Mr. Serurier to the Secretary of State.

SIR, Washington, July 23, 1811. The new dispositions of your government, expressed in the supplementary act of the 2d of March last, having been officially communicated to my court by the charge d'affaires of the United States; his imperial majesty, as soon as he was made acquainted with them, directed that the American vessels sequestered in the ports of France since the 2d of November should be released. Their cargoes have been admitted, and some of them have departed, upon conforming with the municipal laws of the country; that is to say, by exporting wines, silks, and the products of French manufactures. Orders were to be given at the same time, that all American vessels coming from the United States and loaded with merchandise the growth of the country, should be admitted and received in all the ports of France.

I hasten, sir, according to the orders I have received, to make these dispositions known to your government.

In order to prevent all difficulty in relation to the cargoes of vessels, the table indicating the merchandise of the growth of the United States has been prepared; and it has been thought that a rule could not be adopted more favourable and more sure, than the statement itself of the exportations made by the Americans during the year which preceded the embargo, viz. from the 1st October, 1806, to the 30th September, 1807, a period during which your commerce of exportation was in full activity. I annex this table to my letter. Coffee, sugar, and cocoa, are not included in this statement. These articles of merchandise have always been ranged in the class of colonial products; and, whatever may be their origin, his majesty, while favouring in his states many branches of culture and many new establishments, with a view of supplying their place by indigenous productions, could not encourage indefinitely their exportation. Vessels arriving with per mits, by means of which the importation of merchandise of this sort is authorized, will be admitted.

The introduction of tobacco is not prohibited. It forms the first object of culture of some of the states of the union; and his majesty, having an equal interest in the prosperity of all, desires. that the relations of commerce should be common to all parts of the federal territory. But tobacco is under an administration (en régie) in France; the administration is the only consumer, and can purchase only the quantity necessary for its consumption. It became necessary that measures should be taken upon this subject, and they have been conformable to the common interest. Tobacco will be received in the ports of France, and placed in actual deposit (en entrepôt réel); and if more arrives than the administration can purchase, the transit of the surplus will be permitted across France, for Germany, and the other states of Europe in which the American merchants may find a sale for it.

All the vessels of the United States which may arrive in France will have to discharge the customhouse duties, to which the merchandise they may bring is subject; and their return must be effected by exporting an equal value in French wines, silks, and other articles of French manufacture, in the proportions determined by the regulations.

Merchandise of the growth of the United States, composing the cargoes of American vessels, must be accompanied with a certificate of origin, delivered by the French consul of the port from whence the vessel departed.

I flatter myself, sir, that the communication of these dispositions of the emperor in favor of American commerce, will be as agreeable to your government as it is to me to be the means of making it. I have the honour, sir, to renew to you the assurance of my high consideration.

The Minister of France.

Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State.

SERURIER.

Productions of the soil and of the manufactures of the United States, exported from the 1st of October, 1806, to the 30th of September,

1807.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Smith, Secretary of State. SIR, Paris, January 16, 1811. Your letter of the 8th of November, relative to the powers given by this government to its consuls in the United States, under its decree concerning licenses, was received by me on the 11th instant, and the next day I communicated its contents to the duke of Cadore in a note, a copy of which you will find inclosed. I remain, &c. (Signed) JONATHAN RUSSELL.

The honorable Robert Smith, &c.

Mr. Russell to the Duke of Cadore.

SIR, Paris, January 12, 1811. The public journals and letters from general Armstrong have announced to the American government an imperial decree, by which permission is to be granted to a stated number of American vessels, to import into France from certain ports of the United States, the articles therein specified, and to export in return such productions of the French empire as are also enumerated in said decree. This trade, it would appear, is to be carried on under the

authority of imperial licenses, and can only be perfected by the act of the French consul residing within the jurisdiction of the United States at the specified ports.

