"*
These complaints were referred to the secretary of fo-
reign affairs, whose report admitted that the French mer-
chants enjoyed fewer privileges than the merchants of the
United States did in France, and that the act of Massachu-
setts " had deviated both from the letter and spirit of the
treaty.
These complaints were referred to the secretary of fo-
reign affairs, whose report admitted that the French mer-
chants enjoyed fewer privileges than the merchants of the
United States did in France, and that the act of Massachu-
setts " had deviated both from the letter and spirit of the
treaty.
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? HAMILTON.
299
liar circumstances should render its exercise necessary.
Owing to these differences of opinion, it was moved
to postpone acting upon this report until the disposition
and concurrence of the several state legislatures should be
ascertained, which, the motion stated, "the constitution
renders highly prudent, if not indispensably necessary in
forming commercial treaties. "
With this motion a resolution was offered directing
foreign powers to be apprised of the desire of the United
States " to form treaties upon terms of perfect reciprocity
and equality; and for that purpose were ready to enter
into negotiations in America. " Five commissioners had
been appointed to negotiate the treaty with England, thus
representing each important section of the union. To
gain the benefit of this precedent, it had been proposed to
appoint two additional commissioners. One of the objects
of this resolution was, to prevent so unnecessary an in-
crease of the number of foreign ministers. But it was
defeated, and the report of Jefferson was recommitted.
Another report had recently been made proposing a re-
duction of the civil list. It was next moved to postpone
these appointments for the purpose of considering this
report. The division of states being equal, this motion
was also lost. * The idea of two additional commission-
ers was then abandoned, and it was moved to add one to
the existing number.
This proposal was resisted, and in lieu of it a declaratory
resolution was offered, "that the interests of the United
States do not require more than three commissioners
plenipotentiary to be supported in Europe to negotiate
treaties of commerce. " This declaration would have de-
feated Jefferson, and at the instance of Virginia it was
superseded by the previous question. A debate next arose
4 J. c. 396-7.
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on a proposal to reduce the salaries of these ministers,*
which prevailed. To prevent this reduction, a member
from Virginia insisted that it was a proposition which re-
quired the assent of nine states. This extraordinary ob-
jection was defeated, only five members voting for it; but
the next day, at the instance of Gerry, the salary was
established at nine thousand dollars.
Jefferson had recommended a delusive provision for the
public creditors, and had urged "forbearance," on the
ground "that the states were just relieved from the
ravages of predatory armies, returning from an attend-
ance in camps to the culture of their fields; beginning to
sow, but not yet having reaped; exhausted of necessaries
and habitual comforts, and therefore needing new supplies
out of the first proceeds of their labour. " He was also
of the committee which had recommended retrenchments
in the public expenditure, and which did not contemplate
in their report this additional officer.
Under these circumstances, the appointment of an unne-
cessary commissioner was viewed as proceeding solely
from a desire to bestow office on an individual, by a
body of which he was a member, without any regard to
the condition of the country. It gave rise to much dissat-
isfaction. At this moment a letter was received from
Franklin, announcing that Jay had determined to embark
for America. The motive to an increase of the number
of the commission now ceased, and the measure was aban-
doned.
1 The office of secretary of foreign affairs was vacant.
Jay, in his late mission, had confirmed the confidence of the
nation. His appointment to that department would sat-
isfy the public, and propitiate those who were offended
with this gross and glaring effort to provide for a favour-
* From $11,000 to $8,000.
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? HAMILTON.
301
ite. The dissatisfaction given by Jay to the partisans of
France was therefore smothered, and yielded to the present
object; and on the same day, the seventh of May, Jay in his
absence, at the instance of Gerry, was elected to the foreign
department, and with his concurrence Jefferson, on the
motion of a colleague from Virginia, was chosen to fill the
vacancy in the commission.
An occurrence of this kind could not fail to produce
a strong and lasting impression. A twelvemonth after,
Massachusetts urged, through her delegates, a resolution
that no member of congress should be appointed to any
office during the term for which he was elected; and a pro-
vision was inserted in the federal constitution, which would
seem to have had this case in view. It rendered a mem-
ber of congress ineligible " to any civil office that had been
created, or the emolument whereof had been increased, du-
ring the time for which he was elected. "
Jefferson's commercial report was now again brought
forward with some additions. Of these, the most impor-
tant was, that these instructions should be considered as
supplementary to those of October, seventeen hundred and
eighty-three; that where the commissioners should be able
to form treaties on principles in their judgment more ad-
vantageous to the United States than those of the report,
they were permitted to adopt such principles, and that it
would be agreeable to have supplementary treaties with
France, Holland, and Sweden, which may bring the trea-
ties previously entered into, as nearly as may be to the
principles now directed.
Numerous exceptions were taken to a treaty framed on
the principle of these instructions, in a report* subsequently
made to congress by the secretary of foreign affairs.
These are to be regarded, not as exceptions to stipulations
Report of Jay. --2 D. C. 234.
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of the most perfect equality and reciprocity in a particu-
lar treaty with any one nation, where the interest of the
country might dictate them, but as exceptions to the es-
tablishment, at that time, of a general system of policy, ex-
cluding all discriminations or prohibitions, however their
necessfty might be indicated by peculiar circumstances.
Jay thought that a system for regulating the trade of the
United States should be framed and adopted before they
entered into further treaties of commerce. Various rea-
sons were given to show that it was inexpedient to make
the conduct of the parties towards the most favoured na-
tions, the rule of their conduct towards each other; among
these, a principal one was, that the interchange of favours
between the United States and a nation merely European,
would probably be regulated by principles and considera-
tions distinct, in a certain degree, from those which should
regulate such an interchange between them and nations
partly European and partly American. * There might, he
said, exist reasons for freely granting to one nation what
there might be no reason for granting to another. He
also doubted the expediency of agreeing absolutely that
any nation should be at liberty to bring and vend into the
United States, all or any of their productions and manufac-
tures witlwut exception, because it might be necessary to
prohibit the importation of some of them, either to check
luxury, or to promote domestic manufactures. f
* "We abstained," Jefferson observed, "from making new propositions to
others having no colonies, because our commerce being an exchange of raw
for wrought materials, is a competent price for admission into the colonics
of those possessing them; but were we to give it without price to others,
all would claim it without price, on the ordinary ground of gentis nmicis-
simtB. "--Jefferson's Works, vol. 1, p. 51.
t In the treaty which was the immediate subject of this report, one arti.
cle precluded the laying an embargo. This was objected to, for a reason not
easily disputed.
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? HAMILTON.
303
But one other topic of moment arrests attention in
the proceedings of this congress. It related to the garri-
soning of the frontier posts. The hostility evinced by
New-York to the employment of continental troops for
that purpose, has been previously mentioned. The expec-
tation that the negotiation which was pending for the sur-
render of those posts would be successful, produced great
anxiety in the councils of that state, and she urged, with
extreme earnestness and pertinacity, a declaration by con-
gress, in pursuance of the articles of confederation, of the
number of troops necessary to be kept up by her for the
protection of her frontier. This subject, though frequently
presented to that body, was deferred from an apprehension
of authorizing an individual state to maintain an armed
force. To avoid this alternative, propositions were made
in congress for the enlistment of a thousand men, to protect
the commissioners recently appointed to hold treaties with
the Indians, and to defend the frontiers.
The fate of these propositions is indicative of the tem-
per of the times. After repeated and laboured debates, a
resolution was introduced by Gerry, proclaiming "the
danger of confiding to a body, which was already empow-
ered to make foreign and domestic loans, and to issue bills
of credit, that of raising standing armies;" and it was de-
termined to discharge the few troops which had been
retained in the service of the United States. The stand-
ing army was reduced to eighty men. No officer was re-
tained of a higher rank than captain, and the western
frontiers were to be protected by a requisition for a regi-
ment of militia. The congress of the United States having,
in virtue of the confederation, at the instance of Jefferson,
chosen from its own body a " committee of the states," now
adjourned.
