French Privateering (2 results)

8pp. Dbd. 8pp. Dbd. Senate printing of a petition to both houses of Congress from Philadelphia merchants, asking that Congress pressure France to make reparations for the depredations inflicted by its privateers during the recent war. Five copies located between Shaw & Shoemaker and OCLC. Shaw & Shoermaker 3335 Contemporary manuscript pagination in upper outer corner. Early stains in outer corners throughout, affecting a few characters of text. Scattered foxing. A good copy.

Early Senate document printing diplomatic correspondence between the U.S., France, and Great Britain on the "vexations and spoliations" of American merchant ships by French and British privateers during the 1793-94 war between Britain and France. Much of the pamphlet involves British policies of letters of marque against French ships and American vessels trading with French colonies, as detailed by U.S. Ambassador to Britain Thomas Pinckney and British War Secretary Henry Dundas. A letter by Joseph Fauchet, the French ambassador to the U.S., defends the French embargo and refutes charges of misconduct on the seas, to which Secretary of State Edmund Randolph's reply is also printed. The correspondence dates from Dec. 26, 1793, to April 3, 1794. A rare and interesting document of the diplomacy that helped set the stage for Jay's Treaty, which was signed the following November. OCLC records fewer than ten physical copies as of 2023. EVANS 27891. ESTC W27273. Printed self-wrappers, stitched. Blank impressions of scribbles on first leaf, light scattered foxing, marginal soiling, else very good. Untrimmed.