with Great Britain, had found it necessary for their happiness to
separate from her, and to assume an independent station.
That, consisting of a number of separate States, they had confederated
together, and placed the sovereignty of the whole, in matters relating
to foreign nations, in a body consisting of delegates from every State,
and called the Congress of the United States.
That Great Britain had solemnly confirmed their separation and
acknowledged their independence.
That after the conclusion of the peace, which terminated the war in
which they had been engaged for the establishment of their independence,
the first attentions of Congress were necessarily engrossed by the
re-establishment of order and regular government.
That they had, as soon as possible, turned their attention to foreign
nations, and, desirous of entering into amity and commerce with them,
had been pleased to appoint us, with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, to execute
such treaties for this purpose, as should be agreed on by such nations,
with us, or any two of us.
That Dr. Franklin having found it, necessary to return to America, the
execution of these several commissions had devolved on us. That being
placed as Ministers Plenipotentiary for the United States at the courts
of England and France; this circumstance, with the commissions with
which we are charged for entering into treaties with various other
nations, puts it out of our power to attend at the other courts in
person, and obliges us to negotiate by the intervention of confidential
persons.
That, respecting the friendly dispositions shown by his Majesty, the
Emperor of Morocco, towards the United States, and indulging the desire
of forming a connection with a sovereign, so renowned for his power, his
wisdom, and his justice, we had embraced the first moment possible, of
assuring him of these the sentiments of our country and of ourselves,
and of expressing to him our wishes to enter into a connection of
friendship and commerce with him. That for this purpose, we had
commissioned the bearer hereof, Thomas Barclay, a person in the highest
confidence of the Congress of the United States, and as such, having
been several years, and still being, their consul general with our
great and good friend and ally, the King of France, to arrange with his
Majesty the Emperor, those conditions which it might be advantageous for
both nations to adopt, for the regulation of their commerce, and their
mutual conduct towards each other.
That we deliver to him a copy of the full powers with which we are
invested, to conclude a treaty with his Majesty, which copy he is
instructed to present to his Majesty.
That though by these, we are not authorized to delegate to him the
power of ultimately signing the treaty, yet such is our reliance on his
wisdom, his integrity, and his attention to the instructions with which
he is charged, that we assure his Majesty, the conditions which he shall
arrange and send to us, shall be returned with our signature, in order
to receive that of the person whom his Majesty shall commission for the
same purpose.
HEADS OF INSTRUCTION TO MR. BARCLAY.
Congress having been pleased to invest us with full powers for entering
into a treaty of amity and alliance with the Emperor of Morocco, and it
being impracticable for us to attend his court in person, and equally
impracticable, on account of our separate stations, to receive a
minister from him, we have concluded to effect our object by the
intervention of a confidential person. We concur in wishing to avail
the United States of your talents in the execution of this business, and
therefore furnish you with a letter to the Emperor of Morocco, to give
due credit to your transactions with him.
We advise you to proceed by the way of Madrid, where you will have
opportunities of deriving many lights from Mr. Carmichael, through whom
many communications with the court of Morocco have already passed.
From thence you will proceed, by such route as you shall think best, to
the court of the Emperor.
You will present to him our letter, with the copy of our full powers,
with which you are furnished, at such time or times, and in such manner,
as you shall find best.
You will proceed to negotiate with his minister the terms of a treaty
of amity and commerce, as nearly conformed as possible to the draught
we give you. Where alterations, which, in your opinion, shall not be of
great importance, shall be urged by the other party, you are at liberty
to agree to them. Where they shall be of great importance, and such as
you think should be rejected, you will reject them: but where they are
of great importance, and you think they may be accepted, you will ask
time to take our advice, and will advise with us accordingly, by letter
or by courier, as you shall think best. When the articles shall all
be agreed, you will send them to us by some proper person, for our
signature.
The whole expense of this treaty, including as well the expenses of
all persons employed about it, as the presents to the Emperor and his
servants, must not exceed twenty thousand dollars: and we urge you
to use your best endeavors, to bring it as much below that sum as you
possibly can. As custom may have rendered some presents necessary in the
beginning or progress of this business, and before it is concluded,
or even in a way to be concluded, we authorize you to conform to the
custom, confiding in your discretion to hazard as little as possible,
before a certainty of the event. We trust to you also to procure the
best information, as to what persons, and in what form, these presents
should be made, and to make them accordingly.
