(Extract.)

No. 1.-The Secretary of State to Mr. Sheldon.

Department of State, Washington, August 13, 1823.

I HAVE had the honor of receiving your Despatches Nos. 1 and 2, the latter dated the 10th of June. Mr. Gallatin arrived with his family, at New York, on the 24th of that month.

I enclose, herewith, Copies of the recent Correspondence between the Count de Menou, the Chargé d'Affaires of France, and this Department, on various subjects, highly interesting to the relations between the two Countries.

With regard to the Count's Note of the 11th of July, the President received, with great satisfaction, the testimonial of the Viscount de Chateaubriand, to the candour and ability with which Mr. Gallatin has performed the duties of his official station in France. The proposal to renew the negotiation in behalf of the well-founded claims of our Citizens upon the French Government, in connexion with a claim, on the part of France, to special privileges in the Ports of Louisiana, which, after a very full discussion, had, in the views of this Government, been proved utterly groundless, could neither be accepted nor considered as evidence of the same conciliatory spirit. The claims of our Citizens are for mere justice. They are for reparation of unquestionable wrongs; for indemnity or restitution of property taken from them, or destroyed, without shadow or colour of right. The claim under the 8th Article of the Louisiana Convention has nothing to rest upon but a forced construction of the terms of the Stipulation, which the American Government considered, and have invariably considered, totally without, foundation. These are elements not to be coupled together in the same negotiation; and while we yet trust to the final sense of justice in France for the adjustment of the righteous claims of our Citizens, we

still hope that their unquestionable character will, ultimately, secure to them a consideration unincumbered with other discussions. You will, respectfully, make this representation to the Viscount de Chateaubriand, with the assurance of the readiness of this Government to dis cuss the question upon the Louisiana Convention further, if desired by France, but of our final conviction that it is not to be blended with the claims of our Citizens for mere justice.

No. 1. (A.)-Count de Menou to the Secretary of State.

(Translation.)

Legation of France to The United States,
Washington, July 11, 1823.

His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand, in announcing to me that Mr. Gallatin was about to leave France, expresses his regret at his departure, in such terms, that I should do him injustice, were I not to use his own expressions. "My correspondence with this Minister," he remarks to me, "has caused me to appreciate his talents, his ability, and his attachment to the system of friendship that unites the Two Powers. It is with regret that I suspend my communications with him."

I esteem myself happy, Sir, in conveying to you such sentiments towards the Representative of The United States in France; and I should have thought that I had but imperfectly apprehended the design of the Viscount de Chateaubriand, had I neglected to communicate them to the Federal Government.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs reminds me also on this occasion, that Mr. Gallatan having frequently laid before him claims of Americans against the French Government, he had shown himself disposed to enter upon a general negotiation, in which they should be comprehended with the claims of French Citizens against the Federal Government, at the same time with the arrangement relative to the execution of the 8th Article of the Treaty of Louisiana. The object of his Excellency was to arrive at a speedy and friendly disposition of all difficulties that might subsist between the Two Powers, well assured that France and The United States would be found to have the same views of justice and conciliation.

His Excellency regrets that Mr. Gallatin, who, he says, "has convinced him how pleasing and advantageous it is to negotiate with a Statesman who exhibits candor and ability in his discussions," did not receive from his Government during his stay in France, the necessary powers for this double negotiation. But he informs me that the Government of His Majesty remains always disposed to open it, either with Mr. Gallatin, should he return with these powers, or with Mr. Sheldon, if the Federal Government should think proper to confer them on him.

I greatly desire, Sir, to see these propositions acceded to by the [1824-25.] 2 S

Federal Government, and to be able to reply to His Excellency, as he expresses his wish that an arrangement putting an end to every subject of discussion, might soon be expected.

I pray the Secretary of State to receive, &c.,

The Chargé d'Affaires of France, near The United States, The Hon. Secretary of State.

SIR,

MENOU.

No. 1. (B.)-The Secretary of State to the Count de Menou. Department of State, Washington, August 12, 1823. YOUR Letter of the 11th of last month has been submitted to the consideration of the President of The United States, by whom I am directed to express the high satisfaction that he has felt, at the manner in which His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand has noticed, in his Correspondence with you, in the temporary absence of Mr. Gallatin from France, and the terms of regard and esteem with which he notices the character and conduct of that Minister. The anxious desire of the President for the promotion of the good understanding between The United States and France, could not be more gratified than by the testimonial of His Most Christian Majesty's Government to the good faith and ability with which the Minister of The United States at his Court, has performed his official duties.

With regard to the assurance of His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand's disposition to enter upon a negotiation with Mr. Gallatin, in the event of his return to France, or with Mr. Sheldon, during his absence, concerning the claims of Citizens of The United States, on the Government of France, in connection with an arrangement concerning the 8th Article of the Louisiana Treaty, I am directed to observe, that those subjects rest upon grounds so totally different, that the Government of The United States cannot consent to connect them together in negotiation.

