Volume 3 / Part 3 — FOOTNOTES (continued 2)
Reading edition
TO MR. PINCKNEY.
Philadelphia, October 12, 1792.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of August the 7th came to hand on the 6th instant, and gave me the first certain information of your safe arrival. Mr. Otto being about to sail for London, furnishes me with an opportunity of sending the newspapers for yourself and Mr. Barclay, and I avail myself of it chiefly for this purpose, as my late return from Virginia and the vacation of Congress furnishes little new and important for your information. With respect to the Indian war, the summer has been chiefly employed on our part in endeavoring to persuade them to peace, in an abstinence from all offensive operations, in order to give those endeavors a fairer chance, and in preparation for activity the ensuing season, if they fail. I believe we may say these endeavors have all failed, or probably will do so. The year has been rather a favorable one for our agriculture. The crops of small grain were generally good. Early frosts have a good deal shortened those of tobacco and Indian corn, yet not so as to endanger distress. From the south my information is less certain, but from that quarter you will be informed through other channels. I have a pleasure in noting this circumstance to you, because the difference between a plentiful and a scanty crop more than counterpoises the expenses of any campaign. Five or six plentiful years successively, as we have had, have most sensibly ameliorated the condition of our country, and uniform laws of commerce, introduced by our new government, have enabled us to draw the whole benefits of our agriculture.
I enclose you the copy of a letter from Messrs. Blow and Milhaddo, merchants of Virginia, complaining of the taking away of their sailors on the coast of Africa, by the commander of a British armed vessel. So many instances of this kind have happened, that it is quite necessary that their government should explain themselves on the subject, and be led to disavow and punish such conduct. I leave to your discretion to endeavor to obtain this satisfaction by such friendly discussions as may be most likely to produce the desired effect, and secure to our commerce that protection against British violence which it has never experienced from any other nation. No law forbids the seamen of any country to engage in time of peace on board a foreign vessel; no law authorizes such seamen to break his contract, nor the armed vessels of his nation to interpose force for his rescue. I shall be happy to hear soon that Mr. B. has gone on the service on which he was ordered.
I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.
Philadelphia, October 14, 1792.
Gentlemen,—Since my letters of March the 18th and April the 24th (which have been retarded so unfortunately), another subject of conference and convention with Spain has occurred. You know that the frontiers of her provinces, as well as of our States, are inhabited by Indians holding justly the right of occupation, and leaving to Spain and to us only the claim of excluding other nations from among them, and of becoming ourselves the purchasers of such portions of land, from time to time, as they may choose to sell. We have thought, that the dictates of interest as well as humanity, enjoined mutual endeavors with those Indians to live in peace with both nations, and we have scrupulously observed that conduct. Our agent with the Indians bordering on the territories of Spain, has a standing instruction to use his best endeavors to prevent them from committing acts of hostility against the Spanish settlements. But whatever may have been the conduct or orders of the government of Spain, that of their officers in our neighborhood has been indisputably unfriendly and hostile to us. The papers enclosed will demonstrate this to you. That the Baron de Carondelet, their chief Governor at New Orleans, has excited the Indians to war on us, that he has furnished them with abundance of arms and ammunition, and promised them whatever more shall be necessary, I have from the mouth of him who had it from his own mouth. In short, that he is the sole source of a great and serious war now burst out upon us, and from Indians who, we know, were in peaceable dispositions towards us till prevailed on by him to commence the war, there remains scarcely room to doubt. It has become necessary that we understand the real policy of Spain in this point. You will therefore be pleased to extract from the enclosed papers such facts as you think proper to be communicated to that court, and enter into friendly but serious expostulations on the conduct of their officers; for we have equal evidence against the commandants of other posts in West Florida, though they being subordinate to Carondelet, we name him as the source. If they disavow his conduct, we must naturally look to their treatment of him as the sole evidence of their sincerity. But we must look further. It is a general rule, that no nation has a right to keep an agent within the limits of another, without the consent of that other, and we are satisfied it would be best for both Spain and us, to abstain from having agents or other persons in our employ or pay among the savages inhabiting our respective territories, whether as subjects or independent. You are, therefore, desired to propose and press a stipulation to that effect. Should they absolutely decline it, it may be proper to let them perceive that as the right of keeping agents exists on both sides or on neither, it will rest with us to reciprocate their own measures. We confidently hope that these proceedings are unauthorized by the government of Spain, and in this hope, we continue in the dispositions formerly expressed to you, of living on terms of the best friendship and harmony with that country, of making their interests in our neighborhood our own, and of giving them every proof of this, except the abandonment of those essential rights which you are instructed to insist on.
I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO G. MORRIS, ESQ.
Philadelphia, October 15, 1792.
Sir,—I have duly received your favor of July 10, No. 4, but no other number preceding or subsequent. I fear, therefore, that some miscarriage has taken place. The present goes to Bordeaux, under cover to Mr. Fenwick, who, I hope, will be able to give it a safe conveyance to you. I observe that you say in your letter, that "the marine department is to treat with you for supplies to St. Domingo." I presume you mean "supplies of money," and not that our government is to furnish supplies of provisions, specifically, or employ others to do it; this being a business into which they could not enter. The payment of money here, to be employed by their own agents in purchasing the produce of our soil, is a desirable thing. We are informed by the public papers, that the late constitution of France, formally notified to us, is suspended, and a new convention called. During the time of this suspension, and while no legitimate government exists, we apprehend we cannot continue the payments of our debt to France, because there is no person authorized to receive it and to give us an unobjectionable acquittal. You are, therefore, desired to consider the payment as suspended, until further orders. Should circumstances oblige you to mention this (which it is better to avoid if you can), do it with such solid reasons as will occur to yourself, and accompany it with the most friendly declarations that the suspension does not proceed from any wish in us to delay the payment, the contrary being our wish, nor from any desire to embarrass or oppose the settlement of their government in that way in which their nation shall desire it; but from our anxiety to pay this debt justly and honorably, and to the persons really authorized by the nation (to whom we owe it) to receive it for their use. Nor shall this suspension be continued one moment after we can see our way clear out of the difficulty into which their situation has thrown us. That they may speedily obtain liberty, peace, and tranquillity, is our sincere prayer.
The present summer is employed by us in endeavors to persuade the Indians to peace, and to prepare for the ensuing campaign, if our endeavors for peace should fail. That they will fail, we have reason to expect, and consequently that the expenses of our armament are to continue for some time. Another plentiful year added to the several others which we have successively had, is some consolation under these expenses. Very early frosts, indeed, have somewhat shortened the productions of the autumn.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DE TERNANT.
Philadelphia, October 16, 1792.
Sir,—I am to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, proposing a stipulation for the abolition of the practice of privateering in times of war. The benevolence of this proposition is worthy of the nation from which it comes, and our sentiments on it have been declared in the treaty to which you are pleased to refer, as well as in some others which have been proposed. There are in those treaties some other principles which would probably meet the approbation of your government, as flowing from the same desire to lessen the occasions and the calamities of war. On all of these, as well as on those amendments to our treaty of commerce which might better its conditions with both nations, and which the National Assembly of France has likewise brought into view on a former occasion, we are ready to enter into negotiation with you, only proposing to take the whole into consideration at once. And while contemplating provisions which look to the event of war, we are happy in feeling a conviction that it is yet at a great distance from us, and in believing that the sentiments of sincere friendship which we bear to the nation of France are reciprocated on their part. Of these our dispositions, be so good as to assure them on this and all other occasions; and to accept yourself those sentiments of esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. VIAR AND JAUDENES, Commissioners of Spain.
Philadelphia, November 1, 1792.
Gentlemen,—I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of October the 29th, which I have duly laid before the President of the United States; and in answer thereto, I cannot but observe that some parts of its contents were truly unexpected. On what foundation it can be supposed that we have menaced the Creek nation with destruction during the present autumn, or at any other time, is entirely inconceivable. Our endeavors, on the contrary, to keep them at peace, have been earnest, persevering and notorious, and no expense has been spared which might attain that object. With the same views to peace, we have suspended, now more than a twelvemonth, the marking a boundary between them and us, which had been fairly, freely and solemnly established with the chiefs whom they had deputed to treat with us on that subject; we have suspended it, I say, in the constant hope that taking time to consider it in the councils of their nation, and recognizing the justice and reciprocity of its conditions, they would at length freely concur in carrying it into execution. We agree with you, that the interests which either of us have in the proceedings of the other with this nation of Indians, is a proper subject of discussion at the negotiations to be opened at Madrid, and shall accordingly give the same in charge to our commissioners there. In the meantime, we shall continue sincerely to cultivate the peace and prosperity of all the parties, being constant in the opinion, that this conduct, reciprocally observed, will most increase the happiness of all.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of great esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT.
Philadelphia, November 2, 1792.
