Negotiations with France-Spoliations. Not knowing to what reclamations, by subjects of France against the United States, your Excellency alludes, I can only observe that, if there are any, respecting which a stipulation should be deemed necessary, it must of course be understood that every such stipulation will, in every respect, be reciprocal, and embrace, on both sides, all reclamations of a similar nature, and, for the same period of time. I request your Excellency to accept the assu- Minister of Foreign Affairs, &c. No. 230. Extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin to the Secretary itself without doubt to countervailing measures, Holland, might be quoted. Certain American but without giving thereby any just ground of cargoes, which make part of our reclamations, complaint, or disturbing in other respects the har- were, by that treaty, put at the disposal of France, mony subsisting between the two nations. In fact" in order," according to the said article, "that the that state of things exists to a much greater extent same may be dealt with according to circumstanbetween France and many European Powers, ces, and to the political relations between France particularly with Great Britain. The commerce and the United States." between America and France, and which may be estimated to amount in value to about eighty millions of francs a year, may still be carried on in foreign vessels, or through indirect channels. Neither country has prohibited the importation of the products of the soil or industry of the other. The only question under discussion, and on which they may happen not to agree, is that of the navigation that is to say, of the freight of the articles of exchange, which may in the whole be worth about three millions a year. But, from the respective prohibitions existing in France and England, it is not merely the navigation, but the commerce itself, between the two countries, which is so nearly annihilated as not to exceed twelve or fifteen millions a year. It has certainly in this case never been suggested that because each Government follows in that respect its own views, the other questions of right or general policy should on that account be suspended; that because a treaty of commerce may appear injurious to either of them, the other would for that reason be justified in refusing to do justice in other respects. The question of the indemnity claimed by the United States from France is one, not merely of policy, but of right. It will again revert, and with the same force, in case there should be no arrangement of the commercial difficulties. The foundation on which the demand rests cannot be affected by that result. France must still acknowledge or deny the justice of that claim. She is bound, in the first case, to grant the indemnity; in the other, to adduce satisfactory reasons for her denial. I must beg leave to observe, that the object of these reclamations cannot be, and is not considered by the Government of the United States, as only affecting the interests of private individuals, but as an important subject of public concern. It is not for private contracts voluntarily entered into, or other claims of a similar nature; it is for numerous spoliations, committed not only contrary to every principle of common justice, but in violation of the acknowledged law of nations, and of positive treaty stipulations; it is for the most flagrant and continued infractions of their rights, as a neutral and independent nation, that the United States demand that, at least, a satisfactory indemnity should be made to her citizens for the losses thus suffered. The whole series of their public acts, at home and abroad, when those outrageous proceedings took place, and the peculiar circumstances, (arising from simultaneous aggressions on the part of England,) which alone prevented a resort to war, are facts of such notoriety, as to render it difficult to conceive how the subject can be viewed as of an inferior importance, and as only affecting private interests. If any further proof was required, in that respect, the 10th article of the treaty of the 16th of March, 1810, between France and Mr. Gallatin to Mr. de Montmorency, dated 17th August, 1822. I beg leave to call again your Excellency's attention to the American claims, for sequestrations and spoliations. The cause assigned by your Excellency, in your letter of the first of June last, for suspending their consideration, being happily removed by the late commercial arrangement, I trust that no further delay will take place, and that, in conformity with the tenor of that letter, your Excellency will be pleased to to bring that important subject before the King's Council. I request your Excellency to accept, &c. [TRANSLATION.] Extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin to Mr. de Villele, dated Paris, August 31, 1822. "Permit me to remind your Excellency, that the three last letters which I had the honor of addressing to his Excellency the Viscount de Montmorency, are still unanswered. The first, under the date of the 17th current, had, for its object, the different claims of citizens of the United States. The second, of the 20th, contained my observations on the project of an ordinance, necessary that the execution of the convention of 24th June may commence on the 1st of October next. The last, of the 27th, remonstrated