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MUSES’ RETREAT.
——<C>o£ 0<
M *
7HE JACK DAIV.
There is a bird who by his coat,
pAnd by the hoarfends of his note,
Might be fuppos’d a crow;
A great frequenter of the church,
Where, bishop-like, he finds a perch,
Ek And dormitory tod.
Above the ftccplc fliincs a plate,
‘.That turns, and turns, to indicate
5■ r From what point blows the weather ;
Look up—your brains begin to fvvjm,
‘Tis in the clouds—that plcafes him*
f • He choofts it the rather.
Fond of the speculative height,
* Thither he wings his airy flight,
e And thence securely fees
| The buflle and the rarte-fliow,
: That occupy mankind below,
Secure and at his case.
Yon think no doubt he fits and mufti
On future broken hones and bruiits,
If he fliould chance to fall,
3n to, not a Angle thought like that
Employs his philosophic pate,
Or troubles it at all.
He fees that this great roundabout,
The world, with all its motley rout,
Church, army, physic, law,
Its cufloins and its bus’nefles
Are no concern at all of his,
And fays, what fays he ? Caw.
Thrice happy bird ! 1 too have seen,
Eluch of the vanities of men,
And, lick of having feen’em,
Would chcarfully these limbs relign
For fuel) a pair of wings as thine,
And such ahead between ’em.
THE CORRESPONDENCE
Between citizen GENET, mimihr of
the French republic to the United
States of North America, and the
OFFICERS of the FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT.
f l-OHtinueJ/rom our paper of IVeiurfiay If ]
Letters from the mtntjier of the Enrich
republic.
Philadelphia, May 23, 1793,
2 I year of the French icpublic
Citizen Genet, minijkrp'enipot ntia/y oj
the French republic, to mr. Jejjnfn
fecre/qrj/ of Jiate of the L nitea M/e>.
Alone against the innumerable l a us
of tyrants and Oaves, who threaten to
crulh her infant liberty, the French
ration might jufily calf on the United
S’a.es to di(charge the obligations un
pofed on them by the treaties they hate
contracted wi.h her, and wilier fit
has sealed with her blood ; but funny
relying on her great refoiurces, on the
power of her principles* not left formi
liable to her enemies than the vi£lori< us
arms with which (he opposes tltcii
fury, (lie has, at the very time when
emiifaries from our common enemies
were ineffectually driving to repress
the emotions of gratitude in your ft 1
low-citizens, to compose the efjvr
vefcence of their zeal, and to draw the
Curtain of darknels before their-eyes,
this generous nation, I fay, this faith
ful friend, at such a time, in such cir
cumftances, has been labouring to for
ward their prosperity and to add to
their happiness, w hich lhe ever con
templates with pleasure and fatisfac
lion.
1 he obflacles raised to your welfatt
with intentions deftru£tive to liberty,
by the perfidious minilters of despotism,
obflacles w hose iniquitous design w-as
to oppose the progress of the Ameri
can trade, and to check the propaga
tion of humane and beneficent max
ims.are now removed.
The French republic conficlerip|
the Americans in the light of brothers,
has opened to them by the enclofa
decree, all her ports in the old and new
world; has granted, them the privi
leges enjoyed by her own citizens in
rdl her vast pofleffions; has invited
them to partake of the benefits of her
T. •. igation, by granting to their veflels
the fame rights as to her own, and has
given it in charge to me to propose to
your government to c mfecrate by a
true tamily compact, by a national
covenant, the liberal and fraternal basis
on which it wishes to eltablifh the com
mercial and political system of two peo
ple, whose interelfs arc inseparably
connected.
1 am inverted, fir, with the powers
uecefTary for entering into this impor
tant negotiation, of which the lamen
table a mals of previous to
the glorious a: a which now draws up
on the world, affrtrd no example.
Accept my refpedls,
GENET.
Decree of the national convention of the
l .)th February, 1793, 2 d year of the
Fiencb republic, re. at ve to commodities
exported or imported bf American vrj
f : U, from or to the colonies, or Jrovt
or to France.
The national convention, after hav
ing heard the report of its committee
of general defence, decrees what fol
lows :
Article iff. All the ports of the
.French colonies are open tu the velfels
of the United Spates.
2d. All commodities exported or
imported by the Am rican veil Ms,’ (hall
pay at their going out of, or at their
entrance into the colonies, 01 France,
only the fame duties as are levied on
those which are carried in French ves
sels.
