should
depart the room. After the keys had been taken from Mr. Frost, (for I
had given him the keys of my trunks beforehand, for the purpose of his
attending the baggage to the customs, if it should be necessary,) the
Collector asked us to open the trunks, presenting us the keys for
that purpose; this we declined to do, unless he would produce his
information, which he again refused. The Collector then opened the
trunks himself, and took out every paper and letter, sealed or unsealed.
On our remonstrating with him on the bad policy, as well as the
illegality, of Custom-House officers seizing papers and letters, which
were things that did not come under their cognizance, he replied, that
the _Proclamation_ gave him the authority.

Among the letters which he took out of my trunk, were two sealed
letters, given into my charge by the American Minister in London
[Pinckney], one of which was directed to the American Minister at Paris
[Gouverneur Morris], the other to a private gentleman; a letter from the
President of the United States, and a letter from the Secretary of
State in America, both directed to me, and which I had received from
the American Minister, now in London, and were private letters of
friendship; a letter from the electoral body of the Department of
Calais, containing the notification of my being elected to the National
Convention; and a letter from the President of the National Assembly,
informing me of my being also elected for the Department of the Oise.

As we found that all remonstrances with the Collector, on the bad policy
and illegality of seizing papers and letters, and retaining our persons
by force, under the pretence of searching for prohibited articles,
were vain, (for he justified himself on the Proclamation, and on the
information which he refused to shew,) we contented ourselves with
assuring him, that what he was then doing, he would afterwards have to
answer for, and left it to himself to do as he pleased.

It appeared to us that the Collector was acting under the direction of
some other person or persons, then in the hotel, but whom he did not
choose we should see, or who did not choose to be seen by us; for the
Collector went several times out of the room for a few minutes, and was
also called out several times.

When the Collector had taken what papers and letters he pleased out of
the trunks, he proceeded to read them. The first letter he took up for
this purpose was that from the