Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

For the GAZETTE of the UNITED STATES.

MR. FENNO,

A few days ago an extract of a letter from
Citizen Hedouville, the new agent of the
Directory at St. Domingo to Citizen Le-
tombe, the French Consul, was published
in Bache's paper. It purports to be an in-
vitation to the American merchants to con-
tinue their speculations to the French ports
of St. Domingo; and lest they might be
deterred from it by the recent decree of the
Directory relative to vessels laden with Bri-
tish productions, he assures them of his de-
termination "to take for the rule of his
conduct towards neutrals the arret of the
commission of the government of the 27th
Vendemaire last." It is perhaps unnecessary
to give a caution against confiding in the
promises of French agents, after the uni-
formly fatal experience we have had of their
disregard for faith and justice: yet surely
no merchant, not already desperate, will,
under the present aspect of affairs, be dispo-
sed to venture his property in any French port.

But let us recur to the decree of the 27th Vendemiaire which the citizen thus promises to make the rule of his conduct. It may be seen at large in your paper of the 26th December last. The following is part of its preamble:

"The commission desirous of conforming itself not only to the orders but even to the intentions of the Executive Directory, when they come to its knowledge of decrees, &c."

The decree then, relative to neutrals laden with British productions, being emphatically not only the will and intention but the actual orders of the Directory, will of course be punctually executed by citizen Hedouville, notwithstanding his seeming assurances to the contrary.

The decree of Vendemiaire enacts,

1st. That the arret of the commission of the 18th Nivose last, which declares good prize, neutral vessels cleared out for English ports and coming from the same, is repealed.

2d. And nevertheless, by way of reprisals against the English, who, in contempt of the laws of neutrality, daily permit themselves to stop neutral vessels bound to the French ports of the colony, when they are laden with provisions, the French cruisers are authorized to carry into the ports of the Republic neutral vessels destined for English ports, which have provisions on board, and there shall be paid to the said cruisers, by way of indemnity, one dollar for every barrel of flour and salt meat they may bring in.

3d. The arret of the commission of the 6th of last Nivose, which declares good prize neutral vessels destined for ports of the Windward and Leeward Islands of America, delivered up to the English, occupied and defended by the emigrants, shall continue to be executed according to its form and tenor, until it shall be otherwise ordered by the commission."

The remaining articles of the decree relate to the appointment and organization of a Prize-Court, the most striking circumstances attending which are, that of the three judges which constitute it; the first named is citizen Adelon, "Captain of a ship in the service of the Republic;" and that they are allowed one per cent on the property sold under their decrees. No wonder then that on the 2d of last November, they condemned two American vessels bound to French ports.

It is also worth noting, that the preamble of this decree declares its object to be, "to soften the measures which the commission had pursued against neutrals;" and the means it seems are (among other things) to give a bounty of one dollar to their brigands for every barrel of flour or salt meat they shall plunder from an American.