TO C. CARROLL OF CARROLLTON.
Philadelphia, April 15, 1791.
Dear Sir,—I received last night your favor of the 10th, with Mr. Brown's receipt, and thank you for the trouble you have been so kind as to take in this business.
Our news from the westward is disagreeable. Constant murders committing by the Indians, and their combination threatens to be more and more extensive. I hope we shall give them a thorough drubbing this summer, and then change our tomahawk into a golden chain of friendship. The most economical as well as most humane conduct towards them is to bribe them into peace, and to retain them in peace by eternal bribes. The expedition this year would have served for presents on the most liberal scale for one hundred years; nor shall we otherwise ever get rid of an army, or of our debt. The least rag of Indian depredation will be an excuse to raise troops for those who love to have troops, and for those who think that a public debt is a good thing. Adieu, my dear Sir. Yours affectionately.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, April 17, 1791.
Sir,—I had the honor of addressing you on the 2d, which I supposed would find you at Richmond, and again on the 10th, which I thought would overtake you at Wilmington. The present will probably find you at Charleston.
According to what I mentioned in my letter of the 10th, the Vice-President, Secretaries of the Treasury and War, and myself, met on the 11th. Colonel Hamilton presented a letter from Mr. Short, in which he mentioned that the month of February being one of the periodical months in Amsterdam, when, from the receipt of interest and refunding of capitals, there is much money coming in there, and free to be disposed of, he had put off the opening his loan till then, that it might fill the more rapidly, a circumstance which would excite the presumption of our credit;—that he had every reason to hope it would be filled before it would be possible for him, after his then communication of the conditions, to receive your approbation of them, and orders to open a second; which, however, should be awaited, according to his instructions; but he pressed the expediting the order, that the stoppage of the current in our favor might be as short as possible. We saw that if, under present circumstances, your orders should be awaited, it would add a month to the delay, and we were satisfied, were you present, you would approve the conditions, and order a second loan to be opened. We unanimously, therefore, advised an immediate order, on condition the terms of the second loan should not be worse than those of the first.
General Knox expressed an apprehension that the Six Nations might be induced to join our enemies, there being some suspicious circumstances; and he wished to send Colonel Pickering to confirm them in their neutrality. This, he observed, would occasion an expense of about two thousand dollars, as the Indians were never to be met empty handed. We thought the mission advisable. As to myself, I hope we shall give the Indians a thorough drubbing this summer, and I should think it better afterwards to take up the plan of liberal and repeated presents to them. This would be much the cheapest in the end, and would save all the blood which is now spilt: in time, too, it would produce a spirit of peace and friendship between us. The expense of a single expedition would last very long for presents. I mentioned to the gentlemen, the idea of suggesting through Colonel Beckwith our knowledge of the conduct of the British officers in furnishing the Indians with arms and ammunition, and our dissatisfaction. Colonel Hamilton said that Beckwith had been with him on the subject, and had assured him they had given them nothing more than the annual presents, and at the annual period. It was thought proper, however, that he should be made sensible that this had attracted the notice of government. I thought it the more material, lest, having been himself the first to speak of it, he might suppose his excuses satisfactory, and that therefore they might repeat the annual present this year. As Beckwith lodges in the same house with Mr. Madison, I have desired the latter to find some occasion of representing to Beckwith that, though an annual present of arms and ammunition be an innocent thing in time of peace, it is not so in time of war; that it is contrary to the laws of neutrality for a neutral power to furnish military implements to either party at war, and that if their subjects should do it on private account, such furniture might be seized as contraband: to reason with him on the subject, as from himself, but so as to let him see that government thought as himself did.
You knew, I think, before you left us, that the British Parliament had a bill before them for allowing wheat, imported in British bottoms, to be warehoused rent free. In order further to circumscribe the carrying business of the United States, they now refuse to consider as an American bottom any vessel not built here. By this construction, they take from us the right of defining, by our own laws, what vessels shall be deemed ours and naturalized here; and in the event of a war, in which we should be neutral, they put it out of our power to benefit ourselves of our neutrality, by increasing suddenly by purchase and naturalization our means of carriage. If we are permitted to do this by building only, the war will be over before we can be prepared to take advantage of it. This has been decided by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, in the case of one Green, a merchant of New York; from whom I have received a regular complaint on the subject. I enclose you the copy of a note from Mr. King to Colonel Hamilton, on the subject of the appointment of a British minister to come here. I suspect it, however, to be without foundation.
Colonel Eveleigh died yesterday. Supposing it possible you might desire to appoint his successor as soon as you could decide on one, I enclose you a blank commission; which, when you shall be pleased to fill it up and sign, can be returned for the seal and counter-signature. I enclose you a letter from Mr. Coxe to yourself, on the subject of this appointment, and so much of one to me as related to the same, having torn off a leaf of compliment to lighten and lessen my enclosures to you. Should distributive justice give preference to a successor of the same state with the deceased, I take the liberty of suggesting to you Mr. Hayward, of South Carolina, whom I think you told me you did not know, and of whom you are now on the spot of inquiry. I enclose you also a continuation of the Pennsylvania debates on the bill for federal buildings. After the postponement by the Senate, it was intended to bring on the reconsideration of that vote; but the hurry at winding up their session prevented it. They have not chosen a federal Senator.
I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect and sincere attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, April 24, 1791.
Sir,—I had the honor of addressing you on the 17th. Since which I have received yours of the 13th. I enclose you extracts from letters received from Mr. Short. In one of the 7th of February, Mr. Short informs me that he has received a letter from M. de Montmorin, announcing to him that the King has named Ternant his minister here. The questions on our tobacco and oil have taken unfavorable turns. The former will pay fifty livres the thousand weight less, when carried in French than foreign bottoms. Oil is to pay twelve livres a kental, which amounts to a prohibition of the common oils, the only kind carried there. Tobacco will not feel the effect of these measures till time will be given to bring it to rights. They had only twenty thousand hogsheads in the kingdom in November last, and they consume two thousand hogsheads a month, so that they must immediately come forward and make great purchases, and not having as yet vessels of their own to carry it, they must pay the extra duties on ours. I have been puzzled about the delays required by Mr. Barclay's affairs. He gives me reason to be tolerably assured, that he will go in the first vessel which shall sail after the last day of May. There is no vessel at present whose destination would suit. Believing that even with this, we shall get the business done sooner than through any other channel, I have thought it best not to change the plan. The last Leyden gazettes give us what would have been the first object of the British arms, had the rupture with Spain taken place.
