Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 3 (of 9)
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS
Philadelphia, January 23, 1792.
Dear Sir,—I have the pleasure to inform you, that the President of the United States has appointed you Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States, at the court of France, which was approved by the Senate on the 12th instant; on which be pleased to accept my congratulations. You will receive herewith your commission, a letter of credence for the King, sealed, and a copy of it open for your own satisfaction, as also a cypher, to be used on proper occasions in the correspondence between us.
To you, it would be more than unnecessary for me to undertake a general delineation of the functions of the office to which you are appointed. I shall therefore only express our desire, that they be constantly exercised in that spirit of sincere friendship and attachment which we bear to the French nation; and that in all transactions with the minister, his good dispositions be conciliated by whatever in language or attentions may tend to that effect. With respect to their government, we are under no call to express opinions which might please or offend any party, and therefore it will be best to avoid them on all occasions, public or private. Could any circumstances require unavoidably such expressions, they would naturally be in conformity with the sentiments of the great mass of our countrymen, who, having first, in modern times, taken the ground of government founded on the will of the people, cannot but be delighted on seeing so distinguished and so esteemed a nation arrive on the same ground, and plant their standard by our side.
I feel myself particularly bound to recommend, as the most important of your charges, the patronage of our commerce, and the extension of its privileges, both in France and her colonies, but most especially the latter. Our consuls in France are under general instructions to correspond with the minister of the United States at Paris; from them you may often receive interesting information. Joseph Fenwick is consul at Bordeaux, and Burwell Carnes at Nantz; Monsieur de la Motte vice consul at Havre, and Monsieur Cathalan at Marseilles.
An act of Congress, of July the 1st, 1790, has limited the allowance of a Minister Plenipotentiary to nine thousand dollars a year for all his personal services and other expenses, a year's salary for his outfit, and a quarter's salary for his return. It is understood that the personal services and other expenses here meant, do not extend to the cost of gazettes and pamphlets transmitted to the Secretary of State's office, to translating or printing necessary papers, postage, couriers, and necessary aids to poor American sailors. These additional charges, therefore, may be inserted in your accounts; but no other of any description, unless where they are expressly directed to be incurred. By an ancient rule of Congress, your salary will commence from the day you receive this letter, if you be then at Paris, or from the day you set out for Paris from any other place at which it may find you; it ceases on receiving notice or permission to return, after which the additional quarter's allowance takes place. You are free to name your own private secretary, who will receive from the public a salary of thirteen hundred and fifty dollars a year, without allowance for any extras. I have thought it best to state these things to you minutely, that you may be relieved from all doubt as to the matter of your accounts. I will beg leave to add a most earnest request, that on the 1st day of July next, and on the same day annually afterwards, you make out your account to that day, and send it by the first vessel, and by duplicates. In this I must be very urgent and particular, because at the meeting of the ensuing Congress always, it is expected that I prepare for them a statement of the disbursements from this fund, from July to June inclusive. I shall give orders by the first opportunity to our bankers in Amsterdam, to answer your drafts for the allowances herein before mentioned, recruiting them at the same time by an adequate remitment, as I expect that by the time you receive this, they will not have remaining on hand of this fund more than seven or eight thousand dollars.
You shall receive from me, from time to time, the laws and journals of Congress, gazettes and other interesting papers; for whatever information is in possession of the public, I shall leave you generally to the gazettes, and only undertake to communicate by letter, such, relative to the business of your mission, as the gazettes cannot give.
From you I shall ask, once or twice a month regularly, a communication of interesting occurrences in France, of the general affairs of Europe, and transmission of the Leyden gazette, the journal logographe, and the best paper of Paris for their colonial affairs, with such other publications as may be important enough to be read by one who can spare little time to read anything, or which may contain matter proper to be turned to, on interesting subjects and occasions. The English packet is the most certain channel for such epistolary communications as are not very secret, and by those packets I would wish always to receive a letter from you by way of corrective to the farrago of news they generally bring. Intermediate letters, secret communications, gazettes and other printed papers, had better come through the channel of Monsieur de La Motte at Havre, to whom I shall also generally address my letters to you, and always the gazettes and other printed papers.
