care to return to Lisbon by the time you may reasonably expect that our
answers to your letters to be written from Lisbon, may reach that place.
This cannot be earlier than the first or second week of January. These
answers will convey to you the President’s further pleasure.
Through the whole of this business, it will be best that you avoid all
suspicion of being on any public business. This need be known only to
the Chevalier Pinto and Mr. Carmichael. The former need not know of your
journey to Madrid, or if it be necessary, he may be made to understand
that it is a journey of curiosity, to fill up the interval between
writing your letters and receiving the answers. To every other person,
it will be best that you appear as a private traveller.
The President of the United States allows you from this date, at the
rate of two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars a year, for your
services and expenses, and moreover, what you may incur for the postage
of letters; until he shall otherwise order.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XXXVIII.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, August 12, 1790
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
New York, August 12, 1790.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of May the 29th to the President of the United States has
been duly received. You have placed their proposition of exchanging a
minister on proper ground. It must certainly come from them, and come in
unequivocal form. With those who respect their own dignity so much,
ours must not be counted at nought. On their own proposal, formally,
to exchange a minister, we sent them one. They have taken no notice of
that, and talk of agreeing to exchange one now, as if the idea were new.
Besides, what they are saying to you, they are talking to us through
Quebec; but so informally, that they may disavow it when they please. It
would only oblige them to make the fortune of the poor Major, whom they
would pretend to sacrifice. Through him, they talk of a minister,
a treaty of commerce and alliance. If the object of the latter
be honorable, it is useless; if dishonorable, inadmissible. These
tamperings prove, they view a war as very possible; and some symptoms
indicate designs against the Spanish possessions adjoining us. The
consequences of their acquiring all the country on our frontier,
from the St. Croix to the St. Mary’s, are too obvious to you, to need
developement. You will readily see the dangers which would then environ
us. We wish you, therefore, to intimate to them, that we cannot be
indifferent to enterprises of this kind. That we should contemplate a
change of neighbors with extreme uneasiness; and that a due balance
on our borders is not less desirable to us, than a balance of power in
Europe has always appeared to them. We wish to be neutral, and we will
be so, if they will execute the treaty fairly, and attempt no conquests
adjoining us. The first condition is just; the second imposes no
hardship on them. They cannot complain that the other dominions of Spain
would be so narrow as not to leave them room enough for conquest. If the
war takes place, we would really wish to be quieted on these two points,
offering in return an honorable neutrality. More than this, they are not
to expect. It will be proper that these ideas be conveyed in delicate
and friendly terms; but that they be conveyed, if the war takes place:
for it is in that case alone, and not till it be begun, that we would
wish our dispositions to be known. But in no case, need they think of
our accepting any equivalent for the posts.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, Dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XXXIX.--TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK, August 24, 1790
TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK.
New York, August 24, 1790.
Sir,
The representatives of the United States have been pleased to refer to
me the representation from the General Court of Massachusetts, on the
subject of the whale and cod fisheries, which had been transmitted by
your Excellency, with an instruction to examine the matter thereof, and
report my opinion thereupon to the next session of Congress. To prepare
such a report as may convey to them the information necessary to lead to
an adequate remedy, it is indispensable that I obtain a statement of the
fisheries, comprehending such a period before and since the war, as
may show the extent to which they were and are carried on. With such
a statement under their view, Congress may be able, by comparing the
circumstances which existed when the fisheries flourished, with those
which exist at this moment of their decline, to discover the cause of
that decline, and provide either a remedy for it, or something which may
countervail its effect. This information can be obtained no where but
in the State over which your Excellency presides, and under no other
auspices so likely to produce it. May I, therefore, take the liberty of
soliciting your Excellency to charge with the collecting and furnishing
me this information, some person or persons who may be competent to the
object. Taking a point of commencement at a proper interval before the
year of greatest prosperity, there should be stated in a table, year by
year, under different columns as follows:
1. The number of vessels fitted out each year for the cod-fishery. 2.
Their tonnage. 3. The number of seamen employed. 4. The quantity of fish
taken; (I.) of superior quality; (2.) of inferior. 5. The quantity of
each kind exported; (1.) to Europe, and to what countries there; (2.) to
other, and what parts of America. C. The average prices at the markets,
(1.) of Europe; (2.) of America. With respect to the whale-fishery,
after the three first articles the following should be substituted.
4. Whether to the northern or southern fishery. 5. The quantity of oil
taken; (1.) of the spermaceti whale; (2.) of the other kinds. 6. To what
market each kind was sent. 7. The average prices of each. As the ports
from which the equipments were made could not be stated in the same
table conveniently, they might form a separate one. It would be
very material that I should receive this information by the first of
November, as I might be able to bestow a more undisturbed attention to
the subject before than after the meeting of Congress, and it would be
better to present it to them at the beginning, than towards the close of
the session.
