Gazette of the United States, & Philadelphia daily advertiser. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), 1799-01-23 00:00:00

Gazette of the United States, AND Philadelphia Daily Advertiser.
By JOHN WARD FENNO, N o 119, CHESNUT-STREET.
NUMBER 1981.]
PHILADELPHIA: WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 23, 1799.
[VOLUME XV.]
The price of this Gazette is Eight dollars per annum to Subscribers residing in the city of Philadelphia. All others pay one dollar additional, for enclosing and directing; and unless some person in this city will become answerable for the subscription, it must be paid Six Months in advance.
NOTICE.
THE COPARTNERSHIP OF HUDSON & YORKE, is this day dissolved by mutual consent. All persons indebted to said firm are requested to make immediate payment; and those who have any demands are requested to present them for settlement to WILLIAM HUDSON, who is duly authorized to adjust the same.
REMOVAL.
WILLIAM HUDSON, Has removed from No. 54. north Front Street, to No 8, Chesnut, near the corner of Front, (to the place formerly occupied by Mr. JOHN MILLER junr.) Where he has for sale on his usual low terms, an extensive assortment of  DRY GOODS. dec 28 d3w
THE CARGO, Of the ship INDIA , Captain ASUMEAD, from BATAVIA, Consisting of JAVA COFFEE, Of the first Quality—to be Sold, by MORDECAI LEWIS. dec 11 d2w
FOR SALE, To be EXCHANGED for property within thirty miles of the city, or to let on ground-rent forever Several valuable building Lots, In Philadelphia , Enquire of William M. Biddle, no. 147, Chesnut-street. nov. 22 $
FOR SALE, By the Subscribers 200 Bolts Russia Duck, 50 pipes London particular bill Madeira Wine 1 pair nine pound Cannon A few Bales Madras Handkerchiefs 4000lbs Fine Flora Indigo 23 Barrels Beef. Willings & Francis. Penn-street, } November 28 } $
Now Landing, From on board the ship John Bulkeley, and for sale at the stores of Jeffe & Robert Waln, 350,000 weight of Java Coffee, of the first quality in bags. 150,000 weight of Java Sugar, in canisters. nov. 23 def
NOTICE.
Joseph Thomas's Creditors are hereby earnestly requested to furnish their Accounts duly attested, as soon as convenient; thereby to enable the Assignees to form an idea of the state of his affairs; and all those indebted to said THOMAS, are required to make immediate payment to either of the Subscribers. SAMUEL W. FISHER, Affinees of WILLIAM BUCKLEY, of JOHN HALL. dec. 31. J. Thomas. def
NOTICE.
ALL persons indebted to the Estate of SAMUEL WALLIS, Esq. of Muncy township, in the county of Lycoming, lately deceased, are hereby required to come forward immediately and pay their respective debts. And all persons having legal demands against the Estate, are requested to produce their accounts, properly authenticated, for settlement. JOHN WALLIS,  WILLIAM ELLIS,  DANIEL SMITH,  JOHN ADLUM, } Administrators. december 13 d3w4w
All persons indebted to the Estate of JOSEPH ANTHONY, sen. deceased, are requested to make immediate payment:—And all those who have any demands against said estate, are desired to produce them legally attested to the subscribers for settlement. JOSIAH HEWES,  JOHN MORTON,  JOSEPH ANTHONY, } Executors. December 26. def
All Persons indebted to the Estate of HENRY HILL, deceased are requested to make payment to the subscriber; and those having any demands on the same to produce their accounts for settlement. GIDEON H. WELLS, no. 139, Market street Philadelphia. dec. 4, 1798
Bank of Pennsylvania, DECEMBER 27th, 1798. NOTICE is hereby given to the Stockholders of the Bank of Pennsylvania, that an Election of Nineteen DIRECTORS, to serve for one year, will be held at the Bank, on Monday the fourth of February next, at 10 o'clock. JONATHAN SMITH, Cashier.
Extrait from the seventh Section of the Act of Incorporation. "Article 2d. Not more than fourteen of the Directors elected by the Stockholders, and actually in office, exclusive of the President, shall be eligible for the next succeeding year; but the Director who shall be President at the time of an election, may always be re-elected." dt 4F
NOTICE.
ALL persons who have any demands against the estate of the late WILLIAM M. CLIFTON, deceased, and who have not already produced their accounts, are requested to send them to the subscriber at no. 172, north second street. ELIZABETH TUCKER, Adm x Philadelphia. nov. 29, 1798 m&th4w
United States.  Pennsylvania district.  IN pursuance of a Writ to me directed, from the Honorable Richard Peter, Esq. Judge of the District of the United States, in and for the Pennsylvania district, will be exposed to sale at the Merchants' Coffee-House, in the city of Philadelphia, on Thursday, the 24th day of January, inst. at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.  THE BRIG. CALLED, THE JAMES, With all and singular, her tackle, apparel and furniture, as the same now are: The said ship having been condemned to pay Maritimers Wages, &c. WILLIAM NICHOLS, Marshal.
Marshal's Office, at Phila- l delphia, 14th January, 1799. N. B. The inventory may be seen at my office. jan. 14. dts
FOR FREIGHT or CHARTER, to any part of EUROPE, The Swedish Snow MARIA,  HANS OLOF KOCK, commander. A remarkably good vessel, about 220 tons burthen. A freight to Cadiz, or any part of the Mediterranean would be preferred. Enquire of the Captain on board at Vine-Street Wharf. dec 17 $
JAMAICA RUM.  THE CARGO, Of the ship CHARLES , Captain Salter, From the North side of JAMAICA, Near 200 hhd. of fine high proof JAMAICA RUM, Now Landing at South Street Wharf. PETER BLIGHT.
THE SHIP CHARLES, Captain SALTER, Capped, mount twelve 6 pounds and thirty-five men—returns immediately to JAMAICA, for Passage apply as above. dec 17 d1m
For sale by the subscriber, AT PORTSMOUTH (N.H.) THE HULL OF A NEW SHIP, 80 feet keel, 27 1-2 beam, 12 feet hold, 5.10 between decks; about 330 tons; with masts, spars and all the carpenter's and smith's work completed; built of good found seasoned timber and plank; launched in November, 1796, and has been well taken care of since that time. Further particulars may be known by applying to Messrs. Wharton & Lewis, Philadelphia, or to THOMAS THOMPSON, 3aw.tF december 21
For Sale.  THE SUBSCRIBER, intending to decline the DRUG BUSINESS, offers For Sale, the whole Stock of Drugs and Medicines, Instruments, &c. The shop is elegant, commodious, and sufficiently known for the extensive business done in the wholesale and retail line; the situation equal to any in the city, being at the corner of Walnut and Second streets. The whole, or any part of the Stock, will be sold, as will best suit the purchaser. The terms may be known, by applying to JAMES MOORE, JUN. Who has For Sale,  The PEGGY, about 30 tons burthen, Mulberry and Red Cedar frame, and remarkably stout, of an easy draught of water, rigging in good order.
The SALLY, about 30 tons, sails well, and in complete order for the lumber business. All persons indebted to the late firm of Goldthwait & Baldwin, W. B. Goldthwait, Goldthwait & Moore, or the subscribers, are earnestly requested to make speedy payment to JAMES MOORE, JUN. august 3 $
SHIP BROKER'S OFFICE, And Commission Store, No. 139, SOUTH FRONT STREET, Next door to the Custom House. THE SUBSCRIBER, encouraged by the advice of his friends, offers his service to the public as a Ship and Insurance Broker.—He proposes to buy and sell vessels and every thing relating thereto—assist matters of vessels and others in entering and clearing at the Custom-House, procuring and shipping freight, settling Insurance and all other mercantile accounts, and have on hand the necessary Blanks and Stamps. Papers in foreign languages translated, and information given in general mercantile matters. —From a knowledge gained by long experience of every branch of business he hopes to be useful to those who please to favor him with their commands. SAMUEL EMERY. november 10 d2w
NOTICE. THE Public are cautioned not to trust any of the people belonging to the Swedish Snow Maria, on my account. Hans Olof Kock, master. dec 29 $
NOTICE. THE public are desired to take notice, that the partnership of SAMUEL BENNETT and SAMUEL CAREY JUN. trading under the firm of BENNETT & CAREY has dissolved. SAMUEL BENNETT.  BIRD WILSON Attorney for SAMUEL CAREY JUN. jan. 4. dzw.
AUGUSTUS FRICKE, Woollen Draper & Men's Mercer No. 7, South Third Street,  HAS RECEIVED, per the last arrival from Europe, a large assortment of the fashionable Goods in his line. And has constantly for sale a general assortment of First rate London superfine Broad Cloths Cashmeres Vest Patterns of all kinds And every other article in the gentleman's line by wholesale and retail. december 10 d1f
FOR SALE, AT NO. 9, SOUTH WATER-STREET. Linen Linens, 7-8 and 4-4, well assorted, in whole and half boxes Checks, in ditto Droghets, and Brown 7-8 beated Linens Irish Hacked Flax Scotts Thread Men and Womens Combs Russia Duck, of an excellent quality, and 100 hhd. Aux Cayes Molasses. By ISAAC HARVEY, junr. 12th. mo. 17 d4w
The Subscribers, Have received by the Clothier from Liverpool A CONSIGNMENT OF TEN CASES OF Well Assorted Buttons, About 50L sterling each Case, which they will dispose of per package, on liberal terms. Medford & Willis. No. 78, North Front near Arch-street.
WANTED, ABOUT fifty Casks of Flag Annatto or Rocou, Apply as above. dec 21 $
14 Pipes Madeira Wine, FOR SALE BY Crooke Stevenson, No. 4, South Water-street. dec 22 $
The owners of the ship NEW-JERSEY from Canton expect in a few days part of the Cargo of that vessel in town, —consisting of— A general assortment of Silks & Sattins, Nankeens, White and Yellow, Caffia China Ware assorted Bohca Souchong Hyson Skin Young Hyson Hyson, and Imperial TEAS, Of excellent quality, and in Large and Small packages. For terms of Sale—apply at the Stores of Nicklin & Griffith,  Archibald M c Call,  Wm. Read & Co.  George Plumbe, dec 26 $
FOR SALE By the Subscribers, ON VERY LOW TERMS WAX CANDLES, OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY, Either by the single box of 24lbs. or by the quantity. Willings & Francis. nov. 24 $
Just Arrived, In the Brig Eliza , from the Mediterranean, and now landing at Walnut Street wharf, Fourth proof Brandy in Pipes. Brimstone.
An assortment of valuable DRUGS, CONSISTING OF Opium, Aloes, Cantharides, Camphire, Senna, Cremor Tartar, &c. &c. Essences of Lemon and Bergamot Writing paper Sweet oil in bottles and flasks Olives, anchovies and capers Juniper berries ALSO —Italian lute strings Satins Crapes Umbrellas Remaining on Hand, St. Croix Sugars, Claret in cases Old Madeira Wine of the first quality. JAMES YARD. November 3 $
JOHN DOBBIN, BOOT & SHOEMAKER. RESPECTFULLY informs his Friends and the Public in general that he carries on his business at No 99 South Second-street, nearly opposite the Merchants' Coffee house where gentlemen may be supplied in the neatest and best manner—he assures those who may please to favor him on his side shall be wanting to render him worthy of their encouragement. N. B. Orders received will be punctually attended to. november 5 $
For Sale, Several Interesting Files of Newspapers, Published in this City, for the year 1798, —viz— The Philadelphia Gazette. The Gazette of the United States. The True American. The Aurora. The above Files are complete, and in the best order. Enquire at No. 21, North Seventh-street, near Sugar Alley.
