The New Hampshire gazette — Portsmouth [N.H.], 1798-04-19 00:00:00, page 1

Depariment of State,
. April 3d, 1798,
The names designated by the letters W
XY Zin the following copies &f letters
“from the Envoys of the U.S. tothe French
Republic, are i the originals, wnitten at
iull length, in cyphers. For the fame rea
son that single letters are thus taken to de
signate certain persons named in the letters,
Ol‘lilct words descriptive of them are omit
tcd., : i ‘
. TIMOTHY PICKERING,
: e M.} o o
Dear Sir, Paris, O&. eed, 1797.
All of us having arrived at Paris on the
evening of the 4th inst. on the next day we
‘verbally and unofficially informed the Mi
nister of Foreign Aflairs therewith, and de
sired 10 know when he would be at leisure
to receive one of our secretaries with the
efficial notification ; He appointed the next
Message of the President
of the United States to Congress.
& The fhart introduftory Meflage of
The President has been publithed in the
Gazette, and other papers.
Igtters of Credence and Full Powers to the
Ervays from the United States to the
Republic of France,
CREDENCE FOR :
Meffis. PINCKNEY, MARSHALL and
GERRY, - |
YOHN ADAMS, .
Frefident of the United States of America,
To the EXECUTIVE DIRECTORY
of the French Republic.
CITIZENS DIRECTORS,
DESIROUS of terminating all differ
ences between the United States and
the French Republic, and of restoring that
harmony and good underflanding, and that
commercial and friendly intercourse, which
from the commencement of their political
conueflion until lately, have {o happily sub
sisted, 1 have nominated, and, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate of the
United States, - appointed Charles Cotef
worth Pinckney, Jch:n Marshall and El
bridge Gerry, diftiiguithed citizens of these
States, jointly and severally, Envoys Extra
ordinary and Miniflers Plenipotentiary to
the French Republic, for the purpose of
accomplishing the great objefts abovemen
tioned : Wherefore I pray you, citizens
Diretlors, to give full credence to what
they and each of them Ilhall fay to you in
these respells, in behalf of the United
States, and also when they shall aflure you
of the sincerity of our wishes for the wel
fare of the Freach Republic.
Given under my hand and the great seal of
the U. S. of America, at Philadelphia
the 13th day of July, in the year 1797,
and.of the independence of these States’
the twenty-lecopd.
- JOHN ADAMS.
By the President of the U. S.
TIMOTHY PICKERING,
Secretary of Siate.
FULL POWERS
o Messrs. Pinckney, Marjrall, & Gerry,
Envoys to France.~ fohn Adams, President
of the U. 8. of America—To all whom these
presents shall concern, Grecting :
Know y 2, That, for the purpose of ter
minating all differences between the U. S..
of America and the French Republic, and
of restoring and confirming perfet harmo
ny and good underflanding, and re-eflablifh
ang a commercial and friendly intercourse
between them, and repofling especial truit
and confidence in the integrity, prudence
and abilities of Charles Cotefworth Pinck
ney, Joha Marshall and- Elbridge Gerry,
citizens of the said U. S. I have nomina
ted, and, by and with the advice and con
sent of the Senate,appointed the said Charles
Cotefworth Pinckoey, John Marshall, and
Elbndge Gerry, jointly and severally, En
voys Extraordinary ' and Ministers Plenipo
zentiary of the U. S. to the French Repub
lic ; hegeby giving and granting to them &
any and each of them, full power and au
thority, and also a general and {pecial com
mand, for and in the name of the U, S. to
meet and confer with the Miniflers, Com
miflioners, or. Deputies of the French Re
public, being furnifhed with the like full
powers, whether separately or jointly, and
with them to treat, consult, and negotiate,
of and concerning all claims, and all mat
ters and canfes of ‘difference subsisting be
tween the U. S, and the French Republic,
for the purpole of fatisfying and termina
ting the {ame, in a jult and equitable man
ner ; and also of and concerning the gene
ral commerce between the U. S. & France
and all other the dominions of the French
Reptblic ; and to conclude and figna trea
ty or treaués, convention Or conventions,
touching the premises ; transmitting the
fame to the President of the U. 8. of A
merica for his final raufication, by and with
Ihe advice and consent of the Senate of the
U. S.if such advice and consent shall be
given. : _
In teflimony whereof, 1 have caunfed the
seal of the U. S. to be hereuntoaffixed.
