Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson Volume III Part 29

LETTER CXIV.--TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, June 16, 1792

TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS.

Philadelphia, June 16, 1792.

Dear Sir,

My last to you was of March the 28th. Yours of April the 6th and 10th came to hand three days ago.

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 the situation of our commerce with France and England. That with France is stated as it stood at the time I left that country, when the only objects whereon change was still desirable, were those of salted provisions, tobacco and tar, pitch and turpentine. The first was in negotiation when I came away, and was pursued by Mr. Short with prospects of success, till their general tariff so unexpectedly deranged our commerce with them as to other articles. Our commerce with their West Indies had never admitted amelioration during my stay in France. The temper of that period did not allow even the essay, and it was as much as we could do to hold the ground given us by the Marshal de Castries' _Arret_, admitting us to their colonies with salted provisions, &c. As to both these branches of commerce, to wit, with France and her colonies, we have hoped they would pursue their own proposition of arranging them by treaty, and that we could draw that treaty to this place. There is no other where the dependence of their colonies on our States for their prosperity is so obvious as here, nor where their negotiator would feel it so much. But it would be imprudent to leave to the uncertain issue of such a treaty, the re-establishment of our commerce with France on the footing on which it was in the beginning of their revolution. That treaty may be long on the anvil; in the mean time, we cannot consent to the late innovations, without taking measures to do justice to our own navigation. This object, therefore, is particularly recommended to you, while you will also be availing yourself of every opportunity which may arise, of benefiting our commerce in any other part. I am in hopes you will have found the moment favorable on your arrival in France, when Monsieur Claviere was in the ministry, and the dispositions of the National a.s.sembly favorable to the ministers. Your cipher has not been sent hitherto, because it required a most confidential channel of conveyance.

It is now committed to Mr. Pinckney, who also carries the gazettes, laws, and other public papers for you. We have been long without any vessel going to Havre. Some of the Indian tribes have acceded to terms of peace. The greater part, however, still hold off, and oblige us to pursue more vigorous measures for war. I enclose you an extract from a circular letter to our Consuls, by which you will perceive, that those in countries where we have no diplomatic representative, are desired to settle their accounts annually with the Minister of the United States at Paris. This business I must desire you to undertake. The act concerning Consuls will be your guide, and I shall be glad that the 1st of July be the day to which their accounts shall be annually settled and paid, and that they may be forwarded as soon after that as possible to the office of the Secretary of State, to enter into the general account of his department, which it is necessary he should make up always before the meeting of Congress.

I am with great sincere esteem Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

P.S. I have said nothing of our whale-oil, because I believe it is on a better footing since the tariff than before. T. J.

LETTER CXV.--TO MR. VAN BERCKEL, July 2,1792

TO MR. VAN BERCKEL.

Philadelphia, July 2,1792.

Sir,

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 committed, by an officer of this State entering your house and serving therein a process on one of your servants. There could be no question but that this was a breach of privilege; the only one was, how it was to be punished. To ascertain this, I referred your letter to the Attorney General, whose answer I have the honor to enclose you. By this you will perceive, that from the circ.u.mstance of your servant's not being registered in the Secretary of State's office, we cannot avail ourselves of the more certain and effectual proceeding which had been provided by an act of Congress for punis.h.i.+ng infractions of the law of nations, that act having thought proper to confine the benefit of its provisions to such domestics only, as should have been registered; We are to proceed, therefore, as if that act had never been made, and the Attorney General's letter indicates two modes of proceeding. 1. By a warrant before a single magistrate, to recover the money paid by the servant under a process declared void by law. Herein the servant must be the actor, and the government not intermeddle at all. The smallness of the sum to be redemanded will place this cause in the cla.s.s of those in which no appeal to the higher tribunal is permitted, even in the case of manifest error, so that if the magistrate should err, the government has no means of correcting the error. 2. The second mode of proceeding would be, to indict the officer in the Supreme Court of the United States; with whom it would rest to punish him at their discretion, in proportion to the injury done and the malice from which it proceeded; and it would end in punishment alone, and not in a rest.i.tution of the money. In this mode of proceeding, the government of the United States is actor, taking the management of the cause into its own hands, and giving you no other trouble than that of bearing witness to such material facts as may not be otherwise supported. You will be so good as to decide in which of these two ways you would choose the proceeding should be; if the latter, I will immediately take measures for having the offender prosecuted according to law.