A Convenient two Story Brick House Suitable for a small Family. TO LET Apply as above. jan. 3. w5t
DANCING.  Mr. & Mrs. BYRNE, First Dancers of the New Theatre, INFORM the Ladies and Gentlemen of Philadelphia, that they intend opening an ACADEMY at Four Dollars per Month, or Ten Dollars per Quarter, and mean to teach every fashionable Dance now in use in the polite circles of Europe.—Mr. & Mrs. Byrne having spent their whole lives in the acquirement of their profession, and it being their only employment, encourages them to hope for the generous patronage of a discerning public. Days of Tuition, at Oellers's Hotel, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from ten till twelve in the morning for Young Ladies, and in the evenings of the same days from six till nine for Gentlemen.—To commence on Saturday the 26th January. JANUARY 11. d1f
FLOUR, FOR SALE, DELIVERABLE at New-Castle or Port Penn, by LEVI HOLLINGSWORTH & SON. dec 19 d4w
AT PRIVATE SALE, Several very elegant Situations for SUMMER RETREATS, Three and an half miles from the court-house near Frankfort road. THESE Situations are considered in point of health, beauty and elegance, equal to any near the city; commanding a very extensive view of the Delaware, the shipping in the harbor, the city, Harrogs, Frankford, and several elegant country seats. Any person desirous of viewing the grounds will please apply to HENRY HAINES, on the premises, and for terms, which will be made easy, to ABRAHAM SHOEMAKER, no. 124, South Fourth Street, and for title, to BENJAMIN R. MORGAN, Esq. Arch, between Second and Front streets. jan. 8. d2w
REAL ESTATES.  THE SUBSCRIBER, Offers for sale the following described property, —viz— ON HIGH-STREET, A LOT of ground on the south side thereof, between 7th and 8th streets, containing in front 23 feet 8 inches and extending in depth southward 306 feet. The improvements on this lot are a substantial Brick Dwelling House, three stories high, with garrets and an extensive range of back buildings also of three stories—the whole comprising two genteel parlours—a spacious drawing room—back parlour—kitchen—wash-house, &c. and a great number of bed-chambers. It has the privilege of passage into Market-street, through a 3 feet wide alley communicating with the yard. Another lot on the same situation and next adjoining, wellward to the one above described, containing in front, on Market street, 20 feet 8 inches by 306 feet in depth, on which are erected a two story frame dwelling house and kitchen well calculated to accommodate a small family. The back ground of both these lots is rendered healthy and pleasant by gravel walks and grass plots and a number of fruit and forest trees growing thereon. Each lot has the privilege of a passage into Eighth-street through a 15 feet wide alley extending to the same from the back ends. One other Lot of ground adjoining to and eastward of the subscriber's Dwelling House, containing in front 33 feet and extending southward to the depth of 306 feet—on which are erected a substantial Brick Dwelling House, 18 feet front, with garrets and very convenient back buildings of the same height and materials. Also a Carriage House and Stables built of wood. ON CHESNUT STREET, A Lot of Ground on the north side, and between Seventh and Eighth Streets, containing in front 104 feet, and extending in depth northward 178 feet. This Lot is also accommodated with a passage into Eighth Street, through the above described alley.
In the town of Dover,  KENT COUNTY, DELAWARE STATE. Eight Lots of Ground adjoining each other, on the west side of King Street, containing in front on the same 504 feet, and extending in depth westward about 402 feet, on which are erected a two story Brick Dwelling House, and another Brick Building adjoining, suitable for a Store or Office together with several frame tenements—a stream of water runs through the fourth part of the lot, where a tan-yard might be improved to advantage. Payment of a part of the purchase money will be required—the remainder may be at interest for a number of years by giving the premises in security, &c. RICHARD RUNDLE. jan 11 d1w 28 wtf
Sales of valuable Property.  A GREABLE to the last will and testament of JOSEPH ANTHONY, senior, deceased, will be sold at public sale, on Thursday, 24th February, at 7 o'clock in the evening, at the Merchants' Coffee House, in Second street, the following REAL ESTATES, An elegant three story brick house, situated at the north-east corner of Ninth and High Streets, twenty eight feet front, with three story brick buildings, extending on Ninth street, two hundred feet to a 26 feet wide court, on which is erected a brick stable and coach house, the whole finished in the best manner. Also three Twenty-five feet Lots bounded by Filbert and Ninth Street extending back from Filbert Street seventy-five feet to the 26 feet Court before mentioned with the privilege of the said Court. Also a Lot with the Buildings thereon erected consisting of a New Four Story Brick Building on the east end and a two Story Brick Building on the west end situated in Water Street between Chesnut and Market containing in breadth Twenty-three feet and extending Eastward into the River Delaware Two hundred and fifty feet bounded eastward by the River Delaware Southward by James Pemberton, Westward by water Street and Northward by Mary Fox's Estate with a reservation of a Cart way across the east end of said lot. The Conditions will be made known at the time of Sale, and immediate possession of the House and Lots on High and Ninth Streets will be given and of the store and Lots in water Street the first of May next.
JOSEPH HEWES  JOHN MORTON  JOSEPH ANTHONY } Executors. BENSON & YORKE, Auctioneers. jan. 9. d34F
THE Creditors of Ponteus Deller Stelle, of Trenton, who have, or shall, by the first of March next, sign the discharge of the said Stelle, will please to present their accounts to either of the subscribers, made up to the first of August 1797, as there will be a dividend made on the first of April next. The discharge will be in the possession of W. Mott, No. 62 Dock-street, until the first of March next. JAMES W. CLEMENT,  WILLIAM MOTT, } Agents. jan. 10. d2w1m
Just Imported, Iron cannon, double fortified, Woolwich proof, with their carriages complete—3, 4, 6 and 9 pounders. Carronades, Woolwich proof, with carriages, &c. complete—12, 18 and 24 pounders. Cannon powder in kegs of 25lbs. each Round, double-headed, and cannonier shot Patent sheathing copper, bright, assorted 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 or per square foot, sheets 48 by 14 inches, suitable for vessels from 100 to 1000 tons Copper nails, bolts and spikes Boarding Pikes, Common cutlasses Gunners known of all kinds Tin-plates No 1—1-3 cross boxes Patent shot in casks of 500. each London porter and brown stout, in casks of 7 doz. bottled. Earthen ware in crates, assorted For Sale by  SIMON WALKER, Pine near 5th street. October 29. ca4F
WANTED, To Article for two or three years a young Man to a profitable business—For particular enquiry at no. 68, South Fourth Street. A person who has some knowledge of painting or drawing would be preferred. W. HAYDON, WHO HAS A Cellar to Let. jan 11 $
Notice is hereby Given, THAT application will be made at the Bank of the United States for the renewal of the following certificates of Bank Stock, standing in the name of Hodgson Atkinson of London, which were lost from board the Swallow Packet, capt. Kidd, captured by the French, and all persons concerned are desired to take notice. No. 2474, issued in lieu of No. 1891, 1892, 5662 and 16640, for 4 shares. No. 3020, issued in lieu of 11055, and 11057, for 3 shares.—7 shares. THOMAS M'EVEN & Co. nov. 28 d3m
ABNER BRIGGS, Of the City of Philadelphia, STOREKEEPER, HAVING assigned over all his effects, real, personal and mixed, to the subscribers, for the benefit of all his creditors. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, TO all persons who are indebted to the said Estate, that they are requested to make immediate payment of their respective accounts, to either of the assignees; in failure whereof, legal measures will be taken for the recovery of such debts, as are not discharged without further delay. GEORGE PENNOCK,  WILLIAM FRENCH. January 2 wed. 84r. 6w
No. 128, The south-east corner of Market and Fourth streets, JACOB COX, HAS just received by the late arrivals from Europe, a large, general and elegant assortment of the most Fashionable Merchandise, (in the gentlemen's line)—The whole of which will be disposed of, wholesale and retail, at reduced prices for cash. dec. 19 d2wtf
For Sale, TEN or twelve Tons, Clover & Timothy HAY, Of the first quality.—Apply at No. 43, Almond-street. jan. 8. rawtf
ALL Persons having any Demands against the estate of the late Robert Hardie, mariner, deceased, are hereby requested to present them for settlement, and all those indebted to said estate, to make payment to either of the subscribers PETER BAYNTON,  JOHN CRAIG, } Executors. Walnut-street. } No. 12, Dock-street. jan. 14. 3awtf
NOTICE.
ALL persons indebted to the Estate of James Emlen, late of Middletown, in the county of Delaware, deceased, are requested to make payment to either of the subscribers, whom they shall find it most convenient to call on: and all persons having demands, will be pleased in like manner, to furnish them, that they may be paid. All rents, which fell due on or before the fourth day of the 10th month last are payable to the subscribers and those which accrued after that day will be payable to the guardians of his children, who will duly notify the tenants where to pay the same. MIERS FISHER, of Philadelphia, } Executors. ABM. PENNELL, of Middletown, } 5 mors. dec 28 d2w6w
NOTICE.
ALL persons indebted to the estate of JOHN SNOWELL, late of this city, deceased, are requested to pay their respective balances to the subscriber; and those having demands on said estate, will please to produce their accounts as soon as possible for settlement, to EDWARD GARRIGUES, Adm r 1st mo: 10th. 1799. 3aw3w
FOR SALE, BY THE SUBSCRIBERS, 14 four pound Cannon, different lengths, 5 Carronades. JOHN NIXON & CO. December 1. $
NOTICE.
THE Creditors of Ponteus Deller Stelle, of Trenton, who have, or shall, by the first of March next, sign the discharge of the said Stelle, will please to present their accounts to either of the subscribers, made up to the first of August 1797, as there will be a dividend made on the first of April next. The discharge will be in the possession of W. Mott, No. 62 Dock-street, until the first of March next. JAMES W. CLEMENT,  WILLIAM MOTT, } Agents. jan. 10. d2w1m
Just Imported, Iron cannon, double fortified, Woolwich proof, with their carriages complete—3, 4, 6 and 9 pounders. Carronades, Woolwich proof, with carriages, &c. complete—12, 18 and 24 pounders. Cannon powder in kegs of 25lbs. each Round, double-headed, and cannonier shot Patent sheathing copper, bright, assorted 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 or per square foot, sheets 48 by 14 inches, suitable for vessels from 100 to 1000 tons Copper nails, bolts and spikes Boarding Pikes, Common cutlasses Gunners known of all kinds Tin-plates No 1—1-3 cross boxes Patent shot in casks of 500. each London porter and brown stout, in casks of 7 doz. bottled. Earthen ware in crates, assorted For Sale by  SIMON WALKER, Pine near 5th street. October 29. ca4F

CONGRESS,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, January 21.
