To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 3 August 1795
From Edmund Randolph
Department of State August 3. 1795. 8 o’clock
Sir
The mail, which was expected on Saturday morning,1 did not arive until sunday. at least the letters were not delivered before ten o’clock on sunday morning. But no letter came from Mount Vernon.
A Mr Lowndes of South Carolina was charged with the enclosed letter, containing the proceedings of the town-meeting at charleston. He gave it to me on saturday last At two o’clock P.M.2
I requested Mr Hammond by a note, to inform me, what propositions he had to make.3 He came to the office, and said, that the only thing, which he could say officially was that the ministry wished it to be known, that the exchange of ratifications was so long delayed by the non-arrival of the treaty, that the Parliament could not be kept in session to wait for it—He added extraofficially, that he had proposals to offer for fixing the salaries of the commissioners. I inquired, whether, as these subjects had been opened on the supposition of the treaty being ratified, any arrangements were forwarded either to Lord Dorchester, or to himself to be proposed to us, relative to the surrender of the posts. He said; none. He subjoined, that Governor Simcoe had expressed himself at a loss, what to do.
Thinking it not improbable, that you may be on your way to this city about Wednesday or thursday next; I shall write to you only by the wednesday’s mail, unless I receive information, inducing the contrary. I have the honor to be sir with the highest respect yr mo. ob. serv.
Edm: Randolph
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State; LB, DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters.
1. The previous Saturday was 1 August.
2. Randolph enclosed a letter to GW from John Mathews dated 22 July (see Charleston, S.C., Citizens to GW, 22 July, n.1). The messenger was either James Lowndes (1769–1839) or his brother Thomas Lowndes (1766–1843). On 31 July, The Philadelphia Gazette & Universal Daily Advertiser listed James Lowndes among the passengers who had arrived the previous day on the ship Alexander from Charleston. The paper added that one of the passengers had brought the Charleston remonstrance to GW. However, when the address was printed at Charleston in August, it was captioned as a “Copy of the Address … to the President of the United States, transmitted by Thomas Lowndes” (City Gazette & Daily Advertiser [Charleston], 21 Aug.). James Lowndes was a planter who subsequently served in the South Carolina legislature. Thomas Lowndes was a lawyer and planter who served in the state legislature, 1792–99, and later in the U.S. House of Representatives.
3. Randolph notified British minister George Hammond on 1 Aug. that he had almost completed several dispatches to London concerning the Jay Treaty. To avoid having to make later corrections to those letters, Randolph asked that he be kept up-to-date on “the communications, which Mr Hammond proposes to make to the Government of the United States” (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters).