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Sir,

FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO.

Office for Foreign Affairs, November 30, 1785.

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write this morning, and which accompanied a note of the same date. They shall both be immediately translated, and laid before Congress. The importance of the several subjects stated in it, as well as the delicate manner in which they are handled, cannot fail to excite their attention. I shall do myself the honor of communicating to you the result of their deliberations on those interesting affairs, and I shall always be happy to promote every measure which may tend to evince the justice and gratitude of my country.

With great esteem and consideration, &c.,

FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY.

JOHN JAY.

Translation.

New York, December 19, 1785.

Sir,

I have the honor to address to you herewith a brevet which his Majesty has been pleased to grant to M. de la Forêt, for discharging with the United States in Congress assembled the functions of Vice Consul General, and those of Vice Consul in the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware. These two employments have been united through the supposition that Congress would establish its residence on the banks of the Delaware. But the abode of this assembly at New York has induced M. de Marbois to demand further orders from the Court. The Minister has answered that the functions of the Vice Consulship of Philadelphia having already been exercised by the younger brother of M. Marbois, when the removal of Congress had led this Consul General to New York, there was no inconvenience in leaving the brevet to subsist as it was, and to acknowledge M. de la Forêt in quality of Vice Consul General with Congress. This circumstance, sir, has deferred for four months the presenting of the brevet which I have the honor to address to you. I request that you

will be pleased to have it agreed to by this assembly, and send me the resolutions customary in similar cases.

I am, with respect, &c.,

FROM JOHN JAY TO THE SIEUR DE LA FORÊT.

OTTO.

New York, January 10, 1786.

Sir,

I have the honor of returning to you, herewith enclosed, the brevet appointing you Vice Consul General of his most Christian Majesty in the United States, and on which Congress were pleased, the 6th instant, to pass an act, of which a certified copy is also enclosed. I have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN JAY.

Extract from the Secret Journal, January 6th, 1786.

On a report of the Secretary to the United States of America for the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred his letter of the 29th December, enclosing a letter of the 19th of that month from the Chargé d'Affaires of France, with a brevet of the 22d day of June, 1785, appointing the Sieur de la Forêt Vice Consul of France for the United States,

Whereas the Sieur de la Forêt has presented to Congress a brevet from his most Christian Majesty, bearing date 22d day of June, 1785, appointing him Vice Consul General in the United States:

Resolved, That the Sieur de la Forêt be, and he hereby is, received and recognized as the Vice Consul General of his most Christian Majesty in the United States, and that the said brevet be registered in the Secretary's office.

Resolved, That all the privileges, preeminences, and authority belonging to said character and quality are due to Sieur de la Forêt, and shall be enjoyed by him.

Ordered, That a certified copy of the above resolutions be transmitted, by the Secretary to the United States of America for the

Department of Foreign Affairs, to the said Sieur de la Forêt, and also to the Executive of each of the States, for their information.

FROM THE SIEUR DE LA FORÊT TO JOHN JAY.

Translation.

New York, January 11, 1786.

Sir,

I have the honor to advise you of the receipt of the letter which you wrote to me yesterday, on returning my commission, and the resolutions of Congress respecting the acknowledgment of my character. I beg that you will be pleased to receive my thanks.

I am, with respect, &c.,

DE LA FORÊT.

FROM JOHN JAY TO MONSIEUR OTTO.

Office for Foreign Affairs, March 6, 1786.

Sir,

Various considerations, arising from the local and other circumstances of the United States, induce me to think that the fourth and fifth articles in the proposed convention for regulating the intercourse between the Post Offices of France and the United States, will not be expedient. I have the honor of enclosing a plan which, being less complicated, would, in my opinion, be more easily executed.

It will give me pleasure to confer with you on this subject whenever it may be convenient to you, for it is my wish that this and every other measure interesting to both countries may be so concerted and conducted as to promise the most satisfaction to each.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN JAY.

PLAN OF A CONVENTION between the Post Office of France and that of the United States of America, for regulating their mutual intercourse and correspondence.

His most Christian Majesty having authorized

the Director

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of the Post Office of France, and the United States having authorized Ebenezer Hazard, Esq., their Postmaster General, to form and conclude such convention, they have accordingly agreed upon the following articles, viz:

1st. There shall be maintained, on both sides, a good, constant, and mutual correspondence for the transmission, reception, and distribution of letters, despatches, and packets.

2d. All imposts, postage, and charges which may be due on letters passing from the Post Offices of France to those of the United States, shall be paid in France; and, on the other hand, all letters passing from the Post Offices of the United States to those of France, shall be paid in the United States: That is to say, no French or other postage due on letters coming from that Kingdom to the United States, shall be demanded or received in the United States, nor any American postage, due on letters going from the United States to France, shall there be demanded or received. The packet postage on letters passing by packets to or from France and the United States, to belong to the sovereign whose packet shall carry such letters.

3d. And as his most Christian Majesty has, in order to promote and facilitate the intercourse and correspondence between the two countries, been pleased to establish packets at L'Orient, which sail once a month from that place to New York, it is agreed that all letters intended to be transmitted from L'Orient to New York by the said packets, shall be put up into a mail by the Post Office at L'Orient, which mail, sealed with the known and acknowledged seal of that Post Office, and directed to the Post Office at New York, shall, on its arrival at New York, be immediately delivered to the said Post Office, where the same shall be opened by the Postmaster, in the presence of the Consul or Vice Consul of France there residing, or of the French agent for the said packets, and all such letters as may be found therein franked by the French Ministers, or either of the great Departments, shall be immediately delivered to the said Consul, Vice Consul, or agent, to be forwarded and transmitted in such manner as he or they may think proper. And further, that whenever, and as often as the Postmaster at New York shall receive from a captain of one of the said packets a mail so put up and directed, and being in good order, he shall give to the said captain a receipt for the same, mentioning therein the name of the captain and packet who brought it, the time when received, and that the same was in good order.

4th. That all letters intended to be transmitted from New York by one of said packets to L'Orient, shall be put up into a mail by the Post Office at New York, which mail, sealed with the known and acknowledged seal of the said office, and directed to the Post Office at L'Orient, shall, at the stated times appointed for the sailing of a packet, be delivered by the said Postmaster to the captain thereof, who shall thereupon give him a receipt for the same; specifying when he received it and that it was in good order.

5th. That whenever one of the said mails shall arrive at L'Orient, and be delivered to the Postmaster there, it shall be opened in the presence of the Consul, Vice Consul, or Agent of the United States, there residing, to whom all such letters found therein as may be franked by the President of Congress or either of the Ministers of the great departments, shall be immediately delivered, and they shall be forwarded and transmitted in any manner that the said Consul, Vice Consul, or agent may think proper. But they, or such one of them, to whom the said letters shall be so delivered, shall, without delay, give a proper receipt for the same to the Post Office.

6th. The Director of the Post Office at L'Orient and the Postmaster at New York shall, with every mail, send each other a letter of advice, specifying the number of letters enclosed in it, which said letters shall be counted on the opening of the mail, to determine whether the number received be the same with the number sent.

FROM MONSIEUR OTTO TO JOHN JAY.

Translation.

New York, April 18, 1786.

Sir,

I have the honor to address to you, herewith, a note which I request you to lay before Congress. It is in consequence of the pressing orders which I have received by the last packet. I make no doubt but that the importance of the objects it contains will induce you to propose to that assembly to take them into consideration as soon as possible.

I am, with respect, &c.,

OTTO.

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