chapter1e

My Old friend Mr William Mitchell one of the most Respectable Merchants in Richmond has Introduced to me this Morning his Nephew Francis Mitchell, for whom he is very desirous of Obtaining the Appointment of a Midshipman on Board the Navy, this is the Young mans Choice for his pursuit in life, I am told he is of Regular Conduct & of an Active Enterprizing Spirit

I Write this under a Raw lingering fever which has prevented me this Fall from paying you my Annual Visit at Monticello, believe me to be Ever with the most Respectful Regard

RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); endorsed by TJ as received 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ: “direct to mr Francis Mitchell at Richmd.”

Harvie’s most recent letter to TJ, dated 9 Feb. 1802, was recorded in SJL as received 13 Feb. but has not been found.

For another recommendation of FRANCIS MITCHELL, see George Divers to TJ, 20 Sep.

The Inclosed is forwarded by me, for your perusal, when done with it, please to transmit it to me, I could say much to you, but I do not wish to be Irksome. Your Friend.

RC (MoSHi: Jefferson Papers); endorsed by TJ as received 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found, but see TJ to Norris, 14 Oct. 1802.

Baltimore merchant Nicholas Norris (d. 1836) later served the city as a justice of the peace and experimented with silk cultivation at his country residence (Bridgeport, Conn., Republican Farmer, 21 July 1830; Baltimore Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 10 Sep. 1836; Vol. 34:433n).

The said Walker being previously engaged to build a mill for mr Scott, that is to be considered as his paramount obligation; but mr Scott not being in a state of readiness, and it being believed that on that account he may have leisure sufficient to do the mill wright’s [part] of my large & superintend & direct all the works relative to it, he agreed to undertake mine also.

he is to come over, designate to mr Lilly & mr Hope the spot where my small mill is to be built, so as not to be in the way of the large one, and is to give John Perry a bill of scantling for the saw mill, which mr Walker is to come & build in time for [her] to work thro’ the winter.

In the spring he is to designate to mr Lilly & mr Hope the spot for the large mill, which he is to plan exactly conformably to mr Cocke’s, except that it is to be 10. feet longer, and to be a tub instead of a [geered] mill: he is at all times when not engaged for mr Scott, to be employed in preparing the millwright’s work of this large mill, and to direct mr Hope the Mason, John Perry the Carpenter & mr Stewart the smith how they are to execute their parts of the work.

When employed otherwise than in the millwright’s work he is to recieve ten shillings a day: the millwright’s work is to be paid at the prices for which he does similar work for mr Cocke.

PrC (MHi); faint; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso: “Walker James. agreemt.”

James WALKER, a millwright, installed machinery at Shadwell for TJ’s toll and manufacturing mills (MB, 2:1162).

Charles A. SCOTT was a builder of several mills in Buckingham and Fluvanna counties and a ferry operator on the Slate River (MB, 2:1262; rs, 3:371).

Michael HOPE, a stonemason working at Monticello from 1802 to 1805, completed flagging work for TJ in September 1802 (possibly the underground passageway). He also laid stone in two of TJ’s Shadwell mills and several outbuildings (MB, 2:1080).

America in general, feels itself under great obligations to Mr Paine. But is very unwilling you should Represent its gratitude, at the expence of your own popularity—And the very Gods, conjure you, never to meddle with the religious prejudice’s of your country— for this reason—because the moment you become a party concerned, you forfeit the merit of A judge—You may think what you please about this schrawl, with one exceiption—which is this, Your Good understanding is not meant to be insulted by it.

RC (DLC); undated, with date supplied from postmark; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States at the City of Washington”; franked; postmarked “Bristol,” 28 Sep.; endorsed by TJ as received from “Anon.” on 5 Oct. 1802 and so recorded in SJL.

For previous letters from the same anonymous author, see Vol. 35:575-6; Vol. 37:458-9.

I received some few days since on acct. of Mr. Short $:441.62, being the amount recovered of Mayo exclusive of the costs of the suit.

I yesterday made sale of your Tobacco at 5.½$ to Mr. John Richard who was specially commissioned by Jackson & Wharton of Philadelphia to purchase it.

RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ:

Images

For George Jefferson’s efforts to recover the debt owed by John MAYO to William Short, see Vol. 31:501, 519, 532, 540; Vol. 32:81, 93; Vol. 34:198; TJ to Short, 19 Apr. 1802.

Merchants JACKSON & WHARTON had purchased some of TJ’s tobacco in Richmond in late 1800, then harshly criticized the crop’s quality upon its arrival in Philadelphia (Vol. 32:516, 545-7, 573-4; Vol. 33:7-8, 33-4, 92, 215-16). For TJ’s record of this 1802 sale, see MB, 2:1083.

During the recess of Congress,¹ when your mind is probably less occupied by the immediate concerns of government, it may perhaps not be disagreable, nor wholly unimportant, occationally to see some of the objects which investigation selects for her hours of retirement—Obscurity May have its use, and retirement is sometimes favourable to investigation; for in remote situations, physical and moral phenomena being divested of adventitious attractions, and presented to the mind in their true colours and real relations, are likely to attract its energies in proportion to their importance: at least, in this medium, many objects almost invisible in a more luminous and diversified scene, are seen so large, as compleatly to conceal some of these which with a little fomentation excite the most ardent popular attention—

Of the first of these, Steam appears to me as one of the largest and most important, and have for several years anxiously expected to hear of its extensive application to the more immediate concerns of life— Could this powerful agent be applied to agriculture?—This is believed to be possible—A great simplefication of steam enginry, so as to render it easily applicable to many purposes hitherto unattempted, is certainly practicable—This I trust would have been effected long ago, had local circumstances permitted; but in this insulated corner, not only the habits and opinions of society are unfavourable, but the entire want of mechanical assistance, and even of the most ordinary emplements of mechanism, renders the entire execution of any such thing impossible—I have been withheld however from making any communication or proposal to this effect, for several years, expecting to be able to carry my ideas into effect, notwithstanding the difficulties arrising from situation: but finding this impossible, without encountering difficulties by very considerable expence of both time and money, and which might not be sufficiently obviated in this situation, even by these means; and strongly impelled by a conviction, strengthened by every day’s attention to the subject, that important advantages might easily be derived to society from this source, I have taken the liberty on the authority of fame, to mention the subject to you, with a few observations, with a view of exciting an attention which might easily give reallety to these objects—It would give me much pleasure to involve what I possess (which I trust would be much more than sufficient) on the success of what I propose; and were I so situated as to be able to use this mode of effecting the improvement contemplated, no other would be resorted to—This however only expresses my confidence; but the grounds of this, or the facts on which it is founded, are not so easily explained, and in fact, are not of a nature perhaps, to be clearly & fully elucidated in this manner—

The principal circumstances which circumscribe the use of steam engines in their present construction, are the quantety and weight of the engine; the number of its members; and the quantety of power expended in moving these members, and keeping up a condensing vaccuum—These defects are chiefly owing to the quantety of permanently elastec fluid generated by the distillation carried on in the engine, and are also a little augmented by defective Mechanism—The very large condensing vacuum, and its attached air-pump, are greatly inconvenient, and a considerable expenditure of power is effected by this member of the engine: and when with this, the force required to move the rejecting pump against atmospheric pressure, and that for overcoming the friction of valves and plug-frames, and of all the numerous members moving in close contact, are viewed in agregate, the force remaining to be applied to use, will be found to be scarcely more than half the power generated; and the enginry requiring this great expenditure, very unweildy and complicated—These defects can be removed, it is believed, by a great simplefication of the enginry: by removing, not by adding members, and the condensing area may be brought to a very small comparative size—

The quantety of Carbon in the greese used to lubricate the moving parts of the engine, tho small, has doubtless a very hurtful effect, and ought to be removed—The affinety between metals heated to a certain degree, and Oxygene, being sufficient to draw this latter from its connection with Caloric, restrains the most useful application of steam to a pressure of about twelve pounds to the square inch: in some metals this is rather too much to preserve smoothness—This force however can conveniently be applied, and is as near to atmospheric pressure as convenience & utillety will well admit; because it is better to perform some motions of the enginry by the remaing weight of the atmosphere, than by the same additional power of steam: and when this power is wholly applied to use, except as much as is necessary to keep up a condensing vacuum, and expell the condensed steam and small portion of elastic fluid, on a very small area of real pressure, the effect produced will greatly exceed any thing hitherto exhibited or attempted, and will be effected with fewer members, and these greatly diminished in size, except only that which receives & applies the force generated—

The engine here contemplated, beside various other purposes, will be easily applied to driving heavy land carriages; to the convayance of mails; and perhaps, to pleasurable carriages; which machines, if properly constructed with divided axles and friction wheels, would not only require much less force, but would bear a considerably greater speed without inconvenience or injury, and would be equally as simple in construction, as handsome, and much more manageable—I find this construction of a single chair, with a small alteration so as to require no harness, to be much better than the common awkward and cumbersome mode—Could ploughs be driven by this engine?—And could not one man with this assistance, do the business of twenty?—This is believed to be practicable—It will certainly be attempted under every difficulty of situation, should no better easily be obtained—

I would be highly gratefied to see these things attempted under circumstances favourable to success—And tho, to be the author of so great an utillety, is worthy of ambition; and that the idea of public estimation justly acquired, and the connecting general advantages to individual convenience, are stimuli which strongly actuate my mind, I would chearfully relinquish these minutia, to one whose situation in respect to manufactures & mechanics, might render success easy— Under this impression, I shall be ready at any time, to make such communications on this subject, both chymecal and mechanical, as circumstances will permit, to any person quallefied, and desirous of receiving them: I mean, such an one as would afterwards act on his own convictions; for it should be well understood, that this is not a proposal for assistance in a pecuniary way; this would be unnecessary, could the objects be effected in this situation, by reasonable expenditure—

I shall just observe finally, that this communication, which is believed to be dictated by a desire of extending real utillety, and a conviction that much is derivable from this source, is addressed to the philosopher and philantrophist, not to the president; and is indebted for its direction principally to the sentiment, not advice, of an enlightened friend in an adjoining county—Whether it may have any effect or not, or whatever may be the opinion of the reader, the writer thinks that he is discharging a duty which he ows to society, in making some attempt to realize objects useful to society, which only local circumstances prevents him from effecting alone—Were this a matter affecting an individual only, such communication would be impertinent; but when an object is contemplated by which thousands may be benefited, it is contrary to benevolence and good citizenship, not to make such exertions for its completion, as may be within the reach of the person with whom it exists—With these observations, which are submitted to your attention with diffidence, accept the expression of my most respectful consideration

RC (DLC); at head of text: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 7 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

A native of York, Pennsylvania, James Sylvanus McLean received a patent in 1796 for an improvement in piano fortes. Although noted for his talents and erudition, McLean was unable to find a settled situation. He lived in several southern states, including South Carolina, where he wrote for a time for the Charleston Courier, a connection he severed after the editor attempted to steer McLean from what had been deemed his maniacal pursuit of a scheme to propel boats by steam. In April 1809, a month before spending what was almost certainly an uninvited night at Monticello, he defended himself against accusations that he had passed a forged note to a Charleston doctor. Two years later McLean began boarding in Philadelphia under an assumed name, with the intention of manufacturing soda water there. Instead, he was charged as author of a plot to extort money from Stephen Girard, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant whom McLean apparently blamed for the loss of a substantial fortune. Acquitted due to insanity in March 1812, McLean was described at the trial by his attorney, who concealed the plea from his client, as suffering from “mental wildness and incapacity,” a paranoid convinced that a conspiracy existed to block his scientific and entrepreneurial efforts. After the acquittal, reports claimed that McLean, who had included TJ among his tormentors, vowed to move to France and exert his influence over Bonaparte (List of Patents, 11; Charleston City Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 20 Apr. 1809; Alexandria Herald, 24 June 1811, 9 Mch. 1812; Report of the Trial, of James Sylvanus M‘Clean, Alias J. Melville, and William L. Graham, before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia, 1812; Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 26420]; RS, 1:209).

¹ MS: “gongress.”

After leaving the seat of Government on the 6th. of last month with the permission which you did me the favor to grant to me, I arrived at this place on the 17th. where I found my family in their usual health; but I had been at home only a few days before nearly the whole of them (& Mrs. Steele of the number) were taken down with a fever which prevails very generally among the inhabitants of this part of the country. Scarcely a single family in our neighbourhood can be said to have escaped. Mine continues to be so much indisposed, that I am under the necessity of relinquishing (for the present) the intention of removing them to the seat of Government, and consequently of requesting that you will be pleased to accept my resignation of the office of Comptr. of the Treasury. With my resignation you will I hope also have the goodness to accept an assurance that I am duly sensible of your polite treatment, and that in future it cannot but be a source of pleasing and grateful reflection to me to have been invited by you to continue in the public service.

I have the honor to be, Sir With perfect consideration, Your most obedient & huml serv

A letter to the Secretary of the Treasy. of which the enclosed is a copy, suggests several modes by which the unfinished business of the Office may be compleated.

RC (DNA: RG 59, RD); above postscript: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr. President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 17 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: John Steele to Albert Gallatin, 30 Sep. 1802, informing the Treasury secretary that he is submitting his resignation to the president; he outlines three ways by which to complete the unfinished business of the comptroller’s office; the first, preferred by Steele, calls for the transfer by post to North Carolina for his signature all “warrants, reports &c.,” which were prepared under the signature of David Rawn, the principal clerk, with the department keeping a descriptive list of the documents sent and retaining the vouchers for the accounts but allowing “the statements and remarks of the examining Clerks to accompany the reports”; the second calls for the president to issue a special warrant authorizing the principal clerk “to complete the unfinished business,” using, as a model, the form given by the president during Steele’s absence in 1797, for the settlement of Edmund Randolph’s account; the third calls for Steele to travel immediately to Washington to complete his unfinished business; Steele’s compensation will cease from the day the president accepts his resignation (Tr in DNA: RG 59, RD; in Steele’s hand; endorsed, in part, by Steele: “For the President of the United States”).

[This Indenture made on theday of September One thousand eight hundred & two Between Richard Overton of the one part and Thomas Jefferson of the other part both of the County of Albemarle Witnessith that the said Richard in consideration of the sum ofto him secured to be paid by the said Thomas hath given, granted, Bargained and sold unto the said Thomas] a certain parcel of land in the sd county of Alb.¹ extending from the Rivanna river up the Mountain called Monticello and bounded as follows to wit

Beginning on the sd Rivanna river at pointers, corner to the lands of the sd Richard & Tho. and running thence² on their former boundaries S. 13 W. 86.4 po to a black gum S. 63 W. 72¼ po. to pointers on the road leading from Monticello house down to the Secretary’s ford: thence down the said mountain keeping at the distance of one pole Westward from the Western side of the said road to the river at an Ash, White oak & maple marked as pointers, just above a remarkeable hole in the earth, which road may be traced from the sd upper to the lower pointers by the following magnetic³ courses to wit, N. 29. E. 12 po &c [N. 50° E. 19 Images

poles N. 28° E. 11 Images

poles N. 25° W. 8 po: N. 20½° E. 17 Images

poles N. 37½° E. 18 poles to the Open Land N. 21° W. 9 Images

poles N. 77° E. 22 poles N. 30½° E. 8 poles N. 8½° E. 12 Images

poles] to N. 4½ E. 18 po. [to the river at the ash, oak and maple pointers aforesaid] thence from the said pointers down the sd river as it meanders S. 72½ E. 6.80 S. 60. E. 7. po. S. 85½ E. 5. po. N. 74. E. 2.60 to the beginning,⁴ which parcel contains by estimation 22½ acres; also one other parcel⁵ higher up the mountain adjacent to the same road on the Western side thereof contained within the following lines to wit, Beginning where the N. 37. E. line of the parties crosses the same road, and running along the said line S. 37. W.⁶ 15. po to a pine tree marked as a side line in the said line, which tree will be found to be in the level of the gap of the mountain, called the Thoroughfare Where the Public road passes thro’ it, and running thence N. 18. W. 11.60 po. &c.—[N. 2° w. 6 Images

po. N. 17° W. 5 poles N. 9½° W. 8 Images

poles N. 12½° W.9 Images

poles. N. 7½° E. 7 Images

poles] N. 23¼ E. 7.36 po. to a gum Sapling on the Western side of the sd road to the Secretary’s ford being in the former boundary of the parties, thence up the sd former boundary to the beginning, which latter parcel contains by estimation 2¾ acres: and with the parcel first-described makes 25¼ acres, & is⁷ the whole of the lands held by the said Richard on the Eastern side of the sd road, from the Secretary’s ford up till it gets into the level of the thoroughfare aforesd and then to the Eastward of that level, and a margin of one pole in breadth on the Western side of the sd road & level [To have and to hold the said two parcels of Land with these appurtenances to the said Thomas and his Heirs: And the said Richard his Heirs Executors & Administrators the said parcels of Land with these appurtenances to the said Thomas and his Heirs will forever Warrant and defend. In Witness whereof the said Richard hath hereto set his hand and seal on the day and year above Written,

Dft (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); undated; incomplete; in TJ’s hand, except text in brackets supplied from Tr; endorsed by TJ on verso: “Overton to Jefferson} 25¼ as.” Tr (Albemarle County Deed Book No. 14:16-17); partially dated; entirely in a clerk’s hand, including Overton’s signature with facsimile seal; attested by John Nicholas as produced by Richard Overton and ordered to be recorded at the “Albemarle September Court 1802.”

A letter from TJ to Overton, recorded in SJL as sent 2 Sep., has not been found. TJ paid a SUM of $346.67 for the two parcels (MB, 2:1090).

¹ Preceding four words and two abbreviations interlined.

² TJ interlined the passage that follows from this point through “to the beginning,” in place of “up sd river to a remarkeably large hole in the bank, which will be found at the end of a line from the beginng. then from the <said> river adjacent to the said hole to a point 1. pole on the outer or <N.W.> Western side of a road formerly opened & made by the sd Thomas & leadg. from the Secretary’s ford to his house on the top of the mountain (which road is understood to rise generally 1. foot on every 9. or 10. feet) then from the sd point along a line parallel with the said road & 1. pole distant from it to the Western termination of the S. 63. W. line which is their present boundary, thence along the said line N. 63. E. 72¼ po. to their black gum corner & N. 13. E. 86. 4 po. to the pointers on the river at the beginning.”

³ Word interlined.

⁴ Tr: “antient course begun at” in place of “beginning.”

⁵ TJ here canceled “near to the former &” and interlined the passage that follows through “side thereof.”

⁶ From this point through “level of the,” TJ first wrote “till it gets <onto> to a point which is on the exact level of the ground at the” before altering the passage to read as above.

⁷ TJ first wrote “parcel first-mentioned constitutes” before altering the preceding passage to read as above.

I take the liberty of sending you a variety of Specimens of Printing, from a celebrated Artist in Paris. He has been rewarded by a Medal from the first Consul & requested me to say, He shall be highly gratified, if these Specimens, will place Him in your estimation, in the list of Artists of Merit.—

I shall be happy Sir if they are acceptable to you & hope they may stimulate our own Artists to an imitation—

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States of America”; endorsed by TJ as received 19 Feb. 1803 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures not identified.

John Appleton (1758-1829) was the son of Boston merchant Nathaniel Appleton and the brother of Thomas Appleton, the American consul at Leghorn. He went to Europe in 1780 and became acquainted with several influential Americans, including TJ, who remembered Appleton as “young, handsome and devoted to pleasant pursuits.” Establishing himself in business in France, Appleton became the American commercial agent at Calais in 1802. He resigned his post in 1807 and returned to Massachusetts, where he sought unsuccessfully an appointment as navy agent at Boston (Isaac Appleton Jewett, Memorial of Samuel Appleton, of Ipswich, Massachusetts [Boston, 1850], 36; L. H. Butterfield and others, eds., Adams Family Correspondence, 9 vols. to date [Cambridge, Mass., 1963-], 3:390n; Madison, Papers, Pres. Ser., 6:4; Vol. 33:678; Vol. 36:488; Appleton to TJ, 10 Aug. 1807, recorded in SJL as received 19 Aug. and “to be Navy Agent Boston,” but not found; TJ to Robert Smith, 20 Aug. 1807).

On examining more carefully into the work still to be done in the canal, I find there is no prospect of getting the water to the mill seat before the ensuing summer. consequently there is no occasion to do any thing towards the buildings this winter. in March I shall be here, when I shall be able to form a still better judgment, and will inform you of our progress & expectations. Accept my best wishes.

PrC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr. Walker”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso as “Walker (Milwright).”

Construction on the CANAL to TJ’s toll mill on the Rivanna River, begun in 1776, and intermittent until 1796, was not completed until 1803 (Betts, Farm Book, 343).

It is with reluctance that I lift the pen to make my address to thee upon any ocation, Seeing that thou art a Statesman of the first rank and power in these states; and I an alien and stranger to thee. I do not intend making any appology to thee, in regard of my uncouth manner of writing to thee, as i am no gramerian; yet i wish to convey my ideas to thee after as agreeable a maner as i am capable of doing. I trust that a man of thy superior talent will not look upon these lines as an insult, for it is realy the reverse, as thou may discover in the sequal of my unfortunate state; of which i will give thee a few hints without teasing thy mind, only i wish to make this remark to thee, that there has been instances in diffrent ages of the world, of Kings and rulers of Sundry Nations, and of Various titles who has lent an hand to help the unfortunate.

To make thee acquainted with my situation, take it as foloweth, viz. In the year 1795 I brought six children over from Ireland to New York, my eldest being over two years before, I brought them over free, and they remain so still two is since dead, and the eldest deserted me as they grew up, there is but two that I have any expectation of living with me, and my eldest Son is striving to keep my daughter from me, which is all the nurse i have.

