31, has come to hand.
I enclose you sundry papers, by which you will perceive, that the
expression in the eleventh article of our treaty of amity and commerce
with France, viz. 'that the subjects of the United States shall not be
reputed _Aubaines in France_, and consequently shall be exempted from
the _Droit d'Aubaine_, or other similar duty, under what name soever,'
has been construed so rigorously to the letter, as to consider us
as _Aubaines_ in the colonies of France. Our intercourse with those
colonies is so great, that frequent and important losses will accrue to
individuals, if this construction be continued. The death of the
master or supercargo of a vessel, rendered a more common event by the
unhealthiness of the climate, throws all the property which was either
his, or under his care, into contest. I presume that the enlightened
Assembly now, engaged in reforming the remains of feudal abuse among
them, will not leave so inhospitable an one as the _Droit d'Aubaine_
existing in France, or any of its dominions. If this may be hoped,
it will be better that you should not trouble the minister with any
application for its abolition in the colonies as to us. This would be
erecting into a special favor to us, the extinction of a general abuse,
which will, I presume, extinguish of itself.
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