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AUTHENTIC.
Tranjldtion of a Note from the Miniji’r of
the French Republic , to the Secretary of
State of the United States.
Legation of Philadelphia.
THE undersigned minister plenipoten
tiary of the French republic, now fulfils
to the feerctary of Hate of the United
State*, a painful and sacred duty. He
claim*, in the name of American honor,
in the name of the faith of treaties, the
execution of that contrail which assured
so States their exigence, and ;
regarded as the pledge of
the mod facrcd union between two peo
ple, the freed upon earth : In a word, he
announce* to the secretary of dare the re
solution of a government, terrible to its
enemies, but generous to in allies.
It would havel)een pleating to the on
derfigned minider plenipotentiary, to
tiave only to expref*, on the picfent oc-
Cafion, the attachrhent which his govern
ment bears to the American people, the
trows which it forms for their prosperity,
for their happiness. His heart therefore
i* grieved at the circmnftances which im
pose upon him a different talk. With
fcegfet he finds himfelf compelled to fub
| jftitute the tonfe of reproach for the lan
°f friendlhip. With regret also,
r fiis government has ordered him to take
Vhat tone; but that very frienddiip has
..fendero! it indifpenfibh*. its obligations
.facredflymen, areas sacred to govern
j menu if a friend, offended hy a
friend, can justly complain, the govern
jment of the United States, after the un
.derfigned minider plenipotentiary shall
.have traced the catalogue of grievances
of the French republic, will not be fur
prized to fee the executive directory,
jßinifefting their too just difeontents.
* When Europe rose op again!! the re
public at its birth, menaced it with all the
horrors of war and of famine; when "n
every fide the French coaid not calculate
opon any hut enemies, their though.**
turned towards America; a sweet lenti
ment then mingled itfelf with those proud
which the presence of danger
and the desire of repelling i produced in
their hearts. In America they saw friends.
’Thofe who went to brave tempests and
death on the ocean, forgot all danger, in
.order to the hope of visiting that
American continent where, lor the hilt
time, the French colours had been dis
-1 played in favor of liberty. Urfdcr the
* guarantee of the law of nations, under
> the protecting (hade of a solemn treaty,
- they expeded to find in the ports of the
United States an asylum as sure as at
home, they thought, if I may use the
expreflion, there to find a second country.
The French government thought as they
did. Oh! Hope worthy of faithful peo
ple, hoiw haft thou been deceived ! So far
from offering to the French the fuccours
which friendlhip might have given with
out compromising it, the American go
vernment, in this refpeCt, violated the
letter of treaties.
The 17th article of the frety of amity
and commerce, of 1778, dates, that
French vessels of war, and those of the
United States, aswell as those whith (hall
have been armed for war by individuals
of the two dates, may freely conduft
where tlfty please the prizes they (hall
have made upon their enemies, without
|>eing fubjeCt to any admiralty or other
duty ; without the said vessels, oh enter
ing into the harbors or ports of France,
or of the United States, being liable to
be arrested or seized, or the officers of
those places taking cognizance of the va
lidity of the said prizes; which may de
part and be conducted freely and in full
liberty, to the places expressed in their
commissions, which the captains of the
laid vessels (hall be obliged to (hew; and
that on the contrary, no (helrer or refuge
Dull be given to those who (hall have
made prizes upon the French ot Ameri
cans; and that if they (hould be forced
by stress of weather, or the danger of the
sea, to enter, they (hall be made to de
part as soon as poftible.
In contempt of these stipulations, the
French privateers have been arrested in
the United States, as well as their prizec;
the tribunals have taken cognizance cf
the validity or invalidity of those prizes.
It were vain to feck to juftify these pro
ceedings under the pretext of the right of
vmdfcating the compromitted neutrality
of the United States. The fads about to
be Rated will prove that this pretext has
been the source of (hocking perfections
against the French privateers, and that
die eondnfref the federal government h«s
been but a (cries of violations of the 17th
article wf the treaty of 1778.
