201Enclosure: Abstract of Mr. G. Morris’s plan of American finances, 19 April 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
MS ( DLC ); entirely in TJ’s hand; endorsed by him: “Finance. G. Morris’s system.” The copy enclosed in the foregoing letter to Madison may have been a PrC of this MS . This is only TJ’s abstract of Morris’ plan, which is printed in full in Jared Sparks, Gouverneur Morris , iii , 469–78. Morris sent a copy to Robert Morris on 8 May 1789, saying that the plan was partly the result of his...
202To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 10 April 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Accept at this late Period my Congratulations upon your safe Arrival in America. I know not whether to add the farther Congratulation upon your Appointment to and Acceptance of the Office of Secretary of State because the latter is not yet ascertained on this Side of the Atlantic. You will find enclosed a Paper from your friend Sir John Sinclair to whom you was so kind as to introduce me. Pray...
203Enclosure: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 1 May 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Herewith I have the Honor to transmit a Duplicate of my last Letter of the thirteenth of April. Not having heard from the Duke of Leeds I wrote him a Note on the nineteenth, of which a Copy is enclosed marked No. 1. To this I received no Reply, wherefore on the twenty ninth I addressed him again by a Letter of which a Copy is enclosed marked No. 2. This was deliverrd at his Office Whitehall...
204Enclosure I: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 7 April 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I arrived in this City on Saturday Evening the twenty eighth of March and called the next Morning on the Duke of Leeds Minister for foreign Affairs. He was not at Home, I therefore wrote to him a Note Copy whereof is enclosed as also of his Answer received that Evening. On Monday the twenty ninth I waited upon him at Whitehall and after the usual Compliments, presented your Letter telling him...
205Enclosure II: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 29 May 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I do myself the Honor to enclose a Copy of my Letter of the first Instant. On the Night of the fourth there was a hot Press here which has continued ever since, and the declared Object is to compel Spain to atone for an Insult offered to Great Britain by capturing two Vessels in Nootka Sound. Permit me to observe incidentally that it would not be amiss for the American Captain who was a...
206Enclosure III: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 3 July 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
This Letter will accompany Copies of what I had the Honor to write on the first and twenty ninth of May. I have heard nothing since from the Duke of Leeds. On the tenth of June the King prorogued the Parliament, which was dissolved on the eleventh. The Elections will be compleated in about ten Days, and then the Ministers will feel themselves more at Liberty to avow their Intentions than they...
207Enclosure IV: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 16 August 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to write to you on the third of July of which Letter I now enclose a Copy. I have patiently waited since that Period for the Answer which had been promised on the twenty first of May to my Letter of the thirtieth of April. Had any Circumstance turned up which would in my opinion have justified a new application it should have been made, but this has not been the Case. You will...
208Enclosure V: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 18 September 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to address you on the 16th. of August, and stated as nearly as I could the Situation of Russia and Sweden. This Situation has produced a very natural Effect. Sweden being unsupported by her Allies, and Russia having Nothing to gain by farther Fighting but a Part of the finland Deserts not worth fighting for, they have struck a Bargain of Peace immediately without the...
209To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 24 December 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I did not receive your Letter of the twelfth of August untill Yesterday Afternoon or I should have made an earlier Reply. I am very happy to find that you approve of the Ground on which the InterChange of Ministers with this Country was placed and the Judgment formed Respecting the Posts. I am led to fear that my Conduct in Regard to our impressed Seamen has not been equally fortunate, but I...
210To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 24 December 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
Your Letter of the twelfth of August was highly pleasing to me, among other Reasons because it releived me from a painful Situation. I wished to have expressed to you my Congratulations on your safe Arrival, and on the domestic Event which shortly succeeded. I wished also to express to you as an American my Satisfaction with your official Appointment, and as a Man my Esteem Respect and...
211To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 28 December 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
This will accompany what I had the Honor to write on the twenty fourth. In the Afternoon of that Day I received a Note from Mr. Burgess appointing an Hour of the twenty fifth for an Interview with the Duke of Leeds. I attended, but something or other kept his Grace away. The twenty sixth I received a note apologizing for the Disappointment and requesting my Attendance the twenty seventh. I...
212To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 26 February 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I am to acknowledge your favours of the twenty sixth of November and seventeenth of December which reached me two days ago. The System of Finance did not indeed fully meet my Opinions but I know it is necessary to conform even to the Prejudices of Mankind. I fully believe with you that any Resources dependent on Consumption will greatly encrease. I believe this Encrease will not be meerly in...