Sir,—The letter of October the 29th, from Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, not expressing the principle on which their government interests itself between the United States and the Creeks, I thought it of importance to have it ascertained. I therefore called on those gentlemen, and entered into explanations with them. They assured me, in our conversation, that supposing all question of boundary to be out of the case, they did not imagine their government would think themselves authorized to take under their protection, any nations of Indians living within limits confessed to be ours; and they presumed that any interference of theirs, with respect to the Creeks, could only arise out of the question of disputed territory, now existing between us; that, on this account, some part of our treaty with the Creeks had given dissatisfaction. They said, however, that they were speaking from their own sentiments only, having no instructions which would authorize them to declare those of their court; but that they expected an answer to their letters covering mine of July the 9th, (erroneously cited by them as of the 11th,) from which they would probably know the sentiments of their court. They accorded entirely in the opinion, that it would be better that the two nations should mutually endeavor to preserve each the peace of the other, as well as their own, with the neighboring tribes of Indians.
I shall avail myself of the opportunity by a vessel which is to sail in a few days, of sending proper information and instructions to our commissioners on the subject of the late, as well as of the future, interferences of the Spanish officers to our prejudice with the Indians, and for the establishment of common rules of conduct for the two nations.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.
Philadelphia, November 3, 1792.
Gentlemen,—I wrote you on the 14th of last month; since which some other incidents and documents have occurred, bearing relation to the subject of that letter. I therefore now enclose you a duplicate of that letter.
Copy of a letter from the Governor of Georgia, with the deposition it covered of a Mr. Hull, and an original passport, signed by Olivier, wherein he styles himself commissary for his Catholic Majesty with the Creeks.
Copy of a letter from Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes to myself, dated October the 29th, with that of the extract of a letter of September the 24th, from the Baron de Carondelet to them.
Copy of my answer of No. 1, to them, and copy of a letter from myself to the President, stating a conversation with those gentlemen.
From those papers you will find that we have been constantly endeavoring, by every possible means, to keep peace with the Creeks; that in order to do this, we have even suspended and still suspend the running a fair boundary between them and us, as agreed on by themselves, and having for its object the precise definition of their and our lands, so as to prevent encroachment on either side, and that we have constantly endeavored to keep them at peace with the Spanish settlements also; that Spain on the contrary, or at least the officers of her governments, since the arrival of the Baron de Carondelet, have undertaken to keep an agent among the Creeks, have excited them and the other southern Indians to commence a war against us, have furnished them with arms and ammunition for the express purpose of carrying on that war, and prevented the Creeks from running the boundary which would have removed the cause of difference from between us. Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes explain the ground of interference on the fact of the Spanish claim to that territory, and on an article in our treaty with the Creeks, putting themselves under our protection. But besides that you already know the nullity of their pretended claim to the territory, they had themselves set the example of endeavoring to strengthen that claim by the treaty mentioned in the letter of the Baron de Carondelet, and by the employment of an agent among them. The establishment of our boundary, committed to you, will, of course, remove the grounds of all future pretence to interfere with the Indians within our territory, and it was to such only that the treaty of New York stipulated protection; for we take for granted, that Spain will be ready to agree to the principle, that neither party has a right to stipulate protection or interference with the Indian nations inhabiting the territory of the other. But it is extremely material also, with sincerity and good faith, to patronize the peace of each other with the neighboring savages. We are quite disposed to believe that the late wicked excitements to war, have proceeded from the Baron de Carondelet himself, without any authority from his court. But if so, have we not reason to expect the removal of such an officer from our neighborhood, as an evidence of the disavowal of his proceedings? He has produced against us a serious war. He says in his letter, indeed, that he has suspended it. But this he has not done, nor possibly can he do it. The Indians are more easily engaged in a war than withdrawn from it. They have made the attack in force on our frontiers, whether with or without his consent, and will oblige us to a severe punishment of their aggression. We trust that you will be able to settle principles of a friendly concert between us and Spain, with respect to the neighboring Indians; and if not, that you will endeavor to apprize us of what we may expect, that we may no longer be tied up by principles, which, in that case, would be inconsistent with duty and self-preservation.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of perfect esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, November 3, 1792.
Sir,—In order to enable you to lay before Congress the account required by law of the application of the moneys appropriated to foreign purposes through the agency of the Department of State, I have now the honor to transmit to you the two statements, Nos. 1 and 2, herein enclosed, comprehending the period of two years preceding the 1st day of July last.
The first statement is of the sums paid from the Treasury under the act allowing the annual fund of $40,000 for the purpose of foreign intercourse, as also under the acts of March 3, 1791, c. 16, and May 1792, c. 41, 5, 3, allowing other sums for special purposes. By this it will appear, that, except the sum of $500 paid to Colonel Humphreys on his departure, the rest has all been received in bills of exchange, which identical bills have been immediately remitted to Europe, either to those to whom they were due for services, or to the bankers of the United States in Amsterdam, to be paid out by them to persons performing services abroad. This general view has been given in order to transfer the debt of these sums from the Department of State to those to whom they have been delivered.
But in order to give to Congress a view of the specific application of these moneys, the particular accounts rendered by those who have received them, have been analyzed, and the payments made to them have been reduced under general heads, so as to show at one view the amount of the sums which each has received for every distinct species of service or disbursement, as well as their several totals. This is the statement No. 2, and it respects the annual fund of $40,000 only, the special funds of the acts of 1791 and 1792, having been not yet so far administered as to admit of any statement.
I had presented to the Auditor the statement No. 1, with the vouchers, and also the special accounts rendered by the several persons who have received these moneys, but, on consideration, he thought himself not authorized, by any law, to proceed to their examination. I am, therefore, to hope, Sir, that authority may be given to the Auditor, or some other person, to examine the general account and vouchers of the Department of State, as well as to raise special accounts against the persons into whose hands the moneys pass, and to settle the same from time to time on behalf of the public.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE IN ACCOUNT WITH THE U. S.
Dr.
1790 Aug. 14 To a warrant from the Treasury under the Act for foreign intercourse (1790, July 1) $500
Dec. 20 To the Treasurer's Exchange on x $
Will. V. Staph. &Hub. under do. 2475.0 = 1000.00
To do. 577-10 = 233.33
1791 Mar. 19 To do. 99,000 = 40,000
May 7 To do. under Act of March 3, 1791, c. 16 32,175 = 13,000
1792 Jan. 27 To do. under Act for foreign intercourse 95,947-10 = 38,766,67 40,000
99,000 = 40,000
June 30 To do. under the Act of 1792, May 8, c. 41, 5, 3 123,750 50,000
$143,500
Cr.
1790 Aug. 14 By paid Col. Humphreys on his mission to Madrid, (as by his receipt) $ 500
x
Dec. 17 By remittance to Mr. G. Morris, (as by his letter, Feb. 26, 91), the bill per contra for 2475 = $1,000
By do. to J. B. Cutting, (as by papers given in to Congress,) the bill per contra for 577-10 = $233⅓
1791 Mar. 19 By do. to Will V. Staphorsts &Hub., (as by their account, June 10, 91), the bill per contra for 99,000 = 40,000
May 13 By do. to do. subject to Humphreys &Barclay, (as by their receipt,) the bill per contra for 32,175 = 13,000
1792 Jan. 23 By do. to do., (as by their account, April 10, 92), the bill per contra for 95,947 = 38,766⅔
99,000 = 40,000 40,000
July 3 By do. to do. subject to J. Pinckney for purposes of Act May 8, 92, the bill per contra for 123,750 50,000
$143,500
Analyses of the Expenses of the United States for their intercourse with Foreign Nations from July 1, 1790, to July 1, '91, and from July 1, '91, to July 1, '92, taken from the accounts of Messrs. Short, Humphreys, Morris, Pinckney, Willincks, Van Staphorsts, Hubbard, given to the auditor.
1790, July 1—1791, July 1. Outfit. Salary. Secretary. Postage. Contingencies, viz., Gazettes, &c. to dept. of state, printing, poor seamen, &c. Total. Dollars.
Ordinary,
Mr. Short 4500. 281.74 72.4 248.96 5,103.10
Col. Humphreys 4500. 1602.73 6,102.73
Mr. Carmichael 3,927.94
Mr. Dumas 1,505.44
16,639.21
Extraordinary,
Mission to London 2000.
Mission to Amsterdam on the subject of loans 986.18
Mission to Madrid 1195.89
Mr. Cutting special services to American seamen 233.33 4,415.40
Total 21,054.61
1791, July 1.—1792, July 1. Outfit. Salary. Postage. Contingencies. Total. Dollars.
Ordinary,
Mr. Short 4500. 4500. 68.82 9,068.82
Col. Humphreys 4500. 171. 4,671.