Given under my hand at the city of Phila
delphia, the 22d day of June, in the year
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred
aud ninetv-feven, and of the independence
of the U. S. of America, the twenty-firit,
: JOHN ADAMS.
Dy the President of the U.S.
_ TIMOTHY PICKERING,
- Secretary of State, ,
Neto Hampshire Gasette.
( Extraordinary ) Thursday, April 19, 1798.
day at ¢ o’clock, when Maj. Rutledge wait-_
ed on him with the following letter,
Citizen Minifeer, :
The U. S. of America being desirous of
terminating all differences between them
and the French Republic, and of refloring
that barmony and good understanding, and
that commercial and friendly intercourse,
which from the common cement of their
political connefion until lately have so hap
pily subsisted, the President has nominated,
and by and ‘with the advice and consent of
the Senate, has appointed us, the undersign
ed, jointly and severally Envoys Extraor
dinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the
French Republic, for the purpose of accom
plithing these great objefls, ~ln pursuance
of such nomination and appointment and
with such view having come to Paris, we
with, Citizen Minister to waiton you at any
hour you will be pleased to appoint, to pre
sent the copy of our letters of credence ;
and whilst we evince our sincere and ardent
desire for the f{peedy reforation of friend
fhip and harmony between the two Repub
lics, we flatter ourselves with your concur
rence in the accomplishment of this desira
ble event. We requelt you will accept the
aflurances of our perfeft esteem and cenfi
deration. :
Paris, O&. 6th, in the 22d ycar}
of American Independence.
(Signed) C. C. PINCKNEY,
JOHN MARSHALL,
ELBRIDGE GERRY.
To this letter the minister gave a verbal
answer, that he would fee us the day after
the morrow (the Bth) at 1 o’clock. Ac.
cordingly at that hour and day we waited on
the minister at his house, where his office is
held, when being informed he was not at -
bome, the secretary-general of the depart
ment told Maj. Rutledge, that the minis- ,
ter was obliged to wait on the Diretory,
and requefled we would suspend our visit
till g o’clock. At which hour we called, -
The minister we found was then engaged
with the Portuguese minister, who retired
in about ten minutes, we were introduced .
and produced the copy of our letters of cre
dence which the minister perused and kept. |
He informed us, , _
¢¢ That the Dire@ory had required him
to make a report relative to the situation of
the U. S. with regard to France,. which he
was then about, and which would be finifh
ed in a few days, when he would let us
know what fleps were to follows”
We asked if cards of hospitality were in
the mean timé€ necessary ? He said they were
and that they should be delivered to us;
and he immediately rung for his secretary
and direfted him to make them out. The
converfatior was carried on by him in
French, and by us in our own language.
The next day cards of hospitality were .
sent to us and our secretaries, in a fiyle
{uitable to our official charatter. |
On Saturday the 14th, Maj. Mountflor
ence informed Gen. Pinckney, that he had
a conveifation with Mr. Osmond, the pri
vate and confidential secretary of the minis
ter of foreign affairs, who told him, that
the Direflory were greatly exalperated at
{ome parts of the President’s {peech, at the |
openiog of the last fefl »n of Congress, and l
would require an explanation of them from
us. The particular parts were not men
tioned. In another conversation on the 1
fame day the secretary informed the Major,
that the minister had toid him it was pro- 1
bable we should not have a public-audience”
of the Diretory till such times as our nego
tiation was finithed, that probably persons |
might be appointed to treat with us, but
they would report to him, and he would
have the direétion of the negotiation. The
major did not conceal from Mr. Osmond
his intention to communicate these conver
sations to us. '
In the morning of O&tober the 18th; M.
