Tobias Lear to the Cabinet, 24 February 1793

Tobias Lear to the Cabinet

United States [Philadelphia] February 24th 1793

The President of the United States requests the attendance of the Secretary of State, at nine O’clock tomorrow morning, at the President’s House, on the subject of the note sent to the Secretary from the President, on the 17th Inst. and that the Secretary will bring with him such remarks as he may have committed to writing in pursuance of said note.1

At the same time the President will lay before the heads of the Departments some communications which he has just received from General Hull.2

AL, DLC: Jefferson Papers; LB, DLC:GW. The letter-book copy indicates that this was a circular addressed to “The Secretary of State: The Secretary of the Treasury: The Secretary of war, and The Attorney General of the U.S.”

1. GW’s note to the cabinet of 17 Feb. accompanied a copy of Henry Knox’s proposed instructions for the American commissioners to the upcoming Indian treaty at Lower Sandusky (Knox to GW, 16 Feb., GW to Cabinet, 17 Feb. 1793). For the outcome of the meeting, see Cabinet Opinion on a Proposed Treaty at Lower Sandusky, 25 Feb. 1793.

2. For William Hull’s mission to Niagara to solicit British cooperation in the American preparations for the treaty at Lower Sandusky, see John Graves Simcoe to George Hammond, 3 Feb., to Alured Clarke, 20 Mar. 1793, in Cruikshank, Simcoe Papers, description begins E. A. Cruikshank, ed. The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, with Allied Documents Relating to His Administration of the Government of Upper Canada. 5 vols. Toronto, 1923–31. description ends 1:286–87, 303. Hull, in his letter to Alexander Hamilton of 6 Feb., reported that Simcoe, the governor of Upper Canada, refused to allow American officials or provisions to pass through British territory en route to Lower Sandusky (Syrett, Hamilton Papers, description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends 14:9–13). In his letter to Knox of the same date, Hull claimed that the “Indians dislike the idea of changing the place of treaty,” and that “the language held by Govr. St. Clair at the Treaty of Muskingum, [is] disagreeable to the Indians. The language of the President [is] different, and pleasing to the Indians” (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 66). In addition, Hull enclosed the proceedings of the Indian councils held at Glaize and Buffalo Creek in the fall of 1792 (ibid., 66–67; for the British accounts of these two councils, see Cruikshank, Simcoe Papers, description begins E. A. Cruikshank, ed. The Correspondence of Lieut. Governor John Graves Simcoe, with Allied Documents Relating to His Administration of the Government of Upper Canada. 5 vols. Toronto, 1923–31. description ends 1:218–29, 256–60).

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Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: Tobias Lear to the Cabinet, 24 February 1793
Author: Lear, Tobias
Recipient: Cabinet
Date: 24 February 1793

Reference

Cite as: “Tobias Lear to the Cabinet, 24 February 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-12-02-0150. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 12, 16 January 1793 – 31 May 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick and John C. Pinheiro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, pp. 207–208.]