2. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce contained a succession of mutual stipulations, by which the United States undertook,--_first_, to protect and defend by their ships of war, or convoy, any or all vessels belonging to French subjects, so long as they hold the same course, “against all attacks, force, and violence, in the same manner as they ought to protect and defend” the vessels of citizens of the United States;[153] _secondly_, to open their ports to French ships of war and privateers with their prizes, and to close them against those of any power at war with France, except when driven by stress of weather, and then “all proper means shall be vigorously used that they go out and retire from thence as soon as possible”;[154] _thirdly_, according to French construction, to allow French privateers “to fit their ships, to sell what they have taken, or in any other manner whatsoever to exchange their ships, merchandise, or any other lading,” while privateers in enmity with France are forbidden even to victual in ports of the United States.[155] As if to round and complete these engagements, it was further stipulated on the part of the United States, in a Consular Convention, which, after many perplexities of diplomacy baffling the tried skill of Franklin, was finally signed by Mr. Jefferson, in 1788, as a postscript to the earlier treaties, that French consuls and vice-consuls in the United States should have power and jurisdiction on board French vessels in civil matters, with the entire inspection over such vessels, their crews, and the changes and substitutions there to be made.[156] Such, briefly recited, were the solemn engagements of the United States, sanctioned by treaties, as the price of independence. So long as France remained at peace with all the world, especially with Great Britain, these engagements slept unnoticed, but ready, at the first blast of war, to spring into life. At length the blast was heard, perhaps as never before in human history, echoing from capital to capital, and sounding a crusade of monarchical Europe against republican France. Of all the foreign ministers at Paris, the minister of the United States alone remained: the rest had fled.