From George Washington to the United States Senate, 26 February 1794
To the United States Senate
United States 26. February 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate,
I have caused the correspondence, which is the subject of your resolution of the 24th day of January last, to be laid before me.1 After an examination of it, I directed copies and translations to be made; except in those particulars, which, in my judgment, for public considerations, ought not to be communicated.2
These copies and translations are now transmitted to the Senate; but the nature of them manifests the propriety of their being received as confidential.
Go: Washington
LS, DNA: RG 46, Third Congress, 1793–95, Senate Records of Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages; LB, DLC:GW. The two footnotes on the LS do not appear on the letter-book copy. They were apparently added when preparing this letter and its enclosures for publication in 1832 in , 1:329–412.
1. The footnote indicated at this point reads: “See the Note.”
2. The correspondence submitted was that of Gouverneur Morris, the U.S. minister plenipotentiary to France. The edited copies and translations, in which omissions are indicated by blank spaces and dashes, are in DNA: RG 46, Third Congress, 1793–95, Senate Records of Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages. For the discussions about whether and how to submit these documents, see Edmund Randolph to GW, 25 Jan., 26 Jan. (letters 1 & 2), and 2 February.
The footnote indicated at this point reads: “Note. The paragraphs which were omitted in the papers communicated to the Senate are now suppled.” This note is accompanied by an instruction that reads: “The Printer will insert this Note at the bottom of the page.”