winter passage from Charleston to this place, or across the Atlantic, is
so disagreeable, that if either that circumstance or the arrangement of
your affairs should render it in the smallest degree eligible to you to
remain at home till the temperate season comes on, stay till after the
vernal equinox; there will be no inconvenience to the public attending
it. On the contrary, as we are just opening certain negotiations with
the British minister here, which have not yet assumed any determinate
complexion, a delay till that time will enable us to form some judgment
of the issue they may take, and to know exactly in what way your
co-operation at the place of your destination may aid us. On this and
other accounts it will be highly useful that you take this place in
your way, where, or at New York, you will always be sure of finding a
convenient, passage to England.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCII.--TO WILLINKS, VAN STAPHORSTS, AND HUBARD, Jan. 23,1792
TO MESSRS. WILLINKS, VAN STAPHORSTS, AND HUBARD.
Philadelphia, January 23,1792.
Gentlemen,
On the 19th of March last, I had the honor to enclose you a bill for
ninety-nine thousand florins, drawn on yourselves by the Treasurer of
the United States, in favor of the Secretary of State, and I desired you
to raise an account with the Secretary of State, and pass that bill to
his credit in the account. In my letter of May the 14th, I enclosed
you a duplicate of the same bill, and informed you that this money was
destined to pay the salaries and contingent expenses of our ministers
and agents of every description, from July the 1st, 1790, and nothing
else; and I added these words; ‘I must beg the favor of you, also, to
make up your account to the close of the last day of June this present
year, into which no expenses are to enter which preceded, the 1st day of
July, 1790, these being the dates of the appropriation of the law.’ And
lastly, in my letter of August the 5th, I enclosed a triplicate of the
same bill, and added, ‘In the mean time, I hope that your account of
this fund, from July the 1st, 1790, to June the 30th, 1791, inclusive,
is on its way to me, that I may receive it in time to lay before
Congress at their meeting:’ but in fact, I have neither received the
account so much desired, nor even an acknowledgment of the receipt of
any of the said letters or bills; and though Congress have been now
sitting upwards of three months, I have it not in my power to lay before
them a statement of the administration of this fund. When you consider
the delicate situation of those entrusted with the disposal of public
monies, and the express injunction under which I am laid by my office to
submit this account to a proper and timely examination, I leave you to
conceive what my sensations must be under the disability to do it, which
the want of your account alone has brought,on me; and I hope I shall
soon be relieved by the receipt of it.
*****
I am, with great esteem, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCIII.--TO WILLIAM SHORT, January 23, 1792
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
Philadelphia, January 23, 1792.
Dear Sir,
I have the pleasure to inform you, that the President of the United
States has appointed you Minister Resident for the United. States, at
the Hague, which was approved by the Senate on the 16th instant. This
new mark of the President’s confidence will be the more pleasing to you,
as it imports an approbation of your former conduct, whereon be pleased
to accept my congratulations. You will receive herewith, a letter from
myself to Monsieur de Montmorin, closing your former mission, your
new commission, letters of credence from the President for the States
General and Stadtholder, sealed, and copies of them open for your own
satisfaction. You will keep the cipher we have heretofore used.
Your past experience in the same line, renders it unnecessary for me to
particularize your duties on closing your present, or conducting your
future mission. Harmony with our friends being our object, you are
sensible how much it will be promoted by attention to the manner as well
as the matter of your communications with the government of the United
Netherlands. I feel myself particularly bound to recommend, as the
most important of your charges, the patronage of our commerce and the
extension of its privileges, both in the United Netherlands and their
colonies, but most especially the latter.
