ion in France. The proposal
to renew the negotiation in behalf of the well-founded claims of our
citizens upon the French Government in _connection_ with a claim on
the part of France to special privileges in the ports of Louisiana,
which, after a very full discussion, had in the views of this Government
been proved utterly groundless, could neither be accepted nor considered
as evidence of the same conciliatory spirit. The claims of our citizens
are for mere justice; they are for reparation of unquestionable
wrongs--for indemnity or restitution of property taken from them or
destroyed without shadow or color of right. The claim under the eighth
article of the Louisiana convention has nothing to rest upon but a
forced construction of the terms of the stipulation, which the American
Government considered, and have invariably considered, as totally
without foundation. These are elements not to be coupled together in the
same negotiation, and while we yet trust to the final sense of justice
of France for the adjustment of the righteous claims of our citizens, we
still hope that their unquestionable character will ultimately secure
to them a consideration unencumbered with other discussions. You will
respectfully make this representation to the Viscount de Chateaubriand,
with the assurance of the readiness of this Government to discuss the
question upon the Louisiana convention further if desired by France,
but of our final conviction that it is not to be blended with the claims
of our citizens for mere justice.

_Count de Menou to Mr. Adams_.

[Translation.]

LEGATION OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES,

_Washington, July 11, 1823_.

The Honorable SECRETARY OF STATE:

His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand, in announcing to me that
Mr. Gallatin was about to leave France, expresses his regret at his
departure in such terms that I should do him injustice were I not to use
his own expressions. "My correspondence with this minister," he remarks
to me, "has caused me to appreciate his talents, his ability, and his
attachment to the system of friendship that unites the two powers. It
is with regret that I suspend my communications with him."

I esteem myself happy, sir, in conveying to you such sentiments toward
the representative of the United States in France, and I should have
thought that I had but imperfectly apprehended the design of the
Viscount de Chateaubriand had I neglected to communicate them to the
Fe