- The Provisory Executive Council, considering the immediate danger in which the City of Dunkirk is, and the necessity of not depriving it of any object of supply for the support of the troops, approves of the precaution taken by the administrators of that city.

Considering further, the connections of friendship subsisting between the French Republic and the United States of America, and not wishing, in any manner, that the extraordinary case of the Captain of the American ship the Fame, should be prejudicial to the interests of his employers

The Provisory Executive Council charges the municipality of Dunkirk to have ascertained the expenses of lading and unlading of the above mentioned brandies, as well as those of the delay the Captain has met with, and to pay him their amount.

The provisory Executive Council, besides, charges the Minister for Foreign Affairs to send to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States copy of the present arrêt, and to inform him of the imperious circumstances which have prevented the Council from attending to his demand.

True copy, conformable to the Register of the 14th May.
The Secretary of the Provisory Executive Council,

SIR: I have received the letter which you have addressed to me, requiring, according to the terms of the treaty of commerce, that the vessels of the United States be exempted from the dispositions of the decree of the National Convention, which authorizes the vessels of war of the Republic, to seize, on board of neutral vessels, the articles of food destined to an enemy's port, and the merchandises belonging to an enemy.

In consequence of your reclamation, I wrote immediately to the Committee of Public Safety, in order to engage it to make a report thereon to the National Convention. The committee have approved the observations which I made to them on the subject, and they will, without delay, demand of the Convention an exception in favor of neutral vessels; which, in virtue of the particular stipulations contained in the treaties of commerce, will not be subject to the dispositions of the decree of the ninth.

I have also taken the necessary steps in order to obtain from the Provisory Executive Council, a decision concerning the cargo of the American vessel the Fame, of which you have requested of me the restitution.

The dangerous situation in which the town of Dunkirk now is, has justified, in the eye of the council, the precaution taken by the municipality of that place, to hinder the exportation of brandy. The decree, of which I herein enclose a copy, will enable you to appreciate the motives of the determination of the Executive Council, and to direct the steps which the captain of the ship Fame is authorized to take, to obtain from the muncipality of Dunkirk a just indemnification for the expenses of the delay he has experienced.

SIR: I have just learned with satisfaction that you have permitted the ship Fame to sail from Dunkirk with her cargo of brandy, on granting to Capt. Frazer an honorable indemnification for the delay occasioned him. I shall immediately render an account thereof to the Ministers of the United States, and venture to assure you, sir, that the open and loyal conduct of the French Government, in regard to us, will calm the uneasiness which particular facts might have given rise to, in the minds of my countrymen.

Mr. LE BRUN,

Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I have the honor to be, &c.

GOUVR. MORRIS:

No. 22.

Mr. Le Brun to Mr. Morris.

[TRANSLATION.]

PARIS, 26th May, 1793.

SIR: Conformable to the dispositions which I have had the care of communicating to you in my letter of the 17th instant. I have the satisfaction now to transmit to you, copy of a decrce passed by the Nation

al Convention, which declares that the vessels of the United States are not comprehended in the decree of the 9th of May. You will there find a new confirmation of the principles, from which the French People will never depart, with regard to their good friends and allies, the United States of America.

You will also be convinced, sir, that the confidence that you have placed in the loyalty of the Republic, by informing your constituents of the dispositions which I have communicated to you, was well founded. I have the honor to be, &c.

Mr. MORRIS,

Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States.

LE BRUN.

No. 23.

[TRANSLATION.]

Decree of the National Convention of the 23d May, which declares that the vessels of the United States are not comprehended in the dispositions of the Decree of the 9th of May.

The National Convention, after having heard the report of their Committee of Public Safety, wishing to maintain the union established between the French Republic and the United States of America, decree, that the vessels of the United States are not comprehended in the dispositions, of the decree of the 9th of May, conformably to the 16th article of the treaty concluded on the 6th of February, 1778.

True copy.

LE BRUN.

Note subjoined to the foregoing in Waite's S. P. vol. 7. p. 149.

It appears that on the 28th May, the Convention passed a decree, which so far repealed that of the 23d May, as to place in a state of provisional sequestration the property seized under the decree of the 9th May.