Therefore I request the favour of thee, as a steward under the Supreme governor of heaven and earth, that thou of thy liberality, would be pleased to send for me, and my young Son and daughter, and place us on some agreeable spot of land that we may cultivate it for thee. as thou shalt think meet, in a neighbourhood of well disposed people if there be any such thing to be found. I have no money, neither have i defrauded any one, i am free, yet, to go where i chuse; there is none can arest me for debt; therefore I cannot become bankrupt; I wish to be in a situation to procure the necessarys of life with out being in debt, which is all i desire.

If thou will be so kind as to take my case into thy serious consideration thou will not think it beneath thy exalted situation to be recorded¹ as a benefactor.

Lest thou should be mistaken of my ideas, I will inform thee viz. If thou would put me on a place with creatures to work it I would be enabled to make such a restitution as thou would require, or what I would prefer, to let me have a place till I would be able to pay for it, and if I could not it would be thy own.

My situation requires a quick change, as I am in New York without any thing to suport me; my son and me could work a small place, that would furnish us with the necessarys of life, and aforde a proportion to my benefactor for giving me an oppertunity of doing it.

I need not trouble thee with a catalouge of my misfortunes, nor the deceitfulness of the humane heart that I have experenced to be the case with many. I do not asume to my self the garb of a sycophant, I do not solicit thee for any favour under a mask. If my dialect be rude, I am sincere. I am an advocate for truth, and freedom from the Shakles of tyrany and opression and that all men should have the liberty to chuse thier mode of worshiping the Thing of heaven, and to chuse thier temporal rulers, men are free agents, they by deceit and wickedness have unmaned thier selves, with only a few ceptions; they wrestle for impossibilities, they wish to have all things at thier will, but they fall short. Man is only like a shadow that passeth, his imaginations turns on the rong axis, there is perhaps but a day or an hour betwen his earthly glory and the grave, there is nothing but strugles and anxieties in human life, time fails me, I do not undertake to teach thee wisdom, because it only comes from God, for the wisdom of this world is a false substitute for the wisdom of the creator, the children of men deceive others by being deceived thier Selves. If thou thinks fit to take notice of such an obscure being as me, be pleased to write an answer to this, with as quik dispatch as is convenient to thee

P.S. I do not presume to be aquainted with great men but they often have it in thier power to do good, which is a true distinction between vice and virtue

be not offended with my lenthy scrole, I wish to make thee as well aquainted with my meaning as possibe, and if I have offended it is not with a design, therefore I rest confident that thou will excuse me

RC (DLC); addressed: “To the much Esteemed Thomas Jefferson President of the united States of America”; franked; postmarked 4 Oct.; endorsed by TJ as received 6 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

¹ MS: “to recorded.”

Mr Griffen your Manager in Bedford applied here a few days since for a letter & was told by my assistant there was none. but on Saturday last he got the letter. My assistant says it came by the Richmond Mail he suspects, but is not sure. As I have some reason to believe the mistake happend here, it is proper that I should acknowledge it, in order that no blame may attach to Mr Griffen

I have uniformly paid great attention to the duties of the office, and did not entertain any idea of any neglect in my assistant, and I have made use of such chastisement as I am sure will prevent a similar occurance.

As I believe this is the first breach in this office of any kind, I hope I am first in giving the information to you, whose letter was neglected

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire President of U States”; endorsed by TJ as received from “Meenowell” on 8 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

William Norvell (1770-1823) served as postmaster for Lynchburg from 1798 to 1805. A leader within Lynchburg’s business circles, he became president of the town’s branch of the Bank of Virginia. He also was placed in charge of distributing arms to militias in Lynchburg and the surrounding area. In 1812, he acted as trustee for a mortgage between TJ and another Lynchburg merchant. An obituary described Norvell as “not showy but solid—not one who professed, but who practiced virtue” (Richmond Enquirer, 4 Nov. 1823; Stets, Postmasters, 263; CVSP, 9:219, 459, 503; RS, 5:61-2).

While at Monticello, TJ wrote four letters to his Poplar Forest MANAGER Burgess Griffin, recorded in SJL at 6 Aug., 5 Sep. (two letters), and 16 Sep. None has been found.

Notre Négociation n’a pas eu autant de succès que je l’aurais désiré. Cependant je suis loin de la croire en aussi mauvaise position qu’elle me semble le paraitre à Mr. le chancelier Livingston, qui s’ennuie de ne recevoir pas de réponses positives par écrit, car les verbales sont bonnes.

Il ne peut y avoir aucun doute que vos Traités avec l’Espagne relativement aux limites des deux Etats, et au Commerce ainsi qu’à la Navigation du Mississipi, ne soient respectés, confirmés, renouvellés.

Il est certain que c’est l’interêt de la France que le Commerce des Etats Unis jouisse de tous ses droits et même de toute faveur à la Nouvelle Orléans; et que les Administrateurs qu’on y envoie sont pénêtrés de cette vérité; paraissent disposés à en faire la règle de leur conduite.

Il n’y a aucun doute non plus que si le fait, très peu vraisemblable, que les Anglais eussent êté plus favorisés à St. Domingue que les Américains était vrai, ce ne fût contre les intentions les plus fortement prononcées du Gouvernement de France, qui donne à cet égard comme en tout autre point de commerce la plus absolue préférence aux Américains sur les Anglais.

Quant à la Nouvelle Orléans et aux Florides, il me parait qu’on veut avoir pris possession avant d’entrer en aucune Négociation. Mais, après que ce préalable sera rempli, rien n’annonce le refus de négocier.

S’il me convenait de donner conseil aux deux Puissances à cet égard, attaché comme je le suis à l’une et à l’autre par toutes sortes de devoirs, et croyant avoir bien calculé leurs interets respectifs, je proposerais ce que vous trouverez sur l’autre Page.

“La France cédera aux Etats Unis la Nouvelle Orléans et les deux Florides, sous la condition que les Français et leurs Bâtimens y pourront exercer le Commerce aussi librement que les Citoyens et les Bâtimens des Etats unis, et sans y payer aucuns droits.”

“Les Etats Unis s’engagent à ne faire participer aucune autre Nation à ces avantages, qui sont une condition spéciale de la cession, et à maintenir sur le Commerce des autres Nations dans cette acquisition nouvelle, qui n’a pu être embrassée par les stipulations d’aucun Traité antérieur, les principes et la perception des Tarifs établis dans les douanes américaines.”

“La France se réserve formellement tous les autres territoires dépendant de la Louisiane et qui sont situés à la Rive droite du Mississipi.

“Les Etats Unis payeront à la France, pour prix de la cession mentionnée en l’article premier, Six millions de dollars.”

Si vous voulez aller jusques là, quelles que puissent être les dispositions actuelles et l’effet des préventions, que je crois mal fondées, qui ont êté prises à St. Domingue, où l’on a cru votre Nation plus favorable aux Noirs qu’aux Blancs, je ne desespere pas du succès. Et il vaut certainement mieux que le danger de rejetter votre Peuple, si justement fier de son indépendance, sous les griffes du léopard britannique, et de vous rendre les instrumens de la puissance ou des vengeances de vos anciens oppresseurs qui ne seront jamais pour vous que des amis faux, trompeurs et dédaigneux.

Vous voyez, Monsieur le Président, que je vous parle avec la liberté d’un homme que vous honorez de votre amitié.—Elle m’est infiniment chere. C’est par des services réels que je voudrais en mériter la continuation.

J’ai pensé à celui de faire à Paris les payemens des rentes que les Etats unis peuvent devoir à des Français, comme à un moyen de hausser encore votre crédit et d’annoncer une bienveillance, un esprit de communication et de rapports que je crois propre à favoriser vos négociations.

Mon Fils vous expliquera sur ce point toutes mes idées. Je n’en aurai aucune qui ne tende à l’avantage réciproque des deux Nations; Et ce que je puis y trouver de personnellement agréable ou utile n’est pas une objection pour votre cœur.

Permettez moi de réclamer toutes vos bontés pour La Fayette réduit à douze cent dollars de rente, et en devant Soixante et quinze mille , dont Soizante mille dans les Etats unis pour lesquels il en dépensé plus de cent cinquante mille de sa cidevant fortune.

En payant ses dettes, ils ne s’acquitteront pas de la moitié des avances que lui coute leur liberté, et ils ne verseront presque aucun argent que dans leur Pays, sur leurs propres citoyens.

Our negotiations have not been as successful as I would have wished. However, I am far from believing them in as bad a place as Chancellor Livingston appears to think, who is irritated at not receiving positive replies in writing, since the verbal ones are good.

There can be no doubt that your treaties with Spain, concerning the boundaries of the two states, commerce, and navigation on the Mississippi, will be respected, confirmed, and renewed.

It is certainly in France’s interest for the commerce of the United States to enjoy every right and even every favor in New Orleans, and for the officials we send there to be convinced of this truth and disposed to act accordingly.

Nor is there any doubt that if it were true (however improbable) that the English were more favored in Saint-Domingue than the Americans, this was contrary to the most strongly articulated intentions of the French government, which, in this as in all other business matters, gives absolute preference to the Americans over the English.

As for New Orleans and the Floridas, there seems to be a desire to take possession before undertaking negotiations. But after this is accomplished, there is no obstacle to our negotiating.

If it were appropriate for me to advise the two powers on this matter, being attached to both by many kinds of duties, and believing that I have carefully weighed their respective interests, I would propose what you will find on the next page.

“France will cede New Orleans and the two Floridas to the United States, on condition that the French and their vessels be allowed to conduct their business as freely as the citizens and vessels of the United States, and without paying any duties.”

“The United States pledges not to allow any other nation to benefit from these advantages, which are a special condition of the cession, and to continue to apply the principles and tariffs established by American customs to the commerce of other nations in this new acquisition—which could not be included in the agreements of any previous treaty.”

“France explicitly reserves possession of all other territory dependent upon Louisiana, situated on the right bank of the Mississippi. Navigation on the river will be free, and shared by both nations.”

“The United States will pay France six million dollars for the cession mentioned in Article 1.”

If you are willing to go this far, despite the present situation and the effect of the prejudices—which are unfounded in my opinion—engendered by the Saint-Domingue affair, where it was believed that your nation favored blacks over whites, I do not despair of success. And it is certainly better than the danger of casting your people, so justly proud of their independence, back under the claws of the British leopard and making yourselves instruments of the power or vengeance of your former oppressors, who will never be other than false, deceitful, and disdainful friends for you.

You see that I address you, Mister President, with the freedom of a man you honor with your friendship. It is infinitely dear to me. I wish to deserve its continuation through genuine service.

Specifically, I have thought of making payments in Paris to Frenchmen who are owed money by the United States, as a way of enhancing your credit and signaling your good will and the spirit of exchange which I think will be susceptible to favoring your negotiations.

My son will explain all my ideas about this to you. I have none which do not seek the reciprocal advantage of both nations. What I find personally agreeable and useful in them is not an objection in your eyes.

Allow me to impose upon your kindness on behalf of Lafayette, who has been reduced to twelve hundred dollars income and owes seventy-five thousand, including sixty thousand in the United States—a country for which he spent more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of his own fortune. By paying his debts, the United States will reimburse less than half the amount its liberty cost him, and will spend almost all the money in its own country, on its own citizens.

RC (DLC); at head of text: “a Son Excellence Thomas Jefferson President des Etats Unis”; endorsed by TJ as received 31 Dec. and so recorded in SJL.

An application For the Exspultion of Wm. W. Burrows at present Lieutt. Col. Commg. Marines—For His Tyranical Treatmt. to the Non Commisioned Officers and privates that Has been and are In the Service of the U. States—Is seriously and finally Transfer’d to your Excellency In Hopes of being put Into Execution—Whereas on the 15th. August 1802—the said Wm. W. Burrows—Caused to be brot. before Him From an old Grudge on acct. of a Letter wrote to your Excellency about the 13th. or 14th. Feby. Last with Respect to my not being willing to go out to sea in the Constellation—she being bound for a Long Cruize and my time—being short—a Certain Wm. Barry—a Late Corpl. of Marines, For Endeavouring to Solicit or prevail on a Certain Peregrine White &. Wm. Prine two Private Marins on board the U. States Frigate Essex to Desert there was an application made to me by the aforesaid two Private Marines but I refused to Coincide with them In opinion—it—at Length displeased them—In Consequence thereof they made a Report to the aforesaid Wm. W. Burrows—that I solicited them to Desert—therefore the said Wm. W. Burrows ordered a Court Marshall and from a/cs. gave the Court Directns. to Sentence me one Hundred Lashes the wright side of my Head shaved and drumed out—In Consequence thereof Have thought proper to Come Forward to your Excellency for Refuge and to Know weather we are to be treated in this Manner—

I therefore Conclude Honourable Sir as a Child Petitioning His Father—that you will Have the aforesaid Wm. W. Burrows Banished out of the Service of the U. States. I Remain Honl. Sir, your Servt.

RC (DLC); addressed: “To His Excellency Thomas Jefferson President of the U. States City of Washington”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

William Barry had previously served as a Marine on the frigate United States during the Quasi-War with France. On 15 Sep. 1802, a court-martial held at the Marine barracks in Washington found Barry guilty of endeavoring to persuade two

Marine privates from the frigate Essex to desert with him. The court sentenced Barry to receive 100 lashes, reduced his rank, and dismissed him from the service, “after having one half of his head shaved” (NDQW, Dec. 1800 to Dec. 1801, 65; Tr in DNA: RG 125, GCMCI).

A LETTER WROTE TO YOUR EXCELLENCY: a letter from Barry dated 1 Feb. 1802 is recorded in SJL as received from Philadelphia on 4 Feb., but has not been found (Vol. 36:683).

I have the honor to enclose a letter from the collector of Boston, in which he recommends the appointment of an additional mate for the revenue cutter. The present establishment is a master & a mate. From Mr Lincoln recommending the measure, I have no doubt of its propriety and beg leave to submit the same to your consideration.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.

In July 1803, Gallatin reminded TJ of this communication from Benjamin LINCOLN. He noted that similar applications had been received from other collectors with revenue cutters. Gallatin recommended that a second mate and two “men or boys” be added to crews of the cutters. The president agreed and the Treasury secretary promptly informed the collectors (Gallatin to Benjamin Lincoln and other collectors, 13 July 1803, in Gallatin, Papers, 8:534; Gallatin to TJ, 11 July; TJ to Gallatin, 12 July 1803).

A letter from the collector of New-York announcing that the keeper of the light house at Sandy hook had resigned, and that he had appointed W. P. Schenck as a temperary keeper

The resignation of Mr Carey who had been appointed collector at Yorktown, and a recommendation by Mr J. Page in favor of Mr T. Archer as a proper person to fill that office

A recommendation in favor of Joseph Turner for the collectorship of Brunswick in Georgia, vice Claud Thompson incapacitated from the effects of intemperance.

Whilst at New York, I made some enquiries relative to Mr Schenck, & think his appointment proper: it is difficult in that place to find a suitable character for so small a salary, and it is fortunate that he was willing to accept. I have no personal knowledge or other information in the other cases.

Permit me to refer to a former report in which the propriety of removing the collector of Louisville in Kentucky has been urged. Robert New Esqre. of Kentuckey had been strongly recommended for that office, and the papers transmitted to you.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 6 Oct. and “Collectors of York, Brunswick, Louisville Keepr. lighthouses Sandy Hook & Hatteras, & beacon Shellcastle” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) David Gelston to Gallatin, New York, 30 Sep. 1802, announcing the resignation of Matthew Ely as lighthouse keeper at Sandy Hook and recommending the permanent appointment of William P. Schenck, an honest man “capable of performing the duties of the Office with propriety” (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR; endorsed by TJ: “Schenck. William P. keeper of lighthouse at Sandy hook vice Matthew Ely resigned. David Gelston’s letter to mr Gallatin”). (2) John Page to Gallatin, Rosewell, 4 Oct. 1802, recommending Thomas Archer, a resident of Yorktown and highly respected by Page’s friends there, as a proper person to be appointed collector at that port (RC in NHi: Gallatin Papers). Other enclosures not found.

On 8 Oct., Gallatin appointed John Mayo keeper of the beacon at Shell Castle Island, part of the lighthouse establishment at CAPE HATTERAS. Mayo declined the appointment (Gallatin, Papers, 8:227).

JOSEPH TURNER became collector at Brunswick, Georgia, in March 1803 (Gallatin to TJ, 14 Mch. 1803). For the Treasury secretary’s search for a candidate to replace Claud Thomson, see Gallatin to TJ, 17 Aug. 1802.

SO SMALL A SALARY: the lighthouse keeper at Sandy Hook received $333 in annual compensation (ASP, Miscellaneous, 1:306).

COLLECTOR OF LOUISVILLE: for Gallatin’s previous effort to have Robert Anderson New replace James McConnell at Louisville, see Gallatin to TJ, 24 Apr. 1802. Although New’s name appeared on TJ’s 24 Apr. list of candidates for appointments, it was not among those TJ submitted to the Senate on 27 Apr. One of the earlier PAPERS TRANSMITTED to TJ was a letter from Kentucky congressman Thomas T. Davis to Gallatin, 4 Oct. 1801, recommending Robert A. New, son of Virginia congressman Anthony New, as a young man of fair character who had moved to Kentucky and would be an eligible replacement for McConnell (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR; endorsed by TJ: “New Robert Anderson. to be Collector at Louisville Thos. T. Davis to mr Gallatin”).

I have the honor to enclose a letter from Mr Kirby Supervisor of Connecticut, in which he requests to be discharged from the duties of his office. The Commissioner of the revenue with whom I consulted on the occasion agrees with me that the whole direct tax having been collected in that State, and the amount of outstanding duties being trifling and ascertained, no inconvenience can arise from the office being immediately discontinued. The second section of the Act to repeal the internal taxes authorizes the President of the United States to discontinue any of the offices of supervisor whenever the collection of the internal duties & direct tax shall have been so far completed in any State or District as, in his opinion, to render that measure expedient. The propriety of exercising that authority so far as respects Connecticut is respectfully submitted.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 5 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Ephraim Kirby to TJ, 22 Sep. 1802.

For the presidential authority to DISCONTINUE the office, see U.S. Statutes at Large, 2:148-9. On 6 Oct., Gallatin informed Ephraim Kirby that considering the “situation of the district,” the president thought it was “most consistent with the public interest that the office of Supervisor for Connecticut should be discontinued” effective 10 Oct. Kirby would receive information for the closing of the accounts from William Miller, commissioner of the revenue (Gallatin, Papers, 7:600).

On reading the enclosed piece in Poulson’s paper, I was induced to answer it, as a similar misrepresentation has already appeared in the Boston centinel; and being on that subject I was led into some discussion of the remission of Callender’s fine. My idea was that Smith should obey the request of “a plain citizen,” by reprinting his piece, and should add as his own remarks the substance of what I have written dressed in his own way & corrected as he may think fit. Will you be good enough to look at it & to see whether it wants any additions, corrections or curtailing?—I mean as to facts & arguments, not as to style—this Smith must modify.

You will perceive that Mr Kirby’s letter ought to receive an immediate answer—

RC (DLC); partially dated; date written adjacent to signature above postscript; at foot of text: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 6 Oct. and “Callender’s fine” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: “A Plain Citizen” to Levi Lincoln, Philadelphia, 29 Sep. 1802, charging that the attorney general had rendered inconsistent opinions; in the case of the remission of James T. Callender’s $200 fine, Lincoln ruled “that a fine paid into the hands of any public and lawful agent (other than the Secretary of the Treasury) was returnable at the pleasure of the President (on his retrospective pardon)”; in another case involving citizens of Georgetown, Alexandria, and the city of Washington who applied to the president for the remission of penalties paid to the District of Columbia commissioners, Lincoln’s opinion was “that money having been once paid into the hands of the public agent was not at the disposal of the President” (printed in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, 2 Oct. 1802, with the request that it also be printed in the National Intelligencer). Other enclosure not found, but see below.

SIMILAR MISREPRESENTATION: on 28 Aug., the Boston Columbian Centinel published documents, including Callender’s pardon and correspondence between Levi Lincoln and David Meade Randolph, the former U.S. marshal, observing that they indicated that Callender’s fine had been paid to the proper officer and was therefore “PROPERTY OF THE PUBLIC” over which the president had no control.

SOME DISCUSSION: Gallatin’s draft response to the piece in Poulson’s newspaper has not been found, but on 20 Oct. a reprint of the “Plain Citizen” letter along with an essay contradicting its assertions appeared in Samuel H. Smith’s National Intelligencer. In his rebuttal, Gallatin contended that no citizens of Georgetown, Alexandria, or Washington, D.C. had applied to the president or the Treasury secretary for remission of penalties and consequently the attorney general had given no opinion. Gallatin assumed the author was referring to a case in which the U.S. attorney for the district was consulted to determine whether monies collected by a public agent were meant for the use of the United States or the county commissioners. In the other case, the president had pardoned Callender. In Lincoln’s opinion, the pardon “remitted and restored” to Callender “a fine collected by the marshal, but not yet paid into the Treasury.” Gallatin noted that even after the publication of the original documents in the case, the Federalist press continued to repeat “that the money was paid from the Treasury to Callender.” Fines once paid into the Treasury cannot be remitted by the “mere effect of a pardon,” Gallatin noted, because no monies can be drawn from the Treasury without an actual appropriation. Monies are not legally considered as being in the Treasury, however, until paid to the Treasurer and sanctioned by a warrant. Callender’s fine had been collected by the marshal, but not paid to the Treasurer. Consequently, it was proper to return the fine. Gallatin argued that the president had acted fully within his powers by issuing the pardon. Having come into office believing the Sedition Act to be unconstitutional, TJ “granted pardons in every case where a conviction had taken place, and where it was not ascertained that the whole of the punishment had been incurred.” The Treasury secretary contended that TJ had let the pardons “have their legal effect without any other interference on his part.” Gallatin’s rebuttal of “A Plain Citizen” was printed in Poulson’s paper on 25 Oct. For the remission of Callender’s fine, see Vol. 33:46-7, 157-8, 566, 573-5. For Gallatin’s earlier response to the controversy over the payment of Callender’s fine, see Gallatin, Papers, 7:489-93.

