our Ally;1 which prohibition had not been violated in the case before Congress.

Mr. Lee was for postponing & burying in oblivion the whole transaction; he s that delicacy to France required this; since if any thing should be done implying censure on our Ministers, it must & ought to be done in such a way as to fall ultimately on France whose unfaithful conduct had produced & justified that of our Ministers. In all national intercourse he said a reciprocity was to be understood; and as France had not communicated her views & proceedings to the American Plenipotentiaries, the latter were not bound to communicate theirs. All instructions he conceived to be conditional in favor of the public good; and he cited the case mentioned by St W Temple in which the Dutch Ministers concluded of themselves an Act which required the previous sanction of all the members of the Republic.

Mr. Hamilton said that whilst he despised the man who w! enslave himself to the policy even of our Friends he could not but lament the overweening readiness which appeared in many to suspect everything on that side & to throw themselves into the bosom of our enemies. He urged the necessity of vindicating our public honor by renouncing that concealment to which it was the wish of so many to make us parties.

Mr. Wilson in answer to Mr. Lee observed that the case mentioned by St W T. was utterly inapplicable to the case in question; adding that the conduct of France had not on the principle of reciprocity, justified our Ministers in signing the provisional preliminaries without her knowledge, no such steps having been taken on her part. But whilst he found it to be his duty thus to note the faults of these gentlemen, he with much greater pleasure gave them praise for their firmness in refusing to treat with the British Negotiator until he had produced a proper commission, in contending for the fisheries, and in adhering to our Western claims.

Congress adjourned without any question.

No Congress.

TUESDAY.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 26.

Communication was made, thro' the Secry of F. A., by the Minister of France, as to the late negotiation, from letters rec! by him from the C: de Vergennes, dated in Dec! last & brought by the Washington 1 This construction of the instructions was palpably wrong. [Note in MS.]

Packet. This communication shewed, though delicately, that France was displeased with our Ministers for signing the prely art: separately; that she had labored by recommending mutual concessions to compromise disputes between Spain & the U. S., and that she was apprehensive that G. B. would hereafter as they already had endeavored to sow discords between them. It signified that the "intimacy between our Ministers & those of G. B." furnished a handle for this purpose.

Besides the public communication to Congress other parts of letters from the C: de Vergennes were privately communicated to the Presid: of Cong: & to sundry members, expressing more particularly the dissatisfaction of the Ct of F. at the conduct of our Ministers; and urging the necessity of establishing permanent revenues for paying our debts & supporting a national character. The substance of these private communications, as taken on the 23 instant by the President, is as follows:

Finance.

"That the C de Vergennes was alarmed at the extravagant demands of Doc Franklin in behalf of the U. S.; that he was surprised at the same time that the inhabitants paid so little attention to doing something for themselves. If they could not be brought to give adequate funds for their defence during a dangerous war, it was not likely that so desirable an end could be accomplished when their fears were allayed by a general peace; that this reasoning affected the credit of the U. S., and no one could be found who would risque their money under such circumstances; that the King would be glad to know what funds were provided for the security and payment of the 10 Million borrowed by him in Holland, that the Count de Vergennes hardly dared to report in favor of the U. S. to the King and Council, as money was so scarce that it would be with the greatest difficulty that even a small part of the requisition could be complied with. The causes of this scarcity were a five years' war which had increased the expences of Government to an enormous amount-the exportation of large sums of specie to America for the support & pay of both French & English armies-the loans to America-the stoppage of Bullion in S. America, which prevented its flowing in the usual channels." 1 A letter of later date added

"That he had received the Chev letter of Oct and rejoiced to find that Congress had provided funds for their debts, which gave

1 Another cause mentioned was the large balance of specie in favor of the N[eutral[ Powers during the war. [Note in MS.]

76112°-22-VOL 25-27

him great encouragem, and had prevailed on the Comptroller General to join him in a report to his Majesty & Council for 6 Million of livres for the U. S. to support the war, but assures the Chevalier de la Luzerne, that he must never again consent to a further application.

Negotiations.

"He complains of being treated with great indelicacy by the American Commiss!", they having signed the Treaty without any confidential communication, that had France treated America with the same indelicacy she might have signed her Treaty first as every thing between France & England was settled, but the King chose to keep faith with his allies, and therefore always refused to do any thing definitively, till all his allies were ready; that this conduct had delayed the definitive Treaty, England having considered herself as greatly strengthened by America; that Doc Franklin waited on C de Vergennes & acknowledged the indelicacy of their behavior & had prevailed on him to bury it in oblivion; that the English were endeavouring all in their power to sow seeds of discords between our Commiss" & the Court of Spain, representing our claims to the Westward as extravagant and inadmissible; that it became Congress to be attentive to this business, & to prevent the ill effects that it might be attended with; that the King had informed the Court of Spain, that tho' he heartily wished that the U. S. might enjoy a cordial coalition with his Cat: Majesty, yet he should leave the whole affair entirely to the two States and not interfere otherwise than as by his counsel and advice when asked; that altho' the U. S. had not been so well treated by Spain as might have been expected, yet that his Majesty wished that America might reap the advantage of a beneficial Treaty with Spain. That as the peace was not yet certain, it became all the powers at war, to be ready for a vigorous campaign, and hoped Cong! would exert themselves to aid the common cause by some offensive operations against the Enemy, but if the British should evacuate the U. S., the King earnestly hoped Cong: would take the most decided measures to prevent any intercourse with the British, and particularly in the way of merchandize or supplying them with provisions, wch would prove of the most dangerous tendency to the campaign in the W. Indies; that the British now had hopes of opening an extensive trade with America, tho' the war should continue, which, if they should be disappointed in, might hasten the definitive Treaty, as it would raise a clamor among the people of England.