Mr. Carmichael 4,512.20
Mr. Dumas 1,528.32
Mr. Morris 9000. 1500. 10,800.
Mr. Pinckney 9000. 1800. 10,800.
41080.34
Extraordinary,
Mission to Amsterdam on the subject of loans 444.43
Mission to Madrid 320.
Dyes for medals as presents to foreign ministers taking leave, and medals 1586.32 2,350.75
Total 43,431.09
Thomas Jefferson having had the honor at different times heretofore of giving to the President conjectural estimate of expenses of our foreign establishment, has that of now laying before him, in page 1 of the enclosed paper, a statement of the whole amount of the foreign fund from the commencement to the expiration of the act, which will be on the 3d March next, with the actual expenses to the 1st of July last, and the conjectural ones from thence through the remaining eight months, and the balance which will probably remain.
Page 2, shows the probable annual expense of our present establishment, and its excess above the funds allowed, and in another column the reduced establishment necessary and most proper to bring it within the limits of the funds supposing it should be continued.
November 5, 1792.
Estimate of the funds of $40,000 for foreign intercourse and its application.
1790, July 1, to 1791, July 1, a year's appropriation $40,000
1791, July 1, to 1792, July 1, a year's appropriation 40,000
1792, July 1, to 1793, March 3d, being 8 1-10 months 27,000
$107,000
1790, July 1, to 1791, July 1, actual expenses incurred 21,054,00
1791, July 1, to 1792, July 2, actual expenses incurred 43,431,09
1792, July 1, to 1793, March 3d, the probable expenses may be about 26,300,00
Surplus unexpended will be about 16,214,91
$107,000
November 5, 1792.
Estimate of the ordinary expense of the different diplomatic grades annually.
A Minister Plenipotentiary.
Outfit 1-7 of $9,000. 1,285.71
Salary 9,000.
Secretary 1,350.
Extras 350.
Return 1-7 of $2,250 321.42
$12,307.13
A Resident.
Outfit 1-7 of $4,500. 642.85
Salary 4,500.
Extras 350.
Returns 1-7 of $1,125 160.71
$5,653.56
Agent.
Salary 1,300
Extras 350
$1,650
Medals to foreign ministers, suppose 5 to be kept here and changed once in 7 years, will be about $654.06 annually.
To Support the present establishment, would require
For Paris, Minister Plenipot'y $12,307.13
London 12,307.13
Madrid, Resident 5,653.56
Lisbon 5,653.56
Hague 5,653.56
Medals to foreign ministers 654.06
$42,229.54
A reduction of the establishment to bring it within the limits of $40,000
For Paris, Minister Plenipot'y $12,307.13
London 12,307.13
Madrid, Resident 5,653.56
Lisbon 5,653.56
Hague, an Agent 1,650.
Medals to foreign ministers 654.06
Surplus 1774.02
$40,000.00
November 5, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate,—According to the directions of the law, I now lay before you a statement of the administration of the funds appropriated to certain foreign purposes, together with a letter from the Secretary of State, explaining the same.
November 5, 1792.
TO THE MAYOR, MUNICIPAL OFFICERS AND PROCUREUR OF THE COMMUNITY OF MARSEILLES.
Philadelphia, November 6, 1792.
Gentlemen,—Your letter of the 24th of August, is just now received by the President of the United States, and I have it in charge from him to communicate to you the particular satisfaction he feels at the expressions of fraternity towards our nation therein contained, to assure you that he desires sincerely the most speedy relief to France from her general difficulties, and will be happy to be instrumental in removing the special ones of the city of Marseilles in particular, by encouraging supplies of wheat and flour to be sent thither. Our harvest having been plentiful, our merchants would of course feel sufficient inducements, in the assurances you give of a ready sale and good price, were it not for the apprehensions of the Barbary cruisers. Certain arrangements for a Convoy, and the time, place, and manner of getting under its protection, would remove these apprehensions; but it may be doubtful whether these can be notified to them in time to prepare their adventures. They shall certainly, however, be informed of the wants of your city, and the inducements to go to it, and on this, and all other occasions, I beg leave to recommend our commerce to the patronage of your municipality, and to tender to you the homage of those sentiments of respect and attachment, with which I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.
Philadelphia, November 6, 1792.
Dear Sir,—We have never known so long an interval during which there has not been a single vessel going to Lisbon. Hence it is that I am so late in acknowledging the receipt of your letters from No. 54 to 58 inclusive, and that I am obliged to do it by the way of London, and consequently cannot send you the newspapers as usual.
The summer has been chiefly past in endeavoring to bring the north-western Indians to peace, and in preparing for a vigorous operation against them the ensuing summer, if peace should not be made. As yet no symptoms of it appear on their part. In the meantime there is danger of a war being kindled up on our south-western frontiers by the Indians in that quarter, excited, as we have reason to believe, by some Spanish officers. We trust that it has not been with the authority of their government.
To counterbalance these evils, we have had the blessing of another plentiful harvest of the principal grains. Tobacco and Indian corn have suffered from the early frosts. We have very earnest demands for supplies of grain from Marseilles; but the Algerine cruisers are an impediment. Would it be practicable for you, without awaiting a general treaty, to obtain permission for our flour to be carried to Portugal? nothing is more demonstrable than that this restriction is highly injurious to Portugal as well as to us.
Congress assembled yesterday, the President will meet them to-day, and I will enclose you a copy of his speech whereby you will see the chief objects which will be under their consideration during the present session. Your newspapers shall be sent by the very first vessel bound to Lisbon directly. I am, with sentiments of great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. November 7. After writing this letter, your No. 59 came to hand. It seems then that, so far from giving new liberties to our corn trade, Portugal contemplates the prohibition of it, by giving that trade exclusively to Naples. What would she say should we give her wine-trade exclusive to France and Spain. It is well known that far the greatest portion of the wine we consume, is from Portugal and its dependancies, and it must be foreseen that from the natural increase of population in these States, the demand will become equal to the uttermost abilities of Portugal to supply, even when her last foot of land shall be put into culture. Can a wise statesman seriously think of risking such a prospect as this? To me it seems incredible; and if the fact be so, I have no doubt you will interpose your opposition with the minister, developing to him all the consequences which such a measure would have on the happiness of the two nations. He should reflect that nothing but habit has produced in this country a preference of their wines over the superior wines of France, and that if once that habit is interrupted by an absolute prohibition it will never be recovered.
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, November 7, 1792.
Dear Sir,—My last to you was of the 15th of October; since which I have received your Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. Though mine went by a conveyance directly to Bordeaux, and may therefore probably get safe to you, yet I think it proper, lest it should miscarry, to repeat to you the following paragraph from it.
* * * * *
I am perfectly sensible that your situation must, ere this reaches you, have been delicate and difficult; and though the occasion is probably over, and your part taken of necessity, so that instructions now would be too late, yet I think it just to express our sentiments on the subject, as a sanction of what you have probably done. Whenever the scene became personally dangerous to you, it was proper you should leave it, as well from personal as public motives. But what degree of danger should be awaited, to what distance or place you should retire, are circumstances which must rest with your own discretion, it being impossible to prescribe them from hence. With what kind of government you may do business, is another question. It accords with our principles to acknowledge any government to be rightful, which is formed by the will of the nation substantially declared. The late government was of this kind, and was accordingly acknowledged by all the branches of ours. So, any alteration of it which shall be made by the will of the nation substantially declared, will doubtless be acknowledged in like manner. With such a government every kind of business may be done. But there are some matters which, I conceive, might be transacted with a government de facto; such, for instance, as the reforming the unfriendly restrictions on our commerce and navigation. Such cases you will readily distinguish as they occur. With respect to this particular reformation of their regulations, we cannot be too pressing for its attainment, as every day's continuance gives it additional firmness, and endangers its taking root in their habits and constitution; and, indeed, I think they should be told, as soon as they are in a condition to act, that if they do not revoke the late innovations, we must lay additional and equivalent burthens on French ships, by name. Your conduct in the case of M. de Bonne Carrere, is approved entirely. We think it of great consequence to the friendship of the two nations, to have a minister here in whose dispositions we have confidence. Congress assembled the day before yesterday. I enclose you a paper containing the President's speech, whereby you will see the chief objects of the present session. Your difficulties as to the settlements of our accounts with France and as to the payment of the foreign officers, will have been removed by the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, of which, for fear it should have miscarried, I now enclose you a duplicate. Should a conveyance for the present letter offer to any port of France directly, your newspapers will accompany it. Otherwise, I shall send it through Mr. Pinckney, and retain the newspapers as usual, for a direct conveyance.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.
Philadelphia, November 8, 1792.