You know that Admiral Cornish had sailed on an unknown destination before the Convention was received in London. Immediately on its receipt, they sent an express after him to Madeira, in hopes of finding him there. He was gone, and had so short a passage, that in twenty-three days he had arrived in Barbadoes, the general rendezvous. All the troops of the islands were collecting there, and General Matthews was on his way from Antigua to take command of the land operations, when he met with the packet-boat which carried the counter-orders. Trinidad was the object of the expedition. Matthews returned to Antigua, and Cornish is arrived in England. This island, at the mouth of the Oronoko, is admirably suited for a lodgment from which all the country up that river, and all the northern coast of South America, Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuguese, may be suddenly assailed.
Colonel Pickering is now here, and will set out in two or three days to meet the Indians, as mentioned in my last. The intimation to Colonel Beckwith has been given by Mr. Madison. He met it on very different grounds from that on which he had placed it with Colonel Hamilton. He pretended ignorance and even disbelief of the fact; when told that it was out of doubt, he said he was positively sure the distribution of arms had been without the knowledge and against the orders of Lord Dorchester, and of the government. He endeavored to induce a formal communication from me. When he found that could not be effected, he let Mr. Madison perceive that he thought, however informal his character, he had not been sufficiently noticed; said he was in New York before I came into office, and that though he had not been regularly turned over to me, yet I knew his character. In fine, he promised to write to Lord Dorchester the general information we had received, and our sense of it; and he saw that his former apologies to Colonel Hamilton had not been satisfactory to the government. Nothing further from Moose Island, nor the posts on the northern border of New York, nor anything of the last week from the western country.
Arthur Campbell has been here. He is the enemy of P. Henry. He says the Yazoo bargain is like to drop with the consent of the purchasers. He explains it thus: They expected to pay for the lands in public paper at par, which they had bought at half a crown a pound. Since the rise in the value of the public paper, they have gained as much on that as they would have done by investing it in the Yazoo lands; perhaps more, as it puts a large sum of specie at their command, which they can turn to better account. They are, therefore, likely to acquiesce under the determination of the government of Georgia to consider the contract as forfeited by non-payment.
I direct this letter to be forwarded from Charleston to Cambden. The next will be from Petersburg to Taylor's Ferry; and after that, I shall direct to you at Mount Vernon.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most affectionate respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
Philadelphia, April 25, 1791.
Dear Sir,—My late letters to you have been of the 8th, 12th, 15th, and 19th of March, yours received and acknowledged are as follows.
* * * * *
I consider the consular convention as securing clearly our right to appoint consuls in the French colonies. The words "Etats du roi," unquestionably extend to all his dominions. If they had been merely synonymous with "la France," why was the alteration made? When I proposed that alteration, I explained my reasons, and it cannot be supposed I would suffer a change of language but for some matter of substance. Again, in the translation, it is "dominions of France." This translation was submitted to M. de Montmorin and M. de Reyneval, with a request that they would note any deviation in it from the original, or otherwise it would be considered as faithful. No part was objected to. M. de Reyneval says, we must decide by the instrument itself, and not by the explanations which took place. It is a rule, where expressions are susceptible of two meanings, to recur to other explanations. Good faith is in favor of this recurrence. However, in the present case, the expression does not admit of two constructions; it is co-extensive with the dominions of the King. I insist on this, only as a reservation of our right, and not with a view to exercise it, if it shall be inconvenient and disagreeable to the government of France. Only two appointments have as yet been made (Mr. Skipwith at Martinique and Guadaloupe, and Mr. Bourne in St. Dominique), and they shall be instructed not to ask a regular Exequatur. We certainly wish to press nothing on our friends which shall be inconvenient. I shall hope that M. de Montmorin will order such attentions to be shown to those gentlemen as the patronage of commerce may call for, and may not be inconvenient to the government. These gentlemen are most pointedly instructed not to intermeddle, by word or deed, with political matters.
My letter of August, 1790, to Mr. Carmichael, was delivered to him by Colonel Humphreys.
The report you mention of the prospect of our captives at Algiers being liberated, has not taken its rise from any authoritative source. Unfortunately for us, there have been so many persons, who (from friendly or charitable motives, or to recommend themselves) have busied themselves about this redemption, as to excite great expectations in the captors, and render our countrymen in fact irredeemable. We have not a single operation on foot for that purpose, but what you know of, and the more all voluntary interpositions are discouraged the better for our unhappy friends whom they are meant to serve.
You know how strongly we desire to pay off our whole debt to France, and that for this purpose we will use our credit as far as it will hold good. You know, also, what may be the probability of our being able to borrow the whole sum. Under these dispositions and prospects, it would grieve us extremely to see our debt pass into the hands of speculators, and be subjected ourselves to the chicaneries and vexations of private avarice. We desire you, therefore, to dissuade the government, as far as you can prudently, from listening to any overtures of that kind, and as to the speculators themselves, whether native or foreign, to inform them, without reserve, that our government condemns their projects, and reserves to itself the right of paying no where but into the treasury of France, according to their contract.
I enclose you a copy of Mr. Grand's note to me, stating the conditions on which Drost would come, and also a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, expressing his ideas as to those terms, with which I agree. We leave to your agency the engaging and sending Mr. Drost as soon as possible, and to your discretion to fix the terms, rendering the allowance for expenses certain, which his first proposition leaves uncertain. Subsistence here costs about one-third of what it does in Paris, to a housekeeper. In a lodging house, the highest price for a room and board is a dollar a day, for the master, and half that for the servant. These facts may enable you to settle the article of expenses reasonably. If Mr. Drost undertakes assaying, I should much rather confide it to him, than to any other person who can be sent. It is the most confidential operation in the whole business of coining. We should expect him to instruct a native in it. I think, too, he should be obliged to continue longer than a year, if it should be necessary for qualifying others to continue his operations. It is not important that he be here till November or December, but extremely desirable then. He may come as much sooner as he pleases.
