French minister. In the interim, the Petit Democrat departed from this harbour without any augmentation of her military equipments, so far as my knowledge extends. The Carmagnole still remains here, and it seems is the vessel to which my letter of the 15th instant refers. I now transmit a second letter which I have written to the French minister on this subject and his answer, and have only to request to be informed whether any farther interference on my part is expected. As I shall in a short time set out for Albany, to attend the meeting of our legislature, I take this opportunity of apprizing you of it, in order, that if any arrangements are thought necessary, which may require my personal attention, they may be concerted before my departure, as it is uncertain whether I shall return to this city before spring. I am, with sentiments of the highest respect, &c. GO: CLINTON. Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republick of France with the United States, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New-York, Nov. 25, 1793, 2d year of the Republick of France. SIR, I ASK your pardon, if my despatches precipitate themselves with so much rapidity on you; but events announce themselves in such a manner, daily, that I am scarcely able to trace and notify them to you. My preceding despatches have presented to you complaints on the workings of the new emigrants, who inundate your continent. I have assayed to unmask to you the profound and double intrigues; I have notified you of their insults to the French agents, and the personal dangers which these agents are daily exposed to, surrounded by these furies. At present, I have to inform you of facts, well characterized; and if I do not obtain justice, I shall at least have done my duty, and my heart and my country will have nothing to reproach me. It is announced to me, from Baltimore, that 200 colonists are embarking, in the Chesapeake, for Jeremie. The Philadelphia counter-revolutionary presses advertise, that two vessels are about taking passengers for the Mole. Thus, sir, it is no longer the good offices of an ally, that France has occasion to claim of the federal government-It is not to aid in our destruction, that I have to conjure you-It is to intreat you, not to conspire in the loss of a colony, which you ought to defend, that my afflicting duty is confined to. In a vessel belonging to Mr. Zachariah Copmann. † One is the ship Delaware, Captain James Art, fitted out by James Shoemaker. The other is the Galliot Betsey Hannah, captain Donanchan, fitted out by Messieurs Reed and Soder. With whatever fury they have obstinately persisted to paint me, in libels, which I despise, as an enemy of the American people, and of their government, and as aspiring to involve you in the war, you know, sir, with what moderation I have reminded you of the obligations which were imposed on you. In that also I have a clear conscience, of having been influenced, neither by our successes, nor our misfortunes. I have only ceded to provisory acts, which, concealing a manifest contradiction under an apparent modesty, avow the inability to defend us, and usurp, at the same time, the right to let us be attacked. I have in my possession the proofs of a conspiracy, which broke out in September last, for the surrender of the Mole; and the original papers enclosed prove, that it was concerted in first days of 1793, and signed then with names which were not unmasked till 7th September last. The conspirators, adroitly concealed, were urging claims on the Republick, at the moment they were treating with the English minister, to the end, that by this double intrigue, they might overthrow the true friends of the French, and conduct to its end their shameful plot. These partial threads, which discover themselves now, were only accessary portions of the conspiracy of a great traitor, celebrated in the last year, now crushed under remorse, and the contempt of the world. The French people, Sir, have baffled all these intrigues, and if ulterior proofs were wanting of their wisdom, of their firm determination to be free, and of the sta bility of their government, you would find them in the glorious struggle of the present campaign. Therein, amidst great reverses, signal victories, and atrocious conspiracies, the colossus of the French people raises itself majestically, and makes their enemies tremble. These then are the friends, under whose wing America will brave the despots who divide their hatred between her and us. Those are the friends, who, among the general measures of rigour, which circumstances force from them, do not cease a moment to remember you, to except you from them. The demands, which I make of you in their name, sir, are confined to this, that you will not suffer poignards, for their assassination, to be forged in your territory. I pray you, in consequence, sir, to represent to the President of the United States, 1st. That the personal safety of our consuls is threatened, at Charleston and at Baltimore, and that little activity is employed for their protection. 2d. That 200 colonial emigrants are embarking at Baltimore, and are perhaps departed to join the traitors of Jeremie-That two other vessels, armed, doubtless, by our enemies, are advertised at Philadelphia, in the counter-revolutionary gazettes, to carry passengers of the same stamp to the Mole, Saint Nicholas. That I know also, of my certain knowledge, that American vessels have, for some time, carried provisions and war stores to these two rebel places; and, in fine, that the emissaries of men, with whom some of your ministers associate, have gone to this island, which has been a long time the prey of a thousand artful conspiracies, there to negotiate insurrections, and the ruin of the commercial interests of my country; that it is on your territory, that all this is doing; that it is in your country, in fine, that exists the centre of the intriguing desolations of our ultramarine possessions. I request you, sir, to obtain a definitive answer, from the supreme head of the federal government, on these two objects, in order that I may, by the first opportunity, inform the French government of the steps I have taken in this respect, and of their effect. I shall moreover take the liberty to propose to you a measure, which I cannot adopt, but with your authority, and which would obviate the subterfuges of traitors, and the coercive means which you may not possess. It is, to give orders to the armed vessels of the Republick, to stop every American vessel destined for the island of Saint Domingo, which shall not have a passport signed by me. Thus I shall prevent the introduction of enemies, which may escape your vigilance, and we shall guard your citizens from seductions and dangers. I beg of you to make known to me the intention of the President on this proposition. Accept my respect, GENET. