Thomas Jefferson

[22] [No address.]

TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.

Philadelphia, March 21, 1793.

Sir,—The death of Admiral Paul Jones first, and afterwards of Mr. Barclay, to whom the mission to Algiers, explained in the enclosed papers, was successively confided, have led the President to desire you to undertake the execution of it in person. These papers, being copies of what had been delivered to them, will serve as your guide. But Mr. Barclay having been also charged with a mission to Morocco, it will be necessary to give you some trouble with respect to that also.

Mr. Nathaniel Cutting, the bearer hereof, is despatched specially, first to receive from Mr. Pinckney in London any papers or information, which his agency in the Algerine business may have enabled him to communicate to you: he will then proceed to deliver the whole to you, and accompany and aid you in the character of secretary.

It is thought necessary that you should, in the first instance, settle Mr. Barclay's accounts respecting the Morocco mission, which will probably render it necessary that you should go to Gibraltar. The communications you have had with Mr. Barclay in this mission, will assist you in your endeavors at a settlement. You know the sum received by Mr. Barclay on that account, and we wish as exact a statement as can be made of the manner in which it has been laid out, and what part of its proceeds is now on hand. You will be pleased to make an inventory of these proceeds now existing. If they or any part of them can be used for the Algerine mission, we would have you by all means apply them to that use, debiting the Algerine fund and crediting that of Morocco with the amount of such application. If they cannot be so used, then dispose of the perishable articles to the best advantage, and if you can sell those not perishable for what they cost, do so, and what you cannot so sell, deposit in any safe place under your own power. In this last stage of the business, return us an exact account, 1. Of the specific articles remaining on hand for that mission, and their value. 2. Of its cash on hand. 3. Of any money which may be due to or from Mr. Barclay or any other person on account of this mission; and take measures for replacing the clear balance of cash in the hands of Messrs. W. and J. Willincks, and Nicholas and Jacob Van Staphorsts and Hubbard.

This matter being settled, you will be pleased to proceed on the mission to Algiers. This you will do by the way of Madrid, if you think any information you can get from Mr. Carmichael or any other, may be an equivalent for the trouble, expense and delay of the journey. If not, proceed in whatever other way you please to Algiers.

Proper powers and credentials for you, addressed to that government, are herewith enclosed. The instructions first given to Admiral Paul Jones are so full that no others need be added, except a qualification in one single article, to wit: should that government finally reject peace on the terms in money, to which you are authorized to go, you may offer to make the first payments for peace and that for ransom in naval stores, reserving the right to make the subsequent annual payments in money.

You are to be allowed your travelling expenses, your salary as minister resident in Portugal going on. Those expenses must be debited to the Algerine mission, and not carried into your ordinary account as resident. Mr. Cutting is allowed one hundred dollars a month, and his expenses, which, as soon as he joins you, will of course be consolidated with yours. We have made choice of him as particularly qualified to aid, under your direction, in the matters of account, with which he is well acquainted. He receives here an advance of one thousand dollars, by a draft on our bankers in Holland, in whose hands the fund is deposited. This, and all other sums furnished him, to be debited to the Algerine fund. I enclose you a letter to our bankers giving you complete authority over these funds, which you had better send with your first draft, though I send a copy of it from hence by another opportunity.

This business being done, you will be pleased to return to Lisbon, and to keep yourself and us, thereafter, well informed of the transactions in Morocco; and as soon as you shall find that the succession to that government is settled and staple, so that we may know to whom a commissioner may be addressed, be so good as to give us the information, that we may take measures in consequence.

I have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO SAMUEL SHAW, CONSUL AT CANTON, IN CHINA.

Philadelphia, March 21, 1793.

Sir,—Present appearances in Europe rendering a general war there probable, I am to desire your particular attention to all the indications of it, and on the first imminent symptoms of rupture among the maritime powers, to put our vessels on their guard. In the same event the patronage of our Consuls will be particularly requisite to secure to our vessels the right of neutrality, and protect them against all invasions of it. You will be pleased, also, in the same case, to give no countenance to the usurpation of our flag by foreign vessels, but rather, indeed, to aid in detecting it, as without bringing to us any advantage, the usurpation will tend to commit us with the belligerent powers, and to subject those vessels which are truly ours to harassing scrutinies in order to distinguish them from the counterfeits.

The law requiring the Consuls of the United States to give bond with two or more good sureties for the faithful performance of their duties, I enclose you a blank bond for that purpose. According to a standing regulation which places our Consuls in Europe in relation with the Minister of the United States in the same country with them, if there be one, and if none, then with their minister in Paris, and our Consuls in America in immediate relation with the Secretary of State, you will be pleased to have your sureties approved by the person to whom you stand thus referred, and to send the bond when executed, by a safe conveyance, to the Secretary of State, to be disposed of according to law; and this with all the expedition the case will admit, provided this should not have been done before. A set of the laws of the United States is likewise herewith enclosed, together with a copy of a former circular letter, intended as a standing instruction to our Consuls.

I am, with esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO COLONEL DAVID.

Philadelphia, March 22, 1793.

