For in the present state of things, it is next to impossible not to owe
something. But I see neither injustice nor inconvenience in permitting
the fugitive to be sued in our courts. The laws of some countries
punishing the unfortunate debtor by perpetual imprisonment, he is right
to liberate himself by flight, and it would be wrong to re-imprison
him in the country to which he flies. Let all process, therefore, be
confined to his property.
_Murder_, not amounting to treason, being the only case in which the
fugitive is to be delivered;
On what _evidence_, and by _whom_, shall he be delivered? In this
country let any justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, or
other judge of the district where the fugitive is found, use the same
proceedings as for a murder committed on the high seas, until the
finding of the ‘true bill’ by the grand jury; but evidence on oath from
the country demanding him, though in writing and ex parte, should have
the same effect as if delivered orally at the examination.
A true bill being found by the grand jury, let the officer in whose
custody the fugitive is, deliver him to the person charged to demand and
receive him.
In the British provinces adjoining us, the same proceedings will do.
In the Spanish provinces, a proceeding adapted to the course of their
laws should be agreed on.
March 22, 1792.
LETTER CVIII.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, April 28,1792
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, April 28,1792;
Dear Sir,
My last letter to you was of the 10th of March. The preceding one
of January the 23rd had conveyed to you your appointment as Minister
Plenipotentiary to the court of France. The present will, I hope, find
you there. I now enclose you the correspondence between the Secretary
of the Treasury and Minister of France, on the subject of the monies
furnished to the distressed of their colonies. You will perceive that
the Minister chose to leave the adjustment of the terms to be settled
at Paris, between yourself and the King’s ministers. This you will
therefore be pleased to do on this principle; that we wish to avoid any
loss by the mode of payment, but would not choose to make a gain which
should throw loss on them. But the letters of the Secretary of the
Treasury will sufficiently explain the desire of the government, and be
a sufficient guide to you.
I now enclose you the act passed by Congress for facilitating the
execution of the consular convention with France. In a bill which has
passed the House of Representatives for raising monies for the support
of the Indian war, while the duties on every other species of wine are
raised from one to three fourths more than they were, the best wines of
France will pay little more than the worst of any other country, to wit,
between six and seven cents a bottle; and where this exceeds forty per
cent, on their cost, they will pay but the forty per cent. I consider
this latter provision as likely to introduce in abundance the cheaper
wines of France, and the more so, as the tax on ardent spirits is
considerably raised. I hope that these manifestations of friendly
dispositions towards that country, will induce them to repeal the
very obnoxious laws respecting our commerce, which were passed by the
preceding National Assembly. The present session of Congress will pass
over, without any other notice of them than the friendly preferences
before mentioned. But if these should not produce a retaliation of good
on their part, a retaliation of evil must follow on ours. It will be
impossible to defer longer than the next session of Congress, some
counter regulations for the protection of our navigation and commerce.
I must entreat you, therefore, to avail yourself of every occasion of
friendly remonstrance on this subject. If they wish an equal and cordial
treaty with us, we are ready to enter into it. We would wish that this
could be the scene of negotiation, from considerations suggested by the
nature of our government which will readily occur to you. Congress will
rise on this day se’nnight. I enclose you a letter from Mrs. Greene, who
asks your aid in getting her son forwarded by the Diligence to London,
on his way to America. The letter will explain to you the mode and the
means, and the parentage and genius of the young gentleman will
insure your aid to him. As this goes by the French packet, I send no
newspapers, laws, or other articles of that kind, the postage of which
would be high.
I am with great and sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient and
most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CIX.--CIRCULAR TO THE AMERICAN CONSULS, May 31, 1792
CIRCULAR TO THE AMERICAN CONSULS.
Philadelphia, May 31, 1792.
Sir,
Congress having closed their session on the 8th instant, I have now the
honor to forward you a copy of the laws passed thereat. One of these,
chapter twenty-four, will require your particular attention, as it
contains such regulations relative to the consular office, as it has
been thought proper to establish legislatively.
With respect to the security required by the sixth section I would
prefer persons residing within the United States, where the party
can procure such to be his security. In this case, his own bond duly
executed may be sent to me, and his sureties here may enter into a
separate bond. Where the party cannot conveniently find sureties within
the United States, my distance, and want of means of knowing their
sufficiency, oblige me to refer him to the Minister or _Chargé des
Affaires_ of the United States, within the same government, if there be
one, and if not, then to the Minister of the United States, resident
at Paris. The securities which they shall approve, will be admitted as
good. In like manner, the account for their disbursements, authorized
by this law (and no other can be allowed) are to be settled at stated
periods with the Minister or _Chargé_ within their residence, if there
be one; if none, then with the Minister of the United States, at Paris.