The following message was this day received from the President of the United States. Gentlemen of the Senate, & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives ACCORDING to an intimation in my message of Friday last, I now lay before Congress a report of the Secretary of State, containing his observations on some of the documents which attended it.
JOHN ADAMS.
January 21, 1799.
TO THE
PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES.
The Secretary of State respectfully submits the following report on the transactions relating to the United States and France since the last communications to Congress on that subject. TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Department of State,
January 18, 1799.
REPORT,
Of the SECRETARY of State, on the Transactions relating to the United States and France, since the last communications to Congress on that subject.
THE points chiefly meriting attention, are the attempts of the French government,
1. To exculpate itself from the charge of corruption, as having demanded a doucier of Fifty Thousand Pounds sterling (222,000 dollars) for the pockets of the Directors and Ministers, as represented in the dispatches of our Envoys:
II. To detach Mr. Gerry from his colleagues, and to inveigle him into a separate negotiation; and
III. Its design, if the negotiation failed, and a war should take place between the United States and France, to throw the blame of the rupture on the United States.
1. The dispatches of the Envoys published in the United States, and republished in England, reached Paris towards the last of May; and on the 30th of that month, the French minister, Mr. Talleyrand, affecting an entire ignorance of the persons designated by the letters W. X. Y. and Z.—calling them intriguers, whose object was to deceive the Envoys—writes to Mr. Gerry, and “prays him immediately to make known to him their names.”
Mr. Gerry, in his answer of the 31st, wishes to evade Mr. Talleyrand's request; and with reason, for he and his colleagues had “promised Messrs. X. and Y. that their names should in no event be made public.” Mr. Gerry in his letter of October 1, in noting the repetition of Mr. Talleyrand's request for those names, states as an objection to giving them up “that they could be otherwise ascertained;” and that Mr. Talleyrand's messenger, admitting the fact that they were already known, immediately mentioned their names. Mr. Gerry nevertheless certified in writing the names of X. Y. and Z.; with the reserve “that they should not be published on his authority;” and besides formally certifying to Mr. Talleyrand the names of his own private agents, added, that “they did not produce, to his knowledge credentials or documents of any kind.”
“Credentials” in writing were certainly not to be expected to be produced by agents employed to make corrupt propositions; but Mr. Gerry had Mr. Talleyrand's own assurance that Mr. Y. was acting by his authority. It is recited in the Envoys' dispatches, and upon Mr. Gerry's own report to his colleagues, that on the 17th of December, 1797, Mr. Y. “stated to him that two measures which Mr. Talleyrand proposed, being adopted, a restoration of friendship between the republics would follow immediately; the one was a gratuity of fifty thousand pounds sterling; the other a purchase of thirty two millions of Dutch recriptions,” and after conversing on these topics, Mr. Gerry and Mr. Y. rode to Mr. Talleyrand's office, where “Mr. Gerry observed to Mr. Talleyrand, that Mr. Y. had stated to him that morning some propositions as coming from Mr. Talleyrand, respecting which, Mr. Gerry could give no opinion,” and after making some other observations, Mr. Talleyrand answered “that the information Mr. Y. had given him (Mr. Gerry) was just and might always be relied on.” This declaration stamps with the ministers authority, all the communications made by Mr. Y. to the Envoys. And Mr. Y. himself, who is Mr. Bellamy, of Hamburg, in his public vindication, declares, that “he had done nothing, said nothing, and written nothing, without the orders of Citizen Talleyrand.” The same may be asserted in regard to Mr. X., for he first introduced Mr. Y. to the Envoys; and his separate communications were substantially the same with those of Y., and both together were present with the Envoys when the communications were more than once repeated.
It also deserves notice, that in stating the preliminary demands of the French government, the private agents, X and Y, and the minister, use a similar language. The agents declare, that the Directory are extremely interested at the speech of the President, and require an explanation of some parts of it, and reparation for others; that this must give pain to the envoys, but the directory would not dispense with it: And that as to the means of averting the demand concerning the President's speech, the Envoys must search for them, and propose them, themselves. Being asked to suggest the means, the answer is “money”—the purchase of the Dutch recriptions, and “the fifty thousand pounds sterling, as a doucier to the Directory.”
The Minister told the Envoys, that the Directory were wounded by the President's speech; and in his conversation with Mr. Gerry on the 28th of October, said, “the
Directory had passed an arrest, which he offered for perusal, in which they had demanded of the Envoys an explanation of some parts, and a reparation for others, of the President's speech to Congress of the 16th of May, 1797; that he was sensible that difficulties would exist on the part of the Envoys relative to this demand; but that by their offering money he thought he could prevent the effect of the arrest. Mr. Z. (the “interpreter”) at the request of Mr. Gerry, having stated that the Envoys have no such powers, Mr. Talleyrand replied, they can in such case take a power on themselves; and proposed that they should make a “loan.” But this “loan,” as will presently appear, did not mean the “money,” which would “prevent the effect of the arrest.” Mr. Gerry then making some observations, on the powers of the Envoys—that they “were adequate to the discussion and adjustment of all points of real difference between the two nations; that they could alter and amend the treaty; or, if necessary, form a new one;” added, “that as to a loan, they had no powers whatever to make one, but that they could send one of their number for instructions on this proposition, if deemed expedient:”—“That as he [Mr. Talleyrand] had expressed a desire to confer with the Envoys individually, it was the will of Mr. Gerry that such a conference should take place, and their opinions thus be ascertained.”
“Mr. Talleyrand, in answer, said, he should be glad to confer with the other Envoys, individually, but that this matter about the money must be settled directly without sending to America; that he would not communicate the arrest for a week; and that if we could adjust the difficulty respecting the speech, an application would nevertheless go to the United States for a LOAN!” Now this matter of the money that must be settled directly, could only refer to the doucier; for a loan in the purchase of millions of Dutch recriptions, or in any other form, could only be the subject of a stipulation to be afterwards fulfilled by the United States; but the doucier of fifty thousands pounds sterling, was a sum within the immediate reach of the Envoys; for their credit would certainly command it: in fact, a mercantile house had offered to answer their draughts; and this, Mr. Talleyrand unquestionably well knew; for it was a member of the same house who first introduced the minister's agent, Mr. X., to General Pinckney, in the manner stated in the Envoys' dispatches. A collateral evidence that in “this matter of the money that must be settled directly,” Mr. Talleyrand referred only to the doucier, arises from this circumstance: The very next day (October 29th) Mr. X. called on the Envoys and said, “Mr. Talleyrand was extremely anxious to be of service to them, and had requested that one more effort should be made to induce us to enable him to be so.” After a great deal of the same conversation which had passed at former interviews had been repeated, the Envoys say—“the sum of this proposition was, that if we would pay by way of fees (that was his expression) the sum of money demanded for private use, the Directory would not receive us, but would permit us to remain in Paris as we now were; and we should be received by Mr. Talleyrand, until one of us could go to America and consult our government on the subject of a LOAN.”
Although the Envoys' dispatches, and the facts and circumstances herein before stated, cannot leave a doubt that X., as well as Y. and Z., was well known to Mr. Talleyrand, it will not be amiss to add, that on the 2d of December, X., Y., and Z., dined together at Mr. Talleyrand's, in company with Mr. Gerry; and that after rising from the table the money propositions, which had before been made, were repeated, in the room and in the presence, though perhaps not in the hearing of Mr. Talleyrand. Mr. X. put the question to Mr. Gerry in direct terms, either, “whether the Envoys would now give the doucier,” or “whether they had got the money ready.” Mr. Gerry, very justly offended, answered positively in the negative, and the conversation dropped.
Mr. Z., who has avowed himself to be Mr. Hauteval, was the person who first made known to the Envoys the Minister's desire to confer with them individually, on the objects of their mission: He it was, who first introduced Mr. Gerry to Mr. Talleyrand, and served as the interpreter of their conversations: and in his letter to Mr. Talleyrand, at the close of Mr. Gerry's document, No. 35, he announces himself to be the agent of the Minister, to make communications to the Envoys.
Mr. Hauteval declares “his sensibility must be much affected on finding himself, under the letter Z., acting a part in company with certain intriguers, whose plan, (he says) it doubtless was to take advantage of the good faith of the American Envoys, and make them their dupes”: yet this person, the avowed agent of the French Minister, apparently so anxious to screen himself from the suspicion of an agency in soliciting the bribe required by Mr. Talleyrand, did himself urge a compliance with that corrupt proposition.
The sensation which these details irresistibly excite, is that of astonishment at the unparalleled effrontery of Mr. Talleyrand, in demanding of Mr. Gerry the names of X., Y., and Z.; after Y. had accompanied him on a visit to the minister, with whom the conversation detailed in the printed dispatches then passed, and who then assured Mr. Gerry “that the information Mr. Y. had given him was just, and might always be relied on;” after Z. had in the first instance introduced Mr. Gerry to the minister, and served as their mutual interpreter, and when the conversation between them had also been stated in the dispatches; and after X., Y., and
* Extract of a letter, dated June 15th, 1798, from Mr. King, Minister of the United States in London, to the Secretary of State.
“Col. Trumbull, who was at Paris soon after the arrival there of the Commissioners, has more than once informed me that Hauteval told him that both the doucier and the loan were indispensable, and urged him to employ his influence with the American Commissioners to order the bribe as well as the loan.”
Z., had all dined together with Mr. Gerry at Mr. Talleyrand's table, on rising from which X., and Y., renewed the proposition about the money!—The very circumstance of Mr. Talleyrand's being continued in office, after the account of these intrigues had been published to the world, is a decisive proof that they were commenced and carried on with the privy, and by the secret orders of the Directory. It was to accomplish the object of these intrigues that the American Envoys were kept at Paris unreceived, six months after their credentials had been laid before the Directory: and it was only because they were superior to those intrigues, and that no hopes remained of wheedling or terrifying them into a compliance, that two of them were then sent away—and with marks of insult and contempt.