Or. the 4th of Aognfi, 1793, a circu
lar letter of the secretary of the treasury
was sent to all the collectors cf the cu
stoms. It accompanied regulations ad
opted'by the president, prohibiting all ar
maments in favor of the belligerent pow
ers. These regulations immediately ac
quired the-force of law, and the agents of
the government and tire tribunals,- con
curred in their execution. They gave
them a retrofpeXive cffeX, and caused to
be seized in the ports of the United States,
the armed veflels and prizes which had
come in prior to that time. But even
before'thefe regulations, adopted by the
president, had established any rule what
ever upon the prohibition of armaments,
the tribunals had already, by order of
the government, aflumrd the cognizance
of prizes made by the French veflels (No.
1.) One of the predecessors of the under
signed protested against this, but in vain.
The tribunals dill continued theit prose
cutions.
On the 3d of f)ec. 1793, the president
a(ked of congress a law confirming the
measures contained in the letter from the
secretary of the treasury, above mention
ed. (No. 2.) This law was passed the
rth June, 1794. What was its result ?
in consequence of this law, the greater
part of the French privateers have been
arrested, as well as their prizes, not upon
formal demolitions, not upon eftabliihed
teftiinony, not upon a neceflary body of
proofs, but upon the Ample information
of the consul of one of the powers at war
with the French republic, frequently up
on that of Tailors of the enemy’s powers,
sometimes according to the orders ot the
governors, but often upon the demand of
the diltriX attornies, who aflert, upon
piinciples avowed by the gpvernment,
(No. 3,) that their conviXion wa9 futfi
cieut to authorife them, without com
plaint or regular information, to cause
the privateers to be prosecuted in virus
of the law above-mentioned, (No. 4.)
When the republic have
afle d jultice of thqHßrnment for the
vexations the privateers,
in contempt of the 17th article of the
treaty, they have never been able to ob
tain fatisf iXion.
Thu?, when on the 9th FruXidor, 3d
/ear, (26 Auguil, 179+,) the predeccf
for of the undersign u, audrefled a com
plaint to the government on this fubjeX,
the secretary of tiatc answered, on the
3I September, 1794, by a phrase indi
cative of delay.
Tims, when the fame minister on the
27th Vendemair, 3I year, (17th OXo
bf-r, 1794,) reminded the secretary of
date of the means he had proposed to
him, for putting an end to the measures
adopted against the French privateers;
when he caused him to fee that this means,
which consist in requiring security from
those who claimed the prizes as illegal,
would prevent the enemies of the repub
lic from inftitutir.g so many suits, of
which they thcmfelves perceived the iu
jullice; he obtained no oilier answer
than that his propofiti.m relative to se
curities was inadmiftible.
When on the 13th Floreal, 3d year,
the fatae minister exprefled himfelf in
these terms, in a letter to the secretary
of date: “You have alledged, fir, that
the executive of the United States can
not interfere in the affairs of which the
tribuxals have taken cognizance. In
admitting this objection tor ail the bu
siness now in suit, I do not the less rhiuk
that your government could, by general
measures, bring back the jutifdiXion of
the American tribunals, concerning pri
zes made by our veflels, within the li
mits preferibed by our treaties, which
make part of the supreme law of the
land : It might make known that the
factliry with which your courts of admi
ralty admit, without diftinXion, all the
chicanery which our 'enemies create a
gainst us, in the present war, is evident
ly contrary to the spirit of the treaty.”
The government paid no attention to
these reflexions, and the answer of the
secretary of date merely notices the par
ticular faX which had occafionfcd the note
of citizen Fauehet.
What was the ondeifigned tr.inifter
plenipotentiary able to obtain in the
affair of the Calfius and of the Ven
geance^ — Nothing.
The government of the United States
mud have seen however, by the trlaims
which the ministers of the republic ad
dressed to it, and by the great number of
facts; of which it has had a knowledge,
how much the execution of the measures
«t the president and of the law of the s:h ,
June, 1794, was to the ij.h
article of the treaty; how much the f£en- j
cy of the tribunals who ought not to have
any cognizance of the validity or inva
lidity of prizes, tended to annul that
article, and to deprive the republic of
the advantage which if allures to her.