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of France. Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 1793. SIR, I HAVE laid before the President of the United States your letter of Nov. 25, and have now the honour to inform you, that most of its objects, being beyond the powers of the executive, they can only manifest their dispositions by acting on those which are within their powers. Instructions are accordingly sent to the district attorneys of the United States, residing within states wherein French consuls are established, requiring them to inform the consuls of the nature of the provisions made by the laws, for preventing, as well as punishing, injuries to their persons, and to advise and assist them in calling these provisions into activity, whenever the occasions for them shall arise. It is not permitted, by the law, to prohibit the departure of the emigrants to St. Domingo, according to the wish you now express, any more than it was to force them away, according to that expressed by you in a former letter. Our country is open to all men, to come and go peaceably, when they choose; and your letter does not mention that these emigrants meant to depart armed and equipped for war. Lest, however, this should be attempted, the governours of the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland are requested to have particular attention paid to the vessels named in your letter, and to see that no military expedition be covered or permitted under colour of the right which the passengers have to depart from these states. Provisions not being classed among the articles of contraband, in time of war, it is possible that American vessels may have carried them to the ports of Jeremie and La Mole, as they do to other dominions of the belligerent powers; but if they have carried arms also, these, as being contraband, might certainly have been stopped and confiscated. In the letter of May 15, to Mr. Ternant, I mentioned, that in answer to the complaints of the British minister, against the exportation of arms from the United States, it had been observed, that the manufacture of arms was the occupation and livelihood of some of our citizens; that it ought not to be expected, that a war among other nations should produce such an internal derangement of the occupations of a nation at peace, as the suppression of a manufacture, which is the support of some of its citizens; but that if they should export these arms to nations at war, they would be abandoned to the seizure and confiscation, which the law of nations authorized to be made of them on the high seas. This letter was handed to you, and you were pleased, in yours of May 27, expressly to approve of the answer which had been given. On this occasion, therefore, we have only to declare, that the same conduct will be observed, which was announced on that. The proposition, to permit all our vessels, destined for any port in the French West India islands, to be stopped, unless furnished with passports from yourself, is so far beyond the powers of the executive, that it will be unnecessary to enumerate the objections to which it would be liable. I have the honour to be, &c. TH. JEFFERSON. Mr. Falconer, Master Warden of the port of Philadelphia, to his Excellency Thomas Mifflin, Governour of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Warden's Office, Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1793. SIR, IN obedience to your excellency's letter of this morning, I have seen Mr. Jacob Shoemaker, one of the owners of the ship Delaware; he informed me, that they intend their ship for cape Nichola Mole, and expected to take a number of passengers, if they offered; but they assure me, only one person has, as yet, engaged his passage in the ship Delaware; I have requested of Mr. Shoemaker and captain Art, that whatever Frenchmen may engage their passages, that they will bring them to me, in order to declare the object of their voyage. I have also been with the owners of the goillette Betsey, who are Reed and Ford; who inform, that she is not bound to Jeremie nor the Mole, but chartered by a French gentleman for Guadaloupe, to go there in order to bring off his property; some passengers are going in her for that island. You may rest assured, I will pay every attention to those vessels; and if I can discover any thing like armament, I shall give your excellency immediate notice of it. I am, &c. NATHANIEL FALCONER, Master Warden of the port of Philadelphia. Department of State, to wit: I HEREBY certify, that the preceding copies and translations, beginning with a letter of May 22, 1793, and ending with one of November 29, 1793, are from originals, or from authentick copies, in the office of the department of state. Given under my hand, this 4th day of December, 1793. TH. JEFFERSON. PAPERS RELATIVE TO GREAT BRITAIN. Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain. Philadelphia, Nov. 29, 1791. SIR, IN recalling your attention to the 7th article of the definitive treaty of peace between the United States of America and his Britannick Majesty, wherein was it stipulated, that "his Britannick Majesty should, with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his armies, garrisons and fleets from the said United States, and from every post, place, and harbour within the same," I need not observe to you that this article still remains in a state of inexecution, nor recapitulate what, on other occasions, has past on this subject. Of all this, I presume you are fully apprized. We consider the friendly movement lately made by the court of London, in sending a minister to reside with us, as a favourable omen of its disposition to cultivate harmony and good will between the two nations, and we are perfectly persuaded that these views will be cordially seconded by yourself in the ministry which you are appointed to exercise between us. Permit me, then, sir, to ask whether you are instructed to give us explanations of the intentions of your court as to the execution of the article above quoted? With respect to the commerce of the two countries, we have supposed that we saw in several instances regulations on the part of your government, which, if reciprocally adopted, would materially injure the interests of both nations. On this subject too, I must beg the favour of you to say, whether you are authorized to conclude, or to negotiate ar |