Instructions to CITIZEN GENET, Minister Plenipotentiary from the French Republic to the United States—from the Executive Council and Minister of Marine.
Memorial to serve as Instructions to CITIZEN GENET, Adjutant-general and Colonel, going to America in quality of Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Congress of the United States.

THE patriotism which Citizen Genet has shewn in the different employments entrusted to him, and his known attachment for the cause of liberty and equality, have determined the Executive Council to no [...]inate him Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Congress of the United States of America. This proof of confidence is the more flat­tering for Citizen Genet, as the French nation set a high value upon the ties which unite them to the American people, ties which the National Assembly has, on the ad June, 1791, shewn the desire to draw still closer; and the legislature has, moreover, expressly ordered the Executive Power to negociate with the United States a new treaty of commerce, which may increase, between the two nations, those con­nections mutually advantageous both to the one and to the other of them. Struck with the grandeur and importance of this negociation, the Executive Council prescribes to Citizen Genet to exert himself to strengthen the Americans in the principles which led them to unite themselves to France; to make them perceive, that they have no ally [Page 3]more natural or more disposed to treat them as brethren; that these sentiments are engraven on the hearts of all Frenchmen enlightened upon the true interests of their own country; and, if the two nations have not yet reaped the advantage, it has been the fault of the govern­ment we have just overthrown; it is through the reason of the cabinet of Versailles. This truth is this day revealed. The Executive Coun­cil has called for the instructions given to Citizen Genet's predecessors in America, and has seen in them, with indignation, that at the very time the good people of America expressed their gratitude to us in the most feeling manner, and gave us every proof of their friendship, Vergeenns and Montmorin thought, that it was right for France to hinder the United States from taking that political stability of which they were capable, because they would soon acquire a strength, which, it was probable, they would be eager to abuse. They, in consequence, directed both the one and the other of these Ministers of Louis XVI. to the Congress, to preserve the most passive conduct, and to speak only of the Prince's personal wishes for the prosperity of the United States. The same Machiavelian principle influenced the operations of the war for independence; the same duplicity reigned over the negociations for peace. The deputies from Congress expressed the desire, that the cabinet of Ver [...]ailles would assist in the conquest of the two Floridas, of Canada, and of Nova Scotia; but Louis and his ministers constantly refused, looking upon the possession of these countries by Spain and England, as a useful principle of uneasiness and vigilance for the Ame­ricans after the peace. This useless jealousy turned into contempt; the people for whom they pretended to have taken up arms, became an object of disdain; for the court neglected to correspond with them, and by that criminal conduct they gave the power, whose influence in America we ought to have extingnished, arms to combat and destroy our own.

It is thus the ministers, under the old system, blindly laboured with all their exertions to stifle liberty, after having been compelled by the general voice of the nation to assist its birth in the new world; 'tis thus they cooled the zeal; 'tis thus they loosened the bands of the two people; 'tis thus that by their infamous policy they disgusted the Americans with the French alliance, and strengthened, themselves, that of the English. The republicans who have displaced these vile sup­porters of despotism, are eager to mark out for Citizen Genet, a path diametrically opposite to the crooked windings by which his predecessors were entangled. The Executive Council, faithful to its duties, and obedient to the will of the French people, authorized Citizen Genet to declare with freedom and sincerity, to the ministers of Congress, that [Page 4]those of the French republic, throwing far from them every thing appertaining to the old embassy, the revenue system, the cautious po­licy, and all those impediments to the riches and prosperity of the nations, have highly approved the overtures made to Citizen Ternant, as well by General Washington as by Mr. Jefferson, upon the means of renewing and consolidating our commercial ties, in placing them on the principles of truth itself; that the Executive Council are disposed to set on foot a negociation upon those foundations, and that they do not know but that such a treaty admits a latitude still more extensive in becoming a national agreement, in which two great people shall suspend their commercial and political interests, and establish a mutual under­standing, to befriend the empire of liberty, wherever it can be em­braced, to guarantee the sovereignty of the people, and punish those powers who still keep up an exclusive colonial and commercial system, by declaring that their vessels shall not be received in the ports of the contracting parties. Such a pact which the people of France will sup­port with all the energy which distinguishes them, and of which they have already given so many proofs, will quickly contribute to the ge­neral emancipation of the new world. However vast this project may be, it will not be difficult to execute, if the Americans determine on it, and it is to convince them of its practicability that Citizen Genet must direct all his attention: for, besides the advantages which humanity in general will draw from the success of such a negociation, we have at this moment a particular interest in taking steps to act efficaciously against England and Spain, if, as every thing announces, these powers attack us from hatred to our principles; if the English ministers, instead of sharing in the glory of France, instead of considering that our liberty, as well as that of those people whose chains we have broken, for ever establishes that of their own country, suffer themselves to be influenced by our enemies, and by those to the liberty of mankind, and embark with every tyrant against that cause which we are defending. The military preparations making in Great Britain become every day more and more serious, and have an intimate connection with those of Spain. The friendship which reigns between the ministers of the last power and those of St. James's proves it; and in this situation of affairs we ought to ex­cite, by all possible means, the zeal of the Americans, who are as much interested as ourselves, in discerning the destructive projects of George the Third, in which they are probably an object. Their own safety f [...]ll depends on ours, and if we fail, they will sooner or later fall under the iron rod of Great Britain.—The executive Council has room to be­lieve that these reasons, in addition to the great commercial advantages which we are disposed to concede to the United States, will determine [Page 5]their government to adhere to all that Citizen Genet shall propose to them on our part. And it is possible, however, that the false repre­sentations which have been made to Congress, of the situation of our internal affairs, of the state of our maritime force, of our finances, and especially of the storms with which we are threatened, may make her ministers, in the negociations which Citizen Genet is intrusted to open, adopt a timid and wavering conduct, the Executive Council charges him, in expectation that the American government will finally deter­mine to make a common cause with us, to take such steps as will ap­pear to him exigencies may require, to serve the cause of liberty and the freedom of the people. Citizen Genet will lend the assistance of his good offices to all the French citizens who shall have recourse to him, and whose conduct shall be unexceptionable. But the Executive Council understands that this protection shall in no case contravene the laws of the country, and shall not extend to people of doubtful character, ba­nished from their country, or to citizens whose conduct shall be repre­hensible. Citizen Genet will avoid as much as he can those ridiculous disputes about etiquette, which so much occupied the old diplomacy. The representatives of other powers are not, however, to be suffered to attempt to deprive France, become free, of that precedence it enjoyed under its ancient forms. The Executive Council informs Citizen Genet, for his regulation of the conduct which they wish to be followed by the ministers of the French Republic, if disputes should arise respect­ing the ceremony and the precedence between them and the represen­tatives of other powers.

