TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Philadelphia, December 5,1791.
Dear Sir,
The enclosed memorial from the British minister, on the case of Thomas Pagan, containing a complaint of injustice in the dispensations of law by the courts of Massachusetts to a British subject, the President approves of my referring it to you, to report thereon your opinion of the proceedings, and whether any thing, and what, can or ought to be done by the government in consequence thereof.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
[The Memorial of the British minister.]
The undersigned, his Britannic Majesty’s Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, has the honor of laying before the Secretary of State, the following brief abstract of the case of Thomas Pagan, a subject of his Britannic Majesty, now confined in the prison of Boston, under an execution issued against him out of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Bay. To this abstract, the undersigned has taken the liberty of annexing some observations, which naturally arise out of the statement of the transaction, and which may perhaps tend to throw some small degree of light on the general merits of the case.
In the late war, Thomas Pagan was agent for, and part owner of a privateer called the Industry, which, on the 25th of March, 1783, off Cape Ann, captured a brigantine called the Thomas, belonging to Mr. Stephen Hooper, of Newburyport. The brigantine and cargo were libelled in the Court of Vice-Admiralty in Nova Scotia, and that court ordered the prize to be restored. An appeal was however moved for by the captors, and regularly prosecuted in England before the Lords of Appeals for prize causes, who, in February, 1790, reversed the decree of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia, and condemned the brigantine and cargo as good and lawful prize.
In December, 1788, a judgment was obtained by Stephen Hooper in the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Essex, in Massachusetts, against Thomas Pagan for three thousand five hundred pounds lawful money, for money had and received to the plaintiff’s use. An appeal was brought thereon in May, 1789, to the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, held at Ipswich, for the county of Essex, and on the 16th of June, 1789, a verdict was found for Mr. Hooper, and damages were assessed at three thousand and nine pounds two shillings and ten pence, which sum is ‘for the vessel called the brigantine Thomas, her cargo, and every article found on board.’ After this verdict, and before entering the judgment, Mr. Pagan moved for a new trial, suggesting that the verdict was against law; because the merits of the case originated in a question, whether a certain brigantine called the Thomas, with her cargo, taken on the high seas by a private ship of war called the Industry, was prize or no prize, and that the court had no authority to give judgment in a cause, where the point of a resulting or implied promise arose upon a question of this sort. The Supreme Judicial Court refused this motion for a new trial, because it appeared to the court, that, in order to a legal decision, it is not necessary to inquire whether this prize and her cargo were prize or no prize, and because the case did not, in their opinion, involve a question relative to any matter or thing necessarily consequent upon the capture thereof: it was therefore considered by the court, that Hooper should receive of Pagan three thousand and nine pounds two shillings and ten pence, lawful money, damages; and taxed costs, sixteen pounds two shillings and ten pence. From this judgment, Pagan claimed an appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States of America, for these reasons; that the judgment was given in an action brought by Hooper, who is, and at the time of commencing the action was, a citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the United States, against Pagan, who at the time when the action was commenced, was and ever since has been a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing in and inhabiting his province of New Brunswick. This claim of an appeal was not allowed, because it was considered by the court, that this court was the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, from whose judgment there is no appeal; and further, because there does not exist any such court within the United States of America, as that to which Pagan has claimed an appeal from the judgment of this court. Thereupon, execution issued against Pagan on the 9th of October, 1789, and he has been confined in Boston prison ever since. It is to be observed, that in August, 1789, Mr. Pagan petitioned the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for a new trial, and after hearing the arguments of counsel, a new trial was refused. On the 1st of January, 1791, his Britanic Majesty’s Consul at Boston applied for redress on behalf of Mr. Pagan, to the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, who, in his letter of the 28th of January, 1791, was pleased to recommend this matter to the serious attention of the Senate and House of Representatives of that State. On the 14th of February, 1791, the British Consul memorialized the Senate and House of Representatives on this subject. On the 22nd of February, a committee of both Houses reported a resolution, that the memorial of the Consul and message from the Governor with all the papers, be referred to the consideration of the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, who were directed, as far as may be, to examine into and consider the circumstances of the case, and if they found that by the force and effect allowed by the law of nations to foreign admiralty jurisdictions, &c. Hooper ought not to have recovered judgment against Pagan, the court was authorized to grant a review of the action. On the 13th of June,’ 1791, the British Consul again represented to the Senate and House of Representatives, that the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court had not been pleased to signify their decision on this subject, referred to them by the resolution of the 22nd of February. This representation was considered by a committee of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, who concluded that one of them should make inquiry of some of the judges to know their determination, and upon being informed that the judges intended to give their opinion, with their reasons, in writing, the committee would not proceed any further in the business. On the 27th of June, 1791, Mr. Pagan’s counsel moved the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court for their opinion in the case of Hooper and Pagan, referred to their consideration by the resolve of the General Court, founded on the British Consul’s memorial. Chief Justice and Justice Dana being absent, Justice Paine delivered it as the unanimous opinion of the judges absent as well as present, that Pagan was not entitled to a new trial for any of the causes mentioned in the said resolve, and added, ‘that the court intended to put their opinions upon paper and to file them in the cause: that the sickness of two of the court had hitherto prevented it, but that it would soon be done.’
