the present occasion
by a private individual going to France directly, to mention, that since
the date of my last public letter, which was April the 24th, and which
covered the President's proclamation of April, I have received your Nos.
17 to 24. M. de Ternary notified us of his recall on the 17th of May,
and delivered the letter of the Provisory Executive Council to that
effect. I now enclose you the President's answer to the Council, which
you will be pleased to deliver; a copy of it is also enclosed, open, for
your, information. Mr. Genet delivered his credentials on the same
day on which M. de Ternant took his leave, and was received by the
President. He found himself immediately immersed in business, the
consequence of this war. The incidents to which that gives daily rise,
and the questions respecting chiefly France and England, fill the
executive with business, equally delicate difficult, and disagreeable.
The course intended to be pursued being that of a strict and impartial
neutrality, decisions rendered by the President rigorously on that
principle, dissatisfy both parties, and draw complaints from both. That
you may have a proper idea of them, I enclose you copies of several
memorials and letters, which have passed between the executive and the
ministers of those two countries, which will at the same time develope
the principles of the proceedings, and enable you to satisfy them in
your communications, should it be necessary. I enclose also the answer
given to Mr. Genet, on a proposition from him to pay up the whole of
the French debt at once. While it will enable you to explain the
impracticability of the operation proposed, it may put it in your power
to judge of the answer which would be given to any future proposition
to that effect, and perhaps to prevent their being brought forward. The
bill lately passed in England, prohibiting the business of this country
with France from passing through the medium of England, is a temporary
embarrassment to our commerce, from the unhappy predicament of its all
hanging on the pivot of London. It will be happy for us, should it be
continued till our merchants may establish connections in the countries
in which our produce is consumed, and to which it should go directly.

Our commissioners have proceeded to the treaty with the northwestern
Indians. They write, however, that the treaty will be a month later
than was expected. This delay, should it be extended, will endan