 conversation between the Count de Vergennes and myself. I 
 explained to him the effect of the judgment against Longchamps ; 
 he did not say that it was satisfactory, but neither did he say a word 
 from which I could collect that it was not satisfactory. The con- 
 versation was not official, because foreign to the character in which 
 I then was. He has never mentioned a word on the subject to me 
 since, and it was not for me to introduce it at any time. I have 
 never once heard it mentioned in conversation by any person of this 
 country, and had no reason to suppose that there remains any uneasi- 
 ness on the subject. I have, indeed, been told that they have sent 
 orders to make a formal demand of Longchamps from Congress, and 
 had immediately countermanded these orders. You know whether 
 this be true i if it be, I should suspect the first orders to have been 
 surprised from them by some exaggeration, and that the latter was a 
 correction of their error in the moment of further reflection. Upon 
 the whole there certainly appears to me no reason to urge the State 
 in which the fact happened to any violation of their laws, nor to set 
 a precedent which might hereafter be used in cases more interesting 
 to us than the late one. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 627 
 
 In a late conversation with the Count de Vergennes, he asked me 
 if the condition of our finances was improving. He did not make 
 an application of the question to the arrearages of their interest, 
 though perhaps he meant that I should apply it. I told him the 
 impost still found pbstacleSj and explained to him the effects which 
 I hoped from, our larid office. 
 
 Your letter of the 15th of April did not come to hand till the 
 27th ultimo. 
 
 I enclose a letter from Mr. Dumas to the President of Congress, 
 and accompany the present with the Leyden Gazettes, and Gazette 
 of France, from the date last sent you to the present tinje. 
 
 I have the honor tp hsj &c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 PROM THOMAS JEFFEBSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, 4-';ig«st 14, 17^5, 
 Sir, 
 
 The letter of June 18th, signed by Dr. Franklin and myself, is 
 the last addressed to you from hence on the subjects of the general 
 commission. 
 
 As circumstances rendered it necessary that the signature of the 
 Prussian treaty, whenever it should be in readiness, should be made 
 separately, the intervention of a person of confidence between the 
 Prussian Plenipotentiary and us became also requisite. His office 
 would be to receive the duplicates of the treaty here, signed by 
 Doctor Franklin and myself, to carry them to London to Mr. Adams, 
 and to the Hague to Baron Thulemeier, for their signatures. More- 
 over, to take hence the original of our full powers to show to Baron 
 Thulemeier, and the copy of bis, which he had before communicated 
 to us, to ask from him a sight of the original, to compare the copy 
 with it, and certify the latter to be true. 
 
 Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, and myself, therefore, had concluded 
 to engage Mr. Short (a gentleman of Virginia, who lives with me at 
 present) to transact this business, and to invest him with the character 
 of Secretary pro hac vice, in order that his signature of the truth of 
 the copy of Baron Thulemeier's full power might authenticate that 
 copy. 
 
628 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 On the receipt of the letter No. 1, therefore, from that Minister, 
 Mr. Short set out hence with the necessary papers. By a letter 
 lately received from him, I expect he left London for the Hague 
 about the 10th instant, and that the treaty is ultimately executed by 
 this time. In respect to the desire expressed by Baron Thulemeier 
 in the letter, we associated Mr. Dumas with Mr. Short, to assist in 
 the exchange of signatures and other ceremonies of execution. We 
 agreed to bear Mr. Short's expenses, and have thought that a guinea 
 a day (Sundays excluded) would be a proper compensation for his 
 trouble, and the necessary equipments for his journey which could 
 not enter into the account of travelling expenses. I hope by the 
 first safe conveyance to be able to forward to you the original of the 
 treaty. 
 
 No. 2 is my answer to Baron Thulemeier's letter; No. 3, our 
 instructions to Mr. Short ; and No. 4, our letter to Mr. Dumas. 
 
 Mr. Lamb's delay gives me infinite uneasiness. 
 
 You will see by the enclosed papers, Nos. 5, 6, and 7, sent me by 
 Mr. Carmichael, that the Emperor of Morocco, at the instance of 
 the Spanish Court, has delivered up the crew of the Betsey. 
 
 No. 8, also received from Mr. Carmichael, is a list of articles 
 given the Emperor of Morocco the last year by the States General. 
 
 It is believed that the Spanish negotiator at Algiers has concluded 
 a peace with that State, and has agreed to give them a million of 
 dollars, besides a very considerable quantity of things in kind. 
 
 The treaty meets with difficulties in the ratification ; perhaps the 
 exorbitance of the price may occasion them. Rumors are spread 
 abroad that they are pointing their preparations at us. The enclosed 
 paper, No. 9, is the only colorable evidence of this which has come 
 to my knowledge. I have proposed to Mr. Adams that if Mr. Lamb 
 does not come either in the French or English packet then (August 
 6) next expected, to send some person immediately to negotiate 
 these treaties, on the presumption that Mr. Lamb's purpose has been 
 changed. We shall still be at a loss for the instructions of which he 
 is said to have been the bearer. I expect Mr. Adams's answer on 
 the subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 629 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, July 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The King has perfectly approved the plan of a treaty of commerce 
 and amity with the United States of America, which has been the 
 result of our common cares, and in the manner described at the end 
 of the last letter with which you honored me, dated 26th May of the 
 present year. 
 
 His Majesty is, moreover, willing that, agreeable to your propo- 
 sition, sir, and that of your colleagues, the duration of the said treaty 
 be in the first instance fixed to ten years ; and it is in consequence 
 of my instructions that the term mentioned in the 27th article has 
 been expressed. He order^ me now to proceed to the required 
 signature with the Ministers of the United States of America, and to 
 direct, with their good pleasure, the introduction conformable to that 
 which has been used in the treaty of commerce concluded with the 
 King of Sweden. 
 
 The copy of the treaty herewith, which I purpose signing in 
 conformity to my full powers, comprehends these different objects ; 
 and it only remains for me to remind you, sir, of the proposition 
 which I took the liberty of making to you in ray letter dated the 17th 
 of June, to authorize Mr. Dumas, Charge d' Affaires, to proceed 
 with me to the usual exchange. 
 
 The King only waits for the copy to which the American Pleni- 
 potentiaries shall have affixed their signatures, to despatch this 
 ratification in the usual manner. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 P. S. Shall I take the liberty of requesting you, sir, to forward to 
 America the letter herewith for General de Steuben ? It was sent 
 to me by one of his female relations. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE BARON DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 Paris, July, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I was honored with the receipt of your letter on the 24th instant, 
 
 together with the French draft of the treaty proposed as it ultimately 
 
g30 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 meets his Majesty's approbation. Doctor Franklin, our colleague, 
 having assisted us through the progress of this business, we were 
 desirous he also should join in the execution. Duplicate instruments 
 were therefore prepared, each divided into two"" columns, in one of 
 which we entered the English form as it had been settled between 
 us, leaving the other blank to receive the French, which we expected 
 froin you. In this state the Doctor, before his departure, put his 
 signature and seal to the two instruments. We have since put into 
 the blank column the French form received from you, verbatim. As 
 we thought that such instruments should not be trusted out of confi- 
 dential hands, and the bearei: thereof, William Short, Esq., heretofore 
 a member of the Council of the State of Virginia, happened to be in 
 Paris, and willing tb give us hi§ assistance herein, they are delivered 
 into his hands, with other necessary papers, according to an arrange- 
 nibnt previously made between Mr. Adaihs, Dr. Franklin, and 
 rtiyself. He will proceed to London to olitain Mr. Adams's signa- 
 ture, and thence to the Hague, where we have, according to your 
 desire, associated Mr. Dumas with him, to concur with yoU in the 
 final execution. 
 
 It is with singular pleasure I s^e this connexion formed by my 
 country with a sovereign whose character gives a lustre to all the 
 transactions of which he makes a pirt. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FROM JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEITEHSON TO 
 WILLIAM SHORT. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and 
 his Majesty the King of Prussia having been arranged with the 
 Baron de\ Thulemeier, his Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary at the 
 Hague, specially empowered for this purpose, and it being incon- 
 sistent with our duties to repair to that place ourselves for the purpose 
 of executing and exchanging the instruments of treaty, we hereby 
 appoint you special secretary for that purpose. 
 
 You receive from Colonel Humphreys, Secretary of our Legation, 
 the original of our full powers, and a copy of the same attested by 
 him, the full power heretofore communicated to us by the Baron de 
 Thulemeier, and the two instruments of treaty arranged between us-. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 631 
 
 each in two columns, the one in English and the other in French, 
 equally originals. From us you receive a letter to Charles Dumas, 
 Esq., for the United States at the Hague, associating him 
 
 with you in the objects of your mission. 
 
 You will proceed immediately to the Hague, and being arrived 
 there will deliver the letter to Mr. Dumas, and proceed conjunctively 
 with him in the residue of your business, which is to be executed 
 there. 
 
 The original of our full powers is to be exhibited to the Pleni- 
 potentiary of his Majesty the King of Prussia, and the a,ttested copy 
 is to be left with him, you taking back the original. You will in 
 like manner ask an exhibition of the original of his full powers, and 
 also a copy duly attested. You will compare the copy with the 
 original, and being satisfied of its exactness, you will return the 
 original and keep the copy. That you may be under no doubt 
 whether the full powers exhibited to you be sufficient or not, you 
 will receive from Colonel Humphreys those which the Baron de 
 Thulemeier heretofore sent to us. If those which shall be exhibited 
 agree with these in form or substance, they will be sufficient. 
 
 The full powers being approved on each side, and exchanged, 
 you will obtain the signature and seal of the Prussian Plenipo- 
 tentiary to the two instruments of treaty with which you are charged, 
 and yourself and Mr. Dumas will attest the same. One of those 
 original instruments will remain in the hands of the Prussian 
 Plenipotentiary, the other you will retain. 
 
 You will ask that the ratification of his Majesty the King of 
 Prussia be made known to us as soon as it shall have taken place, 
 giving an assurance on our part that that of Congress shall also be 
 communicated so soon as it shall have taken place — ^when both 
 ratifications shall be known, measures may be concerted for ex- 
 changing them. You will confer with the said Plenipotentiary on 
 the expediency of keeping this treaty uncommunicated to the public 
 until the exchange of ratifications, and agree accordingly. You will 
 then return to Paris, and redeliver to the Secretary of our Legation 
 our original full powers, the copies of those of Prussia beforemen- 
 tioned, and the original instrument of the treaty which you shall 
 have retained. 
 
 (London.) JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 (Paris.) TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
632 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TKOM JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON TO 
 CHARLES DUMAS. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 A treaty of amity and commerce between the United States of 
 America and his Majesty the King of Prussia having been arranged 
 by us with the Baron de Thulemeier, his Majesty's Envoy Extraor- 
 dinary at the Hague, specially empowered for this purpose ; and 
 it being inconsistent with our other duties to repair to that place 
 ourselves, for the purpose of executing and exchanging the instru- 
 ments of treaty, we have delivered the same, duly executed on our 
 part, to the bearer hereof, William Short, Esq., to be by him carried, 
 with other necessary papers, to the Hague. 
 
 When arrived there, we ask and authorize you to manage, in 
 conjunction with him, the execution and exchange of the instruments 
 of treaty, according to the instructions he receives from us, and will 
 communicate to you. 
 
 Your former attention to the interests of the United States, aad 
 readiness to promote them, give us assurance that you will not 
 withhold them on the present occasion. 
 We have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM MR. CARMICHAEL TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Cadiz, July 19, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have now the pleasure to advise you that the captain and crew 
 
 of the brig Betsy arrived here yesterday from Barbary, with Mr. 
 
 Salinas, and were immediately delivered to me, to be disposed of as 
 
 I, in my consular capacity, may judge proper. They have already 
 
 cost me a good deal of money, and must cost me more before they 
 
 can be shipped off, which will be as soon as possible. It seems to 
 
 me the public is justly liable for all these charges. However, since 
 
 the Commissioners are of a different opinion, we must see what can 
 
 be done at home. I this morning waited on Mr. Salinas, to return 
 
 him thanks, in the best Spanish I could muster, for the friendly 
 
 raterposition of his Majesty and his own conduct in this affair. He 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 633 
 
 received me very politely, and desired me to inform you of what he 
 had done, adding that he had recommended the United States in a 
 particular manner to the Emperor, who, however, must have an 
 Envoy and presents from them soon, or he will not be our friend. 
 The brig was also ordered to be delivered up, but the captain informs 
 me she is gone to wreck, and can never be refitted for sea except 
 at a greater expense than she is worth. I shall endeavor to get 
 what is remaining of the cargo. I am alarmed on account of the 
 Algerines. Their peace with Spain has opened a large field to their 
 piracies. Several of their cruisers are out, and I hear that thirteen 
 prizes have already passed the straits, chiefly Portuguese, I ima- 
 gine. 
 
 The Americans, I hope, are too much frightened already to 
 venture any vessels this way, especially during the summer. They 
 run some risk, however, even in the more northern latitudes. 
 
 FROM LOUIS GOtlBLOT TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES 
 OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Sallee, June 25, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to inform you, with very great pleasure, that in 
 consequenc* of what I hinted in my last, of the 10th instant, to Mr. 
 Harrison, his Majesty the Emperor of Morocco has liberated Captain 
 Erwin and his whole crew, whom he made a present of to Don 
 Francisco de Salinas y Monino, his Catholic Majesty's Envoy to his 
 Imperial Majesty of Morocco, with order that the vessel and cargo 
 should be restored to the captain, who arrived here yesterday from 
 Morocco. He is to set out the day after to-morrow for Tangiers, 
 under the escort of the Spanish Ambassador. 
 
 His Majesty the Emperor of Morocco has, moreover, ordered that 
 the Americans should be clothed for their passage here, which has 
 been performed, by furnishing each of them with cloth for a complete 
 suit. 
 
 Allow me to give my opinion of the motives which have induced 
 the Emperor of Morocco to act so generously towards the United 
 States. 
 
634 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Mr. Webster Blount, the Dutch Consul General, had requested of 
 hlrn the American captives. He refused him, telling him that he 
 should only interest himself in behalf of his own nation. It was 
 reasonable to conclude from this that the Emperor was not disposed 
 to release his prisoners so soon, notwithstanding he released them 
 without ransom in another way. This is a political stroke of the 
 African monarch, who, in my opinion, may be actuated by two 
 different motives, although at the same time for his own particular 
 benefit. He may, in the first place, flatter himself that, by behaving 
 generously on the present occasion, he will, by that means, convince 
 all the Christian Powers that a Mahometan Prince is as susceptible 
 of humanity and civility as the most polished nation of Europe. 
 For nothing more flatters the grandeur of this sovereign than when 
 he is praised on account of his generosity towards the Christians ; 
 yet, notwithstanding, he never loses sight that by treating the 
 Europeans in general well, he obtains more profit than by using 
 them ill. 
 
 He may, in the second place, persuade himself that the United 
 States will not fail to treat with him ; and that when they shall 
 see that he has acted thus towards the Americans, they will the 
 more earnestly seek his friendship, in a manner that will be beneficial 
 to him. 
 
 However, I still continue to think that unless Congress speedily 
 makes amicable propositions to this sovereign, it will be no matter 
 of surprise that his corsairs commit fresh acts of hostility against the 
 American vessels. However that may be, if hereafter you should 
 conceive me of any use in the aflairs that may happen between the 
 United States and Morocco, I can only take the liberty of again 
 oflfering myself, with the same zeal that I have already done, and 
 whilst I wait your Excellency's orders to contmue or suspend my 
 correspondence on this subject, 
 
 I have the honor, &;c., LOUIS GOUBLOT. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE FLOKIDA BLANCA TO WILLIAM CABMICHAEL. 
 
 Translation. 
 Sir, 
 Lieutenant Colonel Don Francisco Salinas y Monino, whom the 
 King has appointed his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 635 
 
 tentiaiy at the Court of the King of Morocco, informs me by letter, 
 dated the 15th June, that, having appHed to his Majesty to order the 
 Americans whom he detained as prisoners to be delivered to him, 
 that Prince had granted it, and also the vessel in which they were 
 taken, saying that he wished to make peace with the United States 
 of America, by the mediation of the King of Spain. 
 
 I postponed giving you this information until I could confirm it hy 
 the actual delivery of those Ariiericans and their vessel to the afore- 
 said Minister. He advises me, on the 9th July, that it was done, 
 and tnat he had received ten Americans, with their clothing, and 
 also the brigantine, but in a state not to be navigated. I communi- 
 cate this to you, adding that the said Americans are now at Cadiz, 
 at the disposition of their Consul, who should also give orders 
 respecting the brigantine left at Tangier. 
 
 The King derived much pleasure from the successful issue of this 
 negotiation, in which his Majesty has taken the part which you have 
 seen in order to give the United States this further proof of his 
 friendship and good will, and his Majesty remains disposed to con- 
 tinue them on the occasions which may arise from this subject, (in 
 case the United States should determine to avail themselves of this 
 overture of the King of Morocco, and authorize you for itj) and also 
 upon all other occasions interesting to those Republics. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 LIST OF PRESENTS MADE BY THE STATES GENERAL TO THE EMPEROR 
 
 or MOROCCO, 1784. 
 
 69 masts, from 50 to 91 feet in length. 
 
 24 poles, from 36 to 54 do. 
 
 15 cables, from 10 to 14 inches circumference, and 120 fathoms 
 
 long. 
 15 do. from 6 to 8 do., 100 fathoms long. 
 97 different pieces large cordage. 
 160 pieces smaller do., 100 fathoms each. 
 10 tarred do., 2^ inches, 100 fathoms. 
 150 balls of coarse twine. 
 300 dozen cords of 6 and 8 threads. 
 18 sounding lines. > 
 
636 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 1,000 fathoms from 2 to 42 threads. 
 
 50 pieces iron cannon, 6 pounders, with carriages, and 1,500 
 
 bullets. 
 12 anchors, from 1,150 to 1,550 cwt. 
 6 kedge anchors. 
 3 small do. 
 
 220 pieces sail cloth, containing 10,560 ells. 
 45 do. finer, do. 4,057 do. 
 
 20 do Flemish cloth, do. 8,832 do. 
 60 skeins twine. 
 1,450 assorted puUies. 
 100 pieces of wood for oars. 
 
 9 large pieces for pumps. 
 20 pieces for smaller do. 
 
 51 chests, with different utensils and tools for the artillery, car- 
 
 penters, and calkers. 
 12 quadrants. 
 27 sea charts. 
 12 compasses. 
 26 hour-glasses. 
 50 dozen sail needles. 
 3 large lanthorns, and 30 small. 
 6 sounding leads, from 12 to 18. 
 24 tons pitch. 
 
 10 pieces brass 24-pounders. 
 
 10 do. 18 carriages, and 200 bullets, 241b. 
 
 200 shot, 181b. 
 
 300 casks of different sizes. 
 
 EXTKAORDINART PRESENTS. 
 
 2 pieces scarlet. 
 
 2 do. green cloth. 
 
 1 do. do. 
 
 1 do. blue do. 
 
 2 do. white do. 
 
 1 barrel, containing 280 loaves sugar, 1,072 lbs. 
 1 chest, 100 lbs. tea. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 637 
 
 2 sets India porcelain. 
 
 1 case, containing 24 large China bowls. 
 50 pieces muslin. 
 
 3 clocks. 
 
 1 very large watch. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, December 7, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The last letter I have had the pleasure of receiving from you is 
 dated the 14th August last. My last to you is dated the 2d ultimo, 
 by Mr. Houdon, who, I hope, has by this time safely arrived. 
 Nothing of importance has since occurred except the arrival of Mr. 
 Temple, respecting whom I enclose a copy of an act of Congress of 
 2d instant. 
 
 With great esteem. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 You will herewith receive a packet of newspapers. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, January 19, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since my last of 7th December ultimo, and indeed for some time 
 before that. Congress has been composed of so few States actually 
 represented, as not to have it in their power to pay that attention to 
 their foreign affairs which they would doubtless have otherwise done. 
 Hence it has happened that no resolutions have been entered into 
 on any of the important subjects submitted to their consideration. 
 This obliges me to observe a degree of reserve in my letters respect- 
 ing subjects which I wish to ,be free from, but which is nevertheless 
 necessary, lest my sentiments and opinions should be opposed to 
 those which they may adopt and wish to impress. 
 
 There is reason to hope that the requisition will be generally 
 complied with. I say generally, because it is not quite clear that 
 every State, without exception, will make punctual payments, 
 although a disposition prevails to enable Congress to regulate trade. 
 
538 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Yet I am apprehensive that, however the propriety of the measure 
 may be admitted, the manner of doing it will not be with equal ease 
 agreed to. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that the confederation has not been so 
 formed as to exclude the necessity of all such kinds of questions. It 
 certainly is very imperfect, and I fear it will be difficult to remedy 
 its defects until experience shall render the necessity of doing it more 
 obvious and pressing. 
 
 [Several lines were here written in cyphers, of which the following 
 is the explication :] 
 
 Does France consider herself bound by her guarantee to insist on 
 the surrender of our posts ? Will she second our remonstrances to 
 Britain on that head? I have no orders to ask these questions, but 
 I think them important. Spain insists on the navigation of the great 
 river, and that renders a treaty with her uncertain as yet. 
 
 Among the public papers herewith sent you will find the speech 
 of the Governor of New York to the Legislature, and the answer of 
 the Senate. A spirit more federal seems to prevail than that which 
 marked their proceedings last year. You will also perceive from the 
 papers that Massachusetts begins to have troubles similar to those 
 which this State experienced from Vermont ; North Carolina suffers 
 the like evils, and fi'om the same causes. Congress should have 
 recollected the old maxim, obsta principiis. 
 
 I wish the negotiations with the Barbary Powers may prove 
 successful, because our country in general desires peace with them. 
 For my part I prefer war to tribute, and that sentiment was strongly 
 expressed in my report on that subject. 
 
 Our Indian affairs do not prosper. I fear Britain bids higher than 
 we do. Our surveys have been checked, and peace with the 
 savages seems somewhat precarious. That department might, in 
 my opinion, have been better managed. 
 
 With great and sincere respect. Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, August 30, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor of writing to you on the 14th instant, by a Mr. 
 
 Cannon, of Connecticut, who was to sail in the packet. Since that 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 639 
 
 date, yours of July 13th is come to hand. The times for the saihng 
 of the packets being somewhat deranged, I avail myself of a convey- 
 ance of the present by the Messrs. Fitzhugh, of Virginia, who expect 
 to land at Philadelphia. 
 
 I enclose you a correspondence which has taken place between 
 the Mareschal de Castries, Minister of the Marine, and myself. It 
 is on the subject of the prize money due to the officers and crew of 
 the Alliance, for prizes taken in Europe under the command of 
 Captain Jones. That officer has been, under the direction of 
 Congress, nearly two years soliciting the liquidation and payment of 
 that money. Infinite delays had retarded the liquidation till the 
 month of June. It was expected when the liquidation was announced 
 to be completed, that the money was to be received. The M. de 
 Castries doubted the authority of Captain Jones to receive it, and 
 wrpte to me for information. I wrote him the letter dated July 
 10th, which seemed to clear away that difficulty. Another arose — 
 a Mr. Puchelberg presented powers to receive the money. I wrote 
 then the letter of August 3d, and received that of M. de Castries of 
 August 12th, acknowledging he was satisfied as to this difficulty, 
 but announcing another, to wit : that possibly some French subjects 
 might have been on board the Alliance, and therefore that Captain 
 Jones ought to give security for the repayment of their portions. 
 Captain Jones had before told me that there was not a Frenchman 
 on board that vessel but the captain. I inquired of Mr. Barclay ; 
 he told me he was satisfied there was not one. 
 
 Here then was a mere possibility, a shadow of a right, opposed 
 to a certain, to a substantial one, which existed in the mass of the 
 crew, and which was likely to be delayed ; for it could not be 
 expected that Captain Jones could, in a strange country, find the 
 security required. These difficulties I suppose to have been 
 conjured up, one after another, by Mr. Puchelberg, who wanted to 
 get hold of the money. I saw but one way to cut short these ever- 
 Iq^ting delays, which were ruining the officer soliciting the payment 
 of the money, and keeping our seamen out of what they had hardly 
 fought for years ago. This was to undertake to ask an order from 
 Congress for the payment of any French claimants, by their banker 
 in Paris, and in the meantime to undertake to order such payment, 
 should any such claimant prove his title, before the pleasure of 
 Congress should be made known to me, I consulted with Mr. 
 
640 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Barclay, who seemed satisfied I might venture this undertaking, 
 because no such claim could be presented. I therefore wrote the 
 letter of August 17th, and received that of August 26th, finally 
 closing this tedious business. 
 
 Should what I have done not meet the approbation of Congress, 
 I would pray their immediate sense, because it is not probable that 
 the whole of this money will be paid so hastily, but that their orders 
 may arrive in time to stop a sufficiency for any French claimants 
 who may possibly exist. The following paragraph of a letter from 
 Captain Jones, dated "L'Orient, August 24, 1785," further satisfies 
 me that my undertaking amounted to nothing in fact. He says " it 
 ' is impossible that any legal demands should be made on you for 
 ' French subjects, in consequence of your engagement to the Mare- 
 ' schal. The Alliance was manned in America, and I never heard 
 ' of any persons having served on board that frigate who had been 
 ' born in France, except the Captain, who, as I was informed, had 
 ' in America abjured the Church of Rome, and been naturalized." 
 
 Should Congress approve of what I have done, I will then ask 
 their resblution for the payment, by their banker here, of any such 
 claims as may be properly authenticated, and will, moreover, pray 
 of you an authentic roll of the crew of the Alliance, with the sums 
 to be allowed to each person. On the subject of which roll, Captain 
 Jones, in the letter abovementioned, says : " I carried a set of the 
 ' rolls with me to America, and before I embarked in the French 
 ' fleet at Boston, I put them into the hands of Mr. Secretary 
 ' Livingston, and they were sealed up among the papers of his office 
 ' when I left America." I think it possible that Mr. Fuchelberg 
 may excite claims. Should any name be offered which shall not be 
 found on the roll, it will be a sufficient disproof of the pretension. 
 Should it be found on that roll, it will remain to prove the identity 
 of the person, and to inquire if payment may not have been made 
 in America. I conjecture from the Journals of Congress of June 
 2d that Landais, who, I believe, was the captain, may be in 
 America. As his portion of prize money may be considerable, I 
 hope it will be settled in America, where only it can be known 
 whether any advances may have been made him. 
 
 The person at the head of the post office here says he proposed 
 to Doctor Franklin a convention to facilitate the passage of letters 
 through their office and ours, and that he delivered a draft of the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 641 
 
 convention proposed, that it might be sent to Congress. I think it 
 possible he may be mistaken in this, as, on my mentioning it to 
 Doctor Franklin, he did not recollect any such draft having been 
 put into his hands. An answer, however, is expected by them. I 
 mention it that Congress may decide whether they will make any 
 convention on the subject, and on what principle. The one 
 proposed here was, that for letters passing hence into America, the 
 French postage should be collected by our post offices, and paid 
 every six months ; and for letters coming from America here, the 
 American postage should be collected by the post offices here, and 
 paid to us in like manner. A second plan, however, presents itself: 
 that is, to suppose the sums to be thus collected on each side 
 will be equal, or so nearly equal, that the balance will not pay the 
 trouble of keeping accounts, and the little bickerings that the settle- 
 ment of accounts and demands of the balances may occasion, and, 
 therefore, to make an exchange of postage. This would better 
 secure our harmony, but I do not know that it would be agreed to 
 here ; if not, the other might then be agreed to. 
 
 I have waited hitherto, supposing that Congress might possibly 
 appoint a secretary to the legation here, or signify their pleasure 
 that I should appoint a private secretary tp aid me in my office. 
 The comrriunications between the Ministers and myself requiring 
 often that many and long papers should be copied, and that in a 
 shorter time than could be done by myself, were I otherwise unoc- 
 cupied, with other correspondences and proceedings, of all which 
 copies must be retained, and still more, the necessity of having some 
 confidential person who, in case of any accident to myself, might be 
 authorized to take possession of the instructions, letters, and other 
 papers of the office, have rendered it absolutely necessary for me to 
 appoint a private secretary. Colonel Humphreys finds full occupa- 
 tion, and often more than he can do, in writing and recording the 
 despatches and proceedings of the general commissions. I shall, 
 therefore, appoint Mr. Short, on his return from the Hague, with an 
 express condition that the appointment shall cease whenever Congress 
 shall think proper to make any other arrangement. He will, of course, 
 expect the allowance heretofore made to the private secretaries of the 
 Ministers, which, I believe, has been a thousand dollars a year. 
 
 An improvement is made here in the construction of the musket, 
 which it may be interesting to Congress to know, should they at any 
 Vol. L— 41 
 
642 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 time propose to procure any. It consists in the making every 
 part of them so exactly alike, that what belongs to any one may 
 be used for every other musket in the magazirie. The Government 
 here has examined and approved the method, and is establishing a 
 large manufactory for the purpose. As yet, the inventor has only 
 completed the lock of the musket on this plan. He will proceed 
 immediately to have the barrel, stock, and their parts executed in 
 the same way. Supposing it might be useful to the United States, 
 I went to the workman ; he presented me the parts of fifty locks 
 taken to pieces, and arranged in compartments. I put several 
 together myself, taking pieces at hazard as they came to hand, and 
 they fitted in the most perfect manner. The advantages of this, 
 when arms need repair, are evident. 
 
 He effects it by tools of his own contrivance, which at the same 
 time abridge the work, so that he thinks he shall be able to furnish 
 the musket two livres cheaper than the common price. But it will 
 be two or three years before he will be able to furnish any quantity. 
 I mention it now, as it may have influence on the plan for furnishing 
 our magazines with this arm. 
 
 Everything in Europe remains as when I wrote you last. 
 
 The peace between Spain and Algiers has the appearance of 
 being broken off. 
 
 The French packet being arrived without Mr. Lamb, or any news 
 of him, I await Mr. Adams's acceding to the proposition mentioned 
 in my last. 
 
 I send you the gazettes of Leyden and France to this date, and 
 have the honor to be, &cc., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 Copy of a Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Mareschal de 
 Castries, in answer to one received from him desiring to know 
 how far Captain Jones was authorized to receive the prize money 
 due to the crew of the Alliance, 
 
 Paris, July 10, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I am honored with your Excellency's letter on the prize money, 
 
 for which Mr. Jones applies. The papers intended to have been 
 
 therein enclosed not having been actually enclosed, I am unable to 
 
 say anything on their subject. But I find that Congress, on the 1st 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 643 
 
 day of November, 1783, recommended Captain Jones to tbeir 
 Minister here, as agent to solicit, under his direction, payment to the 
 officers and crews for the prizes taken in Europe under his command, 
 requiring him, previously, to give to their Superintendent of Finance 
 good security for paying to him whatever he should receive, to be by 
 him distributed to those entitled. In consequence of this. Captain 
 Jones gave the security required, as it is certified by the Superin- 
 tendent of Finance on the 6th of November, 1783, and received from 
 Doctor Franklin on the 17th of December, 1783, due authority as 
 agent to solicit the said payments. 
 
 From these documents I consider Captain Jones as agent for the 
 citizens of the United States interested in the prizes taken in Europe 
 under his command, and that he is properly authorized to receive the 
 money due to them, having given good security to transmit it to the 
 Treasury Office of the United States, whence it will be distributed 
 under the care of Congress to the officers and crews originally 
 entitled, or to their representatives. 
 
 I have the honor to be, k.c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 A SECOPTD LETTER TO THE MARESCHAL DE CASTRIES. 
 
 Paris, August 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The enclosed copy of a letter from Captain John Paul Jones, on 
 the subject which your Excellency did me the honor to write me on 
 the day of July, will inform you that there is still occasion to 
 
 be troublesome to you. A Mr. Puchelberg, a merchant of L'Orient, 
 who seems to have kept himself unknown until money was to be 
 received, now presents powers to receive it, signed by the American 
 officers and crews ; and this produces a hesitation in the person to 
 whom your order was directed. Congress, however, having substi- 
 tuted Captain Jones as agent to solicit and receive this money, he 
 having given them security to forward it, when received, to their 
 Treasury, to be thence distributed to the claimants.; and having, at 
 a considerable expense of time, trouble, and money, attended it to a 
 conclusion, are circumstances of weight, against which Mr. Puchel- 
 b,erg seems to have nothing to oppose but a nomination by individuals 
 of the crew, under which he declined to act, and permitted the 
 business to be done by another without contradiction from him. 
 
644 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Against him, too, it is urged that he fomented the sedition which 
 took place among them ; that he obtained this nomination from them 
 while their minds were under ferment, and that he has given no 
 security for the faithful payment of the money to those entitled to it. 
 I will add to these one other circumstance, which appears to render 
 it impossible that he should execute this trust. It is now several 
 years since the right to this money arose ; the persons in whom it 
 originally vested were probably from different States in America ; 
 many of them must be now dead, and their rights passed on to their 
 representatives — ^but who are their representatives? The laws of 
 some States prefer one degree of relations, those of others prefer 
 others ; there being no uniformity among the States on this point. 
 Mr. Puchelberg, therefore, should know which of the parties are 
 dead, in what order the laws of the respective States call their rela- 
 tions to the succession, and in every case which of those orders are 
 actually in existence, and entitled to the share of the deceased. 
 With the Atlantic ocean between the principals and their substitutes, 
 your Excellency will perceive what an inexhaustible source of diffi- 
 culties, of chicanery, and of delay, this might furnish to a person 
 who should find an interest in keeping this money as long as possible 
 in his own hands, whereas, if it be lodged in the Treasury of Con- 
 gress, they, by an easy reference to the tribunals of the different 
 States, can have every one's portion immediately rendered to himself, 
 if living, and if dead, to such of his relations as the laws of the 
 particular State prefer, and as shall be found actually living. I the 
 rather urge this course, as I foresee that it will relieve your Excellency 
 from numberless appeals which these people will be continuallj'' 
 making from the decisions of Mr. Puchelberg, appeals likely to 
 perpetuate that trouble of which you have already had too much, 
 and to which I am sorry to be obliged to add by asking a peremptory 
 order for the execution of what you were before pleased to decide 
 on this subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM CAPTAIN JOHN PAUL JONES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 L'Orient, July 31, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor to write you the 29th of this month, praying you 
 
 to address the Court to prevent Mr. Puchelberg, a French merchant 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 645 
 
 here, from receiving the prize money due to the subjects of the 
 United States who served on board the squadron I commanded in 
 Europe. I have done my duty, and, with great trouble and expense 
 both of time and money, obtained a settlement in their favor from 
 Government. But if Mr. Puchelberg, who has taken no trouble 
 and been at no expense to obtain a settlement, should receive the 
 money, the greatest part of it will never reach America, nor find its 
 way into the pockets of the captors. Were Mr. Puchelberg the 
 honestest man in the world, he cannot, at this distance from America, 
 and being ignorant of the laws of the American flag, do justice to 
 the concerned. Besides, a preference is due to the application of 
 one Government to another for what regards the interests of its sub- 
 jects, especially where it is clear that every caution has been observed 
 for obtaining justice to each individual. 
 
 The enclosed copy of a letter, which has just now been commu- 
 nicated to me from Monsieur de Soulanges a MM. les Juges Consul, 
 dated at Toulon the 14th of this month, announcing that the 
 Algerines have declared war against the United States, is of too 
 serious a nature not to be sent immediately to you. 
 
 This event may, I believe, surprise some of our fellow-citizens ; 
 but for my part I am rather surprised that it did not take place 
 sooner. It will produce a good effect if it unites the people of 
 America in measures consistent with their national honor and interest, 
 and rouses them from that ill-judged security which the intoxication 
 of success has produced since the Revolution. 
 
 My best wishes will always attend that land of freedom, and my 
 pride will be always gratified when such measures are adopted as 
 will make us respected as a great people, who deserve to be free. 
 
 I am, sir, he, J. PAUL JONES. 
 
 FBOM LE MARESCHAL DE CASTRIES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, August 12, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received, with the letter which you did me the honor to 
 
 write to me the 3d of this month, the observations of Mr. Jones on 
 
 the insufficiency of the powers with which the Sieur Puchelberg is 
 
 vested for taking charge of the shares of prizes due to the subjects of 
 
646 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the United States. From your assertion, and out reflections, I should 
 not hesitate to confirm the orders which I have given for remitting to 
 Mr. Jones all that is due to the Americans. But another difficulty 
 presents itself. The Commissary ordonnateur at L'OrieBt observes 
 to me that, notwithstanding the search which has been made, it has 
 proved impracticable to procure an exact roll of the crew of the 
 American frigate Alliance ; and that on the very probable supposition 
 that some Frenchmen may have served on board of that frigate, it 
 results that, from the remission of the whole of the fundg to Mr. 
 Jones, the shares coming to the subjects of the King should be 
 lodged in the Treasury of Congress. From this circumstance I 
 presume that you will see the justice of requiring of Mr. Jones 
 security to insure the payment of what may be coming to them, 
 should any of them have embarked in the Alliance feigate. 
 
 I request the favor of you to honor me with an answer on this 
 subject, and I have that of being, with a very sincere attach- 
 ment, &c., 
 
 LE M. DE CASTRIES. 
 
 TKOM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE MARESGHAL DE CASTRIES. 
 
 Paris, August 17, 1785. 
 
 Sir; 
 
 I was honored yesterday with the receipt of your Excellency's 
 letter of the 1 2th instant. 
 
 I have ever understood that the whole crew of the Alliance was 
 of American citizens. But should there have been among them aliy 
 subjects of his Majesty, it is but just that the repayment of their 
 portions of the prize money sht)uld be secured. But Captain Jones 
 being already bound to pay what he shall receive into the Treasury 
 of the United States, I submit to your Excellency whether it will be 
 right to require him to be answerable for moneys after they shall be 
 put out of his power r And whether, as Congress have secured the 
 receipt at their Treasury, it will not be shorter for them to order 
 repayment to any subjects of his Majesty who may shew themselves 
 justly entitled ? I will immediately ask their pleasure on this subject, 
 and solicit such orders as that every such claimant, proving his title 
 here in the usual way, may receive imiiniediate payraeiit of tbeit 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 647 
 
 banker here ; and that no individual may in the meantime be 
 delayed, should any such present their proofs before the orders are 
 received, I will undertake to direct payment by the banker of the 
 United States in Paris, being assured that in so doing I shall forward 
 those views of perfect justice which Congress will carry into the 
 distribution of this money. Should any instances arise of payment 
 to be demanded here, I think they will be few, and the sums will of 
 course be small. 
 
 I shall be happy if your Excellency shall think that the justice 
 due to this part of the claimants is so sufficiently secured by those 
 assurances as that it need not stand in the way of that which is due 
 to the great mass of claimants who are already so much indebted for 
 your attention to their interests. I will take the liberty of asking 
 that I may be furnished, by the proper officer, with copies of 
 Captain Jones's receipts for the moneys which shall be paid him, 
 that, by transmitting them to the Treasury Board of the United 
 States, they may know the precise sums which they are to receive 
 through his hands. I pray you to accept my acknowledgments for 
 your attention to this troublesome business, and assurances of the 
 high respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THE MABESCHAL DE CASTRIES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, (iN 
 
 ANSWER.) 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, August 26, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The offer which you make in the letter you have done me the 
 honor to write the 17th instant, smoothes away every difficulty. 
 Since you have been pleased to engage to have paid, by the banker 
 of the United States at Paris, whatever may be due to the French 
 who should have served on board the American frigate Alliance, I 
 now give orders tp the Commissary at L'Orient to remit to Mr. 
 Jones the whole sum which shall be eoming to the American vessels, 
 and to transmit to me copies of the receipts which he may take from 
 that officer; 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., LE M. DE CASTRIES. 
 
(548 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT 
 
 Paris, October 6, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 My letter of the 30th August acknowledged the receipt of yours 
 of July 13th. Since that I have received your letter of August 13th, 
 enclosing a correspondence between the Marquis de la Fayette and 
 Monsieur de Calonne, and another of the same date enclosing the 
 papers in Fortin's case. I immediately wrote to Mr. Limozin, at 
 Havre, desiring he would send me a state of the case, and inform me 
 what were the difficulties which suspended its decision. He has 
 promised me, by letter, to do this as soon as possible, and I shall not 
 fail in attention to it. 
 
 The Emperor and Dutch have signed preliminaries, which are 
 now made public. You will see them in the papers which accom- 
 pany this. They still leave a good deal to discussion. However, it 
 is probable they will end in peace. The party in Holland, possessed 
 actually of the sovereignty, wishes for peace that they may push their 
 designs on the Stadtholderate. This country wishes for peace, 
 because their finances need arrangement. The Bavarian exchange 
 has produced to public view that jealousy and rancor between the 
 Courts of Vienna and Berlin which existed before, though it was 
 smothered. This will appear by the declarations of the two Courts. 
 The demarcation between the Emperor and Turk does not advance. 
 Still, however, I suppose neither of those two germs of war likely to 
 open soon. I consider the conduct of France as the best evidence 
 of this. If she had apprehended a war from either of those quarters, 
 she would not have been so anxious to leave the Emperor one enemy 
 the less by placing him at peace with the Dutch. While she is 
 exerting all her powers to preserve peace by land, and making no 
 preparation which indicates a fear of its being disturbed in that 
 quarter, she is pushing her naval preparations with a spirit unexam- 
 pled in time of peace. By the opening of the next spring she will 
 have eighty ships of seventy-four guns and upwards ready for sea at a 
 moment's warning, and the further constructions proposed will, prob- 
 ably within two years, raise the number to a hundred. New regulations 
 have been made, too, for perfecting the classification of their seamen, 
 an institution, which, dividing all the seamen of the nation into 
 classes, subjects them to tours of duty by rotation, and enables them 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 649 
 
 at all times to man their ships. Their works for rendering Cherbourg 
 a harbor for their vessels of war, and Dunkirk for frigates and priva- 
 teers, now leave little doubt of success. 
 
 It is impossible that these preparations can have in view any other 
 nation but the English. Of course they shew a greater diffidence of 
 their peace with them than with any other Power. 
 
 I mentioned to you, in my letter of August 14th, that I had desired 
 Captain J. P. Jones to inquire into the circumstances of Peyrouse's 
 expedition. I have now the honor of enclosing you copies of my 
 letter to him, and of his answer. 
 
 He refuses to accept of any indemnification for his expenses, which 
 is an additional proof of his disinterested spirit, and of his devotion 
 to the service of America. The circumstances are obvious, which 
 indicate an intention to settle factories and not colonies, at least for 
 the present. However, nothing shews for what place they are 
 destined. The conjectures are divided between New Holland and 
 the northwest coast of America. 
 
 According to what I mentioned in my letter of August 30th, I 
 have appointed Mr. Short my secretary here. I enclose to you 
 copies of my letters to him and M. Grand, which will shew to 
 Congress that he stands altogether at their pleasure. 
 
 I mention this circumstance that, if it meets with their disappro- 
 bation, they may have the goodness to signify it immediately, as I 
 should otherwise conclude that they do not disapprove it. 
 
 I shall be ready to conform myself to what would be most agree- 
 able to them. 
 
 This will be accompanied by the gazettes of France and Leyden 
 to the present date. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO J. PAUL JONES. 
 
 Paris, Aug;ust 3, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 I received yesterday your favor of the 29th, and have written on 
 the subject of it to the Mareschal de Castries this morning. You 
 shall have an answer as soon as I receive one. 
 
 Will you be so good as to make an inquiry into all the circum- 
 stances relative to Peyrouse's expedition, which seem to ascertain 
 
g50 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 his destination, particularly what number of men and of what condi- 
 tions and vocations had he on board ? What animals, their species 
 and numbers ? What trees, plants, or seeds ? What utensils ? 
 What merchandizes or other necessaries ? This inquiry should be 
 made with as little appearance of interest in it as possible. Should 
 you not be able to get satisfactory information without going to 
 Brest, and it be convenient for you to go there, I will have the 
 expenses this shall occasion you paid. Commit all the circumstances 
 to writing, and bring them when you come yourself, or send them by 
 a safe hand. 
 
 I am, with much respect, Sic, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM CAPTAIN J. PAUL JONES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Paris, October 5, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 The following is the best information I am able to give you in 
 compliance with the letter dated at Paris, the 3d of August, 1785, 
 which you did me the honor to address to me at L'Orient. 
 
 The Boussole and the Astrolabe, two gaberts of six hundred tons 
 each, sheathed with copper and equipped in the best manner, sailed 
 from Brest the 1st of August, 1785, under the command of Messieurs 
 de la Peyrouse and the Viscount de Langle, Captains in the Royal 
 Navy. 
 
 They had on board a great variety of trees, plants, and seeds that 
 suit the climate of France, manufactures in linen, woolen, and cotton 
 goods, and in iron and copper, &ic. ; mechanical tools of all sorts ; a 
 great quantity of trinkets and toys ; ploughs and all sorts of utensils 
 and implements for agriculture, and a quantity of unwrought iron. 
 Each ship had on board a large shallop in frames, and a million of 
 French livrfes in the coins of different nations. 
 
 Each ship had also on board twenty-one soldiers drafted from the 
 two regiments at Brest; all of whom were either mechanics or 
 iarmers. 
 
 They had on board no tvomen, nor any animals except such as 
 appeared to be destined for the refreshment of the crews. The crew 
 of each ship is one hundred men, including officers and men of 
 genius. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 651 
 
 The King himself planned the expedition, and made o"ut all the 
 detail with his own hand, before he spoke a word of it to any person. 
 His Majesty defrays the expense out of his private coffer, and is his 
 owh minister in every thing that regards the operation of his plan. 
 
 There is no doubt but the perfecting the geography of the southern 
 hemisphere is one of his Majesty's objects in view ; and it is not 
 difficult to perceive that he has others i equally worthy the attention 
 of a great prince ; one of which may be to extend the commerce of 
 his subjects, by establishing factories at a future day for the fur trade 
 on the northwest coast of America ; and another to establish colonies 
 in New Holland, after having well explored the coast, and made 
 experiments on the soil of that vast island, which is situated in so 
 happy a climate, and so contiguous to the establishments of France, 
 in the East Indies. 
 
 I am, sir, with, great respect, Stc, J. PAUL JONES. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFEBSON TO WILLIAM SHORT. 
 
 Paris, September 34, 1785. 
 
 Dear Sit, 
 
 Finding the assistance of a private secretafy necessary in ray 
 office, I would wish you to accept of the appointment. In this case 
 it will be necessary for you to abandon your plans of continuing at 
 St. Germains. I need not detail to you the ordinary bnsiness in 
 which you will be engaged. That will open itself on yoa of course; 
 but it is necessary for me particularly to authorize and instruct you, 
 in case of any accident happening to myself, to take possession of 
 whatever papers may be in my hands als Minister Plenipotentiary for 
 the United States at the Court of Versailles, and to deliver them to 
 the order of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 I am not able to say with certainty what is the salary allow'ed ; 
 but M. Grand, who paid young Mr. Franklin's, and who will pay 
 yours also, will inform you. I think it is one thousand dollais a 
 year. I must add that you are to expect this appointm«nt to cease 
 whenever Congress shall be pleased to countermand or supercede it 
 by any other arrangement. 
 
 I am, with much ^teem, he, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
652 THOMAS JEFFERSON-JOHN JAY. 
 
 FEOM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO M. GBAND, BANKER AT PARIS. 
 
 Paris, September 24, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have appointed the bearer hereof, Mr. William Short, my 
 secretary. His salary as such will be the same which young Mr. 
 Franklin received. I am, therefore, to ask the favor of you to pay 
 it to him from time to time as it shall become due, and to debit the 
 United States therewith. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, October 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 In my letter of August 14th, I had the honor of expressing to you 
 the uneasiness I felt at the delay of the instructions on the subject of 
 the Barbary treaties, of which Mr. Lamb was the bearer, and of 
 informing you that I had proposed to Mr. Adams that if he did not 
 arrive either in the French or English packets then expected, we 
 should send some person to negotiate these treaties. As he did not 
 arrive in those packets, and I found Mr. Barclay was willing to 
 undertake the negotiation, I wrote to Mr. Adams, (who had con- 
 curred in the proposition made him,) informing him that Mr. 
 Barclay would go, and proposing papers for our immediate signa- 
 ture. 
 
 The day before the return of the courier, Mr. Lamb arrived with 
 our instructions, the letter of credence, &ic., enclosed in yours of 
 March llth, 1785. 
 
 Just about the same time came to hand the letter. No. 1, informing 
 me that two American \ressels were actually taken, and carried into 
 Algiers, and leaving no further doubt that that Power was exercising 
 hostilities 'against us in the Atlantic. 
 
 The conduct of the Emperor of Morocco had been such as forbade 
 us to postpone his treaty to that with Algiers ; but the commencement 
 of hostilities by the latter, and their known activity, pressed the 
 necessity of immediate propositions to them. It was therefore 
 thought best, while Mr. Barclay should be proceeding with the 
 Emperor of Morocco, that some other agent should go to Algiers. 
 We had few subjects to choose out of. Mr. Lamb's knowledge of 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 653 
 
 the country, of its inhabitants, of their manner of transacting business, 
 the recommendations from his State to Congress, of his fitness for 
 this employment, and other information, founding a presumption that 
 he would be approved, occasioned our concluding to send him to 
 Algiers. 
 
 The giving him proper authorities, and new ones to Mr. Barclay, 
 conformable to our new powers, was the subject of a new courier 
 between Mr. Adams and myself. 
 
 He returned last night, and I have the honor of enclosing you 
 copies of all the papers we furnished those gentlemen with, which 
 will possess Congress fully of our proceedings herein. They are 
 numbered from two to ten, inclusive. 
 
 The supplementary instructions to Mr. Lamb (No. 5) must rest 
 for justification on the emergency of the case. The motives which 
 lead to it must be found in the feelings of the human heart, in a 
 partiality for those sufferers who are of our own country, and in the 
 obligations of every Government to yield protection to their citizens 
 as the consideration for their obedience. It will be a comfort to 
 know that Congress does not disapprove of this step. 
 
 Considering the treaty with Portugal as among the most interesting 
 to the United States, I some time ago took occasion at Versailles to ask 
 of the Portuguese Ambassador, if he had yet received from his Court 
 an answer to our letter. He told me he had not, but that he would 
 make it the subject of another letter. Two days ago his Secretaire 
 d'Ambassade called on me with a letter from his Minister to the 
 Ambassador, in which was the following paragraph as he translated 
 it to me, and I committed it to writing from his mouth : " In relation 
 ' to the information which your Excellency gave us as to the conver- 
 ' sation with the American Minister, that Power should be already 
 ' persuaded that in effect from the manner in which their ships have 
 ' been received here, it follows, as a consequence, that his Majesty 
 ' would have great satisfaction in maintaining perfect harmony and 
 ' good correspondence with the United States. But it would appear 
 ' proper to begin by the reciprocal nomination, by the two parties, 
 ' of persons bearing at least the character of agents, who would 
 ' mutually inform their constituents of whatever might lead to the 
 ' knowledge of the interests of the two nations without prejudice to 
 'either. It is the first step which appears suitable to be taken to 
 ' attain the end proposed." 
 
654 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 By this it would seem that this power is more disposed to pursue 
 a train of negotiation similar to that which Spain has done. I 
 consider this answer as definitive of all further measures under our 
 commission to Portugal. That to Spain was superseded by pro- 
 ceedings in another line; that to Prussia is concluded by actual 
 treaty ; to Tuscany will probably be so ; and perhaps i;o Denmark ; 
 and these, I believe, will be the sum of the effects of our commis- 
 sions for making treaties of alliance. England shows no disposition 
 to treat. France, should her Ministers be able to keep the ground 
 of the arret of August, 1784, against the clamors of her merchants, 
 and should they be disposed hereafter to give us more, it is not 
 probable she will bind herself to it by treaty, but keep her regula- 
 tions dependent on her own will. 
 
