From John Jay to C. W. F. Dumas, 9 March 1789
To C.W.F. Dumas
Office for foreign Affairs 9th. March 1789
Sir
Among other Letters wh. I have had the pleasure of recg. from you, there is one of the 27th Augt. Aug last, in which at the Request of the Chargé des affaires of the Court palatine and of Bavaria, you inclosed a Memorial & Contract to be conveyed to Congress, & thro’ them to the Governmt. of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain Justice for a palatine Subject from a Person settled at Philadelphia
This memorial is it seems made by the Chargé des Affaires by order of his serene electoral Highness— Congress not being in Session, I have had no Opportunity of laying it before them; but I have transmitted copies of these Papers to his Excellency the President of Pennsylvania.—1
It appears to me singular, that it should be expected that the Government of a country should decide upon the Merits of any private claims ^controversy^ between a private Foreigner & a private Citizen, in any other way than the ordinary Course of Justice— In Pennsylvania, as in the other States, regular Courts of Justice ^Law^ competent to all such Cases are established; And to those Courts all Persons havg such Demands, should either by themselves or their agents, apply for Justice— While those courts remain open and act uprightly, it can neither be necessary nor proper for Government to interfere— These Sir are my Sentiments on the Subject, and I flatter myself that on being explained to the Charge Des Affaires of his Highness, they will appear to him well founded—
It would give me Pleasure to convey to you the Sentiments of Congress on several Topics in your Letters; the but the Change about to take place in
our fœderal Governmt. has necessarily produced such Delays relative to matters not of immediate Importance, that I am without orders or Instructions relative to them. The [new Elected?] Govt. under the new Constitution will probably soon be organized— all our foreign & other Affairs will then be duly considered; and I am persuaded that those you mention & recommend will meet with proper Attention—
That you may know exactly whether all the Letters wh. you have done me the Honor to write during the last Year have come to Hand, I subjoin a List of all such as I have had the pleasure of Recieving—2 With the best wishes for your Health and Happiness I have the Honor to be Sir your most obt. & hble Servt
Mr Dumas
1. JJ wrote the president of Pennsylvania (Thomas Mifflin), on 27 Feb. 1789, enclosing an extract of Dumas’s letter of 27 Aug. 1788, a memorial from F. van Willigen, chargé d’affaires of Bavaria, and a contract between one Louis Conrad Kuhn and the widow Anne Marie Zeller of Philadelphia. See Dumas to JJ, 27 Aug., FC, NL-HaNA (EJ: 12396); entry for 27 Feb. (EJ: 03796); JJ to Mifflin, 27 Feb., Dft, NNC (EJ: 05912); LbkC, , 4: 31–32 (EJ: 02347).
2. List not found.