This letter was printed in _The True American_, Trenton, New
Jersey, soon after Paine's return to his old home at
Bordenton. It is here printed from the original manuscript,
for which I am indebted to Mr. W. F. Havemeyer of New York.
Although the Editor has concluded to present Paine's
"Maritime Compact" in the form he finally gave it, the
articles were printed in French in 1800, and by S. H. Smith,
Washington, at the close of the same year. There is an
interesting history connected with it. John Hall, in his
diary ("Trenton, 20 April, 1787") relates that Paine told
him of Dr. Franklin, whom he (Paine) had just visited in
Philadelphia, and the Treaty he, the Doctor, made with the
late King of Prussia by adding an article that, should war
ever break out, Commerce should be free. The Doctor said he
showed it to Vergennes, who said it met his idea, and was
such as he would make even with England. In his Address to
the People of France, 1797 (see p. 366), Paine closes with a
suggestion on the subject, and a year later (September 30,
1798), when events were in a critical condition, he sent
nine articles of his proposed _Pacte Maritime_ to
Talleyrand, newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. The
letters that passed are here taken from the originals (State
Archives, Paris, Etats Unis, vol. 48).
"Rue Theatre francaise, No. 4, 9 Vendemaire, 6 year.
"Citizen Minister: I promised you some observations on the state of
things between France and America. I divide the case into two parts.
First, with respect to some Method that shall effectually put an end to
all interruptions of the American Commerce. Secondly, with respect to
the settlement for the captures that have been made on that Commerce.
"As to the first case (the interruption of the American Commerce
by France) it has foundation in the British Treaty, and it is the
continuance of that treaty that renders the remedy difficult. Besides,
the American administration has blundered so much in the business of
treaty-making, that it is probable it will blunder again in making
another with France. There is, however, one method left, and there is
but one that I can see, that will be effectual. It is a _non-importation
Convention; that America agrees not to import from any Nation in Europe
who shall interrupt her Commerce on the seas, any goods, wares, or
merchandize whatever, and that all her ports shall be shut against
the Nation that gives the offence_. This will draw America out of her
difficulties with respect to her treaty with England.
"But it will be far better if this non-importation convention were to
be a general convention of Nations acting as a Whole. It would give a
better protection to Neutral Commerce than the armed neutrality could
do. I would rather be a Neutral Nation under the protection of such a
Convention, which costs nothing to make it, than be under the protection
of a navy equal to that of Great Britain. France should be the patron of
such a Convention and sign it. It would be giving both her consent and
her protection to the Rights of Neutral Nations. If England refuse to
sign it she will nevertheless be obliged to respect it, or lose all her
Commerce.
"I enclose you a plan I drew up about four months ago, when there was
expectation that Mr. Madison would come to France. It has lain by me
ever since.
"The second part, that of settlement for the captures, I will make the
subject of a future correspondence. Salut et respect."
Talleyrand's Reply ("Foreign Relations, 15 Vendemaire An. 6," Oct.
6, 1797): "I have the honor to return you, Citizen, with very sincere
thanks, your Letter to General Washington which you have had the
goodness to show me.
"I have received the letter which you have taken the trouble to write
me, the 9th of this month. I need not assure you of the appreciation
with which I shall receive the further indications you promise on the
means of terminating in a durable manner the differences which must
excite your interest as a patriot and as a Republican. Animated by
such a principle your ideas cannot fail to throw valuable light on the
discussion you open, and which should have for its object to reunite the
two Republics in whose alienation the enemies of liberty triumph."
Paine's plan made a good impression in France--He writes to Jefferson,
October 6, 1800, that the Consul Le Brun, at an entertainment given to
the American envoys, gave for his toast: "A l'union de 1' Amerique avec
les Puissances du Nord pour faire respecter la liberte des mers."
The malignant mind, like the jaundiced eye, sees everything through a
false medium of its own creating. The light of heaven appears stained
with yellow to the distempered sight of the one, and the fairest actions
have the form of crimes in the venomed imagination of the other.
For seven months, both before and after my return to America in October
last, the apostate papers styling themselves "Federal" were filled with
paragraphs and Essays respecting a letter from Mr. Jefferson to me at
Paris; and though none of them knew the contents of the letter, nor the
occasion of writing it, malignity taught them to suppose it, and the
lying tongue of injustice lent them its aid.
That the public may no longer be imposed upon by Federal apostacy, I
will now publish the Letter, and the occasion of its being written.
The Treaty negociated in England by John Jay, and ratified by the
Washington Administration, had so disgracefully surrendered the right
and freedom of the American flag, that all the Commerce of the
United States on the Ocean became exposed to capture, and suffered in
consequence of it. The duration of the Treaty was limited to two years
after the war; and consequently America could not, during that period,
relieve herself from the Chains which the Treaty had fixed upon her.
This being the case, the only relief that could come must arise out of
something originating in Europe, that would, in its consequences, extend
to America. It had long been my opinion that Commerce contained within
itself the means of its own protection; but as the time for bringing
forward any new system is not always happening, it is necessary to watch
its approach, and lay hold of it before it passes away.
As soon as the late Emperor Paul of Russia abandoned his coalition with
England and become a Neutral Power, this Crisis of time, and also of
circumstances, was then arriving; and I employed it in arranging a plan
for the protection of the Commerce of Neutral Nations during War,
that might, in its operation and consequences, relieve the Commerce of
America. The Plan, with the pieces accompanying it, consisted of
about forty pages. The Citizen Bonneville, with whom I lived in Paris,
translated it into French; Mr. Skipwith, the American Consul, Joel
Barlow, and myself, had the translation printed and distributed as
a present to the Foreign Ministers of all the Neutral Nations then
resident in Paris. This was in the summer of 1800.
It was entitled Maritime Compact (in French _Pacte Maritime_), The plan,
exclusive of the pieces that accompanied it, consisted of the following
Preamble and Articles.