against the conduct pursued by the local authorities, in regard to the American vessel the General Hamilton, thrown upon the coast, near Montreuil, on the sea." Negotiations with France-Spoliations. "I eagerly seize this occasion to beg your Excellency to be pleased to accept the assurance," &c. [TRANSLATION.] Mr. de Villele to Mr. Gallatin, dated Sept. 3, 1822. You did me the honor, on the 31st of August last, to remind me of several American claims, of which you had formerly apprized the Viscount de Montmorency. It is necessary for me to collect some documents respecting this affair, in order to judge of what consequences they may be susceptible. Be pleased to believe, sir, that I shall attend to them with a good deal of interest and attention. Accept, sir, the assurances, &c. No. 233. Extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France, to Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, dated Paris, 24th September, 1822. "I had yesterday a conference with Mr. Villele, on the subject of our claims. He expressed his wish that a general arrangement might take place, embracing all the subjects of discussion between the two countries; stated those to be, the reclamations of the United States for spoliations on their trade, those of France, on account of Beaumarchais claim, and of the vessels captured on the coast of Africa, and the question arising under the Louisiana treaty; and asked, whether I was prepared to negotiate upon all those points? I answered that I was ready to discuss them all, but that I must object to uniting the Louisiana question to that of claims for indemnity, as they were essentially distinct; and, as I thought that, after all that had passed, we had a right to expect that no further obstacle should be thrown in the discussion of our claims, by connecting it with subjects foreign to them." No. 236. Extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France, to Mr. Adams, Secretary of State, dated Paris, 13th November, 1822. "I received, on the 18th instant, a letter from Mr. de Villele, of the 6th-copy of which is enclosed, together with that of my answer, of the 12th." [TRANSLATION.] Mr. de Villele to Mr. Gallatin. PARIS, November 6, 1822. SIR: The Convention, concluded at Washington, on the 24th of June last, has removed the obstacles which have, momentarily, impeded the relations of commerce between France and the United States. Although this Convention is only temporary, it holds out the expectation of a treaty more extensive and more durable. It has left leisure proper for discussing and establishing this treaty, upon bases the most conformable to the interest of the two States. Already the communications are re-opened, on both sides, on the most amicable footing. His Majesty has seen, with satisfaction, this happy effect of the arrangement concluded in his name, and in that of the United States. If any partial difficulties still remain to be removed, they will be easily arranged between two Powers, who sincerely wish to establish their relations upon the most perfect equity. eceive In this spirit of reciprocal justice, I have received the claims which you have done me the honor to transmit to me, and without prejudging any thing in their regard, I must, first of all, sir, remark to you, that France has also claims pending, or to be produced, to the Government of the United States. It would appear agreeable to the interest of the two parties, and to the reciprocity of justice, and of protection, to which the subjects of the two States have equally a right, that these affairs should be examined and arranged unanimously, by way of negotiation. His Majesty's intention would be, that these claims and the other points in dispute, upon which the Convention, of 24th June, has not been able to pronounce, should be the object of this negotiation, in order to terminate simultaneously, and in a definitive manner, every dispute between the two States, especially in what concerns the duties received in Louisiana, on the French commerce, contrary to the tenor of the 8th article of the treaty of cession. You will only perceive, sir, in this intention of His Majesty, the most firm desire of leaving, in future, no cause or pretext of misunderstanding, or of complaints between the two States, and on the part of their respective subjects. If you are authorized, sir, to follow this march, I pray you let me know, and I will hasten to demand of the King the necessary powers to a negotiator, charged with treating with you. If you were also authorized to sign a consular convention, the same Plenipotentiary would receive powers, ad hoc, for also pursuing the negotiation. Accept, sir, the assurance of the high consideration, &c. The Minister of Finance, charged, ad-interim, with the Portfolio of Foreign Affairs. JH. DE VILLELE. PARIS, November 12, 1822. SIR: I had the honor to receive your Excellency's letter of the 6th instant. I have special powers to negotiate a convention providing for the just claims of citizens of the United States against France; as, also, for the like claims of French subjects against the United States, with such person or persons as may have a like authority from His Most Christian Majesty. As Minister of the United States, I am authorized to discuss the question respecting the construction of the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty, and