When our treaty with Algiers shall expire, we shall desire to renew it, and even may flatter ourselves to be able to do it without any difficulty. But should any occur that must be surmounted, the King is accustomed to use no foreign interventions to establish or preserve the good understanding which it suits him to maintain with the Barbary Powers.

As to the rest, sir, you can assure the American Ministers that they will always find the King inclined to favor their negotiations with these States; and on all occasions to assist them with his cares and offices, which he would render them, though he were not engaged by the convention they claim. But, at the same time, it is necessary that they adopt measures of similar execution.

I hope, sir, that I have precisely answered all the points of the letter which Messrs. Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson have written to you, and to every thing essential contained in the pieces which accompanied it.

I have the honor to send you the originals, &c.,

DE CASTRIES.

FROM THE DUKE OF DORSET TO THE COMMISSIONERS.

Paris, March 26, 1785.

in

Gentlemen,

Having communicated to my Court the readiness you expressed your letter to me of the 9th of December, to remove to London, for the purpose of treating upon such points as may materially concern the interests, both political and commercial, of Great Britain and America; and having, at the same time, represented that you declared yourselves to be fully authorized and empowered to negotiate, I have been, in answer thereto, instructed to learn from you, gentlemen, what is the real nature of the powers with which you are invested, whether you are merely commissioned by Congress, or whether you have received separate powers from the respective States. A committee of North American merchants have waited upon his Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to express how anxiously they wished to be informed upon this subject, repeated experience having taught them in particular, as well as the public in general, how little the authority of Congress could avail in any respect, where the interests of any one individual State was

even concerned, and particularly so where the concerns of that particular State might be supposed to militate against such resolutions as Congress might think proper to adopt.

The apparent determination of the respective States to regulate their own separate interests, renders it absolutely necessary towards forming a permanent system of commerce, that my Court should be informed how far the Commissioners can be duly authorized to enter into any engagements with Great Britain, which it may not be in the power of any one of the States to render totally fruitless and ineffectual.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

DORSET.

FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET.

My Lord Duke,

Passy, near Paris, May 16, 1785.

We received, in due time, the letter which your Grace did us the honor to write us on the 26th day of March last, and have delayed the acknowledgment of it, in expectation of the arrival of the packets, by which we hoped for further instructions from Congress.

We have now the honor to inform your Grace that Congress, on the 24th day of February last, appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary to reside at the Court of his Britannic Majesty, who proposes to proceed to London in the course of two or three weeks; which makes a more particular answer unnecessary.

We have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS,
B. FRANKLIN,
THOS. JEFFERSON.

FIFTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED TO JOHN JAY, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Sir,

Paris, April 13, 1785.

Our letter to you the 18th day of March, with those preceding, which we had addressed to the President of Congress, have conveyed exact details of our transactions till that time. Since the making of that despatch the following proceedings have taken place.

The letter, No. 1, from Mr. Carmichael to Dr. Franklin, dated February 27th, 1784, (instead of 1785,) will apprize you that there

is a prospect of Mr. Hartwell's regaining his liberty and property, though not without some delay and probably some loss.

The same letter will inform you of Mr. Carmichael's proceedings in the case of the brig Betsy, taken by the Emperor of Morocco, and the papers which accompanied that letter, marked No. 1 a, b, c, d, e, f, g, will show the process in that business to the 15th of January last, and a subsequent communication from Mr. Carmichael, marked No. 2, being a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to him, dated March 16th, 1785, will show its situation at that time.