The draughts heretofore¹ made on you, and which now ought to be covered, have been as follows.

I now inclose you the first halves of 1200. Doll. branch bank of the US. the other halves shall follow immediately. as some of the first draughts above mentioned have not reached their term of paiment, and it will be some time before the two last get round, I will take a little more time to provide for them (as I arrived here last night only) as well as for some other paiments I have still to make in Richmond. this on the supposition that the money recieved for mr Short has been drawn or will be wanting for himself. should it be otherwise, and remain in account between yourself & mr Barnes, I will exchange money here for it, and it will more than cover all I shall want there. on this subject you will be so good as to inform me. Accept my affectionate salutations.

PrC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr. George Jefferson.” Recorded in SJL with notation “1200.”

TJ had purchased meat from David ISAACS (MB, 2:1082). On this day TJ also wrote letters to Benjamin BROWN and Thomas WELLS, Jr., recorded in SJL with the notations “285.83” and “133.33,” respectively. Neither note has been found. Wells responded with a letter of 8 Oct., recorded in SJL as received 10 Oct. but not found (see MB, 2:1083; Promissory Note to Thomas Wells, Jr., 6 Sep.).

¹ Word interlined.

The obligations under which your benevolence or your friendship have laid me, make it my duty, if vanity fails to prompt me, to omit no opportunity to appear to advantage before you, that you may feel a self approbation for the countenance you have been pleased to give me. Impelled by this sentiment I enclose you the first number of the Georgia Republican, &c. I hope the offering will be acceptable. With much exertion, expence, and I fear, hazard, it has been established. My partner in this enterprize I found destitute. But believing him honest and capable, I produced, with my small funds and some responsibility, the necessary materials to commence the establishment; not, it is true, without hope of remuneration.

The political object of this paper, is to inculcate the principles of Representative democracy, and to defend the present administration against its natural enemies, error and falshood.

With yourself I have no doubt of being allowed the merit of consistency, industry, and perseverence in a good cause; and were there any advantages to my pursuits immediately in your gift, not claimed by superior merit, I am confident a tory printer would hold a poor competition for them. But there either is no merit in my exertions, or there is not a disposition, under some of the departments of the government to reward it: neither avarice nor necessity should force such an expression from me, were the friends of the administration in possession of all their favors. But the tory printer whom I heretofore mentioned, and of whom there seemed to be some missunderstanding, if he does not receive a greater share of patronage, I believe he has full as much as under the former administration. It is matter of exultation with some of the dispensers of these favors, that “their work is not done by a democrat.” If I am not mistaken, a single bill of this printer, for work done for the Clerk of the House of Rep. last session, amounts to more than all the printing I have done for the public; exclusive of his printing for the Senate, and the Register, Auditor, paymaster Gen. Adjt. Gen. &c. Mr. Gallatin, (to whom I am this day to be obliged for the first order from him for printing) when I mentioned this subject to him, replied that Mr. Way came here on purpose to print for the public. The Sec. will not deny that Mr. Adams, likewise came here,—to be President of the United States; and that Mr Wolcott also came here to be Sec. of the Treasury. They both retired before the indignation of the republicans. Whether the full exercise of the principles the predominance of which drove them into retirement, would not compel their adherents and abettors to follow them, is left to be decided by those whose functions embrace the subject; I will however, take the liberty to add, as a case more directly in point, that Mr. Ross came here expressly to print the laws and journals, &c, but that printing has been given to others and Mr. Ross has returned. Begging your indulgence for this long letter, I shall only add, (fearing I trespass not only on patience but propriety) that I am with the most profound respect

RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 7 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Savannah Georgia Republican & State Intelligencer, 21 Aug. 1802.

MY PARTNER IN THIS ENTERPRIZE: Samuel Morse (Vol. 32:34).

TORY PRINTER: Andrew Way (see Vol. 36:71-3).

Lyon wrote to Albert GALLATIN on 2 May requesting that his partner Richard Dinmore be substituted in his place to report the outstanding tonnage for the Treasury Department. Asserting that Dinmore could discharge these duties and was not as “well versed” in the art of printing, Lyon hoped to pursue more printing business himself (Gallatin, Papers, 7:120-1).

Printer of the House journals during the Adams administration, William ross relocated from Philadelphia to Washington in 1801 to continue government printing contracts through the second session of the Sixth Congress. He returned to Philadelphia when Samuel Harrison Smith became House printer (Martin P. Claussen, ed., The Journal of the House of Representatives, 5 vols., [Wilmington, Del., 1977], 2:v; Evans, No. 32969; Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 1485).

I have given the necessary direction for the discharge of Jerimiah Bettels mentioned in your note of this day. H. Dearborn

RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the War Department on 7 Oct. and “Battel’s case” and so recorded in SJL.

On 7 Oct., Dearborn ordered Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Cushing to DISCHARGE Jeremiah Battels from the army (DNA: RG 107, LSMA). For the background on Battels’s case, see Anthony Haswell to TJ, 16 Sep., and TJ to Haswell, 13 Oct.

YOUR NOTE OF THIS DAY: a letter from TJ to Dearborn dated 6 Oct. has not been found, nor is one recorded in SJL.

The inclosed is entirely approved. I recollect one other pardon; to Brown, who was in jail in Boston for a seditious writing under the sedition law. he had long since suffered the term of imprisonment sentenced, and had remained many months over from inability to pay his fine, petitioning mr Adams repeatedly for a discharge, on the ground that he had nothing, & must suffer perpetual imprisonment if he could not be discharged till he should pay the fine. I do not recollect any other pardon; tho’ there may have been. this can only be known in the Secretary of State’s office.

Th:J. asks the favor of mr Gallatin to peruse the inclosed letters from mr D’Oyley & return them. too¹ he reincloses some formerly recieved from mr Gallatin.

RC (NHi: Gallatin Papers); addressed: “The Secretary of the Treasury”; endorsed. Enclosures: (1) perhaps Daniel D’Oyley to Gallatin, 17 June 1801, requesting information on the laws, constitution, and internal regulations of the Bank of Pennsylvania that would be of use in establishing a bank at Charleston, in which the state had an interest (Gallatin, Papers, 5:199). (2) D’Oyley to Gallatin, 29 July 1801 (see Enclosure No. 2, listed at Gallatin to TJ, 17 Aug. 1801). (3) D’Oyley to Gallatin, Charleston, 5 Sep. 1801, describing the intrigues of the Federalists and divisions within the Republican party that led multiple candidates to seek the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Charles Pinckney; noting that Thomas Sumter, Sr., had indicated that “no pains should be taken” to procure the seat for him, but if the governor saw fit to appoint him he would accept it; describing his efforts to influence Governor John Drayton to nominate Sumter, D’Oyley contends that while the governor was elected by the Republicans and pays some attention to their interests, “his connections by marriage & by blood” are with the opposition; suggesting that if Judge Aedanus Burke, who was dividing the Republican vote, were appointed U.S. district attorney in place of Thomas Parker, he would withdraw from the race and the Republicans would unite around a single candidate (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR, endorsed by TJ: “Doyley Danl. to mr Gallatin”; Vol. 34:157n; Vol. 35:41-2, 101-2n; Vol. 36:262n). (4) D’Oyley to Gallatin, Charleston, 24 May 1802, describing the low morale of Republicans in South Carolina after receiving no support from Washington for their political sacrifices; the political conciliation experiment has failed; Republicans are not motivated and believe that in the next congressional election “no struggle they can make under existing circumstances” will allow them to prevail (Gallatin, Papers, 7:161-2). (5) Perhaps D’Oyley to Gallatin, Charleston, 22 June 1802, informing the Treasury secretary of the intentions of the U.S. Circuit Court judges to meet at Philadelphia on 17 July to prepare for bringing the question of the constitutionality of the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801 before the U.S. Supreme Court; D’Oyley fears the consequences and hopes the plan can be “arrested before it is matured” (same, 7:253). (6) D’Oyley to TJ, 24 July 1802. Other letters not found.

INCLOSED IS ENTIRELY APPROVED: see Gallatin to TJ, 5 Oct. (fourth letter). TJ signed David Brown’s PARDON on 12 Mch. 1801 (see Vol. 33:251-2). For the president’s interest in all of those prosecuted under the Sedition Act, see Vol. 36:258-60.

¹ MS: “to.”

I have the honor to enclose a letter from John Young, a mariner, who being sick within the limits of one of those sea-Ports (Middletown Connecticut) in which no hospital has been erected, nor the expence of any monies arising from the hospital Fund, been authorized. Under those circumstances, relief may be granted in special cases, by order of the President. On that account Young’s application is respectfully submitted to your consideration.

RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin; at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 7 Oct. and “John Young’s case” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.

For the 3 May 1802 legislation that established a general fund for the PRESIDENT to use for the benefit of sick and disabled American seamen, see Vol. 36:632n.

I yesterday inclosed you the first halves of bills of the branch bank of the US. for 1200. D. for purposes then expressed. I now inclose the second halves. since mine of yesterday your’s of Sep. 29. has been put into my hands. I shall still expect information from you whether the 441.62 D be wanting by mr Short there, or is to be transferred to mr Barnes. I am satisfied with the price got for my tobo. the proceeds, deducting your commission, are engaged to Martin Dawson of Milton for Rives & co. of which I shall advise them, and give an order. my daughters proposing to pay me a visit here shortly, I desired them to apply to you for any articles they might want from Richmd which I will pray you to furnish them and carry to my debit. Accept my affectionate salutations.

PrC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr. George Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

On 5 Oct., TJ tallied the sale of his 1801 crop of tobacco for $995.30, a total that included the deduction of George Jefferson ’s COMMISSION. Two days later he recorded an order in favor of Martin Dawson for $1000 (MB, 2:1083). A letter to Dawson recorded in SJL at that date has not been found. A response from Dawson of 10 Oct., recorded in SJL as received 13 Oct., is also missing.

An act of Assembly passed in the year 1761 dividing the County of Norfolk, into three distinct Parishes, the whole being in one, that part which Norfolk Borough lies in, petitiond the Assembly to allow the Vestry, to purchase four lotts in Town to accommodate the Minister, between the years 1761 & .65 which was granted & obtaind the Royall assent on payment of ten guineas as well as I remember, Ld Dunmore in the distruction of our records, deprived us of the Act & we cannot obtain it, if you have it among yr. Collection, I shall be Much obliged to you for a Copy of it. I beg your excuse for this trouble, but rest assured I shall with pleasure make returns—health &c attend you, with the greatest Respect I am Yr. obt

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 10 Nov. and so recorded in SJL but with notation “Oct. 6 for Nov. 6,” but see Newton to TJ, 25 Oct.

The ACT of the Virginia Assembly subdividing the Anglican parish comprised of Norfolk County also mandated the sale of the original parish’s glebe land, with proceeds to be divided between the three new parishes. After the parish that included NORFOLK BOROUGH realized that the town’s rapid population growth and the area’s poor soil would make the purchase of a new parcel of glebe land impracticable, it gained approval of a law in 1764 authorizing the purchase of up to four lots in town that would provide a commensurate level of financial support for the minister (William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, 13 vols. [Richmond, 1809-23], 7:416-19; 8:14-16). Newton’s interest in the latter act almost certainly derived from an 1802 Virginia law that authorized local overseers of the poor to seize for sale or assume the proceeds of all Anglican property, excepting churches and churchyards, still in the possession of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia. The Church retained any property acquired since 1777 (Acts Passed at a General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia: Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Richmond, on Monday, the Seventh Day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and One [Richmond, 1802; Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 3470], 8-9; George MacLaren Brydon, Virginia’s Mother Church and the Political Conditions under Which It Grew: The Story of the Anglican Church and the Development of Religion in Virginia, 1727-1814, 2 vols. [Philadelphia, 1947-52], 2:499-503).

Since I last wrote to you I have been on the verge of the grave. I was taken ill at Dover on my way to Sussex, early in September (a most unfortunate period) & was confined ten days to my bed. Since I came home, I have had the enclosed pamphlet published which is I understand producing good effects.

Our election took place yesterday throughout the state. In this County there were more votes taken than ever known before & the majority for Democracy larger than at any former election.

Leaving us a majority of 957 to ballance the Federal majorities of Kent & Sussex. Whether it will or not I think somewhat uncertain. Last year 783 was more than sufficient, but in Kent the Federalists then had but 63. of a majority. This year I fear the result there for reasons with which you are acquainted

I inclose you a letter from the late Chanc: of this State, a venerable old whig. A few lines in reply will be gratifying him to he[ar.]

By the mail I have the Kent Polls. As I expected Bayard is 219. ahead. This majority is four times as great as any they have had these eight yrs past. You will be sensible of the reason of this change. This renders the state election doubtful & at all events secures Bayard a safe birth in the Senate.

In Sussex there are 2,346 votes. 700. are polled & I am yet 30. votes ahead there, but they are from favourable hundreds.

Every nerve has been strained by them. Their old paper printed by Smith has been revived & a new one the “Ark” set up, compared with which Callenders & Porcupines are chaste.

RC (DLC); clipped at margins. Recorded in SJL as received 13 Oct. Enclosure: William Killen to TJ, 4 Sep. 1802. For other enclosure, see Rodney to TJ, 15 Oct. 1802.

SECURES BAYARD A SAFE BIRTH IN THE SENATE: the Federalists continued to control the Delaware General Assembly after the election of 1802, allowing them to fill the U.S. Senate seat held by Samuel White, a Federalist, whose term was expiring. James A. Bayard decided not to be a candidate, and in January 1803 the general assembly reelected White (Morton Borden, The Federalism of James A. Bayard [New York, 1955], 135-6, 141-2; Journal of the Senate of the State of Delaware, at a Session of the General Assembly, Commenced and Holden at Dover, on Tuesday the Fourth Day of January, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Three [Dover, Del., 1803], 12-15; Vol. 35:207-8n).

OLD PAPER: for a time in 1802, William C. Smyth suspended publication of the Wilmington Monitor; or, Delaware Federalist, which had been in existence since 1 Feb. 1800. The revival of the newspaper was short-lived, the last extant issue being that of 1 Sep. 1802. NEW ONE: William Black established The Federal Ark in Dover, Delaware, in September 1802. Smyth joined Black as publisher of the new paper for a few months in 1803, after it was moved to Wilmington (Brigham, American Newspapers, 1:77, 83-5).

I understand that by contract the mail from the eastward ought to come to this post office on the mornings of Tuesday and Friday. It in fact comes in the evenings before between six and seven o’clock. There is a convenience in this as the mail can thus be forwarded in due time to Washington Pa. and return here to the eastward with more ease. There would also be a convenience to men of business if they could receive their letters in the evenings of Monday and Thursday as in consequence of them they might wish to send letters next morning to Kentucky &c. But the Postmaster here says he has laid down a rule not to give out letters till the mornings of Tuesday and Friday, and says he has a right to make this rule because he is not obliged to receive the mail till then. In this he may be right if the Post offices be established for the convenience of the Postmasters and not of the publick; or if the attendance of the Postmaster is to be regulated by the last moment that the Contractor may delay the mail. But I should think when the mail comes pretty regularly at a certain time before the limitation by contract, it becomes the duty of the Postmaster to attend at that time and with all reasonable diligence after that give out letters within reasonable hours. I see no connection between the duty of a Postmaster and that of a Contractor if a Contractor usually performs his duty within less than the limited time.

The office of Pittsburgh is kept under the same roof and on the same ground story with the shop the parlour and the kitchen of the Postmaster separated from them by a thin partition and communicating with them by an inner door. The kitchen as well as the shop has a street door and the post office door is close by the street door.

I make this statement from no resentment to the Postmaster and submit to you whether the rule he has laid down be such as results from a just comparison of his accommodation with that of the publick, or whether you think different instructions ought to be sent from the Postmaster General.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 17 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

Born and educated in Scotland, Alexander Addison (1759-1807) immigrated to western Pennsylvania in 1785. Admitted to the bar two years later, he supported the ratification of both the federal constitution of 1787 and the new state constitution of 1790. He was appointed presiding judge of Pennsylvania’s fifth judicial district in 1791, in which position he eventually became one of the most influential and most strident Federalists in the state. His voluminous writings, his frequent antidemocratic addresses to grand juries, and his refusal to allow his Republican associate on the bench to speak, made Addison particularly obnoxious to Pennsylvania Republicans, who succeeded in removing him from office in 1803. Informing TJ of Addison’s impeachment, Governor Thomas McKean declared that “federalism will fall with him in the six Western counties” (G. S. Rowe, “Alexander Addison: The Disillusionment of a ‘Republican Schoolmaster,’ ” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 62 [July 1979], 221-50; Peter Charles Hoffer and N. E. H. Hull, Impeachment in America, 1635-1805 [New Haven, 1984], 191-205; Washington, Papers, Ret. Ser., 2:277-8; McKean to TJ, 7 Feb. 1803).

THE POSTMASTER HERE: Hugh Scott became postmaster at Pittsburgh in April 1801 (Stets, Postmasters, 224).

A 16 Mch. 1804 letter from Addison to TJ is recorded in SJL as received from Pittsburgh on 29 Mch. with the notation “P. Mast.,” but has not been found.

The Secretary of War has the honor of proposing to the President of the United States, that, Alexander McComb Jur. of the State of New York, now a second Lieutenant in the 1st. Regiment of Infantry be appointed first Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, That Joseph G. Swift of Massachusetts, and Simon Levy of the State of now serving as Cadets, be appointed second Lieutenants in said Corps of Engineers, that Ephraim Emmory of Massachusetts, be appointed second Lieutenant in the Regiment of Artillerists: and That, Henry Irvine of Pennsylvania, Peyton Gay of Massachusetts, Josiah Taylor of Connecticut, William L. Chew of Maryland, and William Simmons of Virginia, be respectively appointed Ensigns, in the 2nd. Regiment of Infantry, in the Army of the United States.

FC (Lb in DNA: RG 107, LSP). Recorded in SJL as received from the War Department on 7 Oct. with notation “appmt. officers.”

I arrived here on the fourth day of my journey without accident. on the day and day after my arrival I was much indisposed with a general soreness all over, a ringing in the head & deafness. it is wearing off slowly, and was probably produced by travelling very early two mornings in fog. I have desired mr Jefferson to furnish you with whatever you may call for, on my account; and I insist on your calling freely. it never was my intention that a visit for my gratification should be at your expence. it will be absolutely necessary for me to send fresh horses to meet you, as no horses, after the three first days journey, can encounter the 4th. which is hilly beyond any thing you have ever seen. I shall expect to learn from you soon, the day of your departure, that I may take proper arrangements. present me affectionately to mr Eppes, and accept yourself my tenderest love.

TJ ARRIVED on 4 Oct. and recorded $22.12 in his financial memoranda of that date as the whole expense for his trip. Before his departure from Monticello on 1 Oct., he gave Mary $18.50 to pay small household expenses (MB, 2:1082).

On 7 Oct., TJ recorded an order on John Barnes for DAVY BOWLES for $43.75 (MB, 2:1083).

The application of the bank of Baltimore is of great importance. the consideration is very weighty that it is held by citizens while the stock of the US. bank is held in so great a proportion by foreigners. were the bank of the US. to swallow up the others & monopolize the whole banking business of the US., which the demands we furnish them with tend strongly to favor, we might, on a misunderstanding with a foreign power, be immensely embarrassed by any disaffection in that bank. it is certainly for the public good to keep all the banks competitors for our favors, by a judicious distribution of them, and thus to engage the individuals who belong to them in the support of the reformed order of things, or at least in an acquiescence under it. I suppose that on the condition of participating in the deposits, the banks would be willing to make such communications of their operations & the state of their affairs as might satisfy the Secy. of the Treasury of their stability. it is recommended to mr Gallatin to leave such an opening in his answer to this letter, as to leave us free to do hereafter what shall be adviseable on a broad view of all the banks in the different parts of the Union.

P.S. if your information as to the intemperance of Thompson¹ be not compleatly satisfactory, a mr Sibbald of that state of whom I made some enquiry, says he can procure good information from a person in town

RC (NHi: Gallatin Papers); endorsed. PrC (DLC); pressed on same sheet following the memorandum on appointments, 7 Oct.; lacks salutation, dateline, and postscript.

The Maryland legislature chartered the BANK OF BALTIMORE in December 1795, giving it the right to sell stock at $300 per share to raise up to $1,200,000 in capital. James McHenry promoted the establishment of the bank and his protégé George Salmon became the first president. The charter gave the state of Maryland the right to invest up to $180,000 in the stock of the bank. Henry Payson and Luke Tiernan, recently appointed bankruptcy commissioners, served on the board of directors. During the legislative session that began in November 1802, the Maryland Assembly decided to purchase 220 shares of Bank of Baltimore stock with $66,000 of unappropriated monies in the state Treasury (Votes and Proceedings of the House of Delegates of the State of Maryland. November Session, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two [Annapolis, 1803], 76; Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Annapolis on Monday the Second of November, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Five [Annapolis, 1796], chap. 27; Laws of Maryland, Made and Passed at a Session of Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Annapolis on Monday the First of November, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Two [Annapolis, 1803], chap. 58; Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 7:341-2; ANB, S.V. “McHenry, James”; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 7 Dec. 1802; Vol. 37: Appendix II, Lists 1 and 2).

