111. The American envoys will engage, that their government shall pay the indemnifications, or the amount of the sums already decreed to the American creditors of the French Republick, and those which shall be adjudged to the claimants by the commissioners. This payment shall be made under the name of an advance to the French Republick, who will repay it in a time and manner to be agreed upon. IV. One of the American envoys shall return to America, to demand of his government the necessary powers to purchase, for cash, the thirty-two millions of Dutch rescriptions, belonging to the French Republick, in case the envoys should conclude a treaty which shall be approved by the two nations. v. In the interval, the definitive treaty shall proceed for the termination of all differences existing between the French Republick and the United States. so as that the treaty may be concluded immediately on the return of the deputy. VI. The question of the rôle d'équipage shall remain suspended until the return of the deputy, and the commission shall not pronounce upon any reclamation where this point shall be in question. VII. During the six months granted for the going and returning of the deputy, hostilities against the Americans shall be suspended as well as the process for condemnation before the tribunals; and the money of the prizes already condemned, in the hands of the civil officers of the nation, shall remain there, without being delivered to the privateers-men, until the return of the deputy. EXHIBIT (B.) [Received with the Envoys' Letter No. 2, dated November 8, 1797.] THE envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary of the United States, cannot avoid observing the very unusual situation in which they are placed, by the manner in which they are alone permitted to make communications on the objects of their mission: They are called upon to pledge their country to a very great amount, to answer demands which appear to them as extraordinary as they were unexpected, without being permitted to discuss the reason, the justice, or the policy on which those demands are founded, and not only without assurances that the rights of the United States will in future be respected; but without a document to prove that those to whom they are required to open themselves without reserve, and at whose instance they are called on to sacrifice so much, are empowered, even by the minister, to hold any communication with them: yet such is the anxious and real solicitude of the envoys to seize any occasion which may afford a hope, however distant, of coming to those explanations which they so much wish to make with this Republick, that they pass over the uncommon and informal modes which have been adopted, and will only consider the propositions themselves. 1. The ministers of the United States will permit no personal considerations to influence their negotiations with the French Republick. Although they expected that the extraordinary means adopted by their government to reconcile itself to that of France would have been received with some degree of attention, yet they are too solicitous to enter upon the important and interesting duty of their mission to permit themselves to be restrained by forms or etiquette. II. On this article it is believed there can be no disagreement. III. This article, as explained, would oblige the United States to advance, not to their own citizens, but to the government of France, sums equivalent to the depredations made by the corsairs of the Republick on the American Commerce, and to the contracts made with their citizens by France; and this advance, instead of benefitting the citizens of the United States, would leave them precisely what they now are, the creditors of the French Republick: the more extensive the depredations and the more considerable the contracts uncomplied with, the more would the government of France receive from the United States. Independent of these objections, the ministers of the United States cannot engage to assume, in any form, the debts due from France to their fellow citizens: they have no such power. iv. If the negotiations be opened, and the propositions for a loan, or any other propositions, exceeding the pow ers of the ministers, be made, the government of the United States will be consulted thereon with expedition. v. This, or any proposition having for its object the claims of the two nations on each other, or an accommodation of differences, will be embraced with ardour by the ministers of the United States. vi. It cannot escape notice, that the question of the rôle d'équipage may involve in it every vessel taken from the United States: the ministers however consider it, and wish to take it up, as a subject of negotiation. VII. On this article it is only to be observed, that the season of the year is such, as probably to render a return, within six months, of the envoy, who might sail to the United States, impracticable: provision should be made for such an event. If the difficulties attending the propositions for a loan and a compensation for past injuries be such as to require time for their removal, the ministers of the United States propose that the discussions on the relative situation of the two countries, may commence in the usual forms; that the relation to each other may be so regulated, as to obviate future misunderstandings; and that the adjustment of the claims of the citizens of the United States, whose vessels have been captured, may be made after a decision on the point first mentioned. No diplomatic gratification can precede the ratification of the treaty. No. 3. Paris, November 27, 1797. DEAR SIR,-On the 11th instant we transmitted the following official letter to the minister of foreign affairs. "Citizen minister,-The undersigned envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the French Republick, had the honour of announcing to you officially on the sixth of October, their arrival at Paris, and of presenting to you on the eighth, a copy of their letters of credence. Your declaration at that time, that a report on American affairs was then preparing, and would in a few days be laid be-. fore the directory, whose decision thereon should, without delay, be made known, has hitherto imposed silence on them. For this communication they have waited with that anxious solicitude which so interesting an event could not fail to excite, and with that respect which is due to the government of France. They have not yet received it; and so much time has been permitted to elapse, so critical is the situation of many of their countrymen, and so embarrassing is that of the undersigned, both as it respects themselves and the government they represent, that they can no longer dispense with the duty of soliciting your attention to their mission. "The United States, citizen minister, at an epoch which evinced their sincerity, have given incontestable proofs of their ardent friendship, of their affection for the French Republick: these were the result, not of her unparalleled prowess and power, but of their confidence in herjustice and magnanimity; and in such high estimation was the reciprocity of her friendship held by them, as to have been a primary object of national concern. The preservation of it was dear to them, the loss of it a subject of unfeigned regret, and the recovery of it, by every measure which shall consist with the rights of an independent nation, engages their constant attention. The government of the United States, we are authorized to declare, has examined, with the most scrupulous justice, its conduct towards its former friend. It has been led to this by a sincere desire to remove, of itself, every just cause of complaint; conceiv ing that, with the most upright intentions, such cause may possibly exist; and although the strictest search has produced no self-reproach, although the government is conscious that it has uniformly sought to preserve, with fidelity, its engagements to France, yet far from wishing to exercise the privilege of judging for itself, on its own course of reasoning and the lights in its own possession, it invites fair and candid discussion; it solicits a reconsideration of the past; it is persuaded its intentions, its views, and its actions must have been misrepresented and misunderstood; it is convinced that the essential interests of both nations will be promoted by reconciliation and peace; and it cherishes the hope of meeting with similar dispositions on the part of the directory. "Guided by these sentiments, the President of the United States has given it in charge to the undersigned to state to the executive directory the deep regret which he feels at the loss or suspension of the harmony and friendly intercourse which subsisted between the two republicks, and his sincere wish to restore them; to discuss candidly the complaints of France, and to offer frankly those of the United States: and he has authorized a review of existing treaties, and such alterations thereof as shall consist with the mutual interest and satisfaction of the contracting parties. "This task the undersigned are anxious to commence ; and truly happy will they be, if their exertions can in any degree contribute to restore that friendship, that mutual interchange of good offices which it is alike their wish and their duty to effect between the citizens of the two republicks. "The undersigned pray you, citizen minister, to present this communication to the executive directory, and to receive the assurances of their most perfect consideration. CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, ELBRIDGE GERRY. Paris, Nov. 11, in the 22d year of American Independence. To the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republick." No answer having been given to it on the 21st instant, we requested major Rutledge to wait on the minister, and inquire of him whether he had communicated the letter to the directory, and whether we might expect an answer: he replied that he had submitted our letter to them, and that they would direct him what steps to pursue, of which we should be informed. We have not, however, hitherto received any official intimation relative to this business: we are not yet received; and the condemnation of our vessels for want of a rôle d'équipage is unremittingly continued. Frequent and urgent attempts have been made to inveigle us again into negotiation with persons not officially authorized, of which the obtaining of money is the basis: but we have persisted in declining to have any further communication relative to diplomatic business with |