From Thomas Jefferson to Philip Mazzei, 31 January 1796
To Philip Mazzei
Monticello Jan. 31. 1796.
My dear friend
It is very long since I heard from you unless it be an exception that I received within these two or three days for the first time your letters of May 23. 1792. and Feb. 11. 1793. the contents of which shall be attended to. Nor have I for a long time heard from Messrs. Van Staphorsts & Hubbard. My letters to you of May and Sep. last will have informed you that at the same dates I remitted to them the following bills recieved from Mr. Blair.
| May 27. 1795. Anderson’s bill on Wm. Anderson of London, dated 1794. June 11. payable to V.S. & H. | £ sterl. 39–17–10½ |
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| also Meade’s bill on Barclay of London, payable to V.S. & H. dated Apr. 4. 95. | 70– 8– 6 | |
| Sep. 8. Hodgson’s bill on Robinson, Saunderson & Rumney of Whitehaven, payable to Hunter, endorsed to V.S. & H. & dated Aug. 17. 95. | 300– 0– 0 | |
| on this day I remit them the same Hodgson’s bill on the same Robinson &c. payable to Hunter, endorsed to V.S. & H. & dated Dec. 21. 95. | 137–16– 6 | |
| which several remittances, amounting in the whole to the sum of | 548– 2–10½ | |
have been made in triplicates, and were expressed to be on your account.
I had counted with confidence on our recovering, this spring, the money for Colle. But one of the debtors being bankrupt, and the other so distressed as to use all possible shifts, our lawyer thought it best to accept the assumpsit of Mr. Charles Carter of Blenheim in discharge of our suit. Mr. Carter has failed in his promise, so we are at sea again. No time shall be lost however in getting the money. It is absolutely sure in the end. I give this information to the V.S. & H.—Recollecting no small news, but the marriage of Mr. Madison of Orange, the death of T. Pleasants of 4. mile creek, and the resignation, say removal of E.R. from the Secretary of state’s office, and in hopes of hearing from you soon, I shorten my letter because it is to be forwarded in triplicates. Adieu Yours affectionately
Th: Jefferson
RC (DLC); addressed: “Monsr. Philippe Mazzei à Pisa”; endorsed by Mazzei as received 5 Jan. 1797. Tr (NhD); 19th-century copy.
Mazzei’s letter of Feb. 11. 1793., recorded in SJL as received 23 Jan. 1796, has not been found. I remit them: SJL records a letter of this date from TJ to Van Staphorst & Hubbard on “Hodgson’s bill £137–16–6,” missing except for this extract of the concluding paragraph: “I had confided that the sum of something upwards of £200. Virginia Currency for which Mr. Mazzei’s lands called Colle were sold, would have been recovered this spring, but an ill judged tho’ well intended step of our lawyer, accepting the assumpsit of a third person in discharge of our legal process, has placed that matter again out of our power, so that I cannot judge at what date this new measure may bring in the money” (quoted in Van Staphorst & Hubbard to Mazzei, 8 Apr. 1796, Archivio Filippo Mazzei, Pisa).