This committee continued in session, though without
effecting any thing, until the nineteenth of August, seven-
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teen hundred and eighty-four, when some of the members
withdrawing, without the consent of their colleagues, it
broke up, without the decency of an adjournment, in cla-
morous confusion, leaving the nation without any repre-
sentative council.
The congressional year of their successors commenced
on the first of November, of the same year, but a quo-
rum was not formed until the succeeding month. Its
history is alike barren of interest; the few subjects
upon which it acted, until the latter part of its session,
being the organization of a court to adjudicate upon
the territorial controversy which existed between the
states of Massachusetts and New-York; measures for the
adjustment of a similar dispute between South Carolina
and Georgia; the appointment of commissioners to treat
with the southwestern tribes of Indians; the selection of a
site for a federal city, and an ordinance defining the pow-
er and duties of the secretary at war. These being arranged,
a decision was made upon a matter of permanent impor-
tance--the mode of disposing of the western territory.
Much discussion on this subject had occurred during the
previous congress. An ordinance was now passed," the re-
sult of compromise, not such as was desired, produced by
the utmost efforts of public argument and private solici-
tation. "*
A provision for the current service gave rise also to fre-
quent deliberations, which were concluded by a vote on
the report of the grand committee of congress, a short time
before the termination of its political existence. By this
vote a requisition was made upon the states for three mil-
lions of dollars, of which two-thirds were receivable in
* From a letter of William S. Johnson, a man of a probity and talent as
eminent, and views as comprehensive, as were those of his distinguished fa.
ther.
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? HAMILTON.
305
certificates for interest on the liquidated debts; which
amount was intended, not only to meet the demands of the
year, but also the balance of the estimate which the pre-
ceding congress had omitted to require. An earnest re-
commendation was also made for the completion of the
measures for raising revenue, proposed in seventeen hun-
dred and eighty-three, " as preferable to any other system,
and necessary to the establishment of the public credit. "
Jefferson meanwhile had proceeded to Paris, intent
? \pon his project "to emancipate commerce. " The joint
commission was opened with much solemnity on the thir-
teenth of August, 1784, and soon after its powers were
announced to the different governments of Europe--France,
Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Prussia, Sweden,
Spain, Portugal, Russia, Saxony, the Sicilies, Sardinia,
Tuscany, Genoa, Venice, Morocco,Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis,
the sublime porte, and his holiness the Pope!
France received them with a smile; England silenced
the experiment by an inquiry as to " the real nature of
the powers with which they were invested, whether they
were merely commissioned by congress, or had received
separate powers from the respective states. " The other
nations stood aloof. Prussia alone formed a treaty embra-
cing some of the principles of the report, but insisted upon
reserving the right of prohibition and retaliation--rights
which the American commissioners themselves claimed to
reserve in their negotiations with Tuscany! The commis-
sion, thus baffled in all its expectations, ceased to act. *
The introduction of a new power into the great family
? Jefferson relates--" Denmark and Tuscany entered also into negotia-
tions with us; other powers appearing indifferent, we did not think it pro-
per to press them. The negotiations, begun with Denmark and Tuscany, we
protracted designedly, until our powers had expired. "--Jefferson's Works,
v. 1, p. 51. The details of this commission may be found in the six reports
to congress, with the accompanying correspondence. --2 D. G. 193 to 347.
39
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of nations, would seem to have been an event fraught with
the most important and immediate interest to the civilized
world, and an American might have hoped to have seen
her vast prospective greatness attracting the eyes of Eu-
rope, and commanding all its attention. But the impo-
tence of the confederacy and the visionary objects of this
commission defeated those hopes. From these causes a
larger view of our foreign relations would seem unneces-
sary, were it not for the powerful influence which the
policy of the great leading powers produced on the social
condition of the American states.
Those with France, their ancient ally, first attract atten-
tion. Nothing is more obvious in all her policy than the
sagacity of her statesmen, who foresaw that the moment
her political influence over the confederacy ceased, every
other connection would become a minor consideration.
Hence her solicitude that all the American negotiations
should be conducted near her court. But England and
Spain were both unwilling that Paris should be the centre
of political action. Great Britain insisted as a previous
condition to any negotiation an embassy to London, "as
more suitable to the dignity of either power. " The Span-
ish minister declared, that in matters between its crown
and any other power, " the custom of its court (the most
regular and systematic of all others) was to negotiate be-
tween themselves, without availing themselves of a third
place. " Franklin having resigned his seat in the commis-
sion, Adams, in consequence of these intimations, was ac-
credited to the court of St. James; Jefferson to that of
Versailles; and Spain appointed a sort of intermediate
minister--a "plenipotentiary charge d'affaires," to reside
at the seat of congress.
While the force of habit formed during her colonial
relations, similarity of language, laws, and manners, all
attracted the American people to England, other causes
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? HAMILTON.
307
operated as insuperable obstacles to an extensive com-
merce between the United States and France.
The poverty of the American people denied to them the
luxuries of their ally. The inferior fabric and peculiar
fashion of articles of primary necessity, prevented their
being introduced into general use. For those which were
sought, few American products would be received in ex-
change; while the commercial system of France, yet in
its infancy, charged the objects of commerce with such a
multiplicity of duties, and those so oppressive as to deter
enterprise. The principal article of exchange was the
subject of a monopoly, and charged with a duty to the
crown, of too much value to be relinquished by a needy
monarch. * On other articles accumulated duties were le-
vied, and these were partitioned among so many recipients,
as placed it beyond the power of the financier to reduce
them to one denomination; while the political influence
of the beneficiaries would not permit them to be diminished
or suppressed. These were some of the embarrassments
to a direct trade. The colonial trade had been long con-
ducted under a most rigid system, and as the treaty of
seventeen hundred and seventy-eight had secured to France
the free admission of her manufactures into the United
States, they had nothing to offer in the shape of immunities
to open the sealed commerce of her islands. f
Soon after his return to Europe, La Fayette, at whose
* Tobacco yielded twenty. eight millions. It constituted one-third of the
whole exports of the United States prior to the revolution.
t Compelled by necessity, France opened her colonial ports during the war,
but at its close, by an arret, dated thirtieth of August, seventeen hundred and
eighty-four, she permitted the importation into them only of a few articles of
primary necessity, and confined the exports to rum, molasses, and goods
brought from France, which paid Hie local duties with an iidvalorem of one
per cent. A discriminating duty was also imposed on salted beef and dried
fish, to form a fund for the encouragement of the French fisheries.
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instance the free ports stipulated in the treaty of seventeen
hundred and seventy-eight were designated, made strong
representations to his court of the benefits to be anticipated
from enlarging the commercial intercourse of the two
countries. The representations were renewed by Jeffer-
son often and with much detail, but the progress of the
negotiation was slow--indicative of the altered temper
of Vergennes, from his failure to control the definitive
treaty with England--and attended with circumstances not
a little wounding to American pride.
The first letter addressed to that minister received no
other answer than that it had been transmitted to the
comptroller-general. To subsequent communications it
was replied, "that not a sufficient dependence could be
placed on arrangements taken with us;" and an act of one
of the states, by which a discrimination of duties was made
between natives and foreigners, became the subject of a
letter from the premier, which, after reproaching the
American minister with a disregard of reciprocity in our
navigation laws and commercial regulations, closed with a
threat, " that the king will be under the necessity, contrary
to his wishes, to fall upon such means as will tend to put
matters upon a perfect equality.
