Relations with France. and truly belongs to the subjects of one of the parties;" and with this further view, "that all manner of dissensions and quarrels might be avoided and prevented:" for, as was declared in the twenty-seventh article, when a ship of the party remaining neutral, met with by a ship of the other party, had shown her sea-letter or passport she was to "be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage, so as it should not be lawful to molest or search her in any manner, or to give her chase, or force her to quit her intended course.” It also merits observation, that, according to the tenor of the sea-letter or passport, in every port or haven where he (the neutral master) should enter with his ship, he is required to show, not a rele d'équipage, but his passport. Yet this passport made and intended by the Governments of France and the United States, in 1778, to facilitate and protect their commerce, to exempt it from vexations, and to prevent dissensions and quarrels, bas by the Government of France, been converted into a fatal snare, an engine of mischief, producing quarrels, dissensions, vexations, and, to the commerce of many American citizens, absolute destruction. II. If these preliminaries should be satisfactorily arranged, then, for the purpose of examining and adjusting all the claims of our citizens, it will be necessary to provide for the appointment of a Board of Commissioners similar to that described in the sixth and seventh articles of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Great Britain. roll, or shipping paper, would be required. It was tion of the master or commander of the said ship then suddenly demanded; and the decree (like" that it may appear thereby that the ship realy the law of January, 1798, respecting articles of the produce or manufacture of Great Britain,) was instantly enforced, and became a snare to the multitudes of American vessels, which, for want of previous notice, would not have on board the document in question, if their Government should permit them to receive a document which they were under no obligation to produce. For it cannot, with any semblance of justice, be pretended that the vessels of one nation are bound to furnish themselves with papers in forms prescribed by the laws of another. And if we resort to the treaty of 1778, or to the sea-letter or passport annexed to it, on which letter the Directory pretended to found their decree concerning the rôle d'équipage, we shall see that these words are not to be found in either; and, although the passport mentions" a list signed and witnessed, containing the names, surnames, the places of birth, and abode of the crew of his [the neutral master's] ship, and of all who shall embark on board her, whom he shall not take on board without the knowledge and permission of the officers of the marine;" yet, instead of being obliged "to have the list on board," the passport declares, that "he shall enter it in the proper office;" and all that the treaty requires him to exhibit at sea is the sea-letter, or passport. In a word, whatever is said about the rôle d'équipage, in the French application of the phrase, has relation to the laws and usages of France. It was to be exhibited to the officers of the marine; but the United States have not, nor ever had, like France, any such description of officers, employed in the examination and clearing of vessels and their crews. prior to their going to sea; and the Directory, if they had wanted pretences for despoiling our commerce, might as well have made the omission of appointing marine officers in our ports, to whom, according to the letter of the passport, the rôle d'équipage was to be exhibited, a cause of capture and condemnation, as the omitting to furnish them with rôles d'équipage in the French form. In preparing, in 1793, the sea-letter for American vessels, the Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson, changed, in divers places, the letter of the passport, substituting other words applicable to us; and for "officers of the marine," "officers and judges of the marine," which words were descriptive of French institutions, using only the phrase proper officers," in conformity with our own. In the same manner, the "ship's roll," or shipping paper of the United States, if at all required, should have been respected by France, as her rôle d'équipage would have been respected by the United States. And, after all, what was the real object of the sea-letter, (in which alone there is any reference to a list of the crew,) and what was it substantially to express? The twenty-fifth article of the treaty of 1778 informs us," in case either of the parties should be engaged in war, the ships and vessels belonging to the subjects or people of the other ally, must be furnished with sealetters or passports, expressing the name, property, and bulk of the ship, as also the name and habita The Commissioners of the two nations may first meet at Paris. In choosing the fifth Commissioner, they will have a right to propose a Frenchman or an American. But it might conduce to more satisfactory results if the fifth Commissioner were a foreign civilian, eminent for his learning, talents, and integrity. Three of the Commissioners may constitute a board, provided one named on each side and the fifth Commissioner be present. The four Commissioners, in the absence of the fifth, may also constitute a board; and, in each case, the deci sions of a majority are to be valid. But, when on any questions, the four Commissioners, in the absence of the fifth, shall be equally divided, such questions are to be re-examined and decided in the presence of the fifth Commissioner. Further, in absence of the fifth Commissioner, any three of the other Commissioners may constitute a Board, and their decisions valid in cases where they are unanimous. The salaries of the Commissioners, the expense attending the commission, and the supplying of vacancies in it, may be regulated in the manner proposed in the eighth article of our Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Great Britain. The Commissioners should be appointed and meet at Paris, within six months after