to give and receive explanations on that subject. But the negotiation on that point having Negotiations with France-Spoliations. been transferred to Washington, no special powers in that respect have been transmitted to me. had understood, in the course of the conference had the honor to have with your Excellency on the 23d of September, and had accordingly written to my Government, that it was not intended to insist that that subject should be blended with that of private claims. It is, indeed, obvious, that it would be utterly unjust to make the admission of these to depend on the result of a negotiation on a subject with which they have no connexion whatever, and the difficulties respecting which are of a date posterior to that of the claims. I All the representations which His Majesty's Government has made to that of the United States, whether on private or on public subjects, have uniformly been taken into consideration, and received that attention to which they were so justly entitled. In no instance has the Government of the United States declined to open a discussion on any subject thus offered to their consideration by France, or made it a preliminary condition that the discussion should also embrace some other subject in which they might happen to take a greater interest. The question respecting the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty has, in particular, been the subject of a voluminous correspondence, in the course of which the arguments in support of the construction insisted on by each party, respectively, were made known to the other. I have, in the mean while, for six years, made unceasing applications to His Majesty's Government for the settlement of claims to a vast amount, affecting the interest of numerous individuals, and arising from flagrant violations of the law of nations and of the rights of the United States, without having ever been able to obtain to this day satisfaction in a single instance, or even that the subject should be taken into consideration and discussed. After so many vexatious delays, for which different causes have at different times been assigned, it cannot now be intended again to postpone the investigation of that subject, by insisting that it should be treated in connexion with one foreign to it, and which has already been discussed. The United States have at least the right to ask that their demands should also be examined and discussed, and I trust that, since I am authorized to treat, as well concerning the claims of French subjects against the United States, as respecting those of American citizens against France, a distinct negotiation to that effect will be opened without any further delay. Permit me, at the same time, to renew to your Excellency the assurances that the United States have the most earnest desire that every subject of difference between the two countries should be amicably arranged, and their commercial and political relations placed on the most friendly and solid footing. They will be ready to open again negotiations on the subject of the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty, and on every other which remains to be adjusted, and will have no objection that the seat of those negotiations should be transferred from Washington to this place. Although my powers to treat, respecting every subject connected with the commerce of the two countries, may embrace that of a Consular ConIvention, yet, as this had not been contemplated by my Government, I am not at this time prepared to conclude an arrangement for that purpose. I request your Excellency to accept the assurances, &c. ALBERT GALLATIN. Charged with Dep. of Foreign Affairs, &c. His Ex'cy COUNT DE VILLELE, No. 237. Mr. Gallatin to the Secretary of State. PARIS, November 19, 1822. SIR: I received last night, and have the honor to enclose, a copy of Mr. de Villele's answer (dated 15th instant,) to my letter of the 12th. You will perceive that, without taking any notice of the reasons I had urged, why a distinct negotiation should be immediately opened on the subject of the claims against both Governments, he insists that this shall be treated in connexion with the question respecting the construction of the 8th obvious to require any comments on my part, and article of the Louisiana treaty. The object is too this final decision leaves me no other course than to refer the whole to my Government. I have honor to be, &c. ALBERT GALLATIN. [TRANSLATION.] M. de Villele to Mr. Gallatin. PARIS, November 15, 1822. SIR: You did me the honor to announce to me, on the 12th of this month, that you were authorized to negotiate a convention, relative to the claims of Americans against France, and to those of France against the United States; but, that you had no power to enter upon a negotiation concerning the interpretation of the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty. The discussions which have arisen upon this last point, between your Government and the King's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, having had no result, and this question being thus left undecided, it is both proper and just to resume the examination of it; it touches upon too great interests not to be treated of with renewed attention, or to be abandoned. If a new arrangement takes place for the claims, which are still in controversy, it ought to comprehend the whole, and