The Bank of the United States established an office of discount and deposit in Baltimore in 1792 and by 1800 its capital had expanded from $200,000 to $600,000. In January 1798, it was estimated that FOREIGNERS owned 13,000 of the 25,000 shares of the Bank of the United States. The proportion increased in June 1802 when the U.S. sold 2,220 shares to British financier Alexander Baring at $580 per share. In exchange, Baring agreed to have over 3,000,000 guilders available at Amsterdam for the payment of the Dutch debt falling due during the first five months of 1803. Baring agreed to the rate of 41 cents per guilder, which was much better than what Gallatin anticipated if the U.S. had tried to obtain bills on Holland for such a large amount (James O. Wettereau, “New Light on the First Bank of the United States,” PMHB, 61 [1937], 269, 277-8; ASP, Finance, 2:9, 29; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 3:287n). For Gallatin’s fear that funds could not be accumulated in Amsterdam without raising the exchange rate, see Vol. 37:157-9. Neither the letter of application from the Bank of Baltimore nor Gallatin’s ANSWER has been found. State banks received an increasing proportion of Treasury funds during TJ’s years in office, but the deposits were usually in regions where there was no branch of the Bank of the United States (Wettereau, “The Branches of the First Bank of the United States,” Journal of Economic History, 2 [1942], 86n).

MR SIBBALD: perhaps George Sibbald of Georgia (see TJ to Thomas Mann Randolph, 12 Mch. 1802).

¹ Name interlined in place of “Mc.Connel.”

An advertisement for the plan of a marine hospital published in the Boston papers has produced only the within plan. Is it sufficiently perfect to deserve the 50 dollars & ought we to carry it into effect? As to a contract, it must, like those for light houses, be advertised by the Collector at Boston who will transmit to us the proposals. I had had the advertisement for a plan inserted only in the Boston papers, as I thought it would please the people there better to have the hospital built after a plan of one of their own architects. If we now advertise here for a plan, it will delay another month, & we shall not have entered into a contract for that object by the time Congress shall meet. You know that the eastern people made that hospital a sine qua non of generalizing the fund.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 7 Oct. and “marine hosp. at Boston” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found, but see below.

For the ADVERTISEMENT seeking designs for a marine hospital at Boston, see Vol. 37:649. WITHIN PLAN: Asher Benjamin, author of The Country Builder’s Assistant, published in Greenfield, Massachusetts in 1797, submitted the design enclosed. A native of Connecticut, Benjamin wrote Gideon Granger, requesting that he intercede with the Treasury secretary. Since leaving Suffield, Benjamin informed Granger, he had designed and built houses in Massachusetts, includ ing Deerfield Academy, and a “Meeting House & 3 other Large Houses” in Windsor, Vermont. On 13 Aug., Granger forwarded Benjamin’s letter to Gallatin, describing him as “one of the first mechanicks in New England” who, as “a poor boy unaided by friends,” through industry and talent, “raised himself to the first rank of his profession.” The marine hospital, built on the grounds of the Charlestown Navy Yard, was reportedly modeled after the almshouse designed by Boston architect Charles Bulfinch (ANB, S.V. “Benjamin, Asher” and “Bulfinch, Charles”; Gallatin, Papers, 7:457, 846; Florence Thompson Howe, “More about Asher Benjamin,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 13 [1954], 16-19).

Massachusetts Republican William Eustis led the debate making the hospital a SINE QUA NON for changes in the distribution of the seamen’s fund (Annals, 11:1163-4; Vol. 36:632n).

Altho’ the plan of the hospital has but moderate merit, yet hav ing no other I suppose we must use it, and, using it, pay for it. I presume therefore we may at once adopt it and call for estimates or undertakers.

RC (NHi: Gallatin Papers); undated, but see Gallatin to TJ, immediately above; written on verso of an address sheet; addressed by TJ: “The Secretary of the Treasury” in place of “The President of the United States” in Gallatin’s hand; endorsed: “for the building of an hospital at or near Boston.” Not recorded in SJL.

On 11 Oct., Gallatin informed Benjamin Lincoln, collector at Boston, that Asher Benjamin should receive the reward for his PLAN OF THE HOSPITAL, although “not possessed of very great merit.” Gallatin enclosed the adopted plan with alterations of the second floor marked in pencil and requested that Lincoln prepare a newspaper advertisement to secure bids for the construction of the two-story brick building with a stone cellar. The edifice was to be completed by 1 Dec. 1803, at the latest, and not to exceed the appropriated sum. Gallatin advised that the contract be drawn “to secure the best materials, good workmanship, and a compliance with the intended Plan.” When Lincoln received the proposals, he was to compare and then transmit them to the Treasury Department with his recommendations (Gallatin, Papers, 7:625). The advertisement appeared in the 30 Oct. issue of the Boston Columbian Centinel. Lincoln detailed the specifications for the hospital. Noting that it was “difficult to give a very minute detail of all the particulars which must be embraced by a full execution of the plan,” he invited those interested to study the plans for the building at his office. Contractors were to submit “their terms in writing sealed” to Lincoln by 1 Dec. 1802.

Thomas Archer of Yorktown is approved as Collector at that port in the room of William Carey resigned

Joseph Turner is approved as Collector of Brunswick in Georgia vice Claud Thompson to be removed for intemperance.

Robert Anderson New of Kentucky is approved as Collector of the customs at Louisville in Kentuckey vice James Mc.Connel to be removed for failing to make due returns.

PrC (DLC); pressed on same sheet as TJ to Gallatin, 7 Oct. (first letter).

TJ sent this memorandum to Gallatin to acquaint him with the Treasury Department appointments. The Treasury secretary then sent it to the State Department for the preparation of the commissions. For Gallatin’s delay of the turner appointment, see his letter to TJ of 8 Oct.

¹ Remainder of sentence interlined in place of “New York.”

I arrived here on the fourth day of our journey without accident. travelling early one or two mornings through fog brought on some degree of indisposition, which I felt strongly on the day & day after my arrival, but it is wearing off slowly. it has been chiefly an excessive soreness all over and a deafness & ringing in the head. I have desired mr Jefferson to procure you whatever you may call for on my account, and I pray you to do it freely. it never was my intention that a journey made for my gratification should bring any expence on you. I must press on you to let me send horses to meet you, as I am convinced that no horses after the three first days journey, can encounter the 4th. which is hilly beyond any thing you have ever seen below the mountains. I shall expect soon to hear from you. present me affectionately to mr Randolph & kiss the children for me. to yourself my tenderest love.

RC (NNPM); at foot of text: “Mrs. Randolph.”

On further enquirey & concideration I am induced to repeat my request for the appointment of the officers I had the honour of proposing for your concideration yesterday.— McComb, Swift & Levy being in the Army and having strong claims on the score of services for promotion, on general principles it would be improper to postpone them. Irwin, Gay & Chew are said to be active republicans.— Taylor, Sims & Emmery may be concidered as having no politics, but would probably be fixed by their appointments.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the War Department on 8 Oct. and “appmts” and so recorded in SJL.

APPOINTMENT OF THE OFFICERS: TJ approved Dearborn’s nominees on 12 Oct. and submitted their names for Senate approval on 11 Jan. 1803, with the exception of Henry Irvine, who declined his appointment. The Senate consented to the appointments of Alexander Macomb (McComb), Joseph G. Swift, Simon M. Levy, Josiah Taylor, William L. Chew, and William Simmons on 25 Jan., but rejected the nominations of Ephraim Emery (Emmery) and Peyton Gay on 22 Feb. (JEP, 1:434, 440, 445; Dearborn to Thomas H. Cushing, 12 Oct. 1802 [two letters] and 16 Mch. 1803, in DNA: RG 107, LSMA; William Wingate to TJ, 7 Feb. 1803). Macomb would later serve as commanding general of the U.S. Army from 1828 to 1841, while Swift, the first graduate of the military academy at West Point, became colonel and chief of engineers in 1812 (ANB).

I return D’oyley’s letters: these connected with that I received in June or July last & communicated to you, leave it doubtful whether he is actuated by personal motives or a sense of the general republican interest. His observations on the conduct of the Bank of the United States at Charleston, corroborated by the several applications of the Banks of Pennsylvania & Baltimore deserve consideration.

If you have any means of obtaining, through Mr Sibbald, further information, not in relation to Claud Thompson’s intemperance, but concerning the fitness of the person proposed as his successor by Gen. Jackson, it might be useful; and, for that purpose, I will suspend applying to the Dept. of State for a commission in that case, till next week—

Before I transmit an official communication on the subject of the piers in Delaware, I will state that the repairs of all the existing piers have been contracted for and are nearly completed—that the chamber of commerce & other persons interested in the subject at Philadelphia have now recommended that the money which may be spared should be applied in the first instance to the improvement of Reedy Island or Fort Penn harbour, that ten thousand dollars should be left for New castle, & that they would trust future appropriations if any can be obtained (which, by the bye is not probable) for the piers at Marcus hook, Mud Island & Gloucester point. You will perceive that, by that proposition, the points which they give up are all in Pennsylvania, and that the places which they recommend are all in Delaware. The gentlemen from New castle state the expence there at about 15,000 dollars, of which 3000 have been supplied by a state lottery, leaving 12,000 dollars to be provided for by the public funds. The result of the plan which I feel inclined to recommend is

I enclose for your perusal the papers lately received which you may compare with my former report. I will want them again, in order to make a formal report to you, but wish, previously, to know your opinion. As to Wilmington, it has never been thought of; the choice would, if that place shall be taken into consideration, between it & New castle: but it has already a natural harbour, in Christina Creek, secure from the river ice; and any improvements there would go to an actual improvement of a particular harbour & not to the erection of piers against ice; to which must be added that it wants that depth of water, which, on account of the public ships, is the great argument in favor of New castle.

RC (DLC); partially dated; at foot of text: “The President”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 8 Oct. and “Piers in Delaware” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures on Delaware River piers not found.

For D’OYLEY’S LETTERS, see enclosures described at TJ to Gallatin, 6 Oct.

SEVERAL APPLICATIONS: for that of the Bank of Pennsylvania, see Memorandum from Albert Gallatin, printed at 18 June, and TJ to Gallatin, 19 June 1802; for the Bank of Baltimore, see TJ to Gallatin, 7 Oct. (first letter).

GENTLEMEN FROM NEW CASTLE: probably the three commissioners appointed by the state legislature to see that piers were erected at that site (see Gallatin to TJ, 9 Aug.). For the monies from the STATE LOTTERY, see Caesar A. Rodney to TJ, 28 June.

Gallatin’s FORMER REPORT has not been found, but TJ may have written his Memorandum on Delaware River Piers, at 26 June 1802, in response to it.

I yesterday received your favor of the 5th. inclosing the first halves of 1200$ in B. Notes.

I some days since wrote Mr. Barnes that Mr. Short would have occasion here for the money of his now in my hands.

RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Thos. Jefferson esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received 10 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

My self and a Number of This Country’s well wishers are highly pleased with what ever you have done since you have been elected Our Chief Magistrate. But more especially with your blessed fortitude. Forbaring to take Notice of the many Scandalous misresentations of your Administration. dear Sir I am nothing more than a Mecanic. but am Acquainted with a multitude of People of the upper, and middle Class, and am Often surprised to hear the Fedl. party complaining about the internal Taxes being loped off. &c two years is not yet passed since I heard the same people complaining of the weight of the Taxes. I have made free with some of the restless souls, and told them to forward the Tax on their Cariages to the Treasury and let them there abide till their Apprehended mission takes place. then I should think them Patriotts indeed.

Frederick county in Maryland have voted in four very Good men. last monday I hope all the Other counties in that state and this will follow their example. pray Sir excuse me for making so free with a Gentleman of your importance as to inclose a little paper to Smile at. I am Sir. with unfained good wishes.

RC (DLC); addressed: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson Esqr. City of Washington”; franked; postmarked 10 Oct.; endorsed by TJ as received 11 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not identified.

George E. Cordell was presumably the same individual who years later advertised the sale of livestock, furniture, and “two good CLOCKS” in order to fulfill “a desire to remove from Leesburg” and “to discharge all my debts of every description” (Leesburg, Va., Genius of Liberty, 15 July 1817).

FOUR VERY GOOD MEN: on the previous day Bartgis’s Republican Gazette of Frederick, Maryland, reported the election of the Republican slate of candidates to represent the county in Maryland’s House of Delegates.

E. Randolph has offered to mr Short to give him personal security, such as he will be satisfied with, for the whole sum & interest due to mr Short. mr Short will not accept it, viewing the public as his debtor, but is willing to endeavor to obtain the security, on condition it shall not prejudice his right against the public, considering it as so much saved to the public which may otherwise be desperate. Messrs. Pickering & Wolcott agreed to a similar condition on E.R.’s offering a judgment of which he was the holder, in part of paiment; by which about 7000. D. were secured. I wish to avoid all possible agency in this matter, and therefore refer to yourself to decide whether mr Short shall be authorised to accept the security without prejudice to his rights? it will be necessary for me to recieve your answer this afternoon, as the letter must go by the afternoon’s post or he will have left Richmond.

PrC (DLC).

E. RANDOLPH HAS OFFERED TO MR SHORT: see TJ to William Short, 9 Oct. Short still had an unresolved claim for salary that depended on the final settlement of Edmund Randolph’s accounts as secretary of state. During the Adams administration , Timothy PICKERING and Oliver WOLCOTT acknowledged that the government was liable for the obligation to Short, and invested funds in public securities in trust for him in anticipation of an eventual settlement (Vol. 36:162-3n, 455-7).

In answer to your note of this morning, stating that Mr. Edmund Randolph had offered to Mr. Short personal security for the sum due to him, which Mr. Short would not accept, unless it was agreed that it should not prejudice his right against the public; I have the honor to observe that not being sufficiently acquainted with the nature of that transaction, and the Comptroller being now absent, I could not assent to any modification differing in its principle from what has heretofore been agreed on.

But I find by a letter of Mr. Wolcott to you dated the 10th. day of May 1800, that he acknowledges it to have been mutually agreed that any sums which might be received by Mr. Short’s agent from Mr. Randolph, should not prejudice the claim of Mr. Short against the United States for any balance which might remain unsatisfied.

There can be no objection to extending the agreement which was thus made, in relation to any payments which might arise under the assumpsit of Messrs. Edmund Pendleton & P. Lyons, to any payments which may be made in consequence of the new security offered by Mr. Edmund Randolph, to Mr. Short; and it will be understood that Mr. Short, by accepting that security, will not prejudice his claim against the United States; provided that such acceptance shall not differ, substantially, from the manner in which his agent had accepted Messrs. Pendleton & Lyons assumpsit.

RC (DLC: William Short Papers); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin; at foot of text: “Mr. Jefferson.” Enclosed in TJ to William Short, 9 Oct.

For information that Gallatin had received from the COMPTROLLER earlier in the year about Edmund Randolph’s accounts and William Short’s salary claim, see Vol. 36:343-4. The letter from Oliver WOLCOTT replied to a query from TJ, who asked, as Short’s AGENT, if Short’s claim against the government would be voided by his acceptance of some money that Edmund PENDLETON and Peter LYONS owed Randolph (Vol. 31:497-9, 574).

I have now only to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 6th. inclosing the second halves of the 1200$, the first of which came to hand by last post.

RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Thos. Jefferson esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received 12 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

Your’s of the 5th. came to hand yesterday evening after the departure of the post. this can go only this afternoon, & tomorrow is Sunday.

I sincerely regret it is not in my power to furnish any thing in aid of your brother till the epoch I had mentioned to you. the close of the year calls for the paiment of all hired laborers, of my workmen, the year’s provision of corn & this during the expensive time of a session of Congress. it was on a view of this, that, seeing my resources till Feb. inclusive would be absorbed, I fixed on March as the beginning of a monthly or quarterly paiment of 500. or 1500 D perhaps 2000. and which shall not then cease till compleated. I think I know mr Ross too well to suspect even that he would think an action preferable to any reasonable instalments which you would undertake or guarantee. he and I have had a bloody contest which has separated us, so that we could not transact any thing together pleasantly. but any stipulations you shall find it convenient to enter into, or orders in favor of your brother, so far as built upon what I have here promised shall be religiously fulfilled. your application needs no apology. my wishes are to know yours & to fulfill them to the utmost of my power.

On the subject of E. Randolph’s proposition to give you personal security, altho’ I think he cannot do it, yet the chance should not be thrown away. but mr Gallatin must be seen, which shall be in the course of the day, and the result communicated herein, if obtained before the departure of the post. Tho’ messrs. Pickering & Wolcott actually purchased but 2000. D. for you, they acknoleged the public liable to interest for the whole.

Your servt had better stay here. he adds nothing sensibly to our family , and will hardly object to the walk while you shall be at mr Barnes’s. indeed I think you will find it more agreeable yourself to take a hack & come here generally at the hour of dinner. Accept my affectionate salutations.

RC (DLC: Short Papers); probably written on 9 Oct. (see below), although recorded in SJL under 8 Oct.; addressed: “William Short esquire Richmond” with notation “to the care of Messrs. Gibson & Jefferson”; franked; postmarked 9 Oct.; endorsed by Short as received at Richmond on 12 Oct. Enclosure: Gallatin to TJ, 9 Oct.

TJ’s references to YESTERDAY and TOMORROW, along with his enclosure of Gallatin’s letter of 9 Oct., suggest that he wrote the letter printed above on the 9th rather than on 8 Oct. According to SJL, he received Short’s letter of 5 Oct., which has not been found, from Richmond on the 8th. The 9th, moreover, was a Saturday, which fits TJ’s assertion that the day following the one on which he wrote would be SUNDAY.

BEGINNING OF A MONTHLY OR QUARTERLY PAIMENT: in the spring of 1800, after TJ found that he owed Short a significant sum, he informed Short of his intention to begin paying the money back in 1801 and to clear the debt in two or three years—“this is certain,” he declared. Short replied that he did not yet need the money, and he did not want TJ to have to sell property in order to begin paying the debt right away. After Short’s arrival in the United States, he and TJ agreed on terms of repayment, probably when Short visited Monticello in September 1802. TJ knew, when he first discovered the shortfall, that the amount he owed was $9,607.97 “exclusive of interest.” He did not immediately calculate the interest, which must be “computed from the date of every article”—that is, calculated for each appropriation he had made of Short’s funds. Short worked out the interest and found that as of 1 Jan. 1800, principal and interest together amounted to $11,771. According to notes that Short made for himself in the spring of 1803, TJ was to pay him the $11,771, plus six percent annual interest calculated from the beginning of 1800. TJ made his first payment of $500 in March 1803, and finished paying Short back in July 1807 (statement and list of property, 20 Apr. 1803, in DLC: Short Papers; MB, 2:908n, 1206; Vol. 31:503, 508, 510n; Vol. 32:87, 157; TJ to Madison, 13 Sep.; TJ to Short, 3 Mch. 1803).

The BLOODY CONTEST between David Ross and TJ involved disputed business transactions from the 1780s. A decision by arbitrators in January 1802 settled the matter. It was “owing to mr Ross,” TJ asserted, that the issue had not been resolved years earlier (Vol. 31:209-10; Vol. 35:375; Vol. 36:369-70).

Permit me to recommend—John Crozier Merchant and Edward Scott Esqr atty at Law—as proper Charecters for Commissioners of Bankruptcy—for East Tennessee and George M Deaderick Merchant, and Samuel Donaldson Esqr Atty at Law, for West Tennessee—The two former reside at Knoxville the two latter at Nashville—It hath been Suggested to me by the Atty General, that Several Cases will shortly occur in which those Gentlemen will be requird to act—with Sentiments of high Consideration and respect—

RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); endorsed by TJ as received 17 Nov. and “Commrs. bkrptcy” and so recorded in SJL.

John CROZIER, Edward SCOTT, and George M. DEADERICK received bankruptcy commissions dated 28 Mch. 1803. Samuel Donelson, however, was not appointed and the final Tennessee bankruptcy commission instead went to Moses Fisk of Nashville (list of commissions in Lb in DNA: RG 59, MPTPC; Vol. 37:711; Joseph Anderson, William Cocke, and William Dickson to TJ, 6 Jan. 1803).

amidst the extensive multitude who have publickly declared their Joy, in your being elected to the first office in our country, in reverence I approach the important undertaking, in contributing to you the internal Consolation I have enjoyed as well as others: the present epoch is undoubtedly pregnant with the most valuable blessings enjoyed by man, and are the productions of American independance. which I hope will never be impaird to our latest Generation, for if men are destin’d by their maker to be free, as they certainly are, for my God whom I serve, pronounces with a loud acclamation, & is the surest pledge of present & future happiness. when I view the day in which we were delivered from british tyranny, I consider it as a seal of Rational happiness stamp’d upon humanity, & to obtain this freedom, I forsook all and rush’d into the field, till tyranny was oblig’d to cease waving one solitary banner over the injured rights of man. thrice happy day, let us ever remember the sacred eminence, and constantly view the establis’d foundation and source of knowledge, and may you still remain at the helm, may you continue to be our attracting guide, and under your administration, freedom of religion, peace, at home and abroad, and may the wise disposer of all natural, & supernatural blessings, protect and save you, from all dangers to which you may be expos’d, and from the insurrection of wicked doers, and may you rise superior—and triumph over all opposition. Till you with all your friends may discover, Justice ruling, equity dwelling amongst us. True benevolence—and peace spreding their balmy wings , over our land; and of the increase of such a government may there be no end,—Amen and amen.

