From Thomas Jefferson to John M. Pintard, 3 January 1793
To John M. Pintard
Philadelphia. Jan. 3. 1793.
Sir
Your favor of Oct. 5. has been duly recieved. The Consular fees recieved at Madeira and Lisbon had before been the subject of application to me by some of our merchants. I thereupon wrote to Colo. Humphreys to inform me what those fees were and on what foundation they were taken. I have not yet recieved his answer. I shall be glad if you will also give me information on the subject. It would be of some consequence to know which of these fees would be given to some other person by the laws of the land, if our Consul refused them. As soon as full information could be obtained, I proposed that the whole should be laid before the Attorney general, with the act relative to Consuls, in order to have his opinion thereon. I am, with great esteem, Sir your most obedt. humble servt
Th: Jefferson
PrC (DLC); at foot of text: “J. M. Pintard, esq. Consul at Madeira.” FC (Lb in DNA: RG 59, DCI).
Pintard’s favor of Oct. 5, recorded in SJL as received 28 Dec. 1792, has not been found. The dispute over what fees American consuls in Portuguese territory could legitimately charge seems not to have been settled while TJ was Secretary of State (see Pintard to TJ, 4 July 1793, and TJ to Pintard, 12 Sep. 1793). No letter from TJ to David Humphreys seeking information on this point has been found.