Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 3

In my letter of January the 13th, I enclosed to you copies of several letters which had passed between Mr. Ternant, Mr. Genet, and myself, on the occurrences to which the presen...

I am become very uneasy, lest you should have adopted some channel for the conveyance of your letters to me, which is unfaithful. I have none from you of later date than Novembe...

I have received from Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, the representatives of Spain at this place, a letter, which, whether considered in itself, or as the sequel of several others, co...

Your favor of November the 12th was safely delivered to me by Mr. Binney; but not till December the 28th, as I arrived here only three days before that date. It was received wit...

The President of the United States having thought proper to appoint you commissioner for treating with the Dey and government of Algiers, on the subjects of peace and ransom of...

I had the honor of addressing you on the 30th of the last month. Since that, I have taken the liberty of consigning to you a box of officers’ muskets, containing half a dozen, m...

It has long since been observed, that of the three millions of livres given by the court of France to aid us in the commencement of our revolution, one million was unaccounted f...

My last to you was of July the 22nd. Since that, I have received yours of May the 27th, June 13th and 30th. The tranquillity of the city has not been disturbed since my last. Di...

The note of December the 13th, which you did me the honor to address to me, on the acts of Congress of the 20th of July, 1789, and 1790, fixing the tonnage payable by foreign ve...

I sit down to write to you, without knowing by what occasion I shall send my letter. I do it, because a subject comes into my head, which I wrould wish to develope[sp.] a little...

I am honored with your favor of June the 19th, informing me that permission is given me to make a short visit to my native country, for which indulgence I beg leave to return my...

My letter of March the 18th conveyed to you full powers for treating with Spain on the subjects therein expressed. Since that, our attention has been drawn to the case of fugiti...

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of August the 22nd, and to congratulate you on the healthiness of your city. Still Baltimore, Norfolk, and Providence admonish us...

You will receive, probably by this post, from the Secretary of State, his final instructions for your mission to France. We have not thought it necessary to say any thing in the...

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...

The House of Representatives having referred to me, to report to them the nature and extent of the privileges and restrictions on the commerce of the United States with foreign...

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 int...

We have received, through a channel which cannot be considered as authentic, the copy of a paper, styled ‘Additional instructions to the commanders of his Majesty’s ships of war...

I have to acknowledge your two favors of May the 4th and 19th, and to thank you for your attentions to the commissions for the pease and oranges, which I learn have arrived in V...

My last to you was of August the 29th, acknowledging the receipt of your Nos. 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, and informing you I was about setting out to Virginia, and should not again wri...

I shall now have the honor of answering your letter of the 1st instant, and so much of that of the 14th (both of which have been laid before the President) as relates to a vesse...

I wrote you a petition on the 29th of January. I know the extent of this trespass on your tranquillity, and how indiscreet it would have been under any other circumstances. But...

Dear Sir, I have already had the honor of delivering to you your commission as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of London, and have now that of enclosi...

My public letters to you have been of the 28th of March, the 6th and 30th of April. Yours, which remain to be acknowledged, are of March the 9th, 17th, 29th, April the 4th, 12th...

In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then...

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of August the 16th and October the 4th. The latter I received with peculiar satisfaction; because, while it holds up terms which...

Your favor of the 4th instant came to hand yesterday. That of the 4th of April, with the one for Monroe, has never been received. The first, of March the 27th, did not reach me...

A favorable and confidential opportunity offering by M. Dupont de Nemours, who is re-visiting his native country, gives me an opportunity of sending you a cipher to be used betw...

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 fa...

I received yesterday your two favors of December the 26th and 29th. Your impatience to receive your valise and its key was natural: and it is we who have been to blame; Mr. Rand...

I have now the honor to enclose you the answer of the Attorney General to my letter covering yours of March the 12th, on the case of Hooper and Pagan, wherein he has stated the...

Your favor of August the 4th came to hand by our last post, together with the ‘extract of a letter from a gentleman of Philadelphia, dated July the 10th,’ cut from a newspaper,...

I have never written to you since my arrival here, for reasons which were explained. Yours of December the 29th, January the 4th, 9th, 12th, 18th, and February the 14th, have th...

In Bache’s Aurora of the 9th instant, which came here by the last post, a paper appears, which having been confided, as I presume, to but few hands, makes it truly wonderful how...

I enclose you sundry papers, by which you will perceive, that the expression in the eleventh article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France, viz. ‘that the subjects of...

I have received the remonstrance you were pleased to address to me, on the appointment of Samuel Bishop to the office of Collector of New Haven, lately vacated by the death of D...

I have considered with all the attention which the shortness of the time would permit, the two motions which you were pleased to put into my hands yesterday afternoon, on the su...

The newspapers give, so minutely what is passing in Congress, that nothing of detail can be wanting for your information. Perhaps, however, some general view of our situation an...

I received only two days ago your favor of the 12th, and as it was on the eve of the return of our post, it was not possible to make so prompt a despatch of the answer. Of all t...

