utmost secrecy and of the greatest importance for this very country's own interest, they would then be deprived of the liberty, which every citizen and every other stranger enjoys; while, on the other hand, the terrified citizens would refuse to take part in any affair relating to this power, in order to preserve their reputation and tranquillity. These officers would then be prevented from fulfilling their duties to their master, particularly if the crime of falsehood were publicly imputed to them while their title and quality were called in question, although publicly and authentically acknowledged by all the powers of the country. Such conduct would be a marked insult, and this situation very near to a state of hostilities would tend to destroy all confidence, all commerce, and all correspondence between the two friendly and allied nations; and there would remain only one course to be pursued by the representatives of that which should be injured, and which could not obtain immediate satisfaction; namely, that of seeking an asylum in a country where the respect which a nation owes to an independent, friendly, and allied power, as well as to its representatives, is known, and where, by conforming to the territorial laws, one can rely upon the effectual protection of the sovereign, against every injurious, violent, and arbitrary proceeding.

My duty, Sir, places me under the necessity of offering these remarks to your Excellency and the Executive Council. Having no direct credentials for the Republic of Pennsylvania, I cannot demand reparations from it as a - Minister, and I can only address myself to the Congress of the United States, forasmuch as the facts in question have all happened under its sanction and by its authorisation;

understanding, which ought to prevail between two allied States, will justify me in earnestly requesting your Excellency and the Executive Council to take immediately into consideration the preceding observations, and without delay to communicate to me your opinion on this subject. An explicit and positive answer is indispensable in this delicate and critical juncture, in order that I may take the measures suitable to the dignity of the King, my master, as well as to the tranquillity and to the honor of his officers of all ranks and denominations, and at all events to enable his Majesty to provide himself for the maintenance of his dignity. Meanwhile I give orders to suspend every proceeding susceptible of new inconveniences, and every operation in the State of Pennsylvania on account of his Most Christian Majesty on the part of his officers, until the rules to which they are to conform shall be known and fixed, and till the public is convinced that the citizens do not expose their honor and their tranquillity, when they treat with the officers of the King, and when they conform to the laws of their States.

I have the honor of forwarding to your Excellency Mr Dunlap's publication of this day, in which I find, with

my official transactions. I observe that notwithstanding the most explicit and repeated offers I made to you yesterday morning, and through you to the honorable the Supreme Executive Council of this State, of proving that I had not in any shape violated or infringed the laws of Pennsylvania, that I had acted in perfect conformity therewith; notwithstanding I solemnly declared that the flour seized was bought and destined for the sole use of his Majesty's fleet; notwithstanding the many and forcible reasons urged to your Excellency to convince you that more proper and more decent measures might have been pursued, and that the steps I had taken to supply his Majesty's fleet were not only proper, but were dictated by mere necessity; notwithstanding all these circumstances, I am still held up to the public in a suspicious light, and as if I were answerable or accountable for the private and personal transactions of Mr Rumford of Wilmington, transactions totally foreign to me and to the instructions or orders given him by me.

My application to you, Sir, in this respect, seems to have been so far ineffectual, as also your just and pointed representation on this subject, which you were pleased to communicate to me by your letter of this day. I am sorry to remark, that though I have acted in concert with his Excellency, our Minister Plenipotentiary, that Congress has always been apprised of the purchases made by my orders; though all the provisions purchased and delivered into the hands of my agents have been at all times at the disposal of Congress in consequence of express stipulations; though I have given with pleasure the widest room for inquiry into the grounds of all suspicions, in order

lity and public confidence, which I had the greatest reason to expect, because it is evident, even by the publications, that not a single suspicion was founded on solid ground, but merely on surmise; still his Majesty's representative in this Commonwealth, his Agent General in all the ports of the United States, acknowledged as such by Congress, by yourself, and the board at which you preside, specially charged, in conjunction with the Minister Plenipotentiary, with procuring the necessary supplies for his Majesty's squadron, expressly fitted out for the defence of these States against the common enemy, and for the protection of his dominions in America, acting in the strict line of his office and duty, is most wantonly traduced to the public, branded with the most injurious and unfair imputations in the newspapers published in this very city, where these facts and my public character are most notorious, under your eyes, with your knowledge, and in contradiction to your personal advice and disapprobation.

I need not expatiate on the evil consequences, that may arise from such illiberal aggression. I need not claim your interposition. But the reasons I gave you yesterday, becoming every instant more forcible and more pressing, it is necessary that I demand the most immediate exertions of government on this occasion.

It is with the utmost reluctance I sit down to appeal in this solemn manner to the Executive power of Pennsylvania for justice, lest my request may be construed an opposition to the respectable motives of the informers on my conduct; but I am accountable to my royal master for my actions, and obliged to exact that respect due to his representative in this State, and to support the dignity of

my official transactions. I observe that notwithstanding the most explicit and repeated offers I made to you yesterday morning, and through you to the honorable the Supreme Executive Council of this State, of proving that I had not in any shape violated or infringed the laws of Pennsylvania, that I had acted in perfect conformity therewith; notwithstanding I solemnly declared that the flour seized was bought and destined for the sole use of his Majesty's fleet; notwithstanding the many and forcible reasons urged to your Excellency to convince you that more proper and more decent measures might have been pursued, and that the steps I had taken to supply his Majesty's fleet were not only proper, but were dictated by mere necessity; notwithstanding all these circumstances, I am still held up to the public in a suspicious light, and as if I were answerable or accountable for the private and personal transactions of Mr Rumford of Wilmington, transactions totally foreign to me and to the instructions or orders given him by me.

My application to you, Sir, in this respect, seems to have been so far ineffectual, as also your just and pointed representation on this subject, which you were pleased to communicate to me by your letter of this day. I am sorry to remark, that though I have acted in concert with his Excellency, our Minister Plenipotentiary, that Congress has always been apprised of the purchases made by my orders; though all the provisions purchased and delivered into the hands of my agents have been at all times at the disposal of Congress in consequence of express stipulations; though I have given with pleasure the widest room for inquiry into the grounds of all suspicions, in order