We address to M. la Motte a small box for you, containing a complete set of the journals of the ancient Congress, the acts of the last session of the federal legislature, and a continuation of the newspapers. I am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, May 1, 1791.
Sir,—I had the honor of addressing you on the 24th ult., which I presume you will have received at Camden. The present is ordered to go from Petersburg to Taylor's ferry. I think it better my letters should be even some days ahead of you, knowing that if they ever get into your rear they will never overtake you. I write to-day, indeed, merely as the watchman cries, to prove himself awake, and that all is well, for the last week has scarcely furnished anything foreign or domestic, worthy your notice. Truxton is arrived from the East Indies, and confirms the check by Tippoo Saib, on the detachment of Colonel Floyd, which consisted of between three and four thousand men. The latter lost most of his baggage and artillery, and retreated under the pursuit of the enemy. The loss of men is pretended by their own papers to have been two or three hundred only. But the loss and character of the officers killed, makes me suspect that the situation has been such as to force the best officers to expose themselves the most, and consequently that more men must have fallen. The main body with General Meadows at their head are pretended to be going on boldly. Yet, Lord Cornwallis is going to take the field in person. This shows that affairs are in such a situation as to give anxiety. Upon the whole, the account received through Paris papers proves true, notwithstanding the minister had declared to the House of Commons, in his place, that the public accounts were without foundation, and that nothing amiss had happened.
Our loan in Amsterdam for two and a half million of florins filled in two hours and a half after it was opened.
The Vice-President leaves us to-morrow. We are told that Mr. Morris gets £70,000 sterling for the lands he has sold.
A Mr. Noble has been here, from the country where they are busied with the sugar-maple tree. He thinks Mr. Cooper will bring three thousand pounds worth to market this season, and gives the most flattering calculations of what may be done in that way. He informs me of another most satisfactory fact, that less profit is made by converting the juice into spirit than into sugar. He gave me specimens of the spirit, which is exactly whiskey.
I have arrived at Baltimore from Marseilles forty olive trees of the best kind from Marseilles, and a box of seed, the latter to raise stocks, and the former, cuttings to engraft on the stocks. I am ordering them on instantly to Charleston, where, if they arrive in the course of this month, they will be in time. Another cargo is on its way from Bordeaux, so that I hope to secure the commencement of this culture, and from the best species. Sugar and oil will be no mean addition to the articles of our culture. I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE ATTORNEY OF THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY.
Philadelphia, May 7, 1791.
Sir,—A certain James O'Fallon is, as we are informed, undertaking to raise, organize and commission an army, of his own authority, and independent of that of the government, the object of which is, to go and possess themselves of lands which have never yet been granted by any authority, which the government admits to be legal, and with an avowed design to hold them by force against any power, foreign or domestic. As this will inevitably commit our whole nation in war with the Indian nations, and perhaps others, it cannot be permitted that all the inhabitants of the United States shall be involved in the calamities of war, and the blood of thousands of them be poured out, merely that a few adventurers may possess themselves of lands; nor can a well ordered government tolerate such an assumption of its sovereignty by unauthorized individuals. I send you herein the Attorney General's opinion of what may legally be done, with a desire that you proceed against the said O'Fallon according to law. It is not the wish, to extend the prosecution to other individuals, who may have given thoughtlessly into his unlawful proceeding. I enclose you a proclamation to this effect. But they may be assured, that if this undertaking be prosecuted, the whole force of the United States will be displayed to punish the transgression. I enclose you one of O'Fallon's commissions, signed, as is said, by himself.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Philadelphia, May 8, 1791.
Sir,—The last week does not furnish one single public event worthy communicating to you; so that I have only to say "all is well." Paine's answer to Burke's pamphlet begins to produce some squibs in our public papers. In Fenno's paper they are Burkites, in the others, Painites. One of Fenno's was evidently from the author of the discourses on Davila. I am afraid the indiscretion of a printer has committed me with my friend, Mr. Adams, for whom, as one of the most honest and disinterested men alive, I have a cordial esteem, increased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in the days of his republicanism; and even since his apostacy to hereditary monarchy and nobility, though we differ, we differ as friends should do. Beckley had the only copy of Paine's pamphlet, and lent it to me, desiring when I should have read it, that I would send it to a Mr. J. B. Smith, who had asked it for his brother to reprint it. Being an utter stranger to J. B. Smith, both by sight and character, I wrote a note to explain to him why I (a stranger to him) sent him a pamphlet, to wit, that Mr. Beckley had desired it; and to take off a little of the dryness of the note, I added that I was glad to find it was to be reprinted, that something would, at length, be publicly said against the political heresies which had lately sprung up among us, and that I did not doubt our citizens would rally again round the standard of common sense. That I had in my view the discourses on Davila, which have filled Fenno's papers, for a twelvemonth, without contradiction, is certain, but nothing was ever further from my thoughts than to become myself the contradictor before the public. To my great astonishment, however, when the pamphlet came out, the printer had prefixed my note to it, without having given me the most distant hint of it. Mr. Adams will unquestionably take to himself the charge of political heresy, as conscious of his own views of drawing the present government to the form of the English constitution, and, I fear, will consider me as meaning to injure him in the public eye. I learn that some Anglo-men have censured it in another point of view, as a sanction of Paine's principles tends to give offence to the British government. Their real fear, however, is that this popular and republican pamphlet, taking wonderfully, is likely at a single stroke, to wipe out all the unconstitutional doctrines which their bell-weather Davila has been preaching for a twelvemonth. I certainly never made a secret of my being anti-monarchical, and anti-aristocratical; but I am sincerely mortified to be thus brought forward on the public stage, where to remain, to advance or to retire, will be equally against my love of silence and quiet, and my abhorrence of dispute. I do not know whether you recollect that the records of Virginia were destroyed by the British in the year 1781. Particularly the transactions of the revolution before that time. I am collecting here all the letters I wrote to Congress while I was in the administration there, and this being done, I shall then extend my views to my predecessors, in order to replace the whole in the public offices in Virginia. I think that during my administration, say between June 1, 1779, and June 1, 1781, I had the honor of writing frequent letters to you on public affairs, which perhaps, may be among your papers at Mount Vernon. Would it be consistent with any general resolution you have formed as to your papers, to let my letters of the above period come here to be copied, in order to make them a part of the records I am endeavoring to restore for the State? or would their selection be too troublesome? if not, I would beg the loan of them, under an assurance that they shall be taken the utmost care of, and safely returned to their present deposit.