It is somewhat remarkable, that the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Bay should allege, that this case did not necessarily involve a question relative to prize or no prize, when the very jury to whom the court referred the decision of the case established the fact; their verdict was for three thousand and nine pounds two shillings and ten pence, damages, which sum is for the vessel called the brigantine Thomas, her cargo, and every thing found on board. Hence it is evident, that the case did involve a question of prize or no prize, and having received a formal decision by the only court competent to take cognizance thereof (viz. the High Court of Appeals for prize causes in England), every thing that at all related to the property in question or to the legality of the capture, was thereby finally determined. The legality of the capture being confirmed by the High Court of Appeals in England, cannot consistently with the principles of the law of nations be discussed in a foreign court of law; or at least, if a foreign court of common law is, by any local regulations, deemed competent to interfere in matters relating to captures, the decisions of admiralty courts or courts of appeal, should be received and taken as conclusive evidence of the legality or illegality of captures. By such decisions, property is either adjudged to the captors or restored to the owners; if adjudged to the captors, they obtain a permanent property in the captured goods acquired by the rights of war; and this principle originates in the wisdom of nations, and is calculated to prevent endless litigation.
The proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Bay are in direct violation of the rules and usages that have been universally practised among nations in the determination of the validity of captures, and of all collateral questions that may have reference thereto. The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, among other things, kept this point in view, when they referred the case of Mr. Pagan to the consideration of the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, and authorized the court to grant a review of the action, if it should be found that by the force and effect allowed by the law of nations to foreign admiralty jurisdictions, Mr. Hooper ought not to have recovered judgment against Mr. Pagan. But the Supreme Judicial Court have not only evaded this material consideration, upon which the whole question incontestably turns, but have assumed a fact in direct contradiction to the truth of the case, viz. that the case did not involve a question of prize or no prize. Moreover, they have denied Mr. Pagan the benefit of appeal to that court which is competent to decide on the force of treaties, and which court, by the constitution of the United States, is declared to possess appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, in all cases of controversy between citizens of the United States and subjects of foreign countries, to which class this case is peculiarly and strictly to be referred.
From the foregoing abstract of the case of Thomas Pagan, it appears that he is now detained in prison, in Boston, in consequence of a judgment given by a court which is not competent to decide upon his case, or which, if competent, refused to admit the only evidence that ought to have given jurisdiction, and that he is denied the means of appealing to the highest court of judicature known in these States, which exists in the very organization of the constitution of the United States, and is declared to possess appellate jurisdiction in all cases of a nature similar to this.
For these reasons, the undersigned begs leave respectfully to submit the whole matter to the consideration of the Secretary of State, and to request him to take such measures as may appear to him the best adapted for the purpose of obtaining for the said Thomas Pagan, such speedy and effectual redress as his case may seem to require.
George Hammond,
Philadelphia, November 26,1791.
TO MR. HAMMOND, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain,
Philadelphia, December 5, 1791.
Sir,
Your favor of November the 30th remains still unanswered, because the clerks are employed in copying some documents on the subject of the treaty of peace, which I wish to exhibit to you with the answer.
In the mean time, as to that part of your letter which respects matters of commerce, the fear of misunderstanding it induces me to mention my sense of it, and to ask if it be right. Where you are pleased to say, that ‘you are authorized to communicate to this government his Majesty’s readiness to enter into a negotiation for establishing that intercourse (of commerce) upon principles of reciprocal benefit,’ I understand that you are not furnished with any commission or express powers to arrange a treaty with us, or to make any specific propositions on the subject of commerce; but only to assure us that his Britannic Majesty is ready to concur with us, in appointing persons, times, and places for commencing such a negotiation. Be so good as to inform me if there be any misapprehension in this, as some steps on our part may be necessary in consequence of it.
