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Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 3
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You ask, what should be your conduct, in case you should at any time discover negotiations to be going on, which might eventually be interesting to us. The nature of the particular case will point out what measures, on your part, would be the most for our interest, and to your discretion we must refer the taking such measures, without waiting for instructions, where circumstances would not admit of such a delay. A like necessity to act may arise on other occasions. In the changeable scenes, for instance, which are passing in Europe, were a moment to offer when you could obtain any advantage for our commerce, and especially in the American colonies, you are desired to avail us of it to the best advantage, and not to let the occasion slip by for want of previous instruction.

You ask, what encouragements are given to emigrants by the several States. No other than a permission to become citizens, and to participate of the rights of citizens, except as to eligibility to certain offices in the government. The rules, as to these, are not uniform in the states. I have found it absolutely impracticable to obtain, even for my office, a regular transmission of the laws of the several States: consequently, it would be more so to furnish them to our ministers abroad. You will receive by this or the first proper conveyance, those of Congress, passed at their last session.

It is impossible for me to give any authority for the advance of monies to Mr. Wilson. Were we to do it in his case, we should, on the same principles, be obliged to do it in several others wherein foreign nations decline or delay doing justice to our citizens. No law of the United States would cover such an act of the executive; and all we can do legally is, to give him all the aid which our patronage of his claims with the British court can effect.

With respect to the payment of your allowances, as the laws authorize the payment of a given number of dollars to you, and as your duties place you in London, I suppose we are to pay you the dollars there, or other money of equal value, estimated by the par of the metals. Such has, accordingly, been the practice ever since the close of the war. Your powers to draw on our bankers in Holland, will leave you the master of fixing your drafts by this standard.

The transactions of Europe are now so interesting, that I should be obliged to you, every week, to put the Leyden gazettes of the week under cover to me; and put them into such ship’s bag as shall be first coming to any port north of North Carolina.

Mr. Barclay’s death is just made known to us, and measures are taking in consequence of it.

You will perceive by the newspapers, a remarkable fall in the price of our public paper. This is owing chiefly to the extraordinary demand for the produce of our country, and a temporary scarcity of cash to purchase it. The merchants holding public paper are obliged to part with it at any price, to raise money.

I am, with much respect, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXXXVIII.—TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS, March 21, 1793

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, deposite 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 Hubard.

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 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 stable, 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,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXXXIX.—TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS, March 22, 1793

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 for ever 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 any 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,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXL.2 —TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT, March 23, 1793

TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.

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 guaranty any of the Spanish colonies against their own independence, nor indeed against any other nation. For when we thought we might guaranty 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,

Th: Jefferson.

The above meets the approbation of George Washington.3

LETTER CXLI.—TO MR. HAMMOND, April 18, 1793

TO MR. HAMMOND.

Philadelphia, April 18, 1793.

Sir,

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 proceedings of Pagan for obtaining a writ of error from the Supreme Court of the United States, for revisal of the judgment of the inferior court pronounced against him; and, also, his opinion on the merits of the question, had the writ of error been procured, and the merits thereby been brought into question. From this statement you will be able to judge whether Pagan has, bonâ fide, complied with the rule which requires that a foreigner, before he applies for extraordinary interposition, should use his best endeavors to obtain the justice he claims from the ordinary tribunals of the country. You will perceive also, that had the writ been pressed for and obtained, and the substantial justice of Pagan’s claim thereby brought into discussion, substantial justice would have been against him, according to the opinion of the Attorney General, according to the uniform decisions of the courts of the United States, even in the cases of their own citizens, and according to the decision of this very case in the British provincial court, where the evidence was taken and the trial first had. This does not appear then to be one of those cases of gross and palpable wrong, ascribable only to wickedness of the heart, and not to error of the head, in the judges who have decided on it, and founding a claim of national satisfaction. At least, that it is so, remains yet to be demonstrated.