In sacs, was it not evident, that when
the powers at war with the republic had
the privilege, in virtue of the law of the
j:h of June, 1794, of causing to be ar
rested the privateers and their prizes,
of detaining them in the posts of the U
nited Stares,*of ruining them by consi
derable costs, by the cxceffi'-e expenses
which they occasioned them, they drew
from that privilege an immenft advan- ,
tn°e, to the detriment of France. Doubt
less it was of little import to them,
that sometimes the privateers obtained*
juflice, in the last refor, if they detained
the privateer for a length of time, and it
they by that means (hdtered from their
pursuit the commerce of the enemy of
France. The neutrality of the United
States in this case was altogether to their
advantage ; and the federal government,
on feeing this (late of things, (hould,
out of refjeft to its neutrality and to
treaties, solicit from the congress the
means of conciliating the duties of the
former, with the obligations of the lat
ter.
The government very well knew how
to solicit the law of the jth of June,
1794, when that law was to b~ar on
France alone—when it gave to the tri
bunals a right which has been abused,
and which enables them to decide upon
prizes; why, on feeing the inconveni
ences of this law, has it not endeavour
ed to remedy them ? Should it wait to
bo solicited on this head? Should it not
anticipate all claims, and when those
were presented by the miniflers cf the
republic, should it not do juflice ?
Bvfides, if the government had been
impartial, as it has pretended to be, it
would not have adopted that flow and
circuitous mode, so favorable to the
enemies of France, for deciding the cases
relative to its neutrality—it would have
preferred the measures proposed by Mr.
JtlForfon, on the 25th of June, 1793, to
the minitter of the re üblic, these mea
sures were Ample, they were in confor
mity with the duties of neutrality and
the ink re As of the republic.
The federal government had decided
queitions which ioterefted its neutrality,
upon informations furnifned by the ftatc
governors, ?ni the agents of the repub
lic; the prizes lemained in the hands of
the French ccnful, until this decision
toolc place—the flipulations of the fe
vrnteenth article of the treaty of 1778,
were not violated—and the government
p.r the fame time fatisfied the obligations
of duty and juflice. In vain would it
fay, that it had not this power. Not
withstanding the law of the jth June
1794, giving to the tribunal the right of
taking cognisance of cases in which neu
trality had been violated, did not the
president on the ztftofjone, 1794, de
cide that the (hip William, taken out of
the limits of the waters of the United
States, (hould be delivered to the cap
tor; and on the 3d July, 1794, did he
not decide that the Pilgrim had been
taken in the waters of the United States, •
and that of course (he (hould be given up
to the owners ? In these cases the presi
dent not only decided en matters, the
cognizance of which had been consigned
to the tribunals, but Irkewife gave a ie
trofpeciive cffeCl to. his own decision
upon the protecting line of the United
States, which was not notified to the
ininifler of the republic, till the Sell of
November, 1794.
Not fatisfied with permitting the 17th
article of the treaty to be violated by its
agents and tribunals, the federal govern
ment also fuffered the Englifli to avail
themselves of advantages interdi&ed to
them by that article. They armed in
the ports of the United Stares, brought
in and repaired their prizes, and in a word,
found in them a certain afyluxn .
Thus the Engliih privateer Trusty,
captain Hall, was armed at Baltimore to
cruize against the French, and failed
notwiihlfanding the complaints of the
consul of the republic. At CharlefloD,
one Bermudian veflel, feveial Engliih
veifels, and one Dutch veflel, from the
24th May to the 6ih June- 1793, took
in cannon for their defence, and failed
without oppefition.
What auFwer did the government give
to the representations of the minifler
of the Fiench republic in this refped ?