W. . - - of the house of - - - called on
Gen. Pinckney and informed him, that a
M. X. who was in Paris and whom the Ge- {
neral had seen - - - - was a gentleman of
considerable credit and repuration < - « -« 1
- - = = and that we might place great re- 1
liance on him. '
In the evening of the fame day M. X, i
called on Gen. Pinckney and after having
fat some time - - -whispered him that he
had a message from M. Talleyrand to com- !
municate, when he was at leisure ; General
Pinckney immediately withdrew with him |
into another room ; and when they were 1
alone M. X. said, that he was charged with
a business, in which he was a novice ; that i
he had been acquainted with M. Talleyrand
-~ = =« - - and that he was sure he had a
great regard for lEAmerica] and its citizens ;
-and was very desirous, that a reconciliation
should be brought about with France ; that
to effeftuate that end, he was ready, if it
was thought ﬁropcr, to suggest a plan, con
fidentially, that M. Talleyrand cxlge&cd
would an{wer the purpose. Gen. Pinck
ney {aid he.fheuld be glad to hear it. M.
X. replied that the Direftory, and particu- -
larly two of the members of it, were ex
ceedingly irritated at some pailages of the
President’s {peech, and dc’ﬁre.‘d that they
should be foftened ; and that this fiep would
be necßffary previous to our recéption, that
besides this, a sum of money was required
for the pocket of the Direftory and Minis- |
ters, which would be at the disposal of M.,
Talleyrand, and that a loan would also be.
infifled on. M. X. said, if we acceded to
these measures, M. Talleyrand had no d"qubt
that all our differences with France might
be accommodated. On enquiry, M. X.
could not point out the .particular pallages
of the speech that had given the offence,
‘nor the quantum of the loan, but mention- |
ed that the deuceur for thé pocket was
twelve hundred thousand liurés, about fifty
thousand pounds flerling. Gen. Pinckney
told him, his colleagues and him(elf, from
the time of their arrival here, had been
treated with great {light anddilrelpe&t ; that
tiiey earneltly wished for peace and recon
ciliation with Frapce ; ard had been “en
trusted by their country WA very great
powers to obtain these ends, \ honorable
terms : That with regard to the proposi
tions made¢, he could not even confider of
them before he had ¢ommunicated them to
his colleagues : That after he had done To,
he should hear from him. - After a com
munication and consultation had it was a
greed, that Gen. Pinckney-fhould call on
M. X. and request him to make his propo
sitions to us all ; and for fear of miflakes or
miflapprehenfions, that he thould be request
ed to reduce the heads into writing, Ac
cordingly, on the morning of O&. I‘9, Gen,
Pinckney ealled on M.X. who consented to
fee his colleagues in the evening, and to re
duce his propositions to writing. ~He said
his communication was not immediately
with- M Talleyrand, but through another
gentleman, in whom Talleyrand had great
confidence, this proved afterwards to be
At 6 in the evening M. X. came and
left with us the firft set of propositions ;
which, translated from the French are as
follow : . :
~¢¢ A person who possesses. the confidence
of the Direftory; on what relates to the 2f
fairs of America, convinced of the mutual
advantages which would result from:the re
eitablifbment of the good understanding be--
tween the two nations, proposes to employ
all his influence ta obtain this obje&. ~He
will aflilt the Commiflioners of the U.S. in
all the demands which they may have to
make, from the Government of France, in
almuch as they may not be contradiftory to
those which he proposes himfelf to make,
and of which the principal will be commu
nicated confidentially. It is desired that in
the official communications there should be
given a foftening turn to a part of the Pre
sident’s speech to Congress, which has cau
sed much irritation. Itis feared that in not
fatisfying certain individuals in this refpe&,
they may give way to all their resentment.
The nomination of commissioners will be
consented to on the fame footing as they
have been named in- the, treaty with En
gland, to decide on the reclamations which
indwviduals of America may make on the
government of France, or on French indi
viduals. The payments which, agreeably
to the decisions of the Commissioners, shall
fall to the share of the French government,
are to beadvanced by the American govern
ment Itfelf. *lt is desired that the funds
which by this means shall enter again into
the American trade, {hould be employed in
new {upplies for the French colonies. En
gagements of this nature on the part of in
dividuals reclaiming will .always haiten, in
all probability, the decision of the French
commissioners : And perhaps it may be
desired that this clause should make a part
of the inftru&ions which the government of
the U. S. should give to the Commiflioners
they may choose. The French govern
ment dcgres besides, to obtain a loan from
the U. S. but so that she thould not give
any jealousy to the English government, nor
hurt the neutrality of the U. States. This
loan shall be masked by flipulating, that the
government of the U. S. consents to make
the advances, for the payment of the debts
contrated by the agents of the French Go
vernment, with the citizens of the U. S.