The readiness with which the government of the United States has entered into inquiries concerning the case of Mr. Pagan, even before that case was ripe for their interposition, according to ordinary rules, will, I hope, satisfy you that they would, with equal readiness, have done for the redress of his case whatever the laws and constitution would have permitted them to do, had it appeared in the result that their courts had been guilty of partiality or other gross wrong against Mr. Pagan. On the contrary, it is hoped, that the marked attentions which have been shown to him by the government of Massachusetts, as well as by that of the United States, have evinced, the most scrupulous dispositions to patronize and effectuate his right, had right been on his side.

I have the honor to be, with due respect, Sir, your most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

[The letter of the Attorney General, referred to in the preceding.]

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

Philadelphia, April 12, 1793.

Sir,

You will perceive from the two letters marked A. and B. of which I enclose copies, that the subject of Mr. Pagan has been for some time in my view. The former of those letters being intended for you, and containing a summary of facts, I determined to show it to Mr. Tilghman, who was Pagan’s counsel, before it was sent to you, in order that he might correct any misstatement. This produced the latter letter from him to me; and I have thought it more advisable to forward both of them to you even in the unfinished state of my own, than to reduce the case into a form which might be supposed to be less accurate.

As I do not discover an essential difference between Mr. Tilghman and myself, I shall not discuss any seeming variance, but proceed upon his ideas.

It is too obvious to require a diffusive exposition, that the application for a writ of error was not only prudent, but a duty in Pagan. To this Mr. Tilghman explicitly assents, when he says, that he was perfectly ‘satisfied of the prudence of applying for the writ of error, as Pagan could not complain of a defect of justice, until he had tried the writ of error and found that mode ineffectual.’ This remark becomes the more important, as it manifests that the process was not suggested as an expedient for shifting any burthen from the government. Indeed I may with truth add, that the proceedings, taken collectively, appeared to me to present a sufficient intimation of the main question, to serve as a ground of decision.

However, take the case under either aspect; as excluding the consideration of the main question by an omission in the pleadings and record; or as exhibiting it fully to the cognizance of the court.

It never was pretended that a writ of error ought to have been granted, unless the matter was apparent on the record. Whose office was it to make it thus apparent. Of the attorney who managed the pleadings. If, therefore, he has failed to do so, we may presume that he considered the ground untenable, or was guilty of inattention. Either presumption would be fatal to a citizen of the United States; and the condition of a foreigner cannot create a new measure in the administration of justice. It is moreover certain, that those who have been consulted on Pagan’s behalf, as well as others, have seriously doubted whether a cause, which has been pursued to the extent which his had reached before the commencement of our new government, was susceptible of federal relief.

The last observation opens the inquiry, what remedy ought the Supreme Court of the United States to have administered, even if the question had been fairly before them? My opinion is, that the very merits are against Mr. Pagan. In America, the construction of the armistice has been almost universally to compute the places, within which different times were to prevail, by latitude only. Am I misinformed, that such an interpretation has been pressed by our ministers, and not denied by those of London? A second mode has been adopted, by describing a circle, and thereby comprehending longitude as well as latitude: now let either rule be adopted, and the position of the capture in this case will be adverse to Pagan’s pretensions.

But what can be exacted from our government, after repeated trials, before various jurisdictions, none of which can be charged with any symptom of impropriety, and upon a subject, which, to say no more, is at least equipoised? Nothing; and I appeal to the British reasoning on the Silesia loan, as supporting this sentiment, in the following passage. ‘The law of nations, founded upon justice, equity, convenience, and the reason of the thing, and confirmed by long usage, does not allow of reprisals, except in case of violent injuries directed and supported by the State, and justice absolutely denied, in re minime dubid, by all the tribunals, and afterwards by the prince.’ Where the judges are left free, and give sentence according to their consciences, ‘though it should be erroneous, that would be no ground for reprisals. Upon doubtful questions, different men think and judge differently; and all a friend can desire is, that justice should be as impartially administered to him, as it is to the subjects of that prince, in whose courts the matter is tried.’ Under such circumstances, a citizen must acquiesce. So therefore must Pagan; against whom even the court of Nova Scotia, within the dominions of his sovereign, has once decided.