The enclosed letter, though directed to you, was intended to me also, and was left open with a request, that when forwarded, I would forward it to you. It gives me occasion to w...

This letter, with the very confidential papers it encloses, will be delivered to you by Mr. Barrett with his own hands. If there be no war between Spain and England, they need b...

I have kept Mr. Jay’s letter a post or two, with an intention of considering attentively the observations it contains: but I have really now so little stomach for any thing of t...

Your favors of December the 15th and 20th came to hand by the last post. I am well pleased with the manner in which your House have testified their sense of the treaty: while th...

Since your last of March the 27th, I have only written that of May the 3th. The cause of this long silence, on both parts has been the expectation I communicated to you of embar...

I trusted to Mr. Dawson to give you a full explanation, verbally, on a subject which I find he has but slightly mentioned to you. I shall therefore now do it. When I returned fr...

Your two letters of January the 5th and February the 24th came safely to hand, and I thank you for the history of a transaction which will ever be interesting in our affairs. It...

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 ap...

Your favor of the 25th came to hand yesterday. I shall observe your direction with respect to the post-day. I have spoken with the Deputy Postmaster-General on the subject of ou...

We formerly had a debtor and creditor account of letters on farming: but the high price of tobacco, which is likely to continue for some short time, has tempted me to go entirel...

Your Nos. 8 to 13, inclusive, have been duly received. I am sensible that your situation must have been difficult during the transition from the late form of government to the r...

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 Se...

I have duly received your favor by Mr. Cutting, enclosing the paper from Doctor Trumbull, for which I am very thankful. The conjecture that inhabitants may have been carried fro...

Your several favors on the affairs of Geneva found me here, in the month of December last. It is now more than a year that I have withdrawn myself from public affairs, which I n...

I dropped you a line on the 10th, informing you of a nomination I had made of you to the Senate, and yesterday I enclosed you their approbation, not then having time to write. T...

The insulated state in which France is placed with respect to almost all the world, by the present war, has cut off all means of addressing letters to you through other countrie...

Your several memorials of the 8th instant have been laid before the President, as had been that of the 2nd, as soon as received. They have been considered with all the attention...

Yours of the 10th instant is received. I expected mine of the 14th would have been my last from hence, as I had proposed to set out on the 20th; but on the morning of the 19th,...

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your two memorials of the 4th and 6th instant, which have been duly laid before the President of the United States.

Your letter of March the 23rd came to hand the 7th of April, and notwithstanding the urgent reasons for answering a part of it immediately, yet as it mentioned that you would le...

In my letters of October the 14th and November the 3rd, 1792, I communicated to you papers and observations on the conduct of the Spanish officers on our southwestern frontier,...

Mr. New showed me your letter on the subject of the patent, which gave me an opportunity of observing what you said as to the effect, with you, of public proceedings, and that i...

I received with great pleasure your favor of June the 4th, and am much comforted by the appearance of a change of opinion in your State; for though we may obtain, and I believe...

Your favor of the 9th instant, covering the information of Silvat Ducamp, Pierre Nouvel, Chouquet de Savarence, Gaston de Nogère, and G. Blustier, that being on their passage fr...

Yours of the 4th instant came to hand the day before yesterday. I have turned to the Conventional history, and enclose you an exact copy of what is there on the subject you ment...

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...

Your favor of July the 28th was received here on the 20th instant. The superscription of my letter of July the 11th, by another hand, was to prevent danger to it from the curiou...

Though not yet informed of your receipt of my letter, covering your commission as Consul for the United States in the port of London, yet knowing that the ship has arrived by wh...

Your favor of the 15th came to hand on the 25th of June, and conveyed a great deal of that information which I am anxious to receive. The consolidation of our fellow-citizens in...

No convenient ship having offered from any port of France, I have engaged one from London to take me up at Cowes, and am so far on my way thither. She will land me at Norfolk, a...

Sir, Under cover of the acquaintance I had the honor of contracting with you, during the negotiations we transacted together in London, I take the liberty of addressing you the...

I am honored with yours of August the 30th. Mine of the 7th of that month assured you that measures were taking for excluding from all further asylum in our ports, vessels armed...

I have read and considered your report on the operations of the sinking fund, and entirely approve of it, as the best plan on which we can set out. I think it an object of great...

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 P...

In my letter of June the 25th, on the subject of the ship William, and generally of vessels suggested to be taken within the limits of the protection of the United States by the...

Your favor of the 7th has been duly received. I am really mortified at the base ingratitude of Callender. It presents human nature in a hideous form. It gives me concern, becaus...

I wrote you on the 12th of March, and again on the 17th of the same month; since which, I have received your favor of January the 24th, wherein you refer to copies of two letter...

Since my letter of April the 16th, yours have been received of March the 12th, 12th, 13th, 13th, and 19th. Before the receipt of these, one of which covered the form of your pas...

