ever, be construed or
operate contrary to former and existing public treaties with other
sovereigns or states."

After speaking of his former intention to communicate to Mr. Monroe some
of the most interesting particulars of the treaty, "but in the most
perfect confidence," Mr. Jay continued:--

"As that instrument has not yet been ratified, nor received the
ultimate forms necessary to give it validity; as further questions
respecting parts of it may yet arise, and give occasion to further
discussions and negotiations, so that, if finally concluded at all,
it may then be different from what it now is, the impropriety of
making it public at present is palpable and obvious; such a
proceeding would be inconvenient and unprecedented. It does not
belong to ministers who negotiate treaties to publish them, even
when perfected, much less treaties not yet completed, and remaining
open to alteration or rejection. Such acts belong exclusively to
the governments who form them.

"I can not but flatter myself, that the French government is too
enlightened and reasonable to expect that any consideration ought
to induce me to overleap the bounds of my authority, or to be
negligent of the respect which is due to the United States. That
respect, and my obligations to observe it, will not permit me to
give, without the permission of their government, a copy of the
instrument in question to any person, or for _any purpose_; and by
no means for the purpose of being submitted to the consideration
and judgment of the councils of a _foreign nation_, however
friendly."[104]

Soon after this, John Trumbull, Mr. Jay's secretary of legation, was
about to pass through Paris, and he was authorized to make to Mr. Monroe
a confidential communication concerning the provisions of the treaty.
But the incensed minister refused to receive this or any communication
in a form that he could not instantly lay before the French government.
He afterward attempted to obtain a copy of the treaty from Thomas
Pinckney, who passed through Paris on his way to Spain, but that
gentleman would not betray Jay's confidence, and Monroe and the French
government were compelled to wait until the authorized publication of
the treaty the following summer.

Mr. Monroe felt himself aggrieved by what he deemed the want of
confidence in him by the president and