"*
These complaints were referred to the secretary of fo-
reign affairs, whose report admitted that the French mer-
chants enjoyed fewer privileges than the merchants of the
United States did in France, and that the act of Massachu-
setts " had deviated both from the letter and spirit of the
treaty. "f While the impotence of the confederation thus
subjected it to the just reproach of a breach of faith to-
wards their ally, it also gave rise to reclamations for indi-
vidual claims, the justice whereof could not be denied, and
which there were no means to discharge. The disappoint-
* 2 D. c. 488.
t 1 D. C. 243.
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? HAMILTON.
309
ments that followed produced great irritation among the
French residents in the United States, which extended to
her legation, and drew from them remonstrances, wherein
the respect due to an independent government was often
forgotten.
In vain did congress renew their assurances of eventual
payment, founded on the good faith of the states. Dis-
criminations in the provision for the interest on their
debts, from which provision foreigners were expressly ex-
cluded by some of the states, were pointed out, and the
very ground on which the delay of justice was excused,
the inability to compel the collection of taxes, gave rise to
the taunting inquiry, "Is there one, or are there eleven
republics V
It being a leading maxim in Jefferson's politics " to mul-
tiply the points of contact and connection" with France,
it will be seen, that he used every means to promote inter-
course with a people whose habits, manners, tastes, and
morals he admired.
The insufficient provision for the interest and instal-
ments then due of the debt to France, led to a proposition
to purchase it. The terms of this proposition are found in
the secret journal of congress of the second of October,
seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, giving an extract of
a letter from Jefferson to the secretary of foreign affairs:--
"That a proposition has been made to Monsieur de Ca-
lonne, minister of the finances of France, by a company
of Dutch merchants, to purchase the debt due from the
United States to the crown of France; giving for the said
debt, amounting to twenty-four millions of livres, the sum
of twenty millions of livres. That information of this
proposition has been given to him by the agent of the
said company, with the view of ascertaining whether the
proposed negotiation would be agreeable to congress.
That the said minister suggests, 'that if there is a danger
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of the public payments not being punctual, whether it might
not be better that the discontents which would then arise,
should be transferred from a court of whose good will we
have so much need, to the breasts of a private company. '
That the credit of the United States is sound in Holland;
and that it would probably not be difficult to borrow in
that country the whole sum of money due to the court of
France, and to discharge that debt without any deduc-
tion; thereby doing what would be grateful to the court,
and establishing with them a confidence in our honour. "*
This subject was resumed in a letter from Jefferson to
Jay of the twelfth of November following-f He wrote:
"In a letter which I had the honour of writing you on the
twenty-sixth December, I informed you that a Dutch com-
pany were making propositions to the minister of France
here, to purchase at a discount the debt due from the Uni-
ted States to this country. I have lately procured a copy
of their memoir, which I now enclose. Should congress
think this subject worthy their attention, they have no
time to lose, as the necessities of the minister, which alone
have made him to listen to this proposition, may force him
to a speedy conclusion. "
The former of these letters was referred to the board
of Treasury, who on the second of October of the follow-
ing year made a report; which, after reciting the previous
extracts of the letter of Jefferson, contains comments full
of meaning:--
"That at the time the debt due from the United States
to the crown of France was contracted, it could not have
been foreseen that the different members of the union
would have hesitated to make effectual provision for the
discharge of the same, since it had been contracted for
the security of the lives, liberties, and property of their
* 4 S. J. 386.
t 3 D. C. 175.
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? HAMILTON.
311
several citizens, who had solemnly pledged themselves for
its redemption; and that, therefore, the honour of the
United States cannot be impeached, for having authorizea
their minister at the court of France to enter into a formal
convention, acknowledging the amount of the said debt,
and stipulating for the reimbursement of the principal and
interest due thereon.
"That should the United States at this period give any
sanction to the transfer of this debt, or attempt to make a
loan in Holland for the discharge of the same, the persons
interested in the transfer, or in the loan, would have rea-
son to presume that the United States in congress would
make effectual provision for the punctual payment of the
principal and interest.
"That the prospect of such provision being made within
a short period, is by no means flattering; and though the
credit of the United States is still sound in Holland, from
the exertions which have been made to discharge the in-
terest due to the subscribers to the loans in that country,
yet, in the opinion of this board, it would be unjust as well
as impolitic, to give any public sanction to the proposed
negotiation. Unjust, because the nation would contract
an engagement without any well-grounded expectation of
discharging it with proper punctuality. Impolitic, because
a failure in the payment of interest accruing from this ne-
gotiation (which would inevitably happen) would justly
blast all hopes of credit with the citizens of the United
Netherlands, when the exigencies of the union might ren-
der new loans indispensably necessary.
"The board beg leave further to observe, that although a
grateful sense of the services rendered by the court of
France, would undoubtedly induce the United States in
congress to make every possible exertion for the reim-
bursement of the moneys advanced by his most christian
majesty, yet, that they cannot presume that it would tend
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? 312 THE LIFE OF
<<
to establish in the mind of the French court an idea of
the national honour of this country, to involve individuals
in a heavy loan, at a time when congress were fully sensi-
ble that their resources were altogether inadequate to dis-
charge even the interest of the- same,* much less the instal-
ments of the principal, which would from time to time be-
come due. How far the idea of transferring the discontents
which may prevail in the French court, for the want of the
punctual payment of interest, to the breast of the private
citizens of Holland, would be consistent with sound policy,
the board forbear to enlarge on.
"It may be proper, however, to observe, that the public
integrity of a nation is the best shield of defence against
any calamities to which, in the course of human events, she
may find herself exposed.
"This principle, so far as it respects the conduct of the
United States in contracting the loans with France, cannot
be called in question. The reverse would be the case,
should the sanction of the United States be given either
to the transfer of the French debt, or to the negotiation of
a loan in Holland for the purpose of discharging it.
"If it be further considered, that the consequences of a
failure in the punctual payment of interest on the moneys
borrowed by the United States, can by no means be so
distressing to a nation, (and one powerful in resources,) as
it would be to individuals, whose dependence for support
is frequently on the interest of the moneys loaned, the
board presume that the proposed negotiation cannot be
considered at the present juncture, in any point of view,
either as eligible or proper. Under these circumstances,
* Jefferson wrote to Carmichael at Madrid, June 14, 1787 :--" New-York
still refuses to pass the impost in any form, and were she to pass it, Pennsyl-
vania will not uncouple it from the supplementary funds. These two states
and Virginia, are the only ones, my letters say, which have paid any thing
into the continental trcasary for a twelvemonth past. "
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? HAMILTON. 313
they submit it as their opinion, " that it would be proper
without delay to instruct the minister of the United States
at the court of France,* not to give any sanction to any
negotiation which may be proposed for transferring the
debt due from the United States, to any state, or compa-
ny of individuals, who may be disposed to purchase the
same. "
So jealous were congress of the injury which this pro-
position might inflict on the national character, that on the
day on which this report is dated, they instantly passed
an act instructing Jefferson not to promote any negotia-
tion for transferring the debt due to France from the
United States. f
Thus the national honour was saved, but the lure had
succeeded. In prosecution of the project, a letter was ad-
dressed by Jefferson to Dumas,J to ascertain its practica-
bility; whose reply evinced a preference of a purchase
for a sum less than its face, to a loan for the whole amount,
and urged prompt action, stating that the sacrifice on
the part of France, would be very small. An arret was
accordingly framed and submitted to Calonne. That min-
ister, grasping at such a prospect of relief from his finan-
cial difficulties, soon after this purchase was suggested,
addressed a letter to Jefferson, giving the assurance that
the monopolies on particular articles would not be renew-
ed, and that the duties on most of the imports, the growth
of the United States, in French or American vessels, were
"suppressed. "? The execution of this arrangement was,
? 3D. C. 183. t3D. C. 289.
