No. 3.

TRANSLATION,

Algiers, Dec. 15, 1793, 2d year of the French Republick. SIR,-The navigation of the United States has just been odiously abandoned to the corsairs of this regency. I have thought that it would probably be convenient to Congress to make peace with Algiers; and that the mediation of one free people in favour of another, would be the most agreeable to your nation; I am therefore going to make the overture on the subject to the minister for foreign affairs at Paris. I should be charmed if my endeavours prove useful to your country. I should be as attentive to its suffering interests as to those of my own.

I must inform you, however, that your peace here will inevitably be costly, but if those of Portugal and of Holland should miscarry, the circumstance would then prove favourable to you, and your conditions would become less onerous. I greet you, &c. The consul of France at Algiers. VALLIERE.

N. B. The cover which contained the original of the above, was addressed as follows, viz:

Monsieur L'Ambassadeur Americain à Alicant.

No. 4.

Extracts of a Letter from Mr. Montgomery, to D. Humphreys. Alicant, January 8.

"IF I may venture to give an opinion on that subject, I think the supercargoes ought to be put on a footing with the masters, and the second mates with the mates, in point of subsistence, for which I shall give instructions by next conveyance, if I have no orders from yourself to the contrary.",

"I do not find that I shall shortly have an opportunity to send over the clothing. Pray might I charter a barque to carry that and some more money that will be wanting towards the end of this month, providing we have no other way of doing it before that time?"

No. 5.

To Captain O'Brien, and the other Captains and Citizens of the United States, now Prisoners in Algiers. Madrid, January 12, 1794.

MY DEAR SIRS,-I have been favoured by the receipt of your joint letter, dated the 29th of December; and as I am about to set out immediately for Lisbon, I shall be able to do little more than to assure you, that your memorials to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States shall be forwarded to them in the earliest and safest manner possible.

Having communicated to Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Short your apprehension that the plague may be again introduced to Algiers from the adjacent countries, where it is already said to prevail, we have not hesitated to concur with you in sentiment, that in case of that dreadful event, it might be useful for you to have a house hired in the country, in order to endeavour by all human precautions to prevent your falling victims to that terrible disorder. Whereupon Mr. Robert Montgomery, consul of the United States at Alicant, bas been empowered, in case that dreadful event should happen, to furnish sufficient money to pay for the hire of a house in the manner and for the purpose you propose. This provisional arrangement to continue in force until Mr. Montgomery shall receive ulterior instructions from the government of the United States for continuing or suspending the

same.

I entreat you will be persuaded, my dear and unfortunate countrymen, that I receive with great satisfaction the marks of your approbation of the honest, but ineffectual, efforts I have made in your favour. Would to heaven they had been as successful as they were disinterested and sincere. I have only to repeat that you may at all times, and on all occasions, count upon the sympathetick regard and esteem of your real friend and affectionate fellow citizen.

D. HUMPHREYS.

P. S. Although I have repeatedly remarked that it may perhaps (for particular reasons) be inexpedient for me to keep up a regular correspondence with you; yet it is proper I should add, that I shall always be glad to hear from you, and that it may be particularly interesting to the government of our country to receive at the earliest possible period all intelligence of importance. I shall therefore al

ways be ready to communicate such intelligence until some nearer and better channel of communication can be established.

No. 6.

Col. Humphreys to M. Valliere, French Consul at Algiers. Madrid, January 12, 1794.

SIR, I have duly received in this place the letter which you were pleased to address to the American ambassador at Alicant, on the 15th of December last, and shall without loss. of ime have the honour of transmitting a copy thereof to the Executive of the United States of America.

In the mean time in making my acknowledgments for your obliging offers, I avail myself, &c.

No. 7.

D. HUMPHREYS.

Colonel Humphreys to R. Montgomery, Esq. U. S. Consul at Alicant. Madrid, January 12, 1794.

MY DEAR SIR,-I have had the pleasure to receive by the last mail your letter of the 8th inst. and being on the point of departure, for Lisbon, I can only briefly reply to the most interesting parts of it.

