5873. NEUTRALITY, Public vessels.—[further continued].
Several French vessels
of war, disabled from keeping the sea, * * *
put into the harbors of the United States to
avoid the danger of shipwreck. The minister
of their nation states that their crews are without
resources for subsistence, and other necessaries,
for the reimbursement of which he offers
bills on his government, the faith of which he
pledges for their punctual payment. The laws
of humanity make it a duty for nations, as
well as individuals, to succor those whom accident
and distress have thrown upon them. By
doing this in the present case, to the extent of
mere subsistence and necessaries, and so as to
aid no military equipment, we shall keep within
the duties of rigorous neutrality, which never
can be in opposition to those of humanity. We
furnished, on a former occasion, to a distressed
crew of the other belligerent party, similar accommodations,
and we have ourselves received
from both those powers, friendly and free supplies
to the necessities of our vessels of war in
their Mediterranean ports. In fact, the governments
of civilized nations generally are in
the practice of exercising these offices of humanity
towards each other. Our government
having as yet made no regular provision for the
exchange of these offices of courtesy and humanity
between nations, the honor, the interest,
and the duty of our country require that we
should adopt any other mode by which it May
legally be done on the present occasion. It
is expected that we shall want a large sum of
money in Europe, for the purposes of the present
negotiation with Spain, and besides this we
want annually large sums there, for the discharge
of our installments of debt. Under
these circumstances, supported by the unanimous
opinion of the heads of Departments,
* * * and firmly trusting that the government
of France will feel itself peculiarly interested
in the punctual discharge of the bills
drawn by their Minister, * * * I approve
of the Secretary of the treasury's taking the
bills of the Minister of France, to an amount
not exceeding sixty thousand dollars.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. v, 35.
(W.
Jan. 1807)
