Barbarians is worth the sacrifice, without which it will be superfluous to pretend to it. Should they happen to obtain it from the King of Morocco and the Regency of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli would easily follow their example, and certainly at less expense. The particular affair which they have had with Morocco, seems to invite them to begin with that power, and of the three modes which they propose, I only think the last advisable. The King of Morocco supports no authorized Consul in France; and besides his pretensions to being sought after, I doubt whether he would consent to send a Minister to meet those of the United States; this proceeding would be inefficacious, and the agent would not have sufficient power to conclude a treaty or a solid arrangement. The same would be the consequence of a negotiation carried on by writing. It remains then to propose to the King of Morocco to wait until they can have advised Congress to send him a Consul. I will willingly charge myself with the care of forwarding their letter to this Prince, and the officer of the King shall have orders to render every service in his power to the American prisoners, until the negotiation shall actually be set on foot. Whenever the thirteen United States shall have entered thereon, they may rely on the interposition and assistance of his Majesty's Consul. I see, with pleasure, that they have already procured those of his Catholic Majesty, whose powerful influence will be infinitely useful to them. When our treaty with Algiers shall expire, we shall desire to renew it, and even may flatter ourselves to be able to do it without any difficulty. But should any occur that must be surmounted, the King is accustomed to use no foreign interventions to establish or preserve the good understanding, which it suits him to maintain with the Barbary powers. As to the rest, sir, you can assure the American Ministers, that they will always find the King inclined to favor their negotiations with these States; and on all occasions to assist them with his cares and offices, which he would render them though he were not engaged by the convention they claim. But at the same time, it is necessary that they adopt measures of similar execution. I hope, sir, that I have precisely answered all the points of the letter which Messrs. Adams, Franklin and Jefferson, have written to you, and to every thing essential contained in the pieces which accompanied it. I have the honor to send you the originals, &c. FROM THE DUKE OF DORSET TO THE COMMISSIONERS. Paris, March 26, 1785. Gentlemen, Having communicated to my Court the readiness you expressed in your letter to me of the 9th of December, to remove to London, for the purpose of treating upon such points as may materially concern the interests, both political and commercial, of Great Britain and America, and having at the same time represented that you clared yourselves to be fully authorized and empowered to negotiate, I have been, in answer thereto, instructed to learn from you, gentlemen, what is the real nature of the powers with which you are invested, whether you VOL. II.-38 de are merely commissioned by Congress, or whether you have received separate powers from the respective States. A committee of North American merchants have waited upon his Majesty's principal Secretary of State for foreign affairs, to express how anxiously they wished to be informed upon this subject, repeated experience having taught them in particular, as well as the public in general, how little the authority of Congress could avail in any respect, where the interests of any one individual State was even concerned, and particularly so, where the concerns of that particular State might be supposed to militate against such resolutions as Congress might think proper to adopt. The apparent determination of the respective States to regulate their own separate interests, renders it absolutely necessary, towards forming a permanent system of commerce, that my Court should be informed how far the Commissioners can be duly authorized to enter into any engagements with Great Britain, which it may not be in the power of any one of the States to render totally fruitless and ineffectual. I have the honor to be, &c. DORSET. FROM THE COMMISSIONERS TO THE DUKE OF DORSET. My Lord Duke, Passy, near Paris, May 16, 1785. We received in due time the letter which your Grace did us the honor to write us on the 26th day of March last, and have delayed the acknowledgment of it, in ex pectation of the arrival of the packets, by which we hoped for further instructions from Congress. We have now the honor to inform your Grace, that Congress, on the 24th day of February last, appointed a Minister Plenipotentiary to reside at the Court of his Britannic Majesty, who proposes to proceed to London in the course of two or three weeks; which makes a more particular answer unnecessary. We have the honor to be, &c. JOHN ADAMS, B. FRANKLIN, THOS. JEFFERSON. FIFTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO CONGRESS, ADDRESSED TO JOHN JAY SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. Paris, April 13, 1785. Sir, Our letter to you the 18th day of March with those preceding, which we had addressed to the President of Congress have conveyed exact details of our transactions till that time. Since the making of that despatch the following proceedings have taken place. The letter No. 1 from Mr. Carmichael to Dr. Franklin dated February 27th, 1784, (instead of 1785) will apprize you that there is a prospect of Mr. Hartwell's regaining his liberty and property, though not without some delay and probably some loss. The same letter will inform you of Mr. Carmichael's proceedings in the case of the brig Betsey taken by the Emperor of Morocco, and the papers which accompanied that letter marked No. 1, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, will show the process in that business to the 15th of January last, and a subsequent communication from Mr. Carmichael, marked No. 2, being a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to him, dated March 16th, 1785, will show its situation at that time. With this last Mr. Carmichael also sent us the papers No. 3, a and b, the first being a letter from a spy employed by the Spanish Court, a holy father of the order of Redemption of Captives, and the second a statement made out by the Algerines from February 1st, 1777, to September 8th, 1783, the revolution it underwent during that period, the number of cruizers they made, prizes they took, and the nations from whom taken. While these give a smaller idea than had been entertained of this the most formidable of the piratical States, the following papers marked No. 4, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, will show that the price of their peace is higher than the information heretofore communicated had given us reason to expect. The paper No. 4, a, is a letter from the Marquis de la Fayette, to whose means of access to the depositories of this species of information and his zeal for the service of the United States, we are indebted for the intelligence it contained as well as for the report No. 4, b, and the details, No. 4, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, from these it will appear that powers which like France and England can combine the the terror of a great naval force, with the persuasive of pecuniary tribute, yet give occasionally as far as 15,000 guineas to Morocco, which holds but the second rank amongst these States. This information is still very in |
