The Minister Plenipotentiary of France cannot forbear to submit to the Congress of the United States, the passages underscored in the two gazettes annexed, under date of the 3d and 5th of this month. He has no doubt of the indignation of Congress at the indiscreet assertions contained in these passages, which equally bring into question the dignity and reputation of the King my master, and that of the United States. These assertions will become, in the hands of the enemies of the common cause, a weapon the more powerful and dangerous, as the author is an officer of Congress, and as he takes advantage of his situation to give credit to his opinions and to his affirmations.

The aforesaid Minister relies entirely on the wisdom of Congress to take measures suitable to the circumstance. It has not been owing to him, that the author has not himself repaired the injury which he has done, the Minister Plenipotentiary having hastened to convince him of the wrongs of which he was guilty, when the first of these gazettes appeared in public.

GERARD.

The passages referred to in the above were contained in a piece published in the Pennsylvania Packet, under the title, "Common Sense to the Public on Mr Deane's Affair," written by Thomas Paine, then Secretary to the Committee of Foreign Affairs; and are as follows;

"If Mr Deane, or any other gentleman, will procure an order from Congress to inspect an account in my office, or any of Mr Deane's friends in Congress will take the trouble of coming themselves, I will give him or them my attendance, and show them in a hand-writing, which Mr Deane is well acquainted with, that the supplies he so pompously plumes himself upon" (namely, those which were sent from France in the Amphitrite, Seine, and Mercury) were promised and engaged, and that as a present, before he even arrived in France, and that the part which fell to Mr Deane was only to see it done, and how he has performed that service, the public are now acquainted with." The last paragraph in the account, is "upon Mr Deane's arrival in France, the business went into his hands, and the aids were at length embarked in the Amphitrite, Mercury, and Seine." "I have been the more explicit on this subject, not so count, as from a principle of public justice. It shows, in the first instance, that the greatness of the American cause drew at its first beginning the attention of Europe, and that the justness of it was such as appeared to merit support; and in the second instance, that those who are now her allies prefaced that alliance by an early and generous friendship; yet, that we might not attribute too much to human or auxiliary aid, so unfortunate were those supplies, that only one ship out of the three arrived; the Mercury and the Seine fell into the enemy's hands."

much on Mr Deane's ac

Sir,

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Translation.

Philadelphia, January 10th, 1779.

I cannot forbear to present to Congress the striking observations occasioned by the delay, which the answer to my representation of the beginning of the past month meets with. Already the enemies of the common cause represent it as a proof of the diversity of the opinions which prevail in Congress, as if there could exist a contrariety of sentiments upon a subject so simple, and a matter so clear, that to call it in question would be at the same time to call in question the solidity, and even the existence of the alliance. Certainly, Sir, no one is farther than myself from adopting suspicions, which would be so fatal to the common cause; but I have had the honor to explain the motives, which should induce Congress to give to this subject a ready, formal, and explicit declaration. They know that erroneous opinions become more difficult to destroy when they have had time to take root in men's minds; it is then wished to remedy the evil, but it is found irremediaable. The greater part of these reflections is applicable in an equal degree to the declaration, which I had the honor to make to Congress on the 5th of this month, and I wait impatiently for answers, which may quiet my Court against the efforts made by the enemies to draw from the facts in question, inferences injurious to the allies and the alliance, efforts of which Congress alone can avoid the dangers. My zeal and my respect do not allow me to conceal from them apprehensions, which seem to me but too well founded and worthy of all their attention.

I have the honor to be, &c.

GERARD.

On the 12th of January, Congress taking into consideration the publication in the Pennsylvania Packet of the 2d and 5th instant, under the title of "Common Sense to the Public on Mr Deane's Affair," of which Mr Thomas Paine, Secretary of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, has acknowledged himself to be the author, and also the memorials of the Minister Plenipotentiary of France, of the 5th and 10th instant, respecting the said publication; "Resolved, unanimously, that in answer to the memorials of the Plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty, of the 5th and 10th instant, the President be directed to assure the said Minister, that Congress do fully, in the clearest and most explicit manner, disavow the publications referred to in his said memorials, and, as they are convinced by indisputable evidence, that the supplies shipped in the Amphitrite, Seine, and Mercury, were not a present, and that his Most Christian Majesty, the great and generous ally of these United States, did not preface his alliance with any supplies whatever sent to America, so they have not authorised the writer of the said publication to make any such assertions as are contained therein, but, on the contrary, do highly disapprove of the same."

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Translation.

Philadelphia, January 14th, 1779.

Sir,

I have received the letter, with which you honored me on the 13th of this month, on sending me the resolution of Congress in answer to the representations, which I had the honor to make to it on the 5th and 10th.

I request you to receive, and to offer to Congress, all the sensibility with which I have seen the frank, noble, and explicit manner in which they have destroyed false and dangerous insinuations, which might deceive the misinformed people, and give arms to the enemies of the com

mon cause.

The King, my master, Sir, does not need these proofs, in order to place his confidence in the disposition of firmness and constancy, which is exhibited by Congress in the principles of the alliance; but his Majesty will always see with pleasure the measures that Congress shall take to maintain its reputation inviolate, and it is from this same consideration, that I flatter myself he will have found my representation of the 7th of December last, equally worthy of his attention.

With all my eagerness for whatever can be agreeable to Congress, I have made use of their resolution relative to M. Duportail, and the officers who accompany him. They feel much honored by the praises, which their services and conduct have merited, as well as by the confidence which Congress shows in them, by desiring them to pass another campaign in the service of the United States. Their letter, a copy of which is annexed, expresses their resolution to