Mr. Short will receive by the same conveyance, his appointment as minister resident at the Hague.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO MONSIEUR DE MONTMORIN
Philadelphia, January 23, 1792.
Sir,—The President of the United States having destined Mr. Short to another employment, he is instructed to take leave of the court of France. The perfect knowledge I have of his understanding and dispositions, gives me full confidence that he has so conducted himself during his residence near them, as to merit their approbation; and that he will mark his departure with those respectful attentions and assurances which will give them entire satisfaction. Above all things, I hope that every exercise of his functions has been consistent with the sincerity of the friendship we bear to the King and nation, and that you will be persuaded, that no one is more cordial in that sentiment than he who has the honor to be, with the most profound respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO DON JOSEPH JAUDENES, AND DON JOSEPH VIAR
Philadelphia, January 25, 1792.
Gentlemen,—Don Joseph Jaudenes having communicated to me verbally that his Catholic Majesty had been apprised of our solicitude to have some arrangements made respecting our free navigation of the Mississippi, and a port thereon convenient for the deposit of merchandize of export and import for lading and unlading the sea and river vessels, and that his Majesty would be ready to enter into treaty thereon directly with us, whensoever we should send to Madrid a proper and acceptable person authorized to treat on our part, I laid the communication before the President of the United States. I am authorized by him to assure you that our government has nothing more at heart than to meet the friendly advances of his Catholic Majesty with cordiality, and to concur in such arrangements on the subject proposed, as may tend best to secure peace and friendship between the two nations on a permanent footing. The President has, therefore, with the approbation of the Senate, appointed Mr. Short, our present minister resident at the Hague, to proceed to Madrid as a joint commissioner with Mr. Carmichael, with full powers to treat on the subject before mentioned, and I have no doubt that these gentlemen will so conduct themselves as to give entire satisfaction. Mr. Short's business at the Hague will occasion a short delay of his departure from that place for Madrid, but he will be duly urged to make it as short as possible.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. SHORT
Philadelphia, January 28, 1792.
Dear Sir,—My last private letter to you was of November 25th, your last received was of September 29th. Though the present will be very confidential, and will go, I do not know how, I cannot take time to cypher it all. What has lately occurred here will convince you I have been right in not raising your expectations as to an appointment. The President proposed at first the nomination of Mr. T. Pinckney to the court of London, but would not name him till we could have an assurance from him that he would accept, nor did he indicate what the other appointments would be till Mr. Pinckney's answer came. Then he nominated to the Senate Mr. Morris, M. P. for France, Pinckney, M. P. for London, and yourself M. R. for the Hague. The first of these appointments was extremely unpopular, and so little relished by several of the Senate, that every effort was used to negative it. Those whose personal objections to Mr. Morris overruled their deference to the President, finding themselves a minority, joined with another small party who are against all foreign appointments, and endeavored with them to put down the whole system rather than let this article pass. This plan was defeated, and Mr. Morris passed by a vote of 16 against 11. When your nomination came on, it was consented to, by 15 against 11, every man of the latter, however, rising and declaring, that as to yourself they had no personal objection, but only meant by their vote to declare their opinion against keeping any person at the Hague. Those who voted in the negative were not exactly the same in both cases. When the biennial bill furnishing money for the support of the foreign establishment shall come up at the next session, to be continued, the same contest will arise again, and I think it very possible that if the opponents of Mr. Morris cannot remove him otherwise, they will join again with those who are against the whole establishment, and try to discontinue the whole. If they fail in this, I still see no security in their continuing the mission to the Hague; because to do this they must enlarge the fund from forty to fifty thousand dollars. The President afterwards proceeded to join you to Carmichael on a special mission to Spain, to which there was no opposition, except from three gentlemen who were against opening the Mississippi.
I am, with sincere attachment, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.
TO COLONEL HAMILTON
February —, 1792.