My letter of January the 23rd, put under cover to Mr. Johnson in London, and sent by a passenger in the British packet of February, will have conveyed to you your appointment as...

We are very far from admitting your principle, that the government on either side has no other right, on the presentation of a consular commission, than to certify, that having...

I wrote you last on the 24th; since which yours of the 20th has been received. I must begin by correcting two errors in my last. It was false arithmetic to say, that two measure...

I learned some time ago that you were in Philadelphia, but that it was only for a fortnight; and I supposed you were gone. It was not till yesterday I received information that...

I wrote you last on the 2nd instant, on which day I received yours of December the 25th. I have not resumed my pen, because there has really been nothing worth writing about, bu...

I wrote you on the 30th of December, and again a short letter on the 1st of January, since which I have received yours of October the 2nd and 5th, November the 6th and 9th, and...

Dear Sir, I wrote you on the 18th of May. The address of the Senate was soon after that. The first draught was responsive to the speech, and higher toned. Mr. Henry arrived the...

You have seen my name lately tacked to so much of eulogy and of abuse, that I dare say you hardly thought it meant your old acquaintance of ‘76. In truth, I did not know myself...

I wrote you last on the 21st. Yours of the 12th, therein acknowledged, is the last received. The measure I suggested in mine, of adjourning for consultation with their constitue...

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 se...

I received two days ago your favor of the 16th, and thank you for your kind felicitations on my election: but whether it will be a subject of felicitation permanently, will be f...

I wrote you last on the 11th; yesterday the bill for the eventual army of thirty regiments (thirty thousand) and seventy-five thousand volunteers, passed the Senate. By an amend...

In mine of January the 23rd, I acknowledged the receipt of your letters from No. 29 to 48 inclusive, except 31, 44, 45, 46. Since that, I have received Nos. 45 and 50, the forme...

I had written the enclosed letter to Mrs. Trist, and was just proceeding to begin one to you, when your favor of the 6th was put into my hands. I thank you sincerely for it, and...

Yours of December the 19th is safely received. I never entertained a doubt of the event of the election. I knew that the eastern troops were trained in the schools of their town...

Your patriarchal address to your country is running through all the republican papers, and has a very great effect on the people. It is short, simple, and presents things in a v...

Coming all of us into executive office, new, and unfamiliar with the course of business previously practised, it was not to be expected, we should, in the first outset, adopt in...

I wrote you last on the 26th; since which yours of the 22nd of April has been received, acknowledging mine of the 12th; so that all appear to have been received to that date. Th...

The United States being now about to establish a mint, it becomes necessary to ask your assistance in procuring persons to carry on some parts of it; and to enable you to give i...

Yours of the 8th came to hand yesterday. I was not aware of any necessity of going on to Philadelphia immediately, yet I had determined to do it as a mark of respect to the publ...

I wrote you February the 21st, since which I have received yours of the same day. Indeed, mine of that date related only to a single article in yours of January the 31st and Feb...

I wrote you on the 14th of last month; since which some other incidents and documents have occurred, bearing relation to the subject of that letter. I therefore now enclose you...

I wrote you last on the 15th; since that, yours of the 12th has been received. Since that, too, a great change has taken place in the appearance of our political atmosphere. The...

Your favor of July the 19th has been received, and received with the tribute of respect due to a person, who, unurged by motives of personal friendship or acquaintance, and unai...

Yours of January the 4th was received last night. I had then no opportunity of communicating to you confidentially information of the state of opinions here; but I learn to-nigh...

This letter will be delivered to you by Colonel Humphreys, whose character is so well known to you as to need no recommendations from me. The present appearances of war between...

I have written you lately, on the 24th of June, with a postscript of the 25th; on the 29th of the same month; the 19th of July, with a postscript of the 21st; and again on the 2...

Yours of the 12th is received. I wrote you last on the 15th, but the letter getting misplaced, will only go by this post. We still hear nothing from our Envoys. Whether the exec...

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....

A vessel being about sail from this port for Cadiz, I avail myself of it to inform you, that under the appointment of the President of the United States, I have entered on the d...

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 adm...

I have many acknowledgments to make for the friendly anxiety you are pleased to express in your letter of January the 12th, for my undertaking the office to which I have been el...

Mrs. Brown’s departure for Virginia enables me to write confidentially what I could not have ventured by the post at this prying season. The election in South Carolina has in so...

I wrote you on the 19th of the last month, with a postscript of the 21st; and again on the 23rd and 29th. Those letters went by private conveyances. This goes by the London post...

With respect to the security required by the sixth section I would prefer persons residing within the United States, where the party can procure such to be his security. In this...

I expected ere this, to have been able to send you an act of Congress prescribing some special duties and regulations for the exercise of the consular offices of the United Stat...

My last to you was of the 19th; it acknowledged yours of the 8th. In mine I informed you of the nomination of Murray. There is evidence that the letter of Talleyrand was known t...

