From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 October 1796
To Timothy Pickering
Mount Vernon 10th October 1796
Sir,
Your letter of the 5th instant with its enclosure, came to hand by Friday’s Post.1
The extracts therein, produced both pleasure & pain—the former at hearing that our Citizens are; at length released from their unfortunate confinement in Algiers; the latter to find that others of them have fallen into a similar situation at Tunis; contrary to the Truce, & to the arrangement made with Mr Donaldson.2
’Tis difficult to understand, precisely, what the French government design, relative to this Country, from the accounts given by Mr Monroe.3
The enclosed letter respecting a judge for the District of Rhode Island, has just been received; and as it is the most eligible choice I see a prospect of ma⟨king,⟩ a Commission may issue accordingly, app⟨oint⟩ing Benjamin Bourn to that Office: pro⟨vid⟩ed it is the same Gentleman who represents that State in Congress; otherwise not, unti⟨l⟩ further enquiry and consideration are had on the subject.4
A short time before I left Philadelphia last,5 a character was brought forward and well recommended as Attorney for the District of Kentucky; and the Appoin⟨t⟩ment met my approbation, but whether a Commission issued in consequence of it, or not, my recollection does not serve me’⟨.⟩ His name I have forgot, but the letters of recommendation (from the Attorney General of the United States and others) were, I think, put into your hands with my sentiments thereon.6
Go: Washington
LS (retained copy), DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State. Where the retained copy is mutilated, the text in angle brackets has been taken from the letter-book copy. Pickering replied to this letter on 13 October.
1. The previous Friday was 7 October.
2. For the release of American captives at Algiers, the seizure of a U.S. vessel at Tunis, and the truce with Tunis involving Joseph Donaldson, Jr., see Pickering to GW, 5 Oct., and notes 4 and 5 to that document.
3. See Pickering to GW, 5 Oct., and n.1 to that document; see also GW to Pickering, 28 Sept., and n.3.
4. GW enclosed a letter from Jeremiah Olney, collector of customs at Providence, written to GW from the “Custom-House” on 26 Sept.: “The Office of District Judge for Rhode-Island, being vacant by the death of Judge [Henry] Marchant, I feel a confidence in addressing you on the subject of a suitable Person to succeed to that office, and take the liberty of recommending Benjamin Bourn Esquire of this Town, Attorney at Law, as a Gentleman possessing all the requisites to discharge, with honor and impartiality, the important Duties thereof. He is deservedly esteemed by all classes of his fellow Citizens, as a Gentleman of fair Character and deportment in life, possessing very distinguished Tallents in the line of his Profession. Mr Bourn’s federal Principles and unshaken attachment to Peace, Order, and good Government, are so firmly established and known to you Sir, as to render any thing my feeble Pen can suggest on that subject, unnecessary: I shall therefore only assure you that I am authorised to say, should you be pleased to confer the honorable Appointment on him, it will be acceptable, and afford general satisfaction to the Citizens of this State” (LS, MHi: Pickering Papers; ALS [retained copy], RHi).
For the death of Henry Marchant, and for another recommendation of Rhode Island congressman Benjamin Bourne, see Jabez Bowen to GW, Sept. 30, and notes 1 and 4. Pickering sent Bourne his commission as district attorney on 13 Oct. (see Pickering to GW, that date, and n.1 to that document).
5. GW had left Philadelphia for Mount Vernon on 19 Sept. (see , 343).
6. GW refers to William Clarke, whom Pickering had written on 24 Sept., enclosing his commission as U.S. attorney for the district of Kentucky (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters). No letters of recommendation for Clarke from U.S. Attorney General Charles Lee or others have been found. However, Thomas Marshall, the father of Chief Justice John Marshall and revenue officer for the Ohio District, and other members of his family may have been involved in Clarke’s appointment (see Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau, Federal Courts in the Early Republic: Kentucky, 1789–1816 [Princeton, N.J., 1978], 72–73). Clarke accepted the appointment in a letter to Pickering written from Bourbon, Ky., on 17 Nov.: “I was honoured with yours of the 24th of september … together with a Commission from the President appointing me Attorney of the United States for this district.” Clarke asked Pickering to “return the President my sincere thanks for the honour confered on me by the appointment” (DNA: RG 59, Acceptances and Orders for Commissions). GW officially nominated Clarke as U.S. attorney for the Kentucky district on 21 Dec. (see GW to the U.S. Senate, that date).
William Clarke (d. 1802) served as attorney for the Kentucky district until 1800, when he became the first chief justice of the Indiana Territory (see , 7:18–19).