Dear Sir,—I return you the report on the mint, which I have read over with a great deal of satisfaction. I concur with you in thinking that the unit must stand on both metals, that the alloy should be the same in both, also in the proportion you establish between the value of the two metals. As to the question on whom the expense of coinage is to fall, I have been so little able to make up an opinion satisfactory to myself, as to be ready to concur in either decision. With respect to the dollar, it must be admitted by all the world, that there is great incertainty in the meaning of the term, and therefore all the world will have justified Congress for their first act of removing the incertainty by declaring what they understand by the term, but the incertainty once removed, exists no longer, and I very much doubt a right now to change the value, and especially to lessen it. It would lead to so easy a mode of paying off their debts. Besides, the parties injured by this reduction of the value would have so much matter to urge in support of the first point of fixation. Should it be thought, however, that Congress may reduce the value of the dollar, I should be for adopting for our unit, instead of the dollar, either one ounce of pure silver, or one ounce of standard silver, so as to keep the unit of money a part of the system of measures, weights and coins. I hazard these thoughts to you extempore and am, dear Sir, respectfully and affectionately.
TO MR. HAMMOND
Philadelphia, February 2, 1792.
Sir,—On the receipt of your letter of the 14th of December, I communicated it to the President of the United States, and under the sanction of his authority, the principal members of the executive department made it their duty to make known in conversations generally, the explicit disclaimer, in the name of your court, which you had been pleased to give us, that the government of Canada had supported or encouraged the hostilities of our Indian neighbors in the western country. Your favor of January the 30th, to the same purpose, has been, in like manner, communicated to the President, and I am authorized to assure you, that he is duly sensible of this additional proof of the disposition of the court of London, to confine the proceedings of their officers in our vicinage within the limits of friendship and good neighborhood, and that a conduct so friendly and just, will furnish us a motive the more for those duties and good offices which neighbor nations owe each other.
You have seen too much, Sir, of the conduct of the press in countries where it is free, to consider the gazettes as evidence of the sentiments of any part of the government; you have seen them bestow on the government itself, in all its parts, its full share of inculpation. Of the sentiments of our government on the subject of your letter, I cannot give you better evidence than the statement of the causes of the Indian war, made by the Secretary of War on the 26th of the last month, by order of the President, and inserted in the public papers. No interference on the part of your nation is therein stated among the causes of the war. I am happy, however, in the hope, that a due execution of the treaty will shortly silence those expressions of public feeling by removing their cause. I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Philadelphia, February 4, 1792.
Sir,—The late appointment of a Minister Resident to the Hague, has brought under consideration the condition of Mr. Dumas, and the question, whether he is, or is not, at present in the service of the United States?
Mr. Dumas, very early in the war, was employed first by Dr. Franklin, afterwards by Mr. Adams, to transact the affairs of the United States in Holland. Congress never passed any express vote of confirmation, but they opened a direct correspondence with Mr. Dumas, sent him orders to be executed, confirmed and augmented his salary, made that augmentation retrospective, directed him to take up his residence in their hotel at the Hague, and passed such other votes from time to time as established him de facto their agent at the Hague. On the change in the organization of our government in 1789, no commission nor new appointment took place with respect to him, though it did in most other cases; yet the correspondence with him from the office of Foreign Affairs has been continued, and he has regularly received his salary. A doubt has been suggested, whether this be legal. I have myself no doubt but what it is legal. I consider the source of authority with us to be the Nation. Their will, declared through its proper organ, is valid, till revoked by their will declared through its proper organ again also. Between 1776 and 1789, the proper organ for pronouncing their will, whether legislative or executive, was a Congress formed in a particular manner. Since 1789 it is a Congress formed in a different manner, for laws, and a President, elected in a particular way, for making appointments and doing other executive acts. The laws and appointments of the ancient Congress were as valid and permanent in their nature, as the laws of the new Congress, or appointments of the new Executive; these laws and appointments, in both cases deriving equally their source from the will of the nation; and when a question arises, whether any particular law or appointment is still in force, we are to examine, not whether it was pronounced by the ancient or present organ, but whether it has been at any time revoked by the authority of the nation, expressed by the organ competent at the time. The nation, by the act of their federal convention, established some new principles and some new organizations of the government. This was a valid declaration of their will, and ipso facto revoked some laws before passed, and discontinued some officers and offices before appointed. Wherever, by this instrument, an old office was suspended by a new one, a new appointment became necessary; but where the new Constitution did not demolish an office, either expressly or virtually, nor the President remove the officer, both the office and officer remained. This was the case of several; in many of them, indeed, an excess of caution dictated the superaddition of a new appointment; but where there was no such superaddition, as in the instance of Mr. Dumas, both the office and officer still remained: for the will of the nation, validly pronounced by the proper organ of the day, had constituted him their agent, and that will has not, through any of its successive organs, revoked its appointment. I think, therefore, there is no room to doubt its continuance, and that the receipt of salary by him has been lawful.