1 have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson,
Philadelphia, December 12, 1791.
Sir,
I take the liberty of enclosing you an extract of a letter from a respectable character, giving information of a Mr. Bowles, lately come from England into the Creek country, endeavoring to excite that nation of Indians to war against the United States, and pretending to be employed by the government of England. We have other testimony of these his pretensions, and that he carries them much farther than is here stated. We have too much confidence in the justice and wisdom of the British government, to believe they can approve of the proceedings of this incendiary and impostor, or countenance for a moment a person who takes the liberty of using their name for such a purpose; and I make the communication, merely that you may take that notice of the case which in your opinion shall be proper.
I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
Philadelphia, December 13, 1791.
Sir,
I have laid before the President of the United States the letters of November the 30th and December the 6th, with which you honored me, and in consequence thereof and particularly of that part of your letter of December the 6th, where you say that you are fully authorized to enter into a negotiation for the purpose of arranging the commercial intercourse between the two countries, I have the honor to inform you, that I am ready to receive a communication of your full powers for that purpose, at any time you shall think proper, and to proceed immediately to their object.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect. Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
TO THE PRESIDENT.
Philadelphia, December 23, 1791.
Sir,
As the conditions of our commerce with the French and British dominions are important, and a moment seems to be approaching when it may be useful that both should be accurately understood, I have thrown a representation of them into the form of a table, showing at one view how the principal articles, interesting to our agriculture and navigation, stand in the European and American dominions of these two powers. As to so much of it as respects France, I have cited under every article the law on which it depends; which laws, from 1784 downwards, are in my possession.
Port-charges are so different, according to the size of the vessel and the dexterity of the captain, that an examination of a greater number of port-bills might, perhaps, produce a different result. I can only say, that that expressed in the table is fairly drawn from such bills as I could readily get access to, and that I have no reason to suppose it varies much from the truth, nor on which side the variation would lie. Still, I cannot make myself responsible for this article. The authorities cited will vouch the rest.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
Footing of the Commerce of the United States with France and England, and with the French and English American Colonies.
TO THE PRESIDENT.
Philadelphia, January 4, 1792,
Sir,
Having been in conversation to-day with Monsieur Payan, one of the St. Domingo deputies, I took occasion to inquire of him the footing on which our commerce there stands at present, and particularly whether the colonial Arrêt of 1789, permitting a free importation of our flour till 1793, was still in force. He answered, that that Arrêt was revoked in France on the clamors of the merchants there; and with a like permission to carry flour to the three usual ports, and he thinks to bring away coffee and sugar, was immediately renewed by the Governor. Whether this has been regularly kept up by renewed Arrêts, during the present trouble, he cannot say, but is sure that in practice it has never been discontinued, and that not by contraband, but openly and legally, as is understood. The public application to us to send flour there, is a proof of it. Instead, therefore, of resting this permission on a colonial Arrêt till 1793, it should be rested on temporary Arrêts renewed from time to time, as heretofore. This correction of the notes I took the liberty of laying before you with the table containing a comparative view of our commerce with France and England, I thought it my duty to make.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
TO THOMAS PINCKNEY.
Philadelphia, January 17, 1792.
Sir,
Your favors of November the 29th, 30th, and December the 1st, came duly to hand, and gave sincere pleasure, by announcing your disposition to accept the appointment to London. The nominations to Paris and the Hague having been detained till yours could be made, they were all immediately sent in to the Senate, to wit, yourself for London, Mr. G. Morris for Paris, Mr. Short for the Hague. Some members of the Senate, apprehending they had a right of determining on the expediency of foreign missions, as well as on the persons named, took that occasion of bringing forward the discussion of that question, by which the nominations were delayed two or three weeks. I am happy to be able to assure you, that not a single personal motive with respect to yourself entered into the objections to these appointments. On the contrary, I believe that your nomination gave general satisfaction. Your commission will be immediately made out, but as the opportunities of conveyance at this season are precarious, and you propose coming to this place, I think it better to retain it.
As to the delay proposed in your letter, it was to be expected: indeed a 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.