In the letter which I had the honor of writing you on the 15th of May, in answer to your several memorials of the 8th of that month, I mentioned that the President reserved for...

The doubt which you suggest as to our jurisdiction over the case of the Grand Jury vs. Cabell had occurred to me, and naturally occurs on first view of the question. But I knew,...

The bill for the naval armament (twelve vessels) passed by a majority of about four to three in the House of Representatives: all restrictions on the objects for which the vesse...

Your favor of the 16th is received, and that of July the 24th had come to hand while I was at Monticello. I sincerely condole with you on the sickly state of your family, and ho...

I wrote you last on the 8th. We have still not a word from our Envoys. This long silence (if they have been silent) proves things are not going on very roughly. If they have not...

With respect to the particular objects of commerce susceptible of being placed on a better footing, on which you ask my ideas, they will show themselves by the enclosed table of...

I enclose you several memorials and letters which have passed between the executive and the ministers of France and England. These will develope to you the principles on which w...

It was with infinite joy to me, that you were yesterday announced to the Senate, as Envoy Extraordinary, jointly with General Pinckney and Mr. Marshall, to the French republic....

Having received several memorials from the British Minister on subjects arising out of the present war, I take the liberty of enclosing them to you, and shall add an explanation...

Yours of August the 30th came duly to hand. It was with great regret we gave up the hope of seeing you here, but, could not but consider the obstacle as legitimate. I had writte...

Our post having ceased to ride ever since the inoculation began in Richmond, till now, I received three days ago, and all together, your friendly favors of March the 2nd, 9th, 1...

I enclose you a statement of the case of Joseph St. Marie, a citizen of the United States of America, whose clerk, Mr. Swimmer, was, in the latter part of the year 1787, seized...

Mr. Pichon, who arrived two days ago, delivered me your favor of January the 1st, and I had before received one by Mr. Dupont, dated August the 24th, 1799, both on the subject o...

I had the honor of waiting on you at Versailles, the day before yesterday, in order to present my respects on my departure to America. I was unlucky in the moment, as it was one...

Since my letters of March the 18th and April the 24th (which have been retarded so unfortunately), another subject of conference-and convention with Spain has occurred. You know...

I know not when I have received greater satisfaction than on reading the speech of Dr. Leib, in the Pennsylvania Assembly. He calls himself a new member. I congratulate honest r...

I have duly considered the letter you were pleased to refer to me, of the 18th of August, from his Excellency Governor Pinckney to yourself, together with the draught of one pro...

So much of the communications from our Envoys has got abroad, and so partially, that there can now be no ground for reconsideration with the Senate. I may therefore, consistentl...

Your letter on the subject of further supplies to the colony of St. Domingo has been duly received and considered. When the distresses of that colony first broke forth, we thoug...

I received, about three weeks ago, a box containing six dozen volumes, of two hundred and eighty-three pages, 12mo. with a letter from Lambert, Beckley’s clerk, that they came f...

The departure of Madame Brugnard for France furnishes me a safe conveyance of a letter, which I cannot avoid embracing, although I have nothing particular for the subject of it....

Mr. Volney’s departure for France gives me an opportunity of writing to you. I was happy in observing, for many days after your departure, that our winds were favorable for you....

I received duly your welcome favor of the 15th, and had an opportunity of immediately delivering the one it enclosed to General Kosciusko. I see him often, and with great pleasu...

I wrote to you last on the 22nd ultimo; since which I have received yours without date, but probably of April the 18th or 19th. An arrival to the eastward brings us some news, w...

I have duly received your letter of yesterday, with the statement of the duties payable on articles imported into Great Britain The object of the report, from which I had commun...

I take shame to myself for having so long left unanswered your valuable favor on the subject of the mountains. But in truth, I am become lazy as to every thing except agricultur...

The President is informed through the channel of a letter from yourself to Mr. Lear, that M. Duplaine, Consul of France at Boston, has lately, with an armed force, seized and re...

In my letter of May the 15th, to M. de Ternant, your predecessor, after stating the answer which had been given to the several memorials of the British Minister, of May the 8th,...

The approbation of my ancient friends is above all things the most grateful to my heart. They know for what objects we relinquished the delights of domestic society, tranquillit...

I wrote you last on the 2nd instant. Yours of the 4th is now at hand. The public papers will give you the news of Europe. The French decree making the vessel friendly or enemy,...

The term of the first Congress having expired on the 3rd instant, they separated on that day, much important business being necessarily postponed. New elections have taken place...

My last letter to you was of the 10th of March. The preceding one of January the 23rd had conveyed to you your appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of France. Th...

The representatives of the United States have been pleased to refer to me the representation from the General Court of Massachusetts, on the subject of the whale and cod fisheri...

I have received at this place the honor of your letters of October the 13th and November the 30th, and am truly flattered by your nomination of me to the very dignified office o...

My last to you was of the 15th of October; since which I have received your Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. Though mine went by a conveyance directly to Bordeaux, and may therefore proba...

