or more candid, confessed he knew of none; and therefore the security was refused..

After this detail, it will be unnecessary for me to declare to you, sir, that the government of the United States will not knowingly suffer the force of the Republick to be paralyzed, or her vessels detained in our ports by ill infentioned people in abuse of the laws."

I am, with great respect, &c.

TIMOTHY PICKERING.

No. 95.

From Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick. Depart ment of State, April 15, 1796.

SIR,-In my correspondence with you on the subject of the armed vessel the Cassius, which you claimed as the property of the French Republick, I had the honour to inform you, that such was the nature of the prosecution against her, the Executive must wait for the decision of the judiciary power. The court is now sitting in which that decision was expected.

In order to bring the cause to a fair trial, the attorney for the United States, at the preceding court, filed a suggestion, stating that the vessel had, in a foreign port, bona fide, become the property of the French Republick. I have now to request, sir, that if you have any documents or testimony to support that suggestion, you will be pleased to communicate the same to me, to be put into the hands of the attorney of the United States; or that you would instruct the legal counsel, whom you employ for the French Republick, to make the proper use of those documents and testimony, to substantiate the claim of the Republick to the Cassius.

The informants, by whom the prosecution was commenced, will probably press for a trial at this term. I have the honour to be, &c.

TIMOTHY PICKERING.

VOL. II.

52

No. 96.

TRANSLATION.

The Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, near the United States, to Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, the 2d Floreal, 4th year of the French Republick, one and indivisible, (22d April, 1796; O. S.)

SIR,-You requested by your letter of the 15th of April a communication of documents or testimony relative to the purchase by the French Republick of the corvette le Cassius.

The French Republick has not to prove its contracts to foreign courts; I had the honour, sir, in the correspondence which took place between us, on the subject of this affair, to declare to you that I knew no relations but with the Executive of the United States, and that whatever were their interior regulations, I could not and should not address myself but to it in every case for which our recip rocal treaties and conventions have not pointed out a recourse to a particular authority.

The arrest of a state vessel is one of those for which I should address myself only to the American government; the only fact to be proved is that of the property, and to establish that, sir, my declaration should suffice. The dignity of nations does not permit their good faith to be brought into question.

I have therefore upon the principle of the arrestation of the Cassius furnished a certificate stating that she was French property and a state vessel. This certificate is probably among the documents of the prosecution carried on by the government of the United States, on account of the abandonment which I made to it of the Cassius, under the reservation of the right to her.

However, to comply with your desire, I have the honour to send you a second more explicit than the former, of which you will make what use you may think proper. Accept, sir, the assurance of my respect, P. A. ADET.

No. 97.

The French Republick. The Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, near the United States of Ame

rica.

DECLARES to all whom it may concern, that the corvette le Cassius was a corvette of war belonging to the Republick of France; that she was sent to him as such by general Laveaux, governour of St. Domingo; that she was commanded by an officer of the national marine, charged with a particular mission to him, which the arrest of this corvette has interrupted; in a word, that the crew of the said corvette was composed of mariners in the service of the Republick, and her marines composed of soldiers and officers of the national army.

Done at Philadelphia, under the seal of the Legation, [L.S.] the 2d Floreal, 4 year of the French Republick, one and indivisible (22 April, 1796, O. S.)

By the Minister,

No. 98.

P. A. ADET.

BRUNET.

From Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick. Department of State, April 25, 1796.

SIR, I duly received your letter and certificate relative to the property of the armed vessel le Cassius being in the French Republick, and have handed the same to the attorney of the United States for the district of Pennsylvania, who has the affair under his management. But he deems it material to obviate the pleas of the prosecutors, to ascertain the time when she became the property of the Republick. If you have any evidence or document to ascertain this fact, I pray you will have the goodness to furnish me with it, as expeditiously as possible. The court will then have before it all the proofs requisite to govern its decision: although what this will be, whether of condemnation or acquittal, I cannot undertake to judge.

I have.the honour to be, &c.

TIMOTHY PICKERING.

No. 99.

TRANSLATION.

The Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick, near the United States of America, to Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State of the United States. Philadelphia, 6 Floreal, 4th year of the French Republick, one and indivisible (the 25 April, 1796, O. S.)

SIR,-In consequence of your letter of the 25th of April, I have the honour to address to you a certificate of the date of the purchase of the corvette le Cassius by the French Republick.

Accept, sir, the assurance of my respect,
P. A. ADET.

No. 100.

Republick of France.

THE minister plenipotentiary of the French Republick near the United States-Declares that the corvette le Cassius, belonging to the state, became the property of the French Republick by a bill of sale dated the 19 Pluviose in the 3 year.

Done and sealed at Philadelphia the 6 Floreal, 4th [L.S.] year of the French Republick, one and indivisible. P. A. ADET.

By the Minister,

BRUNET.

No. 101.

From the Secretary of State to Mr. Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republick.

State, June 3, 1796.

Department of

SIR, I have to regret that the fate of the armed vesgel Les Jumeaux, now called Le Cassius, is still in suspense. I requested the attorney of the United States, Mr. Rawle, to whom the cause had been committed, to inform me of its present situation. This appears in his letter of the 28th ult. a copy of which I have now the honour to enclose.

Permit me to refer you particularly to the last paragraph of that letter, by which you will see it is plainly understood to be the sense of the court, That the regular course of legal investigation not admitting the official certificates with which you were pleased to furnish me as conclusive proof of the property of the Cassius, will require further evidence in another form.

I am very respectfully, sir, &c.

TIMOTHY PICKERING.

No. 102.

From William Rawle to the Secretary of State.

SIR,-As soon as I received the supplemental certificate of the French minister, which was not till the 26th of April, I gave notice in court that before the session ended I should move to have the prayer of my suggestion granted and the information dismissed.

A jury trial then before the court prevented any thing else being done until the 29th, when the counsel for the informant against the Cassius mentioned that they would on the following day come forward.

This was then done by requiring me to show the foundation of my suggestion.

I produced part of the correspondence between you and Mr. Adet, and the two certificates of that minister.

It was urged by the informant's counsel, that the same proof was necessary to authorize receiving a suggestion as would be to support it on a trial, and that as such certificates would not be received in that case, so they ought not now to be admitted.

But the court observed that much less was sufficient in one case than in the other.

A regular motion was then made by the informant's counsel, that my suggestion should be dismissed; this I declared myself ready to argue with them immediately, but as we were now at the close of the session, it appeared to the court impossible to get through the business, and it was therefore unaviodably continued till next October.

It appeared however so plainly to be the sense of the court that further evidence as to the property of the Cassius would be necessary on a trial of the facts, that I