The peculiar degree of interest with which this subject must affect
the State of Massachusetts, the impossibility of obtaining necessary
information from any other quarter, and the slender means I should have
of acquiring it from thence, without the aid of your Excellency, will,
I hope, be a sufficient apology for the trouble I take the liberty of
giving you: and I am happy in every occasion of repeating assurances
of the respect and attachment with which I have the honor to be your
Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XL.--TO SYLVANUS BOURNE, August 25, 1790
TO SYLVANUS BOURNE, _Consul at Hispaniola_.
New York, August 25, 1790.
Sir,
I enclose you herein sundry papers containing a representation from
Messrs. Updike and Earle of Providence, who complain that their sloop
Nancy was seized in the island of Hispaniola, and though without
foundation, as her acquittal proved, yet they were subjected to the
payment of very heavy expenses. It is to be observed, that in no country
does government pay the costs of a defendant in any prosecution, and
that often, though the party be acquitted, there may have been colorable
cause for the prosecution. However this may have been in the present
case, should the parties think proper to endeavor, by their own agent,
to obtain a reimbursement from the government or from individuals of
Hispaniola, I take the liberty of recommending their cause to your
patronage, so far as evidence and law shall be in their favor. If they
address the government, you will support their demands on the ground
of right and amity; if they institute process against individuals,
counterpoise by the patronage and weight of your public character, any
weight of character which may be opposed to their obtaining of justice.
I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLI.--CIRCULAR TO THE CONSULS, August 26, 1790
_Circular to the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States_.
New York, August 26, 1790.
Sir,
I expected ere this, to have been able to send you an act of Congress
prescribing some special duties and regulations for the exercise of the
consular offices of the United States: but Congress not having been able
to mature the act sufficiently, it lies over to the next session. In
the mean while, I beg leave to draw your attention to some matters of
information, which it is interesting to receive.
I must beg the favor of you to communicate to me every six months, a
report of the vessels of the United States which enter at the ports of
your district, specifying the name and burthen of each vessel, of what
description she is (to wit, ship, snow, brig, &c), the names of the
master and owners, and number of seamen, the port of the United States
from which she cleared, places touched at, her cargo outward and inward,
and the owners thereof, the port to which she is bound, and times of
arrival and departure; the whole arranged in a table under different
columns, and the reports closing on the last days of June and December.
We wish you to use your endeavors that no vessel enter as an American in
the ports of your district, which shall not be truly such, and that none
be sold under that name, which are not really of the United States.
That you give to me, from time to time, information of all military
preparations, and other indications of war which may take place in your
ports; and when a war shall appear imminent, that you notify thereof the
merchants and vessels of the United States within your district, that
they may be duly on their guard; and in general, that you communicate
to me such political and commercial intelligence, as you may think
interesting to the United States.
The Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States are free to wear the
uniform of their navy, if they choose to do so. This is a deep-blue coat
with red facings, lining, and cuffs, the cuffs slashed and a standing
collar; a red waistcoat (laced or not at the election of the wearer) and
blue breeches; yellow buttons with a foul anchor, and black cockades and
small swords.
Be pleased to observe, that the Vice-Consul of one district is not at
all subordinate to the Consul of another. They are equally independent
of each other.
The ground of distinction between these two officers is this. Our
government thinks, that to whatever there may be either of honor or
profit resulting from the consular office, native citizens are first
entitled, where such, of proper character, will undertake the duties;
but where none such offer, a Vice-Consul is appointed of any other
nation. Should a proper native come forward at any future time, he will
be named Consul; but this nomination will not revoke the commission of
Vice-Consul: it will only suspend his functions during the continuance
of the Consul within the limits of his jurisdiction, and on his
departure therefrom, it is meant that the vice-consular authority shall
revive of course, without the necessity of a re-appointment.
It is understood, that Consuls and Vice-Consuls have authority, of
course, to appoint their own agents in the several ports of their
district, and that it is with themselves alone those agents are to
correspond.
It will be best not fatigue the government in which you reside, or those
in authority under it, with applications in unimportant cases. Husband
their good dispositions for occasions of some moment, and let all
representations to them be couched in the most temperate and friendly
terms, never indulging in any case whatever a single expression which
may irritate.
I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLII.--TO WILLIAM SHORT, August 26, 1790
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
New York, August 26, 1790.
Dear. Sir,
My last letters to you have been of the 26th of July, and 10th instant.
Yours of May the 16th, No. 31, has come to hand.
