Relations with France. try where it may be, and the other nation shall be at liberty to enact similar laws. ART. 8. To favor commerce on both sides, it is agreed that, in case war should break out between the two nations, (which God forbid.) the term of six months after the declaration of war shall be allowed to the merchants, and other citizens and inhabitants, respectively, on one side and the other, during which time they shall be at liberty to withdraw themselves, with their effects and moveables, which they shall be at liberty to carry, send away, or sell, as they please, without the least obstruction; nor shall their effects, much less their persons, be seized during such term of six months; on the contrary, passports, which shall be valid for a time necessary for their return, shall be given to them for their vessels and the effects which they shall be willing to send away or carry with them; and such passports shall be a safe conduct against all insults and prizes which privateers may attempt against their persons and effects. And if anything be taken from them, or any injury done to them, or their effects, by one of the parties, their citizens, or inhabitants, within the term above prescribed, full satisfaction shall be made to them on that account. ART. 9. Neither the debts due from the individuals of the one nation to the individuals of the other, nor shares, nor moneys which they may have in public funds, or the public or private banks, shall ever, in any event of war or national difference, be sequestered or confiscated. ART. 10. It shall be free for the two contracting parties to appoint commercial agents for the protection of trade, to reside in France and the United States. Either party may except such place as may be thought proper from the residence of these agents. Before any agent shall exercise his functions, he shall be accepted in the usual forms by the party to whom he is sent; and when he shall have been accepted and furnished with his exequatur, he shall enjoy the rights and prerogatives of the similar agents of the most favored nations. ART. 11. The citizens of the French Republic shall pay in the ports, havens, roads, countries, islands, cities, and towns of the United States, no other, or greater duties or imposts, of what nature soever they may be, or by what name soever called, than those which the nations most favored are, or shall be obliged to pay, and they shall enjoy all the rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and exemptions in trade, navigation, and commerce, whether in passing from one port in the said States to another, or in going to and from the same from and to any part of the world, which the said nations do, or shall enjoy. And the citizens of the United States shall reciprocally enjoy in the territories of the French Republic in Europe, the same privileges and immunities, as well for their property and persons, and for what concerns trade, navigation, and commerce. ART. 12. It shall be lawful for the citizens of either country to sail with their ships and merchandise (contraband goods always excepted) from any port whatever to any port of the enemy of the other, and to sail and trade with their ships and merchandise, with perfect security and liberty, from the countries, ports, and places of those who are enemies of both, or of either party, without any opposition or disturbance whatsoever, and to pass not only directly from the places and ports of the enemy aforementioned, to neutral ports and places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy, to another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdiction of the same Power, or under several; unless such ports or places shall be actually blockaded, besieged, or invested. And whereas it frequently happens that vessels sail for a port or place belonging to an enemy, without knowing that the same is either besieged, blockaded, or invested, it is agreed that every vessel so circumstanced, may be turned away from such port or place, but she shall not be detained, nor any part of her cargo, if not contraband, be confiscated, unless, after notice of such blockade or investmant, she shall again attempt to enter; but she shall be permitted to go to any other port or place she shall think proper. Nor shall any vessel of either, that may have entered into such port or place before the same was actually besieged, blockaded, or invested by the other, be restrained from quitting such place with her cargo, nor if found therein after the reduction and surrender of such place, shall such vessel or her cargo be liable to confiscation, but they shall be restored to the owners thereof. ART. 13. In order to regulate what shall be deemed contraband of war, there shall be comprised, under that denomination, gunpowder, saltpetre, petards, match, ball, bombs, grenades, carcasses, pikes, halberds, swords, belts, pistols, holsters, cavalry saddles and furniture, cannon, mortars, their carriages and beds, and generally all kinds of arms, ammunition of war, and instruments fit for the use of troops; all the above articles, whenever they are destined to the port of an enemy, are hereby declared to be contraband, and are just objects of confiscation; but the vessel in which they are laden, and the residue of the cargo, shall be considered free, and not in any manner infected by the prohibited goods, whether belonging to the same, or a different owner. ART. 14. It is hereby stipulated that free ships shall give a freedom to goods, and that everything shall be deemed to be free and exempt which shall be found on board the ships belonging to the citizens of either of the contracting parties, although the whole lading, or any part thereof, should appertain to the enemies of either, contraband goods being always excepted. It is also agreed, in like manner, that the same liberty be extended to persons who are on board a free ship, with this effect: that, although they be enemies to either party, they are not to be taken out of that free ship, unless they are soldiers and in actual