 Sweden will establish a free port at St. Bartholomews, which, 
 perhaps, will render any new engagements on our part unnecessary. 
 Holland is so immovable in her system of colonial administration, 
 that as propositions to her on that subject would be desperate, they 
 had better not be made. You will perceive by the letter No. 11, 
 from M. de la Fayette, that there is a possibility of an overture from 
 the Emperor, 
 
 A hint from the Charge d' Affaires of Naples, lately, has induced 
 me to suppose something of the same kind from thence. But the 
 advanced period of our commissions, now offers good cause for 
 avoiding to begin what probably cannot be terminated during their 
 continuance ; and with respect to these two, and all other Powers 
 not before mentioned, I doubt whether the advantages to be derived 
 from treaties with them may countervail the additional embarrass- 
 ments they may impose on the States when they shall proceed to 
 make those commercial arrangements necessary to counteract the 
 designs of the British Cabinet. 
 
 I repeat it, therefore, that the conclusion of the treaty with 
 Prussia, and the probability of others with Denmark, Tuscany, and 
 the Barbary States, may be expected to wind up the proceedings of 
 the general commissions. 
 
 I think that in possible events it may be advantageous to us, by 
 treaties with Prussia, Denmark, and Tuscany, to have secured ports 
 in the Northern and Mediterranean seas. 
 
 I have the honor to be, ho., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 655 
 
 FEOM RICHARD o'bRTEN TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Algiers, August 24, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 We, the subjects of the United States of America, having the 
 misfortune of being captured off the coast of Portugal, the 24th and 
 30th of July, by the Algerines, and brought into this port, where 
 we are become slaves, and sent to the work houses. Our sufferings 
 are beyond our expressing, or your conception. Hoping your Honor 
 will be pleased to represent our grievances to Congress, hoping they 
 will take such measures as tend to our speedy redemption, hoping 
 you will consider our unfortunate situation, and make some provision 
 for the unfortunate sufferers until we are redeemed — ^being stript of 
 all our clothes, and nothing to exist on but two small cakes of bread 
 per day, without any other necessaries of life. Charles Logie, 
 Esq., British Consul, seeing our distressed, situation, has taken us 
 three masters of vessels out of the work house, and has given 
 security for us to the Dey of Algiers, King of Cruelties, My crew 
 will certainly starve if there is not some immediate relief. 
 
 It being the method of all Christian Powers, whose subjects fall 
 into the hands of those savages, to make some provision for them 
 until they are redeemed, I should esteem it a particular favor if you 
 would be pleased to write to Mr. Logie, Consul here. 
 
 Ship Dauphin, Richard O'Biyen master, belonging to Messrs. 
 Matthew and Thomas Irwin &; Co., merchants of the city of Phila- 
 delphia, bound to Philadelphia, from St. Ubes, taken the 30th July, 
 out two days. 
 
 Schooner Maria, Isaac Stephens master, from Boston, bound to 
 Cadiz, belonging to Messrs. William Foster Si Co., merchants in 
 Boston, taken the 24th of July, out twenty-six days. 
 
 The cruisers in this port are fitting out with all possible expedition, 
 and I am of opinion that they will take most of our ships that will 
 come for Europe. 
 
 They will cruise to the northward of the Western Islands and 
 towards the British channel. The sooner we put a stop to them, 
 the better, they valuing the number of prizes they take to the sum 
 of the peace. The Spaniards coming on terras with them, all other 
 European nations must. I hope we shall apply before any more 
 do, for they must be at war with some. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, Sic., RICHARD O'BRYEN. 
 
656 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 COMMISSIONS TO THOMAS BARCLAY AND JOHN LAMB. 
 
 To all to whom these presents shall come or may be made 
 known : 
 
 Whereas, the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
 reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, prudence, and 
 ability of their trusty and well-beloved, the honorable John Adams, 
 late one of their Ministers Plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace, 
 and heretofore a Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachu- 
 setts, and Chief Justice of the said State ; the honorable Doctor 
 Benjamin Franklin, their Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of 
 Versailles, and late another of their Ministers Plenipotentiary for 
 negotiating a peace ; and the honorable Thomas Jefferson, a Delegate 
 in Congress from the State of Virginia, and late Governor of the 
 said State, did, by their commission, and under the seal of the United 
 States, and the signature of their then President, bearing date the 
 12th day of May, in the year of our Lord Christ 1784, constitute 
 and appoint the said John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas 
 Jefferson, their Ministers Plenipotentiary, giving to them, or a 
 majority of them, full powers and authority for the said United States 
 and in their name to confer, treat, and negotiate with the Ambassador, 
 Minister, or Commissioner of his Majesty, the Emperor of Morocco, 
 vested with full and sufficient powers of and concerning a treaty of 
 amity and commerce, as the case might be, to make and receive 
 propositions for such a treaty, and to conclude and sign the same, 
 transmitting it to the United States in Congress assembled for their 
 final ratification ; and as it might so happen that the great and various 
 affairs which the said United States had committed to the care and 
 management of their said Ministers Plenipotentiary, might not admit 
 of their meeting the Minister or Commissioner which his Majesty 
 the Emperor of Morocco might appoint to treat with them of and 
 concerning such treaty, at a time and place that might otherwise be 
 most convenient, therefore, the said United States in Congress 
 assembled did, on the 11th day of March, in the year of our Lord 
 Christ 1785, by their commission, under their seal and the signature 
 of the President, authorize and empower their said three Ministers 
 Plenipotentiary, and the majority of them, by writing, under their 
 hands and seals, to appoint and employ, and at pleasure to remove, 
 such agent in the said business as they, or the majority of them, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 657 
 
 might think proper, which said agent should have authority, under 
 directions and instructions of their said Ministers, to commence and 
 prosecute negotiations and conferences for the said treaty with such 
 person or persons on the part of his Majesty the Emperor of Morocco 
 as to their said Ministers, or the majority of them, should appear 
 proper : Provided always, That the treaty in question should be signed 
 by the said Ministers, but that preliminary articles thereto might, if 
 previously approved by their said Ministers, or the majority of them, 
 be signed by the said agent. 
 
 And whereas Doctor Benjamin Franklin, one of the Ministers 
 Plenipotentiary aforesaid, is since returned to America : 
 
 Now, know ye that we, John Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary of 
 the United States of America at the Court of Great Britain, and 
 Thomas Jefferson, Minister Pletiipotentiary of the said States at the 
 Court of France, two of the Ministers Plenipotentiary aforesaid, and 
 a majority of them, reposing special trust and confidence in the- 
 integrity, prudence, and ability of the honorable Thomas Barclay,. 
 Esquire, Consul General of the United States in France, have 
 constituted, appointed, and employed, and do by these presents 
 constitute, appoint, and employ him, the said Thomas Barclay, as 
 agent in the business aforesaid, hereby giving him full authority, 
 under our directions and instructions, to commence and prosecute 
 negotiations and conferences for the said treaty, with such person or 
 persons on the part of the Emperor of Morocco as his Majesty shall 
 appoint and empower for that purpose — 
 
 Provided always, that the treaty in question shall be signed by us, 
 but that preliminary articles thereto may, if previously approved by 
 us, be signed by the said agent. 
 
 In testimony whereof we have hereto set our hands and seals. 
 
 London, October 5, 1785. JOHN ADAMS, 
 
 Paris, October 11, 1785. TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 N. B. The commission to John Lamb, Esquire, agent to the Dey 
 and Government of Algiers, is of the same tenor and date. 
 
 Instructions to Thomas Barclay. 
 Congress having been pleased to invest us with full powers for 
 entering into a treaty of amity and commerce with the Emperor of 
 Morocco, and it being impracticable for us to attend his Court in 
 Vol. I.— 42 
 
658 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 person, and equally impracticable on account of our separate stations 
 to receive a Minister from him, we have concluded to effect our 
 object by the intervention of a confidential person. We concur in 
 wishing to avail the United States of your talents in the execution 
 of this business, and therefore furnish you with a letter to the 
 Emperor of Morocco, to give a due credit to your transactions with 
 him. We advise you to proceed by the way of Madrid, where you 
 will have opportunities of deriving many lights from Mr. Carmichael, 
 through whom many communications with the Court of Morocco 
 have already passed. From thence you will proceed by such route 
 as you shall think best to the Court of the Emperor. You will 
 present to him our letter, with the copy of our full powers, with 
 which you are furnished, at such time or times and in such manner 
 as you shall think best. 
 
 As the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty may be a work of 
 tinie, you will endeavor, in the first place, to procure an immediate 
 suspension of hostihties. 
 
 You will proceed to negotiate with his Minister the terms of a 
 treaty of amity and commerce as nearly as possible conformed to 
 the draught we give you. Where alterations which, in your opinion, 
 shall not be of great importance, shall be urged by the other party, 
 you are at liberty to agree to them ; where they shall be of great 
 importance, and such as you think should be rejected, you will reject 
 them ; but where they are of great importance, and you think they 
 may be accepted, you will ask time to take our advice, and you will 
 advise with us accordingly, by letter or by courier, as you shall think 
 best. When the articles shall all be agreed, you will sign them in a 
 preliminary form and send them to us by some proper person for 
 definitive execution. 
 
 The whole expenses of this treaty, including as well the expenses 
 of all persons employed about it, as the presents to the Emperor and 
 his servants, must not exceed twenty thousand dollars, and we urge 
 you to use your best endeavors to bring theni as much below that sum 
 as you possibly can, and to this end we leave it to your discretion to 
 represent to his Majesty or to his Ministers, if it may be done with 
 safety, the particular circurnstances of the United States, just 
 emerging from a long and distressing war with one of the most 
 powerful nations of Europe, which we hope may be an apology, if 
 our presents should not be so splendid as those of older and abler 
 nations. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 659 
 
 * 
 
 As custom may have rendered some presents necessary in the 
 beginning or progress of this business, and before it is concluded, or 
 even in a way to be concluded, we authorize you to conform to the 
 custom, confiding in your discretion to hazard as little as possible 
 before the certainty of the event, and to provide that your engage- 
 ments shall become binding only on the execution of the treaty. 
 
 We trust to you, also, to procure the best information, in what 
 form, and to what persons these presents should be made, and to 
 make them accordingly. 
 
 The difference between the customs of that and other Courts, the 
 difficulty of obtaining a knowledge of those customs, but on the spot, 
 and our great confidence in your discretion, induce us to leave to 
 that all other circumstances relative to the object of your mission. 
 
 It will be necessary for you to take a secretary well skilled in the 
 French language to aid you in your business, and to take charge of 
 your papers in case of any accident to yourself. We think you may 
 allow him one hundred and fifty guineas a year, besides his expenses 
 for travelling and subsistence. 
 
 We engage to furnish your own expenses according to the respect- 
 ability of the character with which you are invested ; but as to the 
 allowance for your trouble, we wish to leave it to Congress. 
 
 We annex hereto sundry heads of inquiry which we wish you to 
 make, and to give us thereon the best information you shall be able to 
 obtain. We desire you to correspond by every opportunity which 
 you think should be trusted ; giving us from time to time an account 
 of your proceedings and prospects, by the way of Holland, under 
 care to Mr. Dumas, at the Hague, or Messrs. Willinks, of Amsterdam ; 
 by the way of England to Uriah Forrest, Esq.; by way of France 
 to M. Grand, Paris ; and to Mr. Carmichael, by way of Spain. 
 
 We wish you a pleasant journey and happy success, being with 
 great esteem, &ic. 
 
 N. B. The instructions to Mr. Lamb are the same, except in the 
 style of the Court, the passage page 658 " "'-ough whom," &;c.; in 
 lieu of which is substituted : " And from the Minister from Algiers 
 ' to the Court of Madrid, and the Count d'Espilly, lately arrived 
 ' there from Algiers, who doubtless are persons of credit and inform- 
 ' atiQU with their Government ;" and in page 658, instead of to 
 "twenty thousand dollars," is inserted "forty thousand dollars." 
 
660 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Heads of Inquiry for Mr. Barclay as to Morocco, Algiers, 
 Tunis, &fc. 
 
 1st, Commerce. — What are the articles of their export and import ? 
 What articles of American produce might find a market in Morocco, 
 Algiers, Tunis, Tripoh, &c., and at what prices ? Whether rice, flour, 
 tobacco, furs, ready-built ships, fish, oil, tar, turpentine, ship timbers, 
 fcc, and whether any of these articles would hereafter be acceptable 
 as presents ? What duties are levied by them on exports and 
 imports — do all nations pay the same, or what nations are favored, 
 and how far ? Are they their own carriers, or who carries for them ? 
 Do they trade themselves to other countries, or are they merely 
 passive ? What manufactures or productions of these countries 
 would be convenient in America, and at what prices ? 
 
 2d, Pouts. — What are the principal ports ? What depth of water 
 into them ? What works of defence protect these ports ? 
 
 3d, Naval Force. — How many armed vessels have they ? Of 
 what kind and force ? What is the constitution of their naval force ? 
 What resources for increasing their navy ? What number of seamen, 
 their cruising grounds, and season of cruising ? 
 
 4th, Prisoners. — What is their condition and treatment? At 
 what price are they ordinarily redeemed, and how ? Do they pay 
 respect to the treaties they make ? 
 
 Land Forces. — Their number, constitution, respectability, reve- 
 nues. — their amount. 
 
 5th, Language. — What language is spoken, and what European 
 language is most understood ? 
 
 6th, GovERNMEiNT. — What is their connexion with the Ottoman 
 Porte? Is there any dependence or subordination to it acknowl- 
 edged, and what degree of power or influence has it ? 
 
 7th, Religion. — By what principle of their religion is it that 
 they consider all Christian Powers as their enemies, until they 
 becotae friends by treaties ? 
 
 8th, Captures. — What captures have they made of ships or 
 Citizens of the United States, and any other nation ? What nations 
 are they now at war with ? 
 
 N. B. Similar heads of inquiry were given to Mr. Lamb. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 661 
 
 Supplementary Instruction for Mr. Lamb. 
 
 We have received information that two American vessels, the 
 Dauphin, from Philadelphia, and the Maria, from Boston, with their 
 crews and cargoes, have lately been taken by the Algerines off the 
 coast of Portugal, and that the crews are reduced to slavery. Our 
 full powers to that State being for the general purpose only of 
 concluding a treaty of amity and commerce, the redemption of our 
 citizehs made captives before the conclusion of such treaty may not 
 be thought comprehended within those powers, nevertheless as the 
 misfortune of these our countrymen has not been produced by any 
 fault or folly of theirs, as their situation would ill admit the delay of 
 our asking and receiving the pleasure of Congress on that subject, 
 and as we presume strongly that it would be the will of Congress 
 that they should be redeemed from their present calamitous condition, 
 we think ourselves bound, in so distant a situation, and where the 
 emergency of the case is so great, to act according to what we think 
 would be the desire of Congress, and to trust to their goodness and 
 the purity of our own motives for our justification. 
 
 We therefore authorize you to treat for the emancipation of the 
 crews of the said vessels, and of any others which have or may be 
 taken by the same Power before the cessation of hostilities, which 
 we expect you to effect; administering in the meantime such 
 necessary aids as their situation may require. In negotiating this 
 special treaty, you are to consider yourself as acting for the masters 
 of the vessels, as well as for the United States, and you will agree to 
 no terms which they shall not approve. 
 
 You will take from them their obligations, each for his crew 
 separately, binding themselves and their owners to indemnify the 
 United States for the moneys which shall be paid for their redemp- 
 tion, subsistence, transportation to their own country, and other 
 charges incurred. If the Congress shall be of opinion that such 
 indemnification should be required, transmitting to us such special 
 treaty for our definite execution, you will also adopt the best meas- 
 ures you can for returning the citizens you shall redeem to their own 
 country. As we require a transmission of this treaty before its 
 definitive conclusion, it is the less necessary for us to speak of the sum 
 which you may venture to engage. We do not expect to redeem 
 our captives for less than one hundred dollars a head, and we should 
 
gg2 TH:jMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 be fearful to go beyond the double of that sum. However, we trust 
 much in your discretion and good management for obtaining them 
 on terms still better than these if possible. 
 
 Instructions to Thomas Barclay and J. Lamb. 
 
 Grosvenor Square, Westminster, October 6, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 The United States of America in Congress assembled on the 14th 
 day of February last, resolved that the Ministers of the United States, 
 who are directed to form treaties with the Emperor of Morocco, and 
 the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, be empowered to apply 
 any money in Europe belonging to the United States to that use. 
 As you are appointed to proceed to Morocco as agent for forming 
 such treaty with the Emperor, you are hereby authorized and 
 empowered to draw bills of exchange to the amount of a sum not 
 exceeding twenty thousand dollars, at one or two usances upon 
 " John Adams, Esq., Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
 ' of America at the Court of Great Britain, residing in Grosvenor 
 ' Square, at the corner between Duke street and Brook street," who 
 will regularly accept and pay the same either at the house of R. & 
 C. Puller, in London, or of Wilhern &. John Willink, and Nicholas &. 
 Jacob Staphorst's, at Amsterdam. 
 
 Your bills are, however, to be always accompanied with a letter 
 of advice in your handwriting to Mr. Adams, a duplicate of which 
 you will also send by some other conveyance. 
 With great respect. Sic, 
 
 Grosvenor Square, London, October, 6, 1785. JOHN ADAMS, 
 Paris, October 11, 1785. TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 N. B. A letter of credit of the same tenor is also given to John 
 Lamb, Esq., agent to the Dey and Government of Algiers, substi- 
 tuting " forty thousand " instead of " twenty thousand dollars," and 
 adding after the passage "with a letter of advice," "and as yourhand- 
 ' writing is wholly unknown to Mr. Adams, these letters of advice 
 ' are always to be in the handwriting of Paul R. Randall, Esq., 
 ' who accompanies you, whose handwriting is left in the custody of 
 ' Mr. Adams, as a check and a proof by comparison. The letters, 
 ' however, are to be subscribed by you." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 663 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS, MINISTERS, &C., TO 
 THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO. 
 
 The Congress of the United States of America, after the conclusion 
 of that war which established their freedom and independence, and 
 after the cares which were first necessary for the restoration of order 
 and regular Government, turned their attention in the first moment 
 possible to the connections which it would be proper to form with 
 the nations on this side the Atlantic, for the maintenance of friend- 
 ship and improvement of commerce with them. 
 
 They, therefore, on the twelfth day of May, in the last year, 
 thought proper to appoint us, with Doctor Benjamin Franklin, their 
 Ministers Plenipotentiary, to negotiate and conclude such treaties of 
 amity and commerce as should be agreed on with those nations. 
 
 The variety of the commissions of this nature with which we were 
 charged, rendered impracticable our attending in person at the several 
 Courts to which they were addressed, and required that we should 
 execute them by the intervention of confidential persons to be sent 
 to those Courts. Congress, sensible of this, have been pleased, by 
 other full powers, bearing date the eleventh day of March last, to 
 give to the same Ministers, or a majority of them, authority to 
 appoint such agents for the purpose of negotiating these treaties 
 under our instructions, of bringing them to maturity, and of signing 
 them in a preliminary form, referring them to us for definitive execu- 
 tion, as by the full powers, (a copy of which we have the honor of 
 transmitting herewith to your Majesty,) will more particularly appear. 
 Doctor Franklin, our colleague, having found it necessary to return to 
 America, the execution of these full powers has devolved on us alone. 
 
 As the circumstances before explained, put it out of our power to 
 have the honor of presenting ourselves in person at the Court of your 
 Majesty, so others supervened which rendered impracticable our 
 meeting at any other place such Ministers as your Majesty might 
 condescend to authorize to treat with us on the subjects with which 
 we were charged ; one of us being placed as Minister Plenipoten- 
 tiary for the United States at the Court of Great Britain, and the 
 other in the same character at the Court of France. 
 
 We have therefore adopted the only remaining method, that of 
 sending a confidential agent, according to the authority given us, to 
 testify to yoiir Majesty our high respect and gratitude for the friendly 
 
664 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 disposition you have manifested to the United States, to assure you 
 of the desire of our country to form a connexion with a sovereign so 
 renowned for his power, his wisdom, his justice, and to concert with 
 such Minister as your Majesty shall think proper to appoint, those 
 conditions which will be most advantageous for both nations to adopt 
 for the regulation of their commerce, and of their mutual conduct 
 towards each other. 
 
 The person whom we charge with this high mission is Thomas 
 Barclay, Esquire, possessing, in the highest degree, the confidence 
 of the United States, and as such, having been several years, and 
 still being their Consul General with our great and good friend and 
 ally the King of France. 
 
 Although our full powers reserve to us the ultimate signature of 
 the treaty to be established, yet such is our reliance on the wisdom 
 and integrity of Mr. Barclay, that we assure your Majesty you may 
 have full faith in whatever he shall agree to, and that the same, when 
 sent to us, will be returned with our signature, in order to receive 
 that of the person whom your Majesty shall commission for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 With the most profound respect, and our best wishes for the 
 health, happiness, prosperity, and glory of your imperial Majesty, 
 we have the honor to subscribe ourselves your Majesty's most 
 obedient humble servants. 
 
 N. B. In the letter to Algiers the term "your Majesty" is 
 changed, "to testify, Stc," included in crotchets, is left out, and 
 instead of the passage " Thomas Barclay," is inserted, " John 
 ' Lamb, Esquire, a citizen of the United States, in whose wisdom 
 ' and integrity we have so high confidence that, though our full 
 ' powers reserve to us the ultimate signature of the treaty, we can 
 ' venture to assure that we will ratify and confirm 
 
 ' definitively whatever preliminary condition he shall agree to and 
 'transmit to us for that purpose." 
 
 mOM JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE COUNT DE 
 
 VERGENNES. 
 
 Sir, 
 The friendly disposition which his Majesty has been pleased to 
 show to the United States of America on every occasion, as well as 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 665 
 
 the assurances given them in the eighth article of the treaty of amity 
 and commerce, that he would employ his good offices and interposi- 
 tion with the Powers on the coast of Barbary to provide for the 
 safety of the citizens of the United States, their vessels, and effects, 
 encouraged us to address you our letter of March 28th, on that 
 subject. To this you were pleased to favor us with an answer on 
 the 28th April, enclosing the sentiments of his Excellency the M. 
 de Castries on the same subject, and confirming our expectations of 
 his Majesty's good offices, whensoever we should be efficaciously 
 prepared to enter into negotiation with these States. As circum- 
 stances rendered impracticable our proceeding in person to that 
 coast. Congress has been pleased to invest us with full powers, 
 authorizing us to substitute a.gents to proceed thither for the purpose 
 of negotiating and maturing the terms of a treaty, and signing them 
 in a preliminary form, but requiring their definitive execution by us. 
 They have also permitted and enabled us to comply with those 
 demands, to which other nations are in the habit of submitting. In 
 consequence of these powers, we have appointed Thomas Barclay, 
 Esquire, agent to the Court of Morocco, and John Lamb, Esquire, to 
 the Government of Algiers, who will immediately proceed to their 
 respective destinations, for the purpose of negotiating treaties of 
 amity and commerce with those two Powers. 
 
 It remains for us to apprise your Excellency of these transactions, 
 and to beg leave, through you, to represent to his Majesty that, 
 being now fully vested with the powers requisite for carrying these 
 negotiations into effect, and enabled to comply with such moderate 
 demands, as actual circumstances give us reason to expect the 
 moment is arrived in which his powerful influence with those States 
 may be interposed to our great benefit ; and to pray that he will 
 interpose it, either by direct address to those Powers, or through the 
 medium of his Ministers, Consuls, or Agents residing there, or in 
 such other manner as his Majesty shall judge most consistent with 
 his honor, and most likely to avail the United States of his effica- 
 cious aid. 
 
 We have the honor to be, he, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
666 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 PROM THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS TO MR. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Mr. Barclay will deliver you this letter on his way to Morocco. 
 
 We have appointed him to this negotiation in hopes of obtaining 
 the friendship of that State to our country, and of opening, by that 
 means, the commerce of the Mediterranean, an object of sufficient 
 importance to induce him to accept of the trust. 
 
 We recommend him and Colonel Franks, who goes with him, to 
 your attention and assistance, and we particularly desire you to 
 interest the Court of Spain in his favor, if you think it practicable. 
 Your success upon many occasions with the Spanish Ministers gives 
 us hopes that you may obtain for him instructions or letters to 
 Spanish Consuls or other gentlemen, which may contribute both to 
 the comfort of his travels and the success of his mission. 
 
 Any despatches for us which he may convey to you, your own 
 just sense of the importance of them will induce you to transmit to 
 us with all possible care. 
 
 We are informed of the friendly attention of the Court of Madrid 
 to the case of our fellow-citizens late in captivity, as well as on 
 many other occasions, and, if you think it will not be taken amiss, 
 you will oblige us by expressing our grateful sense of it wherever 
 you think proper. 
 
 With great respect, we haVe the honor to be, &c., 
 
 London, September 12, 1785. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 N. B. A similar letter was given to Mr. Lamb. 
 
 Draft of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United 
 States of America and the for the purpose of 
 
 establishing peace, and friendship, and commerce, between the 
 United States of America and their citizens on the one part, 
 and and his subjects on the other, the parties 
 
 have established the following articles. 
 
 Article I. There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace 
 and sincere friendship between the United States of America and 
 their citizens on the one part, and and his subjects 
 
 on the other part, without exception of persons or places. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 667 
 
 Article II. His Majesty agrees to release all citizens of the 
 United States now in captivity in his dominions, and to restore all 
 property which has been taken by any of his subjects from citizens 
 of the United States. 
 
 Article III. No vessels of his Majesty shall make captures or 
 cruise within sight of the coasts of the United States. 
 
 Article IV. No citizen or subject of either party shall take from 
 any Power with whom the other may be at war any commission or 
 letter of marque for arming Einy vessel to act as a privateer against 
 the other, on pain of being punished as a pirate. 
 
 Article V. If one of the parties should be engaged in war with 
 any other Power, the free intercourse and commerce of the subjects 
 or citizens of the party remaining neutral with the belligerent Powers 
 shall not be interrupted. On the contrary, in that case, as in full 
 peace, the vessels of the neutral party may navigate freely to and 
 from the ports and on the coasts of the belligerent parties, free vessels 
 making free goods ; inasmuch that all things shall be adjudged free 
 which shall be on board any vessel belonging to the neutral party, 
 although such things belong to an enemy of the other ; and the same 
 freedom shall be extended to persons who shall be on board a free 
 vessel, although they should be enemies to the other party, unless 
 they be soldiers in actual Service of Such enemy. 
 
 In like manner all persons. Subjects, or citizens of either party, 
 and all property belonging to subjects or citizens of either party, 
 found on board a vessel of the enemy of the other shall be free from 
 capture and detention. 
 
 Article VI. In the same case, where one of the parties is 
 engaged in a war with any other Power, that the vessels of the 
 neutral party may be readily and certainly known, it is agreed that 
 they shall be provided with sea-letters, or passports, which shall 
 express the name, the property, and burthen of the vessel, as also 
 the name and dwelling of the master; which passports shall be made 
 out in good and due fornis, (to be settled by conventions between 
 the parties whenever occasion shall require,) shall be renewed as 
 often as the vessel shall return into port, and shall be exhibited when- 
 soever required, as well in the open sea as in port. But if the Said 
 vessel be under convoy of one or more vessels of war belonging to 
 the neutral party, the simple declaration of the ofBcer commanding 
 the convoy that the said vessel belongs to the party of which he is, 
 
QQQ THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 shall be considered as establishing the fact, and shall relieve both 
 parties from the trouble of further examination. 
 
 Akticle VII. And to prevent entirely all disorder and violence 
 in such cases, it is stipulated that when the vessels of the neutral 
 party, sailing without convoy, shall be met by any vessel of war, 
 public or private, of the other party, such vessel of war shall not 
 approach within cannon-shot of the said neutral vessel, nor send 
 more than two or three men in their boat on board the same to 
 examine her sea-letters or passports. 
 
 Abticle VIII. All persons belonging to any vessel of war, public 
 or private, who shall molest or injure in any manner whatever, the 
 people, vessel, or effects of the other party, shall be responsible in 
 their persons and property for damages and interest, sufficient security 
 for which shall be given by all commanders of private-armed vessels 
 before they are commissioned. 
 
 Article IX. All citizens of the United States taken by any of 
 the Powers of Barbary, or their subjects, and brought into any of 
 the ports or dominions of the Emperor of Morocco, shall be imme- 
 diately set at liberty by the Emperor ; and all vessels and merchan- 
 dize belonging to citizens of the United States, and taken by any of 
 the said Powers, or their subjects, and brought into any of the ports 
 or dominions of his Majesty, shall, in like manner, be caused by his 
 Majesty to be delivered up by the captors, without being carried out 
 of port, and shall be faithfully restored to the said citizens owning 
 them. 
 
 Article X. If the citizens or subjects of either party, in danger 
 from tempests, pirates, enemies, or other accidents, or needing repairs, 
 or supplies of water, food, or other necessaries, shall take refuge with 
 their vessels or effects within the harbors or jurisdiction of the other ; 
 ory if the armed vessels, public or private, of either party shall take 
 such refuge for any of the same causes, they shall be received, 
 protected, and treated with humanity and kindness, and shall be 
 permitted to furnish themselves at reasonable prices with all refresh- 
 ments, provisions, and other things necessary for their sustenance^ 
 health, and accommodation, and for the repair of their vessels. 
 
 Article XI. When any vessel of either party shall be wrecked, 
 foundered, or otherwise damaged on the coasts, or within the domin- 
 ions of the other, their respective subjects or citizens shall receive, 
 as well for themselves as for their vessels and effects, the same 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 669 
 
 assistance which would be due to the inhabitants of the country 
 where the damage happens, and shall pay the same charges and dues 
 only as the said inhabitants of the country would be subject to pay 
 in a like case ; and if the operations of repair shall require that the 
 whole or any part of their cargoes be unloaded, they shall pay no 
 duties, charges, or fees on the part which they shall relade and carry 
 away. 
 
 Article XII. The vessels of the subjects or citizens of either 
 party coming on any coast belonging to the other, but not willing to 
 enter into any port, or being entered into port and not willing to 
 unload their cargoes or break bulk, shall have liberty to depart and 
 to pursue their voyage without molestation, and without being 
 obliged to pay any duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, or to render 
 any account of their cargo. 
 
 Article XIII. Each party shall endeavor, by all the means in 
 their power, to protect and defend all vessels and other effects 
 belonging to the citizens or subjects of the other, and the persons of 
 the citizens or subjects of the other which shall be within the extent 
 of their jurisdiction by sea or land, and shall use all their efforts to 
 liberate such persons, and to recover and cause to be restored to the 
 right owners their vessels and effects which shall be taken within the 
 extent of their said jurisdiction. 
 
 Article XIV. Whenever the vessels of either party in any port 
 of the other shall be about to depart, all hostile vessels in the same 
 port, or its vicinities, shall be detained by the party within whose 
 jurisdiction they are until such vessel shall have had a reasonable 
 time to escape. 
 
 Article XV. No vessels of war of the United States within the 
 ports of his Majesty shall be searched under pretence of their having 
 on board fugitive slaves, or under any other pretence whatever, nor 
 shall any person be required to pay for any such slaves, nor to 
 redeliver them, if any such should really have taken asylum 
 therein. 
 
 Article XVI. The vessels of war of either party coming to 
 anchor in a port of the other shall be saluted by the forts or batteries 
 with as many guns as a vessel of the same size of any other nation, 
 which vessel shall return the salute gun for gun. 
 
 Article XVII. The subjects or citizens of either party may 
 frequent the coasts and countries of the other, and reside and trade 
 
670 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 there in all sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandize, the 
 purchase and sale of which shall be free to all persons of every 
 description, unembarrassed by monopoly, paying no greater duties 
 than the most favored nation pays; and they shall enjoy all the 
 rights, privileges, and exemptions in navigation and commerce which 
 the subjects of the most favored nation enjoy. They shall also be 
 free to pass and repass with their merchandize within the territories 
 of the other without, being obliged to obtain passports. 
 
 Akticle XVIII. All merchants, commanders of vessels, and 
 other subjects and citizens of each party shall have free liberty in all 
 places within the dominion or jurisdiction of the other to manage 
 their own business themselves, or to employ whomsoever they please 
 to manage the whole or any part for them ; and shall not be obliged 
 to make use of any interpreter, broker, or other person whatsoever, nor 
 pay them any salaries or fees unless they choose to make use- of them. 
 
 Moreover, they shall not be obliged, in loading or unloading their 
 vessels, to make use of those workmen which may be appointed by 
 public authority for that purpose ; but it shall be entirely free for 
 them to load or unload them by themselves, or to make use of such 
 persons in loading or unloading them as they shall think fit, without 
 paying any fees or salary to any other whomsoever ; neither shall 
 they be forced to unload any sort of merchandize into any other 
 vessels, or to receive them into their own, or to wait for their being 
 loaded longer than they- please. 
 
 Article XIX. No merchant or other citizen or subject of either 
 party, within the territories of the other, shall be obliged to buy or 
 sell any merchandize or thing against his wLU, and shall be free to 
 buy and sell whatever he may think propex. 
 
 Article XX. That the vessels of either party loading within the 
 ports or jurisdiction of the other may not be uselessly detainejd, it is 
 agreed that all examinations of goods required by the laws shall be 
 made before they shall be laden on board the vessel, and that there 
 shall be no examination after, nor shall the vessel be searched at any 
 time, unless articles shall have been laden therein clandestinely and 
 illegally, in which case the person, by whose orders they were 
 carried on board, or who carried them without order, shall be liable 
 to the laws of the land in which he is ; but no person sha.ll be 
 molested, nor shall any other goods nor the vessel be seized or 
 detained for that cause. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 671 
 
 Article XXI. The subjects or citizens of either party, their 
 vessels and effects, shall not be liable to any embargo, seizure, or 
 detention on the part of the other for any military expedition or 
 other public or private purpose whatever ; and in all cases of seizure, 
 detention, or arrest for debts contracted by any citizen or subject of 
 the one party within the jurisdiction of the other, the same shall be 
 made and prosecuted by order and authority of law only, and 
 according to the regular course of proceeding usual in such cases. 
 
 Article XXII. If any difference, either civil or criminal, arise 
 between two citizens of the United States, within the territories of 
 his Majesty, neither shall be bound to answer or appear before the 
 judiciary institutions of the country, nor to obey any officer or 
 process thereof; but it shall be decided by the Consul for the United 
 States, who shall have full authority in every such case, civil or 
 criminal, to proceed according to the instructions he shall have 
 received from Congress. But if the power of the country shall be 
 necessary to aid him in the arrest, detention, or punishment of one 
 of the parties, he shall receive such aid. 
 
 Article XXIII. If any citizen of the United States, within 
 the territories of his Majesty, assault, strike, wound, or kill a subject 
 of his Majesty, or any other person under his protection, (other than 
 a fellow-citizen, which case is hereinbefore provided for,) he shall be 
 punished in the same manner, and not more rigorously than a subject 
 who should have committed the same offence ; nor shall he be 
 punished until the Consul of his nation shall have been called on to 
 defend him ; and if he make his escape, neither the said Consul nor 
 any other citizen of the said United States shall be detained or 
 molested on that account. 
 
 A subject of his Majesty committing a like offence within his 
 territories on a citizen of the United States shall be punished in the 
 same manner as if he had committed it on one of his Majesty's 
 subjects. 
 
 Article XXIV. The citizens or subjects of the United States 
 shall have power to dispose of their personal goods within the 
 jurisdiction of his Majesty by testament, donation, or otherwise, and 
 their representatives shall succeed to their said personal goods within 
 the same jurisdiction, by testament or ab intestato, and may take 
 possession thereof, either by themselves or by others acting for them, 
 and dispose of the same at their will, paying such dues only as the 
 
672 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 inhabitants of the country wherein the said goods ai'e shall be subject 
 to pay in like cases. And in case of the absence of the represent- 
 ative, the Consul, Vice Consul, or Agent for the United States shall 
 take care of the said goods, according to his instructions, or, if there 
 be no such Consul, Vice Consul, or Agent, then certain good and 
 principal people of the country shall be appointed to make an 
 inventory of them, and to take care of them for the representative, 
 so that the officers of the said country may not meddle with them on 
 pretence of escheat, forfeiture, or any other pretence whatever. 
 
 Article XXV. Each party shall be at liberty to keep within 
 any of the ports of the other Consuls, Vice Consuls, Agents, or 
 Commissaries of their own appointment, who shall be free and secure 
 in their persons, houses, and effects, and shall not, in any case, be 
 bound to answer for the debts of any citizens of their nation, or 
 others, unless they shall have obliged themselves thereto by writing. 
 Each of them shall be at liberty to choose his own interpreters, 
 brokers, and other agents and servants, to go as often as he pleases 
 on board any vessels in the harbors, to pass and repass in the 
 country, to practice his own religion in his own house, openly and 
 freely, and to receive any other persons there to do the same, 
 without being subject to Aiolestation or insult by word or deed ; he 
 shall enjoy an exemption from all duties for the provisions and 
 necessaries of every kind for his house and family, shall be author- 
 ized to take depositions, authenticate contracts, deeds, wills, and 
 other writings, give passports, and perform all other the functions of 
 his office according to his instructions, without impediment from 
 any, but, on the contrary, shall be aided therein by the power of 
 the country when he shall ask such aid. 
 
 Akticle XXVI. If any contravention of this treaty shall happen, 
 the peace shall continue nevertheless ; but the party injured shall 
 demand amicable reparation, and until this shall have been denied, 
 shall not appeal to arms. 
 
 Article XXVII. If war should arise between the two parties, 
 the subjects or citizens of either country then residing or being in the 
 other, shall be allowed to remain nine months to collect their debts 
 and settle their affairs, and may depart freely, carrying off all their 
 effects without molestation or hindrance. 
 
 Article XXVIII. If either party shall hereafter grant to any 
 other nation any particular favor in navigation and commerce, it 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 673 
 
 shall immediately become common to the other party, freely where 
 it is freely granted to such other nation, or on yielding the com- 
 pensation where such other nation does the same. 
 
 Article XXIX. This treaty shall he in force Sfty years from the 
 exchange of ratifications, which exchange shall be within eighteen 
 months from the date hereof, and in the meantime the several articles 
 thereof shall be observed on both sides as if they were already 
 ratified. 
 
 In witness whereof, &;c- 
 
 REPORT OF SECRETARY JAY. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 11, 1786. 
 The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign 
 Afiairs, to whom was referred a letter of the 11th October last 
 from the Honorable Mr. Jefferson, with the sundry papers that 
 were enclosed with it, reports : 
 
 That as this letter and these papers respect subjects unconnected 
 with each other, your Secretary finds it necessary to arrange them 
 under different heads, and report on each in its proper order. 
 
 Negotiations with the Barbary Powers. 
 
 1st. The commissions of Messrs. Adams and Jefferson appointing 
 Mr. Barclay to treat with Morocco, and Mr. Lamb with Algiers, and 
 their general instructions to each of them, and the project of a treaty, 
 all of which appear to your Secretary to be proper ; btit he much 
 doubts whether the sums allotted for presents and peace ofierings 
 will be sufficient. 
 
 2d. A letter to Mr. Jefferson from Richard O'Bryen, master of the 
 ship Dauphin, belonging to Messrs. Mathew and Thomas Irwin & 
 Co., of Philadelphia, captmed by the Algerines 30th July, 1785. 
 This letter is similar to one written by the same person on the 28th 
 August last to his Excellency the President of Congress, and on 
 which your Secretary made report the 2d January last. 
 
 This letter, however, gave occasion to the supplementary instruc- 
 tion to Mr. Lamb, by which he is authorized to supply and redeem 
 American captives in the manner and on the terms therein specified. 
 Mr. Jefferson, in. mentioning this instruction, says : " The supple- 
 VoL. I.— 43 
 
674 THOMAS JEFPERSON^JOHN JAY. 
 
 ' mentary instruction to Mr. Lamb, No. 5, must rest for justification 
 ' on the emergency of the case. The motives which lead to it must 
 ' be found in the feelings of the human heart, in a partiality for those 
 ' sufferers who are of our own country, and the obligations of every 
 ' Government to yield protection to their citizens as the consideration 
 ' of their obedience. It will be a comfort to Jcnow that Congress does 
 ' not disapprove of this step." 
 
 In cases of this kind your Secretary thinks the sentiments and 
 pleasure of Congress should not remain doubtful, and that in his 
 opinion it be. 
 
 Resolved, That the Secretary for the Department of Foreign 
 Affairs inform Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson that Congress approve 
 of their supplementary instruction to Mr. Lamb, respecting American 
 captives at Algiers. 
 
 Treaty with Portugal. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson says : " That considering the treaty with Portugal 
 ' among the most interesting to the United States, he sometime ago 
 ' took occasion at Versailles to ask the Portuguese Ambassador if he 
 ' had yet received from his Court an answer to their letter. He told 
 ' him he had not, but that he would make it the subject of another 
 ' letter. Two days ago his Secretary of Legation called on him with 
 ' a letter from his Minister to the Ambassador, in which was the 
 ' following paragraph, as he translated it to him, and he committed 
 ' it to writing from his mouth." This paragraph being in French, 
 the following is a translation of it, viz : " With respect to what your 
 ' Excellency mentions of a conversation with the American Minister, 
 ' that Power ought already to be persuaded, by the manner in which 
 ' their vessels have been received here, that his Majesty would have 
 ' much satisfaction in maintaining perfect harmony and good corre- 
 ' spondence with the United States. But it would be proper to begin 
 ' by reciprocally appointing persons who at least, in the character of 
 ' agent, should respectively inform their constituents of whatever 
 ' might conduce to a knowledge of the interest of the two nations 
 ' without prejudice to the one or the other. It is the first step which 
 * appears convenient to take in order to the end proposed." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson says he considers that answer " as definitive of all 
 ' further measures under his and Mr. Adams's commission to Por- 
 ■"tugal." 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 675 
 
 Here it appears proper to your Secretary to remind Congress of a 
 letter of 5th November last from Mr. Adams on the subject, and on 
 which he thinks instructions should be given to Mr. Adams. 
 
 It states the substance of a conference between him and the 
 Chevalier Pinto, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
 from Portugal ; to whom it seems that Court had thought proper to 
 commit the conduct of their negotiations with us, in preference to 
 their Ambassador at the Court of France. 
 
 The overture made in that conference, together with the importance 
 of our trade to Portugal, induces your Secretary to think that it would 
 be advisable to take measures for concluding a treaty of commerce 
 with that kingdom ; and the more so as the commercial privileges we 
 now enjoy in their ports are matters of favor, which may at any time 
 be recalled, and which would probably be diminished, if apparent 
 inattention to their friendly overtures should mortify and disgust that 
 Court. 
 
 Treaties with other Powers. 
 
 A subsequent letter from Mr. Jefferson, viz : 27th January, 1786, 
 mentions that the Emperor is willing to proceed with us. There is 
 reason to believe that Denmark is also ready, and that Naples has 
 intimated the same thing. 
 
 Your Secretary has in former reports expressed his sentiments 
 respecting treaties of the kind proposed ; but as the first overtures 
 for them were made by America, it seems difficult now to retract, 
 merely because the answers, though favorable, have been so long 
 delayed. The delicate situation of the United States requires 
 caution ; and it might be better to submit to some ' temporary evil 
 rather than disgust those Powers who may now be ready to enter 
 into treaties with us, and whose ports, in case of war, might be very 
 convenient to us. Your Secretary is therefore much inclined to 
 think that it would be more prudent to renew the commission, and 
 by limiting the duration of the proposed treaties to a short term, 
 provide that the inconveniences arising from them shall not be of 
 longer continuance. Circumstances will by that time probably 
 place the United States on more advantageous ground, and enable 
 them to make treaties far more beneficial than any that can now be 
 expected. In his opinion, however, no further overtures should be 
 
676 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 made, nor any negotiations for such treaties commenced with any 
 nation, except those who may have declared their readiness and 
 inclination to enter into them. 
 
 All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, December 24, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since my last to you, which were dated the 6th and 11th of 
 October, I have been honored with yours of the 1st, 14th, and 15th 
 of September. Since the departure of Mr. Fitzhugh, who carried 
 my last, no confidential opportunity of writing has offered. The 
 present I send by way of London, and being to pass through the 
 post offices of both countries, shall mention in it nothing but what 
 both are welcome to see. 
 
 I now transmit you Mr. Limozin's answer relative to Fortin's 
 case. You will see by this that Fortin never had commenced a suit 
 here at all, and of course was premature in his complaints of the 
 delay of justice. 
 
 I enclose, also, a copy of the receipt of Commodore Jones for 
 moneys paid him on account of the prizes taken by him. It wUl 
 enable the Commissioners to enter due debits. The Mareschal de 
 Castries having been pleased to direct copies of the receipts to be 
 furnished to me, in proportion as payments are made, I shall taise 
 care to forward them. 
 
 The prospectus of the mercantile establishment at Trieste for a 
 commerce with the United States, which I have the honor of now 
 enclosing, was communicated to me by the Imperial Ambassador 
 here, by order of his sovereign, who asks the patronage of Con- 
 gress for this company. I assured his Ambassador that they might 
 rely on every protection from Congress should any circumstances 
 ever call for^ their interference. 
 
 I take the liberty of sending you copies of two letters I wrote to 
 Messrs. Van Staphorst, in answer to some inquiries they made of 
 me relative to some paper securities of the United States proposed 
 to them by Mr. Daniel Parker. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 67t 
 
 Being informed that they afterwards received these securities as 
 for the United States, perhaps these letters may throw light on that 
 measure. At any rate, they will shew that I considered it as out of 
 my province, and meddkd not in it further than by inforniing them 
 of matters of fact. 
 
 An American gentleman, who will leave this place for New York 
 about the 1st of February, will enable me to write to you on subjects 
 not proper for the present conveyance. 
 
 In the meantime it may be expedient to mention that the duties 
 here on American whale oil are reduced to eleven livres five sous, 
 the barrel of fiv« hundred pounds French, or about two livres in 
 the English hundred. They were before thirty-|bc: livres fifteen sous, 
 the barrel of five hundred pounds. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 MR. LIMOZIN S ANSWER RELATIVE TO FORTIN S CASE. 
 
 Havre de Grace, October 4, 1785. 
 Most honored Sir, 
 
 Agreeably to my promise, I have the honon to transmit to your 
 Excellency a copy of the letter I wrote the 11th October, 1782, to 
 Joseph Fortin, about the estate to which he would be entitled had 
 his father not altered his Christian name when he landed in 
 America. 
 
 With the copy of the said letter is that of the register taken from 
 the books of the church, and an authentic advertisement of sales. 
 
 By these vouchers your Excellency will be able to see that it is 
 impossible for that Fortin to claim the said estate as long as he will 
 call himself son of Joseph Fortin, as he does by the vouchers he 
 sent me ; because none of the family of the deceased Fortin who left 
 that estate was called Joseph. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., ANDREW LIMOZIN. 
 
 FROM ANDREW LIMOZIN TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Havre de Grace, October 11, 1785. 
 Most honored Sir, 
 I received, just now, the letters your Excellency has honored me 
 with the 8th of this month. 
 
g78 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I have not been imprudent enough to begin a law suit with ths 
 vouchers Fortin sent me, because, according to our laws, I was sure 
 to lose it directly, and to prevent (by giving communication of such 
 vouchers) the said Fortin to ever have the least right to the estate 
 about which I wrote to him. 
 
 For, under the name of Joseph Fortin, he will never be entitled 
 to enjoy the said estate. For it is proved by the church books that 
 none of the deceased Fortin's family, who left the estate, were called 
 Joseph, but that there is one missing called Jean Baptiste. 
 
 I would not begin a law suit, because I should be sure to lose it, 
 and who would reimburse me for my expenses ? There is no other 
 method for that Fortin but to get his vouchers under the name of 
 Jean Baptiste instmd of that of Joseph, and if he cannot do it he 
 will never get a farthing. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., ANDREW LIMOZIN. 
 
 -o- 
 
 PROM M. DE CASTRIES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Fontainebleau, October 28, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to send you certified copies of the two receipts 
 which Mr. Jones has given to the treasurer of the port of L'Orient 
 for the sums which have been paid to him as shares of the prizes 
 belonging to the subjects of the United States. 
 
 You will observe, sir, that Mr. Jones has received one hundred 
 and five thousand one hundred and eighty-five livres, three sols, six 
 deniers, for the crew of the Alliance frigate, and seventy-five thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-three livres eighteen sols four deniers, as 
 well for the share of prizes due to him personally as for those of the 
 Americans belonging to the vessels called the Bon Homme Richard 
 and the Pallas frigate. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, LE M. DE CASTRIES. 
 
 Shares of the Prizes made in 1779 by the Squadron of Commodore 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 Translation. 
 To M. Paul Jones, Commandant of the Squadron consisting of 
 the Bon Homme Richard, the Alliance, the Pallas, and the Ven- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 679 
 
 geance, as well for what is due to him as Captain of the Bon Homme 
 Richard as for the shares of the Americans and foreigners composing 
 the crew of the said vessel, and for several powers in favor of the 
 
 said Commodore, the sum of Liv. 75,532 Os. 5d. 
 
 To the said Sieur Paul Jones for the shares 
 due to the Americans who belonged to the 
 Pallas frigate, amounting to 321 17 11 
 
 Total Liv. 75,853 18 4 
 
 We, Commodore of the Naval Forces of the United States of 
 America, authorized by the Congress, and the Mareschal de Castries, 
 Minister and Secretary of State for the Department of Marine, to 
 receive the amount of prizes of the American subjects and foreigners, 
 according to a letter of the 15th July, 1785, acknowledge to have 
 received of M. Gratien de Comorre, Treasurer of Marine for this 
 port, and charged with the continuance of the payments of the late 
 M. Bourgeois, the sum of seventy-five thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-three livres eighteen sols four deniers, in full. 
 
 PAUL JONES. 
 
 L 'Orient, August 18, 1785. 
 
 Certified to have counted, the 18th August last, to Commodore 
 Paul Jones, the sum of seventy-five thousand eight hundred and 
 fifty-three livres eighteen sols four deniers. 
 
 Given at L'Orient, 10th October, 1785. 
 
 GRATIEN DE COMORRE. 
 
 Shares of the Prizes made in 1779 by the Squadron of Commodore 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 L'Orient, Septembers, 1785. 
 
 To M. Paul Jones, Commandant of the Squadron consisting of 
 the Bon Homme Richard, the Alliance, the Pallas, and the Ven- 
 geance, for what is due to the frigate Alliance, commanded by M. 
 Landais, the sum of one hundred and five thousand one hundred and 
 eighty-five livres three sols six deniers, (105,185ZjV. 3s. 6d.) 
 
680 THOMAS JEFFERSON-JOHN JAY. 
 
 We, Commodore of the Naval Forces of the United States of 
 America, authorized by the Congress, and orders of the Mareschal 
 de Castries, Minister and Secretary of State for the Department of 
 Marine, to receive the amount due to the Alliance frigate, belonging 
 to the United States, commanded by M. Landais, according to the 
 despatches of 19th and 26th August, 1785, acknowledge to have 
 received of M. Gratien de ComoiTe, Treasurer of Marine for this 
 port, and charged with the continuation of the payments of the late 
 M. Bourgeois, the sum of one hundred and five thousand one 
 hundred and eighty-five livres three sols six deniers, in full. 
 
 PAUL JONES. 
 
 Certified to have counted, the 5th September, 1785, to Commodore 
 Paul Jones, the sum of one hundred and five thousand one hundred 
 and eighty-five livres three sols six deniers. 
 
 Given at L'Orient, 10th October, 1785. 
 
 GRATIEN DE COMORRE. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO MESSRS. VAN STAPHORST. 
 
