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motion.

my de

millions of

State debts, desired by capitalists, and the fixing of the Capital on the Poto

Northern

mac, desired by the South. The extract

was written

by Jefferson some time event, and little colored by prejudice. He had just returned from

after the

be a may

abroad.
On Jeffer-

son, see Orations, I, 366; Contem poraries, III, ch. - On the Capital

American

walked me backwards & forwards before the President's of twenty door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper into which the legislature had been wrought, the disgust of those who were called the Creditor states, the danger of the secession of their members, and the separation of the states. He observed that the members of the administration ought to act in concert, that tho' this question was not of partment, yet a common duty should make it a common concern; that the President was the center on which all administrative questions ultimately rested, and that all of us should rally around him, and support with joint efforts measures approved by him; and that the question having been lost by a small majority only, it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends might effect a change in the vote, and the machine of government, now suspended, might be again set into I told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject; not having yet informed myself of the system of finances adopted, I knew not how far this was a necessary sequence; that undoubtedly if it's rejection endangered a dissolution of our union at this incipient stage, I should deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. I proposed to him however to dine with me the next day, and I would invite another friend or two, bring them into conference together, and I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which was to save the union. The discussion took place. I could take no part in it, but an exhortatory one, because I was a stranger to the circumstances which should govern it. But it was finally agreed that, whatever importance had been attached to the rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the union, & and of concord among the states was more So in the important, and that therefore it would be better that the original.

and assumption of State debts, see Contemporaries, III,

Nos.

Alexander
White and
Richard
Bland Lee,
of Virginia;

Daniel Car-
roll, of Mary-
land, also

vote of rejection should be rescinded, to effect which some members should change their votes. But it was observed that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before been propositions to fix the seat of government either at Philadelphia, or at Georgetown on the Potomac; and it was thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, this might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac members (White & Lee, but White with a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive) agreed to change their votes, & Hamilton undertook to carry the other point. In doing this the influence he had established over the Eastern members

effected his side of the engagement. And so the aschanged his sumption was passed, and twenty millions of stock divided among favored states

vote.

...

Thomas Jefferson, The Anas, in his Writings (edited by P. L.
Ford, New York, etc., 1892), I, 162–164.

By CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN JAY (1745-1829). Jay had had considerable diplomatic training, having been, in 1778, minister to Spain,

in 1783 one of the commissioners to negotiate the

Peace of Ver

sailles, and,

74. Maritime Grievances (1794)

THE

to

HE undersigned, envoy of the United States of America, has the honour of representing to the Right Honorable Lord Grenville, his Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs:

That a very considerable number of American vessels have been irregularly captured, and as improperly condemned by certain of his Majesty's officers and judges.

That, in various instances, these captures and condemnations were so conducted, and the captured placed under

such unfavourable circumstances, as that, for want of the securities required, and other obstacles, no appeals were made in certain cases, nor any claims in others.

The undersigned presumes that these facts will appear from the documents which he has had the honour of submitting to his Lordship's consideration; and that it will not be deemed necessary, at present, to particularize these cases and their merits, or detail the circumstances which discriminate some from others.

That great and extensive injuries having thus, under colour of his Majesty's authority and commissions, been done to a numerous class of American merchants, the United States can, for reparation, have recourse only to the justice, authority, and interposition of his Majesty.

under the Confedera

tion, Secre

tary of Foreign Affairs, an office

which he resigned to become Chief Justice in 1789. In 1794 the country was on the brink

of war with
England, but
the treaty
which Jay
negotiated
with Lord

Grenville,
November

averted war for some

years. The

That the vessels and property taken and condemned 19, 1794, have been chiefly sold, and the proceeds divided among a great number of persons, of whom some are dead, some piece is the unable to make retribution, and others, from frequent removals and their particular circumstances, not easily reached by civil process.

That as, for these losses and injuries, adequate compensation, by means of judicial proceedings, has become impracticable, and, considering the causes which combined to produce them, the United States confide in his Majesty's justice and magnanimity to cause such compensation to be made to these innocent sufferers as may be consistent with equity; and the undersigned flatters himself that such principles may, without difficulty, be adopted, as will serve as rules whereby to ascertain the cases and the amount of compensation.

