To George Washington from John Jay, 25 August 1785
From John Jay
Office for foreign Affairs [New York]
25th August 1785
Dr Sir
In pursuance of an Act of Congress of the 19th Instant, of which a Copy is herewith enclosed, I have desired Mr Taylor, one of the Clerks of this Office, to wait upon your Excellency, and agreeable to your Letter of the 5th April last to Mr Thomson, to take Copies of the papers mentioned in it, and in the enclosed Act of Congress.1 With the best and most sincere Wishes for your Health and Happiness, & with the highest Esteem & Regard I am Dr Sir Your most obt & very hble Servt
John Jay
LS, DLC:GW; LB, DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters.
1. Jay was sending his clerk George Taylor to Mount Vernon to make a copy of the rolls listing the blacks who sailed from New York in 1783 when the British evacuation of the city was being negotiated. See Jacob Read to GW, 9 Mar., and notes; GW to Charles Thomson, 5 April; and Thomson to GW, 22 April. Jay enclosed an extract of a letter from Thomson suggesting that Jay send a clerk to Mount Vernon rather than require GW to give up his copy of the rolls; a letter from Jay to Richard Henry Lee, president of Congress, endorsing Thomson’s suggestion; and a copy of the resolution of Congress of 19 Aug. instructing Jay “to employ some Person” to obtain from GW a list of the people carried off from New York by the British.