the ratifications of the treaty by the respective Governments, and as much sooner as may be. Claims may be presented to the Board during Relations with France. two years, commencing with the day on which the Commissioners shall first assemble to proceed to business; and, in particular cases, in which it shall appear to them reasonable and just, they may extend the time of receiving claims to any reasonable term after the expiration of the two years. All sums which the Board may award to American claimants, France should stipulate to pay in gold and silver, without any deduction, at such place or places, and at such time or times, as the Commissioners shall appoint. The awards should comprehend a reasonable allowance of interest on the amount of the original losses and damages, or, instead of prompt payment, the whole may constitute a transferable capital, bearing interest until the debt be discharged. The Board should also take cognizance of the claims which may be presented to them by American citizens for merchandise, or other property, seized by the French in their own ports or elsewhere, and not comprehended under the head of captures; and for their vessels arbitrarily and unreasonably detained in French ports, and for the losses and damages thereby sustained, the Board should award equitable compensations, to be paid in the manner prescribed in the case of captures. The claims of the United States, as distinguished from those of their citizens, for injuries received from the French Republic, or its citizens, should be submitted to the same Board; and whatever sums they award, France should stipulate to pay, in the manner before mentioned, in the case of captures. As the French Government have heretofore complained of infringements of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce by the United States, or their citizens, all claims for injuries thereby occasioned to France, or its citizens, are to be submitted to the same board; and whatever damages they award, will be allowed by the United States, and deducted from the sums awarded to be paid by France. If, however, the French Government should desire to waive its national claims, you may do the like on the part of the United States. Doubtless the claims of the latter would exceed those of the former; but, to avoid multiplying subjects of dispute, and because national claims may probably be less definite than those of individuals, and consequently more difficult to adjust, national claims may, on both sides, be relinquished. All claims for sums due to American citizens, by contracts with the French Government or its agents, which may be presented to the Board, France should stipulate to pay within the shortest periods possible to obtain, with interest, at the rate or rates agreed on; or, if no agreement about interest appears, then at the rate to be fixed by the Board, and from the times when the sums were respectively payable by contract. This also may be transferable stock. The questions about interest, and any other questions which may arise out of the claims founded on contracts, not explicitly determined by the treaty, may be left to the decision of the Board of Commissioners. III. If the preceding claims shall be duly attended to, and adequate arrangements made for adjusting and satisfying them, you will then turn your thoughts to the regulation of navigation and commerce, and to some other points interesting to the two nations. IV. It may be stipulated that there shall be a reciprocal and entirely perfect liberty of commerce and navigation between France and the United States, and their territories and dominions, in every part of the world; but without admitting the vessels of either country into the rivers of the other beyond the highest ports of entry from the sea. With the usual policy of European nations, France may object to the free admission of American vessels into the ports of her colonies. But the singular injuries our commerce has sustained from France, during the present war, which no payments to be made by her, under the preceding stipulations, can ever fully compensate, plead for an entire liberty of trade with her colonies, at least during the term of the proposed treaty, and until the stipulated compensations shall actually have been made. Another reason will naturally operate in favor of this claim; the inability of France immediately to furnish the requisite navigation and supplies for the commerce of her distant possessions. But if France will not allow us a trade with her colonies on the terms which may be agreed in respect to the parent State, we should be silent on the subject. The commerce of all our territories will be open to France; that of all her dominions should be alike open to us. At any rate, it appears inexpedient for the United States to countenance injurious distinctions respecting colonial commerce, to obtain a share in it by agreeing to allow a price for it in the payment of extra duties. Neither ought we to stipulate anything like what is contained in the last clause of the third article of our treaty with the United Netherlands. Such an engagement would be a species of guaranty of the colony system. It is sufficient for the United States to treat foreign nations with justice and friendship. V. It may be stipulated that no other or higher duties shall be paid by the ships or merchandise of one party in the ports of the other, than such as are or shall be payable by the like vessels or merchandise of all other nations: that no other or higher duties shall be imposed in one country on the importation of any articles which are the growth, produce, or manufacture of the other than are or shall be payable on the importation of the like articles being of the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country; and that no prohibition shall be imposed on the exportation or importation of any articles from or to the territories of the two parties, respectively, which shall not equally extend to all other nations. And for the information of their respective fellow-citizens, and to prevent abuses, it may be stipulated that the Consuls of each nation shall be officially furnished in the other