I enclose you sundry papers, by which you will perceive, that the
expression in the eleventh article of our treaty of amity and commerce
with France, viz. ‘that the subjects of the United States shall not be
reputed _Aubaines in France_, and consequently shall be exempted from
the _Droit d’Aubaine_, or other similar duty, under what name soever,’
has been construed so rigorously to the letter, as to consider us
as _Aubaines_ in the colonies of France. Our intercourse with those
colonies is so great, that frequent and important losses will accrue to
individuals, if this construction be continued. The death of the
master or supercargo of a vessel, rendered a more common event by the
unhealthiness of the climate, throws all the property which was either
his, or under his care, into contest. I presume that the enlightened
Assembly now, engaged in reforming the remains of feudal abuse among
them, will not leave so inhospitable an one as the _Droit d’Aubaine_
existing in France, or any of its dominions. If this may be hoped,
it will be better that you should not trouble the minister with any
application for its abolition in the colonies as to us. This would be
erecting into a special favor to us, the extinction of a general abuse,
which will, I presume, extinguish of itself. Only be so good as to
see, that in abolishing this odious law in France, its abolition in
the colonies also be not omitted by mere oversight; but if, contrary to
expectations, this fragment of barbarism be suffered to remain, then
it will become necessary that you bring forward the enclosed case, and
press a liberal and just exposition of our treaty, so as to relieve our
citizens from this species of risk and ruin hereafter. Supposing the
matter to rest on the eleventh article only, it is inconceivable, that
he, who with respect to his personal goods is as a native citizen in
the mother country, should be deemed a foreigner in its colonies.
Accordingly, you will perceive by the opinions of Doctor Franklin and
Doctor Lee, two of our ministers who negotiated and signed the treaty,
that they considered that rights stipulated for us in France, were meant
to exist in all the dominions of France.
Considering this question under the second article of the treaty also,
we are exempted from the _Droit d’Aubaine_ in all the dominions of
France: for by that article, no particular favor is to be granted to
any other nation which shall not immediately become common to the other
party. Now, by the forty-fourth article of the treaty between France and
England, which was subsequent to ours, it is stipulated, ‘_que dans tout
ce qui concerne--les successions des biens mobiliers--les sujets des
deux hautes parties contractantes auront dans les Etais respectifs les
memes privilèges, libertés et droits, que la nation la plus favorisée_.’
This gave to the English the general abolition of the _Droit d’Aubaine_,
enjoyed by the Hollanders under the first article of their treaty with
France of July the 23rd, 1773, which is in these words. ‘_Les sujets
des E. G. des P. U. des Pays-Bas ne seront point assujettis au Droit
d’Aubaine dans les Etats de S. M. T. C._ This favor, then, being granted
to the English subsequent to our treaty, we become entitled to it of
course by the article in question. I have it not in my power at this
moment to turn to the treaty between France and Russia, which was also
posterior to ours. If by that, the Russians are exempted from the _Droit
d’Aubaine_, ‘_dans les Etats de S. M. T. C._ it is a ground the more for
our claiming the exemption. To these, you will be pleased to add
such other considerations of reason, friendship, hospitality, and
reciprocity, as will readily occur to yourself.
About two or three weeks ago, a Mr. Campbell called on me, and
introduced himself by observing that his situation was an awkward one,
that he had come from Denmark with an assurance of being employed
here in a public character, that he was actually in service, though
unannounced. He repeated conversations which had passed between Count
Bernstorff and him, and asked me when a minister would be appointed to
that court, or a character sent to negotiate a treaty of commerce: he
had not the scrip of a pen to authenticate himself, however informally.
I told him our government had not yet had time to settle a plan of
foreign arrangments; that with respect to Denmark particularly, I
might safely express to him those sentiments of friendship which our
government entertained for that country, and assurances that the King’s
subjects would always meet with favor and protection here; and in
general, I said to him those things which, being true, might be said
to any body. You can perhaps learn something of him from the Baron de
Blome. If he be an unauthorized man, it would be well it should be known
here, as the respect which our citizens might entertain, and the credit
they might give to any person supposed to be honored by the King’s
appointment, might lead them into embarrassment.
You know the situation of the new loan of three millions of florins
going on at Amsterdam. About one half of this is destined for an
immediate payment to France; but advantage may be gained by judiciously
timing the payment. The French colonies will doubtless claim, in their
new constitution, a right to receive the necessaries of life from
whomever will deliver them cheapest; to wit, grain, flour, live stock,
salted fish, and other salted provisions. It would be well that you
should confer with their deputies, guardedly, and urge them to this
demand, if they need urging. The justice of the National Assembly will
probably dispose them to grant it, and the clamors of the Bordeaux
merchants may be silenced by the clamors and arms of the colonies.
