fence, and delivered to us, and which, tranflated from the French, are as follows:

"There is demanded a formal difavowal in writing, declaring that the fpeech of the citizen prefident Barras did not contain any thing offenfive to the government of the United States, nor any thing which deferved the epithets contained in the whole paragraph: fecondly, reparation is demanded for the article by which it fhall be declared, that the decree of the Directory there men- tioned did not contain any thing contrary to the treaty of 1778, and had none of thofe fatal confequences that the paragraph reproaches to it: thirdly, it is demanded, that there fhould be an acknowledgment, in writing, of the depredations exercised on our trade by the English and French privateers: fourthly, the government of France, faithful to the profeffion 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 upon its loyalty, if this was intended by the Prefident.-It demands, in confequence, a formal declaration, that it is not the government of France nor its agents that this paragraph meant to defignate. In confideration of thefe reparations, the French republic is difpofed to renew with the United States of America a treaty which fhall place them recipro cally in the fame ftate that they were in 1778.

"By this new treaty, France fhall be placed, with respect to the United States, exactly on the fame footing as they stand with England, in virtue of the laft treaty which has been concluded between them. A fecret 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 endeavoured to confult the convenience of the United States with refpect to the best method of preventing its publicity."

On reading the fpeech, M. Y. dilated very much upon the keennefs of the refentment it had produced, and expatiated largely on the fatisfaction he faid was indifpenfably neceffary as 2 preliminary to negotiation. "But," faid he, "Gentlemen, I will not difguife from you, that, this fatisfaction being made, the effential part of the treaty remains to be adjusted:" Il faut de l'argent-il faut beaucoup d'argent: "You must pay money, you muft pay a great deal of money." He fpoke much of the force, the honour, and the jealous republican pride of France; and reprefented to us ftrongly the advantages which we should derive from the neutrality thus to be purchafed. He faid, that the receipt of the money might be fo difguifed as to prevent its being confidered as a breach of neutrality by England; and thus fave us from being embroiled with that power. Concerning the twelve hundred thousand livres little was faid; that being completely underflood on all fides to be required for the officers of govern

ment,

ment, and therefore needing no further explanation. These propofitions, he faid, being confidered as the admitted basis of the propofed treaty, M. Talleyrand trufted, that, by his influence with the Directory, he could prevail on the government to receive us. We afked, whether we were to confider it as certain that, without a previous ftipulation 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 confequently could not authorize him. The converfation continued till half after nine, when they left us, having engaged to breakfast with Mr. Gerry the next morning.

October 21ft, M. X. came before nine o'clock; M. Y. did not come until ten; he had paffed the morning with M. Talleyrand. After breakfast the fubject was immediately refumed. He represented to us that we were not yet acknowledged or received; that the Directory were fo exafperated against the United States, as to have come to a determination to demand from us, previous to our reception, thofe difavowals, reparations, and explanations, which were ftated at large last evening. He faid, that M. Talleyrand and himself were extremely fenfible of the pain we must feel in complying with this demand; but that the Directory would not difpenfe with it: that therefore we must confider it as the indifpenfable preliminary to obtain our reception; unless we could find the means to change their determination in this particular: that if we fatisfied 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 precifely on the fame footing with England-whether, he faid, our full powers were really and fubftantially full powers? or, like thofe of Lord Malmesbury, only illufory powers? That, if to this demand our anfwer fhould be affirmative, then France would confent that commiffioners fhould be appointed to afcertain the claims of the United States, in like manner as under our treaty with England; but from their jurifdiction must be with-drawn thofe which were condemned for want of a role d'equipage; that being a point on which Merlin, while minifter of juftice, had written a treatife, and on which the Directory were decided. There would, however, be no objection to our complaining of thefe captures in the courfe of the negotiation; and if we could convince Merlin by our reasoning, the minifter would himself be fatisfied with our fo doing. We required an explanation of that part of the converfation, in which M. Y. had hinted at our finding means to avert the demand concerning the Prefident's fpeech. He anfwered, that he was not authorized to ftate those means, but that we must fearch for them, and propofe them ourselves. If, however, we asked his opinion as a private individual, and would receive it as coming from him, he would fuggest to us the

means

means which, in his opinion, would fucceed. On being asked to fuggeft the means, he anfwered, Money; that the Directory were jealous of its own honour, and of the honour of the nation; that it infifted on receiving from us the fame refpect with which we had treated the King; that this honour must be maintained in the manner before required, unlefs we fubftituted in the place. of thofe reparations fomething perhaps more valuable, that was, money. He faid farther, that if we defired him to point out the fum which he believed would be fatisfactory, he would do fo. We requested him to proceed; and he faid, that there were thirtytwo millions of florins of Dutch infcriptions, worth ten fhillings in the pound, which might be affigned to us at twenty fhillings in the pound; and he proceeded to state to us the certainty, that, after a peace, the Dutch government would repay us the money; fo that we should ultimately lofe nothing; and the only operation of the measure would be an advance from us to France of thirtytwo millions on the credit of the government of Holland. We asked him, whether the fifty thousand pounds sterling as a douceur to the Directory muft be in addition to this fum? He anfwered us in the affirmative. We told him, that on the fubject of the treaty we had no hesitation in saying, that our powers were ample: that on the other points propofed to us we would retire into another room, and return in a few minutes with our anfwer. We committed immediately to writing the answer we propofed in the following words: "Our powers, refpecting a treaty, are ample; but the propofition of a loan in the form of Dutch infcriptions, or in any other form, is not within the limits of our inftructions; upon this point, therefore, the government must be confulted: one of the American minifters will, for the purpose, forthwith embark for America; provided the Directory will fufpend all farther captures on American veffels, and will fufpend proceedings on thofe already captured, as well where they have been already condemned, as where the decifions have not yet been rendered; and that where fales have been made, but the money not yet received by the captors, it fhall not be paid until the preliminary queftions, propofed to the minifters of the United States, be difcuffed and decided:" which was read as a verbal anfwer; and we told them, they might copy it if they pleafed. M. Y. refufed to do fo; his difappointment was apparent; he faid, we treated the money part of the propofition as if it had proceeded from the Directory; whereas, in fact, it did not proceed even from the minifter, but was only a fuggeftion from himfelf, as a substitute to be proposed by us, in order to avoid the painful acknowledgment that the Directory had determined to demand of us. It was told him, that we understood that matter perfectly; that we knew the propofition was in form to be ours; but that it came fubftantially from the minifter. We asked what had