service of the enemy. ART. 15. On the contrary, it is agreed that whatever shall be found to be laden by the citizens of either party on any ship belonging to the enemies of the other, or their citizens, shall be con Relations with France. fiscated without distinction of goods, contraband or not contraband, in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy, except such goods and merchandises as were put on board such ship before the declaration of war, or even after such declaration, if so be it were done without knowledge of such declaration; so that the goods of the citizens of either party, whether they be of the nature of such as are prohibited or otherwise, which, as is aforesaid, were put on board any ship belonging to an enemy before the war, or after the declaration of the same, without the knowledge of it, shall no ways be liable to confiscation, but shall well and truly be restored without delay to the proprietors demanding the same: but so as that if the said merchandises be contraband, it shall not be in any way lawful to carry them afterwards to any ports belonging to the enemy. The two contracting parties agree, that the term of two months being passed after the declaration of war, their respective citizens, from whatever part of the world they come, shall not plead the ignorance mentioned in this article. ART. 16. The merchant ships belonging to the citizens of either of the contracting parties, which shall be bound to a port of the enemy of one of the parties, and concerning whose voyage, and articles of their cargo, there shall be just grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit, as well upon the high seas as in the ports or roads, not only their passports, but likewise their certificates, showing that their goods are not of the quality of those which are specified to be contraband in the thirteenth article of the present convention. port or certificates as above required for the same. such case may be examined by a proper judge or tribunal; and if it shall appear, from other documents or proofs admissible by the usage of nations that the ship belongs to the citizens of the neutral party, it shall not be confiscated, but shall be released with her cargo, (contraband goods excepted,) and be permitted to proceed on her voyage. If the master of a ship named in the passport should happen to die, or be removed by any other cause, and another put in his place, the ship and cargo shall, nevertheless, be equally secure, and the passport remain in full force. ART. 18. If the ships of the citizens of either of the parties shall be met with, either sailing along the coasts or on the high seas, by any ship of war or privateer of the other; for the avoiding of any disorder, the said ships of war or privateers shall remain out of cannon shot, and may send their boats on board the merchant ship which they shall so meet with, and may enter her to the number of two or three men only, to whom the mas ter or commander of such ship shall exhibit his passport concerning the property of the ship, made out according to the form prescribed in the fourth article. And it is expressly agreed that the neutral party shall in no case be required to go on board the examining vessel for the purpose of exhibiting his papers, or for any other examination whatever. ART. 19. It is expressly agreed by the contracting parties, that the stipulations above mentioned, relative to the conduct to be observed on the sea by the cruisers of the belligerent party towards ART. 17. And that captures on light suspicions the ships of the neutral party, shall be applied onmay be avoided, and injuries thence arising pre- ly to ships sailing without convoy; and, when the vented, it is agreed, that if one party shall be engag- said ships shall be convoyed, it being the intention ed in war, and the other party be neuter, the ships of the parties to observe all the regard due to the of the neutral party shall be furnished with pass- protection of the flag displayed by public ships, it ports similar to that described in the fourth arti- shall not be lawful to visit them: but the verbal cle, that it may appear thereby that the ships re- declaration of the commander of the convoy, that ally belong to the citizens of the neutral party; the ships he convoys belong to the nation whose that they shall be valid for any number of voy- flag he carries, and that they have no contraband ages, but shall be renewed every year, that is, if goods on board, shall be considered by the respecthe ship happens to return home in the space of a tive cruisers as fully sufficient: the two parties year. If the ships are laden, they shall be pro-reciprocally engaging not to admit, under the provided, not only with the passports above mentioned, but also with certificates similar to those described in the same article; so that it may be ART. 20. In all cases where vessels shall be known whether they carry any contraband goods. captured or detained under pretence of carrying No other paper shall be required, any usage or to the enemy contraband goods, the captor shall ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding. And give a receipt for such of the papers of the vessel if it shall not appear from the said certificates as he shall retain, which receipt shall be annexed that there are contraband goods on board, the to a descriptive list of the said papers: and it shall ships shall be permitted to proceed on their voy-be unlawful to break up or open the hatches. age. If it shall appear from the certificates that chests, trunks, casks, bales, or vessels found on there are contraband goods on board any such board, or remove the smallest part of the goods. ship, and the commander of the same shall offer unless the lading be brought on shore in presence to deliver them up, the offer shall be accepted, of the competent officers, and an inventory be and the ship shall be at liberty to pursue its voy-made by them of the said goods. Nor shall it be age, unless the quantity of contraband goods be greater than can conveniently be