The United States have no pretension of right to object to the operation of commercial regulations, strictly municipal, authorized by the French government to take effect within the limits of its own dominions; but I am instructed to state to you the inadmissibility, on the part of the United States, of such a consular superintendence as that which is contemplated by this decree respecting a trade to be carried on under licenses.

France cannot claim for her consuls, either by treaty or custom, such a superintendence. They can be permitted to enjoy such legitimate functions only as are sanctioned by public law, or by the usage of nations growing out of the courtesy of independent

states.

Besides, the decree in question professes to invest certain consuls with a power, which cannot be regularly exercised in the United States without the tacit permission of the American government; a permission that cannot be presumed, not only because it is contrary to usage, but because consuls thus acting would be exercising functions in the United States in virtue of French authority only, which the American government itself is not competent to anthorize in any agents whatever.

If the construction given by the government of the United States to this decree be correct, the government of France should not for a moment mislead itself by a belief, that its commercial agents will be permitted to exercise the extraordinary power thus intended to be given to them. I pray your excellency, &c. &c.

(Signed)

JONATHAN RUSSELL.

His excellency the duke of Cadore.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Smith, Secretary of State. SIR, Paris, 21st January, 1811. On the 18th instant I received a note dated that day from the duke of Cadore, in answer to the representation which I had made to him on the 12th of this month, relative to the exceptionable powers intended to be exercised by French consuls in the United States, in perfecting the contemplated trade under licenses.

You will perceive with satisfaction, that not only these powers, but the system itself, under which they were to have been exercised, have been abandoned. I have the honour, &c. &c.

(Signed)

Hon. Robert Smith, &c. &c.

JONATHAN RUSSELL.

[TRANSLATION.]

SIR,

The Duke de Cadore to Mr. Russell.

Paris, 18th January, 1811. I have read with much attention your note of the 12th January, relative to the licenses intended to favour the commerce of the

Americans in France. This system had been conceived before the revocation of the decrees of Berlin and Milan had been resolved upon. Now circumstances are changed by the resolution taken by the United States, to cause their flag and their independence to be respected, that which has been done before this last epoch, can no longer serve as a rule under actual circumstances. Accept the assurances of my high consideration, CHAMPAGNY,

SIR,

Mr. Russell to Mr. Smith.

Duke de Cadore.

Paris, 27th May, 1811.

By the first opportunity which presented itself after the admis sion of our vessels on the 4th of May, I communicated this event to the American charge d'affaires at London, in hopes that it might be useful there. The inclosed is a copy of the note which I addressed to him on the occasion. I am, &c. &c.

(Signed)

JONATHAN RUSSELL. The honorable Robert Smith, Sec'ry of State.

SIR,

Mr. Russell to Mr. J. S. Smith.

Paris, 10th May, 1811. I hand you herewith the copy of a letter to me from his excellency the duke of Bassano, dated the 4th inst.* and inclosing a list of the American vessels whose cargoes have been admitted by order of the emperor.

As this list contains all the American vessels, except one only whose papers were mislaid, which have arrived spontaneously in the ports of France, since the first of November last, which had not already been admitted; the measure adopted by this government may perhaps be considered to be of a general character and a consequence of the actual relations between the two countries, growing out of the revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees, sa far as they violated the neutral rights of the United States. I am, sir, with great consideration, &c.

(Signed)

John S. Smith, Esq. &c. &c.

JONATHAN RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State.

SIR, Paris, 9th June, 1811. The case of the New Orleans Packet having apparently excited considerable interest, it may not be unacceptable to you to receive a more particular account of it than I have hitherto transmitted.

This vessel, owned by Mr. Alexander Ruden, of New York, left that place on the 25th of July, with a clearance for Lisbon, but actually destined for Gibraltar. Her cargo, likewise the property of Mr. Ruden, consisted of 207 whole tierces and 31 half tierces of

See this copy in the inclosures of Mr. Russell's letter 15th July, which will be found in a subsequent part of this correspondence.