I am to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 67, June the 6th, No. 68, June the 10th, No. 69, June the 22nd, No. 70, June the 26th, No. 71, June the 29th; the three last by the B...

In a letter which I had the honor of writing to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, some three or four years ago, I informed him that a workman here had undertaken by the help of...

My last to you was of March the 28th. Since that, yours of the 2nd and 6th of January have come to hand, together with the ratification of the consular convention.

Although we have not official information of the votes for President and Vice-President, and cannot have until the first week in February, yet the state of the votes is given on...

I asked the favor of the Secretary of the Treasury to consider the fourth article of the consular convention, and to let me know whether he should conclude that Consuls not exer...

Your several favors of February the 22nd, 27th, and March the 16th, which had been accumulating in Richmond during the prevalence of the small pox in that place, were lately bro...

My last letter to you was of the 6th instant, acknowledging the receipt of your favors of the 2nd and 6th of January. Since that, Mr. Jay has put into my hands yours of the 12th...

In a letter of June the 5th, I had the honor to inform you that the President, after reconsidering, at your request, the case of vessels armed within our ports to commit hostili...

I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of February the 9th, March the 25th, and April the 24th; as also of the several packages of wine, carriages, &c. which came sa...

I wrote you last on the 29th ultimo; since which I have no letter from you. These acknowledgments regularly made and attended to will show whether any of my letters are intercep...

The annexed is a catalogue of all the books I recollect, on the subject of juries. With respect to the value of this institution, I must make a general observation. We think, in...

It was not in my power to attend at Fedricksburg according to the kind invitation in your letter, and in that of Mr. Ogilvie. The heat of the weather, the business of the farm,...

The public, and the public papers, have been much occupied lately in placing us in a point of opposition to each other. I confidently trust we have felt less of it ourselves. In...

I am honored with your favor of April the 24th, and received at the same time Mr. Bertrand’s agricultural prospectus. Though he mentions my having seen him at a particular place...

When in the course of your legation to the United States, your affairs rendered it necessary that you should absent yourself a while from that station, we flattered ourselves wi...

The President of the United States, desirous of availing his country of the talents of its best citizens in their respective lines, has thought proper to nominate you consul for...

Your favor of August the 7th came to hand on the 6th instant, and gave me the first certain information of your safe arrival. Mr. Otto, being about to sail for London, furnishes...

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 t...

In a postscript to my letter of the 12th, I acknowledged the receipt of yours of January the 3rd; since which, those of January the 30th and February the 5th have been received...

Your letter of November the 6th, No. 46, by Mr. Osmont came to hand yesterday, and I have just time before the departure of Mr. Terrasson, the bearer of my letter of the 15th in...

I have received at this place your favor of the 9th instant, wherein you request, that agreeably to the treaty of commerce between the United States and his Prussian Majesty, hi...

I arrived at this place the letter[sp.] end of March, and undertook the office to which the President had been pleased to appoint me, of Secretary of State, which comprehends th...

The bill for continuing the suspension of intercourse with France and her dependencies, is still before the Senate, but will pass by a very great vote. An attack is made on what...

Your welcome favor of last month came to my hands in Philadelphia. So long a time has elapsed since we have been separated by events, that it was like a letter from the dead, an...

Your letter of May the 29th to the President of the United States has been duly received. You have placed their proposition of exchanging a minister on proper ground. It must ce...

Your favor of the 5th came to hand last night. The first wish of my heart was, that you should have been proposed for the administration of the government. On your declining it,...

The President having thought proper to confide several special matters in Europe to your care, it will be expedient that you take your passage in the first convenient vessel bou...

I have now to acknowledge and answer your letter of September the 13th, wherein you desire that we may define the extent of the line of territorial protection on the coasts of t...

It was with extreme concern that I learned from your letter of June the 25th, that a violation of the protection, due to you as the representative of your nation had been commit...

I accept with pleasure, and with pleasure reciprocate your congratulations on the acquisition of Louisiana: for it is a subject of mutual congratulation, as it interests every m...

3. A report on the fisheries of the United States. It is thought that this contains matter which may be usefully communicated. I am persuaded the better this subject is understo...

My last to you were of the 29th of November and the 13th of December. I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your Nos. 34 to 44, inclusive. The river here and at New York havi...

Your letter of the 13th instant, asking monies to answer the expenses and salaries of the consular offices of France, has been duly laid before the President, and his directions...

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of July the 4th, and to recognise in it the sentiments you have ever held, and worthy of the day on which it is dated. It is true...

Notwithstanding the suspected infidelity of the post, I must hazard this communication. The minority of the House of Representatives, after seeing the impossibility of electing...

My letter of May the 13th acknowledged the receipt of yours of November the 30th. Since writing that, I have received yours of April the 29th and June the 30th, addressed to mys...

It is but lately that I have received your letter of the 25th Frimaire (December 15th), wishing to know whether some officers of your country could expect to be employed in this...