received on board the ship of war or privateer; in which case the ship may be carried into port for the delivery tection of their convoys, ships which shall carry contraband goods destined to an enemy. lawful to sell, exchange, or alienate the same in any manner, unless there shall have been lawful process, and the competent judge or judges shall have pronounced against such goods sentence of confiscation, saving always the ship and the other of the same. Relations with France. ART. 21. And, that proper care may be taken ART. 24. When the ships of war of the two of the vessel and cargo, and embezzlement pre- contracting parties, or those belonging to their vented, it is agreed, that it shall not be lawful to citizens which are armed in war, shall be admitremove the master, commander, or supercargo of ted to enter with their prizes, the ports of either any captured ship, from on board thereof, either of the two parties, the said public or private ships, during the time the ship may be at sea after her as well as their prizes, shall not be obliged to pay capture, or pending the proceedings against her, any duty either to the officers of the place, the or her cargo, or anything relative thereto. And, judges, or any others; nor shall such prizes, when in all cases where a vessel of the citizens of either they come to and enter the ports of either party, party shall be captured or seized, and held for ad- be arrested or seized: nor shall the officers of the judication, her officers, passengers, and crew, shall place make examination concerning the lawfulbe hospitably treated. They shall not be impris-ness of such prizes; but they may hoist sail at any oned or deprived of any part of their wearing time, and depart, and carry their prizes to the apparel, nor of the possession and use of their places expressed in their commissions, which the money, not exceeding for the captain, supercargo, commanders of such ships of war shall be obliged and mate, five hundred dollars each, and for to show. It is always understood that the stiputhe sailors and passengers, one hundred dollars lations of this article shall not extend beyond the each. privileges of the most favored nation. ART. 22. It is further agreed, that in all cases the established courts for prize causes, in the country to which the prizes may be conducted, shall alone take cognizance of them. And whenever such tribunal of either of the parties shall pronounce judgment against any vessel or goods or property claimed by the citizens of the other party, the sentence or decree shall mention the reasons or motives on which the same shall have been founded, and an authenticated copy of the sentence or decree, and of all the proceedings in the case, shall, if demanded, be delivered to the commander or agent of the said vessel, without any delay, he paying the legal fees for the same. ART. 23. And that more abundant care may be taken for the security of the respective citizens of the contracting parties, and to prevent their suffering injuries by the men of war, or privateers of either party, all commanders of ships of war and privateers, and all others the said citizens, shall forbear doing any damage to those of the other party, or committing any outrage against them; and if they act to the contrary, they shall be punished, and shall also be bound in their persons and estates to make satisfaction and reparation for all damages, and the interest thereof, of whatever nature the said damages may be. ART. 25. It shall not be lawful for any foreign privateers who have commissions from any Prince or State in enmity with either nation, to fit their ships in the ports of either nation, to sell their prizes, or in any manner to exchange them; neither shall they be allowed to purchase provisions, except such as shall be necessary for their going to the next port of that Prince or State, from which they have received their commissions. ART. 26. It is further agreed, that both the said contracting parties shall not only refuse to receive any pirates into any of their ports, havens, or towns, or permit any of their inhabitants to receive, protect, harbor, conceal, or assist them in any manner, but will bring to condign punishment all such inhabitants as shall be guilty of such acts or offences. And all their ships, with the goods or merchandises taken by them and brought into the port of either of the said parties, shall be seized, as far as they can be discovered, and shall be restored to the owners, or their factors, or agents, duly authorized by them, (proper evidence being first given before competent judges for proving the property;) even in case such effects should have passed into other hands by sale, if it be proved that the buyers knew, or had good reason to believe or suspect that they had been piratically taken. ART. 27. Neither party will intermeddle in the fisheries of the other on its coasts, nor disturb the other in the exercise of the rights which it now holds, or may acquire on the coast of Newfoundland, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or elsewhere on the American coast, northward of the United States. But the whale and seal fisheries shall be free to both in every quarter of the world. This Convention shall be ratified on both sides in due form, and the ratifications exchanged in the space of six months, or sooner, if possible. For this cause, all commanders of privateers, before they receive their commissions, shall hereafter be obliged to give, before a competent judge, sufficient security by at least two responsible sureties, who have no interest in the said privateer, each of whom, together with the said commander, shall be jointly and severally bound in the sum of seven thousand dollars, or thirty-six thousand eight hundred and twenty francs; or, if such ships be provided with above one hundred and fifty seamen or soldiers, in the sum of fourteen thousand dollars, or seventy-three thousand six hundred In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaand forty francs; to satisfy all damages and injuries