11To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 20 March 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
May it Please your Excellency, Sir I received your Letter of the 5th. Inst. and am sorry to find that things should turn out so unfavorable as I am entirely innocent of the Crime laid to my Charge and which I have suffered for but as I find it is useless to go any further with it I must thro Nessessity submit to their Sentence sooner than life any longer in Prison and give up all Claims to the...
12To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 2 January 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
St. Pol de Léon, 2 Jan. 1786. Has been daily expecting to hear from TJ since his letter of 23 Nov.; fears that the letters have been detained. Knowing that he and his companions are innocent of any crime, suspects they are being starved to force them to escape. They are being tortured in mind and body; have no fire; and the snow falls on them through the roof when they lie down. He is certain...
13To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 16 January 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
St. Pol de Léon, 16 Jan. 1786 . Has written four letters to TJ and, receiving no reply, fears they have been intercepted. Has been in prison five months; he and his companions are suffering from the cold weather, “often very wet by the rain and snow coming through the roof,” and distracted by fears for the welfare of their families; implores TJ to rescue them and hopes “the Justice of this...
14To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 21 April 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
Expecting of your arrival from England, have taken the Liberty of writing to you, as we have not any likeness of our being at Liberty. Having wrote to you, the Letter of my submission, 20th. March, I wrote also to Mr. Short 10th. Ultm. but have not received any Answers; the Captain General came here the 4th. Inst., to demand, if we intended to pay him all the Expences, that they had been at...
15To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 5 December 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
St. Pol de Léon, 5 Dec. 1785 . Acknowledges TJ’s “kind and most exceptionable Letter.” He is relieved to know TJ has received the necessary papers and finds only two errors in TJ’s statement of his case: “1st. The Register which was taken out by Capt. Charles Harrison (when I was sick) unknown to me for 21 Tons (as he inform’d me, to save port charges), but he did not own any part of her. 2nd....
16To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 14 November 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
St. Pol de Léon, 14 Nov. 1785 . Asquith has heard nothing from TJ since his letter of 12 Oct., but he encloses a letter from Picrel informing him that the case is to be settled at Paris. Diot says he has written TJ of this and thinks, since the arrangements were made in Brest, that Desbordes could give Asquith more information than he. At the advice of the judge of the admiralty, Asquith this...
17To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 28 September 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
St. Pol de Léon, 28 Sep. 1785 . “I am now convinced of the Villiany of the People we have here to deal with and beg in the name of God your protection and assistance.” After believing that Picrel had engaged a lawyer and paid him, they now find that the lawyer demands twelve guineas to take the case, and that “Picrel has deceived us the whole time and had a design himself on the Vessel. As we...
18To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 7 September 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
Please your Excellency Sir St. Pauls Prison Sep. 7th. 1785 At last our unhappy sentence is passed, our Vessel and Cargo condem’d and we are condem’d to pay 6000 Livres, a sum it is impossible for us to raise being in a strange Country. Hope for the Almightys sake you will take our unfortunate cause in Hand. We are condem’d to the Gallies for a crime we are innocent of and our families now will...
19To Thomas Jefferson from Lister Asquith, 23 October 178[5] (Jefferson Papers)
I received your kind and exceptionable Letter yesterday by Mr. Diot which gives me great Satisfaction to find he has Orders to assist us when in such great Distress for want of Provisions, which Favors we are not able to express our thanks for. The Circumstances that occurred since our arrival are: On our arrival in the Isle of Bas Roads the Officers came on board and I reported to them the...