To George Washington from Henry Knox, 18 May 1794
From Henry Knox
18 May 1794
sir
In pursuance of the desire of the Secretary of State, I have the honor to submit to your consideration the following names, out of which it might be proper to nominate a character as Minister to the republic of France.1
Mr Pinckney provided he should not be deemed essential to Mr Jays negociations, and also provided, it should be judged the measure would not be disagreable to him. But in either case
Colonel Humphreys.2 I beleive he has in no wise indicated opinions unfavorable to the french revolution—but on the contrary.
If however it should be judged indispensible to send a person immediately from the United States then one of the following characters
| Mr Jefferson |  |
the most suitable if attainable |
| Mr Madison | ||
| Governor Henry Lee | ||
| Governor Sims Lee | ||
| William Bingham | ||
| John Rutledge | ||
| Edward Rutledge | ||
| Charles Thomson | ||
| Elbridge Gerry | ||
I have the honor to be respectfully your most obedient Servant
H. Knox
ALS, DLC:GW; ADfS, NNGL: Knox Papers.
1. On the draft, Knox first wrote: "The secretary of state having desired me in your name to transmit such names as occur to me suitable for to be nominated Minister to France. <illegible> & to submit the following." Knox then struck the entire paragraph and wrote on a separate page a new paragraph very similar to what appears in the ALS.
2. On the draft, before making deletions, Knox had written: "But in either case I should think Colonel Humphreys might be considered as a proper appointment to France." For the ALS he made further deletions and broke the sentence to begin a line with "Colonel Humphreys."