Dear Sir,—You were not unapprised of the reluctance with which I came into my present office, and I came into it with a determination to quit it as soon as decency would permit. Nor was it long before I fixed on the termination of our first federal cycle of four years as the proper moment. That moment is now approaching, and is to me as land was to Columbus in his first American voyage. The object of this private letter is to desire that your future public letters may be addressed to the Secretary of State by title and not by name, until you know who he will be, as otherwise your letters arriving here after the 3d of March, would incur the expense, delay, and risk of travelling six hundred miles by post after their arrival here. I may perhaps take the liberty of sometimes troubling you with a line from my retirement, and shall be ever happy to hear from you, and to give you every proof of the sincere esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.
P. S. We yesterday received information of the conclusion of peace with the Wabash and Illinois Indians. This forms a broad separation between the northern and southern war-tribes.
TO T. M. RANDOLPH, JR.
Philadelphia, November 16, 1792.
Dear Sir,—Congress have not yet entered into any important business. An attempt has been made to give further extent to the influence of the Executive over the Legislature, by permitting the heads of departments to attend the House and explain their measures vivâ voce. But it was negatived by a majority of 35 to 11, which gives us some hope of the increase of the republican vote. However, no trying question enables us yet to judge, nor indeed is there reason to expect from this Congress many instances of conversion, though some will probably have been effected by the expression of the public sentiment in the late election. For, as far as we have heard, the event has been generally in favor of republican, and against the aristocratical candidates. In this State the election has been triumphantly carried by the republicans; their antagonists having got but 2 out of 11 members, and the vote of this State can generally turn the balance. Freneau's paper is getting into Massachusetts, under the patronage of Hancock; and Samuel Adams, and Mr. Ames, the colossus of the monocrats and paper men, will either be left out or hard run. The people of that State are republican; but hitherto they have heard nothing but the hymns and lauds chanted by Fenno. My love to my dear Martha, and am, dear Sir, yours affectionately.
TO M. DE TERNANT.
Philadelphia, November 20, 1792.
Sir,—Your letter on the subject of further supplies to the colony of St. Domingo, has been duly received and considered. When the distresses of that colony first broke forth, we thought we could not better evidence our friendship to that and to the mother country also, than to step in to its relief, on your application, without waiting a formal authorization from the National Assembly. As the case was unforeseen, so it was unprovided for on their part, and we did what we doubted not they would have desired us to do, had there been time to make the application, and what we presumed they would sanction as soon as known to them. We have now been going on more than a twelve-month, in making advances for the relief of the colony, without having, as yet, received any such sanction; for the decree of four millions of livres in aid of the colony, besides the circuitous and informal manner by which we became acquainted with it, describes and applies to operations very different from those which have actually taken place. The wants of the colony appear likely to continue, and their reliance on our supplies to become habitual. We feel every disposition to continue our efforts for administering to those wants; but that cautious attention to forms which would have been unfriendly in the first moment, becomes a duty to ourselves, when the business assumes the appearance of long continuance, and respectful also to the National Assembly itself, who have a right to prescribe the line of an interference so materially interesting to the mother country and the colony.
By the estimate you were pleased to deliver me, we perceive that there will be wanting, to carry the colony through the month of December, between thirty and forty thousand dollars, in addition to the sums before engaged to you. I am authorized to inform you, that the sum of forty thousand dollars shall be paid to your orders at the treasury of the United States, and to assure you, that we feel no abatement in our dispositions to contribute these aids from time to time, as they shall be wanting, for the necessary subsistence of the colony; but the want of express approbation from the national Legislature, must ere long produce a presumption that they contemplate perhaps other modes of relieving the colony, and dictate to us the propriety of doing only what they shall have regularly and previously sanctioned. Their decree before mentioned, contemplates purchases made in the United States only. In this they might probably have in view, as well to keep the business of providing supplies under a single direction, as that these supplies should be bought where they can be had cheapest, and where the same sum will consequently effect the greatest measure of relief to the colony. It is our wish as undoubtedly it must be yours, that the moneys we furnish be applied strictly in the line they prescribe. We understand, however, that there are in the hands of our citizens, some bills drawn by the administration of the colony, for articles of subsistence delivered there. It seems just, that such of them should be paid as were received before bona fide notice that that mode of supply was not bottomed on the funds furnished to you by the United States, and we recommend them to you accordingly.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect. Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. PINCKNEY.
Philadelphia, December 3, 1792.
Dear Sir,—
* * * * *
I do not write you a public letter by the packet because there is really no subject for it. The elections for Congress have produced a decided majority in favor of the republican interest. They complain, you know, that the influence and patronage of the Executive is to become so great as to govern the Legislature. They endeavored a few days ago to take away one means of influence by condemning references to the heads of department. They failed by a majority of five votes. They were more successful in their endeavor to prevent the introduction of a new means of influence, that of admitting the heads of department to deliberate occasionally in the House in explanation of their measures. The proposition for their admission was rejected by a pretty general vote. I think we may consider the tide of this government as now at the fullest, and that it will, from the commencement of the next session of Congress, retire and subside into the true principles of the Constitution. An alarm has been endeavored to be sounded as if the republican interest was indisposed to the payment of the public debt. Besides the general object of the calumny, it was meant to answer the special one of electioneering. Its falsehood was so notorious that it produced little effect. They endeavored with as little success to conjure up the ghost of anti-federalism, and to have it believed that this and republicanism were the same, and that both were Jacobinism. But those who felt themselves republicans and federalists too, were little moved by this artifice; so that the result of the election has been promising. The occasion of electing a Vice-President has been seized as a proper one for expressing the public sense on the doctrines of the monocrats. There will be a strong vote against Mr. Adams, but the strength of his personal worth and his services will, I think, prevail over the demerit of his political creed.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, my dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO DR. GILMER.
Philadelphia, December 15, 1792.
Dear Doctor,—I received only two days ago your favor of October 9, by Mr. Everett. He is now under the small-pox. I am rejoiced with the account he gives me of the invigoration of your system, and am anxious for your persevering in any course of regimen which may long preserve you to us. We have just received the glorious news of the Prussian army being obliged to retreat, and hope it will be followed by some proper catastrophe on them. This news has given wry faces to our monocrats here, but sincere joy to the great body of the citizens. It arrived only in the afternoon of yesterday, and the bells were rung and some illuminations took place in the evening. A proposition has been made to Congress to begin sinking the public debt by a tax on pleasure horses; that is to say, on all horses not employed for the draught or farm. It is said there is not a horse of that description eastward of New York. And as to call this a direct tax would oblige them to proportion it among the States according to the census, they choose to class it among the indirect taxes. We have a glimmering hope of peace from the northern Indians, but from those of the south there is danger of war. Wheat is at a dollar and a fifth here. Do not sell yours till the market begins to fall. You may lose a penny or two in the bushel then, but might lose a shilling or two now. Present me affectionately to Mrs. Gilmer. Yours, sincerely.
TO MR. MERCER.
Philadelphia, December 19, 1792.
Dear Sir,—I received yesterday your favor of the 13th. I had been waiting two or three days in expectation of vessels said to be in the river, and by which we hope more particular accounts of the late affairs in France. It has turned out that there were no such vessels arriving as had been pretended. However I think we may safely rely that the Duke of Brunswick has retreated, and it is certainly possible enough that between famine, disease, and a country abounding with defiles, he may suffer some considerable catastrophe. The monocrats here still affect to disbelieve all this, while the republicans are rejoicing and taking to themselves the name of Jacobins, which two months ago was fixed on them by way of stigma. The votes for Vice-President, as far as hitherto known, stands thus:
Adams. Clinton.
New Hampshire 6
Massachusetts 16
Rhode Island 4
Connecticut 7
New York 12
Pennsylvania 14 1
Delaware 3
Maryland 8
Virginia 21
Bankrupt bill is brought on with some very threatening features to landed and farming men, who are in danger of being drawn into its vortex. It assumes the right of seizing and selling lands, and so cuts the knotty question of the Constitution whether the General Government may direct the transmission of land by descent or otherwise. The post-office is not within my department, but that of the treasury. I note duly what you say of Mr. Skinner, but I don't believe any bill on weights and measures will be passed. Adieu. Yours, affectionately.
TO MR. RUTHERFORD.
Philadelphia, December 25, 1792.
Sir,—I have considered, with all the attention which the shortness of the time would permit, the two motions which you were pleased to put into my hands yesterday afternoon, on the subject of weights and measures, now under reference to a committee of the Senate, and will take the liberty of making a few observations thereon.
The first, I presume, is intended as a basis for the adoption of that alternative of the report on measures and weights, which proposed retaining the present system, and fixing its several parts by a reference to a rod vibrating seconds, under the circumstances therein explained; and to fulfil its object, I think the resolutions there proposed should be followed by this: "that the standard by which the said measures of length, surface, and capacity shall be fixed, shall be an uniform cylindrical rod of iron, of such length as in latitude forty-five degrees, in the level of the ocean, and in a cellar or other place of uniform natural temperature, shall perform its vibrations in small and equal arcs, in one second of mean time; and that rain water be the substance, to some definite mass of which, the said weights shall be referred." Without this, the committee employed to prepare a bill on those resolutions, would be uninstructed as to the principles by which the Senate mean to fix their measures of length, and the substance by which they will fix their weights.
