of Rrpte&otativei in the foiegoing re port and rcfolutioni. F. WARLEY, Cleik A Trut Copy, and zubiclt / Attijl, J. $. Dart, C. H. R. [Herefollowi a number of Affidavits .J Philadelphia, 2j?h December, 1793; 2d year of the French Republic, one and indivisible. The Citizen Genet, ATtniJler Plenipotentia ry from the Republic of Fr.tnee to the On'ted States, to Air. 'JeJferfon, Sec reia ry of State of the United Stales. Sir, I LEAfi.N by the reports of theCon ful of the Republic, at Charleflon, and by the public papers, that the legislature of South-Carolina, had caused to be ar reted, different persons, accused of hav ing received from me commiflions for the jmrpolc of levying an armed force in that .State, for che service of the Republic.— Conceiving that such conduit, if it were true, would offend the sovereignty of the American people, 1 haflen to atHim, to you, fir, that 1 have not autliorized in any manner, the recruiting, the forma tion or the collecting of an armed force, or of any corps in the territory of tie Uni trl States; but at the fame time, lam t.OO trank to difgtlife from you, that, authori zed by the French natiim, to deliver com miflion® to those of your fellow-citizens, who (hould feel themlelves animated with a desire of serving the best of causes, I h->vf granted them to several republicans ot South-Carolina, whose intention ap peared to me to be to expatriate them selves, and to go among the independent Indian tribes, ancient friends and allies of France, in order to retaliate, if they could, in concert with tis, on the Spaniards and Engliflt, the injury which the government of these two nations had the baseness, for fjme time to commit on your fellow-citi >cns, under she mme of these favnges, in like manner, as f» lately done tinder that of the Alcxrines. T • I notify you, fir, that I (hall publifn this declaration, in order to calm inquie tudes, and to difilpate the doubts to which the denunciation made in the legislature of Carolina, might »rve rife. Accept mv refoedt, . GENET. CONGRESS Hcife of Rcprefentalivts. January 20. In committee of the whole on Mr. Madtfon's rfjjlui'ior.s. Mr. Lee's speech continued. Mr. Chairman, while I agree with my colleague, that tiie 6rft eflays from which our conftitutiou arose had relation only to i.>ur trade; he «ill, lam lure, acknow ledge that this was not the only object for which the grand Convention met, he will acknowledge that this is not the principal ob -.el contemplate! by the constitution : The power ot regulating commerce is an inferior power veiled with much more im portant powers in the Congress of the U nittd States. Bat, fir, I need not make a companion between the various powers of Congress. What does this fovercign ast of the people declare to be ■ their intenti on f I need only-repeat their words— " We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perftd Union, ejlab. TJb juflice, insure dsmeflic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blef fmgs of liberty to ourselves and our pnjie rity, do ordain and ejlahlijb this Constitu tion for tin United Siates of America." In these words we fee the sovereignty of the people exercised on one of those oc casions which I have before stated in form ing a government, and we hear the pur port for which they formed it. It does not fay that it was formed to regulate our commerce. The people had more impor tant objects in view. I do not think there fore that so much ftrefa ought to be laid on this idea, as gentlemen have been in clirved to bellow on it. But, having been induced, to go back fa the period which give birth to our coa ftitution I Ihall be excused, if befoerl re turn to the prcfent fubjeA, I-tafct* mriew of the then exifiing circwafta*cc*«f the United States. We had thea a anctn ment contemned abroad, and ddpi&d at home, incapable of commanding the ref pefl of. foreign nations or the obedience of oar oWn cititvns. Its credit m fe«nt abroad and athonie. Debts were accti mulating in Europe and in America. Our commerce was alinolt annihilated, our a gricuhure languilhed, paper tenders ex iited in loine (lates, the tics of confidence between man and man, and confcquentlv the ties of morality were broken asunder ; nay, inimicities between the dates began to prevail instead of fraternal concord. Slich was the lituation of the United States and to remedy tbcfe evils was the conftitu tio:> made. Has it not produced the in tended effects? That it has, I need only appeal to the feelings of every fellow citi zen who hears me. I (hould therefore un necaflki ily take up the time of the com mittee in enumerating the various blessings which it has (liowrrcd on our country : I will only mention the stimulus which our agriculture has received. In travelling through the various parts of the United States, I find fields, a few years ago waste and uncultivated, filled with inhabitants, and covered with harvests; new habitati ons reared, contentment in every face, plenty on every board, confidence is res tored, and every man is fafe under his own vine and his own fig tree, and. there is none to make him afraid. To produce this effett, was the intention of the con stitution, and not solely to regulate our trade, and it has fncceeded. But I feel mytelf wandering from the fubjeft. The committee will readily perceive that I have been led into my last observa tions, because, gentlemen have afligned as an important teafon in support of the re solutions, that the constitution had been principally framed with a view to this ob ject. I think I have (hewn that too much importance has been given to this idea. I think my colleague