It may cooperate with the influence of the colonies, if favorable
dispositions towards us can be excited in the moment of discussing this
point. It will therefore be left to you to say, when the payment shall
be made, in confidence that you will so time it as to forward this great
object: and when you make this payment, you may increase its effect, by
adding assurances to the minister, that measures have been taken which
will enable us to pay up, within a very short time, all arrears of
principal and interest now due; and further, that Congress has fully
authorized our government to go on and pay even the balance not yet due,
which we mean to do, if that money can be borrowed on reasonable
terms; and that favorable arrangements of commerce between us and their
colonies, might dispose us to effect that payment with less regard to
terms. You will, of course, find excuses for not paying the money which
is ready and put under your orders, till you see that the moment has
arrived when the emotions it may excite, may give a desisive cast to the
demands of the colonies.
The newspapers, as usual, will accompany the present.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and attachment, Dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLIII.--TO M. LA FOREST, August 30, 1790
TO M. LA FOREST, _Consul of France_,
New York, August 30, 1790.
Sir,
I asked the favor of the Secretary of the Treasury to consider the
fourth article of the consular convention, and to let me know whether he
should conclude that Consuls not exercising commerce, were exempt from
paying duties on things imported for their own use. I furnished him no
explanation whatever, of what had passed on the subject at the time of
forming the convention, because I thought it should be decided on the
words of the convention, as they are offered to all the world, and that
it would only be where these are equivocal, that explanations might be
adduced from other circumstances. He considered the naked words of the
article, and delivered to me as his opinion, that, according to these,
the first paragraph, ‘The Consuls and Vice-Consuls, &c. as the natives
are,’ subjected all their property, in whatever form and under whatever
circumstances it existed, to the same duties and taxes to which the
property of other individuals is liable, and exempts them only from
_taxes on their persons_, as poll-taxes, head-rates for the poor, for
town-charges, &c.; and that the second paragraph, ‘Those of the said
Consuls, he or other merchants,’ subjected such of them as exercised
commerce, even to the same personal taxes as other merchants are: that
the second paragraph is an abridgment of the first, not an enlargement
of it; and that the exemption of those, not merchants, which seemed
implied in the words of the second paragraph, could not be admitted
against the contrary meaning, directly and unequivocally expressed in
the first.
Such, Sir, was his opinion, and it is exactly conformable to what the
negotiators had in view in forming this article. I have turned to
the papers which passed on that occasion, and I find that the first
paragraph was proposed in the first project given in by myself, by
which the distinction between taxes on their property and taxes on their
persons, is clearly enounced, and was agreed to: but as our merchants
exercising commerce in France, would have enjoyed a much greater
benefit from the personal exemption, than those of France do here, M. de
Reyneval, in his first counter-project, inserted the second paragraph,
to which I agreed. So that the object was, in the first paragraph, to
put Consuls, not being merchants, on the same footing with citizens, not
being merchants; and in the second, to put Consuls, merchants, on the
same footing with citzens, merchants.
This, Sir, we suppose to be the sense of the convention, which has
become a part of the law of the land, and the law, you know, in this
country, is not under the control of the executive, either in its
meaning or course. We must reserve, therefore, for more favorable
occasions, our dispositions to render the situation of the Consuls of
his Majesty as easy as possible, by indulgences, depending more on
us; and of proving the sentiments of esteem and attachment to yourself
personally, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLIV.--TO WILLIAM SHORT, August 31,1790
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
New York, August 31,1790.
Dear Sir,
Since writing my letter of the 26th, it has been decided to commit to
your care the transaction of very important money matters at Amsterdam.
It is thought necessary that you should go there immediately, and
remain there about three months, to possess yourself of the ground. The
Secretary of the Treasury will detail to you the particulars requisite
there.
With respect to our affairs at Paris, we trust, in your absence, to
the friendship of the Marquis de la Fayette, for such things as are
important enough to merit his attention. Two of the subjects lately
given you in charge, are of this description. As to all others, do
them by letter or otherwise, as you can. It will be necessary for you,
doubtless, sometimes to ask the attention of the Marquis by letter; and
where you think the moment requires essentially your presence, it is
understood you will come to Paris express, returning again to Amsterdam
as quickly as circumstances will admit. The facilities of travelling, in
Europe, admit of this. Should you think it necessary, you may appoint a
secretary during your absence, to remain at Paris and communicate with
you, allowing him a salary of four thousand livres a year. If you think
this not necessary, you of course will not make the appointment.
I am, with sincere and great esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient,
humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XLV.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, December 17, 1790
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, December 17, 1790.