The quiet and regular movement of our political affairs leaves nothing to add but constant prayers for your health and welfare, and assurances of the sincere respect and attachment of, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE HONORABLE JEREMIAH WADSWORTH.
Philadelphia, May 11, 1791.
Sir,—I have duly received your favor of April 20. The exemption from the Droit d'Aubaine in the French West Indies, has been for some time past a subject of attention. As the National Assembly were abolishing it in France for all nations, I desired our Chargé des Affaires there to see that the decree should be extended to all the dominions of France. His letters assure me that it will be done, so as to remove this grievance hereafter. With respect to the past, I believe it has been judiciously determined in France that the exemption given by our treaty did not extend to their foreign possessions. Should Mr. Johnston, however, be disposed to try this matter, it will be requisite for him to obtain from Port-au-Prince an authenticated record of the proceedings in his case. It would seem, also, that those in the case of the gentleman of Curraçoa, might be useful. These should be transmitted to some person in Paris to solicit the government for him. Though it is not permitted that our Chargé des Affaires there, or anywhere, should act as the private agent or solicitor for any individual, yet he will lend his aid and influence wherever it may be just and useful, by official applications. I have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. DUMAS.
Philadelphia, May 13, 1791.
Sir,—You will readily conceive that the union of domestic with the foreign affairs under the department of State, brings on the head of this department such incessant calls, not admitting delay, as oblige him to postpone whatever will bear postponing; hence, though it is important that I should continue to receive, from time to time, regular information from you of whatever occurs within your notice, interesting to the United States, yet it is not in my power to acknowledge the receipt of your letters regularly as they come. I mention this circumstance that you may ascribe the delay of acknowledgment to the real cause, and that it may not produce any relaxation on your part in making all those communications which it is important should be received, and which govern our proceedings, though it is not in my power to note it to you specially.
In general, our affairs are proceeding in a train of unparalleled prosperity. This arises from the real improvements of our government, from the unbounded confidence reposed in it by the people, their zeal to support it, and their conviction that a solid Union is the best rock of their safety, from the favorable seasons which for some years past have co-operated with a fertile soil and a genial climate to increase the productions of agriculture, and from the growth of industry, economy and domestic manufactures; so that I believe I may say with truth, that there is not a nation under the sun enjoying more present prosperity, nor with more in prospect. The Indians on our frontier, indeed, still continue to cut off straggling individuals or families falling in their way. An expedition against them the last summer was less successful than there was reason to expect. We lost in it about one hundred men. The operations of the present summer will more probably bring them to peace, which is all we desire of them, it having been a leading object of our present Government to guaranty them in their present possessions, and to protect their persons with the same fidelity which is extended to its own citizens. We ask nothing of them but that they will accept our peace, friendship and services; and we hope soon to make them sensible of this, in spite of the incitements against us, which they have been so much the dupes of. This is the general state of our affairs at present, as faithfully as I am able to give it.
I am to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of April 2, May 8, 17, 26; July 10, 14; September 7, 30; October 19, November 23, December 6 and 11. I now receive the Leyden Gazette with great regularity by the British Packet, and thank you for your attention to this, with a request that it may be continued.
There is no doubt it would be desirable for us to receive our intelligence from Europe through a channel of our own; but the expense of an establishment of Packet-boats would be beyond the value of the object for us, considering that our connection with Europe is less political than commercial, and that information of the latter kind may come safely through any channel. In fact, if we attend to the whole amount of our civil list, we shall find that the expense of Packet-boats would make a very sensible addition to it. The idea, therefore, though good, must be suspended yet awhile.
Accept my thanks on the part of the Government for the copy of Rymer you have been so good as to send us, and which is duly received, and be assured of the sincere esteem and attachment with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
THOMAS BARCLAY.
Philadelphia, May 13, 1791.
Sir,—You are appointed by the President of the United States, to go to the court of Morocco, for the purpose of obtaining from the new Emperor, a recognition of our treaty with his father. As it is thought best that you should go in some definite character, that of consul has been adopted, and you consequently receive a commission as consul for the United States, in the dominions of the Emperor of Morocco, which, having been issued during the recess of the Senate, will, of course, expire at the end of their next session. It has been thought best, however, not to insert this limitation in the commission, as being unnecessary; and it might, perhaps, embarrass. Before the end of the next session of the Senate, it is expected the objects of your mission will be accomplished.
Lisbon being the most convenient port of correspondence between us and Morocco, sufficient authority will be given to Colonel Humphreys, resident of the United States at that place, over funds in Amsterdam, for the objects of your mission. On him, therefore, you will draw for the sums herein allowed, or such parts of them as shall be necessary. To that port, too, you had better proceed in the first vessel which shall be going there, as it is expected you will get a ready passage from thence to Morocco.
On your arrival at Morocco, sound your ground, and know how things stand at present. Your former voyage there, having put you in possession of the characters through whom this may be done, who may best be used for approaching the Emperor and effecting your purpose, you are left to use your own knowledge to the best advantage.
The object being merely to obtain an acknowledgment of the treaty, we rely that you will be able to do this, giving very moderate presents. As the amount of these will be drawn into precedent, on future similar repetitions of them, it becomes important. Our distance, our seclusion from the ancient world, its politics and usages, our agricultural occupations and habits, our poverty, and lastly, our determination to prefer war in all cases, to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever, will furnish you with topics for opposing and refusing high or dishonoring pretensions; to which may be added, the advantages their people will derive from our commerce, and their sovereign, from the duties laid on whatever we extract from that country.
Keep us regularly informed of your proceedings and progress, by writing by every possible occasion, detailing to us particularly your conferences, either private or public, and the persons with whom they are held.