Sir. excuse me for Troubling your honor with the perusal of my lines, who am only a poor man, a labourer in the Gospel, called by name a Republican Methodist. I only request you to Receive these lines as a pledge or acknowledgement of my Joy, ever remaining Your most obt. & Hble. Servt.

RC (DLC); at head of text: “Mr. Thomas Jefferson President of the united states of America”; endorsed by TJ as received 30 Nov. but recorded in SJL at 29 Nov.

John Bond, a veteran of the Revolutionary War from Virginia, wrote to TJ again on 4 Feb. 1805, requesting compensation of 100 acres and $100 for his past military services. After congressional claims committees considered his petitions in 1806, he was invited to withdraw his request (JHR, 5:321, 348, 356).

On a suggestion that Judges Kelty & Marshall who pronounced sentence on Mc.Gurk were divided as to the recommending him to mercy I reprieved him that the opinion of judge Craunch might be obtained, who had also sat on the trial. I have this day recieved his opinion against a pardon. this is known to the criminal; and I have good information that, seeing all other hope cut off, he means to try every thing to make his escape. I therefore have thought it material to apprize you of this, and to recommend that no vigilance be spared to prevent his escape. not knowing the construction of the jail I can suggest nothing as to the position of the guard, but your knolege of it will enable you so to place it as to render his escape impossible without connivance. Accept my friendly salutations & assurances of respect.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Colo. D. C. Brent.”

OPINION OF JUDGE CRAUNCH:William Cranch wrote to James McGurk’s lawyer, Augustus B. Woodward, from Quincy, Massachusetts, on 20 Sep., responding to letters from Woodward and McGurk. Although there was “no direct Evidence” that McGurk had been motivated by a “deliberate intention to kill his wife,” the jurist noted, there was also “no evidence of any circumstance which could justify his striking her at all.” Cranch, who thought juries often demonstrated a “great tenderness” in cases involving capital punishment, was surprised that the jury deliberated only a few minutes before finding McGurk guilty, but he considered the verdict to be correct. In McGurk’s case, the judge noted, no “adequate punishment, short of death” was available to the court. When the choice was either “an unqualified pardon” or “a just punishment of the offender,” Cranch wrote, “whatever I might be disposed to do as a private citizen, I can not, as a judge, recommend the criminal to the mercy of the President. The interests of society, which it is my duty to protect, demand that crimes like these should be severely punished” (in DNA: RG 59, GPR; endorsed by TJ “Mc.Gurk’s case” and “Judge Craunch’s opinion”).

You know the arrangements which were communicated to you early in July for procuring books for Congress from London and Paris. unfortunately, mr Short, to whom the business was confided in Paris, was come away. I have therefore to ask information from you of the steps you have taken as to Paris¹ that I may be able to give proper directions to mr Livingston to do what mr Short had been desired to do in this matter. Accept my best wishes and salutations.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Mr. Duane”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

For the ARRANGEMENTS TJ made to import books for the Library of Congress, see TJ to Duane, 16 July.

¹ Preceding three words interlined.

I have been honor’d by your letter containing a catalogue of books to be procured for the use of congress, & your instructions as to the œconomy & details of the purchase; & from the Treasurer of the United States I have at the same time received a remittance for this purpose of 226£. 14s. 9d Stg in a Bill payable at 60-days sight, which has been duly accepted; I shall give all possible attention to this business, & cause the order to be executed with as much dispatch as the nature of it will admit of;—The greater part of the Books being of a kind not Easily to be found, must be hunted up & collected from various dealers, which will require some considerable time; this circumstance too will make the prices a little arbitrary; new books have a fixed value, but that of old & curious books is variable & capricious.—

Mr. Duane has sent his order to Mr. Johnston an highly respectable bookseller, & perhaps the one most capable of Executing it satisfactorily; he has given me the best assurances upon this subject & I will take all collateral means of seeing that justice is done to it;—your instructions do not contemplate the probability of the fund remitted being more than sufficient for the purpose of this purchase, but there will be I believe a considerable surplus; I will venture Sir to avail myself of this circumstance to substitute better Editions than those required where they are to be had & are not very Extravagantly dear, & where a book has been completely transplanted by another (as is Cunningham’s Law Dictionary by Jacob’s) I hope that you will not disapprove of my making a change in the Catalogue.—

I am happy in this as I must be on every occasion which offers me a portion of your confidence & good opinion, & affords me an opportunity of assuring you of the perfect respect & sincere devotion with which I am always Respected Sir

RC (DLC); at head of text: “To Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Dec. and so recorded in SJL.

YOUR LETTER: TJ to Erving, 16 July.

A BOOK HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TRANSPLANTED BY ANOTHER : Timothy Cunningham’s two-volume A New and Complete Law-Dictionary, or, General Abridgment of the Law, first published in London in 1764-65, was superseded by Giles Jacob’s A New Law Dictionary, corrected and enlarged in its ninth edition by Owen Ruffhead and John Morgan in 1772. Jacob’s Law Dictionary, as it was commonly known, continued to be published in several other revised editions and remained popular even 60 years after the original author’s death in 1744 (DNB; Sowerby, No. 1814).

In consequence of being left by Mr King, in charge with the affairs of the United States, and of his desire, that I should inspect all letters directed to him, I opened that from yourself, under date of the 13th July, & which was receiv’d on the 13. ult.

This, Sir, I must pray you to accept as an apology, for having broken its seal—and if my subsequent conduct shall appear an intrusion, you will do me the justice to impute it to the most respectful motives, combined with an earnest desire to promote the object of the letter,—if, in no other way, at least, in obtaining, & forwarding all such information, as could be procur’d here, and might tend to advance the wise, and humane plan, you have so benevolently contemplated, of opening a path for the emancipation of the Blacks, on such terms, as may prove beneficial to themselves, & not injurious to others—I was the more induced to act in this business, from the belief that Mr King would not be here, to attain any information, in season to reach the U. States, until late in the winter—

Lord Hawkesbury to whom, I thought it proper, first to mention the subject, profess’d a warm desire to do every thing in his power, to promote your views, but at the same time said the affair must rest entirely with the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company, and that he was really fearful, their late experience had been such, as to deter them from the admission of characters like those alluded to—

I then took an opportunity of confering with Mr Thornton, chairman of the court of directors, & stated to him the resolution of the Legislature of Virginia, and your idea of the best mode of carrying the same into effect, with such arguments, so far as I could think of any, in addition to those contained in your letter, to show that the admission of the Blacks from the U States, might, under such regulations as wisdom, & prudence should prescribe, prove an addition of strength, & benefit to their Colony. But the establishment has sufferd much from the maroons, who have been permitted to go there from Jamaica, and the Directors consider that the rise of their Colony has been rather impeded, than advanced by the Blacks from Nova Scotia—They have lately been obliged to apply to Parliament for pecuniary aid, & to ask assistance of troops, to keep in check the restless, and disturbed spirits already there. The military force is not so great, as they wish’d, and they entertain serious apprehensions, if it be sufficient to protect the well disposed, and repress the constant disposition, manifested in many of the Colonists to revolt, & overturn the existing Government—

These reasons appear to have great weight in Mr Thornton’s mind, against the policy of admitting such settlers, as would be most likely to come from the U. States—He has, however, come to no determination against the measure, but promises to advise with his friends, & see if any expedient can be devised, by which the dangers to be feared, from acceding to the proposal, may be guarded against—

It is possible, that on Mr King’s return, he may be able to suggest such reasons, as shall induce the Directors to lend a favourable ear to the plan—He is intimate with some of the most influential of them, and if aught¹ can be added to the strong motives they profess, and I have no doubt, sincerely, to do every thing acceptable to the exalted character, at whose instance the proposition has been made, it may be expected from the personal influence of this gentleman. Although from the considerations mention’d, which, with others are to be seen in the state of the Colony, as described in the memorial to Parliament, and the report of the Committee, I do not think there is much reason to hope, that an incorporation of the Blacks of the U.States with those at Sierra Leone, can be reconciled, in the minds of the Directors, to the safety, and prosperity of the establishment.

I am indebted, to Mr Thornton, for the papers above referr’d to,* and which, you will find, give an accurate statement of that Colony, the evils most to be guarded against, with the means thought necessary for its security, and the expences of the establishment—As these papers are scarce, and contain information, that may be valuable on this subject, I have taken the liberty to enclose them with this letter—

Should an occasion occur, which may promise advantage to the proposal from any endeavours of mine, you may rely on their being cheerfully, and faithfully exerted to that end—and if further information can be procured, which, in my judgment, may be useful in this interesting business, before the arrival of Mr King, I pray you, Sir, to be assured, that I shall derive great pleasure in forwarding it—

* only one yet received. the other, when obtained, shall be sent.

RC (Vi: Executive Papers); at foot of first page: “Thomas Jefferson &c &c &c”; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Dec. and so recorded in SJL. FC (Lb in NHi: Rufus King Papers). Enclosure: Printed report of a House of Commons committee on the petition of the Sierra Leone Company, May 1802, stating that the funds allocated by Parliament to the colony of Sierra Leone have been insufficient to provide the “Degree of Security” required for “the Maintenance of the Settlement,” but the continued existence of the colony is justified; the petition of the chairman and directors of the company, appended to the report, recounts the history of the colony, including insurrections within the settlements and attacks by outsiders, and noting, as one obstacle to the colony’s progress, the “unfavourable Character” of some of the settlers from Nova Scotia; the directors ask for an increase of the power of the colony’s government and maintenance of an adequate military force there (House of Commons, “Report from the Committee on the Petition of the Court of Directors of the Sierra Leone Company,” Sessional Papers, 1801-2, 2:339, Reports of Committees, no. 100, printed by order of 25 May 1802). Enclosed in TJ to John Page, 23 Dec. 1803.

IN CHARGE: Rufus King, who was traveling in Europe on leave, had made Gore acting chargé d’affaires in his absence. When George Washington named Gore to the bilateral commission to resolve claims under Article 7 of the Jay Treaty in March 1796, Gore was a 37-year-old Boston lawyer with Federalist political connections, a director of the Boston branch of the Bank of the United States, and the United States attorney for Massachusetts. TJ as secretary of state exchanged several letters with Gore relating to official business that involved the U.S. attorney’s office. The last of that correspondence was in 1793 (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 3:110, 310-11; JEP, 1:204-5; ANB; Vol. 17:530-3; Vol. 19:629; Vol. 20:564-5; Vol. 22:15-16, 399; Vol. 23:5, 16-17; Vol. 24:219; Vol. 27:13-14, 79-82, 261, 338-40, 416, 427, 456, 523).

A successful banker, philanthropist, and writer on political economy, Henry THORNTON had served as chairman of the Court of Directors of the Sierra Leone Company since 1791 (DNB).

Gore wrote TJ from London on 3 Nov. regarding the PAPERS enclosed with the letter printed above: “Sir Upon examination, I find the report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the petition of the Sierra Leone Company, as inclosed with the letter I did myself the Honour to address you on the 10. ulto. contains every material fact, & document stated, or refered to in their petition, & have therefore concluded it unnecessary to transmit a copy thereof. I have the Honour to be, Sir, with perfect Respect, Your very obedt servant” (RC in DLC, at foot of text: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson,” endorsed by TJ as received 10 Feb. and so recorded in SJL; FC in Lb in NHi: Rufus King Papers). That brief communication was the last correspondence between Gore and TJ.

¹ MS: “ought.”

The departure of Made. Brugnard for France furnishes me a safe conveyance of a letter which I cannot avoid embracing, altho’ I have nothing particular for the subject of it. it is well however to be able to inform you, generally, through a safe channel, that we stand compleatly corrected of the error that either the government or the nation of France has any remains of friendship for us. the portion of that country which forms an exception, though respectable in weight, is weak in numbers. on the contrary it appears evident that an unfriendly spirit prevails in the most important individuals of the government towards us. in this state of things we shall so take our distance between the two rival nations as, remaining disengaged till necessity compels us, we may haul finally to the enemy of that which shall make it necessary. we see all the disadvantageous consequences of taking a side, and shall be forced into it only by a more disagreeable alternative; in which event we must countervail the disadvantages by measures which will give us splendour & power, but not as much happiness as our present system. we wish therefore to remain well with France. but we see that no consequences however ruinous to them, can secure us with certainty against the extravagance of her present rulers. I think therefore, that while we do nothing which the first nation on earth would deem crouching, we had better give to all our communications with them a very mild, complaisant, and even friendly complection, but always independant. ask no favors, leave small & irritating things to be conducted by the individuals interested in them, interfere ourselves but in the greatest cases, & then not push them to irritation. no matter at present existing between them & us is important enough to risk a breach of peace; peace being indeed the most important of all things to us, except the preserving an erect & independant attitude. although I know your own judgment leads you to pursue this line identically, yet I thought it just to strengthen it by the concurrence of my own. you will have seen by our newspapers that with the aid of a lying renegado from republicanism, the federalists have opened all their¹ sluices of calumny. they say we lied them out of power, and openly avow they will do the same by us. but it was not lies or arguments on our part which dethroned them, but their own foolish acts, sedition laws, alien laws, taxes, extravagances & heresies. Porcupine their friend wrote them down. Callendar, their new recruit, will do the same. every decent man among them revolts at his filth: and there cannot be a doubt that were a presidential election to come on this day, they would have but three New England states & about half a dozen votes from Maryland & North Carolina, these two states electing by districts. were all the states to elect by a general ticket, they would have but 3. out of 16. states. and these 3. are coming up slowly. we do indeed consider Jersey & Delaware as rather doubtful. elections which have lately taken place there, but their event not yet known here, will shew the present point of their varying condition.

My letters to you being merely private, I leave all details of business to their official channel. Accept assurances of my constant friendship and high respect.

RC (NNMus); addressed: “Robert R. Livingston esquire M.P. of the US. at Paris”; endorsed by Livingston. PrC (DLC).

DEPARTURE OF MADE. BRUGNARD: see Louise d’Egremont Brongniart to TJ, 11 Oct.

LYING RENEGADO: James T. Callender.

Before his departure from the United States early in 1800, William Cobbett, calling himself Peter PORCUPINE, was, for TJ and his political allies, the archetype of an irresponsible and dangerous Federalist newspaperman (Vol. 31:320, 322n; Vol. 33:262, 656).

YOUR LETTER: in a dispatch to Madison dated 30 July, Livingston mentioned that Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours had arrived in Paris (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 3:443).

¹ TJ first wrote “the” before altering the word.

I Beg lave once more to adress yaur Exilency as the Onley and last means that I have for my life in my Latir to you By Mr. wodward I mentioned that Judge keltey and Cranch was willing to have my life Saved But Since there has Been a politicle partey that has Ecused Me with faulls Storeys in the washinton feaderelist I Bleive That Induced the Judges to not Concent to my Pardon I Bleive the Spite the had against you and not me if you had not parened me the would acused you leike Weise But I hope you will not pay any atintion to those Fauls Stareys

The hand of provedince Seems to Bee Concerned in My fate it now lays in your Breast to put a man to Death or not that has Sufired near one year in as grate Punishement as could Bee inflicted to proserve life and Aftir Sufering this to have my life teakin I lave you To Judge if it is hard or not to put me to Death when I have Inforimed you of my last Sentemints if you Put me to Death I will Dye in the wrong

The tiranicle goveriment that I was Raised under Could not Bee mutch hardir you knaw that I am Flesh and Blood the Same as your Exelincey is and when Wee are in the Grave wee will Bee on a levill And now when God Inviested you with that pawir Superier To melions of your felow Citesins Bee mercifull

if you think I have not Sufired onaf I Beg you to Chuse for my fate your Choise af fore Choises let me quit the united Steats or put me One year in the armey thereaf or inflict on me What punishment you think prapir or let my Blood Bee Spild in the wrong

NB) the numbir of fauls acusitions would Bee two Tedious for me to mention that the have fetched Against me the last plan the have teakin is to Drap¹ Letirs for you to get hoping that it might provent you of Dooing any thing for me all theyer plans is graund less and fauls if you wauld think propir I wauld Send to a nuber of good Sitisens that is Near has Been aquent with me Sevvril year in Philadelphia and By thyer tetamony you could Judge what Sort of a membir of Susiety I was

RC (DNA: RG 59, GPR); endorsed by TJ as from “Thos.” McGurk, received from jail on 11 Oct., and so recorded in SJL.

MY LATIR TO YOU: presumably one of McGurk’s letters that Augustus B. Woodward brought to Monticello in August; see Woodward to TJ, 16 Aug.

FAULLS STOREYS IN THE WASHINTON FEADERELIST: some newspapers, railing at TJ’s granting of the stay of execution, tried to associate McGurk with incidents of political intimidation (Vol. 37:284n).

¹ That is, “draw up.”

I must beg you to find the apology for this sollicitation in the nature of the case itself. there is here a mr John Barnes, for a long series of years resident in Philadelphia where he was a teadealer, acted on commission &c. till the government removed here. being agent for some of the contractors which required him to be near the treasury, he removed here with the government, & set up his former business of teadealer. but he finds it will not do here, & his commissions being insufficient to support him he means to return to Philadelphia this winter. he is old (between 60. and 70) but is as active as a boy, always in good health, and the most punctual and assiduous man in business I ever knew. after an acquaintance with him of 40. years, I can pronounce him in point of fidelity as to any trust whatever, worthy of unbounded confidence. there is not a man on earth to whom I would sooner trust money untold. he is an accurate accountant, of a temper incapable of being ruffled, & full of humanity. I give you his whole character because I think you may make good use of him for the public. my long & particular acquaintance with him interests me much in his behalf, and makes me very desirous that he could get some berth of about 1000. D. a year which would secure him from want. if any such should offer itself at any tme within your department, I would deem it a great favor to myself were you to think of him, and I know that I should serve the public by placing with them a most honest & faithful servt. and of unequalled diligence. these considerations must be my apology to you for a liberty which I have never before taken in any case, and shall generally and carefully avoid. my anxieties on behalf of mr Barnes have overcome my unwillingness to intermeddle in applications. it will occasion less impertinence in the public papers, if nothing be said of my being the recommender. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of my esteem & respect.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Genl. Muhlenberg”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

WITHIN YOUR DEPARTMENT: Muhlenberg had been appointed collector at Philadelphia in July 1802 (Gallatin to TJ, [7 July 1802]; Appendix I).

Excuse my writing You But I am actuly Confind here for my Doctor bill & find my self unable to pay it at preasent and what Grives me more; with my wife along side of me she as no other home I shall not trawble you with a Long List of my sufferings as I suppose you have seen them in Mr Lions paper from my own hand I am your most humble Servant

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 11 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

MR LIONS PAPER: probably the American Literary Advertiser, published in Washington by James Lyon and Richard Dinmore since March 1802 (Brigham, American Newspapers, 1:98; Vol. 34:405n).

I am to pay you £10. for Polly Carr, making, with the balance due yourself 143.33 D you will of course drop me a line as soon as you shall have fixed a day for your departure, and the money shall be lodged in mr Jefferson’s hands before you will be there. we wish you to be at your destination before the French take possession. if they have sent troops from France on that destination as is said in the newspapers, they will perhaps find employment in St. Domingo which has risen again in general insurrection. present my respectful salutations to mrs Bache and accept yourself assurances of my friendship & respect.

RC (Mrs. W. F. Magie, Princeton, New Jersey, 1945); addressed: “Dr. William Bache near Charlottesville”; franked and postmarked.

In his financial memoranda, TJ recorded the amount of the payment to his niece, Mary (POLLY) Carr, as $33.33. In December, he made her a second payment of the same amount, that time through Gabriel Lilly. Together the two payments were “towards hire of her negro” for the year (MB, 2:1085, 1088).

American NEWSPAPERS mentioned that troops had embarked from France during the summer, bound for Louisiana. The news, which originated in Rotterdam and London, was incorrect. The French government did not receive Carlos IV’s royal order ceding the territory until 25 Oct. (New York Commercial Advertiser, 2, 5 Oct.; E. Wilson Lyon, Louisiana in French Diplomacy, 1759-1804 [Norman, Okla., 1974], 134).

RISEN AGAIN: a resurgence of resistance by blacks that began in the summer had developed into what General Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc bluntly labeled “a war of colors” in Saint-Domingue. The rebels controlled large portions of the island. With the army units he had brought from Europe almost destroyed by yellow fever, Leclerc had been forced to rely on black soldiers to fight the insurgents. By October , he became so fearful of defections that he ordered the execution of a number of soldiers of color who were still part of his army. In June, he had warned his government that if there were to be an army on the island in the fall, it would have to consist of fresh troops sent from France (Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution [Cambridge, Mass., 2004], 281-92).

Mme Brongniart est extrêmement reconnaissante des souhaits que monsieur Le president a la bonté de former pour le succès de son voyage. Elle s’empressera à son arrivée de remettre elle même à Mr Livingston la lettre de monsieur Le president dont elle se charge avec le plus grand plaisir.

Madame Brongniart is extremely grateful for the president’s kind wishes for the success of her journey. She is happy to take care of the president’s letter and will hasten to deliver it personally to Mr. Livingston on her arrival.

RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received the same day as written and so recorded in SJL.