and which are already acknowledged, and
the payment ordered by the Direétory, but
without having been yet effe@uated, There
should be delivered a note to the amount of
thele debts. Probably this note may be ac.
companied by ostensible pieces, which will
guarantee to the A‘gcms"vt’hc responsibility
of the U. S, in cale any umbrage should
cause an enquiry, There shall allo be firft
taken from this loan, certain sums for the
purpole of making the customary distribu
tions in diplomatic aifai'rg.” '
The person of note mentioned in thele
minutes, who had the confidence of the Di
reflory, he said before us.all, was M. Tal
leyrand. The amount of the loan he could
not ascertain. precisely, - but understood it
would be according to our ability to pay.
The sum which would be considered as pro
per, according to diplomatic usage, was about
twelve hundred thousand livres, He could
not slate to us what parts of the President’s
{pecch were excepted to, but said he would
enquire and inform us, He agreed to
breakfaft with Mr. G. ‘the morning after
the 21st. in order to make such explana
tions as we had then requested or should
think proper to request :* but on the morn
ing of the goth, M. X. called and said that
M., Y. the confidential friend of M. Talley
rand, infltead of communicating with us
through M. X. would fee us himfelf and
make the necessary explanations. . 'We ap
pointed to meet him the evening of the 2oth
at 7.o’clack, in Gen. Marshall’s room. At
7, M. Y. and M. X. cntcfgd’§ andthe firft
mentioned gentleman, being introduced to
us as the confidential friend —of M. Talley
rand, immediately slated to us the favoura
ble impreflions of 'tha_t“‘ge"gtlcm:n toward
our country, impreflions which were made
by- the kindpefs and civilities he had person
ally received in America that imprefled by
his solicitude to repay these kindnesses he
was willing to aid us in the .ﬁ:cfgm;nego.
tiation by his good offices with the ‘l__)u_.cc
tory, who were, he laid, extremely irrita
ted against the government of the U. §. on
account of some part of the President’s
,speech, and who had neither acknowledged
_mor received us, and consequently have not
authorjfed M. Talleyrand 10 have 2ny ¢om
munications withus. The Minister there
fore could not fee us himfelf, but had au
thorifed bis friend M. Y. to communicate
to us certain propositions, and to promise
_on his part, that if we would epgage to con
fider them as the basis of the proposed ne
gociation, he would intercede with the di
reflory to acknowledge us, and'to give us a
.public audience. M. Y. slated to us ex
plicidiand repeatedly, that he was cloath
.ed with no authority, that he was not a di
, ﬁOmatic’chara&er ; that he was not -« - -
was only the friend of M. Talleyrand,
and trusted by him ; that with regard to
himfelf 'he had - - - - and that he
earnestly withed well to the U.S. He
then ‘took out of his pocket a French trans
lation of the President’s {peech, the paits
of which objefted to by the Dire&tory were
marked, agreeably to our request to M. X,
and are contained in the exhibit A. Then
he made us the second set of propositions,
which were diftated by him and written by
M. X. inour presence, and, delivered to us,
and which, translated from the French, are
as follows : :
* There is demanded a formal disavowal
in writing, declaring that the {peech of the
citizen President Barras,did not contain any
thing offenfive to the government of the
U. 5. nor any thing which deserved the e
pithets containéd in the whole paragraph :
Secondly, reparation is demarided for the ar
ticle by which it shall be declared, that
the decree of the Direflory, there mention
ed; did not contain any thing contrary to.
the treaty of. 1778, and had none of those
fatal consequences, that the paragraph re
proaches to it :* Thirdly, itls demanded,
that there should be an acknowledgement:
in writing of the depredations exercised on
our trade by the English and French priva
teers : Fourthly, the government of France,
faithful to the profeflion of public faith
which it has made not to intermeddle in the
internal affairs of foreign governments with
which 1t is at peace, would look upon this
paragraph as an attack upon its loyalty, if
- this was intended by the President. It dg.