We think that Francisco Chiappe has merited well of the United States, by his care of their peace and interests. He has sent an account of disbursements for us, amounting to three hundred and ninety-four dollars. Do not recognize the account, because we are unwilling, by doing that, to give him a color for presenting larger ones hereafter, for expenses which it is impossible for us to scrutinize or control. Let him understand, that our laws oppose the application of public money so informally; but in your presents, treat him handsomely, so as not only to cover this demand, but go beyond it with a liberality which may fix him deeply in our interests. The place he holds near the Emperor, renders his friendship peculiarly important. Let us have nothing further to do with his brothers, or any other person. The money which would make one good friend, divided among several, will produce no attachment.
The emperor has intimated that he expects an ambassador from us. Let him understand, that this may be a custom of the old world, but it is not ours; that we never sent an ambassador to any nation.
You are to be allowed, from the day of your departure till your return, one hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents and two-thirds, a month, for your time and expenses, adding thereto your passage money and sea stores going and coming.
Remain in your post till the 1st of April next, and as much longer as shall be necessary to accomplish the objects of your mission, unless you should receive instructions from hence to the contrary.
With your commission, you will receive a letter to the Emperor of Morocco, a cypher, and a letter to Colonel Humphreys.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
A private instruction which Mr. Barclay is to carry in his memory, and not on paper, lest it should come into improper hands.
We rely that you will obtain the friendship of the new Emperor, and his assurances that the treaty shall be faithfully observed, with as little expense as possible. But the sum of ten thousand dollars is fixed as the limit which all your donations together are not to exceed.
[Letter from the President to the Emperor of Morocco, referred to in the letter to Mr. Barclay.]
Great and Magnanimous Friend,—Separated by an immense ocean from the more ancient nations of the earth, and little connected with their politics or proceedings, we are late in learning the events which take place among them, and later in conveying to them our sentiments thereon.
The death of the late Emperor, your father and our friend, of glorious memory, is one of those events which, though distant, attracts our notice and concern. Receive, great and good friend, my sincere sympathy with you on that loss; and permit me, at the same time, to express the satisfaction with which I learn the accession of so worthy a successor to the imperial throne of Morocco, and to offer you the homage of my sincere congratulations. May the days of your Majesty's life be many and glorious, and may they ever mark the era during which a great people shall have been most prosperous and happy, under the best and happiest of sovereigns!
The late Emperor, very soon after the establishment of our infant nation, manifested his royal regard and amity to us by many friendly and generous acts, and, particularly, by the protection of our citizens in their commerce with his subjects. And as a further instance of his desire to promote our prosperity and intercourse with his realms, he entered into a treaty of amity and commerce with us, for himself and his successors, to continue fifty years. The justice and magnanimity of your Majesty, leave us full confidence that the treaty will meet your royal patronage also; and it will give me great satisfaction to be assured, that the citizens of the United States of America may expect from your imperial Majesty, the same protection and kindness, which the example of your illustrious father has taught them to expect from those who occupy the throne of Morocco, and to have your royal word, that they may count on a due observance of the treaty which cements the two nations in friendship.
This will be delivered to your Majesty, by our faithful citizen, Thomas Barclay, whom I name consul for these United States in the dominions of your Majesty, and who, to the integrity and knowledge qualifying him for that office, unites the peculiar advantage of having been the agent, through whom our treaty with the late Emperor was received. I pray your Majesty to protect him in the exercise of his functions for the patronage of the commerce between our two countries, and of those who carry it on.
May that God, whom we both adore, bless your imperial Majesty with long life, health and success, and have you always, great and magnanimous friend, under his holy keeping.
Written at Philadelphia, the thirty-first day of March, in the fifteenth year of our sovereignty and independence, from your good and faithful friend.
TO ——.[4]
Bennington, in Vermont, June 5, 1791.
Dear Sir,—Mr. Madison and myself are so far on the tour we had projected. We have visited, in the course of it, the principal scenes of General Burgoyne's misfortunes, to wit, the grounds at Stillwater, where the action of that name was fought, and particularly the breastworks, which cost so much blood to both parties, the encampments at Saratoga and ground where the British piled their arms, and the field of the battle of Bennington, about nine miles from this place. We have also visited Forts William, Henry and George, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, &c., which have been scenes of blood from a very early part of our history. We were more pleased, however, with the botanical objects which continually presented themselves. Those either unknown or rare in Virginia, were the sugar maple in vast abundance. The silver fir, white pine, pitch pine, spruce pine, a shrub with decumbent stems, which they call juniper, an aralea, very different from the nudiflora, with very large clusters of flowers, more thickly set on the branches, of a deeper red, and high pink-fragrance. It is the richest shrub I have seen. The honey-suckle of the gardens growing wild on the banks of Lake George, the paper-birch, an aspen with a velvet leaf, a shrub-willow with downy catkins, a wild gooseberry, the wild cherry with single fruit, (not the bunch cherry,) strawberries in abundance. From the highlands to the lakes it is a limestone country. It is in vast quantities on the eastern sides of the lakes, but none on the western sides. The Sandy Hill Falls and Wing's Falls, two very remarkable cataracts of the Hudson, of about thirty-five feet or forty feet each, between Fort Edward and Fort George, are of limestone, in horizontal strata. Those of the Cohoes, on the west side of the Hudson, and of seventy feet height, we thought not of limestone. We have met with a small red squirrel, of the color of our fox-squirrel, with a black stripe on each side, weighing about six ounces generally, and in such abundance on Lake Champlain particularly, as that twenty odd were killed at the house we lodged in, opposite Crown Point, the morning we arrived there, without going ten yards from the door. We killed three crossing the lakes, one of them just as he was getting ashore, where it was three miles wide, and where, with the high wind then blowing, he must have made it five or six miles.
I think I asked the favor of you to send for Anthony in the season for inoculation, as well as to do what is necessary in the orchard, as to pursue the object of inoculating all the spontaneous cherry trees in the fields with good fruit.
We have now got over about four hundred miles of our tour, and have still about four hundred and fifty more to go over. Arriving here on the Saturday evening, and the laws of the State not permitting us to travel on the Sunday, has given me time to write to you from hence. I expect to be at Philadelphia by the 20th or 21st. I am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, yours affectionately.
FOOTNOTE
[4] [No address.]
TO COLONEL MONROE.
