University of Virginia Library

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Your several letters of March 3, 11, 18, & 24 with their
inclosures have been duly received; as has been that of
March 12, to the President. According to the request in this
last, I now acknowledge also, or perhaps repeat the acknowledgment

of the two papers inclosed, the one in your letter of
Feby. 26, the other in that of August 10–1802.

The assurances given by the Chief Consul on the subject of
our claims, cannot but be acceptable, altho' they amount to
less than justice; because no more than justice would have
been done, if the claims had been satisfied without the delay
which has intervened, and according to the example of good
faith and punctuality in executing the Treaty given by the
United States. It is to be hoped that the sincerity of these
assurances will be verified by the success of the measures you
are taking for a final and favorable settlement in behalf of our
Citizens, who have never doubted, as far as I know, your
solicitude or your exertions to obtain justice for them.

The assurances given at the same time, by the Chief Consul
of his regard for the United States, and of his personal esteem
for their Chief magistrate, are entitled also to favorable attention
as an indication that a juster value begins to be placed
on our friendly relations to the French Republic. Whether
this language of the French Government be the effect of the
political crisis in which it finds itself, or of a growing conviction
of the important destinies and honorable policy of the
United States; or, as is probable, of both these considerations,
you will in return, communicate the assurances with
which you are charged by the President, of his disposition to
cherish a reciprocity of these sentiments, and that sincere
amity between the two nations which is prescribed to both,
by such weighty advantages.

The persevering evasion of your demands on the subject of
the deposit at New Orleans, and generally of the rights of the
United States as fixed by their Treaty with Spain, is not a
little astonishing. It is as difficult to be reconciled with the
sincerity of the late professions of the French Government
and with the policy which the moment dictates to it, as with
any other rational motives. It is the more extraordinary
too, as it appears by a late communication from the Spanish
Government to Mr. Pinckney, of which he says he forwarded
a copy to Paris, and of which another is herewith inclosed,

that the Treaty of Cession expressly saves all rights previously
stipulated to other nations. A conduct so inexplicable
is little fitted to inspire confidence, or to strengthen friendship;
and rendered proper the peremptory declaration contained
in your note of the 16th of March. The negotiations
succeeding the arrival of Mr. Monroe, cannot fail to draw out
the views of France on this important subject.

You were informed in my letters of the 18th and 20th of
April that orders had been transmitted by the Spanish Government
for restoring the deposit. The answers from New
Orleans to the Spanish and French Ministers here, shew that
their successive interpositions, including the peremptory one
from the Marquis D'Yrujo of the IIth of March, were all
unavailing. The orders of the King of Spain will no doubt
be obeyed, if they arrive before possession be given to the
French authority; nor is it presumable that in the event they
would be disregarded. Still it is possible that the French
Agents may chuse to wait for the French construction of the
Treaty, before they relinquish the ground taken by the Intendant,
and the more possible as the orders to the Intendant
may contain no disavowal of his construction of it. Under
these circumstances it will be incumbent on the French Government
to hasten the orders necessary to guard against a
prolongation of the evil, and the very serious consequences
incident to it. It cannot be too much pressed that the justice
and friendship of France, in relation to our rights and
interests on the Mississippi, will be the principal rules by
which we shall measure her views respecting the United
States, and by which the United States will shape the course
of their future policy towards her.

Your answer to the complaint of a traffic of our Citizens
with the negroes of St. Domingo, and of subscriptions in
Philada. in behalf of the latter, was founded in just observations.
You may now add, with respect to the subscriptions,
the positive fact, that no such subscriptions have ever been
instituted; and with respect to the other complaint, that no
such traffic is known or believed to have taken place; or if it

has taken place, that it must have been from foreign ports,
and not from ports of the United States.

You will find by the memorial herewith inclosed from three
citizens of the United States now imprisoned at Jackmel, that
whilst we repel unfounded complaints, on the part of France,
the best founded ones exist on ours. The letter written to
Mr. Pichon, on this occasion, of which a copy is inclosed, will
suggest the proper representation to the French Government.
It is to be wished that his answer to me, may be a type of that
which will be given to you. The case of Capts. Rogers and
Davidson will connect itself with that now committed to your
attention.

We are still ignorant of the result of the armed negotiations
between Great Britain and France. Should it be war, or
should the uncertainty of the result, be spun out, the crisis
may be favorable to our rights and our just objects; and the
President assures himself that the proper use will be made of
it. Mr. Monroe's arrival has not yet been mentioned in any
accounts which have not been contradicted.[3]