2. The fact that the French Government attempted to inveigle Mr. Gerry into a separate negotiation will not be questioned: at first it was made privately, and under an injunction of secrecy towards his colleagues: it was afterwards plainly insinuated by the minister, in his letter of the 18th of March, 1798, in which he tells the Envoys that the Executive Directory was disposed to treat with one of the three; and that one he openly avowed, in his letter of the 3d of April, to be Mr. Gerry. The pretence for selecting him was, that his “opinions, presumed to be more impartial, promised, in the course of the explanations, more of that reciprocal confidence which was indispensable.” But when before, have their “opinions” been stated as a justifiable ground for rejecting the ambassadors of peace? Ambassadors too, of established probity, whose characters were of the first distinction in their own country, and whose demeanor towards the government to which they were deputed, was decent and respectful? Who had, with a frankness which the candor of their instructions warranted, communicated the important points which they contained? And who unremittingly, and with the most anxious solicitude, entreated that the negotiations might be commenced? What more proper or more honorable qualities ought ministers deputed to negotiate with a foreign nation to possess? But why should a foreign Government question the opinions of the ambassadors sent to negotiate with it on subjects of difference between the two nations? If wisely chosen, and faithful to the interests of their own country, they must of course possess different opinions from the government, to which they were sent, the differing opinions maintained by the two nations on their respective rights and interests, being the cause and objects of the negotiation. A government really disposed to treat on fair principles would never object to the opinions of foreign ambassadors. It would receive them, and appoint its own ministers with proper powers to treat with them, propose its terms, and receive those offered; and discuss both, and if then they could not agree, put an end to the negotiation. The French government did not wish to negotiate, it desired to impose a treaty on the United States. To this practice it had been accustomed towards the minor powers in Europe, whom it has subjected to its will: and it expected equal submission from the United States. Hence Mr. Talleyrand's secret declaration to Mr. Gerry, “that if he would negotiate, they could soon finish a treaty; for the Executive Directory were not in the habit of spending much time about such matters.” Hence the objections to Gen. Pinckney and Gen. Marshall: they manifested a discernment superior to the intrigues of the French Government, and an invincible determination not to surrender the honor, the interest, or the independence of their country. It was necessary then to get rid of them; and seeing that neither despair of negotiating, nor studied indignities, could induce them to quit their posts, passports were sent to them to quit France; it was with difficulty that Gen. Pinckney could obtain permission to stay two or three months for the recovery of his sick daughter, to whom an immediate voyage would probably prove fatal. Unembarrassed by the presence of these Envoys, the French Government, if it really desired a treaty on any terms, hoped to prevail on Mr. Gerry to negotiate separately, although from the first overture he declined and continued to decline it. But after the expulsion of his colleagues, it hoped, by its seductive arts, to prevail over his scruples, and gain his consent to terms which, while they were present, would be rejected; or at all events to retain him, with the semblance of negotiating, regularly or informally, and thus keep the United States in the torpor of indecision, without preparation for offence or defence. Unfortunately, Mr. Gerry was induced, by the threats of immediate war against the United States, to separate from his colleagues and stay in Paris; threats, which, viewed with their motives, merited only detestation and contempt. Four or five months before, the threats of immediate orders to quit France, and the terrors of war in its most dreadful forms, had been held up to all the envoys to frighten them into a compliance with the groundless, unjust, and corrupt demands of the French Government. Those threats had not been executed, and the unworthy purposes for which they had been uttered, had been obvious. Happily for the United States, the character of the French government as delineated in the official dispatches of all the envoys, and the knowledge of its conduct towards other countries whose governments it had overturned, and whose people in the names of Liberty and Equality, it had enslaved, so operated as not to leave us exposed to all the evils which suspense was calculated to produce. Mr. Gerry indeed resisted all the arts of the French minister to entice him into a formal negotiation, after that government had driven his colleagues from Paris; a negotiation which in its nature would have been a surrender of our independence, by admitting a foreign government to choose for us the minister who should represent our country, to treat of our important rights and interests, which that government had itself violated and deeply injured.
The Directory and their minister Mr. Talleyrand hoped and expected that General Pinckney and General Marshall would voluntarily have quitted France, after the minister's letter of the 18th of March, in which he made the offensive distinction between them and their colleague Mr. Gerry, on the pretence, that his “opinions” were more “impartial” than theirs. Accordingly Mr. Talleyrand, in his letter to Mr. Gerry of the 3d of April, says, “I suppose, Sir, that Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall have thought it useful and proper, in consequence of the intimations which the end of my note of the 18th of March last presents, to quit the territory of the Republic.” Yet Mr. Talleyrand had given them neither passports nor letters of safe conduct! The fact is, the French government wished to avoid the odium of sending them away, and the blame of a rupture, which Mr. Talleyrand predicted would be the consequence; while it was privately intimated to them that they must leave the country. The minister's conduct on this occasion, towards General Marshall (as detailed in his journal) was particularly marked with indignities. When it was observed to Mr. Talleyrand, that this was not the manner in which a foreign minister ought to be treated; Mr. Talleyrand replied, that General Marshall was not a foreign minister, but was to be considered as a private American citizen; and must obtain his passport like others through the Consul. To this it was answered, that Gen. Marshall was a foreign minister, and that the French government could not deprive him of that character, which was conferred upon him, not by Mr. Talleyrand, but by the United States; and though the Directory might refuse to receive or treat with them, still his country had clothed him with the requisite powers which he held independently of France, that if he was not acceptable to the French government, and in consequence thereof it was determined to send him away, still he ought to be sent away like a minister; that he ought to have his passports, with letters of safe conduct which would protect him from the cruizers of France. Mr. Talleyrand replied, that if General Marshall wished for a passport, he must give in his name, stature, age, complexion, &c. to the American Consul, who would obtain a passport for him: that with respect to a letter of safe conduct, it was unnecessary, as no risk from the cruizers would be incurred.
The result of these conversations was a plain demonstration of the intention of the minister, that in consequence of his intimation at the close of his letter of the 18th of March, that the “opinions” of two of the envoys were not agreeable to the government of France, Generals Pinckney and Marshall should appropriate to themselves the character which the minister had drawn generally. The envoys, aware of this snare, in their answer of the 3d of April to the intimation that “the directory was disposed to treat with one of the envoys,” declare to the minister, “that no one of the envoys was authorized to take upon himself a negotiation evidently entrusted to the whole,” and “that no two of them could propose to withdraw themselves from the task committed to them by their government, while there remained a possibility of performing it;” but that if “it should be the will of the Directory to order passports for the whole or any number of them,” it was desired that such passports might be accompanied with letters of safe conduct, to protect them against the cruizers of France.
These endeavors of the French Government, whether real or affected, to draw Mr. Gerry into a separate negotiation, constitute the substance of the correspondence between him and Mr. Talleyrand. They appear to merit consideration in several points of view.
1. Because if real, it was only in the hope and expectation, that by intrigues and terrors the French government might influence Mr. Gerry to enter into a formal treaty, on the terms which he and his colleagues had repeatedly rejected as incompatible with the interests, honor and independence of their country. For at this time Mr. Talleyrand had not renounced the demands of loans and a doucier as the indispensable preliminaries of a treaty. Accordingly we see Mr. Talleyrand, in his letter of the 3d of April to Mr. Gerry, proposed “to resume their reciprocal communications upon the interests of the French republic and the United States of America.” And in his letter of July 12th, to Mr. Gerry, having mentioned the arrival at the Havre of a packet, the Sophia, from the American government, he says, “until then I never supposed you entertained the design of embarking before we had come to an agreement upon the definitive articles to be ratified by your government.” 2. Because if that government had so far succeeded, it would have insisted on its ratification by the President and Senate, on the ground constantly taken by Mr. Talleyrand, that the powers of the envoys being several as well as joint, Mr. Gerry when alone, even after the French government had ordered his colleagues to leave France, were adequate to the formation of the treaty; and that therefore the public faith would be violated, if it were not ratified. 3. Because under such circumstances, the French government doubtless calculated at least on a division of the public opinion in the United States in favor of the ratification of such a treaty; by means of which it might enforce the ratification, or effect still greater mischiefs. 4. But these endeavors to draw Mr. Gerry into a formal negotiation are chiefly remarkable because they were persevered in during near five months, against his constant, direct and positive refusals to treat separately: Mr.
* On the 6th of October 1797, the day after the Envoys had delivered to the minister a copy of their letter of credence, “cards of hospitality were sent to them and their Secretaries, in a style suitable to their official character.” [Dispatches p. 17.] And in the minister's letter to them of the 18th of March, 1798, he calls them “the Commissioners and Envoys Extraordinary of the United States of America.” [Dispatches p. 92.]
Talleyrand asserting and Mr. Gerry denying the competency of his powers.
We have seen the envoys, from the 6th of October, 1797, the date of their first letter to the French minister, to the 3d of April 1798, when their last was delivered to him, expressing their earnest desire to enter upon and prosecute the great business of their mission; we have seen them during that long period patiently enduring neglect and indignities, to which an ardent zeal to re-establish harmony and peace could alone induce freemen to submit: We have seen them while held in suspense—neither received nor rejected—yielding to the importunities of private agents, of the French government, and hearing and discussing their propositions, insulting as they were, in the hope that when these should be shown to be utterly inadmissible, others founded in reason and equity, and in the usual course of diplomatic negotiation, might be brought forward. Doubtless they also wished, when their astonishment at the first overtures had subsided, by listening still longer to such dishonorable propositions, to ascertain the true character of the French government. We have seen them, after waiting five weeks from the presentation of a copy of their letters of credence, entirely unnoticed, “soliciting an attention to their mission,” and soliciting in vain. Thus denied an official hearing, they hoped by an unusual step to excite the attention of that government: they determined to transmit to the minister a letter representing the views of their own government in relation to the subjects in dispute with France. This letter dated the 17th was delivered the 31st of January, 1798. Waiting near a month without an answer, and “still being anxious to hear explicitly from Mr. Talleyrand himself, before they sent their final letter, whether there were no means, within their powers, of accommodating our differences with France, on just and reasonable grounds,—on the 27th of February they desired “a personal interview on the subject of their mission;” and after-wards a second interview. They remark on what passed at these meetings, “that the views of France, with regard to the United States, were not essentially changed since their communications with its un-official agents in the preceding October.”
At length they received Mr. Talleyrand's letter of the 18th March, 1798, in answer to theirs of the 17th of January. The minister's letter represented the complaints of France; as usual, charging the American Government with the inexecution of the treaties with France—with dissimulation—insinuating that our tribunals were subject to a secret influence—holding up the British treaty as replete with evil and injury, and “the principal grievance of the republic”—accusing the American government of a wish to seize the first favorable occasion to consummate an intimate union with Great-Britain, and suggesting that a devotion and partiality to that power have long been the principle of the conduct of the federal government.
To this letter of the French minister, the envoys sent their reply on the 3d of April. This reply and their former letter detect the sophisms and erroneous statements of the minister—expose his naked assertions—refute his arguments—repel his calumnies—and completely vindicate the fidelity, the justice and, as a neutral power, the impartiality of the government of the United States; and, at the same time, exhibit the weighty and well-founded complaints of the United States against the French republic.
Hitherto, instead of a desire to obtain a reconciliation, we can discover in the French government only empty professions of a desire to conciliate; while it haughtily refused to receive our Envoys, and during six months disregarded their respectful and ardent solicitations to negotiate: And after one of them, whom it induced to remain in France, had declared that “he had no powers to treat separately, that the measure was impossible,” then the Directory expelled the other Two!
If now we survey Mr. Gerry's individual correspondence, we shall find no solid evidence of any change in the disposition of the French government.
In his first letter to Mr. Gerry, Mr. Talleyrand's artifice is visible; he addresses him as “Envoy Extraordinary of the United States of America, to the French Republic;” and proposes to him to “resume their reciprocal communications.” Mr. Gerry, apprehending that the Minister intended to draw him into a negotiation, repeats what he had often before declared, that for him to treat separately was impracticable; and that he can only confer with him informally.
On the 20th of April, Mr. Gerry addresses a letter to the minister, and presses him to come forward with propositions for terminating all differences, restoring harmony, and re-establishing commerce between the two nations. He receives no answer. On the 28th he confers with the minister, who says he cannot make propositions, because he does not know the views of the United States in regard to a treaty. Mr. Gerry gives him the information. He then promises in three or four days to deliver Mr. Gerry the project of a treaty: This promise was never performed. On the 12th of May, the new instructions of March 23d, sent by the Sophia packet, reached Mr. Gerry; and he gave immediate notice to the minister that he should return to America in the Sophia, as soon as he could be fitted for sea.