Philadelphia, July 10, 1791.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of June 17, has been duly received. I am endeavoring to get for you the lodgings Langdon had. But the landlord is doubtful whether he will let them at all. If he will not, I will endeavor to do the best I can. I can accommodate you myself with a stable and coach-house, without any expense, as I happen to have two on hand; and indeed, in my new one, I have had stalls enough prepared for six horses, which are two more than I keep. Of my success in procuring rooms, I shall bring you news myself, though as yet the time of my visit to Albemarle is unfixed. Mr. Madison will both go and come with me. He is at present at New York. His journey with me to the lakes placed him in better health than I have seen him; but the late heats have brought on some bilious dispositions.
The papers which I send Mr. Randolph weekly, and which I presume you see, will have shown you what a dust Paine's pamphlet has kicked up here. My last to Mr. Randolph will have given an explanation as to myself, which I had not time to give when I sent you the pamphlet. A writer, under the name of Publicola, in attacking all Paine's principles, is very desirous of involving me in the same censure with the author. I certainly merit the same, for I profess the same principles; but it is equally certain I never meant to have entered as a volunteer into the cause. My occupations do not permit it. Some persons here are insinuating that I am Brutus, that I am Agricola, that I am Philodemus, &c., &c. I am none of them, being decided not to write a word on the subject, unless any printed imputation should call for a printed disavowal, to which I should put my name. A Boston paper has declared that Mr. Adams "has no more concern in the publication of the writings of Publicola, than the author of the Rights of Man himself." If the equivoque here were not intended, the disavowal is not entirely credited, because not from Mr. Adams himself, and because the style and sentiments raise so strong a presumption. Besides, to produce any effect he must disavow Davila and the Defence of the American Constitutions. A host of writers have risen in favor of Paine, and prove that in this quarter, at least, the spirit of republicanism is sound. The contrary spirit of the high officers of government is more understood than I expected. Colonel Hamilton avowing that he never made a secret of his principles, yet taxes the imprudence of Mr. Adams in having stirred the question, and agrees that "his business is done." Jay, covering the same principles under the veil of silence, is rising steadily on the ruins of his friends. The bank filled and overflowed in the moment it was opened. Instead of twenty thousand shares, twenty-four thousand were offered, and a great many unpresented, who had not suspected that so much haste was necessary. Thus it is that we shall be paying thirteen per cent. per annum for eight millions of paper money, instead of having that circulation of gold and silver for nothing. Experience has proved to us that a dollar of silver disappears for every dollar of paper emitted; and, for the paper emitted from the bank, seven per cent. profits will be received by the subscribers for it as bank paper, (according to the last division of profits by the Philadelphia bank,) and six per cent. on the public paper of which it is the representative. Nor is there any reason to believe, that either the six millions of paper, or the two millions of specie deposited, will not be suffered to be withdrawn, and the paper thrown into circulation. The cash deposited by strangers for safe keeping will probably suffice for cash demands. Very few subscribers have offered from Virginia or North Carolina, which gives uneasiness to H. It is impossible to say where the appetite for gambling will stop. The land office, the federal town, certain schemes of manufacture, are all likely to be converted into aliment for that rage; but this subject is too copious for a letter, and must be reserved for conversation. The respite from occupation which my journey procured, has entirely removed my headaches. Kiss and bless Mrs. Monroe and Eliza, for, dear Sir, yours affectionately.
TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.
Philadelphia, July 13, 1791.
Sir,—Mr. Barclay having been detained longer than was expected, you will receive this as well as my letter of May the 13th from him. Since the date of that, I have received your No. 15, March the 31st, No. 16, April the 8th, No 17, April the 30th, No. 18, May the 3d, and No. 20, May the 21st.
You are not unacquainted with the situation of our captives at Algiers. Measures were taken, and were long depending, for their redemption. During the time of their dependence, we thought it would forward our success to take no notice of the captives. They were maintained by the Spanish consul, from whom applications for reimbursement, through Mr. Carmichael, often came: no answer of any kind was ever given. A certainty now that our measures for their redemption will not succeed, renders it unnecessary for us to be so reserved on the subject, and to continue to wear the appearance of neglecting them. Though the government might have agreed to ransom at the lowest price admitted with any nation (as, for instance, that of the French order of Merci), they will not give anything like the price which has been lately declared to be the lowest by the captors. It remains, then, for us to see what other means are practicable for their recovery. In the meantime, it is our desire that the disbursements hitherto made for their subsistence, by the Spanish consul or others, be paid off, and that their future comfortable subsistence be provided for. As to past disbursements, I must beg the favor of you to write to Mr. Carmichael, that you are authorized to pay them off, pray him to let you know their amount, and to whom payments are due. With respect to future provision for the captives, I must put it into your hands. The impossibility of getting letters to or from Mr. Carmichael, renders it improper for us to use that channel. As to the footing on which they are to be subsisted, the ration and clothing of a soldier would have been a good measure, were it possible to apply it to articles of food and clothing so extremely different as those used at Algiers. The allowance heretofore made them by the Spanish consul might perhaps furnish a better rule, as we have it from themselves, that they were then comfortably subsisted. Should you be led to correspond with them at all, it had better be with Captain O'Bryan, who is a sensible man, and whose conduct since he has been there, has been particularly meritorious. It will be better for you to avoid saying anything which may either increase or lessen their hopes of ransom. I write to our bankers, to answer your drafts for these purposes, and enclose you a duplicate to be forwarded with your first draft. The prisoners are fourteen in number; their names and qualities as follows: Richard O'Bryan and Isaac Stephens, captains; Andrew Montgomery and Alexander Forsyth, mates; Jacob Tessanier, a French passenger; William Patterson, Philip Sloan, Peleg Lorin, John Robertson, James Hall, James Cathcart, George Smith, John Gregory, James Hermel, seamen. They have been twenty-one or twenty-two.
We are in hourly expectation of hearing the event of General Scott's irruption into the Indian country, at the head of between seven and eight hundred mounted infantry. Perhaps it may yet be known in time to communicate to you by this opportunity. Our bank was filled with subscriptions the moment it was opened. Eight millions of dollars were the whole permitted to be subscribed, of which two millions were deposited in cash, the residue to be public paper. Every other symptom is equally favorable to our credit.