The intention of the council is, that the ministers of the nation should declare without reserve, that the French people see in all other people their brethren and their equals, and that they desire to remove every idea of superiority or precedence; but that if any state, mistaking the generosity of these principles, pretends to any particular distinction, and endeavours to obtain it by any steps direct or indirect, the ministers of the French people shall then insist on all the prerogatives the French power has at any time enjoyed; the nation determining that in that case its ministers should defend those rights, being certain that the na­tion will make them respected.

As to the ceremonies of his first audience, the delivery of his creden­tials, and his communications with the Federal government, Citizen Genet will conform himself to those rules which the Congress shall have established for all the diplomatic corps in this respect; exceptions only offend; general rules wound no one.

Such are the political objects trusted to the zeal of Citizen Genet; the Executive Council will give him particular instructions upon the con­sular [Page 6]affairs with which he will be charged, upon the negociation rela­tive to the liquidation of the debt of the United States, upon the sup­plies for the Colonies, upon those which the marine and war depart­ments call for, and upon the negociations which Citizen Ternant was charged to set on foot with the United Sates to induce them to furnish corn, flour, and salt provisions on account of their debt.

With the minister for foreign affairs Citizen Genet will correspond upon these different objects, and it is from him that he will receive the nation's orders. His communications with the other ministers will only extend to the details of administration, relative to their respective de­partments, and he will be careful to give distinct information to the minister for foreign affairs, to the end that he may have always before his eyes the whole of the operations of the French agents with foreign powers.

Extract from a supplement to the instructions given to CITIZEN GENET, Minister and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the United States of America.

THE Executive Council wish that a new treaty, founded upon a basis more liberal and more fraternal than that of 1778, may be concluded as soon as possible. As, however, they cannot conceal that in the actual state of Europe a negociation of this kind may be subject to many impediments, whether brought about by secret manoeuvres of the Eng­lish minister and his partisans at Philadelphia, by the timidity of certain members of the federal government, who, notwithstanding their known patriotism, have always shewn the strongest aversion to every measure which might be unpleasant to England, they think it right for the pre­sent, that Citizen Genet should draw every advantage which the pro­visions of the subsisting treaty secure to the Republic, until a new com­pact has more clearly and fully defined and enlarged them.

In this view, whichexisting circumstances render particularly important, Citizen Genet is expressly enjoined to make himself thoroughly master of the sense of the treaty of 1778, and to be watchful in the execution of the articles which are favourable to the commerce and navigation of the French Republic, and he will endeavour to satisfy the Americans, that the engagements which may appear burthensome to them, are the just [Page 7]price of that Independence which the French nation contributed to acquire for them.

In the probable case of a maritime war, Citizen Genet will employ all the means in his power to procure a religious observance of the 17th, 21st, and 22d articles of the treaty of commerce, by which the contracting parties engage freely to admit the prizes made by either of the parties from his enemies, and have renounced the right of permitting their citizens to serve under the flag of a foreigner against the vessels of their respective [...], or even to admit into their ports the prizes of for [...]rs, [...] the arming or supplying of foreign privateers.

