From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 27 June 1796
To Timothy Pickering
Mount Vernon 27th June 1796.
Sir,
The Post of friday—to Alexandria—brought me your dispatches of the 22d instant.1
Mr Adets answer to your communication, relatively to the Capture of the Ship Mount Vernon, leaves the matter as undecided as before; and his reserve may, it is to be feared, be considered as a collateral evidence of the truth of the information I handed to you in my last,2 and contributes to shew the necessity of having a proper understanding of this matter. The Privateer Flying Fish, might not have brought orders for Capturing our Provision Vessels, bound to British Ports; but she might have received them thro’ Mr Bournonville, who came out at the sametime the French Commissioners did, to St Domingo.3
My sentiments with respect to the Successor for the Office rendered vacant by the death of Mr Gorham; and the changes consequent of the removal of Mr Jonathan Jackson to it; were communicated by the last Post to the Secretary of the Treasury—who was also informed, that in case of the non-acceptance of the Office of District Attorney for Massachusetts, by Mr H. G. Otis I approved of its being given to Mr Davis the present Comptroller; provided his professional knowledge (of which I had no correct information) was deemed adequate to the discharge of the duties; and he wd place himself in a situation to render them conveniently to the Public.4
If Mr De Witt should decline the Office of Surveyor General, give me notice of it without delay; and you may accompany it with the names of persons (if any should occur or be brought to your view) as may be thought qualified for so important & trusty worthy an appointment.5
Are there any accounts yet from Captn Lewis? & what are the last Accts from the Western Posts?6 Let the letter which goes under cover with this for Major Pinckney receive the earliest safe conveyance which may offer, since (as I find by the Papers) it has missed the hands of Mr King, by whom I intended to forward it.7
Go: Washington
ALS, NNPM; copy, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State.
1. Friday was 24 June.
2. GW is referring to his letter to Pickering of 24 June that enclosed an undated communication from Alexander Hamilton.
3. The Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 17 May reported that Charles François Bournonville was “appointed Secretary of the executive Directory, which the French Government has just sent out to superintend the affairs of their West-India Colonies.” The Argus, or Greenleaf’s New Daily Advertiser (New York) for 31 May and 1 June printed items that indicated Bournonville’s arrival at New York on 30 May after a voyage from Cap Français and his rapid departure for Philadelphia.
4. See GW to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 24 June (first letter), found at Wolcott to GW, 20 June, n.12, and Pickering’s second letter to GW, 26 July.
5. Simeon DeWitt declined his appointment as surveyor general (see Pickering to GW, this date, and n.2 to that document; see also GW to John Marshall, 15 July).
6. For Capt. Thomas Lewis and his mission regarding frontier posts, see James McHenry to GW, this date (first letter), n.8.
7. GW’s letter to Thomas Pinckney, U.S. minister to Great Britain, has not been found, but Pickering wrote Pinckney on 13 July that a letter “from the President to you is now enclosed. Your letter of recall went by Mr King, your successor, who sailed from New York the 20th of June (DNA: RG 59, Diplomatic and Consular Instructions). The Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia) for 22 June had reported Rufus King’s departure.