insinuating through such channels as you shall think suitable the attentions of the government & people of the U. S. to this object, & the interest they take in it, and of procuring his liberation by informal solicitations, if possible. But if formal ones be necessary, & the moment should arrive when you shall find that they will be effectual, you are authorized to signify, thro' such channels as you shall find suitable, that our government & nation, faithful in their attachments to this gentleman for the services he has rendered them, feel a lively interest in his welfare, and will view his liberation as a mark of consideration & friendship for the U. S. and as a new motive for esteem & a reciprocation of kind offices towards the power to whom they shall be indebted for this act.

A like letter being written to Mr. Pinckney, you will of course take care, that however you may act thro' different channels, there be still a sufficient degree of concert in your proceedings. I am with great & sincere esteem, &c.

DRAFT OF A LETTER FROM WASHINGTON TO MADAME DE
LA FAYETTE.1
D. S. MSS.

PHILA., March 16th. 1793.

DEAR MADAM,—I addressed a few lines to you on the 31st of January, in a state of entire incertainty in what country or condition they might find you, as we had been sometimes told you were in England, sometimes in Holland, & sometimes in France. Your letter of Octob. 8. 1792, first relieved me from doubt, & gave me a hope that, being in France, & on your own estate, you are not as destitute, as I had feared, of the resources which that could furnish, but I have still to sympathize with you on the deprivation of the dearest of all your resources of happiness, in

1 See Ford's Writings of Washington, XII, 269.

comparison with which, others vanish. I do it in all the sincerity of my friendship for him, and with ardent desires for his relief: in which sentiments I know that my fellow-citizens participate. The measures you were pleased to intimate in your letter are perhaps not exactly those which I could pursue, perhaps indeed not the most likely, under actual circumstances, to obtain our object, but be assured that I am not inattentive to his condition, nor contenting myself with inactive wishes for his liberation. My affection to his nation & to himself are unabated, & notwithstanding the line of separation, which has been unfortunately drawn between them, I am confident that both have been led on by a pure love of liberty & a desire to secure public happiness, and I shall deem that among the most consoling moments of my life which should see them reunited in the end, as they were in the beginning of their virtuous enterprise. Accept I pray you the same lively sentiments of interest and attachment to yourself & your dear children, from dear Madam your most obedt. & devoted Servt.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. J. MSS.
Mar. 21, 93.

Th: Jefferson with his respects to the President incloses him draughts of letters in the Algerine business. In that to Col Humphreys he proposes a modification of the former instructions in one point, on a presumption that the President will be disposed to approve it. He will wait on him to-day to know his pleasure, as also to submit to his consideration the question of Mr. Genet's reception in case of his arrival during the absence of the President.

TO THE U. S. MINISTER TO PORTUGAL.
(DAVID HUMPHREYS.)

J. MSS.

PHILADELPHIA Mar. 22. 1793.

DEAR SIR, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letters from No. 60 to No. 67, inclusive. You cannot be too vigilant against any such treaty as that mentioned in No. 60, which by giving the exclusive supply of wheat to Naples, would altogether debar the U. S. from it. This would bear so hard on us, that not only an exclusion of their wines from the U. S. ought to be expected on their part, but every other measure which might open to us a market in any other part of the world, however Portugal might be affected by it, and I must for ever repeat it that, instead of excluding our wheat, we must continue to hope that they will open their ports to our flour, and that you will continue to use your efforts, on every good occasion, to obtain this without waiting for a treaty.

As there appears at present a probability of a very general war in Europe, you will be pleased to be particularly attentive to preserve for our vessels all the rights of neutrality, and to endeavor that our flag be not usurped by others to procure to themselves the benefits of our neutrality. This usurpation tends to commit us with foreign nations, to subject those vessels truly ours. to rigorous scrutinies & delays to distinguish them from counterfeits and to take the business of transportation out of our hands.

Continue, if you please, your intelligence relative to the affairs of Spain, from whence we learn nothing but thro' you, to which it will be acceptable that you add any leading events from other countries, as we have several times received important facts thro' you, even from London, sooner than they have come from London directly.

The letters inclosed for Mr. Short & Mr. Carmichael are of very secret nature. If you go by Madrid, you will be the bearer of them yourself; if not, it would be better to retain them than to send them by any conveyance which does not command your entire confidence. I have never yet had a letter from Mr. Carmichael but the one you brought from Madrid. A particular circumstance will occasion forbearance yet a little longer.

DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE U. S. COMMISSIONERS TO

SPAIN.1

(CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.)

J. MSS.

Mar. 23. 1793.

GENTLEMEN,-It is intimated to us, in such a way as to attract our attention, that France means to send a strong force early this spring to offer independance to the Spanish American colonies, beginning with those on the Missisipi, & that she will not object to the receiving those on the East side into our confederation. Interesting considerations require that we should keep ourselves free to act in this case according to circumstances, & consequently that you should not, by any clause of treaty, bind us to guarantee any of the Spanish colonies against their own independance. Nor indeed against any other nation. For when we thought we might guarantee Louisiana on their ceding the Floridas to us, we apprehended it would be seized by Great Britain who would thus completely encircle us with her colonies & fleets. This danger is now removed by the concert between Great Britain & Spain: And the times will soon enough give independance, & consequently free commerce to our neighbors, without our risking the involving ourselves in a war for them.'

TO WILLIAM SHORT.

J. MSS.

PHILADELPHIA Mar. 23. 1793.

DEAR SIR,-My last private letter to you was of Jan. 3. Your private letters of Sep. 15. Oct. 22. Nov. 2. Nov. 20. Nov. 30. & Dec. 18. have been received & shall be attended. Particular answers cannot be

hazarded by this conveyance.

1 Endorsed: "to be in cipher."

But on one circum

Here the following passage is struck out: "But only against all that of Louisiana against those who hold Canada also, & that only in consideration of their ceding the Floridas to us. We are very anxious to hear from you."

At the bottom is written in Washington's writing: "The above meets the approbation of Go Washington."

2

stance it is so necessary to put you on your guard that I must take and give you the trouble of applying to our cypher. 1 Be cautious in your letters to the Secretary of the treasury. He sacrificed you on a late occasion when called on to explain before the Senate his proceedings relative to the loans in Europe. Instead of extracting such passages of your letters as might relate to them, he gave in the originals in which I am told were strong expressions against the French republicans: and even gave in a correspondence between G. Morris & yourself which scarcely related to the loans at all, merely that a long lre of Morris's might appear in which he argues as a democrat himself against you as an aristocrat. I have done what I could to lessen the injury this did you, for such sentiments towards the French are extremely grating here, tho' they are those of Hamilton himself & the monocrats of his cabal. Particular circumstances have obliged me to remain here a little longer: but I certainly retire in the summer or fall. The next Congress will be strongly republican. Adieu.

Tell Mr. Carmichael that I have still but one letter from him.

3

1 What follows in italic is in cipher in the original.

* Here the word "infamously" is struck out.

'Jefferson has added in pencil: "See hurry of Hs proceedings under the pressure of Congress to place the defence before the screening power as the answer to this base charge. But it is characteristic of its Author."