M. DE SARTINE, TO THE COMMISSIONERS.
Translation.
Versailles, October 7th, 1778.
Gentlemen,
I have had the honor, to receive your letter of the 26th ult., in which you support the pretensions of Mr Izard, Minister of the United States for Tuscany, who claims the effects captured in the English ship, the Nile, by the Cesar privateer from Marseilles. You have made a mistake in citing the 16th article of the treaty between his Majesty and the United States; the 14th article relates particularly to the subject. It contains, however, only the usual provisions of commercial treaties, founded on the law of nations, and I cannot see that it applies rigorously to the present case. Mr Izard is not named in the account of the goods of which he demands the restoration. There are no papers, which prove that those articles, shipped by an Englishman, addressed to Senior Martinelli for the Abbe Niccoli, are not on account of English subjects. If the government had the decision of the question without the interference of the Court, certainly, Gentlemen, your assertion and that of Mr Izard would be of very great weight. But his Majesty has granted to the captors the whole of the property captured; the Board of Prizes has adjudged the ship Nile a lawful capture, by their decree of the 20th ult.
Placed between the Prize Court, the captors, and the claimant, the government cannot undertake to decide on this subject; it could pursue that course only in case the laws were not applicable to the point in question; but here the laws are known, they decide on claims for goods shipped before the commencement of hostilities; and in having recourse to the tribunals, Mr Izard may expect from them all the justice and favor, which the citizens of the United States will always experience in France.
I have the honor, &c.
DE SARTINE.