There are many smaller points, arising from the controversy, which might be relied on. But I pass them over, from a hope that the observations already made will induce you to think with me, that government is not bound to interpose farther in the behalf of Pagan. I have the honor, Sir, to be, with respect and esteem, your most obedient servant,

Edmond Randolph.

LETTER CXLII.—TO MR. PINCKNEY, April 20, 1793

TO MR. PINCKNEY.

Philadelphia, April 20, 1793.

Dear Sir,

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 by the William Penn.

With respect to our negotiation with Mr. Hammond, it is exactly in the state in which it was when you left America, not one single word having been received in reply to my general answer, of which you had a copy. He says, he waits for instructions, which he pretends to expect from packet to packet. But sometimes the ministers are all in the country, sometimes they are absorbed in negotiations nearer home, sometimes it is the hurry of impending war, or attention to other objects, the stock of which is inexhaustible, and can therefore never fail those who desire nothing but that things shall rest as they are. Perhaps, however, the present times may hasten justice.

We shall be glad to receive the assayer you hope to procure, as soon as possible, for we cannot get one in this country equal to the business in all its parts. With respect to Mr. Droz, we retain the same desire to engage him, but we are forced to require an immediate decision, as the officer employed in the interim, and who does tolerably well, will not continue much longer under an uncertainty of permanent employment. I must therefore desire you to press Mr. Morris to bring Droz to an immediate determination; and we place the matter on this ground with him, that if he is not embarked by the first day of July next, we shall give a permanent commission to the present officer, and be free to receive no other. We are likely to be in very great distress for copper for the mint, and must therefore press your expediting what we desired you to order from Sweden.

You may, on every occasion, give assurances which cannot go beyond the real desires of this country, to preserve a fair neutrality in the present war, on condition that the rights of neutral nations are respected in us, as they have been settled in modern times, either by the express declarations of the powers of Europe, or their adoption of them on particular occasions. From our treaties with France and Holland, and that of England and France, a very clear and simple line of conduct can be marked out for us, and I think we are not unreasonable in expecting that England shall recognise towards us the same principles which she has stipulated to recognise towards France, in a state of neutrality.

I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLIII.—CIRCULAR TO MORRIS, PINCKNEY, AND SHORT, April 26,1793

CIRCULAR TO MESSRS. MORRIS, PINCKNEY, AND SHORT.

Philadelphia, April 26,1793.

Sir,

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 commerce and friendship, the President has thought it proper to issue the proclamation of which I enclose you a copy, in order to mark out to our citizens the line of conduct they are to pursue. That this intimation, however, might not work to their prejudice, by being produced against them as conclusive evidence of their knowledge of the existence of war and of the nations engaged in it, in any case where they might be drawn into courts of justice for acts done without that knowledge, it has been thought necessary to write to the representatives of the belligerent powers here, the letter of which a copy is also enclosed, reserving to our citizens those immunities to which they are entitled, till authentic information shall be given to our government by the parties at war, and be thus communicated, with due certainty, to our citizens. You will be pleased to present to the government where you reside this proceeding of the President, as a proof of the earnest desire of the United States to preserve peace and friendship with all the belligerent powers, and to express his expectation that they will in return extend a scrupulous and effectual protection to all our citizens, wheresoever they may need it, in pursuing their lawful and peaceable concerns with their subjects, or within their jurisdiction. You will, at the same time, assure them, that the most exact reciprocation of this benefit shall be practised by us towards their subjects, in the like cases.

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

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLIV.—TO M. DE TERNANT, April 27,1793

TO M. DE TERNANT.

Philadelphia, April 27,1793.

Sir,

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 thereon taken.

I have in consequence to observe to you, that before the new government of France had time to attend to things on this side the Atlantic, and to provide a deposite of money for the purposes here, there appeared a degree of necessity that we, as the friends and debtors of that nation, should keep their affairs from suffering, by furnishing money for urgent purposes. This obliged us to take on ourselves to judge of the purpose, because on the soundness of that, we were to depend for our justification. Hence we furnished monies for their colonies and their agents here, without express authority, judging from the importance and necessity of the case, that they would approve of our interference.

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