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it can have been applied to manufactures. Articles of the first necessity and comfort are imported in exchange for provisions and for the raw materials which are the growth of the country, and which its inhabitants are accustomed to raise.

It is at any time extremely difficult, nor is it practicable without great loss, to change suddenly the habits of a whole people, and that course of industry in which their population and their real interests have engaged them. An agricultural cannot suddenly, and at will, become a manufacturing people; the United States cannot instantaneously, on the mere passing of a decree, transfer, to the manufacture of articles heretofore imported, such a portion of their labour as will at the same time furnish a market for the surplus commodities, and a supply for the wants of the cultivator of the soil. It is, therefore, scarcely possible for them to surrender their foreign commerce.

Independent of the right they possess in common with others to search for and choose the best markets, it is believed that the supplies they need could with difficulty, in the actual state of the world, be completely furnished, without the aid of England and its possessions. It is not pretended that France manufactures at present, for foreign consumption, nor do the undersigned suppose that there exists a market where the citizens of the United States can obtain in exchange the articles they need and are accustomed to consume, if those coming out of England and its possessions be entirely excluded. A variety of other considerations, and especially the difficulties individuals must encounter in suddenly breaking old and forming new connections, in forcing all their commerce into channels not yet well explored, in trading without a sufficient capital to countries where they have no credit, combine to render almost impossible an immediate dissolution of commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain.

If then the decree complained of shall be executed on American vessels, it can only increase grievances already but too considerable, and transfer the carriage of English manufactures, for American consumption, from their own to British bottoms, sailing under the protection of a convoy. Instead of wounding England, it will probably aggrandize its marine, by sacrificing the remnant of that of the United States, and by destroying that system of policy by which they have heretofore sought to give their own vessels that portion of their own carrying trade, which would otherwise be enjoyed by British merchants.

You have made some general animadversions on the government of the United States, which the undersigned feel themselves bound briefly to notice.

You have charged that government with giving instructions not in the sincere intention of arriving at pacifick results, and yet the undersigned have offered to change those clauses in the treaty of 1778, which have become inconvenient to France, and to repair any injuries which may have been committed.

You have charged that government with omitting nothing to

prolong and augment the misunderstanding between the two Republicks; but does not the fact, that the undersigned are now in Paris, furnish persuasive evidence to the contrary?

You have charged it with searching to justify, by deceitful appearances, the prejudices with which it surrounds at pleasure the name of the Republick, and the system of exasperation and separation pursued in this respect with the strangest obstinacy. But has not this Republick, in terms the most cordial, been again and again entreated to enter into a candid investigation of the mutual complaints of the two nations? Have not these entreaties been unnoticed, whilst the ministers deputed to make them have remained unaccredited?

You have charged it with wishing to seize the first favourable occasion for consummating an intimate union with a power, towards which a devotion and a partiality are professed which have long constituted the principle of the conduct of the Federal government; but whilst no devotion or partiality has been expressed for any nation except France, have not the United States made, and are they not still making the most extraordinary efforts to restore the broken relations between the two Republicks?

In a letter discussing the important interests of two great nations, the undersigned are unwilling to introduce what relates personally to themselves.

This unwished for task has been rendered a duty, by ascribing to them opinions and relations which exist in imagination only, and by adducing those supposed opinions and relations as proofs of an indisposition, on the part of the government which has deputed them, towards that accommodation which has been sought so unremittingly through all those difficulties and impediments with which the pursuit has been embarrassed.

You are pleased to add, that these intentions are so little disguised," that nothing seems to have been neglected at Philadelphia, to manifest them to every eye. It is probably with this view that it has been judged proper to send to the French Republick, persons whose opinions and relations are too well known to hope from them dispositions sincerly conciliatory."

The opinions and relations of the undersigned are purely American, unmixed with any particle of foreign tint. If they possess a quality on which they pride themselves, it is an attachment to the happiness and welfare of their country; if they could at will select the means of manifesting that attachment, it would be by effecting a sincere and real accommodation between France and the United States, on principles promoting the interests of both, and consistent with the independence of the latter.

It requires no assurance to convince, that every real American must wish sincerely to extricate his country from the ills it suffers, and from the greater ills with which it is threatened; but all who love liberty, must admit that it does not exist in a nation which cannot exercise the right of maintaining its neu

trality. If "opinions and relations," such as these, are incom patible with "dispositions sincerely conciliatory," then indeed has the Federal government chosen unfit instruments for the expression of its pacifick disposition.

You contrast the conduct observed by the United States, under analogous circumstances, towards the cabinet of St. James, with that which is observed towards this Republick. You say, that on that occasion, there was a solicitude to send to London, ministers well known to possess sentiments conformable to the objects of their mission; that the Republick has a right to count upon a similar deference; and that if a like attention has not been observed with respect to it, it is too probable that it must be attributed to the views already indicated.