However, I would not wish to take on myself alone the decision of a question so important, whether considered in a legal or constitutional view; and therefore submit it to you, Sir, whether it is not a proper question whereon to take the opinion of the Attorney General?
Another question then arises, Ought Mr. Dumas to be discontinued? I am of opinion he ought not.
1. Not at this time; because Mr. Short's mission to Madrid will occasion an immediate vacancy at the Hague again; and because, by the time that will be over, his appointment at the Hague must be discontinued altogether, unless Congress should enlarge the foreign fund.
2. Not at any time; because, when, after the peace, Mr. Dumas' agency became of less importance, Congress, under various views of his sacrifices and services, manifested that their continuance of him was in consideration of these, and of his advanced years and infirm state, which render it impossible for him to launch into a new line of gaining a livelihood; and they thought the continuance of moderate competence to him for moderate services, was more honorable to the United States than to abandon him in the face of Europe, after and under such circumstances.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most profound respect and attachment. Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Philadelphia, February 7, 1792.
Sir,—An account presented to me by Mr. John B. Cutting, for expenditures incurred by him in liberating the seamen of the United States in British ports, during the impressments, which took place under that government in the year 1790, obliges me to recall some former transactions to your mind.
You will be pleased to recollect the numerous instances of complaint or information to us, about that time, of the violence committed on our seafaring citizens in British ports, by their press-gangs and officers, and that, not having even a consul there at that time, it was thought fortunate that a private citizen, who happened to be on the spot, stept forward for their protection; that it was obvious that these exertions on his part must be attended with expense, and that a particular demand of fifty pounds sterling for this purpose coming incidentally to my knowledge, it was immediately remitted to Mr. Cutting, with a request to account for it in convenient time. He now presents an account of all his expenditures in this business, which I have the honor to communicate herewith. According to this, the oppression extends to a much greater number of our citizens, and their relief is more costly, than had been contemplated. It will be necessary to lay the account before the Legislature; because, the expenses being of a description which had not occurred before, no appropriation heretofore made would authorize payment at the treasury; because, too, the nature of the transactions may in some instances require, justly, that the ordinary rules of evidence, which the Auditor is bound to apply to ordinary cases, should suffer relaxations, which he probably will not think himself authorized to admit, without the orders of the Legislature.
The practice in Great Britain of impressing seamen whenever war is apprehended, will fall more heavily on ours than on those of any other foreign nation, on account of the sameness of language. Our minister at that court, therefore, will, on these occasions, be under the necessity of interfering for their protection, in a way which will call for expense. It is desirable that these expenses should be reduced to certain rules, as far as the nature of the case will admit, and the sooner they are so reduced the better. This may be done, however, on surer grounds after the government of Great Britain shall have entered with us into these arrangements on this particular subject which the seriousness of the case calls for on our part, and its difficulty may admit on theirs. This done, it will be desirable that legislative rules be framed which may equally guide and justify the proceedings of our minister, or other agent, at that court, and at the same time extend to our seafaring citizens the protection of which they have so much need.
Mr. Cutting, being on the spot, will himself furnish the explanations and documents of his case, either to the legislature or a committee of it, or to the Auditor, as he shall be required.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
