Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

"convinced of the mutual advantages, which would result from the re-establishment of the good understanding be"tween the two nations, proposes to employ all of his in"fluence to obtain this object. He will assist the commissioners of the United States in all the demands which they

t

[ocr errors]

may have to make from the government of France, inas"much as they may not be contradictory to those which he "proposes himself to make, and of which the principal "will be communicated confidentially. It is desired, that "in the official communications, there should be given a softening turn to a part of the President's speech to Congress, which has caused much irritation. It is feared, "that in not satisfying certain individuals in this respect, "they may give way to all their resentment. The nomina"tion of commissioners will be consented to on the same "footing, as they have been named in the treaty with Eng

"

land, to decide on the reclamations which individuals of "America may make on the government of France, or on French individuals. The payment which, agreeably to the decisions of the commissioners, shall fall to the share "of the French government, are to be advanced by the "American government itself. It is desired that the funds, "which by this incans shall enter again into the American "trade, should be employed in new supplies for the French "colonies. Engagements of this nature, on the part of

[ocr errors]

individuals reclaiming, will always hasten, in all probability, the decisions of the French commissioners: "and perhaps it may be desired, that this clause should "make a part of the instructions, which the government "of the United States should give to the commissioners they "may choose. The French government desires, besides, "to obtain a loan from the United States; but so that that "should not give any jealousy to the English government,

[ocr errors]

nor hurt the neutrality of the United States. This loan "shall be masked by stipulating, that the government of the "United States, consents to make the advances for the pay"ment of the debts contracted by the agents of the French

government, with the citizens of the United States; and "which are already acknowledged, and the payment order"ed by the Directory; but without having been yet effec"tuated. There should be delivered a note to the amount "of these debts. Probably this note may be accompanied "by ostensible pieces, which will guarantee to the agents "the responsibility of the United States, in case any umbrage

G 2

66

"brage should cause an inquiry. There shall also be first "taken from this loan certain sums, for the purpose of mak"ing the customary distributions in diplomatic affairs." The person of note mentioned in the minutes, who had the confidence of the Directory, he said, before us all, was M. Talleyrand. The amount of the loan he could not ascertain precisely; but understood it would be according to our ability to pay. The sum which would be considered as proper, according to diplomatic usage, was about twelve hundred thousand livres. He could not state to us what parts of the President's speech were excepted to; but said he would inquire and inform us. He agreed to breakfast with Mr. Gerry, the morning of the 21st, in order to make such explanations as we had then requested, or should think proper to request: but on the morning of the 20th, M. X. called and said, that M. Y. the confidential friend of M. Talleyrand, instead of communicating with us through M. X. would see us himself, and make the necessary explanations. We appointed to meet him in the evening of the twentieth at seven o'clock, in General Marshall's room. At seven M. Y. and M. X. entered; and the first mentioned gentleman, being introduced to us as the confidential friend of M. Talleyrand, immediately stated to us the favourable impressions of that gentleman toward our country, impressions which were made by the kindness and civilities he had personally received in America: that impressed by his solicitude to repay these kindnesses, he was willing to aid us in the present negotiation by his good offices with the Directory, who were, he said, extremely irritated against the government of the United States, on account of some parts of the Presi dent's speech, and who had neither acknowledged nor received us, and consequently have not authorized M. Talleyrand to have any communications with us. The minister therefore could not see us himself; but had authorized his friend M. Y. to communicate to us certain propositions, and to receive our answers to them; and to promise on his part, that if we would engage to consider them as the basis of the proposed negotiation, he would intercede with the Directory, to acknowledge us, and to give us a public audience. M, Y. stated to us explicitly and repeatedly, that he was cloathed with no authority; that he was not a diplomatic character; that he was not he was only the friend of M. Talleyrand, and trusted by him; that with regard to himself he had

[ocr errors]

and that he earnestly wished well to the United States. He then took out of his pocket a French translation of the Presi

dent's

[ocr errors]

dent's speech, the parts of which objected to by the Direc tory were marked, agreeably to our request to M. X. and are contained in the exhibit A. Then he made us the second set of propositions, which were dictated by him and written by M. X. in our presence, and delivered to us, and which, translated from the French, are as follows. "There is demanded a formal disavowal in writing, declaring that "the speech of the citizen President Barras did not contain any thing offensive to the government of the United States, "nor any thing which deserved the epithets contained in the "whole paragraph: Secondly, reparation is demanded for "the article by which it shall be declared, that the decree of "the Directory there mentioned did not contain any thing "contrary to the treaty of 1778, and had none of those "fatal consequences, that the paragraph reproaches to it: Thirdly, it is demanded, that there should be an acknow "ledgement in writing of the depredations exercised on our "trade by the English and French privateers; Fourthly, "the government of France, faithful to the profession of public faith which it has made not to intermeddle in the "internal affairs of foreign governments with which it is "at peace, would look upon this paragraph as an attack 66 upon its loyalty, if this was intended by the President. "It demands, in consequence, a formal declaration, that "it is not the government of France, nor its agents, that "this paragraph meant to designate: In consideration of "these reparations, the French Republic is disposed to re