With this last Mr. Carmichael also sent us the papers, No. 3, a and b, the first being a letter from a spy employed by the Spanish Court, a holy father of the order of Redemption of Captives, and the second a statement made out by the Algerines from February 1st, 1777, to September 8th, 1783, the revolution it underwent during that period, the number of cruizes they made, prizes they took, and ⚫ the nations from whom taken. While these give a smaller idea than had been entertained of this, the most formidable of the piratical States, the following papers, marked No. 4 a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, will show that the price of their peace is higher than the information heretofore communicated had given us reason to expect. The paper, No. 4 a, is a letter from the Marquis de la Fayette, to whose means of access to the depositories of this species of information, and his zeal for the service of the United States, we are indebted for the intelligence it contained, as well as for the report No. 4 b, and the details, No. 4 c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q. From these it will appear that Powers which, like France and England, can combine the terror of a great naval force, with the persuasive of pecuniary tribute, yet give occasionally as far as fifteen thousand guineas to Morocco, which holds but the second rank amongst these States. This information is still very incomplete, giving only a view of detached parts of the transactions between the European and African Powers, it will contribute, however, with what we have formerly laid before Congress, to enable them to form some estimate of what will be required from a people possessing so weak a navy and so rich a commerce as we do. These rovers will calculate the worth of the prizes they may expect to take from us in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic, and making some allowance for the expense and losses they will incur in these enterprises, they will adjust their demand by the result, regarding little the representations we may make of our

poverty. They count highly, too, among the motives which will induce us to give a good price, the horrors we feel on the idea of our countrymen being reduced to slavery by them. Some of the European merchants, and perhaps Consuls resident with them, will, probably, not be backward in supplying their want of knowledge as to the extent and nature of our commerce and the degree of protection we are able to afford it. We have been many days in expectation of the arrival of the French packet, which should have sailed from New York the middle of February, having been informed that as early as December Congress had referred sundry foreign affairs to the consideration of a committee, and that the packet arrived at New York, January 17, which conveyed our letter of November, with a detail of the situation in which their business was on this side the Atlantic. We hope that the packet sailing a month afterwards, and now expected here, will bring us further instructions. In the meantime, the situation of our trade rendered it necessary to admit as little delay as possible with the Barbary Powers. We therefore thought it best to put that business into train. For this purpose we resumed a correspondence which had formerly taken place between the American Commissioners and this Court, copies of which are herewith given in the papers marked No. 5 a, b, &c. The want of money and of powers had discontinued this correspondence. We thought it a proper ground, however, whereon to found applications to this Court for their aid in the treaties which may now be proposed. Mr. Adams accordingly waited on the Count de Vergennes, with copies of that correspondence, (his colleagues being prevented by indisposition from accompanying him on that occasion.) No. 5 is his report of what passed, and No. 5 a, e, copy of the letter we addressed to the Count de Vergennes, according to his desire. To this no answer has as yet been received. We propose to make no actual overtures to the Barbary States till the arrival of the packet now expected, which we suppose will convey us the ultimate will of Congress on this subject.

A similar expectation of new information and instructions from Congress as to our affairs with the British Court, suspend, till the arrival of this packet, our taking any measures in consequence of the enclosed letter, No. 6, from the Duke of Dorset, the British Ambassador at this Court. That their definitive answer must be required as to the articles in our instructions, distinct from the treaty of VOL. I.-37

commerce, admits of no question; but as to the doubts they pretend, and the information they ask, with respect to the powers of Congress, we do not decide what we shall say or do till we see whether we receive by this conveyance any new instructions.

The project of a treaty, which you did me the honor to address to me, in the month of last December, and which you proposed to his Royal Highness, my Lord the Archduke, Grand Duke of Tuscany, my master, was too conformable to his principles not to be acceded to.

This Prince, after having had it under his consideration, has determined to accept it; and it is by his order that I have the honor to communicate to you the accompanying translation. There are some amendments which do not change the substance of the convention, but which local circumstances, and the regulations of the country, which all nations must respect, render indispensable. You will see, gentlemen, that the citizens of the United States of America will be treated in every case at Leghorn as the most favored nation, and that they will consequently enjoy all the advantages which are granted to others. We ask the same conditions and reciprocity for Tuscany. Thus a basis of a treaty could not be adopted on a more perfect equality than this.

The orders of the King, which I have just received, enable me to give you the explanations you required of me in the letter you have