The aspect of our politics has wonderfully changed since you left us. In place of that noble love of liberty and republican government which carried us triumphantly through the...

Congress have risen. You will have seen by their proceedings the truth of what I always observed to you, that one man outweighs them all in influence over the people, who have s...

I was in the moment of my departure from Philadelphia, for Virginia, when I received your favor, inquiring how far the law of nations is to govern in proceedings respecting fore...

To avoid the suspicions and curiosity of the post-office, which would have been excited by seeing your name and mine on the back of a letter, I have delayed acknowledging the re...

As to the mode of correspondence between the general and particular executives, I do not think myself a good judge. Not because my position gives me any prejudice on the occasio...

On politics I must write sparingly, lest it should fall into the hands of persons who do not love either you or me. The wonderful irritation produced in the minds of our citizen...

As far as the public papers are to be credited, I may suppose that the choice of Vice-President has fallen on me. On this hypothesis I trouble you, and only pray, if it be wrong...

I wrote you last on the 25th ultimo; since which yours of the 21st has been received. Bache had put five hundred copies of Monroe’s book on board a vessel, which was stopped by...

I received your favor of October the 12th by your son, who has been kind enough to visit me here, and from whose visit I have received all that pleasure which I do from whatever...

I thank you for the pamphlet of Erskine enclosed in your favor of the 9th instant, and still more for the evidence which your letter affords me of the health of your mind, and I...

I am much pleased with Mr. Gallatin’s speech in Bache’s paper of March the 14th. It is worthy of being printed at the end of the Federalist, as the only rational commentary on t...

I addressed a letter to you, my very dear and ancient friend, on the 4th of March: not indeed to you by name, but through the medium of some of my fellow-citizens, whom occasion...

I have suffered the post hour to come so nearly on me, that I must huddle over what I have more than appears in the public papers. I arrived here on Christmas day, not a single...

Yours of the 18th came to hand yesterday. I am very thankful for the discretion you have exercised over the letter. That has happened to be the case, which I knew to be possible...

Your letters of October the 1st, 4th, 6th, and 16th, came duly to hand, and the papers which they covered were, according to your permission, published in the newspapers and in...

I have received your favor of July the 10th, No. 4, but no other number preceding or subsequent. I fear, therefore, that some miscarriage has taken place. The present goes to Bo...

I wrote you March the 15th, with postscripts of the 18th and 19th. Since that, yours of January the 3rd, No. 10, January the 15th, No. 11, from Madrid, February the 6th, No. 12,...

In my letter of October the 2nd, I took the liberty of noticing to you, that the commission of Consul to M. Dannery, ought to have been addressed to the President of the United...

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. T...

Dear Sir, I wrote you two letters on the 5th and 6th instant; since which I have received yours of the 2nd. I send you, in a separate package, the instructions to our Envoys and...

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 Sec...

I am much obliged by your friendly letter of the 4th instant. As soon as I saw the first of Mr. Martin’s letters, I turned to the newspapers of the day, and found Logan’s speech...

Your favor of January the 25th came to hand some days ago, and yesterday a gentleman put into my hand, at the door of the Senate chamber, the volume of the American Museum for 1...

You may remember that we were together at the Hôtel de la Monnoye, to see Mr. Drost strike coins in his new manner, and that you were so kind as to speak with him afterwards on...

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 3rd instant, and to thank you for the friendly expressions it contains. I entertain real hope that the whole body of your...

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 writ...

The forgery lately attempted to be played off by Mr. H. on the House of Representatives, of a pretended memorial presented by Logan to the French government, has been so palpabl...

I have long waited for an opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of December the 15th, as well as that by Dr. Mendenhall. None occurring, I shall either deliver th...

Mr. Erving delivered me your favor of January the 31st, and I thank you for making me acquainted with him. You will always do me a favor in giving me an opportunity of knowing g...

Since mine to you of August the 12th, yours of July the 3rd, August the 16th, and September the 18th, have come to hand. They suffice to remove all doubts which might have been...

I have received several letters from you which have not been acknowledged. By the post I dare not, and one or two confidential opportunities have passed me by surprise. I have r...

I have duly received your letter of yesterday, and am sensible of your favor in furnishing me with your observations on the statement of the commerce between our two nations, of...

The House of Representatives, about the close of the session before the last, referred to me the report of a committee on a message from the President of the United States, of t...

No pleasure can exceed that which I received from reading your letter of the 21st ultimo. It was like the joy we expect in the mansions of the blessed, when received with the em...

Your favors of April the 20th and 23rd had been received, and the commission made out for Mr. Potts, before I received the letter of the 1st instant. I have still thought it bet...

After writing you on the 15th, I turned to my letter-file to see what letters I had written to Callender, and found them to have been of the dates of 1798, October the 11th, and...

I have considered your application for sea-letters for the ship Eliza, and examined into the precedents which you supposed might influence the determination. The resolution of C...

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...