 Paris, October 12, 1785. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The receipt of your favor of September 19th should not have 
 been so long unacknowledged, but that I have been peculiarly and 
 very closely engaged ever since it came to hand. 
 
 With respect to the expediency of the arrangement you propose 
 to make with Mr. Parker, I must observe to you that it would be 
 altogether out of my province to give an official opinion for your 
 direction. 
 
 These transactions appertain altogether to the Commissioners of 
 the Treasury, to whom you have very properly written on the occa- 
 sion. I shall always be willing, however, to apprise you of any 
 facts I may be acquainted with, and which might enable you to 
 proceed with more certainty ; and even to give my private opinion, 
 where I am acquainted with the subject, leaving you the most perfect 
 liberty to give it what weight you should think proper. 
 
 In the present case I cannot give even a private opinion, because 
 I am not told what are precisely the securities offered by Mr. Parker. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 681 
 
 So various are the securities of the United States, that tmless they 
 are precisely described by their dates, consideration, and other 
 material circumstances, no man on earth can say what they are 
 worth. One fact, however, is certain, that all debts, of any consid- 
 erable amount, contracted by the United States while their paper 
 money existed, are subject to a deduction, and not payable at any 
 fixed period. 
 
 I think I may venture to say also that there are no debts of the 
 United States on the same footing with the money loaned by 
 Holland, except those due to the Kings of France and Spain. 
 
 However, I hope you will soon receive the answers of the Com- 
 missioners, \vhich alone can decide authoritatively what is to be 
 done. 
 
 I have the honor to be, kc, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO MESSRS. VAN STAPHORST. 
 
 Paris, October 25, 1785. 
 Gentlemen, 
 I received yesterday your letter of the 20th instant. In order to 
 give you the information you desire on the subject of the liquidated 
 debts of the United States, and the comparative footing on which 
 they stand, I must observe to you that the first and great division of 
 our Federal debt is into, 1, foreign; and 2, domestic. The foreign 
 debt comprehends : 1, the loan of the Government of Spain ; 2, the 
 loan from the Government of France, and from the Farmers 
 General ; 3, the loans negotiated in Holland by order of Congress. 
 This branch of our debt stands absolutely singular : no man in the 
 United States having ever supposed that Congress or their Legisla- 
 tures can in any wise modify or alter it. They justly view the 
 United States as the one party, and the lenders as the other, and 
 that the consent of both would be requisite were any modification 
 proposed. But with respect to the domestic debt, they consider 
 Congress as representing both the borrowers and lenders, and that 
 the modifications which have taken place in this have been necessary 
 to do justice between the two parties, and that they flowed properly 
 from Congress as their mutual umpire. The domestic debt compre- 
 hends: 1, the army debt; 2, the loan ofiice debt; 3, the liquidated 
 
682 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 debt ; 4, the unliquidated debt. The first terai includes debts to 
 the officers and soldiers for pay, bounty, and subsistence. The 
 second term means moneys put into the loan office of the United 
 States. The 3d comprehends all debts contracted by quartermasters, 
 commissaries, and others duly authorized to procure supplies for the 
 army, and which have been liquidated (that is settled) by commis- 
 sioners appointed under the resolution of Congress of June 12th, 
 1780, or by the officer who made the contract. The 4th compre- 
 hends the whole mass of debts described in the preceding article, 
 which have, not yet been liquidated. These are in a course of 
 liquidation, and are passing over daily into the 3d class. The debts 
 of this 3d class, that is the liquidated debts, is the object of your 
 inquiry. No time is fixed for the payment of it, no fund as yet 
 determined, nor any firm provision for the interest in the meantime. 
 The consequence is that the certificates of these debts sell greatly 
 below par. When I left America they could be bought for from 
 2s. 6d. to 15s. in the pound, this difierence proceeding from the 
 circumstance of some States having provided for paying the interest 
 on those in their own State, which others had not. Here an opinion 
 had arisen with some, and propositions had even been made in the 
 Legislatures for paying off the principal of these debts with what 
 Ihey had cost the holder and interest on that. 
 
 This opinion is far from being general, and I am of opinion will 
 not prevail. But it is among possible events. I have been thus 
 particular that you might be able to judge, not only in the present 
 case, but also in others, should any attempt be made to speculate in 
 your city on these papers. 
 
 It is a business in which foreigners will be in great danger of being 
 duped. It is a science which bids defiance to the bounds of reason. 
 To understand it a man must not only be on the spot, and be 
 perfectly possessed of all the circumstances relative to every species 
 of these papers, but he must have that dexterity which the habit of 
 buying and selling them alone gives. 
 
 The brokers of these certificates are few in number, and any other 
 person, venturing to deal with them, engages in a very unequal 
 contest. 
 
 I have the honor to be, he, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 683 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, January 2, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Several conferences and letters having passed between the Count 
 de Vergennes and myself, on the subject of the commerce of this 
 country with the United States, I think them sufficiently interesting 
 to be communicated to Congress. 
 
 They are stated in the form of a report, and are herein enclosed. 
 
 The length of this despatch, perhaps, needs apology;' yet I have 
 not been able to abridge it, without omitting circumstances which I 
 thought Congress would rather choose to know. Some of the objects 
 of these conferences present but small hopes for the present, but they 
 seem to admit a possibility of success at some future moment. 
 
 The enclosed letter from the Baron Thulemeier will inform you of 
 the ratification, by the King of Prussia, of the treaty concluded with 
 him. My answer accompanies it. I have no doubt but you have 
 long ago received notice of this from Mr. Dumas, whose opportunities 
 of conveying letters are so much more frequent than mine, especially 
 since the French packets have been nearly discontinued. Mr. 
 Crevecoeur is laboring to reestablish them, and under some hopes of 
 success. 
 
 From Mr. Adams you have doubtless been also notified of the 
 overtures from Portugal to treat with us at London. 
 
 We are probably indebted for this new spur towards us to the 
 commercial arrangements which are on the tapis between France 
 and England ; and I think it fortunate that they have chosen to 
 commit the negotiation to their Minister in London, rather than to 
 their Ambassador here, whose torpid character would probably have 
 spun it to a great length. 
 
 I communicated to the Count de Vergennes, according to your 
 commands, the report of Captain Shaw's voyage to China, making, 
 at the same time, those acknowledgments which were due for these 
 new proofs of the friendship of the French nation towards us. I 
 enclose you my letter and his answer, whereby you will see that he 
 thought it a proper occasion to express the dissatisfaction of this 
 Court, with the acts of some of the American Legislatures on the 
 subject of foreign commerce, and to hint that their continuance 
 would render measures necessary here to countervail the inequalities 
 they supposed us to be establishing. 
 
gg4 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I also enclose my reply, and have now the honor to submit those 
 transactions to the consideration of Congress, who are best able to 
 calculate the result of such a commercial contest, (should it arise,) 
 and who will be so good as to instnict me as to their pleasure 
 therein, as an answer will be expected by this Court within such 
 time as they think reasonable. 
 
 I have been long in conveying this correspondence to you, but 
 I have never, since it was closed, had a confidential opportunity of 
 transmitting it, and am now obliged to trust it with the other 
 despatches, enclosed to a gentleman going to London, who promises 
 to seek a safe conveyance from thence to New York. I send you, 
 at the same time, the arrets of August 30th, 1784, September 18th 
 and 24th, 1785, which were spoken of in my letter. 
 
 Having observed, by the Journals of Congress, that the establish- 
 ment of a Mint has been under consideration, I send a late declara- 
 tion of the King, by which will be seen the proportion between the 
 value of gold and silver, as newly established here. 
 
 My former letters will have notified to you Mr. Lamb's departure 
 for Algiers. 
 
 I have received no letter from him since he left this place. We 
 only know that he was at Madrid on the 10th December. 
 
 When Mr. Barclay was on the point of setting out for Morocco, 
 Mr. Beaumarchais (who had hitherto declined settling with him) 
 tendered him a settlement of his accounts. The immense axnount 
 of these accounts, with the hope that they would not occupy much 
 time, and a persuasion that no man on earth could so well settle 
 them as Mr. Barclay, who is intimately acquainted with many of 
 the transactions on which they are founded, induced me to think 
 that the interests of the United States would not suffer so much by 
 a short delay of the journey to Morocco, from whence nothing 
 disagreeable was to be immediately apprehended, as they would 
 suffer by leaving such accounts as these to be settled by persons 
 less competent. I advised Mr. Barclay to proceed to the settlement. 
 I wrote to Mr. Adams, asking his opinion thereon, and to Mr. 
 C^rmichael, praying him to find means of making known to the 
 Emperor of Morocco that a negotiator was actually commissioned, 
 and would sOon proceed to his Court. Mr. Adams concurred with 
 me in opinion, and those accounts are now in such forwardness that 
 Mr. Barclay assures me he shall be able to set out the ensuing week. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 685 
 
 I enclose two letters from Captain Stevens, one of our captives at 
 Algiers, to Mr. Harrison, at Cadiz, which were forwarded to me by 
 Mr. Carmichael. 
 
 I have taken opportunities of speaking with the Chevalier de la 
 Luzerne, on the subject of his return to America, and to press it by 
 all those inducements which assurances of the esteem entertained for 
 him there were likely to excite. He told me there was no place he 
 would prefer to America for the exercise of his functions ; but he 
 said, with great candor, that as in the diplomatic line there are 
 difierent grades of employment, and that an advancement from one 
 to another of these was usual, he wished, if possible, to avail 
 himself of the present circumstances to obtain a promotion. I 
 suppose, in fact, that if he can be sent to London, in the room 
 of the Count d'Adhemar, or to Holland, in the room of the Mar- 
 quis de Verac, who wishes to be transferred to London, as these 
 are embassies, he will not, in either of these cases, return to 
 America. 
 
 In the meantime, the emoluments of his office are, as I suspect, 
 rendered necessary to him by the expenses he incurred in America. 
 
 From your favor of November 2d, by Mr. Houdon, which I 
 received three days ago, it would seem that an estimate is expected 
 from him of the cost of the equestrian statue of General Washington. 
 But, as this would depend altogether on the dimensions of the 
 statue, he will be unable to make an estimate till these dimensions 
 be decided. The Gazettes of France and Leyden, from the 25th 
 of October to this date, are forwarded herewith. 
 
 I had the honor of writing to you, by the way of London, on the 
 24th of last month, and have now that of assuring you of those 
 sentiments of esteem and respect with which I am, sir, &c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFEESON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Hearing frequent complaints in this country that little of our 
 commerce came to it ; that while our flag covered the Thames, it 
 was rarely to be seen in a port of France, and that this proceeded 
 from national prejudices ; and observing that this complaint was 
 often repeated, and particularly relied on by those who had opposed 
 
596 THOMAS JEFFERSON- JOHN JAY. 
 
 our admission into the French Islands, I thought it necessary, on 
 every possible occasion, to shew how much the cause was mistaken, 
 while the fact was admitted to be true. In every conversation, 
 therefore, with the Count de Vergennes, I had endeavored to 
 convince him that, were national prejudice alone listened to, our 
 trade would quit England, and come to France ; but that the impos- 
 sibility of making payments here prevented our making purchases. 
 On a particular occasion, in the month of August, I enumerated to 
 him our exports, and shewed him that for some of them there was 
 no demand here, and that others were received under such circum- 
 stances as discouraged their being brought. When, in going through 
 this enumeration, I came to the-article of tobacco, he observed that 
 the King received such a revenue on that as could not be renounced. 
 I told him we did not wish it to be renounced, or even lessened, but 
 only that the monopoly should be put down. That this might be 
 effected in the simplest manner, by obliging the importer to pay, on 
 entrance, a duty equal to what the King now received, or to deposit 
 his tobacco in the King's warehouses till it was paid, and then 
 permitting him a free sale of it. " Ma foi, (^said the Count,) c'est 
 une bonne idee : il faut y penser,^' or " y travailler,"* I do not 
 recollect which. This answer was encouraging, and another circum- 
 stance rendered it necessary to press this article at this particular 
 moment. Though the general farm of the revenues had still more 
 than a twelve month to run, the treaty for the removal of it was 
 actually begun between the Comptroller General and the Farmers 
 General, and it was expected to be concluded during the voyage to 
 Fontainebleau, which was now approaching. Tobacco making an 
 article of that farm, it seemed to be the moment when it might be 
 withdrawn from that contract. I had, therefore, intended to make 
 a representation on the subject which should bring under view of the 
 King's council the ill consequences of that monopoly, and induce 
 them to discontinue it. The manner in which the Count de 
 Vergennes appeared to be struck with the idea suggested in the 
 conversation beforementioned, determined me to make this repre- 
 sentation immediately. As soon as I returned to Paris, therefore, I 
 wrote him the following letter, wherein I digested and added to what 
 I had said to him under the head of tobacco. 
 
 ' My faith ! it is a good idea: we must think of it, or we must act upon it. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 687 
 
 " From Thomas Jefferson to the Count de Vergennes. 
 
 " Paris, August 15, 1785. 
 
 " In the conversation which I had the honor of having with your 
 Excellency a few days ago, on the importance of placing at this time 
 the commerce between France and America on the best footing 
 possible, among other objects of this commerce that of tobacco was 
 mentioned as susceptible of greater encouragement and advantage 
 to the two nations. Always distrusting what I say in a language I 
 speak so imperfectly, I will beg your permission to state in English 
 the substance of what I then had the honor to observe, adding some 
 more particular details for your consideration. 
 
 " I find the consumption of tobacco in France estimated at from 
 fifteen to thirty millions of pounds. The most probable estimate, 
 however, places it at twenty-four millions. This costing eight sous 
 the pound, delivered in a port of France, amounts to Livres 9,600,000 
 
 " Allow six sous a pound as the average cost of 
 the different manufactures 7,200,000 
 
 " The revenue which the King derives from this 
 is something less than 30,000,000 
 
 " Which would make the cost of the whole .... 46,800,000 
 
 " But it is sold to the consumers at an average of 
 3-8 livres the pound 72,000,000 
 
 " There remains then for the expenses of col- 
 lection 25,200,000 
 
 which is within a sixth as much as the King receives, and so gives 
 nearly one half for collecting the other. It would be presumptive in 
 me, a stranger, to suppose my numbers perfectly accurate. I have 
 taken them from the best and most disinterested authorities I could 
 find. Your Excellency will know how far they are wrong, and 
 should you find them considerably wrong, yet I am persuaded you 
 will find, after strictly correcting them, that the collection of this 
 branch* of the revenue still absorbs too much. 
 
 " My apology for making these remarks will I hope be found in 
 my wishes to improve the commerce between the two nations, and 
 the interest which my own country will derive from this improve- 
 ment. The monopoly of the purchase of tobacco in France 
 
ggg THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 discourages both the French and American raerchaat from bringing 
 it here, and from taking in exchange the manufactures and produc- 
 tions of France. 
 
 " It is contrary to the spirit of trade and to the dispositions of 
 merchants to carry a commodity to any market, when but o-ne person 
 is allowed to buy it ; and where of course that person fixes its price 
 which the seller must receive, or reexport his commodity at the loss 
 of his voyage hither. Experience accordingly shews that they carry 
 it to other madtets, and that they take in exchange the merchandize 
 of the place where they deliver it 
 
 ''I am misinformed, if France has not been furnished from a 
 neighboring nation with considerable quantities of tobacco since the 
 peace, and obliged to pay there in coin what might have been paid 
 here in manufactures, had the French and American merchants 
 brought the tobacco originally here. I suppose, too, that the 
 purchases made by the Farmers General in America are paid for 
 chiefly in coin, which coin is also remitted directly hence to 
 England, and makes an important part of the balances, supposed to 
 be in favor of that nation against this. 
 
 "To satisfy Government on this head, should the Farmers General, 
 by themselves or by the company to whom they may commit the 
 procuring these tobaccoes from America, require th« exportation of 
 a proportion of merchandize in exchange for them, it is an unprom- 
 ising expedient. It will only commit the exports, as well as the 
 imports between France and America, to a monopoly, which, being 
 secure against rivals in the sale of the merchandize of France, is not 
 likely to sell at such moderate prices as may encourage its consump- 
 tion there, and enable it to bear a competition with similar articles 
 from other countries. 
 
 " I am persuaded this exportation of coin may be prevented, and 
 that of commodities effected, by leaving both operations to the 
 French and American merchants, instead of the Farmers General. 
 They will import a sufficient quantity of tobacco, if they are allowed 
 a perfect freedom in the sale, and they will receive in payment 
 wines, oils, brandies, and manufactures, instead of coin, forcing each 
 other by their competition to bring tobacco of the best quality, to give to 
 the French manufacturer the full worth of his merchandize, and to sell 
 to the American consumer at the lowest price they can afford ; thus 
 encouraging him to use in preference the merchandize of this country. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 689 
 
 " It is not necessary that this exchange should be favored by any 
 loss of revepue to the King. I do not mean to urge any thing which 
 shall injure either his Majesty or his people. On the contrary, the 
 measure I have the honor of proposing will increase his revenue, 
 while it places both the seller and buyer on a better footing. 
 
 " It is not for me to say what system of collection may be best 
 adapted to the organization of this Government ; nor whether any 
 useful hints may be taken from the practice of that country which 
 has heretofore been the principal entrepot of that commodity. Their 
 system is simple and little expensive. The importer there pays the 
 whole duty to the King, and, as this would be inconvenient for him 
 to do before he has sold his tobacco, he is permitted, on arrival, to 
 deposite it in the King's warehouse under the locks of the King's 
 officer. As soon as he has sold it, he goes with the purchaser to the 
 warehouse, the money is there divided between the King and him, 
 to each his proportion, and the purchaser takes out the tobacco. 
 The payment of the King's duty is thus ensured in ready money.. 
 What is the expense of its collection I cannot say, but it certainly 
 need not exceed six livres a hogshead of one thousand pounds. 
 That Government levies a higher duty on tobacco than is levied 
 here ; yet so tempting and so valuable is the perfect liberty of sale 
 that the merchant carries it there, and finds his account in carrying 
 it there. 
 
 "If by a simplication of the collection of the King's duty on 
 tobacco the cost of that collection can be reduced even to five per 
 cent., or a million and a half instead of twenty-five millions, the 
 price to the consumer will be reduced from three to, two livres the 
 pound. For thus I calculate : The cost, manufacture, and revenue 
 on twenty-four million pounds of tobacco being, as stated before, 
 five per cent, on thirty million livres Livres, 46,800,000 
 
 Expenses of collection 1,500,000 
 
 Gives what the consumers would pay — being about 
 
 two livres a pound . .; 48,300,000 
 
 But they pay at present three livres a pound 72,000,000 
 
 The difference is 23,700,000 
 
 " The price being thus reduced one third, would be brought within 
 the reach of a new and numerous circle of the people, who cannot 
 Vol. I.— 44 
 
690 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 at present afford themselves this luxury. The consumption would 
 then probably increase, and perhaps in the same, if no]t a greater, 
 proportion with the reduction of the price; that is to say, from 
 twenty-four to thirty-six millions of pounds ; and the King, contin- 
 uing to receive twenty-five sous on the pound, as at present, would 
 receive forty-five instead of thirty-six millions of livres, while his 
 subjects would pay but two livres for an object which has heretofore 
 cost them three. Or if, in the event the consumption were not to 
 be increased, he would levy only forty-eight millions on his people 
 where seventy-two millions are now levied, and would leave twenty- 
 four millions in their pockets, either to remain there or to be levied 
 in some other form, should the state of his revenues require it. 
 
 " It will enable his subjects, also, to dispose of between nine and ten 
 millions worth of their produce and manufactures, instead of sending 
 nearly that sum annually in coin to enrich a neighboring nation. 
 
 " I have heard two objections made to the suppression of this 
 monopoly. 
 
 1st. That it might increase the importation of tobacco in contra- 
 band. 2d. That it would lessen the abilities of the Farmers General 
 to make occasional loans of money to the public Treasury. These 
 objections will certainly be better answered by those who are better 
 acquainted than I am with the details and circumstances of the 
 country. With respect to the first, however, I may observe, that 
 contraband does not increase or lessen the temptations to it. It is 
 now encouraged by being able to sell for sixty sous what cost but 
 fourteen, leaving a gain of forty-six sous. When the price shall be 
 reduced from sixty to foi sous, the gain will be but twenty-six ; 
 that is to say, a little more than one half of what it is at present. 
 
 "It does not seem a natural consequence, then, that contraband 
 should be increased by reducing its gain nearly one half. 
 
 " As to the second objection, if we suppose (for elucidation, and 
 without presuming to fix) the proportion of the farm on tobacco at 
 one eighth of the whole mass farmed, the abilities of the Farmers 
 General to lend will be reduced one eighth ; that is, they can hereafter 
 lend only seven millions where heretofore they have lent eight. It 
 is to be considered, then, whether this eighth (or other proportion, 
 whatever it be) is worth the annual sacrifice of twenty-four millions, 
 or if a much smaller sacrifice to other moneyed men will not produce 
 the same loans of money in the ordinary way. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 691 
 
 " While the advantages of an increase of revenue to the Crown, 
 a diminution of impost on the people, and a payment in merchandize 
 instead of money, are conjectured as likely to result to France from 
 a suppression of the monopoly on tobacco, we have also reason to 
 hope some advantages on our part, and this hope alone could justify 
 my entering into the present details. 
 
 " I do not expect this advantage will be by an augmentation of 
 price. The other markets of Europe have too much influence on 
 this article to admit any sensible augmentation of price to, take place. 
 But the advantage principally expected, is an increase of consump- 
 tion. 
 
 " This will give us a vent for so much more, and of consequence 
 find employnlent for so many more cultivators of the earth ; and in 
 whatever proportion it increases this production for us, in the same 
 proportion will it procure additional vent for the merchandize of 
 France, and employment for the hands which produce it. I 
 expect that by bringing our merchants here they would procure a 
 number of commodities in exchange, better in kind and cheaper in 
 prices. 
 
 " It is with sincerity I add that warm feelings are indulged in my 
 breast by the further hope that it would bind the two nations still 
 closer in friendship by binding them in interest. In truth, no two 
 countries are better calculated for the exchanges of commerce. 
 France wants rice, tobacco, pot-ash, furs, ship timber; we want 
 wines, brandies, oils, and manufactures. 
 
 " There is an affection, too, between the two people, which 
 disposes them to favor one another. If they do not come together, 
 then, to make the exchange in their own ports, it shows there is some 
 substantial obstruction in the way. We have had the benefit of too 
 many proofs of his Majesty's friendly disposition towards the United 
 States, and know too well his affectionate care of his own subjects, 
 to doubt his willingness to remove these obstructions if they can be 
 unequivocally pointed out. It is for his wisdom to decide whether 
 the monopoly which is the subject of this letter be deservedly classed 
 with the principal of these. 
 
 "It is a great comfort for me, too, that in presenting this to the 
 mind of his Majesty your Excellency will correct my ideas where 
 an insufScient knowlege of facts may have led me into errors, and 
 that while the interest of the King and his people are the first objects 
 
g92 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 of your attention, an additional one will be presented by those 
 dispositions towards us which have heretofore so often befriended 
 our nation. 
 
 " We fervently invoke Heaven to make the King's life and hap- 
 piness the objects of his peculiar care, and that he may long be 
 relieved in the burthen of government by your wise counsels. 
 Permit me to add the assurance of that high respect and esteem with 
 which I have the honor to be, &;c." 
 
 To this letter I received no other answer but that he had trans- 
 mitted it to the Comptroller General. The general farm was not 
 renewed at Fontainebleau. 
 
 In the beginning of November a Mr. Boylston, of Massachusetts, 
 brought a cargo of whale oil to Havre, with letters to the Marquis 
 de la Fayette and myself, recommending him to our assistance in 
 disposing of it. He wished us to endeavor to obtain for his cargo 
 '.he exemption from duty which the Marquis had obtained the pre- 
 ceding year for a particular company. 
 
 I observed to the Marquis that this was doing business by piece- 
 meal, and making many favors of one. That it would be better to 
 take up the subject generally to get it placed on equal ground for all 
 our citizens, and to try what Government would do in a general 
 way to encourage the importation of this article. He came into 
 these ideas. As my applications could only be to the Count de 
 Vergennes, and the delays which follow official propositions, which 
 are to be handed from one department to another, backwards and 
 forwards, were likely to be too long to answer Boylston's purpose, 
 the Marquis, with that zeal and activity with which he seizes every 
 opportunity of serving our country, applied immediately to M. de 
 Calonne, the Comptroller General, making Boylston's case the 
 occasion of the application, but proposing a general regulation. He 
 pressed the proposition so efficaciously that he obtained, in a few 
 days,' from Monsieur de Calonne, an agreement to receive our oils 
 on the footing on which they receive those of the Hanseatic towns, 
 by which means the duties, which had been at thirty-six livres 
 fifteen sols the barrel of five hundred pounds, French weight, as may 
 be seen by a statement given me by Monsieur Langrain, were now 
 reduced to eleven livres five sols, being about two livres on the 
 English hundred, or a guinea and a half the ton, as the ton is 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 693 
 
 estimated in England. But this indulgence was limited to one 
 year's continuance. 
 
 For the particulars of this I refer to the letter of M. de Calonne 
 to the Marquis de la Fayette, dated November 17, 1785; and to 
 that of the Count de Vergennes to me dated November 30, 1785. 
 
 The next levee day at Versailles I meant to bring again under 
 the view of the Count de Vergennes the whole subject of our com- 
 merce with France ; but the number of audiences of Ambassadors 
 and other Ministers which take place of course before mine, and 
 which seldom, indeed, leave me an opportunity of audience at all, 
 prevented me that day. 
 
 I was only able to ask of the Count de Vergennes, as a particular 
 favor, that he would permit me to wait on him some day that week. 
 
 He did so, and I went to Versailles the Friday following, 9th of 
 December. M. de Reyneval was with the Count. Our conversa- 
 tion began with the usual topic — that the trade of the United States 
 had not yet learned the way to France, but continued to centre in 
 England, though no longer obliged by law to go there. I observed 
 that the real cause of this was to be found in the difference of the 
 commercial arrangements in the two countries. That merchants 
 would not and could not trade but where there was to be some gain ; 
 that the commerce between two countries could not be kept up but 
 by an exchange of commodities ; that if an American merchant was 
 forced to carry his produce to London, it could not be expected 
 that he would make a voyage from thence to France with the 
 money, to lay it out here ; and, in like manner, that if he could 
 bring his commodities with advantage to this country, he would not 
 make another voyage to England with the money to lay it out there, 
 but would take, in exchange, the merchandize of this country. 
 
 The Count de Vergennes agreed to this, and particularly that 
 where there was no exchange of merchandize there could be no 
 durable commerce, and that it was natural for merchants to take their 
 returns in the port where they sold their cargo. 
 
 I desired his permission then to take a summary view of the pro- 
 ductions of the United States, that we might see which of them 
 could be brought here to advantage. 
 
 1st, Rice. France gets from the Mediterranean a rice, not so good, 
 indeed, but cheaper than ours. He said that they bought of our 
 rice, but that they got from Egypt also rice of a very fine quality. 
 
694 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I observed that such was the actual state of jheir commerce in that 
 article, that they take little from us. 
 
 2d, Indigo. They make plenty in their own colonies. He observed 
 that they did, and that they thought it better than ours. 
 
 3d, Flour, Fish, and Provisions of all sorts, they produce for them- 
 selves. 
 
 That these articles might, therefore, be considered as not existing 
 for commerce between the United States and the Kingdom of France, 
 I proceeded to those capable of becoming objects of exchange 
 between the two nations : 
 
 1st. Peltry and Furs. Our posts being in the hands of the English 
 we are cut ofi" from that article. I am not sure, even, whether we 
 are not obliged to buy of them for our own use. When these posts 
 are given up, if ever they are, we shall be able to furnish France 
 witli skins and furs to the amount, of two millions of livres in exchange 
 for her merchandize. But at present these articles are to be counted 
 as nothing. 
 
 2d. Pot-ash. An experiment is making whether this can be 
 brought here. We hope it may, but at present it stands for nothing. 
 He observed that it was much wanted in France, and he thought it 
 would succeed. 
 
 3d. Naval Stores. Trials are also making on these as subjects of 
 commerce with France. They are heavy, and the voyage long ; the 
 result therefore is extremely doubtful. At present they are as nothing 
 in our commerce with this country. 
 
 4th. Whale Oil. I told him I had great hopes the late diminution 
 of duty would enable us to bring this article to France ; that a 
 merchant was just arrived (Mr. Barrett) who proposed to settle at 
 L'Orient, for the purpose of selling the cargoes of this article and 
 choosing the returns. That he had informed me that in the first 
 year it would be necessary to take one third in money, and the 
 remainder only in merchandize, because the fishermen indispensably 
 require some money. But he thought that after the first year the 
 merchandize of the preceding year would always produce money for 
 the ensuing one, and that the whole amount would continue to be 
 taken annually afterwards in merchandize. I added that though the 
 diminution of duty was expressed to be but for one year, yet I hoped 
 they would find their advantage in renewing and continuing it ; for 
 that if they intended, really to admit it for one year only, the fisher- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 695 
 
 men would not find it worth while to rebuild their vessels, and to 
 prepare thenaselves for the business. 
 
 The Count expressed satisfaction on the view of commercial 
 exchange held up by this article. He made no answer as to the 
 continuance of it, and I did not choose to tell him at that time that 
 we should claim its continuance under their treaty with the Hanseatic 
 towns, which fixes this duty for them, and our own treaty, which 
 gives us the rights of the most favored nation. 
 
 5th. Tobacco. — I recalled to the memory of the Count de 
 Vergennes the letter I had written to him on this article, and the 
 object of the present conversation being how to facilitate the 
 exchange of commercial articles between the two countries, I pressed 
 that of tobacco in this point of view, observed that France at present 
 paid us ten millions of livres for this article, that for such portions of 
 it as were bought in London they sent the money directly there, and 
 for what they bought in the United States was still remitted to 
 London in bills of exchange. Whereas, if they would permit our 
 merchants to sell this article freely, they would bring it here and 
 take the returns on the spot in merchandize, not money. 
 
 The Count observed that my proposition contained what was 
 doubtless useful, but that the King received on this article at present 
 a revenue of twenty-eight millions, which was so considerable as to 
 render them fearful of tampering with it; that the collection of this 
 revenue, by way of farm, was of very ancient date, and that it was 
 always hazardous to alter arrangements of long standing, and of such 
 infinite combinations with the fiscal system. 
 
 I answered that the simplicity of the mode of collection proposed 
 for this article withdrew it from all fear of deranging other parts of 
 their system ; that I supposed they would confine the importation to 
 some of their principal ports, probably not more than five or six ; 
 that a single collector in each of these was the only new officer 
 requisite ; that he could get rich himself on six livres a hogshead, 
 and would receive the whole revenue and pay it into the treasury at 
 short hand. M. de Rayneval entered particularly into this part of 
 the conversation, and explained to the Count more in detail the 
 advantages and the simplicity of it ; and concluded, by observing to 
 me that it sometimes happened that useful propositions, though not 
 practicable at one time, might become so at another. I told him 
 that that consideration had induced me to press the matter when 1 
 
696 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 did, because I had understood the renewal of the farm was then on 
 the carpet, and that it was the precise moment when I supposed that 
 this portion might be detached from the mass of farms. 
 
 I asked the Count de Vergennes whether, if the renewal of the 
 farm was pressing, this article might not be separated, merely in 
 suspense, until Government should have time to satisfy themselves 
 on the expediency of renewing it. He said no promises could be 
 made. 
 
 In the course of this conversation, he had mentioned the liberty 
 we enjoyed of carrying our fish to the French islands. 
 
 I repeated to him what I had hinted in my letter of November 
 20th, 1785, that I considered as a prohibition the laying such duties 
 on our fish, and giving such premiums on theirs as made a difference 
 between their and our fishermen of fifteen livres the quintal, in an 
 ^rticle which sold but for fifteen livres. 
 
 He said it would not have that effect, for two reasons. 
 
 1st. That their fishermen could not furnish supplies for their 
 islands, and of course the inhabitants must of necessity buy our fish. 
 2d. That from the constancy of our fisheries, and the short season 
 during which theirs continued, also the economy and management 
 of ours compared with the expense of theirs, we had always been 
 able to sell our fish in the islands at twenty-five livres the quintal, 
 while they were obliged to ask thirty-six livres. (I suppose he 
 meant the livre of the French islands.) That thus the duty and 
 premium had been a necessary operation on their side, to place the 
 sale of their fish on a level with ours, and that without this theirs 
 could not bear the competition. 
 
 I have here brought together the substance of what was said on 
 the preceding subjects, not pretending to give it verbatim, which my 
 memory does not enable me to do. I have probably omitted many 
 things which were spoken, but have mentioned nothing which was 
 not. It was interrupted at times with collateral matters. One of 
 these was important. The Count de Vergennes complained, and 
 with a good deal of stress, that they did not find a sufficient depend- 
 ence on arrangements taken with us. This was the third time, too, 
 he had done it ; first, in a conversation at Fontainebleau, when he 
 first complained to me of the navigation acts of Massachusetts and 
 New Hampshire ; secondly, in his letter of October 30, 1785, on 
 the same subject ; and no'vv, in the present conversation, wherein he 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 697 
 
 added, as another instance, the case of the Chevalier Mezieres, heir 
 of General Oglethorpe, who, notwithstanding that the 11th article of 
 the treaty provides that the subjects or citizens of either party shall 
 succeed ah intestato to the lands of their ancestors, within the 
 dominions of the other, had been informed by Mr. Adams and by 
 me also, that this right of succession to the General's estate in 
 Georgia was doubtful. He observed, too, that the administration of 
 justice with us was tardy, insomuch that their merchants, when they 
 had money due to them within our States, considered it as desperate ; 
 and that our commercial regulations in general were disgusting to 
 them. These ideas were new, serious, and delicate. 
 
 I decided, therefore, not to enter into them in that moment, and 
 the rather as we were speaking in French, in which language I did 
 not choose to hazard myself. 
 
 I withdrew from the objections of the tardiness of justice with us, 
 and the disagreeableness of our commercial regulations, by a general 
 observation that I was not sensible they were well founded. With 
 respect to the case of the Chevalier de Mezieres, I was obliged to 
 enter into some explanations. They related chiefly to the legal 
 operation of our declaration of independence to the undecided 
 question, whether our citizens and British subjects were thereby 
 made aliens to one another to the general laws as to conveyance of 
 land to aliens, and a doubt whether an act of the Assembly of 
 Georgia might not have been passed to confiscate General Ogle- 
 thorpe's property, which would, of course, prevent its devolution on 
 any heir. 
 
 M. Reyneval observed that in this case it became a mere question 
 of fact, whether a confiscation of these lands had taken place before 
 the death of General Oglethorpe, which fact might be easily known 
 by inquiries in Georgia, where the possessions lay. 
 
 I thought it very material that the opinion of this Court should be 
 set to rights on these points. 
 
 On my return, therefore, I wrote the following observations on 
 them, which, the next time I went to Versailles, (not having an 
 opportunity of speaking to the Count de Vergennes,) I put into the 
 hands of M. Reyneval, praying him to read them, and to ask the 
 favor of the Count to do the same : 
 
(598 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Explanations on some of the subjects of the conversation which I had 
 the honor of having with his Excellency the Count de Vergennes, 
 when I was last at Versailles. 
 
 The principal design of that conversation was to discuss those 
 articles of commerce which the United States could spare, which 
 are wanted in France, and if received there on a convenient footings 
 would be exchanged for the productions of France. But in the 
 course of conversation, some circumstances were incidently men- 
 tioned by the Count de Vergennes, which induced me to suppose he 
 had received impressions neither favorable to us, nor derived from 
 perfect information. 
 
 The case of Chevalier de Mezieres was supposed to furnish an 
 instance of our disregard to treaties, and the event in that case was 
 inferred from opinions supposed to have been given by Mr. Adams 
 and myself. 
 
 This is ascribing a weight to our opinions to which they are not 
 entitled. They will have no influence on the decision of the case. 
 The judges in our courts would not suffer them to be read. Their 
 guide is the law of the land of which law its treaties make a part. 
 
 Indeed, I know not what opinion Mr. Adams may have given on 
 this case, and if any may be imputed to him derogatory of our 
 regard to the treaty with France, I think his opinion has been mis- 
 understood. With respect to myself, the doubts which I expressed 
 to the Chevalier de Mezieres as to the success of his claims, were 
 not founded on any question whether the treaty between France and 
 the United States would be observed. 
 
 On the contrary, I venture to pronounce that it will be religiously 
 observed if his. case comes under it. But I doubted whether it 
 would come under the treaty. The case, as I understood it, is : 
 General Oglethorpe, a British subject, had lands in Georgia. He 
 died since the peace, having devised those lands to his wife. The 
 h^irs are the Chevalier de Mezieres, son of his eldest sister, and the 
 Marquis de Bellegarde, son of his younger sister. This case gives 
 rise to legal questions, some of which have not yet been decided, 
 either in England or in America, the laws of which couritries are 
 nearly the same. 
 
 1st. It is a question under the laws of those countries whether 
 persons born before their separation, and once completely invested 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 699 
 
 in both with the character of na,tural subjects, can ever become 
 alliens in either? There are respectable opinions on both sides. If 
 the negative be right, then General Oglethorpe, having never become 
 an alien, and having devised his lands to his wife, who, on this 
 supposition also, was not an aUen, the devisee has transferred the 
 lands to. her, and there is nothing left for the treaty to operate on. 
 
 2d. If the affirmative opinion be right, and the inhabitants of 
 Great Britain and America, born before the Revolution, are become 
 aliens to each other, it follows, by the laws of both, that the lands 
 which either possessed within the jurisdiction of the other, became 
 the property of the State in which they are. But a question arises, 
 whether the transfer of the property took plape on the declajration of 
 independence, or not till an office or an act of assembly had declared 
 the transfer. If the property passed to the State on the declaration 
 of independence, then it did not remain in General Oglethorpe, and, 
 of course, at the time of his death, he having nothing, there was 
 nothing to pass to his heirs, and so nothing for th^ treaty to operate 
 on. 
 
 3d. If the property does not pass till declared by an office, found 
 by a jury, or an act passed by the assembly, the question then is, 
 whether an office had been found or an act of assepibly been passed 
 for tha,t purpose before the peace? If there was, the lands had 
 passed to the Sta,te during his life, and nothing being left in him, 
 there is nothing for his heirs to claim under the treaty. 
 
 4th. If the property had not been transferred to the State before 
 the peace, either hy the Declaration of Independence, or an office, 
 or an act of assembly, ^hen it remained iii General Oglethorpe at 
 the epoch of the peace ; and it will be insisted, no doubt, that by 
 the sixth article of the treaty of peace between the United States 
 and Great Britain, which forbids future confiscations, General Ogle- 
 thorpe acquired a capacity of holding and of conveying his lands. 
 He has conveyed them to his wife. But she being an alien, it wUl 
 be decided by the laws of the land whether she took them for her 
 own use, or for the use of the State. For it is a general principle of 
 our laW) that conveyances to aliens pass the lands to the State. And 
 it may be urged that, though by the treaty of peace, General Ogle- 
 thorpe could convey, yet that treaty did not mean to give him a 
 greater privilege of conveyance than natives hold, to wit : a privilege 
 of transferring the property to persons incapable by law of taking it. 
 
700 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 However, this would be a question between the State of Georgia 
 and the widow of General Oglethorpe, in the decision of which the 
 Chevalier de Mezieres is not interested ; because, whether she takes 
 the land by the will, for her own use or for that of the State, it is 
 equally prevented from descending to him. There is neither a 
 conveyance to him, nor a succession ah intestato devolving on him, 
 which are the cases provided for by our treaty with France. To 
 sum up this matter in a few words, if the lands had passed to the 
 State before the epoch of peace, the heirs of General Oglethorpe 
 cannot say they have descended on them ; and, if they remained in 
 the General at that epoch, the treaty saving them to him, he could 
 convey them away from his heirs, and he has conveyed them to his 
 widow, either for her own use, or for that of the State. 
 
 Seeing no event in which, according to the facts stated to me, the 
 treaty could be applied to this case, or could give any right whatever 
 to the heirs of General Oglethorpe, I advised the Chevalier de 
 Mezieres not to urge his pretensions on the foot of right, nor under 
 the treaty, but to petition the assembly of Georgia for a grant of 
 these lands. 
 
 If, in the question between the State and the widow of General 
 Ogelthorpe, it should be decided that they were the property of the 
 State, I counted on their generosity and the friendly dispositions 
 in America towards the subjects of France, that they would be 
 favorable to the Chevalier de Mezieres. There is nothing in the 
 preceding observations which would not have applied against the 
 heir of General Oglethorpe, had he been a native citizen of Georgia, 
 as it now applies against him, being a subject of France. The treaty 
 has placed the subjects of France on a footing with natives as to 
 conveyances and descent of property. 
 
 There was no occasion for the Assemblies to pass laws on this 
 subject, the treaty being a law, as I conceive, superior to those of 
 particular Assemblies, and repealing them where they stand in the 
 way of its operation. 
 
 The supposition that the treaty was disregarded on our part in the 
 instance of the acts of Assembly of Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
 shire, which made a distinction between natives and foreigners as to 
 the duties to be paid on commerce, was taken notice of in the letter 
 of November 20th, which I had the honor of addressing to the 
 Count de Vergennes. And while I express my hopes that on a 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 701 
 
 revision of those subjects nothing will be found in them derogatory 
 from either the letter or spirit of our treaty, I will add assurances 
 that the United States will not be behindhand in going beyond both 
 whenever occasions shall offer of manifesting their sincere attachment 
 to this country. 
 
 I will pass on to the observation that our commercial regulations 
 are difficult and repugnant to the French merchants. To detail 
 these regulations minutely as they exist in every State would be 
 beyond my information. A general view of them, however, will 
 suffice, because the States differ little in their several regulations. 
 On the arrival of a ship in America her cargo must be reported at 
 the proper office. The duties on it are to be paid. These are 
 commonly from two and a half to five per cent, on its value. On 
 many articles, the value of which is tolerably uniform, the precise 
 sum is fixed by law. A tariff of these is presented to the importer, 
 and he can see what he has to pay, as well as the officer. For other 
 articles the duty is such a per cent, on their value. That value is 
 either shown by the invoice or by the oath of the importer. This 
 operation being once gone over — and it is a very short one — the 
 goods are considered as entered, and may then pass through the 
 whole thirteen States without their being ever more subject to a 
 question, unless they be reshipped. 
 
 Exportation is still more simple, because, as we prohibit the 
 exportation of nothing, and very rarely lay a duty on any article of 
 export, the State is little interested in examining outward-bound 
 vessels. The Captain asks a clearance for his own purposes. As 
 to the operations of internal commerce, such as matters of exchange, 
 of buying, selling, bartering, Stc, our laws are the same as the 
 English. If they have been altered in any instance, it has been to 
 render them more simple. 
 
 Lastly, as to the tardiness of the administration of justice with us, 
 it would be equally tedious and impracticable for me to give a precise 
 account of it in every State. But I think it probable that it is much 
 on the same footing through all the States, and that an account of it, 
 in any one of them, may found a general presumption of it in the 
 others. Being best acquainted with its administration in Virginia, I 
 shall confine myself to that. Before the Revolution a judgment 
 could not be obtained under eight years in the Supreme Court, where 
 the suit was in the department of the common law, which depart- 
 
702 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 ment embraces about nine tenths of the subjects of legal contestation. 
 In that of the Chancery from twelve to twenty years were requisite. 
 This did not proceed from any vice in the laws, but from the indolence 
 of the judges appointed by the King ; and these judges, holding their 
 offices during his will only, he could have reformed the evil at any 
 time. This reformation was among the first works of the Legislature 
 after their independence. 
 
 A judgment can now be obtained in the Supreme Court in 
 one year at the common law, and in about three years in the 
 chancery. ' 
 
 But more particularly to protect the commerce of France, which 
 at that moment was considerable with us, a law was passed giving 
 all suits wherein a foreigner was a party a privilege to be tried 
 immediately on the return of their process, without waiting till those 
 of natives which stand before them shall, have been decided on. 
 Out of this act, however, the British stand excluded by a subsequent 
 one. This, with all its causes, must be explained. 
 
 The British army, after ravaging the State of Virginia, had sent 
 off a very great number of slaves to New York. By the 7th article 
 of the treaty of peace they stipulated not to carry away any of 
 these. Notwithstanding this, it was known when they were evac- 
 uating New York that they were carrying away the slaves. 
 
 General Washington made an official demand of Sir Guy Carleton 
 that he should cease to send them away. He answered that these 
 people had come to him under promise of the King's protection, and 
 that that promise should be fulfilled in preference to the stipulation 
 in the treaty. 
 
 The State of Virginia, to which nearly the whole of these slaves 
 belonged, passed a law to forbid the recovery of debts due to British 
 subjects. They declared at the same time they would repeal that 
 law if Congress were of opinion they ought to do it. But desirous 
 their citizens should be discharging their debts, they afterwards per- 
 mitted British creditors to prosecute their suits and to receive their 
 debts in seven equal and annual payments, relying that the demand 
 for the slaves would either be admitted or denied in time to lay their 
 hands on some of the latter payments for reimbursement. The 
 immensity of this debt was another reason for forbidding such a mass 
 of property to' be offered for sale under execution at once, as from 
 the srriall quantity of circulating money it must have sold for little 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 703 
 
 or nothing, whereby the creditor would have failed to receive his 
 money, and the debtor would have lost his whole estate without 
 being discharged of his debt. 
 
 This is the history of the delay of justice in that country in the 
 case of British creditors. 
 
 As to all others its administration is as speedy as justice itself will 
 admit. 
 
 I presume it is equally so in all the other States, and can add that 
 it is administered in them all with a purity and integrity of which 
 few countries afford an example. 
 
 I cannot take leave altogether of the subjects of this conversation 
 without recalling the attention to what had been its principal drift. 
 This was to endeavor to bring about a direct exchange between 
 France and the United States (without the intervention of a third 
 nation) of those productions with which each could furnish the other. 
 We can furnish to France (because we have heretofore furnished to 
 England) of whale oil and spermaceti, of furs and peltry, of ship's 
 and naval stores, and of pot-ash, to the amount of fifteen millions of 
 livres, and the quantities will admit of increase. Of our tobacco 
 France consumes the value of ten millions more. 
 
 Twenty-five millions of livres then mark the extent of that com- 
 merce of exchange which is at present practicable between us. 
 We want in return productions and manufactures, not money. If 
 the duties on our produce are light, and the sale free, we shall 
 undoubtedly bring it here, and lay out the proceeds on the spot, in 
 the productions and manufactures which we want. The merchants 
 of France will, on their part, become active in the same business^ 
 We shall no more think, when we shall have sold our produce here, 
 of making an useless voyage to another country to lay out the money, 
 than we think at present when we have sold it elsewhere, of coming 
 here to lay out the money. The conclusion is, that there are 
 commodities which form a basis of exchange to the extent of a 
 million of guineas annually ; it is for the wisdom of those in power 
 to contrite that the exchange shall be made." 
 
 Having put this paper into the hands of Monsieur Keyneval, we 
 entered into conversation again on the subject of the farms, which 
 were now understood to be approaching to a conclusion. He told 
 me that he himself was decidedly of opinion that the interest of the 
 
704 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 State required the farm of tobacco to be discontinued ; that he had, 
 accordingly, given every aid to my proposition which laid within 
 his sphere ; that Count de Vergennes was very clearly of the same 
 opinion, and had supported it strongly with reasons of his own when 
 he transmitted it to the Comptroller General ; but that the Comp- 
 troller, in the discussions of this subject which had taken place, 
 besides the objections which the Count de Vergennes had repeated 
 to me, and which are before mentioned, had added that the contract 
 with the Farmers General was now so far advanced that the article 
 of tobacco could not be withdrawn from it without unraveling the 
 whole transaction. 
 
 Having understood that in this contract there was always reserved 
 to the Crown a right to discontinue it at any moment, making just 
 reimbursements to the Farmers, I asked M. Reyneval if the contract 
 should be concluded in its present form whether it might still be 
 practicable to have it discontinued, as to the article of tobacco, at 
 some future moment. He said it might be possible. 
 
 Upon the whole, the true obstacle to this proposition has penetrated 
 in various ways through the veil which covers it. 
 
 The influence of the Farmers General has heretofore been found 
 sufficient to shake a Minister in his office. Monsieur de Calonne's 
 continuance or dismission has been thought for some time to be on a 
 poise. Were he to shift this great weight, therefore, out of his own 
 scale into that of his adversaries, it would decide their prepon- 
 derance. The joint interests of France and America would be an 
 insufficient counterpoise in his favor. 
 
 It will be observed that these efforts to improve the commerce of 
 the United States have been confined to that branch only which 
 respects France itself, and that nothing passed on the subject of our 
 commerce with the West Indies, except an incidental conversation 
 as to our fish. 
 
 The reason of this was no want of a due sense of its importance. 
 Of that I am thoroughly sensible. But efforts in favor of this 
 branch would, at present, be desperate. To nations with which we 
 have not yet treated, and who have possessions in America, we may 
 offer a free vent of their manufactures in the United States for a full 
 or a modified admittance into those possessions. 
 
 But to France we were obliged to give that freedom for a different 
 compensation, to wit : For her aid to affect our independence. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 705 
 
 It is difScult, therefore, to say what we have now to offer her for 
 an admission into her West Indies. Doubtless it has its price. But 
 the question is what this would be, and whether worth our while; to 
 give it. Were we to propose to give to each other's citizens all the 
 right of natives, they would of course count what they should gain 
 by this enlargement of right, and examine whether it would be worth 
 to them as much as their monopoly of their West Indian commerce. 
 If not, that commercial freedom which we wish to preserve, and 
 which, indeed, is so valuable, leaves us little else to offer. 
 
 An expression in my letter to the Count de Vergennes of Novem- 
 ber 2pth, wherein I hinted that both nations might 'perhaps come into 
 the opinion that the condition of natives might be a better ground of 
 intercourse for their citizens than that of the most favored nation, was 
 intended to furnish an opportunity to the Minister of parleying on that 
 subject, if he was so disposed, and to myself of seeng whereabouts 
 they would begin, that I might communicate it to Congress, and leave 
 them to judge of the expediency of pursuing the subject. 
 
 But no overtures have followed ; for I have no right to consider as 
 coming from the Minister certain questions which were very soon 
 after proposed to me by an individual. 
 
 It sufficiently accounts for these questions that that individual had 
 written a memorial on the subject for the consideration of the Minister, 
 and might wish to know what we would be willing to do. The idea 
 that I should answer such questions to him is equally unaccountable. 
 We suppose them originating with himself, or coming from the Minister. 
 
 In fact, I must suppose them to be his own ; and I transmit them 
 only that Congress may see what one Frenchman at least thinks on 
 the subject. 
 
 If we can obtain from Great Britain reasonable conditions of com- 
 merce, (which in my idea must forever include an admission into her 
 islands,) the freest ground between the two nations would seem to be 
 the best. But if we can obtain no equal terms from her, perhaps 
 Congress might think it prudent, as Holland has done, to connect 
 us unequivocally with France. 
 
 Holland has purchased the protection of France. The price she 
 pays is aid in time of war. It is interesting for us to purchase a 
 free commerce with the French islands. But whether it is best to 
 pay for it by aids in war, or by privileges in commerce, or not to-. 
 purchase it at all, is the question. 
 Vol. L— 45 
 
706 THOMAS JEFFERSON-JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM BARON DE THULEMEIER TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The Hague, October 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the pleasure to inform you of the receipt of the ratification 
 of the treaty of commerce and amity, which I have had the satisfac- 
 tion of negotiating with yourself and colleagues. When that of the 
 United States of America comes to hand, I shall hasten to concert 
 with you the most proper means for the customary exchange in 
 transactions of this kind. 
 