“On the 25th of May the minister sent his principle secretary to inform Mr. Gerry, that his government did not wish to break the British Treaty; but expected such provisions as would indemnify France, and put her on a footing with that nation.” Yet that treaty had been made, by the French government, its chief pretence for those unjust and cruel depredations on American commerce which have brought distress on multitudes and ruin on many of our citizens; and occasioned a total loss of property to the United States of probably more than twenty millions of dollars; besides subjecting our fellow-citizens to insults, stripes, wounds, torture and imprisonment. And Mr. Talleyrand,

in his letter of the 18th March to the En- voys, declared that treaty to be "the prin- cipal grievance of the Republic." But now, instead of breaking that treaty, France de- sires, to be put on the same footing. This the United States would at any time have done, and the Envoys were now explicitly in- structed to do: and seven months before, all the Envoys, in their conversation with Mr. Bellamy (V) the confidential and authorized agent of the French minister, told him "that he might be assured that their powers were such as authorized them to place France on equal ground with England, in any respects in which an inequality might be supposed to exist at present between them, to the disad- vantage of France."
The Secretary also mentioned the claims of the American citizens on the French Repub- lic: he said if the latter should be unable to pay them, when adjusted, and the United States would assume and pay them, France would reimburse the amount thereof. This has the semblance of candor: but on the 4th of March, when the Envoys were in confer- ence with Mr. Talleyrand, and they disclos- ed their principal instructions, "General Pinckney and Mr. Gerry told him they were positively forbidden to assume the debts to our own citizens, even if we were to pay the mo- ney directly to them." And doubtless it was, because the proposition was already known to be inadmissible that it was now re- newed.
The Secretary and Mr. Gerry had also some unimportant conversation about the Consular Convention. And it is plain that the whole object of the Secretary's visit was to amuse, by keeping alive Mr. Gerry's hopes of some pacific arrangements.
On the 26th of May, Mr. Gerry had a conference with the minister; pressing on this, as on former occasions, the necessity of sending a minister to the United States, with powers to negotiate: to which, he says, the minister acceded; but afterwards explained himself to mean a minister to reside there after the ratification of the talked-of treaty.
Such are the proceedings of the French government, by its minister, Mr. Talley- rand, before the arrival of the printed dis- patches of the Envoys. We discover no- thing but a proposition for treating with Mr. Gerry alone—which he had repeatedly declar- ed to be impossible—and on terms which Mr. Gerry himself, as well as the other Envoys, had long before pronounced to be utterly in- admissible, because directly repugnant to their instructions. We shall now see, by an ex- amination of Mr. Gerry's subsequent com- munications, that the publication of the En- voy's dispatches, far from causing a discon- tinuance of negotiations with him, or any change in the disposition of the French gov- ernment more unfriendly to the United States incomparably greater zeal for negotiating was exhibited afterwards than before.
On the 30th of May, the minister an- nounces to Mr. Gerry the publication of the Envoy's dispatches. In his letter of the 27th of June, he says this incident only "for a moment suspended the principal object"— the negotiation with Mr. Gerry: and in his letter of June 10th, he declares, that "the French Government, superior to all the per- sonalities, to all the manoeuvres of its ene- mies, perseveres in the intention of concili- ating with sincerity all the differences which have happened between the two countries." On the 11th of June the minister sends him a plan for conducting the negotiation: for the first time states the "three points" on which he says "all negotiations between France and the United States must essentially rest;" and "gives (what he calls) a large development" of them; concluding by press- ing him to remain at Paris, to accelerate the negotiation—"the drawing together of those ties which the French Republic and the true Americans have regretted to see relaxed."
On the 27th of June, the Minister again writes to Mr. Gerry, and in language the most importunate, such as had never before been used, urges him not to withdraw; "when the French Government, superior to all resentments, and never listening to any thing but justice, manifests itself anxious to conclude a solid and mutually satisfactory agreement." The Minister even observes that the first of the "three points" mention- ed in his preceding letter (respecting amicable declarations about mutual recriminations) might be postponed—that the third (about the consular convention) would doubtless experience no difficulty on either side, after the second should be amicably settled. That it was to the second therefore, they should first attend; it being so much the more important, as it embraced the source of all the differ- ences between the two nations. And on the 22d of July, the Minister renounces all de- mands of "loans and explanations on the subject of speeches;" and even affects to be hurt that Mr. Gerry should have mentioned them: although both he and his private agents had, before, so long and so obstinately persevered in demanding them of the Envoy, as the indispensable preliminaries to a negoti- ation. And doubtless, it is partly owing to the publication of their dispatches, thereby exposing to the world those shameless de- mands, with the scandalous proposition of the doucneur, that they are now relinquished.
In adducing these circumstances to shew the increased zeal of the French Govern- ment, since the publication of the dispatches, to negotiate on its differences with the United States, it is not to be understood, that they afford a shadow of evidence of its sincerity. But as professions , verbal or written, furnished the only ground on which Mr. Gerry could form his opinion, that "be- fore the arrival of the dispatches of the En- voys, the Minister was sincere and anxious to obtain a reconciliation," much more, pro- fessions stronger and more importunate, after- wards made, afford proportionably higher evidence of sincerity. But the present de- tails demonstrate that all those professions were merely ostensible. In the Minister's last mentioned letter, after saying that his "second point" was most important, "as it embraced the source of all the differences," and that to this they should first attend—he purposely forgets it, passes it over, and sends
Mr. Gerry a note on the Consular Convention of all possible subjects in difference the most insignificant; as it would have expired by its own limitation in two years and a half; within which time, the commerce of France, judging from its present state of annihilation, would probably not furnish a single ship to visit the ports of the United States. In his next letter, dated July 6th, he pursues his speculations on the Consular Convention , and tells Mr. Gerry two more notes upon it, complaining that he had not transmitted to him his opinion upon his first note, and re- commending the two last to his attention; although Mr. Gerry had repeatedly and pos- itively declined a formal discussion , such as the Minister now urged in writing. Mr. Gerry states also, that this first note of the Minister on the Consular Convention , was sent to him six weeks after he had demanded his passport, and when his baggage was ac- tually on board the Sophia !
In a word, the more clearly the impossi- bility of entering on a formal negotiation ap- peared, the more was it pressed by the French Minister. Mr. Gerry, in his letter to Mr. Talleyrand of July 20th, as justly as po- etically exposes the boasted zeal of the Minister —"You was, the first, you affirm, to press seriously the negotiation: you will agree with me that the merit would have been greater, had the measure itself been feasible ." Again he says to the Minister, "You fre- quently remind me of your exertions [to ne- gotiate] which I am disposed as much as pos- sible to appreciate, regretting at the same time their circuitous direction ."
From this detail of facts, the following are the necessary conclusions;
That by the exclusive attentions of the Minister to Mr. Gerry, the French Govern- ment intended to excite the jealousy of his colleagues, to promote dissensions between them, to separate him from them, and in- duce him to remain in France; expecting either to seduce him into a formal negotia- tion of a treaty, on terms exclusively advan- tageous to France, and injurious and disho- norable to the United States; or, failing in this, to hold the United States in suspense , and prevent any measures for our security—in the event war; while we, amused and deluded by warm but empty professions of the pacific views and wishes of France, and by "informal conferences," might wait in spi- ritless torpor, hoping for a peaceful result:
That by this course of proceeding—this ostentatious display of zeal to adjust differ- ences, and restore harmony and a friendly intercourse between the United States and France, the French Government intended, in case of a rupture, to throw the blame on the former.
It is necessary to make a few observations on the decree of the Executive Directory of the 31st July 1798.
This decree was sent after Mr. Gerry to Havre, and he supposes that the official im- pediments, which for several days prevented his sailing, are to be ascribed to the min- ister's desire of sending the decree by him. The minister introduces it as "a part of the measures which he had announced to Mr. Gerry on the 22d of July." In his letter of that date to Mr. Gerry, the minister says, "By information which the government has just received, it indeed learns that vio- lences have been committed upon the com- merce and citizens of the United States in the West-Indies, and on their coasts. Do it the justice to believe that it needs only to know the facts, to disavow all acts contrary to the laws of the Republic and its own decrees. A remedy is preparing for it, and orders will soon arrive in the West-Indies, calculated to cause every thing to return within its just limits." This "remedy" is the decree of the 31st of July.
1. The first article of this decree confines to the special agents of the Directory, the right of issuing commissions to cruisers; and requires these to conform themselves to all the laws relative to cruising and prizes, and especially to those of the 1st of October 1793. Although the injunction to conform to all the laws of the Republic relative to cruising was ominous, as the laws most re- cently promulgated and best known were themselves the sources of the depredations and evils of which we complained; yet not imagining that a decree introduced with so much solemnity, of which one copy was sent to Mr. Gerry, another to the Ameri- can Consul General at Paris, and a third to Mr. Letombe, late Consul General of France —all to be communicated to the Execu- tive of the United States, and all of which have been received—could be a mere parade of words, I was disposed to conclude that the law of the 1st of October 1793, to which all cruisers were especially enjoined to conform, might contain regulations that would afford some relief from French depredations. By the favour of Mr. Letombe, I obtained a copy of that law; and to my astonishment found its object, conformably to its title, was "To determine the mode of dividing prizes made by French vessels on the ene- mies of the Republic." And the only re- striction, is this lengthy law of six-and-forty articles, imposed on the individuals, officers and all others, composing the crews of their armed vessels is, "that they shall not sell be- forehand their eventual shares of prizes."
2. The second article declares that all commissions granted by the agents in the French colonies in America, to fit out ves- sels for cruisers, or for war and commerce, shall be void in thirty days after the publica- tion of the decree in those colonies.
It has been supposed that by this regula- tion the agents may gather a fresh harvest of fees for new commissions; and that this would be its only effect. The agents how- ever had before taken care of this; they had been accustomed to limit the duration of privateer's commissions; and if they con-
tinued to cruise after their expiration, such privateers should have been considered as destitute of commissions, and consequently if they made any captures, as pirates:—but the agents knew their interest better; they did not punish the piratical captors—they did not declare their captures void, and re- store the property to the neutral owners— but, declaring such captors to have no title to the captured vessels and cargoes, took the whole to themselves. A remarkable instance occurred in the last year, in the case of the East-India ship New Jersey , belonging to Philadelphia, to redeem which, the owners have paid to General HEDOUVILLE, Special Agent of the Executive Directory in St. Domingo, upwards of two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Whether any, and what portion of such prize money goes into the chest of the Republic, I am not in- formed.
3. The third article declares that all a- gents and other deputies in the neutral pos- sessions , appointed to decide there on the va- lidity of prizes taken by the French cruisers, and who shall be suspected of having a di- rect or indirect interest in the cruisers, shall be immediately recalled.
