d'Yrujo, he has presented, in a note just received, a vindication of his Government, and its treaty with the United States, against the objections proceeding from the Spanish Government. A copy of this note is herewith inclosed.

The Marquis d'Yrujo to the Secretary of State.

PHILADELPHIA, September 4, 1803. Through the medium of the Ambassador of the King my master, in Paris, it has come to His Royal knowledge that that Government has sold to that of the United States the Province of Louisiana, which His Majesty has retroceded to the French Republic. This information has occasioned to the King my master no small surprise, seeing that the French Government had contracted with His Majesty the most solemn engagements never to alienate the said province. In order to convince the Government of the United States of the nature of these engagements, I take the liberty here to insert a paragraph of a note presented on the 22d July, 1802, by M. de St. Cyr, Ambassador of the French Republic, at Madrid, to the Secretary of State of His Majesty, as follows:

"His Catholic Majesty has appeared to wish that France should engage not to sell nor alienate, in any manner, the property and the enjoyment of Louisiana. Its wish in this respect is perfectly conformable with the intentions of the Spanish Government; and its sole motive for entering therein was because it respected a possession which had constituted a part of the French territory. I am authorized to declare to you in the name of the First Consul that France will never alienate it."

The mere reading of the paragraph which precedes will convince you, as well as the President of the United States, that the sale of Louisiana, which France has lately made, is a manifest violation of the obligations contracted by her with His Catholic Majesty, and that France wants the powers to alienate the said province without the approbation of Spain, as is seen incontestably in the above-recited note of the Ambassador St. Cyr, authorized by his Government.

The King my master charges me to inform this Government as soon as possible of this important circumstance; and, in compliance with His Royal will, I hasten to acquaint you therewith, in order that it may as soon as possible come to the knowledge of the President of the United States. God preserve you many years.

JAMES MADISON, Esq.

M. DE CASA YRUJO,

From Marquis d'Yrujo to Mr. Madison.

VICINITY OF PHILADELPHIA, September 27, 1803. SIR: On the 4th current I had the honor to intimate to you the extraordinary surprise with which the King my master had heard of the sale of Louisiana, made to the United States, in contravention of the most solemn assurances given in writing to His Majesty by the Ambassador of the French Republic near his person, and with the consent and approbation of the First Consul. The King my master charges me again to remind the American Government that the said French Ambassador entered, in the name of his Republic, into the positive engagement that France never would alienate Louisiana, and to observe to it that the sale of this province to the United States is founded in the violation of a promise so absolute that it ought to be respected; a promise, without which the King my master would, in no manner, have dispossessed himself of Louisiana. His Catholic Majesty entertains too good an opinion of the character of probity and good faith which the Government of the United States has known how to obtain so justly for itself, not to hope that it will suspend the ratification and effect of a treaty which rests on such a basis. There are other reasons no less powerful which come to the support of the decorum and respect which nations mutually owe each other. France acquired from the King my master the retrocession of Louisiana under obligations, whose entire fulfillment was absolutely necessary to give her the complete right over the said province; such was that of causing the King of Tuscany to be acknowledged by the Powers of Europe; but, until now, the French Government has not procured this acknowledgment promised and stipulated, either from the Court of London or from that of St. Petersburg. Under such circumstances it is evident that the treaty of sale entered into between France and the United States does not give to the latter any right to acquire and claim Louisiana, and that the principles of justice as well as sound policy ought to recommend it to their Government not to meddle with engagements as contrary in reality to her true interests as they would be to good faith, and to their good correspondence with Spain.

Such are the sentiments which the King my master has ordered me to communicate to the President of the United States; and, having done it through you, I conclude, assuring you of my respect and consideration towards your person, and of my wishes that our Lord may preserve your life, &c.

JAMES MADISON, Esq.

M. DE CASA YRUJO.

From Mr. Madison to the Marquis d'Yrujo.

OCTOBER 4, 1803.

SIR: I have duly received your two letters of the 4th and 27th ultimo, and have laid them before the President.

The repugnance manifested in these communications, on the part of His Catholic Majesty, to the cession of Louisiana lately made by the French Republic to the United States, was as little expected as the objections to the transaction can avail against its solidity.

The United States have given unquestionable proofs to the Spanish Government and nation of their justice, their friendship, and their desire to maintain the best neighborhood; and the President confides too much in the reciprocity of these sentiments, so repeatedly and so recently declared on the part of His Catholic Majesty, to have supposed that he would see with dissatisfaction a convenient acquisition by the United States of territories which were no longer to remain with Spain. With respect to the transaction itself, by which the United States have acquired Louisiana, it would be superfluous to say more in justification of its perfect validity than to refer to the official communication made by Mr. Cevallos to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid, in a note dated on the 4th of May last. His words are: "Por la retrocesion hecha a la Francia de la Luisiana, recobro esta Potencia dicha provincia con los limites con que lon tubo, y salvos los derechos adquiridos por otras Potencias. La de los Estados Unidos podra dirigirse al Gobierno Frances para negociar la adquisician de territorios que convengan a su interes."a Here is an explicit and positive recognition of the right of the United States and France to enter into the transaction which has taken place.