Dear Sir,—I thank you sincerely for your friendly letter of January 8. Particular circumstances have forced me to protract awhile my departure from office, which, however, will take place in the course of the year. Continue, therefore, if you please, the general address of your letters, to "The Secretary of State," &c., as recommended. Be assured that I shall carry into retirement and retain the most affectionate sentiments towards you. I am, in truth, worn down with drudgery, and while every circumstance relative to my private affairs calls imperiously for my return to them, not a single one exists which could render tolerable a continuation in public life. I do not wonder that Captain O'Bryan has lost patience under his long-continued captivity, and that he may suppose some of the public servants have neglected him and his brethren. He may possibly have imputed neglect to me, because a forbearance to correspond with him would have that appearance, though it was dictated by the single apprehension, that if he received letters from me as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Paris, or as Secretary of State, it would increase the expectations of the captors, and raise the ransom beyond what his countrymen would be disposed to give, and so end in their perpetual captivity. But, in truth, I have labored for them constantly and zealously in every situation in which I have been placed. In the first moment of their captivity, I first proposed to Mr. Adams to take upon ourselves their ransom, though unauthorized by Congress. I proposed to Congress and obtained their permission to employ the Order of Mercy in France for their ransom, but never could obtain orders for the money till just as I was leaving France, and was obliged to turn the matter over to Mr. Short. As soon as I came here I laid the matter before the President and Congress in two long reports, but Congress could not decide till the beginning of 1792, and then clogged their ransom by a previous requisition of peace. The unfortunate death of two successive commissioners have still retarded their relief, and even should they be now relieved, will probably deprive me of the gratification of seeing my endeavors for them crowned at length with success by their arrival when I am here. It would, indeed, be grating to me if, after all, I should be supposed by them to have been indifferent to their situation. I will ask of your friendship to do me justice in their eyes, that to the pain I have already felt for them, may not be added that of their dissatisfaction. I explained my proceedings on their behalf to a Dr. Warner, whom I saw at Paris, on his way to Algiers, and particularly the reason why I did not answer O'Bryan's letter. I desired him to communicate it to Captain O'Bryan. But I did not know whether he did it. I think it more probable that Mr. Carmichael will impute to me also an event which must take place this year. In truth, it is so extraordinary a circumstance, that a public agent placed in a foreign court for the purpose of correspondence, should, in three years, have found means to get but one letter to us, that he must himself be sensible that if he could have sent us letters, he ought to be recalled as negligent, and if he could not, he ought to be recalled as useless. I have, nevertheless, procured his continuance, in order to give him an opportunity which occurred of his rendering a sensible service to his country, and thereby drawing some degree of favor on his return.

Wishing you every circumstance of success and happiness, I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your sincere friend and servant.

TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.

Philadelphia, March 22, 1793.

Dear Sir,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letters from No. 60 to 67, inclusive. You cannot be too vigilant against any such treaty as that mentioned in No. 60, which, by giving the exclusive supply of wheat to Naples, would altogether debar the United States from it. This would bear so hard on us, that not only an exclusion of their wines from the United States ought to be expected on their part, but every other measure which might open to us a market in any other part of the world, however Portugal might be affected by it. And I must forever repeat it, that, instead of excluding our wheat, we must continue to hope that they will open their ports to our flour, and that you will continue to use your efforts, on every good occasion, to obtain this without waiting for a treaty.

As there appears at present a probability of a very general war in Europe, you will be pleased to be particularly attentive to preserve for our vessels all the rights of neutrality, and to endeavor that our flag be not usurped by others to procure to themselves the benefits of our neutrality. This usurpation tends to commit us with foreign nations, to subject those vessels truly ours to rigorous scrutinies and delays, to distinguish them from counterfeits, and to take the business of transportation out of our hands.

Continue, if you please, your intelligence relative to the affairs of Spain, from whence we learn nothing but through you; to which it will be acceptable that you add leading events from other countries, as we have several times received important facts through you, even from London, sooner than they have come from London directly.

The letters enclosed for Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Short are of a very secret nature. If you go by Madrid, you will be the bearer of them yourself; if not, it would be better to retain them than to send them by any conveyance which does not command your entire confidence. I have never yet had a letter from Mr. Carmichael but the one you brought from Madrid. A particular circumstance will occasion forbearance yet a little longer.

Captain Cutting will bring you a copy of the laws of the last session of Congress, and of the gazettes to the time of his departure.

Not yet knowing the actual arrival of Mr. Church at Lisbon, I believe it will be safer that I direct letters for you, during your absence, to Messrs. Bulkeley and Son, with whom you will leave what directions on the subject you shall think proper.

I am, with great and sincere esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.[23]

Philadelphia, March 23, 1793.

Gentlemen,—It is intimated to us in such a way as to attract our attention, that France means to send a strong force early this spring to offer independence to the Spanish American colonies, beginning with those on the Mississippi; and that she will not object to the receiving those on the east side into our confederation. Interesting considerations require, that we should keep ourselves free to act in this case according to circumstances, and consequently, that you should not, by any clause of treaty, bind us to guarantee any of the Spanish colonies against their own independence, nor indeed against any other nation. For when we thought we might guarantee Louisiana, on their ceding the Floridas to us, we apprehended it would be seized by Great Britain, who would thus completely encircle us with her colonies and fleets. This danger is now removed by the concert between Great Britain and Spain; and the times will soon enough give independence, and consequently free commerce to our neighbors, without our risking the involving ourselves in a war for them.

I am, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient humble servant.[24]The above meets the approbation of

George Washington.