The allowance to a Minister Resident of the United States, is four
thousand five hundred dollars a year, or all his personal services and
other expenses, a year’s salary for his outfit and a quarter’s salary
for his return. It is understood that the personal services and other
expenses here meant, do not extend to the cost of gazettes and pamphlets
transmitted to the Secretary of State’s office, to translating or
printing necessary papers, postage, couriers, and necessary aids to poor
American sailors. These additional charges, therefore, may be inserted
in your accounts; but no other of any description, unless where they are
expressly directed to be incurred. The salary of your new grade being
the same as of your former one, and your services continued, though the
scene of them is changed, there will be no intermission of salary;
the new one beginning where the former ends, and ending when you shall
receive notice of your permission to return. For the same reason, there
can be but one allowance of outfit and return, the former to take place
now, the latter only on your final return. The funds appropriated to
the support of the foreign establishment do not admit the allowance of a
secretary to a Minister Resident. I have thought it best to state these
things to you minutely, that you may be relieved from all doubt as to
the matter of your accounts. I will beg leave to add a most earnest
request, that on the 1st day of July next, and on the same day annually
afterwards, you make out your account to that day, and send it by the
first vessel, and by duplicates. In this I must be very urgent and
particular; because at the meeting of the ensuing Congress always, it is
expected that I prepare for them a statement of the disbursements from
this fund, from July to June inclusive. I shall give orders, by the
first opportunity, to our bankers in Amsterdam, to answer your drafts
for the allowances herein before mentioned, recruiting them at the same
time by an adequate remitment; as I expect that by the time you receive
this, they will not have remaining on hand of this fund more than seven
or eight thousand dollars.
You shall receive from me, from time to time, the laws and journals
of Congress, gazettes, and other interesting papers: for whatever
information is in possession of the public, I shall leave you generally
to the gazettes, and only undertake to communicate by letter, such,
relative to the business of your mission, as the gazetteers cannot,
give. From you I shall ask, once or twice a month regularly, a
communication of interesting occurrences in Holland, of the general
affairs of Europe, and the regular transmission of,the Leyden gazette by
every British packet, in the way it now comes, which proves to be very
regular. Send also such other publications as may be important enough to
be read by one who can spare little time to read any thing, or which
may contain matter proper to be turned to, on interesting subjects
and occasions. The English packet is the most certain channel for such
epistolary communications as are not very secret, and by those packets
I would wish always to receive a letter from you by way of corrective to
the farrago of news they generally bring. Intermediate letters, secret
communications, gazettes, and other printed papers, had better come by
private vessels from Amsterdam; which channel I shall use generally for
my letters, and always for gazettes and other printed papers.
The President has also joined you in a special and temporary commission
with Mr. Carmichael to repair to Madrid, and there negotiate certain
matters respecting the navigation of the Mississippi, and other points
of common interest between Spain and us. As some time will be necessary
to make out the instructions and transcripts necessary in this business,
they can only be forwarded by some future occasion; but they shall
be soon forwarded, as we wish not to lose a moment in advancing
negotiations so essential to our peace. For this reason, I must urge
you to repair to the Hague at the earliest day the settlement of your
affairs at Paris will admit, that your reception may be over, and the
idea of your being established there strengthened, before you receive
the new orders.
I have the honor to be, with sincere respect and esteem, Dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCIV.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, January 23, 1792
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, January 23, 1792.
Dear Sir,
I have the pleasure to inform you, that the President of the United
States has appointed you Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States,
at the court of France, which was approved by the Senate on the 12th
instant; on which be pleased to accept my congratulations. You will
receive herewith your commission, a letter of credence for the King,
sealed, and a copy of it open for your own satisfaction, as also a
cipher, to be used on proper occasions in the correspondence between us.
To you, it would be more than unnecessary for me to undertake a general
delineation of the functions of the office to which you are appointed.
I shall therefore only express our desire, that they be constantly
exercised in that spirit of sincere friendship and attachment which
we bear to the French nation; and that in all transactions with the
minister, his good dispositions be conciliated by whatever in language
or attentions may tend to that effect. With respect to their government,
we are under no call to express opinions which might please or offend
any party, and therefore it will be best to avoid them on all occasions,
public or private. Could any circumstances require unavoidably such
expressions, they would naturally be in conformity with the sentiments
of the great mass of our countrymen, who, having first, in modern times,
taken the ground of government founded on the will of the people, cannot
but be delighted on seeing so distinguished and so esteemed a nation
arrive on the same ground, and plant their standard by our side.
I feel myself particularly bound to recommend, as the most important
of your charges, the patronage of our commerce and the extension of its
privileges, both in France and her colonies, but most especially
the latter. Our Consuls in France are under general instructions to
correspond with the Minister of the United States at Paris; from them
you may often receive interesting information. Joseph Fenwick is
Consul at Bordeaux, and Burwell Carnes at Nantz; Monsieur de la Motte,
Vice-Consul at Havre, and Monsieur Cathalan at Marseilles.