The difference between the customs of that and other courts, the
difficulty of obtaining knowledge of those customs, but on the spot, and
our great confidence in your discretion, induce us to leave to that, all
other circumstances relative to the object of your mission. It will
be necessary for you to take a secretary, well skilled in the French
language, to aid you in your business, and to take charge of your
papers in case of any accident to yourself. We think you may allow
him ¦---------guineas a year, besides his expenses for travelling and
subsistence. We engage to furnish your own expenses, according to the
respectability of the character with which you are invested, but as
to the allowance for your trouble, we wish to leave it to Congress. We
annex hereto sundry heads of inquiry which we wish you to make, and to
give us thereon the best information you shall be able to obtain. We
desire you to correspond with us by every opportunity which you think
should be trusted, giving us, from time to time, an account of your
proceedings and prospects.
HEADS OF INQUIRY FOR MR. BARCLAY, AS TO MOROCCO.
1. Commerce. What are the articles of their export and import? What
duties are levied by them on exports and imports? Do all nations pay
the same, or what nations are favored, and how far? Are they their own
carriers, or who carries for them? Do they trade themselves to other
countries, or are they merely passive?
2. Ports. What are their principal ports? What depth of water in them?
What works of defence protect these ports?
3. Naval force. How many armed vessels have they? Of what kind and
force? What is the constitution of their naval force? What resources for
increasing their navy? What number of seamen? Their cruising grounds,
and seasons of cruising?
4. Prisoners. What is their condition and treatment? At what price are
they ordinarily redeemed, and how?
Do they pay respect to the treaties they make?
Land forces. Their numbers, constitution, and respectability?
Revenues. Their amount.
Coins. What coins pass there, and at what rates?
LETTER CIV.--TO DAVID HARTLEY, September 5, 1785
TO DAVID HARTLEY.
Paris, September 5, 1785.
Dear Sir,
Your favor of April the 15th happened to be put into my hands at the
same time with a large parcel of letters from America, which contained
a variety of intelligence. It was then put where I usually place my
unanswered letters; and I, from time to time, put off acknowledging
the receipt of it, till I should be able to furnish you American
intelligence worth communicating. A favorable opportunity, by a courier,
of writing to you occurring this morning, what has been my astonishment
and chagrin on reading your letter again, to find there was a case in
it which required an immediate answer, but which, by the variety of
matters, which happened to be presented to my mind, at the same time,
had utterly escaped my recollection. I pray you to be assured, that
nothing but this slip of memory would have prevented my immediate
answer, and no other circumstance would have prevented its making such
an impression on my mind, as that it could not have escaped. I hope
you will therefore obliterate the imputation of want of respect, which,
under actual appearances, must have arisen in your mind, but which
would refer to an untrue cause the occasion of my silence. I am not
sufficiently acquainted with the proceedings of the New York Assembly,
to say, with certainty, in what predicament the lands of Mr. Upton may
stand. But on conferring with Colonel Humphreys, who, being from the
neighboring State, was more in the way of knowing what passed in New
York, he thinks that the descriptions in their confiscation laws were
such, as not to include a case of this nature. The first thing to be
done by Mr. Upton is, to state his case to some intelligent lawyer
of the country, that he may know with certainty whether they be
confiscated, or not; and if not confiscated, to know what measures are
necessary for completing and securing his grant. But if confiscated,
there is then no other tribunal of redress but their General Assembly.
If he is unacquainted there, I would advise him to apply to Colonel
Hamilton, who was aid to General Washington, and is now very eminent at
the bar, and much to be relied on. Your letter in his favor to Mr. Jay
will also procure him the benefit of his counsel.
With respect to America, I will rather give you a general view of
its situation, than merely relate recent events. The impost is still
unpassed by the two States of New York and Rhode Island: for the manner
in which the latter has passed it does not appear to me to answer the
principal object, of establishing a fund, which, by being subject to
Congress alone, may give such credit to the certificates of public debt,
as will make them negotiable. This matter, then, is still suspended.
Congress have lately purchased the Indian right to nearly the whole of
the land lying in the new State, bounded by lake Erie, Pennsylvania, and
the Ohio. The northwestern corner alone is reserved to the Delawares and
Wyandots. I expect a purchase is also concluded with other tribes, for a
considerable proportion of the State next to this, on the north side
of the Ohio. They have passed an ordinance establishing a land-office,
considerably improved, I think, on the plan, of which I had the honor of
giving you a copy. The lands are to be offered for sale to the highest
bidder. For this purpose, portions of them are to be proposed in each
State, that each may have the means of purchase carried equally to their
doors, and that the purchasers may be a proper mixture of the citizens
from all the different States. But such lots as cannot be sold for a
dollar an acre, are not to be parted with. They will receive as money
the certificates of public debt. I flatter myself that this arrangement
will very soon absorb the whole of these certificates, and thus rid
us of our domestic debt, which is four fifths of our whole debt. Our
foreign debt will be then a bagatelle.
