211To John Jay from Robert Morris, 19 May 1785 (Jay Papers)
On my return here I find your obliging letter of the 13 th . which arrived during my absence. I was unfortunate in not having the pleasure to meet you either at Elizabeth Town or at New York, and it vexed me much that I could not perform a promise made to M rs . Jay, but I was detained by business untill there was danger of losing my passage in the Waggons from Paulus Hook to Elizabeth Town,...
212To John Jay from Samuel Shaw, 19 May 1785 (Jay Papers)
The first vessel that has been fitted out by the inhabitants of the United States of America, for essaying a commerce with those of the empire of China, being, by the favor of Heaven, safe returned to this Port, it becomes my Duty to communicate to you, for the information of the Fathers of the Country, an account of the reception their subjects have met with, and the respect with which their...
213To John Jay from Philip Schuyler, 30 May 1785 (Jay Papers)
D r Stringer is on his way to Maryland, and not having specie sufficient to discharge an Account of his against me, I am under the necessity of drawing ^ on ^ you in his favor for fifty pounds which please to honor— I gain strength so very slowly, and am still groaning with the Gout in my feet, and so tormented with an eruption over my whole body, that I have no hopes of seeing you so early as...
214To John Jay from Oliver Pollock, 3 June 1785, enclosing State of the Military and Naval Forces of Cuba (Jay Papers)
In my Letter of the 11th of last Feb y . I had the honor of acquainting you for the information of Congress, that General Galvez & Don Diego Gardoqui had arrived at the Havanna; the latter in Quality of Envoy from the Court of Madrid to the United States; in this letter I mentioned what I learned from those Gentlemen respecting the Mississippi, since which period I had the honor of having...
215To John Jay from John Adams, 26 June 1785 (Jay Papers)
By the Ninth Article of the Confederation, the United States in Congress assembled have the sole and exclusive right and Power of entering in Treaties and Alliances, Provided, that no Treaty of Commerce shall be made, whereby the Legislative Power of the respective States Shall be restrained from imposing such Imposts and Duties on Foreigners, as their own People are Subjected to or from...
216To John Jay from Richard Price, 9 July 1785 (Jay Papers)
I hope you will excuse the liberty I take in introducing to you the bearer of this letter, M r . Curtauld. He and his mother and Sisters have for Several years made a part of my congregation at Hackney, and his character is unexceptionable. He has converted his little property into money which he intends to employ in purchasing land in Some of the interior parts of America with no other view...
217To John Jay from John Adams, 19 July 1785 (Jay Papers)
Give me leave to propose for your consideration, and to request you to submit to the decision of Congress whether it would not be proper that some measures should be taken to furnish your Ministers abroad with the Laws of the several States, and more especially with such Laws as may have a relation to External Commerce, or any other foreign Affair — Information of this Kind will be wanted at...
218To John Jay from John Paul Jones, 6 August 1785 (Jay Papers)
I came down here from Paris about a Fortnight ago, on the Business of the Prize Money belonging to the Subjects of the United States, who served in the Squadron I commanded in Europe. The enclosed Copy of a Letter from Mons r . Soulanges the Commandant at Toulon to the Juges et Consuls at Nantes, dated at Toulon the 14 th . of last Month, announcing that the Algerines have declared War against...
219To John Jay from John Adams, 10 August 1785 (Jay Papers)
The Arret of the King of France, in his Council of the Tenth of July, has a preamble which deserved to be well considered in America. The increasing Liberality of Sentiment among Philosophers and Men of Letters, in various Nations, has for sometime given Reason to hope for a Reformation, a Kind of Protestantism, in the Commercial System of the World; but I believe that this Arret is the first...
220To John Jay from Thomas Jefferson (private), 23 August 1785 (Jay Papers)
I shall sometimes ask your permission to write you letters, not official but private. the present is of this kind, and is occasioned by the question proposed in yours of June 14 ‘Whether it would be useful to us to carry all our own productions, or none?’ were we perfectly free to decide this question, I should reason as follows. we have now lands enough to employ an infinite number of people...