213Enclosure: Some observations of American Citizens on the late Decrees respecting Tobacco, 26 February 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
In sofar as these Decrees relate exclusively to France it is not proper for Foreigners to express an Opinion. From the present Consideration therefore, shall be excluded the questions Whether to cultivate Tobacco be useful or pernicious. Whether on the former Supposition Articles of first necessity such as Grain or superior Utility such as Hemp might not be preferred on Ground of public Safety...
214To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 16 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Paris, 16 Mch. 1791 , Since his of the 26th “the Assembly have taken another Step in the same disagreable Road” described there, depriving all ships other than those built in France of the privilege of French bottoms. This, added to the other decrees already noticed, produces much sensation among the few Americans settled in French ports.—He encloses copy of the note he gave to Lafayette. “He...
215Enclosure: Notes respecting Tobacco, 16 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
MS ( DLC : Gouverneur Morris Papers); at head of text: “Copy of the Paper referred to in the above letter.” Morris’ cogent observations about tobacco culture were obviously framed to impress Lafayette, being far more explicit than the generalized statement he presented to Montmorin on 19 Feb. 1791 on behalf of Americans then in France (see note, Morris to TJ, 26 Feb. 1791 , and enclosure). For...
216Enclosure I: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 22 November 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote to you a Note on the 19th. to accompany your Plateaux. My last Letter was of the twenty fourth of September. Since that Period I have past thro Flanders and a Part of Germany, and having coasted the Rhine to Strasbourgh came thence to this City. As I conjectured, so it has happened, that my longer Continuance in London would have been useless. Spain finding from the Revolt of the...
217Enclosure II: Gourverneur Morris to George Washington, 1 December 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to address to you a Letter on the 22d of last Month in the Close of which I mentioned the Intention of saying at a future Period some few Words of the People who are now on the Stage. To begin then with our friend La fayette, who has hitherto acted a splendid Part. Unfortunately both for himself and his Country he has not the Talents which his Situation requires. This important...
218Enclosure III: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 24 December 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
A Duplicate of your favor of the fourteenth of August was handed to me Yesterday. The Delay has probably arisen from the Circumstance of my Absence when Colo. Humphreys arrived in this City. I have already informed you of what passed in Relation to the Ballance due to you by Mr. Welch and also of the Mode proposed for Reimbursement of Monies applied according to your Orders in this City, which...
219Enclosure IV: Gouverneur Morris to George Washington, 9 March 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I am to acknowlege the Receipt of yours of the seventeenth of December which reached me several Days ago, but no good Opportunity then presented itself to convey a Reply. The Idea you formed of the british Cabinet was I am persuaded perfectly just. This Government has lately taken some Steps which cannot but be advantageous to their Rivals for I am persuaded that the late Decrees laying a...
220To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 3 October 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I am favored with yours of the twenty sixth of July for which I pray you to accept my thanks. I mentioned to you from London that Mr. Walpole had been offered the Place of Envoy extraordinary to the United States which he had refused. I took Care to avoid any sort of Intercourse with the Government while I was there and of Course could not possess any minute Information worthy of your Notice....
221To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 6 November 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the Liberty of writing this Letter to make you acquainted with the Bearer of it Monsieur de Cormeré Brother to the late Monsieur de Favras. Mr. de Cormeré has been in the finance of this Country and is well acquainted with that Subject. He has lately published a short Work on the Relations of Commerce proper for the french Islands of which I have sent you a Copy. He is now going to S....
222To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 7 November 1791 (Jefferson Papers)
Enclosed you will find some Hints relative to Coins Currency Weights and Measures . The Consideration of those Things has occurred to me at different Intervals for the last twenty Years of my Life, and I have frequently determined to begin a pretty extensive Enquiry and as frequently abandoned the Idea. Indeed my other occupations will not afford the Time. You who have thought on the Subject...
223To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 6 April 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to receive (this morning) your favor of the twenty third of January with its Enclosures, excepting the Cypher which seems accidentally to have been omitted in making up your Dispatches, or perhaps it has been put by Mistake in the Letter directed to Mr. Short which at Mr. Johnsons Request I have taken Charge of. I shall deliver it as speedily as may be, intending to make my...
224To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 10 April 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I beg Leave to enclose the procés verbal of the late assassination at Stockholm. The last Advices from thence give Hopes of the King’s Recovery but from the Nature of the Wound his state must for a long Time be precarious. Conjecture as is usual in such Cases wanders very far but it would seem to be the Consequence of a pretty general Combination among the Nobles of Sweden to restore their...