have signed the above articles both in the ries which the said privateer, or her officers or French and English languages, and they have men, or any of them, may do or commit during thereto affixed their seals; declaring, nevertheless, thei. cruise, contrary to the tenor of this conven- that the signing in the two languages shall not be tion, or to the laws and instructions for regulating brought into precedent nor in any way operate to their conduct; and further, that in all cases of ag- the prejudice of either party. gressions, the said commissions shall be revoked and annulled. Done at Paris, the eighth day of Vendemiaire, of the ninth year of the French Republic, the thir Relations with France. tieth day of September, Anno Domini eighteen JOSEPH BONAPARTE, PIERRE LOUIS RŒDERER, Journal of the Envoys. Journal of Oliver Ellsworth, William R. Davie, and William Vans Murray, Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of France, containing their correspondence and negotiations from the 17th of January, 1800, to the 3d of October in the same year; and terminating in the Convention with France, of the 30th September, 1800. OCTOBER 16. The following letter from the Secretary of State, with its enclosure, was delivered to Mr. Ellsworth and Mr. Davie, at Trenton. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Trenton, Oct. 16, 1799. SIR: To fulfil the President's orders, and to convey correctly to you and - his sentiments towards you, and his determination respecting your mission as Envoys Extraordinary to the French Republic, I enclose a copy of his letter to me of this date; and have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, TIMOTHY PICKERING. The following are the instructions above referred to. Instructions to Oliver Ellsworth, William Richardson GENTLEMEN: You have been witnesses of the enduring patience of the United States, under the unexampled aggressions, depredations, and hostilities, authorized and sanctioned by the French Republic against the commerce and citizens of the United States; and you are well informed of the measures adopted by our Government to put a stop to these evils, to obtain redress for the injured, and real peace and security to our country. And you know that, instead of relief, instead of justice for past wrongs, our very moderate demands have been immediately followed by new aggressions and more extended depredations; while our Ministers, seeking redress and reconciliation, have been refused a reception, treated with indignities, and finally driven from its territories. This conduct of the French Republic would well have justified an immediate declaration of war on the part of the United States; but desirous of maintaining peace, and willing to leave open the door of reconciliation with France, the United States contented themselves with preparations for defence, and measures calculated to protect their commerce. The treatment experienced by the former Envoys of the United States to the French Republic, having determined the President not to send thither other Ministers, without direct and unequivocal assurances previously signified by its Minister of Foreign Relations, that they would TRENTON, Oct. 16, 1799. be received in character to an audience of the DiSIR: I request you to order fair copies of the rectory, and that they should enjoy all the preroginstructions, as corrected last evening, to be pre-atives attached to that character by the law of napared and delivered to Judge Ellsworth and Gov- tions, and that a Minister or Ministers of equal ernor Davie, with another for Mr. Murray, with-powers should be appointed and commissioned to out loss of time; and to write a letter to those gentlemen as Envoys Extraordinary to the French Republic, expressing, with the affectionate respects of the President, his desire that they would take their passage for France, on board the frigate United States, Captain Barry, now lying at Rhode Island, by the 1st of November, or sooner, if consistent with their conveniences. Captain Barry will have orders to land them in any port of France which they may prefer, and to touch at any other ports which they may desire. The President's best wishes for their health and happiness, as well as for an honorable termination of their mission, will attend them. As their visit to France is one of the most critical, important, and interesting moments that ever has occurred, it cannot fail to be highly entertaining and instruct-eign Relations, that you will be received to an auive to them, and useful to their country, whether it terminate in peace and reconciliation or not. The President sincerely prays God to have them in his holy keeping. I am, sir, with great respect and esteem, your faithful humble servant, JOHN ADAMS. T. PICKERING, Esq., Secretary of State. treat with them: the French Government, by Mr. Talleyrand, its Minister of Foreign Relations, has declared, "that it will receive the Envoys of the United States in the official character with which they are invested; and that they shall enjoy all the prerogatives attached to it by the law of nations; and that one or more Ministers shall be duly authorized to treat with them." This the President deems to be substantially the assurance which he required as the previous condition of the Envoys entering on their mission. It now belongs to you, gentlemen, to see that this assurance be verified. Your country will not submit to any new indignity or neglect. It is expected, when you shall have assembled at Paris, and have given official notice of it to the Minister of For dience of the Executive Directory; that a Minister or Ministers, with powers equal to your own, will be appointed to treat with you; and that within twenty days at furthest, after your arrival at Paris, your negotiation will be commenced. If, however, your passports to Paris should be unreasonably withheld; if an audience of the Directory should be denied or procrastinated; if the appoint Relations with France. ment of a Minister or Ministers, with equal powers, to treat with you, should