221To John Jay from William Bingham, 29 August 1785 (Jay Papers)
I lately spent a few Days at Amsterdam, where I had an opportunity of making some Enquiries respecting the Failure of Mess de la Lande & Fynjie, one of the Houses employed by M r Adams in the Negotiation of the Loan on Account of the United States— This Loan having failed of Success in several Attempts made by other Houses in Amsterdam, it was at length committed to the Management of Mess rs ....
222To John Jay from Lansdowne, 4 September 1785 (Jay Papers)
I have been honour’d with your Letter. If what you desire depended on myself, I should be happy in the opportunity of doing Justice to a worthy Man, & at the same time shewing my respect for your Publick & Private Character. I have done every thing in my power by leaving your Letter with Lord Sydney, & recommending the contents of it to him in nearly the above Terms—His Lordship assur’d me...
On the intimation contained in your first letter of the 2 d . Congress have been pleased to pass an Act of which the enclosed is a copy, vesting you with the necessary powers. It is the desire of Congress that this be kept as secret as the nature of the case will admit; for which reason I have not entrusted it to the inspection of any of the young men in my Office. In consequence of a report...
Le Soussigné Conseiller de Commerce et de la Navigation pour les Ètats de sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi prend la liberté de répeter par cette note ainsi que Votre Excellence a bien voulu le lui permettre l’object de sa conference avec Elle. Il s’est reduit Monsieur a vous exposer qu’ensuite du raport du Comité de la Chambre de Commerce à Charlestown la généralité auroit resolu Una voce,...
225To John Jay from William Temple Franklin, 15 September 1785 (Jay Papers)
I am so well acquainted with your Regard for my Grandfather, that I know it will give you Pleasure to learn his safe Arrival in this Country, and that his Health is not the least impair’d by the Voyage. M r . Williams, Ben, & myself accompanied him. We got in Yesterday after a Passage of about six Weeks from the Isle of Wight. Our Absence from Paris dates from the 12. of July. We left all your...
226To John Jay from Philip Schuyler, 18 September 1785 (Jay Papers)
Your favors of the 10 th June and 22 d August M r . Gansevoort delivered me on the 25 th ult: on the 28 th : I came to this place and as I had left your letter at Albany, I was obliged to send for It which has occassioned so long a delay of an answer. I perfectly agree with you my dear Sir that the reasons for quitting the services of those, who have so decide ^ d ^ ly evinced an attachment...
I received your very kind Letter of the 16th, congratulating me on my safe Arrival with my Grandsons, an Event that indeed makes me very happy, being what I have long ardently wish’d, and considering the growing Infirmities of Age, began almost to despair of. I am now in the Bosom of my Family, and find four new little Prattlers, who cling about the Knees of their Grand Papa, and afford me...
228To John Jay from Richard Soderstrom, 27 September 1785 (Jay Papers)
I beg leave through you to communicate to Congress that in a late Instruction from the Royal Board of Commerce of Sweden to me as Consul of the Swedish Nation at Boston and for the northern States, I am directed to assure Congress of the sincere friendship, which his Swedish Majesty entertains for the United States, and of his disposition to comply with and fulfill in every particular the...
229To John Jay from George Washington, 27 September 1785 (Jay Papers)
M r . Taylor presented me the honor of your ^ favor ^ of the 25 th . Ultim o — and gave me the pleasure of hearing that M rs . Jay & yourself were well, when he left New York. Upon your safe return to your native Country, after a long absence, & the important services you have rendered it in many interesting negotiations—I very sincerely congratulate you, and your Lady— It gave me great...
230To John Jay from Alexander Fowler, 1 October 1785 (Jay Papers)
As Secretary for Foreign affairs I have been advised to address you. Towards the conclusion of the War I formed a Commercial connection in this Country with a view at that period of extending our Trade to the Southward by way of the Mississippi, the only communication we have from this quarter of the Continent with the Ocean. A young Man whom I entrusted with about ₤1000 in Goods proceeded...
