1To John Jay from William Carmichael, 6 May 1789 (Jay Papers)
A Conversation which I had this day with his Excellency the Count de Florida Blanca confirms me in the Idea which I lately mentioned That this Court is either really indisposed against the United States or that it affects to be so, in order to spur them on to a conclusion of a Convention conformable to the Instructions given to M r . Gardoqui. Having perceived a delay in the Ministry to...
2From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 9 May 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
Since my letter of Mar. 1. by the way of Havre and those of March 12th. and 15th. by the way of London no opportunity of writing has occurred till the present to London. There are no symptoms of accomodation between the Turks and two empires, nor between Russia and Sweden. The Emperor was on the 16th. of the last month expected to die certainly. He was however a little better when the last...
3From George Washington to John Jay, 11 May 1789 (Washington Papers)
A few days ago I was conversing with you on the points contained in the enclosed queries, when a Gentleman coming in put an end to the conversation. As it is my earnest wish to adopt such a line of conduct as shall be judged most likely to secure essentials without being exposed more than is unavoidable to the charge of too much reserve on the one hand, or too much familiarity on the other, I...
4To John Jay from George Washington, 11 May 1789 (Jay Papers)
A few days ago I was conversing with you on the points contained in the enclosed queries, when a Gentleman coming in put an end to the conversation As it is my earnest wish to adopt such a line of conduct as shall be judged most likely to secure essentials without being exposed more than is unavoidable to the charge of too much reserve on the one hand, or too much familiarity on the other, I...
5From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 12 May 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I am this moment returned from Versailles, and it is the last moment allowed me to write by this occasion. The Tiers etat remain unshaken in their resolution to do no business with the other orders but voting by persons. The Nobles are equally determined and by a majority of ⅘ or ⅚ to vote only by orders. Committees of accomodation indeed are appointed, but with little prospect of effect....
6To John Jay from Edward Rutledge, 21 May 1789 (Jay Papers)
The very severe attack which was made by the last Summer on the Health of my Son, so compleatly alarmed his Mother, that she has readily consented to part with him for a few Years, and after thoroughly considering the Subject, New York is fixed on as the Place of his residence. When M r : Izard was on the Eve of leaving us, my time was so totally occupied with M rs : Rutledge, whom we then...
7From George Washington to John Jay, 8 June 1789 (Washington Papers)
Although, in the present unsettled state of the Executive Departments under the Government of the Union, I do not conceive it expedient to call upon you for information officially; yet I have supposed that some informal communications from the Office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs might neither be improper or unprofitable. For finding myself, at this moment, less occupied with the duties of...
8To John Jay from George Washington, 8 June 1789 (Jay Papers)
Although, in the present unsettled state of the Executive Departments under the Government of the Union, I do not conceive it expedient to call upon you for information officially; yet I have supposed that some informal communications from the Office of Secretary for Foreign Affairs might neither be improper or unprofitable. — For finding myself, at this moment, less occupied with the duties...
9From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 17 June 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the honor of addressing you on the 9th. and 12th. of May by the way of London. This goes through the same channel to the care of Mr. Trumbul. Having received no letter from you of later date than the 25th. of November I am apprehensive there may have been miscarriages, and the more so as I learn, thro another channel , that you have particularly answered mine of Nov. 19. The death of the...
10From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 24 June 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
My letter of the 17th. and 18th. inst. gave you the progress of the 17th States general to the 17th. when the Tiers had declared the illegality 18th of all the existing taxes, and their discontinuance from the end of their present session. The next day being a jour de fete could furnish no indication of the impression that vote was likely to 19th make on the government. On the 19th. a council...
11To John Jay from Silas Deane, 25 June 1789 (Jay Papers)
On the receipt of Your Letter, which you may perhaps recollect, your writing me from Paris, I had no expectation of a renewal of our correspondance, nor any hopes of success, if attempted by me; M r . Sayre told me that you enquired after me, and expressed a wish for my return; This leads me to hope that the surmises and suggestions, propagated ^against^ me, having never been, in the most...
12From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 29 June 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
My letter of the 25th. gave you the transactions of the States general to the afternoon of that day. On the next the Archbishop of Paris joined the Tiers, as did some others of the clergy and noblesse. 26th On the 27th. the question of the St. Domingo deputation 27th came on, and it was decided that it should be received. I have before mentioned to you the ferment into which the proceedings at...