Louise d’Egremont Brongniart (b.1744) was the mother of Émilie Brongniart Pichon. At the time of her marriage to Alexandre Théodore Brongniart in 1767, she owned an apothecary shop in Paris. In the spring of 1793, when her husband, unable to obtain architectural commissions in Paris, moved to Bordeaux to design a theater, she remained in Paris with Émilie, their youngest child, keeping up their household and the family’s social routines in the metropolis through the Terror and until Théodore returned in 1795. During his absence she lobbied the Convention to exclude him and other artists from a decree against people who had gone to Bordeaux seeking a more moderate political climate. In May 1802,anxious to see Émilie and Louis André Pichon, Madame Brongniart embarked on a visit to the United States. Her husband, who supplemented his architectural income with a government position as inspector general of buildings and with nonarchitectural design work, did not accompany her on the journey. In 1828,Émilie Pichon reported to a friend in the United States that her mother was in good health and living with the Pichons in Paris (Louis de Launay, Une grande famille de savants: Les Brongniart [Paris, 1940], 19-20, illus. facing 26; Jacques Silvestre de Sacy, Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, 1739-1813, Sa Vie—Son Œuvre [Paris, 1940], 89-91, 94-6, 106-8, 128, 133-5; Dictionnaire, 7:420; La Revue du Louvre, 24 [1974], 105; Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society, ed. Gaillard Hunt [New York, 1906], 218).

LA LETTRE: TJ to Robert R. Livingston, 10 Oct. Madame Brongniart also took a letter from Madison to Livingston. She had brought dispatches from Livingston when she traveled to the United States during the spring (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 4:204, 278; Livingston to TJ, 4 May 1802).

I enclose the resignation of the surveyor of the customs at Smithfield, an out post attached to Norfolk. The office is trifling; yet it may be acceptable to some person there who ought to have it. If you have any correspondent in that vicinity who can give information, it will relieve me from the inconvenience of writing to the Collector Mr Davies.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 11 Oct. and “Thos. Blow surveyor of Smithfd. resigned” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Thomas Blow to William Davies, Smithfield, 1 Oct. 1802, notifying the collector that he was resigning his commission because he was leaving Smithfield (RC in same).

RESIGNATION: Thomas Blow had served as surveyor and inspector at Smith field, Virginia, since February 1800. In 1801, he received a $250 salary as surveyor, plus $4 in commissions and fees, but deductions for office expenses reduced his compensation to $198.50 (Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Accompanying a Statement of the Emoluments of the Officers Employed in the Collection of the Customs, for the Year 1801 [Washington, D.C., 1802]). For his income in 1800, see ASP, Miscellaneous, 1:274.

I have the honor to enclose a letter of the Commissioner of the revenue, enclosing a copy of the resignation of the Supervisor of Delaware.

From the state of the collection of duties in that District, it does not appear necessary that the Office should be continued any longer: but although the acceptance of Mr. Truett’s resignation, without filling the vacancy, will produce the effect; yet it seems proper, under the provisions of the Law repealing the internal Taxes, that the discontinuance of the Office should be sanctioned by the President.

RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin; at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 12 Oct. and “Discontince. Supervisorship Delaware” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.

George Truitt became SUPERVISOR of the revenue for the district of DELAWARE in July 1797. A Federalist, he was elected governor of the state in October 1807 (JEP, 1:247-8; Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds., Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, 4 vols. [Westport, Conn., 1978], 1:215).

MS (MHi); in March’s hand; addressed: “For The President”; endorsed by TJ: “March J.”

PHILOSOPHIE DE KANT: Charles François Dominique de Villers, Philosophie de Kant: Ou, Principes fondamentaux de la Philosophie transcendentale (see Vol. 35:708).

ARISTOTELES: La Poetica de Aristoteles dada a nuestra lengua Castellana, published in Madrid in 1778 (Sowerby, No. 4693).

LEGGENDA DE GIOSAFAT: Vita di san Giosafat convertito da Barlaam by Johannes Damascenus, an eighth-century theologian of the Eastern Church (Sowerby, No. 1552).

DIOGENE LAERCE: Diogenes Laertius, Diogene Laërce, de la Vie des Philosophes (Sowerby, No. 33; MB, 1:16n; Vol. 31:285n).

PASSE PARTOUT GALANT: a collection of anti-clerical satires published in 1710 by an anonymous author, self-described as a “Chevalier de l’Ordre de l’Industrie & de la Gibeciere.” TJ included the title under the classification of poetry and romance in his 1783 Catalogue of Books (MS in MHi).

SENECA PHILOSOPHERS: see Vol. 37:156.

HISTOIRE DE BONAPART: Jean Chas,Tableau Historique et Politique des Opérations militaires et civiles de Bonaparte (Vol. 36:96n).

COOPER’S BANKRUPT LAWS: Thomas Cooper, The Bankrupt Law of America, Compared with the Bankrupt Law of England, printed in Philadelphia in 1801 (Sowerby, No. 1994).

MONTHLY MAGAZINE: Monthly Magazine and American Review (Vol. 32:94n).

WEEKLY MAGAZINE: Weekly Magazine of Original Essays, Fugitive Pieces, and Interesting Intelligence, printed in Philadelphia in 1798 by James Watters & Co. (Sowerby, No. 4898).

SWEDENBORG ON THE SOUL: Emanuel Swedenborg, Du Commerce de l’Ame et du Corps (Sowerby, No. 1365).

Thomas Blow, surveyor of the customs at Smithfield, has resigned his office. it is of small value, but yet may be acceptable to some person there. I will thank you if from your own knowledge or from the best information you can collect, you would be so good as to recommend to me the properest person. it would be material to be assured he will accept.Our last information gives reason to believe that the rupture with Marocco will not take place. Algiers & Tunis remain entirely friendly, so that we are likely to have only Tripoli on our hands who are seeking peace thro’ different channels. Accept assurances of my constant friendship & high respect.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Colo. Thos. Newton”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

LAST INFORMATION: see TJ to James Madison, 30 Aug.

Your Excellency was pleased to condecend to take notice of my unfortunate situation and release me from Prison. I now take this earlyest opportunity to render you my humble and warmest acknoledgments for your humane and generous interference in my favour—That you may live long and enjoy all the blessings this life can bestow will be the constant prayer of your Excellencys;—

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 12 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

HUMANE AND GENEROUS INTERFERENCE IN MY FAVOUR: on 11 Oct., TJ sent Daniel C. Brent, the marshal for the District of Columbia, an order on John Barnes for $30 in charity for Parsons, which secured his release from jail (MB, 2:1083).

Capt. Matthew C. Groves who has made some longitudinal discoveries, for which he has obtained a patent from the U. States, is extremely desirous of submitting them to you, and has asked of me a note of introduction, I am wholly unacquainted with Mr. Groves, but have received assurances from Colo. Gilpin who has known him upwards of twenty years, that he is a decent and respectable character

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 15 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

I take the liberty to address you from having the Honneur of Knowing the President of the U:S: at the time I lived with Theos: Cazenove’s Esqr. as is Steward till I want in business, Mr: Petit succeed me at Mr: Cazenovs my Wife & Daughters have gone to England, been hout of business; my wiches is to devote my self to the manegement of some Gentelman family if your Excellence or aney of your friends ad such imployment will Exert my self to please I am

RC (MHi); at head of text: “Your Excellence”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

Samuel Richardet operated the City Tavern and Merchants’ Coffee House in Philadelphia from 1796 to 1799. The establishment offered overnight accommodations, meals, beverages, and a reading room supplied with current newspapers from the United States and Europe. Merchants and ship captains used the coffee house as an exchange where they could meet and post information. Médéric Louis Elie Moreau de St. Méry dined there with Talleyrand not long after Richardet became the proprietor. In 1807, Richardet made arrangements to run the Indian Queen tavern, also in Philadelphia (Gazette of the United States, 4 Jan. 1797; PMHB, 46 [1922], 75; 47 [1923], 176-7; 128 [2004], 169; Kenneth Roberts and Anna M. Roberts, trans. and eds., Moreau de St. Méry’s American Journey, 1793-1798 [Garden City, N.Y., 1947], 214; Vol. 33:360).

STEWARD: Théophile Cazenove lived in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1798. On his arrival in the United States as the business agent of Dutch investors, he carried a letter of introduction to TJ from the Amsterdam banking firm of Van Staphorst & Hubbard (ANB; Vol. 15: 562-3; Vol. 20:331-2).

I should presume that it might not be amiss to enquire of Genl. Sumpter, W. Hampton, or other known respectable characters in S.C., what wieght & credit is to be given to the representations of Mr. D. and what would be proper to be done for him (if any thing) by the Exect.—he may become a mischevious man, and in the critical situation of that State, however undeserving, it may be proper to take some notice of him. from all that I have seen from him & heard of him, I conclude that he would be very quiet about removals &c. if he could git a snug place for himself. Mr. Gallatin might easily obtain all necessary information, & if it should appear that Mr. D. is neither intitled to notice, or to be feared, he might be permited to continue his complaints through his tedious letters. H. D.

RC (DLC); undated; addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the War Department on 13 Oct. 1802 and “D’Oyley’s letters” and so recorded in SJL.

For the REPRESENTATIONS of Daniel D’Oyley, see TJ to Gallatin, 6 Oct. and Gallatin to TJ, 8 Oct.

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 expence, & to the greatest abuses. there is however one intention of which the act is susceptible & which will bring it within the constitution; and we ought always to presume that the real intention which is alone consistent with the constitution. altho the power to regulate commerce does not give a power to build piers, wharfs, open ports, clear the beds of rivers, dig canals, build warehouses, build manufacturing machines, set up manufactories, cultivate the earth, to all of which the power would go, if it went to the first, yet a power to provide and maintain a navy, is a power to provide receptacles for it and places to cover & preserve it. in chusing the places where this money should be laid out, I should be much disposed, as far as contracts will permit, to confine it to such place or places as the ships of war may lie at, and be protected from ice: & I should be for stating this in a message to Congress in order to prevent the effect of the present example. this act has been built on the exercise of the power of building lighthouses as a regulation of commerce. but I well remember the opposition, on this very ground, to the first act for building a lighthouse. the utility of the thing has sanctioned the infraction. but if on that infraction we build a 2d. on that 2d. a 3d &c. any one of the powers in the constitution may be made to comprehend every power of government.—will you read the inclosed letters on the subject of New Orleans, and think what we can do or propose in the case? Accept my affectionate salutations.

RC (NHi: Gallatin Papers); endorsed by Gallatin: “President Delaware piers.” PrC (DLC). Recorded in SJL as a letter to the Treasury Department with notation “piers in Delaware.” Enclosures: (1) Daniel W. Coxe to James Madison, Philadelphia, 8 Oct., arguing the importance of authorizing the customs collector at Natchez to grant clearances to American ships “loading with American Produce at New Orleans, & bound to British European Ports” (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 4:1-3). (2) Printed broadside consisting of the British statute of 22 June 1802 repealing several acts relating to the admission of certain articles in neutral vessels by issuing Orders in Council for that purpose, to continue in effect until 1 Jan. 1804; and a letter from Green & Wainewright dated Liverpool, 14 Aug., explaining that the act provided that U.S. produce can only be imported in British vessels or in American ships, built and registered in the United States, with the master and “three-fourths of the Crew at least American” (same, 4:2n; Gallatin, Papers, 7:613). (3) Extract of Green & Wainewright to Coxe, Liverpool, 18 Aug. 1802, noting that existing British laws do not allow the importation of American produce from New Orleans, but customs officers think it will be allowed if the produce is transferred from boats from the U.S. settlements to “Ships having regular Clearances from an American Custom House on the Mississippi”; cotton not grown in the U.S. would have to be sent to the British West Indies or any other port where it could be transferred to British vessels; if the plan suggested “is not practicable, the Vessels must touch at a port of the United States for a Clearance & the Crew must be particularly attended to as We have been Witness to several very disagreeable circumstances thro’ this point” (same, 7:614; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 4:2-3n).

On 17 July 1789, the New York Daily Advertiser recorded OPPOSITION to proposed legislation for the establishment and support of lighthouses by South Carolina congressmen Thomas Tudor Tucker and William Loughton Smith. The bill authorized the U.S. government to assume the expenses for building and maintaining lighthouses. The state had only to apply to the Treasury secretary and cede to the federal government the land upon which the lighthouse was to be built. Tucker and Smith argued that the bill was an infringement on the rights of the states and that lighthouses “were not necessarily incidental to the power of commerce.” If Congress were given this power, they declared, it “might with equal justice take possession of the mouths of rivers, and seize all such convenient places, as they should deem proper for the regulation of trade.” On 7 Aug. 1789, Washington signed the “act for the establishment and support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers” (U.S. Statutes at Large, 1:53-4; Biog. Dir. Cong.).

I have the honor to enclose the report of Richard L. Green, of the repairs necessary to prevent the further decay of that part of the Gosport marine Hospital which is not now used.

The Collector of Norfolk, by whose direction it was prepared, informs that the necessary repairs of that part of the building which is now occupied by the sick Seamen, are nearly completed; and I beg leave to submit the propriety of authorizing the repairs, of which the estimate is now enclosed, as they will cost less than 1500 dollars; and if completed before winter, may prevent, hereafter, a much greater expense.

RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin; at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 13 Oct. and “repairs of hospital at Norfolk” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.

For repairs at the GOSPORT MARINE HOSPITAL, see Gallatin to TJ, 9 Aug. 1802 (second letter). COLLECTOR OF NORFOLK: William Davies.

I have the honor to enclose a second Report of the Chamber of commerce of Philadelphia, and a letter from the Commissioners appointed by the State of Delaware for the purpose of applying certain monies to the erection of piers near New castle; both of which documents relate to the application of the sums appropriated by the law of last Session, for the repairs and erection of piers in the river Delaware.

From these and the former communications on the same subject, it appears that the manner of applying the money which will be generally most agreable to the persons interested in the navigation of the Delaware, will be the erection of the intended piers, at Reedy-Island and at New castle.

I am inclined to believe not only that the selection of those two places is the most advantageous to the commercial Interest of Pennsylvania & Delaware, but that the intended piers will, in both places, afford a protection to the public Ships of the United States, which they cannot now find in any part of the river below Philadelphia

From those considerations, I am induced to submit to your consideration the propriety of authorizing the expenditure of the balance (amounting to, near, 24,000 dollars) of the appropriation which will remain after having completed the repairs, to the erection of the intended new Piers at the two abovementioned Places.

Depth low water at New castle piers 24 feet.
Do. Do. Do. at Reedy Isld. new do. 23 do.
common Tides rising 7 feet.

RC (DLC); in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin; endorsed by TJ as received from Treasury Department on 14 Oct. and “piers in Delaware” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures not found.

For the COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED by Delaware, see Gallatin to TJ, 8 Oct.

Immediately on the reciept of your letter of Sep. 16. stating the enlistment of Jeremiah Battels, an infant, against the will of his father, directions were sent to the proper officer to enquire into the fact and, if true, to discharge him. perhaps however the officer may not be in a situation to obtain evidence, and the order fail from that cause. in such case it is proper the father should know that by applying to a judge for a Habeas corpus, the young man will be brought before the judge, to whom the father may exhibit the proofs, and, if satisfactory, the judge will discharge him on this ground that an infant is incapable of engaging himself to any thing without the consent of his father or guardian. this method of discharge, where it can be conveniently resorted to, is preferable to the other, because it is useful to exhibit examples of the military will controuled & circumscribed by the civil authority. Accept my best wishes & respects.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Mr. Anthony Haswell. Bennington.”

I this moment recieve a letter from John Hyndman Purdie of Smithfield asking the office on which I wrote you yesterday, and another from his father George Purdie. the latter I formerly knew, and he was a man of merit. I know nothing of their politics; yet that article of character is not to be neglected: and if there be a republican who will do, he should be preferred in the state of great inequality which at present exists. I mention this application that this person may be one of the subjects of your enquiry. accept my friendly salutations & respects.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Colo. Thos. Newton”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

A letter dated 8 Oct. from JOHN HYNDMAN PURDIE was recorded in SJL as received 13 Oct. with the notation “to be Surveyor Smithfield vice Thos. Blow resigned.” TJ also recorded receiving a letter of the same date from George Purdie. Neither letter has been found. The younger Purdie was a doctor who later represented Isle of Wight County in the Virginia House of Delegates for four terms, while the elder was a merchant who had long been a leading citizen of Smithfield and from whom TJ had recently tried to obtain hams (Ruth L. Woodward and Wesley Frank Craven, Princetonians, 1784-1790: A Biographical Dictionary [Princeton, 1991], 516-17; Vol. 34:229).

I enclose the report of the persons appointed to survey the sound together with some other papers connected with the same subject, and the rough draught of a letter intended for the Commr. of the revenue, for the purpose of carrying the law into effect—

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 14 Oct. and “lighthouses in Sound” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures not found.

The 6 Apr. 1802 act for the erection of lighthouses directed that the Treasury secretary appoint “proper and intelligent persons” TO SURVEY Long Island SOUND to determine where lighthouses should be built and buoys placed. In June, Gallatin appointed Captain Nathan Post of Bridgehampton, New York; merchant John Cahoone, of Newport, Rhode Island; and Nicholl Fosdick, of New London, Connecticut, to make the survey and requested that the revenue cutter at New London be placed at their disposal. The men conducted the survey in August. CARRYING THE LAW INTO EFFECT: the law directed the Treasury secretary to purchase the land, build the lighthouses, and appoint lighthouse keepers, using funds from the U.S. Treasury, provided the states ceded jurisdiction over the proposed sites to the United States (U.S. Statutes at Large, 2:150-1; Gallatin, Papers, 7:76, 259; 8:197).

The difficulties attending the New Orleans trade & suggested in the enclosed letters, cannot certainly be obviated without a law, nor probably without a special convention on that subject. By the British navigation acts, american produce cannot be imported into Great Britain from a port not of the United States except in British vessels. Mississipi cotton grown within the United States cannot, therefore, be exported from New Orleans except in such vessels. It is proposed in the letter that the custom house officer of Natchez or rather of Loftus heights (the lowest american port on the river) should grant clearances to american vessels bound from New Orleans to English ports. That he certainly has no right to do without a law of Congress. How the Spanish Govt. would view such procedure, which is almost tantamount to considering N. Orleans as an american port cannot be ascertained: and it seems very doubtful whether the British Govt. would consider such clearance as legal & vessels thus cleared as bound from an american port. If they are disposed to do it, they will find no objection to entering into a special convention for that purpose, or to some modification of their Laws. It must, however be observed, that the inconvenience complained of is one of the least attending the New Orleans trade. Considering the course which a vessel bound from that port to Europe must follow, it cannot be any very great inconvenience to touch at some Georgia or S. Carolina port, where, when (as in the supposed case) the cargo will consist solely of american produce, a regular clearance may be obtained which will admit the vessel to enter the British ports—

RC (DLC: Albert Gallatin Papers); undated; at foot of text: “The President”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 14 Oct. and “Missisipi regulns” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: see those described at TJ to Gallatin, 13 Oct.

For the recent implementation of regulations for the Mississippi and NEW ORLEANS TRADE, see the exchanges between Gallatin and TJ on 7, 14 (first letter), and 19 Aug.

MODIFICATION OF THEIR LAWS: on 11 Aug. 1803, the British passed a law allowing American goods to be imported from New Orleans in U.S. vessels (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 4:2-3n).

I recieve with great pleasure the sentiments of approbation which you are so kind as to express of my administration. I claim only the merit of pure and disinterested intentions, in no way warped by any love of power. for the wisdom of our course, whatever it may be, I must ascribe it to those to whom it is due, my wise coadjutors. the leaders of the federal faction after an ineffectual trial of the force of political lying & misrepresentation, are trying what impression can be made by personal lies and defamation. on me none. the only revenge I shall ever stoop to will be to sink federalism into an abyss from which there shall be no resurrection for it. as to the effect on my fellow citizens, it is a great consolation to me to believe that they consider a life spent in their presence & service, & without reproach either political or moral, as better evidence than the calumnies of a party whose passions and interests impel them strongly to regard neither truth nor decency in their endeavors to obtain victory, and whose conduct shews they act under that impulse.

I congratulate you on the event of your election. there is one phaenomenon in it, the increase of the federal majority in Kent, which I cannot account for, and which has struck me the more as it is the only district in the US. which has exhibited such an increase in the late elections, as far as I have heard of them. I pray you to accept assurances of my high consideration & respect.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “William Killen esq.”

SENTIMENTS OF APPROBATION: Killen to TJ, 4 Sep.

I am this morning honor’d with your favor of the 10th. inst.—and take the earliest Opportunity to acknowledge it—& to assure The President, that I shall with great pleasure endeavour to obtain a birth for Mr. B. agreeably to his wishes—Men of such a Character, as Mr. B. is stated to bear, are rarely found, & deserve encouragement I could imediately put him into a place of $600. Pr. Ann. in which he would have leisure to attend to other business, until he can be better provided for, which I have reason to believe can be done with propriety during the Winter—

RC (MHi); at foot of text: “The President of The U.S.”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Oct. and so recorded in SJL but as a letter of 12 Oct.

I now return the letter which you were so kind as to inclose me, and am thankful for the opportunity of perusing it, as I am for all the information which individuals are so kind as to give me. the line of conduct of the Executive was not taken up but after very general enquiry & information from the different parts of the Union, and a very extensive consultation with the prominent characters among the Republicans. the monopoly of all¹ the offices of the US. by a particular party exclusively is a conduct in our immediate predecessors which² we have ourselves condemned as unjust & tyrannical. we cannot then either in morality or decency imitate it. a fair & proportionate participation however ought to be aimed at. as to the mode of obtaining this I know there is great difference of opinion; some thinking it should be done at a single stroke; others that it would conduce more to the tranquility of the country to do the thing by degrees, filling with republicans the vacancies occurring by deaths, resignations & delinquencies, and using the power of removal only in the cases of persons who continue to distinguish themselves by a malignant activity & opposition to that republican order of things which it is their duty to cooperate in, or at least to be silent. we have formed our own opinion on a very mature view of the whole subject, and not without a just attention to the temper and wishes of every part of the union, reduced as well as we have been able to do it, to a general result. Accept my respectful salutations and best wishes.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “Nicholas Norris esq. Baltimore.”