X Dumas had a pension from France, revertible to his daughter.
? 3 Dip. Cor. 163. --Oct. 22,1786. --Tins letter also states, that as Virginia
had ordered arms for her militia from France, the duties and prohibition of
them should be abolished. Similar supplies had been furnished by France
to her during the war, which gave rise to questions in the settlement of the
accounts. A more serious difficulty grew out of an act of that state, passed
pending Jefferson's negotiation about the debt, giving a preference to French
40
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? 314 THE LIFE OF
?
however, suspended, not improbably in consequence of the
rejection by congress of the proposed transfer of the debt.
But the disturbances in Holland, and the hostile appear-
ances in Europe, notwithstanding a temporary pacification,
ultimately induced the issuing of arrets, enlarging in some
particulars, and abridging in others, the former arrange-
ment.
One topic of discussion yet remained. It has been pre-
viously mentioned that the treaty with France provided
for the mutual appointment of consuls, under a convention
to be framed between the respective governments. This
subject was not acted upon until July, seventeen hundred
and eighty-one; immediately after the resolutions, submit-
ting the terms of a treaty with Great Britain, had been
passed. A memoir was at that time presented by La Lu-
zerne, containing a draft of a consular convention, pre-
pared at Paris.
It was in its essential features approved by congress the
following January, with one material difference. The
French plan proposed the presentation, by their consuls, of
their commissions to the respective states, which were to
grant them their exequaturs. The American draft required
that the consuls should, " in the first instance," present their
commissions to congress, to be recognised by them by a
public act, and then to have validity in the states. This
plan was sent to Franklin, with instructions to exercise his
discretion as to the words or arrangement of it, but to
confine himself in all important respects to its substance.
brandies. The minister of the Netherlands presented a remonstrance against
this preference, as a breach of treaty. In this treaty, Adams had omitted
an important provision, securing compensation for privileges; but the United
States considered this as a gratuitous favour. The injury was acknowledged,
and resolutions were adopted by congress, urging Virginia to repeal the act,
founded on a report from the department of foreign affairs, censuring the
granting of favours by any state. --i S. J. 401.
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? HAMILTOX. 315
?
A convention was entered into by him, and was submitted
to congress in seventeen hundred and eighty-four; France
having in the mean time appointed Marbois consul-gener-
al, with a subordinate corps of consuls and vice-consuls.
On the consideration of this convention, congress, at the
instance of Jay, unanimously resolved, that instructions
should be given that the signature of the convention
should be delayed until further advices, unless it had been
already signed. A despatch from Franklin announced that
h had been already signed, and that a copy had been so
long since transmitted to congress, that its ratification was
expected; he added," I am not informed what objection has
arisen in congress to the plan sent me. Mr. Jefferson
thinks it may have been to that part which restrained the
consuls from all concerns in commei-ce. "* Congress had
delayed to act upon it, until, a formal demand of its ratifi-
cation being made by France, the convention was deliber-
ately examined by the secretary of foreign affairs.
On this examination it appeared that it proposed three
principal objects, in the promotion of which, it was mani-
fest, that the United States had no interest.
The first was, a provision against the infraction of the
French and American laws of trade. As the United
States had no laws for the regulation of her commerce with
France or her dominions, there could be no use in a pro-
vision against the' infraction of them. The second was,
a restriction of the emigration to the other, of the people
of either country, which, as there was no reason to ap-
prehend emigration from the United States to France, was
superfluous. The third, established a corps of "consuls,
vice-consuls, and agents," so coherent, so capable of acting
jointly and secretly, and so ready to obey the order of
their chief, that it could not fail of being influential in two
2 Dip. Cor. 44.
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? 316 THE LIFE OF
?
very important political respects--the acquisition and
communication of intelligence, and the dissemination and
impression of such advices, sentiments, and opinions, of
men and measures, as it might be deemed expedient to dif-
fuse and encourage. " An arrangement, which, in France,
"where nothing could be printed without being licensed,
or said without being known, and, if disliked, followed
with inconvenience, and where the people being perfectly
unimportant, every measure to influence their opinions
must be equally so, could be of no use to America," but
which in the United States would be most dangerous to
her institutions.
The powers and immunities with which this corps was
clothed, were equally objectionable. By one article, certi-
fied declarations made before the consuls, were to be re-
ceived in evidence as conclusive. By another, the consuls
were invested with jurisdiction over all offences in which
the citizens of the respective countries were parties, to the
exclusion of the civil tribunals constitutionally created,
while full immunity was conferred on their persons, pa-
pers, houses, and dependants. Consular chanceries were
also created, which in many respects clashed with the in-
ternal policy of the United States, and a complete jurisdic-
tion was given over French vessels in American harbours.
It is also not a little remarkable, that the original feature
in the French plan, which directed the commissions to
be presented on their arrival to the respective states, ac-
cording to the forms established there, was retained, not-
withstanding the express instruction to follow the plan of
congress, which directed these commissions, "in the first
instance" to be presented to them. This, connected with
the suggestion of Vergennes to Adams, that each state
should appoint its own ministers, combined with the other
circumstances of a direct loan being made by France to
Virginia, and a commercial exemption being obtained from
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? HAMILTON. 317
her, leaves a strong implication that France had in view
relations with the individual states, independent of congress,
and in direct violation of the articles of confederation, and
that Jefferson was not insensible of the advantages Vir-
ginia might derive from these dispositions. The position of
the United States was not a little embarrassing. The
scheme having been framed by a former legislature, was
conclusive upon the country, and its execution was ur-
gently pressed by the French charge d'affaires.
As the only alternative, instructions Were transmitted to
Jefferson to state the objections to the present form, and to
give assurances of their readiness to ratify a convention
agreeable to the scheme originally framed, on the condition
of its being limited to eight or ten years, instead of its be-
ing perpetual, as was first agreed. After much negotia-
tion, a convention liable to fewer objections than that
signed by Franklin, was concluded in seventeen hundred
and eighty-eight; and after an inquiry how far it was ob-
ligatory upon the country, was ratified from necessity by
the present government.
The fruitless efforts made by the Spanish resident at
Paris to induce Jay to enter into a treaty, the basis of
which was a sacrifice of a large part of the undoubted ter-
ritory of the United States, and, as a consequence of such
sacrifice, the total abandonment of the Mississippi, have
been the subject of previous comment.
On the third of June, seventeen hundred and eighty-four,
a few days after Jay had been elected secretary of foreign
affairs, and Jefferson chosen commissioner in his place, it
was thought advisable to renew the instructions of seven-
teen hundred and eighty-two; and a resolution, moved by
Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, passed, directing the Amer-
ican commissioners " not to relinquish or cede, in any event,
the right of the citizens of the United States to the free
navigation of the Mississippi from its source to the ocean. "
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THE LIFE or
It has been seen that, notwithstanding the recent nego-
tiation with Jay at Paris, the commissioners, or some of
them, were required to repair to Madrid. This was not
acceded to, and Spain, sensible of her error, sought to re-
move the prejudices of the United States by a course of
conciliation. She mediated a peace between them and the
emperor of Morocco, on terms favourable to the former.
She released a number of Americans, who had been im-
prisoned at Havana for breaches of her navigation laws,
and she commissioned Gardoqui, a partner of a commercial
house at Bilboa, who had been the medium of aids from
Spain at an early period of the revolution, to negotiate a
treaty. He arrived in seventeen hundred and eighty-five,
when the secretary of foreign affairs was authorized to
treat with him.
The point upon which the former negotiation had broken
off, still remained an insuperable obstacle. While Spain
offered to treat on terms, in other respects deemed by Jay
of the greatest advantage, she still insisted upon the reten-
tion of the territory east of the Mississippi, and consequent-
ly upon the exclusion of our citizens from its navigation.