The second motion is a middle proposition between the first and the last alternatives in the report. It agrees with the first in some of the present measures and weights, and with the last, in compounding and dividing them decimally. If this should be thought best, I take the liberty of proposing the following alterations of these resolutions:
2d. For "metal" substitute "iron." The object is to have one determinate standard. But the different metals having different degrees of expansibility, there would be as many different standards as there are metals, were that generic term to be used. A specific one seems preferable, and "iron" the best, because the least variable by expansion.
3d. I should think it better to omit the chain of 66 feet, because it introduces a series which is not decimal, viz., 1. 66. 80. and because it is absolutely useless. As a measure of length, it is unknown to the mass of our citizens; and if retained for the purpose of superficial measure, the foot will supply its place, and fix the acre as in the fourth resolution.
4th. For the same reason, I propose to omit the words "or shall be ten chains in length and one in breadth."
5th. This resolution would stand better, if it omitted the words "shall be one foot square, and one foot and twenty cents of a foot deep, and," because the second description is perfect, and too plain to need explanation. Or if the first expression be preferred, the second may be omitted, as perfectly tautologous.
6th. I propose to leave out the words "shall be equal to the pound avoirdupois now in use, and," for the reasons suggested in the second resolution, to wit, that our object is, to have one determinate standard. The pound avoirdupois now in use is an indefinite thing. The committee of parliament reported variations among the standard weights of the exchequer. Different persons weighing the cubic foot of water, have made it, some more, and some less than one thousand ounces avoirdupois; according as their weights had been tested by the lighter or heavier standard weights of the exchequer. If the pound now in use be declared a standard, as well as the weight of sixteen thousand cubic cents of a foot in water, it may hereafter perhaps be insisted that these two definitions are different, and that, being of equal authority, either may be used, and so the standard pound be rendered as uncertain as at present.
7th. For the same reason, I propose to omit the words "equal to seven grains troy." The true ratio between the avoirdupois and troy weights, is a very contested one. The equation of seven thousand grains troy to the pound avoirdupois, is only one of several opinions, and is indebted perhaps to its integral form for its prevalence. The introduction either of the troy or avoirdupois weight into the definition of our unit, will throw that unit under the uncertainties now enveloping the troy and avoirdupois weights.
When the House of Representatives were pleased to refer to me the subject of weights and measures, I was uninformed as to the hypothesis on which I was to take it up; to wit, whether on that, that our citizens would not approve of any material change in the present system, or on the other, that they were ripe for a complete reformation. I therefore proposed plans for each alternative. In contemplating these, I had occasion to examine well all the middle ground between the two, and among others which presented themselves to my mind, was the plan of establishing one of the known weights and measures as the unit in each class; to wit, in the measures of lines, of surfaces, and of solids, and in weights, and to compound and divide them decimally. In the measures of weights, I had thought of the ounce as the best unit, because, calling it the thousandth part of a cubic foot of water, it fell into the decimal series, formed a happy link of connection with the system of measures on the one side, and of coins on the other, by admitting an equality with the dollar, without changing the value of that or its alloy materially. But on the whole, I abandoned this middle proposition, on the supposition that if our fellow citizens were ripe for advancing so great a length towards reformation, as to retain only four known points of the very numerous series to which they were habituated, to wit, the foot, the acre, the bushel, and the ounce, abandoning all the multiples and subdivisions of them, or recurring for their value to the tables which would be formed, they would probably be ripe for taking the whole step, giving up these four points also, and making the reformation complete; and the rather, as in the present series and the one to be proposed, there would be so many points of very near approximation, as aided in the same manner by tables, would not increase their difficulties perhaps, indeed, would lessen them by the greater simplicity of the links by which the several members of the system are connected together. Perhaps, however, I was wrong in this supposition. The representatives of the people in Congress are alone competent to judge of the general disposition of the people, and to what precise point of reformation they are ready to go. On this, therefore, I do not presume to give an opinion, nor to pronounce between the comparative expediency of the three propositions; but shall be ready to give whatever aid I can to any of them which shall be adopted by the Legislature.
I have the honor to be, with perfect respect, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. PINCKNEY.
Philadelphia, December 30, 1792.
Dear Sir,—My last letters to you have been of the 13th and 20th of November, since which I have received yours of September 19. We are anxious to hear that the person substituted in the place of the one deceased is gone on that business. You do not mention your prospect of finding for the mint the officers we were desirous of procuring. On this subject, I will add to what was before mentioned to you, that if you can get artists really eminent, and on the salaries fixed by the law, we shall be glad of them; but that experience of the persons we have found here, would induce us to be contented with them rather than to take those who are not eminent, or who would expect more than the legal salaries. A greater difficulty has been experienced in procuring copper for the mint than we expected. Mr. Rittenhouse, the Director, having been advised that it might be had on advantageous terms from Sweden, has written me a letter on that subject, a copy of which I enclose you, with the bill of exchange it covered. I should not have troubled you with them, had our resident in Holland been in place. But on account of his absence, I am obliged to ask the favor of you to take such measures as your situation will admit, for procuring such a quantity of copper, to be brought us from Sweden, as this bill will enable you. It is presumed that the commercial relations of London with every part of Europe will furnish ready means of executing this commission. We as yet get no answer from Mr. Hammond on the general subject of the execution of the treaty. He says he is waiting for instructions. It would be well to urge, in your conversations with the minister, the necessity of giving Mr. Hammond such instructions and latitude as will enable him to proceed of himself. If on every move we are to await new instructions from the other side the Atlantic, it will be a long business indeed. You express a wish in your letter to be generally advised as to the tenor of your conduct, in consequence of the late revolution in France, the questions relative to which, you observe, incidentally present themselves to you. It is impossible to foresee the particular circumstances which may require you to decide and act on that question. But, principles being understood, their application will be less embarrassing. We certainly cannot deny to other nations that principle whereon our government is founded, that every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms at its own will; and externally to transact business with other nations through whatever organ it chooses, whether that be a King, Convention, Assembly, Committee, President, or whatever it be. The only thing essential is, the will of the nation. Taking this as your polar star, you can hardly err. I shall send you by the first vessel which sails (the packet excepted on account of postage) two dozen plans of the city of Washington in the Federal Government, which you are desired to display, not for sale, but for public inspection, wherever they may be most seen by those descriptions of people worthy and likely to be attracted to it, dividing the plans among the cities of London and Edinburgh chiefly, but sending some also to Glasgow, Bristol, Dublin, &c. Mr. Taylor tells me he sends you the public papers by every vessel going from hence to London. They will keep you informed of the proceedings of Congress, and other occurrences worthy your knowledge. I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. Though I have mentioned Sweden as the most likely place to get copper from, on the best terms, yet if you can be satisfied it may be got on better terms elsewhere, it is left to your discretion to get it elsewhere.
TO MR. SHORT.
Philadelphia, January 3, 1793.
