Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1

I have duly received your letter of the 2nd instant. The delays, which have attended your enlargement, have been much beyond my expectation. The reason I have not written to you...

Several conferences and letters having passed between the Count de Vergennes and myself, on the subject of the commerce of this country with the United States, I think them suff...

I have been honoured with your letter, in which you mention to me your intention of returning to America in the April packet. It is with sincere concern that I meet this event,...

A report prevailing here, that in consequence of some powers from Congress, the Governor and Council have it in contemplation to remove the Convention troops, [The troops under...

I received three days ago your favor of April the 12th. You therein speak of a former letter to me, but it has not come to hand, nor any other of later date than the 14th of Dec...

I take the liberty of troubling your Excellency on behalf of six citizens of the United States, who have been for some time confined in the prison of St. Pol de Léon, and of ref...

I make no doubt you will have heard, before this shall have the honor of being presented to your Excellency, of the junction of Lord Cornwallis with the force at Petersburg unde...

In the conversation which I had the honor of having with your Excellency, a few days ago, on the importance of placing, at this time, the commerce between France and America on...

On receipt of your favors of August the 18th and 23rd, I conferred with Mr. Barclay on the measures necessary to be taken to set our treaty with the piratical States into motion...

Your favor of April the 15th happened to be put into my hands at the same time with a large parcel of letters from America, which contained a variety of intelligence. It was the...

I wrote to you on the 11th of October, by Mr. Preston, and again on the 18th of the same month, by post. Since that, yours of September the 25th, by Mr. Boylston, of October the...

I had the honor of writing to you on the 14th instant, by a Mr. Cannon of Connecticut, who was to sail in the packet. Since that date yours of July the 13th has come to hand. Th...

Your favor of the 5th came to hand yesterday, and Colonel Smith and Colonel Humphreys (by whom you will receive one of the 19th from me) being to set out to-morrow, I hasten to...

My last letters were of the 1st and 20th of September, and the 28th of October. Yours, unacknowledged, are of August the 20th, October the 3rd, and November the 15th. I take thi...

I had the honor of writing you on the 18th of October, and again on the 25th of the same month. Both letters, being to pass through the post-offices, were confined to particular...

I received, by Mr. Mazzei, your letter of April the 20th. I am much mortified to hear that you have lost so much time; and that when you arrived in Williamsburg, you were not at...

I wrote you last on the 25th of September. Since that I have received yours of October the 25th, enclosing a duplicate of the last invented tongue for the harpsichord. The lette...

I was honored, on the 22nd ultimo, with the receipt of your letter of June the 15th; and delivered the letter therein enclosed, from the President of Congress to the King. I too...

I have been honored with the receipt of your letter of the 2nd instant, and am to thank you, as I do sincerely, for the partiality with which you receive the copy of the Notes o...

I had the honor of writing to you on the receipt of your orders to procure draughts for the public buildings, and again on the 13th of August. In the execution of these orders,...

My letter of September the 19th, written the morning after Mr. Lambe’s arrival here, will inform you of that circumstance. I transmit you herewith, copies of the papers he broug...

I received your friendly letter of April the 28th, by Mr. Mazzei, on the 22nd of July. That of the month before, by Monsieur La Croix, has not come to hand. This correspondence...

Having been much engaged lately, I have been unable sooner to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of September the 8th. What you are pleased to say on the subject of my Notes,...

My last to you by Monsieur de Doradour, was dated May the 11th. Since that, I have received yours of January the 22nd with six copies of the revisal, and that of April the 27th...

I have been duly honored by the receipt of your letter of December the 6th, and am to thank you for the communications it contained on the state of our funds and expectations he...

It may seem odd, considering the important events which have taken place in this State within the course of ten days, that I should not have transmitted an account of them to yo...

It was with very sincere pleasure I heard of your appointment to the board of treasury, as well from the hope that it might not be disagreeable to yourself, as from the confiden...

