I wish you a much pleasanter journey than the season and weather seem to promise, and shall at all times be happy to hear of your welfare, and to take every occasion of assuring you of the esteem, with which I have the honor to be, &c., THOS. JEFFERSON. FROM MONSIEUR DE PIO TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Translation. Paris, January 22, 1785. Gentlemen, Having had the honor to place your letter of the 27th September, 1784, before the King, my master, and his Majesty having caused the propositions and offers contained in it, in regard to the conclusion of a treaty of commerce and friendship with the United States, to be seriously examined, he has ordered me to declare to you that nothing could be more agreeable to him, inasmuch as he devotes all his cares to the increase of the internal and external commerce of his kingdom. It is with that view that his Majesty has lately opened and established Messina, on the Island of Sicily, as a free port, to which all nations are invited to resort, with full assurance that they will meet there a very favorable reception, and that they shall certainly enjoy there all kinds of privileges and immunities, as you will see by the annexed ordinance. I wish you, gentlemen, to consider well the advantages which your countrymen can derive by resorting to that port. I am besides ordered, gentlemen, to make, in the name of his Majesty, a formal declaration to you, that all merchant vessels under the flag of the United States shall be received in Messina with marks of the most sincere friendship, and that they will find there the greatest hospitality. That they shall also be treated with all possible consideration in all the ports of his dominions; that they shall always find assistance by being furnished with all they may want; and that they shall have the liberty to trade in the productions of their country, as well as their manufactured articles, and those of other nations. Tobacco being the most important item of the commerce of the United States, as you have done me the honor to observe in one of our private conversations, I must give you notice, gentlemen, that this plant is now, in the States of the King, my master, free from all the duties to which it was subjected. As to other productions, you shall have not only the liberty to introduce them in his dominions, in as great quantities as may be wanted for the consumption of the Neopolitans, but you shall also have the privilege to import for the rest of Italy, for the East, and for any other countries, such quantity of goods as you may find advantageous for your speculations. You shall also have the same liberty and facilities to export from the kingdom of Sicily, oil, wine, silks, and all other productions that Sicily can furnish you, and which can be useful or agreeable to you. The King, my master, would not delay any longer to give you the most convincing proofs of the desire he has to form ties with the United States, and to show them by his good will to begin as soon as possible a commerce advantageous to both nations, his Majesty reserving to himself the right to deliberate on the subject, and to take such resolutions as may be necessary to conclude a treaty of commerce in all its forms, as you appear by your letter to desire. During the time that may elapse before my Court can examine and consider seriously the objects which are to be regulated in a treaty of this nature, I think, gentlemen, that it would be very advantageous to the Americans to begin now to frequent the ports of Sicily, and particularly that of Messina, for the purpose of establishing there some relations of commerce which can be stipulated more precisely in the proposed treaty. Allow me, gentlemen, to observe to you, that to establish and to carry the operation of a new treaty of any extent, and in whatever country, it is not necessary that it be authorized by a previous treaty. It suffices that foreigners should be received there with friendly feelings, and protected by the Government. As a proof of this, I will observe that all nations which trade the most with Sicily, such as England, France, Genoa, Venice, Ragusa, Hamburg, have no treaty of commerce with my Court; and although France has commenced a treaty with this nation, the French have not waited for the conclusion of it to establish the most advantageous commerce. I have the honor to be, with the most distinguished consideration, &c., DE PIO, Chargé d'Affaires of Naples. FROM M. DE SCARNAFIS TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Translation. Paris, February 2, 1785. Gentlemen, Having communicated to my Court the letter which you did me the honor to write the 22d October last, informing me that you were authorized on the part of the United States of America to negotiate with his Majesty the King of Sardinia, relative to the establishment of commerce between the two nations, I have now that of informing you that the King will be pleased to see the ships of the United States frequenting his free port of Nice, where they will always be well received; and if hereafter an opportunity should offer of forming commercial ties, which may be suitable and of reciprocal utility, he will make with the United States all the necessary arrangements which will be necessary to ensure their stability. I have the honor to be, &c., DE SCARNAFIS, Ambassador of Sardinia. THIRD REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS. Paris, February, 1785. Sir, In our last of December 15th, we had the honor of communicating to Congress our letter to the Ambassador of Portugal, which accompanied the draught of a treaty of amity and commerce proposed on our part. Since that date he addressed to us the letter No. 1, acknowledging the receipt of ours, and informing us that he had forwarded it to his Court. The Baron de Thulemeier, also, the Prussian Minister at the Hague, has given us similar information in his letter No. 2, herewith enclosed. He therein also desires, as he had done in his letter of October 8th, that we would make choice of some port within the dominions of his sovereign, at which the commerce between the two countries might be carried on. We supposed that we had answered this by proposing, in our draught of the treaty, that all places in the dominions of either party should be open to the subjects or citizens of the other, for the purposes of commerce. As he thought proper, however, to repeat the desire of the King, that we would make choice of some place, we wrote him an answer, of which No. 3 is a copy, and we have now to ask of Congress their instructions as to the choice of a place for the purposes proposed. The Baron de Walterstorff, who had been formerly appointed by the Court of Denmark to negotiate a treaty with the United States of America, and to whom we had notified our full powers for that purpose, called on us separately a few days ago, and informed us that he had obtained permission from his Court to make a visit to Copenhagen, where his private affairs required his presence, and that the Minister had, at the same time, instructed him to ask from us our propositions, that they might be considered during his stay at Copenhagen, and the sentiments of his Court thereon be fully made known to him. This he afterwards communicated more particularly in the letter, No. 4, to which an answer was returned, of which No. 5 is a copy, enclosing a draught of a treaty similar to the one we had the honor to communicate to you in our letter of December 15. We have also, since our last, received an answer from the Court of Naples, through their Chargé d'Affaires, and from that of Turin through their Ambassador at this Court, (the answer of Naples is accompanied by a printed ordinance establishing the privileges of Messina as a free port,) which we now enclose, distinguished by the Nos. 6 and 7. To these we do not propose to make any reply, unless future overtures from them, or other circumstances, should render it necessary or proper. With great respect, &c., JOHN ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, Paris, February 8, 1785. About this time came to hand, through the French post office, thirteen large packets, all of them addressed "A Messieurs Messrs. Les deputés des Etats Unis de l'Amerique a Paris," containing the Minutes of the proceedings of the Court of Admiralty at the Cape, and the adjudications as legal prizes of an equal number of British vessels captured by armed vessels belonging to the United States of America during the late war; which said prizes were ordered to be disposed of for the benefit of the captors, until it should be otherwise determined by the American Ministers at the Court of Versailles. Whereupon, the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States have thought proper that the aforesaid papers should be deposited in the office of the Minister actually resident at that Court, which was done accordingly. FROM MONSIEUR FAVI TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Translation. Paris, February 10, 1785. Gentlemen, In due season I transmitted to my Court the project of a treaty which you did me the honor to address to me. The principles upon which it is based are too much in conforinity with those of the Tuscan Government to prevent its adoption. You must not doubt, gentlemen, that the citizens of the United States of America will obtain, upon a footing of the most perfect reciprocity, all the facilities and advantages in the ports of Tuscany which are accorded to the most favored nations. As soon as an answer is received, I will do myself the honor of communicating it to you. The King, my master, having thought proper to authorize me to place in your hands some observations on the counter project of the treaty of commerce, to be concluded for the reciprocal advantages of his subjects and the citizens of the United States, such as you did me the honor to address me, bearing date November 10th ultimo, and brought to the Hague by a Dutch courier, the 26th of the same month, I hasten to fulfil the orders of his Majesty. An express, |