UNITED STATES, _February 15, 1799_.
_Extract of a letter from Rufus King, Esq., Minister
Plenipotentiary, &c., London, to the Secretary of State,
dated 28th November, 1798._
"Annexed I send you a copy of a note from Lord Grenville,
respecting the French arrêt transmitted to you with my No.
9. A late French paper contains a second arrêt which
postpones the execution of the first."
_Lord Grenville to Mr. King._
The undersigned, His Majesty's Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, has the honor of communicating to Mr.
King, Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States of
America, for the information of his Government, that, by a
decree, published officially at Paris, it appears to have
been declared, in the name of the French Directory, that
every person being a native of or originally belonging to
neutral countries, or to such as are in amity and alliance
with the French Republic, who shall bear any commission
under His Majesty, or who shall form a part of the crews of
any British ships of war, or other vessels, should, on the
proof of that fact alone, be considered and treated as a
pirate, and that it has been ordered that this resolution
shall be notified to the neutral powers, and to those in
alliance with France.
Even this decree, contrary as it is to the usages of every
civilized nation, cannot excite any surprise, as proceeding
from those in whose name it has been published. To the
different powers who are thus insulted, and whose innocent
subjects are exposed to the most cruel treatment on the
part of a Government professing friendship or alliance with
them, His Majesty must leave it to adopt such measures as
they will, without doubt, judge necessary, in the case of
an outrage hitherto unexampled in the history of the world.
The King, however, feels, that protection is also due from
him to those who sail under his flag, either in His
Majesty's ships of war, or in other British vessels; His
Majesty has, therefore, not hesitated to direct it to be
signified to the Commissioner for French prisoners in Great
Britain, that the first instance of the execution of this
decree shall be followed by the most rigorous retaliation
against the French prisoners, whom the fortune of war has
already, or may hereafter place at the King's disposal.
It would certainly never be but with extreme reluctance
that the King could yield to the painful necessity of
exposing so many unfortunate individuals to the fatal but
inevitable effects of this atrocious decree; but His
Majesty will have at least the satisfaction of feeling that
nothing has been omitted on his part to prevent its
execution, and that the authors of it can alone be
considered responsible for all its guilt and all its
consequences.