The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VIII Part 47

"I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

"_St Petersburg, June 16th, 1783._"

You will not suppose, from anything contained in the answer to my Memorial, that I had misstated any part of the first answer. Whether my reasoning upon the several parts of it is just, or not, you are best able to determine. If I have drawn consequences from it that are not true, as the reply supposes, it has at least had the effect to remove every obstacle except that of the mediation, which a very short time will probably put an end to, and also to draw forth an express a.s.surance of the most favorable reception of the citizens of the United States, of a liberty freely to carry on their commerce with this empire, and under the protection of the laws of nations. If this is not in effect giving up every objection, so far as they have any pretence to be grounded upon established principles, I am greatly mistaken in the matter. Considering it in this light, I have made no difficulty to declare, that I should conform, with the utmost satisfaction, to her Majesty's sentiments respecting the mediation.

Thus, I flatter myself, all discussion of every kind, especially of matters of so much delicacy, is at an end. I am much deceived, if what has taken place will be of the least disadvantage to our interests. I am happy to add, I found the Vice Chancellor in an exceeding good disposition; and have every reason to expect that all will go on in future in the most perfect harmony.

You will observe mention is made in the written answer of a letter of the 10th of May, and of a supplement to the Memorial. This is nothing more than to introduce a paragraph, which I had omitted to insert in the copy sent to the Vice Chancellor. You have it in the second and third copies which I sent to you, but not in the first.

Her Majesty will set off in a few days for Fredericksham, a town in Finland, near the frontiers of her Empire, to meet the King of Sweden.

The object of their meeting is supposed to be to insure tranquillity on that side, while the war may be prosecuted on the other against the Turks. The information respecting the Crimea, which I communicated to you, is not yet beyond all question. If it has not already become a fact, there is little room to doubt but it will, in the course of a short time. Protection and subjugation are not far separated in such cases. Besides, it forms so capital a part of the present ruling system, that no means will be neglected to effect it as early as possible.

The duplicate of your letter of the 17th of December, was brought me by the last post; the first copy has not come to hand, and the enclosures sent with that, you say in a postscript, are omitted in this for want of time. They are, however, become useless by the great change of peace. It is not the trouble, but the danger of meddling too particularly with the subjects you speak of, that has. .h.i.therto prevented my going further into them. You will be pleased to recollect, as I have mentioned before, that I have no cypher from you but what has come to me through this office, and that the duplicate of it did not accompany the duplicate letter, which was said to enclose it. I am not without my apprehensions, that it was taken out of your letter here. I have never received any other cypher than the first from you, though it seems by your letters, that you had sent me both a written and a printed one since. I sent you one by Mr Adams's son, who left me last October, but instead of being two months as I expected at furthest upon his route to Holland, he has been near six, so that you have not probably received that.

If you will be pleased to turn to my letter of the 30th of March, and to read that _single_ sentence in it, which begins with the words "There has lately been a lively sensation," &c. you will find the great object which has constantly engaged the attention of this Court.

It is the polestar of their system, and everything else has been subject to its influence. Nothing has been adopted but with a view to facilitate the execution of that project. The policy mentioned in the last paragraph of my letter of October 14th, (sent by Mr Adams,) had no other object in view. You will instantly perceive the reason why I have supposed they would have been well pleased with the events there pointed out. You will see of course, that the different turn those affairs have taken cannot be very agreeable here, and how they may, and in fact do, obstruct the great project in this moment. Sir, I have been very unwell for four days past, and am at this instant so feeble, that I can add nothing more than, that I am, with much respect, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

PLAN OF A COMMERCIAL TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE UNITED STATES.[27]

ARTICLE I.

There shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal peace, and a true and sincere friends.h.i.+p between her Imperial Majesty and her heirs and successors to the throne and the United States of America, and between the countries and territories situated under their jurisdiction respectively, the people and inhabitants thereof, and between their citizens and subjects of every degree without exception of persons or places.

ARTICLE II.

The rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and exemptions respecting navigation, trade, commerce, or the distribution of justice, which now are, or hereafter shall be granted by either of the contracting parties to any nation whatever, by any treaty, tariff, law, or ordinance whatever, shall immediately become common to the other party, whose citizens and subjects shall enjoy the same in as ample a manner, to all intents and purposes, as if the articles and clauses in virtue of which, they now are, or hereafter shall be granted to any nation, had been inserted into this treaty, and made a part thereof.

ARTICLE III.

It is particularly agreed and concluded, that the citizens and subjects of the contracting parties respectively, shall freely enjoy the right of pa.s.sing with their vessels from one port to another, within the territories of the other party, of going from any of those ports to any foreign port of the world, or of coming from any foreign port of the world to any of those ports. The citizens and subjects of the contracting parties respectively, shall pay within the territories of the other party no other or greater duties or imposts, of whatever nature or denomination they may be, than those which the most favored nations now are, or hereafter shall be obliged to pay. And it is particularly agreed, that the citizens of the United States may pay the duties and imposts laid upon merchandises which they shall import into, or export from Russia, and which are or shall be ordered to be paid in rix dollars, in the current money of Russia, at the rate of one hundred and twentyfive copeaks for each rix dollar of full weight.

