No. 100. The French Consul at Carthagena, to the American Consul at Alicante. [TRANSLATION.] CARTHAGENA, 5th Prairial, An 5. (24th May, 1797.) I SIR: I have received your official letter dated the 24th May. do not believe, sir, that you possess authority to use, so near to me, such peremptory language, or to specify the time necessary for the examination of the papers of these four vessels. You can assert their being in the best order, even as to what regards the rôle d'équipage, you can require me to deliver them up immediately, and upon my noncompliance you can also protest against me, and make me responsible. I will not be deterred from deciding according to the laws which I am charged by the Executive Directory of my Republic to put in exe cution I greet you, sir, ANJUBAULT. No. 101. Letter from certain masters of vessels, enclosed to the Secretary of State, by Mr. Charles C. Pinckney, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, dated, MALAGA, 24th May, 1797. We the late Masters of ships sailing out of different ports of the State of Massachusetts, have had our vessels and cargoes condemned and extorted from us by the French Consul in this port, for no other reason, than that of our shipping articles, or rôle d'équipage, not specifying the place of birth and residence of our crew, or being attested by a Notary Public, before our departure from the Continent. These unprecedented and iniquitous proceedings have deprived us of all the property we were worth in the world, and was it not for the humane protection we have experienced from some merchants established here in the American trade, we should find ourselves under the necessity of begging for subsistence, and impossibilitated to return to our native country; which, however, is very uncertain yet, for five privateers, and fitted out of this port, are waiting for our departure to again bring us back, and probably rob us of our clothes, and other necessaries, now our only property. We have appealed from the illegal sentence to the Department des Bouches du Rhone, and charged Mr. Cathatan, our Consul at Marseilles, with the business, by forwarding him our power of Attorney, copy of condemnation, and certificate from our Consul here, of the crew being American citizens, and a demand against the French privateer, and Republic. We hope he will undertake our defence in a proper manner, &c. Owned by John Norris. of Salem. HENRY LENDEN, sloop Peggy. JOHN PAINE, Bristol. AMBROSE ATKINS, schooner Orrington. No. 102. Secretary of State, to Mr. C. C. Pinckney, dated Department of State, June 12th, 1797. [EXTRACT.] "The President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, has appointed yourself, Francis Dana, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, and John Marshall, Esq. of Virginia. Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic. You are placed at the head of the Mission; although to answer every reasonably-to-be expected contingency, the powers are several as well as joint." No. 103. Mr. C. C. Pinckney, to the Secretary of State, dated The Hague, June 28th, 1797. [EXTRACTS.] On the 20th instant, Mr. Pastoret, in the Council of Five Huńdred, referred to the article of the Constitution, which vests in the Legislature the right of declaring war, on the requisition of the Directory there exists (said he) a people to whom we are united by treaties, and yet whose particular situation, with regard to us, we are ignorant of. The Directory appears to treat the Americans as enemies, and yet the Legislature has not declared war against them. The Arrêté of the 12th Ventose seems to suppose that, in violation of the treaty of 1778, the Americans had committed hostilities against The commissaries of the Directory in the Colonies, applaud themselves for having taken measures by which the French privateers had made a great number of American prizes. But what right had they to fit out privateers against the people? What law authorizes them to do so? us. It is true, the treaty of 1794, concluded with England, our most inveterate enemy, excites well grounded suspicions with respect to the intentions of the government of the United States. But this cannot be a sufficient reason for the Directory's violating, with respect to them, both the laws and constitution; besides, at that time we had no marine to assist in protecting their commerce, and our country was a prey to the most dreadful anarchy. He finished with moving, first, that the Directory be required to give an account of the actual political relations of France and the United States; secondly, that the Arrêtés of the 12th of Ventose, and 17th Germinal, concerning the treaties with the American Government, should be referred to a commission to report on the question, whether the Legislature can annul the arrêtés of the Directory. Both of these have been referred to a committee of five members, and the speech was ordered to be printed.” Mr. Adet, arrived at Havre in an American ship without a rôle d'équipage. I enclose you the remarks of the "Courier Maritime du Havre," on this circumstance. He infers, that Mr. Adet must have been convinced, with all other publicists, that a rôle d'équipage was not necessary, and that all that was requisite was the passport, conformable to the model annexed to the treaty of 1778." No. 104. Mr. C. C. Pinckney, to the Secretary of State, dated The Hague, July 15th, 1797. [EXTRACTS.] "It is not yet in my power to transmit you any favorable accounts of the result of Mr. Pastoret's motion. The committee, though composed of persons apparently very favorable to us, thought it prudent to postpone their report for some time, in order to give the Directory an opportunity of making, if they chose it, some previous observations; but the time they proposed to allow for the coming in of these observations has elapsed and yet the report is not made. On the ninth instant, Major Mountflorence had an