Dear Sir,—My last private letter to you was of October 16, since which I have received your Nos. 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113 and 114 and yesterday your private one of September 15, came to hand. The tone of your letters had for some time given me pain, on account of the extreme warmth with which they censured the proceedings of the Jacobins of France. I considered that sect as the same with the Republican patriots, and the Feuillants as the Monarchical patriots, well known in the early part of the Revolution, and but little distant in their views, both having in object the establishment of a free constitution, differing only on the question whether their chief Executive should be hereditary or not. The Jacobins (as since called) yielded to the Feuillants, and tried the experiment of retaining their hereditary Executive. The experiment failed completely, and would have brought on the re-establishment of despotism had it been pursued. The Jacobins knew this, and that the expunging that office was of absolute necessity. And the nation was with them in opinion, for however they might have been formerly for the constitution framed by the first assembly, they were come over from their hope in it, and were now generally Jacobins. In the struggle which was necessary, many guilty persons fell without the forms of trial, and with them some innocent. These I deplore as much as any body, and shall deplore some of them to the day of my death. But I deplore them as I should have done had they fallen in battle. It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordial friends met at their hands the fate of enemies. But time and truth will rescue and embalm their memories, while their posterity will be enjoying that very liberty for which they would never have hesitated to offer up their lives. The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood? My own affections have been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but rather than it should have failed I would have seen half the earth desolated; were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is. I have expressed to you my sentiments, because they are really those of ninety-nine in an hundred of our citizens. The universal feasts, and rejoicings which have lately been had on account of the successes of the French, showed the genuine effusions of their hearts. You have been wounded by the sufferings of your friends, and have by this circumstance been hurried into a temper of mind which would be extremely disrelished if known to your countrymen. The rescue of 224.68.1460.916.83. had never permitted me to discover the light in which he viewed it, and as I was more anxious that you should satisfy him than me, I had still avoided explanations with you on the subject. But your 113. induced him to break silence, and to notice the extreme acrimony of your expressions. He added that he had been informed the sentiments you expressed in your conversations were equally offensive to our allies, and that you should consider yourself as the representative of your country, and that what you say might be imputed to your constituents. He desired me therefore to write to you on this subject. He added that he considered 729.633.224.939.1243. 1210.741.1683.1460.216.1407.890.1416.1212.674.125.633.1450. 1559.182. there are in the United States some characters of opposite principles; some of them are high in office, others possessing great wealth, and all of them hostile to France, and fondly looking to England as the staff of their hope. These I named to you on a former occasion. Their prospects have certainly not brightened. Excepting them, this country is entirely republican, friends to the Constitution, anxious to preserve it, and to have it administered according to its own republican principles. The little party above mentioned have espoused it only as a stepping-stone to monarchy, and have endeavored to approximate it to that in its administration in order to render its final transition more easy. The successes of republicanism in France have given the coup de grace to their prospects, and I hope to their projects. I have developed to you faithfully the sentiments of your country, that you may govern yourself accordingly. I know your republicanism to be pure, and that it is no decay of that which has embittered you against its votaries in France, but too great a sensibility at the partial evil which its object has been accomplished there. I have written to you in the style to which I have been always accustomed with you, and which perhaps it is time I should lay aside. But while old men are sensible enough of their own advance in years, they do not sufficiently recollect it in those whom they have seen young. In writing, too, the last private letter which will probably be written under present circumstances, in contemplating that your correspondence will shortly be turned over to I know not whom, but certainly to some one not in the habit of considering your interests with the same fostering anxieties I do, I have presented things without reserve, satisfied you will ascribe what I have said to its true motive, use it for your own best interest, and in that fulfil completely what I had in view. With respect to the subject of your letter of Sept. 15, you will be sensible that many considerations would prevent my undertaking the reformation of a system with which I am so soon to take leave. It is but common decency to leave to my successor the moulding of his own business. Not knowing how otherwise to convey this letter to you with certainty, I shall appeal to the friendship and honor of the Spanish commissioners here, to give it the protection of their cover, as a letter of private nature altogether. We have no remarkable event here lately but the death of Dr. Lee, nor have I anything new to communicate to you of your friends or affairs. I am, with unalterable affection and wishes for your prosperity, my dear Sir, your sincere friend and servant.
TO MR. RANDOLPH.
Philadelphia, January 7, 1793.
Dear Sir,—Our news from France continues to be good, and to promise a continuance; the event of the revolution there is now little doubted of, even by its enemies, the sensations it has produced here, and the indications of them in the public papers, have shown that the form our own government was to take depended much more on the events of France than anybody had before imagined. The tide which after our former relaxed government, took a violent course towards the opposite extreme, and seemed ready to hang everything round with the tassels and baubles of monarchy, is now getting track as we hope to a just mean, a government of laws addressed to the reason of the people and not to their weaknesses. The daily papers show it more than those you receive. An attempt in the House of Representatives to stop the recruiting service has been rejected. Indeed, the conferences for peace, agreed to by the Indians, do not promise much, as we have reason to believe they will insist on taking back lands purchased at former treaties. Maria is well; we hope all are so at Monticello. My best love to my dear Martha, and am, most affectionately, dear Sir, yours, &c.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
Philadelphia, January 25, 1793.
Sir,—Mr. Segaux called on me this morning to ask a statement of the experiment which was made in Virginia by a Mr. Mazzie, for the raising vines and making wines, and desired I would address it to you. Mr. Mazzie was an Italian, and brought over with him about a dozen laborers of his own country, bound to serve him four or five years. We made up a subscription for him of £2,000 sterling, and he began his experiment on a piece of land adjoining to mine. His intention was, before the time of his people should expire, to import more from Italy. He planted a considerable vineyard, and attended to it with great diligence for three years. The war then came on, the time of his people soon expired, some of them enlisted, others chose to settle on other lands and labor for themselves; some were taken away by the gentlemen of the country for gardeners, so that there did not remain a single one with him, and the interruption of navigation prevented his importing others. In this state of things he was himself employed by the State of Virginia to go to Europe as their agent to do some particular business. He rented his place to General Riedesel, whose horses in one week destroyed the whole labor of three or four years; and thus ended an experiment which, from every appearance, would in a year or two more have established the practicability of that branch of culture in America. This is the sum of the experiment as exactly as I am able to state it from memory, after such an interval of time, and I consign it to you in whose hands I know it will be applied with candor, if it contains anything applicable to the case for which it has been asked.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MRS. RANDOLPH.
Philadelphia, January 26, 1793.
My Dear Martha,—
* * * * *
I have for some time past been under an agitation of mind which I scarcely ever experienced before, produced by a check on my purpose of returning home at the close of this session of Congress. My operations at Monticello had been all made to bear upon that point of time, my mind was fixed on it with a fondness which was extreme, the purpose firmly declared to the President, when I became assailed from all quarters with a variety of objections. Among these it was urged that my return just when I had been attacked in the public papers, would injure me in the eyes of the public, who would suppose I either withdrew from investigation, or because I had not tone of mind sufficient to meet slander. The only reward I ever wished on my retirement was to carry with me nothing like a disapprobation of the public. These representations have, for some weeks past, shaken a determination which I had thought the whole world could not have shaken. I have not yet finally made up my mind on the subject, nor changed my declaration to the President. But having perfect reliance in the disinterested friendship of some of those who have counseled and urged it strongly; believing that they can see and judge better a question between the public and myself than I can, I feel a possibility that I may be detained here into the summer. A few days will decide. In the meantime I have permitted my house to be rented after the middle of March, have sold such of my furniture as would not suit Monticello, and am packing up the rest and storing it ready to be shipped off to Richmond as soon as the season of good sea weather comes on. A circumstance which weighs on me next to the weightiest is the trouble which, I foresee, I shall be constrained to ask Mr. Randolph to undertake. Having taken from other pursuits a number of hands to execute several purposes which I had in view this year, I cannot abandon those purposes and lose their labor altogether. I must, therefore, select the most important and least troublesome of them, the execution of my canal, and (without embarrassing him with any details which Clarkson and George are equal to) get him to tell them always what is to be done and how, and to attend to the levelling the bottom; but on this I shall write him particularly if I defer my departure. I have not received the letter which Mr. Carr wrote to me from Richmond, nor any other from him since I left Monticello. My best affections to him, Mr. Randolph and your fireside, and am, with sincere love, my dear Martha, yours.
TO DR. STEWART, OR TO ALL THE GENTLEMEN.
January 31, 1793.
I have had under consideration Mr. Hallet's plans for the capitol, which undoubtedly have a great deal of merit. Doctor Thornton has also given me a view of his. These last came forward under some very advantageous circumstances. The grandeur, simplicity and beauty of the exterior, the propriety with which the apartments are distributed, and economy in the mass of the whole structure, will, I doubt not, give it a preference in your eyes, as it has done in mine and those of several others whom I have consulted. I have, therefore, thought it better to give the Doctor time to finish his plan, and for this purpose to delay until your next meeting a final decision. Some difficulty arises with respect to Mr. Hallet, who you know was in some degree led into his plan by ideas we all expressed to him. This ought not to induce us to prefer it to a better; but while he is liberally rewarded for the time and labor he has expended on it, his feelings should be saved and soothed as much as possible. I leave it to yourselves how best to prepare him for the possibility that the Doctor's plan may be preferred to his. Some ground for this will be furnished you by the occasion you will have for recourse to him as to the interior of the apartments, and the taking of him into service at a fixed allowance; and I understand that his necessities render it material that he should know what his allowance is to be.
TO MR. CARROLL.
Philadelphia, February 1, 1793.
Dear Sir,—Doctor Thornton's plan of a capitol has been produced, and has so captivated the eyes and judgment of all as to leave no doubt you will prefer it when it shall be exhibited to you; as no doubt exists here of its preference over all which have been produced, and among its admirers no one is more decided than him whose decision is most important. It is simple, noble, beautiful, excellently distributed, and moderate in size. The purpose of this letter is to apprize you of this sentiment. A just respect for the right of approbation in the commissioners will prevent any formal decision in the President till the plan shall be laid before you and be approved by you. The Doctor will go with it to your meeting in the beginning of March. In the meantime, the interval of apparent doubt may be improved for settling the mind of poor Hallet, whose merit and distresses interest every one for his tranquillity and pecuniary relief. I have taken the liberty of making these private estimates, thinking you would wish to know the true state of the sentiments here on this subject, and am with sincere respect and esteem for your colleagues and yourself, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.