An act of Congress, of July the 1st, 1790, has limited the allowance of
a Minster Plenipotentiary to nine thousand dollars a year, for all his
personal services and other expenses, a year’s salary for his outfit,
and a quarter’s salary for his return. It is understood that the
personal services and other expenses here meant, do not extend to the
cost of gazettes and pamphlets transmitted to the Secretary of State’s
office, to translating or printing necessary papers, postage, couriers,
and necessary aids to poor American sailors. These additional charges,
therefore, may be inserted in your accounts; but no other of any
description, unless where they are expressly directed to be incurred. By
an ancient rule of Congress, your salary will commence from the day you
receive this letter, if you be then at Paris, or from the day you set
out for Paris from any other place at which it may find you: it ceases
on receiving notice or permission to return, after which the additional
quarter’s allowance takes place. You are free to name your own private
secretary, who will receive, from the public a salary of thirteen
hundred and fifty dollars a year, without allowance for any extras. I
have thought it best to state these things to you minutely, that you may
be relieved from all doubt as to the matter of your accounts. I will beg
leave to add a most earnest request, that on the 1st day of July next,
and on the same day annually afterwards, you make out your account to
that day, and send it by the first vessel, and by duplicates. In this
I must be very urgent and particular, because at the meeting of the
ensuing Congress always, it is expected that I prepare for them a
statement of the disbursements from this fund, from July to June
inclusive. I shall give orders by the first opportunity to our bankers
in Amsterdam, to answer your drafts for the allowances herein before
mentioned, recruiting them at the same time by an adequate remitment, as
I expect that by the time you receive this, they will not have remaining
on hand of this fund more than seven or eight thousand dollars.
You shall receive from me, from time to time, the laws and journals
of Congress, gazettes, and other interesting papers: for whatever
information is in possession of the public, I shall leave you generally
to the gazettes, and only undertake to communicate by letter, such,
relative to the business of your mission, as the gazettes cannot give.
From you I shall ask, once or twice a month regularly, a communication
of interesting occurrences in France, of the general affairs of Europe,
and transmission of the Leyden gazette, the Journal Logographe, and
the best paper of Paris for their colonial affairs, with such other
publications as may be important enough to be read by one who can spare
little time to read any thing, or which may contain matter proper to be
turned to on interesting subjects and occasions. The English packet is
the most certain channel for such epistolary communications as are
not very secret, and by those packets I would wish always to receive
a letter from you by way of corrective to the farrago of news they
generally bring. Intermediate letters, secret communications, gazettes,
and other printed papers, had better come through the channel of
Monsieur de la Motte at Havre, to whom I shall also generally address my
letters to you, and always the gazettes and other printed papers.
Mr. Short will receive by the same conveyance, his appointment as
Minister Resident at the Hague.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, Dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCV.--TO MR. HAMMOND, February 2, 1792
TO MR. HAMMOND.
Philadelphia, February 2, 1792.
Sir,
On the receipt of your letter of the 14th of December, I communicated
it to the President of the United States, and under the sanction of his
authority, the principal members of the executive department made
it their duty to make known in conversations generally, the explicit
disclaimer, in the name of your court, which you had been pleased to
give us, that the government of Canada had supported or encouraged the
hostilities of our Indian neighbors in the western country. Your favor
of January the 30th, to the same purpose, has been, in like manner,
communicated to the President, and I am authorized to assure you, that
he is duly sensible of this additional proof of the disposition of the
court of London to confine the proceedings of their officers in our
vicinage within the limits of friendship and good neighborhood, and that
a conduct so friendly and just will furnish us a motive the more for
those duties and good offices which neighbor nations owe each other.
You have seen too much, Sir, of the conduct of the press in countries
where it is free, to consider the gazettes as evidence of the sentiments
of any part of the government: you have seen them bestow on the
government itself, in all its parts, its full share of inculpation. Of
the sentiments of our government on the subject of your letter, I cannot
give you better evidence than the statement of the causes of the Indian
war, made by the Secretary of War on the 26th of the last month,
by order of the President, and inserted in the public papers. No
interference on the part of your nation is therein stated among the
causes of the war. I am happy however in the hope, that a due execution
of the treaty will shortly silence those expressions of public feeling,
by removing their cause.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVI.--TO MR. HAMMOND, February 25, 1792
TO MR. HAMMOND.
Philadelphia, February 25, 1792.
Sir,
I have now the honor to enclose you the answer of the Attorney General
to a letter I wrote him on the subject of yours of the 18th instant.
