1796 · Pari
by [Jay's Treaty]: Eustace, John S.
Pari: Chez Desenne, 1796. 68pp. Gathered signatures, string-tied as issued. Some soiling and staining to titlepage, light staining throughout. Good. Untrimmed and unopened. A scarce French printing and examination of "Jay's Treaty" of 1794, signed between the United States and England, and its potential ramifications for France and for American- French relations. Jay's Treaty, arguably the most controversial American treaty until the Versailles and League of Nations treaties after World War I, was negotiated by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay and sought to settle questions arising from the Treaty of Paris of 1783, to clarify commercial relations between England and the United States, and to secure the British evacuation of military posts in the Old Northwest. Federalists generally supported the treaty as a practical necessity, while Jeffersonian Republicans rose up against it, believing it was too generous to England. It was finally passed by the Senate, but did much to harden differences between the nascent political parties. The treaty was met with alarm in France, which had signed important treaties of alliance and commerce with the United States in 1778, and which was on a collision course with England in the 1790s. John S. Eustace, an American exiled from Great Britain, came to America with the French army during the Revolution and served as aide-de- camp to generals Lee and Sullivan and as adjutant general with Georgia troops. In an addenda to this work he includes a proposal for compensating French merchants for potential losses as a result of the Jay Treaty. Not in Sabin or Howes, both of whom list other works on Jay's Treaty and by Eustace. ECHEVERRIA & WILKIE 796/25. MARTIN & WALTER 12915. FAY, p.34. (Inventory #: WRCAM46035)