Circular to the ministers of France, the United Netherlands, Great Britain, &c.
Philadelphia, February 13, 1793.
Sir,—The House of Representatives having referred to me, to report to them the nature and extent of the privileges and restrictions on the commerce of the United States with foreign nations, I have accordingly prepared a report on that subject. Being particularly anxious that it may be exact in matters of fact, I take the liberty of putting into your hands, privately and informally, an extract of such as relate to our commerce with your nation, in hopes that if you can either enlarge or correct them, you will do me that favor. It is safer to suppress an error in its first conception, than to trust to any after-correction; and a confidence in your sincere desire to communicate or to re-establish any truths which may contribute to a perfect understanding between our two nations, has induced me to make the present request. I wish it had been in my power to have done this sooner, and thereby have obtained the benefit of your having more time to contemplate it; but circumstances have retarded the entire completion of the report till the Congress is approaching its end, which will oblige me to give it in within three or four days.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. The report having been prepared before the late diminution of the duties on our tobacco, that circumstance will be noted in the letter which will cover that report.
France receives favorably our bread stuff, rice, wood, pot and pearl ashes.
A duty of five sous the quintal, or nearly four and a half cents, is paid on our tar, pitch and turpentine. Our whale oils pay six livres the quintal, and are the only whale oils admitted. Our indigo pays five livres the quintal, their own two and a half; but a difference of quality, still more than a difference of duty, prevents its seeking that market.
Salted beef is received freely for re-exportation; but if for home consumption, it pays five livres the quintal. Other salted provisions pay that duty in all cases, and salted fish is made lately to pay the prohibitory one, of twenty livres the quintal.
Our ships are free to carry thither all foreign goods, which may be carried in their own or any other vessels, except tobaccos not of our own growth; and they participate with theirs, the exclusive carriage of our whale oils.
During their former government, our tobacco was under a monopoly, but paid no duties; and our ships were freely sold in their ports and converted into national bottoms. The first National Assembly took from our ships this privilege. They emancipated tobacco from its monopoly, but subjected it to duties of eighteen livres fifteen sous the quintal, carried in their own vessels, and twenty five livres, carried in ours; a difference more than equal to the freight of the article.
They and their colonies consume what they receive from us.
France, by a standing law, permits her West India possessions to receive directly our vegetables, live provisions, horses, wood, tar, pitch, and turpentine, rice and maize, and prohibits our other bread stuff; but a suspension of this prohibition having been left to the colonial legislature, in times of scarcity, it was formerly suspended occasionally, but latterly without interruption.
Our fish and salted provisions (except pork) are received in their islands, under a duty of three colonial livres the quintal, and our vessels are as free as their own to carry our commodities thither, and to bring away rum and molasses.
The United Netherlands prohibit our pickled beef and pork, meals, and bread of all sorts, and lay a prohibitory duty on spirits distilled from grain.
All other of our productions are received on varied duties, which may be reckoned, on a medium, at about three per cent.
They consume but a small proportion of what they receive. The residue is partly forwarded for consumption in the inland parts of Europe, and partly re-shipped to other maritime countries. On the latter portion, they intercept between us and the consumer, so much of the real value as is absorbed by the charges attending an intermediate deposit.
Foreign goods, except some East India articles, are received in the vessels of any nation.
Our ships may be sold and naturalized there, with exceptions of one or two privileges, which scarcely lessen their value.
In the American possessions of the United Netherlands, and Sweden, our vessels and produce are received, subject to duties, not so heavy as to have been complained of.
Great Britain receives our pot and pearl ashes free, while those of other nations pay a duty of two shillings and three pence the quintal. There is an equal distinction in favor of our bar iron, of which article, however, we do not produce enough for our own use. Woods are free from us, whilst they pay some small duty from other countries. Indigo and flaxseed are free from all countries. Our tar and pitch pay eleven pence sterling the barrel. From other alien countries they pay about a penny and a third more.
Our tobacco, for their own consumption, pays one shilling three pence sterling the pound, custom and excise, besides heavy expenses of collection; and rice, in the same case, pays seven shillings four pence sterling the hundred weight, which rendering it too dear as an article of common food, it is consequently used in very small quantity.
Our salted fish, and other salted provisions, except bacon, are prohibited. Bacon and whale oils are under prohibitory duties: so are our grains, meals and bread, as to internal consumption, unless in times of such scarcity as may raise the price of wheat to fifty shillings sterling the quarter, and other grains and meals in proportion.
Our ships, though purchased and navigated by their own subjects, are not permitted to be used, even in their trade with us.
While the vessels of other nations are secured by standing laws, which cannot be altered but by the concurrent will of the three branches of the British Legislature, in carrying thither any produce or manufacture of the country to which they belong, which may be lawfully carried in any vessels, ours, with the same prohibition of what is foreign, are further prohibited by a standing law (12. Car. 2. c. 18, s. 3,) from carrying thither all and any of our domestic productions and manufactures. A subsequent act, indeed, has authorized their executive to permit the carriage of our own productions in our own bottoms, at its sole discretion; and the permission has been given from year to year, by proclamation; but subject every moment to be withdrawn on that single will, in which event, our vessels having anything on board, stand interdicted from the entry of all British ports. The disadvantage of a tenure which may be so suddenly discontinued, was experienced by our merchants on a late occasion, when an official notification that this law would be strictly enforced, gave them just apprehensions for the fate of their vessels and cargoes despatched or destined to the ports of Great Britain. It was privately believed, indeed, that the order of that court went further than their intention, and so we were, afterwards, officially informed; but the embarrassments of the moment were real and great, and the possibility of their renewal lays our commerce to that country under the same species of discouragement, as to other countries where it is regulated by a single legislator; and the distinction is too remarkable not to be noticed, that our navigation is excluded from the security of fixed laws, while that security is given to the navigation of others.
Our vessels pay in their ports one shilling nine pence sterling per ton, light and tritrity dues, more than is paid by British ships, except in the port of London, where they pay the same as British.
The greater part of what they receive from us, is re-exported to other countries, under the useless charges of an intermediate deposit and double voyage.
From tables published in England, and composed, as is said, from the books of their Custom Houses, it appears, that of the indigo imported there in the years 1773-4-5, one third was re-exported; and from a document of authority, we learn that of the rice and tobacco imported there before the war, four-fifths were re-exported. We are assured, indeed, that the quantities sent thither for re-exportation since the war, are considerably diminished; yet less so than reason and national interest would dictate. The whole of our grain is re-exported, when wheat is below fifty shillings the quarter, and other grains in proportion.
Great Britain admits in her islands our vegetables, live provisions, horses, wood, tar, pitch and turpentine, rice and bread stuff, by a proclamation of her executive, limited always to the term of a year, but hitherto renewed from year to year. She prohibits our salted fish and other salted provisions. She does not permit our vessels to carry thither our own produce. Her vessels alone may take it from us, and bring in exchange, rum, molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa nuts, ginger and pimento. There are, indeed, some freedoms in the island of Dominica, but under such circumstances as to be little used by us. In the British continental colonies, and in Newfoundland, all our productions are prohibited, and our vessels forbidden to enter their ports. Their Governors, however, in times of distress, have power to permit a temporary importation of certain articles in their own bottoms, but not in ours.
Our citizens cannot reside as merchants or factors within any of the British plantations, this being expressly prohibited by the same statute of 12 Car. 2, c. 18, commonly called their navigation act.
Of our commercial objects, Spain receives favorably our bread stuff, salted fish, wood, ships, tar, pitch, and turpentine. On our meals, however, when re-exported to their colonies, they have lately imposed duties of from half a dollar to two dollars the barrel, the duties being so proportioned to the current price of their own flour, as that both together are to make the constant sum of nine dollars per barrel.
They do not discourage our rice, pot and pearl ash, salted provisions, or whale oil; but these articles being in small demand at their markets, are carried thither but in a small degree. Their demand for rice, however, is increasing. Neither tobacco nor indigo are received there.
Themselves and their colonies are the actual consumers of what they receive from us.
Our navigation is free with the kingdom of Spain, foreign goods being received there in our ships on the same conditions as if carried in their own, or in the vessels of the country of which such goods are the manufacture or produce.
Spain and Portugal refuse to those parts of America which they govern, all direct intercourse with any people but themselves. The commodities in mutual demand between them and their neighbors, must be carried to be exchanged in some part of the dominant country, and the transportation between that and the subject State, must be in a domestic bottom.
TO MR. HAMMOND.
Philadelphia, February 16, 1793.