231To John Jay from Benjamin Franklin, 26 October 1785 (Jay Papers)
This will be delivered to you by M r . Houdon, the Statuary of Paris who was agreed with by M r Jefferson and my self, at the Request of the Government of Virginia, to come over & take the Bust of General Washington, in order to make his Statue for that State. He has made the Bust, which is much admired by the Connoisseurs here, and will show it to you. He goes to New York, partly with a View...
232To John Jay from John Adams, 5 November 1785 (Jay Papers)
The Chevalier De Pinto, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, from Portugal, after a long Absence by Leave of his Court, is lately arrived here from Lisbon. Upon Several Occasions, when I met him, at court and upon Visits, he told me, that he had orders from his Court to confer with me, upon the Project of a Treaty between the United States and Portugal, but he never descended to...
233To John Jay from John Adams, 11 November 1785 (Jay Papers)
There is no better Advice to be given to the Merchants of the United States, than to push their Commerce to the East Indies as fast and as far as it will go. If Information from Persons who ought to know may be depended on, the Tobacco and Peltries as well as the Ginseng of the United States, are proper Articles for the China Markett, and have been found to answer very well, and many other of...
234To John Jay from Lewis Littlepage, 25 November 1785 (Jay Papers)
The Minister of his Catholic Majesty will deliver to you different Letters of recommendation in my favour, which I request may be laid before Congress and the originals, or attested copies of them, returned to me. Encouraged by the condescension of a great and benevolent King, who has deigned to recommend me to Congress, the request which I take the liberty of offering to them, will not, I...
235To John Jay from Richard Price, 25 November 1785 (Jay Papers)
I have received both the letters with which you have honored me, and I return you many thanks for them. I know your time must be much engaged by the duties of your office, and therefore I cannot but feel very Sensibly your kind attention which exceeds all that I could have any reason to expect. Your civility and friendship to M r . Curtauld deserve my particular gratitude. His mother and...
236To John Jay from John Adams, December 1785 (Jay Papers)
I am anxious to convey to you, if I can, in as Strong a light as that in which I see myself, the Impossibility of our doing any thing satisfactory with this Nation, especially under this Ministry, that the States may neither neglect nor delay any Measure, which they would judge necessary or expedient, upon the certainty that England will not alter her Conduct. In order to do this, I must be...
237To John Jay from John Adams, 6 December 1785 (Jay Papers)
If the Facts, which I have had the Honour to state to you in my preceeding Letters, are credited, I think it will appear, that the Connections of these Kingdoms with foreign Powers, every Idea of the Ballance of Europe, the Dominions of Great Britain in Asia and America, and all the Interests ^ Considerations ^ of Posterity, are Sacrificed, to a momentary Tranquility and Credit. From which...
238To John Jay from William Carmichael, 9[–26] December 1785 (Jay Papers)
On the 7 th . Ult o . I had the Honor to write you,—Since which I have had an Opportunity of procuring very essential Information with respect to the negotiation between this Court & the Regency of Algiers.—Prudence dictates that I should not trust to this mode of Conveyance the means by which I have been able to obtain this Intelligence. I shall however not hesitate to inform you that all the...
239To John Jay from John Adams, 15 December 1785 (Jay Papers)
There are mysterious Movements, of various kinds, that ought to be observed and reflected on, although we cannot draw any certain Conclusions from them. General Faucett, is often at the Levee, not indeed, on Wednesdays, nor at the Drawing Room on Thursdays, on which occasions the Foreign Ministers attend, but on Frydays, when there are no Strangers, and when only the Ministers of State, and...
240To John Jay from Thomas Jefferson, 25 January 1786 (Jay Papers)
I received on the 18 th . instant your private favor of Dec. 9. and thank you for the confidence you are so good as to repose in me, of which that communication is a proof: as such it is a gratification to me, because it meets the esteem I have ever borne you. But nothing was needed to keep my mind right on that subject, and I believe I may say the public mind here. the sentiments entertained...