the course of their official functions, have a vigilant eye upon whatever may be passing within the ports, harbors, creeks, inlets, and waters of such district, of a nature to contravene the laws of neutrality, and, upon discovery of anything of the kind, will give immediate notice to the governor of the State, and to the attorney of the judicial district comprehending the district of the customs within which any such contravention may happen. To assist the judgment of the officers on this head, I transmit herewith a schedule of rules concerning sundry particulars, which have been adopted by the President, as deductions from the laws of neutrality established and received among nations. Whatever shall be contrary to these rules will, of course, be notified as above mentioned. There are some other points.which, pursuant to our treaties and the determination of the Executive, I ought to notice to you. If any vessel of either of the powers at war with France should bring or send within your district a prize made of the subjects, people, or property of France, it is immediately to be notified to the governor of the State, in order that measures may be taken, pursuant to the seventeenth article of our treaty with France, to oblige such vessel and her prize, or such prize when sent in without the capturing vessel, to depart. No privateer of any of the powers at war with France coming within a district of the United States can, by the twenty-second article of our treaty with France, enjoy any other privilege than that of purchasing such victuals as shall be necessary for her going to the next port of the prince or state from which she has her commission. If she should do anything beside this, it is immediately to be reported to the governor and the attorney of the district. You will observe, by the rules transmitted, that the term "privateer" is understood not to extend to vessels armed for merchandise and war, commonly called with us letters of marque, nor, of course, to vessels of war in the immediate service of the government of either of the powers at war. No armed vessel which has been or shall be originally fitted out in any port of the United States by either of the parties at war is henceforth to have asylum in any district of the United States. If any such armed vessel shall appear within your district, she is immediately to be notified to the governor and attorney of the district, which is also to be done in respect to any prize that such armed vessel shall bring or send in. At foot is a list of such armed vessels of the above description as have hitherto come to the knowledge of the Executive. The purchasing within and exporting from the United States, by way of merchandise, articles commonly called contraband, being, generally, warlike instruments and military stores, is free to all the parties at war, and is not to be interfered with. If our own citizens undertake to carry them to any of those parties, they will be abandoned to the penalties which the laws of war authorize. [270] *You will be particularly careful to observe, and to notify as directed in other instances, the case of any citizen of the United States who shall be found in the service of either of the parties at war. In case any vessel shall be found in the act of contravening any of the rules or principles which are the ground of this instruction, she is to be refused a clearance until she shall have complied with what the governor shall have decided in reference to her. Care, however, is to be taken in this not unnecessarily or unreasonably to embarrass trade, or to vex any of the parties concerned. In order that contraventions may be the better ascertained, it is desired that the officer who shall first go on board any vessel arriving within your district shall make an accurate survey of her then condition as to military equipment, to be forthwith reported to you, and that, prior to her clearance, a like survey be made, that any transgression of the rules laid down may be ascertained. But as the propriety of any such inspection of a vessel of war in the immediate service of the government of a foreign nation is not without question in reference to the usage of nations, no attempt is to be made to inspect any such vessel till further order on the point. The President desires me to signify to you his most particular expec tation that the instruction contained in this letter will be executed with the greatest vigilance, care, activity, and impartiality. Omissions will tend to expose the Government to injurious imputations and suspicions, and proportionably to commit the good faith and peace of the country, objects of too much importance not to engage every proper exertion of your zeal. I am, &c., ALEXANDER HAMILTON. Schedule of rules. 1. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the United States by any of the belligerent parties for military service, offensive or defensive, is deemed unlawful. 2. Equipments of merchant-vessels by either of the belligerent parties in the ports of the United States, purely for the accommodation of them as such, is deemed lawful. 3. Equipments in the ports of the United States of vessels of war in the immediate service of the government of any of the belligerent parties which, if done to other vessels, would be of a doubtful nature as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful; except those which shall have made prize of the subjects, people, or property of France coming with their prizes into the ports of the United States, pursuant to the seventeenth article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France. 