THE LETTER: see Norris to TJ, 28 Sep.

¹ Word interlined.

² Preceding five words interlined.

I am this Moment favd: with your Mo.ly statements from the present to the 4th: March—will guide me, in arranging, your Necessary paymts. for the present Mo:—nothing will suffer—

And while I can avoid—discounting—your Note, I must confess it will be to me—far preferable,—my Only fear is—that even, the generous Allowance for Monthly expenditures, Other, unexpected, & unavoidable Ones, will Attach themselves,—to your particular situation—but untill any of them Appear, and become pressing—I should still hope and wish, to forego, that Alternative.—

RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); at foot of text: “The President. UStates”; endorsed by TJ as received 15 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

I AM THIS MOMENT FAVD: a letter from TJ to Barnes dated 15 Oct. is recorded in SJL but has not been found.

The subject of this Letter will, I trust, plead my apology for the liberty I now take in trespassing on your time.

Governor St Clair has at last committed an act which, unless he should be immediately removed from office, will preclude the possibility of my discharging, any longer, some of the most essential duties that are attached to the office of Secretary of the Territory.

Not contented with the violation of the Act of Congress, which in the absence of the Governor, invests the Secretary with all the powers and injoins upon him all the duties of the first Magistrate, by taking with him from the Territory on one of his visits to his private Estate at Ligonier in Pensylvania the public Seal of the Territory (with a view to prevent me from appointing Republicans to office)— not satisfied with having removed several meritorious Republicans whom I had commissioned during his last absence, and with throwing every obstacle in my way, merely because I enjoy the confidence of the Republican Party who have lately elected me to the Convention,—he withholds from me the Records of my office which he obtained the possession of (some months ago) by deceiving me with a promise of returning them as soon as he should have looked over the statement of my official proceedings during his late visit to the Atlantic States.

The relative situation in which I stand as the second officer in the Government, together with other motives of delicacy and the prospect of our having a State Government in the course of the ensuing Summer, has prevented me heretofore from representing to the General Government some of his manifold misdeeds. Indeed it is with much reluctance that I am constrained to do it on this occasion: but it is a duty of justice which I owe to my office to give you the above statement as I can no longer perform some of the most important duties injoined upon me, unless he should be compelled to return to me the Journals of my office immediately, which he will not do until he is removed.

There is another consideration to which I beg leave to call your attention. The last Session of our Legislature cost the Territory ten thousand dollars; and the Session to be held on the fourth monday in next month promises also to be an expensive one. It is the opinion of all those persons, who are not dependent on the Governor for their continuance in office, that as we are so soon to have a State Government and a State Legislature (which is now fully ascertained by the Returns of the Members chosen to the Convention) that there is no necessity for another Session of the Territorial Assembly. But the People are so thoroughly satisfied that an application to Governor St Clair for the postponement of the Legislature, would prove abortive, that they are discouraged from making it. They have told me that they would petition for his removal from office even at this late hour, in order to save the useless expence of another Session of the Territorial Assembly, if they had not been convinced by experience that their petitions on this subject would not be attended to.

RC (DLC); addressed: “The honble, Thomas Jefferson Esquire President of the United States City of Washington” and “Favored by H Cadbury Esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Dec. and so recorded in SJL.

For background on the acrimonious relationship between Byrd and Arthur ST CLAIR, see Vol. 37:505-6. During St. Clair’s LAST ABSENCE from the Northwest Territory from March to July 1802, Byrd appointed dozens of Republicans to militia and judicial posts, many on the advice of Nathaniel Massie, his brother-inlaw and one of the territory’s leading Republicans. After returning to the territory, St. Clair obtained the executive journals from Byrd and demanded that the secretary explain why the appointments were made. He further directed Byrd to obtain offices to house the territory’s public records, in order that the governor and “every person might have access, and where the business of the Territory might be transacted” (Terr. Papers, 3:240-2, 533-5; Brown, “Frontier Politics,” 268-9).

ELECTED ME TO THE CONVENTION: Republicans easily carried the October election of delegates to the Ohio constitutional convention, winning 26 of 35 seats and predominating in every part of the territory except the Federalist bastion of Washington County. Byrd was among the ten delegates chosen from Hamilton County (Brown, “Frontier Politics,” 270-6; Randolph Chandler Downes, Frontier Ohio, 1788-1803 [Columbus, 1935], 239-46; Thomas Worthington to TJ, 8 Nov. 1802).

I have lately received the letter of your Majesty bearing date the 6th day of July last, announcing that contracts of marriage had been adjusted between your much beloved son Don Fernando, Prince of Asturias and the Infanta of Naples Donna Maria Antonia; and between your very dear Daughter Donna Maria Isabel and the hereditary Prince of that Kingdom Don Francis Genaro. From the interest we take as your Majesty very justly supposes in all the events which contribute to your happiness, we pray your Majesty to receive our cordial congratulations on these occasions which we fervently hope may promote both the happiness of your Majesty and of your August family. And while we express our acknowledgments for your friendly interest in our prosperity, we pray God to have you great and good Friend always in his holy keeping.

Written at the City of Washington, the Fifteenth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and two; and of the Independence of the United States of America, the Twenty Seventh.

FC (Lb in DNA: RG 59, Credences); in a clerk’s hand; at head of text: “Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States of America, To His Majesty Don Carlos by the Grace of God King of Castile, of Leon, of Aragon, of the two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Mallorca, of Seville, of Sardinia, of Cordova, of Corcega, of Murcia, of Jaen, of the Algarves, of Algecira, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the East and West Indies, of the Islands and Main Land, of the Ocean—Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgoña, of Brabant, and of Milan, Count of Apsburg, of Flanders, of Tirol and of Barcelona, Lord of Biscay and of Molina &c”; below signature: “By the President” and “James Madison Secretary of State.” Not recorded in SJL.

On opening the door leading from the passage into my bookroom, and on the shelves to the left, immediately on entrance, are a parcel of locks which I omitted to give out to mr Perry to be put on the doors he made. there are 3. small¹ Cup-board locks for the 3. lockers in the kitchen.

3. japanned closet locks, for the 3. servants rooms, and a 4th. I think for the North necessary. of the stock locks in the same place, the 2. worst are for the doors of the kitchen & wash-house. the best is for the outer door of the Smoke house. the inner door will not need a lock till I come. one door of the kitchen is to be bolted within. be so good as to deliver them to mr Perry with a request that he put them on immediately. Accept my best wishes.

RC (privately owned, Philadelphia, 2002); addressed: “Mr. James Dinsmore Monticello near <Charlottesville> Milton”; franked and postmarked.

¹ Word interlined.

Enclosed is the pamphlet which ought to have accompanied my last. I should like to have an opportunity of giving you a history of the electioneering business. It would take a quire of paper to do it, & I must defer it, until I have the pleasure of seeing you. Tho’ our majority be small, I trust it is an important victory which the Opposition will sensibly feel. By the Polls it appears that the Fedl. candidate did not keep pace with his ticket in either New Castle or Kent Counties whilst the Republican candidate was ahead of his in all the Counties. Falsehoods calumnies & abuse, the usual weapons in a lost cause, have been lavished upon us all during the contest. Mr. Bayard is held up as a demi-god by their “Ark” & the character of the state is destroyed, in consequence of his losing his election. With great esteem I am Dr. Sir

P.S. Permit me to mention the names of Mr. Bonsal who is a bookseller in Baltimore & his partner Mr. Niles who resides here as young men of quaker families whose zeal & uniformity entitle them to notice & attention. They have printed the pamphlet enclosed & a great number of other things during the contest. Mr. Niles with my friend J. Warner signed the certificate relative to H. Latimer which I see printed in Duane’s paper of yesterday & which was printed in a hand bill by Mr. Niles who drew up the comments which followed the certificate a few days before the election. It had a wonderful effect.

I mention these facts of those gentlemen as Administration may do them some service without going out of that path of rectitude which I trust will ever mark their course.

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 16 Oct. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Authentic Information Relative to the Conduct of the Present & Last Administrations of the United States by “A Friend to Liberty, Peace & Economy,” printed by Bonsal and Niles, with statements of the savings made by TJ and Congress as documented, in part, by the 18 Mch. 1802 letter of New York congressman Theodorus Bailey to his constituents; using committee reports and the journals of the House to compare the Republican and Federalist stands on repeal of internal taxes and redemption of the public debt in 1802 and the passage of the stamp tax, the land tax, the $5,000,000 loan, additional duties on salt, and other legislation from 1797 to 1799, always highlighting James A. Bayard’s vote with the Federalists; concluding with a statement of the tax savings the people of Delaware would experience through the repeal of internal taxes and the judiciary act, a total of $11,463.10, and observing that by TJ’s “prudent measures” Delaware will save more than the $10,500 annual expense of the state government “by lopping off oppressive taxes and useless offices” (Wilmington, Del., 1802; Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 1792), 3-32.

Vincent BONSAL and Hezekiah NILES had offices in Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore. Niles had served an apprenticeship with Benjamin Johnson, a Wilmington printer, bookbinder, and bookseller, and gained the reputation of being “the quickest, most efficient typesetter in America.” In 1799, Bonsal and Niles printed the Wilmington Delaware Gazette, and from 1799 to 1804 they printed and sold almanacs, including the Bonsal and Niles’ Town and Country Almanac, in both cities (see Evans, No. 36442; Shaw-Shoemaker, Nos. 313, 880, 1432, 1923, 3853-5, 7379; ANB, s.v. “Niles, Hezekiah”; Cornelius William Stafford, The Baltimore Directory, for 1803 [Baltimore, 1803], 20-1; Brigham, American Newspapers, 1:81). For other publications printed by them, see Vol. 36:220n, 239n.

On 2 Oct., Niles and Wilmington Republican merchant John WARNER signed a certificate claiming that Henry LATIMER, a Delaware senator from 1795 to 1801, had declared in their presence that farmers, mechanics, and laborers in the United States lived too well, consuming roasted meats, coffee, and tea and “that they must be reduced to the same state as the peasants of Ireland, Who Live on Herrings and Potatoes.” Latimer continued, “that rather than live under such an administration as Jefferson’s He would remove to the dominions of the Empress Kate of Russia.” Niles commented that TJ’s system of economy in government would “enable the people to live yet better, and have more leisure to bestow in contemplating upon, and acting in, public affairs—and all this in direct contradiction and defiance of the principles of Mr. Latimer” and other leaders of the Federalist party (Philadelphia Aurora, 12 Oct. 1802; John A. Munroe, Federalist Delaware, 1775-1815 [New Brunswick, N.J., 1954], 213, 252).

I beg leave to recommend to you the Bearer, Mr. P. Kuhn Junr., a very amiable & worthy young gentleman who is about establishing a commercial house at Gibralter—He is the Son of a Gentleman of very high character for honour & integrity, who has been long & successfully engaged in the mediterranean trade—as he has been educated in his Father’s Compting House, & has acquired a knowledge of Gibralter & its neighbourhood by two voyages, I believe he would perform the duties of Consul to your satisfaction if you should think proper to appoint him—

With most grateful and affectionate recollection of your kind attention, & with sincere wishes for your health & happiness, I am most respectfully Your obliged friend

RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “His Excellency The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 26 Oct. and “Kuhn. P. junr. to be Consul at Gibraltar” and so recorded in SJL.

For Peter KUHN, Jr., see his letter to TJ of 5 Nov.

I have to thank you Sir—which I most Sincerely do, for your very flattering & honorable introduction of me, to Genl M—with his very polite & immediate Answer

—but, Situated as my Store and Accts are—and probably will be untill spring—(for I have had no Offers—nor purchasers), nor person—in whom to confide in—Such a Charge—I am of Necessity Obliged to decline Accepting so favorable an Offer.—If Sir—you should judge it proper for me, I would either write or wait personally on G M—

RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); at foot of text: “The Presidt: UStates”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Oct.

GENL M: J. P. G. Muhlenberg. See TJ to Muhlenberg, 10 Oct., and Muhlenberg to TJ, 14 Oct.

I am very Apprehensive you have in the warmth of your friendly recommendation far—very far—exceeded the humble abilities I really possess—and withal not made the Necessary Allowances, for my Age, & defects which, the want of practice, may be indispensible in the rotine of business there—in which Case, I should be exceedingly Mortified indeed—in Attempting to Obtrude myself, at the expence of discrediting my employer, & Principal—on the Other hand, could I but be made Acquainted with the Particulars, thereof, I could then judge of the Necessary Qualifications—to insure both, or, however reluctantly, to decline the Boon so freely offered—Under these particular circumstances I beg leave to Submit it, to your better Judgment if, it would not be prudent in me to wait on G M. in person, or, to write to him—on the Subject, of my embarrassments.

RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 17 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

FAVR. WITH WHICH YOU HOND. ME THIS MORNING: a letter from TJ to Barnes dated 16 Oct. has not been found, nor is one recorded in SJL.

I enclose a letter of Capn. Crowningshield recommending the removal of the Surveyor of Gloucester. The new collector’s (Gibaut) letter making a similar representation was sent to you some days ago.

The sickness & absence of the principal accounting clerk of this office (Mr Sheldon) has prevented my transmitting the weekly return of Warrants.

RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 16 Oct. and “removal of Surveyor of Gloster.” Enclosure not found.

Samuel Whittemore, a Harvard graduate and Federalist, had served as SURVEYOR OF GLOUCESTER since 1789. He was removed in 1803 (Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser., 5:196n; jep, 1:9, 12; Vol. 33:673).

Without any personal acquaintance we take the liberty to address you, in relation to two gentleman holding Offices in this City, under the general government, deriving their appointments thro’ the nomination, & liable to be removed by the President of the United States—

We are not insensible, that in the exercise of your constitutional prerogative, there has been a constant regret on your part, to remove Incumbents, even when justifiable, & demanded by circumstances in themselves imperious; we have however witnessed in the discharge of your functions, in relation to removals a firmness & decision, commanding our respect & admiration; & we cannot permit ourselves to doubt a continuance of a disposition which has secured to you, the approbation of all Republicans possessed of discernment & intelligence—

The Officers to whom we have reference are Henry Malcolm Collector of this port, & John C. Ten Broeck Surveyor. In our estimation (& the opinion is not lightly adopted,) their removal is justifiable and we think called for on the grounds of political expediency, & an equal participation in the Honors & Emoluments of Office; both of these Gentlemen have held their offices ever since their creation, & they are both in an eminent degree, hostile to the Administration, & the very principles, for which we are contending—

Their removal however is not sollicited on these grounds alone; Mr. Malcolm is a practising Physician & is frequently called out of the place, hence we assert it as an indisputable fact, that there has arisen & will constantly arise delays & embarrassments to Masters of Vessels & Coasters, which ought not to be tolerated—

Mr. Ten Broeck has evinced in another Office from which he has been removed on that principle solely, a want of punctuality & fidelity highly exceptionable; He has in fact used the public money to a considerable amount & at this moment retains it—We submit therefore whether he has not justly forfeited the public confidence & whether he merits any further countenance from the government—

We forbear to name to you any persons for the Offices, which we wish vacated by the present Incumbents, you will undoubtedly take measures to inform yourself of suitable Characters—

Permit us Sir, to assure you that we have no other objects in view, in this communication, than the good of the Republic & the maintenance of principles to us most sacred—

We are with sentiments of high respect and unalterable esteem Your Excellency’s Obedt. Servts—

RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); in Spencer’s hand, signed by Jenkins, Spencer, and Coffin; at foot of text: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson Esqr. President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 4 Nov. and “Henry Malcolm Collector of Hudson John C. Tenbroeck Surveyor of do. to be removd” and so recorded in SJL.

Ambrose Spencer (1765-1848), a native of Connecticut and a Harvard graduate, moved to Hudson, New York, in the mid-1780s as a law clerk preparing for the bar. In the 1790s he won election to the state assembly and the state senate, served on the New York Council of Appointments, and forged a political alliance with DeWitt Clinton. In 1804, he became a member of the state supreme court (ANB; Gideon Granger to TJ, 14 May 1802).

Alexander Coffin (1740-1839), like Jenkins, was originally from Nantucket Island and was one of the original proprietors of Hudson. A merchant sea captain, at various times he held local and state political offices. In February 1802, he became postmaster of Hudson on the removal of Cotton Gelston, a Federalist who had held the position since 1790 (Daily National Intelligencer, 22 Jan. 1839; Hudson Balance, and Columbian Repository, 16 Feb. 1802; Stephen B. Miller, Historical Sketches of Hudson [Hudson, N.Y., 1862], 6, 18, 31, 113, 114, 115).

WITHOUT ANY PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE: TJ and Madison passed through Hudson, and stopped there for breakfast, in May 1791. During that visit, Seth Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins’s brother, conversed with TJ about his distillery (MB, 2:819, 823; Vol. 20:559-60).

I hope a letter, some time since, directed to you at the seat of Govt. altho it contained no treason, did not fail of reaching you. The spirit, and bitterness of the opposition is as great as ever. The numbers has however, not increased; I think, some what, diminished: Every thing, every calumny, which malice can invent, or baseness propagate, is put in circulation. Respectable people, or at least many of them, who say, and openly effect, to dislike, and to censure aspersions, as infamous & false, yet secretly countenance them. Their sincere, and pointed disapprobation, would soon put and end to them. The object is, to hunt down destroy, and render odious, in the eyes of the people, the administration, and the whole republican character and interest. Some of the opposition leaders say, it must be done, and are stupid enough, to beleive it can, and will be done. Under this impression it is not strange, as truth will not serve them, they should have recourse to falshood and abuse. These topicks I trust are nearly exhausted. It is evident they are losing their effects, with the body of the people. The Exertions on both sides will be great at our approaching election. The Republicans, in general, have hitherto, in my opinion, been too inattentive. They have been too timid and accomodating to their enemies:—to those who never will accommodate, but on the terms, of an unconditional surrender. There can be no reconciliation, consistent, with the present measures, with the preservation of the existing republican system of Government—I once thought otherwise. I hope we shall have six or seven Republicans from this State¹—

My family has been extremely sick, my house a perfect hospital. For near two months, I have been the constant companion of sick chambers. The attentions, to a sickness requiring the attendence of three physicians² repeatedly in the course of the day & four watchers in the night, in some degree impaired my own health. We are getting better, and hope in the fore part of the next month to be able to leave Worcester for Washington—

RC (DLC); at head of text: “The President of the U. States”; endorsed by TJ as received 22 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

LETTER: Lincoln to TJ, 24 July.

EXTREMELY SICK: severe dysentery caused a number of deaths, particularly among children, in several locales in New England during the summer and fall of 1802 (Boston Massachusetts Mercury, 24 Aug.; Worcester Massachusetts Spy, 25 Aug.; Salem Gazette, 3, 13, 16 Sep.; Hartford Connecticut Courant, 20 Sep.; Boston Gazette, 30 Sep.; Litchfield Monitor, 13 Oct.).

¹ Sentence interlined.

² MS: “physians.”

The inclosed is merely the letter of form communicating the paper it covers to the society. but I promised Capt Groves to write you a private & more particular one. he has proposed a new method of observing the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites at sea. you will percieve that he is not expert at explaining his ideas. he has invented an instrument too for making the observations, but what are it’s advantages or disadvantages I have not had time to examine. his proposition can be fully explained by the use of an instrument we already possess, that of Hadley’s sextant. instead of the small telescope sometimes fixed to that, substitute one of sufficient power to shew Jupiter’s satellites. perhaps a reflector would be more convenient than a refractor of equal power. take your observation, at sea, by drawing the planet & satellites down to or near the horison, in which situation, the body being erect can preserve it’s position by humoring the motion of the ship and have a steady view of the immersion or emersion of the Satellite. this seems to be a substitute for the Marine chair, and being a simple, easy & cheap thing, instead of a complicated, expensive & bulky one, several observers may act at the same time, the better to ascertain the instant of immersion. for the true time of the immersion he depends, as the marine chair does, on the time keepers in use. Capt Groves is not a man of science, & does not perfectly know how to estimate the merit of his invention. I told him I believed it would be within the usual course of the proceedings of the society to refer his paper to a committee, who would report their opinion & explain the degree of usefulness of his proposition. this is precisely what he wishes, for being very poor, he is anxious to make from it whatever it is worth. should I have mistaken the usual course of the society in supposing they would give an opinion on the merit of the proposition, then I would ask of you to favor me with a private statement of your view of it, to be communicated to him. to these favors I would sollicit that of dispatch to be added because he means to stay here until he learns the result, which in the very low state of his finances is not convenient to him. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of high respect.

RC (PPAmP); at foot of first page: “Mr. David Patterson.” PrC (DLC); TJ corrected Patterson’s first name in ink at foot of first page. Enclosures: (1) TJ to Patterson, 16 Oct.: “Dear Sir I inclose you a paper recieved from the hands of Capt Matthew C. Groves of Massachusets, wherein he proposes a more convenient method of observing the eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites for the purpose of ascertaining longitude at sea, than he supposes to have been hitherto practised. I communicate it to the society at his request, and tender you the assurances of my great esteem & respect” (PrC in DLC; at foot of text: “Mr. Robert Patterson. one of the V.P. of the A.P.S.”). (2) Description by Groves of “a new mode of observing the Eclipses of Jupiter’s Satellites &c.,” not found; presented to the American Philosophical Society in a meeting on 5 Nov. and referred to Patterson, who gave a report on Groves’s paper in a meeting on 18 Nov. (APS, Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 327, 328).