It is remarkable that this article, appar- ently designed to correct the monstrous ab- use of public officers sitting in judgment in their own causes, should be limited to such of the agents and their deputies as were ap- pointed to reside in neutral places . I do not know that an instance of the kind exists. For although the French priva- teers and their prizes find asylums in the Swedish and Danish islands, yet the papers are carried thence to Guadalonpe, and there the captured vessels receive their doom under the superintendence of another Special Agent of the Executive Directory, Vic- tor HUGHES. And even the captured American vessels carried into the West- India ports of Spain and Holland, do not there receive sentence: these cases are de- cided by the agent or his deputies, or other French tribunals, established in the island of St. Domingo, frequently, if not generally, in the absence of the masters, and supercar- goes. The French agents and judges find no difficulty in this mode of proceeding; justice being administered with more facility and dispatch when only one of the parties is present at the trial; especially when the a- gents or other judges are interested in the privateers; and this the present decree impliedly allows; the penalty of "recall" being applicable, as above suggested, to such agents only as reside in neutral places , if any such there be.
It is also remarkable, that this decree, which was to give the United States a proof of the justice of the French govern- ment (a government, Mr. Talleyrand says "never listening to any thing but justice,") and of its desire of a reconcilia- tion with the United States, should be lim- ited to the West-Indies , when as great, if not as numerous abuses were practiced by French agents and tribunals in Europe, and even France itself, as in her remote posses- sions. This too many of our citizens well know. For captures and condemnations are not the less abuses , because made under the color of municipal laws and decrees which directly violate treaties, the law of nations, and the plainest principles of justice. At present I shall only mention, that in a re- port made by major Mountmorence, chan- cellor of the American consulate at Paris, to General Pinckney, in December 1796, and which was laid before Congress in May 1796, he states, "That the tribunals of commerce in every port of France, take cognizance, in the first instance, of every matter relative to captures at sea;" and "these tribunals (he adds) are chiefly com- posed of merchants, and most of them are, directly or indirectly, more or less interest- ed in the fitting out of privateers; and therefore are often concerned in the contro- versies they are to determine upon."
4. The fourth article requires the special agents of the Executive Directory at Cay- enne, St. Domingo, and Guadalonpe, stu- diously to take care, that the interests and property of vessels, belonging to neutrals and allies, be scrupulously respected.
We have too long witnessed the studious and scrupulous care of these gentlemen re- specting the property of neutrals and al- lies, and experienced its ruinous conse- quences; and as the same laws which author- ized that "care" remain in force, and with a fresh injunction of a strict conformity to them, we can expect only a continuance of the same abuses.
5. The fifth article enjoins the Special Agents of the Executive Directory, Con- suls and all others invested with powers for that purpose, to cause to be arrested and punished all who shall contravene the provi- sions of the present decree. Unfortunately these Special Agents, Consuls, and their Deputies, are themselves the aggressors , and justify their proceedings under the laws of the Republic and the Decrees of the Exe- cutive Directory.
This analysis of the present Decree mani- fests its futility; and, with some remarks on its preamble, will demonstrate it to be a bold imposture; intended to mislead the citizens of the United States into a belief that the French government was going to put an end to the depredations of French cruisers on American commerce; while the means proposed are so gross as to be an in- sult on our understandings.
The Preamble to the Decree sets forth, "that information, recently received from the French colonies and the continent of A- merica, leaves no room to doubt that French cruisers or such as call themselves French, have infringed the laws of the Republic re- lative to cruising and prizes;" and "that foreigners and pirates have abused the la- titude allowed at Cayenne and the West-India islands, to vessels fitted out for cruising or for war and commerce, in order to cover with the French flag their extortions and the violation of the respect due to the law of nations, and to the persons and property
of allies and neutrals." Mr. Talley- rand, in one of his letters before noticed, dated the 22d of July last, takes of this information as having been "just received."
But what has been more notorious than French depredations on neutral, and espe- cially on American commerce, in violation of treaties and the law of nations? These have been coeval with the existing war in Europe; but were multiplied under the loose Decree of the Executive Directory passed the second of July, 1796, declaring that "the flag of the French Republic will treat neutral vessels, either as to confiscation to searches, or to capture, in the same man- ner as they shall suffer the English to treat them."
This decree committed the whole com- merce of neutrals, in the first instance, to the rapacity of French privateers, and then to the discretion of their Agents, Consuls and Tribunals. These had only to say, truly or falsely, that the English treated neutrals in any given way, and then they were to treat them in the same manner. Accord- ingly we have seen Santhonax and Raimond, Commissioners of the French Government in St. Domingo, in their adjudication of an American vessel, on the 10th of January, 1797, declare, "That the resolution (or decree) passed by the Executive Directory, on the 2d of July, 1796, prefers to all the armed vessels of the Republic, and the armed vessels belonging to individuals to treat neutral vessels in the same manner as they suffer the English to treat them;" and "that it is in consequence of the above resolution of the Executive Directory, and in consequence of the manner in which the English govern- ment in the Antilles treats neutral vessels, that the commission passed their resolution of the 7th of January, by which they de- clare all neutral vessels bound to or from English ports, to be legal prize." From these facts, and the tenor of the decree it- self, we can form but one conclusion, That it was framed in such indefinite terms, on pur- pose to give scope for arbitrary constructions and consequently for unlimited oppression and vexa- tion.
But without waiting for this decree, the Commissioners of the French government at St. Domingo began their piracies on the commerce of the United States: and in Fe- bruary 1797, wrote to the Minister of Ma- rine (and the extract of the letter appeared in the official journal of the Executive Di- rectory of the 5th of June) "That having found no resource in finance, and knowing the unfriendly dispositions of the Americans, and to avoid perishing in distress, they had armed for cruising; and that already 87 cruizers were at sea; and that for three months preceding, the administration had subsisted, and individuals been enriched, with the product of those prizes." "That the decree of the 2d of July was not known by them until five months afterwards. But (say they) the shocking conduct of the A- mericans, and the indirect knowledge of the intentions of our government, made it our duty to order reprisals, even before we had received the official notice of the decree." "They felicitate themselves that American vessels were daily taken; & declare that they had learnt, by divers persons from the con- tinent, that the Americans were perfidious, corrupt, the friends of England, and that therefore their vessels no longer entered the French ports, unless carried in by force."
After this recital, before the Council of 500, Pajol makes the following rem- kable reflections:
"On reading this letter, we should think that we had been dreaming; that we had been transported into a savage country, where men, still ignorant of the empire of morals and of laws, commit crimes without shame and without remorse, and applaud themselves for their robberies, as Paulus E- milus or Cato would have praised themselves for an eminent service rendered to their country. Cruizers armed against a friendly nation! Reprisals, when it is we ourselves who attack! Reprisals against a nation that has not taken a single vessel of ours! Riches acquired by the confiscation of the ships of a people to whom we are united by treaties, and whom no declaration of war had sepa- rated from us!" "The whole discourse of the agents may be reduced to these few words: 'Having nothing wherewith to buy, I seize: I make myself amends for the property which I want, by the piracy which enriches me: and then I slander those whom I have plundered.' This is robbery justified by fashions and calumny." Yet Santhonax, one of these "robbers," and the chief of those Directorial agents, continued in office, and going a few months afterwards from Saint Domingo to France was receiv- ed as a member into one of the Legislative Councils.
Pajol also adverts to a letter from Mer- lin, then Minister of Justice, and now a member of the Executive Directory, to Mr. Skipwith, Consul General of the Unit- ed States, which also appeared in the Jour- nal of the Directory; and quotes the fol- lowing passage: "Let your Government break the inconceivable treaty which it con- cluded on the 19th of November 1794, with our most implacable enemies; and immedi- ately the French Republic will cease to ap- ply in its own favour the regulations in that treaty, which favour England to the injury of France; and I warrant you that we shall not see an appeal to those regulations, in any tribunal, to support unjust pretensions ." "Have I (says Pajol) read this rightly? Unjust Pretensions! Could it be possible that they should thus have been characterized by the Minister who is himself their agent and defender?"
After all, this "inconceivable British Treaty," was itself but a pretext to coun- tenance the "unjust pretensions," as Mer- lin himself calls them, used by the French gov- ernment in its tribunals, for the purpose of condemning American vessels. The details I have already given prove it. I beg leave to adduce other evidence. It is the testimony of Mr. Barlow, an American by birth, but for
several years past a citizen of France, a man acknowledged discernment and talents, de- voted to the French Republic, and an intimate with her leading men. Mr. Barlow has long resided at Paris, and cannot have mis- taken the views of the French government, nor the motives of its conduct. Mr. Bar- low's letter dated at Paris the first of March 1798, to his brother-in-law, Mr. Baldwin, has doomed the writer to infamy: yet when it describes the principles and conduct of the French republic, it merits attention. He says, "That act of submission to the British government, commonly called Jay's treaty, is usually considered, both by its friends and enemies, as the sole cause, or at least the great cause of the present hostile disposition of the French republic towards the United States. This opinion (says he) is erroneous." He then proceeds "in an en- umeration of a variety of matters which he says have influenced the conduct of France. But the most provoking, and the most unparadonable of all the offences of the United States against France, was, fortu- nately, not an act of the government, but an act of the people. The freemen of the United States, "the true Americans," dared to exercise their independent rights, and con- trary to the wishes of the French govern- ment and the endeavors and practices of its Minister Adet, elected Mr. Adams to the office of President. Mr. Barlow's obser- vations on this event further developes the character and the principles of that govern- ment. He says, "When the election of Mr. Adams was announced here, it pro- duced the order of the 2d of March," which was meant to be little short of a declaration of war: "The government here was de- termined to fleece you of your property, to a sufficient degree to bring you to your feel- ing in the only nerve in which it was pre- sumed your sensibility lay, which was your pecuniary interest." And what was this "feeling" to produce? The answer is ob- vious—Submission to the will of the French government. The mystery of French poli- tics is here unveiled. The United States did not submit: Hence the non-reception of her Envoys, and their haughty treatment: Hence the insulting demands of tribute as a preliminary even to their reception; and hence the expulsion of two of them from France.
But to return to the Decree of the Ex- ecutive Directory of the 31st of July last. I have already shown that the mass of de- predations on the commerce of the United States, under the French flag, of which we so justly complain, are not those committed, as the Directory in their preamble insinuates, by "foreigners and pirates" but by French armed vessels commissioned by the Govern- ment or its agents; or whether commissio- ned or not, whose acts in capturing Ameri- can vessels receive the sanction of French consuls, of French Tribunals, and of the Special Agents of the Directory. I have shown that the laws of France and the Di- rectorial Decrees, are themselves the sources of those violations of treaties and the law of nations, which have caused such immense losses to the citizens of the United States. And for the proofs already offered, that the information of such aggressions and losses, particularly in the West-Indies, and on the coast of America, was not, as the preamble suggests, but "recently received," I may add, that their "special agents" authorized those depredations and violations of the law of na- tions, by decrees assuming the laws of the Republic, or the acts of the Executive Di- rectory for their bases—by decrees print- ed and published, and undoubtedly from time to time reported by those agents to the Directory itself. Further, these outrages on the American commerce have for years past been the theme of every tongue, and filled columns in our newspapers; those newspapers which Mr. Barlow says, "the office of foreign Affairs (at Paris) regularly receives." I will conclude this point with the testimony of Mr. Letombe, late Consul General of the French republic, and still residing in Philadelphia. He has long since, and repeatedly assured me, that he collected all those depredations and outrages com- mitted by French privateers, and transmit- ted them to his government at Paris.
