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You ascribe to the Judge of the District of New York some delinquency, and an instruction, or warrant, appears to have issued from Consul Hauterive, to Mr. Willet, the Sheriff. Perhaps you will discover, that, on such an occasion, neither the Judge nor the Sheriff is proper to be resorted to the Marshal of New-York, and his Deputies, are the competent officers for aiding in the execution of any precept under the Consular Convention. If, however, you shall view the case in a different light, after examining the first section of that act, I shall, without delay, attend to any remarks which you may think proper to make.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

No. 155.

EDM. RANDOLPH.

The French Minister to the Secretary of State, dated PHILADELPHIA, February 4th, 1794-(0. S.) [TRANSLATION.]

SIR: You will find, under this envelope, the copy which you desire of the letter the General and Extraordinary Commission of Gaudaloupe proposed to me to have transmitted to the Representatives of the American People.

I, with pleasure, complied with this method; because, it seemed to me, that, in the present circumstances, every thing which might convince the United States of the unshaken attachment, and of the expec tations discovered by all parts of the indivisible Republic of France, could not but be beneficial to the respective interests of our two nations. Besides, circumstances but too much justify the pressing demands which Gaudaloupe has permitted itself to make, through me, to the legislative body. That colony has had information of the orders which have been given to me by the Executive Council, relative to the supplies for the Antilles. I have informed them of the obstacles which prevented me from executing them; and, alarmed at the danger in which this disappointment placed a source of riches, as precious to France as to the United States, they have conceived it a duty to present to you their situation, in colors the most lively, the most patriotic, and the most proper, to refute all the absurd falsehoods spread through your continent, by malevolent men,. who, not having had the wisdom to wait for the example of the great majority of the inhabitants of the Windward Islands, whom the torch of experience had enlightened with the philosophical spirit which presides over our revolution, have themselves aggravated their misfortunes, by a criminal resistance to the laws, and precipitated themselves into a profound abyss, rather than make some trifling sacrifices to prejudice and pride.

Accept my respect.

GENET.

No. 156.

The President and Secretaries of the General and Extraordinary Commission of Guadaloupe, to the Congress of the United States of America, dated

BASSETERRE, November 6, 1798.

CITIZEN REPRESENTATIVES: An immense conspiracy is formed against the Republic of France. Honor and the law of nations have been put out of the question. Even neutral Powers have not been respected. Your flag, especially, far from being a sufficient safeguard, is no longer more than the sport of the cupidity and fury of enemies. This is the system of war. They are no longer the old quarrels of Courts, which lead them to take up arms. They have forgotten all, sacrificed all, in order to league together, and to stifle, in its birth, the liberty of a great People, who are in the centre of the continent, and who give umbrage to their ambition. And it is England who, in the noble policy with which she honors herself, has, for some time, prepared and accomplished this plan of destruction: so factitious and false is the spirit of liberty with which that Government amuses the English People.

You have also been forced to shake off the yoke; and would you have done so, if the Government were just?

However, the French succored you on this important occasion, whatever might have been the motives of determining, at that time, a Court which was a rival of the English Power; the connexion then formed from interested motives, sincerity and friendship, have bound more closely in the new French Government. They have, already, given you testimonies of that affinity which ought to unite two Republican Governments; and, whatever may be done, the value of the friendship of the French People will, one day, be experienced; and those who shall have the first right to it, will, doubtless, be those who have aided them in adversity, and in the grand act of regeneration. In vain are all the efforts of the conspirators to injure, within and without, the foundation of their new Government. France wishes to be free, and to be a Republic-she shall be so; and those Powers will, themselves, experience the ruin and dissensions which they prepared for France.

Americans of the North! You are not to apply these reflections to yourselves. The policy of a People, truly free, is not to be fascinated by combinations of Cabinets; it is ostensible and open; it consists in the rights of nations united. Hitherto, France has not waited the effect of your assistance as an inducement to treat you as brothers and friends. The address which she sent to you respires nothing but loyalty and disinterestedness; she offers every thing to your advantage, and has no reward in view. She presents to you a compact and commercial community. The decree which the Convention has passed to enfranchise to you the rights of domaine, and to assimilate you to the People of her own nation, is the pledge of her sincerity.

The Convention then indicated to you the interest which you have in her colonies. You, therefore, owe to justice, to allies. and to the title of associates, the guarantying of these precious possessions from the cupidity of our and your enemies.

Since the declaration of war, we have addressed to the Minister of France with the United States, the demand of divers succors necessary for us. The Minister of Marine had authorized them. However, nothing has come to our hands. We now solicit succors of provision, ammunition, and even men. What! when England, seeing, for the first time, the white flag waving among her vessels, came to take possession of the French colonies, in the name of a King without dominions—and North America, witness to that political perfidy, not able to lend a helping hand against an unworthy treachery, in the name of a Republic, mistress of an immense territory and population ! We have not, therefore, in such an hypothesis, conceived that we derogated from the law of nations, and our French fidelity. by invoking succor in men. The faith of republicans to us is sufficient.