It has occurred to me that perhaps a special licence for me to pass with my Slaves through South Carolina might be obtained from the Executive of that State upon my giving security that not one of them should remain in it. I have not heard that such an application has been made but I do not see any solid reason why leave should not be granted as the end of the laws restraining the passage is to hinder importation only and that end cannot be at all defeated if a penalty larger than any profit which could be made by sale in the State be taken. What those laws are I have no means of knowing and therefore it may not be possible to obtain what I wish: should it not be I must resolve on the circuitous rout, though from a person just arrived in this neighbourhood from Georgia I learn that the difficulty and cost must be very much greater. That person if I could get permission could carry out my Slaves for me on terms more reasonable than I ever expected; by the ordinary rout: from his estimate they cannot cost me more than 5 or 6 Dollars each including waggon hire for their baggage: he returns next month. you will render me a service of importance by giving me some information early on the subject.— Martha has recovered completely: the children are all well. With true affection.

RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 20 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

Randolph feared that his plan, discussed in a letter to TJ of 20 Mch. 1802, to move some of his slaves to Georgia to start a cotton plantation was being stymied by a series of South Carolina LAWS banning the importation of SLAVES into that state. Most recently an 1801 act had imposed a $100 fine on every slave or free black imported from outside the state and empowered sheriffs to seize for sale any slaves found to be in the state illegally (Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina. Passed in December, 1801 [Columbia, S.C., 1802; Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 3100], 30-6). The bans, which were never well enforced, ended after 1804, but by then Randolph’s interest in Georgia had faded (Rachel N. Klein, Unification of a Slave State: The Rise of the Planter Class in the South Carolina Backcountry, 1760-1808 [Chapel Hill, 1990], 127-8, 234-5, 253-5; William H. Gaines, Jr., Thomas Mann Randolph, Jefferson’s Son-in-Law [Baton Rouge, 1966], 47).

We have this morning recieved authentic information from mr Simpson that a state of peace is happily restored between us & the emperor of Marocco. information habitually recieved shews there has never been any danger of rupture between us & Tunis or Algiers. in this state of things, and considering the approach of winter, it becomes necessary we should have a general consultation of the heads of departments on the plan we are to pursue in the Mediterranean: and considering the advance of the season & the circumstance that the New York & John Adams are still at Norfolk, even 24. hours of delay becomes important, because if it is necessary for them to go they may carry our orders. under these circumstances I must ask your immediate attendance here for the purpose of consultation. some other matters also, interesting to the Navy department require immediate attention; particularly the procuring regular estimates &c. on the subject of our dry dock. I pray you to accept assurances of my affectionate esteem & respect.

PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “The Secretary of the Navy.”

THIS MORNING RECIEVED: on 16 Oct., dispatches written by James Simpson on 12 Aug. and 3 Sep. arrived at the State Department. Although Mawlay Sulayman was pressing a demand for annual gifts from the United States, Simpson had decided to remain in Morocco, raise the flag on the consulate, and notify other consuls that peace had been restored. He made the decision after conferring with Richard V. Morris, who said he could not remain close to the Moroccan coast given the “very urgent” need for the squadron’s ships elsewhere in the Mediterranean. “Your return to your Consular station under the circumstances which led to it, is entirely approved by the President,” Madison wrote to Simpson on 21 Oct. “It was proper both as it secured a temporary state of peace at a critical moment, and as it facilitates the use of other means for effecting a permanent reconciliation.” Madison also assured the consul that the president approved his conduct in refusing the Moroccans’ “claim of periodical presents” (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 3:475, 542-5; 4:38).

You will easily perceive by the style of this letter that a farmer (for such I profess myself to be) is but poorly qualified to address personages in high station, much less the first Magistrate of a great and a rising Nation. Were I thus to address Majesty in the old Country (from whence I am only a few months removed) it would at once be put down to the account of folly, and weakness, and I might expect to fare accordingly. But in this Country of good sense, where the pride of the state lies in promoting the true, and real happiness, of its People, I venture to promise myself a different result. My object in addrg you this letter is to be informed (through one of your Secretarys for I neither wish, nor expect you should take the trouble yourself) how I am to proceed in order to procure a Patent for preserving animal, and vegetable substances, either in their naturel or a cuit state, and this without the aid of Salt by simple and easy operations of preperation and Package After which they will preserve sound and unaltered both in quantity and quality as long as they can be possibly wanted so to do, as food for Man, and beast, and this without danger of waste or loss. In short If my opinion of this simple, and Judicious theory be Just, and I trust on a full, and fair tryal, it will be found so, and that it can be acted on to the extent And variety I suppose it capable of, few objects will be found more worthy of National encouragement, or National reward. In the business of victualing fleets, Armys, and trading ships, its savings, and benifites are not easily estimated, untill first fairly tried. I would have taken out a Patent in England but on enquiery I found I should take out three in order to cover every part of the discovery, the cost of which would amount to nearly what I was worth for which reason I declined In this Country I am informed matters are more wisely ordered and that such Patents are granted to the parties applying free of expence a Judicious encouragement this to the full exertion of genius and talent

If I am to be favoured with an answer to this letter, might I request to be informed what are the conditions required on which Patents are granted to individuals in this Country, and is a Journy to Washington in this case of indispensible necessity I am particular in asking this question as the present state of my family, and finances, would ill accord with such a necessity. Having occasion in the course of a few days to go into the state of Pennsylvania a letter addressed to me at Messrs. James Clibborn & English’s Philadelphia will be forwarded—

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 22 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

Joseph Coppinger, a self-described “practical brewer” and itinerant inventor emigrated from Harbour View, Ireland, to New York around July 1802. As one of six sons born to an Irish gentry family, he used his Irish Catholic connections to his advantage in America, relying on references from his brother William, a bishop in County Cork. Coppinger moved to Pittsburgh later in 1802 and became a partner in the purchase of Point Brewery. After the dissolution of the partnership, Coppinger pursued new projects in several southern states. In 1803, he advertised for a naturalized citizen to file his patent improvements on his behalf, but six years later, having himself become a United States citizen, he obtained five of them in his own name. In an “Address to the People of America” published in 1809, Coppinger praised TJ, the “polar star,” for his service to the country and recommended the immediate establishment of a national institute for instructing youth in “all the useful arts, trades, and sciences” necessary for the growth of manufacturing in the United States. In 1815, he solicited TJ’s subscription for the establishment of a national brewing company in Washington, D.C. Coppinger prepared a prospectus for a book entitled The American Practical Brewer and Tanner, published in New York in 1815. TJ repeatedly inquired about the status of its publication (Shaw-Shoemaker, No. 34445; John Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, 4 vols. [London, 1834-38], 2:328; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 10 May 1803; ASP, Miscellaneous, 2:138; Stanley Baron, Brewed in America: A History of Beer and Ale in the United States [Boston, 1962], 132-3, 139-43; Lexington Kentucky Gazette, 13 Mch. 1809; Coppinger to James Madison, enclosing list of 14 inventions, 16 Dec. 1810, in DLC: Madison Papers; Louis Du Bourg to John Couper, 8 Nov. 1809, in same; RS, 6:510-11, 533, 597, 647; Coppinger to TJ, 3 Jan. 1803, 6 Apr. and 15 Sep. 1815; TJ to Coppinger, 25 Apr. 1815).

Coppinger received the patent for PRESERVING ANIMAL, AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES on 23 Nov. 1809 (List of Patents, 77).

You will see by the above Statement that we are still in want of one Commr. of bankruptcy at Richmd. or Manchester, and of two at Norfolk. whom shall we appoint?

PrC (DLC); endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

For Monroe’s previous recommendations of BANKRUPTCY commissioners for Richmond and Norfolk, see Vol. 37:510-11, 690-1.

We Salute and pray for your health and happiness. Your Consul OBrien in your name demanded The favour of us to seek and Obtain, The release from Slavery of your Subjects, in the possession of The Pascha of Tripoli. we wrote and Obtained The Same and gave them to your Consul to send to you as a present, and we pray you to receive the same and be assured of our friendship—

We have been much dissatisfyed to hear That you would think of sending near us The Consul, That you had at Tripoli. whenever he comes we will not receive him. his Character does not Suit us, as we know, wherever he has remained That he has created difficulties and brought On a war

Tr (DLC); in hand of Richard O’Brien; at foot of text: “Certifyd to be The Substance of The deys letter to The Presidt. of the UStates OBrien” and “NB. The dey requests, That Capt Morris will deliver his letter to The President of The UStates”; endorsed by O’Brien: “Letter of Dey of Algiers”; endorsed by TJ as received 19 May 1803 and so recorded in SJL. Tr (DNA: RG 59, CD); in O’Brien’s hand; endorsed by Jacob Wagner. Tr (same); in O’Brien’s hand. Tr (same); in O’Brien’s hand; subjoined to O’Brien to James Leander Cathcart, 10 Feb. 1803. RC (same); in Arabic; with Mustafa’s seal at head of text; editors’ translation: “May this letter of ours arrive among our dear friends, the rulers of America. How are you and how are your circumstances? As for what follows, there are concerns regarding the consul Wabriim (O’Brien), your envoy who has requested that I free the Christians whom the Tripolitans seized. I wrote to the sultan of Tripoli who sent them promptly. I placed them in the hands of the consul such that you yourselves might receive them from my possession without delay. I am dismayed by something I have heard. You wish to send to me Karkari (Cathcart), the consul who was in Tripoli, that he might remain in our land as consul. If he comes to me, I shall in no way receive him since he is not a good man. It is clear that wherever he spends time he creates a great disturbance. For this reason, our not accepting him is for our and your good. Written with the permission of our master, the blessed sir, Mustafa Pasha, sultan of Algiers”; endorsed by Wagner. Dupl (MHi); in Arabic; same seal and text as RC.

Mustafa Baba (d. 1805) became the dey of Algiers in 1798 and ruled during a period of political, economic, and social instability. A military cadre of foreign janissaries, many of them Anatolian Turks, controlled the selection of the dey and always named someone from their own ranks. They chose Mustafa following the death of his uncle, the dey Ali Hassan. Before he came to power, Mustafa directed the treasury and had ties to Jewish brokers who exercised a powerful role in financial policy and foreign affairs. He made one of those financiers, Naphtali Busnach, his principal adviser. William Eaton, after an audience with the new dey in 1799, left a harsh description of Mustafa as “a huge shaggy beast” seated on a velvet cushion in a dark room “with his hind legs gathered up like a tailor, or a bear.” Mustafa’s foreign policy often seemed capricious to the Ottoman government and to European countries. In Algiers, he had to contend with rebellion, a guild of sea captains who controlled the corsair fleet, and autonomous provinces. Plots against him failed in 1801 and 1804. In 1805, as popular discontent rose during a famine, a janissary murdered Busnach and set off a wave of violence against Jews. Members of the janissary corps determined to replace Mustafa as dey and killed him as he attempted to flee Algiers. Baba, from a Turkish word for “father,” was an honorific title like pasha. Mustafa was sometimes called Mustafa Pasha (Louis B. Wright and Julia H. MacLeod, The First Americans in North Africa: William Eaton’s Struggle for a Vigorous Policy against the Barbary Pirates, 1799-1805 [Princeton, 1945], 31, 187-8; H. D. de Grammont, Histoire d’Alger: sous la domination Turque (1515-1830) [Paris, 1887], 354-62; William Spencer, Algiers in the Age of the Corsairs [Norman, Okla., 1976], 21-2, 41-2, 59-65, 163-4; P. M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis, eds., The Cambridge History of Islam, 2 vols. [Cambridge, 1970], 2A:277-85; Mouloud Gaïd, L’Algérie sous les Turcs [Tunis, 1974], 167-71; Philip C. Naylor, Historical Dictionary of Algeria, 3d ed. [Lanham, Md., 2006], 298, 391; Robert J. Allison, The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815 [New York, 1995], 158-9, 172-3; NDBW, 2:198, 200; H. A. R. Gibb and others, eds., The Encyclopedia of Islam: New Edition, 11 vols. [Leiden, 1960], 1:838).

DEMANDED THE FAVOUR: O’Brien reported that “at my request in the name of the united States,” Mustafa had written to Yusuf Qaramanli of Tripoli asking him to turn over Andrew Morris and the crew of the Franklin. O’Brien promised that the U.S. would pay Algiers $5,000 for the release of the captives. After Yusuf sent the American prisoners to Algiers, Mustafa gave the Tripolitan ruler expensive gifts, including wheat and luxury items (O’Brien to Madison, 11 Oct., in DNA: RG 59, CD; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 4:16).

YOUR SUBJECTS: Morris and four members of his crew arrived in Algiers on 6 Oct. Mustafa composed his letter to TJ in the expectation that Morris would deliver the document. O’Brien also gave Morris some dispatches to carry. The mariner delivered the papers in Washington on 19 May 1803 (same, 4:16-18, 50; 5:47).

THAT YOU HAD AT TRIPOLI: when O’Brien called on Mustafa on 8 Oct. to thank him for obtaining the release of the captives, the dey objected to the appointment of James L. Cathcart as consul at Algiers and declared his intention to write to the president on the subject (same, 17).

The DIVAN was the Algerian council of state (Spencer, Algiers in the Age of the Corsairs, 50-2; Naylor, Historical Dictionary of Algeria, 391).

Th: Jefferson has occasion to send an hundred dollars to Monticello if mr Barnes can furnish him with them. it would suit best in US. bank or branch bank bills of 10. D each, as they are to be paid out in small parcels. the post goes this afternoon.

RC (CSmH).

TJ received the HUNDRED DOLLARS from Barnes the same day and immediately forwarded it to his daughter Martha (MB, 2:1084; TJ to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 18 Oct.).

The bustle attendant on our election affairs here will I hope excuse the delay of three days since the receipt of your letter. Upon the receipt of the Instructions concerning the Books from London and Paris, I immediately addressed the originals to Messrs Johnson in London and Pougens in Paris, with Duplicates of each in my hand writing to Mr Erving and Mr. Short—directing the Booksellers to call on those Gentlemen. I fear the removal of Mr Short may retard the business at Paris; the business in London is in a fair train as I have had a letter from my correspondent there, within the present month. I shall take the first occasion that presents itself to address Mr Pougens again; tho’ I have no doubt that from your note, independent of the confidence which he has already manifested in me that the order will be duly executed, even if he should not have thought it advisable to apply to Mr Livingston.

Our elections in Pennsylvania generally are as they ought to be. Some unhappy misunderstandings have secretly existed which alarmed many and portended some injurious consequences. The evil has, however, been in this county & the City completely checked; tho at the expence of a good man’s feelings. I mean Dr. Logan. No man esteems him more than I do, but he was the true instigator of the late divisions in the county, and I am afraid it may yet come to an unpleasant issue. I have kept his name out of View, but I had written evidence of his being the cause of the dissention; the consequences if not thwarted might have been fatal throughout the State.

The jealousy among the principal republicans here requires a most vigilant attention. Unfortunately while I am endeavoring to check it, I am exciting the ill will of men whom I love, merely because I do not suffer myself to be led aside from a great public interest to the views of one or another individual.

The following is an outline of our leading men’s dispossitions towards each other—and these five may be said to hold the principal weight

1	Mr. Dallas—	offended with 2, unreservedly opposed to 4,— cold to 3 & 5
2	Dr Logan—	violently hostile to 1; Do. 3 & 5; good understanding with 4
3	Dr Leib—	Hostile to 2;—familiar with 1 & 4; common cause with 5.
4	Mr Cox—	Estranged but willing to be friends with 1; friends with 2; familiar and friendly with 3 and 5
5	Mr Muhlenburg—	Friendly with all—but displeased with 2; and rather distant than familiar with 4

I am sorry to say that no actual cause of jealousy exists with foundation between them, but what is wholly political. Each of them in one way or another considers his neighbor a rival!—And the loss of any one of them would be to us a very serious evil. The Judiciary business had nearly destroyed Mr. Dallas, the late Address has I think removed a great portion of the odium of that measure. Dr. Logan looks to the governmental chair at the next election; but I fear his attacks upon Mr Dallas and Dr Leib, will shut him out from every hope of that kind. Indeed No. 1, 3 & 4. are the truly efficient men with us. Dr. Logan without the aid of the rest could do nothing; Mr Muhlenburg by his strength of character & influence among the Germans possess a great weight—and this Leib shares with him; but Mr Dallas and Mr. Coxe who are the most capable men as writers, possess severally a great influence in the city & county—It were much to be wished they could be reconciled; for obvious reasons. The next two years will require all our strength of talents and activity—and Mr Burr I make no doubt is laboring to assail every man’s passions who he may conceive of weight, or likely to go into the erection of a third party—

From the rising young men we have not much to expect; Mr Dickerson is the only one who is decidedly republican that displays talents. In the late County discussions he has been silent, knowing the interest wh[ich] his friend Dr Logan took in the affair. Young Mr. Sergeant the Commissioner of Bankrupts, associates wholly with the hostile party and barely says he is a republican; he possesses talents, but they are of no public use, but in his law pursuits; young Richard Bache (Benjns. younger brother) possesses talents but he is yet a student with Mr Dallas; there are about four other young men lawyers who do not display any capacity for public affairs. The Value of such men as Mr Dallas & Mr Coxe, and Mr Dickerson is not to be lightly estimated, considering that all the lawyers at the bar here are men of much weight as members of society & property and as they threaten to bring out unprecedented efforts against the next presidential election.

Sitgreaves will not succeed in Montgomery:—Conrad a stupid intriguing mercenary of no sound political principle will be the member—to the exclusion of a man of worth and talents, Mr Boileau. However Conrad cannot do harm.

I had written some time since a very long letter soliciting some hints to enable me to repel the monstrous calumnies of a wretch that deserves Not to be named—I was fearful of sending it directly—and delayed it until I gladly perceived the public resentment was roused against the Calumniator—Should there be any facts which may be used to throw the villainous aspersions into a still more odious light, I should wish to have them—I however propose about the close of this month to go to Washington City to look after my business there, as I find my clerk has been ill and the office wholly unemployed.

The adverse party here now say they mean to give up further contest, and to look on until they find us so effectually divided as to be enabled to step in and decide by joining the party which will enter into their views. This was expressed by Jacob Shoemaker an influential Quaker in Philadelphia who acted as one of the Inspectors of the Election.

RC (DLC); torn; endorsed by TJ as received 21 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.

YOUR LETTER: TJ to Duane, 10 Oct.

INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOKS FROM LONDON AND PARIS: TJ to Duane, 16 July.

UNHAPPY MISUNDERSTANDINGS: see Thomas Leiper to TJ, 19 and 22 Sep.

For Alexander J. Dallas’s opposition to repeal of the JUDICIARY act, see Leiper to TJ, 26 Aug. His ADDRESS to Pennsylvania Republicans appeared in the Aurora of 27 Sep.

Samuel SITGREAVES, a Federalist and former congressman, attempted to take advantage of a split in Democratic-Republican ranks in Pennsylvania’s second congressional district, which included the counties of MONTGOMERY, Bucks, Northampton, Wayne, and Luzerne. A meeting of Republicans held in Northampton had nominated Frederick CONRAD of Montgomery to be one of the district’s three representatives, drawing spirited opposition from Montgomery Republicans who preferred Nathaniel B. BOILEAU and considered Conrad’s selection a product of political intrigue and barter. Boileau received over 1,500 votes but did not draw enough support away from Conrad to enable Sitgreaves’s election (Philadelphia Aurora, 9 and 28 Sep., 16 and 27 Oct.; Higginbotham, Pennsylvania Politics, 46-7).

WRETCH: presumably James T. Callender.

I have been expecting by every post to learn from yourself or your sister when I might send to meet you. I still expect it daily. in the mean time I have sent to mr Randolph, who I understand is to be your conductor, money for the expences of the road, so that that may occasion no delay. the indisposition mentd in my letter by Davy Bowles turned out to be rheumatic: it confined me to the house some days, but is now nearly gone off. I have been able to ride out daily for a week past. the hour of the post leaves me time to add only assurances of my constant & tender love to you; and to pray you to tender my best affections to mr Eppes when he returns.

PrC (CSmH); at foot of text: “Mrs. Eppes”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

MY LETTER BY DAVY BOWLES: TJ to Mary Jefferson Eppes, 7 Oct.

I think the gentlemen of Congress from your state undertook on their return home to recommend to me proper persons as Commissioners of bankruptcy for the state. not having recieved any recommendation, I take the liberty of asking you to name either from your own knolege, or on such information as you can, four persons who may be proper for that appointment. it would be desireable there should be two lawyers & two merchants; but one of each description at least will be indispensable; and all republicans if to be had. if there be but one set, I presume Newbern is the most central position for them. but perhaps Wilmington & Edenton, may be too distant from it, and may require commissioners of their own. if so, 4 persons for each of the three places will be necessary. Accept assurances of my sincere esteem & respect.

Magruder		104.54
Griffin		79.69
R. Jefferson		60.
Yancey		321.09
Taliaferro		309.40
Isaacs		48.81
		923.53
now drawn.	Benj. Brown	285.83
	Thos. Wells	133.33

Richmond:	George Hay. declined. George Tucker appointed in his place
	Wm. Duval.
	George W. Smith.
	Benjamin Hatcher. declined.
Norfolk	Lytleton W. Tazewell. declined
	Richard Evers Lee.
	Moses Myers. declined
	Thomas Blanchard.