In my letter of August the 14th, I had the honor of expressing to you the uneasiness I felt at the delay of the instructions on the subject of the Barbary treaties, of which Mr....

Your favor of March the 20th came to hand the 14th of June, and the next day I wrote to you, acknowledging the receipt, and apprizing you, that between that date and the 1st of...

I have long deferred doing myself the honor of writing to you, wishing for an opportunity to accompany my letter with a copy of the _Bibliothèque Physico-oeconomique_, a book pu...

I should sooner have answered the paragraph in your letter, of September the 19th, respecting the best seminary for the education of youth, in Europe, but that it was necessary...

I have duly received your favor of April the 10th, by Mr. Mazzei. You therein speak of a new method of raising water by steam, which you suppose will come into general use. I kn...

My letter of September 23rd answered your favors received before that date, and the present serves to acknowledge the receipt of those of September 24th and 27th. I retain in mi...

This will accompany a joint letter enclosing the draft of a treaty? and my private letter of June 23rd, which has waited so long for a private conveyance. We daily expect from t...

I am rendered not a little anxious by the paragraph of yours of the 7th instant, wherein you say, ‘It is near a month since I received any letter from your Excellency; indeed, t...

I wrote you on the 5th of July by Mr. Franklin, and on the 12th of the same month by Monsieur Houdon. Since that date, yours of June the 16th, by Mr. Mazzei, has been received....

I am sorry the situation of our country should render it not eligible to you to remain longer in it. I hope the returning wisdom of Great Britain will, ere long, put an end to t...

I shall sometimes ask your permission to write you letters, not official, but private. The present is of this kind, and is occasioned by the question proposed in yours of June t...

The proceedings respecting Governor Hamilton and his companions, previous to your arrival here, you are acquainted with. For your more precise information, I enclose you the adv...

Your favors of Jury the 16th and 18th came to hand the same day on which I had received Baron Thulemeyer’s, enclosing the ultimate draught for the treaty. As this draught, which...

I had the honor of writing to your Excellency on the subject of an expedition contemplated by this State, against the British post at Detroit, and of receiving your answer of Oc...

By Mr. Fitzhugh, you will receive my letter of the first instant. He is still here, and gives me an opportunity of again addressing you much sooner than I should have done, but...

I have received your favor of the 17th of October, which, though you mention it as the third you have written me, is the first that has come to hand. I sincerely thank you for t...

Being in your debt for ten volumes of Buffon, I have endeavored to find something that would be agreeable to you to receive, in return. I therefore send you, by way of Havre, a...

The date of a letter from London will doubtless be as unexpected to you as it was unforeseen by myself, a few days ago. On the 27th of the last month, Colonel Smith arrived in P...

The enclosed copy of a letter from Lord Cornwallis [See Appendix, note E.] to Colonel Balfour, was sent me by Governor Rutledge: lest you should not have seen it, I do myself th...

Your Excellency’s letter on the discriminations which have been heretofore made, between the troops raised within this state, and considered as part of our quota, and those not...

Your favors of the 13th and 20th were put into my hands today. This will be delivered to you by Mr. Dalrymple, secretary to the legation of Mr. Crawford. I do not know whether y...

In consequence of the orders of the legislative and executive bodies of Virginia, I have engaged Monsieur Houdon to make the statue of General Washington. For this purpose it is...

Your estimable favor, covering a letter to Mr. Mazzei, came to hand on the 26th instant. The letter to Mr. Mazzei was put into his hands in the same moment, as he happened to be...

I have been honored with your letter of September the 26th, which was delivered me by Mr. Houdon, who is safely returned. He has brought with him the mould of the face only, hav...

I received, a few days ago, your favor of the 10th of June, and am to thank you for the trouble you have given yourself, to procure me information on the subject of the commerce...

My letter of August the 30th acknowledged the receipt of yours of July the 13th. Since that, I have received your letter of August the 13th, enclosing a correspondence between t...