Late in the preceding year she had caused it to be announced
to the United States, that vessels trading through that river
would be exposed to process and confiscation.
? HAMILTON.
299
liar circumstances should render its exercise necessary.
Owing to these differences of opinion, it was moved
to postpone acting upon this report until the disposition
and concurrence of the several state legislatures should be
ascertained, which, the motion stated, "the constitution
renders highly prudent, if not indispensably necessary in
forming commercial treaties. "
With this motion a resolution was offered directing
foreign powers to be apprised of the desire of the United
States " to form treaties upon terms of perfect reciprocity
and equality; and for that purpose were ready to enter
into negotiations in America. " Five commissioners had
been appointed to negotiate the treaty with England, thus
representing each important section of the union. To
gain the benefit of this precedent, it had been proposed to
appoint two additional commissioners. One of the objects
of this resolution was, to prevent so unnecessary an in-
crease of the number of foreign ministers. But it was
defeated, and the report of Jefferson was recommitted.
Another report had recently been made proposing a re-
duction of the civil list. It was next moved to postpone
these appointments for the purpose of considering this
report. The division of states being equal, this motion
was also lost. * The idea of two additional commission-
ers was then abandoned, and it was moved to add one to
the existing number.
This proposal was resisted, and in lieu of it a declaratory
resolution was offered, "that the interests of the United
States do not require more than three commissioners
plenipotentiary to be supported in Europe to negotiate
treaties of commerce. " This declaration would have de-
feated Jefferson, and at the instance of Virginia it was
superseded by the previous question. A debate next arose
4 J. c. 396-7.
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on a proposal to reduce the salaries of these ministers,*
which prevailed. To prevent this reduction, a member
from Virginia insisted that it was a proposition which re-
quired the assent of nine states. This extraordinary ob-
jection was defeated, only five members voting for it; but
the next day, at the instance of Gerry, the salary was
established at nine thousand dollars.
Jefferson had recommended a delusive provision for the
public creditors, and had urged "forbearance," on the
ground "that the states were just relieved from the
ravages of predatory armies, returning from an attend-
ance in camps to the culture of their fields; beginning to
sow, but not yet having reaped; exhausted of necessaries
and habitual comforts, and therefore needing new supplies
out of the first proceeds of their labour. " He was also
of the committee which had recommended retrenchments
in the public expenditure, and which did not contemplate
in their report this additional officer.
Under these circumstances, the appointment of an unne-
cessary commissioner was viewed as proceeding solely
from a desire to bestow office on an individual, by a
body of which he was a member, without any regard to
the condition of the country. It gave rise to much dissat-
isfaction. At this moment a letter was received from
Franklin, announcing that Jay had determined to embark
for America. The motive to an increase of the number
of the commission now ceased, and the measure was aban-
doned.
1 The office of secretary of foreign affairs was vacant.
Jay, in his late mission, had confirmed the confidence of the
nation. His appointment to that department would sat-
isfy the public, and propitiate those who were offended
with this gross and glaring effort to provide for a favour-
* From $11,000 to $8,000.
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? HAMILTON.
301
ite. The dissatisfaction given by Jay to the partisans of
France was therefore smothered, and yielded to the present
object; and on the same day, the seventh of May, Jay in his
absence, at the instance of Gerry, was elected to the foreign
department, and with his concurrence Jefferson, on the
motion of a colleague from Virginia, was chosen to fill the
vacancy in the commission.
An occurrence of this kind could not fail to produce
a strong and lasting impression. A twelvemonth after,
Massachusetts urged, through her delegates, a resolution
that no member of congress should be appointed to any
office during the term for which he was elected; and a pro-
vision was inserted in the federal constitution, which would
seem to have had this case in view. It rendered a mem-
ber of congress ineligible " to any civil office that had been
created, or the emolument whereof had been increased, du-
ring the time for which he was elected. "
Jefferson's commercial report was now again brought
forward with some additions. Of these, the most impor-
tant was, that these instructions should be considered as
supplementary to those of October, seventeen hundred and
eighty-three; that where the commissioners should be able
to form treaties on principles in their judgment more ad-
vantageous to the United States than those of the report,
they were permitted to adopt such principles, and that it
would be agreeable to have supplementary treaties with
France, Holland, and Sweden, which may bring the trea-
ties previously entered into, as nearly as may be to the
principles now directed.
Numerous exceptions were taken to a treaty framed on
the principle of these instructions, in a report* subsequently
made to congress by the secretary of foreign affairs.
These are to be regarded, not as exceptions to stipulations
Report of Jay. --2 D. C. 234.
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of the most perfect equality and reciprocity in a particu-
lar treaty with any one nation, where the interest of the
country might dictate them, but as exceptions to the es-
tablishment, at that time, of a general system of policy, ex-
cluding all discriminations or prohibitions, however their
necessfty might be indicated by peculiar circumstances.
Jay thought that a system for regulating the trade of the
United States should be framed and adopted before they
entered into further treaties of commerce. Various rea-
sons were given to show that it was inexpedient to make
the conduct of the parties towards the most favoured na-
tions, the rule of their conduct towards each other; among
these, a principal one was, that the interchange of favours
between the United States and a nation merely European,
would probably be regulated by principles and considera-
tions distinct, in a certain degree, from those which should
regulate such an interchange between them and nations
partly European and partly American. * There might, he
said, exist reasons for freely granting to one nation what
there might be no reason for granting to another. He
also doubted the expediency of agreeing absolutely that
any nation should be at liberty to bring and vend into the
United States, all or any of their productions and manufac-
tures witlwut exception, because it might be necessary to
prohibit the importation of some of them, either to check
luxury, or to promote domestic manufactures. f
* "We abstained," Jefferson observed, "from making new propositions to
others having no colonies, because our commerce being an exchange of raw
for wrought materials, is a competent price for admission into the colonics
of those possessing them; but were we to give it without price to others,
all would claim it without price, on the ordinary ground of gentis nmicis-
simtB. "--Jefferson's Works, vol. 1, p. 51.
t In the treaty which was the immediate subject of this report, one arti.
cle precluded the laying an embargo. This was objected to, for a reason not
easily disputed.
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? HAMILTON.
303
But one other topic of moment arrests attention in
the proceedings of this congress. It related to the garri-
soning of the frontier posts. The hostility evinced by
New-York to the employment of continental troops for
that purpose, has been previously mentioned. The expec-
tation that the negotiation which was pending for the sur-
render of those posts would be successful, produced great
anxiety in the councils of that state, and she urged, with
extreme earnestness and pertinacity, a declaration by con-
gress, in pursuance of the articles of confederation, of the
number of troops necessary to be kept up by her for the
protection of her frontier. This subject, though frequently
presented to that body, was deferred from an apprehension
of authorizing an individual state to maintain an armed
force. To avoid this alternative, propositions were made
in congress for the enlistment of a thousand men, to protect
the commissioners recently appointed to hold treaties with
the Indians, and to defend the frontiers.
The fate of these propositions is indicative of the tem-
per of the times. After repeated and laboured debates, a
resolution was introduced by Gerry, proclaiming "the
danger of confiding to a body, which was already empow-
ered to make foreign and domestic loans, and to issue bills
of credit, that of raising standing armies;" and it was de-
termined to discharge the few troops which had been
retained in the service of the United States. The stand-
ing army was reduced to eighty men. No officer was re-
tained of a higher rank than captain, and the western
frontiers were to be protected by a requisition for a regi-
ment of militia. The congress of the United States having,
in virtue of the confederation, at the instance of Jefferson,
chosen from its own body a " committee of the states," now
adjourned.