In relation to the depredations and out- rages committed by the French on the com- merce of the United States, I have said that as great, if not as numerous abuses were practiced by the French in Europe, and even in France itself, as in her remote possessions; and that this fact was but too well known to our citizens, who had felt severely their ef- fects. Among these we have seen the case of the ship Hare , captain Hayley; but ne- ver in all its disgusting features. With this I will close my observations on the preamble of the directorial decree of the 31st July.
Extract of a letter from Rufus King Esq., Minister of the United States in London, dated September 3, 1798 to the Secretary of State of the United States.
"The pretence for this article [the Decree of the Directory of July 31st] is of a piece with the vindication of Talleyrand respect- ing X, Y, and Z, and the justice and sincer- ity of the Directory should be ascertained, not by their word, but by the following com- parisons."
"Hayley, an American citizen, master of the American ship Hare , lying in the port of London, laden with a rich cargo, the pro- perty of Americans, and bound to New- York, went with my passport from London to Paris, where, in a personal interview, not with the agents of the minister of marine, but with the Minister himself, he disclosed his plan of bringing the ship Hare and her cargo into France; and to enable him to re- ceive the profits of the fraud, without risk-
"* DEGREE of the Convention Nationale du 1. 8 bre 1793. l'an 2d de la Republique Fran- caise.
Que determine le mode de Repartition des prises faites par les vaisseaux Francaux sur les en- nemis de la Republique."
* It will be recollected that this is the Decree of the Executive Directory, ordering the capture and condemnation of American vessels not having a Role d'equipe—that fruitful source of plunder to Frenchmen, and of ruin to American citizens; and which also declared all American seamen, mak- ing a part of the crew of enemies ships, even when put on board them by force, to be PIRATES, and directed them to be treated as such.
[For the remainder see the Supplement.]

SUPPLEMENT to the Gazette of the United States.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1799.
SECRETARY'S REPORT,
Concluded from this day's Gazette.
ing the punishment of piracy, he demanded and received from the Minister of Marine, a commission naming him the commander of a Privateer that did not exist; with which in his pocket, he returned to London; and soon after carried the ship Hate and her cargo as a prize into France.
"The ship and cargo were both claimed by the American owners; and upon the unveiling of this infamous proceeding before the lower Tribunals, the judges hesitated; and finally refused to sanction so unheard of a fraud; though instead of restoring the property to its lawful owners, they on some frivolous pretence adjudged both ship and cargo to be good prize to the nation. Lately the Tribunal in the last resort, upon the appeal of Haley, has reversed the judgment of the lower Court, and "decreed the ship and cargo to be condemned as good prize to this Renegado."
"If a transaction more grossly corrupt and infamous has occurred in the West-Indies—I have not heard of it; and yet with this case of unequalled infamy and corruption before them, sanctioned by the highest Tribunals of the nation, the Directory expect to amuse us with a disavowal of the conduct of a few subaltern agents, in a remote part of their dominions!!!"
Besides the communications from Mr. Gerry, I have received from Fulwar Skipwith, Esq. consul General of the United States at Paris, three letters dated the 4th, 8th and 22d of August, copies of which and of the papers therein referred to, are herewith presented, excepting the decree of July 31st, which appears among the communications from Mr. Gerry. Mr. Skipwith's letter of August 22d with its inclosures, was delivered to me by Doctor Logan; I had previously received the original, which had been brought over by Mr. Woodward of Boston.
Doctor Logan having been the bearer of the last mentioned communications from the French government, and his EMBASSY having not only engaged the attention of the public, but been made the subject of debate in congress, I trust it will not be deemed improper to introduce into this report some circumstances respecting it.
On the 12th of November the Doctor came to me at Trenton—he advanced with eagerness, and handed me the packet from Mr. Skipwith. On examining its contents, I told the Doctor that I already possessed the same papers. I made some remarks on the decree of the Directory of the 31st of July, to show that it was only ostensible and illusory; and that it would not give any relief to the commerce of the United States. The doctor, not contesting my arguments or opinion, said that more was intended to be done; but that the Directory could not accomplish it of themselves; seeing it depended on the laws which the Legislative Councils alone could change. I answered, that this was all to be done—that as the directory, on the 18th Fructidor [Sept. 4, 1797] had garbled the two councils; and banished some and dismissed others of the best members—all who were firmly opposed to their views, and as on the new elections to supply the vacancies and the new third of the councils, the Directory sent home every new member who was not agreeable to them—every body must see that the Directory had but to declare its will and it would be obeyed. The doctor said, That the Directory was very well disposed towards the United States, and desired a reconciliation; that they would promote a revision of the laws in regard to privateering, so as to put the rights of neutral nations on a just footing; but that it would take some time to bring this about, "the people concerned in privateering having gained a very great influence in the two councils!"
Is it necessary to inquire how this "very great influence" has been obtained? are the leading members owners of privateers? Or do they receive their shares of prize-money from those who are? Do the legislative councils really act independently of the directory? Or does the same "influence" actuate both?—The printed dispatches of our envoys, under the date of October 29, 1797, state, on the information of Mr. Talleyrand's private agent X, that Merlin, one of the members, and now or late President of the Directory, was to receive no part of the douceur demanded of the envoys, because he was paid by the owners of privateers, and in respect to the loon then demanded, on which subject it was suggested that one of the envoys should go to America to consult the government, the envoys "asked Mr. X, if in the meantime the Directory would order the American property not yet passed into the hands of the privateers, to be restored? He said explicitly that they would not. The envoys asked him whether they would suspend further depredations on our commerce? He said they would not;—but Mr. Talleyrand observed that on this subject we could not sustain much additional injury, because the winter season was approaching when few additional captures could be made." Here we see our envoys inquiring—not whether the two councils would suspend those depredations—but whether the Directory would do it: and Mr. Talleyrand's agent X, without intimating that the Directory wanted power, or that they could only "endeavor to provoke in the legislature, a revision of their maritime laws"—answered peremptorily, that the DIRECTORY would not suspend the depredations. The truth is, that it was an act of the Directory alone (their decree of the 2d of March 1797) which authorised and produced more extensive depredations on the commerce of
the United States than any other decree or law of the French republic. To effect a repeal of that decree, no application to the legislative councils could be necessary. They could also have repealed another of their own decrees, that of the 2d July 1796, which subjected neutral property, and particularly that of American citizens, to the discretion of their consuls and cruisers in the European seas, as well as of their privateers and agents in the West-Indies, and on which these agents have founded other numerous decrees, which have occasioned those shocking depredations and abuses there and on the coast of the United States, which the directory by their decree of the 31st of July last affect to restrain.
When the French Directory wished to enlarge the field of depredations on neutral commerce, and on the 4th January, 1798, proposed to the two councils, the project of the iniquitous law "to declare to be good prize every vessel and her cargo, to whomsoever belonging, if any part of the cargo came from England or her possessions"—there was a ready obedience. "The directory think it urgent and necessary to pass the law." The plan of a decree is reported to the Council of Five Hundred on the 11th; and "urgency" being declared, is immediately and unanimously adopted! It goes to the Council of Ancients—that Council approves the act of "urgency"; and on the 18th of January the project of the Directory becomes a law.
This law was necessary for the French government: so many American vessels had been entrapped by the Directory's decree of March 2, 1797, requiring the role d'equipage , that the residue were now generally provided with that paper: Some new pretext was therefore requisite for "seizing" the people of the United States of their property; and an ordinance of one of the kings of France, made near a century past, having declared lawful prize, the vessels and their cargoes, in which were found English merchandise "belonging to enemies,"—the Directory declare that the provisions of this ordinance ought to be extended, to comprehend the vessels and cargoes of friends; that is, of allied and neutral nations. The Directory knew that the United States, whose inhabitants were chiefly cultivators, required a greater supply of English manufactures than any other neutral country of equal population; and those manufactures too, were, from the course of American commerce, combined with almost all our mercantile operations, and pervaded entirely our great coasting trade. Hence it is evident that this law was chiefly aimed at them.
It will be remembered also, that this law was passed while our three envoys were at Paris, where they had passed three months unheeded by the French government, except by its indignities—and when they had in vain solicited to be heard on the just claims of our citizens, plundered and ruined under the former decrees of the republic. This time was preferred, in order to add insult to injury. The envoys had firmly resisted her demands of loans and douceurs ; and when speaking of their country, dared to intimate, that it was independent: it was therefore requisite, on the French system, to "chastise," as well as to "fleece" it.
In closing this subject, it will be proper to notice an assertion of Mr. Talleyrand in a conversation with the envoys on the 2d March, 1798. In reply to some observations of his respecting the proofs of friendship required by France from the United States, Gen. Pinckney observed, that the envoys being in France was a proof of the friendly disposition of our government; and that while they were there, the French government had passed a decree for seizing neutral vessels having on board any article coming out of England; which in its operation would subject to capture all our property on the ocean. Mr. Talleyrand replied, that this was not particular to us, but was common to all neutral powers." This assertion of Mr. Talleyrand is not true. Although the decree in its terms is general, and applicable to all the neutral powers, yet in its operation, it was not designed to be, and has not been so applied—it has not touched a vessel of Prussia. The motives to this exemption are obvious: France willed not by irritating Prussia to add so powerful a nation, and one so near at hand, to the number of her enemies, while her peace with Austria remained precarious. But this exemption of Prussian vessels from the operation of a general law, merits particular notice. It demonstrates that there exists in the French Republic a dispensing power—a power above the laws—a power which can prevent their execution: and it is alike demonstrable that this sovereign controlling power can exist, and in fact does exist, in the Executive Directory. It might then, if the Directory desired it, be exercised in the exemption of American as well as Prussian vessels: But the Directory do not desire it: we have not yet been sufficiently "fleeched" and "chastised."
Mr. Skipwith's letter of the 4th of August inclosed the Decree of the Executive Directory already noticed, passed the 31st of July, respecting French depredations in the West-Indies and on the coast of the United States. His letter of the 8th of August inclosed Mr. Talleyrand's letter to him of the 6th, respecting that decree in which it is plain that the minister supposed the world, and particularly the United States, will be amused by that illusory device, and imagine that it was intended to stop abuses, and give security to neutral commerce.
Mr. Skipwith's letter of the 22d of August covers another letter from Mr. Talleyrand, dated the 20th of August, in which he en-
closet copies of two letters from the Minister of Marine respecting American seamen who had been imprisoned. When in July last an embargo was laid on the American merchant vessels in the ports of France, the agents of the Marine took out their crews and threw them into prison; thus hazarding the loss of the vessels, and injuring the men by confinement and the bad provisions of their jails. These seamen were ordered to be released. The other letter from the Minister of Marine required that no injury should be done to the safety and liberty of the officers and crews of American vessels found to be in order, nor to passengers and other citizens of the United States having passports and protections.
The same letter from Mr. Skipwith inclosed the copy of a Decree of the Directory passed the 16th of August, for taking off the embargo, laid a month before on American vessels.