The person who settles the account is authorized to pay it. Our Consuls
in America are not meant to be included in these directions as to
securityship and the settlement of their accounts, as their situation
gives them a more convenient communication with me. It is also
recommended to the Consuls to keep an ordinary correspondence with the
Minister or _Chargé_ to whom they are thus referred; but it would be
also useful, if they could forward directly to me, from time to time,
the prices current of their place, and any other circumstances which it
might be interesting to make known to our merchants without delay.
The prices of our funds have undergone some variations within the last
three months. The six per cents were pushed by gambling adventures up to
twenty-six and a half, or twenty-seven and a half shillings the pound. A
bankruptcy having taken place among these, and considerably affected the
more respectable part of the paper, holders, a greater quantity of paper
was thrown suddenly on the market than there was demand or money to take
up. The prices fell to nineteen shillings. This crisis has passed, and
they are getting up towards their value. Though the price of public
paper is considered as the barometer of the public credit, it is truly
so only as to the general average of prices. The real credit of the
United States depends on their ability, and the immutability of their
will, to pay their debts. These were as evident when their paper fell
to nineteen shillings, as when it was at twenty-seven shillings. The
momentary variation was like that in the price of corn, or any other
commodity, the result of a momentary disproportion between the demand
and supply.
The unsuccessful issue of our expedition against the savages the last
year, is not unknown to you. More adequate preparations are making
for the present year, and, in the mean time, some of the tribes have
accepted peace, and others have expressed a readiness to do the same.
Another plentiful year has been added to those which had preceded it,
and the present bids fair to be equally so. A prosperity built on the
basis of agriculture is that which is most desirable to us, because
to the efforts of labor it adds the efforts of a greater proportion of
soil. The checks, however, which the commercial regulations of Europe
have given to the sale of our produce, have produced a very considerable
degree of domestic manufacture, which, so far as it is of the household
kind, will doubtless continue, and so far as it is more public, will
depend on the continuance or discontinuance of the European policy.
I am, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CX.--TO JOHN PAUL JONES, June 1, 1792
TO JOHN PAUL JONES.
Philadelphia, June 1, 1792.
Sir,
The President of the United States having thought proper to appoint you
commissioner for treating with the Dey and government of Algiers, on
the subjects of peace and ransom of our captives, I have the honor to
enclose you the commissions, of which Mr. Thomas Pinckney, now on his
way to London as our Minister Plenipotentiary there, will be the bearer.
Supposing that there exists a disposition to thwart our negotiations
with the Algerines, and that this would be very practicable, we have
thought it advisable that the knowledge of this appointment should rest
with the President, Mr. Pinckney, and myself; for which reason you will
perceive, that the commissions are all in my own hand-writing. For the
same reason, entire secrecy is recommended to you, and that you so cover
from the public your departure and destination, as that they may not be
conjectured or noticed; and at the same time, that you set out after as
short delay as your affairs will possibly permit.
In order to enable you to enter on this business with full information,
it will be necessary to give you a history of what has passed.
On the 25th of July, 1785, the schooner Maria, Captain Stevens,
belonging to a Mr. Foster, of Boston, was taken off Cape St. Vincent’s,
by an Algerine cruiser; and five days afterwards, the ship Dauphin,
Captain O’Bryan, belonging to Messrs. Irwins of Philadelphia, was taken
by another, about fifty leagues westward of Lisbon. These vessels, with
their cargoes and crews, twenty-one persons in number, were carried into
Algiers. Mr. John Lambe, appointed agent for treating of peace between
the United States and the government of Algiers, was ready to set out
from France on that business, when Mr. Adams and myself heard of these
two captures. The ransom of prisoners being a case not existing when
our powers were prepared, no provision had been made for it. We thought,
however, we ought to endeavor to ransom our countrymen, without waiting
for orders; but at the same time, that acting without authority, we
should keep within the lowest price which had been given by any other
nation. We therefore gave a supplementary instruction to Mr. Lambe to
ransom our captives, if it could be done for two hundred dollars a man,
as we knew that three hundred French captives had been just ransomed by
the Mathurins, at a price very little above this sum. He proceeded to
Algiers; but his mission proved fruitless. He wrote us word from thence,
that the Dey asked fifty-nine thousand four hundred and ninety-six
dollars for the twenty-one captives, and that it was not probable he
would abate much from that price. But he never intimated an idea
of agreeing to give it. As he has never settled the accounts of his
mission, no further information has been received. It has been said
that he entered into a positive stipulation with the Dey, to pay for the
prisoners the price above mentioned, or something near it; and that he
came away with an assurance to return with the money. We cannot believe
the fact true: and if it were, we disavow it totally, as far beyond his
powers. We have never disavowed it formally, because it has never come
to our knowledge with any degree of certainty.