I have never answered your letter by Mr. Polk, because I expected to have paid you a visit. This has been prevented by various causes, till yesterday. That being the day fixed f...

My last letter to you was of the 24th of August. A gentleman going from hence to Cadiz will be the bearer of this, and of the newspapers to the present date, and will take care...

The letter of October the 29th, from Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, not expressing the principle on which their government interests itself between the United States and the Creeks,...

I wrote you on the 29th of March. Yours of the 25th of that month, with the address it covered, had not reached this place on the 1st of April, when I set out on a short visit t...

You know my doubts, or rather convictions, about the unconstitutionality of the act for building piers in the Delaware, and the fears that it will lead to a bottomless expense,...

The campaign of Congress has closed. Though the Anglomen have in the end got their treaty through, and so far have triumphed over the cause of republicanism, yet it has been to...

The public papers giving us reason to believe that the war is becoming nearly general in Europe, and that it has already involved nations with which we are in daily habits of co...

Not having my papers here, it is not in my power to acknowledge the receipt of your letters by their dates, but T am pretty certain I have received two in the course of the last...

I have now the honor to return you the petition of Mr. Moultrie on behalf of the South Carolina Yazoo company. Without noticing that some of the highest functions of sovereignty...

I have to thank you for the transmission of the letters from General Gates, La Motte, and Hauterive. I perceive by the latter, that the partisans of the one or the other princip...

The President has seen with satisfaction, that the Ministers of the United States in Europe, while they have avoided an useless commitment of their nation on the subject of the...

The enclosed papers will explain to you a case which imminently endangers the peace of the United States with Spain. It is not indeed of recent date, but it has been recently la...

I wrote you on the 2nd instant, and now take the liberty of troubling you, in order to have the enclosed letter to M. Gautier safely handed to him. I will thank you for informat...

Congress are still engaged in their funding bills. The foreign debts did not admit of any difference of opinion. They were settled by a single and unanimous vote: but the domest...

The inquiries of Congress were the first intimation which reached my retirement of your being in this country, and from M. Volney, now with me, I first learned where you are. I...

Sir, I now return you the papers you were pleased to put into my hands, when you expressed to me your dissatisfaction that our court of admiralty had taken cognizance of a compl...

I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of October the 29th, which I have duly laid before the President of the United States: and in answer thereto, I cannot but ob...

The hurry in which I wrote my letter to Mr. Madison, which is in your hands, occasioned an inattention to the difference between generations succeeding each other at fixed epoch...

The mission of a Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of London being now to take place, the President of the United States is desirous of availing the public of your services...

The President has desired me to confer with you on the proposition I made the other day, of endeavoring to move the posts at the rate of one hundred miles a day. It is believed...

I have to acknowledge yours of May the 19th and 29th, and July 20th; being Nos. 72, 73, and 76. It is long since I wrote to you, because I know you must be where you could not r...

Your letter of January the 8th to the President of the United States having been referred to me, I have given the subject of it as mature consideration as I am able. Two neighbo...

I have been duly honored with your favor of May the 8th, covering the letter of Mr. Newton, and that of May the 13th, with the letter of the British Consul at Norfolk and the in...

The President of the United States having thought proper to assign to me other functions than those of their Minister Plenipotentiary near the King, I have the honor of addressi...

In a former letter which I had the honor of writing you, I mentioned that information had been received that M. Duplaine, Vice-Consul of France, at Boston, had been charged with...

My letter of July the 26th covered my first of exchange for a thousand dollars, and though that went by so sure an opportunity as to leave little doubt of its receipt, yet, for...

Complaint having been made to the government of the United States, of some instances of unjustifiable vexation and spoliation committed on our merchant vessels by the privateers...

I have to thank you for your favor of July the 6th, from Philadelphia. I did not immediately acknowledge it, because I knew you would have come away. The X. Y. Z. fever has cons...

The war which has taken place among the powers of Europe, produces frequent transactions within our ports and limits, on which questions arise of considerable difficulty, and of...

I have now the honor to return you the propositions of Messrs. Schweizer, Jeanneret, and Company, which have been submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury. He does not think t...

I received, while at home, the letter you were so kind as to write me. The employments of the country have such irresistible attractions for me, that while I am at home I am not...

The bearer of my letters (a servant of Mr. Morris) not going off till to-day, I am enabled to add to their contents. The spirit of tumult seemed to have subsided, when, yesterda...

I have the honor to enclose you the draught of a letter to Governor Pinckney, and to observe, that I suppose it to be proper that there should, on fit occasions, be a direct cor...

I am favored with your note of the 22nd instant, stating that under circumstances of invasion and urgent danger, their High Mightinesses, the States General of the United Nether...

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 obj...

According to the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 31st of December, delivered to me yesterday, I have the honor to lay before you a list of the several persons...

Your favor of the 16th came to hand by the last post. I sincerely congratulate you on the great prosperities of our two first allies, the French and Dutch. If I could but see th...