with tariffs of all imposts, customs, duties, and charges; by which Relations with France. tariffs the demands of the officers of each nation may be respectively limited. VI. The freedom of navigation and commerce here proposed will require the admission of the citizens of the two countries respectively into the dominions of the other, with liberty to reside there, to hire and possess houses and warehouses for the purposes of their commerce, and complete protection and security for the merchants and traders on each side, with their property, whether in going to, residing in, or returning from, the country of the other. Nor should they be liable to any tax on their persons or property, to which the natives are not equally subject. They should be at liberty to manage their own affairs, without being obliged to employ any factor, broker, or interpreter, or any persons to load or unload their vessels; with a right, however, to employ any or all of them, as well as advocates and attorneys, at their pleasure. VII. The merchants and others of one nation residing in the other, should have liberty to dispose of their property by testament, or otherwise, including real estates already acquired; and, if dying intestate, their heirs should enjoy the right of succession. Provided that, if the laws of either country should at the time be incompatible with such transfer or inheritance of real estates by aliens, they may be sold or otherwise disposed of to citizens of the two countries respectively. The citizens of the United States should not, in respect to their property, be considered as aubains in France; and, consequently, should be exempted from the droit d'aubain, or other similar duty. VIII. The mutual residence of citizens of the two nations in the countries of each other necessarily requires the free exercise of religion, at least in their own houses, and in their own way; and permission to bury the dead in convenient places. IX. If debtors flee from one country to the other, the creditors should be allowed to pursue them, and have the benefit of the laws of the country to which they flee, in the same manner as if the debts had been there contracted. X. Neither the debts due from individuals of the one nation to the individuals of the other, nor shares nor moneys which they may have in the public funds, or in the public or private banks, should ever, in any event of war or national differences, be sequestered or confiscated. XI. The ships of the citizens of the respective countries coming upon any coasts belonging to either, but not willing to enter into port; or, being entered into port, and not willing to unload their cargoes or break bulk; they should be treated according to the general rules prescribed, or to be prescribed, relative to the object in question.* XII. Neither party should permit the ships or goods belonging to the citizens of the other to be taken within cannon shot of the coast, nor elsewhere within their jurisdiction, by ships of war or others having commission from any Prince, Republic, or State whatever. But if such capture *See section 60, new collection law. or other injury should happen, the party whis territorial rights are thus violated should use utmost endeavors to obtain from the offendi party full and ample satisfaction for the captur or other injury so committed. The just freeder of commerce, and the interest and dignity of the neutral nation, demand the protection of all ve sels entering its ports, not only from being taken but from being pursued within its jurisdiction, a immediately after their departure from its ports therefore, their enemy, finding an asylum in those ports, should not be permitted to leave the same until the lapse of twenty-four hours after such departure. XIII. No asylum should be given to pirates vessels and property rescued from their hands should be restored to the proper owners; the pirates and any who conceal or assist them, should be brought to condign punishment; all with the precautions customary in such cases. XIV. The ships of war and other public ves sels of each party should at all times be hospita bly received in the ports of the other; their offcers and crews paying due respect to the laws and government of the country. XV. In case the citizens of either party with their private shipping, armed or unarmed, be forced through stress of weather, pursuit of pirates or enemies, or any other urgent necessity, to seek for shelter in the ports of the other, they should be received and treated with humanity, and enjoy all friendly protection and assistance. XVI. În the case of vessels wrecked, foundered. or otherwise damaged, they should receive in each country the same protection and assistance as if they belonged to the inhabitants of the country on whose coasts the misfortune should happen. XVII. Each party may appoint Consuls for the protection of trade, to reside in the dominions and territories of the other, including colonies as well as the mother country: for wherever trade is permitted, there the assistance and protection of Consuls is necessary. If a Consul be sent to a colony, his provisional admission by the colonial government might suffice until the pleasure of the national government should be known. The Consuls may enjoy the rights and liberties which belong to them by the law of nations. XVIII. Deserters from public and private ves sels should be delivered up, and the laws of each country make suitable provision for that purpose. The merchants and commanders of vessels, public and private, of one nation, in the country of the other, may engage and receive on board seamen or others, natives or inhabitants of the country to which the vessels belong: Provided that, either on one side or the other, they may not take into their service such of their countrymen (not deserters) who have already engaged in the ser vice of the other party, whether in war or trade. and whether they meet them by land or sea; at least if the captains or masters under whose command such persons may be found, will not voluntarily discharge them from their service. Not only the original enlistment, shipping paper, rôle d'équipage, but a copy, duly certified by