The business which principally occupied the attention of Congress this session, was the French treaty, which was signed at Paris the 3d of September, 1800. As this treaty, next to the British, is the most important which the United States ever contracted, we have thought proper to subjoin a copy of it:

"The first Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, and the President of the United States of America, equally animated with a desire to put an end to the differences which have arisen between the two States, have respectively nominated their plenipotentiaries, and invested them with full powers to negociate upon these differences and terminate them that is to say, the first Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, has nominated for plenipotentiaries of the said Republic, the citizens Joseph Buonaparte, ex-ambassador of the French Republic at Rome, and counsellor of state; Charles-Pierre Claret-Fleurieu, member of the national institute and of the office of longitude of France, counsellor of state, and president of the section of marine; and Pierre-Louis Roederer, member of the national institute, counsellor of state and president of the interior; and the President of the United States of America, by and with the consent of the Senate of said States, has appointed for their plenipotentiaries, Oliver Elsworth, chief-justice of the United States, William Richardson Davie, late governor of North-Carolina, and William Vans Murray, resident minister of the United States at the Hague.

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"Who, after having exchanged their full powers, and patiently and carefully discussed their respective interests, have agreed to the following articles :

"I. There shall be a firm, inviolable and universal peace, and true and sincere friendship between the French Republic and the United States of America, as well between their countries, territories, cities and places, as between their citizens and inhabitants, without exception of persons or places.

"II. The ministers plenipotentiary of the two parties, not being empowered at present to agree relative to the treaty of alliance of the 6th of February, 1778, to the treaty of friendship and commerce of the same date, and to the convention of the 14th of November, nor to the indemnities mutually due and claimed, the parties shall further negociate upon these points at a convenient time; and until they shall be agreed upon these points, the said treaties and convention shall have no effect, and the relations of the two nations shall be regulated as follows:

"III. The ships belonging to the State, taken on either side, or which may be taken before the exchange of ratifications, shall be given up.

" IV. The properties captured and not yet definitively condemned, or which may be captured before the exchange of ratifications, except contraband merchandize destined for an enemy's port, Ooo

shall be mutually restored upon the following proofs of property, viz.

"On the one part and on the other, the proofs of property, relative to merchant vessels, armed or unarmed, shall be a passport in the following form:

"To all those to whom these presents shall come, be it known, that power and permission has been given to, master or commander of the vessel, called the, of the city of, of the burthen of tons, or thereabouts, now lying in the port or harbor of and destined for

laden with, that after his ship has been visited, and before his departure, he shall make oath before officers authorised for that purpose, that the said ship belongs to one or more citizens of ; the execution of which form shall be annexed to these presents, in order that he may observe and cause to be observed by his crew the maritime ordinances and regulations, and give in a list, signed and attested, containing the names and surnames, places of birth and abode, of the persons composing the crew of his ship, and of all on board her, whom he shall not receive on board without the knowledge and permission of the officers authorised for that purpose; and in every port and harbor where he shall enter with his ship, he shall shew the present permission to the proper officers, and make to them a faithful report of all that has passed during his said voyage, and carry the colors, arms, and flags of the French Republic, or the United States, during his said voyage. In testimony of

which we have signed these presents, caused them to be countersigned by

the seal of our arms.

and thereunto put

"Given at -, in the year of our Lord,

"And this passport shall be sufficient without any other document, notwithstanding any other regulation to the contrary.

"It shall not be necessary to renew or revoke this passport, whatever number of voyages the said ship shall have made, unless they shall not have returned home within the space of a year.

"With respect to the cargo, the proofs shall be certificates, containing an account what place the ship has left, and where it is going to, so that prohibited and contraband merchandize may be diştinguished by certificates, which certificates shall have been made by the officers of the place from whence the ship shall have set out, agreeable to the accustomed forms of the country. And if these passports or certificates, or both, shall have been destroyed by accident, or taken away by force, the want of them shall be supplied by every other proof of property, admissible according to the general usage of nations.

"For other ships, besides merchant ships, the proof shall be the commissions they bear. This article shall take effect from the date of the signature of the present convention; and if by the date of the said signature, property shall have been condemned contrary to the spirit of the said convention, and previous to the knowledge of this stipu

lation, the property so condemned shall be restored or paid for.

"V. The debts contracted by either of the two nations towards the individuals of each, shall be acquitted, or the payment shall be in course, as if there had been no misunderstanding between the two States....but this clause shall not extend to indemnities claimed for captures or condemnations.

" VI. The trade between the two parties shall be free....the ships of the two nations, and the privateers as well as their prizes, shall be treated in their respective ports as the most favored nation, and in general the two parties shall enjoy in each other's, with respect to commerce and navigation, the same privileges as the most favored nations.

"VII. The citizens and inhabitants of the United States may dispose by will, donations, or otherwise, of their goods, moveable or immoveable property, possessed in the European territory of the French Republic....and the citizens of the French Republic shall have the same power with regard to the goods, moveable and immoveable property, possessed in the territory of the United States, in favor of such persons as they shall think proper. The citizens and inhabitants of one of the two States, who shall be heirs of the goods, moveable and immoveable property, situate in the other, may succeed ab intestat, without there being any necessity for letters of neutrality, and without the effect of this stipulation being contested or impeached, under any pretence whatever....and the