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

66

new with the United States of America, a treaty which "shall place them reciprocally in the same state that they "were in 1778. By this new treaty, France shall be placed "with respect to the United States, exactly on the samé "footing as they stand with England, in virtue of the last "treaty, which has been concluded between them. A se "cret article of this new treaty, would be a loan to be made by the United States to the French Republic: and once agreed upon the amount of the loan, it would be endea "voured to consult the convenience of the United States,

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

with respect to the best method of preventing its publicity. "On reading the speech M. Y. dilated very much upon the "keenness of the resentment it had produced, and expa

tiated largely on the satisfaction he said was indispensably "necessary, as a preliminary to negotiation. But, said he, "gentlemen, I will not disguise from you, that, this satis« faction being made, the essential part of the treaty remains " to be adjusted: il faut de l'argent il faut beaucoup d'àr

G 3

gent:""

[ocr errors]

gent:" (you must pay money, you must pay a great deal of money.) He spoke much of the force, the honour, and the jealous republican pride of France; and represented to us strongly, the advantages which we should derive from the neutrality, thus to be purchased. He said, that the receipt. of the money might be so disguised, as to prevent its being considered as a breach of neutrality by England; and thus save us from being embroiled with that power. Concerning the twelve hundred thousand livres, little was said; that being completely understood, on all sides, to be required for the officers of government, and therefore needing no further explanation. These propositions, he said, being considered as the admitted basis of the proposed treaty, M. Talleyrand trusted that, by his iufluence with the Directory, he could prevail on the government to receive us. We asked whether we were to consider it as certain, that, without a previous stipulation to the effect required, we were not to be received. He answered, that M. Talleyrand himself was not authorized to speak to us the will of the Directory, and consequently could not authorize him. The conversation continued until half after nine, when they left us; having engaged to breakfast with Mr. Gerry the next morning.

October 21st, M. X. came before nine o'clock: M. Y. did not come until ten-he had passed the morning with M. Talleyrand. After breakfast the subject was immediately resumed. He represented to us, that we were not yet acknowledged or received; that the Directory were so exasperated against the United States, as to have come to a determination to demand from us, previous to our reception, those disavowals, reparations, and explanations, which were stated at large last evening. He said that M. Talleyrand and himself, were extremely sensible of the pain we must feel in complying with this demand; but that the Directory would not dispense with it: that, therefore, we must consider it as the indispensable preliminary to obtain our reception; unless we could find the means to change their. determination in this particular: that if we satisfied the Directory in these particulars, a letter would be written to us to demand the extent of our powers, and to know whether we were authorized to place them precisely on the same footing with England;-whether, he said, our full powers were really and substantially full powers; or, like those of Lord Malmesbury, only illusory powers: that, if to this demand our answer should be affirmative, then France would consent that commissioners should be appointed to ascertain

the

the claims of the United States, in like manner as under our treaty with England; but from their jurisdiction must be withdrawn, those which were condemned for want of a rôle d'équipage; that being a point on which Merlin, while minister of justice, had written a treatise, and on which the Directory were decided. There would, however, be no objection to our complaining of these captures in the course of the negotiation, and if we could convince Merlin, by our reasoning, the minister would himself be satisfied with our so doing. We required an explanation of that part of the conversation, in which M. Y. had hinted at our finding means to avert the demand concerning the President's speech. He answered, that he was not authorized to state those means, but that we must search for them and propose them ourselves. If, however, we asked his opinion as a private individual, and would receive it as coming from him, he would suggest to us the means which in his opinion would succeed. On being asked to suggest the means, he answered, money; that the Directory were jealous of its own honour and of the honour of the nation; that it insisted on receiving from us the same respect with which we had treated the King; that this honour must be maintained in the manner before required, unless we substituted in the place of those reparations something perhaps more valuable, that was, money. He said further, that if we desired him to point out the sum which he believed would be satisfactory, he would do so. We requested him to proceed; and he said, that there were thirty-two millions of florins of Dutch inscriptions, worth ten shillings in the pound, which might be assigned to us at twenty shillings in the pound: and he proceeded to state to us the certainty, that after a peace, the Dutch government would repay us the money; so that we should ultimately lose nothing; and the only operation of the measure would be an advance from us to France of thirty-two millions, on the credit of the government of Holland. We asked him whether the fifty thousand pounds sterling, as a douceur to the Directory, must be in addition to this sum. He answered in the affirmative. We told him, that on the subject of the treaty, we had no hesitation in saying that our powers were ample: that on the other points proposed to us we would retire into another room, and return in a few minutes with

our answer.

We committed immediately to writing the answer we proposed, in the following words: "Our powers respecting a "treaty, are ample; but, the proposition of a loan, in the

04

form

« ZurückWeiter »