The citizens and subjects of the contracting parties shall have full liberty of navigation, trade, and commerce in all parts of the territories of the other party where navigation, trade, and commerce now are, or hereafter shall be permitted to any other nation whatever; and to that end they shall mutually have free liberty to enter by water and by land with their vessels, boats, and carriages, loaded and unloaded, into all such ports, harbors, rivers, lakes, cities, towns, and places, within the territories of the other party, where navigation, trade, and commerce now are, or hereafter shall be permitted to any other nation, and there to import or export, to sell or to buy all goods, wares, and merchandises of any country whatsoever, the importation and exportation of which shall not be prohibited; and to remain there or to depart from thence, with their vessels, boats, carriages, and effects, paying the duties and imposts prescribed in each place, and conforming, with regard to their boats, vessels, and carriages, and the transportation of their effects, to the laws established in the place where such transportations shall be had and done, and which shall not be repugnant to any articles or clauses of this treaty.

SEPARATE ARTICLE.

Whereas, it may sometimes happen, that the citizens of the United States of America, may make circuitous voyages from America, through some other parts of Europe into Russia, and may take on board their vessels merchandise of the growth, production, or manufacture of such other parts of Europe, with an intent to carry the same into America; it is agreed, that such merchandises shall not be liable to seizure or confiscation, when they shall be brought into any port of Russia, although they should happen to be of the sort called contraband or prohibited merchandise, nor shall they be subjected to the payment of any duties, either of importation or exportation, or of any other duty whatever; provided, always, that they shall not be attempted clandestinely to be landed, or be exposed to sale, but a full report of all such merchandise shall be duly made to the Custom-house, and they shall if required, be deposited in some suitable magazine, under the custody of a proper officer of the port, to be reloaded on board the same vessel, when she shall have made up the residue of her cargo to be exported for America, according to the original intention, paying only the expense of storing the same and other reasonable charges.

ARTICLE IV.

And to enable them more amply to enjoy the benefits and advantages granted in the foregoing articles, the citizens and subjects of the contracting parties shall mutually have full liberty to establish factories in all parts of the territories of the other party, where such liberty now is, or hereafter shall be granted to any other nation whatever; which factories shall enjoy the same rights, liberties, privileges, immunities and exemptions, as those of the most favored nations.

ARTICLE V.

All special advantages and benefits, of whatever name or nature, which are or hereafter shall be granted by either of the contracting parties, in virtue of any treaty, tariff, law, or ordinance, in favor of any nation where commodities of the growth, production, or manufacture of its territories shall be imported, whether in their own vessels or others, by a direct navigation into the territories of the contracting party, which shall have granted such advantages, shall immediately become common to the other contracting party, whose citizens and subjects shall fully enjoy the same special advantages and benefits, to all intents and purposes, whenever they shall in their own proper vessels, likewise import the same commodities into the territories of the party granting the same, by a direct navigation from the territories of such favored nation.

ARTICLE VI.

It is further agreed and concluded, that when any of the commodities of the Islands, commonly called the West Indies, or of other neighboring Islands, or of any part of the continent of America, shall be imported into any of the territories of her Imperial Majesty, by the citizens of the United States in their own proper vessels, by a direct navigation from the countries where the same commodities shall have been produced or manufactured, that in such case there shall be abated and deducted from the duties imposed upon such commodities one ---- part thereof; but if they shall import the same indirectly from any European port, they shall pay the duties in full, according to the tariff. It is particularly agreed, that all raw and refined sugars, not in loaves, when imported by the citizens of the United States as above by a direct navigation shall be free of any duties.

ARTICLE VII.

All possible a.s.sistance and despatch shall be given to the loading and unloading of vessels, as well for the importation as for the exportation of commodities, according to the regulations on that head established; and they shall not be detained in any manner, under the penalties denounced in the said regulations. And to prevent vexations and grounds of complaint, it is agreed, that all merchandises when once put on board the vessels of the citizens and subjects of the contracting parties, shall be subject to no further visitation or search; but all visitation or search shall be made beforehand, and all prohibited merchandises shall be stopped on sh.o.r.e before the same be put on board such vessels. Nevertheless, to prevent on both sides the defrauding the customs, if it should be discovered, that any merchandises have been imported or attempted to be put on board such vessels clandestinely, or without paying the duties, they shall be confiscated, but in neither case the persons, vessels, or other merchandises of the citizens and subjects, on one part or the other, shall be put under any arrest, or be in any manner detained or molested, nor shall any other punishment be inflicted upon them for such offences.

ARTICLE VIII.