I was honored, two days ago, with yours of May the 16th, and thank you for the intelligence it contained, much of which was new to me. It was the only letter I received by this...

I received some time ago from Major Forsyth, and afterwards from you, a requisition to furnish one half the supplies of provision for the Convention troops, removed into Marylan...

I was honored yesterday with yours of the 24th instant. When the first article of our instructions of May 7th, 1784, was under debate in Congress, it was proposed that neither p...

Your several favors of July the 16th, 21st, and 22nd, are now before me. Our smiths are engaged in making five hundred axes and some tomahawks for General Gates. About one hundr...

The enemy, after leaving Williamsburg, came directly up James river and landed at City Point, being the point of land on the southern side of the confluence of Appomatox and Jam...

Mr. Houdon would much sooner have had the honor of attending you, but for a spell of sickness, which long induced us to despair of his recovery, and from which he is but recentl...

The loss of powder lately sustained by us (about five tons), together with the quantities sent on to the southward, have reduced our stock very low indeed. We lent to Congress,...

Mr. Houdon’s long and desperate illness has retarded, till now, his departure for Virginia. We had hoped, from our first conversations with him, that it would be easy to make ou...

Your favor of September the 28th came to hand a few days ago. I thank you for the details on the subject of the southern and western lines. There remains thereon, one article, h...

Your letter of April the 4th came to my hands on the 16th of that month, and was acknowledged by mine of May the 3rd. That which you did me the honor to write me on the 5th of A...

I received yesterday your favor of the 20th instant. In order to give you the information you desire, on the subject of the liquidated debts of the United States, and the compar...

Your favor of the 4th instant came to hand yesterday. I now enclose you the two _Arrêts_ against the importation of foreign manufactures into this kingdom. The cause of the bala...

I am to give you the melancholy intelligence of the death of our most worthy Speaker, which happened here on the 22nd of the last month. He was struck with an apoplexy, and expi...

I some time ago enclosed to you a printed copy of an order of Council, by which Governor Hamilton was to be confined in irons, in close jail, which has occasioned a letter from...

My last to you was of June the 22nd, with a postscript of July the 14th. Yours of June the 27th came to hand the 23rd of July, and that of July the 28th came to hand the 10th in...

Your favor of July the 2nd came duly to hand. The concern you therein express as to the effect of your pamphlet in America, induces me to trouble you with some observations on t...

Your Captain Yeaton being here, furnishes me an opportunity of paying the tribute of my congratulations on your appointment to the government of your State, which I do sincerely...

I am honored with yours of January the 19th. Mine of January the 12th, had not, I suppose, at that time got to your hands, as the receipt of it is unacknowledged. I shall be anx...

The enclosed copy of a letter from Captain John Paul Jones, on the subject on which your Excellency did me the honor to write me, on the day of July, will inform you that there...

I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from General Greene, dated High-rock Ford, February 29th (probably March the 1st), who informs me, that, on the night of the 24th, Colon...

Since I had the honor of writing to your Excellency, on the 25th ultimo, the enemy have withdrawn their forces from the north side of James river, and have taken post at Portsmo...

I yesterday forwarded to you a letter from Colonel Wood, informing you of his situation. That post has, for some time past, been pretty regularly supplied, and I hope will conti...

By a letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House, February 10th, we are informed that Lord Cornwallis had burned his own wagons in order to enable himself to move wit...

Your favor of March the 6th has come duly to hand. You therein acknowledge the receipt of mine of November the 11th; at that time you could not have received my last, of Februar...

The very few of my countrymen who happen to be punctual, will find their punctuality a misfortune to them. Of this I shall give you a proof by the present application, which I s...

I received yesterday your favor of the 25th. Supposing that the funds, which are the object of your inquiry, are those which constitute what we call our domestic debt, it is my...

Major Galvan, as recommended by your Excellency, was despatched to his station without delay, and has been furnished with every thing he desired, as far as we were able. The lin...

I take the liberty of putting under cover to your Excellency some letters to Generals Phillips and Reidesel, uninformed whether they are gone into New York or not, and knowing t...

