To John Adams from John Jay, 3 May 1787
From John Jay
Office for foreign Affairs 3d. May 1787
Sir
In Obedience to the Orders of Congress I have the Honor of informing you, that Phineas Bond Esqr. has presented to Congress a Commission from his britannic Majesty, constituting him Commissary for all commercial Affairs within the United States, and another Commission constituting him Consul for the States of New York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, Delaware and Maryland.—1
Congress being desirous on this and every other Occasion, to manifest their Disposition to cultivate a friendly Correspondence with Great Britain, have received Mr. Bond in his latter Capacity, although no Treaty or Convention subsists between the two Countries, whereby either have a Right to establish Consuls in the Dominions of the other.—
As yet Congress have not received any Commissaries for commercial Affairs, and they think it most prudent not to receive them from any Nation, until their Powers shall have been previously ascertained by Agreement, lest as those Appointments are seldom made, and both Parties may not have precisely the same Ideas of the Extent of the Powers and Privileges annexed to them, disagreeable Questions and Discussions might and probably would otherwise take place on those delicate Subjects.—
You will be pleased to submit these Reasons to his Majesty, and to assure him that Congress regret the Objections which oppose their complying with his wishes in this Instance, but that they are ready to join with his Majesty in such Agreements or Conventions as may be necessary to remove them, and which may also tend to promote and establish a friendly and satisfactory commercial Intercourse between the two Countries.—
I have the Honor to be with great Respect & Esteem / Sir / Your most obt. and very hblẽ: Servt:—
John Jay—
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honourable John Adams Esquire / Minister plenipotentiary of the Ud. / States at the Court of Great Britain.”
1. Philadelphia loyalist Phineas Bond (1749–1815), University of Pennsylvania 1766, studied law at the Middle Temple. He arrived in New York City in mid-Nov. 1786 and presented his credentials to Jay a few days later, but Congress was not in session. Jay recommended that Congress recognize Bond as a consul only, and on 3 May 1787 it did so. Bond served as a British consul to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland until 1811 (Joanne Loewe Neel, Phineas Bond: A Study in Anglo-American Relations, 1786–1812, Phila., 1968, p. 3, 9, 10, 35, 42–43, 46–47, 49, 156, 158, 159). JA informed the Marquis of Carmarthen of the status of Bond’s congressional recognition in his letter of 28 June 1787, below.