5th. Prizes taken after the dates at which hostilities were to cease.
6th. Subsistence of prisoners.
7th. The Eastern boundary.
Which of these shall be taken into the present discussion?
Which of them shall be left to arrangement through the ordinary channels of our ministers, in order to avoid embarrassing the more important points with matters of less consequence?
On the subject of commerce shall Mr. Hammond be desired to produce his powers to treat, as is usual, before conferences are held on that subject?
XXI.
Memorandum of communications made to a committee of the Senate on the subject of the diplomatic nominations to Paris, London, and the Hague. January 4th, 1792.
The Secretary of State having yesterday received a note from Mr. Strong, as chairman of a committee of the Senate, asking a conference with him on the subject of the late diplomatic nominations to Paris, London, and the Hague, he met them in the Senate-chamber in the evening of the same day, and stated to them in substance what follows:—
That he should on all occasions be ready to give to the Senate, or to any other branch of the government, whatever information might properly be communicated, and might be necessary to enable them to proceed in the line of their respective offices: that on the present occasion, particularly, as the Senate had to decide on the fitness of certain persons to act for the United States at certain courts, they would be the better enabled to decide, if they were informed of the state of our affairs at those courts, and what we had to do there: that when the bill for providing the means of intercourse with foreign nations was before the legislature, he had met the committees of each House, and had given them the ideas of the executive as to the courts with which we should keep diplomatic characters, and the grades we should employ: that there were two principles, which decided on the courts, viz., 1, vicinage; and 2, commerce: that the first operated in the cases of London and Madrid, and the second in the same cases, and also in those of France and Portugal; perhaps, too, of Holland: that as to all other countries, our commerce and connections were too unimportant to call for the exchange of diplomatic residents: that he thought we should adopt the lowest grades admissible, to wit, at Paris that of minister plenipotentiary, because that grade was already established there; the same at London, because of the pride of that court, and perhaps the sense of our country and its interests, would require a sort of equality of treatment to be observed towards them; and for Spain and Lisbon, that of chargé des affaires only; the Hague uncertain: that at the moment of this bill, there was a complete vacancy of appointments between us and France and England, by the accidental translations of the ministers of France and the United States to other offices, and none as yet appointed to, or from England: that in this state of things, the legislature had provided for the grade of minister plenipotentiary, as one that was to be continued, and showed they had their eye on that grade only, and that of chargé des affaires; and that by the sum allowed, they approved of the views then communicated: that circumstances had obliged us to change the grade at Lisbon to minister resident, and this of course would force a change at Madrid and the Hague, as had been communicated at the time to the Senate; but that no change was made in the salary, that of resident being made the same as had been established for a chargé des affaires.——He then added, the new circumstances which had supervened on those general ones in favor of these establishments, to wit, with Paris, the proposal on their part to make a liberal treaty, the present situation of their colonies which might lead to a freer commerce with them, and the arrival of a minister plenipotentiary here; with London, their sending a minister here in consequence of notorious and repeated applications from us, the powers given him to arrange the differences which had arisen about the execution of the treaty, to wit, the posts, negroes, &c., which was now in train, and perhaps some authority to talk on the subject of arrangements of commerce, and also the circumstances which had induced that minister to produce his commission; with Madrid, the communication from the king, that he was ready to resume the negociations on the navigation of the Mississippi, and to arrange that, and a port of deposit on the most friendly footing, if we would send a proper person to Madrid for that purpose: he explained the idea of joining one of the ministers in Europe to Mr. Carmichael for that purpose; with Lisbon, that we had to try to obtain a right of sending flour there, and mentioned Del Pinta's former favorable opinion on that subject: he stated, also, the interesting situation of Brazil, and the dispositions of the court of Portugal with respect to our warfare with the Algerines; with Holland, the negotiating loans for the transfer of the whole French debt there, an operation which must be of some years, because there is but a given sum of new money to be lent to any one nation. He then particularly recapitulated the circumstances which justified the President's having continued the grade of minister plenipotentiary; but added, that whenever the biennial bill should come on, each House would have a constitutional right to review the establishment again, and whenever it should appear that either House thought any part of it might be reduced, on giving to the executive time to avail themselves of the first convenient occasion to reduce it, the executive could not but do it; but that it would be extremely injurious now, or at any other time, to do it so abruptly as to occasion the recall of ministers, or unfriendly sensations in any of those countries with which our commerce is interesting.
That a circumstance, recalled to the recollection of the Secretary of State this morning, induced him immediately to add to the preceding verbal communication a letter addressed to Mr. Strong in the following words:—