Several of your letters have been received, and we have been occupied in endeavors to have you discharged: but these have been ineffectual. If our information be right, you are...

A small affair has taken place between the British commanding officer in this state, General Phillips, and the Executive, of which, as he may endeavor to get rid of it through t...

On the arrival of Mr. Boylston, I carried him to the Marquis de la Fayette, who received from him communications of his object. This was to get a remission of the duties on his...

I have received your favor of the 18th, enclosing your compliments on your presentation. The sentiments you therein expressed, were such as were entertained in America till the...

I found here, on my return from Fontainebleau, the letter of October the 30th, which your Excellency did me the honor there of informing me had been addressed to me at this plac...

I have been honored with your Excellency’s letter of the 8th instant. Having found it impracticable to move, suddenly, the whole Convention troops, British and German, and it be...

I received, last night, the letter signed by yourself and the other gentlemen, delegates of Massachusetts and Virginia, recommending Mr. Sayre for the Barbary negotiations. As t...

Your favor of June the 1st did not come to hand till the 3rd of September. I immediately made inquiries on the subject of the frigate you had authorized your relation to sell to...

Your letters of August 27th and 30th are now before me. The subsequent desertions of your militia have taken away the necessity of answering the question, how they shall be arme...

Your letter of March the 28th, which I received about a month after its date, gave me a very real pleasure, as it assured me of an existence which I valued, and of which I had b...

A vessel sailing from Havre to Philadelphia, furnishes the Messrs. Fitzhughs with a passage to that place. To them, therefore, I confide a number of letters and packets which I...

I had the honor of receiving, the day before yesterday, the resolution of Council, of March the 10th, and your letter of March the 30th, and shall, with great pleasure, unite my...

By an American gentleman who went to the Hague, about a month ago, I sent you a copy of my Notes on Virginia. Having since that received some copies of the revisal of our laws,...

The extreme negligence of our stationed expresses is no doubt the cause why, as yet, no authentic account has reached us of a general action, which happened on the 15th instant,...

The death of the late General Oglethorpe, who had considerable possessions in Georgia, has given rise, as we understand, to questions whether these possessions have become the p...

Your favor of August 3rd is just now put into my hand. Those formerly received have been duly answered, and my replies will, no doubt, have reached you before this date. My last...

Your letters of the 14th, 20th, and 21st have come to hand, and your despatches to Congress have been regularly forwarded. I shall attend to the caveat against Mr. Ochiltree’s b...

My last to you was of the 6th of July. Since that, I have received yours of July the 23rd. I do not altogether despair of making something of your method of quilling, though, as...

As I know the anxieties you must have felt, since the late misfortune to the South, and our latter accounts have not been quite so unfavorable as the first, I take the liberty o...

I forbear to write you news, as the time of Mr. Shore’s departure being uncertain, it might be old before you receive it, and he can, in person, possess you of all we have. With...

I received the honor of your letter, of the 25th ult., written by desire of the associated company of Irish merchants, in London, and return you thanks for the kind congratulati...

The receipt of your favor, of September the 19th, should not have been so long unacknowledged, but that I have been peculiarly and very closely engaged ever since it came to hand.

By my despatch to Mr. Jay which accompanies this, you will perceive that the claims of the Chevalier de Mezieres, nephew to the late General Oglethorpe, to his possessions withi...

I have the pleasure to enclose you the particulars of Colonel Clarke’s success against St. Vincennes, as stated in his letter but lately received; the messenger, with his first...

I have empowered Colonel Carrington to have twelve boats, scows, or batteaux, built at Taylor’s Ferry, and to draw on me for the cost. I recommended the constructing them so as...

My last to you was of the 2nd instant, since which I have received yours of the 3rd and 7th. I informed you in mine of the substance of our letter to Baron Thulemeyer: last nigh...

It is possible you may have heard, that in the course of last summer an expedition was meditated, by our Colonel Clarke, against Detroit: that he had proceeded so far as to rend...