The President has returned from his southern tour in good health. You will receive herewith the newspapers up to the present date. I have the honor to be, with great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
Philadelphia, July 17, 1791.
Dear Sir,—I have a dozen times taken up my pen to write to you, and as often laid it down again, suspended between opposing considerations. I determine, however, to write from a conviction that truth, between candid minds, can never do harm. The first of Paine's pamphlets on the rights of man, which came to hand here, belonged to Mr. Beckley. He lent it to Mr. Madison, who lent it to me; and while I was reading it, Mr. Beckley called on me for it, and, as I had not finished it, he desired me, as soon as I should have done so, to send it to Mr. Jonathan B. Smith, whose brother meant to reprint it. I finished reading it, and, as I had no acquaintance with Mr. Jonathan B. Smith, propriety required that I should explain to him why I, a stranger to him, sent him the pamphlet. I accordingly wrote a note of compliment, informing him that I did it at the desire of Mr. Beckley, and, to take off a little of the dryness of the note, I added that I was glad it was to be reprinted here, and that something was to be publicly said against the political heresies which had sprung up among us, &c. I thought so little of this note, that I did not even keep a copy of it; nor ever heard a tittle more of it, till, the week following, I was thunderstruck with seeing it come out at the head of the pamphlet. I hoped, however, it would not attract notice. But I found, on my return from a journey of a month, that a writer came forward, under the signature of Publicola, attacking not only the author and principles of the pamphlet, but myself as its sponsor, by name. Soon after came hosts of other writers, defending the pamphlet, and attacking you, by name, as the writer of Publicola. Thus were our names thrown on the public stage as public antagonists. That you and I differ in our ideas of the best form of government, is well known to us both; but we have differed as friends should do, respecting the purity of each other's motives, and confining our difference of opinion to private conversation. And I can declare with truth, in the presence of the Almighty, that nothing was further from my intention or expectation than to have either my own or your name brought before the public on this occasion. The friendship and confidence which has so long existed between us, required this explanation from me, and I know you too well to fear any misconstruction of the motives of it. Some people here, who would wish me to be, or to be thought, guilty of improprieties, have suggested that I was Agricola, that I was Brutus, &c., &c. I never did in my life, either by myself or by any other, have a sentence of mine inserted in a newspaper without putting my name to it; and I believe I never shall.
While the Empress is refusing peace under a mediation, unless Ocrakow and its territory be ceded to her, she is offering peace on the perfect statu quo to the Porte, if they will conclude it without a mediation. France has struck a severe blow at our navigation, by a difference of duty on tobacco carried in our and their ships, and by taking from foreign-built ships the capability of naturalization. She has placed our whale oil on rather a better footing than ever, by consolidating the duties into a single one of six livres. They amounted before to some sous over that sum. I am told (I know not how truly), that England has prohibited our spermaceti oil altogether, and will prohibit our wheat till the price there is fifty-two shillings the quarter, which it almost never is. We expect hourly to hear the true event of General Scott's expedition. Reports give favorable hopes of it. Be so good as to present my respectful compliments to Mrs. Adams, and to accept assurances of the sentiments of sincere esteem and respect with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.
Philadelphia, July 26, 1791.
Dear Sir,—Your favors of February the 26th, and March the 16th, have been duly received. The conferences which you held last with the British minister needed no apology. At the time of writing my letter desiring that communications with them might cease, it was supposed possible that some might take place before it would be received. They proved to be such as not to vary the opinion formed, and, indeed, the result of the whole is what was to have been expected from known circumstances. Yet the essay was perhaps necessary to justify, as well as induce, the measures proper for the protection of our commerce. The first remittance of a thousand dollars to you, was made without the aid of any facts which could enable the government to judge, what sum might be an indemnification for the interference of the business referred to you, with your private pursuits. Your letter of February the 26th furnishing grounds for correcting the first judgment, I now enclose you a bill on our bankers in Holland for another sum of a thousand dollars. In the original remittance, as in this supplement to it, there has been no view but to do what is right between the public and those who serve them.
Though no authentic account is yet received, we learn through private channels that General Scott has returned from a successful expedition against the Indians; having killed about thirty warriors, taken fifty odd women and children prisoners, and destroyed two or three villages, without the loss of a man, except three, drowned by accident. A similar expedition was to follow immediately after the first, while preparations are making for measures of more permanent effect; so that we hope this summer to bring the Indians to accept of a just and general peace on which nothing will be asked of them but their peace.
The crops of wheat in the United States are rather abundant, and the quality good. Those of tobacco are not promising as yet. I have heard nothing of the rice crops.
I am, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
Philadelphia, July 28, 1791.
Dear Sir,—Since my last I have received letters from you as follows:
* * * * *
Mine to you, unacknowledged, were of March the 8th, 12th, 15th, 19th, April the 25th, and May the 10th. Your two last letters mention the length of time you have been without intelligence, having then received mine of January the 23d only. You will perceive by the above, that six letters of a later date were on their way to you. The receipt of these, with the newspapers, journals, laws, and other printed papers accompanying them, will have relieved your anxiety, by answering several articles of your former letters, and opening to you some new and important matters. I scarcely ever miss the opportunity of a private vessel going from hence or New York to any port of France, without writing to you and sending you the newspapers; &c. In the winter, occasions are very rare, this port, particularly, being blocked up with ice. The reason of so long an interval between the last and present letter, has been the journey of a month, which that informed you I was about to take. This is the first vessel which has offered since my return; she is bound to Havre, and will carry the newspapers as usual.
