The Mirror — Concord, N.H., 1799-02-25 00:00:00, page 2

hum tach an informal mode of proceed
ing, by their answer of Od. the 30th, to (
certain prepositions previously made to
them ; that on the ift of November they
agreed to put an end to such an inter
course ; and that they carried into effed
their resolution,notwithflaoding the reit
erated attempts afterwards made to de
feat it. They conceived it nevertheless
to be their duty to make a communica
tion of the whole to their government.
Accept, Citizen Minister, the assur
ances of my perfect esteem.
(Signed) E GERRY.
To the Miueffer of forrigo Affairs
•fthe French Republic.
(No 8 ]
(TR ANSLAf ION.)
Paris, iyb Prairial 6th year.
[%„ if, 1798.]
The Mtnifler of Exterior Relations, to Mr.
Gerry, Envoy of the Visited States.
I have received, Sir, your letter of
y-fterday. You inform me, Ift, that the
Gazette prefenfed cTaiq, all the infor
mal negotiations, complicated by the
Envoys to their government ; 2d. that
the perfens referred to, have not produc
es,to your knowledge, any authority, ti
ny document of any kind whatever, to
accredit themselves ; 3d, that three of
the individuals mentioned, (that is to fay,
in the order in which I have placed them,
W. X. Y.) are foreigners, and the fourth
(that is to fay Z.) tided only as a mes
senger and interpreter.
Although I perceive your repugnance
to naming ihofe individuals, I must ear
nestly reqtuft you to yield it to the im
poraoce of theebfea. Be pleased there
fore. ift, either to give me their names
in writing, or communicate them confi
dentially to the bearer ; 2d, to name the
woman whom Mr. Pinckney mentions ;
3d, to tell me whether any of the citl
z ms attached to my service, and author
ized by me to fee the Envoys, told them a
word, which had the least relation to the
difguftiog propofi ion which was made by
X ano Y. to give any sum whatever for
corrupt distribution.
Receive, Sir, the assurance of my per
fea cm fi eration,
(Signed) CH. MAU.TALLEYRAND.
''[No 9 ]
Paris, Jm if, 1798.
Citizen Minister,
Being officially informed that sundry
letters tor General Marshall, Mr. Murray
our Minister at the Hague, Mr. Bourne,
our Consul at Amsterdam, the house
of Lange and Bourne, and myfelf, cap
tured in the American ship Farmer, some
time since, and feut to Rotterdam, were
by order of Mr. Delacroix transmitted to
Paris, in pursuance of the inftrudions he
received from this government, and hav
ing made several unfuccefsful efforts to
recover these difpatclies, permit me to
request your assistance for obtaining
them without further delay.
Accept, Citizen Minister, the assur
ance of my perfed esteem and refped.
(Signed) E. GERRY.,
To the Mintfer of foreign affairs
of the French Republic.
[No. io ; ]
PARIS, JUNE 3,1798.
[Prairial, 1 §, an. 6 ]
Citizen Minister,
Me ——— has delivered me your let
ter of the 13th Prairial, wherein, after
recapitulating a part of mine of the gift
of May, you request me immediately to
submit to the importance ot the obfea,
, and lit, to give you in writing, or com
municate confidentially to him, the
names of thole persons designated by
the letters W X.Y, Z. zdly, to name
the woman quoted by Mr. Pinckney.
3 ily, to inform you whether any of the
citizens attached, to your employments,
and authorized by you to fee the Envoys, •
have said one word which had the least
relation to the Shocking proposition
which has been made tax. and Y. for
us to deliver ,hy sum whatever for a cor
rupt diftribytion. ~q
Whh refried to the persons designated
by X, Y, Z, I will indole you their
-names under my hand and seal, on your
affuriog me that they mail not be pub
lished' on my authority, although the
measure does not appear to me necessary
for their discovery ; and Z, as he in
forms m*, has mide himfelf known to
,you. But W. never having feoken to
me a word relative to X,or to any mm
of our communications, the manifeft im
propriety of my giving hearsay informa
tion, wi:l, I prefome, apologize for o
mitting it.
Icannot give you the name of any
I lady, for no one has made any fyical
communications to me since my arrival
in Paris. #
In regard to the citizens attached to
your employments, and authorized by
you to fee the envoys on your official
communications, I do not recoiled a
word from any of them, which had the
least relation to the propofuion made by
X. and Y. ig their informal negotiations,
to pay money for corrupt purposes.
Accept, I pray you, Citizen Minister,
the assurances of my perted esteem and
refpe&
(Signed) E. GERRY.
To the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the French Republic. \
[Non]
[translation.
Paris, 1; Prairial, 6th year.
(sh June, 1798.)
The Minister of ,Ex!:ri@r Relations, to Mr.
Gerry, Envoy of the U. States.
