47 



you will refer the Republic of France to this side of the water. In 

 short, it is expected, with a sure reliance on your discretion, that you 

 will not commit the United States by any specific declarations, except 

 where you are particularly instructed, and except, too, in giving testi- 

 mony of our attachment to their cause. 



*• 8. There is reason to believe that the embargo, when it was first 

 laid, excited some uneasy sensations in the breast of the French minis- 

 ter. For it so happened, that, at the moment before its operation, 

 pretty considerable shipments of flour were made to the British West 

 Indies; and a snow, called La Camille, laden with flour for France, 

 was arrested near Newcastle, on the Delaware, after she had quitted the 

 port of Philadelphia. But you know enough of the history of this 

 business to declare, that the embargo was levelled against Great Britain, 

 and was made general, merely because, if it had been partial against 

 her, it would have amounted to a cause of war ; and, also, that it was 

 not continued, merely because it was reputed to be injurious to France. 

 My letters to Mr. Fauchet will explain the case of La Camille, and all 

 his complaints about the embargo. 



" Should our embargo be brought up, the way will be easy for our 

 complaint against the embargo of Bordeaux ; at any rate, you will 

 remonstrate against it, and urge satisfaction for the sufferers. You will 

 receive all the papers which have come into the Department of State 

 relative to these matters ; and you will, besides, open a correspondence 

 with the captains and persons interested at Bordeaux, in order to obtain 

 more accurate information. 



" But you will go farther, and insist upon compensation for the cap- 

 tures and spoliations of our property, and injuries to the persons of our 

 citizens, by French cruisers. Mr. Fauchet has been applied to, and 

 promises to co-operate for the obtaining of satisfaction. The dilatoriness 

 with which business is transacted in France \Nill, if not curtailed in the 

 adjustment of these cases, produce infinite mischief to our merchants. 

 This must be firmly represented to the French republic ; and you may 

 find a season for intimating how unfortunate it would be, if so respectable 

 a body as that of our merchants should relax in their zeal for the 

 French cause, from irritation at their losses. The papers on this head 

 are a statement of French cases, Mr. Fauchet s letter to me, and the 

 documents themselves. 



"9. You know the extreme distress in which the inhabitants of Saint 

 Domingo came hither after the disasters of the Cape. Private charity, 

 and especially at Baltimore, most liberally contributed to their support. 

 The Congress at length advanced 15,000 dollars, with a view of reim- 

 bursement from France. This subject has been broken to Mr. Fauchet 



