The Mirror — Concord, N.H., 1799-03-04 00:00:00, page 1

Just Received,
&fa SALE, it this %'. Pri “ 2 /3,
THE HISTORY
,# ; op
LOWELL'S FIG HT,
Which took place on the Bth day of
May, 1725,01 Ithe beach of Lovell $I
Pond, in Fryeburgh, in the Diffie of
Maine. Together with the
Commemoration SERMON,
Delivered b, the Rd. T. Symmes.
T^-,—
& Subscribers are reqaefted to call or
' fend for their Books. Feb. 2.
NOTICE.
ALL persons having demands on the
estate of Daniil R, D G, late
of Portsmouth, Bfq. deceased, are desired
to exhibit them to the subscriber for
, settlement-and all those who are in.
deleted to mid estate are requested to
make the most speedy payment unto
JOSEPH PEIRCE, Executor.
In the absence of said Joseph Peirce
from Portfmoutb, persons having bufr
nefs with him as Executor, are notified
to apply to John Peirce, Eq.
Portsmouth, Feb _i^j79^ _
Take Notice.
THE Subferibers wish all
who have accounts with them, to
call and fettle ;—thofe indebted will
oblige by making payment.
° 'sTEPhEN BLANCHARD,
JOSEPH ESTABROOK.
0 The Hatting Business
will be carried on by them under the
%INCHARB & ECTABROOK,
after the 14th inst. at their Shop in Hop
kinton, where they will keep constantly
for file, most kinds of Hats.
flopkintoo^Feb j^^^
Blanks,
Warrantee & Quitclaim Deeds, Justices
Writs and Executions. Notes, &c.
For SALE at this OFFICE.
^gQßceQctMetMßttcc-Bfc ——= —~"~ =' "="*°'''"'''
New Set of Difpatcbes.
{Brought by Mr. Gerry, relating the
affairs of France, after the departure
of his colleagues.]
(Continued fro* our last.)
[NO.I7J
Paris, 22d,m„. :
I Received, Citizen Minister, on the
evening of the 20th inftaht, your let
ter of the 30th Prairial [lßth of June) in
answer to mine of the 13th. You fay
you have not made the mistakes, refped
log your letter of the 28th Ventofe. I
am not disposed to impute to you a mis
take, if you have not made it ; although
I think that your letter will warrant the
conftruaion I gave it ; be this asit may,
justice requires that the President of the
United States should be free from the
imputation of having concealed official
communications, when he had poblifh
ed all, which it was possible for him to
have received.
You should have presumed, as you
state, that after having received and
tranfreitted to Philadelphia, your note of
the 28th Ventofe flßth March) I would
wait at Paris for inftruaions, and further
powers, if necessary. But I had a right
to expea, from what had passed between
ns before the arrival of the brigantine
Sophia, and indeed after it, that! should
have received, for the consideration of
the government of the United States,
propositions on the part of this govern,
meat, for reconciling the differences and
raftering friendship between the two re
publics; that I should, ere this, have
been on my passage to the United States ;
and that a French minister would have
been sent to Philadelphia to compleat the
segeciation.
[Vol. VII.I
Printed and pablifoed every Monday morning, by MOSES DAVIS, in CONCORD, Newhampshike.
I accordingly informed you, before
the arrival of she brigantine, that lAiould
embark for America in June ; and af
ter her arrival, that I should take my pas
sage in her, as soon as the could be fitted
for the sea.
You have fated, and developed three
points, on which you conceive the nego
ciation between France and the U. States
ought effentiaily to rest. Your letter on
this fubjed I will carefully communicate
to my government ; and if, after the vo
luminous official difeuffions, on the part
of each of the republics, of the fubjeds in
dispute with them, you conceive that a
reconciliation will be best promoted by
this mode only, I sincerely with it success.
You fay that France, in her treaty
with the United States, has stipulated
few advantages which in no wife injure
them, and the legality of which cannot
be contested by any foreign nation. You
then add, that the French government
will never renounce them.
The Government of the U. States nev
er desired of Frances renunciation ot a
ny right, to which she is entitled by their
existing treaties : in construing some
parts of these, the two governments have
different opinions ; but this is not unu
sual between nations ; and when they
are amicably disposed, and governed by
the principles you have justly laid down,
that neither party has the right of exclu
sive interpretation, they are generally
fuccefsful, if dire& measures fail, in ad
justing their disputes by arbitration :
this mode has been fuccefsfully adopted
by the U. States with other nations.