Your letter of yesterday, Sir> has just
been handed to me. You may.jender
to me in perfect confidence the names
you mention to me, under your hand and
seal. I assure you, that they fnall not be
published as coming from you.
Receive, I pray you, the assurances
of my perfea consideration.
(Signed) CH. MAU. TALLEYRAND.
[No. 12.]
Paris, 7^' 1798, Prairial 6 an.
The names of the persons designated
in the communications of the Envoys
Extraordinary of .be United States to
their Government, published in the
Commercial Advertiser of the 11th of
April last at Newyork, are as follow :
X, is Mr. ,*
Y, is Mr. Bellamy,
Z, is Mr. Hautvall.
(Signed) E. GERRY.
To the Mintfor of Foreign Affairs
of tie French Republic.
[NO.I3J a
Paris, io:b June, SB.
Citizen Minister.
Having been informed by my Secreta
ry on the 7th that you proposed to write
to me the beginning of this decade, I
have impatient'yexpeded, but have not
yet received your communications.
The arrival of the newspapers, con
taining the dispatches of the Envoys to
rhe Government of the United States,
after embairaffing and detaining me a
fortnight, h.s produced a publication,
wherein it is declared, that this Repub
lie " will never cease to manifeft her dis
petitions to live in peace with America."
If this declaration really is, as it ap
pears to be, official, and expressive of the
sense of this government, and is follow
ed by a system of policy superior to unim
portant confederations, permanent friend
fhip may be soon established between the
two republics.
When it is considered that nine months
have elapsed since the arrival in Paris of
the Ministers who were charged with this
important negociation, & fix weeks since
the departure of two of them ; when
this delay, and a series of the most un
fortunate events, have inevitably pro
duced alarming apprehensions on the
part of the government and citizens of
the United Stales, that France is hostile
towards them, and waits only for a fa
vorable opportunity to evince it ; when
France herfelf, in the publication men
tioned,has declared that her enemies flat
ter themselves With the hope of exciting
io the United States a war against her ;
when in this belief she must be convinced,
that in such a critical state of affairs, e-'
vents are too rapid to admit es delay ;
when such is the decision and ability of
this government, in some of its most im
portant negociations, as to require but a
few days to complete them ; I flatter my
felf/tha: such an arrangement on the part
of this government will speedily be made,
as will manifeft its amicable dilpofition
towards the United States, quiet the ap
prehenfions of their government, open
on a liberal system the channels of their
commerce with this country, and afford
them a well grounded assurance of a
speed, arid happy issue to their efforts for
peace. , f-
The brigantine Sophia, Henry Ged
des, matter, in which I mean immediate
ly to embark, is national property ; but
nevertheless fubjed, as is represented, to
the embargo at Havre ; I must request
therefore, an order for exempting her
from this prohibition.\
• Mr. Gerry bos infated the proper
name of X, in this document, as given to M.
Talleyrand. Battbe perfa defeated b, X,
dot baying (like Y.) avowed bimfelf, the
premfe made by the Envoys to bin and 7,
" that their names fauldin no mint be mode
public," is fill obligatory on the Executive in
refpea to X, and therefore bit name is here
, emitted. T. Pickering.
My passport, and 'he letter of fife con-'
dud tor the veffJ, are not yet received.
Accept, I pray you Citizen Minister,
the assurances of my perfea considera
tion.
(Signed) EGERRY.
To the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the French Republic.
fNo.l4]
(7RiNSLAfION.)
Paris, 22 Prairial, 6'byear.
(101 b June, 1798 )
The Minister of Ex erior Relations of the
French Republic, to Mr. Gerry, Envoy of
tbs United States.
You could hitherto have remarked
Sir, in my letters of the nth, 13th and
16th of this month, nothing but my ea
gerness to fathom the datk intrigue,
therein referred to, and to discover its
ramifications. All further explanations
io this refpe& would be beneath the dig
nity ot the French government.
But I will not preserve the fame silence
on the intention manifefted by <he mes
sage of the President of the United States
to the Legifleture, of the 14th Germin
*l ['Pri! 3d, 1798] by the nature of the
documents adduced as pertaining to the
basis of a negotiation, by the rapid pub
licity given to this strange collection, by
the concealments made of the official
communications.—That intention is too
well perceived in France and in America
to require a developement. It is fuffi
cient to repel the rumour so injurtoufly
Spread of the hefti'e disposition of Fiance.
4 will therefore refer myfelf to the note I
addressed to the Envoys on the 20th of
last Ventofe (March 18, 1798). I doubt
not that they will have promptly for
warded it to the President of the United
States, and f must believe that as soon as
it shall be made public, it will efface from
the minds ot the American people the
ill-founded uneasiness, which they have
been made to entertain. As to the
French government, superior to all the
mar oeuvres of its enemies, it perseveres
in the intention of conciliating with fia
cerity all the differences which have hap
pened between the two countries. I con
firm it to you anew The French Re
public desires to be restored to the rights
which its treaties with your government
confer uponit, and through theft means,
it defiles to assure ycurs. You claim in
demnities ; it equally demands them ;
and this difp fition being as sincere on
the part of the government ot the United
Shtes, as it is on its part, will speedily
remove all the difficulties.