To these observations, which I have been charged by the President to make to you, I have only to add, sir, that his high respect for His Catholic Majesty, and his desire to cherish and strengthen the friendly sentiments happily subsisting between the two nations, will induce him to cause such explanations and representations to be made through the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid as can not fail to reconcile His Catholic Majesty to an event so essentially connected with the respect which the United States owe to their character and their interest.

Be pleased, sir, to accept assurances of the high respect and consideration with which I have the honor to be, your most obedient, humble servant,

JAMES MADISON.

@Translation: "By the retrocession made to France of Louisiana, this Power has recovered the said province with the limits which it had, and saving the rights acquired by other Powers. The United States can address themselves to the French Government to negotiate the acquisition of territories which may suit their interest.”

Mr. Madison to Mr. Monroe.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 1803.

DEAR SIR, Finding that Mr. Purveyance is within reach of a few lines, I add them to what he is already charged with, to observe that Yrujo has written another remonstrance against our acquisition of Louisiana, alleging as a further objection, that France, by not obtaining the stipulated acknowledgements of the King of Etruria from the Courts of Petersburg and London, had a defective title herself to the Cession. Nothing can be more absurd than these cavils on the part of Spain, unless it should be her using in support of them force against our taking possession. This she will scarlely attempt, if not backed by France, which we hope is impossible. I am writing on this subject to Livingston and Pinckney. I have already done so to Yrujo, giving him to understand that we shall not withhold any means that may be rendered necessary to secure our object. Pichon is perfectly well disposed, is offended with the Spanish Minister, and, if left under the orders he now has, will co-operate zealously, with an honest view to the honor and obligations of his own Country. On our part, I trust every thing that the crisis demands will be done, and that we shall speedily be in possession of the valuable object which the Treaty with France has gained for us. Baring is here, but having not yet called on me I have had no opportunity of paying him civilities, or obtaining explanations from him.

* * *

Marquis d'Yrujo to the Secretary of State.

BALTIMORE, October 12, 1803.

SIR: I have received your letter of the 4th current in reply to those which I had the honor to write to you on the 4th and 27th of last month; and as, without entering into the examination of the powerful reasons which, in the name of the King my master, I unfolded therein, against the sale of Louisiana, you refer generally to the explanations which, as you inform me, the Minister of the United States near His Majesty is to make at Madrid. I shall at present confine my observations to that which you are pleased to make to me, founded upon certain expressions which you cite to me from an official letter of the Secretary of State, of the King my master, to the abovementioned American Minister in Spain. The expressions are the following:

"By the retrocession made to France of Louisiana, this Power has recovered the said province, with the limits which it had, and saving the rights acquired by other Powers. The United Stated can address themselves to the French Government to negotiate the acquisition of territory which may suit their interests."

These expressions, which you consider as an explicit and positive acknowledgment of the right of the United States and France to enter into the engagements which they afterwards did, do not, in my opinion, weaken in any manner the foundation and the force of the representations which I had the honor to make to you against the sale of Louisiana.

There is an expression, among those you cite, which will suffice to refute the inference which you draw from them, and it is that of saving the rights acquired by other Powers. Although the general form of this expression gives, in other respects, much latitude to its true meaning, it is indubitable that Spain having made the retrocession of Louisiana, to France, under certain conditions and modifications, Spain has the indubitable right to claim their execution. Of this nature was the stipulation, that France should not sell or alienate Louisiana in any manner whatever, and likewise the solemn and positive accession and declaration of the French Government adhering to the wishes of Spain; consequently this expression destroys the possibility that, according to existing circumstances, the French Government should possess the right of selling the said province, or that of the United States of buying it.

There is another consideration still stronger, and which is not at all subject to the interpretation of equivocal expressions. It is evident that the engagement entered into by France with Spain not to alienate Louisiana in any manner, is much older in date than the official letter of Mr. Cevallos, whose expressions you are pleased to cite to me. In that letter those which you have scored, that the United States can address themselves to the French Government to negotiate the acquisition of the territory which may suit their interests, neither signify nor can signify anything but a deference towards France, whose Government alone is now concerned to give a decisive answer to the requests of the United States, an answer analogous and conformable to the nature of the previous engagements which had been entered into with Spain. The repugnance of the Spanish Government may likewise be recognized to give to that of the United States a necessary negative at a time when it found itself united with them by bands of the most sincere friendship.

Other interpretations of equal force may be derived from the obvious meaning of the expressions of the official letter of the Secretary of State of His Majesty mentioned by you; but as those which I have just made are, in my opinion, conclusive, I abstain from entering upon others in detail, and I take the liberty to call to them the attention, as well of yourself as of the President of the United States, in order that you may be more and more convinced of the reason and justice with which the King my master objects to the ratification of a treaty founded upon a manifest violation of the most solemn engagements