a Relations with France. desertion. judge of the country, may be admitted in proof of or pretended trials, and sales of prizes, by French Consuls and agents: in order to prevent any claim XIX. It may be agreed, that, on mutual requi-to the exercise of such powers, it will be expesitions by the respective Ministers or Consuls of dient expressly to declare they shall not be exerthe two nations, persons charged with murder or cised in the United States; whether the prizes are forgery committed within the territorial jurisdic-made by public ships or privateers. There will, tion of one, and fleeing to the other, shall be de- of course, be a reciprocal denial of the exercise of livered up. the like powers by American Consuls and agents XX. It may be agreed that neither party shall in the dominions of France. Prizes ought to be intermeddle in the common fisheries on the coasts conducted to the country to which the captors of the other party, nor disturb the other party in belong, unless the two parties are engaged in hosthe exercise of the rights which either now holds, tilities against a common enemy. But, in this or may acquire, of fishing on the banks of New- case, the established courts for prize causes in the foundland, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or else-country to which the prizes are conducted should where on the American coast northward of the alone take cognizance of them. United States of America: but that the whale and seal fisheries may be freely exercised in every quarter of the world. XXI. The seventh and twenty-second articles of the Commercial Treaty between the United States and France, of February 6, 1778, have been the source of much altercation between the two nations during the present war. The dissolution of that and our other treaties with France leaves us at liberty with respect to future arrangements; with the exception of the now preferable right secured to Great Britain by the twenty-fifth article of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. In that article we promise mutually that, while we continue in amity, neither party will in future make any treaty that shall be inconsistent with that article or the one preceding it. We cannot, therefore, renew with France the seventeenth and twenty-second articles of the Treaty of 1778. Her aggressions, which occasioned the dissolution of that treaty, have deprived her of the priority of rights and advantages therein stipulated. Indeed, if the public faith pledged in the British Treaty did not forbid a renewal of those engagements with France, sound policy should prevent it. We should preserve to ourselves the right of allowing every commercial nation in amity with us the like shelter, supplies, and assistance, under like circumstances; and, by excluding all equally when engaged in war, (saving to each the rights of humanity and hospitality,) we may keep the calamities of war at a distance. The engagements with Great Britain may cease in two years after the close of the present war: but, under the stipulations contained in the twenty-eighth and last articles of the British Treaty, the engagements in question may be continued to a longer period. If, therefore, you should find any cogent reasons for renewing in substance the seventeenth and twenty-second articles of the Commercial Treaty with France of 1778, it must be with the explicit declaration that neither at the present or any future time, shall the said articles be construed to derogate from the whole or any part of the twentyfourth and twenty-fifth articles of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and His Britannic Majesty, concluded at London on the 19th of November, 1794. XXII. The present war has exhibited such inconveniences and mischiefs in our own country, and such monstrous abuses elsewhere, by trials, bid XXIII. The duties of an impartial neutrality, when either party shall remain neutral, will forany permission to the enemies of the other to arm originally, or to increase a former armament, in the ports of the neutral party. XXIV. When one of the parties shall be engaged in war, the vessels of the other may be captured on just suspicion of having on board property belonging to the enemy of the former, or of carrying to the enemy any of the articles which are contraband of war. With these exceptions, the trade of each party to the ports of the enemies of the other should be perfectly free, unless to the ports actually blockaded; and if such enemies forbear to capture enemies' property in neutral vessels, it may be agreed that in such case, the contracting parties will forbear to capture the vessels of each other for that cause. The law of France of the 18th of January, 1798, respecting produce or manufactures coming from England or her possessions, is incompatible with the stipulation here proposed, and, if not repealed, negotiations with you must be deemed illusory. But that captures on light suspicions may be avoided, and the vexations and injuries thence arising prevented, the usual stipulations for sealetters or passports, and certificates or manifests of the cargoes of vessels, may be introduced. But neither party should be allowed to prescribe the form, or to require the exhibition of any document (the sea-letter and certificates before mentioned excepted) not required by the laws or usages of the party to whose citizens the vessels and their cargoes belong. The form of the sealetter should be simple, like that now used by the United States, in that part of the passport which is printed in the English language. When the quality of the ship, goods, and master, shall sufficiently appear from the sea-letter and certificates, the commanders of armed vessels should exact no further proof. And if any merchant ship be not provided with a sea-letter or certificates, the case should be examined by a proper judge; and if it be found, from other proofs and documents, that the vessel truly belongs to the citizens of one of the parties, it should not be liable to confiscation, but be released with its cargo, with the exception of enemies' property and contraband goods which may be found on board. The change of the master not to