Within this week we have received the unhappy news of an action of considerable magnitude, between the King’s troops and our brethren of Boston, in which, it is said, five hundr...

Your letter of the 21st of June, has come safely to hand. That which you had done me the honor of writing before, has not yet been received. It having gone by Dr. Witherspoon to...

I have been duly honored with the receipt of your separate letters of August 23rd, and should sooner have returned an answer, but that as you had written also to Mr. Adams, I th...

The situation of affairs here and in Carolina is such as must shortly turn up important events, one way orihe other. By letter from General Greene, dated Guilford Court House, F...

I now enclose you a draught of a treaty for the Barbary States, together with the notes Dr. Franklin left me. I have retained a press copy of this draught, so that by referring...

Mine of the 13th informed you that I had written to the M. de Castries on the subject of Puchilberg’s interference. Yesterday I received his answer dated the 12th. In that, he s...

Among the instructions given to the ministers of the United States for treating with foreign powers, was one of the 11th of May, 1784, relative to an individual of the name of J...

On the 18th instant, the enemy came from Portsmouth up James river, in considerable force, though their numbers are not yet precisely known to us. They landed at Burwell’s Ferry...

I have this morning received certain information of the arrival of a hostile fleet in our bay, of about sixty sail. The debarkation of some light-horse, in the neighborhood of P...

There are, in the prison of St. Pol de Léon, six or seven citizens of the United States of America, charged with having attempted a contraband of tobacco, but, as they say thems...

I have received from the Committee of Congress, at headquarters, three letters calling for aids of men and provisions. I beg leave to refer you to my letter to them, of this dat...

I enclose you a letter from Gatteaux, observing that there will be an anachronism, if, in making a medal to commemorate the victory of Saratoga, he puts on General Gates the ins...

Just as the letter accompanying this was going off, Colonel Mathews arrived on parole from New York, by the way of headquarters, bringing your Excellency’s letter on this subjec...

The letters and papers accompanying this, will inform your Excellency of the arrival of a British flag vessel with clothing, refreshments, money, &c. for their prisoners under t...

I have been honored with your letter, and the books which accompanied it, for which I return you my hearty thanks. America cannot but be flattered with the choice of the subject...

I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency, a report of the voyage of an American ship, the first which has gone to China. The circumstance which induces Congress to direc...

I take the liberty of enclosing to you letters from Governor Hamilton, for New York. On some representations received by Colonel Towles, that an indulgence to Governor Hamilton...

In mine of the second of the present month, written in the instant of Colonel Mathews’ delivery of your letter, I informed you what had been done on the subject of Governor Hami...

I wrote you, by Mr. Adams, May the 11th, and by Mr. Otto, June the 17th. The latter acknowledged the receipt of yours of April the 12th, which is the only one come to hand of la...

My last letter to you was dated the 17th of June. The present serves to cover some papers put into my hands by Captain Paul Jones. They respect an ancient matter, which is short...

In your letter of June the 21st, you asked my opinion whether yourself or your son might venture to go to Virginia, to claim your possessions there? I had the honor of writing y...

I had the honor of receiving your letter of June the 21st, enclosing one from Mr. Alexander of June the 17th, and a copy of his application to Monsieur de Calonne. I am very sen...

Your favor of the 29th of September came safely to hand: the constant expectation of the departure of the persons whom I formerly gave you reason to expect, has prevented my wri...

I enclose your Excellency a copy of an intercepted letter from Major General Leslie to Lord Cornwallis. [See Appendix, note F.] It was taken from a person endeavoring to pass th...

I have received your letter of the 14th instant. It was not till the 8th of this month, that I could obtain information from any quarter, of the particular court in which your p...

I beg leave to trouble you with a private letter, on a little matter of my own, having no acquaintance at camp, with whom I can take that, liberty. Among the wagons impressed, f...

