To Thomas Jefferson from C. W. F. Dumas, 18 September 1789
From C. W. F. Dumas
The Hague, 18 Sep. 1789. He had just finished enclosed when TJ’s letter of 12th came, and he hastens to send it in hope TJ will receive it in Paris or that Short will forward it before he embarks. He thanks him for the agreeable news and embraces with confidence the hope that TJ will protect him “de ce côté et de l’autre de l’Océan. Ma famille et moi sommes très-reconnoissans du bon souvenir de V. E. Dieu soit avec vous, Monsieur, durant votre trajet, séjour et retour, et vous conserve partout, avec vos chers Enfants, en parfaite santé et prospérité.” Meanwhile, duty, esteem, and friendship will prompt him to cultivate Short’s correspondence.—He hopes TJ will pardon him for sending “par son respectable organe mes respects à LL.EE. Mess. Le Président, Vice Président et Sénateurs de l’illustre Congrès.”
RC (DLC); 2 p.; endorsed. FC (Dumas Letter Book, Rijksarchief, The Hague; photostats in DLC). Recorded in SJL as received 22 Sep. 1789. Enclosure (same): Dumas to Jay, 17 Sep. 1789, stating that, since his last of 14 Aug., he had spent three weeks with the Staphorsts and Hubbard of Amsterdam; that the affairs of France, of Liege, &c., without causing as much licentiousness as at Rotterdam and The Hague, had created in Amsterdam “les mêmes sensations diverses dans les deux partis”; that he had scarcely been away a week when those whom he had left in charge of the house of the United States wrote that, on 24 Aug. the birthday of the young Prince of Orange, fireworks had been set off in several parts of the town; that between nine and ten in the evening a large grenade had been thrown through the dining-room window of the house of the United States, setting fire to the woodwork, but that the damage was soon repaired and the incident forgotten; and that “La crise où l’Europe se trouve tient les bons esprits en suspens: les autres qui font le grand nombre, en raisonnent à tort et à travers” (translation printed in iii, 647–8).