I think it probable that Vermont will be made independent, as I am told
the State of New York is likely to agree to it. Maine will probably in
time be also permitted to separate from Massachusetts. As yet, they only
begin to think of it. Whenever the people of Kentucky shall have agreed
among themselves, my friends write me word, that Virginia will consent
to their separation. They will constitute the new State on the south
side of Ohio, joining Virginia. North Corolina, by an act of their
Assembly, ceded to Congress all their lands westward of the Allegany.
The people inhabiting that territory thereon declared themselves
independent, called their State by the name of Franklin, and solicited
Congress to be received into the Union. But before Congress met, North
Carolina (for what reasons I could never learn) resumed their session.
The people, however, persist; Congress recommend to the State to desist
from their opposition, and I have no doubt they will do it. It will,
therefore, result from the act of Congress laying off the western
country into new States, that these States will come into the Union
in the manner therein provided, and without any disputes as to their
boundaries.
I am told that some hostile transaction by our people at the Natchez,
against the Spaniards, has taken place. If it be a fact, Congress
will certainly not protect them, but leave them to be chastised by the
Spaniards, saving the right to the territory. A Spanish minister being
now with Congress, and both parties interested in keeping the peace, I
think, if such an event has happened, it will be easily arranged.
I told you when here, of the propositions made by Congress to the
States, to be authorized to make certain regulations in their commerce;
and, that from the disposition to strengthen the hands of Congress,
which was then growing fast, I thought they would consent to it. Most of
them did so, and I suppose all of them would have done it, if they have
not actually done it, but that events proved a much more extensive power
would be requisite. Congress have, therefore, desired to be invested
with the whole regulation of their trade, and for ever; and to prevent
all temptations to abuse the power, and all fears of it, they propose
that whatever monies shall be levied on commerce, either for the purpose
of revenue, or by way of forfeitures or penalty, shall go directly into
the coffers of the State wherein it is levied, without being touched
by Congress. From the present temper of the States, and the conviction
which your country has carried home to their minds, that there is no
other method of defeating the greedy attempts of other countries to
trade with them on unequal terms, I think they will add an article for
this purpose to their Confederation. But the present powers of Congress
over the commerce of the States, under the Confederation, seem not at
all understood by your ministry. They say that body has no power to
enter into a treaty of commerce; why then make one? This is a mistake.
By the sixth article of the Confederation, the States renounce,
individually, all power to make any treaty, of whatever nature, with
a foreign nation. By the ninth article, they give the power of making
treaties wholly to Congress with two reservations only. 1. That no
treaty of commerce shall be made, which shall restrain the legislatures
from making foreigners pay the same imposts with their own people: nor
2. from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of
merchandise, which they might think proper. Were any treaty to be made
which should violate either of these two reservations, it would be so
far void. In the treaties, therefore, made with France, Holland, &c.
this has been cautiously avoided. But are these treaties of no advantage
to these nations? Besides the advantages expressly given by them, there
results another, of great value. The commerce of those nations with
the United States is thereby under the protection of Congress, and no
particular State, acting by fits and starts, can harass the trade of
France, Holland, &c. by such measures as several of them have practised
against England, by loading her merchandise with partial imposts,
refusing admittance to it altogether, excluding her merchants, &c. &c.
For you will observe, that though, by the second reservation before
mentioned, they can prohibit the importation of any species of
merchandise, as, for instance, though they may prohibit the importation
of wines in general, yet they cannot prohibit that of French wines in
particular. Another advantage is, that the nations having treaties with
Congress, can and do provide in such treaties for the admission of
their consuls, a kind of officer very necessary for the regulation
and protection of commerce. You know that a consul is the creature of
treaty. No nation, without an agreement, can place an officer in another
country, with any powers or jurisdiction whatever. But as the States
have renounced the separate power of making treaties with foreign
nations, they cannot separately receive a consul: and as Congress have,
by the Confederation, no immediate jurisdiction over commerce, as
they have only a power of bringing that jurisdiction into existence
by entering into a treaty, till such treaty be entered into, Congress
themselves cannot receive a consul. Till a treaty then, there exists no
power in any part of our government, federal or particular, to admit
a consul among us: and if it be true, as the papers say, that you have
lately sent one over, he cannot be admitted by any power in existence
to an exercise of any function. Nothing less than a new article, to be
agreed to by all the States, would enable Congress, or the particular
States, to receive him. You must not be surprised then, if he be not
received.
I think I have by this time tired you with American politics, and will
therefore only add assurances of the sincere regard and esteem, with
which I have the honor to be, Dear Sir,
your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CV.--TO BARON GEISMER, September 6, 1785
TO BARON GEISMER.