I wrote you a short letter on the 29th of September, acknowledging the receipt of yours of August the 24th, from Algiers, and promising that you should hear further from me soon...

The Executive of this State think it expedient, under our present circumstances, that the prisoners of war under the Convention of Saratoga, be removed from their present situat...

I received yesterday your favor of the 8th instant, and this morning went to Auteuil and Passy, to consult with Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin on the subject of it. We conferred tog...

The appointment of commissioner to the war-office of this State having lately become vacant, the Executive are desirous to place Colonel William Davies, of the Virginia Continen...

I am glad to hear that the Council have ordered restitution of the merchandise seized at L’Orient, contrary to the freedom of the place. When a court of justice has taken cogniz...

I received your letter by Mr. Jamieson. It had given me much pain, that the zeal of our respective friends should ever have placed you and me in the situation of competitors. I...

On receipt of your letter of August 6th, during my absence, the Council had the irons taken off the prisoners of war. When your advice was asked, we meant it should decide with...

The enclosed extract from a letter from Governor Nash, which I received this day, being a confirmation of the intelligence I transmitted in a former letter, I take the liberty o...

I was honored on the 2nd instant with the receipt of your favor of March the 15th, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 10th of the same month, appointing me their Minist...

I was honored, yesterday, with your Excellency’s favor enclosing the resolutions of Congress of the 8th instant, for removing stores and provisions from the counties of Accomack...

His Excellency, Count de Vergennes, having been pleased to say that he would give orders at Calais, for the admission of certain articles which I wish to bring with me from Engl...

I have just received intelligence, which, though from a private hand, I believe is to be relied on, that a fleet of the enemy’s ships have entered Cape Fear river, that eight of...

Baron Polnitz not going off till to-day enables me to add some information which I received from Mr. Barclay this morning. You know the immense amount of Beaumarchais’ accounts...

I gave you information in my last letter, that General Greene had crossed the Dan, at Boyd’s Ferry, and that Lord Cornwallis had arrived at the opposite shore. Large reinforceme...

I received yesterday your favor of the 29th, and have written on the subject of it to the Maréchal de Castries this morning. You shall have an answer as soon as I receive one. W...

The Mr. John Ledyard, who proposes to undertake the journey through the northern parts of Asia and America, is a citizen of Connecticut, one of the United States of America. He...

I forward to your Excellency, under cover with this, copies of letters received from Major General Greene and Baron Steuben, which will give you the latest account of the situat...

Circumstances of public duty calling me suddenly to London, I take the liberty of mentioning it to your Excellency, and of asking a few minutes’ audience of you, at as early a d...

I have received this moment a letter, of which I have the honor to enclose your Excellency a copy. It is on the case of Asquith and others, citizens of the United States, in who...

Hearing that our arms from Rhode Island have arrived at Philadelphia, I have begged the favor of our Delegates to send them on in wagons immediately, and, for the conveyance of...

Supposing you may be anxious to hear from hence, though there should be nothing interesting to communicate, I write by Mr. Cairnes merely to inform you, that I have, as yet, rec...

Lambe has arrived. He brings new full powers to us from Congress, to appoint persons to negotiate with the Barbary States; but we are to sign the treaties. Lambe has not even a...

I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a copy of a letter from General Greene, with some other intelligence received, not doubting your anxiety to know the movements i...

I received this moment a letter from the Marechal de Castries, of which the enclosed is a copy. Having engaged to him to solicit orders for the payment of any part of this money...

I do myself the honor of transmitting to your Excellency a resolution of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, entered into in consequence of the resolution of Congress of...

I have received your letter of September the 19th, with your log-book and other papers. I now wait for the letter from your lawyer, as, till I know the real nature and state of...

As the dangers which threaten our western frontiers, the ensuing spring, render it necessary that we should send thither Colonel Crocket’s battalion, at present on guard at Fred...

I have received your letter, and shall exert myself for you. Be assured of hearing from me soon: but say nothing to any body, except what may be necessary to comfort your compan...