The Decree itself occupies but two lines: but its preamble is extended for the purpose of insulting the Government of the United States, when an act of common justice was done to some of their citizens; by insinuating that the Government was "abandoned to the passions of the British Cabinet." This, however, is but the repetition of a calumny familiar in French diplomacy, respecting other nations as well as our own. Barras, President of the Directory, in his valedictory address to Mr. Monroe, declared that "France would not abase herself by calculating the consequences of the condescension of the American government," to the suggestions of her former tyrants: professing at the same time great "esteem for the American people." Mr. Adet had before charged the American Government, with a "perfidious condescension to the English;" and after making his last communications to the Government, he by their immediate publication under his orders, appealed from the Government to the People of the United States. Yet Mr. Talleyrand says, that the French Government has indeed "complained of the American government, but to the Government itself;" meaning to have it understood, though carefully avoiding the expression, that it had complained to the Government alone. With the like sophistry he attempts to evade our well founded allegations, that the French Government has made reproachful and injurious distinctions between the Government and People of the United States, endeavoring to separate the latter from the former. He says "it is utterly false, notwithstanding the public and private insinuations which have been made in private writings and in solemn acts, that the French government has ever sought to detach the people of the United States from the Constitution they have given themselves." Such a charge against the French government has not, that I know, ever been made by the American government: but we have accused them, and truly, with endeavors to detach the People of the United States from the Government chosen by themselves to administer that Constitution: and this the minister does not attempt to deny. The Directory would perhaps be contented that the People should retain the forms of "the Constitution they have given themselves," and to which they are attached, provided they would elect to administer it, men devoted to France and ready to obey the intimations of her will. And because the People have not been thus obsequious, but have dared to make a different Election, the French Government has expressed its "terrible" resentment. Mr. Barlow has assured us, in the passage already cited from his letter, that for this single act of the People of the United States, in exercising freely their right of election the Directory passed a decree "which was meant to be little short of a declaration of war;" by which it was determined to fleece the people of their property: "certainly in expectation that by touching their feelings in that "nerve," they would be induced, in order to save their property, to submit implicitly to the government of France. Failing in this attempt the French government made another, in the decree of the 18th of January, 1798, which, though general in its terms, I have shown to have been levelled directly and chiefly at the commerce of the United States. And this, at the time, (as I have before remarked) when three envoys extraordinary were waiting month after month; and most respectfully soliciting to be heard, and to enter on the discussion of all the subjects of difference between the two countries; and among these, on the French depredations on our commerce. Yet Mr. Talleyrand has the confidence to assert, and to Mr. Gerry too, one of those envoys, that the French government "never refused and never will refuse to enter into discussion upon every proper subject of discussion. Does the minister mean that those depredations are not "a proper subject of discussion?" Yes, with respect to a vast proportion of them. Mr. Y. his private agent, explicitly told our envoys, that the condemnations of vessels for want of the role d'equipage were not to be questioned; "that being a point on which Merlin while Minister of Justice had written a Treatise, and on which the Directory were decided."
It is fit here to recollect another and a peremptory refusal of the French government, "to enter into discussion" upon the subject of difference between France and the United States. General Pinckney, appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic, went to Paris in the autumn of 1796. There was at first (as in the case of the Envoys Extraordinary in 1797) a show of receiving him: but soon the scene was changed; and he was not only refused a hearing, and after bearing a thousand indignities, ordered to leave France; but the predecessor
of Mr. Talleyrand, Charles De La Croix, in a letter to Mr. Monroe, intended to be communicated to General Pinckney, declared, (being specially charged to do so by the Directory, and Mr. De La Croix repeated the declaration to General Pinckney's Secretary) "That it will not acknowledge nor receive another Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States, until after the redress of the grievances demanded of the American government, and which the French Republic has a right to expect from it." To this resolution we have seen the Directory adhere; and we have also seen, in the demands it made to our Envoys Extraordinary, as the indispensable preliminaries to any negotiation, what it meant by a "redress of grievances," prior to the reception of a Minister from America: it consisted in a douceur for the pocket of the Directors and Ministers—in the purchase at par of thirty-two millions of Dutch Securities, then worth but half that sum; and in Loans as immense and indefinite as their depredations on our commerce.
The same letter from the French minister De La Croix to Mr. Monroe, affords another proof of the aim and endeavours of the French Government to separate the People from the Government of the United States. In the sentence next following the above quoted passage, Mr. De La Croix lays, "I pray you to be persuaded, citizen minister, that this determination having become necessary, allows to subsist between the French Republic and the American People the affection founded upon former benefits and reciprocal interests."
If I were to allow myself to make any further reflections on the conduct of France towards the United States, it would be to illustrate the truth of Mr. Barlow's assertion, That the French Government determined to fleece us. If the French Government "listened (as Mr. Talleyrand says it does) to nothing but justice," and really desired a reconciliation, it would have proposed to us some measure of satisfaction, for the injuries it said it had received. Or if too proud to propose to us, at least it would have prescribed to itself, some limit to reprisals: or at any rate, it would not have spurned us from its presence, when we respectfully presented ourselves, sought a reconciliation, and offered to make a just satisfaction for every injury we had committed. And if (as Mr. Talleyrand) asserts "the French government has not ceased to offer the exact justice it demands," it would also have permitted us to state our claims. But it would have been so easy to ascertain all the damages we had done; and their amount would have been so small; even if we agreed to pay for all English, Spanish and Dutch vessels brought by French cruisers, into our ports, while all those nations were at war with France—a few of which the justice of the Federal courts, in vindication of the sovereignty of the United States, rescued from the hands of the French consuls, Agents and Privateersmen; and to that amount we also added ten times the value of the miserable corvette Le Cassius , a vessel which had been unlawfully fitted out for war in the United States, but which has been the burden of every note from Adet's in 1795, to De La Croix's and Talleyrand's in 1796 and 1798, the amount of the whole, it was known, would be so small; the French government did not choose to have it ascertained: for then the injuries done by the French to the commerce of the United States must also have been examined and adjusted: and when adjusted, payment must have been made or stipulated: but in this, the French government, doubtless thought "it would find only a real disadvantage:" the amount of its own demands deducted from those of America, would hardly seem to have diminished the latter.
Such a mutual adjustment would also have been accompanied with a settlement of all questions and disputes about the construction of treaties, and all other subjects of difference: But in this also the French government, upon its own system, "would have found a real disadvantage" For it would have vastly reduced the field for privateering in the European seas; and in the West-Indies it would have been nearly annihilated: for there, for every vessel taken from the enemies of France, her cruisers have probably captured twenty belonging to the United States. But the French government by always abstaining from making specific demands of damages—by refusing to receive our ministers—at length proposing to negotiate in a mode which it knew to be impracticable,—with the person who had no powers, and who therefore constantly refused to negotiate—and thus wholly avoiding a negotiation—it has kept open the field for complaints of wrongs and injuries, in order, by leaving them undefined to furnish pretences for unlimited depredations. In this way "it determined to fleece us." In this way it gratified its avarice and revenge—And it hoped also to satiate its ambition. After a long series of insults unresisted, and a patient endurance of injuries aggravated in their nature and unexampled in their extent—that government expected our final submission to its will. Our resistance has excited its surprise; and as certainly increased its resentment. With some soothing expressions, is heard the voice of wounded pride. Warmly professing its desire of reconciliation, it gives no evidence of its sincerity; but proofs in abundance demonstrate that it is not sincere. From standing erect, and in that commanding atti-
tude requiring implicit obedience,—cowering, it renounces some of its unfounded demands. But I hope we shall remember "that the Tyger crouches before he leaps upon his prey."
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
Department of State, January 18, 1799.
An elegant Chariot, With plated Harness. For SALE at the Merchant's Coffee House, On Saturday next, at 10 o'clock. FOOTMAN & CO. jan. 23 dat
MADEIRA WINE FOR SALE, At the late dwelling-house of HENRY HILL, Esq. On Tuesday morning next, precisely at 11 o'clock. FOOTMAN & CO. Approved endorsed notes, at 60 days, will be received in payment. jan. 23 dtu
SAMUEL PARKER, BRASS AND BELL FOUNDER, No. 137, MULBERRY-STREET. CONTINUES to carry on the Brass-founding Business as usual, where his former customers and the public may be supplied with castings for machines to any pattern, rudder braces, bolts, &c. for ships. It may be proper to add, that, as it has been reported he had declined the business, S. P. takes this means of informing the public that he is making arrangements to carry it on still more extensively, hoping thereby to comply promptly with such orders as he may have to execute. Bells, of any size, cast for churches and other institutions; printers rules, &c. jan. 23 e3t
THE Creditors of Britton and Massey, who obtained judgments against them at March term, 1798, or any preceding term, are requested to meet at William Ogden's tavern, in Chestnut street, on Thursday evening next, the 24th instant, on business of importance. jan. 23 dzt
WILL BE SOLD, On Thursday morning next, at 10 o'clock, on the lot adjoining the City Tavern, between Second and Dock streets, A Quantity of Lumber, Among which are Doors and door-cases Window frames, shutters and sashes Girders, scantling and joyst Rafters, collar beams and roofs Wall-scotching, bream work, boards, &c. CONNELLY & Co. Auctioners
Henry Zantinger, SURVIVING PARTNER OF THE HOUSE OF Keppele & Zantinger, Will dispose of all their Stock in Trade, upon moderate terms, consisting of the following articles, in packages and open, Bread and narrow Cloths Sewing Silks, Twist Cassimeres, Swansdowns Gingham Bengal Stripes Plains Beverets Beaver Gloves and Bindings Coatings, Elastic Cloths inge Flannels, Swankins Coloured and Scotch Baizes Threads Ref. Blankets in Bales, Men's and Women's Cot. Striped do. Hose Thickets, Velvets, Corduroys Do. do. Silk do. Fancy Cords, Vest Coating Men's Beaver Hats Jeans, Puffians, Nankeens Barlow and other Penknives Cott. Bandanoes Romall Knives and Forks, Butcher's Linen and Cotton pocket Handkerchiefs Pulate and other ditto Scissars, Shears, Razors Silk Hdkfs. Ferrers Ivory, horn, and other Olive, purple and chintz Combs Shawls Needles, Spectacles, and Apron Checks Spoons. Calicoes and in Chintzes Trunks Chimble, Curry Combs Furraires &c. &c. Cambies, Calimacoos N. B. A large assortment of Pearl, Steel and Durants L. Spinning & other Stuffs other Buttons. jan. 22 dzt
The Creditors Of the late JAMES WILSON, Esq. are requested to meet at the City Tavern, at 6 o'clock in the evening of Thursday next, the 24th inst. on business of importance. Jan. 22 dzt
For Savannah, To sail the first opening, The well accommodated and fast sailing SHIP SWIFT PACKET, PATRICK GRIBBIN, Master, Now lying at Latimer's wharf.—For Freight or Passage apply to the master on board, or N. & J. FRAZIER, No. 95, South Front Street. January 22. drw
40 Boxes of Fresh Citron Just arrived via New-York, and for Sale by JOHN CRAIG, Who has also for Sale, Old Madeira Wine of the first quality, India Mullins, coarse and fine, &c. A quantity of the best English large leaf Clover Seed. jan. 21. drw
TO BE SOLD, A two story Stone House, LATELY built, with two acres of land, on the Bristol road, about a mile above Frankfort. The situation is high and healthy, and the water excellent.—For terms apply to Mr. John McClelland, or Mr. Richard Whitehead, No. 62, Vine-street. Jan. 21. dsw