 If Mr. Short is still with you, I must request you, sir, to remember 
 my respects to him, and assure him that I consider myself under 
 great obligations to you for the opportunities you afforded me of 
 becoming acquainted with him. Mr. Short appeared to me as no 
 less distinguished by his knowledge and information than by his 
 abilities in the management of business. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 P. S. May I ask the favor of you to forward to Baltimore the 
 enclosed letter which has been sent to me by a merchant of Silesia. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE BARON DE THULEMEIER. 
 
 Paris, October 16, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I am to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of the 11th instant, 
 with which you have honored me, and wherein you are pleased to 
 inform me of the ratification by his Prussian Majesty of the treaty 
 of amity and commerce between him and the United States of 
 America. On our part the earliest opportunity was embraced of 
 forwarding it to Congress. It goes by a vessel sailing about this 
 time to Havre. I shall with great pleasure communicate to you its 
 ratification by Congress, in the first moment in which it shall become 
 known to me, and concur in the measures necessary for exchanging 
 the ratifications. 
 
 I shall take the greatest care to forward the letter you are pleased 
 to enclose for Baltimore according to its address. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sic, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 707 
 
 FEOM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Paris, October 11, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a report of a 
 vbyage of an American ship, the first which has gone to China. 
 
 The circumstance which induces Congress to direct this commu- 
 nication, is the very friendly conduct of the Consul of his Majesty at 
 Macao, and of the commanders and other officers of the French 
 vessels in those seas. It has been with singular satisfaction that 
 Congress have seen these added to the many other proofs of the 
 cordiality of this nation towards our citizens. It is the more 
 pleasing when it appears in the officers of Government, because it 
 is then viewed as an emanation pf the spirit of the Government. 
 
 It would be an additional gratification to Congress, in this partic- 
 ular instance, should any occasion arise, of notifying those officers 
 that their conduct has been justly represented to your Excellency on 
 the part of the United States, and has met your approbation. 
 Nothing will be wanting on our part to foster corresponding disposi- 
 tions in our citizens, and we hope that proofs of their actual existence 
 have appeared, and will appear whenever occasion shall offer. A 
 sincere affection between the two people is the broadest basis on 
 which their peace can be built. 
 
 It will always be among the most pleasing functions of my office, 
 when I am made the channel of communicating the friendly senti- 
 ments of the two Governments. 
 
 It is additionally so, as it gives me an opportunity of assuring your 
 
 Excellency of the high respect and esteem, with which I have the 
 
 honor to be, Sic, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Fontainebleau, October 30, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write of the 
 
 24th of this month, together with that addressed to me on the part 
 
 of Mr. Samuel Shaw. 
 
708 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I have made it my business to inform the King of the proceedings 
 of his officers, with regard to those who commanded the American 
 ship which has visited China. 
 
 His Majesty has learned with real satisfaction that the former have 
 conformed their conduct to the instructions that had been given them, 
 and he instructs you to assure the Congress that on all occasions that 
 may offer, he will be ready to give proofs of his esteem and friendship 
 for the United States, and the sincere interest he takes in their 
 prosperity. 
 
 At the same time, I have it in command from his Majesty to 
 observe to you how little regard has been paid in America to the 
 rule of reciprocity, and how much they have shown themselves 
 disposed to depart from those principles which formed a basis for the 
 good understanding which subsists between France and the United 
 States. We are in effect informed, sir, that in several of the States 
 they have passed navigation laws and commercial regulations inju- 
 rious to the trade of France, and even contrary to the intent, of the 
 treaty of February 6th, 1778. 
 
 The Congress are too enlightened not to know how much we are 
 affected by such proceedings, as well as too wise and sagacious not 
 to be convinced of the necessity of maintaining things on the same 
 footing of reciprocal advantage on which they have been since the 
 alliance between France and the United States. 
 
 Without this precaution, it is impossible that the mutual commerce 
 of the two nations can prosper or even continue; and the King will 
 be -under the necessity, contrary to his wishes, to fall upon such 
 means as will tend to put matters upon a perfect equality. 
 
 I have the honor to be, he, DE VERGENNES. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Paris, November 20, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 I found here, on my return from Fontainebleau, the letter of 
 October 30th, which your Excellency did me the honor there of 
 informing me had been addressed to me at this place ; and I shall 
 avail myself of the first occasion of transmitting it to Congress, who 
 will receive, with great pleasure, these new assurances of the friendly 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 709 
 
 sentiments which his Majesty is pleased to continue towards the 
 United States. 
 
 I am equally persuaded they will pay the most serious attention 
 to that part of your Excellency's letter which mentions the inform- 
 ation you have received of certain acts or regulations of navigation 
 and commerce, passed in some of the United States, which are 
 injurious to the commerce of France. In the meantime, I wish to 
 remove the unfavorable impressions which those acts seem to have 
 made, as if they were a departure from the reciprocity of conduct 
 stipulated by the treaty of February 6th, 1778. The effect of that 
 treaty is to place each party with the other always on the footing of 
 the most favored nation. But those who framed the acts, probably, 
 did not consider the treaty as restraining either from discriminating 
 between foreigners and natives. Yet this is the sole effect of these 
 acts. The same opinion as to the meaning of the treaty seems to 
 have been entertained by this Government, both before and since 
 the date of these acts. For the arret of the King's Council, of 
 August 30th, 1784, furnishes an example of such a discrimination 
 between foreigners and natives importing salted fish into his Majesty's 
 dominions in the West Indies, by laying a duty on that imported by 
 foreigners, and giving out the same bounty to native importers. 
 This opiriion shows itself more remarkably in the late arrets of the 
 18th and 25th of September, which, increasing to excess the duty 
 on foreign importations of fish into the West Indies, giving the 
 double in bounty on those of the natives, and thereby rendering it 
 impossible for the former to sell in competition with the latter, have, 
 in effect, prohibited the importation of that article by the citizens of 
 the United States. 
 
 Both nations, perhaps, may come into the opinion that their 
 friendship and their interest may be better cemented by approaching 
 the condition of their citizens reciprocally to that of natives as a 
 better ground of intercourse than that of the most favored nation. 
 
 I shall rest with hopes of being authorized, in due time, to inform 
 your Excellency that nothing will be wanting on our part to evince 
 a disposition to concur in revising whatever regulations may, on 
 either side, bear hard on the commerce of the other nation. 
 
 In the meantime, I have the honor to assure you of the profound 
 respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
710 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY, 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 ■Versailles, November 30, 1785. 
 
 You are hereby informed, sir, that a merchant of Boston having 
 imported a cargo of whale oil into France, has not been able to 
 dispose of it, on account of the duties imposed upon this species of 
 commodity ; duties which are paid by all nations, excepting the 
 inhabitants of the Hanse-Towns. 
 
 The Comptroller General, taking into consideration the loss this 
 merchant must sustain if the payment of the aforementioned duty is 
 rigidly exacted, made application to his Majesty in his favor, who 
 thereupon gave orders that no further duty should be paid by the 
 Boston merchant than is required from and paid by the Hanse-Towns ; 
 that is to say, seven livres ten sous, instead of twelve livres per 
 barrel; and that henceforward, till the 1st of January, 1787, no more 
 d:Uty than the first mentioned shall be paid by the inhabitants of the 
 United States upon fish oils of their own production, provided that 
 those oils are imported into France in French or American bottoms, 
 accoinpanied with a certificate from the magistrates of the places 
 where shipped, attesting their production and authenticated by our 
 Consuls. 
 
 I hasten, sir, to inform you of this new regulation, in which, I 
 make no doubt, you will find a new proof of the King's affection for 
 the United States, and of the constant concern he takes in their 
 prosperity. 
 
 I have the honor to be. Sic, DE VERGEJNNES. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES. 
 
 December 2, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have had the honor of receiving your Excellency's letter of 
 
 November the 30th, in which you are pleased to inform me of the 
 
 late abatement of the duties on all fish oils, made from fish^ taken by 
 
 citizens of the United States, and brought into this Kingdom in 
 
 French or in American bottoms ; and I am now to return thanks for 
 
 this relief given to so important a branch of our commerce. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 711 
 
 I shall take the first occasion of communicating the same to 
 Congress, who will receive, with particular satisfaction, this new 
 proof of the King's friendship to the United States, and of the 
 interest which he is pleased to take in their prosperity. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 Extract of a letter from M. de Calonne to the Marquis de la 
 
 Fayette. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Paris, November 17, 1785. 
 
 It would afford me the greatest pleasure, sir, to exert my 
 endeavors to facilitate the means of commerce between the people 
 of France and those of the United States of America. In compli- 
 ance with your wishes, I have proposed to the King to make an 
 abatement till January 1st, 1787, of the duties payable upon fish 
 oils, imported either in 'French or American vessels, the produce of 
 the American fisheries ; and, till that time, that the sarhe duty shall 
 only be paid as is paid by the inhabitants of the Hanse-Towns, in 
 pursuance of the treaty of September 28th, 1716. 
 
 His Majesty, having freely granted this faVor to the subjects of the 
 United ^tates, I have issued orders to the Farmers General to receive 
 no more than the duty of seven livres ten sous per cask of the 
 
 weight of five hundred and twenty pounds, and , instead of 
 
 the duty of twelve livres, per barrel, imposed upon oils, the produce 
 of foreign fisheries. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Whale oils, from whatever place they come into the kingdom, are 
 liable to the following duties, viz : 
 
 Livres. 
 
 1 . Per barrel, of 500 lbs. gross 12 
 
 2. 6 deniers per pound, edict of March 21, 1786 12 10 
 
 3. The 10 sols per pound out of these two duties 12 5 
 
 36 15 
 
712 THOMAS JEPFERSON-JOHN JAY. 
 
 Livres. 
 
 The barrel of 500 lbs, gross, nett only 420 lbs., which 
 advances the duties per quintal to the sum of. 9 3 9 
 
 Not including the local duties of tolls, &;c., >vhich may be 
 estimated at about 15 
 
 Total of the duties per quintal, payable in France 9 18 9 
 
 There is another duty called special grants not yet fixed, but 
 which ought to be ascertained. Whale oils brought from abroad by 
 French vessels, and on account of the subjects of the King of France, 
 pay only lliv. 10s. per barrel of 500 lbs., instead of 12, the first 
 mentioned duty, only. 
 
 The other duties are the same. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 The determination of the Minister of Finance, of November 17, 
 1785, directs to put the inhabitants of the United States upon the 
 same footing with the inhabitants of the Hanse-Towns in regard to 
 fish oils, the produce of their own fisheries, exported to France ; that 
 is to say, instead of paying 12 livres, and 10 sols per livre upon each 
 barrel of oil weighing 520 lbs., that they shall pay only 7 livres 10 
 sols per barrel of the weight of 520 lbs., and 10 sous per livre. 
 Upon condition, however, that the cargoes be accompanied with a 
 certificate signed by the magistrate of the place from whence the oils 
 are exported, which shall attest them to be the product of the fishery 
 of that country. It is further conditioned that the fish oils before- 
 mentioned shall be exported either in American or French vessels. 
 
 Should they be imported into France in the vessels of any foreign 
 nation the said exemption of duty not to take place. 
 
 This exemption to continue in force to the 1st day of January, 
 1787, and no longer. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 An elucidation of the following queries is desired. 
 
 1st. Is a free trade to the French colonies equally necessary to all 
 the United States ? Should there be any difference in this respect 
 to ascertain the degree and the cause thereof? 
 
DIPLOMATIC- CORRESPONDENCE. 713 
 
 2d. Would the United States allow us reciprocal commercial 
 advantages for the liberty we should grant them of a free access to 
 all our colonial marts ? 
 
 3d. Is it in the power of the United States to grant favors to one 
 nation which they would refuse to any other ? 
 
 4th. If France should admit into her ports, without limitation, 
 productions of American growth upon condition of an increase of 
 duty, the repayment of which should be secured to the owners in 
 the compensation that should be made to them in the proceeds of 
 their sales, either of the manufactures or articles the growth of 
 France, would the Americans consent to a trade with us- upon such 
 conditions, and consider themselves either injured or favored ? 
 
 5th. What are the advantages which Congress could promise us 
 in return for those she solicits from us, either in respect to the Euro- 
 pean or colonial commerce? If France should comply with the 
 requisitions of the United States, would they engage to indemnify us 
 for the losses our navigation must suffer in consequence thereof, by 
 the importation of the least valuable commodities into the colonies ; 
 or would they grant us liberty to fish upon the northern coasts of the 
 United States, and secure to us a compensation for the losses above- 
 mentioned by giving a preference to our woolens, our linens, our 
 salt, and our wines ? 
 
 6th. Is the present Congress invested with sufficient power to 
 establish a treaty upon the basis of reciprocal advantage, like two 
 mutually contracting nations, the articles of whose respective treaties 
 would be exactly correspondent to each other, and whose political 
 as well aS commercial regulations should have only one and the same 
 existence ? 
 
 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, January 27, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I had the honor of addressing you by the way of London on the 
 2d instant ; since that yours of December 7th has come to hand. I 
 have now the pleasure to inform you that Mr. Barclay having settled^ 
 as far as depended on him, the accounts of Monsieur de Beaumar- 
 cbais, left Paris on the 15th instant to proceed to Morocco. Business 
 obliged him to go by the way of L'Orient and Bordeaux, but he 
 
714 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 told me he should fiot be detained more than a day at either place. 
 We may probably allow him to the last of February to be at 
 Morocco. 
 
 The Imperial Ambassador some days ago observed to me that, 
 about eighteen months ago, Doctor Franklin had written to him a 
 letter proposing a treaty of commerce between the Emperor and the 
 United States, that he had communicated it to the Emperor, and had 
 answered to Doctor Franklin that they were ready to enter into 
 arrangements for that purpose, but that he had received no reply 
 &om him. 
 
 I told him I had been informed by Doctor Franklin of the letter 
 making the proposition, but that this was the first I had ever heard 
 of an answer expressing their readiness to enter into negotiation ; 
 that, on the contrary, we had supposed no definitive answer had been 
 given, and that of course the next move was on their side. 
 
 He expressed his astonishment at this, and seemed so conscious of 
 having given such an answer that he said he would have it sought 
 for, and send it to me for my inspection{, However, he observed 
 that the delay having proceeded from the expectation of each party 
 that the other was to make the next advance, and this matter being 
 now understood the two parties might now proceed to enter into the 
 necessary arrangements. 
 
 I told him that Congress had been desirous of entering into 
 connexions of amity and commerce with his Imperial Majesty ; that 
 for this purpose they had commissioned Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, 
 and myself, or any two of us, to treat ; that reasons of prudence had 
 pbliged them to affix some term to our commissions, and -that two 
 years was the term assigned ; that the delay, therefore, which had 
 happened was the more unlucky, as these two years would expire in 
 the ensuing spring. 
 
 He said he supposed Congress could have no objections to renew 
 our powers, or perhaps to appoint some person to treat at Brussels. 
 
 I told him I was unable to answer that, and we remitted further 
 conversation opt the subject till he should send me his letter writ- 
 ten to Doctor Franklin. A few days afterwards his Secretaire 
 d'Ambassade called on me with it. It was the letter of September 
 28th, 1784, (transmitted in due time to Congress,) wherein he had 
 informed Dr. Franklin that the Emperor was disposed to enter into 
 commercial arrangements with us, and that heVould give orders to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 715 
 
 the Government of the Netherlands to take the necessary measures. 
 I observed to Monsieur de Blumendorff(the Secretary) that this letter 
 shewed we were right in our expectations of their taking the next step. 
 He seemed sensible of it, said that the quarrel with Holland had 
 engrossed the attention of Governmept, and. that these orders relating 
 to the Netherlands only, it had been expected that others would be 
 given, which should include Hungary, Bohemia, and the Austrian 
 dominions in general, and that they stiU expected such orders. 
 
 I told hirti that while they should be a,ttending them, I would write 
 to Mr. Adams, in London, my colleague in this business, in concert 
 with whom I must move in it. 
 
 I think they are desirous of treating, and from questions asked rne 
 by Monsieur de Blumendorff, I suspect they have been led to that 
 decision, either by the resolutions of Congress of April, 1784, asking 
 powers from the States to impose restraints on the commerce of 
 States not connected with us by treaty, or else by an act of the 
 Pennsylvania Assembly for giving such powers to Congress, which 
 has appeared in the Euro{)ean papers. 
 
 In the meantime I own myself at a loss what to do. Our instruc- 
 tions are clearly to treat. But these made part of a system, wise 
 and advantageous, if executed in all its parts ; but which has hitherto 
 failed in its most material branch, that of connexion with the powers 
 having American territory. 
 
 Should these continue to stand aloof, it may be necessary for the 
 United States to enter into commercial regulations of a defensive 
 nature. 
 
 These may be embarrassed by treaties with the Powers having no 
 Arnefican territory, and who are, most of them, so little commercial 
 as perhaps not to offer advantages which may countervail these 
 embarrassments. In case of a war, indeed, these treaties will 
 become of value, and even during peace ; the respectability of the 
 Emperor, who stands at the head of one of the two parties, which 
 seem at present to divide Europe, gives a lustre to those connected 
 with him ; a circumstance not to be absolutely neglected by us under 
 the actual situation of things. 
 
 I append a letter from Mr. Adams on this subject, not trusting the 
 posts, however, and obliged to wait private conveyances. Our 
 intercommunication is slow, and, in the meanwhile, our time short- 
 ening fast. 
 
716 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I have the honor to enclose you a letter from the Count de 
 Vergennes, in favor of Mr. Dumas. 
 
 With the services of this gentleman to the United States, yourself 
 and Doctor Franklin are better acquainted than I am. Those he 
 has been able to render towards effecting the late alliance between 
 France and the United Netherlands, are the probable grounds of the 
 present application. 
 
 The Minister for Geneva has desired me to have inquiries made 
 after Mr. Gallatin, named in the within paper. I will pray you to 
 have the necessary advertisements inserted in the papers, and to be 
 so good as to favor me with the result. I enclose the gazettes of 
 France and Leyden to this date, and have the honor to be, with the 
 most perfect respect and esteem, fcc, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 Note on the original letter of Mr. Jefferson : 
 
 Agreeably to Mr. Jefferson's request, Mr. Jay had the necessary 
 advertisements relative to Mr. Gallatin inserted in all the papers on 
 the continent. 
 
 PROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Versailles, January 18, 1786. 
 
 M. the Marquis de Verac, the King's Ambassador at the Hague, 
 requests me, sir, to interest myself in favor of Mr. Dumas, who 
 resides in Holland, in quality of Charge d' Affaires of Congress. 
 
 That Ambassador at the same time makes the highest eulogiums 
 on the zeal and talents of Mr. Dumas, as well as on the- important 
 services which he has rendered to the American cause. Congress 
 has led him to hope for treatment more advantageous and more 
 proportionate to his merit, so soon as America should enjoy some 
 tranquillity. 
 
 Mr. Dumas is known advantageously to General Washington and 
 Doctor Franklin. 
 
 Testimonies so honorable cannot but complete his eulogium ; and 
 the very interesting manner in which the Marquis de Verac expresses 
 himself on his behalf, determines me to join my recommendations to 
 his in favor of this Charge d' Affaires. 
 
 I request the favor of you, sir, to convey them to Congress. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 717 
 
 We think that the way to recompense properly the services of 
 Mr. Dumas, will be to give him the title of Resident, with an 
 allowance of four thousand dollars a year, with which we have 
 reason to think he would be satisfied. 
 
 The consideration which he enjoys in Holland essentially enables 
 him to be more and more useful to America, and the confidence with 
 which his principles of wisdom and probity inspire me, does not 
 permit me to doubt but that he will think it his duty to justify, by 
 the activity of his zeal, the mark of good will he may receive from 
 Congress. 
 
 I should see, sir, with a good deal of interest the success of this 
 
 ^^^''^- DE VERGENNES. 
 
 INQUIRY RELATIVE TO A MR. GALLATIN, OF GENEVA. 
 
 Mr. Abraham Albert Alphonso Gallatin left Geneva in April, 
 1780, for America, and arrived soon after. Whilst engaged in 
 several pursuits, previous to accomplishing his design of settling 
 himself, he became acquainted with a Mr. Savany de Valcoulan, 
 who had purchased several thousand acres of uncultivated land 
 joining the river Ohio, and who made him a partner in this purchase 
 on condition that Mr. Gallatin should take upon himself the expense 
 of having these lands surveyed. It is not known whether the 
 design, of clearing this land was viewed with an evil eye by the 
 Indians of that district ; but in July, 1785, it was announced in the 
 Fredericksburg Gazette in an article under the head of " Richmond" 
 in Virginia, that eleven persons had been surprised by a small 
 party of Indians between the Great and Little Kenhawa, which 
 empty into the Ohio ; that this party of Indians was commanded by 
 a white man of the name of Girty ; that five of the seven had been 
 killed and scalped, and that among the five were Mr. Gallatin and a 
 Mr. Duval, Senator from that district. Mr. Gallatin was described 
 as a young Frenchman, having lately left Richmond to go into that 
 quarter, which was true of Mr. Gallatin, the Genevan. 
 
 This account, taken from that Gazette, was written to Geneva, 
 and has been repeated in other European gazettes, but no confirma- 
 tion of it has been since received. On the contrary, a Mr. Charton, 
 
718 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 of Philadelphia, who is expected soon in Europe, told a Mr. Dubey, 
 lately arrived in Neufchatel, in Switzerland, from America, that Mr. 
 Gallatin was still living. 
 
 Mr. Gallatin's family desire to be informed with certainty of the 
 fate of this young man ; and in the case of his having fallen a victim 
 to the savages they would have need of an authenticated certificate 
 of his death, of the time of that event, and also a copy of his will, if 
 he has made one. 
 
 Mr. Gallatin would have been twenty-five years old at the end of 
 February, 1786. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, May 5, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The last letter I had the honor of writing to you was dated the 
 19th day of January last, since which I have received and laid 
 before Congress yours of the 30th August, 6th and 11th October, 
 24th December, and 27th January last, with the several papers 
 enclosed with them. 
 
 No. 1 of the papers herewith enclosed is an extract from Mr. 
 Otto's note of the 18th ultimo, desiring that the Consular Conven- 
 tion may be speedily ratified. 
 
 No. 2 is a copy of a report on that subject agreed to by Congress, 
 which will enable you to account and apologize for the delays that 
 have attended that business. 
 
 I also enclose and leave open for your perusal a letter to Mr. 
 Dumas, by which you will perceive that Congress have made such 
 a provision for him as, considering his services and their circum- 
 stances, appeared to them to be proper. That act of Congress was 
 transmitted to him by the first opportunity after it had passed. As 
 he makes no mention of it in any of his subsequent letters, I suspect 
 it must have miscarried. 
 
 The subjects of your several letters are interesting, and bear 
 strong marks of discernment and assiduity. I forbear entering into 
 particulars by this conveyance. Until this week Congress has not 
 been composed of nine States for more than three or four days since 
 last fall. This will account for my silence on parts of youi: letters 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPdNDENCE. 'tl9 
 
 which required answers and instructions ; for as theii: sentiments and 
 decisions must direct the pubhc conduct of their officers, I must 
 wait with patience for their orders. 
 
 I have received from Mr. Hopkinson a parcel for you, which, 
 agreeable to a hint from him, I shall request the captain of the 
 packet to take as merchandize. The late newspapers shall also be 
 sent by the packet. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., Jt)HN JAY. 
 
 tEOM JOHN JAY TO tHOMAS JEFFERSOiT. 
 
 New York, May 10, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 This will be delivered to you by the Rev. Doctor Samuel Wales, 
 Professor in Yale College in Connecticut, who for the recovery of 
 his health, is advised by his physicians to make a voyage to 
 Europe. 
 
 This gentleman is recommended to me in such strong and advan- 
 tageous terms that I cannot forbear taking the liberty of introducing 
 him to you, and requesting the favor of you to show him those 
 friendly offices and attentions which circumstances and the objects of 
 his voyage may point out. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, March 5, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The several commissions to which Congress Were pleased to 
 appoint Colonel Humphreys, Secretary of Legation, being shortly 
 to expire, and a French packet offering him a convenient passage in 
 the month of April, he proposes to avail himself of that occasion of 
 returning to his own country, and of there presenting his respects and 
 thanks to Congress. 
 
 As a member of the several commissions with which his office 
 was connected, I think it my duty to bear testimony to his ready, 
 able, and faithful discharge of all its duties ; and I beg leave, through 
 
720 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 you to Congress, to assure them that his talents and dispositions are 
 such as they may repose themselves on with security should they 
 think proper to avail our country of them on any future occasion. 
 I have the honor to be, he, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS JErFEESON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 London, March 12, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The date of a letter from London will doubtless be as unexpected 
 to you as it was unforeseen by myself a few days ago. On the 27th 
 of the last month, Colonel Smith arrived in Paris with a letter from 
 Mr. Adams informing me that there was at this place a Minister 
 from Tripoli having general powers to enter into treaties on behalf of 
 his State, and with whom it was possible we might do something. in 
 our commissions to that Power ; and that he gave reason to believe 
 he could also take arrangement with us for Tunis. He further 
 added that the Minister of Portugal here had received ultimate 
 instructions from his Court, and that probably that treaty might 
 be concluded in the space of three weeks were we all on the spot 
 together. He therefore pressed me to come Over immediately. 
 
 The first of these objects had some weight on my mind, because, 
 as we had sent no person to Tripoli or Tunis, I thought if we could 
 meet a Minister from them on this ground, our arrangements would 
 be settled much sooner and at less expense. But what principally 
 decided with me was the desire of bringing matters to a conclusion 
 with Portugal before the term of our commission should expire, or 
 any new turn in the negotiations of France and England should 
 abate their willingness to fix a connexion with us. 
 
 A third motive had also its weight. I hoped that my attendance 
 here, and the necessity of shortening it, might be made use of to 
 force a decisive answer from this Court. 
 
 I therefore concluded to comply with Mr. Adams's request. 
 
 I went immediately to Versailles, and apprised the Count de 
 Vergennes that circumstances of public duty called me hither for 
 three or four weeks, arranged with him some matters, and set out 
 with Colonel Smith for this place, where we arrived last night, 
 which was as early as the excessive rigor of the weather permitted. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 721 
 
 I saw Mr. Adams immediately, and again to-day. He informs 
 me that the Minister of Portugal was taken ill five or six days 
 ago, has been very much so, but is now somewhat better. 
 
 It would be very mortifying, indeed, should this accident, with 
 the shortness of the term to which I limit my stay here, defeat what 
 was the principal object of my journey, and that without which I 
 should hardly have undertaken it. With respect to this country, I 
 had no doubt but that every consideration had been urged by Mr. 
 Adams which was proper to be urged. 
 
 Nothing remains undone in this way. But we shall avail our- 
 selves of my journey here, as if made on purpose just before the 
 expiration of our commission, to form our report to Congress on 
 the execution of that commission, which report they may be given 
 to know cannot be formed without decisive information of the 
 ultimate determination of their Court. 
 
 There is no doubt what that determinatibn will be ; but it will 
 be useful to have it, as it may put an end to all further expectations 
 on our side the water, and shew that the time is come for doing 
 whatever is to be done by us for counteracting the unjust and greedy 
 designs of this country. 
 
 We shall have the honor, before I leave this place, to inform you 
 of the result of the several matters which have brought me to it. 
 
 A day or two before my departure from Paris, I received your 
 letter of January . The question therein proposed — " How far 
 Francs considers herself as bound to insist on the delivery of the 
 posts ?" — would infallibly produce another : How far we consider 
 ourselves as guarantees of their American possessions, and abound to 
 enter into any future war in which these may be attacked ? 
 
 The words of the treaty of alliance seem to be without ambiguity 
 on either head. Yet I should be afraid to commit Congress by 
 answering without authority. 
 
 I will endeavor on my return to sound the opinion of the Minister, 
 if possible, without exposing myself to the other question. Should 
 anything forcible be meditated on those posts it would possibly be 
 thought prudent previously to ask the good offices of France, to obtain 
 their delivery. 
 
 In this case they would probably say we must first execute the 
 treaty on our part, by repealing all acts which have contravened it. 
 
 Now this measure, if there be any candor in the Court of London, 
 Vol. I.— 46 
 
722 THOMAS JEFFERSON-^OHN JAY. 
 
 would suffice to obtain a delivery of the posts from them without the 
 mediation of any third Power. 
 
 However, if this mediation should be finally needed, I see no 
 reason to doubt our obtaining it, and still less to question its omnipo- 
 tent influence on the British Court. 
 
 I have the honor to be, he, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FBOM JOHN JAT TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, June 16, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Since my last to you of the 14th ultimo, I have been honored with 
 yours of the 2d January, and 5th and 12th of March last. I have 
 also received a joint letter from you and Mr. Adams, of 28th March. 
 All of them have been laid before Congress, who as yet have not 
 given me any orders respecting the contents of either. 
 
 The first of these letters, viz : that of 2d January, strikes me as 
 very interesting. I always wished, and that very sincerely, that on 
 the return of peace, France might derive essential advantages from 
 our commerce. I regret that this hfts not been the case, and that the 
 causes which occasioned the disappointment, have not sooner been 
 investigated and removed. In my opinion, you have done it 
 candidly and ably ; and it would give me great pleasure to hear that 
 France has so regulated her commerce, as that the people of this 
 country may indulge their desire of giving the productions of this 
 country in exchange for those of that. There is certainly much 
 wisdom and knowledge in France, but the interests of commerce do 
 not appear to be as well understood in that country as in England. 
 However the system of farming and monopoly may comport with the 
 views of Government in some points, the experience of ages bears 
 testimony to the injuries they have done to commerce. Govern- 
 ments, however, like individuals, sometimes become too strongly 
 attached, by long continued habit, even to what daily does them 
 harm. So that we may apply to errors in politics, what was wisely 
 remarked of errors in morals : it is hard for those who are accus- 
 tomed to do evil to learn to do well. When I was in France, I 
 heard that system censured by almost every gentleman whom I 
 heard speak of it, and yet it seems so firmly fixed, perhaps by golden 
 rivets, even on sovereignty itself, as that the speedy destruction of 
 it seems rather to be wished for than expected. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 723 
 
 I herewith send copies of several letters respecting Mr. Gallatin, 
 which will enable you to assure his friends of his being alive, and 
 probably doing well. 
 
 I am impatient to receive the orders of Congress on the subject of 
 your negotiation with the Barbary Powers. As yet that business 
 remains under consideration. As to further loans, I have long 
 thought that they should be preceded by proper arrangements for 
 the payment of interest and principal, so that the public faith may 
 be punctually kept. National character depends upon it, and I, for 
 my part, think national character is of more importance than even 
 peace with those pirates. 
 
 Your reasons for going to England appear to me as they did to 
 you, cogent and conclusive, and I make no doubt but that good will 
 result from it, although, perhaps, not all that might have been 
 expected. The affair of our posts is a serious business, and the 
 more so as in my opinion Britain has too much reason on her side. 
 They who ask equity should do it. 
 
 You will also receive with this letter some of our late papers, and 
 I shall take the first good opportunity that may offer to write to you 
 more particularly and explicitly on several subjects. 
 
 With great and sincere esteem and respect, I have the honor to 
 be. Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FHOM THOMAS JEFFEKSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 London, April 23, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 In another letter of this day, I stated to you what had passedwith 
 public characters since my arrival here. Conversations with private 
 individuals, I thought it best not to mingle with the contents of that 
 letter. 
 
 Yet as some have taken place which relate to matters within our 
 instructions, and with persons whose opinions deserve to have some 
 weight, I will take the liberty of stating them. In a conversation 
 with an ancient and respectable merchant of this place, such a view 
 of the true state of the commercial connexion of America and Great 
 Britain was presented to him, as induced him to acknowledge they 
 had been mistaken in their opinions, and to ask that Mr. Adams and 
 myself would permit the- chairman of the committee of American 
 merchants to call on us. 
 
724 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 He observed that the same person happened to be, also, chairman 
 of the committee of the whole body of British merchants, and that 
 such was the respect paid to his person and office, that we might 
 consider what came from him as coming from the c6mmittees them- 
 selves. He called on us at an appointed hour. It was a Mr. 
 Duncan Campbell, formerly much concerned in the American trade. 
 We entered on the subject of the non-execution of the late treaty of 
 peace alleged on both sides. We observed that the refusal to deliver 
 the western posts, and the withdrawing American property, contrary 
 to express stipulation, having preceded what we considered as 
 breaches on our part, were to be considered as the causes of our 
 proceedings. The obstructions thrown by our Legislatures in the 
 way of the recovery of their debts was insisted on by him. We 
 observed to him that the great amount of the debt from America to 
 Great Britain, and the little circulating coin in the former country, 
 rendered an immediate payment impossible. That time was neces- 
 sary ; that we had been authorized to enter into explanatory 
 arrangements on this subject ; that we had made overtures for the 
 purpose, which had not been attended to; and that the States had 
 therefore been obliged to modify the article for themselves. He 
 acknowledged the impossibility of immediate payment, the propriety 
 of an explanatory convention, and that they were disposed to allow 
 a reasonable time. We mentioned the term of five years, including 
 the present, but that judgments might be allowed immediately) only 
 dividing the execution into' equal and annual parts, so that the last 
 should be levied by the close of the year 1790. This seemed to be 
 quite agreeable to him, and to be as short a term as would be insisted 
 on by them. Proceeding to the sum to be demanded, we agreed 
 that the principal, with the interest incurring before and after the 
 war, should be paid, but as to that incurring during the war, y- 
 differed from him. He urged its justice with respect to themselves, 
 who had laid out of the use of their money during that period. This 
 was his only topic. We opposed to it all those which circumstances, 
 both public and private, gave rise to. He appeared to feel their 
 weight, but said the renunciation of this interest was a bitter pill, and 
 such a one as the merchants here could not swallow. He wished 
 that no declaration should be made as to this article, but we observed 
 that if we entered into explanatory declarations of the points unfa- 
 vorable to us, we should expect, as a consideration for this, 
 corresponding declarations on the parts in our favor. In fact, we 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 725 
 
 supposed his view to be to leave this part of the interest to stand on 
 the general expressions of the treaty, that they might avail them- 
 selves in individual cases of the favorable dispositions of debtors or 
 of juries. 
 
 We proceeded to the necessity of arrangements of our future 
 commerce, were it only as a means of enabling our country to pay 
 its debts. That they had been contracted while certain modes of 
 remittance had existed here, and had been an inducement to us to 
 contract these debts. He said he was not authorized to speak on 
 the subject of the future commerce. 
 
 He appeared really and feelingly anxious that arrangements should 
 be stipulated as to the payment of the old debts ; said he would 
 proceed at that moment to Lord Carmarthen's and discuss the subject 
 with him, and that we might expect to hear from him. He took 
 leave, and we never since have heard from him or any other person 
 on the subject. 
 
 Congress will judge how far these conversations should influence 
 their future proceedings or those of the States. 
 
 I have the honor to be, kc, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 London, April 23, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 In my letter of March 12th I had the honor of explaining to you 
 the motives which had brought me to this place. A joint letter from 
 Mr. Adams and hiyself, sent by the last packet, informed you of the 
 result of our conferences with the Tripoline Minister. 
 
 The conferences with the Minister of Portugal have been drawn 
 to a greater length than I expected; however, everything is now 
 agreed, arid the treaty will be ready for signature the day after to- 
 morrow. I shall set out for Paris the same day. With this country 
 nothing is done ; and that nothing is intended to be done on their 
 part admits not the smallest doubt. The nation is against any change 
 of measures. The Ministers are against it, some from principle, 
 others from subserviency, and the King more than all men is against 
 it. If we take a retrospect to the beginning of the present reign, 
 we observe, that amidst all the changes of Ministry no change of 
 measures with respect to America ever took place, excepting only at 
 
726 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the moment of the peace, and the Minister of that moment was 
 immediately removed. 
 
 Judging of the future by the past, I do not expect a change of 
 disposition during the present reign, which bids fair to be a long one, 
 as the King is healthy and temperate. That he is persevering we 
 know. If he ever changes his plan, it will be in consequence of 
 events which neither himself nor his Ministers at present place among 
 those which are probable. Even the opposition dare not open 
 their lips in favor of a connexion with us, so unpopular would be 
 the topic. 
 
 It is not that they think our commerce unimportant to them. I 
 find that the merchants have set sufficient value on it ; but that they 
 are sure of keeping it on their own terms. No better proof can be 
 shewn of the security in which the Ministers think themselves on 
 this head than that they have not thought it worth while to give us a 
 conference on the subject, though on my arrival we exhibited to 
 them our commission, observed to them that it would expire on the 
 12th of the next month, and that I had come over on purpose to see 
 if any arrangements could be made before that time. Of two months 
 which then remained six weeks have elapsed without one scrap of a 
 pen or one word from a Minister, except a vague proposition at an 
 accidental meeting. We availed ourselves even of that to make 
 another essay to extort some sort of declaration from the Court, but 
 their silence is invincible. But of all this, as well as of the pro- 
 ceedings in the negotiation with Portugal, information will be given 
 you by a joint letter from Mr. Adams and myself. 
 
 The moment is certainly arrived, when the plan of this Court 
 being out of all doubt. Congress and the States may decide what 
 their own measures should be. 
 
 The Marquis of Lansdowne spoke of you in very friendly terms, 
 and desired me to present his respects to you in the first letter I 
 should write. 
 
 He is thoroughly sensible of the folly of the present measures of 
 this country, as are a few other characters about him. Dr. Price is 
 among these, and is particularly disturbed at the present prospects. 
 He acknowledges, however, that all change is desperate, which 
 weighs the more, as he is intimate with Mr. Pitt. 
 
 This small band of friends, favorable as it is, does not pretend to 
 say one word in public on our subject. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 727 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, July 14, 1786. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Since my last to you, of the 16th ultimo, I have been honored 
 with your letter of 23d, and a joint one from you and Mr. Adams, 
 of 25th April. 
 
 Considering the importance of our commerce with Portugal, it 
 gives me pleasure to learn that a treaty with that kingdom was nearly 
 concluded. Until our affairs shall be more perfectly arranged, we 
 shall treat under disadvantages, and therefore I am not surprised that 
 our negotiations with Britain and Barbary are unpromising. To be 
 respectable abroad it is necessary to be so at home, and that will 
 not be the case until our public faith acquires more confidence and 
 our Goveirnment more strength. 
 
 When, or how, these great objects will be attained can scarcely 
 be conjectured. An uneasiness prevails through the country, and 
 may prpduce, eventually, the desired reformation, and it may also 
 produce untoward events. Time alone can decide this and many 
 other doubts. For nations like individuals are more frequently 
 guided by circumstances than circumstances by them. 
 
 I am not charged to communicate to you any instructions, though 
 I have reason to think that some will be ready by the time the next 
 packet will sail. Nor have I any very interesting intelligence to 
 transmit. The British Government at New Brunswick have lately 
 given uneasiness to Massachusetts by extending their jurisdiction 
 farther than the treaty will warrant. And from the present state of 
 our Indian affairs, there is reason to apprehend trouble with them. 
 They appear dissatisfied with their late cessions to us, and it is not 
 improbable that they will give interruption to our surveyors. How 
 far these people may be instigated by our neighbors is not decided ; 
 but the asperity observable in the British nation towards us creates 
 suspicion that they wish to see our difficulties, of every kind, increase 
 and accumulate. Indeed, I fear that other European nations do not 
 regard us entirely without jealousy. There are some little circum- 
 stances which look as if the Dutch regret our having found the way 
 to China ; and that will, doubtless, be more or less the case with 
 every nation with whose commercial views we may interfere. I am 
 
728 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 happy in reflecting that there can be but httle clashing of interests 
 between us and France, and, therefore, that she will probably continue 
 disposed to wish us well and do us good, especially if we honestly 
 fulfil our pecuniary engagements with her. These engagements, 
 however, give me much concern. Every principle and consideration 
 of honor, justice, and interest, call upon us for good faith and punc- 
 tuality, and yet we are, unhappily, so circumstanced that the moneys 
 necessary for the purpose are not provided, nor in such a way of 
 being provided as they ought to be. This is owing, not to anything 
 wrong in Congress, but to their not possessing that power of coercion 
 without which no Government can possibly attain the most salutary 
 and constitutional objects. Excuses and palliations, and applications, 
 for more time, make bad remittances, and will afford no inducements 
 to our allies or others to afford us similar aids on future occasions. 
 
 I send herewith a packet for you from Mr. Hopkinson, and the 
 public papers. The letter will inform you of the death of General 
 Greene ; this is a serious loss to this country, as well as his family, 
 and is universally and justly lamented. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Paris, May 5, 178G. 
 
 Sir, 
 A visit of two months to England has been the cause of your not 
 hearing from me during that period. Your letters of February the 
 3d, to Mr. Adams and myself, and of February the 4th, to me, had 
 come to hand before my departure. While I was in London, Mr. 
 Adams received the letters giving information of Mr. Lamb's arrival 
 at Algiers. In London we had conferences with a Tripoline 
 Ambassador, now at that Court, named Abdrahaman. He asked us 
 thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his Court, and as much for 
 Tunis, for which he said he could answer. What we were author- 
 ized to offer being to this but as a drop to a bucket, our conferences 
 were repeated only for the purpose of obtaining information. If the 
 demands of Algiers and Morocco should be proportioned to this 
 according to their superior power, it is easy to foresee that the 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 729 
 
 United States will not buy a peace with money. What principally 
 led me to England, was the information that the Chevalier del 
 Pinto, Portuguese Minister at that Court, had received full powers 
 to treat with us. I accordingly went there, and, in the course of six 
 weeks, we arranged a commercial treaty between our two countries. 
 His powers were only to negotiate, not to sign. And, as I could 
 not wait, Mr. Adams and myself signed, and the Chevalier del Pinto 
 expected daily the arrival of powers to do the same. The footing 
 on which each ha^ placed the other is that of the most favored 
 nation. We wish much to have had some privileges in their 
 American possessions ; but this was not to be effected. The right 
 to import flour into Portugal, though not conceded by the treaty, 
 we are not without hopes of obtaining. 
 
 My journey furnished us with occasion to renew our overtures to 
 the Court of London ; which it was the more important to do, as 
 our powers to that Court were to expire on the 12th of this month. 
 These overtures were not attended to, and our commission expiring, 
 we made our final report to Congress ; and I suppose this the last 
 offer of friendship which will ever be made on our part. The treaty 
 of peace being unexecuted on either part in important points, each 
 will now take their own measures for obtaining execution. I think 
 the King, Ministers, and nation, are more bitterly hostile to us at 
 present than at any period of the late war. A like disposition on 
 our part has been rising for some time. In what events these things 
 will end, we cannot foresee. Our countrymen are eager in their 
 passions and enterprises, and not disposed to calculate their interests 
 against these. Our enemies (for such they are, in fact,) have, for 
 twelve years past, followed but one uniform rule, that of doing 
 exactly the contrary of what reason points out. Having early, 
 during our contest, observed this in the British conduct, I governed 
 myself by it in all prognostications of their measures ; and I can 
 say, with truth, it never failed me but in the cirgumstance of their 
 making peace with us. I have no letters from America of later date 
 than the new year. Mr. Adams had to the beginning of February. 
 I am in hopes our letters will give a new spur to the proposition for 
 investing Congress with the regulation of our commerce. 
 
 This will be handed you by a Baron Walterstorff, a Danish 
 gentleman, whom, if you did not already know, I should take the 
 liberty of recommending to you. You were so kind as to write me 
 
730 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 that you would forward me a particular map, which has not come to 
 hand. I beg you to be assured of the respect and esteem with 
 which I have the honor to be, Stc, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO M. DUMAS. 
 
 Paris, May 6, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Having been absent in England for some time past, your favors of 
 February the 27th, March the 28th, and April the 11th, have not 
 been acknowledged so soon as they should have been. I am obliged 
 to you for assisting to make me known to the Rhingrave de Salm 
 and the Marquis de la Coste, whose reputations render an acquaint- 
 ance with them desirable. I have not yet seen either, but expect 
 that honor from the Rhingrave very soon. Your letters to Mr. Jay 
 and Mr. Van Berckel, received in my absence, will be forwarded by 
 a gentleman who leaves this place for New York within a few days. 
 I sent the treaty with Prussia by a gentleman who sailed from 
 Havre the 1 1th of November. The arrival of that vessel in America 
 is not yet known here. Though the time is not long enough to 
 produce despair, it is sufficiently so to give inquietude, lest it should 
 be lost. This would be a cause of much concern to me. I beg the 
 favor of you to mention this circumstance to the Baron de Thulemeier 
 as an apology for his not hearing from us. The last advices from 
 America bring us nothing interesting. A principal object of my 
 journey to London was to enter into commercial arrangements with 
 Portugal. This has been done almost in the precise terms of those 
 of Prussia. The English are still our enemies. The spirit existing 
 there, and rising in America, has a very lowering aspect. To what 
 events it may give birth, I cannot foresee. We are young, and can 
 survive them ; but their rotten machine must crush under the trial. 
 The animosities of Sovereigns are temporary, and may be allayed ; 
 but those which seize the whole body of a people — and of a people, 
 too, who dictate their own measures — produce calamities of long 
 duration. I shall not wonder to see the scenes of ancient Rome and 
 Carthage renewed in our day ; and if not pursued to the same issue, 
 it may be because the republic of modem Powers will not permit the 
 extinction of any one of its members. Peace and friendship with 
 all mankind is our wisest policy ; and I wish we may be permitted 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 731 
 
 to pursue it. But the temper and folly of our enemies may not 
 leave this in our choice, I am happy in our prospect of friendship 
 with the most estimable Po\N^ers of Europe, and particularly with 
 those of the Confederacy of which yours is. That your present 
 crisis may have a happy issue, is the prayer and wish of him who 
 has the honor to be, fcc, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS JEFFEHSON TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Palis, May 11, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I do myself the honor of enclosing to you letters which carne to 
 hand last night from Mr. Lamb, Mr. Carmichael, and Mr. Barclay. 
 By these you will perceive that our peace is not to be purchased at 
 .Algiers but at a price far beyond our powers. What that would be, 
 indeed, Mr. Lamb does not say, nor probably does he know. But 
 as he knew our ultimatum we are to suppose from his letter that it 
 would be a price infinitely beyond that. A reference to Congress 
 hereon seems to be necessary. Till that can be obtained Mr. Lamb 
 must be idle at Algiers, Carthagena, or elsewhere. Would he not 
 be better employed in going to Congress ? They would be able to 
 draw from him and Mr. Randall the information necessary to 
 determine what they will do. And if they determine to negotiate 
 they can reappoint the same, or appoint a new negotiator, according 
 to the opinion they form on their examination. I suggest this to you 
 as my first thoughts ; an ultimate opinion should not be formed till 
 we see Mr, Randall, whp may be shortly expected. In the mean- 
 time, should an opportunity occur, favor me with your ideas hereon, 
 that we may be maturing our opinions. I shall send copies of these 
 three letters to Mr. Jay by the packet which sails from L'Orient the 
 first of next month. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c,, TH : JEFFERSON, 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 12, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The last letters I had the honor of addressing you from this place 
 
 were of the 2d and 27th of January ; those from London were of 
 
 the 12th of March and 23d of April. 
 
732 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 In the month of February the Baron de Bloiiie, Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary at this Court from Denmark, informed me that he was 
 instructed by his Court to give notice to the Ministers from the 
 United States appointed to negotiate a treaty of commerce with 
 them, that the Baron de WalterstoriF, formerly commissioned by them 
 for the same purpose, had received another destination, which called 
 him to the West Indies ; that they were sensible of the advantages 
 which would arise to the two countries from a commercial intercourse ; 
 that their ports were accordingly placed on a very firm footing, as 
 they supposed ours to be also ; that they supposed the commerce on 
 each part might be well conducted under the actual arrangements, 
 but that whenever any circumstances should arise which would render 
 particular stipulations more eligible, they would be ready to concur 
 with the United States in establishing them, being desirous of con- 
 tinuing on the terms of the strictest harmony and friendship with them. 
 
 In my letter of January 27 I informed you of what had passed 
 between the Imperial Ambassador and Secretary of Embassy and 
 myself, on the subject of the treaty with their sovereign. 
 
 The Ambassador was in hourly expectations of receiving his full 
 powers when I was called to London. Though I had received Mr. 
 Adams's opinion in favor of our proceeding in the treaty, yet it was 
 neither his nor my opinion that this object should overweigh those 
 which called me to London. 
 
 A treaty with Portugal was more important, exclusive of what 
 was to be done with England and the States of Barbary. 
 
 On my return to Paris the Secretary of Embassy called on me to 
 inform me the Ambassador had received his full powers very soon 
 after ray departure, and was now ready to begin on our arrangements ; 
 that he was sensible, however, that these could not be settled before 
 our commission would expire ; but as he supposed Congress would 
 be willing to renew it, we might proceed to confer together, leaving 
 the effect of our conferences to rest on the event of a renewal of 
 the commission. He asked also a draught of our propositions as a 
 groundwork to proceed on. I met with the Ambassador a few days 
 after ; he said the same things in substance, and concluded by asking 
 our propositions. 
 
 I gave him a draft, which was a copy of what we had originally 
 proposed to Denmark, with such alterations as had occurred and 
 been approved in our negotiations with Prussia, Tuscany, and 
 Portugal. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 733 
 
 The enclosed letters of December 9 and January 18, from O'Bryen ; 
 of February 24, March 13, 20, 23, 27, 31, April § and 10, from 
 Mr. Barclay ; of March 29, from Mr. Lamb ; and February 3, and 
 April 13, from Mr. Carmichael, will put you in possession of my 
 latest intelligence on the affairs of Morocco and Algiers. You will 
 perceive by them that Mr. Randall may be daily expected here. If 
 the propositions to Algiers appear from his account to be as unhopeful 
 as Mr. Lamb seems to consider them, it is not improbable that Mr. 
 Adams and myself may think that, instead of remaining at Cartha- 
 gena, as Mr. Lamb proposes, it will be better for him to proceed to 
 Congress without occasioning any loss of time. This will offer the 
 two advantages of giving them all the information he may be pos- 
 sessed of, and of putting it in their power to appoint any negotiator 
 they may think proper, should they find negotiation still eligible. 
 However, Mir. Adams and myself shall have better grounds to decide 
 on when we shall receive the information of Mr. Randall. 
 
 Colonel Humphreys carried you the Leyden Gazette to the 
 beginning of April. I now enclose it from that to the present date, 
 together with the Gazette of France from February 3 to May 12. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFEBSON. 
 
 Bayonne, February 24, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I had the pleasure of receiving your note addressed to me at 
 Bordeaux, and delivered your enclosure agreeable to your directions. 
 To-morrow we shall set forward, and I exi)ect in about twelve days 
 to get to Madrid, from whence I shall write to you, as at present 
 there is nothing better to offer than a detail of bad roads and inter- 
 ruptions. 
 
 I received a letter yesterday from Mr. Carmichael, who wishes to 
 see us, a pleasure I have by this day's post given him reason to 
 expect as soon as possible. Mr. Bondfield bought two hogsheads of 
 Haut Brienne wine for you, and fined it before I reached Bordeaux, 
 so he has robbed me of any share in the merit of that purchase. 
 