13To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 1 July 1789 (Jay Papers)
I am too much occupied to find Time for the Use of a Cypher and in Effect the Government here is so occupied with its own Affairs that in transmitting to you a Letter under an Envelope there is no Risque. This however I am pretty certain will go safe. The States general have now been a long Time in Session and have done nothing. Hitherto they have been engaged in a Dispute whether they shall...
14To John Jay from John Trumbull, 3 July 1789 (Jay Papers)
M r . Jefferson’s letter to me of the 29 th . June covering the enclos’d, has this passage— “I took the liberty on the 26 th . of troubling you with a packet for Mr Jay, giving him an account of the crisis into which the sceance royale of the 23 d . had thrown this country.— the enclosd &c &c”— this Letter of the 26 th . has not come to my hands, & whether by being entrusted to the Post, it...
15From George Washington to John Jay, 14 July 1789 (Washington Papers)
I find myself incompetent to form any decided opinion upon the paper I received from you the other day without having a view of the transactions which have been had with the Spanish Minister. I wish also to know whether, if the negociations are renewed, it can be made to appear from anything that that Gentln has said, as the result of an advance towards it from him, in his official character?...
16To John Jay from George Washington, 14 July 1789 (Jay Papers)
I find myself incompetent to form any decided opinion upon the paper I received from you the other day without having a view of the transactions which have been had with the Spanish Minister. I wish also to know whether, if the negotiations are renewed, it can be made to appear from any thing that that Gentl[ema]n has said, as the result of an advance towards it from him, in his official...
17From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 19 July 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I am become very uneasy lest you should have adopted some channel for the conveiance of your letters to me which is unfaithful. I have none from you of later date than Nov. 25. 1788. and of consequence no acknowledgement of the receipt of any of mine since that of Aug. 11. 1788. Since that period I have written to you of the following dates. 1788. Aug. 20. Sep. 3. 5. 24. Nov. 14. 19. 29. 1789....
18From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 23 July 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer of my letters (a servant of Mr. Morris) not going off till to-day I am enabled to add to their contents. The spirit of tumult seemed to have subsided, when yesterday it was excited again by a particular incident. Monsieur Foullon, one of the obnoxious ministry, who, as well as his brethren, had absconded, was taken in the country, and as is said by his own tenants, and brought to...
19From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 29 July 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I have written you lately on the 24th. of June with a P.S. of the 25th.; on the 29th. of the same month; the 19th. of July with a P.S. of the 21st: and again on the 23d. Yesterday I received yours of the 9th. of March by the way of Holland. Mr. Necker has accepted his appointment and will arrive to-day from Switzerland where he had taken refuge. No other ministers have been named since my...
20To John Jay from David Hartley, August 1789 (Jay Papers)
It has given me much pleasure to have received a letter from you, and to hear that yourself & M rs Jay are well. I hope this will find M rs Jay perfectly recovered from her indisposition. I sincerely rejoice in the prosperity of your Country. That is to say in the return of prosperity by the abatement of the war. I think America was equally free to every effect of prosperity before her...
21From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 5 August 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you on the 19th. of the last month with a postscript of the 21st. and again on the 23d. and 29th. Those letters went by private conveiances: this goes by the London post.—Since my last some small and momentary tumults have taken place in this city, in one of which a few of the rioters were killed by the city militia. No more popular executions have taken place. The capture of the Baron...
22To John Jay from Phineas Bond, 11 August 1789 (Jay Papers)
I have now the Honor to enclose the Commission I hold, as his Majesty’s Commissary for all commercial affairs, within the Dominions of the United States, which I am commanded by his Majesty to present for the Approbation, & Recognition of the United States.— The Conversation you were pleased to indulge me with, in Regard to this Commission, leads me to offer some few Observations which I...
23From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 12 August 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you on the 19th. 23d. 29th. of the last and 5th. of the present month. The last occasions not having admitted the forwarding to you the public papers , I avail myself of the present by a gentleman going to London, to furnish you with them to the present date. It is the only use I can prudently make of the conveyance. I shall therefore only observe that the national assembly has been...
24Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 27 August 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
I am honoured with your favor of June 19. informing me that permission is given me to make a short visit to my native country, for which indulgence I beg leave to return my thanks to the President, and to yourself, Sir, for the expedition with which you were so good as to forward it after it was obtained. Being advised that October is the best month of the autumn for a passage to America, I...
25From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 27 August 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I am honoured with your favor of June 19. informing me that permission is given me to make a short visit to my native country, for which indulgence I beg leave to return my thanks to the President, and to yourself, Sir, for the expedition with which you were so good as to forward it after it was obtained. Being advised that October is the best month of the autumn for a passage to America, I...
