1. James Monroe, then U.S. minister to France, had written Pickering a letter of 28 June that enclosed a copy of both French foreign minister Charles Delacroix’s letter to Monroe of 25 June and Monroe’s reply to him of 27 June. The enclosures pertained to the implementation of the Jay Treaty. In his 28 June letter, Monroe advised Pickering that Delacroix’s letter “proceeds from himself, and not from the Directoire; since it is presumable from the intimation heretofore given me by a very respectable authority … that that body had already determined not to trouble us further on that subject; and in which Case less inconvenience is to be apprehended from it. But let it proceed from whatever source it may, I shall not fail to use my utmost efforts to prevent its further progress” (Papers of James Monroe description begins Daniel Preston et al., eds. The Papers of James Monroe. 5 vols. to date. Westport, Conn., and Santa Barbara, Calif., 2003–. description ends , 4:38).

In his letter to Monroe of 25 June, Delacroix sought confirmation of newspaper reports that the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to implement the Jay Treaty (see n.2). Delacroix requested official word on the matter before bringing it to the Directory’s attention (NN: Monroe Papers). Monroe’s 27 June reply to Delacroix reads in part: “… I have no information other than what the gazettes to which you refer contain, having received no official advice upon it.” Monroe claimed that he had responded to Delacroix’s objections to the Jay Treaty and expressed his wish to preserve “the best harmony between the two republics” (Papers of James Monroe description begins Daniel Preston et al., eds. The Papers of James Monroe. 5 vols. to date. Westport, Conn., and Santa Barbara, Calif., 2003–. description ends , 4:37–38).

Charles Delacroix (1754–1805) served as the French minister for foreign affairs from November 1795 to 19 July 1797. A lawyer by profession, Delacroix had been elected to the National Convention in September 1792 and was among those who voted to execute King Louis XVI. He served on the first Committee of Public Safety before his election in October 1795 to the Conseil des Anciens as a deputy from the department of the Marne.

2. The U.S. House of Representatives had resolved on 30 April to pass the laws required to implement the Jay Treaty (see Edward Carrington to GW, 9 May, and n.1 to that document).

3. The letter to Pickering of 29 July from Joseph Fenwick, the U.S. consul at Bordeaux, France, has not been identified.

4. Pickering enclosed a copy of a letter from Joseph Donaldson, Jr., the U.S. consul at Tunis and Tripoli, to Stephen Cathalan, Jr., the vice-consul for Marseille, France, written at Leghorn, Italy, on 2 July: “This moment I am informed by letter from Tunis that the American Schooner Eliza Saml Graves, has been sent in there by one of their privateers contrary to an arrangement made by me in November last, and will not expire until the 8th instant.

“You will do well to caution my Countrymen against the Cruizers of Tunis & Tripoli” (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters).

A letter of 23 June 1796 from Edward Rand, the owner of the schooner Eliza, to Joel Barlow, the acting U.S. consul at Algiers, confirms the capture of the Eliza on 14 June by a “Tunissian Row Galley.” The schooner was seized two days after leaving Sète, France, and was taken to Tunis, where Hamuda, bey of Tunis, threatened to hold it and its crew until receiving $10,000 in ransom from the United States (Knox, Naval Documents, Barbary Wars description begins Dudley W. Knox., ed. Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers. 6 vols. Washington, D.C., 1939–44. description ends , 1:157–58).

Donaldson and James Cathcart ostensibly had obtained an eight-month truce with Tunis in November 1795. The bey of Tunis denied the existence of any such truce but nevertheless offered to negotiate a peace with the United States. A six-month truce with Tunis, reached on 15 June by Joseph-Etienne Famin on behalf of the Americans, prohibited the seizure of U.S. vessels by Tunisian armed ships. The Eliza’s capture one day before the signing of the truce caused it to be condemned as a prize (see Pickering to GW, 31 Dec., and n.1 to that document; see also Barnby, Prisoners of Algiers description begins H. G. Barnby. The Prisoners of Algiers: An Account of the Forgotten American-Algerian War, 1785–1797. New York, 1966. description ends , 290–91, and Knox, Naval Documents, Barbary Wars description begins Dudley W. Knox., ed. Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers. 6 vols. Washington, D.C., 1939–44. description ends , 1:158–59).

In a memorial to Pickering dated 18 Oct. from Algiers, Barlow commented on the truce: “The Dey of Algiers, in the name of the Bey of Tunis, had agreed with Mr Donaldson ⟨t⟩o a truce of eight months. … Just before the expiration of the 8 months, there happened a serious dispute between Algiers & Tunis. And I thought it dangerous … to let the truce expire. … I therefore, in the month of may, Authorised a French merchant at Tunis, Mr Famin, to renew the truce, or even to conclude a peace, if it could be done for” $20,000 (DNA: RG 59, Consular Despatches, Algiers).

Hamuda, bey of Tunis (1759–1814), ruled from 1782 to 1813.

5. Pickering enclosed an extract from Cathalan’s letter to Joseph Fenwick written at Marseille on 20 July: “Just now a fisherman is sent to me by the Danish Captain of a Ship entering into Pomegue (the Island in this Road where Ships from Levant or Barbary are to perform quarantine) from Algiers, with all the americans who were there in slavery” (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters). For the agreement under which the American prisoners at Algiers were ransomed, see Pickering to GW, 27 July.