It shall be wholly free for all merchants, commanders of vessels, and others, citizens and subjects of the contracting parties, within the territories of the other party, to manage their own business themselves, or to commit it to the management of whomsoever they please; nor shall they be obliged to make use of any interpreter or broker, nor to pay them any salary, unless they choose to make use of them. They shall likewise have full liberty to employ such advocates, procurators, notaries, solicitors and factors, as they shall think proper. Moreover, masters of vessels shall not be obliged in loading or unloading them, to make use of any workmen who may be appointed by public authority for that purpose; but it shall be entirely free for them to load or unload their vessels by themselves, and their own proper mariners, or to make use of such persons in loading or unloading their vessels as they shall think fit, without the payment of any salary to any other whomsoever; neither shall they be forced to unload any sort of merchandises into other vessels of any sort, or to receive them into their own, or to wait for their being loaded longer than they shall have contracted for.

ARTICLE IX.

If any dispute shall arise between any commander of the vessels of either party and his seamen, in any port of the other party, concerning wages due to the said seamen, or other civil causes, the magistrate of the place shall require no more from the person complained against, than that he give to the complainant a declaration in writing, witnessed by the magistrate, whereby he shall be bound to prosecute that matter before a competent judge in his own country according to the law thereof; which being done, it shall not be lawful, either for the seaman to desert the vessel, or to hinder the commander from prosecuting his voyage. And if at any time any seamen should desert their vessels, upon complaint thereof made to the magistrate of the place by the commander of the vessel, he shall cause all such deserters to be sought for, and if found, to be restored immediately to the commander of the vessel, or, if he shall desire it, to be confined in prison, or some safe place at his expense, to be delivered up to him when he shall be about to depart with his vessel.

ARTICLE X.

It shall be permitted to the citizens of the United States, who shall establish themselves in Russia, to build, buy, sell, hire, or let houses in the towns of St Petersburg, Moscow, and Archangel, and in all other towns of the empire, which have not rights of burghers.h.i.+p, and privileges to the contrary; and it is particularly agreed, that the houses which they shall possess and inhabit within any parts of the empire, shall be exempted from all quartering of soldiers or other lodgements, so long as the same shall be actually possessed and occupied by themselves. On the other hand, permission shall likewise be granted to the Russian merchants to build, buy, hire, sell, or let houses within all parts of the territories of the United States, in the same manner as now is, or shall hereafter be granted to the most favored nations; and all such houses as they shall build, buy, or hire, shall, so long as they shall continue to dwell in the same themselves, be exempt from all quartering of soldiers or other lodgements, throughout all parts of the same territories, without exemption of places.

ARTICLE XI.

The citizens and subjects of the contracting parties shall, within the territory of the other party, have full liberty to take and receive into the houses they inhabit, or into their particular magazines, all such commodities as they shall have imported, or as shall be consigned to them; and to this end, they shall be delivered up to them from the public magazines, if required, as soon as conveniently may be, after they shall have paid the duties and other lawful charges thereon; and they shall have full liberty to sell and dispose of the same at their houses and particular magazines as they shall think fit, upon this express condition, however, that they shall not sell them there or elsewhere by retail; and they shall not be charged with any taxes or impositions whatever on account of their enjoying this privilege, or with any other than the most favored nations shall pay.

ARTICLE XII.

To prevent fraud, which might otherwise take place, and to establish a mutual confidence in matters of commerce, it is agreed, that all the citizens and subjects of the contracting parties, whether residents in their own or in the territories of the other party, who shall have arrived to the full age of twentyone years, (being of sound mind, excepting always the Russian peasants) shall be judged capable of making contracts in their own names, and shall, accordingly, be held and obliged to fulfil and perform all contracts and engagements, which they shall so make and enter into, agreeably to the rules of good faith; and this, whether their fathers, or mothers, or both, shall be living or dead at the time of making the contract, or whether they have been portioned or not by them, or either of them. And all the Russian clerks or servants employed in the shops shall be registered in some tribunal, and their masters shall be responsible for them in affairs of trade and commerce, bargains or contracts, which they shall make in their names.

ARTICLE XIII.

When the Russian merchants shall cause to be enregistered at the custom house their contracts or bargains for the sale or purchase of merchandises, by their clerks or factors, or others employed by them, the officers of the customs where these contracts shall be enregistered, shall carefully examine if those who contract for the account of their princ.i.p.als, are authorised by them with orders or full powers made in good and due form, in which case, the said princ.i.p.als shall be responsible as if they had contracted themselves in person. But if the said clerks, factors, or other persons employed for the said merchants, are not provided with sufficient orders or full powers in writing, they shall not be believed upon their word, and although the officers of the customs are charged to watch in this respect, the contractors shall, nevertheless, take care for themselves that the agreements or contracts that they make together exceed not the procurations or full powers, which have been confided to them by their employers, since these last are not held to answer but for the objects and amount for which the full powers have been given by them.

ARTICLE XIV.