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

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXVI.--TO MR. PALESKE, August 19,1792

TO MR. PALESKE.

Monticello, August 19,1792.

Sir,

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, his Consul General be acknowledged as belonging to a most favored nation; that the privileges and immunities due to a Consul General of the most favored nation be granted to his Consul General, and that commissioners be appointed to regulate, by particular convention the functions of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the respective nations.

Treaties of the United States duly made and ratified, as is that with his Prussian Majesty, const.i.tute a part of the law of the land, and need only promulgation to oblige all persons to obey them, and to ent.i.tle all to those privileges which such treaties confer. That promulgation having taken place, no other act is necessary or proper on the part of our government, according to our rules of proceeding, to give effect to the treaty. This treaty, however, has not specified the privileges or functions of Consuls; it has only provided that these shall be regulated by particular agreement. To the proposition to proceed as speedily as possible to regulate these functions by a convention, my absence from the seat of government does not allow me to give a definitive answer.

I know, in general, that it would be agreeable to our government, on account of the recent changes in its form, to suspend for a while the contracting specific engagements with foreign nations, until something more shall be seen of the direction it will take, and of its mode of operation, in order that our engagements may be so moulded to that, as to insure the exact performance of them, which we are desirous ever to observe. Should this be the sentiment of our government on the present occasion, the friends.h.i.+p of his Prussian Majesty is a sufficient reliance to us for that delay which our affairs might require for the present: and the rather, as his vessels are not yet in the habit of seeking our ports, and for the few cases which may occur for some time, our own laws, copied mostly in this respect from those of a very commercial nation, have made the most material of those provisions which could be admitted into a special convention for the protection of vessels, their crews, and cargoes, coming hither. We shall on this, however, and every other occasion, do every thing we can to manifest our friends.h.i.+p to his Prussian Majesty, and our desire to promote commercial intercourse with his subjects; and of this, we hope, he will be fully a.s.sured.

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

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXVII.--TO THE PRESIDENT, August 19, 1792

TO THE PRESIDENT.

Monticello, August 19, 1792.

Sir,

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 to the two letters I wrote him from Philadelphia on the same subject. I now enclose letters received by yesterday's post from Mr. Hammond, Mr. William Knox, and Mr. Paleske, with answers to the two latter. Should these meet your approbation, you will be so good as to seal and let them go on under the cover to Mr.

Taylor, who will have them conveyed according to their address. Should you wish any alteration of them, it shall be made on their being returned. The Prussian treaty is, I believe, within four years of its expiration. I suspect that personal motives alone induce Mr. Paleske to press for a convention, which could hardly be formed and ratified before it would expire; and that his court cannot lay much stress on it. Mr.

Hammond's former explanations of his notification of the 12th of April having been laid before Congress, may perhaps make it proper to communicate to them also his sovereign's approbation of them.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXVIII.--TO M. DE TERNANT, September 27,1792

TO M. DE TERNANT.

Philadelphia, September 27,1792.

Sir,

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, has been duly received, and laid before the President of the United States: and I am authorized to convey to you the expression of the sincere concern we feel, on learning that the French nation, to whose friends.h.i.+p and interests we have the strongest attachments, are now to encounter the evils of war. We offer our prayers to Heaven that its duration may be short, and its course marked with as few as may be of those calamities which render the condition of war so afflicting to humanity; and we add a.s.surances, that during its course we shall continue in the same friendly dispositions, and render all those good offices which shall be consistent with the duties of a neutral nation.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.