26From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 30 August 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
My letters being to go by the way of London, and the person not departing till tomorrow morning, I am enabled to inclose with the other papers Mr. Necker’s memoir proposing a loan of 80. millions, and to inform you that 10. or 12. millions are already subscribed, and that it is believed that the whole will be filled in good time.— I take the liberty also to inclose to you the application of a...
I have had the honor of receiving your Letter of the 4 th . instant. The territory referred to has been quit-claimed to the Honorble M r . Gorham and others by the Legislature of this Commonwealth for a valuable consideration so that we having no interest therein, it is judged unnecessary that the Commonwealth should attend by their Agent at the running of the Line— M r . Gorham and others who...
28From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 17 September 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I have sent from this place, together with my own baggage, two hampers and two boxes, which when arrived at Havre I have taken the liberty to order to be separated from my baggage and sent by the first vessel to New York to your address. The marks and contents are as follows: TI. No. 30. } These are hampers containing samples of the best wines of this country, which I beg leave to present TI....
29From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 19 September 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the honour of addressing you on the 30th. of the last month. Since that I have taken the liberty to consign to you a box of officers muskets, containing half a dozen, made by the person and on the plan which I mentioned to you in a letter, which I cannot turn to at this moment, but I think it was of the year 1785 . A more particular account of them you will find in the inclosed copy of a...
30To John Jay from Theodore Sedgwick, 23 September 1789 (Jay Papers)
Convinced that you will do honor to the supreme national court by presiding in it, you will pardon the freedom of suggesting to you the interest of a friend of mine— M r . John Tucker of Boston one of the Clerks of the supreme court of this state, possesses equal to any man I have ever known all the requisite abilities & qualifications of such an office. It would afford me the most sincere...
31To John Jay from Nathaniel Gorham, 29 September 1789 (Jay Papers)
Having been absent from Boston I was not acquainted with the Letter you wrote Governor Hancock; untill near a Week after it had been rec d — The Governor & Council being of opinion that all the rights of Government in this case were transferred to M r . Phelps & myself in consequence of our purchas—and that they should take no step relative to the business— I immediately set of[f] for Rutland...
32From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 30 September 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
No convenient ship having offered from any port of France I have engaged one from London to take me up at Cowes, and am so far on my way thither. She will and me at Norfolk, and as I do not know any service that would be rendered by my repairing immediately to New York, I propose, in order to economise time, to go directly to my own house, get through the business which calls me there, and...
33From George Washington to John Jay, 5 October 1789 (Washington Papers)
It is with singular pleasure that I address you as Chief Justice of the supreme Court of the United States, for which office your Commission is here enclosed. In nominating you for the important station which you now fill, I not only acted in conformity to my best judgement; but, I trust, I did a grateful thing to the good citizens of these united States: and I have a full confidence that the...
34To John Jay from George Washington, 5 October 1789 (Jay Papers)
It is with singular pleasure that I address you as Chief Justice of the supreme Court of the United States, for which office your Commission is here enclosed. In nominating you for the important station which you now fill, I not only acted in conformity to my best judgement; but, I trust, I did a grateful thing to the good citizens of these united States: and I have a full confidence that the...
35To John Jay from Benjamin Hawkins, 6 October 1789 (Jay Papers)
I have taken the liberty to enclose the letter for M r . Jefferson to you, it contains some seed of the Dionaea Muscipula, which I have procured for him. Our Convention are to meet on the 3 rd . monday of november, and it is expected that there will be a majority in favour of the Constitution. The opponants are secret but steady in their opposition Our change is owing more to the Character of...
36To John Jay from Benjamin Vaughan, 12 October 1789 (Jay Papers)
Inclosed I trouble you with a bill of lading for some goods for Yale College, ordered by D r . Price, & intended I believe to be consigned to a Col. Broome; but the clerk who has the directions being suddenly taken ill, & this opportunity going sooner than I was made to expect, I have no remedy but that adopted. Particulars will go by the next ship to the proper parties.— If my brother should...
37From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 17 October 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
By the Cato, Capt. Seton, bound from Havre to New York, I had the honor to address to you four packages referred to in the inclosed bill of lading, and more particularly explained in a letter committed to the care of Mr. Pitcairn, supercargo of the same vessel.—After being detained three weeks by contrary winds at Havre and this place, I am now on the point of sailing, our ship being just now...