If, unfortunately, the cases shall exhibit a contrast, it is not to be found in the characters the United States have thought proper to employ, or in the conduct of their government, otherwise than by the superior attention manifested towards this Republick, and never shown to any other nation, in deputing to it, with ample powers, three Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary from the three great divisions of the United States The ministers sent to the Cabinet of St. James greatly deserved the confidence of their country; but they did not possess sentiments more conformable to the objects of their mission than those deputed to this Republick. They did not wish more ardently to effect reconciliation; nor is it believed that any persons who could have been deputed to that Cabinet, would have submitted to greater sacrifices in order to obtain it. Had their application for compensation for past injuries, and security against their future commission, been only met by requisitions, a compliance with which would involve their nation in ills of which war perhaps might not be the most considerable; had all attempts to remove unfavourable impressions failed, and all offers to make explanations been rejected; can it be believed, that other ministers (the first having been ordered out of the nation) would have waited six months unaccredited, soliciting permission to display the upright principles on which their government had acted, and the amicable sentiments by which it was animated?

The undersigned are induced, citizen minister, to pray your attention to these plain truths, from a conviction that they manifest unequivocally the friendly temper of the Federal government, and the extreme reluctance with which the hope of an accommodation with France would be relinquished.

The undersigned observe, with infinite regret, that the disposition manifested to treat with the minister who might be selected by this government, is not accompanied with any assurances of receding from those demands of money, heretofore made the considerations on which alone a cessation of hostility on American commerce could be obtained, to which the undersigned have not the power to accede, with which the United

States would find it extremely difficult to comply, and a compliance with which would violate that faith pledged for the observance of neutrality, and would involve them in a disastrous war with which they have no concern. Nor do you answer to the applications, which have been made for compensation to the citizens of the United States for property which shall be proved to have been taken contrary to the law of nations and existing treaties, otherwise than that you are willing to discuss cases where there has been a departure from certain principles, which principles, in fact, involve almost every case.

You have signified, citizen minister, that the Executive Directory is disposed to treat with one of the Envoys, and you hope that this overture will not be attended, on the part of the undersigned, with any serious difficulty. Every proposition of the Executive Directory is considered with the most minute and respectful attention.

The result of a deliberation on this point is, that no one of the undersigned is authorized to take upon himself a negotiation evidently intrusted by the tenor of their powers and instructions to the whole: nor are there any two of them who can propose to withdraw themselves from the task committed to them by their government, while there remains a possibility of performing it.

It is hoped that the prejudices, said to have been conceived against the ministers of the United States, will be dissipated by the truths they have stated.

If in this hope they shall be disappointed, and it should be the will of the Directory to order passports for the whole or any number of them, you will please to accompany such passports with letters of safe conduct, which will entirely protect from the cruisers of France, the vessels in which they may respectively sail, and give to their persons, suite and property, that perfect security to which the laws and usages of nations entitle them.

They pray you, citizen minister, to receive the renewal of their assurances of profound respect and consideration.

A true copy.

CHARLES C. PINCKNEY,
JOHN MARSHALL,

E. GERRY.

HENRY M. RUTLEDGE, Secretary.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS.

JUNE 21, 1798.

WHILE I Congratulate you, on the arrival of general Marshall, one of our late Envoys Extraordinary, to the French

Republick, at a place of safety, where he is justly held in honour, I think it my duty to communicate to you, a letter received by him, from Mr. Gerry, the only one of the three, who has not received his congé this letter, together with another, from the Minister of Foreign Relations to him, of the third of April, and his answer of the fourth, will show the situation in which he remains, his intentions and prospects.

I presume, that before this time, he has received fresh instructions (a copy of which accompanies this message) to consent to no loans, and therefore the negotiation may be considered at an end.

I will never send another minister to France, without assurances, that he will be received, respected and honoured, as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation. JOHN ADAMS.

Paris, April 16, 1798.

MY DEAR SIR,-This I expect you will receive by my colleague general Marshall, who carries with him the last letter of Mr. Talleyrand to the American Envoys, and their answer. On the day when we sent the answer, I received a letter from the minister, a copy of which and my answer is enclosed. I have not sent these to the Secretary of State, because I have not time to prepare a letter to accompany them. Indeed I expected my passport with my colleagues; but am informed the Directory will not consent to my leaving France: and to bring on an immediate rupture, by adopting this measure contrary to their wishes, would be in my mind unwarrantable. The object of Mr. Talleyrand, you will perceive, was to resume our reciprocal communications, and again to discuss the subject of a loan. I thought it best in my answer not merely to object to this, but to every measure that could have a tendency to draw me into a negotiation. I accepted of this mission, my dear sir, to support your administration, and have brought myself into a predicament, which you must assist me to extricate myself from, by appointing some others to supply the places of myself and colleagues, if a further progress in this business should be found practicable. I have only a moment to add my best respects to your lady, and my assurances of the most sincere and respectful attachment, my dear sir, of yours sincerely, E. GERRY.

The President of the United States.

TRANSLATION.

The Minister of Foreign Relations to Mr. Gerry, Envoy Extraordinary of the United States of America, to the French Republick. Paris, the 14 Germinal, 6th year of the French Republick, one and indivisible [3d April, 1798.]

I SUPPOSE, sir, that Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall have thought it useful and proper, in consequence of the intimations *I allude to my painful residence here as a political cipher. 39

VOL. III.

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