"The Chev: added that as he had misinformed his Court with regard to Cong having funded their debts, on which presumption the 6 Milon had been granted, he hoped Cong: would enable him in his next despatches to give some satisfactory account to his Court on this head."

THURSDAY, MARCH 27.

This day not noted in the Journal, as in some other instances.
Revenues taken up as reported Mar. 7.

The 5 paragraph in the Report on Revenue have been judged not sufficiently explicit, and recommitted to be made more so, the following paragraph was rec in its place viz "That it be further recommended to the several States, to establish for a term limited to 25 years, and to appropriate" &c (to the word 2 Million of dollars annually) "which proportions shall be fixed and equalized from time to time according to such rule as is or may be prescribed by the Articles of Confederation; and in case the revenues so established and appropriated by any State shall at any time yield a sum exceeding its proportion, the excess shall be refunded to it, and in case the same shall be found to be defective the immediate deficiency shall be made good as soon as possible, and a future deficiency guarded against by an enlargement of the Revenues established provided that untill the rule of the Confederation can be applied, the proportions of the 2,000,000 of dollars aforesaid shall be as follows, viz❞—

This amendment was accepted; a motion of Mr. Clarke to restrain this apportionmt, in the first instance, to the term of 2 years, being first negatived. He contended that a valuation of land would probably never take place, and that it was uncertain whether the rule of numbers we be substituted, and therefore that the first apportionment might be continued throughout the 25 years, altho it must be founded on the present relative wealth of the States, which would vary every year, in favor of those which are the least populous.

This reasoning was not denied, but it was thought that such a limitation might leave an interval in which no apportionment w! exist, when a confusion would proceed, & that an apprehension of it would destroy public Credit.

A motion was made by Mr. Bland, 2ded by Mr. Lee to go back to the first part of the report and instead of the word "levy" an impost of 5 Per C., to substitute the word "collect" an impost &c. It was urged in favor of this motion that the first word imported a legislative idea, & the latter an executive only, and consequently the latter

might be less obnoxious to the States. On the other side it was said. that the States would be governed more by things than by terms; that if the meaning of both was the same, an alteration was unnecessary; that if not, as seemed to be the case, an alteration would be improper. It was paticularly apprehended, that if the term "collect" were to be used, the States might themselves fix the mode of collection; whereas it was indispensable that Cong: s: have that power as well that it might be varied from time to time as circumstances or experience s dictate, as that a uniformity might be observed throughout the States. On the motion of Mr. Clarke, the negative was voted by a large Majority, there being 4 ays only.

On (8) parag. there was no arg or opposition.

The (9) paragraph being considered by several as inaccurate in point of phraseology, a motion was made by Mr. Madison to postpone it, to take into consideration the following to wit "That in order to remove all objections against a retrospective application of the constitutional rule to the final apportionment on the several States, of the monies & supplies actually contributed in pursuance of requisitions of Congress, it be recommended to the States to enable the U. S. in Cong: assembl to make such equitable abatements & alterations as the particular circumstances of the States from time to time during the war may require, and as will divide the burden of such actual contributions among them in proportion to their respective abilities at the periods at which they were made." On a question for striking out, the original paragraph was agreed to without opposition. On the question to insert the amendment of Mr. M., the votes of the States were, 5 ays, 6 noes, viz N. H. no-Con! no-—N. J. no.-Del": no.-Maryl no.-S. C. no. the rest ay.

On (10) paragraph relative to expences incurred by the States without the sanction of Cong, Mr. Clarke exclaimed agst the unreasonableness of burdening the Union with all the extravagant expenditures of particular States; and moved that it might be struck out of the Report. Mr. Helmsly 2ded the motion.

Mr. Madison said that the effects of rejecting this paragraph w be so extensive that a full consideration of it ought at least to precede such a step; that the expences referred to in the paragraph were in part such as would have been previously sanctioned by Cong, if application ca have been made; since similar ones had been so with respect to States within the vicinity of Congs and therefore complaints of injustice would follow a refusal; that another part of the expences had been incurred in support of claims to the territory of which