225To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 25 April 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor on the tenth Instant to mention to you the Assassination of the King of Sweden. He is since dead of his Wounds. You will find by the public Prints that France declares War against the young King of Hungary and we are of Course to expect an immediate Invasion of the Austrian Netherlands. I am told that this Court notwithstanding their Guarantee of that Country to the House of...
226To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 9 June 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the twenty ninth of April is just receivd. Previously thereto I had (unluckily) employd the Young Man you mention as my Cook. I did this on Mr. Short’s Recommendation of his Integrity and because he had been in your Service. He is very grateful to you for the Offer you make him which he says he will accept of if I turn him away but he hopes I will not and wishes rather to continue in...
227To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 10 June 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the Honor to acknowlege your favors of the tenth of March and twenty eighth of April. My last was of the 25th of April. As Mr. Short remaind here untill the second Instant and was better acquainted with the current Transactions I relied on him for the Communication of them. He inform’d you that we obtain’d an Interview with Mr. de Mourier on the fifteenth of May. In this Interview he...
228To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 17 June 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to write to you (No. 1) on the tenth Instant. The Ministry is chang’d rather sooner than I expected that is to say as to the Totality. Messieurs Servan, Roland, and Claviere were dismissed by Mr. de Mouriez. He filld the Places of the two former with his particular Friends and as this Step was decisive and would certainly bring on very serious Quarrels it was suppos’d that he...
229To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 1 July 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
According to your orders I sit down to render this Day a State of my Account which will be but short because I shall charge at present no Contingencies. There are some such which will come in my next Account and which would be stated this Day, but as I have not yet got into the House which I hired immediately after my Arrival and which I have daily been in the Hope of entring, my Papers and...
230To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 10 July 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the Honor to write to you (No. 3) on the first Instant. On the seventeenth of the last Month I mention’d the Plans then in Contemplation and gave a short View of the existent State of things. I did not communicate those Events which have since taken Place, because you will find the most ample Details in the several Gazettes. On Saturday the seventh a Farce was acted in the Assembly in...
231To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 1 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was of the tenth of July. Mr. Livingston who is on his Way to America presents an Opportunity of writing which must not be neglected altho I am engaged at present in examination of the Account receivd from the Commissioners of the Treasury. I have already mention’d to you Sir that the whole of this Account is open and I must now observe that I do not find myself particularly authoriz’d...
232To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 1 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
Paris, 1 Aug. 1792 . The Duc de Penthièvre has recommended Monsieur de La Mariniere, who requests for his daughter-in-law, Madame de La Mariniere, an introduction to the best company in Baltimore, where she has taken refuge from the calamities of Saint-Domingue. Having no particular connections in that town, he recommends the matter to TJ’s kind attention. Dupl ( DLC ); 1 p.; at head of text:...
233To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 16 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was of the first Instant No 5. Since that Period another Revolution has been affected in this City. It was bloody. Success which always makes Friends gives to the present Order an Air of greater Unanimity than really exists. A very considerable Party is deeply interested to overturn it but what may be their Conduct is uncertain. Whether they will confine themselves to idle Vows and...
234To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 17 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
If I have not hitherto mentioned the Applications made to me by the foreign Officers who have Certificates whereof the interest is payable in this City, it has not been for Want of sufficient cause, but because I did daily hope to have receiv’d some orders on that Subject. Many have spoken to me, written to me, and call’d upon me. I have given to all the general Assurances that Justice would...
235To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 22 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last (No. 7) was of the seventeenth Instant. In No. 6 of the 16th. I mentiond the Revolution of the tenth. I suggested my Idea that the Force commanded by Monsieur de la fayette would not be brought to immediate Action, and that in such Case he and his friends had Nothing to hope for. He, as you will learn, encamped at Sedan and official Accounts of last Night inform us that he has taken...
236To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 30 August 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last (No. 8) was of the twenty second Instant. In No. 6 I mention’d to you that I had not been able to adjust with the Minister of foreign Affairs the Rate of Exchange which should govern the Payments made and making in America on Account of our Debt to France. And that I had not been able to see the Minister of Marine to adjust with him the Sums which the Assembly had determind to apply...
237To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 10 September 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last No. 9 was of the thirtieth Ultimo. The Object of this is merely to transmit a Letter forwarded to me by Mr. Cathalan who desires me to communicate the Scarcity to my Friends and at the same Time mentions that if I will encourage him thereto he will immediately set off to America to procure Wheat. My Answer of this Date is enclos’d. By the first convenient Opportunity I shall write to...