3d, The executive council isantho
rie. and to adopt all proper measures to
hinder the Hates with which the repub
lic is at war from profiting by the ad
vantages granted to a friendly power
4th. The executive council (lull
negotiate with the congress .0} the
U uted S ates, to obtain in favour ol
F cnch traders a reduction of duties
ji ndar to -hat which is granted by the
prt f.nt law to American traders, ami
tint's to Hrengthcti the bonds of bent vo
le r e which unite the two nations.
sh. The nafi ual cdnvefui n fuf
pen.is the execution ot the law of the
2s h of Angart. 1790 ; decrees, that all
veil’ Is laden with niewhandiz from the
Ealt Indies,may unload inaM'he pons f
the republic during the continuance of
ihe war, and that u if Is cartying only
commodities tr> m tlv isl-ts of France
and B lurbon, (hail in future enjoy the
fame liberty.
Compared with the original by us,
the president and fecretartes ot the na
tional convention, ar Paris, this 2tit
of February, 1793, the 2-tyearof tile
Freach republic.
(Signed)
BRE AK Desi ‘ent.
CAN’ B \CERI S,
PR 1 EUR, de la Marine,
LE lOINTE PUYRAVEAU,
E LAMAKQjJE, and
P. CHOUDI EU, fccretaries.
In the name ol the republic, the
executive provitional council ti-join's
a ul orders a:l he adminirtrative bodies
and tribunals to cause the piefent law
to be inserted in their regirters, read,
published, fixed up, and executed in
their several departments and jurisdic
tions. In teflimony whereof we have
hereunto affixed t or fig: attire and the
seal of the republic. A’ Paris, the
21 rt dav of the month of February ,
one thousand fcven hundred and ninety -
three; the second year of the F.eneh
republic.
(S gned) I E BRUN.
(Counter signed) GAR AT.
Certified to be conformable to the
original.
CARAT.
At Paris, from the national print
ing office of the Louvre, 1793.
, Certified to be true and conlujmable
to the deciee of the national conven
tion.
GENET.
The national conventi< n has sus
pended the law of the 15th of May,
1791, which deprived the Americans
ot the privilege of intr< ducirg, felting,
and arming their vdTelsin France, and
excluding them fn m the enjoyment of
all the advantages granted to those built
in the dockyaids of the republic.
Certified to be true and conformable
to the decree of the national conven
tion.
GENET.
New York, September 30, 1793.
2d year of the French republic.
Citizen G net, mmjler pin'pet, ntiary of
the French republic, to mr. Jeff rfn,
secretary oj Jiati of the United Slates.
Sir,
I am directed to communicate to
you anew. decree of the national con
vention, parted the 20th of March, re
lative to the commerce of the United
Mates with our colonies. You will
find in it, fir, frtrti proofs of the at
tachment which France bears to the
Americans, aid of the interest ihe
takes in their pr< fperity. After h. ving
confirmed, by the preceding decree, to
theii European commerce, every ad
vantage they could vviih during the
present war, lhe has ertabliihed for
them, by this, the openii g of the ports
of her colonies for the consumption of
all the productions of their foil, and
heir iudultry, tor the importation into
the United States of part of her fugats,
and her ct ffee, and for the exportation
of every kind of colonial production
to the ports of F ance, < n the fame
footing with the French ihemfcives.
This law, conrtruCtive of that of the.
9-h of February, appears such tone:
that I cannot conceiv e the United States j
could widi a more favourable one. I .
have been also charged to direCt all the j
consuls and either agents ot the French j
repub'ic, to attend to the equipments |
which may take place in the different;
ports of the United States for the
French colonies, and to prevent at y
violation of the regulations of the iff
and 3d articles of the endofed decree ;!
and i have eve y reason to believe that
the federal government will cheerfully,
and without delay, take the needfary
Heps that the directions which 1 am
about to give on this head lhall meat j
wuh no difficulty on their part.
‘ Hitherto, fir, the greuteft part of
my correspondence has only presented
you with details diltrefliug-tor a phiio
iopher- The declaration of war* uc
cafioned by tyranny against Fiance and
freedom, has only allowed me to fp-ak
to you of the military points fixed be
tween our nations by the alliance
which unites them ; but I this day
find areal pleasure in-engaging you; at
tention in details more confidatory, in
details w hich .cannot fail of being to
ymr the mortinterefimg, since they have
no other objtCf than the peaceable pur
luits ot man ar, asocial being, of man
on whom philofi phy is delighttq to;
fallen her attention. Urged by the.
convulsions which occalion the eftqb !
lifhment within itfe-lf of a Conflitu-j
tion which annihilates every privilege,!
which ftifles every ptcjudice, fuirt und- j
td by all the force which tyranny and!
ianaticilm can coiled against her lom,
every part of Europe, France, present j
ing in one hand the shield ot liberty,
and in the other the thundeibclt of
war, already maiks out by her ir.fpira !