Paris, September 6, 1785.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of March the 28th, which I received about a month after its
date, gave me a very real pleasure, as it assured me of an existence
which I valued, and of which I had been led to doubt. You are now too
distant from America, to be much interested in what passes there. From
the London gazettes, and the papers copying them, you are led to suppose
that all there is anarchy, discontent, and civil war. Nothing, however,
is less true. There are not on the face of the earth, more tranquil
governments than ours, nor a happier and more contented people. Their
commerce has not as yet found the channels, which their new relations
with the world will offer to best advantage, and the old ones remain as
yet unopened by new conventions. This occasions a stagnation in the sale
of their produce, the only truth among all the circumstances published
about them. Their hatred against Great Britain, having lately received
from that nation new cause and new aliment, has taken a new spring.
Among the individuals of your acquaintance, nothing remarkable has
happened. No revolution in the happiness of any of them has taken place,
except that of the loss of their only child to Mr. and Mrs. Walker,
who, however, left them a grandchild for their solace, and that of your
humble servant, who remains with no other family than two daughters, the
elder here (who was of your acquaintance), the younger in Virginia,
but expected here the next summer. The character in which I am here,
at present, confines me to this place, and will confine me as long as I
continue in Europe. How long this will be, I cannot tell. I am now of
an age which does not easily accommodate itself to new manners and new
modes of living: and I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds,
and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures
of this gay capital. I shall, therefore, rejoin myself to my native
country, with new attachments, and with exaggerated esteem for its
advantages; for though there is less wealth there, there is more
freedom, more ease, and less misery. I should like it better, however,
if it could tempt you once more to visit it: but that is not to be
expected. Be this as it may, and whether fortune means to allow or deny
me the pleasure of ever seeing you again, be assured that the worth
which gave birth to my attachment, and which still animates it, will
continue to keep it up while we both live, and that it is with sincerity
I subscribe myself, Dear Sir,
your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CVI.--TO JOHN LANGDON, September 11, 1785
TO JOHN LANGDON.
Paris, September 11, 1785.
Dear Sir,
Your Captain Yeaton being here, furnishes me an opportunity of paying
the tribute of my congratulations on your appointment to the government
of your State, which I do sincerely. He gives me the grateful
intelligence of your health, and that of Mrs. Langdon. Anxious to
promote your service, and believing he could do it by getting himself
naturalized here, and authorized to command your vessel he came from
Havre to Paris. But on making the best inquiries I could, it seemed that
the time requisite to go through with this business, would be much more
than he could spare. He therefore declined it. I wish it were in my
power to give you a hope that our commerce, either with this country,
or its islands, was likely to be put on better footing. But if it be
altered at all, it will probably be for the worse. The regulations
respecting their commerce are by no means sufficiently stable to be
relied on.
Europe is in quiet, and likely to remain so. The affairs of the Emperor
and Dutch are as good as settled, and no other cloud portends any
immediate storm. You have heard much of American vessels taken by the
Barbary pirates. The Emperor of Morocco took one last winter (the brig
Betsey of Philadelphia); he did not however reduce the crew to slavery,
nor confiscate the vessel or cargo. He has lately delivered up the crew
on the solicitation of the Spanish court. No other has ever been taken
by them. There are, indeed, rumors of one having been lately taken by
the Algerines. The fact is possible, as there is nothing to hinder their
taking them, but it is not as yet confirmed. I have little doubt that
we shall be able to place our commerce on a popular footing with the
Barbary States this summer, and thus not only render our navigation
to Portugal and Spain safe, but open the Mediterranean as formerly. In
spite of treaties, England is still our enemy. Her hatred is deep-rooted
and cordial, and nothing is wanting with her but the power, to wipe us
and the land we live on out of existence. Her interest, however, is her
ruling passion! and the late American measures have struck at that so
vitally, and with an energy, too, of which she had thought us quite
incapable, that a possibility seems to open of forming some arrangement
with her. When they shall see decidedly, that, without it we shall
suppress their commerce with us, they will be agitated by their avarice
on the one hand, and their hatred and their fear of us on the other. The
result of this conflict of dirty passions is yet to be awaited. The
body of the people of this country love us cordially. But ministers and
merchants love nobody. The merchants here are endeavoring to exclude,
us from their islands. The ministers will be governed in it by political
motives, and will do it, or not do it, as these shall appear to dictate,
without love or hatred to any body. It were to be wished that they were
able to combine better the various circumstances, which prove, beyond a
doubt, that all the advantages of their colonies result, in the end, to
the mother country. I pray you to present me in the most friendly terms
to Mrs. Langdon, and be assured of the esteem with which I am
your Excellency’s most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson
LETTER CVII.--LISTER ASQUITH, September 14, 1785
TO LISTER ASQUITH.
Paris, September 14, 1785.
Sir,