In February, 1787, I wrote to Congress to ask leave to employ the
Mathurins of France in ransoming our captives; and on the 19th of
September, I received their orders to do so, and to call for the money
from our bankers at Amsterdam, as soon as it could be furnished. It was
long before they could furnish the money, and as soon as they notified
that they could, the business was put into train by the General of the
Mathurins, not with the appearance of acting for the United States, or
with their knowledge, but merely on the usual ground of charity.
This expedient was rendered abortive by the revolution of France, the
derangement of ecclesiastical orders there, and the revocation of church
property, before any proposition, perhaps, had been made in form by the
Mathurins to the Dey of Algiers. I have some reason to believe that
Mr. Eustace, while in Spain, endeavored to engage the court of Spain to
employ their Mathurins in this business; but whether they actually moved
in it or not, I have never learned.
We have also been, told, that a Mr. Simpson of Gibraltar, by the
direction of the Messrs. Bulkeleys of Lisbon, contracted for the ransom
of our prisoners (then reduced by death and ransom to fourteen) at
thirty-four thousand seven hundred and ninety-two dollars. By whose
orders they did it, we could never learn. I have suspected it was
some association in London, which, finding the prices far above their
conception, did not go through with their purpose, which probably had
been merely a philanthropic one. Be this as it may, it was without our
authority or knowledge.
Again Mr. Cathalan, our Consul at Marseilles, without any instruction
from the government, and actuated merely, as we presume, by willingness
to do something agreeable, set on foot another negotiation for their
redemption; which ended in nothing.
These several volunteer interferences, though undertaken with good
intentions, run directly counter to our plan; which was, to avoid the
appearance of any purpose on our part ever to ransom our captives, and
by that semblance of neglect, to reduce the demands of the Algerines to
such a price, as might make it hereafter less their interest to pursue
our citizens than any others. On the contrary, they have supposed all
these propositions directly or indirectly came from us; they inferred
from thence the greatest anxiety on our part, where we had been
endeavoring to make them suppose there was none; kept up their demands
for our captives at the highest prices ever paid by any nation; and
thus these charitable, though unauthorized interpositions, have had the
double effect of strengthening the chains they were meant to break, and
making us at last set a much higher rate of ransom for our citizens,
present and future, than we probably should have obtained, if we had
been left alone to do our own work in our own way. Thus stands this
business then at present. A formal bargain, as I am informed, being
registered in the books of the former Dey, on the part of the Bulkeleys
of Lisbon, which they suppose to be obligatory on us, but which is to be
utterly disavowed, as having never been authorized by us, nor its source
even known to us.
In 1790, this subject was laid before Congress fully, and at the late
session, monies have been provided, and authority given to proceed to
the ransom of our captive citizens at Algiers, provided it shall not
exceed a given sum, and provided also, a peace shall be previously
negotiated within certain limits of expense. And in consequence of these
proceedings, your mission has been decided on by the President.
Since, then, no ransom is to take place without a peace, you will of
course take up first the negotiation of peace; or, if you find it better
that peace and ransom should be treated of together, you will take care
that no agreement for the latter be concluded, unless the former be
established before or in the same instant.
As to the conditions, it is understood that no peace can be made with
that government, but for a larger sum of money to be paid at once for
the whole time of its duration, or for a smaller one to be annually
paid. The former plan we entirely refuse, and adopt the latter. We have
also understood that peace might be bought cheaper with naval stores
than with money: but we will not furnish them naval stores, because we
think it not right to furnish them means which we know they will
employ to do wrong, and because there might be no economy in it as
to Ourselves, in the end, as it would increase the expenses of that
coercion which we may in future be obliged to practise towards them.
The only question then, is, What sum of money will we agree to pay them
annually, for peace? By a letter from Captain O’Bryan, a copy of which
you will receive herewith, we have his opinion that a peace could be
purchased with money, for sixty thousand pounds sterling, or with naval
stores, for one hundred thousand dollars. An annual payment equivalent
to the first, would be three thousand pounds sterling, or thirteen
thousand and five hundred dollars, the interest of the sum in gross.
If we could obtain it for as small a sum as the second, in money, the
annual payment equivalent to it would be five thousand dollars. In
another part of the same letter, Captain O’Bryan says, ‘If maritime
stores and two light cruisers be given, and a tribute paid in maritime
stores every two years, amounting to twelve thousand dollars in
America,’ a peace can be had. The gift of stores and cruisers here
supposed, converted into an annual equivalent, may be stated at nine
thousand dollars, and adding to it half the biennial sum, would make
fifteen thousand dollars, to be annually paid. You will, of course, use
your best endeavors to get it at the lowest sum practicable; whereupon
I shall only say, that we should be pleased with ten thousand dollars,
contented with fifteen thousand, think twenty thousand a very hard
bargain, yet go as far as twenty-five thousand, if it be impossible to
get it for less; but not a copper further, this being fixed by law as
the utmost limit. These are meant as annual sums. If you can put off the
first annual payment to the end of the first year, you may employ any
sum not exceeding that, in presents to be paid down; but if the first
payment is to be made in hand, that and the presents cannot by law
exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
And here we meet a difficulty, arising from the small degree of
information we have respecting the Barbary States. Tunis is said to
be tributary to Algiers. But whether the effect of this be, that
peace being made with Algiers, is of course with the Tunisians without
separate treaty, or separate price, is what we know not. If it be
possible to have it placed on this footing, so much the better. In
any event, it will be necessary to stipulate with Algiers, that her
influence be interposed as strongly as possible with Tunis, whenever we
shall proceed to treat with the latter; which cannot be till information
of the event of your negotiation, and another session of Congress.