the desire of the King's Government is not to leave any difficulty, any indecision remaining in the relations of the two countries. It is for the same reason, sir, that I demanded, in the letter which I had the honor to address to you on the 6th of this month, that the negotiation to be opened on the respective claims should also include a consular convention. If your powers for discussing these difficult points should not appear to you sufficiently extensive to make it the object of a negotiation, I think, Negotiations with France-Spoliations. sir, that you will deem it fit to ask of your Gov-ernment supplementary authority, to come at an arrangement, which cannot be of the utility proposed by the two Governments unless it shall embrace all the questions and the claims which are still in dispute. I can only refer, sir, on this subject, to the communications which I had the honor to make to you on the 6th of this month, and with which you have, doubtless, acquainted your Govern ment. Accept, sir, the assurance of my high conside ration. JH. DE VILLELE, No. 250. of the correspondence of Mr. Adams with Mr. Hyde de Neuville, and with myself, I must express my perfect conviction, that the subject having been maturely examined, and thoroughly discussed, there cannot be the least expectation that the United States will alter their views of it, or acquiesce in the construction put by His Majesty's Minister on the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty. It is not my intention, at this moment, to renew a discussion which seems to have been already exhausted; but I will beg leave, simply, to state the question to your Excellency. It was agreed, by the article above-mentioned, that the ships of France should forever be treated upon the footing of the most favored nation in the ports of Louisiana. Vessels of certain foreign nations being now Extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin, Envoy Extraor-treated in the ports of the United States, in- with American vessels, in consideration of the cluding those of Louisiana, on the same footing American vessels being treated in the ports of those nations on the same footing with their own vessels, France has required that French vessels should, by virtue of the said article, be treated, in the ports of Louisiana, on the same footing with the vessels of those nations, without allowing, on her part, the consideration, or reciprocal condition, by virtue of which those vessels are thus treated. "The more I have reflected on the ground assumed by this Government, on the subject of our claims, and on the attempt to connect their discussion with the question arising under the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty, the more I have felt satisfied that it was impossible that the United States should depart from the true construction of that article, and acquiesce in that con- The United States contend that the right to be tended for by France, and that the renewed dis- treated upon the footing of the most favored nacussion on that subject would be unprofitable, and tion, when not otherwise defined, and when exlead to no result whatever. As a last, but I be- pressed only in those words, is that, and can only lieve unavailing effort, I have concluded to ex-be that, of being entitled to that treatment, gratuipress that conviction to the French Government, and have accordingly addressed, this day, to Mr. Chateaubriand, the letter of which I have the honor to enclose a copy." PARIS, February 27, 1823. SIR: I had the honor to receive his Excellency Count de Villele's letter, of the 15th November last, by which, notwithstanding the remonstrance contained in mine of the 12th, his Excellency, being at that time charged with the Department of Foreign Affairs, still insisted that the discussion of the claims of individuals of both nations upon the two Governments, respectively, should not take place, unless it was connected with a renewed negotiation on the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty. A conversation I had the honor to have with his Excellency the Duke de Montmorency, after his return from Verona, induced me to hope, although he did not encourage any expectations of a different result, that he would, however, again lay the subject before His Majesty's Council of Ministers. This circumstance, the subsequent change in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the objects of primary importance which have hitherto necessarily engrossed your Excellency's attention, have prevented an earlier official answer to his Excellency Count de Villele's letter. It has, together with the others on the same subject, as he had naturally anticipated, been of course transmitted to my Government. But, on a review tously, if such nation enjoys it gratuitously, and on paying the same equivalent, if it has been granted in consideration of an equivalent. Setting aside every collateral matter and subsidiary argument, they say that the article in question, expressed as it is, can have no other meaning, is susceptible of no other construction, for this plain and incontrovertible reason: that, if the French vessels were allowed to receive, gratuitously, the same treatment which those of certain other nations receive, only in consideration of an equivalent, they would not be treated as the most favored nation, but more favorably than