 I hope there is not any occasion for me to assure you of the respect 
 
 and esteem, wherewith I am, dear sir, &c., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
734 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, March 13, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 I have little of consequence to communicate in this letter, but I 
 shall give you the trouble of a more particular one before I leave this 
 place, and then make my apology for the shortness of this. At 
 present, I shall only say that by appointment I am to see the Count 
 de Florida Blanca this day week, and that I have every reason to 
 expect all the protection and influence from hence that can be 
 wished. I do not incline to let this post depart, without the assur- 
 ance of my being, with great respect and esteem, &c., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 Please forward tfte enclosures to Mrs. Barclay. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, March 20, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I wrote you a few lines, informing you of my arrival, and expecta- 
 tion of seeing the Count of Florida Blanca this day, agreeably to his 
 appointment, in consequence of which, Mr. Carmichael accompanied 
 me to the Pardo, where the Count resides at present, and where we 
 were informed that the Minister could not receive us before 
 Wednesday next, as he has had, within a few days, the account of 
 the death of his father. There is nothing important in this except 
 the delay ; however, I have thought proper to mention it to you, 
 and as soon as I can be more particular, I will write to you and Mr. 
 Adams. In the meantime, I remain, &ic., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, March 23, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the pleasure of addressing you twice since my arrival here, 
 
 and though I had nothing worth the attention of you or Mr. Adams 
 
 to communicate, I thought you would wish to know how I am 
 
 employed, and to be able to say to him that I have made some 
 
 progress in my journey. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 735 
 
 Yesterday I was introduced to the Count of Florida Blanca at the 
 Pardo. He received and treated me like a man of business, 
 extremely well disposed to serve our country ; his manner was 
 frank and easy. He said the Emperor of Morocco proposed making 
 the King negotiator of the peace ; but that he would inform the 
 Emperor, it would be better the business should be done in 
 Morocco; and he qalled in his-secretary, and gave him directions to 
 prepare the letters for me against Saturday next. 
 
 He added that he would propose to the King to write to the 
 Emperor himself; and I have no doubt but I shall have the honor 
 of carrying this powerful recommendation. 
 
 We are again to wait on the Count of Florida Blanca on Sunday, 
 and probably I may have it in my power to write you more partic- 
 ularly by Monday's post. 
 
 I am, Sic, THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 Mr. Lamb sailed on the 1 1th for Barcelona. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Madrid, March 27, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I arrived here the 10th, and expect to be able^to proceed to Cadiz 
 in a few days. The copies of three short letters which I wrote to 
 Mr. Jefferson, will place before you our progress until this day, when 
 I had the pleasure-of receiving, through the hands-of Mr. Carmichael, 
 the King's letter to the Emperor, informing him that it would be 
 better the peace should be made in Morocco than in Spain, and 
 recommending the object of the mission to his Majesty's attention. 
 The Count de Florida Blanca has also sent me letters to General 
 O'Reiley at Cadiz, to the Consul General of Spain at Morocco, and 
 to one of the Spanish Fathers placed at Mequinez for the redemption 
 of captives. In short, I have the greatest reason to be pleased with 
 the part this Court has taken in the affair, which I think reflects 
 much honor on Mr. Carmichael's influence and attention. 
 
 To show you at once the state in which I find the business with 
 Morocco situated on my arrival here, I send you a copy of a letter 
 written by the Count (Je F. Blanca to Mr. Carmichael, offering the 
 mtervention of his Catholic Majesty on the idea of the business being 
 done here, with Mr. Carmichael's reply ; and I have now to add 
 
736 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 that I shall set forward with the most flattering prospect of success, 
 hoping soon to be able to give you a satisfactory account of the 
 business being finished. It will not, perhaps, be in my power to 
 write you very often. There are at this place and at Victoria 
 persons appointed to translate or decypher every suspicious paper, 
 and from them little can escape. Nothing new of consequence will 
 probably arise until I reach Morocco. If I am able to close the 
 treaty to my satisfaction, I shall send it to you by land, and remain 
 in Africa or Spain until you return it with the ratification. And I 
 embrace this opportunity of offering my services, if you want them, 
 at Tunis and Tripoli, where I am certain this Court will, on appli- 
 cation, give its weight to the person employed at those places. If 
 you should think my going further than Morocco necessary, let me 
 know as soon as possible your intentions, that I may arrange matters 
 accordingly, and avail myself of the disposition which this Court 
 shews to serve us. Please to put your letters under cover to Mr. 
 Carmichael, unsealed, that he may be at once master of the subject. 
 Situated as we are, we cannot leave this without being presented, 
 which will be done, I expect, in a few days by the French Ambas- 
 sador, after which we will continue our journey. But the roads to 
 Cadiz are in such shocking order, that the gentleman by whom I 
 now write has been twenty-four days coming from thence. Mr. 
 Lamb purchased a vessel of about fifty tons at Barcelona, and sailed 
 for Algiers the 11th, with a wind capable of placing him in port the 
 next day. He went under Spanish coloi's, which I hope may 
 protect him, though there is no peace hitherto signed between the 
 two countries. A person is expected every hour from Algiers, who 
 will be able to give a particular account of Mr. Lamb. If I am so 
 lucky as to see him, I will transmit you what I can learn, and Mr. 
 Carmichael will give you all the information he can collect. 
 
 I am, dear sir, &c., THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, March 31, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have not anything of consequence to trouble you with that is 
 
 not contained in the enclosed copy of what I wrote to Mr. Adams 
 
 the 27th, to which I beg leave to refer you. We have not yet 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 737 
 
 heard from Lamb since he sailed ; but I think a few days will bring 
 Mr. Carmichael some letters from him. His business here was very 
 public, and ours is no secret ; Don Gabriel spoke of it yesterday 
 before several persons. He remarked that there was not a great 
 deal to be learned by making such a voyage, and hoped we should 
 succeed in our expectations. 
 
 The only political subjects which engage the attention of the 
 people here are the coolness that subsists between this Court and 
 that of Naples, and the accession of Spain to the treaty with France 
 and Holland. It seems more than probable that this accession will 
 take place, notwithstanding the vigorous efforts to prevent it, and the 
 probable consequences will be a treaty between Russia, Denmark, 
 and England.. At least there are some appearances that such events 
 are not impossible. You will excuse me for saying anything on 
 matters concerning which you have probably much better informa- 
 tion than I can give you, and believe me sincerly, dear sir, your most 
 obedient humble servant, THOS BARCLAY 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, April 5, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 I had the pleasure of writing to you the 31st of last month, by a 
 gentleman going to Paris, and of sending you a copy of what I 
 wrote Mr. Adams the 27th. I now, by the Spanish courier, send 
 you copies of both those letters. This day the Spanish despatches 
 arrived from Algiers, by, which Mr, Carmichael, who writes you by 
 this opportunity, received a letter from Mr. Lamb, with another from 
 Mr. Randall, the latter dated the 26th of March. Mr. Randall 
 writes that they did not arrive at Algiers until the 25th, when the 
 Dey refused them permission to land ; but, on the representation of 
 the Count d'EspiJly, the Minister employed by this Court to negotiate 
 with Algiers, (who is an intimate acquaintance of Mr. Carmichael, 
 and to whom Mr. Lamb and Mr. Randall had letters of introduction,) 
 they were permitted to land, and were received by the French 
 Consul with great attention. The Count d'Espilly had mentioned 
 his fears of Mr. Lamb's success j " As the United States have no 
 ' treaty with the Porte, and that the most that can be expected will 
 'be a truce, until Congress can send a Minister to Constantinople." 
 
 Vol. I.— 47 
 
738 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 The Dey's fleet is not ready for sea, nor has any steps been taken 
 towards fitting it out. Our people who were carried into Algiers 
 have behaved with the utmost decorum, and were made extremely 
 happy by the arrival of Mr. Lamb. To the above I have but little 
 to add, but that the truce between Spain and Algiers expired with 
 the last month ; and that, as there are no preparations making by 
 the Dey to send out the cruisers, though the season is advancing 
 fast, the probable consequence is that the peace will be made with 
 Spain. In the meantime, the Count d'Espilly has demanded a 
 truce of another month. The Ministers from Portugal and Naples 
 to Algiers are waiting at Carthagena to see the event of the Spanish 
 negotiations. If they are terminated to the wishes of this Court, 
 they will proceed to Algiers under the sanction of Spain ; and, in 
 that case, I am certain Mr. Lamb may be provided with the same 
 recommendations to the Dey that were so kindly given me to the 
 Emperor. 
 
 i shall set out for Cadiz in a few days. The roads are very near 
 being impassable. 
 
 I am, with great respect. Sic, THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Madrid, April 10, 1786. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The day before yesterday Mr. Carmichael received letters from 
 Algiers from Mr. Lamb, dated the 29th of last month, and from Mr. 
 Randall the 26th, which I think a very wrong date, with a postscript, 
 from on board a vessel in the bay of Alicant of the 1st instant, after 
 a passage of twenty-six hours. 
 
 He cannot come on shore without a permission from Court to 
 shorten his quarantine, which Mr. Carmichael has applied for, and 
 probably Mr. Randall will soon be at Paris. Though Mr. Car- 
 michael will write to you on this subject, and though I have no 
 information from Africa but what I derive from him, I think it a part 
 of my duty to give you the outlines of what intelligence I can collect, 
 though it should prove a work of supererogation. 
 
 Mr. Lamb's letter is short and obscure, nor do I understand the 
 whole of it. However, he says "no peace can be made until 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 739 
 
 ' Congress grant a larger sum to pay for it, and he will return to 
 ' Spain to wait for orders." Mr. Randall says the Dey of Algiers 
 has refused to treat with Mr. Lamb without assigning any reason for 
 it. It does not appear by either letter that Mr. Lamb has had any 
 audience of the Dey of Algiers ; but I shall think it very strange if 
 he returns to Europe without knowing on what terms a treaty may 
 be made. And if I find that to be the case, unless I have your 
 directions to the contrary, I shall hold myself justifiable at the 
 expense of some time and money to attain that knowledge. 
 
 The removal of the Court, the compliance with necessary forms, 
 and the intervention of the holy week, (during some days of which 
 I need not pretend to set forward,) has detained me some time longer 
 than I expected ; but the delay can be df no consequence, as the 
 Count de Florida Blanca was so condescending as to apprize the 
 Spanish Consul at Morocco of my being thus far on my way. 
 Indeed the attention shewn here to the business in which I am 
 engaged, far surpassed my warmest expectations. It will give me 
 great pleasure to receive a letter from you. If an opportunity to 
 Cadiz should offer, please to put it under cover to Messieurs Linon 
 & Bellew of that place, who will take care of it. 
 
 I am, with great respect, &ic., THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 I wish what I have put in cypher may be tolerably correct, not 
 having time to examine it. 
 
 FROM JOHN LAMB TO THOMAS JEFFEESON. 
 
 Algiers, March 29, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 This is by Mr. Randall, who will tell your Excellency my situation 
 at present. I am sure, by the best information, the sum will by no 
 means answer our object, if the amount is not greatly augmented. 
 It is my duty to advise to abandon the undertaking, as it will be 
 entirely in vain to persevere. It is lost money the expenses that 
 arise on the attempt. The last amount that I can give, please to 
 let me know. I shall wait at Carthagena for an answer. The 
 people will cost for their deliverance at least twelve hundred hard 
 dollars per head. The number is twenty-one. Your Excellency 
 sees how feeble we are. I have good reason to think that peace 
 
740 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 may be made with these people, but it will cost a tour to Constan- 
 tinople. Much may be done in France, if they please to forward 
 our peace here. If we fight those people, five thirty-six gun frigates 
 will be the least force and two large tenders. 
 
 Your Excellency has some account of the place by Mr. Randall, 
 and I shall endeavor to procure as much as I can. I shall leave a 
 safety here for a future coming to this place. Have desired Mr. 
 Randall to make all possible despatch. 
 
 With due respect, &c., JOHN LAMB. 
 
 FKOM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO MESSRS. JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS 
 
 JEFrEKSON. 
 
 Madrid, February 3, 1786. 
 Gentlemen, 
 On the 4th December last, Mr. Lamb delivered me the letter 
 which your Excellency did me the honor to address me, dated fi:om 
 London the 1st, and from Paris the 11th of October. At the same 
 time that gentleman communicated to me his instructions, and I all 
 the intelligence 1 had been able to procure relative to the negotiation 
 between this country and the Regency of Algiers. The Count 
 d'Espilly, whose friendship I cultivated, had returned to Algiers 
 long before Mr. Lamb's arrival, and a secretary, whom he had 
 despatched from that place after his return, with letters for the 
 Minister, had also set off for Alicant. From these gentlemen I had 
 obtained an account of the state of the negotiation. The principal 
 articles proposed by Spain had been agreed to by the Dey and his 
 Ministers ; but as the former wished to include the Courts of Naples 
 and Portugal in the ratification, the Count de Florida Blanca had 
 instructed the Count d'Espilly to prevail on the latter to admit and 
 receive Ministers from these Courts, and was actually waiting the 
 answer from Algiers at the period when Mr. Lamb came hither. It 
 was evident to me that should this proposition be accepted, of which 
 I had no doubt with respect to the first mentioned Court, the nomina- 
 tion and voyage of these Ministers would occasion delay, and until 
 the treaty between Spain and the Regency should be concluded, I 
 had reason to think that this Court would not interfere directly in 
 our favor. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 741 
 
 The manner in which his Excellency the Count de Florida Blanca 
 had explained his sentiments to me on this subject, induced me to 
 form this opinion. For as soon as I knew the probable success of 
 d'Espilly's negotiation, I insinuated to the Minister how acceptable 
 the good offices of his Majesty, to accommodate the States to the 
 Barbary Powers, would be to the people at large in America ; and 
 bis Excellency then assured me that as soon as their own affairs were 
 arranged with Algiers, his Catholic Majesty would employ all his 
 influence to accelerate a peace for the United States with that and 
 the other Barbary States, and authorized me to inform Congress of 
 the King's intentions. t 
 
 Having received these assurances I engaged the Count d'Espilly 
 to prepare, by every favorable insinuation, the Dey's Ministers and 
 favorites to support any overture which might be made by the States, 
 which he promised me to do ; and the proofs of confidence he gave 
 roe induce me to rely on his promises. 
 
 He also engaged to give me the earliest information with respect 
 to the intentions of those people, and since his return has proved, 
 by his behavior to our captives and his correspondence with me, that 
 he will avail himself of all the means which he can employ with 
 propriety to fulfil his promises. 
 
 When Mr. Lamb arrived the Royal family had just come to this 
 capital from the Escurial, and during their residence here it is 
 extremely difficult to have access to the Minister. 
 
 The King, in a few days after, went to Aranjuez on a hunting 
 party, and the Count de Florida Blanca accompanied him, and none 
 but the family ambassadors follow the Court on this occasion. 
 
 However, as I was desirous to have a conference with the Mini^'ter 
 as soon as possible on the subject of your Excellency's letter, I wrote 
 to the Under Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs, charged 
 with the correspondence to the United States, to know whether, if I 
 came to Aranjuez, I should have an opportunity of speaking with 
 his Excellency, to whom I wished to make a communication in 
 person of some advice I had received lately. No 1 is a copy of the 
 answer I received from that gentleman. On the return of his 
 Majesty to this capital I procured an audience froni the Minister, tp 
 whom I communicated Mr. Lamb's arrival and the object of his 
 mission, making use of such arguments and insinuations as I thought 
 roost likely to induce his Excellency to contribute to its success 
 
742 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 I received from him the strongest assurances to the same purport 
 as those beforementioned ; at the same time, however, he added, that 
 until he should receive further advice from Algiers it was impossible 
 for him to take an open part in the negotiation, and advised me to 
 detain my countryman until the Count went to the Pardo, when he 
 hoped to have it in his power to give me a more explicit answer. 
 During this audience I took an occasion of mentioning, without 
 affectation, your Excellency's sentiments with respect to his generous 
 interference in the laffair of Morocco, with which he appeared much 
 pleased, and told me it should not be his fault, nor did he think it 
 would be mine, if Spain and the United States were not as good 
 friends as they were near neighbors in America. 
 
 In the same conversation he promised me ample satisfaction on a 
 subject in which I had been obliged to have recourse to him ; and I 
 have since received it, his Majesty having been pleased to fine and 
 render incapable of serving in the revenue the Governor of Laredo, 
 on a complaint made to me by an American captain of the unjust 
 and arbitrary proceeding of the latter. All the officers employed in 
 this affair by the Governor have been punished. 
 
 I communicated to Messrs. Lamb and Randall what passed on 
 this occasion, and these gentlemen consented to wait, without reluct- 
 ance, here until the period mentioned by the Minister. 
 
 Four days after the Court had been fixed at the Pardo I again 
 waited on the Minister, who received me very well, but on explaining 
 the motive of my visit, his Excellency declared to me that it was 
 not in his power to be more explicit, as he had not yet received the 
 letters he expected from Algiers ; that, until he received the intelli- 
 gence he expected, he could not order the Count d'Espilly to employ 
 the King's interference in our affairs, repeating his former assurances, 
 and hinting the obstacles we must expect to encounter in this nego- 
 tiation. At the same time he observed to me that we must not be 
 discouraged. He told me that the first objection made by the 
 Algerines would arise from our not having a treaty with the Grand 
 Seignior, as this circumstance occasioned great difficulties to Portugal 
 in the actual negotiation. I entreated his Excellency to pardon my 
 importunity and anxiety on this subject, as they proceeded as much 
 from my wish to cement an amicable intercourse by reciprocal good 
 offices between the two countries of Spain .and America, as from my 
 apprehension that unless Mr. Lamb should arrive at Algiers before 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 743 
 
 their cruisers were sent to sea, further hostiUties on their part might 
 render an accommodation still more difficult. I also urged the nature 
 of Mr. Lamb's instructions, and the necessity of Congress being 
 early informed of the disposition of the Regency, expressing a hope 
 that, by the time Mr. Lamb could arrive at a sea-port and prepare 
 for his departure from thence, it might be in his Excellency's power 
 to afford him all the assistance necessary to ensure the success of his 
 mission. 
 
 To these reflections I added the loss that would accrue to Spain 
 from the difficulties to which we should be exposed in our intercourse 
 with a country whose produce found a ready sale in America, and 
 from which country Spain could be supplied with so many articles 
 that it now takes from the northern nations of Europe, whose Con- 
 suls, his Excellency knew, did everything in their power to obstruct 
 the peace which he was endeavoring to make for the commercial and 
 political interests of a country the councils of which he directed. 
 
 The Count de Florida Blanca replied that he acquiesced in my 
 reasons for the departure of Mr. Lamb, and repeated to me, and 
 authorized me to write your Excellencies, that " the day after their 
 ' own affairs should he arranged with Algiers, his Catholic Majesty 
 'would employ all his influence to facilitate our accommodations;" 
 to which he added many assurances of his desire to give a preference 
 to the commerce of the United States, to that which Spain at present 
 carried on with the northern part of Europe, particularly with 
 Sweden and Denmark. The freedom with which this Minister has 
 spoken to me on several occasions, his sentiments with respect to 
 the northern Powers, has not less surprised than convinced me of 
 his wish to diminish their commerce and influence in the Mediter- 
 ranean. In the course of this conversation he appealed to my own 
 experience on the reliance that might be placed on his word, to 
 which I made the proper answer and acknowledgments, and con- 
 cluded by asking passports and letters for Messrs. Lamb and Randall, 
 which his Excellency promised to send me. 
 
 On my return to this city from the Pardo I received letters from 
 Algiers, of which Nos. 2 and 3 are copies. They were brought by 
 a courier extraordinary, and the arrival of that courier induced me 
 to hope that the Minister might have received such information as 
 might enable him to act openly in our favor, although in fact this 
 hope arose more from my wishes that such might be the case than 
 
744 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 from the reasons which ought to induce a contrary sentiment, in 
 consequence of the information I had received with respect to their 
 negotiation previously. 
 
 Your Excellencies will easily conceive that the first efforts of 
 this Court must be employed to procure a peace for those nations to 
 which they are allied by the ties of family connexions, engagements 
 to which these connexions have given rise, and the mutual aids 
 which they have received from these nations during their late opera- 
 tions against Algiers. 
 
 However, notwithstanding these considerations, I took the liberty, 
 on reminding his Excellency the Count de Florida Blanca of the 
 passports and letters he had promised me, to insinuate my expecta- 
 tions of being able to obtain all that might be necessary for Mr. 
 Lamb on his arrival at Algiers. 
 
 To this application I received a reply, of which No. 5 is a copy ; 
 as also a letter to the Count de Cessalto, Captain General of Cata- 
 lonia, of which I also annex a copy — No. 6 — as I do of the several 
 letters which I have received from Algiers since the arrival of Messrs. 
 Lamb and Randall in Madrid. 
 
 The latter set off for Barcelona the 26th ultimo in company with 
 Mr. Harrison, a native of Virginia, who will have the honor to 
 deliver your Excellencies' letters from me. Mr. Lamb did not 
 leave this until the 1st instant ; but as he tra-^els post, he will arrive 
 at Barcelona before the gentleman above-mentioned. I refer your 
 Excellencies to the account these gentlemen may render you of my 
 Conduct in this business. 
 
 I have procured bills for Mr. Lamb at Barcelona, for the amount 
 of which he has drawn, agreeably to his instructions. 
 
 I have established a credit for whatever he may choose to draw. 
 I have given him letters to the Count d'Espilly, and have given 
 him all the advice that I thought might be useful to him. 
 
 On his arrival at Algiers he will find letters of introduction to most 
 of the Consuls employed by foreign nations there, from their Minis- 
 ters at this Court. 
 
 I did not choose to expose his mission to those gentlemen until 
 his departure from Barcelona renders it public. 
 
 Having rendered to yoiir Excellencies an account of my proceed- 
 ings in consequence of the letter which you did me the honor to 
 address me by Mr. Lamb, it may be necessary to add for your 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 745 
 
 information and that of Congress, to which body I take the liberty 
 ^of requesting you to forward a copy of this letter, that the peace 
 negotiating at present between this country and the Regency of 
 Algiers will cost this country near one million and a half of dollars ; 
 and I beg leave to add that my information is so circumstantial, and 
 derived from such a source as leaves me not the smallest reason to 
 doubt its authenticityi 
 
 The Dey of Algiers is now more than eighty years old, and his 
 Ministers all press a conclusion of the treaty, in order that while they 
 are in power they may participate the presents made on this occasion. 
 
 The durability of this peace is uncertain, or of any other made 
 in the present moment with these pirates. If I am rightly- 
 informed, as soon as this treaty is concluded with Spain and Naples, 
 they mean to declare war against Denmark, the Venitians, and Dutch. 
 
 I shall not fail to inform you of all I can learn on these points, 
 because there may be circumstances on which may depend your 
 future instructions to Mr. Lamb, and the measures which Congress 
 may think proper to adopt. 
 
 On the 30th ultimo the convention was signed by the Ambassa- 
 dors of France and Portugal, respecting their differences on the 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 As I have not an accurate map of that coast before me, I refer 
 to a future letter the limits accorded by the latter for a free trade 
 to other nations. Mutual demands of indemnification have been 
 waived on each part. A mutual expression of good will, and a 
 desire to be on the best terms, will appear in the articles of this 
 convention, in the expression of which France preserves her 
 dignity. 
 
 With the highest sentiments of gratitude for the confidence your 
 Excellencies have been pleased to accord me, I have the honor to 
 be, Sic, 
 
 WM. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 FROM WILLIAM CAEMICHAEL TO MESSES. ADAMS AND JEFFEKSON. 
 
 Madrid, April 13, 1786. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 I forward you the enclosed letter from Mr. Lamb, for your 
 Excellencies' information. That gentleman has also written to me, 
 
746 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 but as I suppose he has given Mr. Jefferson a more ample and 
 satisfactory detail of the state of the negotiation than I can compre- 
 hend from his letter to me, I do not think it necessary to forward a 
 copy of it. Mr. Barclay, to whom I have communicated all the 
 intelligence I have received on this subject, will write your Excel- 
 lencies more explicitly than my situation permits me to do. I 
 cannot, however, refrain from remarking that either Congress must 
 adopt other methods than the present to make peace, or instantly 
 determine to protect their trade with the southern parts of Europe 
 by a maritime force. 
 I have the honor to be, &c., WM. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 FROM M. OTAMENDI TO W. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 I have informed the Count of your wish to speak to him when 
 most suitable to him, although it should be necessary for you to 
 come here. But his Excellency finds it impossible during your 
 stay here. 
 
 We are to make a small jaunt of twenty-eight leagues next 
 Thursday, to see a new road. Friday is a desperate day. I think 
 that you had best write to him a line, requesting an interview at our 
 return, it not being easy for him to appoint a day beforehand. 
 
 In fear that you might want the papers annexed, I would not 
 detain them. I am very sensible of your remembrance, having 
 the honor to call myself, with the most perfect esteem and respect, 
 sir. Sic, 
 
 OTAMENDI. 
 
 13th December. 
 
 ENCLOSED IN A LETTER FROM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, WITHOUT 
 SIGNATURE OR ADDRESS. 
 
 Algiers, December 15, 1785. 
 Sir, 
 
 Count d'Espilly is returned from the Court of Madrid since the 
 
 7th of October last ; he was expected here with so much impatience 
 
 that the Dey would absolutely see him before he had even time to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONBENCE. 747 
 
 go to the French Consul's country-house, where the Countess, his 
 lady, had remained after his departure from hence, to convince 
 the Dey of the sincerity of the promise he had made him of 
 returning. 
 
 It is said he had orders from his Court to signify to the Dey that all 
 the offers made by Don Joseph de Mazzardo were absolutely without 
 orders, and that his Catholic Majesty disapproved them in the fullest 
 extent. The Count complained to the Dey in the strongest terms, 
 his having permitted the cruisers to sail until his return, and it is, 
 doubtless, this Prince assured him it ought not to give the Count the 
 least uneasiness, as he had threatened all the Rais in general,- and 
 each in particular, before their sailing, that he would cause the first 
 of them that committed the least insult to the Spanish flag, or to any 
 part of the Spanish coast, to be immediately strangled, and, in fact, 
 the twelve cruisers that sailed on the 3d of October last are all 
 returned, without giving Spain the least cause of complaint, notwith- 
 standing a Catalan bark, richly laden, returning from the West 
 Indies, abandoned by her crew, fearing the truce agreed upon was 
 expired, as generally reported in Europe, was brought in here by 
 one of the cruisers, but immediately returned, without difficulty, to 
 the Count, on his first application. A like accident happened to a 
 Venitian snow of twelve guns, also abandoned by her crew, under 
 the dread of the Tunisians, was picked up by one of the cruisers 
 of this Regency, but lost on the coast of Arzeo, and which, most 
 probably, has saved the Venitian Consul a very disagreeable refusal, 
 as they had already reported here that this snow was a Russian. 
 
 The Dey promised the Count d'Espilly that he will not permit 
 any of the cruisers to sail before the month of March next is expired, 
 and it is assured his Excellency has written his Catholic Majesty to 
 the same effect. 
 
 This Prince has also, within these few days, returned to the Count 
 seven fusileers, belonging to Oran, sent here by the Bey of Mascara, 
 found by the Moors at some distance from the stipulated limits of 
 that garrison, as this Regency, on the first overtures of a peace, would 
 not agree that Oran should be included, but which they have, at 
 length, consented to, so that Oran remains without any communi- 
 cation with Moors of the JCingdom of Algiers, and in the same 
 manner that Ceuta has been for a long time with the Moors of 
 Morocco. 
 
748 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Most excellent Sir, 
 Having immediately granted the passports to Messrs. Lamb and 
 Randall, requested in a note of 22d of this month, from Dr. William 
 Carmichael, the underwritten, first Secretary of State, by order 
 of his Majesty, transmits a letter for the Captain General of Cata- 
 lonia, to facilitate their passage to Algiers, in what may depend 
 upon him. And as to their commission to treat of peace between 
 the United States and that Regency, the King will not omit to 
 repeat the proofs of his good will towards the United States, 
 according to circumstances and their reciprocal good correspond- 
 ence. 
 
 FLORIDA BLANCA. 
 
 At the Pardo, 31st May, 1786. 
 
 FROM COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Most excellent Sir, 
 Messrs. Lamb and Randall, Americans, commissioned by the 
 United States to treat of peace with that Regency, being about to 
 pass to Algiers, I recommend them to your Excellency by order of 
 the King, that you may facilitate their embarkation and do them any 
 services that may depend on your Excellency. 
 
 FLORIDA BLANCA. 
 
 At the Pardo, 31st May, 1786. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 29, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The duty has been imposed on me of making the following 
 communication to Congress. 
 
 It is necessary for me previously to observe that, though the 
 Government of the United Netherlands have both an ordinary and 
 extraordinary Ambassador here, yet the patriotic party now decisively 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 749 
 
 possessed of all the powers of government, have sent hidier a Rhin- 
 grave de Salm, as possessing plenary confidence to treat with this 
 Court on some matters not yet made known to the public. His 
 character and credit accordingly are so well known here, that passing 
 by the regular Ambassadors, they are actually in negotiation with 
 him. 
 
 He took occasion to speak with me to-day on the subject of Mr. 
 Dumas. After saying much in his favor, he assured me that Con- 
 gress could not so much oblige the patriotic party as by naming Mr. 
 Dumas to their diplomatic appointment at the Hague ; and further, 
 that should they have any thing interesting to do there, there was no 
 other man who could do it so effectually as Mr. Dumas. 
 
 I wished to avoid flattering his expectations, and therefore men- 
 tioned to him the resolution of Congress, confining their diplomatic 
 appointments to citizens of the United States. 
 
 He seemed to admit they could not expect him to be made 
 Minister Plenipotentiary, but asked if it would not be possible to 
 give him the character of Resident. 
 
 I told him we were in the usage of appointing only one character 
 inferior to that of Minister Plenipotentiary,'which was that of Charge 
 d' Affaires ; that I was far firom presuming to say that could be 
 obtained in the present case ; but that the other difficulty occurred 
 to me in that moment. I observed that they had a Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary with Congress, and that Congress naming for their Court 
 only a Charge d' Affaires might perhaps be considered as disre- 
 spectful, and might occasion the recall of their Minister. He assured 
 me it would not ; nay, that it should not. We are, continued he, 
 but a party, and therefore cannot make a formal declaration on this 
 subject, but we know how far we can undertake, and if you please, 
 the members of our party shall go and make a declaration privately 
 before the French Ambassador at our Court, that nothing amiss shall 
 be conceived of it, and that our Minister shall not be affected by it. 
 I told him this would not be desired. He asked me if I thought 
 Count de Vergennes writing a second letter on this subject would be 
 of service. I told him I could not suppose a repetition of his appli- 
 cation could be material. 
 
 My object in avoiding a second letter from the Count de Ver- 
 gennes, as well as the declaration before the French Ambassador, 
 was that embarrassments might not be multiplied, if Congress should 
 
750 THOMAS JEPFERSON-JOHN JAY. 
 
 not think proper to comply with their requests. He concluded by 
 desiring I would urge this matter to Congress. 
 
 It seems certain that Mr. Dumas has rendered himself very useful 
 to the Governments of both France and Holland in the late negotia- 
 tions. It was natural, therefore, that these Governments should 
 provide for him. 
 
 I know not how it has happened that we are resorted to on the 
 occasion, unless, perhaps, it is the particular wish of Mr. Dumas to 
 receive this species of reward. 
 
 Be this as it may, the reigning party in the United Netherlands, 
 and the Government of this country, commit themselves on this 
 application, and it becomes a matter of calculation, in which their 
 favor, and the occasions we may have for it, are to be weighed 
 against the sacrifices the present applications call for. 
 
 To pronounce on this would be beyond my province, which is 
 merely that of being the channel of communication. This being 
 desired in form, I supposed it my duty to comply with. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS JEFFEBSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, May 23, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Letters received both from Madrid and Algiers, while I was in 
 London, having suggested that treaties with the States of Barbary 
 would be much facilitated by a previous one with the Ottoman Porte, 
 it was agreed between Mr. Adams and myself, that on ray return I 
 should consult on this subject the Count de Vergennes, whose long 
 residence at Constantinople rendered him the best judge of its 
 expediency. 
 
 Various circumstances have put it out of my power to consult 
 him till to-day. 
 
 I stated to him the difficulties we were likely to meet with at 
 Algiers, and asked his opinion what would be the probable expense 
 of a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, and what its effect at 
 Algiers. 
 
 He said that the expense would be very great, for that presents 
 must be made at that Court, and every one would be gaping after 
 them ; and that it would not procure us a peace at Algiers one 
 penny the cheaper. He observed that the Barbary States acknowl- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 751 
 
 edged a sort of vassalage to the Porte, and availed themselves 
 of that relation when anything was to be gained by it ; but that 
 whenever it subjected them to a demand from the Porte, they totally 
 disregarded it ; that money was the sole agent at Algiers, except so 
 far as fear could be induced also. He cited the prpsent example of 
 Spain, which, though having a treaty with the Porte, would probably 
 be obliged to buy a peace at Algiers at the expense of upwards of 
 six millions of livres. 
 
 I told him we had calculated, from the demands and information 
 of the Tripoline Ambassador at London, that to make peace with 
 the four Barbary States, would cost us between two and three 
 hundred thousand guineas if bought with money. The sum did not 
 seem to exceed his expectations. 
 
 I mentioned to him that considering the uncertainty of a peace 
 when bought, perhaps Congress might think it more eligible to 
 establish a cruise of frigates in the Mediterranean, and even to 
 blockade Algiers. He supposed it would require ten vessels great 
 and small. I observed to him that Monsieur de Massiac had formerly 
 done it with five. He said it was true, but that vessels of relief 
 would be necessary. I hinted to him that I thought the English 
 capable of administering aid to the Algerines. He seemed to think 
 it impossible on account of the scandal it would bring on them. I 
 asked him what had occasioned the blockade by M. de Massiac. 
 He said an infraction of their treaty by the Algerines. 
 
 I had a good deal of conversation with him also on the situation of 
 affairs between England and th« United States, and particularly on 
 their refusal to deliver up our posts. 
 
 I observed to him that the obstructions thrown in the way of the 
 recovery of their debts, were the effect and not the cause, as they 
 pretended, of their refusal to deliver up the posts. That the mer- 
 chants interested in these debts shewed a great disposition to make 
 arrangements with us. That the article of time we could certainly 
 have settled, and probably that of the interest during the war. But 
 that the Minister shewing no disposition to have these matters 
 arranged, I thought it a sufficient proof that this was not the true 
 cause of their detaining the posts. He concurred as to the justice of 
 our requiring time for the payment of our debts, said nothing which 
 shewed a difference of opinion as to the article of interest, and 
 seemed to believe fully their object was to divert the channel of the 
 
752 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 fur trade before they delivered up the posts, and expressed a Strong 
 sense of the importance of that commerce to us. 
 
 I told him I really could not foresee what would be the event of 
 this detention, that the situation of the British funds and desire of 
 their Minister to begin to reduce the national debt, seemed to indicate 
 that they could not wish a war. He thought so, but that neither 
 were we in a condition to go to war. 
 
 I told him I was uninformed what Congress proposed to do on 
 this subject ; but that we should certainly always count on the good 
 ofEces of France, and I was sure that the offer of them would suffice 
 to induce Great Britain to do us justice. He said that surely we 
 might always count on the friendship of France. I added, that by 
 the treaty of alliance, she was bound to guaranty our limits to us, 
 as they should be established at the moment of peace. He said 
 they were so, mais qu'il nous etoit necessaire de les constater. I 
 told him there was no question what our boundaries were ; that the 
 Enghsh themselves admitted they were clear beyond all question. 
 
 I feared, however, to press this any further, lest a reciprocal 
 question should be put to me, and, therefore, diverted the conversa- 
 tion to another object. 
 
 This is a sketch only of a conference which was lengthy. I have 
 endeavored to give the substance, and sometimes the expressions, 
 where they were material. 
 
 I suppose it would be agreeable to Congress to have It communi- 
 cated to them in the present undecided state in which these subjects are. 
 
 I should add, that an explanation of the transaction of Monsieur 
 de Massiac with the Algerines, before liinted at, will be found in the 
 enclosed letter from the Count d'Estaing to me, wherein he gives also 
 his own opinion. The whole is submitted to Congress, as I conceive 
 it my duty to furnish them with whatever information I can gather, 
 which may throw any light on the subjects depending before them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM CO0NT D ESTAING TO THOMAS JEPPERSON. 
 
 Paris, May 17, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 In giving you an account of an opinion of Mr. Massiac, and which 
 
 absolutely corresponds with my own, I cannot too much observe 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 753 
 
 how great a difference may take place in the course of forty years 
 between the means which he required and those which political 
 circumstances, that I cannot ascertain, may exact. 
 
 This Secretary of State, afterwards Vice- Admiral, had the modesty 
 when a Captain to propose a means for the reduction of Algiers, less 
 brilliant for himself, but more sure and economical than the one 
 Government was about to adopt. They wanted him to undertake a 
 bombardment. He proposed a simple blockade. All the force he 
 required was a single line of battle ship, two strong frigates, and 
 two sloops of war. 
 
 I am convinced that by blockading up Algiers, cross anchoring, 
 and with a long range, that is to say, with several cables spliced to 
 each other, and with iron chains, one might, if necessary, always 
 remain there ; and there is no barbarian Power thus confined which 
 would not soon sue for peace. 
 
 During the war before last, the English remained, even in winter, 
 at anchor before Morbian, on the coast of Brittany, which is a much 
 more dangerous coast. 
 
 Expeditious preparation for saihng of the vessels which form the 
 blockade, which should be of a sufficient number to prevent any thing 
 from entering or going out, while the rest remain at their stations, 
 the choice of these stations, skilful manoeuvres, strict watch during 
 the night, every precaution against the element which a seaman 
 ought to be acquainted with ; also against the enemy, to prevent the 
 sudden attack of boats, and to repel them in case they should make 
 an attack, bastingages prepared for the purpose, frequent refresh- 
 ments for the crews, relieving the men, an unshaken constancy and 
 exactness in the service, are the means which, in ray opinion, would 
 render the event indubitable. 
 
 Bombardments are but transitory. It is, if I may so express 
 myself, like breaking glass windows with guineas. None have 
 produced the desired effect against the barbarians. Even an imper- 
 fect blockade, were one to have the patience and courage to persist 
 therein, would occasion a perpetual evil, it would be insupportable 
 in the long run ; to obtain the end proposed, no advantage ought to 
 be lost. If several Powers would come to a good understanding, 
 and pursue a plan formed on the principles of humanity ; if they 
 were not counteracted by others, it would require but a few years to 
 compel the barbarians to cease being pir9,tes, they would become 
 Vol. I.— 48 
 
754 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 merchants in spite of themselves. It is needless to observe, that the 
 unsuccessful attempts of Spain and those under which the Republic 
 of Venice, perhaps, hides other views, have increased the strength 
 as well as the self-love of all the barbarians. We are assured that 
 the Algerines have fitted out merchantmen with heavy cannon. 
 This would render it necessary to blockade the place with two ships 
 of the line, so that one of the two might remain moored near the 
 bar, while the other might prepare to support such of the frigates as 
 should give chase. 
 
 , But their chebecs, even their frigates, and all their vessels, 
 although overcharged with men, are moreover so badly armed and 
 mancBuvred that assistance from without would be most to be 
 feared. 
 
 Your Excellency has told me the only and true means of bringing 
 to terms the only people who can take a pleasure in disturbing our 
 commerce. You see I speak as an American citizen, this title dear 
 to my heart, the value of which I fully prize, affords me the happy 
 opportunity of offering still more particularly the homage, the 
 sincere attachment and respect with which I have the honor to 
 be, &c., ESTAING. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 27, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 In my letter of the 12th instant, which goes by the same packet, 
 but was delivered to a private hand, I had the honor of enclosing to 
 you letters from Mr. Carmichael, Mr. Barclay, and Mr. Lamb, on 
 the Barbary affairs. Others came to hand last night, which are 
 now copying, and will be enclosed to you by the post of this day as 
 far as they can be copied. The whole cannot possibly be in readi- 
 ness, and it is the last post which will be in time for the packet. 
 By these you will see that Mr. Lamb is returned to Spain. I expect 
 soon from Mr. Adams an answer to my letter proposing to instruct 
 Mr. Lamb to repair to Congress. 
 
 The agreement supposed to be made between Spain and Algiers, 
 that the latter shall make no peace with any nation not under treaty 
 with the Porte, is difficult of explanation. Its existence, however, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 755 
 
 may account for the difference of opinion between the Counts de 
 Vergennes and D'Espilly as to the expediency of our treating with 
 the Porte. If Mr. Adams concurs with me in opinion, we shall 
 cease all further proceedings with the Barbary Powers till we receive 
 further instructions from Congress — except as to Morocco, which I 
 have hopes we may better succeed in. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM P. K. RANDALL TO JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, May 14, 1786. 
 
 Since my arrival here from Carthagena I have been in constant 
 expectation of a secure opportunity for forwarding the enclosed, being 
 nearly the copy of a letter I wrote to my father shortly after my 
 landing in Spain. It contains all the observations I have been 
 enabled to make, by reason of the obstacles which (in my situation at 
 Algiers) prevented particular inquiry. Indeed, I had not the most 
 distant idea of remaining for so shgrt a time ; otherwise, perhaps, I 
 might have afforded greater satisfaction in this respect. 
 
 I have not received g,ny letters from Mr. Lamb since his arrival at 
 Alicant, but have lately heard that he is released from quarantine. 
 He may, therefore, be expected here every day, as he had informed 
 Mr. Carmichael of his intention of coming up immediately. 
 
 I shall be governed by his orders, and endeavor still to evince 
 that nothing on my part has been, or shall be, wanting to fulfil my 
 duty ; although I must hope that circumstances will be considered 
 if my services have not been equal to the expectation formed of 
 them. Haste, and the little opportunity I have had to prepare my 
 observations, as well as the manner of writing in a crowd, I trust 
 will plead my apology for delivering them in their present state, 
 especially as my father might have communicated in JNew York the 
 intelligence they contain. I have, therefore, conceived that altera- 
 tions might be improper, as your Excellency will distinguish what is 
 v/ell founded, and may be enabled to judge what opinion might be 
 formed of them in New York. 
 
 The Envoys from Portugal and Naples are still at Carthagena, 
 awaiting the completion of the Spanish treaty. 
 
756 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 This Court would undoubtedly have wished Mr. Lamb to remain 
 in like manner, if his instructions could have justified the delay, 
 before their interference could, consistent with their own interest, be 
 employed in favor of the United States. 
 
 The Portuguese Envoy told me at Carthagena that he had no 
 expectations of succeeding, and would rather see a confederacy 
 formed against the Barbary States by those with whom they are at 
 war. He appeared much dissatisfied at being so long delayed. 
 
 It would be presumption in me to offer any news, Mr. Car- 
 michael being so much better enabled to afford information, and will 
 write by the present occasion. 
 
 I am, with proper respect, fee, P. R. RANDALL. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 27, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 In my letter of January 2d I had the honor of stating to you what 
 
 had passed here on the subject of the commerciable articles between 
 
 this country and the United States. I beg leave now to resume 
 
 that subject. I therein informed you that this Government had 
 
 agreed to receive our fish-oils on the footing on which they receive 
 
 those of the Hanseatic towns, which gave us a reduction of duty 
 
 from 36liv. 15s. on the barrique, to llliv. 5s., amounting to about 
 
 42liv. on the English ton, according to a statement by Monsieur 
 
 Sangrain, enclosed in that letter. This was true. But there was 
 
 another truth which neither that statement, nor any other evidence I 
 
 then had, enabled me to discover, and which it is but lately I could 
 
 be ascertained of; which is, that there is another duty called the 
 
 droit des huiles et savons, to which the Hanse-Towns are subject, as 
 
 we are also of consequence. This is of six deniers on the nett pound, 
 
 and ten sous per livre on that, amounting to 3liv. 15s. on the nett 
 
 hundred, French weight, or to 60Hv. 13s. 6d. the English ton. 
 
 This, with the reduced duty, makes about 102Uv. 13s. 6d., or very 
 
 nearly four guineas, according to the present exchange, on the 
 
 English ton. Though this be still advantageous when compared 
 
 with the English duty of eighteen guineas, yet it is less so than we 
 
 had expected, and it will remain when we apply for a renewal of 
 
 the indulgence, to see whether we can obtain further reduction. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 757 
 
 The fur trade is an object of desire in this country. London is at 
 present their market for furs. They pay for them there in ready 
 money. Could they draw their furs into their own ports from the 
 United States, they would pay us for them in productions ; nor 
 should we lose by the exchange of market, since, though the French 
 pay the London merchants in cash, those merchants pay us in 
 manufactures. A very wealthy and well-connected company is 
 proposing here to associate themselves with an American company, 
 each to possess half the interest, and to carry on the fur trade 
 between the two countries. The company here expect to make the 
 principal part of the advances. They also are soliciting considerable 
 indulgences from this Government, from which the part of the 
 company on our side the water will reap half the advantage. As no 
 exclusive idea enters into this scheme, it appears to me worthy of 
 encouragement. It is hoped the Government here will interest 
 themselves for its success. If they do, one of two things may 
 happen — eitlier the English will be afraid to stop the vessels of a 
 company consisting partly of French subjects, and patronized by the 
 Court ; in which case the commerce will be laid open generally ; or 
 if they stop the vessels, the French comptiny, which is strongly 
 connected with men in power, will complain in form to their Govern- 
 ment, who may thus be interested as principals in the rectification 
 of this abuse. As yet, however, the proposition has not taken such 
 a form as to assure us that it will be prosecuted to this length. 
 
 As to the article of tobacco, which had become an important 
 branch of remittance to all the States, I had the honor of communi- 
 cating to you my proposition to the Court to abolish the monopoly 
 of it in their farm ; that the Count de Vergennes was, I thought, 
 thoroughly sensible of the expediency of tliis proposition, and dis- 
 posed to befriend it ; tliat the renewal of the lease of die farms had 
 been consequently suspended six months, and was still m suspense, 
 but that so powerful were the Farmers General, and so tottering the 
 tenure of the Minister of Finance in his office, that I despaired of 
 preventing the renewal of the farm at tliat time. 
 
 Things were in this state when the Marquis de la Fayette returned 
 from Berlin. On communicating to him what was on the carpet, he 
 proposed to me a conference with some persons vvell acquainted with 
 the commercial system of the country. We met ; they proposed 
 the endeavoring to have a committee appointed to inquire into the 
 
758 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 subject. The proposition was made to the Count de Vergennes, 
 who befriended it, and had the Marquis de la Fayette named a 
 member of the committee. He became, of course, the active and 
 truly zealous member for the liberty of commerce, others, though 
 well disposed, not choosing to oppose the farm openly. This com- 
 mittee has met from time to time. It shewed an early and decisive 
 conviction that the measure taken by the farm to put the purchase of 
 their tobaccoes into monopoly on that side the water as the sale of 
 them was on this, tended to the annihilation of commerce between 
 the two countries. Various palliatives were proposed from time to 
 time. I confess that I met them all with indifference ; my object 
 being a radical cure of the evil by discontinuing the farm, and not a 
 mere assuagement of it for the present moment, which, rendering it ' 
 more bearable, might lessen the necessity of removing it totally, and 
 perhaps prevent that removal. 
 
 In the meantime the other branches of the farm rendered the 
 renewal of the lease necessary, and it being said to be too far 
 advanced to have the article of tobacco separated from it and sus- 
 pended, it was signed in the month of March, while I was in England, 
 with a clause, which is usual, that the King may discontinue when 
 he pleases, on certain conditions. 
 
 When I found here a memorial from the merchants of L'Orient 
 complaining of their having six thousand hogsheads of tobacco on 
 hand, and of the distresses they were under from the loss of this 
 medium of remittance, I enclosed it to the Count de Vergennes and 
 asked his interference. I saw him on the 23d instant, and spoke to 
 him on the subject. He told me there was to be a committee held 
 the next day at Berni, the seat of the Comptroller General, and 
 that he would attend it himself to have something done. I asked 
 him if I was to consider the expunging that article from the farm as 
 desperate. 
 
 He said the difficulty of changing so ancient an institution was 
 immense; that the King draws from it a revenue of twenty-nine 
 millions of livres ; that an interruption of this revenue at least, if 
 not a diminution, would attend a change ; that the finances were not 
 in a condition to bear even an interruption ; and, in short, that no 
 Minister could venture to take upon himself so hazardous an opera- 
 tion. This was only saying explicitly what I had long been sensible 
 of, that the Comptroller General's continuance in office was too 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 759 
 
 much on a poise to permit him to shift this weight out of his own 
 scale into that of his adversaries, and that we must be contented to 
 await the completion of the public expectation that there will be a 
 change in this office, which change may give us another chance for 
 effecting this desirable reformation. Incidents enough will arise to 
 keep this object in our view, and to direct the attention to it as the 
 only point on which the interests and harmony of the two countries 
 (so far as this article of their commerce may influence) will ultimately 
 find repose. 
 
 The committee met the next day. The only question agitated 
 was, how best to relieve the trade under its double monopoly. 
 
 The committee found themselves supported by the presence and 
 sentiments of the Count de Vergennes. They therefore resolved 
 that the contract with Mr. Morris, if executed on his part, ought not 
 to be annulled here, but that no similar one should ever be made 
 hereafter ; that so long as it continued, the Farmers should be obliged 
 to purchase from twelve to fifteen thousand hogsheads of tobacco a 
 year, over and above what they should receive from Mr. Morris, 
 from such merchants as should bring it in French or, American 
 vessels, on the same condition contracted with Mr. Morris : providing, 
 however, that where the cargo shall not be assorted, the prices shall 
 be thirty-eight, thirty-six, and thirty-four livres, for the first, second, 
 and third qualities of whichsoever the cargo may consist. In case 
 of dispute about the quality, specimens are to be sent to the council, 
 who will appoint persons to examine and decide on it. This is, 
 indeed, the least bad of all the palliations which have been proposed ; 
 but it contains the seeds of perpetual trouble. It is easy to foresee 
 that the Farmers will multiply difficulties and vexations on those 
 who shall propose to sell to them by force, and that these will be making 
 perpetual complaints, so that both parties will be kept on the fret. 
 
 If, without fatiguing the friendly dispositions of the Ministry, this 
 should give them just so much trouble as may induce them to look 
 to the demolition of the monopoly as a desirable point of rest, it 
 may produce a permanent as well as a temporary good. This 
 determination of the committee needs the King's orders to be carried 
 into effect. I have been in hourly expectation of receiving official 
 information that it is ultimately confirmed by him. But as yet it is 
 not come, and the post will set out to-day. Should it arrive in time 
 I will enclose it. Should it not arrive, as I do not apprehend any 
 
760 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 danger of its being rejected, or even altered materially, (seeing that 
 M. de Vergennes approved of it, and M. de Calonne acquiesced,) 
 I have supposed you would wish to be apprized of its substance, for 
 a communication of which I am indebted to the M. de la Fayette, 
 though you cannot publish it formally till you know it is confirmed 
 by the King, yet an unauthoritative kind of notice may be given to 
 the merchants to put them on .their guard, otherwise the merchants 
 here, having first knowledge of it, may, by their agents, purchase up 
 all the tobacco they have on hand at a low price, and thus engross 
 to themselves all the benefit. 
 
 In the same letter, of January 2d, I mentioned that the rice of 
 Carolina, compared with that of the Mediterranean, was better and 
 dearer. This was on my own observation, having examined both in 
 the shops here, where they are retailed. Further inquiries give me 
 reason to believe that the rice of Carolina, on its arrival, is fouler 
 and cheaper, and that it is obliged to be cleaned here before it is sale- 
 able; that this advances the price, but, at the same time, the quality, 
 also, beyond that of the Mediterranean. Whether the trouble of 
 this operation discourages the merchant, or the price the consumer, 
 or whether the merchants of Carolina have not yet learned the way 
 to this market, I cannot tell. I find, in fact, that but a small pro- 
 portion of the rice consumed here is from the American market. 
 But the consumption of this article here is immense. If the growers 
 of American rice would endeavor to adapt tlieir preparation of it to 
 the taste of this country, so as to give it, over the JMediterranean 
 rice, the advantage of which it seems susceptible, it \\-ould very 
 much increase the quantity for which they find sale. As far as I 
 have been able to find, it is received here on a favorable footing. 
 
