which came as a third package from Mr. Ast, and which has never been opened, I have put into the great trunk, without displacing, or ever having touched a single paper, except as far as was necessary, to make room for that. I shall have the whole corded and plumbed by the Custom house here, not only to prevent their being opened at the Custom houses on the road, and at the port of exportation, but to prove to you, whether they shall have been opened by any body else, after going out of my hands. If the stamped leads are entire, and the cords uncut, when you receive them, you will be sure they have not been opened; they will be wrapt in oil cloth here, to guard them against the damps of the sea, and as I mentioned before, Mr. Vannet will put them under another covering, if he finds it necessary, at Havre. At the same time with your last letter, I received from the office of Foreign Affairs, the ratification by Congress of the loan of 1788, for another million of guilders. As the necessity of this loan resulted from the estimate made by Mr. Adams and myself, which estimate was laid before Congress, I suppose their ratification of the loan implies that of the estimate. One article of this was for the redemption of our captives at Algiers. Though your letter says nothing on this subject, I am in hopes you have sent orders to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam, to furnish, as soon as they shall have it, what may be necessary for this pressing call. So also for the foreign officers. If the ratification of the loan has been made by Congress, with a view to fulfil the objects of the estimate, a general order from you to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam, to pay the monies from time to time, according to that estimate, or to such other as you shall furnish them with, might save the trouble of particular orders on every single occasion, and the disappointments arising from the delay or miscarriage of such orders; but it is for you to decide on this. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect, Gentlemen, Your most obedient and most humble servant, SIR, TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN. Paris, September 11, 1788. In the course of the last war, the house of Schweighauser and Dobrée, of Nantes, and Puchilberg of L'Orient, presented to Dr. Franklin a demand against the United States of America. He being acquainted with the circumstances of the demand, and knowing it to be unfounded, refused to pay it. They thereupon procured seizure, by judiciary authority, of certain arms and other military stores which we had purchased in this country, and had deposited for embarkation at Nantes; and these stores have remained in that position ever since. Congress have lately instructed me to put an end to this matter. Unwilling to trouble your Excellency, whenever it can be avoided, I proposed to the parties to have the question decided by arbitrators, to be chosen by us jointly. They have refused it, as you will see by their answers to my letters, copies of both which I have the honor to inclose you. I presume it to be well settled in practice, that the property of one sovereign is not permitted to be seized within the dominions of another; and that this practice is founded not only in mutual respect, but in mutual utility. To what the contrary practice would lead is evident in the present case, wherein military stores have been stopped in the course of a war, in which our greatest difficulties proceeded from the want of military stores. In their letter too, they make a merit of not having seized one of our ships of war, and certainly, the principle which admits the seizure of arms would admit that of a whole fleet, and would often furnish an enemy the easiest means of defeating an expedition. The parties obliging me, then, to have recourse to your Excellency on this occasion, I am under the necessity of asking an order from you, for the immediate delivery of the stores and other property of the United States, at Nantes, detained by the house of Schweighauser and Dobrée, and that of Puchilberg, or by either of them, under a pretence of judicial seizure. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, TH: JEFFERSON. TO M. DE REYNEVAL. Paris, September 16, 1788. SIR, I have the honor now to inclose you my observations on the alteration proposed in the consular convention. There remain only three articles of those heretofore in question between us, to which I am unable to agree; that is to say, the second, proposing still to retain personal immunities for the consuls, and others attached to their office; the eighth, proposing that the navigation code of each nation shall be established in the territories of the other; and the ninth, insisting that the ship's roll shall be conclusive evidence, that a person belongs to the ship. There are several new matters introduced into the draught: some of these are agreed to; others cannot be admitted, as being contrary to the same principles which had obliged me to disagree to some of the former articles. The greatest part of the eleventh, and the whole of the twelfth new articles, are in this predicament. They propose, that no person shall be arrested on board a merchant vessel for any cause, but in presence of the consul; that no such vessel shall be visited but in his presence; and that when the officers of justice have reason to believe that a criminal has taken refuge on board a vessel of war, the captain's word shall be conclusive evidence that he is not there. To the objections which I had the honor of stating in my letter to his Excellency, the Count de Montmorin, I have now that of adding some other observations, of which I request your perusal. I inclose with them a draught, on the basis of the one you were pleased to give me, altered so as to reconcile it to the spirit of our laws. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant, SIR, TO THE MARQUIS DE LA ROUERIE. Paris, September 16, 1788. On receiving the first letters which you did me the honor. to write to me, on the arrears due to you from the United States, I informed you, that I had nothing to do in the money department; that the subject of your letters belonged altogether to the treasury board, and to Mr Grand, their banker here, to the former of whom I forwarded your letters. As I felt an anxiety, however, that the foreign officers should be paid, I took the liberty of pressing the treasury board, from time to time, to exert themselves for that effect; and I availed myself of an opportunity which occurred last spring, of setting on foot measures, which, with their approbation, might furnish the means of effecting this payment. So far my information to you went, and I added a supposition, that the treasury board would probably give orders on the subject, in the course of the month of July. But I made you no promise; it would have been strange if I had; nor does my office, nor any thing I have ever said or done, subject me to the demand of immediate payment, which you are pleased to make on me, nor call on me for any declaration or answer, positive or negative. Finding that my interference, which was friendly only, and avowed to be inofficial, has given occasion to your letter of yesterday, in a style which I did not expect, and to which I can have no motive for further exposing myself, I must take the liberty of desiring, that the correspondence between us on this subject may cease. I presume that the certificate given you, points out the person, here or elsewhere, to whom your applications are to be made, and that he will inform you when he receives orders on your subject. I am, Sir, your humble servant, TH: JEFFERSON. DEAR SIR, TO WILLIAM SHORT. Paris, September 20, 1788. The evening of your departure, a letter came by the way of London and New York, addressed to you, and probably from Virginia. I think you wished your American letters to remain here; I shall therefore keep it. The passport now inclosed came the day after your departure; so also, did a mass of American letters for me, as low down as August the 10th. I shall give you their substance. The convention of Virginia annexed to their ratification of the new constitution, a copy of the State declaration of rights, not by way of condition, but to announce their attachment to them. They added, also, propositions for specific alterations of the constitution. Among these, was one, for rendering the President incapable of serving more than eight years, in any term of sixteen. New York has followed the example of Virginia, expressing the substance of her bill of rights, (that is, Virginia's) and proposing amendments: these last differ much from those of Virginia; but they concur as to the President, only proposing that he shall be incapable of being elected more than twice. But I own, I should like, better than either of these, what Luther Martin tells us was repeatedly voted and adhered to, by the federal convention, and only altered about twelve days before their rising, when some members had gone off; to wit, that he should be elected for seven years, and incapable for ever after. But New York has taken another step, which gives uneasiness; she has written a circular letter to all the legislatures, asking their concurrence in an immediate convention for making amendments. No news yet from North Carolina. Electors are to be chosen the first Wednesday in January; the President to be elected the first Wednesday in February; the new legislature to meet the third week in March: the place is not yet decided on. Philadelphia was first proposed, and had six and a half votes; the half vote was Delaware, one of whose members wanted to take a vote on Wilmington; then Baltimore was proposed and carried, and afterwards rescinded: so that the matter stood open as ever on the 10th of August; but it was allowed the dispute lay only between New York and Philadelphia, and rather thought in favor of the last. The Rhode Island Delegates had retired from Congress. Dr. Franklin was dangerously ill of the gout and stone, on the 21st of July. My letters of August the 10th not mentioning him, I hope he was recovered. Warville, &c. were arrived. Congress had referred the decision, as to the independence of Kentucky, to the new government. Brown ascribes this to the jealousy of the northern States, who want Vermont to be received at the same time, in order to preserve a balance of interest in Congress. He was just setting out for Kentucky, disgusted, yet disposed to persuade to an acquiescence, though doubting they would immediately separate from the Union. The principal obstacle to this, he thought, would be the Indian war. The following is a quotation from a letter from Virginia, dated July the 12th: P- -n, though much impaired in health, and in every respect in the decline of life, showed as much zeal to carry the new constitution, as if he had been a young man; perhaps more than he discovered, in the commencement of the late revolution, in his opposition to Great Britain. W- -e acted as chairman to the committee of the whole, and, of course, took but little part in the debate; but was for the adoption, relying on subsequent amendments. B—r said nothing, but was for it. The G―r exhibited a curious spectacle to view. Having refused to sign the paper, every body supposed him against it; but he afterwards had written a letter, and having taken a part, which might be called rather vehement than active, he was constantly 2 B VOL. II. |