mands, in confequenee a formal declaration,
that it is not the government of France, nor
its agents, that this paragraph meant to de
signate : In consideration of these repara
tions, the French republic is disposed to re
new with the U. 8. of America, a treaty
which will place them' reciprocally in the
- fame slate that they were in 1778, ~ By this
new treaty France shall be placed with re
{pe® to the U. 8. exaftly on the fame foot
ing as they fland with England, in virtue of
the last treaty which has been concluded be
tween them. - A secret article of this new
treaty would be a loan to be made by the
U. S. to the French republic ; and once a
greed upon the amount of the loan, it would
be endeavored to consult the convenience
of the U. 8. with refpeét to the best method
of preventing' its publicity.—On recalling
the fgcedi, M. Y. dilated very much up
on the-keenness of the resentment it had
produced, and expatiated largely on the fa
tisfattion he said was indifpenf{ably necessary
as a preliminary to negotiation. But, said
he, gentlemen, I will not disguise from
you, that this fatisfattion being made, the
essential part of the treaty remains to be ad-
Justed :*4il faut de ’argent—il faurbeaucoup
d’argent :” you must pay money, you mult
pay a great deal of money. He spoke
much of the force, the honor, and the jea- ‘
lous republican pride of France ; and re
presented to us flrongly the advantages (
which we should derive from the neutrality |
thus to be purchaled. He said, that the
receipt of the money might be so disguised
as to prevent its being considered asa breach
of neutrality by England ; and thus save us |
from being embroiled with that power. ‘
Concerning twelve hundred thousand livres
little was said } that being completely un- |
derftood on all sides, to be required for the |
officers of government; and therefore need- |
ed no further explanation. These propo- |
fitions, he said, being considered as the ad
mitted balis of the proposed treaty, M. Tal- |
leyrand trusted, that, by his influence with |
the Direftory, be could prevail on the go- |
vernment to receive us. We asked whe- |
ther we were to confider it as certain, that, !
without a previous flipulation to the effett |
required, we were not to be received. He |
aniwered, that M. Talleyrand himfelf was |
not authorized to {peak to us the words of |
the Direftory, and consequently could not |
authorize him.- The conversation continued |
until half after nine, when they left us; |
having engaged to breakfaft with Mr. Gerry -
-the next morning. . 4 ‘
~ O&ober 21st, M. X. came before g !
o’clock ;M. 'Y, did not come until 10—~
he had pafled the moraning with M. Talley- |
rand. After breakfaft the fubjeét was im- |
mediately resumed. He represented to us |
that we were not yet acknowledged or re- |
ceived ; that the Direftory were so exaf- t
perated against the United States as to have !
come to a determination to demand from
us, previous to our reception, those disa
vowals, reparations, and explanations,which
‘were slated at large last evening. He said
that M. Talleyrand and himfelf were ex
tremely- sensible of the pain we mast feel
in complying with this demand ; but that
the Direflory would not dispense with it ; |
that therefore we must confider it as the in
dispensable preliminary 10 obtain our re
ception ; unless we could find the means
to change their determination in this parti- |
‘cular : that if we fatisficd the Diretory in
these particulars, a letter would be writren
‘to us to demand the extent of our powers,
and to know whether we were authorized to
place them precisely on the fame footing
with England ; wheiher, he said, our full
powers were really and {ubllantially full
powers ; or, like those of Lord Malmefbu
-Iy, only illusory powers i—Thar, if to this
d¢mand our answer should be aflirmative,
then France would consent that commission
ers thould be appointed td ascertain the
claims of the U. S. in like manuver as undes
our treaty with England ; but from their
jurifdiftion must be withdrawn thole which
| were condemned for wapt of a role d’equi
! page—that being a point on which Merlin,
while minister of justice, had written atrea
! tife, and on which the DireQory were deci
’ ded. There would however be no objec
tion to our complaining of these captusesin
the course of the negociation, & if we could
- convince Merlin by our reafloning, the min
ister would himfelf be fatisfied with our so
doing. 'We required an explanation of
that part of the conversation in which MY,
bhad hinted at our finding means to avert the
demand concerning the President’s speech.
