arrêt of the French Republic, communicated to your House by my message
of the 28th of January last. But if the execution of that arrêt be
suspended, or even if it were repealed, it should be remembered that the
arrêt of the Executive Directory of the 2d of March, 1797, remains in
force, the third article of which subjects, explicitly and exclusively,
American seamen to be treated as pirates if found on board ships of the
enemies of France.

JOHN ADAMS.



FEBRUARY 18, 1799.

_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

I transmit to you a document which seems to be intended to be a
compliance with a condition mentioned at the conclusion of my message
to Congress of the 21st of June last.

Always disposed and ready to embrace every plausible appearance of
probability of preserving or restoring tranquillity, I nominate William
Vans Murray, our minister resident at The Hague, to be minister
plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic.

If the Senate shall advise and consent to his appointment, effectual
care shall be taken in his instructions that he shall not go to France
without direct and unequivocal assurances from the French Government,
signified by their minister of foreign relations, that he shall be
received in character, shall enjoy the privileges attached to his