Philadelphia, November 7, 1791.

Sir,

I have duly considered the letter you were pleased to refer to me, of the 18th of August, from his Excellency Governor Pinckney to yourself, together with the draught of one proposed to be written by him to the Governor of Florida, claiming the re-delivery of certain fugitives from justice, who have been received in that country.  The inconveniences of such a receptacle for debtors and malefactors in the neighborhood of the southern States, are obvious and great, and I wish the remedy were as certain and short as the latter seems to suppose.

The delivery of fugitives from one country to another, as practised by several nations, is in consequence of conventions settled between them, defining precisely the cases wherein such deliveries shall take place.  I know that such conventions exist between France and Spain, France and Sardinia, France and Germany, France and the United Netherlands; between the several sovereigns constituting the Germanic body, and, I believe, very generally between co-terminous States on the continent of Europe.  England has no such convention with any nation, and their laws have given no power to their executive to surrender fugitives of any description; they are, accordingly, constantly refused, and hence England has been the asylum of the Paolis, the La Mottes, the Calonnes, in short, of the most atrocious offenders as well as the most innocent victims, who have been able to get there.

The laws of the United States, like those of England, receive every fugitive, and no authority has been given to our executives to deliver them up.  In the case of Longchamp, a subject of France, a formal demand was made by the minister of France, and was refused.  He had, indeed, committed an offence within the United States; but he was not demanded as a criminal, but as a subject.

The French government has shown great anxiety to have such a convention with the United States, as might authorize them to demand their subjects coming here:  they got a clause in the consular convention signed by Dr. Franklin and the Count de Vergennes, giving their Consuls a right to take and send back captains of vessels, mariners, and passengers.  Congress saw the extent of the word passengers, and refused to ratify the convention; a new one was therefore formed, omitting that word.  In fact, however desirable it be that the perpetrators of crimes, acknowledged to be such by all mankind, should be delivered up to punishment, yet it is extremely difficult to draw the line between those, and acts rendered criminal by tyrannical laws only; hence the first step always is a convention defining the cases where a surrender shall take place.