any other nation. And, since the article must necessarily have the meaning contended for by the United States, and no other, the omission or insertion of words to define it, is wholly immaterial, a definition being necessary only when the expressions used are of doubtful import, and the insertion of words to that effect in some other treaties, belonging to that class of explanatory but superfluous phrases of which instances are to be found in so many treaties. It might, indeed, have, perhaps, been sufficient to say that, in point of fact, there was no most favored nation in the United States, the right enjoyed by the vessels of certain foreign nations to be treated in the ports of the United States as American vessels, in consideration of American vessels receiving a similar treatment in the ports of those nations, not being a favor but a mere act of reciprocity. The African Slave Trade. Let me also observe that the pretension of President to communicate to that House such France would, if admitted, leave no alternative part, as he may not deem inexpedient to divulge, to the United States than either to suffer the of any correspondence or negotiation, which he whole commerce between France and Louisiana may have instituted with any foreign Governto be carried exclusively in French vessels, or to ment since the 28th of February, 1823, in comrenounce the right of making arrangements with pliance with a request contained in a resolution other nations deemed essential to our prosperity, of the same House of that date, relative to the and having for object not to lay restrictions on denunciation of the African slave trade as piracy, commerce, but to remove them. If the meaning has the honor to submit to the President copies of of the 8th article of the Louisiana treaty was the correspondence requested. such, indeed, as has been contended for on the JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. part of France, the United States, bound to fulfil their engagements, must submit to the consequences, whatever these might be; but this having been proven not to be the case, the observation is made only to show that the United States never can, either for the sake of obtaining indemnities for her citizens, or from their anxious desire to settle, by conciliatory arrangements, all their differences with France, be brought to acquiesce in the erroneous construction put upon the article in question. The proposal made by his Excellency Mr. de Villele, in his letter of the 6th of November, and reiterated in that of the 15th, can, therefore, have no other effect than to produce unnecessary delays, and would, if persisted in, be tantamount to an indefinite postponement of the examination and settlement of the claims of the citizens of the United States. It will remain for His Majesty's Government to decide whether this determination be consistent with justice, whether the reclamations of private individuals should be thus adjourned because the two Governments happen to differ in opinion on a subject altogether foreign to those claims. Having nothing to add to my reiterated and unavailing applications on that subject, my only object, at this moment, has been, to show that I cannot expect any instructions from my Government that will alter the state of the question. I request your Excellency to accept the assurance, &c. ALBERT GALLATIN. Viscount DE CHATEAUBRIAND, Minister of Foreign Affairs, &c. LIST OF PAPERS SENT. 1. Mr. Canning to Mr. Adams, 29th January, 1823. 2. Mr. Adams to Mr. Canning, 31st March, 1823. 6. Same to Mr. Rodney, do., 17th May, 1823. 1823. vention slave trade, (Extract,) 24th June, 1823. 9. Same to Mr. Middleton, (Copy,) 28th July, 10. Same to Mr. Everett, do., 8th August, 1823. 11. Same to General Dearborn, (Extract,) 14th August, 1823. 12. 13. 14. Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams, do., 9th October, 1823. Mr. Sheldon to same, do., 16th October, 1823. Same to same, with two enclosures; correspondence with Viscount Chateaubriand, (Ex15. Mr. Everett to Mr. Adams, with two enclotracts,) 5th November, 1823. sures; correspondence with Baron Nagell, (Extracts,) 20th November, 1823. Mr. Canning to Mr. Adams. WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 1823. SIR: To the complete abolition of the African slave trade, Great Britain, as you are well aware, has long devoted her anxious and unremitting exertions; she availed herself, during war, of her belligerent rights, and extended dominion in the colonies, to put down the inhuman traffic; in peace, she has spared no labor, and shrunk from no sacrifice, to supply, by a general co-operation of the maritime Powers, whatever has been withdrawn from her peculiar control by the cessation of hostilities, and the colonial arrangements consequent on that event. It is matter of deep regret their exertions is far from corresponding either to to His Majesty's Government, that the result of the cause which demands, or to the zeal which sustains them. The pest, which they have pledged themselves to destroy, if it be in human power to destroy it, not only survives, to the disgrace and affliction of the age, but seems to acquire a fresh capacity for existence with every endeavor for its destruction. To whatever fatality it may be owing, that, while the obligation of adopting and enforcing measures for the extermination of the slave trade, |