also observed, that if the measures he had now proposed were not adopted at this time, after a new election, and a full representation of our fellow citizens, he would despair of ever feeing them succeed ; and I think he as signed this reason, and it gave me pain when he uttered it, that the fubjefts of Britain, in confequenre of the interest they had in our trade, and in our pecuniaiy in stitutions, would acquire a predominant influence over our public councils. This idea was more fully dilated upon by a gen tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Findlcy). The danger of this influence seemed to be the principal reason, why he wiflted to lessen our commercial intereourfe with Bri tain. The gentlemen perhaps did not per ceive the full extent of this observation. It wounds deeply, in my opinion, the re publican principle, and I am sure neither of them intended to do this. It goes to deny the competency of the people to go vern themselves. It goes to assert that we are better judges of the future exigencies of the society, than those who will live after us. The people on former occasions have been found possessed of virtue and knowledge equal to the preservation of their liberties and interests ; what right have we to fay, that hereafter they will be less wife and less virtuous ? Let me a gain recur to former expetience. At the commencement of our struggle with Bri tain, they certainly had all the commerci al influence over us, which the monopoly of our trade could give; what did it a mount to, it neither damped our courage nor checked our unanimity, and why sup pose less virtue in our citizens, now that we have become free, and enjoy the fruits of order and good government, than when we existed in the colonial dependence. The fame gentleman from Pennsylvania and another of my colleagues (Mr. Ni cholas) expatiated largely on the mifchiefs of credit. My colleagne, however, very jullly and frankly acknowledged, that it was questionable how far government had a right to interfere in the pecuniary con cerns of individuals. But whatever may be the mifchiefs of credit, I do not think they will be pre vented, by sumptuary laws, or la wi which may be calculated to operate that way,and I doubt the consistency of such laws with civil liberty. There is only one remedy which occurs to me, it is a proper ad mi ni (bat ion of jullice between man and man —Establish this; compel every individu al to pay his debts j when this is done the society will have no reason to limit his cx pences, or to apprehend rvil from his ex ample ; but this important part of social police belongs peculiarly to the Hate go vernments ; they have the only effectual means of preventing the mifchiefs of cre dit and preferring the purity of morals. Congress have rot the power of changing the municipal regulations or the juridical eflablilhmentsof the refpeclive dates. It has not been afiertecf that our trea tie* of commerce have produced us any advantages as yet. Our principal and mod beneficial intercourfc, it has been proved, is with those nations with which we have no treaties. Our treaty with France, has in the course of the laftyear operated to our injury in a twofold de gree. The asylum given to French privateers in our ports, has covered our coails with them,and has therefore prevented the (hips belonging to nations which are moll ac customed to trade with us, and buying our surplus produce, notwithstanding the prodigious demand for part of it in Eu rope. I believe that in the state of Vir ginia, this perhaps combined with other causes, has produced an iftonilhing de pression of the price of our tobacco and grain. In Europe, the only advantage which we had in return for these injuries, we have been deprived of ; the treaty has there been violated by France, but every American will readily acknowledge, very properly violated, when he considers the necefiity and imperious circ.imftances of the cafe. Gentlemen have said we ought to pass these resolutions to express our gratitude f<?r services formerly rendered to us by the French nation ; as to the virtues of generofitv and gratitude, they are God like attributes, they belong I believe,more to Heaven than to earth, they are rarely seen among, individual men, and more rarely felt by nations, and it has been ac knowledged, I think in the National con vention ltfelf, that the afliftance we receiv ed was rendered, not so much for our fakes, as to weaken a dangerous and pow erful rival. But gentlemen have said, tho'we may not have derived any peculiar commercial advantages as yet from our intercourse with France, that we have every reason to expect the greatest advantages hereafter, from the fraternal regardexprefied bv ( their present government to us, and the simili tude of its principles to ours. If theFiench nation feels this friendly disposition towards us,and 1 verily believe they do, because they fay they do, our constitution has provided the means, by veiling adequate powers in the President and Senate, of meeting them on the ground of a new treaty, and I rely with fullconfidence on this fubjeft, on the wis dom and patriotism of the constitutional authority. < But, Sir, Ido not think tlie gentlemen spoke accurately, when they mentioned the similitude of the principles of the pre fer. t French conftitutian to ours. But sup- I posing the resemblance existed, which I I shall presently (hew does not, have we anv ■ reason to conclude from the past history ' of nations, that such a resemblance ne cefTarily begets friendfhip and cordialitv : history exhibits the fact differently : Witness the wars between Carthage