Sir,—I have duly received your letter of yesterday, with the statement of the duties payable on articles imported into Great Britain. The object of the report, from which I had communicated some extracts to you, not requiring a minute detail of the several duties on every article, in every country, I had presented both articles and duties in groups, and in general terms, conveying information sufficiently accurate for the object. And I have the satisfaction to find, on re-examining the expression in the report, that they correspond with your statement as nearly as generals can with particulars. The differences which any nation makes between our commodities and those of other countries, whether favorable or unfavorable to us, were proper to be noted. But they were subordinate to the more important questions, what countries consume most of our produce, exact the lightest duties, and leave to us the most favorable balance?
You seem to think that in the mention made of your official communication of April the 11th, 1792, that the clause in the navigation act (prohibiting our own produce to be carried in our own vessels into the British European dominions) would be strictly enforced in future, and the private belief expressed at the same time, that the intention of that court did not go so far, that the latter terms are not sufficiently accurate. About the fact it is impossible we should differ, because it is a written one. The only difference then, must be a merely verbal one. For thus stands the fact: In your letter of April the 11th, you say, you have received, by a circular despatch from your court, directions to inform this government that it had been determined in future strictly to enforce this clause of the navigation act. This I considered as an official notification. In your answer of April the 12th to my request of explanation, you say, "In answer to your letter of this day, I have the honor of observing, that I have no other instructions upon the subject of my communication, than such as are contained in the circular despatch, of which I stated the purport in my letter dated yesterday. I have, however, no difficulty in assuring you, that the result of my personal conviction is, that the determination of his Majesty's government to enforce the clause of the act, &c., is not intended to militate against the proclamation," &c. This personal conviction is expressed in the report as a private belief, in contradistinction to the official declaration. In your letter of yesterday, you choose to call it "a formal assurance of your conviction." As I am not scrupulous about words when they are once explained, I feel no difficulty in substituting in your report your own words, "personal conviction," for those of "private belief," which I had thought equivalent. I cannot indeed insert that it was a formal assurance, lest some readers might confound this with an official one, without reflecting that you could not mean to give official assurance that the clause would be enforced, and official assurance, at the same time, of your personal conviction that it would not be enforced.
I had the honor to acknowledge verbally the receipt of your letter of the 3d of August, when you did me that of making the inquiry verbally about six weeks ago; and I beg leave to assure you, that I am, with due respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DE TERNANT.
Philadelphia, February 17, 1793.
Sir,—I have duly received your letter of yesterday, and am sensible of your favor in furnishing me with your observations on the statement of the commerce between our two nations, of which I shall avail myself for the good of both. The omission of our participation with your vessels, in the exclusive transportation of our tobacco, was merely that of the copy, as it was expressed in the original draught where the same circumstance respecting our whale oil was noted; and I am happy that your notice of it has enabled me to reinstate it before the report goes out of my hand.
I must candidly acknowledge to you, that I do not foresee the same effect in favor of our navigation, from the late reduction of duties on our tobaccos in France, which you seem to expect. The difference in favor of French vessels is still so great, as, in my opinion, to make it their interest to quit all other branches of the carrying business, to take up this; and as your stock of shipping is not adequate to the carriage of all your exports, the branches which you abandon will be taken up by other nations; so that this difference thrusts us out of the tobacco carriage, to let other nations in to the carriage of other branches of your commerce. I must therefore avail myself of this occasion to express my hope, that your nation will again revise this subject, and place it on more equal grounds. I am happy in concurring with you more perfectly in another sentiment, that as the principles of our governments become more congenial, the links of affection are multiplied between us. It is impossible they should multiply beyond our wishes. Of the sincere interest we take in the happiness and prosperity of your nation, you have had the most unequivocal proofs.
I pray you to accept assurances of sincere attachment to you personally, and of the sentiments of respect and esteem with which I am, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DE TERNANT.
Philadelphia, February 20, 1793.
Sir,—I have laid before the President of the United States your notification of the 17th instant, in the name of the Provisory Executive Council charged with the administration of your government, that the French nation has constituted itself into a Republic. The President receives with great satisfaction this attention of the Executive Council, and the desire they have manifested of making known to us the resolution entered into by the National Convention, even before a definitive regulation of their new establishment could take place. Be assured, Sir, that the government and the citizens of the United States, view with the most sincere pleasure every advance of your nation towards its happiness, an object essentially connected with its liberty, and they consider the union of principles and pursuits between our two countries, as a link which binds still closer their interests and affections. We earnestly wish on our part that these our natural dispositions may be improved to mutual good, by establishing our commercial intercourse on principles as friendly to natural right and freedom, as are those of our governments.
I am, with sincere esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Philadelphia, February 20, 1793.
Sir,—The House of Representatives, about the close of the session before the last, referred to me the report of a committee on a message from the President of the United States, of the 14th of February, 1791, with directions to report to Congress the nature and extent of the privileges and restrictions of the commercial intercourse of the United States with foreign nations, and measures for its improvement. The report was accordingly prepared during the ensuing recess, ready to be delivered at the next session, that is to say, at the last. It was thought possible at that time, however, that some changes might take place in the existing state of things, which might call for corresponding changes in measures. I took the liberty of mentioning this in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to express an opinion that a suspension of proceedings thereon, for a time, might be expedient, and to propose retaining the report till the present session, unless the House should be pleased to signify their pleasure to the contrary. The changes then contemplated have not taken place, nor, after waiting as long as the term of the session will admit, in order to learn something further on the subject, can anything definite thereon be now said. If, therefore, the House wishes to proceed on the subject, the report shall be delivered at a moment's warning. Should they not choose to take it up till their next session, it will be an advantage to be permitted to keep it by me till then, as some further particulars may perhaps be procured relative to certain parts of our commerce, of which precise information is difficult to obtain. I make this suggestion, however, with the most perfect deference to their will, the first intimation of which shall be obeyed on my part, so as to occasion them no delay.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE MINISTER OF FRANCE.
Philadelphia, February 23, 1793.
Sir,—I have laid before the President of the United States your notification of the 17th instant, in the name of the Provisory Executive Council, charged with the administration of your Government, that the French nation has constituted itself into a Republic. The President receives, with great satisfaction, this attention of the Executive Council and the desire they have manifested of making known to us the resolution entered into by the National Convention, even before a definitive regulation of their new establishment could take place. Be assured, Sir, that the Government and the citizens of the United States view with the most sincere pleasure every advance of your nation towards its happiness, an object essentially connected with its liberty, and they consider the union of principles and pursuits between our two countries as a link which binds still closer their interests and affections. [The genuine and general effusions of joy which you saw overspread our country on their seeing the liberties of yours rise superior to foreign invasion and domestic trouble, have proved to you that our sympathies are great and sincere, and] we earnestly wish on our part that these, our mutual dispositions, may be improved to mutual good, by establishing our commercial intercourse on principles as friendly to natural right and freedom as are those of our Government. I am, with sincere esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO J. MADISON.
March, 1793.
The idea seems to gain credit that the naval powers combining against France, will prohibit supplies, even of provisions, to that country. Should this be formally notified, I should suppose Congress would be called, because it is a justifiable cause of war, and as the Executive cannot decide the question of war on the affirmative side, neither ought it to do so on the negative side, by preventing the competent body from deliberating on the question. But I should hope that war would not be their choice. I think it will furnish us a happy opportunity of setting another precious example to the world, by showing that nations may be brought to do justice by appeals to their interests as well as by appeals to arms. I should hope that Congress, instead of a denunciation of war, would instantly exclude from our ports all the manufactures, produce, vessels and subjects of the nations committing this aggression, during the continuance of the aggression, and till full satisfaction made for it. This would work well in many ways, safely in all, and introduce between nations another umpire than arms. It would relieve us, too, from the risks and the horrors of cutting throats. The death of the King of France has not produced as open condemnations from the monocrats as I expected. I dined the other day in a company where the subject was discussed. I will name the company in the order in which they manifested their partialities; beginning with the warmest Jacobinism, and proceeding by shades, to the most heart felt aristocracy. Smith, (N. Y.,) Coxe, Stewart, T. Shippen, Bingham, Peters, Breck, Meredith, Wolcott. It is certain that the ladies of this city, of the first circle, are open-mouthed against the murderers of a sovereign, and they generally speak those sentiments which the more cautious husband smothers. Ternant has at length openly hoisted the flag of monarchy by going into deep mourning for his prince. I suspect he thinks a cessation of his visits to me a necessary accompaniment to this pious duty. A connection between him and Hamilton seems to be springing up. On observing that Duer was Secretary to the old Board of Treasury, I suspect him to have been the person who suggested to Hamilton the letter of mine to that board, which he so tortured in his Catullus. Dunlop has refused to print the piece which we had heard of before your departure, and it has been several days in Bache's hands, without any notice of it. The President will leave this about the 27th instant, and return about the 20th of April. Adieu.