This committee continued in session, though without
effecting any thing, until the nineteenth of August, seven-
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teen hundred and eighty-four, when some of the members
withdrawing, without the consent of their colleagues, it
broke up, without the decency of an adjournment, in cla-
morous confusion, leaving the nation without any repre-
sentative council.
The congressional year of their successors commenced
on the first of November, of the same year, but a quo-
rum was not formed until the succeeding month. Its
history is alike barren of interest; the few subjects
upon which it acted, until the latter part of its session,
being the organization of a court to adjudicate upon
the territorial controversy which existed between the
states of Massachusetts and New-York; measures for the
adjustment of a similar dispute between South Carolina
and Georgia; the appointment of commissioners to treat
with the southwestern tribes of Indians; the selection of a
site for a federal city, and an ordinance defining the pow-
er and duties of the secretary at war. These being arranged,
a decision was made upon a matter of permanent impor-
tance--the mode of disposing of the western territory.
Much discussion on this subject had occurred during the
previous congress. An ordinance was now passed," the re-
sult of compromise, not such as was desired, produced by
the utmost efforts of public argument and private solici-
tation. "*
A provision for the current service gave rise also to fre-
quent deliberations, which were concluded by a vote on
the report of the grand committee of congress, a short time
before the termination of its political existence. By this
vote a requisition was made upon the states for three mil-
lions of dollars, of which two-thirds were receivable in
* From a letter of William S. Johnson, a man of a probity and talent as
eminent, and views as comprehensive, as were those of his distinguished fa.
ther.
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? HAMILTON.
305
certificates for interest on the liquidated debts; which
amount was intended, not only to meet the demands of the
year, but also the balance of the estimate which the pre-
ceding congress had omitted to require. An earnest re-
commendation was also made for the completion of the
measures for raising revenue, proposed in seventeen hun-
dred and eighty-three, " as preferable to any other system,
and necessary to the establishment of the public credit. "
Jefferson meanwhile had proceeded to Paris, intent
? \pon his project "to emancipate commerce. " The joint
commission was opened with much solemnity on the thir-
teenth of August, 1784, and soon after its powers were
announced to the different governments of Europe--France,
Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Prussia, Sweden,
Spain, Portugal, Russia, Saxony, the Sicilies, Sardinia,
Tuscany, Genoa, Venice, Morocco,Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis,
the sublime porte, and his holiness the Pope!
France received them with a smile; England silenced
the experiment by an inquiry as to " the real nature of
the powers with which they were invested, whether they
were merely commissioned by congress, or had received
separate powers from the respective states. " The other
nations stood aloof. Prussia alone formed a treaty embra-
cing some of the principles of the report, but insisted upon
reserving the right of prohibition and retaliation--rights
which the American commissioners themselves claimed to
reserve in their negotiations with Tuscany! The commis-
sion, thus baffled in all its expectations, ceased to act. *
The introduction of a new power into the great family
? Jefferson relates--" Denmark and Tuscany entered also into negotia-
tions with us; other powers appearing indifferent, we did not think it pro-
per to press them. The negotiations, begun with Denmark and Tuscany, we
protracted designedly, until our powers had expired. "--Jefferson's Works,
v. 1, p. 51. The details of this commission may be found in the six reports
to congress, with the accompanying correspondence. --2 D. G. 193 to 347.
39
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of nations, would seem to have been an event fraught with
the most important and immediate interest to the civilized
world, and an American might have hoped to have seen
her vast prospective greatness attracting the eyes of Eu-
rope, and commanding all its attention. But the impo-
tence of the confederacy and the visionary objects of this
commission defeated those hopes. From these causes a
larger view of our foreign relations would seem unneces-
sary, were it not for the powerful influence which the
policy of the great leading powers produced on the social
condition of the American states.
Those with France, their ancient ally, first attract atten-
tion. Nothing is more obvious in all her policy than the
sagacity of her statesmen, who foresaw that the moment
her political influence over the confederacy ceased, every
other connection would become a minor consideration.
Hence her solicitude that all the American negotiations
should be conducted near her court. But England and
Spain were both unwilling that Paris should be the centre
of political action. Great Britain insisted as a previous
condition to any negotiation an embassy to London, "as
more suitable to the dignity of either power. " The Span-
ish minister declared, that in matters between its crown
and any other power, " the custom of its court (the most
regular and systematic of all others) was to negotiate be-
tween themselves, without availing themselves of a third
place. " Franklin having resigned his seat in the commis-
sion, Adams, in consequence of these intimations, was ac-
credited to the court of St. James; Jefferson to that of
Versailles; and Spain appointed a sort of intermediate
minister--a "plenipotentiary charge d'affaires," to reside
at the seat of congress.
While the force of habit formed during her colonial
relations, similarity of language, laws, and manners, all
attracted the American people to England, other causes
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? HAMILTON.
307
operated as insuperable obstacles to an extensive com-
merce between the United States and France.
The poverty of the American people denied to them the
luxuries of their ally. The inferior fabric and peculiar
fashion of articles of primary necessity, prevented their
being introduced into general use. For those which were
sought, few American products would be received in ex-
change; while the commercial system of France, yet in
its infancy, charged the objects of commerce with such a
multiplicity of duties, and those so oppressive as to deter
enterprise. The principal article of exchange was the
subject of a monopoly, and charged with a duty to the
crown, of too much value to be relinquished by a needy
monarch. * On other articles accumulated duties were le-
vied, and these were partitioned among so many recipients,
as placed it beyond the power of the financier to reduce
them to one denomination; while the political influence
of the beneficiaries would not permit them to be diminished
or suppressed. These were some of the embarrassments
to a direct trade. The colonial trade had been long con-
ducted under a most rigid system, and as the treaty of
seventeen hundred and seventy-eight had secured to France
the free admission of her manufactures into the United
States, they had nothing to offer in the shape of immunities
to open the sealed commerce of her islands. f
Soon after his return to Europe, La Fayette, at whose
* Tobacco yielded twenty. eight millions. It constituted one-third of the
whole exports of the United States prior to the revolution.
t Compelled by necessity, France opened her colonial ports during the war,
but at its close, by an arret, dated thirtieth of August, seventeen hundred and
eighty-four, she permitted the importation into them only of a few articles of
primary necessity, and confined the exports to rum, molasses, and goods
brought from France, which paid Hie local duties with an iidvalorem of one
per cent. A discriminating duty was also imposed on salted beef and dried
fish, to form a fund for the encouragement of the French fisheries.
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instance the free ports stipulated in the treaty of seventeen
hundred and seventy-eight were designated, made strong
representations to his court of the benefits to be anticipated
from enlarging the commercial intercourse of the two
countries. The representations were renewed by Jeffer-
son often and with much detail, but the progress of the
negotiation was slow--indicative of the altered temper
of Vergennes, from his failure to control the definitive
treaty with England--and attended with circumstances not
a little wounding to American pride.
The first letter addressed to that minister received no
other answer than that it had been transmitted to the
comptroller-general. To subsequent communications it
was replied, "that not a sufficient dependence could be
placed on arrangements taken with us;" and an act of one
of the states, by which a discrimination of duties was made
between natives and foreigners, became the subject of a
letter from the premier, which, after reproaching the
American minister with a disregard of reciprocity in our
navigation laws and commercial regulations, closed with a
threat, " that the king will be under the necessity, contrary
to his wishes, to fall upon such means as will tend to put
matters upon a perfect equality.
"*
These complaints were referred to the secretary of fo-
reign affairs, whose report admitted that the French mer-
chants enjoyed fewer privileges than the merchants of the
United States did in France, and that the act of Massachu-
setts " had deviated both from the letter and spirit of the
treaty. "f While the impotence of the confederation thus
subjected it to the just reproach of a breach of faith to-
wards their ally, it also gave rise to reclamations for indi-
vidual claims, the justice whereof could not be denied, and
which there were no means to discharge. The disappoint-
* 2 D. c. 488.
t 1 D. C. 243.