As to the articles and form of the treaty in general, our treaty with
Morocco was so well digested that I enclose you a copy of that, to be
the model with Algiers, as nearly as it can be obtained, only inserting
the clause with respect to Tunis.
The ransom of the captives is next to be considered. They are now
thirteen in number; to wit, Richard O’Bryan and Isaac Stevens, captains,
Andrew Montgomery and Alexander Forsyth, mates, Jacob Tessanier, a
French passenger, William Patterson, Philip Sloan, Peleg Lorin, James
Hall, James Cathcart, George Smith, John Gregory, James Hermit, seamen.
It has been a fixed principle with Congress, to establish the rate of
ransom of American captives in the Barbary States at as low a point as
possible, that it may not be the interest of those States to go in quest
of our citizens in preference to those of other countries. Had it not
been for the danger it would have brought on the residue of our seamen,
by exciting the cupidity of those rovers against them, our citizens now
in Algiers would have been long ago redeemed, without regard to price.
The mere money for this particular redemption neither has been, nor is,
an object with any body here. It is from the same regard to the safety
of our seamen at large, that they have now restrained us from any ransom
unaccompanied with peace. This being secured, we are led to consent to
terms of ransom, to which, otherwise, our government never would have
consented; that is to say, to the terms stated by Captain O’Bryan in
the following passage of the same letter. ‘By giving the minister of the
marine (the present Dey’s favorite) the sum of one thousand sequins,
I would stake my life that we would be ransomed for thirteen thousand
sequins, and all expenses included.’ Extravagant as this sum is, we
will, under the security of peace in future, go so far; not doubting,
at the same time, that you will obtain It as much lower as possible, and
not indeed without a hope that a lower ransom will be practicable, from
the assurances given us in other letters from Captain O’Bryan, that
prices are likely to be abated by the present Dey, and particularly
with us, towards whom he has been represented as well disposed. You will
consider this sum, therefore, say twenty-seven thousand dollars, as your
ultimate limit, including ransom, duties, and gratifications of every
kind.
As soon as the ransom is completed, you will be pleased to have the
captives well clothed and sent home at the expense of the United States,
with as much economy as will consist with their reasonable comfort. It
is thought best, that Mr. Pinckney, our Minister at London, should be
the confidential channel of communication between us. He is enabled to
answer your drafts for money within the limits before expressed; and as
this will be by re-drawing on Amsterdam, you must settle with him the
number of days after sight, at which your bills shall be payable in
London, so as to give him time, in the mean while, to draw the money
from Amsterdam.
We shall be anxious to know, as soon and as often as possible, your
prospects in these negotiations. You will receive herewith a cipher,
which will enable you to make them with safety. London and Lisbon (where
Colonel Humphreys will forward my letters) will be the safest and best
ports of communication. I also enclose two separate commissions, for the
objects of peace and ransom. To these is added a commission to you as
Consul for the United States, at Algiers, on the possibility that it
might be useful for you to remain there till the ratification of the
treaties shall be returned from hence; though you are not to delay till
their return the sending the captives home, nor the necessary payments
of money within the limits before prescribed. Should you be willing to
remain there, even after the completion of the business, as Consul for
the United States, you will be free to do so, giving me notice, that no
other nomination may be made. These commissions, being issued during the
recess of the Senate, are in force, by the constitution, only till the
next session of the Senate. But their renewal then is so much a matter
of course and of necessity, that you may consider that as certain,
and proceed without interruption. I have not mentioned this in the
commissions, because it is in all cases surplusage, and because it might
be difficult of explanation to those to whom you are addressed.
The allowance for all your expenses and time (exclusive of the ransom,
price of peace, duties, presents, maintenance, and transportation of
the captives) is at the rate of two thousand dollars a year, to commence
from the day on which you shall set out for Algiers, from whatever place
you may take your departure. The particular objects of peace and ransom
once out of the way, the two thousand dollars annually are to go in
satisfaction of time, services, and expenses of every kind, whether you
act as Consul or Commissioner.