So grievous are the expenses and delays attending litigated suits, to persons whose fortunes have been so materially affected, and so great is the distance of Great Britain from America, that the undersigned thinks he ought to express his anxiety that a mode of proceeding as summary and

full text of a

memoran

dum laid by Jay before the British government; it does not

include the grievances of

the retention

of the frontier posts by England, the carrying slaves, and ing of trade with the

away of

the withhold

West Indies.
For Jay,

see Contem

No. grievances, see American 84-130; Con

For maritime

Orations, I,

temporaries, little expensive may be devised as circumstances and the III, ch. peculiar hardship of these cases may appear to permit and require.

The most serious grievance

down to 1812.

See below, No. 76.

And as (at least in some of these cases) it may be expedient and necessary, as well as just, that the sentences of the courts of vice-admiralty should be revised and corrected by the Court of Appeals here, the undersigned hopes it will appear reasonable to his Majesty to order that the captured in question (who have not already so done) be there admitted to enter both their appeals and their claims.

The undersigned also finds it to be his duty to represent that the irregularities before mentioned extended not only to the capture and condemnation of American vessels and property, and to unusual personal severities, but even to the impressment of American citizens to serve on board of armed vessels. He forbears to dwell on the injuries done to the unfortunate individuals, or on the emotions which they must naturally excite, either in the breast of the nation to whom they belong, or of the just and humane of every country. His reliance on the justice and benevolence of his Majesty leads him to indulge a pleasing expectation that orders will be given that Americans so circumstanced be immediately liberated, and that persons honoured with his Majesty's commissions do, in future, abstain from similar violences.

It is with cordial satisfaction that the undersigned reflects on the impressions which such equitable and conciliatory measures would make on the minds of the United States, and how naturally they would inspire and cherish those sentiments and dispositions which never fail to preserve, as well as to produce, respect, esteem, and friendship.

LONDON, July 30, 1794.

JOHN JAY.

John Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers (edited by Henry
P. Johnston, New York, etc., [1893]), IV, 38-41.

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(1797) By C. C.

PARIS, October 22, 1797.

A

LL of us having arrived at Paris on the evening of the 4th instant, on the next day we verbally, and unofficially, informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs therewith, and desired to know when he would be at leisure to receive one of our secretaries with the official notification. He appointed the next day at two o'clock, when Major Rutledge waited on him . . .

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In the evening. . . Mr. X. called on General Pinckney, and after having sat some time, *** whispered him that he had a message from M. Talleyrand to communicate when he was at leisure. . . . General Pinckney said he should be glad to hear it. M. X. replied that the Directory, and particularly two of the members of it, were exceedingly irritated at some passages of the President's speech, and desired that they should be softened; and that this step would be necessary previous to our reception. sides this, a sum of money was required for the pocket of the Directory and ministers, which would be at the disposal of M. Talleyrand; and that a loan would also be insisted on. M. X. said if we acceded to these measures, M. Talleyrand had no doubt that all our differences with France might be accommodated.

...

That, be

PINCKNEY
(1746-1825),
JOHN
MARSHALL
(1755-1835),

and
ELBRIDGE

GERRY
(1744-1814),
sent to

France in
1797 as joint
envoys to
settle various
disputed
questions
between the
two govern-

ments. Talleyrand, French

Minister, re

fused to re

ceive them, but through secret agents ("X," "Y," and "Z") made an demand for

unofficial

bribes as a necessary

preliminary to any settlement. The

extracts are from the en

voys' despatches

home, which

were made public and

with France in 1798.

October the 21st, M. X. came before nine o'clock; M. Y. did not come until ten: he had passed the morning with M. Talleyrand. After breakfast the subject was immediately resumed. . . He [M. Y.] said . . . that if we desired caused war him to point out the sum which he believed would be satisfactory [to the Directory], he would do so. We requested him to proceed; and he said that there were thirty-two millions of florins, of Dutch inscriptions, worth ten shillings in the pound, which might be assigned to us at twenty shil

They are an example of diplomatic correspondrelations with

ence. - - For

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