, It said that these vrflds failed fofudden
ly, it was not podible to have them ar-
! rested. put the treaty was not the ’ r
violated. Some inhabitants of the
nited Stares had aided in these i]) c „ a 'j
armaments: What meafares were talcen
againfl them? Was any fearcli made to
discover them, to prosecute them?
ver, and yet the government of the Uni.
ted States, no fount r learned ti, at> j ft
consequence of an implied fli.*ulatioa
which the treaty of Vtrfaillcs feemed'to
contain, the French were arming in ths
ports of the United States, that the most
energetic orders were sent for fio,.pj n „
thole armaments. Even citizrrts of the
United States, were imprisoned v.po.i
fefpicion that thev had participated in
them. The minilier cannot ornit citing
here the following pafiage of a letter
from the fecretaiy of hate, Edmund
Randolph, to Mr. Hammond, dated z\
June, 1794. On a fuggedion the ci
tizens oi the Uni ed States, had taken
part in the ad, [he (peaks of the arma
ments in the United States] one who
was def;gnatr.d, was infiantly committed
to prison ior profccutior, one or two ci
thers have been fjnee named end com
mined in like manlier, and fiiculd it ap
pear that there were llili others, no
meafares would be spared to bring them
tojuftice.” What more couid the Ame
rican government do in lavor of the En
glish, if they had a similar treaty to that
with France, and had been foie poffeflbrs
of the advantages allured to her by po
sitive stipulations ?
‘ However in contempt of thefc very
stipulations, the Argonaut, an Englilh
{hipof war, in January, 179?, conduc
ed info Lynuhaven bay, the French cor
vette L’Efi erance, which file had taken
upon the colt; (lie there had her repaired
in order tQ fend her on a erttife. Let
ters were in consequence, written to the
secretary of Hate, to the governor of
Virginia, and to Mr. Hammond. What
was the result ?—Nothing. On the
29th of May 1795, the federal govern
ment had not yet done any tiling posi
tive as to the .;Ci* which produced the
complaint of the minuter of the republic.
The secretary of Fare announced, “ that
these fads lhaiJ be examined, and that
it they are verified, the federal govern
ment w ill not be in the rear of its obli
gations.” To that hris'the reparation de
manded by the republic been limited,
{To be continued.)
NUREMBERG, September 3.
The fad situation this city was for a
long time in is generally known. Her
misfortunes, increased by the present war
and other circumdances, and the inva
fton of the French, to whom we Were not
only obliged to pay a very large sum in
specie, but also to furnith, during 14
days, an enormous quantity of requisiti
ons of all kinds, reduced at lad this city
to such a condition as forced her to give
up every hope of a longer exigence, and
to commit herfelf to the protection of hi#
majefly the king of Prullia, her powerful
neighbour. A treaty of fubmillion and
immunity wa> therefore yelterday con
cluded in the suburb of Goftenhcff be
tween his excellency the baron de Har
denberg and a deputation of the city of
Nuiemberg; alter which the royal Prus
sian troops, under the command of colo
nel Von l.awrens, took immediate pof
feflion of the city. The citizens hope
that under the wife adminidration of his
majesty the king this city will again be
come flouriihing, efpeciallv as the con
ditions of the treaty are favorable and
confolatcry.
FRANCKFORT, September to.
The prince of Naffai? Siegen, who ar
rived at Porldam from Vienna, is Dn his
return to Vienna. It is thought, that
his embafly was to the fame purport with
that oi Mr. Hammond. A general peace
is coniidered as the objeft, and the medi
ation of his Prulfian majesty has been ob
tained tor that purpose.
All the letters from Vienna and Prague,
give intelligence of the continual inarch
of troops, and of new ievies in the here
ditary dates. Ten battalions from Gal
licia have pafifed through Prague. Seven
ty-two co’mitats of Hungary have offered
to raise each 1000 men. In Upper and
Lower Austria, recruits are enrolled with
the fuccefs.
, NEW-YORK, November zi»
Capt. Cobb, of the thip Hazeir, arriv
ed yellerday from Cadiz, which he left
the 9’h Ofl. informs us, that, about the
20th sepc. the Spaniih fleet, confiding of
near forty fail, leit that harbour, and
with the intention, as was supposed, of
joining a French fleet in the Mcditerra-