t

had led to our prefent converfation? And General Pinckney then repeated the first communication from M. X. (to the whole of which that gentleman affented), and we obferved, that those gentlemen had brought no teftimonials of their fpeaking any thing from authority; but that relying on the fair characters they bore, we had believed them when they said they were from the minifter, and had converfed with them in like manner as if we were converfing with M. Talleyrand himfelf: and that we could not confider any fuggeftion M. Y. had made as not having been previously approved of; but yet, if he did not choose to take a memorandum in writing of our anfwer, we had no wish that he fhould do fo: and farther, if he chofe to give the answer to his propolition the form of a propofition from ourselves, we could only tell him, that we had no other propofition to make, relative to any advance of money on our part; that America had fuftained/ deep and heavy loffes by French depredations on our commerce, and that France has alleged fo [many] complaints against the United States, that on those subjects we came fully prepared, and were not a little furprised to find France unwilling to hear us; and making demands upon us which could never have been fufpected by our government, and which had the appearance of our being the aggreffing party. M. Y. expreffed himself vehemently on the refentment of France; and complained, that instead of our propofing fome fubftitute for the reparations demanded of us, we were ftipulating certain conditions to be performed by the Directory itself; that he could not take charge of fuch propofitions; and that the Directory would perfift in its demand of thofe reparations which he had at firft ftated. We anfwered, that we could not help it: it was for the Directory to determine what courfe its own honour and the interefts of France required it to purfue it was for us to guard the interefts and honour of our country. M. Y. obferved, that we had taken no notice of the first propofition, which was, to know whether we were ready to make the difavowal, reparations, and explanations concerning the Prefident's fpeech. We told him that we fuppofed it to be impoffible that either he or the minifter could imagine that fuch a propofition could require an anfwer: that we did not understand it as being ferioufly expected, but merely as introductory to the fubjects of real confideration.

He fpoke of the refpect which the Directory required, and repeated, that it would exact as much as was paid to the ancient kings. We answered, that America had demonstrated to the world, and efpecially to France, a much greater refpe&t for her prefent government than for her former monarchy; and that there was no evidence of this difpofition which ought to be required, that we were not ready to give. He faid, that we should certainly not be received, and feemed to fhudder at the confe

quences. We told him, that America had made every possible effort to remain on friendly terms with France; that she was still making them that if France would not hear us, but would make war on the United States, nothing remained for us but to regret the unavoidable neceflity of defending ourselves.

The fubject of our powers was again mentioned; and we told him, that America was folicitous to have no more misunderstandings with any republic, but efpecially with France; that she wished a permanent treaty, and was fenfible that no treaty could be permanent which did not comport with the interefts of the parties; and therefore that he might be affured, that our powers were fuch as authorized us to place France on an equal ground with England, in any respects in which an inequality might be fuppofed to exift at prefent between them, to the disadvantage of France. The fubject of the role d'equipage was alfo mentioned; and we afked what affurance we could have, if France infisted on the right of adding to the ftipulations of our treaty, or of altering them by municipal regulations, that any future treaty we could make fhould be obferved. M. Y. faid, that he did not affert the principle of changing treaties by municipal regulations: but that the Directory confidered its regulation concerning the role d'equipage as comporting with the treaty. We obferved to him, that none of our veffels bad what the French termed a role d'equipage, and that if we were to furrender all the property which had been taken from our citizens in cafes where their velfels were not furnished with fuch a roll, the government would be refponsible to its-citizens for the property fo furrendered; fince it would be impoffible to undertake to affert that there was any plausibility in the allegation that our treaty required a role d'equipage.

The fubject of difavowals, &c. concerning the Prefident's Speech was again mentioned; and it was obferved, that the conftitution of the United States authorized and required our Prefident to communicate his ideas on the affairs of the nation; that in obedience to the conftitution he had done fo; that we had not power to confirm or invalidate any part of the Prefident's speech; that fuch an attempt could produce no other effect than to make us ridiculous to the government and to the citizens at large of the United States; and to produce, on the part of the Prefident, an immediate difavowal and recall of us as his agents; that independent of this, all America was acquainted with the facts ftated by the Prefident; and our difavowing them would not change the public fentiment concerning them.

We parted with mutual profeffions of perfonal refpect, and with full indications, on the part of M. Y. of his expectation that we fhould immediately receive the threatened letter.

The nature of the above communication will evince the ne

ceffity