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of his vessel and her effective burden. The officers of the said customs shall take care that the exportation of sugars and coffee do not exceed the proportions fixed by the 2d article of the present decree.

Article IV. The captains of vessels of the United States of America shall pay, on leaving the islands, in like manner as the vessels of the Republick, only a duty of five livres for a hundred weight of indigo; ten livres for a thousand weight of cotton; five livres for a thousand weight of coffee; five livres for a thousand weight of lump-sugar; and fifty sous for a thousand weight of raw sugar. All other merchandize shall be free of all duty on leaving the said colonies.

Article v. The sugars and coffee that shall be loaded shall pay into the custom-houses, which are or shall be established in the colonies, over and above the duties fixed as aforesaid, those imposed by the law of the 19th of March, 1791, on the sugars and coffee imported from the said colonies into France, and conformably to the same law.

Article vi. The captains of vessels of the United States desiring to take in goods in the said colonies for the ports of France, shall give into the custom-house of the place of their departure, the securities required from the owners of French vessels by the 2d article of the law of the 10th of July, 1791, to ensure the landing of those goods in the ports of the Republick. Article vii. The vessels of those nations with which the French Republick is not at war may import into the French Colonies of America all the articles specified by the present decree; they may also bring back into the ports of the Republick only, all the commodities of the said colonies on the conditions mentioned in the said decree, as also in that of the 19th of February.

Certified to be true and conformable to the decree of the National Convention. GENET.

Bitizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, Sept. 27, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. SIR, I send you the decree passed by the National Convention on the 9th of May, of the present year, relative to the conduct which ought to be observed by the vessels of France towards the vessels of neutral powers. I forward to you, at the same time, that of the 23d of the same month, which I have been charged to communicate to you, and which contains particular regulations in favour of American vessels. Every friend to humanity will doubtless, sir, do justice to the dispositions made by the decree of the 9th of May. By this law, the severest principles of justice towards the neutral parties is reconcileable with the rigorous measures rendered necessary

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by the detestable tyranny exercised over neutral nations by the governments which have forced France into war. In the 5th article the National Convention solemnly manifest a view, the execution of which has been long sought by reason and justice, that of seeing neutral nations enjoy every advantage which their neutrality ought to assure them, even with respect to enemy's goods on board their vessels. The mode of ex pressing this view, and the engagements entered into by the Convention to withdraw those rigorous measures directed by their decree, as soon as the powers with whom they are at war shall have adopted the same disposition, are well calculated to procure the gratitude of neutral nations, to interest them more and more in her success, and to reconcile every people in the universe to the generous principles by which her diplomatick negotiations are directed.

The decree of the 23d of May pronounces in favour of the Americans an exception to the rigorous measures which France has been compelled to adopt, by that of the 9th May, against the vessels of neutral nations. The considerations which determined this decree were, on the one hand, the scrupulous faith with which France is disposed to observe, in its utmost extent, the treaty which unites her with the United States, and on the other, the thorough confidence she has that the Americans will not abuse this privilege by carrying to her enemies those productions by which they ought to assist in the defence of a cause as much their own as hers. She hopes she shall not be deceived in an attempt which in this instance is founded upon the principles and the friendship of her American brethren.

I have been informed that the English government have declared their determination to carry into the English ports all the American vessels laden with provisions for the ports of France. The French Republick expects, sir, that the govern ment of the United States, as well from attachment to her as from regard to its own commerce, and from the dignity it owes itself, will hasten to take the most energetick measures to procure a recall of this decision, which is a consequence well adapted to that diplomatick audacity to which that court has long attempted to subject every other nation. If the measures which you shall take, measures which are in the spirit of our treaty, if not in its letter, are insufficient or fruitless, and that your neutrality, as it has hitherto been,can only be serviceable to the enemies of France, and unfortunate for herself, you will doubtless perceive that she will exercise a very natural right in taking measures to prevent one consequence so injurious to her, and which destroys the effect of the principles upon which the treaties are founded which subsist between her and the United

States. In the mean time I am authorized to announce to you, that the French vessels, which at this moment are masters of the channel, and of the gulf of Gascony, are ordered to protect American vessels bound to France, and to assure their arrival at the ports to which they are destined, so that the American merchants, notwithstanding the tyranny exercised over them by England, may direct, with security, their speculations for our ports, and give proofs of their attachment to us and to the cause of liberty. Accept my respects.

GENET.

Decree directing French armed vessels to carry into the ports of the Republick neutral vessels loaded with provisions and bound to enemies' ports, pronounced in the sitting of the 9th of May, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick.

ART. 1. Ships of war and privateers are authorized to seize and carry into the ports of the republick, merchant vessels which are wholly or in part loaded with provisions, being neutral property, bound to an enemy's port, or having on board merchandise belonging to an enemy.