Th [...] [...] [...]re important in the now situation, as the great dis [...] [...] [...]ateers from their ports, and the difficulty of supp [...] [...] [...]er their cruizers the more expensive, and the return and [...] of their prizes more precarious; while our vessels, av [...] [...]emselves of their right, will have at their disposal, all the [...] the United States and the provisions with which they abound. It would be moreover to be feared that the fitting out in American ports English armaments, or such as were pretended to be so, would in­duce a number of individuals of the northern states, remarkable for their boldness and activity, to accept of English commissions, and dis­tress and injure our commerce. Without doubt neither the Congress or the Executive power of the United Sates would approve a conduct so little conformable to the ties of friendship and good understanding which subsist between the two nations; but the great extent of the English commerce in America now become free, the prodigious num­ber of its factors and of the emissaries of George the IIId. the means of corruption, which their situation and their local acquaintance give them, would render these expeditions the more frequent, as it would be so easy to deceive the vigilance of government by concealed equipments. Citizen Genet is therefore particularly enjoined to watch, by the consuls and commercial agents, the conduct of the English in the different ports, to insist rigorously upon the execution of the 17th, 21st, and 22d articles of the treaty of 1778, and to prevent in the American ports all equipments, unless upon account of the French nation, and the admis­sion of any prize, except those which shall have been made by the vessels of the republic. He will take care to explain himself upon this object with the dignity and energy of the representative of a great people, who, in faithfully fulfilling their engagements, know how to make their right respected.

As soon as circumstances permit efficacious negociations concerning a new treaty of commerce, Citizen Genet will not lose sight of stipulat­ing positively and without reserve for a reciprocal exemption from the [Page 8]duty on tonnage, avoided under different pretences, from many years past by the American government, though expressly granted by the 5th article of the present treaty.

The mutual naturalization of French and American citizens, in com­mercial respects, proposed by Mr. Jefferson and approved of by the Executive Council, will render this exemption from the duty on ton­nage less offensive for the powers claiming a participation of the same favour by virtue of their treaties, for the casus federis will be entirely changed with respect to them.

The reciprocal guarantee of the possessions of the two nations stipu­lated in the 11th article of the treaty of 1778, can be established upon generous principles, which have been already pointed out, and shall equally be an essential clause in the new treaty which will be proposed. The Executive Council in consequence recommend, especially to Ci­tizen Genet, to sound early the disposition of the American government, and to make it a condition sine qua non, of their free commerce with the West Indies so essential to the United States. It nearly concerns the peace and prosperity of the French nation, that a people whose resources increase beyond all calculation, and whom nature hath placed so near our rich colonies, should become interested, by their own engage­ments, in the preservation of these islands. Citizen Genet will find the less difficulty in making this proposition relished in the United Sates, as the great trade which will be the reward of it, will indemnify them ul­timately for the sacrifices which they may make at the outset; and the Americans cannot be ignorant of the great disproportion between their resources and those of the French Republic, and that for a very long pe­riod the guarantee asked of them will be little else than nominal for them, while that on our part will be real, and we shall immediately put ourselves in a state to fulfil it, in sending to the American ports a suffici­ent force to put them beyond insult and to facilitate their communication with the islands and with France. Fully to insure the success of these negociations, and to render nugatory in the United States those scandalous insinuations so clandestinely spread through Europe by the enemies of the Republic, the Executive Council specially direct Citizen Genet to adhere to the forms established for official communications with the United States, between the government and foreign agents, and not to permit himself to take any step, or make any overture, which can give umbrage to the Americans in regard to the constitution which they have chosen, and which [...]tlers in many points from the principles established in France.

The emissaries and partisans of George III. the emigrants, and the Hispaniola refugees, who are found in great numbers in the principal [Page 9]cities of the United States, and who have already infected them with their falsehoods, will not fail to watch the minister of the Republic, and to give all his measures the most malicious construction. An open and patriotic conduct can alone put him beyond the reach of calumny and misconstruction. The Executive Council relies, in this respect, with an entire confidence upon the prudence and known moderation of Citizen Genet.

In order that nothing may delay the conclusion of the negociations of Citizen Genet with the Americans, and that he may have in his own power all the means which can assist the pains he will take in the cause of liberty, the Executive Council has given him the full powers annexed. The Minister of the Marine Department will transmit to him a certain number of blank letters of marque, which he will deliver to such French or American owners as shall apply for the same.

The Minister at War shall likewise deliver to Citizen Genet, officer [...] commissions in blank for several grades in the army.

Done and agreed upon in Executive Council, the 17th day of January of the year 1793, and of the French Republic the second.