them to any of those parties they will be abandoned to the penalties which the laws of war authorize.

You will be particularly careful to observe, and to notify as directed in other instances, the case of any citizen of the United States who shall be found in the service of either of the parties at war.

In case any vessel shall be found in the act of contravening any of the rules or principles which are the ground of this instruction, she is to be refused a clearance until she shall have complied with what the governour shall have decided in reference to her. Care, however, is to be taken in this, not unnecessarily or unreasonably to embarrass trade, or to vex any of the parties concerned.

In order that contraventions may be the better ascertained, it is desired that the officer who shall first go on board any vessel arriving within your district, shall make an accurate survey of her then condition as to military equipment to be forthwith reported to you, and that prior to her clearance a like survey be made, that any transgression of the rules laid down may be ascertained.

But as the propriety of any such inspection of a vessel of war in the immediate service of the government of a foreign nation is not without question in reference to the usage of nations, no attempt is to be made to inspect any such vessel till further order on the point.

The President desires me to signify to you his most particular expectation, that the instruction contained in this letter will be executed with the greatest vigilance, care, activity and impartiality. Omissions will tend to expose the government to injurious imputations and suspicions, and proportionably to commit the good faith and peace of the country; objects of too much importance not to engage every proper exertion of your zeal. With consideration, I am, sir, &c.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
NDER

1. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the United States by any of the belligerent parties for military service, offensive or defensive, is deemed unlawful.

2. Equipments of merchant vessels by either of the belligerent parties in the ports of the United States, purely for the accommodation of them as such, is deemed lawful.

3. Equipments in the ports of the United States of vessels of war in the immediate service of the government of any of the belligerent parties, which if done to other vessels would be of a doubtful nature, as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful; except those which shall have made prize of the subjects, people, or property of France coming with their prizes into the ports of the United States pursuant to the 17th article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France.

4. Equipments in the ports of the United States, by any of the parties at war with France, of vessels fitted for merchandize and war, whether with or without commissions, which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful; except those which shall have made prize, &c.

5. Equipments of any of the vessels of France, in the ports of the United States, which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable to commerce or war, are deemed lawful.

6. Equipments of every kind in the ports of the United States, of privateers of the powers at war with France, are deemed unlawful.

7. Equipments of vessels in the ports of the United States, which are of a nature solely adapted to war, are deemed unlawful; except those stranded or wrecked, as mentioned in the 18th article of our treaty with France, the 16th of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the 9th of our treaty with Prussia; and except those mentioned in the 19th article of our treaty with France, the 17th of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the 18th of our treaty with Prussia.

8. Vessels of either of the parties not armed, or armed previous to their coming into the ports of the United States, which shall not have infringed any of the foregoing rules, may lawfully engage or enlist therein their own subjects or citizens, not being inhabitants of the United States; except privateers of the powers at war with France, and except those vessels which shall have made prize, &c.

MESSAGE

OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS. DEC. 5, 1793.

As the present situation of the several nations of Europe, and especially of those with which the United States have important relations, cannot but render the state of things between them and us, matter of interesting inquiry to the legislature, and may indeed give rise to deliberations, to which they alone are competent, I have thought it my duty to communicate to them, certain correspondences, which have taken place.

The representative and executive bodies of France have manifested generally, a friendly attachment to this country, have given advantages to our commerce and navigation, and have made overtures for placing these advantages on permanent ground; a decree, however, of the National Assembly, subjecting vessels laden with provisions to be carried into their ports, and making enemy goods lawful prize in the vessel of a friend, contrary to our treaty, though revoked at one time, as to the United States, has been since extended to their vessels also, as has been recently stated to us. Representations on the subject will be immediately given in charge to our minister there, and the result shall be communicated to the legislature.

It is with extreme concern, I have to inform you, that the proceedings of the person, whom they have unfortunately appointed their minister plenipotentiary here, have breathed nothing of the friendly spirit of the nation, which sent him; their tendency, on the contrary, has been to involve us in war abroad, and discord and anarchy at home. So far as his acts, or those of his agents, have threatened our immediate commitment in the war, or flagrant insult to the authority of the laws, their effect has been counteracted by the ordinary cognizance of the laws, and by an exertion of the powers confided to me. Where their danger was not imminent, they have been borne with, from sentiments of regard to his nation; from a sense of their friendship towards us; from a conviction, that they would not suffer us to remain long exposed to the action of a person, who has so little respected our mutual dispo

sitions; and, I will add, from a reliance on the firmness of my fellow citizens in their principles of peace and order.

In the mean time, I have respected and pursued the stipulations of our treaties, according to what I judged their true sense; and have withheld no act of friendship, which their affairs have called for from us, and which justice to others left us free to perform. I have gone further; rather than employ force for the restitution of certain vessels, which I deemed the United States bound to restore, I thought it more advisable to satisfy the parties, by avowing it to be my opinion, that if restitution were not made, it would be incumbent on the United States to make compensation. The papers, now communicated, will more. particularly apprize you of these transactions.

The vexations and spoliation understood to have been committed on our vessels and commerce, by the cruisers. and officers of some of the belligerent powers, appeared to require attention. The proofs of these, however, not having been brought forward, the description of citizens, supposed to have suffered, were notified, that on furnishing them to the Executive, due measures would be taken to obtain redress of the past, and more effectual provisions against the future. Should such documents be furnished, proper representations will be made thereon, with a just reliance on a redress proportioned to the exigency of the

case.

The British government having undertaken, by orders to the commanders of their armed vessels, to restrain, generally, our commerce, in corn and other provisions, to their own ports, and those of their friends, the instructions now communicated, were immediately forwarded to our minister, at that court. In the mean time, some discussions on the subject took place between him and them: These are also laid before you, and I may expect to learn the result of his special instructions, in time to make it known to the legislature, during their present session.

Very early after the arrival of a British minister here, mutual explanations on the inexecution of the treaty of peace, were entered into, with that minister; these are now laid before you, for your information.

On the subjects of mutual interests between this country and Spain, negotiations and conferences are now depending. The publick good requiring that the present state of

these should be made known to the legislature, in confidence only, they shall be the subject of a separate and subsequent communication.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

TRANSLATION.

LIQUIDATION OF THE DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES TO FRANCE.

The citizen Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States of America. Philadelphia, May 22, 17932d year of the French Republick.

SIR,-The executive council of the French Republick has learnt through my predecessor, the citizen Ternant, the readiness with which the government of the United States of America attended to the facilitation of the purchases which that minister was charged to make in the United States, on account of the French Republick; as also the acquittal of the draughts of the colonies for which imperious circumstances obliged it to provide. The executive council, sir, has charged me to express to the American government, the acknowledgment inspired by all the marks of friendship which it has given on this subject to the French nation; and to prove to it the reciprocity of our sentiments, it has determined to give at once a great movement to the commerce of France with America, in drawing henceforth from the United States the greatest part of the subsistence and stores necessary for the armies, fleets and colonies of the French Republick.

The executive council has intrusted me with the direction of these great and useful operations, and has given me particular powers comprehended in the reports, and in the resolutions now enclosed, in virtue of which I am authorized by the council and by the national treasury of France, to employ the sums of which the United States can effect the payment (towards their debt to France) or those which I can procure on my personal draughts, payable by the national treasury, in purchasing provisions, naval stores, and in fulfilling other particular services, conformably to the orders which have been given to me by the minister of the interior, of war, of the marine, and of foreign affairs.