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? HAMILTON.
309
ments that followed produced great irritation among the
French residents in the United States, which extended to
her legation, and drew from them remonstrances, wherein
the respect due to an independent government was often
forgotten.
In vain did congress renew their assurances of eventual
payment, founded on the good faith of the states. Dis-
criminations in the provision for the interest on their
debts, from which provision foreigners were expressly ex-
cluded by some of the states, were pointed out, and the
very ground on which the delay of justice was excused,
the inability to compel the collection of taxes, gave rise to
the taunting inquiry, "Is there one, or are there eleven
republics V
It being a leading maxim in Jefferson's politics " to mul-
tiply the points of contact and connection" with France,
it will be seen, that he used every means to promote inter-
course with a people whose habits, manners, tastes, and
morals he admired.
The insufficient provision for the interest and instal-
ments then due of the debt to France, led to a proposition
to purchase it. The terms of this proposition are found in
the secret journal of congress of the second of October,
seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, giving an extract of
a letter from Jefferson to the secretary of foreign affairs:--
"That a proposition has been made to Monsieur de Ca-
lonne, minister of the finances of France, by a company
of Dutch merchants, to purchase the debt due from the
United States to the crown of France; giving for the said
debt, amounting to twenty-four millions of livres, the sum
of twenty millions of livres. That information of this
proposition has been given to him by the agent of the
said company, with the view of ascertaining whether the
proposed negotiation would be agreeable to congress.
That the said minister suggests, 'that if there is a danger
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THE LIFE OF
of the public payments not being punctual, whether it might
not be better that the discontents which would then arise,
should be transferred from a court of whose good will we
have so much need, to the breasts of a private company. '
That the credit of the United States is sound in Holland;
and that it would probably not be difficult to borrow in
that country the whole sum of money due to the court of
France, and to discharge that debt without any deduc-
tion; thereby doing what would be grateful to the court,
and establishing with them a confidence in our honour. "*
This subject was resumed in a letter from Jefferson to
Jay of the twelfth of November following-f He wrote:
"In a letter which I had the honour of writing you on the
twenty-sixth December, I informed you that a Dutch com-
pany were making propositions to the minister of France
here, to purchase at a discount the debt due from the Uni-
ted States to this country. I have lately procured a copy
of their memoir, which I now enclose. Should congress
think this subject worthy their attention, they have no
time to lose, as the necessities of the minister, which alone
have made him to listen to this proposition, may force him
to a speedy conclusion. "
The former of these letters was referred to the board
of Treasury, who on the second of October of the follow-
ing year made a report; which, after reciting the previous
extracts of the letter of Jefferson, contains comments full
of meaning:--
"That at the time the debt due from the United States
to the crown of France was contracted, it could not have
been foreseen that the different members of the union
would have hesitated to make effectual provision for the
discharge of the same, since it had been contracted for
the security of the lives, liberties, and property of their
* 4 S. J. 386.
t 3 D. C. 175.
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? HAMILTON.
311
several citizens, who had solemnly pledged themselves for
its redemption; and that, therefore, the honour of the
United States cannot be impeached, for having authorizea
their minister at the court of France to enter into a formal
convention, acknowledging the amount of the said debt,
and stipulating for the reimbursement of the principal and
interest due thereon.
"That should the United States at this period give any
sanction to the transfer of this debt, or attempt to make a
loan in Holland for the discharge of the same, the persons
interested in the transfer, or in the loan, would have rea-
son to presume that the United States in congress would
make effectual provision for the punctual payment of the
principal and interest.
"That the prospect of such provision being made within
a short period, is by no means flattering; and though the
credit of the United States is still sound in Holland, from
the exertions which have been made to discharge the in-
terest due to the subscribers to the loans in that country,
yet, in the opinion of this board, it would be unjust as well
as impolitic, to give any public sanction to the proposed
negotiation. Unjust, because the nation would contract
an engagement without any well-grounded expectation of
discharging it with proper punctuality. Impolitic, because
a failure in the payment of interest accruing from this ne-
gotiation (which would inevitably happen) would justly
blast all hopes of credit with the citizens of the United
Netherlands, when the exigencies of the union might ren-
der new loans indispensably necessary.
"The board beg leave further to observe, that although a
grateful sense of the services rendered by the court of
France, would undoubtedly induce the United States in
congress to make every possible exertion for the reim-
bursement of the moneys advanced by his most christian
majesty, yet, that they cannot presume that it would tend
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? 312 THE LIFE OF
<<
to establish in the mind of the French court an idea of
the national honour of this country, to involve individuals
in a heavy loan, at a time when congress were fully sensi-
ble that their resources were altogether inadequate to dis-
charge even the interest of the- same,* much less the instal-
ments of the principal, which would from time to time be-
come due. How far the idea of transferring the discontents
which may prevail in the French court, for the want of the
punctual payment of interest, to the breast of the private
citizens of Holland, would be consistent with sound policy,
the board forbear to enlarge on.
"It may be proper, however, to observe, that the public
integrity of a nation is the best shield of defence against
any calamities to which, in the course of human events, she
may find herself exposed.
"This principle, so far as it respects the conduct of the
United States in contracting the loans with France, cannot
be called in question. The reverse would be the case,
should the sanction of the United States be given either
to the transfer of the French debt, or to the negotiation of
a loan in Holland for the purpose of discharging it.
"If it be further considered, that the consequences of a
failure in the punctual payment of interest on the moneys
borrowed by the United States, can by no means be so
distressing to a nation, (and one powerful in resources,) as
it would be to individuals, whose dependence for support
is frequently on the interest of the moneys loaned, the
board presume that the proposed negotiation cannot be
considered at the present juncture, in any point of view,
either as eligible or proper. Under these circumstances,
* Jefferson wrote to Carmichael at Madrid, June 14, 1787 :--" New-York
still refuses to pass the impost in any form, and were she to pass it, Pennsyl-
vania will not uncouple it from the supplementary funds. These two states
and Virginia, are the only ones, my letters say, which have paid any thing
into the continental trcasary for a twelvemonth past. "
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? HAMILTON. 313
they submit it as their opinion, " that it would be proper
without delay to instruct the minister of the United States
at the court of France,* not to give any sanction to any
negotiation which may be proposed for transferring the
debt due from the United States, to any state, or compa-
ny of individuals, who may be disposed to purchase the
same. "
So jealous were congress of the injury which this pro-
position might inflict on the national character, that on the
day on which this report is dated, they instantly passed
an act instructing Jefferson not to promote any negotia-
tion for transferring the debt due to France from the
United States. f
Thus the national honour was saved, but the lure had
succeeded. In prosecution of the project, a letter was ad-
dressed by Jefferson to Dumas,J to ascertain its practica-
bility; whose reply evinced a preference of a purchase
for a sum less than its face, to a loan for the whole amount,
and urged prompt action, stating that the sacrifice on
the part of France, would be very small. An arret was
accordingly framed and submitted to Calonne. That min-
ister, grasping at such a prospect of relief from his finan-
cial difficulties, soon after this purchase was suggested,
addressed a letter to Jefferson, giving the assurance that
the monopolies on particular articles would not be renew-
ed, and that the duties on most of the imports, the growth
of the United States, in French or American vessels, were
"suppressed. "? The execution of this arrangement was,
? 3D. C. 183. t3D. C. 289.
X Dumas had a pension from France, revertible to his daughter.
