February 13th. The President was directed to inform the Minister, that Congress will take the subject of his memorials of the 9th into immediate consideration, and that if he wishes to communicate anything farther to them, Congress will receive the same from him in a private audience. And it was at the same time resolved, that all private audiences given to foreign Ministers be held in a committee of the whole. February 15th. The President acquainted the House, that pursuant to their order, he had informed the Minister of France, that Congress will take his memorials of the 9th into immediate consideration, and that if he wishes to communicate anything farther to them, Congress will receive the same in a private audience; that the Minister wished to make further communications to Congress, and would attend the House at twelve o'clock this day. The Minister, agreeably to his appointment, was introduced, and bad a free conference with Congress, in which he represented the present state of affairs in Europe, the dispositions of the Spanish Court, and the measures it was about to take in order to restore peace; from thence, he took occasion to press upon Congress the necessity of having a Minister in Europe properly empowered and instructed. He further signified, that it was the desire of his Most Christian Majesty, that the United States would speedily put themselves in a condition to take that part in the negotiation for peace apparently about to take place, which their dignity and interest required; and that they should lay a solid foundation for obtaining a speedy peace agreeably to the terms of the treaty, by giving their Plenipotentiary the most ample instructions and full powers. This he enforced by sundry arguments, and pressed the utmost despatch. Sir, TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Translation. Philadelphia, March 14th, 1779, The Minister Plenipotentiary of France, undersigned, does not doubt that the committee, charged on the part of Congress to persuade the undersigned to keep the rate of exchange at nine hundred per cent, in order to stop the farther depreciation which circumstances threatened, has reported the answer which the said Minister gave on this subject; but as the undersigned is still ignorant of the manner in which Congress has received this answer, he is the more desirous of being informed of it, as he must give an account to his Court of the success of the course which he has adopted, and as the agent of the royal navy has, till this time, confined himself to the rule proposed on the part of Congress, without any return to the interests of his Majesty. GERARD. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Translation. Philadelphia, March 16th, 1779. Sir, The Minister Plenipotentiary of France, being about to send M. de Maulcon to New York to effect the exchange of the French prisoners, who are detained there, takes the liberty to request the Congress of the United States of America to have the goodness to allow them the same facilities as heretofore, by charging their Commissioners to receive them on their landing at Elizabethtown and New London, and from thence as far as Philadelphia or Boston, and to give them, at the expense of his Most Christian Majesty, the same treatment which American prisoners receive. GERARD. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Translation. Philadelphia, March 17th, 1779. Sir, The Minister Plenipotentiary of France has the honor to remind the Congress of the United States of North America, that in executing for five months the instructions with which he has been charged by the King, his master, in relation to the present state of affairs, the undersigned has expressed his Majesty's desire, that the United States should quickly put themselves in a situation to take, in the negotiation for peace which seems on the point of taking place, the part which their dignity and their interests require, and that they should lay firm foundations for obtaining a speedy pacification conformable to the terms of the alliance, by giving to their Plenipotentiary instruetions the most ample, and powers the most extensive. It is, in fact, impossible to be too economical of time, when a correspondence is carried on at so great a distance, upon a business so important and so liable to be changed by many incidents impossible to be foreseen. These observations have still greater force, when the opening of the campaign is approaching, and when the greatest celerity alone can anticipate the moment of it. Every day's delay increases the obstacles to the success of the advantageous plans, which the King has communicated to the United States. To prolong the deliberation upon peace may be to reject it. His Majesty, who thinks that he has deserved the confidence of the United States, believes, moreover, that he has a right, after the assurances which Congress have so often repeated with regard to the uniformity of sentiments on the subject of his alliance with the United States, to hope that this subject will be treated with the promptness which the juncture requires. The indulgence with which Congress has received the reflections of the undersigned authorises him to submit these to their wisdom and prudence. He adds, that there may be reason to fear that longer delays may give rise to suspicions, and authorise the assertions which have been made in Europe, respecting a division of opinions and sentiments prevailing in Congress, and strengthen the hope which the enemy continues to entertain of fomenting this domestic discord, and at the same time of exciting distrust between the allies by pretending to treat with each of the States singly, in order to take them separately in the snare of their credulity, and to deprive them of the mutual support which they derive from their union. It is, moreover, well known, that the preliminary condition of the Court of London to the United States would be to renounce the alliance formed with France, to form an offensive coalition, and to restrain the commerce of America. The undersigned is very far from believing, that the wisdom and rectitude of Congress do not protect them from the effects of this insidious policy; but their glory and interests seem to require, that they should prevent the farther establishment of an opinion, which, more than anything else, will contribute to support the false expectation and the obstinacy of the common enemy. GERARD. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Translation. Philadelphia, March 31st, 1779. Sir, I have the honor to inform you, that the season proper for my departure for France is coming on, and I take the liberty to request you to persuade Congress to hasten the time of it as much as possible. Even if my health did not require this voyage, circumstances would have induced me to undertake it, because I perceive how important it is for the common cause, that in the present situation of affairs, those men alone, who are informed of the actual state of things and opinions in America, and who enjoy an unlimited confidence, should be employed in this negotiation. Besides, Sir, as I must presume from the wisdom of Congress, that they have made the same reflections, that they have fixed, or will fix the choice of their Minister or Ministers Plenipotentiary, in consequence of what they must also have felt, that the only way of proceeding is to choose persons, who should enjoy the fullest confidence of the allied or friendly Courts, and |