invalidate the passport. Relations with France. XXV. The following articles, beyond the quantities proper for the ship's use, may be deemed contraband of war: cannon, mortars, their carriages and beds, muskets, petards, match, ball, bombs, grenades, carcasses, cartridge-boxes, gunpowder, saltpetre, pikes, halberds, swords, belts, pistols, holsters, cavalry saddles and furniture, and, generally, all kinds of arms and warlike instruments fit for the use of troops; and all these articles may be declared to be just objects of confiscation, whenever they are attempted to be carried to an enemy; but the vessel in which they are laden and the residue of the cargo to be free. France will probably not desire to extend further the use of contraband, and especially not to comprehend timber for ship building, naval stores, and other articles for the equipment of ships. If, however, she urges an extension, then timber for ship building, tar, pitch, turpentine, rosin, copper in sheets, sails, and sail cloth, hemp and cordage, may be added; and, generally, whatever may serve directly and principally for the equipment of vessels. But iron in pigs and bars, timber for house frames, pine or fir planks and boards, staves, nails suitable for house building, coarse linens, and, generally, all other articles which, though occasionally or from necessity applicable to the equipment of ships, are not directly and principally prepared for that purpose. It is also probable that France will not desire to consider provisions as contraband, unless going to a place actually blockaded, and we ought strenuously to resist any other construction; but if what is said on this subject in the eighteenth article of our commercial treaty with Great Britain should induce France seriously and with earnestness to demand the like stipulation, it may be conceded; yet a modification may first be attempted, by proposing not only that if provisions be captured, they shall be promptly paid for, with a reasonable mercantile profit, freight, and demurrage, but that they shall not be captured at all unless going to a place actually blockaded, or to supply an invading army or hostile fleet, though in situations not actually forming an investment or blockade. XXVI. If, on the exhibition of the certificates or manifests of a ship's cargo, the property of an enemy, or contraband goods, be discovered, and the ship be consequently captured and carried into port, provision must be made to prevent embezzlement, waste, and destruction. But there is a very common regulation to prevent disorder and injury in stopping and examining neutral ships, which certainly is disregarded in practice, viz: That the examining ship shall not approach the neutral within cannon shot, while her boat is sent to make the examination. It is a rule which would produce both inconvenience and delay, and in bad weather be impracticable, or very dangerous. The provision that only two or three men shall enter the neutral vessel is very proper, though, like many other salutary regulations, is not enforced by penalties on offenders. But instead of visiting the neutral, the other often requires the neutral to send an officer with his papers. This is an abuse; and man instances have occurred in the present war which it has been practised with great inhumanity and most when it was most inhuman-in tempe tuous weather, when a boat could not be put ou but with imminent danger of the lives of the me It will therefore be very well to stipulate that the neutral party shall in no case be required to go o board the examining vessel. And if this shoul in any cases prevent an examination, it can affer no just ground of complaint; for prima facie, berter is the right of the neutral than of the bellige rent vessel. Besides, the stipulation would be re ciprocal. XXVII. The usual stipulations in treaties, de signed to prevent abuses by armed vessels, have ever been found inadequate; perhaps they do not admit of a complete remedy. If, however, any nation does not provide penalties and securities. whereby to restrain offenders and indemnify the injured, the nation itself ought to be responsible. Doubtless, the nation should be immediately responsible for all abuses committed by nationa. ships. One abuse is the destruction or concealment of papers of captured vessels. A remedy for this seems practicable: the captors may be obliged to give a receipt for them upon a list of the papers; and they may also be sealed up with the seals of the captors and captured. The master and supercargo, being entrusted by the owners with the vessel and cargo, ought never to be separated from them. They may prevent waste and embezzlement, and, on the arrival of the vessel, will be ready for examination; and, also, to claim the property in behalf of the owners, and contest, as of right they may do, the le gality of the capture. Bribery, or an attempt to bribe any one of the ship's company or passengers to depose to any fact tending to the condemnation of vessel or cargo, or putting any of them to torture for that or any other purpose, should absolutely procure her acquittal. But a still greater evil remains, and more difficult to remedy-the improper institution of prize courts. Probably no provision can be explicitly made, other than that each party will take effec tual care that the judgments and decrees in prize causes shall be given conformable to the rules of justice and equity, and the stipulations of the treaty, and without any unnecessary delay, by judges above all suspicion, and who have no manner of interest in the cause in dispute. It would be some check on the judges in prize causes if their reasons for condemning were required to be stated, with the other proceedings, in writing; and copies of the whole should, if demanded, be delivered to the commander or agent of the cap tured vessel without the smallest delay, or, at furthest, within fifteen days after sentence pronounced, and sooner if practicable, and at the expense of the captors, (in case of condemnation,) not of the captured, who are otherwise sufficiently distressed. Prizes, as already observed, should be conducted into the ports of the party at war, or of an asso |