? 3 Dip. Cor. 163. --Oct. 22,1786. --Tins letter also states, that as Virginia
had ordered arms for her militia from France, the duties and prohibition of
them should be abolished. Similar supplies had been furnished by France
to her during the war, which gave rise to questions in the settlement of the
accounts. A more serious difficulty grew out of an act of that state, passed
pending Jefferson's negotiation about the debt, giving a preference to French
40
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? 314 THE LIFE OF
?
however, suspended, not improbably in consequence of the
rejection by congress of the proposed transfer of the debt.
But the disturbances in Holland, and the hostile appear-
ances in Europe, notwithstanding a temporary pacification,
ultimately induced the issuing of arrets, enlarging in some
particulars, and abridging in others, the former arrange-
ment.
One topic of discussion yet remained. It has been pre-
viously mentioned that the treaty with France provided
for the mutual appointment of consuls, under a convention
to be framed between the respective governments. This
subject was not acted upon until July, seventeen hundred
and eighty-one; immediately after the resolutions, submit-
ting the terms of a treaty with Great Britain, had been
passed. A memoir was at that time presented by La Lu-
zerne, containing a draft of a consular convention, pre-
pared at Paris.
It was in its essential features approved by congress the
following January, with one material difference. The
French plan proposed the presentation, by their consuls, of
their commissions to the respective states, which were to
grant them their exequaturs. The American draft required
that the consuls should, " in the first instance," present their
commissions to congress, to be recognised by them by a
public act, and then to have validity in the states. This
plan was sent to Franklin, with instructions to exercise his
discretion as to the words or arrangement of it, but to
confine himself in all important respects to its substance.
brandies. The minister of the Netherlands presented a remonstrance against
this preference, as a breach of treaty. In this treaty, Adams had omitted
an important provision, securing compensation for privileges; but the United
States considered this as a gratuitous favour. The injury was acknowledged,
and resolutions were adopted by congress, urging Virginia to repeal the act,
founded on a report from the department of foreign affairs, censuring the
granting of favours by any state. --i S. J. 401.
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? HAMILTOX. 315
?
A convention was entered into by him, and was submitted
to congress in seventeen hundred and eighty-four; France
having in the mean time appointed Marbois consul-gener-
al, with a subordinate corps of consuls and vice-consuls.
On the consideration of this convention, congress, at the
instance of Jay, unanimously resolved, that instructions
should be given that the signature of the convention
should be delayed until further advices, unless it had been
already signed. A despatch from Franklin announced that
h had been already signed, and that a copy had been so
long since transmitted to congress, that its ratification was
expected; he added," I am not informed what objection has
arisen in congress to the plan sent me. Mr. Jefferson
thinks it may have been to that part which restrained the
consuls from all concerns in commei-ce. "* Congress had
delayed to act upon it, until, a formal demand of its ratifi-
cation being made by France, the convention was deliber-
ately examined by the secretary of foreign affairs.
On this examination it appeared that it proposed three
principal objects, in the promotion of which, it was mani-
fest, that the United States had no interest.
The first was, a provision against the infraction of the
French and American laws of trade. As the United
States had no laws for the regulation of her commerce with
France or her dominions, there could be no use in a pro-
vision against the' infraction of them. The second was,
a restriction of the emigration to the other, of the people
of either country, which, as there was no reason to ap-
prehend emigration from the United States to France, was
superfluous. The third, established a corps of "consuls,
vice-consuls, and agents," so coherent, so capable of acting
jointly and secretly, and so ready to obey the order of
their chief, that it could not fail of being influential in two
2 Dip. Cor. 44.
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? 316 THE LIFE OF
?
very important political respects--the acquisition and
communication of intelligence, and the dissemination and
impression of such advices, sentiments, and opinions, of
men and measures, as it might be deemed expedient to dif-
fuse and encourage. " An arrangement, which, in France,
"where nothing could be printed without being licensed,
or said without being known, and, if disliked, followed
with inconvenience, and where the people being perfectly
unimportant, every measure to influence their opinions
must be equally so, could be of no use to America," but
which in the United States would be most dangerous to
her institutions.
The powers and immunities with which this corps was
clothed, were equally objectionable. By one article, certi-
fied declarations made before the consuls, were to be re-
ceived in evidence as conclusive. By another, the consuls
were invested with jurisdiction over all offences in which
the citizens of the respective countries were parties, to the
exclusion of the civil tribunals constitutionally created,
while full immunity was conferred on their persons, pa-
pers, houses, and dependants. Consular chanceries were
also created, which in many respects clashed with the in-
ternal policy of the United States, and a complete jurisdic-
tion was given over French vessels in American harbours.
It is also not a little remarkable, that the original feature
in the French plan, which directed the commissions to
be presented on their arrival to the respective states, ac-
cording to the forms established there, was retained, not-
withstanding the express instruction to follow the plan of
congress, which directed these commissions, "in the first
instance" to be presented to them. This, connected with
the suggestion of Vergennes to Adams, that each state
should appoint its own ministers, combined with the other
circumstances of a direct loan being made by France to
Virginia, and a commercial exemption being obtained from
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? HAMILTON. 317
her, leaves a strong implication that France had in view
relations with the individual states, independent of congress,
and in direct violation of the articles of confederation, and
that Jefferson was not insensible of the advantages Vir-
ginia might derive from these dispositions. The position of
the United States was not a little embarrassing. The
scheme having been framed by a former legislature, was
conclusive upon the country, and its execution was ur-
gently pressed by the French charge d'affaires.
As the only alternative, instructions Were transmitted to
Jefferson to state the objections to the present form, and to
give assurances of their readiness to ratify a convention
agreeable to the scheme originally framed, on the condition
of its being limited to eight or ten years, instead of its be-
ing perpetual, as was first agreed. After much negotia-
tion, a convention liable to fewer objections than that
signed by Franklin, was concluded in seventeen hundred
and eighty-eight; and after an inquiry how far it was ob-
ligatory upon the country, was ratified from necessity by
the present government.
The fruitless efforts made by the Spanish resident at
Paris to induce Jay to enter into a treaty, the basis of
which was a sacrifice of a large part of the undoubted ter-
ritory of the United States, and, as a consequence of such
sacrifice, the total abandonment of the Mississippi, have
been the subject of previous comment.
On the third of June, seventeen hundred and eighty-four,
a few days after Jay had been elected secretary of foreign
affairs, and Jefferson chosen commissioner in his place, it
was thought advisable to renew the instructions of seven-
teen hundred and eighty-two; and a resolution, moved by
Nathan Dane, of Massachusetts, passed, directing the Amer-
ican commissioners " not to relinquish or cede, in any event,
the right of the citizens of the United States to the free
navigation of the Mississippi from its source to the ocean. "
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? 318
THE LIFE or
It has been seen that, notwithstanding the recent nego-
tiation with Jay at Paris, the commissioners, or some of
them, were required to repair to Madrid. This was not
acceded to, and Spain, sensible of her error, sought to re-
move the prejudices of the United States by a course of
conciliation. She mediated a peace between them and the
emperor of Morocco, on terms favourable to the former.
She released a number of Americans, who had been im-
prisoned at Havana for breaches of her navigation laws,
and she commissioned Gardoqui, a partner of a commercial
house at Bilboa, who had been the medium of aids from
Spain at an early period of the revolution, to negotiate a
treaty. He arrived in seventeen hundred and eighty-five,
when the secretary of foreign affairs was authorized to
treat with him.
The point upon which the former negotiation had broken
off, still remained an insuperable obstacle. While Spain
offered to treat on terms, in other respects deemed by Jay
of the greatest advantage, she still insisted upon the reten-
tion of the territory east of the Mississippi, and consequent-
ly upon the exclusion of our citizens from its navigation.
Late in the preceding year she had caused it to be announced
to the United States, that vessels trading through that river
would be exposed to process and confiscation.