4. Equipments in the ports of the United States, by any of the parties at war with France, of vessels fitted for merchandise and war, whether with or without commissions, which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful; except those which shall have made prize, &c. 5. Equipments of any of the vessels of France in the ports of the United States which are doubtful in their nature as being applicable to commerce or war, are deemed lawful. 6. Equipments of every kind in the ports of the United States of privateers of the powers at war with France are deemed unlawful.. 7. Equipments of vessels in the ports of the United States which are of a nature solely adapted to war are deemed unlawful; except those stranded or wrecked, as mentioned in the eighteenth article of our treaty with France, the sixteenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the ninth of our treaty with Prussia; and except those mentioned in the nineteenth article of our treaty with France, the seventeenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the eighteenth of our treaty with Prussia. 8. Vessels of either of the parties not armed, or armed previous to their coming into the ports of the United States, which shall not have infringed any of the foregoing rules, may lawfully engage or enlist therein their own subjects or citizens, not being inhabitants of the United States; except privateers of the powers at war with France, and except those vessels which shall have made prize, &c. No. 56. Message of President Washington to both Houses of Congress, December 13, 1793.-(Sent by Mr. G. Hammond to Lord Grenville February 22, 1794.) UNITED STATES, December 13, 1793. Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives : As the present situation of the several nations of Europe, and espe cially of those with which the United States have important relations, cannot but render the state of things between them and us matter of interesting inquiry to the legislature, and may, indeed, give rise to deliberations to which they alone are competent, I have thought it my duty to communicate to them certain correspondences which have taken place. The representative and executive bodies of France have manifested generally a friendly attachment to this country, have given advantages to our commerce and navigation, and have made overtures for placing these advantages on permanent ground. A decree, however, of the National Assembly, subjecting vessels laden with provisions to be carried into their ports, and making enemy's goods lawful prize in the vessel of a friend, contrary to our treaty, though revoked at one time as to the United States, has been since extended to their vessels also, as has been recently stated to us. Representations on this subject will be immediately given in charge of our minister there, and the result shall be communicated to the legislature. It is with extreme concern I have to inform you that the proceedings of the person whom they have unfortunately appointed their minister [271] plenipotentiary here has breathed nothing of the friendly * spirit of the nation which sent him. Their tendency, on the contrary, has been to involve us in war abroad, and discord and anarchy at home. So far as his acts, or those of his agents, have threatened our immediate commitment in the war, or flagrant insult to the authority of the laws, their effect has been counteracted by the ordinary cognizance of the laws, and by an exertion of the powers confided to me. Where their danger was not imminent, they have been borne with, from sentiments. of regard to his nation, from a sense of their friendship toward us, from a conviction that they would not suffer us to remain long exposed to the action of a person who has so little respected our mutual disposi tions, and, I will add, from a reliance on the firmness of my fellow-citizens in their principles of peace and order. In the mean time I have respected and pursued the stipulations of our treaties, according to what I judged their true sense, and have withheld no act of friendship which their affairs have called for from us, and which justice to others left us free to perform. I have gone further: rather than employ force for the restitution of certain vessels which I deemed the United States bound to restore, I thought it more advisable to satisfy the parties by avowing it to be my opinion that if restitution were not made, it would be incumbent on the United States to make compensation. The papers now communicated will more particularly apprise you of these transactions. The vexations and spoliations understood to have been committed on our vessels and commerce, by the cruisers and officers of some of the belligerent powers, appeared to require attention. The proofs of these, however, not having been brought forward, the description of citizens supposed to have suffered were notified that, on furnishing them to the Executive, due measures would be taken to obtain redress of the past, and more effective provisions against the future. Should such documents be furnished, proper representation will be made thereon, with a just reliance on a redress proportioned to the exigency of the case. The British government having undertaken, by orders to the commanders of their armed vessels, to restrain generally our commerce in corn and other provisions to their own ports and those of their friends, the instructions now communicated were immediately forwarded to our minister at that court. In the mean time some discussions on the subject took place between him and them; these are also laid before you; and I may expect to learn the result of his special instructions in time to make it known to the legislature during