University of Virginia Library

THURSDAY JANUARY 23

The Report of the Come. last mentioned consisting of a state of
the variations in the Treaty of Amity & Commerce with the States
General from the plan proposed by Congress, of a form of ratification
of the sd. Treaty & of the Convention, & of a proclamation
comprehending both was accepted & passed; the variations excepted
wch. were not meant to be entered on the journals. Both
the Committee & Congress were exceedingly chagrined at the extreme
incorrectness of the American copies of these national acts,
and it was privately talked of as necessary to admonish Mr.
Adams thereof, & direct him to procure with the concurrence of
the other party a more correct & perspicuous copy. The Report
of the Come. as agreed to havg. left a blank in the act of ratification
for the insertion of the Treaty & Convention, & these being contained
both in the Dutch & American languages the former column
signed by the Dutch Plenipos. only & the latter by Mr. Adams
only, the Secy. asked the direction of Congress whether both columns
or the American only ought to be inserted. On this point
several observations were made & different opinions expressed.
In general the members seemed to disapprove of ye. mode used & wd.
he. preferred ye. use of a neutral language. As to the request of the
Secy., Mr. Wilson was of opinion that the American columns only
sd. be inserted. Several others concurred in this opinion; supposing

that as Mr. Adams had only signed those columns, our ratifications
ought to be limited to them. Those who were of a different
opinion, considered the two parts as inseparable & as forming
one whole, & consequently that both ought to be inserted. The case
being a new one to Congress, it was proposed & admitted that the
insertion might be suspended till the next day, by which time
some authorities might be consulted on the subject.

A come., consisting of Mr. Madison, Mr. Mifflin & Mr. Williamson
reported in consequence of a motion of Mr. Bland, a list of
books proper for the use of Congress, and proposed that the Secy.
should be instructed to procure the same. In favr. of the Rept. it
was urged as indispensable that Congress shd. have at all times at
com̃and such authors on the law of Nations, treaties, Negotiations
&c as wd. render their proceedings in such cases conformable to
propriety; and it was observed that the want of this information
was manifest in several important acts of Congress. It was further
observed that no time ought to be lost in collecting every
book & tract which related to American antiquities & the affairs
of the U. S., since many of the most valuable of these were
every day becoming extinct, & they were necessary not only
as materials for a Hist: of the U. S., but might be rendered still
more so by future pretensions agst. their rights from Spain or other
powers which had shared in the discoveries & possessions of the
New World. Agst. the Report were urged 1st. the inconvenience
of advancing even a few hundred pounds at this crisis; 2dly, the
difference of expence between procuring the books during the
war & after a peace. These objections prevailed, by a considerable
majority. A motion was then made by Mr. Wilson, 2ded. by
Mr. Madison, to confine the purchase for the present to the most
essential part of the books. This also was negatived.