No copy of the decree of the 28th May is to be found in the Department of State.

No. 24.

Mr. Morris to Mr. Le Brun.

SAIN PORT, 19th June, 1793.

[EXTRACT.]

"I was much astonished, sir, to learn some days ago, that the Convention had repealed, on the 28th of last month, their decree of the 23d, and that consequently the dispositions of the decree of the 9th, acknowledged by that of the 23d, to be contrary to the treaty, were again revived. It was impossible for me to believe it, had I not received a copy of the decree. I observe therein, that the Committee of Public Safety. in concert with that of the Marine, were instructed to give in a definitive report on this business within three days. It becomes of consequence, sir, to fix the matter definitively, for the fate of a very rich cargo already depends upon it, and we must expect to see that species of dispute multiplied, in which cupidity on the one hand and fear on the other, will give place to calumnious insinuations, which lead uninformed persons to think that the interest of individuals might influence the national decisions."

No. 25.

No. 33. Mr. Morris, to the Secretary of State.

EXTRACT.

SAINPORT, 25th June, 1793.

"I do myself the honor to enclose herein the copy of what I wrote on the nineteenth instant, to Monsieur Le Brun, respecting an atrocious violation of our flag, and respecting a very extraordinary step taken by the Convention in the repeal, on motion of a member, of the decree by which our ships were exempted from the seizure to which those of others were exposed. I was informed that the object of the decree I complain of, was to effect the confiscation of a large cargo belonging to citizens of the State of South Carolina, and which has been some time since acquitted at Havre, but an appeal made from the decision of the court, though grounded on the clearest principles. The captors then declared that they would obtain a decree for the confiscation by means of their friends in the Convention, and sometime afterwards that of the ninth of May appeared, in which a retrospective clause covered precisely the object they had in view.

Such a coincidence of circumstances was somewhat remarkable; however. I made no allusion to it in my first application, which (as you will have seen) produced the desired effect, being the decree of the twenty-third of May. The interested parties, as soon as the decree was passed, went to work (as I was afterward informed) and by force

of money (as my informant says) procured the decree of the twentyeighth. Certain it is that the former was not sent on to be enregis tered until after the latter had passed, and then both were immediately forwarded together. It did not become me to give ear to calumnious suggestions, nor yet would I be totally deaf to a matter of such general importance to the United States. You will perceive in the close of my letter to Mr. Le Brun some general observations, which may render the corrupted members (if such there be) a little more cautious."

"I will apply to the minister for the orders you wish respecting payments to our citizens, and make no doubt that they will be transmitted, and indeed I should suppose, that if, without such orders, the payments were made by the Treasury of the United States, the Government of this country, (let whatever Government may be established,) would allow the justice of a deduction to the amount from what we owe. It is possible that we may hereafter have occasion to insist on that principle, among other reasons, because of the plundering of our ships, of which complaints are daily made to me, and which the present Government of the country is too feeble to prevent. Doubtless there are many things of the sort which do not come to my knowledge: for in some cases the masters and crews being taken out of the American ships and put on board of the privateers, and carried very far from where their vessels arrive, and put on shore where chance directs or circumstances permit; and as many of the privateers are taken by British cruisers, some of our citizens may find their way to England, and some to the British colonies and foreign possessions."

"The assurances you give in your letter of the twentieth of April, that our fellow citizens are disposed to preserve and exact neutrality, gives me sincere pleasure, as you will find from what I took the liberty to say on that subject in former letters. I fear that the frequent violations of our neutrality by the privateers fitted out in the French ports, may provoke a change of sentiment. I labor incessantly to keep things quiet in that regard, and I think it likely that some of my countrymen may think me too much attached to France, because I do not enter into the violence of their resentments, for which there is (as you will see) more ground than I choose to acknowledge to them."

No. 26.

Mr. Morris to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, dated

:

SAINPORT, 27th June, 1793.

SIR The United States of America, faithful to their attachment for the French nation, in consequence of the demand to that effect made by M. Ternant, went to the succour of St. Domingo upon the basis of the decree passed by the National Assembly; and the payment of four millions, which make the object of that decree, has been