 I shall reserve my letter open to the Jast moment in hopes of being 
 able to put into it the order of the King to the Farmers General. 
 
 I have the honor of enclosing a copy of their contract with Mr. 
 Morris, to which the resolution of the committee refers ; and to be, 
 with sentiments of the most perfect respect, he, 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 TOBACCO CONTRACT. 
 
 Translation. 
 We, the undersigned Robert Morris, heretofore Superintendent of 
 the Finances of the United States of America, residing in Philadel- 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 761 
 
 phia, on the one part, and Le Normand, Receiver General of the 
 Finances of the Generahty of la Rochelle, residing in Paris, on the 
 other part, have agreed, and have respectively treated with each 
 other about the sale and purchase of sixty thousand hogsheads of 
 tobacco, from nine to ten hundred weight, of the different growths of 
 the continent of America, on the following terms and conditions, 
 viz: 
 
 That I, Robert Morris, engage on my part: 1st. To ship and 
 deliver at the several ports of France, hereafter specified, the whole 
 at my hazard and risk, until the total delivery to the said Sieur Le 
 Normand, the sixty thousand hogsheads of tobacco, in the space of 
 the three successive years of 1785, 1786, 1787, at the rate of twenty 
 thousand hogsheads per annum. 
 
 2d. I moreover engage to assort each annual complement in the 
 following proportions, viz .• 
 
 One fourth part James and York river tobacco, half Potomac and 
 Rappahannock, and the other fourth in Maryland tobacco, one third 
 of which at least fit for smoking ; the whole of the first qualities fit 
 for France. 
 
 3d. I also oblige myself to ship the sufficient quantity in vessels, 
 which shall be American in preference to French ; that the aforesaid 
 quantity of twenty thousand hogsheads shall arrive in the ports of 
 Bordeaux, Havre de Grace, Dieppe, and Morlaix, in the following 
 proportions, viz : seven thousand hogsheads to Bordeaux, seven 
 thousand to Havre de Grace, three thousand to Dieppe, and three 
 thousand to Morlaix. Observing that the p/oportion of Maryland 
 tobacco fit for smoking shall of preference be comprehended in equal 
 proportions in the parcels seilt to Morlaix, Bordeaux, and Havre. 
 
 And in case where any shipments shall exceed in one year the 
 aforesaid distribution, the excess shall be carried in augmentation to 
 Havre de Grace. 
 
 4th. The tobacco shipped and delivered in conformity to the 
 aforesaid, shall be paid for by the said Sieur Le Normand to me at 
 the price of thirty-six livres Tournois for each hundred weight marc 
 weight ; and the said Sieur Le Normand shall discharge the amount 
 of each cargo within a month after the delivery to Messrs. Le 
 Couteulx St Co., my bankers in Paris, deducting, however, two 
 livres Tournois for each hundred marc weight, for the reimbursement 
 of a million advance, which the said Sieur Le Normand has put into 
 
762 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the hands of the aforesaid Messrs. Le Couteulx St Co., to hold at my 
 disposal, as appears by their receipt at foot of the present contract. 
 
 5th. I consent that the two thousand hogsheads, of which I have 
 given advice, by my letter of 27th October, to the said Sieur Le 
 Normand, of the purchase and speedy loading for the port of Havre 
 de Grace, shall make part of my first delivery for this year, and shall 
 be paid for to me at the price of thirty-six livres Tournois, with the 
 deduction of two livres Tournois per hundred weight, as is specified 
 in the preceding article. 
 
 6th. For the mode of delivering the tobacco. It shall be taken 
 out of the hogsheads, anu none shall be rejected but what is dam- 
 aged ; then the tobacco shall be weighed on the quay, and received 
 at the weight it really weighed without any deduction whatever ; and 
 until it is weighed, it shall be at my risk and expense. 
 
 7th. The damaged tobacco shall be cut and sent to some other 
 place, if my correspondents shall think proper, otherwise it shall be 
 burned in their presence. 
 
 And I, Le Normand, accept in general, and submit to all the 
 clauses and conditions mentioned in the seven foregoing articles ; 
 and as a preliminary to the present contract, I have remitted the 
 sum of a million of livres Tournois, mentioned in the 4th article, to 
 Messrs. Le Couteulx k, Co., as appears by their receipt annexed at 
 the foot of the present contract, for the said sum to be reimbursed 
 conformably to said article. I moreover consent : 
 
 1st. That in case that the vessels employed in this business shall 
 become subject to greater or new duties or taxes than what the 
 French vessels coming from France pay, the aforesaid duties shall 
 be charged to me. 
 
 2d. That all the duties which hereafter or posterior to the present 
 treaty may be put either on exportation from America, or on the 
 importation into France, shall be charged to me, and in consequence 
 I will be accountable to Mr. R. Morris for those which may happen 
 in America, on the exportation, at the rate of 5liv. 5s. Tournois for 
 each hard dollar, and this upon an authentic certificate that the duty 
 is imposed. 
 
 3d. I engage that the Farmers General shall not make, either 
 directly or indirectly, any purchases of tobacco in America, and, 
 consequently, if I have occasion for a greater quantity of tobacco, it 
 shall be furnished to me on the same price and conditions. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 763 
 
 Done in five parts, at Paris, four of which to be sent to America 
 by the English and French packets, the fifth to be deposited in the 
 hands of Messrs. Le Couteulx & Co. 
 
 At Paris, nth January, 1785. LE NORMAND, 
 
 Receiver General of Finances. 
 
 Signed at Philadelphia, 10th April, 1785. 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 Certified to be true and conformable to the original in my hands, 
 at Paris, 20th February, 1788. LE NORMAND. 
 
 We, the undersigned, acknowledge to have received from Mr. Le 
 Normand, Receiver General of the Finances of the Generality of la 
 Rochelle, the sum of one million livres Tournois, in effects to our 
 satisfaction, which we promise to hold at the disposal of Mr. Robert 
 Morris, heretofore Superintendent General of the Finance of the 
 United States of America, after the absolute acceptation of the 
 present treaty, a duplicate of which has been placed in our hands. 
 
 At Paris, 11th January, 1785. 
 
 LE COUTEULX & CO. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, May 31, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 A safe opportunity occurring by the way of London, I have it now 
 in my power to transmit you the sequel of the papers relative to 
 Algiers, which could not be in readiness to go with my letter of the 
 27th instant by the French packet, which I expect will sail from 
 L'Orient to-morrow. 
 
 I am enabled at the same time to send you a copy of the resolu- 
 tions of the Committee on the subject of the tobacco, together with a 
 copy of the Count de Vergennes's letter to me, giving official notice 
 of them, having enclosed a copy of Mr. Morris's contract in my letter 
 of May 27th on the same subject. You will be enabled to give 
 such notice of the whole as you think proper. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
764 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES TO THOMAS JEFFEESON. 
 
 Translation, 
 
 Versailles, May 30, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I take the earliest opportunity to inform you, that notwithstanding 
 the treaty which the Farmers General have made with Mr. Robert 
 Morris, for the delivery of a certain quantity of tobacco, they have 
 just concluded to take in the way of trade as much as fifteen thousand 
 hogsheads per annum. To let you understand better the extent of 
 the decision in question, I send it to you in the extract enclosed. I 
 beg that you will make it known both in America, as also to the 
 American owners of vessels who may be found in our ports, so that 
 they may direct their commercial speculations accordingly. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Translation. 
 Resolves of a Committee held at Berni, 24th March, 1786. 
 
 The Committee resuming their former deliberations respecting a 
 treaty made with Mr. Morris, informed of the circumstances in which 
 it was made; also informed of the despatch of twelve thousand 
 hogsheads of tobacco, the approaching arrival of which has been 
 announced by Mr. Couteulx, the correspondent of Mr. Morris, have 
 unanimously thought that the execution of the treaty ought to 
 extend until the 1st of January, 1788, saving the right of annulling 
 in case of failure of execution on the part of the said Mr. Morris, 
 the conditions of the said treaty, taking afterwards into consideration 
 the interest of the national commerce with that of the United States, 
 have agreed on the resolutions hereafter enumerated : 
 
 1st. After the expiration of the treaty with Mr. Morris, there shall 
 be made no more bargains of the same kind. 
 
 2d. The Farmer General shall always have in his magazines a 
 necessary supply for the exercise of his privilege, which supply 
 shall be formed by what shall be furnished by the contract with 
 Mr. Morris, as well as by what he shall procure by means of com- 
 merce. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 765 
 
 3d. To secure this supply the Farmer General shall purchase, 
 during the continuation of the contract with Mr. Morris, only the 
 tobacco which can be furnished by trade, and brought in French or 
 American vessels, to the amount of twelve to fifteen thousand 
 hogsheads every year, at the same price, and bn the same conditions 
 stipulated with the said Mr. Morris. 
 
 4th. In cases where cargoes shall not be assorted, the tobacco 
 shall be paid for at the following prices : 
 
 First quality James and York river tobacco, nett cwt Livres 38 
 
 Second quality Potomac and Rappahanock 36 
 
 Third quality Maryland tobacco •. . . . 34 
 
 All the first qualities of each kind proper for France. 
 
 5th. In cases of difficulty respecting the quality, samples shall be 
 sent to the Council, and it shall be determined by a commission, 
 which shall be authorized to have the samples examined by such 
 person as may be proper. 
 
 6th. When the tobacco furnished by the Americans shall not be 
 delivered in a manufacturing port, there shall be deducted from the 
 stipulated prices thirty sols per nett quintal,' for expenses of trans- 
 portation. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, August 18, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 My last to you was dated the 14th of last month, since Which I 
 have received and laid before Congress your several letters of 12th, 
 22d, 23d, two of 27th, and one of 31st May last, with the papers 
 enclosed with them. 
 
 It has happened from various circumstances that several reports 
 on foreign affairs still lay before Congress undecided upon. The 
 want of an adequate representation for long intervals, and the multi- 
 plicity of business which pressed upon them when that was not the 
 case, has occasioned delays and omissions which, however unavoid- 
 able, are much to be regretted. It is painful to me to reflect that 
 although my attention to business is unremitted, yet I so often 
 experience unseasonable delays and successive obstacles in obtaining 
 the decision and sentiments of Congress, even on points which 
 require despatch. But so it is, and I must be content with leaving 
 nothing undone that may depend upon me. 
 
766 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 The Consular Convention is now, as it has long been, under the 
 consideration of Congress, and I have reason to hope they will soon 
 enable me to send you full instructions on that subject. 
 
 I have long thought, and become daily more convinced, that the 
 construction of our Federal Government is fundamentally wrong. 
 To vest legislative, judicial, and executive power in one and the 
 same body of men, and that too in a body daily changing its mem- 
 bers, can never be wise. In my opinion, those three great depart- 
 ments of sovereignty should be forever separated, and so distributed 
 as to serve as checks on each other. But these are subjects that 
 have long been familiar to you, and on which you are too well 
 informed not to anticipate everything that I might say on them. 
 
 I enclose a late ordinance of Congress for Indian affairs, and their 
 requisition for the ensuing year. Those subjects have consumed 
 much time ; they are, however, important ones, and the attention of 
 Congress to them could not, with propriety, have been postponed. 
 
 I have advised Congress to renew your commission as to certain 
 powers. Our treasury is ill supplied ; some States pay nothing, and 
 others very little. The impost not yet established. The people, 
 generally uneasy in a certain degree, but without seeming to discern 
 the true cause, viz : want of energy both in State and Federal Gov- 
 ernments. It takes time to make sovereigns of subjects. 
 
 I am, dear sir, &ic., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 3, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor of transmitting you, herewith enclosed, the 
 following papers, viz : 
 
 No. 1. A copy of the Consular Convention signed by the French 
 and American Plenipotentia,ries. 
 
 No. 2. A copy of the act of Congress under which the American 
 Plenipotentiaries signed the same. 
 
 No. 3. A copy of a scheme of a convention mentioned and referred 
 to in the same act. 
 
 No. 4. A copy of a report on the said convention. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 767 
 
 No. 5. A copy of an act of Congress containing instructions and 
 giving authority tp you on the subject of the said convention. 
 
 These papers will possess you fully of the whole business. I am 
 persuaded that it will appear to you, as it does to Congress, to be a 
 delicate one, and to require dehcate managenoient. 
 
 The original scheme of the Convention is far from being unexcep- 
 tionable ; but a former Congress having agreed to it, it would be 
 improper now to recede ; and, therefore. Congress are content to 
 ratify a convention made conformable to that scheme, and to their 
 act of the 25th day of January, 1782, provided a clause limiting its 
 duration be added. It will be proper, therefore, to press on the 
 Court onli/ such objections to the convention as arise from its 
 departure from the scheme. On making an accurate comparison, 
 such departure will appear manifest to his Majesty ; and there is 
 reason to expect from his candor that he will readily consent to 
 remove the objections occasioned by it. 
 
 As it certainly is wise to try the merits of institutions entirely 
 new, by actual experience, before nations adopt them forever, the 
 propriety of rendering this convention probationary in the first 
 instance is unquestionable. Congress cannot, therefore, presume 
 that his most Christian Majesty will object to a clause for limiting 
 its duration.. The design of this convention being for mutual recip- 
 rocal benefit and convenience, it would be doing injustice to his 
 Majesty to suppose that he would wish to provide for its existing 
 longer than it should prove useful and satisfactory. 
 
 If, after the experience of a few years, it should be found to 
 answer the purposes intended by it, both parties will have sufficient 
 inducements to renew it, either in its present form, or with such 
 alterations and amendments as time, experience, and other circum- 
 stances may indicate. 
 
 With great respect, &;c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Paris, June 20, 1786. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 My last to you was of the 5th May, by Baron Walterstorff. 
 Since that I have been honored with yours of April I3th, and May 
 
768 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the 16th and 18th. The present covers letters to Mr. Lamb and 
 Mr. Randall, informing them that the demands a^ Algiers for the 
 ransom of our prisoners, and also for peace, are so infinitely beyond 
 our instructions that we must refer the matter back to Congress, and, 
 therefore, praying them to come on immediately. I will beg the 
 favor of you to forward these letters. The whole of this business, 
 therefore, is suspended till we receive further orders, except as to 
 Mr. Barclay's mission. Your bills have been received and honored. 
 The first, naming expressly a letter of advice, and none coming, 
 it was refused till the receipt of your letter to me, in which you 
 mentioned that you had drawn two bills. I immediately informed 
 Mr. Grand, who thereupon honored the bill. 
 
 I have received no public letters of late date. Through other 
 channels, I have collected some articles of information which may 
 be acceptable to you. 
 
 *.!jt. .^ .^ 41. .^ 4f -V- 
 
 "Tr "re vP "Jr '31* TT TT 
 
 In a letter of March the 20th, from Doctor Franklin to me, is 
 this passage : " As to public affairs, the Congress has not been able 
 ' to assemble more than seven or eight States during the whcjle winter, 
 ' so the treaty with Prussia remains still unratified, though there is 
 ' no doubt of its being done soon, as a full Congress is expected next 
 ' month. The disposition to furnish Congress with ample powers 
 ' augment daily, as people become more enlightened. And 1 do not 
 ' remember ever to have seen, during my long life, more signs of 
 ' public felicity than appear at present throughout these States. The 
 'cultivators of the earth, who make the bulk of our nation, have 
 ' made good crops, which are paid for at high prices with ready 
 ' money ; the artisans, too, receive high wages ; and the value of all 
 ' real estate is augmented greatly. IMerchants and shopkeepers, 
 ' indeed, complain that there is not business enough. But this is 
 ' evidently not owing to the fewness of buyers, but to the too great 
 ' numbers of sellers ; for the consumption of good's was never greater, 
 ' as appears from the dress, furniture, and manner of living of all 
 'ranks of the people." His health is good, except as to the stone, 
 which does not grow worse. I thank you for your attention to my 
 request about the books, which Mr. Barclay writes me he has 
 forwarded from Cadiz. 
 
 J have the honor to be, Stc, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 769 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFEKSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, April 8, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 My letters to you by the last French packet, were dated May 
 12th, 22d, 23d, 27th, 27th, and I sent, by the way of London, 
 one dated May 31st. Since this I have been honored with yours 
 of May 5th. The letter therein enclosed for Mr. Dumas has been 
 duly forwarded ; and the report on the subject of the Consular 
 convention, I delivered to the Count de Vergennes the first levee 
 day after the return of the King, who was gone to Cherbourg at the 
 time of my receiving it. Mr. Randall being so far on his return, 
 and meaning to go by the way of London, where his stay will be 
 short, he will be the bearer of this letter, with which I have an 
 opportunity of enclosing the last letters I have received from Mr. 
 Barclay and Mr. Lamb. Mr. Barclay left Cadiz soon after the date 
 of his letter. I wrote to Mr. Lamb on the 20th June, with the 
 concurrence of Mr. Adams, to repair to Congress with all possible 
 despatch, recommending, but not enjoining, his coming by the way 
 of Marseilles and Paris, supposing it possible that the information 
 he might communicate might be usefully applied by Mr. Adams and 
 myself in the execution of the commands of Congress. I after- 
 wards wrote him another letter, desiring expressly that, if this route 
 was likely to retard much his attendance on Congress, he would 
 take such other as should be shortest. 
 
 At the desire of Monsieur Houdon, I have the honor to enclose 
 to you his propositions for making the equestricm statue of General 
 Washington. 
 
 In the autumn of the last year I received letters from an American 
 master of a ship, of the name of Aisquith, informing me that he 
 had had a most disastrous passage across the Atlantic ; that they had 
 put into Brest when in such distress that they were obliged to make 
 the first port possible ; that they had been immediately seized by 
 the ofiicers of the Farmers General, their vessel and her lading 
 seized, and that themselves were then in jail, suffering from every 
 want. Letters by every post gave me to believe their distress was 
 very real. All their cash was soon exhausted, and the winter setting 
 in very severely, I desired a merchant of Brest to furnish them a 
 Vol. L— 49 
 
770 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 livre a day apiece. It was sometime before I could; be ascertained 
 of the nature of the proceedings against them. It proved at length 
 to be a prosecution as for endeavoring to introduce tobacco in con- 
 traband. I was induced to order this allowance from evidence that 
 the men, six in number, must inevitably perish if left to the pittance 
 allowed by the Farmers General to their prisoners, and from a hope 
 that the matter would soon be decided. I was led on by this delusive 
 hope from week to week, and month to month, and it proved to be 
 ten months before they were discharged. I applied early to Count 
 de Vergennes, and was informed by him that the matter being in a 
 regular course of law there could be no interference, and that if the 
 sentence should be against them, I might expect a remission of so 
 much of it as should depend on the King. They were condemned 
 to forfeit their vessel and cargo, to a fine, and to the galleys ; the fine 
 and condemnation to the galleys were remitted immediately by the 
 King, but the forfeiture of the vessel and cargo being for the benefit 
 of the Farmers, he could not remit that. They were also to pay 
 the expenses of their prosecution, and to remain in jail till they did 
 it ; so that, upon the whole, I was obliged to advance for them 
 2,620liv. 2s., being somewhat upwards of one hundred guineas, for 
 which I informed Aisquith from the beginning he must consider 
 himself as answerable to the United States. I accordingly enclose 
 the account, shewing the purposes for which the money was paid, 
 and his own original acknowledgment that it was for his use. I own 
 I am uncertain whether I have done right in this, but I am persuaded 
 some of them would have perished without this advance. I therefore 
 thought it one of those cases where citizens, being under unexpected 
 calamity, have a right to call for the patronage of the public servants. 
 All the disinterested testimony I have ever been able to get, has 
 been in favor of the innocence of these men. Count de Vergennes, 
 however, believed them guilty ; and I was assured the depositions 
 regularly taken were much against them. I enclose herewith the 
 state of their case as it appeared to me in the beginning, and as I 
 communicated it by letter to the Minister. 
 
 Having been lately desired by the Swedish Ambassador to state 
 to him what I thought the best measure for rendering the Island of 
 St. Bartholomew useful to the commerce of Sweden and the United 
 States, I did it in a letter, of which I enclose a copy. My view in 
 doing it is, that if any further or better measure should occur to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 771 
 
 Congress, on its being communicated to me I can still suggest it to 
 the Ambassador, probably before any final decision. It being material 
 that the reduction of the duties on whale oil, which would expire 
 with the close of this year, should be revived in time for the whale 
 men to take measures in consequence, we have applied for a contin- 
 uance of the reduction, and even for an abolition of all duties. The 
 committee, the creation of which I informed you in my letter of 
 May 27th, and of which the Marquis de la Fayette is a member, 
 were in favor of the abolition : but there is little prospect, perhaps 
 none at all, of obtaining a confirmation of their sentence. I have 
 no doubt of the continuance of the abatement of the duties on the 
 footing stated in that letter ; the term of three years will probably 
 be adopted. The Gazettes of Leyden and of France, from the 
 former to the present date, accompany this. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FKOM THOMAS BAHCLAY TO MESSRS. ADAMS AND JEFrERSON. 
 
 Cadiz, May 23, 1786. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 Since my arrival here, the 9th, nothing has occurred worth your 
 attention. I am waiting for a vessel that is bound to Mogadore, and 
 expect to sail in a few days. You have probably as late accounts 
 from Mr. Lamb as I can give you, yet it may not be improper to 
 inform you of his arrival at Alicant the 24th of last month, where, 
 doubtless, his quarantine has delayed his proceeding to Madrid. 
 The enclosed is a copy of a letter from the Count d'Espilly to Mr. 
 Carmichael, dated at Algiers the 20th past. Whether it will convey 
 anything new or not I cannot say, nor whether Mr. Carmichael may 
 not already have transmitted to you its contents. 
 
 I hope to have the pleasure of soon hearing from you, and of 
 being informed whether you have any commands for me further than 
 Morocco. I have long been anxious to see the trade of our country 
 to these parts put on a safe and respectable footing, as I am well 
 acquainted with the importance of the object ; and if I can, while I 
 am in the neighborhood of Africa, in the smallest degree contribute 
 towards the doing it, no care or attention on my part shall be wanting. 
 If my going to Constantinople will be thought by you useful, you 
 
772 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 have only to command me, and I offdr you toy sefrvices there, or any 
 where else, without limitations. As soon as I have executed the 
 business in which I am engaged, I intend to return to America for a 
 few months, having already procured permission from Congress to 
 go there to settle some of my affairs that require my presence. I 
 send you herewith enclosed an extract of a letter written from 
 Morocco to the Consul of the Emperor of Germany at this place, 
 from whom I received it ; but it is the only intelligence here of the 
 Emperor of Morocco having made such a declaration, and probably 
 is no more than a sudden gust of passion, which has blown ov^r 
 with the circumstance that occasioned it. It is, however, certain 
 that the British are not at present a favored people in Morocco, and 
 that a letter from his Catholic Majesty is likely to have greater weight 
 in that country than one from any other potentate on earth. I have 
 had some conversation with the Marquis de Vialli, who is well known 
 to the Emperor of Morocco, and who says he has frequently talked 
 with him on the subject of America. His opinion is, that the 
 Emperor will demand a tribute of eighteen thousand dollars per 
 annum. This gentleman, to whom I was made known by General 
 O'Reily, the late Governor of Andalusia and Cadiz, has given me a 
 good deal of useful information and advice ; but to what purposes I 
 shall be able to apply either remains to be tried. Indeed, I much 
 fear the Emperor's ideas will exceed those of my constituents. 
 Immediately on my arrival here I wrote to him that I would embark 
 for Mogadore as soon as possible, which I did to cut short any delays 
 that might occur there by waiting his permission to go to Morocco, 
 where he is at present ; and I expect, by the time I get to Mogadore, 
 orders will be lodged for my getting forward. 
 I beg you will believe me, gentlemen, &z;c., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN LAMB TO THOMAS JErFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, May 20, 1786. 
 
 After my little disappointments, I arrived at Algiers the 25th 
 March, and within the term of three or four days I found that the 
 whole amount of money in my hands belonging to the public would 
 not jfilircbase the unfortunate captives ; in consequence of which 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 773 
 
 I despatched Mr. Randall, so that your, Excellencies might hav^ the 
 earliest notice of our matters in that quarter. In a short letter to 
 your Excellencies I stated our affairs. Accordingly, Mr. Randall 
 sailed the 29th or 30th March, with my desire to him to proceed 
 with all possible despatch, to give the earliest no.tipe that was in my 
 power ; but when I came here I found Mr. Randall was in Aranjuez. 
 I received a line from him at nine the next evening, in consequence 
 of which I wrote him, and desired him to proceed ; he answered my 
 letter. The three letters I herein enclose, so that your Excellencies 
 will naturally excuse me for the detention. 
 
 On the 3d day of April I was admitted to ap audience with the 
 Dey, but he would not speak of peace— set the slaves at most 
 exorbitant prices, far beyond my limits. The 7th I had a second 
 interview, but still he was of the same mind. About the 17th, I 
 had the third and last interview. He fell something of his first 
 price ; and I here enclose the last price, which is enormous, as your 
 Excellencies will see. My ppxt views wei^e to have an acquaint? 
 ance with their principal Minister, which I soon brought to pass by 
 some presents to this Minister's confidant, aijd he was pur interpreter. 
 He told me that it was his greatest desire tha,t our peace might be 
 made with their Regency, and that for his part he would use his 
 utmost endeavors for the purpose ; but until the affairs of Spain 
 were settled, little could he done on our matter ; and further told me 
 not to mind the little put-pffs by the Dey, nor the enormous price 
 asked for our slaves ; that the price |;hat was set on our people was 
 only to put a more rnpdest face qp the price which they intentj to 
 make the Spaniards pay for their people, and advised me to go (o 
 Spain and wait until they had done with Spain, and that I might 
 rest assured that he would, at all opportunities, write tP me. J 
 begged him to write to Mr. Carmichael ; he did. I begged hiwi 
 to give me a free pass to cpnie tp Algiers and go when I plpased. 
 He likewise did, but told me that if the letter was exposed that he 
 had written Mr. Carmichael he shoiild lose his life, and whpR I 
 returned that I might expect the sapie. I had several intprvievvs 
 with this Minister, and the above is the purport and substance, 
 excepting that they had an entire right to make peace or war without 
 the voice of the Grand Seignior, and that they were under no control 
 by the Ottoman Porte. He tpld me that it would npt be long aftgf 
 my arrival in Spain before he should Jef me know what steps it would 
 
774 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 be best to take, and when for me to return if I was ordered back ; 
 and as I found it was of no consequence to tarry longer than until I 
 had further orders, I took his advice and returned. There is no 
 doubt but I shall hear from him soon. After waiting in Spain a 
 long time for the influence of that Court, I was obliged to leave 
 Madrid without success, for I got no letter, although Mr. Carmichael 
 took the utmost pains. About four or five days before I left Algiers, 
 I received two letters from Mr. Carmichael. Enclosed in one of 
 those was an open letter from the Court of Spain in favor of our 
 mission to that Regency, and directed to Count d'Espilly. But 
 previous to the reception of the letter, he told me if such a letter 
 came to him he could not make any use of it ; neither did he. The 
 reason he best knows ; but this is sure that he cares very little about 
 our peace in that quarter. The letter I carried from France was of 
 no consequence. If your Excellency could procure a letter from 
 the Court of France, and directed to the Dey, with their desires to 
 him for a peace with the United States of America, it would give 
 great weight ; but such a letter, I dare say, would be hard to be 
 procured. The treatment I received from the French Consul was 
 polite ; indeed he paid me great attention. Mr. Logic likewise 
 received me as an old friend, and declared to me that he had no 
 orders to counteract my mission from his Court ; which I am sure 
 of. I left the packet in the hands of the Count d'Espilly, who had 
 employed her for Spain, until I call for her, and have the Count's 
 receipt for the vessel. I thought proper to leave my own stores 
 which I carried over in Algiers, and left them with Mr. Wolf, who 
 is a very honest, good gentleman, and I believe a friend to our 
 cause in that quarter ; and by the desire of Count d'Espilly have 
 left the care of our unfortunate people likewise in his hands, together 
 with four hundred dollars to pay their past expenses, and buy them 
 such things as will make them comfortable, which money, I am sure, 
 will be frugally expended. I shall wait your Excellency's further 
 orders at Alicant, hoping that my conduct may be approved of; 
 and am, with due respect, your Excellency's most obedient humble 
 
 ^®'^''^"'' • JOHN LAMB. 
 
 N. B. The plague is within the limits of the Regency of Algiers, 
 in consequence of which it will make very long quarantines in 
 Spain. The vessel that I have bought for the conveniency of our 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 775 
 
 business I belie;ve will be ordered to Mahon to perform quarantine. 
 To purchase this vessel was unavoidable, as I could not get to 
 Algiers well without. 
 
 I here give your Excellency an account of the prices of our unfor- 
 tunate people, and it is as follows, viz : 
 
 3 Captains, at $6,000 each per head $ 18,000 
 
 2 Mates, at 4,000 " 8,000 
 
 2 Passengers, at 4,000 « 8,000 
 
 14 Sailors, at 1,400 « 19,600 
 
 21 amounts to the enormous sum of • $53,600 
 
 11 per cent, to be added according to custom 5,896 
 
 In Spanish milled dollars $59,496 
 
 So that your Excellencies see how far beyond your expectations 
 the sum amounts, which renders me incapable of acting until further 
 orders. The price the Spaniards are giving for their people is 
 short of what is charged us, and they have eleven hundred men and 
 some upwards in Algiers. It will cost Spain more than a million and 
 a half of dollars for their slaves only ; the peace of Spain and their 
 slaves will amount to more than three millions of dollars. I have 
 only to add that their cruisers will, in all probability, be at sea by 
 the 6th of June, at the farthest. I am of opinion that, if we follow 
 our pretension for peace this summer, that they will hear proposals, 
 but not at the price we expected, nor by the open way we first went 
 to work. If France will give nothing but sealed letters, we had 
 better have none. To fight these people, the first year will cost us 
 more than half a million pounds sterhng. I have, by experience of 
 a long date, a perfect knowledge of the cost of armed vessels, and 
 at the distance we are from these people, and foreign ports to make 
 use of, it will be a heavy tax upon us, and without the least prospect 
 of gain. I hope I shall be excused in speaking my mind so freely. 
 It is out of zealous desires for the good of the country 1 belong to, 
 and, it is my opinion, that for a less sum than the first year would 
 cost us to fight we can make peace, and if we intend it at all, now 
 is the only time to pursue, as the way is seemingly open for a trial. 
 
 I hope no more of our people will be so unhappy as to fall into 
 those people's hands this summer ; and in that case, it will, in a 
 
776 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 manner, discourage them in their expectations. Spain is our sure 
 friend in our peace with Algiers ; but they have not finished their 
 peace at present. We shall have their assistance at the conclusion 
 of their peace. 
 
 With due respect, Sic, J. LAMB, 
 
 I have no objection to their being a trial made at Constantinople, 
 but it will be of no consequence as to peace with Algiers, as the 
 Count mentions in his letter, his views are to have Mr. ■ Wolf 
 appointed in our peace with Algiers, and Mr. Wolf is a very good 
 man ; but it is well to take time before large power is given to 
 strangers. The Count kept me as much in the dark as he could on 
 all accounts. My advice is, if we should arm against these people, 
 to unite ourselves with those nations that are not at peace with 
 Algiers, and that will lessen our expense much on the occasion. 
 
 1st. Commerce. — Articles of importation from Marseilles and Leg- 
 horn, the chief ports with which Algiers carries on its commerce, are 
 bar-iron, steel, German linens, and Dutch linens of all kinds, 
 English and French cloth, long ells, spices, copperas, coffee, sugar, 
 gold and silver brocades, wrought silk, deals, hardware, a small 
 quantity of^sh, with different other articles from that quarter ; and 
 all those articles pay five per cent, duty at Algiers. Every kind of 
 warlike stores are free of duty, and naval stores likewise, and are 
 generally received as presents from those northern nations who are 
 at peace with them. The trade carried on from Algiers is to 
 Smyrna, Alexandria, and different ports of the Levant ; is chiefly by 
 the Moorish and Jewish merchants, and by their own people, and it 
 consists in raw silks, linens, muslins, cotton, durdetts, and gums, and 
 are transported to Europe, in bottoms without distinction, not having 
 any trading vessels of their own, there is not one merchant ship 
 belonging to the Regency of Algiers. Exports are wheat, barley, 
 beans, Indian corn, wool, hides, beeswax in considerable quantities. 
 The chief and only manufacture is silk sashes, plain and embroidered, 
 with a species of red and white blanketing, which they ship to the 
 Levant. 
 
 2d. Ports. — Bona, Bagia, Algiers, and Arzew, and are very exactly 
 desc ribed in the French charts. Algiers is well fortified with upwards 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPOiNDENCE. 777 
 
 of one thousand brass cannon, from thirty-six to twenty-four pound 
 shot, and many of their works bomb proof. 
 
 3d. Naval Force. — Their present naval force consists of nine 
 Xebecks and ten row-galleys, from thirty-six tOr eight guns. The 
 largest is manned with about four hundred men, and so in proportion. 
 They mostly depend on their success by boarding of vessels. A 
 more particular account is sent. 
 
 4th. Prisoners.. — Prisoners, or rather slaves, are, for the most part, 
 treated with rigor, hard work, and poor nourishment. They are 
 frequently redeemed, either by their friends or public charity, but 
 oftentimes at exorbitant prices. Their treaties are sometimes broke, 
 but not often. Hired troops, or those who receive pay, are about 
 twenty thousand. On occasion, they can bring two hundred thou- 
 sand into the field, and are an undisciplined wild rabble. Indeed, 
 the best troops they have are about ten thousand Turks, and are 
 stationed in different parts &f the kingdom. There is no making a 
 proper estimate of their revenues, but, however, they are very con- 
 siderable. Their public revenues are estimated at more than ten 
 millions pound sterling in specie, &c. 
 
 5th. Language. — Is Turkish, Arabic, Lingua Franca, Italian. 
 Lingua Franca is a corruption of Turkish, Italian, and Spanish, 
 much spoken at Algiers at this time. 
 
 6th and 1th. Government Religion. — Little subordination is paid 
 to the Ottoman Porte. They, however, acknowledge the Grand 
 Seignor to be the spiritual head of their religion, and that is Mahom- 
 etanism ; by the same species of fanaticism the Christian religion 
 they hold in the utmost contempt. 
 
 Captures. — ^Two ships from the United States qf America, with 
 twenty-one persons on board, officers included. Of the different 
 nations, slaves about fifteen hundred. They are at war with all 
 nations, except France, England, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Sweden, 
 Venice, and the Emperor of Germany. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Mr. HouDON asks for the executing an equestrian statue in bronze 
 of General Washington, having the privilege of the workshops in 
 the city containing the furnaces proper for this casting, and the 
 
778 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 dwelling-house thereto annexed, the sum of 600,OOOKd., and ten 
 years dating from this time to perform the work, supposing that 
 the agreement will be signed by the two parties in the course of this 
 year. This price being agreed to, the payments shall be divided as 
 may best suit Congress, representing, however, that during the first 
 years a variety of disbursements must occur. 
 
 He conceives that he ought to prevail on the Senate to allow this 
 work to be cast in two parts ; that is to say, the General and the 
 horse separately. This will by no means injure the unity of the 
 work, but will rather, on reflection, be advantageous to every part, 
 the casting, execution, solidity, and convenience for transportation. 
 He insists on this point from the experience which he and his work- 
 men have endeavored to acquire to render themselves capable. He 
 does not know at present of a founder existing on whom he can rely 
 so well as on those whom he has himself prepared at a great expense 
 during fifteen years that he has been in possession of the furnaces in 
 which the equestrian stattte of Louis XV, King of France, was 
 cast. The persons who were employed in that business are now 
 dead. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Description of the cost of several Bronze Statues, and the names 
 of the Artists who executed them. 
 
 Mr. Talconet was invited to Russia to make the equestrian statue 
 of Peter the Great, at Petersburgh, in bronze, on the following con- 
 ditions: To have the expenses of boarding and lodging defrayed 
 until his work should be entirely finished ; that if, by means of sick- 
 ness or any other accident, the time and work should be prolonged 
 beyond eight years, Mr. Talconet fully relies on the equity of her 
 Imperial Majesty to make allowances for his expenses and lodging 
 for said time, as he cannot guard against unforeseen accidents. He 
 moreover received 25,000/ro. per annum from the Empress, his 
 journey from Paris to Petersburgh, and his return to this city, paid ; 
 that he would only receive orders either from her Imperial Majesty 
 directly, or through her Minister. Prince Gallitzin, Minister of 
 Russia, had offered him, on the part of his Court, 400,000//w. ; 
 he would only accept, however, 200,000liv. Mr. Pajou asked 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 779 
 
 600,000Zi«. ; Mr. Coustou, 450,000Zi«. ; Mr. Vassee, 400,000Zw. 
 The founder was to receive 140,000Zw. immediately after the casting, 
 which, if it did not succeed, he was to have I0,000liv. per, annum 
 to begin it again. The expenses of the workshops to be at the cost 
 of the Court. 
 
 The equestrian statue in bronze of Frederick V, at Copenhagen, 
 was made by Mr. Sally. He received for the model and the pains 
 he bestowed on this piece 600,000?jd. It is true that this bronze 
 statue, cast by Goor, contained upwards of three thousand pieces, 
 large and small. A pension of 5,000Uv., during life, was given to 
 Mr. Sally, and which he drew two years after his arrival at Copen- 
 hagen. He moreover had a pension of 9,000liv., 4,500Z«i;. of which 
 were paid till he finls^ied his work, and 4,500/tD. paid by the King 
 until his death ; and a further gratification of 36,000liv. The founder 
 was paid for the expenses of his two journeys, 40,000Ki)., I2,000liv. 
 per annum, and 2,000K'y. income after the casting. He remained 
 about four years at Copenhagen, and returned home with about 
 '200,000liv. He asked, for going to Petersburgh to cast the statue 
 of Peter the Great, 480,000Zi'u. In short, for workmen's wages, 
 and everything depending thereon, for the space of eighteen or 
 nineteen years which were employed in this work, it cost the India 
 Company 2,200,000Z««., to which it is said the King added 
 600,000liv., which makes in all near 3,000,000Zw. 
 
 Mr. Bouchardon, who began the equestrian statue, in bronze, of 
 Louis XIII, King of France, which is at Paris, enjoyed during 
 fifteen years, that is to say, until his death, which surprised him in 
 the middle of his work, a pension of IS.OOOliv. per annum. 
 
 FROM JOHN MEHEGAN TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Excellent Sir, 
 As I have seen the distress of your unfortunate countrymen, I 
 implore you will use your utmost endeavors to extricate them from 
 this unhappy affair. They are now in real want, having only three 
 poor sols per day each man to live on, which will scarce keep life 
 in the cold prison they are confined in. The people in whom they 
 confided having got all the money they had, three poor guineas 
 excepted, and which they expect the lawyers at Brest will demand, 
 
780 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 as they sent for ten guineas to carry on the suit, but the poor men 
 have not such a sum. And if they do not send money they -will be 
 deserted, and they will lose their liberty and property, and their 
 unfortunate famihes wUl be ruined and suffer for a crime they are 
 innocent of, without your protection and assistance. 
 
 The officers, and every one who saw the condition they were in 
 when they ca,me in here, own they must either perish at sea for want 
 of provisions and repairs or come into this place, all their provisions 
 being so near out as not to have lasted, two days at most ; and the 
 officers have not the least circumstantial proof against them, only 
 pure suspicions. 
 
 The officers have confined them the same as criminals, and give 
 only the allowance destined for criminals. The people who came 
 to get what they could from them, now they are in distress, have 
 entirely abandoned them. I then entreat your Excellency to use 
 your endeavors to relieve and favor those objects of compassion, 
 who, in a strange land, are not able to redress their grievances. 
 Exert, then, your influence in favor ^f your distressed, I dare say, 
 innocent, countrymen ; their troubles are so great that I fear they 
 will not be able to bear them. Should Commodore John Paul Jones 
 be at Versailles, I entreat you to present him my respects. You 
 will pardon the liberty I take. 
 
 I am, &c., JOHN MEHEGAN. 
 
 Paris, November 14, 1785. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I take the liberty of troubling your Excellency on behalf of six 
 citizens of the United States, who have been for some time confined 
 in the prisons of St. Pol de Leon, and of referring for particulars to 
 the enclosed state of their case. Some of the material facts th ,rein 
 mentioned are founded on the bill of sale for the vessel, her clearance 
 from Baltimore, and her log-book. The originals of the two last, 
 and a copy of the first are in my hands. I have also letters from a 
 merchant in Liverpool to Asquith, which render it very probable 
 that his vessel was bound to Liverpool. The other circumstances 
 depend on their affirmation, but I must say that in these facts they 
 have been uniform and steady. I have thus long avoided troubling 
 your Excellency with this case in hopes it would receive its decision 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. Tgl 
 
 in the ordinary course of law ; and I relied that that would indemnify 
 the sufFereirs if they had been used unjustly. But though they have 
 been in close confinement now near three months, it has yet no 
 appearance of approaching to decision. In the 'meantime the cold 
 of the winter is coming on, and to men in their situation may produce 
 events which would render all indemnification too late. I must, 
 therefore, pray the assistance of your Excellency for the liberation of 
 their persons, if the established order of things may possibly admit 
 of it. As to their property and their personal sufferings hitherto, I 
 have full confidence that the laws 'have provided for their discussion 
 some tribunal where justice will be done them. I enclose the 
 opinion of an advocate, forwarded to me by a gentleman whom I 
 had desired to obtain, from some judicious person of that faculty, a 
 state of their case. This may, perhaps, give a 'better idea than I 
 can of the situation of their cause. His inquiries have led me to 
 believe they are innocent men, but that they must lose their vessel 
 under the edict which forbids those under thirty tons to approach 
 the coast. Admitting their innocence as he does, I should suppose 
 them not the objects on whom such edict was meant to operate. 
 The essential papers which he says they redemanded from him, and 
 did not return, were sent to me at my desire. 
 
 The Case of Lister Asguith, ovmer of the Schooner William and 
 Catharine, William M'Neil, Captain, William Thomson, William 
 Neilly, Robert Anderson, mariners, and William Fowler, pas- 
 senger. 
 
 Lister Asquith, a citizen of the State of Maryland, having a kw- 
 suit depending in England which required his presence, as involving 
 in its issue nearly his whole fortune, determined to go thither in a 
 small schooner of his own, that he might, at the same time, take 
 with him an adventure of tobacco and flour to Liverpool, where he 
 had commercial connexions. This schooner he purchased as of 
 fifty-nine and a half tons, as appears by his bill of sale, but she had 
 been registered by her owner at twenty-one tons, in order to evade 
 the double duties in England, to which American vessels are now 
 subject. He cleared out from Baltimore for Liverpool the 11th of 
 June, 1785, with eight hogsheads of tobacco and sixty barrels of 
 flour, but run aground at Smith's Point, sprung a leak, and was 
 
782 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 obliged to return to Baltimore to refit. Having stopped his leak, he 
 took his cargo on board again, and his health being infirm he engaged 
 Captain William M'Neil* to go with him, and on the 20th June 
 sailed for Norfolk, in Virginia ; and on the 22d came to in Hampton 
 Roads, at the mouth of the river on which Norfolk is. Learning 
 here that tobacco would be better than flour for the English market, 
 he landed fifty barrels of his flour and one hogshead of tobacco, 
 which he found to be bad, meaning to take instead thereof nine 
 hogsheads of tobacco more. But the same night it began to blow 
 very hard, with much rain. The 23d the storm became more 
 heavy ; they let go both their anchors, but were driven, notwith- 
 standing, from their anchorage, forced to put to sea, and go before 
 the wind. The occurrences of their voyage will be best detailed by 
 short extracts from their log-book : 
 
 June 24th. The weather becomes worse ; one of the foreshrouds 
 and the foremast carried away. 
 
 June 25th. Shifted their ballast, which threw them on their beam 
 ends, and shipped a very heavy sea. 
 
 Held a consultation, the result of which was that seeing they were 
 now driven so far to sea, and the weather continuing still very bad, 
 it was better to steer for Liverpool, their port of destination, though 
 they had not their cargo on board, and no other clearance but that 
 which they took from Baltimore. 
 
 June 29th. The first observation they had been able to take — 
 north latitude 38° 13'. 
 
 June 30th. Winds begin to be light, but the sea still very heavy. 
 
 July 5th. Light winds and a smooth sea for the first time, in lati- 
 tude 43° 52'. 
 
 July 9th. Spoke a French brig, Comte d'Artois, Captain Pierre 
 Monreaux, from St. Maloes, in distress for provisions ; relieved her 
 with three barrels of flour. 
 
 August 6th. Thick weather and a strong wind. Made the Land's 
 End of England. 
 
 * This was the officer who, on the evacuation of Port Mifflin, after the British 
 had passed the chevaux-de-frizo in the Delaware, was left with fifteen men to 
 destroy the works, which he did, and brought off his men successfully. He had 
 before that been commander of the Rattlesnake sloop-of-war, and had much 
 annoyed the British trade. Being bred a seaman, he had returned to that voca- 
 tion. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 783 
 
 August 7th. Unable to fetch the land, therefore bore off for 
 Scilly, and came to with both anchors ; drove notwithstanding, and 
 obliged to get up the anchors and put to sea, running south- 
 wardly. 
 
 August 8th. Made the land of France, but did not know what 
 part. 
 
 Here the log-book ends. At this time they had on board but ten 
 gallons of water, four or five pounds of bread, two or three pounds 
 of candles, no firewood, their sails unfit to be trusted to any longer, 
 and all their materials for mending them exhausted by the constant 
 repairs, which the violence of the weather had called for. They 
 therefore took a pilot aboard, who carried them into Port du Val, 
 but being informed by the captain of a vessel there that the schooner 
 was too sharp built (as the American vessels mostly were) to lie in 
 that port, he put out immediately, and the next morning the pilot 
 brought him to anchor in the port of the Isle de Bas. He went 
 immediately to Roscoff, and protested to the Admiralty the true state 
 of his case, and reported his vessel and cargo to the custom-house. 
 In making the report of his vessel stated her as twenty-one tons. 
 The officer informed him that if she was no larger, she would be 
 confiscated by an edict which forbid all vessels under thirty tons to 
 approach the coast ; he told the officer what was the real truth as to 
 his register and his bill of sale, and was permitted to report her 
 according to the latter. He paid the usual fees of lOliv. Is. and 
 obtained a clearance. Notwithstanding this, he was soon visited by 
 other persons, whom he supposes to have been Commis of the Fermes, 
 who seized his vessel, carried her to the pier, and confined the crew 
 to the vessel and half the pier, putting sentinels over them. They 
 brought a gauger, who measured her hold and part of her steerage, 
 allowing nothing for the cockpit, cabin, forecastle, and above one 
 half the steerage, which is almost half the vessel, and thus made 
 her contents (if that had been of any importance) much below the 
 truth. The tobacco was weighed and found to be 6,487 lbs.,* which 
 
 * A hogshead of tobacco weighs generally about 1,000 lbs. English, equal to 917 
 lbs. French; the seven hogsheads he sailed with would therefore weigh, according 
 to this estimate, 6,433 lbs. They actually weighed more on the first essay. When 
 afterwards weighed at Landivisiau, they had lost 84 lbs. from being carried into a 
 drier air. Perhaps, too, a difference of weights may have entered into this appa- 
 rent loss. 
 
784 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 was sent on the 18th to Landivisiau, and on the 19th they were 
 committed to close prison at St. Pol de Leon, where they have been 
 confined ever since. They had when they first landed some money, 
 of which they were soon disembarrassed by different persons, who, 
 in various forms, undertook to serve them. Unable to speak or 
 understand a word of the language of the country, friendless, and 
 left without money, they have languished three months in a loath- 
 some jail, without any other sustenance, a great part of the time, 
 than what could be procured for three sols a day, which have been 
 furnished them to prevent their perishing. They have been made 
 to understand that a criminal process is going on against them under 
 two heads : 1st. As having sold tobacco in contraband ; and 2d. As 
 having entered a port of France in a vessel of less than thirty tons 
 burthen. In support of the first charge they understand that the 
 circumstance is relied on of their having been seen off the coast by 
 the Employes des Fermes one or two days. They acknowledge 
 they may have been so seen while beating off Pont Duval till they 
 could get a pilot while entering the port, and again going round from 
 thence to the road of the Isle de Bas. The reasons for this have 
 been explained. They further add, that all the time they were at 
 Pont Duval they had a King's officer on board, from whom, as well 
 as from their pilot aijd the captain, by whose advice they left that 
 port for the road of the Isle de Bas, information can be obtained by 
 their accusers (who are not imprisoned) of the true motives for that 
 measure. It is said to be urged, also, that there was found in their 
 vessel some loose tobacco in a blanket, which excites a -suspicion 
 that they had been selling tobacco. When they were stowing their 
 lading they broke a hogshead, as is always necessary, and is always 
 done, to fill up the stowage, and to consolidate and keep the whole 
 mass firm and in place. The loose tobacco which had come out of 
 the broken hogshead they repacked in bags ; but in the course of the 
 distresses of their disastrous voyage they had employed these bags, 
 as they had done everything else of the same nature, in mending 
 their sails. The condition of their sails when they came into port 
 will prove this ; and they were seen by witnesses enough, to whom 
 their accusers, being at liberty, can have access. Besides, the sale 
 of a part of their tobacco is a fact which, had it taken place, might 
 have been proved. But they deny that it has been proved, or even 
 can be proved by true men, because it never existed. And they 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 785 
 
 hope the justice of this country dpes not permit strangers, seeking in 
 their ports an asylum from death, to be thrown into jail and continued 
 there indefinitely, on the possibility of a fact, without any proof; 
 more especially when, as in the present case, a demonstration to the 
 contrary is furnished by their clearance, which shews they never had 
 more than eight hogsheads of tobacco on board, of which one had 
 been put ashore at Hampton, in Virginia, as has been before related, 
 and the seven others remained when they first entered port. If they 
 had been smugglers of tobacco, the opposite coast offered a much 
 fairer field, because the gain there is so great, because they under- 
 stand the language and laws of the country, they know its harbors 
 and coasts, and have connexions in them. These circumstances are 
 so important to smugglers that they do not expect an instance has 
 ever occurred of the contraband of tobacco attempted on this side 
 the channel by a crew wholly American. Be this as it may, they 
 are not of that description of men. 
 
 As to the second charge, that they may have entered a port of 
 France in a vessel of less than thirty tons burthen, they, in the first 
 place, observe that they saw the gauger measure the vessel, and 
 affirm that this method of measuring could render little more than 
 half her true contents ; but they say further, that were she below the 
 size of thirty tons, and when entering the port had they known of 
 the alternative of either forfeiting their vessel and cargo or of 
 perishing at sea, they must still have entered the port, the loss of 
 their vessel and cargo being the lesser evil. But the character of 
 the lawgiver assures them that the intention of his laws is perverted 
 when misapplied to persons who, under their circumstances, take 
 refuge in his ports. They have no occasion to recur from his clem- 
 ency to his justice by claiming the benefit of that article in the 
 treaty which binds the two nations together, and which assures to 
 the fugitives of either from the dangers of the sea, a hospitable 
 reception, and without measuring the size of their vessel. 
 
