ay (Versailles, September 4th, 1782),
requesting a visit from him.--Letter from M. Rayneval to
Mr Jay (Versailles, September 6th, 1782), transmitting
the following Memorial.--Memorial of M. Rayneval on the
right of the United States to the navigation of the
Mississippi.--Reflections of Mr Jay on this
Memorial.--Letter from Mr Jay to the Count d'Aranda
(Paris, September 10th, 1782), stating that he is not
empowered to cede any countries belonging to the United
States, but is ready to negotiate, with a Minister
vested with equal powers, a treaty of amity and
commerce.--Reply of the Count d'Aranda, declaring
himself vested with ample powers to treat.--Visit of the
Count d'Aranda to Versailles.--M. Rayneval goes to
England.--Probable objects of his visit.--Conversation
with Mr Vaughan on the subject of M. Rayneval's
visit.--Mr Jay represents the expediency of treating
with America on an equal footing; the inexpediency of
attempting to exclude the Americans from the fisheries;
and of restricting the western boundary and the
navigation of the Mississippi.--Mr Vaughan goes to
England to communicate these views to Lord
Shelburne.--Proposed draft of a letter to the Count de
Vergennes, containing objections to Mr Oswald's
commission; it does not designate the United States by
their proper title; it empowers him to treat with bodies
not having authority to treat by the American
constitution; it calls in question the independence of
the United States; precedents from acts of Congress;
America has treated with other powers as an independent
State; precedents from other States under similar
circumstances; detail of the history of the early
negotiations of the United Provinces with Spain, showing
that they treated with other powers on an equal footing,
and refused to negotiate with Spain except in like
manner; the independence exists in fact, and not as a
grant from Great Britain.--Conversation between Mr Jay,
the Count d'Aranda, and the Marquis de Lafayette, on the
propriety of Spain's treating with America on an equal
footing.--The Count de Vergennes states the object of M.
Rayneval's visit to England to be, to judg