and Rome, the jealousies and wars be tween the different republics of Greece ; witness our own experience, the inimici ties which began to arise between the states previous to the adoption of the present go vernment, and the difficulty of produc ing that adoption. The truth is, nations in their intcrcourfe with one another, re- gard nothing but their interest ; hence the alliance so frequent between common- wealths and monarchies, more frequent than between commonwealths themselves. But as peculiar emphasis is laid on the similitude of the principles of the French government to the principles of ours, I will take the liberty of applying the prin cipal traits of their government to our si tuation. Their republic is one and indivifible,our republic confiftj of sovereign states having extensive and important local jurifdiftions and a diversity of laws and interests Does our republic then referable that of France in this leading feature. Consoli dation these states have ever deemed fatal to their liberties and happiness, and he would be deemed a traitor to his countrv, who (hoidd propose to render our republic one and indivisible. So jealous aie the dates on this head, that they have generally demanded an al teration in that part of the constitution which fubjefts them to suits in the courts of the United States, and the senate has already sent forour consideration an a mendment to that effeil; the French ex ecutive is plural, their leg-illative is single. This idea is counter to the practice of al most all the states ; and to the division of powers in our constitution: Will any gen tleman fay that such a form of govern- meat ij fuitedto our ideas and our circutn llances ? Ircvery part of the United States in a (ltuation to extend the idea of equality as far is it has been carried in France : I be lieve no gentleman will fay it the con flagrations, the desolations, and the bloo dy scenes of St. Domingo, might also then be exhibited on our peaceful and hap py plains. (To be Continued.) Foreign Intelligence. FRANCE. NATIONAL CONVENTION, November 7. NATIONAL DOMAINS. Chochan, in the name of the Commit tees of War and Domains, procured the adoption of the following Decrees on the mode of payment to be made, according to the nature of the provisions, by the farmers of the National Domains :— I. From the day of the publication of the present "decree, no leases of national property, producing wheat,rye, hay.straw, or any kind of vegetables, shall be renew ed without the insertion of a clause, pro viding for the payment in provisions. 11. If the property confifo of wine, oil, liquors, &c. the payments fha'l be made partly in money, and partly in pro visions, which are mentioned in the firft article. i 11. The preceding article! are appli cable to farmers, the price of whose lea ses, previously to the present law, (hall have been ftipnkted to be payable in mo- IV. That this decree m?.y be more rea dily carried into execution, every farmer of national property, lhall declare, with in ten days from the publication of this decree, the nature of the property he rents, to the diftr:& within which he lives. V. In cafe of omitting- to make such declaration or of a fraudulent one being made, the property to be confifcated. VI. AH provisions deposited in the na tional warehouses, (hall be at the difpafal of the Minders at War, who are to ac count to the Convention for the manner in which they (hall be disposed of. [A great number of other articles sol- low.} Gregorie read a speech relative ta the eftablifnment of honfes of rural cenomy, for the inftruftion of agriculturists and the promotion of agriculture ; the discussion of which was adjourned, and the speech ordered to be printed. A deputation of the public funfticna ries of the diftri£t of Belle)', in the de partment of Ain, were admitted to the bar. They represented, that on account of having supported the interests of the Republic, they were exposed to the ri gours of a resolution entered into at Dole, distant 45 leagues from Bcllev, by the re presentative Proft, relative to the denun ciation of persons discovered to be con cerned in the different robberies which had been committed in the diftricft during the sale of the effects of the emigrants. ' Merlin—lt is my duty to inform the Convention, that the greater part of the facts dated at the bar by the petitioners, is ftrittly true; no perfon6 are better qualiticd to give a just account than Amar and myfelf, for, during the period of our million to this liiTtrict, we discovered the infamous manner in which the sales of the effects of the emigrants were carried on. At that zra we could only discover one guilty person, Vetard Piot, the Procurer Syndic who has been mentioned. We put him in arrest, and ordered him to be carried before the criminal tribunal of his department. This was done. In the drawing up of the indictment against him, other criminal persons were discovered, and fevcral measures were confeqnently a dopted. The guilty person immediately fled to Dole,to deceive our colleagueProft. They deceived him, I am certain, for they induced him to grant an at reft which ordered all those persons wl>o had been of fer vice in this important bulinefs, to be re moved from the functions and to be arrett ed—l can aflure the Convention that se veral of rhefe persons are the mod warm Patriots of the Diibidl, particularly l y tr~ fit and Lcbatje.—lt is proper that Virtue and Patriotism (hou:d triumph in all of the Republic : " I therefore move, that the Conven tion fhourd decree, suspend the exe- *
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