 Upon the whole they protest themselves to be as innocent as they 
 have been unfortunate. Instead of relief in a friendly port, they 
 have seen their misfortunes aggravated by the conduct of officers 
 who, in their greediness for gain, can see in no circumstance anything 
 but proofs of guilt. They have already long suffered, and are still 
 suffering, whatever scanty sustenance, an inclement season, and 
 close confinement can ofier most distressing to men who have been 
 Vol. I.— 50 
 
786 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 used to neither, and who have wives and children at home partici- 
 pating of their distresses. They are utterly ignorant of the laws 
 and language of the country where they are suffering ; they are 
 deprived of that property which would enable them to procure 
 counsel to place their injuries in a true light ; they are distant from 
 the stations of those who are appointed by their country to patronize 
 their rights ; they are not at liberty to go to them, nor able to have 
 communication through any other than the uncertain medium of the 
 posts ; and they see themselves already ruined by the losses and 
 delays they have been made to incur, and by the failure of the 
 original object of their voyage. 
 
 They throw themselves, therefore, on the patronage of the Gov- 
 ernment, and pray that its energy may be interposed in aid of their 
 poverty and ignorance, to restore them to their liberty, and to extend 
 to them that retribution which the laws of every country mean to 
 extend to those who suffer unjustly. 
 
 Account of Disbursements and Money paid by John Diot fy Co., 
 merchants in Morlaix, to Mr. ZAster Asquith and his crew, since 
 the beginning of their detainment in the prison of St. Paul de 
 Leon to this day, in consequence of his Excellency Thomas Jeffer- 
 son's desire to Messrs. Borgnois des Bordes freres, merchants in 
 Brest, said detainment proceeding from the seizure and condem- 
 nation by the Farmers General of the schooner called William 
 and Catharine, the 9th August, 1785, in the harbor of Roscoff, 
 viz : 
 June Sth, 1786. 
 To cash paid Mr. Lister Asquith, for his own and his crew's maintenance in St. 
 Pol jail, from the 29d October, 1785, till 15th of this present month of June, 
 included, being two hundred and thirty -seven days, at twenty sous per day per 
 
 annum, or six livres pel day for the six men ; . 1,422 00 
 
 To cash paid to the attorney in St. Pol, for signifying tlie appeal from 
 
 the first judgment of the custom-house in Brest 14 12 9 
 
 To sundry postages to Morlaix and messages sent from Morlaix to 
 
 St. Pol, forward and backward 18 10 
 
 To cash paid Mr. Glean, attorney in Brest, for notification of the 
 appeal of the sentence issued in Brest, and signification of same to 
 the custom-house attorney and to the entreposeur in Landivisiau. ... 13 15 
 To sundry postages paid by Messrs. des Bordes, in Brest, 
 
 &c 18 14 
 
 Postage on Mr. Jefferson's last message 30 10 49 4 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 787 
 
 To cash paid Mr. Gewy, interpreter in Brest, for his trouble and 
 actings * 12 00 
 
 To cash paid Mr. Derm, entreposevar in Landivisiau, acting for, &c., 
 in behalf of the Farmers General, in consequence of the agreement 
 passed and settled betwiyt him and Mr. Lister Asquith, in the 
 prison of St. Pol, the 3d of this present month of June, for the 
 following causes, viz: 
 
 The charges of process, verbal seizure of 19th August. ... 19 16 6 
 
 For the cost and law suit at the custom-house office in Brest, 82 17 1 
 
 For jail fees paid by the custom-l^ouse for Mr. Asquith and 
 his crew, during ten months, at fifty-four livres per 
 month 540 00 
 
 For cost, reporting and comptroUing of the aforesaid action 
 
 of the 3d June 37 5 679 18 7 
 
 To cash paid Mr. Asquith and his crew, the 22d March, in conse- 
 quence of Messrs. des Bordes's letter, 13th said month, for buying 
 clothes for to cover them in jail, as per receipt, twelve livres to 
 each man, being 72 00 
 
 To cash paid Mr. Lister Asquith and crew for their travelling expenses 
 going home, according to Mr. Jefferson's order, 22d May, one 
 guinea per man, as per receipt 144 00 
 
 2,426 00 4 
 To interest of said sum from 22d October to this day, valued at three 
 
 per cent, livre 72 15 8 
 
 To commission and trouble of said John Diot & Co., writ- 
 ings, translations, and other doings in this affair 121 6 194 1 8 
 
 2,620 2 
 
 Amounting, the within account of our disbursements, and money- 
 paid to and for Mr. Lister Asquith and his crew, to two thousand 
 six hundred and twenty hvres and two sous, as per particulars in the 
 said account which we certify to be true and sincere. 
 
 JOHN DIOT &c CO. 
 
 St. Pol de Leon, June 9, 1786. 
 
 I, underwritten, do hereby acknowledge and certify that the sums 
 mentioned in the above account, amounting to two thousand six 
 hundred and twenty livres two sous, have effectually and truly been 
 paid to and for me, as mentioned in the above said account, by 
 Messrs. John Diot & Co., by the orders of his Excellency Thomas 
 Jefferson, Esq., to Messrs. Borgnois des Bordes freres, merchants in 
 Brest, to whom the said sum is lawfully due. 
 
 LISTER ASQUITH. 
 
 St. Pol de Leon, June 9, 1786. 
 
789 , THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY> 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO BAKON DE STAEL. , 
 
 Park, June 12, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 In compliance with your Excellency's desire, I will throw on 
 paper such considerations as occur to me on the question, " How 
 may the Island of St. Bartholomew be rendered instrumental for 
 promoting commerce between Sweden and the United States?" 
 They will be rapid, undigested, and incomplete ; but a desire of 
 contributing to bind the two countries together in interest^ and a 
 respect for your commands^ will induce me to hazard them. I shall 
 make the interest of Sweden the basis of my theory, because we 
 have no right to expect her to depart from them in order to promote 
 ours. , 
 
 Ancient nations considered colonieg principally as receptacles for 
 a too numerous population, and as natural and useful allies in times 
 of war. But modern nations, viewing commerce as an object of 
 first importance, value colonies chiefly as instruments for the increase 
 of* that. This is principally effected by their taking commodities 
 from the mother State, whether raised within herself or obtained 
 elsewhere, in the course of her trade, and furnishing, in return, 
 colonial productions necessary for her consumption or for her com- 
 merce of exchange with other nations. In this way the colonies of 
 Spain, Portugal, France, and England have been chiefly subservient 
 to the advantages of their mother country. In this way, too, in a 
 smaller degree, has Denmark derived utility from her American colo- 
 nies ; and so, also, Holland, except as to the Island of St. Eustatius- 
 This is by nature a rock, barren and unproductive in itself; but its 
 owners became sensible that what nature had denied it, policy could 
 more than supply. It was conveniently situated for carrying on 
 contraband trade with both the continents, and with the Islands 
 of America. They made it, therefore, an entrepot for all nations. 
 Hither are brought the productions of every other part of America, 
 and tlie Dutch give in exchange such articles as in the course, of 
 their commerce they can most advantageously gather up ; and it is 
 a question on which they will not enable us to decide, whether by 
 furnishing American productions to the commerce of Holland, and 
 by finding vent for such productions of the old world as the Dutch 
 merchants obtain to advantage. The barren rock of St. Eustatius 
 does not give more activity to their commerce, and leave with them 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 789 
 
 greater profits, than their more fertile possessions on the continent of 
 South America. The Danes, finding that their islands were capable 
 of yielding but moderate advantages by their native productions, 
 have also laid them open to foreign commerce, in order to draw 
 through them articles which they do not produce in themselves, or 
 not in great quantities. But these nations, only half emancipated 
 from the fetters of commercial prejudices, have taken only half a step 
 towards placing these institutions on their best footing. Both the 
 Dutch and Danish free ports are under restrictions, which discourage 
 very much the operations of exchange in them. 
 
 The Island of St. Bartholomew, lately ceded to Sweden, is, if I 
 am rightly informed, capable of furnishing little of its own produc- 
 tions to that country. It remains then to make it the instrument for 
 obtaining, through its intermediation, such American productions as 
 Sweden can consume or dispose of; and for finding, in return, a vent 
 for the native productions of Sweden. Let us suppose it then made 
 a free port without a single restriction. These consequences will 
 follow : 
 
 1st. It will draw to itself that tide of commerce which at present 
 sets towards the Dutch and Danish Islands, because vessels going 
 to these are often obliged to negotiate a part of their cargoes at St. 
 Eustatius, and to go to St. Thomas to negotiate the residue ; whereas, 
 when they shall know that there is a port where all articles are free 
 both for importation and exportation, they will go to that port which 
 enables them to perform, by one voyage, the exchanges which 
 hitherto they could only effect by two. 
 
 2d. Every species of American produce, whether of the precious 
 metals or of commodities, which Sweden may want for its own 
 consumption, or as aliment for its commerce with other nations, will 
 be collected, either fairly or by contraband, into the magazines of 
 St. Bartholomew. 
 
 3d. All the productions which Sweden can furnish from within 
 itself, or obtain to advantage from other nations, will, in like manner, 
 be deposited in the magazines of St. Bartholomew, and will be 
 carried to the several parts of America, in payment for what shall 
 be taken from them. 
 
 If it be objected that this unrestrained license will give opportunity 
 to the subjects of other nations to carry on exchanges there, in which 
 Sweden will be no ways interested, I say : 
 
790 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 l3t. That there will be few of these operations into which the 
 Swedish merchants will not be taken, in the beginning or in the long 
 run. 
 
 2d. That there will be few of these exchanges into which 
 productions will not enter when productions are wanted in return. 
 
 3d. That suppose neither Swedish merchants nor productions 
 enter into the operation, what objections can Sweden have to other 
 people's meeting in one of her ports to carry on their commercial 
 exchanges ? on the contrary, would not every enlightened nation be 
 glad if all others would come to her as a common centre for commer- 
 cial operations ? If all the merchants who make the exchanges of 
 commerce in Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, Leghorn, &c., would go, 
 by common consent, to perform these operations in Stockholm, would 
 that wise Government obstruct such an assembly ? If all the 
 exchanges now made in the several ports of the two continents, and 
 of the Islands of America, in Philadelphia, for instance, Charleston, 
 St. Eustatius, Porto Bello, Rio Janeiro, were proposed to be 
 transferred to the Island of St. Bartholomew, would that Island be 
 rendered thereby less able to promote the commerce of the mother 
 country ? 
 
 These general observations have anticipated the answer to our 
 question, how may the Island of St. Bartholomew be rendered 
 instrumental to the particular commerce between Sweden and the 
 United States? The United States have much occasion for the 
 productions of Sweden, particularly for its iron. For a part of this 
 they can furnish indigo, rice, tobacco, and so far the exchange may 
 be effected by the merchants of the two countries, in the ports of the 
 United States or of Sweden. The surplus of their want they cannot 
 take at all, unless Sweden will administer to them the means of 
 paying for it. This she may do by receiving at St. Bartholomew 
 whatever productions they will bring. They will, of course, send 
 their flour, salt fish, and other things wanting in the other ports of 
 America, which, by the Swedish merchant at St. Bartholomew, will 
 be run into those ports, and exchanged for precious metals or 
 commerciable commodities ; or, the American merchant, taking on 
 himself these operations, will run his flour or salt fish into those 
 ports himself, take cash, or such commerciable articles as suit 
 Sweden, and go with these to St. Bartholomew to pay for the iron 
 he wants. 
 
DrPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 791 
 
 The interest of the United States then, is, that St. Bartholomew- 
 be made a port of unlimited freedom; and such too is evidently the 
 interest of Sweden. If it be freed by halves, the free ports of other 
 nations, at present in possession of the commerce, will retain it 
 against any new port offering no superior advantages. The situa- 
 tion of St. Bartholomew is very favorable to these views, as it is 
 among .the most windward, and therefore the most accessible of the 
 West Indian Islands. How far they may be seconded by the 
 character of its port, the Government of Sweden will best know, as 
 they have taken the necessary information on that point. 
 
 Unacquainted with the details of commerce, I am able to present 
 only general views of this subject. They are such, however, as 
 experience seems to have proved ; they may appear founded on a 
 want of attention to the laws of society inconsistent with sound 
 morality. But first let the line be drawn between the just and 
 equal regulations of associated States, and the partial and oppressive 
 rescripts of metropolitan cupidity, and we shall see whether the 
 interloper or the legislator of Chili and Peru is on the right side of 
 that line. They will need apology for another cause where it will 
 be more difficult to be found ; that as they offer nothing but what 
 would have occurred, and in a better form to yourself, nobody is 
 more sensible of this than myself, and I can expect your indulgence 
 only by praying you to consider them, and not as pretending to any 
 information which you do not already possess, but as the offerings of 
 that perfect esteem, with which I have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Paris, July 11, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 Our instructions relative to the Barbary States having required us 
 to proceed by way of negotiation to obtain their peace, it became 
 our duty to do this to the best of our power. Whatever might be 
 our private opinions, they were to be suppressed, and the line marked 
 out to us was to be followed. It has been so honestly and zealously. 
 It was, therefore, never material for us to consult together on the 
 best plan of conduct towards these States. I acknowledge I very 
 
792 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 early thought it would be best to effect a peace through the medium 
 of war. Though it is a question with which we have nothing to do, 
 yet as you proposed some discussion of it, I shall trouble you with 
 my reasons. Of the four positions laid down in your letter of the 
 3d instant, I agree to the three first, which are, in substance, that 
 the good offices of our friends cannot procure us a peace without 
 paying its price ; that they cannot materially lessen that price ; and 
 that paying it, we can have peace in spite of the intrigues of 
 our enemies. As to the fourth, that the longer the negotiation is 
 delayed the larger will be the demand, this will depend on the 
 intermediate captures. If they are many and rich, the price may 
 be raised ; if few and poor, it will be lessened. However, if it is 
 decided that we shall buy a peace, I know no reason for delaying 
 the operation, but should rather think it ought to be hastened. But 
 I should prefer the obtaining it by war. 
 
 1st. Justice is in favor of this opinion. 2d. Honor favors it. 3d. 
 It will procure us respect in Europe ; and respect is a safeguard to 
 interest. 4th. It will arm the Federal head with the safest of all 
 the instruments of coercion over its delinquent members, and prevent 
 it from using what would be less safe. I think that so far you go 
 with me. But in the next steps we shall differ. 5th. I think 
 it least expensive. 6th. Equally effectual. I ask a fleet of one 
 hundred and fifty guns, the one half of which shall be in constant 
 cruise. This fleet built, manned, and victualled for six months, will 
 cost four hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. Its annual 
 expense will be three hundred pounds sterling a gun, including every 
 thing. This will be forty-five thousand pounds sterling a year. 1 
 take British experience for the basis of my calculation^ though we 
 know, from our own experience, that we can do in this way for 
 pounds lawful what costs them pounds sterling. Were we to charge 
 all this to the Algerine war, it would amount to little more than we 
 must pay if we buy peace. But as it is proper and necessary that 
 we should establish a small marine force, (even were we to buy a 
 peace from the Algerines,) and as that force, laid up in our dock- 
 yards, would cost us half as much annually as if kept in order for 
 service, we have a right to say that only twenty-two thousand and 
 five hundred pounds sterling per annum should be charged to the 
 Algerine war. 6th. It will be as effectual. To all the mismanage- 
 ments of Spain and Portugal, urged to shew that war against those 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 793 
 
 people is inefFectual, I urge a single fact to prove the contrary, where 
 there is any management. About forty years ago the Algerines 
 having broken their treaty with France, this Court sent Monsieur de 
 Massiic with one large and two small frigates. He blockaded the 
 harbor of Algiers three months, and they subscribed to the terms 
 he proposed. If it be admitted, however, that war, on the fairest 
 prospects, is still exposed to uncertainties, I weigh against this the 
 greater uncertainty of the duration of a peace bought with money 
 from such a people, from a Dey eighty years old, and by a nation 
 who, on the hypothesis of buying peace, is to have no power on the 
 sea to enforce an observance of it. 
 
 So far I have gone on the supposition that the whole weight 
 of this war should rest on us. But, 1. Naples will join us. The 
 character of their naval Minister, (Acton,) his known sentiments 
 with respect to the peace Spaiti is officiously trying to make for 
 them, and his dispositions against the Algerines, give the best 
 grounds to believe it. 2. Every principle of reason assures us that 
 Portugal will join us. I state this as taking for granted what all 
 seem to believe, that they will not be at peace with Algiers. I 
 suppose, then, that a convention might be formed between Portugal, 
 Naples, and the United States, by which the burthen of the war 
 might be quotaed on them, according to their respective wealth ; 
 and the term of it should be, when Algiers should subscribe to a 
 peace with all three, on equal terms. This might be left open for 
 other nations to accede to, and many, if not most of the Powers of 
 Europe (except France, England, Holland, and Spain, if her peace 
 be made) would sooner or later enter into the confederacy for the 
 sake of having their peace with the piratical States guarantied by the 
 whole. I suppose that in this case our proportion of force would not 
 be the half of what I first calculated on. 
 
 These are the reasons which have influenced my judgment on this 
 question. I give them to you to shew you that I am imposed on by 
 a semblance of reason at least ; and not with an expectation of their 
 changing your opinion. You have viewed the subject, I am sure, in 
 all its bearings. You have weighed both questions with all their 
 circumstances. You make the result different from what I do. 
 The same facts impress us differently. This is enough to make me 
 suspect an error in my process of reasoning, though I am not able to 
 detect it. It is of no consequence, as I have nothing to say in the 
 
794 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 decision, and am ready to proceed heartily on any other plan which 
 may be adopted, if my agency should be thought useful. With 
 respect to the dispositions of the States, I am utterly uninformed. I 
 cannot help thinking, however, that on a view of all the circum- 
 stances they might be united in either of the plans. 
 
 Having written this on the receipt of your letter without knowing 
 of any opportunity of sending it, I know not when it will go. I 
 add nothing, therefore, on any other subject, but assurances of the 
 sincere esteem and respect, with which I am, &c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, October 12, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since my last to you of the 18th August, I have received and laid 
 before Congress the letters you did me the honor to write on the 8th 
 July last. 
 
 I have some despatches of importance ready for you, but I prefer 
 sending them by a conveyance that will offer about ten days 
 hence. 
 
 I enclose a certified copy of an act of Congress for recalling Mr. 
 Lamb. Another copy has been sent to Mr. Adams. 
 
 As the despatches above alluded to are particular, I shall at 
 present only add an assurance, which I always make with pleasure, 
 viz : that I am, with very sincere esteem and regard, &;c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, October 27, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I wrote you a few lines by the last French packet, mentioning 
 the letters I had received from you, and that by another conveyance 
 you would receive particular and important despatches from me. 
 
 Those despatches relate to the Consular convention. They began 
 with a letter from me of the 3d .instant, which, among other matters, 
 enumerates the number of papers annexed to it. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 795 
 
 After those despatches were completed, it was accidentally and 
 seasonably discovered that the entry of the scheme of the convention 
 in the books of this office was erroneous. As in forming my report 
 I considered this scheme as really being what it appeared to be from 
 that entry, correspondent errors naturally took place in the report. 
 
 On making that discovery, I wrote a letter to the President of 
 Congress, dated the 9th instant, a copy of which you will find to be 
 the last paper which forms the packet herewith enclosed. On that 
 letter Congress was pleased to direct me to take order ; which is, 
 in other words, saying that they approved of the opinion given in 
 the last paragraph of the letter. 
 
 We learn from the Charge d' Affaires of France that a treaty is 
 coneluded for us with Morocco. We are anxious to be ascertained 
 of the fact, and to receive a copy of it, that positive and accurate 
 information on the subject may be published. It is long since we 
 heard that a treaty with Portugal was likewise concluded, but it has 
 not yet arrived, nor are we advised of the reasons which retard its 
 conveyance. 
 
 In my opinion, you and Mr. A(}ams should have commissions to 
 treat with the Emperor and some other Powers ; but it so happens 
 that more domestic objects divert the attention of Congress in a 
 considerable degree from their affairs abroad. 
 
 The inefficacy of our Government becomes daily more and more 
 apparent. Our credit and our Treasury are in a sad situation, and 
 it is probable that either the wisdom or passions of the people may 
 produce changes. 
 
 A spirit of licentiousness has infected Massachusetts, which 
 appears more formidable than some at first apprehended. Whether 
 similar symptoms will not soon mark a like disease in several other 
 States is very problematical. 
 
 The public papers herewith sent contain every thing generally 
 known about these matters. A reluctance to taxes, an impatience 
 of Government, a rage for property, and little regard to the means 
 of acquiring it, together with a desire of equality in all things, seem 
 to actuate the mass of those who are uneasy in their circumstances. 
 To these may be added the influence of ambitious adventurers, and 
 the speculations of many characters who prefer private to public 
 good, and of others who expect to gain more from wrecks made by 
 tempests than from the produce of patient and honest industry As 
 
796 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the knaves and fools of this world are forever in alliance, it is easy 
 to perceive how much vigor and wisdom a Government from its 
 construction and administration should possess, in order to repress 
 the evils which naturally flow from such copious sources of injustice 
 and evil. 
 
 Much, I think, is to be feared from the sentiments which such a 
 state of things is calculated to infuse into the minds of the rational 
 and well intentioned. In their eyes the charms of liberty will daily 
 fade, and in seeking for peace and security they will too naturally 
 turn towards systems in direct opposition to those which oppress 
 and disquiet them. 
 
 If faction should long bear down law and Government, tyranny 
 may raise its head, or the more sober part of the people may even 
 think of a King. 
 
 In short, my dear sir, we are in a very unpleasant situation. 
 Changes are necessary ; but what they ought to be, what they will 
 be, and how and when to be produced, are arduous questions. I 
 feel for the cause of liberty and for the honor of my countrymen 
 who have so nobly asserted it, and who, at present, so abuse its 
 blessings. If it should not take root in this soil, little pains will be 
 taken to cultivate it in any other. 
 
 This letter will be carried to London by the Rev. Mr. Provost, 
 who will, with his own hands, deliver it to Mr. Adams, with one 
 from me, requesting him to convey it to you by some trusty hand. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fee, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 P. S. I also enclose copies of three acts of Congress, viz : of 
 16th, 20th, and 21st instant.* 
 
 PROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, August 11, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since the date of my last, which was July 8th, I have been 
 
 honored with the receipt of yours of June 16th. I am to thank you 
 
 ' See Journals of Congress, pages 712, 714. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 797 
 
 on the part of the Minister of Geneva, for the intelligence it con- 
 tained on the subject of Gallatin, whose relations will be relieved by 
 tlie receipt. 
 
 The enclosed intelligence relative to the instructions of the Court 
 of London to Sir Guy Carleton, came to me through the Count de 
 la Touche and Marquis de la Fayette. De la Touche is a director 
 under the Mareschal de Castries, Minister for the Marine Depart- 
 ment, and possibly receives this intelligence from him, and he from 
 their Ambassador at London ; possibly, too, it might be fabricated 
 here, yet, weighing the characters of the Ministers of St. James and 
 Versailles, I think the form6r more capable of giving such instructions 
 than the latter of fabricating them, for the small purposes it could 
 answer. 
 
 The Gazette of France of July 28th, announces the arrival of 
 Peyrouse at Brazil, that he was to touch at Otaheite and proceed to 
 California, and still further northwardly. This paper, as you well 
 know, gives out such facts as the Court are willing the world should 
 be possessed of; the presumption is, therefore, that they will make 
 an establishment of some sort on the northwest coast of America. 
 
 I trouble you with a copy of a letter from Schweighauser &l 
 Dobree on a subject with which I am quite unacquainted. Their 
 letter to Congress of November 30th, 1780, gives their state of the 
 matter ; how far it may be true and just can probably be ascertained 
 by Dr. Franklin, Dr. Lee, and other gentlemen now in America. 
 I shall beg leave to be honored with the commands of Congress on 
 this subject.^ I have inquired into the state of the arms mentioned 
 in this letter to me ; the principal articles are, about thirty thousand 
 bayonets, fifty thousand gun-locks, thirty cases of arms, twenty-two 
 cases of sabres, and some other things of little consequence. The 
 quay of Nantes having been overflowed by the river Loire, the 
 greatest part of these arms were under water, and are now, as I am 
 informed, a solid mass of rust, not worth the expense of throwing 
 them out of the warehouse, much less that of storage. Were not 
 their want of value a sufficient reason against reclaiming the property 
 of these arms, it rests with Congress to decide whether other reasons 
 are not opposed to this reclamation. They were the property of a 
 sovereign body, they were seized by an individual, taken cognizance 
 of by a court of justice, and refused, or at least not restored, by the 
 sovereign within whose States they had been arrested. These are 
 
798 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 circumstances which have been mentioned to me. Dr. Franklin, 
 however, will be able to inform Congress with precision as to what 
 passed on this subject. If the information I have received be any 
 thing like the truth, the discussion of this matter can only be with 
 the Court of Versailles. It would be very delicate, and could have 
 but one of two objects, either to recover the arms, which are not 
 worth receiving, or to satisfy us on the point of honor. Congress 
 will judge how far the latter may be worth pursuing against a par- 
 ticular ally, and under actual circumstances. An instance, too, of 
 acquiescence on our part under a wrong, rather than disturb our 
 friendship by altercations, may have its value in some future case. 
 However, I shall be ready to do in this what Congress shall be 
 pleased to direct. 
 
 I enclose the despatches relative to the Barbary negotiations 
 received since my last. It is painful to me to overwhelm Congress 
 and yourself continually with these voluminous papers, but I have 
 no right to suppress any part of them ; and it is one of those cases 
 when, from a want of well-digested information, we must be con- 
 tented to examine a good deal of rubbish in order to find a litde 
 good matter. 
 
 The Gazettes of Leyden and France to the present date, accom- 
 panying this, which, for want of direct safe opportunities, I am 
 obliged to send by an American gentleman by the way of London. 
 The irregularity of the French packets has diverted elsewhere the 
 tide of passengers, who used to furnish me occasions of writing to 
 you without permitting my letters to go through the post office, so 
 that when the packets go now I can seldom write by them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, inc., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM SCHWEIGHAUSER & DOBKeE TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 '5 
 
 In hopes of obtaining from you the justice which has been so long 
 denied us, we beg leave to enclose a copy of the letter our late 
 partner and parent, Mr. J. D. Schweighailser, wrote to Congress the 
 30th November, 1780, which will give you ample information of 
 our claims for our advances for the Continental frigate Alliance, to 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 799 
 
 which we join a copy of the resolve which it produced. Mr. Johnson 
 persisted in his refusal of examining our accounts as no longer Auditor 
 General, and Dr. Franklin refused the payment of them as not having 
 been examined by this gentleman. We repeatedly solicited that he 
 would name a committee for that purpose, but, to elude satisfying 
 us, he would not adopt this measure. 
 
 We have since laid these accounts and their vouchers before 
 Thomas Barclay, Esquire, who has seen every one of them, and is 
 perfectly convinced, as was Dr. Franklin himself, of their exactness. 
 
 Permit us earnestly to Request, as an act of justice and friendship, 
 that you would put us in the way of obtaining our payment, and 
 to assure you of our acknowledgment and gratitude. We have still 
 a parcel of arms, &;c., on hand belonging to Congress, which our 
 copartners in the house of Puchelberg &; Co., in L'Orient, have laid 
 an attachment on, to assure them and us our due, or at least part of 
 it; for we know not the value of them, and not being yet authorized 
 to sell them they are of no utility to us, and we fear that warehouse 
 rent of them will absorb one day their whole amount, which, without 
 that, will be greatly reduced by the want of having them cleaned, 
 which permission we have so often vainly solicited. If you could 
 give us directions to sell them it would be securing to the States a 
 value which is now daily diminishing, and will, by further delays, be 
 absolutely eat up. 
 
 We submit the whole to ypur justice, and have the honor to 
 
 ^^' ^^•> SCHWEIGHAUSER k, DOBREE. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. 
 
 Madrid, July 15, 1786. 
 
 This country has signed its peace with Algiers, but there are still 
 arrangements to be made that require time, patience, and address. 
 I send you a letter which I received from thence this moment. As 
 I have not time to copy it you will please to return it to me. I wish 
 not to derogate from the merit or services of any one ; but justice to 
 myself, and still more to the interests and honor of our country, 
 oblige me to say that our peace with the Barbary States could have 
 been negotiated here with much less expense, with much less noise, 
 
300 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 and with greater probability of success, than in the mode adopted 
 by Congress. A negotiation with Algiers is not yet to be regarded 
 as desperate. It is a question of calculation. Whenever our 
 Republic will act and think for themselves — they will do what they 
 please until that period — we shall be the partridge and its young 
 ones. We shall never be respected until we respect ourselves. As 
 you may not possibly have heard from Mr. Barclay since his arrival 
 in Africa, I enclose you copies of a letter which I received from his 
 Excellency the Count de Florida Blanca, with extracts from those 
 received from the agent of Spain in Morocco, and from a Minister of 
 the Emperor, which I entreat you to forward to Congress by the 
 first occasion, as few opportunities from hence offer for the transmis- 
 sion of my despatches. I make no comment on the nature of these 
 letters. I am persuaded you will at once see the good faith and 
 candor with which the Ministry act on our behalf. This Court will 
 observe the same conduct with respect to the Barbary Powers in 
 general the moment it can effectually interfere. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO THOMAS 
 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, July 15th, 1786. 
 I have just received the enclosed letters from Mr. Lamb, which I 
 forward by the same courier to whom I entrusted my last for your 
 Excellency. Mr. Lamb writes me that his health not permitting him 
 to journey by land he had resigned his commission, and means im- 
 mediately to close his public accounts. The Count d'Espilly and 
 another agent of Spain, employed at Algiers and at Tunis, are now 
 here. The first is much attached to me, and the other I shall 
 cultivate, and through their means to be enabled to obtain intelli- 
 gence with respect to the situation of affairs on the Barbary coast, 
 and make such insinuations as yourself and Mr. Adams may judge 
 proper for the public interest. Whatever may be the decision of 
 Congress, I think it necessary to induce the Algerines to believe that 
 the United States are more disposed to be at peace than at war with 
 them. Their Minister of Marine desires peace with us, and appears 
 apprehensive of seeing American cruisers in the Mediterranean. I 
 have ways of cultivating his friendly disposition, and exciting his 
 apprehensions. The Count d'Espilly informed me of a circumstance 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. QOl 
 
 that marked strongly the rancor of the British in all parts of the 
 world to us.^ I omitted mentioning it to you, because I wished to 
 have previously an exact detail of the transaction in writing from the 
 Count himself. He tells me that after Mr. Lamb's departure from 
 Algiers, the British Consul at Barcelona, Mr. Gregory, advised Mr. 
 Logie, Consul at Algiers, that the Spanish papers procured by Mr. 
 Lamb for his vessel were not regular ; that Mr. Lamb had taken 
 with him eighty thousand dollars, &;c. ; and that the Dey might 
 seize the vessel as American property. Mr. Logie immediately 
 communicated this information to the Dey. The vessel having been 
 sent by the Count d'Espilly's desire to Tunis on public business, the 
 Dey replied that he had permitted the American officers to land ; 
 that they were gone away, and, as he supposed, had taken their 
 money with them ; that the vessel was now under his protection ; 
 and concluded by telling the Consul to mind his own business, and 
 not intermeddle in future with what did not concern him. This 
 conduct of the British Consul must arise from the Court, for their 
 private characters are good, and they are men of liberal and humane 
 principles. As soon as the treaty is published, I will send you a 
 copy of it. D'Espilly will return in a few weeks to Algiers to 
 terminate the ransom of the slaves, and to aid the Neapolitan and 
 Portuguese Envoys in their negotiations, the result of which is 
 doubtful. These pirates will have Russia and the Emperor on their 
 hands, as in the last cruise they have taken a Russian vessel worth 
 eighty thousand dollars, and a Tuscan ship with forty prisoners. 
 The Russian Minister at this Court, to whom I gave the first 
 information of this capture, tells me that he will write to the Dey as 
 a Pacha of the Turkish Empire, and enclose him a copy of the 
 article of their treaty with the Porte, demanding an immediate 
 restitution of the vessel and people with damages. He added that 
 he is sure of the approbation of his sovereign, who will be pleased 
 to see one of her Ministers writing in a haughty style to a Power 
 that all Europe courts at present. When shall we be in a situation 
 to do this ? 
 
 I have this moment received a letter for Mr. Lamb, which I 
 suppose to be from you, and^hall forward it this night to Alicant. 
 
 P. S. I have just remarked your card of the 7th July, which 
 escaped my attention when I wrote the above. The letter enclosed 
 Vol. L— 51 
 
802 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 is from Mrs. Lamb, advising me that by her husband's direction she 
 had drawn on me for five hundred pounds sterling. I forwaird the 
 letter for his advice. He has left money in my banker's hands here, 
 but of vtrhich I never choose to have the disposition. 
 
 FROM JOHN LAMB TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Alicant, July 15, 1786. 
 
 I received your Excellency's letters of the 20tn instant, and find 
 by them that Mr. Randall had not then come to Paris. By Mr. 
 Randall I stated the exact situation of our affairs at Algiers, and sent 
 lorvvrard a duplicate of the same to Congress. The demands at 
 Algiers no doubt will be great. My health will by no means admit 
 of undertaking the journey your Excellency points out. I dare say 
 my indisposition will be a sufficient excuse. If it is not, in duty to 
 myself I have no further pretensions to this business, and beg that 
 my reasonable accounts may be settled. It will take some time to 
 collect my accounts. I am under bonds at Barcelona for the money 
 I extracted for the purposes of Algiers. I left the vessel in the 
 Spanish service when I left Algiers, as I wrote, and she now is here 
 under quarantine, and cannot yet be come at. Not doubting but I 
 should have gone back, I left many things there, but as soon as may 
 be I will collect all and my accounts. When that is done, I hope I 
 shall be settled with in Europe, as that was promised before I left 
 America. My letter of credit will be returned to your Excellency's 
 orders. I have drawn as I have advised. I have letters, dated 
 Algiers, the 11th July, 1186,. No more of our vessels were then 
 taken. It is highly necessary that some orders should be given on 
 account of our unfortunate people in Algiers. I have presumed to 
 supply them with upwards of eight hundred hard dollars for their 
 past expenses and clothing. 
 
 With due respfect, fee, JOHN LAMB. 
 
 FROM JOHN LAMB TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Alicant, July 18, 1786. 
 
 July 15th I forwarded to your Excellencies a letter, of which this 
 is nearly a duplicate, as my first may not come to hand. I find your 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 803 
 
 Excellency had not received my letters I wrote by Mr. Randall. In 
 them I gave an exact account of Algiers as I could collect whilst T 
 stayed in that place, and likewise how we were situated there, and 
 sent duplicates of the same to Congress, and by safe opportunities, 
 one via Cadiz, under cover to Mr. Gardoqui, directly to New. York; 
 and Mr. Randall writes me of the 20th June, Bordeaux, that he had 
 forwarded the other immediately to Philadelphia ; so that there is not 
 the least doubt of Congress having as full an account of all my 
 proceedings as if I were present myself, for I' can add nothing to the 
 account 1 have given to your Excellency, neither to Congress, were 
 I present. I have forwarded a copy of all my letters to Congress 
 since I have been on this business, at the same time I wrote to your 
 Excellency. My indisposition will not permit me to undertake the 
 journey that your Excellency has pointed out, therefore I am under 
 the necessity to beg a settlement of my reasonable accounts since I 
 have been on this journey, and return the letter of credit to your 
 Excellency's orders. I had announced an acquaintance with one of 
 the principal oflScers at Algiers, and from him I had great expecta- 
 tions of a settlement with that Regency by next season, or at least 
 to have the last price for our unfortunate people, and what they 
 would have for a peace, and to strive for hostile proceedings to cease 
 for one year, so that Congress might have more time to prepare, and 
 supposed that in case I brought to pass the above, which I had 
 every encouragement of, it would at least be worth the expenses we 
 have already been at. These were my reasons and these my pros- 
 pects, and in consequence of the same I thought best to persevere, 
 and exhibited, as soon as I possibly could, to Ministers, and likewise 
 to Congress. As I well know how far short the appropriation was 
 for the peace, and that nothing could be added to it by gentlemen 
 abroad, it is my opinion that it is put of the power of the United 
 States to force those people to a compliance of a peace, and to have 
 them going on in the manner they do, it is not so well. To buy a 
 peace will no doubt cost a considerable sum; but nations- possessing 
 a strong navy have preferred a purchase, &c. 
 
 I am sensible that your Excellency has received many letters from 
 gentlemen on my mission : and I think they wrote without consider- 
 ation, as in fact when they wrote they knew nothing of the matter. 
 A letter has been sent to your Excellency from Algiers, or rather 
 forwarded from Madrid. The gentleman who wrote that letter knew 
 
804 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 nothing of my business in Algiers, and of course could not write the 
 truth. I find some of the sentences in his letter speaking of my 
 business are entirely false. It is necessary to have some order given 
 on account of our people in Algiers ; they were stripped of their 
 clothing, and had many necessary debts against them when I came 
 to Algiers. Out of humanity I paid for their clothes, and the rest 
 of their obligations I paid, considering them reasonable, and they 
 amounted with what money I left to upwards of eight hundred hard 
 dollars, leaving some money with them. Now they write me it is 
 almost out, and very soon they will be in a very miserable 
 condition indeed. 
 
 I am, with great respect, &;c., JOHN LAMB. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, August 13, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 The enclosed letter from Mr. Barclay, and one from Mr. Car- 
 
 michael, of which I send you extracts, are come to hand this morning, 
 
 which is in time for them to go by the same gentleman who carries 
 
 my letter of the 11th. I observe what Mr. Carmichael says on the 
 
 subject of the Portuguese treaty : " I am sorry it meets with 
 
 diiRculties." I doubt, however, whether he ascribes them to their 
 
 true cause when he supposes they are occasioned by M. del Pinto's 
 
 being of a party opposed to that of their Minister at Madrid. The 
 
 cause is not proportioned to the effect. The treaty between France 
 
 and England has lately been thought to have become stationary. 
 
 This is conjectured from the rigor of the custom-houses, much 
 
 increased by a late order, as also from some other circumstances. 
 
 The overtures between England and Portugal are animated in 
 
 proportion ; and in the same degree, I suspect, that the latter lessens 
 
 her care about us. If her wines were to become superfluous at the 
 
 English market, she wished and hoped to find a great one with us, 
 
 open to receive them. M. del Pinto's courier, which carried the 
 
 treaty to Falmouth, arrived a few hours too late for the Lisbon 
 
 packet boat. This lost a month in the conveyance, and that month, 
 
 by producing new prospects, has been critical. There is not a want 
 
 of probability that del Pinto himself will succeed to the deceased 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 805 
 
 Minister in Portugal. This would be favorable to our treaty and 
 fortunate for us in proportion to the value of a connexion with that 
 nation. He is sensible, candid, and has just ideas as to us, and 
 favorable dispositions towards us. I expect that Mr. Adams is at 
 this moment at the Hague, as he intended there to take leave of that 
 Court, and at the same tinle to exchange the ratification of the 
 Prussian treaty ; but I send on to London copies of the enclosed, in 
 hopes he will speedily be returned there. I shall propose to him 
 that we consider whether the conduct of the Dey of Algiers leaves 
 any hope that any negotiator could obtain his peace without a pro- 
 digious addition to the price we had thought of. If we conclude 
 on the negative, still it will remain to decide whether the expense of 
 Mr. Barclay^s going there may not be compensated by additional 
 information, by the possibility that he might find their ultimatum, 
 and the advantage of relieving the mind of Congress from all sus- 
 pense by possessing them of this ultimatum. The peace of Spain, 
 too, being concluded, is to be seen whether their interference can 
 weigh as money. It has done so at Morocco, but Algiers is a fiercer 
 Power. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Morocco, June 26, 1786. 
 Gentlemen, 
 This day week we arrived here, since which I have had two 
 audiences with his Majesty, the first a public one, and the second a 
 private one, yesterday. It is but a few minutes since I heard that a 
 courier will depart this evening for Daralbeyda, and I have not time 
 to enter into particulars. It will be agreeable, however, for you to 
 know that the last draft of the treaty is made, and will probably be 
 signed in a few days, and that our stay here will not exceed that of 
 a week from this time. 1 believe you will be satisfied on the whole, 
 as there is only one article more I could wish to be inserted, and that 
 I really think, in all human probability, will never prove of the least 
 consequence. I shall proceed to Tangiers, and take an early oppor- 
 tunity of sending you a more detailed account of our proceedings. 
 In the meantime I recommend your transmitting, as soon as possible, 
 
806 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 through Mr. Carmichael, the powers to treat with Tunis and Tripoli, 
 and (if Mr. Lamb has declined all further concern) for Algiers. If 
 you had a treaty with the Porte, I flatter myself the rest would 
 follow, and at all events Tunis and Tripoli should be invited to our 
 friendship. 
 
 There is a young man now under my care who has been a slave 
 some time with the Arabs in the Desert. His name is James 
 Mercier, born in the town of Suffolk, Nansemond county, Virginia. 
 The King sent him after the first audience, and I shall take him to 
 Spain. I have no time to add but that I am, gentlemen, &ic., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO THOMAS 
 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 Madrid, July 31, 1786. 
 
 Since I had the honor of conveying to you the communications 
 made me by the Count de Florida Blanca respecting the mission of 
 Mr. Barclay in Morocco, I have received the enclosed letter for 
 your Excellency from that gentleman, the contents of which are 
 known to me. I do not know what Congress may decide with 
 regard to the other Barbary States ; but I am persuaded that in our 
 actual circumstances, negotiation will cost less than armaments, 
 although I desire to see the commencement of a military marine. 
 I have hinted that it might be possible to draw in the Italian 
 Powers, in case that hostile measures should be adopted by the 
 States, to contribute in some measure to defray the immense expense 
 that these armaments must occasion. I beg leave to recommend to 
 your Excellency's consideration this circumstance. I flatter myself 
 that I have acquired the confidence of the corps diplomatique from 
 Italy to this Court ; and I think, or I should not mention to you, 
 that I may be of some use to inspire sentiments, and to sketch the 
 outlines of projects advantageous to our interests, should Congress 
 decide to arm instead of negotiating. The Court of Spain has 
 conducted itself so generously in our affairs with the Emperor of 
 Morocco, I have so many reasons to be assured of the King's and 
 Minister's desire to serve us in promoting our accomomdation with 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 807 
 
 the other Barbary Powers, that if my advice could have the least 
 weight, I should counsel our Ministers to solicit the good offices of 
 his Catholic Majesty to further the views of the States on this head. 
 I will stake my reputation on the best endeavors of Spain, and forfeit 
 all confidence if the Cdunt de Florida Blanca doth not act as 
 efficaciously as circumstances will permit him to effect what he hath 
 already promised me. You, sir, ought to laiow our present situation, 
 particularly with Great Britain. I have just learned ^positively what 
 I suspected long ago — that the British Ministry would accommodate 
 their disputes with respect to the Mosquito shore with Spain. This 
 has been done to the satisfaction of this Coi Campo, at London, 
 
 has the merit of this sort of converition, though the Minister of Great 
 Britain here has had the whole trouble. I have not seen the articles 
 of this arrangement, but I know that the British are to evacuate the 
 Mosquito shore, and that they think themselves recompensed by 
 cessions more extensive in another quarter. 
 
 The accommodation between this Court and that of Naples, as 
 proposed by France, will not be accepted. At the same time, 
 permit me to ask in what state our treaty is with Naples ? I have a 
 sure channel to convey such insinuations as may be thought proper 
 to the persons who have the influence most important there. Mr. 
 Lamb's bad state of health, it sdems, doth not permit his speedy 
 return to America. There is little appearance that either Naples or 
 Portugal will make their peace with the Regency. Our treaty 
 meets with obstacles much greater than you apprehended with 
 Portugal. Permit me to tell you that there is a great probability 
 that the Ambassador of that nation here will^ be appointed first 
 Minister ; that the Chevalier del Pinto is of another party. 
 
 The Count de Florida Blanca has been indisposed for some time. 
 This is a public misfortune, but still more to me personally. Mr. 
 Barclay mentions to me that the English are in disgrace in Morocco. 
 If your powers from Congress are so extensive as to admit 
 Mr. Barclay^s negotiating in Barbary, if even you can, conjointly 
 with Mr. Adams, take upon you what certainly I would do — to 
 consult the public interest without orders^ — you will allow that 
 gentleman to make overtures, in order to prevent hostilities ; at least 
 to five time to Congress to adopt such measures as they may judge 
 proper. Be assured that all that I can do to second the operations 
 of a man proper to be employed as he is, I shall do cheerfully. 
 
808 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFEHSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, December 1, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The frigate called the South Carolina, belonging to that State, 
 assisted Spain at the reduction of Providence and the Bahama 
 Islands. To obtain compensation for which Congress, at the 
 instance of the State, have directed application to be made to the 
 Court of Madrid. The Prince of Luxemburgh is, it seems, interested 
 in the frigate, and in the expected compensation. The Delegates 
 of South Carolina think his influence, if exerted, would conduce 
 much to the success of the application. Your endeavors to obtain 
 his aid and support are requested ; and I have the honor of trans- 
 mitting to you herewith the papers relative to that transaction, under 
 an unsealed cover directed to Mr. Carmichael, to whom be pleased 
 to forward them ; and from time to time to give him such advice and 
 intelligence as may facilitate the execution of his instructions on this 
 subject. 
 
 With great esteem and regard, I have the honor to be, &c., 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 OiSce for Foreign Affairs, December 13, 1786. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Since closing my despatches to you of the 1st instant, I learn 
 from the Consul of France that the Prince of Luxemburgh was 
 only the ostensible owner of the South Carolina frigate, and that she 
 in reality belonged to the King of France, who was entitled to a 
 fourth of her prizes and profits. This information induces me to 
 think that it would be advisable to converse on the subject with the 
 Count de Vergennes previous to any application to the Prince. 
 These despatches will explain this letter. 
 
 With great respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, Sic, 
 
 JOHN JAY. 
 
 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Office for Foreign Affairs, December 14, 1786. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 My last to you was dated 27th October, by the way of London, 
 since which I have been honored with yours of the 11th and 13th 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 809 
 
 August. They both arrived the 23d November last, but Congress 
 not having made a house since the 7th of that month, they have not 
 yet been officially communicated. 
 
 The information relative to Sir Guy Carleton's instructions, is in 
 direct opposition to intelligence I have received on the same subject 
 from persons in London, who have opportunities of knov/ing the 
 truth, and whose credit is unquestionable. It is possible, however, 
 that they may have been either accidentally or designedly deceived. 
 A variety of considerations, and some facts, afford room for suspicions 
 that there is an understanding between the insurgents in Massachu- 
 setts and some leading person in Canada, but whether with or 
 without the consent or connivance of the British Government, is still 
 to be ascertained. There is so much evidence of their having sent 
 emissaries to Quebec, and of propositions made to and received by 
 them from a character of distinction there, that I am induced to 
 think there is at least some truth in it. A report has also circulated 
 that the insurgents have money and pay, not only for supplies and 
 ammunition, but also for personal services. This fact is as yet 
 supported by slender proof; so much so that my judgment remains 
 undecided and in suspense about it. Intimations have been given 
 that the people of Vermont are less and less anxious to be admitted 
 into the Confederacy, and that they rather incline to a connexion of 
 some kind or other with Britain than with us. This also remains to 
 be proved. Two circumstances, however, give it some appearance 
 of probability, yiz : it is said and believed they talked with Sir Guy 
 Carleton during the war, and they know that by remaining separate 
 from the States, they will also remain uncharged with our debts. 
 
 An idea that may do mischief has been vtery incautiously dropped 
 where it should never have entered — that the interests of the Atlantic 
 and Western parts of the United States are distinct, and that the 
 growth of the latter, tending to diminish that of the former, the 
 western people have reason to be jealous of the northern. If 
 Britain really means to do us harm, she will adopt and impress tbis 
 idea. 
 
 You will perceive from the public papers that the Government of 
 Masfeachusetts has behaved with great moderation and condescension 
 towards the insurgents; more so, in my opinion, than was wise. 
 Obsta principiis always appeared to me to be a maxim very appli- 
 cable to such cases. Those malcontents, undoubtedly, mean more 
 
810 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 than the redress of grievances which their leaders complain of, and 
 there is little doubt but that those leaders have more extensive -views 
 than their followers suspect. During the winter they may, perhaps, 
 continue quiet, but if, during the course of it, they should be able to 
 bring their affairs into system, and either obtain or be promised 
 foreign countenance and aid, they will probably give us trouble in 
 the spring. These people bear no resemblance to an English mob ; 
 they are more temperate, cool, and regular in their conduct. They 
 have hitherto abstained from plunder, nor have they, that I know of, 
 committed any outrages but such as the accomplishment of their 
 purpose made necessary. I hear to-day that some of their leaders, 
 in one of the counties, have certainly been taken by a party of horse 
 from Boston. 
 
 In my letter of the 27th October, I enclosed a copy of an act of 
 Congress, authorizing you to settle the affair of Schweighauser, and 
 directing the Board of Treasury to furnish you with the necessary 
 information. I presume, therefore, that such part of your letter of 
 the 11th August as relates to that matter, will be referred to the 
 Board, and that the Commissioners, according to order, will collect 
 and transmit to you the intelligence in question. 
 
 My sentiments respecting the discussion of this matter with the 
 Court, perfectly correspond with yours. 
 
 The situation of our captive countrymen at Algiers is much to be 
 lamented, and the more so as their deliverance is difficult to effect. 
 Congress cannot command money for that, nor iodeed for x)ther 
 very important purposes. Their requisitions produce little, and Gov- 
 ernment (if it may be called a Government) is so inadequate to its 
 objects, that essential alterations or essential evils must take place. 
 I hope you have received the order of Congress for Mr. Lamb's 
 recall. Another copy of it is herewith enclosed. 
 
 It seems probable that the delays of Portugal proceed from the 
 cause you suggest. We hear the treaty between France and Britain 
 will be concluded ; if so, many consequences will doubtless result 
 from it to us as well as Portugal. Some suspect that France and 
 England will pursue similar systems of colonial commerce with us. 
 Of this, however, some doubts remain on my mind. This country 
 is still exceedingly out of humor with Britain, and every commercial 
 privilege we have from France, beyond what Britain admits, 
 increases it, and strengthens our predilections for France. It 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 811 
 
 appears to me that the .Court is not sufficiently apprized of the 
 expediency of having a discreet liberal-minded Minister here. It is 
 important to both countries that France should have none but exact 
 and candid representations from hence; and although that may 
 possibly be the case in general at present, yet there is some evidence 
 of one of their Consuls having vi^ritten that we suspected their sin- 
 cerity in promoting our peace with Barbary. Such communications 
 may tend to illustrate the penetration and intelligence of the writer ; 
 but I have no reason to think them warranted by facts, nor conducive 
 to mutual confidence. We know that European commercial nations 
 never rejoice to see a rival at peace with those pirates, but we, 
 nevertheless, think that France has more inducements to do us good 
 than evil, especially on that and such occasions. If our Government 
 could draw forth the resources of the country, which, notwithstanding 
 all appearances to the contrary, are abundant, I should prefer war to 
 tribute, and carry on our Mediterranean trade in vessels armed and 
 manned at the public expense. I daily become more and more 
 confirmed in the opinion that Government should be divided into 
 executive, legislative, and judicial departments. Congress is unequal 
 to the first, very fit for the second, and but ill calculated for the 
 third. So much time is spent in deliberation that the season for 
 action often passes by before they decide on what should be done ; 
 nor is there much more secrecy than expedition in their measures. 
 These inconveniences arise, not from personal disqualifications, but 
 from the nature and construction of the Government. 
 
 If Congress had money to purchase peace of Algiers, or redeem 
 the captives there, it certainly would, according to their present ideas, 
 be well to lose no time in doing both. Neither pains nor expense, 
 if within any tolerable limits, should be spared to ransom our fellow- 
 citizens ; but the truth is, that no money is to be expected at present 
 from hence, nor do I think it would be right to make new loans until 
 we have at least some prospect of paying the interest due on former 
 ones. Our country is fertile, abounding in useful productions, and 
 those productions in demand and bearing a good price, yet relaxation 
 in Government and extravagance in individuals create much public 
 and private distress, and much public and private want of good 
 faith. 
 
