1. Samuel Smith, a Baltimore merchant and a member of the House of Representatives from Maryland, had written to Edmund Randolph on April 23, 1794, requesting a passport for a vessel. The request was presumably in connection with the capture of the Brigantine Betsey, owned by George and William Patterson of Baltimore, which had been captured by the British in March, 1794, and taken to Bermuda where the case for adjudication was held (ALS, RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters, 1790–1799, National Archives; Moore, International Adjudications, IV description begins John Bassett Moore, ed., International Adjudications: Ancient and Modern, History and Documents, Together with Mediatorial Reports, Advisory Opinions, and the Decisions of Domestic Commissions, on International Claims (New York, 1931), IV. description ends 179–290).

2. On April 26, 1794, Washington “Signed passports for the following vessels to proceed to St. Domingo, in ballast, with liberty to take in such Inhabitants of sd. Island, as passengers, as may choose to embark, with their clothing, baggage & seastores—to wit. Schooner Commerce, Philada.

& a blank one for a vessel at Baltimore (delivd. to the Secy. of the treasury,) to proceed to Bermuda” (JPP description begins “Journal of the Proceedings of the President,” George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. description ends , 289).