38To John Jay from Edward Rutledge, 31 October 1789 (Jay Papers)
For all the good Qualities which you possess my dear Friend, there was none which fixed you more firmly in my Esteem, than the inflexible Integrity which you discovered on all occasions. Judge then from hence, what Pleasure I felt at your appointment, to the Office of Cheif Justice of the United States. May you long live to discharge the Duties of it, much to your own Honor, and much to the...
39From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, 2 November 1789 (Hamilton Papers)
I have the honor to enclose the copy of a letter which I have just received from Mr. Wolcott the auditor of the Treasury. The information which he wishes to obtain being essential to the proper settlement of several accounts of considerable moment, as they affect both the character and interest of the United States; I request the favour of you, Sir, if there be any document in the office of...
40To John Jay from Fisher Ames, 10 November 1789 (Jay Papers)
I presume the office of clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States will be sollicited by many candidates of merit and capacity for the trust. For, I think, pretenders of a different description will not delude themselves with any hopes of success. With this impression on my mind, I should not venture to recommend even common merit to your favour and patronage. John Tucker Esq, Clerk of...
41To John Jay from Thomas Jefferson, 23 November 1789 (Jay Papers)
I think it my duty to inform you that I am this day arrived here after a passage of 26. days from land to land. by the Montgomery, cap t Bunyan, which sailed from Cowes at the same time with us, I had the honor of addressing you and of sending you the Letter book & account book of Silas Deane, which I put into the hands of mr. Trumbul, who I presume is arrived at New York. according to what I...
42From Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 23 November 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I think it my duty to inform you that I am this day arrived here after a passage of 26. days from and to land. By the Montgomery, Capt. Bunyan, which sailed from Cowes at the same time with us, I had the honor of addressing you and of sending you the Letter book and account book of Silas Deane, which I put into the hands of Mr. Trumbul, who I presume is arrived at New York. According to what I...
43From George Washington to John Jay, 30 November 1789 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States presents his best Compliments to the Chief Justice of the United States and his Lady, and encloses them Tickets for the Theatre this evening. As this is the last night the President proposes visiting the theatre for the season, he cannot deny himself the gratification of requesting the company of the Chief Justice and his Lady—altho’ he begs at the same time...
44To John Jay from George Washington, 30 November 1789 (Jay Papers)
The President of the United States presents his best Compliments to the Chief Justice of the United States and his Lady, and encloses them Tickets for the Theatre this evening. As this is the last night the President proposes visiting the theatre for the season, he cannot deny himself the gratification of requesting the company of the Chief Justice and his Lady— altho’ he begs at the same time...
45William Short to John Jay, 30 November 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the honor of receiving yesterday your letter of Octob. the 13th. by Count de Moustier who arrived here five or six days ago. The letter for the King, the duplicate of the consular convention, and papers accompanying this letter were delivered me at the same time. I shall put the letter for the King into the hands of the Minister to-morrow. The consular convention which had been also...
46From George Washington to John Jay, 1 December 1789 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States hath read with attention the Papers herewith returned, relating to our Affairs in Morocco: and as far as he can form an opinion without knowing the contents of Guiseppe Chiappe’s Letters of the 25th of April & 18th of July 1789 —no translation thereof being sent—approves the Draft of the Letters to the Emperor and Guiseppe & Francisco Chiappe; and wishes, as...
47From George Washington to John Jay, 9 December 1789 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States presents to the Chief Justice of the United States a volume of the laws passed in the first Session of the Congress of the United States, and requests his acceptance of the same. LB , DLC:GW ; copy, DNA : RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters. A note at the bottom of the letter-book copy indicates that “the same card accompanied a Volume sent to the Secretary of the...
48William Short to John Jay, 15 December 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
I make use of a private conveyance which presents itself to send to you though by a circuitous route, the gazettes of France and Leyden, the journals of the national assembly, and some other papers which I have thought might be agreeable to you. The two first will present a very accurate idea of the present state of politics in Europe as low as they come. But information of a later date from...
49William Short to John Jay, 22 December 1789 (Jefferson Papers)
In my last I mentioned the retreat of the Imperial troops from Brussels. The last accounts of General D’Alton who commands them are that he had arrived at Namur and after a short stay, left it in hopes of remaking Luxemburg. In this retreat through a part of the country known for its zeal in the opposition, the troops confined their hostilities to personal defences. Much the greater part...
50William Short to John Jay, 2 January 1790 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the honor of inclosing and forwarding to you by a private conveyance the gazettes of France and Leyden together with the journals of the national assembly. I beg leave to refer you to them for the political news of Europe. They will be accompanied by the plan of finance lately adopted here and the instructions given by the assembly explanatory of the manner of forming the municipalities...