The claims of the Citizens of The United States upon the French Government have been of many years standing; often represented by successive Ministers of The United States, and particularly by Mr. Gallatin, during a residence of seven years, with a perspicuity of statement, and a force of evidence which could leave to the Government of The United States no desire but that they should have been received with friendly attention, and no regret but that they should have proved ineffectual. The justice of these Claims has never been denied by France; and while The United States are still compelled to wait for their adjustment, similar and less forceful Claims of the Subjects of other Nations, have been freely admitted and liquidated.

A long and protracted discussion has already taken place between the two Governments, in relation to the claim of France, under the 8th Article of the Louisiana Convention; the result of which has been a thorough conviction on the part of the American Government that

the claim has no foundation in the Treaty whatever.

The reasons for

this Convention have been so fully set forth in the discussion, that it was not anticipated a further examination of it would be thought desirable. As a subject of discussion, however, the American Government are willing to resume it, whenever it may suit the views of France to present further considerations relating to it; but while convinced that the claim is entirely without foundation, they cannot place it on a footing of concurrent negotiation with claims of their Citizens, the justice of which is so unequivocal that they have not even been made the subject of denial.

From the attention which His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand has intimated his willingness to give to the consideration of these claims, the President indulges the hope that they will be taken into view upon their own merits; and in that hope the Representative of The United States at Paris, will, at an early day, be instructed to present them again, to the undivided and unconditional sense of the justice of France. I pray you, Sir, to accept, &c.,

The Count de Menou.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

No. 2.-Mr. Sheldon to the Secretary of State.

Paris, October 16, 1823.

(Extract.) I TOOK an early occasion, after the receipt of your Despatch No. 1, of the 10th of August, to communicate the subjects of it, in a conversation I had with Viscount de Chateaubriand. His observations in relation to that of the Claims, as connected with the pretensions of France under the Louisiana Treaty, were of a very general nature, and amounted to little more than a repetition of his readiness to enter upon the consideration of whatever subjects of discussion might exist between the two Countries, and the expression of his satisfaction at the prospect of being soon relieved from the labour which the affairs of Spain had thrown upon him, and having thus more time to devote to those of The United States and others not of the same pressing nature. He avoided my intimation of a disposition to take up the Claims by themselves, and it can hardly be expected that the French Government will, at this time, relax from the ground they have so lately taken upon that point. I informed him that I should communicate in writing an answer to the overture made by Count de Menou, at Washington, for uniting in a new negotiation this subject with that of the Louisiana Treaty, in substance the same as that Gentleman had already received there, and should again press upon the French Government the consideration of the Claims by themselves; to which he replied, that any communication I might make, would be received and treated with all the attention to which it was entitled on his part.

SIR,

No. 2. (A.)-Mr. Sheldon to the Viscount de Chateaubriand. Paris, October 11, 1823. MR. GALLATIN, during his residence as Minister of The United States in France, had, upon various occasions, called the attention of His Majesty's Government to the Claims of our Citizens for the reparation of wrongs sustained by them, from the unjust seizure, detention, and confiscation of their property, by Officers and Agents acting under authority of the Government of France. During the past year, His Majesty's Ministers had consented to enter upon the consideration of these Claims; but they propose to couple with it another subject, having no connection with those Claims, either in its nature, its origin, or the principles on which it depended-a question of the disputed construction of one of the Articles of the Treaty of Cession of Louisiana, by virtue of which France claimed certain commercial privileges in the Ports of that Province. Mr. Gallatin had not received from his Government any authority to connect these two dissimilar subjects in the same negotiation, or indeed to treat upon the latter, which had already been very amply discussed at Washington, between the Secretary of State of The United States, and His Majesty's Minister at that Place, without producing any result, except a conviction on the part of the Government of The United States, that the privileges for French Vessels, as claimed by the Minister of France, never could have been, and were not in fact, conceded by the Treaty in question. A stop was then put to the negotiations already commenced in relation to the Claims, and with which had been united, on the proposition of the French Government, and as being naturally connected with it, the consideration of certain Claims of French Citizens on the Government of The United States.

The Chargé d'Affaires of France at Washington has lately, on behalf of his Government, expressed to that of The United States a wish that this double negotiation might be resumed, and that a definitive Arrangement might be made, as well in relation to the disputed Article of the Louisiana Treaty, as of the subject of the Claims, upon one side and upon the other. The Government of The United States has nothing more at heart than to remove, by friendly arrangements, every subject of difference which may exist between the two Countries, and to examine, with the greatest impartiality and good faith, as well the nature and extent of the Stipulations into which they have entered, as the appeals to their justice, made by individuals claiming reparation for wrongs supposed to have been sustained at their hands.

But these two subjects are essentially dissimilar; there are no points of connection between them; the principles upon which they depend are totally different; they have no bearing upon each other, and the justice which is due to Individuals ought not to be delayed or