< in the mean time the officers asked the said master of the sloop, several questions, particularly if he had any passengers on board, and he answering to this question in the affirmative, was told by them that they came on purpose to look for the late French minister Mr. Fauchet, whom they knew to be on board with despatches. That the master and passengers then informed them that Mr. Fauchet had left the sloop in the morning at Stonington, where she had been detained two days by contrary winds, and that he had also that morning left Stonington aforesaid, on horseback with his despatches and publick papers, which were all taken out of paste bound boxes, as proof of the last assertion showing the said boxes empty, five in number, that Mr. Fauchet had really left the sloop and had gone on overland as aforesaid; that the officers aforesaid, not satisfied with the answers given, said their orders were positive, and directed them to search all the trunks of the passengers, at which proceeding they hoped no one on board would be hurt, as their duty required the same; that they accordingly had all the trunks and boxes in the cabin opened, and not finding any papers, then went into the hold, where having ordered Mr. Fauchet's servant to open the trunks of his master, they had them emptied in presence of all the passengers, and out of one of the trunks they took a bundle of papers, which they gave to one of the officers in care, whilst the search went on for the other trunks, that they asked for two other trunks of Mr. Fauchet's, saying they had notice of four trunks shipped on board said sloop, and seeing several other trunks stowed about, they, the said officers, demanded the owners; that one of them belonged to captain Chabert, aforenamed, a gentleman engaged in commercial and seafaring business, was overhauled, and the papers, consisting chiefly of seabooks or journals, examined and put aside, with a tin box, containing some papers, with letters directed to different persons in France-that they then fell upon the trunk of Mr. Pichon, which as they found heavy they desired to have opened, threatening as no one stepped forward with the key, to break the lock thereof. That Mr. Pichon then came forward and opened the trunk which proved to be full of written papers, under clothes; these throwing out, they observed that it was the trunk of Mr. Fauchet's secretary, and that it contained such a quantity of papers was a sufficient reason for taking it on board the ship for the inspection of the captain of the ship; that an officer then went on board the ship with such papers as he thought proper to take with him, that he might receive the directions of the commanding officer relative thereto, and relative to further proceedings; that this officer soon returned and permitted the sloop to depart, saying, that the main object being missed, no further detention was necessary, and returning the papers which he had taken on board the ship, and that the two boats, having left the sloop, after a detention of two hours, she came to sail and arrived at Newport in the evening. THO. W. BLISS, LEWIS ANDREW PICHON, IN testimony that the aforesaid declaration was made before me, the aforenamed publick notary as is above set forth, and on the second day of August, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and the twentieth year of American independence, I have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal the day and year aforesaid. [L.S.] CHRIST. ELLERY, Publick Notary. In testimony that the aforegoing is a true copy of the original declaration made and attested as is therein set forth, I have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal the day and year therein named. [L.S.] CHRIST. ELLERY, Publick Notary. Pour copie conforme. VOL. III: P. A. ADET. No. 153. Copy of the Letter from the Vice Consul of the French Republick at Newport, to the Governour of Rhode Island. Newport, Rhode Island, the 16th Thermidor, 3d year of the French Republick, one and indivisible. SIR,-A multiplicity of business has prevented me from paying you my respects, and obliged me to present them to you by letter. I am sensibly affected in commencing my official correspondence with your excellency on an affair of a disagreeable nature which obliges me to claim immediately the protection of the United States in the following case. I have the honour to lay before you the affidavit of Thomas Bliss, captain of the Peggy, on her way on her way from New York to Newport, on board of which citizen Fauchet, minister of the French Republick, was passenger. You will observe that this packet was arrested very near the land in the waters of the United States, obliged by force of arms to come to near the English ship Africa which was at anchor, and afterwards visited with an indecency carried so far as not to allow a coat of the minister to be exempt from the basest researches, and he probably owes his personal escape to the precaution he took of landing at Stonington. The law of nations, the reciprocal respect of the two governments, the sacred rights of territory and hospitality, have all been audaciously violated in this circumstance. Permit me to address myself to your excellency, and to request you to take such measures as your justice and prudence shall dictate for repressing such audacious infractions of the laws of nations, and to prevent the functionaries of a Republick in friendship with the United States from being exposed to such humiliating insults. I am, with respect, &c. Copy of the original, L'ARCAMBAL. P. A. ADET. No. 154. TRANSLATION. Joseph Fauchet to Citizen Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick near the United States. Newport, 17th Thermidor, 3d year of the French Republick, one and indivisible. CITIZEN,-The vice consul at Newport transmits to you the affidavit of the passengers who were on board the packet boat Peggy; of Newport, which was stopped and examined by the English ship Africa, at the entrance of this port, and within two miles of the land. I do not make any reflection on this insult, which at once violates the law of nations and the neutrality of the United States. The facts themselves are sufficient to lead to a presumption that your zeal will be excited on this occasion, which will appear unheard of only by those who are unacquainted with the history of the English. I shall express to to you but one afflicting sentiment, which is, that in a free state, with a government in which England has just acquired a friend, there is no safety for myself or my papers. For in a word, as it was from a publick packet boat, in a neutral port, that I was to have been carried off, there is no reason why I should not be taken on the high way or in an inn, if it could be done with impunity. What well thinking American will not grieve, my friend, at hearing that it was on the spot where French blood for the first time was shed for American independence, that an attempt was made to make me a prisoner! I shall not give you any details-you will find them in a letter written to me by citizen Pichon, whom I had left on board the packet boat to inform me of events. Receive the assurance, &c. JH. FAUCHET. P. S. The Africa has just anchored at Cononicut ferry; she was driven in by stress of weather. Her late conduct gives her a great claim to the enjoyment of the most sacred hospitality of the Americans. No. 155. Mr. Pichon to Mr. Fauchet. Newport, 15th Thermidor, 3d year of the Republick, 2d August, 1795. CITIZEN, I cannot but felicitate you on the resolution you took yesterday of setting off with your papers from Stonington for this city by land. The information you had received of the design formed by the English for intercepting the sloop on board of which you had embarked, and seizing you and your papers is verified, I acknowledge, in a manner calculated to render me less confident in the apparent safety of our passage, and I have reason to repent my not having followed you with citizen Bournonville. This disaster, however, has happily cost me but a few moments of disquietude, and moreover given me an opportunity of seeing the proceedings of the English on this occasion in all their minutiæ, and of tracing the motives to their source. You have doubtless already heard by publick report of the arrestation of the sloop Peggy, by the English ship Africa, in sight of the fort at Newport. Immediately on my arrival in this city, I had the proper steps taken for obtaining before a proper officer the declaration of captain Bliss, and of the passengers whom I could collect. I found I had been anticipated in this by Mr. Martin, commandant of the militia of this county. This officer had already taken measures for the same object, with the view of directly informing the general government of what had taken place, according to the circular orders expedited by the President of the United States to the executives of the different states. I thought it my duty, however, to take a copy of captain Bliss's and the passenger's deposition, certified by a notary publick, among the number of whom you will find my signature. I have the honour to send you this copy, which I took expressly to transmit to you. The principal facts are established completely in the affidavit. I am sorry the dispersion of the passengers who are already either scattered through the city, or set out for Providence and Boston, did not allow a greater number of signatures. However, the authenticity of the deposition will probably not be contested: if it should, the rest of the passengers, who are all citizens of Philadelphia, |