The difference of sixty-two livres ten sols the hogshead, established by the National Assembly on tobacco brought in their and our ships, is such an act of hostility against our navigation, as was not to have been expected from the friendship of that nation. It is as new in its nature as extravagant in its degree; since it is unexampled, that any nation has endeavored to wrest from another the carriage of its own produce, except in the case of their colonies. The British navigation act, so much and so justly complained of, leaves to all nations the carriage of their own commodities free. This measure, too, is calculated expressly to take our own carriage from us and give the equivalent to other nations: for it is well known, that the shipping of France is not equal to the carriage of their whole commerce; but the freight in other branches of navigation being on an equal footing with only forty livres the hogshead, in ours, and this new arrangement giving them sixty-two livres ten sols the hogshead, in addition to their freight, that is to say, one hundred and two livres ten sols, instead of forty livres, their vessels will leave every other branch of business to fill up this. They will consequently leave a void in those other branches, which will be occupied by English, Dutch, and Swedes, on the spot. They complain of our tonnage duty; but it is because it is not understood. In the ports of France, we pay fees for anchorage, buoys and beacons, fees to measurers, weighers and gaugers, and in some countries, for light-houses. We have thought it better that the public here should pay all these, and reimburse itself by a consolidation of them into one fee, proportioned to the tonnage of the vessel, and therefore called by that name. They complain that the foreign tonnage is higher than the domestic. If this complaint had come from the English, it would not have been wonderful, because the foreign tonnage operates really as a tax on their commerce, which, under this name, is found to pay sixteen dollars and fifty cents for every dollar paid by France. It was not conceived, that the latter would have complained of a measure calculated to operate so unequally on her rival, and I still suppose she would not complain, if the thing were well understood. The refusing to our vessels the faculty of becoming national bottoms, on sale to their citizens, was never before done by any nation but England. I cannot help hoping that these were wanderings of a moment, founded in misinformation, which reflection will have corrected before you receive this.
Whenever jealousies are expressed as to any supposed views of ours, on the dominion of the West Indies, you cannot go farther than the truth, in asserting we have none. If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other in the mind of every American, it is, that we should have nothing to do with conquest. As to commerce, indeed, we have strong sensations. In casting our eyes over the earth, we see no instance of a nation forbidden, as we are, by foreign powers, to deal with neighbors, and obliged, with them, to carry into another hemisphere, the mutual supplies necessary to relieve mutual wants. This is not merely a question between the foreign power and our neighbor. We are interested in it equally with the latter, and nothing but moderation, at least with respect to us, can render us indifferent to its continuance. An exchange of surplusses and wants between neighbor nations, is both a right and a duty under the moral law, and measures against right should be mollified in their exercise, if it be wished to lengthen them to the greatest term possible. Circumstances sometimes require, that rights the most unquestionable should be advanced with delicacy. It would seem that the one now spoken of, would need only a mention, to be assented to by any unprejudiced mind: but with respect to America, Europeans in general, have been too long in the habit of confounding force with right. The Marquis de La Fayette stands in such a relation between the two countries, that I should think him perfectly capable of seeing what is just as to both. Perhaps on some occasion of free conversation, you might find an opportunity of impressing these truths on his mind, and that from him, they might be let out at a proper moment as matters meriting consideration and weight, when they shall be engaged in the work of forming a constitution for our neighbors. In policy, if not in justice, they should be disposed to avoid oppression, which, falling on us, as well as on their colonies, might tempt us to act together.[5]
The element of measure adopted by the National Assembly excludes, ipso facto, every nation on earth from a communion of measure with them; for they acknowledge themselves, that a due portion for admeasurement of a meridian crossing the forty-fifth degree of latitude, and terminating at both ends in the same level, can be found in no other country on earth but theirs. It would follow then, that other nations must trust to their admeasurement, or send persons into their country to make it themselves, not only in the first instance, but whenever afterwards they may wish to verify their measures. Instead of concurring, then, in a measure which, like the pendulum, may be found in every point of the forty-fifth degree, and through both hemispheres, and consequently in all the countries of the earth lying under that parallel, either northern or southern, they adopt one which can be found but in a single point of the northern parallel, and consequently only in one country, and that country is theirs.
I left with you a statement of the case of Schweighauser and Dobrée, with the original vouchers on which it depends. From these you will have known, that being authorized by Congress to settle this matter, I began by offering to them an arbitration before honest and judicious men of a neutral nation. They declined this, and had the modesty to propose an arbitration before merchants of their own town. I gave them warning then, that as the offer on the part of a sovereign nation to submit to a private arbitration was an unusual condescendence, if they did not accept it then, it would not be repeated, and that the United States would judge the case for themselves hereafter. They continued to decline it, and the case now stands thus. The territorial judge of France has undertaken to call the United States to his jurisdiction, and has arrested their property, in order to enforce appearance, and possess himself of a matter whereon to found a decree; but no court can have jurisdiction over a sovereign nation. This position was agreed to; but it was urged, that some act of Mr. Barclay's had admitted the jurisdiction. It was denied that there had been any such act by Mr. Barclay, and disavowed, if there was one, as without authority from the United States, the property on which the arrest was made, having been purchased by Dr. Franklin, and remaining in his possession till taken out of it by the arrest. On this disavowal, it was agreed that there could be no further contest, and I received assurance that the property should be withdrawn from the possession of the court by an evocation of the cause before the King's Council, on which, without other proceedings, it should be delivered to the United States. Applications were repeated as often as dignity or even decency would permit; but it was never done. Thus the matter rests, and thus it is meant it should rest. No answer of any kind is to be given to Schweighauser and Dobrée. If they think proper to apply to their sovereign, I presume there will be a communication either through you or their representative here, and we shall have no difficulty to show the character of the treatment we have experienced.
I will observe for your information, that the sustenance of our captives at Algiers is committed to Colonel Humphreys.
You will be so kind as to remember, that your public account from the 1st day of July, 1790, to the last of June, 1791, inclusive, is desired before the meeting of Congress, that I may be able to lay before them the general account of the foreign fund for that year.
General Scott has returned from a successful expedition against the northern Indians, having killed thirty-two warriors, taken fifty-eight women and children prisoners, and destroyed three towns and villages, with a great deal of corn in grain and growth. A similar expedition was to follow immediately, while preparation is making for measures of more permanent effect; so that we may reasonably hope the Indians will be induced to accept of peace which is all we desire.
Our funds have risen nearly to par. The eight millions for the bank was subscribed as fast as it could be written, and that stock is now above par. Our crops of wheat have been rather abundant, and of excellent quality. Those of tobacco are not very promising as yet. The census is not yet completed, but from what we hear, we may expect our whole numbers will be nearer four than three millions. I inclose a sketch of the numbers as far as we yet know them.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your sincere friend and servant.