interview with Mr. Pastoret, who seemed to wish that an application might be made to the Legislature by some of the masters or owners of our captured vessels, requesting the Legislature to enact a law to oblige the Tribunals, in their adjudications of American vessels, to make the treaty of 1778 the sole basis of their decisions.” "In answer to a claim made by Mr. Skipwith, under the Consular Convention, for the cargo of the American vessel the Charlotte, shipwrecked, and which the commissary of the Marine at Ostend had put into the hands of the Justice of Peace, at that port, Mr. De la Croix, has written him word, that he had desired the Minister of Marine to give the necessary orders for the entire execution of your consular, which directs in such case, that the articles should be delivered to the Consul of the nation, to whom the vessel belongs. This letter was written the 8th of Messidor, (26th of June.) I have not yet heard what the Minister of Marine has done on this subject. On the 18th of Messidor, (the 6th July,) Mr. De la Croix, in answer to an application made him by Mr. Skipwith, relative to the hardships our countrymen labor under, in being detained at the Seaports, and frontier Towns, without being admitted to go to Paris, and into the interior of the country, writes him word that the Directory thought it just that those who were interested in captured vessels should be permitted to attend the trial, and that passports should be delivered for that purpose; but that, with regard to such Americans as had debts due to them from the French Government, their presence at Paris could be of no service to them for the liquidation of these debts. being subject to circumstances which they could not change, their application could not expedite the payment, and therefore the Directory had resolved to support the arrêté which forbid the citizens of the United States to reside in Paris.” No. 105. Secretary of State to Mr. C. C. Pinckney, dated DEPARTMENT OF STATE, TRENTON, [EXTRACT.] October 24, 1797. I enclose the duplicate of my letter to you of the 17th. On the 21st instant I received your letter of the 26th of July, No. 24, and beg leave to express to you the satisfaction I have received from the particular details of facts so diligently collected and communicated in this and your former letters, and the opinions and reflections accompanying them. The result of the transactions and events adverted to, will, I hope, facilitate the success of your mission: and there ought not to be much embarrassment in the negotiation when our claims are those of simple justice. As much as we have been insulted and abused, the time, I trust, approaches, when our wrongs will be acknowledged and redressed. The French nation will certainly not adopt the language of Merlin, and say " of the People of the United States, que nous les avons enfante a la liberte," nor require, as a condition of the expected redress, that we should surrender our independence: for such would be the effect of a compliance with Merlin's demand, "that we should break our inconceiv able treaty with England." We have never denied-on the contrary, every man in the United States has acknowledged-the important aid are derived from France. Nay, we have owned it with grateful hearts; and we should never have thought of investigating the foundation of this sentiment, if the incessant and boundless demands on our gratitude had not extended, in fact, to a surrender of the sole object for which aid was granted, and gratitude felt and expressedour independence. This we never shall surrender but with our lives. The recall of Santhonax seems to have given some small relief to our West India commerce. The Commissioners at St. Domingo do not now condemn our vessels when bound to a French port; but only when bound to an English port. When they are bound to a French port, they content themselves with taking the cargoes for the administration; and thus, although the voyage is ruined, the merchants escape a total loss. What a consolation!" No. 106. Report of the French Minister of Justice, made to the Executive Directory the 12th Brumaire, an 5me. (3d November, 1797) of the French Republic. [TRANSLATION.] CITIZEN DIRECTORS: The ship Royal Captain, under the command of Captain John Bryant, was captured the 12th Thermidor last, about four or five hours' sail from France, by the privateer the of the port of Boulogne, commanded by Captain Oudart Formentin, and on the day following was brought into this port. John Bryant was not provided with the certificates and passports. or (lettres de mêr) sea letters, mentioned in the 25th article of the treaty of amity and commerce concluded between France and the United States of North America. on the 6th February, 1778. He had a rôle d'equipage, but either he refused to shew it to Captain Formentin, or the Captain did not deem it of any value; and indeed several erasures were seen in it. two dates, &c. &c. These circumstances, surely, must have induced Captain Formentin to capture the ship Royal Captain, although John Bryant hoisted the American flag. On the very day of the capture, Captain Formentin made a report before the Juge de Paix of Boulogne; and on the following day, and others up to the 26th inclusive, it was preceded by the same officer in putting interrogatories to John Bryant and his crew, composed only of six men: in taking an inventory of every thing on board the captured vessel; in affixing as well as breaking seals. No contraband or prohibited articles were found on examination, that is to say, such as arc qualified to be so by the 26th article of the treaty of 6th February, 1778. As to the papers, if it does not appear from them that John Bryant was born in the United States of America, (on the contrary, they lead to the suspicion that he is a native of Ireland.) they prove, at least, that he is a citizen of the United States-he there took the oath of |