Thomas Jefferson Papers
Documents filtered by: Recipient="Genet, Edmond Charles" AND Period="Washington Presidency"
sorted by: editorial placement
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-27-02-0347

From Thomas Jefferson to Edmond Charles Genet and George Hammond, 15 November 1793

To Edmond Charles Genet and George Hammond

Germantown Nov. 15. 1793.

Sir

I have the honor to inform you that the district Attorney of Pennsylvania is this day instructed to take measures for finally settling the cases of the British ship William, captured by the French privateer the Citoyen Genet, and reclaimed as taken within the Jurisdiction of the United States, in which he will proceed as I had the honor of stating to you in my letter of November 10. I have that of being with respect & esteem Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servant

PrC (DLC); in the hand of George Taylor, Jr., unsigned, with day and year added in ink; at foot of text: “The Minister Plenipoy. of France.” PrC (DLC); in Taylor’s hand, unsigned, with day and year added in ink; at foot of text: “The minister plenipoy. of Gt. Britain.” FC (Lb in DNA: RG 59, DL); at head of text: “The Minister pleni: of France”; at foot of text: “Addressed also to The Minister pleni. of Great Britain.” Enclosed in TJ to George Washington, [16 Nov. 1793].

After obtaining Cabinet approval for the substance of this letter and Attorney General Edmund Randolph’s approval of the draft, TJ submitted the final version of both texts to the President on 16 Nov. 1793, and Washington returned them the same day (Washington, Journal description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed., The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797, Charlottesville, 1981 description ends , 252; Cabinet Opinions on Various Letters, [23 Nov. 1793]).

On 14 Nov. 1793 William Gray, Jr., a merchant in Salem, Massachusetts, wrote a letter to TJ that is recorded in SJL as received 3 Dec. 1793. Although Gray’s letter is missing, it undoubtedly concerned the case of his brig, the William, which was stopped at sea on 19 Oct. 1793 by the Citoyen Genet, which plundered it of property worth about £350 lawful money, beat its captain, and put four Bermudian sailors aboard (DNA: RG 123, United States Court of Claims, French Spoliation Case Files, Case No. 11).

Index Entries