My conneaions in France, Citizen
Minister, have neither preserved me from
or fubjeaed mete prejudices. lam gov
erned by my own principles, those you
may be assured, will always prompt me,
in the difeharge of my duty, to present
to my government exad documents and
statements of tads.
It is impossible for me to apply to the
government, for the necessary instru
ments to condu& the negotiation. On
the other hand, should such a proposi
tion be made to me, I should certainly,
fonder existing circumstances, decline it.
Nevertheless, I again assure you, that it
will give me the greatest pleyfure, if by
any other means, I can contribute to a
just and honorable accommodation of the
differences between the two Republics.
My return to the U States, which is
indispensable, cannot, as I conceive, be
attended with the effed you mention :
more especially as the connedion between
the two countries will be still kept up by
their refpeaive consuls.
Accept, Citizen Minister, the assur
ances of my perfed refped.
(Signed) E. GERRT.
To the Minister of foreign 0"'"
of the French Republic.
[No.iBJ
Mr. Gerry, to the Minister of Foreign
Relations of the French Republic.
Paris, zyb Juno, 1798.
Citizen Mini,er,
I am again under the necessity of ap
plying for necessary documents to enable
me to return to the U. States ; and as
you cannot be insensible of the manifeft
disadvantages on my part resulting from
the delay of them, I presume that they
are now io readiness.
Accept my assurances of esteem and
refpea,
(Signed) E. GERRY.
[No. io)
(TRANSLATION.)
Exterior Relations.
^ I Paris, 9th Meffidor, 6th year.
[27th June, 179 8]
fi Mini,er of Exterior Relations, to Mr.
Gerry, Envt, Os tbs United States.,
In answering, Sir, your letter of the
4th of this month (22d June, '9B) I re^
gret that I am obliged to recur to the firft
paragraph. I complained that the pub.
iicatioas made at Philadelphia on the
19th Germinal [Bth April, '98.) did not
contain all that your government then
knew. You (upfofed that I alluded to
my note of the 28th Ventofe (18th
March), which could not, however, have
reached the President. I begged you
CONC ORD, MONDAY, March 4, 1799.
not to attribute that mistake to me.—
You appear to adhere to ybur interpreta
tion.^ From refpea to your sincerity, of
which I cannot doubt, I will surmount
my repugnance to minute digressions,
and will point out to you that one of the
concealments which is the most striking.
I have been fornifhed from the U. S.
with the clearest proofs, supported even
by articles exiraaed from the American
papers, of the knowledge which subsist
ed there before Germinal (before the 21st
March) of the objedions of the Execu
tive Directory to any negotiation with
two of the Envoys, and of its ex,re,s de.
faof treating <vitb,on. In '£&,! early
teftified to you these difpofirions ; and
the declaration on this fubjed inserted in
my note of the 28th Ventofe [lßth
March] was only the official expression
of a thing already comprehended as well
at Philadelphia as at Paris.
For the rest, Sir, let us hereafter pass
over these useless episodes, and let not
our communications further bear the
tint of recriminations. Those who are
truly impartial will, perhaps, difeover a
degree of generosity in this propofitioo
coming from my file.
Let us seriously resume our explana
tions. It is for mas to prove the reality
of the intentionsprofeffed on both sides.
My last letter attested to you very forci
bly those of the Executive Directory.
You do not allow those of the President
of the U. States to be doubted. How
then happens it, that after having receiv
ed propositions, wherein every thing is
combined for a frank and prompt concili
ation, you in feme fort shut the door a
gainst all future advance ?
You seem to insinuate, that these pro
positions have long been delayed. They
could not have been made until after the
departure of your colleagues : the firft
open negotiation/ upon the differences
which subsist between the two countries
tela their date on], fiace that recant „.
ri<xl; nothing was entered upon as long
as the three Envoys were present : one
alone manifefted a temper of reconcilia,
tion. Afterwards, some time was necef
fary to unite the views you suggested with
the determination the Executive Direc
tory has made, to place the refpeaive
interests in front. I did not, above all,
partake in your opinion concerning the
utility of your carrying the overtures of
the French Government personally to
Philadelphia ; and I never thought it
advantageous to fend thithera Minister
Plenipotentiary from the Republic, be
fore the happy issue of the negotiations
commenced. I was, nevertheless, about
to transmit the result of my refleaions in
the beginning of Prairial, (between the
20th and the last of May) when the inci
dent happened, which for a moment sus
pended the principal ®bjea. I do not
fee what delay! could have prevented.
