To John Jay from Jacob Read, 19 June 1794
From Jacob Read
Charleston 19th June 1794
Sir
I beg leave to assure You that the Intelligence of your appointment & Mission to the Court of great Britain was Received here with the utmost possible Satisfaction by every person in this Community whose Opinions merited consideration or who possessed a Shilling—1 That Success may attend your negociations is our Sincere wish & that Yourself may enjoy health & a Speedy & happy Return to Your Country among our frequent & fervent prayers— We Consider Peace of the Utmost importance to America in General & to this Country in particular. There are here however Clamourers for Reprisal Confiscation & War— these people do not Recollect our Situation, that we have more to lose, less to gain, are the most Exposed & the weakest & State in the Union— The Sensible & Reasoning part of the Community are however of a Very different Opinion from those Enragéés
A Mr William Greenwood2 a Merchant from this State whom you will find a very humble shrewd Man will I dare Say make a point of paying you his Respects, he will give you much & perhaps useful Information from this Country—
My Present Letter will I hope be delivered You by Mr James Bond Read3 my Brother who is in Europe pursuing the study of Medicine he will I hope have before the Receipt of this have paid his Respects to you (unless his absence from London prevents) or he certainly will do so on Receipt of my Letters accompanying the Present
Mrs Read4 desires me to present her most respectful regards to you with every good wish for your own welfare & success
We have not lately heard from New York there having been no arrivals from the prevalence of the Southerly winds
Our summer has Commenced with Intollerable hot weather but prospects are flattering if we can have peace5 With Very great respect & Esteem I beg leave to subscribe myself Your most obedient Humble Servant
Jacob Read
His Excelcy / John Jay / London
ALS, NNC (EJ: 07071). Addressed: “His Excellency / John Jay / Envoy Extraordinary & Minister / Plenipotentiary for the / United States at the Court / of Great Britain / London”. Endorsed: “… an[swere]d —14 Aug 1794”.
1. Jacob Read, Federalist, of the South Carolina House of Representatives, would be elected to the U.S. Senate later in 1794. On JJ’s mission, see the editorial note “The Jay Treaty: Appointment and Instructions,” , 5: 609–21.
2. William Greenwood (d. 1822), a British-born merchant who settled in 1767 in Charleston and established the firm of Leger & Greenwood. A Loyalist officer during the war of independence, he fled South Carolina in 1782. After his claim for compensation from the British government failed, he returned to America in an effort to recover his confiscated property. Wilbur Henry Siebert, Loyalists in East Florida (2 vols.; DeLand, 1929), 2: 103; J. G. Braddock Sr., “Will the Real William Greenwood Stand Up,” Southern Genealogist’s Exchange Society Quarterly 46 (Sept. 2005): 195.
3. In his response of 14 Aug., JJ reported he met frequently with James Bond Read, who had since gone to Scotland. James Bond Read (1766–c. 1841), son of James and Rebecca Bond Read of South Carolina. Jacob Read was his eldest brother and guardian after the death of their parents. James Bond Read attended Princeton and studied medicine at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He practiced first in South Carolina and then settled in Savannah. There is no record of James Bond Read’s meetings with the Jays in London. Dft, NNC (EJ: 08896); , 219–21.
4. Catherine Van Horne Read, daughter of New York merchant David Van Horne.
5. In his response, cited above in note 3, JJ asserted: “Peace my good Friend ^Dr Sir^ was formerly thought a good Sort of Thing, but within these few Years past it seems to have been going fast out of Fashion— but to be serious—there seems to be something more than common at work in ^or on^ the human mind, and urging it to Enterprizes whi tending to introduce a new State of Things— Symptoms of it appear ^more or less &^ in different Degrees in all parts of Europe, even in Spain where Quiescency in every sense has ^long^ been cherished. Geneva is at this moment undergoing another Revolution— where next, no one can tell— we live in an Eventful Period, and our Country may catch the Flame— ^we live in an eventful season^ we have Nothing to do but our Duty, and one part of it is to prepare for every Event— Let us preserve peace while it can be done with Propriety, and if it in that we fail let us wage war not in newspapers and ^rudely^ impotent Sarcasms but with Manly Firmness & unanimous and vigorous Efforts—”