be delayed; or, if, when appointed, they postpone the intended negotiation; you are to relinquish your mission, demand your passports, and leave France; and, having once resolved to terminate the mission, you are not to resume it, whatever fresh overtures or assurances may be tendered to you by the French Government. One more limitation: The subjects of difference between the United States and France have often been discussed and are well understood; and, therefore, admit of a speedy decision. The negotiation is expected to be concluded in such time that you may certainly embark for the United States by the 1st of next April. This is highly important, in order that on your return Congress may be found in session, to take those measures which the result of your mission shall require. If it can be earlier concluded it will be still better. If any of the periods above mentioned should be prolonged with your assent, it is expected that the circumstances will be stated for your justification. I. At the opening of the negotiation you will inform the French Ministers, that the United States expect from France, as an indispensable condition of the treaty, a stipulation to make to the citizens of the United States full compensation for all losses and damages which they shall have sustained, by reason of irregular or illegal captures or condemnations of their vessels and other property, under color of authority or commissions from the French Republic or its agents. And all captures and condemnations are deemed irregular or illegal, when contrary to the law of nations generally received and acknowledged in Europe, and to the stipulations in the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, of the 6th of February, 1778, fairly and ingenuously interpreted, while that treaty remained in force; especially when made and pronounced. 1. Because the vessels' lading, or any part thereof, consisted of provisions or merchandise coming from England or her possessions. 2. Because the vessels were not provided with the rôles d'équipage prescribed by the laws of France; and which, it has been pretended, were also required by treaty. 3. Because sea letters or other papers were wanting, or said to be wanting when the property shall have been, or shall be, admitted or proved to be American. Such defect of papers, though it might justify the captors and exempt them from damages, for bringing in such vessels for examination, could not, with reason, be a ground of condemnation. 4. When the owners, masters, or supercargoes shall have been refused a hearing, or placed in situations rendering their presence at the trial impracticable. 5. When the vessels or other property captured shall have been sold, or otherwise disposed of, without a regular trial and condemnation. Captures and condemnations for such causes, and under such circumstances, are manifestly irregular or illegal. The French Government, if it has any serious wish to accommodate existing differences, can make no difficulty in admitting the general proposition, that, for injuries arising from violated laws and engagements, reparation shall be made. In every claim under this general stipulation, the question will occur, Has the treaty, or the law of nations, been violated? But such a general stipulation will not be sufficient. The five specific propositions just stated are obviously proper rules of adjudication; but the previous admission of the first and second is vastly important, to remove from hazard the most interesting claims of our citizens. To capture neutral property, because it was produced or manufactured in the country of an enemy to France, is so palpably unjust, that it seems improbable that even the men who originated the law, were they still in power, would persist in it as of right; and it is scarcely possible for their successors to hesitate on this point. To hesitate would be to doubt whether a man has a right to occupy his own house, or to wear his own clothes, unless he had built the first, or manufactured the last, with his own hands. The second proposition respecting the rôle d'équipage, as well as the first, should be insisted on. Until the decree of the Directory of March 2, 1797, was passed, and we had felt its fatal effects, we had no idea of the meaning which the French applied to the phrase rôle d'équipage. In the Consular Convention between the United States and France, article ninth, which relates to deserters from vessels, the document is described in the French by the words "des registres du bâtiment ou rôle d'équipage," and in the English part of the Convention by the words "the registers of the vessel or ship's rolls." And this paper was to be produced to the proper judge, to prove a deserter to belong to the vessel in question. The law or usage of each nation was incontestably to direct what was proper for its own vessels in this respect. If an American master claimed from a judge in France his warrant to arrest a deserter, he must have produced his "ship's roll," or what in the United States is called his shipping paper, which is a contract signed by all the persons composing a vessel's crew. The propriety and necessity of a ship's roll was, in the year 1790, sanctioned and enforced by an act of Congress; and, without such a written contract, the master, besides being subjected to other disadvantages, could not claim his men when they deserted. This ship's roll every American master, bound on a foreign voyage, takes on board his vessel; and, unquestionably every American vessel, captured and condemned by the French for the want of a rôle d'équipage, has, nevertheless, been possessed of the ship's roll, just described; and it is the only list of the ship's crew, which could ever have been contemplated by the United States, as necessary for American vessels. There never was, indeed, any intimation on the part of France, from 1778, when the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was made, until the passing of the decree of the Directory, in March, 1797, that a rôle d'équipage, other than the ship's |