I am mortified that circumstances have
d& rendered our progress more rapid,
and it is in order to accelerate'it. as well
as to obviate every new casualty, that I
have pressed you in my last letter to re
main at Paris.
Did you not come here, Sir, to eftab
lilh friendihip between the two republics,
and determined to spare nothing to at
tain this end, as desirable to the United
States as to France? Do not the full
powers given to the Envoys authorize
them to negotiate separately ? Is it af
ter what has passed at Philadelphia that
you can withdraw yoarfelf? Ought you
to do fowhen the French Government,
superior to all resentments, and never 1
listening to any thing but justices mani
fefts itfell anxious to conclude a solid
and mutually fatisfadory agreement? I
have invited you to request promptly new
powers, if you thought you flood in need
of them, and they were not on their pas
sage.— You answer. that this steps z for
you impffible, and that you iveula, befidts,
under exiffing circumstances, decline taking
upon ,ourftlf tbs coni#ng ofshe negotiation,
if it was confided to you. I cannot rec
oncile this language with the avowed ob
je& of your voyage to France, with your
full powers, with your attachment to
your country,with the assurances you do
not cease to give of the sincerity of year
, government. Q^
I commend these obfervatioos to you,
fir, reflea on the poffitye confequencas
of your departure, and judge vourfelf,
whether he who truly wishes for peace
ought to conlent to it.
Let us continue more and more to ad
vance the work we have entered upon.
I may almost venture to fay thatir is your
duty. The propositions which I have
made to you embrace three points.
The fi.ft will take but little time, and
may be postponed.
The third will doubtlefe experience no
difficulty on either fide, after the second
shall be amicably fettled.
It is to the second therefore we should
firft attend; and it is so much the more
important, as it embraces the fsurce of
all our differences. A calm and candid
discussion will successively clear up every
article of them. Ido not fee that the
voluminious discussions which have been
entered into at Philadelphia have shed a
ny light upon it. They have rather con
tributed to set up the passions in the feat
of reason. Ours shall always be followed
by a conclusion either in the cessation or
admission of the right reclaimed. It is
necessary, in order to e ffed the a& declare
atory of the meaning of our treaties.
As to the eventual arbitrament of a thiid
power, I do not know whether, the Unit
ed States have sometimes had recourse to
it. 0 The French Republic has never ex
perienced the want of it; and! am per
suaded, that on this particular occasion,
it will readily come to an understanding
with the U. States, if they are determin.
ed to bejuft towards it, asit desires to be
towards them.
Let us begin with the ninth article of
the Consular Convention of the i|tli
November 1788. I annex a note upon
the difficultiesitsexecution meets with in
the ports of the United States, It (hall
be followed by similar notes, udou each
of which we will endeavour to come to
an agreement.
Accept, fir, the affurancei of
my perfef t cotfiderflion.
(Signed)
CH. MAU. TALLEYRAND.
(TRANSLATION.)
Note upon the 9 h article of the Conven
tion between France and the U. States
ot the 14th November; 1788.
The beginning of this article declares,
" that the Consuls & Vice Consuls may
cause to be arrested the captains, officers,
mariners, failure, and all other perlons,
being part of the crews of the vessels of
their refpeaive nations, who shall have
deserted from the said vessels, in order to
fend them back and transport them out
of the country. For which purpose the
said Consuls and Vice Cunfulsmall ad
dress themselves to the courts, judges and
officers competent." Before '92 it fre,
quently happened, that the Judges ading
under the authority of the individual
States have pretended that they were in
competent. On the 14th April,i 79 z,
an a& of Congress declared, that the dif
tria judges anting under the authority of
the U. States, should be competent. Alt
the Judges of the individual Stares have
since thought themselves juftified in de
clining to render their aid ; but as there
are many more ports in the United States
than Diftrid Judges, and as they do not
even always reside at a port, the French
Consuls and Vice Consuls have often
been unable to hinder desertion, to the
great detriment of the vessels of their na
tioo. The Consuls of the U. States do
not experience those difficulties in the
ports of the Republic. Reciprocity, as
well as the meaning of the article,require
that it should be declared," that all the
officers of justice having power to order
the arrest of mariners, ffiall be consider
ed competent, and as such bound to
comply with the request of the Consuls,
in the manner and in cases ftipnlared."
The article proceeds, " and (ball de
mand the said deserters in writing, prov
ing by an exhibition of the registers of
the vfeffel or fhip's roll, that these men
were part of the said crew."
The mariners have often waited till
the departure of their veflel to defeft, and
[N, # 33:]