I am to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, proposing a stipulation for the abolition of the practice of privateering in times of war. The benevolence of...

I wrote you on the 19th, 23rd, 29th of the last, and 5th of the present month. The last occasions not having admitted the forwarding to you the public papers, I avail myself of...

I have it in charge from the President of the United States of America, to communicate to the National Assembly of France, the peculiar sensibility of Congress to the tribute pa...

The President having thought proper to appoint you joint commissioners plenipotentiary, on the part of the United States, to treat with the court of Madrid on the subjects of th...

I have the honor to lay before you a communication from Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, covering a clause of a statute of that country relative t...

The letter I have addressed to Admiral Jones, of which you have had the perusal, has informed you of the mission with which the President has thought proper to charge him at Alg...

It was to be expected that the enemy would endeavor to sow tares between us, that they might divide us and our friends. Every consideration satisfies me you will be on your guar...

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,...

Since writing my letter of the 26th, it has been decided to commit to your care the transaction of very important money matters at Amsterdam. It is thought necessary that you sh...

The ill humor into which the French colonies are getting, and the little dependence on the troops sent thither, may produce a hesitation in the National Assembly as to the condi...

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...

Mr. Swanwick informs me, that the house of Morris, Willing, and Swanwick have suffered a very considerable loss in the port of St. Andero, by an abuse of office, in having a car...

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 pres...

Your favor of August the 28th finds me in bed under a paroxysm of the rheumatism which has now kept me for ten days in constant torment, and presents no hope of abatement. But t...

The Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty has represented to the government of the United States, that on the 25th of April last, the British ship Grange, while lyin...

I have duly received the letter of November the 30th, which your Excellency did me the honor to write, informing me that her Most Faithful Majesty had appointed Mr. Freire her m...

The Minister Plenipotentiary of France has enclosed to me a copy of a letter of the 16th instant, which he addressed to you, stating that some libellous publications had been ma...

I was yesterday honored with yours of the 13th instant, covering the Governor of Vermont’s of July the 16th. I presume it can not now be long before I shall receive his answer t...

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 colonie...

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 exhibi...

Congress will rise to-day or to-morrow. Mr. Nicholas proposing to call on you, you will get from him the Congressional news. On the whole, the federalists have not been able to...

The several accidents of the winter, ice, floods, rains, prevented the Orange post from coming to Charlottesville the last post-day, so that we have nothing from Philadelphia th...

I take the liberty of troubling you with the perusal of the enclosed papers from Mr. Shaw, Consul for the United States in the East Indies; wherein you will observe, he complain...

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of February the 20th, and to thank you for your congratulations on the event of the election. Had it terminated in the elevation...

I enclose you herein sundry papers containing a representation from Messrs. Updike and Earle of Providence, who complain that their sloop Nancy was seized in the island of Hispa...

I have laid before the President of the United States your notification of the 17th instant, in the name of the Provisory Executive Council charged with the administration of yo...

I have the pleasure to inform you, that money is now deposited in the hands of Messrs. Grand and company, for paying the arrears of interest due to the foreign officers who serv...

The letter has been duly received which you addressed to th© President of the United States, praying his interference with the government of the United Netherlands, on the subje...

The vexations of our seamen, and their sufferings under the press-gangs of England, have become so serious, as to oblige our government to take serious notice of it. The particu...

Your letter of the 2d instant, informing me that the legislative body, on the proposition of the King of the French, had declared war against the King of Hungary and Bohemia, ha...

The President of the United States having been pleased, in the month of June last, to give me leave of absence for some time from the court of France, and to appoint Mr. William...

I am this moment favored with the letter you did me the honor of writing yesterday, covering the extract of a British statute forbidding the admission of foreign vessels into an...

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, end...

The President of the United States having thought proper to name Mr. William Carmichael their _chargé des affaires_, near his Catholic Majesty, I have now the honor of announcin...

All the votes have now come in, except of Vermont and Kentucky, and there is no doubt that the result is a perfect parity between the two republican characters. The federalists...

I received yesterday your favor of the day before, and immediately laid it before the President of the United States. I have it in charge from him to express to you the perfect...

Mr. Jefferson has the honor of presenting his compliments to Mr. Hammond, of expressing his regrets that he happened to be from home when Mr. Hammond did him the honor of callin...

Encroachments being made on the eastern limits of the United States, by settlers under the British government, pretending that it is the western and not the eastern river of the...

I have communicated to the President what passed between us the other day, on the subject of the payments made to France by the United States in the _assignats_ of that country,...

I had the honor to address you a letter on the 29th of May was twelvemonth, on the articles still unexecuted of the treaty of peace between the two nations. The subject was exte...

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 particular...

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to Mr. Hammond, and encloses him the draught of a letter to the President of the United States, which he has prepared to accompan...

The Secretary of State has the honor to inform the Minister of France, that the President will receive his letters of credence today, at half after two; that this will be done i...