1. At the head of the MS, David Humphreys wrote, “in consequence of the preceding letter the subsequent verbal information was remitted to his Excellency the Ambassador by the hand of Mr d’Asp Secretary to the Swedish Ambassy—viz.” The “preceding letter” was that of 5 Oct. from the Baron Staël von Holstein, the Swedish ambassador, in answer to the commissioners’ of 28 Sept. announcing their new commission to negotiate a treaty or treaties supplemental to the 1783 Swedish-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. In his reply the ambassador asked the commissioners what such negotiations might encompass. Asp was an acquaintance of JA’s, having formerly served as chargé d’affaires to the Swedish legation at The Hague (vol. 13:424; Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, 1950–. description ends , 7:428–429, 434–435).

2. For provisions that the commissioners may have intended to propose in new negotiations, see the Negotiation of the 10 September 1785 Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 10 Nov. 1784–14 March 1785, No. II, below, in particular Arts. 23 and 24 of the draft Prussian-American treaty.