 The public papers will tell you how much reason we have to 
 apprehend an Indian war, and to suspect that Britain instigates it. 
 
312 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 In my opinion our Indian affairs have been ill managed. Details 
 would be tedious. Indians have been murdered by our people in 
 cold blood, and no satisfaction given ; nor are they pleased with the 
 avidity with which we seek to acquire their lands. Would it not be 
 wiser gradually to extend our settlements as want of room should 
 make it necessary, than to pitch our tents through the wilderness in 
 a great variety of places, far distant from each other, and from those 
 advantages of education, civilization, law, and Government which 
 compact settlements and neighborhoods afford? Shall we not fill 
 the wilderness with white savages, and will they not become more 
 formidable to us than the tawny ones who now inhabit it ? 
 
 As to the sums of money expected from the sale of those lands, 
 I suspect we shall be deceived, for, at whatever price they may 
 be sold, the collection and payment of it will not be easily accom- 
 plished. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JErPERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, September 26, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 The last letters I had the honor of writing you were of the 11th 
 and 13th August ; since that I have been favored with yours of July 
 14th and August 18th. I now enclose you such letters on the 
 Barbary negotiations as have come to hand since my last. With 
 these is the copy of a joint letter from Mr. Adams and myself to 
 Mr. Lamb. In mine of August 13th I mentioned that 1 had pro- 
 posed it as a subject of consideration to Mr. Adams whether the 
 mission of Mr. Barclay to Algiers might answer any good purposes. 
 He is of opinion that it could not. I have therefore informed Mr. 
 Barclay, who by this time is probably in Spain, that he is at liberty 
 to return to this place, to London, or America, as he shall think 
 proper. You will perceive by the letter from Mr. Carmichael that 
 it is the opinion of the Counts de Florida Blanca and d'Espilly that 
 a treaty with the Ottoman Porte is necessary before one can be made 
 with Algiers. Such a treaty will require presents, not, indeed, as the 
 price of their peace, but such as are usually made in compliment to 
 their Ministers. But as it would be ineffectual towards opening to us 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 813 
 
 the Mediterranean until a peace with Algiers can be obtained, there 
 seems to be no reason for pressing it till there is a prospect of settle- 
 ment with the Algerines. 
 
 Since the death of the King of Prussia the symptoms of war 
 between the Porte and the Russians and Venitians ■ have become 
 stronger. I think it is the opinion of this Court, however, that there 
 will be no war shortly on the continent. I judge this as well from 
 other information as from the circumstance of a late reduction of 
 their land force. All their military preparations seem to be against 
 a naval war ; nevertheless, their treaty with England has lately taken 
 a sudden start, declarations have been exchanged between the nego- 
 tiators in the nature of preliminaries to a definitive treaty. The 
 particulars of these declarations are not yet certainly known. 
 
 1 was asked by the Imperial Ambassador whether I had received 
 an answer on the subject of his proposition to renew our powers to 
 treat with his sovereign. A discrimination which they understand 
 to have been made in America between the subjects of Powers 
 having treaties with us and those having none, seems to be the 
 motive of their pressing this matter. 
 
 It being known that M. de Calonnes, the Minister of Finance for 
 this country, is at his wits end how to raise supplies for the ensuing 
 year, a proposition has been made him by a Dutch company to pur- 
 chase the debt of the United States to this country for twenty millions 
 of livres, in hand. His necessities dispose him to accede to the 
 proposition ; but a hesitation is produced by the apprehension that it 
 might lessen our credit in Europe, and perhaps be disagreeable to 
 Congress. I have been consulted hereon by the agent of that com- 
 pany. I informed him that I could not judge what effect it might 
 have on our credit, and was not authorized either to approve or 
 disapprove of the transaction. I have since reflected on this subject ; 
 if there be a danger that our payments may not be punctual, it might 
 be better that the discontents which would thence arise should be 
 transferred from a Court of whose good will we have so much need, 
 to the breasts of a private company. But it has occurred to me 
 that we might find occasion to do what would be grateful to this 
 Court, and establish with them a confidence in our honor. I am 
 informed that our credit in Holland is sound ; might it not be possible, 
 then, to borrow there the four and twenty millions due to this country, 
 and thus pay them their whole debt at once ? This would save 
 
814 THOMAS JEPPERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 them from any loss on our account ; nor is it liable to the objection 
 of impropriety in creating new debts before we have more certain 
 means of paying them; it is only transferring a debt from one 
 creditor to another, and removing the causes of discontent to persons 
 with whom they would do us less injury. Thinking that this matter 
 is worthy of the attention of Congress, I will endeavor that the 
 negotiation shall be retarded till it may be possible for me to know 
 their decision, which, therefore, I will take the liberty of praying 
 immediately. 
 
 You will have heard before this comes to hand, that the parties in 
 the United Netherlands have come to an open rupture. How far it 
 will proceed, cannot now be foreseen. I send you herewith the 
 Gazettes of France and Leyden to this date. 
 
 I have the honor of being, &c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO MESSRS. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 
 
 Morocco, July 16, 1786. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I wrote you on the 26th of last month, and expected to have 
 followed my letter in a week, but several unforeseen matters have 
 hitherto detained us ; however, I expect we shall set out to-morrow 
 or the day following. The 13th instant the treaty was sent to me 
 by the EfFendi, since which some important alterations have been 
 made, which the villany and carelessness of the Talbe Houdrani 
 (to whom the drawing was committed) made necessary ; and yester- 
 day it was again delivered from Tahar Fennish, to whose hands the 
 King committed the arrangement of the matter. It still wants an 
 additional article, or rather a declaration, which his Majesty has 
 permitted to be made in his name, but which he desired might not 
 make a part of the treaty. When this is done it will stand as 
 I described it in my last letter, viz : there is only one article more I 
 wish to see inserted, and that I think will never prove of any conse- 
 quence. 
 
 When I send you the treaty, it will be necessary to accompany it 
 with some remarks, with which I will not now trouble you ; and the 
 only one I shall make is, that the King, throughout the whole, has 
 acted in a manner the most gracious and condescending ; and I really 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. S15 
 
 believe the Americans possess as much of his respect and regard 
 as does any Christian nation whatever. If you should think my 
 services at Algiers, Tunis, or Tripoli necessary, I hope your com- 
 mands will meet me in the south of Spain, for after returning to 
 Paris, it will be utterly impossible for me to engage further in the 
 business. A peace with the Barbary Powers is absolutely essential 
 to the commerce of our country, and I think a general one might be 
 made, notwithstanding the impediments that appear. The Emperor 
 has ordered five frigates on a cruise in the Atlantic ocean. He is 
 now at peace with all the world except Russia, Malta, Hamburg, and 
 Dantzic. A treaty with the first of these Powers was concluded 
 on, and the articles drawn, but it was afterwards broken off. The 
 Emperor complains much of the treatment he receives from England, 
 and Mr. DuiF, who came here sometime ago as Pro-Consul, returned 
 the day before we arrived, highly offended at his reception, the 
 Emperor having refused to receive the letter which Lord Sydney 
 wrote, saying he would read no letters from England but such as 
 were written by the King. I had a letter yesterday from Mr. Car- 
 michael, and was in great hopes it would have covered one from 
 you, but I am hitherto without the pleasure of hearing from you. 
 I am always, &;c., THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FEOM THOMAS BARCLAY TO MESSRS. ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 
 
 Mogadore, July , 1786 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I wrote you from Morocco under date of the 16th. As I do not 
 know when that letter is likely to reach you, I trouble you now with 
 a copy of it ; and as I shall set out in a few days for Tangiers, I 
 defer, until my arrival in Europe, being particular. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, Sic, THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS BARCLAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON AND JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Daralbeyda, August 11, 1786. 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 I arrived here to-day, and shall continue my journey to Tangiers 
 
 early in the morning. The plague being at Constantine, occasions 
 
 a rigorous quarantine of forty days (from Barbary) in Spain. I 
 
8 1 6 THOMAS JfiPFERSON- JOHN JAY . 
 
 shall, therefore, endeavor to get into Ceuta, which, being in the hands 
 of the Spaniards, is an exception to the above remark, and I think 
 the quarantine from thence is only twelve days. 
 
 The treaty shall be forwarded with all expedition as soon as I 
 arrive in Europe, and, in the meantime, I am, gentlemen, &c., 
 
 THOS. BARCLAY. 
 
 FROM JOHN LAMB TO THOMAS JEFrERSON. 
 
 Alicant, August 10, 1786. 
 
 Finding myself unable to embark, and desiring to have my decla- 
 ration forwarded as soon as possible, according to your Excellency's 
 orders, I have sent the vessel to give the earliest notice. She sailed 
 the 9th of this current, with every transaction, together with my last 
 orders from your Excellency. The vessel is insured, and does not 
 sail at public expense. I should be glad if I could hear if Mr. 
 Randall had arrived and had delivered to your Excellency my 
 declaration, which I forwarded by him. At the reception of your 
 Excellency's last orders to me, I stated my situation in two letters, 
 one of the 15th, and the other of the 18th July. I hope they have 
 come safe to hand. 
 
 I am, Sic, JOHN LAMB. 
 
 FROM JOHN ADAMS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN LAMB. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 We have received your two letters of the 15th and 18th July from 
 Alicant, and are sorry to learn that your indisposition discourages you 
 from travelling by land or by sea. 
 
 We still think it most advisable both for your own interest and that 
 of the United States, that you should return to Congress for their 
 further instructions as soon as possible, and we again propose to you 
 to embark from Spain by the first opportunity. 
 
 Congress have never informed us of any promise made, or encour- 
 agement given you that you should be settled with in Europe, and 
 we think it best you should settle with their Board of Treasury. 
 Nevertheless, if you transmit to us your account, we will adjust it as 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 817 
 
 far as lies in us, subject to the revision of Congress. Your letter of 
 credit we wish you to return to one of us by the first opportunity, as 
 you will not have occasion to draw again by virtue of it. 
 
 Mr. Randall is gone to New York, and it is our wish that you 
 might be there with hira, that Congress might have an opportunity 
 of receiving from both together as much information as possible, that 
 you might mutually aid each other in settling your accounts. 
 
 We have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 JOHN ADAMS, 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM WILLIAM CAKMICHAEL TO THOMAS 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 St. Ildefonso, August 17, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 I had the honor to transmit, on the 15th July, to your Excellency, 
 
 a copy of a note to me from his Excellency the Count de Florida 
 
 Blanca, dated 13th, enclosing extracts of a letter from the Spanish 
 
 Consul General in Morocco, and one from the principal Minister of 
 
 his M. M. relative to Mr. Barclay's negotiation. On the lltli 
 
 instant 1 received a note from the Count de Florida Blanca, with a 
 
 copy of the treaty in Spanish, which I forwarded to Mr. Jay, via 
 
 France, by the last post. The Count of Florida Blanca having 
 
 requested me to return the copy he sent me for my perusal, I had not 
 
 time to make out a second for my own use, and as I perceived by a 
 
 letter which I lately sent you from Mr. Barclay, and which that 
 
 gentleman left open for my perusal, that all but one article of his 
 
 propositions had been accepted, I do not so much regret my want of 
 
 time to transcribe a copy for you. I think it, however, proper to 
 
 submit to your perusal the translation of a letter from his Moroccan 
 
 Majesty to the Consul General of Spain, which proves the essential 
 
 services that the interference of his Catholic Majesty hath rendered 
 
 the United States on this occasion. It is as follows : 
 
 " Glory to God alone. There is no strength nor power but in. 
 ' God. (Seal.) 
 
 " To the Spanish Consul — For him who follows the true path. 
 
 " We have received thy letter, and read what thou hast written 
 ' concerning the Americans. They have presented themselves 
 Vol. L— 52 
 
818 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY, 
 
 'bearing a letter from King Charles, for whose sake we have 
 ' granted their requests, and signed the treaties which they offered, 
 'and we accepted. We herewith send thee copies of those treaties, 
 ' in order that thou mayst lay them before the King of Spain. When 
 ' thou art ready to come into our presence, give notice, in order that 
 ' horses may be sent for thy accommodation. We salute thee. On 
 ' the eleventh day of the moon Ramadan, in the year of the Hegira 
 ' 1200" — (corresponding to the 8th July, 1786.) 
 
 Yesterday I received the enclosed letter from Mr. Barclay, which 
 your Excellency will receive by a courier despatched from hence to 
 the Count d'Aranda and the Chevalier del Campo. This messenger 
 carries the ratification of the convention relative to the Mosquito 
 shore, signed the 14th of July, by the latter and the Marquis of 
 Camarthen. I have in my possession an extract of this convention ; 
 but as I presume Mr. Adams must have already furnished you with 
 a copy of it, I forbear transmitting it. It has given great satisfaction 
 here. The King manifested, in a particular manner, to the British 
 Minister the pleasure the conclusion of this affair gave him. It 
 seems to be the system of Great Britain to court Spain, and their 
 Minister here is well qualified to execute their plans. 
 
 On the 14th of June a treaty was signed between Spain and 
 Algiers, It is not, however, yet ratified, owing to the bad state of 
 health of the Count of F. B. I have sent to Mr. Jay a copy of this 
 treaty. I have such a firm reliance on the repeated promises of the 
 Count de F. B. from the experience of this Minister's punctuality 
 and regard to his word, in all the transactions that I have had with 
 him during my mission here, that I think I can safely assert that we 
 may depend on the best offices of this Court, whenever it may be 
 judged proper, to renew our overtures to Algiers. 
 
 The Republic of Genoa is doing what its limited finances will 
 permit to protect its commerce. I am told that the King of Sardinia 
 is doing the same. The Portuguese and Neapolitan Envoys have 
 gone to Algiers. Their success is problematical. If I was informed 
 of the obstacles attending our treaty with Portugal, I flatter myself 
 that I might be of some utility. It is not improbable that the 
 Portuguese Ambassador at this Court will be nominated Minister of 
 State. I tell you beforehand that he is Anti-Gallican. I believe be 
 is of a party opposed to the Chevalier Pinto. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 819 
 
 I am assured, by what ought to he good authority, that the aifau-s 
 of this Court and Naples are in a good train. This appears to want 
 confirmation. I write freely and fully to you, and hope you will 
 have the same confidence with respect to your Excellency's, &z;c., 
 
 WM. CARMICHAEL. 
 
 EXTBACT OF A LETTER FKOM WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO THOMAS 
 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 St. Ildefonso, September 4, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since I had the honor to inform your Excellency of the success of 
 Mr. Barclay's mission, of which I was advised by his Excellency the 
 Count de Florida Blanca, the treaty of this Court with Algiers has 
 been ratified by his Catholic Majesty. This ratification was signed 
 the 27th ultimo. The Count d'Espilly will set out for Algiers in a 
 few weeks, with the presents given on this occasion to the Dey and 
 the principal officers of the Regency. The ransom of the Spanish 
 prisoners is left for a distinct negotiation. There are also some 
 arrangements to be taken with the Bey of Mascara or Constantine 
 that demands patience and money. 
 
 I am assured by the Counts de Florida Blanca and d'Espilly that, 
 until we have a treaty with the Forte, it will answer no purpose to 
 attempt a negotiation >vith Algiers. 
 
 FROM JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 New York, February 9, 1787. 
 Sir, 
 
 Since my last to you, of the 14th December, I have been honored 
 with yours of the 26th September last, which, with the papers that 
 it enclosed, had been laid before Congress, but neither on that nor 
 any of your late letters have any orders as yet been made. 
 
 The annual election produces much delay in affairs. From that 
 time to this scarcely anything has been done. It was not until last 
 week that, seven States being represented, a President was elected. 
 The choice fell on Major General St. Clair. They have much back 
 business to despatch ; several reports on important subjects from the 
 
820 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 different departments are to be considered and decided upon. A 
 form of government, so constructed, has inconveniences which, I 
 think, will continue to operate against the public or national interest, 
 until some cause, not easily predicted, shall produce such a modifi- 
 cation of it, as that legislative, judicial, and executive business of 
 Government may be consigned to three proper and distinct depart- 
 ments. The struggles for and against the impost remain, but 
 promise little. The States in general pay little attention to requisi- 
 tions, and I fear that our debts, foreign and domestic, will not soon 
 be provided for in a manner satisfactory to our creditors. The evils 
 to be expected from Such delays are less difficult to be foreseen 
 than obviated. Our Government wants energy, and there is reason 
 to fear that too much has been expected from the virtue and good 
 sense of the people. 
 
 You will receive, herewith enclosed, a letter from Congress to his 
 most Christian Majesty, with a copy of it for your information. It 
 is in answer to one received from him, and should have been of 
 earlier date, had Congress sooner convened. Be pleased to explain 
 this circumstance to the Minister. 
 
 The public papers herewith sent contain all we at present know 
 respecting the troubles in Massachusetts. Whether they will soon 
 be terminated, or what events they may yet produce, is perfectly 
 uncertain ; and the more so, as we are yet to ascertain whether and 
 how far they may be encouraged by our neighbors. 
 
 I enclose a copy of a letter from Mr. Otto, formally contradicting 
 the report of an exchange between France and Spain for the 
 Floridas. That report had excited attention and given pleasure to 
 Anti-Gallicans. 
 
 Our apprehensions of an Indian war still continue, for we are at 
 a loss to determine whether the present continuance of peace is to 
 be ascribed to the season or their pacific intentions. 
 
 We have not yet received the Morocco treaty. As soon as it 
 arrives, I am persuaded that Congress will take the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of making their acknowledgments to the friendly Powers that 
 promoted it. Mr. Lamb is still absent. He, doubtless, has received 
 the order of Congress directing his return, either from you and Mr. 
 Adams or directly from me. 
 
 Congress has not yet given any orders respectirig further negotia- 
 tions with the Barbary States; nor can I venture to say what their 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 821 
 
 sentiments will be on that head. I am equally at a loss to judge 
 what they will direct respecting treaties of commerce with the 
 Emperor and other European Powers. For my part, I think, and 
 have recommended, that commissions and instructions should be sent 
 lo you and Mr. Adams for those purposes. In my opinion, sUch 
 treaties, for short terms, might be advantageous. The time is not 
 yet come for us to expect the best. The distance of that period 
 will, however, depend much on ourselves. 
 
 With very sincere esteem and regard, Sic, JOHN JAY. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 Paris, October 23, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 In a letter of January 2d I had the honor of communicating to 
 you the measures which had been pursued here for the improvement 
 of the commerce between the United States and France. The 
 general view of that commerce, which I had presented to the Count 
 de Vergennes, the circumstance of the renewal of the farms, which 
 had obliged me to press separately, and in the first place, the article 
 of tobacco, and that which had also brought forward that of whale 
 oil; and in my letters of May 27th and 31st I informed you of the 
 result on the first of these articles. During the course of these pro- 
 ceedings a committee had been established for considering the means 
 of promoting the general commerce with America, and the Marquis 
 de la Fayette was named of that committee. His influence in 
 obtaining that establishment was valuable, but his labors and his 
 perseverance as a member of it became infinitely more so. Imme- 
 diately after the committee of Berni, of which my letter of May 
 27th gave an account, we thought it expedient to bring the general 
 subject of the American commerce before the committee ; and as the 
 members were much unacquainted with the nature and value of our 
 commercial productions, the Marquis proposed that, in a letter to 
 him as a member, I should give as particular details of them as I 
 could, as a ground for that committee to proceed on. I did so in a 
 letter, a copy of which I hg-ve now the honor to enclose. The 
 committee were well disposed, and agreed to report not only the 
 general measures which they thought expedient to be adoptfed, but 
 
822 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 the form of the letter to be written by the Minister of France to me 
 for the communication of these measures. I have received his letter 
 this morning, and have now the honor to enclose it. I accompany 
 it with the one proposed by the committee, of which you will per- 
 ceive that it is almost a verbal copy ; it furnishes a proof of the 
 disposition of the King and his Ministers to produce a more intimate 
 intercourse between the two nations. Indeed, I must say that, as 
 far as I am able to see, the friendship of the people of this country 
 towards us is cordial and general, and that it is a kind of security 
 for the friendship of Ministers, who cannot in any country be unin- 
 fluenced by the voice of the people. To this we may add that it is 
 their interest as well as ours to multiply the bands of friendship 
 between us. As the regulations stated in the Minister's letter are 
 immediately interesting to those concerned in our commerce, I send 
 printed copies of it to the seaport towns of France. We may 
 consider them as an ultimate settlement of the conditions of our 
 commerce with this country, for though the consolidation of ship 
 duties and the encouragements for the importation of rice are not 
 finally decided, yet the letter contains a promise of them so soon as 
 necessary facts shall be known. With a view to come at the facts 
 relative to the two last objects, I had proposed, whenever I should 
 receive the final decision now enclosed, to avail myself of the pause 
 which that would produce in order to visit the seaport towns with 
 which we trade chiefly, and to collect that kind of knowledge of our 
 commerce, and of what may be further useful to it, which can only 
 be gathered on the spot and suggested by one's own inspection ; but 
 the delay which has attended the obtaining the final determination 
 has brought us to the entrance of winter, and will oblige me to post- 
 pone my journey to the spring. Besides the objects of public utility 
 which induce me to make a tour of this kind, that of health will 
 oblige me to pay more attention to exercise and change of air than 
 I have hitherto done since my residence in Europe, and I am willing 
 to hope that I may be permitted at times to absent myself from this 
 place, taking occasions when there is nothing important on hand nor 
 likely to arise. 
 
 The assistance of the Marquis de la Fayette in the whole of this 
 business has been so earnest and so efficacious that 1 am in duty 
 bound to place it under the eye of Congress as worthy of their 
 notice. On this occasion their thanks, or such other notice as they 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 823 
 
 should think proper, would be grateful to him without doubt. He 
 has richly deserved and will coiltinue to deserve it, whenever occa- 
 sions shall arise of rendering service to the United States. These 
 occasions will continually occur, though the abolition of the monopoly 
 of our tobaccoes cannot be hoped under the present circumstances. 
 Changes are possible which may open that hope again. However 
 jealous, too, this country is of foreign intercourse with their colonies, 
 that intercourse is too essential to us to be abandoned as desperate ; 
 at this moment, indeed, it cannot be proposed ; but, by watching 
 circumstances, occasion may arise hereafter, and I hope will arise. 
 I know from experience what would in that case be the value of 
 such an auxiliary. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &;c., TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 FROM THOMAS JJIFTEBSON TO MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. 
 
 Paris, July 17, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have now the honor of enclosing to you an estimate of the 
 exports and imports of the United States. Calculations of this kind 
 cannot pretend to accuracy ; where inattention and fraud combine to 
 suppress their objects, approximation is all they can aim at. Neither 
 care nor candor have been wanting on my part to bring them as near 
 the truth as my skill and materials would enable me to do. I have 
 availed myself of the best documents from the custom-houses which 
 have been given to the public, and have been able to rectify these 
 in many instances by information collected by myself on the spot in 
 many of the States. Still remember, however, that I call them but 
 approximations, and that they must present some errors as consid- 
 erable as they were unavoidable. 
 
 Our commerce divides itself into European and West Indian. I 
 have conformed my statement to this division. 
 
 On running over the catalogue of American imports, France will 
 naturally mark out those articles with which she could supply us to 
 advantage; and she may safely calculate that after a little time 
 shall have enabled us to get rid of our present incumbrances, and of 
 some remains of attachment to the particular forms of manufacturfr 
 
824 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 to which we have been habituated, we shall take those articles 
 which she can furnish on as good terms as other nations, to 
 whatever extent she will enable us to pay for them. It is her 
 interest, therefore, as well as ours, to multiply the means of payment. 
 These must be found in the catalogue of our exports ; and among 
 these will be seen neither gold nor silver. We have no mines of 
 either of these metals. Produce, therefore, is all we can offer. 
 Some articles of our produce will be found very convenient to this 
 country for her own consumption ; others will be convenient as 
 being more commerciable in her hands than those she will give in 
 exchange for them. If there be any which she can neither consume 
 nor dispose of by exchange, she will not buy them of us, and of 
 course we shall not bring them to her. If American produce can 
 be brought into the ports of France, the articles of exchange for it 
 will be taken in those ports ; and the only means of drawing it 
 hither is to let the merchant see that he can dispose of it on better 
 terms here than any where else. If the market price of this country 
 does not, in itself, offer this superiority, it may be worthy of con- 
 sideration whether it should be obtained by such abatement of 
 duties, and even by such other encouragements as the importance of 
 the article may justify. Should some loss attend this in the beginning, 
 it can be discontinued when the trade shall be well established in 
 this channel. 
 
 With respect to the West Indian commerce, I must apprize you 
 that this estimate does not present its present face. No materials 
 have enabled us to see how it stands since the war. We can only 
 show what it was before that period. New regulations have changed 
 our situation there much for the worse. This is most sensibly felt 
 in the exports of fish and flour. The surplus of the former, which 
 these regulations threw back on us, is forced to Europe, where, by 
 increasing the quantity, it lessens the price. The surplus of the 
 latter is sunk ; and to what other objects this portion of industry is 
 turned or turning, I am not able to discover. The imports, too, of 
 sugar and coffee are thrown under great difficulties. These increase 
 the price, and being articles of food for the poorer classes, (as you 
 may be sensible on observing the quantities consumed,) a small 
 increase of prices places them above the reach of this class, which, 
 being numerous, must occasion a great diminution of consumption. 
 It remains to see whether the American will endeavor to baffle these 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 825 
 
 new restrictions, in order to indulge his habits, or will adapt his 
 habits to other objects which may furnish employment to the surplus 
 of industry formerly occupied in raising that bread which no longer 
 finds a vent in the West Indian market. If, instead of either of these 
 measures he should resolve to come to Europe for coffee and sugar, he 
 must lessen, equivalently, his consumption of some other European 
 articles, in order to pay for his coffee and sugar — the bread with 
 which he formerly paid for them in the West Indies not being 
 demanded in the European market. In fact, the catalogue of imports 
 offers several articles more dispensable than coffee or sugar. Of all 
 these subjects the committee and yourself are the most competent 
 judges. To you, therefore, I trust them, with every wish for their 
 improvement. 
 
 I have the honor to be, fcc, TH : JEFFERSON. 
 
 Estimate of the Exports of the United States of America. 
 
 To Europe. W. Indies. Total. 
 
 Louis. Louis. Louis. 
 
 Pish... 107,000 50,000 157,000 
 
 Fishoil 181,668 9,562 191,250 
 
 Fishbones 8,400 8,400 
 
 Salted meats - 131,500 131,500 
 
 Live-stock 99,000 99,000 
 
 Butter, cheese 18,000 18,000 
 
 Flour, bread, 660,000 barrels 330,000 330,000 660,000 
 
 Wheat, 2,210,000 bushels 331,000 331,000 
 
 Indian corn, pulse 30,000 61,000 91,000 
 
 Rice, 130,000 barrels 189,350 70,650 260,000 
 
 Indigo 51,700 - 51,700 
 
 Tobacco, 87,000 hogsheads 1,305,000 - 1,305,000 
 
 Potash, 20,000 barrels 49,000 - 49,000 
 
 Peltry 184,900 184,900 
 
 Flaxseed 79,500 - 79,500 
 
 Hemp 21,000 21,000 
 
 Iron, copper 84,000 6,000 90,000 
 
 Turpentine, &c., 60,000 barrels ^. 29,410 1,840 31,250 
 
 Timber, lumber 82,000 164,000 246,000 
 
 Ships, 300 216,500 216,500 
 
 Miscellanies 22,000 , 22,000 
 
 3,302,448 941,552 4,944,000 
 
B26 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Estimate of the Imports from Europe and Africa of the United 
 States of America. 
 
 Woolen cloths of every description, linens of every description, hosiery, hats, 
 gloves, shoes, boots, saddlery, and other things of leather, silks, gold and silver 
 lace, jewelry, millinery, toys, East India goods, porcelain, glass, earthen-ware, 
 silver, copper, brass, tin, pewter, lead, steel, iron in every form, upholstery, 
 cabinet work, painter's colors, cheese, pickles, confitures, chocolate, wine, 2,000 
 tons a 100 louis — 200,000 louis, brandy, beer, medicinal drugs, snuff, beeswax, 
 books, stationery, mill-stones, grind-stones, marble, sail-cloth, cordage, ship 
 chandlery, fishing-tackle, ivory, ebony, barwood, dyewood, staves, salt, 521,225 
 bushels, at 34 sous, 26,061 louis, 6 liv 3,039,000 
 
 From the West Indies. 
 
 Louis, liv. s. 
 
 Salt, 500,484 bushels, at 24 sous 25,024 4 16 
 
 Fruits.... 2,239 12 
 
 Cocoa, 576,589 lbs., at 12 sous 25,798 12 
 
 Coffee, 408,400 lbs., at 16 sous 15,249 14 8 
 
 Sugar, 10,232,432 lbs 168,007 
 
 Molasses, 3,645,464 gallons, at 24 sous 186,281 19 4 
 
 Rum, 3,888,370 gallons, at 2 liv. 14 s 437,44115 927,438 8 8 
 
 Ginger, pimento '. 1,395 1 4 
 
 Cotton, 356,591 lbs., at 24 sous 17,829 13 4 
 
 Skins 7,870 6 
 
 Indigo, 4,352 lbs., at 5 liv. 8 sous 979 4 16 
 
 Ivory, turtle-shell 247 4 16 
 
 Lignum vitae, sEirsaparilla, fustic, annetas 5,170 
 
 Logwood 13,624 21 
 
 Mahogany 23,280 
 
 3,966,438 8 8 
 
 TROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAT. 
 
 Paris, October 27, 1786. 
 
 Sir, 
 By a confidential opportunity to London, I had the honor of 
 writing to you on the 23d instant, and of enclosing you the original 
 letter of Monsieur de Calonne to me on the subject of our commerce. 
 As it is probable, however, that the French packet, which is to sail 
 from L'Orient the first of the next month, will sooner reach you, I 
 enclose some printed copies of the same letter by that conveyance, 
 and have the honor to be, &;c., 
 
 TH: JEFFERSON. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 827 
 
 FROM M. DE CALONNE TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Fontainebleau, October 22, 1786. 
 Sir, 
 As it is the intention of the King to favor as much as possible the 
 commerce of the United States, I have the honor to communicate 
 to you the measures that have been taken on this subject. 
 
 In my letter of the 9th January, 1784, to the Marquis de la 
 Fayette, I informed him that instead of two free ports, promised by 
 the treaty with the United Slates, the King had determined to grant 
 them four, which has been done ; and I promised him that I would 
 direct my attention to the custom-houses and duties which are 
 prejudicial to commerce, observing, however, that this object 
 demanded long investigations, which are not yet completed. By 
 another letter I informed him that his Majesty had suppressed the 
 duties upon the exportation of brandy, and I expected this suppres- 
 sion would be useful to the American commerce. I likewise 
 promised him that the duties to the King and Admiralty, payable by 
 an American vessel on her arrival in a French port, should be dimin- 
 ished and reduced to a single duty, and regulated according to the 
 number of masts and draft of water, and not by the uncertain 
 estimations of measurement. This reduction requires a perfect 
 knowledge of all the duties paid in our ports, and, as they are of 
 various kinds, the statements which I have ordered to be made are 
 not ready. 
 
 You know, sir, that the King has appointed a committee for the 
 particular purpose of examining our commercial connexions with 
 the United States, and that the Marquis de la Fayette has presented 
 a project conformable to the ideas contained in your letter to the 
 Count de Vergennes ; but you will consider how imprudent it would 
 be to hazard by a change of system the product of a branch of 
 revenue, which amounts to 28,000,000 upon an article, which is not 
 of the first necessity. After a long discussion of every means that 
 can be at present adapted to encourage the importations of American 
 tobacco, it has been resolved not to break the agreement with Mr. 
 Morris ; but that after the expiration of this contract, no similar one 
 
828 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 shall be made, and that in the meanwhile the Farmers General 
 should be obliged to purchase annually about fifteen thousand 
 hogsheads of American tobacco, imported directly from the United 
 States, in French or American vessels, at the same price or on the 
 same conditions which have been stipulated by the contract with 
 Mr. Morris. 
 
 You will remember, sir, that before a regulation could be made in 
 favor of the importation of whale oil, the Marquis de la Fayette had 
 taken a particular arrangement with Mr. Sangrain, for the sale of this 
 article to the amount of 800,000 livres, and that I had granted him 
 passports, in order to render this first importation free from all duties 
 whatsoever. The same Mr. Sangrain afterwards mada aii agreement 
 with some merchants of Boston to the yearly amount of 400,000 
 livres, to last during six years, for which his Majesty has granted the 
 same favors which are enjoyed by the Hanse-Towns. 
 
 This matter having been lately more extensively examined, the 
 administration to whom the committee communicated their wish, 
 agreeable to the Marquis de la Fayette's demand, with your opinion 
 entirely to abolish all duties upon oil, have found that at present 
 they could not consent to it, on account of the engagements with 
 other Powers. All that could be done was to grant during ten years 
 to the whale oil, spermaceti, and whatever is comprehended within 
 the denomination, imported from the United States in French or 
 American vessels, the same favors, the same diminution of duties 
 which the Hanse-Towns enjoy. 
 
 His Majesty hopes that the commercial connexion between the 
 United States and France will become so considerable as to engage 
 him to continue the effect of this provisional determination, and it 
 has been observed by the committee, that a great duty of fabrication 
 has hitherto been paid upon the most favored whale oil, and even 
 upon the national. His Majesty consents to abolish the duty of 
 fabrication, with respect to the whale and spermaceti directly 
 imported from the United States, in French or American bottoms, 
 so that this oil and spermaceti shall not pay during ten years any 
 other duty but 7 liv. 10 d. and 10 sols per livre, this last augmenta- 
 tion of 10 sols per livre shall cease in 1790. 
 
 It has also been determined that particular information be taken 
 concerning the consumption of Carolina rice in France, and that 
 means be derived to encourage the importation of this article. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 829 
 
 Representations having been made concerning the considerable 
 duties laid upon the importations of potash and pearlash, also upon 
 beaver skins and hair and raw leather, his Majesty has suppressed 
 all duties whatsoever upon those articles, if imported of the growth 
 of the United States in French or American vessels. He is likewise 
 desirous of encouraging every article of American fur. His Majesty 
 has moreover consented to abolish all duties upon masts, yards, keels 
 for ships, red cedar, live-oak, and, in a word, all kinds of wood fit for 
 ship-building, imported from the United States in French or American 
 vessels. 
 
 The committee having likewise represented that there was a duty 
 of five per cent, on the purchase of foreign-built ships, and that this 
 duty was prejudicial to the sale of American vessels, his Majesty has 
 been pleased to exempt from all duties the purchase of ships which 
 shall be proved to be built in the United States. 
 
 Great duties having been formerly laid upon all shrubs, trees, and 
 seed, his Majesty has abolished these duties, when the above articles 
 shall be imported in French or American vessels. 
 
 It having been represented that the State of Virginia had ordered 
 the arms for her militia to be made in France, an order is passed that 
 the prohibitions which hitherto have prevented the exportations of 
 arms and gunpowder, as well as the duties laid upon these articles 
 when exported by permission, shall be abolished ; and that whenever 
 the United States shall think it expedient to export from France, 
 arms, guns, and gunpowder, they shall have full permission, provided 
 these articles are exported in French or American vessels, and they 
 shall be liable only to a very small duty, in order to facilitate the 
 calculation of exports. 
 
 Lastly, his Majesty has received, with the same favor, the appli- 
 cations made to the committee for the suppression of the heavy 
 duties actually paid upon books and papers of all kinds. The King 
 abolishes all those duties, when the above articles shall be exported 
 to the United States in French or American vessels. 
 
 It is with great pleasure, sir, that I inform you of these dispositions 
 of his Majesty. They are a new testimony of his great desire to 
 establish the most intimate commercial connexion between the two 
 nations, and of the favorable attention he will always pay to any 
 proposal made in the name of the United States of America. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c., DE CALONNE. 
 
830 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Your nation will undoubtedly receive with pleasure the informa- 
 tion of the facilities which the King has just granted to exportations 
 of the wines of Bordeaux, Guyenne, and Touraine, and the suppression 
 of the duties granted by different arrets of Council, of which the 
 Marquis de la Fayette will give you notice. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Arret of the King's Council of State, exempting from the duty of 
 transit all the Wines which shall arrive in the Ports of the 
 Se jurisdiction of Bordeaux for embarcation. 
 
 September 10, 1786. 
 
 Extract from the Register of the Council of State. 
 
 The King being informed that the abundance of several successive 
 crops has occasioned a considerable overstock of wines in Guyenne, 
 and that the greater part of the productions of 1783, 1784, and 
 1785 remains unsold, his Majesty has thought fit to assist his 
 province of Guyenne by favoring the exportation of its wines, with 
 a moderation of duties imposed on their exportations from the ports 
 of this province. For which purpose, being anxious to provide, 
 having heard the report of the Sieur de Calonne, Counsellor in 
 ordinary to the Royal Council, Comptroller General of the Finances, 
 the King being present in his Council, has ordered, and orders as 
 follows : 
 
 Article I. Reckoning from the day of the publication of the 
 present arret until the 1st of January, 1788, all the wines which 
 shall arrive in the ports of the Seneschal's jurisdiction of Bordeaux 
 for embarcation, shall enjoy, from the place of their production unto 
 said ports, an exemption in transit from all duties of export. 
 
 Article II. The said wines shall also enjoy a privilege of deposit 
 in said ports, free from duties of import in the Seneschal's jurisdic- 
 tion, and there during the term granted to the present arret ; but 
 after said term the wines which shall not have been embarked 
 shall be subject to said duties. 
 
 Article III. The duties of export from the Seneschal's jurisdic- 
 tion on said wines, and also on those of said jurisdiction, shall be, 
 and are, reduced during the said term, viz : to two livres per ton 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 831 
 
 for those going to foreign, three livres per ton for those going any 
 where else, and this not comprehending the accessary duties. 
 
 Done in the King's Council of State, his Majesty being present, 
 held at Versailles 10th September, 1786. 
 
 GRAVIER DE VERGENNES. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Arret of the King's Council of State, reducing the duties of the 
 Wines of Aunis, which are exported to foreign parts. 
 
 May 27, 1786. 
 
 On the representation made to the King in Council, by the pro- 
 prietors of vineyards in the country of Aunis, that the different 
 duties to which their wines were subject on exportation out of the 
 Kingdom, were, by the additional sous per livre, rated so high as 
 not to admit of exportation ; from whence a sensible diminution 
 would result in the cultivation of vines, which constitutes the chief 
 riches of this province ; and his Majesty having ordered an account 
 of the duties laid on the wines to be laid before him, as well on their 
 consumption in the country as when exported to foreigners, and 
 perceiving that in this last case they are subject to infinitely greater 
 duties than when consumed in the country, he has judged proper* to 
 rectify this error, and favorably to receive the representations which 
 the proprietors of the vineyards in the country of Aunis have made 
 to him, for which purpose being anxious to provide, having heard 
 the report of Sieur de Calonne, counsellor in ordinary to the Royal 
 Council, Comptroller General of the Finances, the King being in his 
 council, has ordered, and does order, that, reckoning from the 1st 
 October next, until it shall be otherwise ordered, the wines that shall 
 he carried from different parts of the province of Aunis, for foreign 
 exportation, shall only be subject to the payment of a duty of eight 
 -livres per ton and ten sous per livre; and, in addition to said duty, 
 his Majesty orders that the half of the product of said duty shall he 
 collected for the benefit of the Lessee General of the Farms, in lieu 
 of the duties of exportation of the tariff of 1664, of the double 
 subsidy and right of gauging and brokerage, and that the other half 
 shall be collected for the benefit of the Administrator General of the 
 
332 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 Aids, in lieu of the rights of brokers, gaugers, inspectors of liquors, 
 old and new, five sous where they may be due, and in general for 
 all duties whatsoever from the place of growth until exportation from 
 the kingdom. 
 
 The proprietors being obliged to make declaration at the nearest 
 offices to the place of growth, and to take, as well from persons 
 employed in the department of the Farmers General as those of the 
 general administration, every necessary warrant to assure the destina- 
 tion of said wine to a foreigner. 
 
 Done in the King's Council of State, his Majesty being present, 
 held at Versailles the 27th May, 1786. 
 
 DE BRETEUIL. 
 
 Translation. 
 
 Arret of the King's Council of State, suspending the execution of 
 those of the lOth and 22d May, 1723 ; also the 5th article of 
 the Ordinance of 1687 : and ordering that the exemption granted 
 by the letters patent of the month of April, 1717, and by the 4th 
 article of said Ordinance of 1687, shall taJce place in favor of the 
 provinces of the Loire, until it shall be otherwise ordered. 
 
 November 11, 1785. 
 Extract from the Register of the Council of State. 
 
 The King being informed of the memorials presented by the 
 Mayor, Sherifis, and citizens of the province of Touraine, Blaisois, 
 Orleans, Saumurois, and Anjou, requesting on the one part the 
 revocation of an arret made by the Council and issued thereupon 
 with letters patent dated 10th and 22d May, 1723, by which his 
 Majesty had ordered that the wines of Anjou and other provinces 
 of the Loire, although declared for tlie French islands and colonies, 
 should pay the ordinary duties of exportation, notwithstanding the 
 declaration of the 3d article of the letters patent of the month of 
 April 17, 1717, had granted them an exemption ; and, on the other 
 part, that his Majesty would also be pleased to revoke the order of 
 the 5th article of the ordinance of the Farms of the month of 
 February, 1687, as far as the said article has excepted the wines of 
 Anjou, Maine, Thouars, and of the Chatellenie of Chantoceaux, 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 833 
 
 when they should pass into Brittany destined for places situated 
 within the extent of the Farms, from the exemption of the duties of 
 export and import granted by the 4th article of the same ordinance 
 to all sorts of merchandize, going out of the bounds of the Farms, to 
 enter therein again either by land or sea, taking security only from 
 the merchants : His Majesty has acknowledged that this article of 
 the ordinance of the month of February, 1687, has deprived the 
 provinces of the Loire of the exemption of transit granted by the 
 4th article of the same ordinance to all the other provinces, only the 
 fear of a fraudulent diversion to Brittany, by which means the wines 
 of the Loire might be consumed there without paying the duties of 
 the tariff of 1664. 
 
 That the arret of the 10th May, 1723, has likewise deprived the 
 same provinces of the Loire of the exemption granted to all the rest 
 of the kingdom by the letters patent of 1787 for the merchandizes 
 destined for the colonies only on account of the same fraud practised 
 by the merchants who sold the wines of the Loire at Nantes vi'ithout 
 having paid the duties of importation, and substituted there the 
 wines of 1,he growth of the province of Brittany ; and, moreover^ 
 because it was considered as certain that the wines of the Loire did 
 not suit the colonies, and could not bear exportation. 
 
 His Majesty being informed that either the quality of a part of 
 the wines of the Loire has become materially better, or that the 
 fabrication has been improved, it is certain that they are sent at 
 present to the colonies with success, and even to the East Indies, 
 where they arrive in good order, and having found the means pro- 
 posed to prevent frauds sufficient, by adding to the formalities already 
 established, as well by the letters patent of 1717 as by the arret of 
 6th May, 1738, new precautions capable of preventing fraud, and a 
 substitution of one kind of wine for another, his Majesty has 
 considered it as belonging to his justice as well as bounty not to 
 leave any longer several provinces in his kingdom under an interdic- 
 tion founded only on the fear of an abuse, which is foreign to them ; 
 and being convinced that the inhabitants of Touraine, Saumurois, 
 Orleans, Blaisois, Anjou, should be admitted to participate in the 
 exemption which the other provinces of his kingdom enjoy, the 
 encouragement which will result therefrom to cultivate the vine in 
 these provinces would soon become a new source of riches to the 
 State, which would amply compensate for the sacrifice of the duties. 
 Vol. I.— 53 
 
834 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 which would no longer be collected ; and notwithstanding every time 
 that this matter has been discussed the States of his province of 
 Brittany have testified their apprehensions that the reestablishment 
 of a liberty so desirable for the whole country traversed by the Loire, 
 would be of considerable injury to their farms of duty, and that it 
 appears just that they should be heard on the new plan of precau- 
 tions adopted by his Majesty, he has thought proper to ordain that 
 the execution thereof shall only be for the present, as an essay, and 
 provisionally, reserving to himself to pronounce definitively thereon 
 after the intermedial commission of the States shall have laid before 
 him the observations they may see fit to make on this subject ; it 
 being his intention that this commission attend to this matter without 
 delay, and send their observations immediately : 
 
 To which end, being anxious to provide, having seen the request 
 of the Mayor, Sheriffs of the city of Tours, and the municipal officers 
 of the towns of Anjers, Blois, and Saumur, together with the 
 memorial of the Farmers General, the advice of the Deputies of 
 Trade, and likewise the opinion of the Intendant and Commissary 
 for the department of the generality of Tours, the memorial of the 
 Farmers of the Duties, together with the letters of the Deputies of 
 the province of Brittany : Having also considered the ordinance of 
 the Farms of the month of February, 1687, the letters patent of 
 the month of April, 1717, and those of 22d May, 1723; having 
 heard the report of the Sieur Calonne, Counsellor in Ordinary to 
 the Royal Council, Comptroller General of the Finance, the King 
 being in his Council has ordered, and does order, as follows : 
 
 Article I. Reckoning from the 1st December next, and until it 
 shall be otherwise ordered, the execution of the fifth article of the 
 first title of the ordinance of the month of February, 1687, shall be 
 suspended and without effect. In consequence of which the wines 
 of the growth of the provinces of Touraine, Blaisois, Orleans, Sau- 
 murois, Anjou, and others of the five large Farms, which shall be 
 transported from the said provinces into those of Picardy, Normandy, 
 and others subject to the tariff of 1664, on their way to Brittany, 
 shall enjoy an exemption from the duties of export and import of the 
 said tariff of 1664, and from all local duties, upon taking cautionary 
 discharges conformable to the regulations of the fourth article of the 
 said ordinance of the month of February, 1687, and other precau- 
 tions which shall be hereafter ordained. 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 835 
 
 Article II. Reckoning from the same to December next, and 
 also until it shall be otherwise ordered, the arret and letters patent 
 of 10th and 22d May, 1723, shall be deemed as though they had 
 never taken place, and consequently the wines of the growth of said 
 provinces destined for transportation to the French Islands and 
 colonies, or for victualling the vessels bound to said colonies, and 
 which shall be transported there on their way to Brittany, shall enjoy 
 an exemption from the duties of export of the tariff of 1664, and 
 from all local duties, excepting the duties of supply, and of those 
 which make a part of the regie des aides, or the administration of 
 the King's demesnes, conformable to the dispositions of the third and 
 fourth articles of the letters patent of the month of April, 1717. 
 
 Article III. The merchants and others who would enjoy the 
 benefit of the exemptions announced in the foregoing first and second 
 articles shall be obliged to observe the formalities prescribed as well 
 by the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth articles of the letters patent 
 of the month of April, 1717, as by the arret of the 6th May, 1738, 
 the tenor of which follows. 
 
 Formalities to be observed in the transportation of wines. 
 * Article VI. of the letters patent of 1717. The merchants, 
 traders, and waggoners shall be bound to declare at the office of the 
 place where they take up the wine, if there is one, if not, at the 
 nearest office, the quantities and quality of the wines they wish to 
 despatch, and the place of their destination, and to take at the said 
 office a permit, giving bond to report in three months, a certificate of 
 unloading said wines at the warehouse at the place of deposite, or 
 of their being embarked in the port for which they shall have been 
 declared. 
 
 Formalities to be observed on the road. 
 
 Article VII. of said letters patent. The said merchants and 
 waggoners shall, moreover, be bound to represent and show the 
 permit to the custom-house officers who shall be found on this road, 
 to permit such visits and verifications which the said officers would 
 make, who shall be bound to make them without any delay or 
 expense ; and, in case of fraud, the merchandize shall be confiscated, 
 and the offenders mulcted in a fine of five hundred livres. 
 
 Formalities to be observed at the place of deposit. 
 
 Arret of May 6th, 1738. The traders and merchants shall be 
 bound to declare to the clerk of the Farms the warehouses in which 
 
836 THOMAS JEFFERSON— JOHN JAY. 
 
 they intend to store the said wines, to give their bond to shew them 
 in the same quantity and quality every time they shall be required to 
 do so, without being able to take them out of said warehouses, or 
 transport them from one warehouse to another, until after declaration 
 and with leave ; to admit of the visits and reverification of the clerks 
 of the Farms as often and whenever they shall judge fit, under 
 penalty, on part of the merchants, in case of drawing of the' whole 
 or part of said wines, of confiscation of the value of what shall be 
 wanting, and a fine of five hundred livres, and in case of simply 
 removing from one warehouse to another without declaration, to 
 forfeit the privileges of the place of deposit, and be subject to the 
 payment of all duties. 
 
 Formalities to be observed at the time of embarcation. 
 
 Article 8th and 9th of the letters patent of 1717. 
 
 The said merchants and waggoners shall be bound to see that 
 their wines be visited before they take them away from the place of 
 deposit by the clerk of the Farms, and not to put them on board 
 any vessel but in presence of said clerk; to give their bond at the 
 office of the Farms of the place of embarcation ; to report, within 
 a year at furthest, for the wines destined for the colonies, a certificate 
 of their being landed in the French islands or colonies, which certi- 
 ficate shall be written on the back of the permit, and signed by the 
 Governor and Intendant, or by the commandants and commissaries 
 subdelegated in those quarters, and by the clerk of the Farms of the 
 demesnes in the west, under penalty of paying four times the amount 
 of the duties. 
 
 Article IV. His Majesty moreover orders that the merchants 
 and waggoners be bound, on entering into Brittany, to make declara- 
 tion to the inspectors of the Farmers of the duties of the quantity 
 and quality of the wine which shall be brought there, as also to 
 receive on board the boats that shall transport them two clerks 
 appointed by the said Farmers, who are expressly enjoined, under 
 penalty of severe punishment, to accompany the said wines as far as 
 the place of their deposit, to observe that they be not drawn off, nor 
 from one cask to another, and for this purpose to use every necessary 
 measure until the casks are arrived at said place of deposit ; and the 
 said casks shall not be removed from said deposit without being 
 accompanied by the same clerk of said Farmers, who shall be present 
 at their embarcation ; for which purpose the merchants and waggoners 
 
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 837 
 
 shall be bound to take a permit for embarcation, both from tlip 
 Fanners of the duties and the chief of the Farmers General. 
 
 Article V. His Majesty orders that the said wines shall only be 
 deposited in the ports of Nantes and Painbeuf ; and that in case of 
 drawing off or substitution in the road or at the place of deposit, 
 upon verbal declaration being made thereof, and duly affirmed to, 
 either by the clerk of the chief of the Farmers General or by those 
 of the Farmers of the duties, the confiscation of the wines and boats 
 shall be pronounced, as well on the proprietors of the wine as the 
 masters or conductors of the boats, with a fine of five hundred 
 livres. 
 
 Article VI. His Majesty reserves to himself the power of pre- 
 scribing such other formalities as shall be judged necessary for the 
 preservation of the Farm of the duties belonging to the province of 
 Brittany, after the observations which the intermedial commission of 
 the States of the said province shall address to the Comptroller 
 General of the Finances, on the contents of the present decree, 
 within the space of three months from the date of the publication. 
 His Majesty enjoins the Intendants and Commissaries to assist ia 
 carrying the present arret into execution, which shall be printed, 
 published, and fixed up wherever it shall be necessary, and the 
 necessary letters patent shall be made out concerning it. 
 
 Done in the King's Council of State, his Majesty being there 
 present, held at Fontainebleau, 11th November, 1785. 
 
 THE BARON DE BKETEUIL. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
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