Art. 11. Merchandise belonging to the enemy is declared a lawful prize, seizable for the profit of the captor. Provisions being neutral property, shall be paid for at the price they would have sold for at the port where they were bound.

Art. 111. On every occasion neutral vessels shall be immediately released the moment the provisions found on board are landed, or the seizure of the merchandise shall be effected. The freight shall be settled at the rate paid by the charterers; a proper compensation shall be granted for the detention of the vessels by the tribunals, who are ready to adjudge the prizes.

Art. iv. These tribunals shall cause to be made out within three days after the judgment has been given, a copy of the manifest of the provisions and goods found on board, to the minister of marine, and another copy to the minister for foreign affairs.

Decree of the 23d of May, which declares that the vessels of the United States are not comprised in the regulations of the decree of the 9th of May.

THE National Convention, after having heard the report of its committee of publick 'safety, desiring to preserve the union established between the French Republick and the United States of America, decrees that the vessels of the United States are not comprised in the regulations of the 9th of May, conformably to the 16th article of the treaty, passed the 16th of February, 1778.

Certified to be true, and conformable to the decrees of the National Convention.

GENET.

Citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Repub. lick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States. New York, November 14, 1793.

SIR,-Having been overwhelmed with business at the mo. ment of my having the honour to transmit you the decree of the National Convention of the 26th of March last, it was im. possible for me to look over the copy I sent, or that of the note with which it was accompanied. I am obliged by your sending back these pieces to me. I have examined and corrected the errours you were struck with, and I hasten to return it to you under the present cover. I have thought proper to add to it the copy of a letter which I have just written to the consuls of the Republick to acquaint them with the new regulations of the National Convention relative to the commerce with the United States, and of the obligations they impose on them. This decree, sir, presents to the Americans inestimable advantages. They can by this law carry to our colonies cargoes, the production of their fisheries, their provisions, of their agriculture, purchase colonial commodities with the sales of their cargoes, and complete their lading with freights which are at this time offered in abundance and at a high rate in all our Islands. I do not think there can be any speculations more lucrative for

them.

This law moreover grants you an advantage which the arret of 1784 had refused you, that of enabling you to import directly into the United States a quantity of sugar and coffee sufficient for your own consumption. This quantity has been estimated by the commercial committee of the National Convention at a fiftieth of the tonnage for the coffee, and at a tenth for the sugar. All these advantages, which there appears a disposition still to increase, if we obtain from the United States a just reciprocity, appear to me highly proper to call for all the attention of the federal government to the fate of our colonies. I beg you to lay before the President of the United States as soon as possible the decree and the enclosed note, and to obtain from him the earliest decision either as to the guarantee I have claimed the fulfilment of for our colonies, or, upon the mode of negotiation of the new treaty I was charged to propose to the United States, and which would make of the two nations but one family. Accept my respect. GENET.

Copy of a Letter from the Secretary of State of the United States, to citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick to the United States. Germantown, November 5,

1793.

SIR,I shall be late in acknowledging the receipt of your several letters written since my departure from Philadelphia, not having received any of them till the 24th ult. and most of

them only the last night. I have already laid some of them be fore the President, and shall lay the others successively before him at as early moments as the pressure of business will admit.

That of September 30th with the decree of the National Convention of March 26th, 1793, on the subject of a treaty of commerce was laid before him yesterday, and will be considered with all the respect and interest which its object necessarily requires. In the mean time, that I may be enabled to present him a faithful translation of the decree, I take the liberty of returning the copy to you with a prayer that you will have it examined by your original, and see whether there is not sonte errour in the latter part of the 2d article, page 2, where the description of the cargo to be re-exported from the Islands is so unusual as to induce me to suspect an errour in the copyist. Having to return the decree for re-examination, I take the liberty of doing the same by the letter covering it, as in the first line of the seventh page the sense appears to me incomplete, and I wish to be able to give it with correctness. I have the honour to be, &c.

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

December 16, 1793.

A MESSAGE was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Dandridge his secretary, who delivered in certain confidential communications respecting the transactions of the government of the United States with Spain, and then withdrew. [These papers, it is believed, were not published.]

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. DECEMBER 16, 1793.

I LAY before you a report of the Secretary of State, on the measures which have been taken on behalf of the United States, for the purpose of obtaining a recognition of our treaty with Morocco, and for the ransom of our citizens, and establishment of peace with Algiers.

While it is proper our citizens should know that subjects, which so much concern their interests and their feelings, have duly engaged the attention of their legislature and executive, it would still be improper that some particulars of this communication should be made known. The confidential conversation stated in one of the last letters sent herewith, is one of these. Both justice and policy require, that the source of that information should remain secret. So a knowledge of the sums meant

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