~ He answered that he was not authorifed to
; state those means, but that we must search
for them and propose them ourselves. If
~ however we asked his opinion, as a private
individual, and would receive it as coming
frem him, he would suggest to us the means
which in his opinion would succeed. On
being asked to suggest the means, he answer
ed, money ; thatthe Dire&ory were jealous
of its own honor and of the honor of the
nation ; that 1t insisted on receiving from
us the fame refpeét with which we had treat«
ed the King ; that this honor must be main
tained in the manner before required, unless
we [ubftituted in the place of those repara
tions something perhaps more valuable, that
was, money. - He {aid further, that if we
desired him to point out the {fum which he
believed would be fatisfaftory, he would do
so. We requefled him to proceed, and he
said, that there were thirty-two millzons of
Slorins of Dutch Inscriptions, worth ten flial
/ings in the pound, which might be afligned
to us at twenty shillings in the pound ; and
proceeded to slate to us the certainty, that
afrer a peacs, the Dutch government would
repay us the money ; lo that we {hould ul
timately lose notning, and the only operation
of the measure would be an -advance from
.us to France of thirey-twe millzons, on the
credit of the government of Holland. We
alked him whethes the fifty th ufund pounds
Serling as a douceur to the Dircftory, must
‘be in addition to this sum. He an{wered
in the affirmative, We told him that on
the fubje& of the treaty, we had no hesita
tion in faying that our powers were ample 3
‘That on the ather points proposed to us we
would retire into another room, and return
in a few minutes with our anf{wer.
We committed immediately to writing
the an{wer we proposed, in the following
words—‘¢ Qur powers refpeting a treaty
are ample 1 but the proposition of a lean in
the form of Datch Inscriptions, or in any
form, is not within the limits of our ine
firo&ions ; upon this point, therefore, the
government must be consulted ; ore of the
American ministers will, for the purpole,
forthwith embark for America—provided
the Djretory will suspend all turther cap
tures on American veflels, and will suspend
proceedings on those already - captured, as
well where they have been alicady con
demned as where the decisions have not yet
been rendered ; and that where sales have
been made, but the money not yet received
by the captors, it {hall not be paid until the
preliminary questions, proposed to the mine
ifters of the U. 8. be difcufled and decided ;**
which was read as a verbal answer, and we
told them they might copy it if they pleased.
M. Y. refufed todo so 3 hisdifappointment
was apparent : he {aid we treated the money
part of the proposition as if it had proceed
ed from the Direflory ; whereas in fall ic
did not proceed even from the minister, but
was only a suggestion from himfelf, as a
fubßitute to be proposed by us, in order to
avoid the painful acknowledgment that he
Direétory had demanded of us. 1t was told
him that we understood that matter perfeéls
ly ; that we knew the proposition was in
form to be ours ; but that it came fubfian
tially, from the minister. We alked what
had led to our present conversation ? And
Gen. Pinckney then repeated the firft coi
munication from M. X. to the whole of
which that gentleman asserted, and we ob
served that those gentlemen had brought no
testimonials of their {peaking any thing from
authority ; bat that relying on the farr cha
raflers they bore, we had believed them
when they said threy were from the minifler,
and had conversed with them in like man
ner as if we were conversing with M. Tal
levrand himfelf ; and that we could not
confider any fuggeflion M. Y. had made as
not having been previously approved of j—
but yet it he did not chufe 10 take a memo
randum in writing of our an{wer, we had
no with that he fhou!d do so ¢ And further
if he chole to give the answer to his propo
fitton the form of a propefition from ours
selves, we could only tell hym, that we had
no other proposition to make relative toany
advance of meoney onour part; That Ame
nica had fuflained deep and heavy losses by,
French depredations on our commerce, and
that France had alledged To many complaints
againfl the U. S. that on those fubjetts we
came fully prepared, and were not a little
surprised 1o find France unwilling to ficar
us ; and making demands upon us, which
could never have been {ulpeted by our gov
einment, andwbtchhaarygelyﬁtmme of
our being the uggreffing panty. M. Y, ex
prefled himtelf vehemently on' the relens.
ment of France, and complained that inflead