It remains for me to : fk youSir,wheth
er you are at length in a fitnation to pro
ceed towards this important objed.
Receive fir, the assurance of my per
fea consideration.
(Signed) CH. MAU. TALLEYRAND.
[See last pap.]
[Continued from the left page ]
The fame aid article of the treaty of
177$ must be appealed to against the re
fofal given to French Vessels of war to
make any change of their armament in
the United States, If the desire to pre
vent the disorders, of which the Ameri
can Government complained, induced
the committee of public fafety, in the
beginning of the 2d year, to cause all
original armament in the name of the
Republic, in the United States to be
flopped, it did not intend that abandon
ment ofa doubtful pretension ihould car
ry with it that of an explicit right.
In the 23d and 24th articles, France
and the United States have agreed, that
the neutrality of the flag fhoold deter
mine that of the cargo, and have con
traded the too extended catalogue of con
traband merchandize. It would have
been pleating to the Republic to fee in
general prevalence, a system conformable
with found justice, and which it flatters
itfelt one day to extend. But how could
the obligation remain reciprocal between
it and the United States, when there no
longer remained a parity of situation
The Engliffi Government has abused
the liberality of France to her injury,
since the commencement of 1793, and
has not even (pared American cargoes
bound to French ports. Principles, con
trary to those which influence the Re
public, have been consecrated since, in
the 17th and isih articles of the treaty of
London. It is doubtless a forced con
cession on the part of the United States,
who until then made it their glory in all
their treaties, to aim at the liberty of the
seas; but finally, it if a concession made
by them in favor of England. France
ought to enjoy it, in virtue of the ad art.
of the treaty of Paris ; its regrets cannot
render it insensible to its rights.
It ought, in virtue of this 2d article,
which renders immediately common to
lit, every favor, accorded by the United
States to any nation whatever, to claim
other parts of the treaty of London.
3. The impartial examination of the
damages which have resulted from the.
deviation from the treaties cf 1778.
The treaties which bind the
two nations have been infecfibly
rendered infigoificaat by sophisti
cal interpretations. The clearest
clauses have been finally denied.
The American Government hat
never paid regard to the successive
complaint ot the Ministers Pleni
potentiary of the Republic. It
has never admitted them to en
ter into conference on this fubje&
It has always taken upon itfelt to
decide ; although in every reci
procal contrad, neither party pof
ieffes the exclusive right of inter
pretation. After having exhaust
ed itfelf in representations, the
French government was obliged
to cause its complaints to be un
folded for the hft time, on the
25th Brumair(Nov.ls,96.) Strip
ped of the advantages which the
most fscred, the most liberal trea
ty assures to it, it has been forced
in order to bring the U. States
back to their obligations to France,
co initiate the conduct which En
gland pursued previously to the
treaty of London.
That court moderated its mea
sures, after its objed was accom
plished ; the prefect complaints
of the United States might have
been prevented, if those of the
French government had been at
tended to. The complaints which
the United Stites now make are,
io fine, only the confluence of a
state of things which has cost the
French Republic and iti citizens
the most considerable damages.
The French Government never^
theleft had cot ceased to offer the
fxad justice which it demands.
It ha t never, refuted, and nevar
will refufe, co enter into discussion
upon every proper fubjea.
,I have given, fir, to these three
points a large developemeot. We
are very neaf an agreement, when
we really desire it on both sides,
and when we candidly admit the
state of the question. You fee
the negotiators require very gen
eral inftruaions, io order to obvi
ate the inconveniences which are
prolonged even until now. I be
lieve, to fix the Bearing of out
treaties, it will be proper to draw
up a declaration concerning it, to
be hereafter obligatory upon the
two parties, & coofidered as mfc
iog a part 01 the original afla ; a
declaration which, that it ma, h. ve
the force of law, should be eftab
lifted by the ratifications, which
the constitutional forms refpedive e
1, require;
The United States are placed
in that happy unconneaediftate,
which makes them, doubtless, fee
a particular value upon the clauses
of their treaties, relative to their
Commerce and navigation. It is
the effea of the long neutrality
they have the hope of maintaining.
But France, although firmly de
termined, since it has become a'
Republic, to live in peace with all
nations, cannot flatter itfelf with
escaping the scourge which peri
odically torments Europe; and
prudence requires that it preserve
the rights tyre treaties secure to
it, in neutral ports in time of war.
With this double view 4 the A
.mericao negotiators digested the
treaty of commerce of 1778.
Although it be reciprocal upon the