islands, were the principal commercial objects which required attention;
and on these occasions, I was powerfully aided by all the influence and
the energies of the Marquis de la Fayette, who proved himself equally
zealous for the friendship and welfare of both nations; and, in justice,
I must also say, that I found the government entirely disposed to
befriend us on all occasions, and to yield us every indulgence, not
absolutely injurious to themselves. The Count de Vergennes had the
reputation with the diplomatic corps, of being wary and slippery in his
diplomatic intercourse; and so he might be, with those whom he knew
to be slippery, and double-faced themselves. As he saw that I had
no indirect views, practised no subtleties, meddled in no intrigues,
pursued no concealed object, I found him as frank, as honorable, as easy
of access to reason, as any man with whom I had ever done business; and
I must say the same for his successor, Montmorin, one of the most honest
and worthy of human beings.

Our commerce, in the Mediterranean, was placed under early alarm, by the
capture of two of our vessels and crews by the Barbary cruisers. I was
very unwilling that we should acquiesce in the European humiliation,
of paying a tribute to those lawless pirates, and endeavored to form an
association of the powers subject to habitual depredations from them.
I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their Ministers at Paris,
for consultation with their governments, articles of a special
confederation, in the following form.


'Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with the
piratical States of Barbary.

'1. It is proposed, that the several powers at war with the piratical