We

As to the succors of ammunition of every kind, there is a debt to be liquidated, and the Minister of Marine pointed it out in his letter of 20 February, addressed to St. Lucia. We have written, in concert with General Collot, to the French Minister residing with you. now take a more direct and free method, by speaking immediately to Congress, in support of the requisition made to the Minister, and of which he will notify the articles to you. We think that this proof of confidence and loyalty, the same in the Frenchmen of the metropolis as in the colonies, will operate efficaciously with the United States; and that, if fraternal connexions forever attach our two nations to each other, so also will our commercial relations no longer manifest but the same spirit, and the same interest, between the republicans of North and those of South America.

We greet you, Citizen Representatives.

The General and Extraordinary Commission of Guadaloupe,

LA CHARRIERE, President,
KAIO AND POHL, Secretaries.

No. 157.

Secretary of State to the French Minister, dated

PHILADELPHIA, February 7, 1794.

SIR: I do myself the honor of informing you, that the French Ship L'Orient, of Bengal, now lying in the port of Philadelphia, attracts the attention of Government. It is represented, that, on her arrival she was the private ship of some Company in France, and, though armed, was without a public commission: that possession has been since taken of her, under your authority, for the use of the French nation: that,

as an evidence of her being destined to be used in public service, the uniform of France appears to be worn by these, who are attached to her-and that she is to be commissioned within the United States, to cruise upon the other belligerent Powers. This last circumstance, when connected with those preceding, will, if it be true, be immediately seen to infringe the rules. prescribed by the President, and now demands the repetition of the former declaration, that the giving of such a commission is inadmissible. You will suffer me therefore to expect an answer, explanatory of this affair, and, if any intention of commissioning the L'Orient has been entertained, that it will be renounced. The removal of suspicion, at its earliest stage, is the surest mode of continuing between the United States and France, that harmony which it will be always my wish to maintain.

I have the honor to be,

Sir, &c.

EDM. RANDOLPH.

No. 158.

Secretary of State to Mr. Mullorny, dated

PHILADELPHIA, February 13, 1794.

SIR: I am informed that the appeals, which were filed in the cases of the Catharine and William Tell, at New York, are already withdrawn, or likely to be immediately withdrawn. The consequence of this step will be to put them and their cargoes into the possession of the captors, and perhaps eventually out of the reach of Government. You spoke to me on this subject, and I understood from you, that you would take care that the appeal on the Catharine at least should be continued. Let me beg the favor of you to come up immediately to General Knox, in order that proper measures may be concerted on this occasion.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,
EDM. RANDOLPH.

No. 159.

Secretary of State to the British Minister, dated

PHILADELPHIA, February 13, 1794.

SIR: I do myself the honor of informing you that I am apprehensive, from the information which I received last night, of the appeals lodged in the cases of the Catharine and William Tell, having been already withdrawn, or being about to be withdrawn without delay.

I understood, from our conversation on this subject, that they were to be continued, until the depositions should be forwarded to the Executive. Unless this should be done, the possession will be immediately surrendered by the marshal to the captors and new measures for regaining possession may be executed with difficulty, during the absence of the Governor from the city of New York. I must, therefore, beg the favor of your immediate interposition, to prevent the dismission of the appeals.

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,
EDM. RANDOLPH.

No. 160.

Extract of a report from Mr. Edm; Randolph, Secretary of State, to the President of the United States, dated

PHILADELPHIA, March 2, 1794.

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In your message to both Houses of Congress, on the 5th of December, 1793, you informed them, that the vexations and spoliations, understood to have been committed on our vessels and commerce, by the cruisers and officers of some of the belligerent Powers, appeared to require attention:" That "the proofs of these, however, not having been brought forward, the description of citizens, supposed to have suffered, were notified, that, on furnishing them to the Executive, due measures would be taken to obtain redress of the past, and more effectual provisions against the future;" and that, should such documents be furnished, proper representations will be made thereon, with a just reliance on a redress proportioned to the exigency of the case."

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On my succession to the Department of State, I found a large volume of complaints, which the notification had collected, against severities on our trade, various in their kind and degree. Having reason to presume, as the fact has proved, that every day would increase the catalogue, I have waited to digest the mass, until time should have been allowed, for exhibiting the diversified forms, in which our commerce has hourly suffered. Every information is at length obtained, which may be expected.

The sensations excited by the embarrassments, danger, and even rain, which threaten our trade, cannot be better expressed, than in the words of the Committee of Philadelphia. After enumerating particular instances of injury, their representation to Government proceeds thus: "On these cases, which are accompanied by the legal proofs, the Committee thinks it unnecessary to enlarge, as the inferences will, of course, occur to the Secretary; but they beg leave to be permitted to state other circumstances, which, though not in legal proof, are either of such public notoriety as to render legal proof unneces

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