tion those extensive enterpiizi s whii h,|
on the return of peace, will fix, in their:
execution, the happiness of the Ftenth;
and of their allies, and prepare a re •
generation for the inhabitanit's of the!
whole earth ! Among these views her!
firfi attention has beer, fixed! upon the
commercial ties ot the republic with
ether nations. The national conven
tion has felt the immense fa ti.-fa£licn
which enables them to enjoy the spec
tacle of that efiabiifhment which, in*
annihilating dirtances, unitels, at the
fame spot, the productions aril the en
joyments of every climate, ajndwhich,
by count£tir>g the human race featured
over tlie earth, should collect them in |
to one family only, confian'tly excited
by the interchange which th Mr mutual
wants occaficn. She has seen with!
grief ever) people gri an mg u nder a tr -
mercial regulations,asabfuul as they are
tyrannical, every where the victims of
errors and greedy exc£) ions ; flit has
!cen them w uh pain, after ha virg over
come Teas, mountains, dttarts, and
every barrier which nature aj ‘peared to
have placed between them, checked,
in the moment when their efforts we:
to be crown d* with success, by rub
and ministerial regulations which, i n
peding their genius, puts more in.fur
mountable bars to their intercotirf
dun those even which nature-appears
to have created. France, fi , perceiv
ing the period when all nations wdi b
freed from th.fe ‘obrtaclej, views the
trument when every one, governed by
the fame law's, led by ’he fame interelß
and Fading freely their activity over
the face of the earth, find on it no
other commercial guide .than their
own genius ; (he'has fixed her atten
tion upon that happy period, and lit
has determined to acce!era:eit; per
luaded that the firtelt means to attain
this end was to hold up the exam leof
two people enj lying every adva. teg
of a perfectly free communication, ihe
has turned her eyes to the Americans,
a people governed like her MU w ith ut
a king, and whose coralituti n.il p m
ciples refcmhle her own, a people
whose enlightened minds have, fits
her own, lltfi *d, or are ready to Hide,
all the prepoif- (lions of ignorance ; a
peopl , finally, whose genius-ft uggej
like her own wish the obtfacEs’ w inch
cor-rupt court fyftetns oppose to their
com vsertial a&tvity ; such a people ap
pear to her th >fe whom she ought io
connect herfelf with, to a'am the
’.great end lhe meditates; Fit with this
j people has determined to cm,chi le
;4 new treaty, which, founded upon the •
| unchangeable principles of nature,
j may, Uy becom ng an o’ jec’t of
{envy to other nation-, invite ihem 0
| participate in it, and may fetve as a
mo Ito all those who in future form
compact met ween themselves. Indeed
of the mutual interells of theconrrafl
j ing nations, she has only seen in th:
treaties hitherto ma'e a combination
, formed upon an ififatiable and ignorant
fyltem of taxation, deceitful-calcula
tions by interested individuals, and
refinements upon a fyltem equally re
pugnant to xeafon, justice and found
p they. It is in the viciousness of these
regulations that lhe d.fcovers the in-
Hability of every treaty hithdrto mads
ibetween governmertts, and rtne n
jif ant cat He ci their violation. France
therefore wiihes now with America,
not a treaty —the very name imports a
nullity—but a compact agreed to by
both, and tiie duration of which (hall
j depend for its support, not on a tem
jporary imereit, nor the underHandt g
I between two cabinets, but on the real
and fetd cl inereff of the t w > people.
It is with this view that the national
convention has called for a report on
; the commercial regulations eftabilrtied
jbetween the two nations since the
Itreaiies made under our lad g ivern
|ment. It has resulted from this re-
| fearch, that our connexions hive been
j very {lender indeed ; that the maximum
of annual American importations, ir.'o
French ports, has never extended
jto eleven millions, that their exporta
tions were scarcely two millions and a
half, and that the eight millions for
! plus pail in fpeeie, had no other de (fi
liation than to go in support of the
‘>Engli(h tr.anufaftorics. France has
; seen, that since lhe has carted from ali
j parts for the introduction of provifiohs
, into her teriitories, America has hard
i !y fun.idled the sixteenth part of the
corn and giain v. h : ch have been intro
duced there, and that fifteen-fixteenlhs
have been carried there by f. reign ra
tions, and even by those whose go-
j
| vernnicntshave forced them into a war
jwith her! They have seen with regret
I in this account, that after having confi*
| derably reduced the duty imposed upon
; your tobacco, that after hiving
i mitted your fiili and oil (which ob'.ig
;us to keep up premiums on our diva
establishments for the cod and whale
fifh; ry) we do not enj’ y with you an)’
ifort ol favour for our exportations < r
importations, and that after having
taken t if the duty on the freight bv
your vt fills, you have itcpofed up ca
ours a molt exorbitant rate of ton
nage.
[To be continued.^