their present session. Very early after the arrival of a British minister here, mutual expla nations on the inexecution of the treaty of peace were entered into with that minister; these are now laid before you for your information. On the subject of mutual interest between this country and Spain, negotiations and conferences are now depending. The public good requiring that the present state of these should be made known to the legislature in confidence only, they shall be the subjects of a separate and subsequent communication. GO. WASHINGTON. (Signed) No. 57. Mr. G. Hammond to Mr. Randolph, United States Secretary of State. PHILADELPHIA, February 25, 1794. SIR: Particular reasons render it expedient for me to request you to inform me whether the principle which is generally understood to be established by the law of nations-that in the case of ships of war belonging to different powers in a state of hostility with each other, and being in neutral ports, the space of twenty-four hours should be allowed to vessels departing from such ports previously to their being followed by vessels in the service of a power with which the sovereign of the vessel so first departing may be engaged in war, be intended to be recognized by this Government. I have, &c., GEO. HAMMOND. No. 58. Mr. Holmes, collector of customs at Charleston, to Mr. Moodie, British vice-consul at Charleston. CUSTOM-HOUSE, Charleston District, March 24, 1794. SIR: By the mail from the northward on Saturday last I received, from the Treasury Department of the United States, a circular-letter dated 10th February last, a copy of which is herewith inclosed. I have only to observe that I am ready to co-operate in carrying into effect the substance of said communication, whenever it comports with your convenience. I am, &c., ISAAC HOLMES, Collector. [Inclosure in No. 58.] Mr. Hamilton to [Circular.] TREASURY DEPARTMENT, February 10, 1794. SIR: A provisory arrangement has been agreed upon with the embassador of Great Britain, contained in a letter from the Secretary of State to him, dated 26th De[272] cember last, to ascertain the losses by detention, waste, or spoliation sustained by such vessels, the property of the subjects of Great Britain, as have been or shall be captured by French privateers, armed and equipped in the ports of the United States. In order that these measures may be taken with as little delay as circumstances will permit, I have to request that you will, whenever applied to by any of the consuls of Great Britain, in concert with the consul, appoint persons to establish the value of such vessels and cargoes at the times of their capture, and of their arrival in the port into which they are brought, according to their value in such ports, transmitting to me the documents of the proceedings in each case. I am, &c., A. HAMILTON. No. 59. Mr. G. Hammond to Mr. Randolph. [Extract.] PHILADELPHIA, May 22, 1794. Before I conclude this letter, I must be permitted to observe that I have confined to the unrepressed and continued aggressions of the State of Vermont alone, the persuasion of Lord Dorchester, that they were indicative of an existing hostile disposition of the United States against Great Britain, and might ultimately produce an actual state of war on their part. If I had been desirous of recurring to other sources of disquietude, I might, from the allusion of his lordship "to the conduct of this Government toward the sea," have deduced other motives of apprehension, on which, from the solicitude you evince to establish a "contrast between the temper observed on your part toward us and our part toward you," I might have conceived myself justified in dilating. I might have adverted to the privateers originally fitted out at Charleston at the commencement of the present hostilities, and which were allowed to depart from that port, not only with the consent, but under the express permission, of the governor of South Carolina. I might have adverted to the prizes made by those privateers, of which the legality was in some measure admitted by the refusal of this Government to restore such as were made antecedently to the 5th of June, 1793. I might have adverted to the permission granted by this Government to the commanders of French ships of war and of privateers to dispose of their prizes by sale in ports of the United States. I might have adverted to the two privateers Le Petit Democrat (now La Cornelia) and Le Carmagnol, both which were illegally fitted out in the river Delaware, and which, in consequence of my remonstrances and of the assurances I received, I concluded would have been dismantled; but which have remained during the whole winter in the port of New York armed, and now are, as I am informed, in a condition to proceed immediately to sea. I might have adverted to the conduct which this Government has observed toward the powers combined against France in the enforcement of the embargo; for while the vessels of the former are subjected to the restrictions of that measure, those of the latter have been permitted to depart from Hampton Roads, though three weeks had elapsed subsequently to the imposition of the embargo, though they were amenable to its operation, and though they were chiefly laden with articles "calculated to support an enemy whom we are seeking to bring to peace." I might have adverted to the uniformly unfriendly treatment which His Majesty's ships of war and officers in His Majesty's service have, since the commencement of the present hostilities, experienced in the American ports. And, lastly, I might have adverted to the unparalleled insult which has been recently offered at Newport, Rhode |