It appears that the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States are
open to the application of Mr. Pagan for a writ of error to revise his
case. This writ is to be granted, indeed, or refused, at the discretion
of the judge; but the discretion of the judge is governed by the rules
of law: if these be in favor of Mr. Pagan’s application, his case
will be reviewed in the Supreme Court, and the decision against him
corrected, if wrong, if these be against his application, he will then
be at the end of the ordinary course of law, at which term alone it is
usual for nations to take up the cause of an individual, and to inquire
whether their judges have refused him justice. At present, therefore,
I am not able to say more, than that the judges of the Supreme Court
of the United States will receive Mr. Pagan’s application for a writ of
error to revise the judgment given against him by the inferior court,
and that there can be no doubt they will do on that application what
shall be right.
I have the honor to be, with the highest esteem, your most obedient and
most humble servant.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVII.--TO MESSRS. JOHNSON, CARROL, AND STEWART, March 6, 1792
TO MESSRS. JOHNSON, CARROL, AND STEWART.
Philadelphia, March 6, 1792,
Gentlemen,
It having been found impracticable to employ Major L’Enfant about the
federal city, in that degree of subordination which was lawful and
proper, he has been notified that his services are at an end. It is now
proper that he should receive the reward of his past services; and the
wish that he should have no just cause of discontent, suggests that it
should be liberal. The President thinks of two thousand five hundred, or
three thousand dollars, but leaves the determination to you. Ellicot is
to go on, the week after, the next, to finish laying off the plan on
the ground, and surveying and platting the district. I have remonstrated
with him on the excess of five dollars a day and his expenses, and he
has proposed striking off the latter; but this also is left to you, and
to make the allowance retrospective. He is fully apprized that he is
entirely under your orders, and that there will be no person employed
but under your orders. The enemies of this enterprise will take
advantage of the retirement of L’Enfant, to trumpet an abortion of the
whole. This will require double exertions, to be counteracted. I enclose
you the project of a loan, which is agreed on, if you approve it. Your
answer will be immediately expected, and it is kept entirely secret,
till the subscriptions are actually opened. With this money, in aid of
your other funds, the works may be pushed with such spirit as to evince
to the world that they will not be relaxed.
The immediate employment of a superintendent, of activity and
intelligence equal to the nature of his functions and the public
expectations, becomes important. You will, doubtless, also consider
it as necessary to advertise immediately for plans of the Capitol and
President’s house. The sketch of an advertisement for the plan of a
Capitol, which Mr. Johnson had sent to the President, is now returned
with some alterations, and one also for a President’s house. Both of
them are subject to your pleasure, and when accommodated to that, if
you will return them, they shall be advertised here and elsewhere. The
President thinks it of primary importance to press the providing as
great quantities of brick, stone, lime, plank, timber, &c. this year as
possible. It will occur to you that the stone should be got by a skilful
hand. Knowing what will be your funds, you will be able to decide which
of the following works had better be undertaken for the present year.
The cellars of both houses.
The foundation of one, or both.
Bridge over Rock Creek, and the post-road brought over it.
Canal.
Wharves.
The affair of Mr. Carrol of Duddington’s house, seems to call for
settlement. The President thinks the most just course would be, to
rebuild the house in the same degree, using the same materials as far
as they will go, and supplying what are destroyed or rendered unfit; so
that the effect will be in fact, only the removal of the house within
his lot, and in a position square with the streets. Do you not think it
would be expedient to take measures for importing a number of Germans
and Highlanders? This need not be to such an extent as to prevent
the employment of eastern laborers, which is eligible for particular
reasons. If you approve of the importation of Germans, and have a good
channel for it, you will use it, of course. If you have no channel,
I can help you to one. Though Roberdeau’s conduct has been really
blamable, yet we suppose the principal object of the arrest was to
remove him off the ground. As the prosecution of him to judgment might
give room to misrepresentation of the motives, perhaps you may think it
not amiss to discontinue the proceedings. You will receive herewith a
packet of papers, among which are several projects and estimates which
have been given in by different persons, and which are handed on to you,
not as by any means carrying with them any degree of approbation, but
merely, that if you find any thing good in them, you may convert it to
some account. Some of these contain the views of L’Enfant.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect,
Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVIII.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS,
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, March 10, 1792.
Dear Sir,