I coincide with you in opinion with respect to the provision which should be made for the supercargoes and second mates in captivity at Algiers. You must act according to the best of your discretion in hiring a small barque to carry over the clothing and necessaries to Algiers, or in still attempting to find a conveyance for them by the packet from Carthagena, or some private vessel from Valencia or elsewhere. If the expense of hiring a small barque on purpose (inconsiderable as the expense may be) can be avoided with out leaving the prisoners to suffer, it certainly will be eligi ble to avoid it. If not, the expense will come under the head of inevitable contingent charges, which you must be authorized to make.

Upon consulting with Mr. Short and Mr. Carmichael, it was judged expedient that, in case the plague should again make its appearance in Algiers, the American captains, &c. in captivity should be enabled to hire a house in the country in order to prevent them (if possible) from falling victims to that dreadful scourge of heaven. In which case, therefore, you are hereby empowered to make the necessary advance of money, from the money of the United States deposited by

me in your hands, to pay for the hire of said house until the government of the United States shall have been apprized of this provisional arrangement, and shall have thought proper to express their pleasure for continuing or suspending the said arrangement. And you are requested to apprize them of the arrangement accordingly. With sentiments of great regard and esteem, 1 am, &c. D. HUMPHREYS.

P. S. I have again mentioned the subject of hastening the signature and final despatch of your exequatur to the person alluded to in your letter. This is all that it would proper for me to do in the business. You will be pleased, after perusing and sealing the letter for the American captains in captivity, to forward it to them by some safe conveyance. Have the goodness to offer my compliments as usual.

MESSAGE

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO CONGRESS RELATIVE TO SPANISH COMMISSIONERS. MARch 12, 1794.

I TRANSMIT to you the translation of two letters from the commissioners of his catholick majesty to the Secretary of State, and of their enclosures.

GEO. WASHINGTON.

SIR, Some circuitous course of the despatches having retarded our receiving the edict of his majesty containing the declaration of war against the French, in consequence of their having declared war against Spain and committed hostilities authorized by that government, even when war was not yet declared, we were not enabled to inform you, sir, in an official manner of the resolution of the king our master: Therefore we have the honour to do the same at present by enclosing a printed edict of that monarch, which you will please to lay before the President of the United States, in order to be communicated to Congress.

The weighty motives that determined his majesty to adopt a conduct contrary to his pacifick views, manifestly appear by the tenour of the enclosed instrument, and will no doubt

convince the United States of the just reasons which operate on the king for doing the same. Offering our best services, we remain, &c. JOSEPH IGNACIO DE VIAR, JOSEPH DE JAUDENES.

Edict of His Majesty transmitted to all the Councils of State, of War, to Castile, the Indies, the Inquisition, to all Orders, and the Treasury Department.

AMONG the principal objects that occupied my attention since my exaltation to the throne, I always considered that to be the most important that prompts me to contribute, as to my part, to the maintenance of the tranquillity of Europe, whereby, besides adding to the general welfare of mankind, I gave to my faithful and beloved vassals particular proofs of the paternal vigilance with which I seize all occasions to promote their own happiness, that engages my fondest wishes, and to which they are no less entitled by their unparalleled loyalty than by their noble and generous conduct.

The moderation that directed all my measures taken concerning France, since that period when the principles of confusion, of impiety, and anarchy were displayed, and those disturbances began, which threw her inhabitants in the utmost agitation and ruin, is a matter so notorious, that it would be superfluous to adduce any further proofs thereof. I confine myself, however, only to draw your attention to the late events of the last months, without mentioning those manifold transactions, the very idea whereof, I wish to banish from my mind and that of my beloved vassals, alleging only the most horrid of the same, as it cannot be omitted.

My principal views were concentrated in one point, to wit; to try whether it was possible to prevail on the French to embrace a reasonable conduct, that by renouncing their boundless ambition, a general war over Europe might be prevented, and in consequence thereof personal liberty might at least be procured to the most christian king, and to his august family, who are confined in a tower, and daily exposed to the most pungent outrages, insults and dangers. To obtain an end so beneficial to general tranquillity, so conformable to the dictates of humanity, and so coinciding with the obligations which the ties of consanguinity impose upon us, and are requisite to support the splendour and dignity of our crown, I yielded to the repeated instances of the French ministry by causing two notes to be executed, in which neutrality and a reciprocal recalling of the troops were stipulated.

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