238To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 19 September 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was of the tenth Instant. I shall confine myself on the present Occasion to the transmitting Copies of my Correspondence with the Ministry on the Subject of the Conference mentiond to you in mine (No. 9) of the thirtieth of last Month. I transmit however Copy of what I wrote on the twentieth of August because the Answer of the eighth of this month would not be otherwise intelligible. I...
239To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 27 September 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last (No. 11) was of the 19th., I therein transmitted Copies of my Correspondence with the Minister respecting the Subject of the Conversation mentiond in mine of the thirtieth of last Month, of which, as well as of those of the seventeenth and twenty second Copies are here enclosd. I think it is proper to mention to you now a Circumstance relating to that Conversation because it may...
240To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 25 October 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
My last No. 12 was of the twenty seventh of Septr. Since that Period and within a few Days I have receivd yours of the 16th. of June. In sending the Gazettes it would be well I think to put them in an Envelope open at each End and direct them to the Consul at Havre who should be desird to forward them to me by the Stage. This will avoid the heavy Postage. The unexpected Events which have taken...
241To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 21 December 1792 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received your favors of the twelfth of July and fifteenth of October. The last reach’d me yesterday by Express from Bordeaux. I am astonish’d to find that so late as the middle of October you had received but one of my Letters. I had taken every Precaution against Miscarriages but there is no answering for the Negligence of those one is obliged to employ in the Ports. I shall transmit...
242To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 1 January 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
I transmit herewith a Duplicate of what I had the Honor to write on the twenty first of last Month. Since that Period this Government, perceiving that they had been Wholly deceiv’d respecting the british Nation, have made Advances towards Conciliation. At least so I am inform’d, and also that these Advances are by a Declaration that however general the Terms of their Decree they had no Idea of...
243To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 6 January 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Short, who is so kind as to take Charge of my Letters as far as Bourdeaux, will go he says this Day. I therefore take the latest Opportunity to write, and to inform you that the Appearances have not at all changed since mine of the first. Dumouriez has been some Days in Paris; He stays at Home under Pretence of Illness, but in Fact to receive and consider the Propositions of the different...
244To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 17 January 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
I have already had the Honor to inform you that the Statue of General Washington by Houdon is finish’d and to ask to what Place it is to be sent. I have since been applied to by the Statuary in Regard to the last Payment for that Object. He tells me that “he hopes the State of Virginia will do as other foreigners pay him the Difference of Exchange a Thing the more easy to them as in Fact it...
245To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 25 January 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
My last No. 17 was of the seventeenth Instant. The late King of this Country has been publickly executed. He died in a Manner becoming his Dignity. Mounting the Scaffold he express’d anew his Forgiveness of those who persecuted him and a Prayer that his deluded People might be benefited by his Death. On the Scaffold he attempted to speak but the commanding Officer Santerre ordered the Drums to...
246To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 13 February 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
My last No: 18 was of the 25th. of January. Since it was written I have had every Reason to beleive that the Execution of Louis XVI has produced on foreign Nations the Effect which I had imagin’d. The War with England exists and it is now proper perhaps to consider it’s Consequences to which Effect we must examine the Objects likely to be pursued by England for in this Country notwithstanding...
247To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 13 February 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
I am to acknowlege yours of the seventh of last November which I cannot do without expressing my Concern at a Resolution which will deprive the United States of an able and faithful Servant. Since you declare your determination to be unalterable it would be idle to offer Reasons to dissuade you besides which it seems probable that e’er this can arrive you will have acted. But were it otherwise...
248To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 7 March 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
Enclosed you have Copies of what I had the Honor to write on the twenty fifth of January and thirteenth of February also the Copy of a Letter of the twelfth of February from Mr. Pinkney with my Answer of the eighteenth. I send these last to the End that due Attention may be paid to such Vessels as may be furnished with his Passports and which may perhaps prove to be british Bottoms. I am so...
249To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 8 March 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
In reading over my Letter of Yesterday I find that I omitted to mention the War with Spain . Truth is that it was a Matter so much of Course and of so little Importance that it escap’d my Recollection. Our Commissioners will doubtless turn it to Account. Last Evening I was inform’d that the french Army in Flanders has been defeated but as this is not an official Account I meerly mention it as...
250To Thomas Jefferson from Gouverneur Morris, 9 March 1793 (Jefferson Papers)
The Intelligence communicated in mine of yesterday is fully confirm’d. The Accounts given to the Convention are so lame and blind that one is oblig’d to peice them out like a tatter’d writing where whole Sentences are wanting. It would seem then that the Enemy, tho at what Time is yet uncertain, made an Attack on the Army which had beseigd or rather bombarded Maestrecht and which was then at...