George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 1 February 1793

From Thomas Jefferson

[Philadelphia] Feb. 1. 1793

Th: Jefferson has the honor to send to the President the speech of De Coin, written at length from his notes, very exactly.1 he thinks he can assure the President that not a sentiment delivered by the French interpreter is omitted, nor a single one inserted which was not expressed. it differs often from what the English Interpreter delivered, because he varied much from the other who alone was regarded by Th: J.2

AL, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; AL (letterpress copy), DLC: Jefferson Papers. When the letterpress impression was made, Jefferson had not yet inserted “1.” into the dateline.

1For the speech that Kaskaskia chief Jean-Baptiste Ducoigne delivered to GW in the early afternoon of 1 Feb., see Speeches of the Wabash and Illinois Indians, 1–4 Feb. 1793. On 8 Feb., Jefferson sent the “original minutes” of all the speeches delivered to GW on 1 and 4 Feb. to Henry Knox for deposit in the War Department office (see JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 40, 42–43, 45). On Rufus Putnam’s negotiations at Vincennes, Ind., in September 1792 with the Wabash and Illinois Indians and the subsequent visit to Philadelphia of Ducoigne and other chiefs, see GW to Knox, 3 Sept. (first letter), and note 3, George Clendinen to GW, 11 Nov. 1792, and notes, and Knox to GW, 7 Nov. 1792, and notes 1–2.

2The French interpreter favored by Jefferson may have been Jean-Baptiste Maillet (Mayée, Mayet, Mayette; d. 1801), who had served as one of Putnam’s interpreters during the treaty negotiations at Vincennes (Buell, Putnam Memoirs, description begins Rowena Buell, ed. The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain Official Papers and Correspondence. Boston and New York, 1903. description ends 374). When the Indians dined with GW on 4 Feb., the presence of “the Two French Interpreters, viz. Capt. Marrat & Jous” was noted in GW’s executive journal (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 42). Maillet had settled at the site of present Peoria, Ill., about 1778, establishing a successful trading post there. For a contemporary description of Maillet, see Winthrop Sargeant to Henry Knox, 29 Oct. 1792, in Carter, Territorial Papers, description begins Clarence Edwin Carter et al., eds. The Territorial Papers of the United States. 27 vols. Washington, D.C., 1934–69. description ends 2:412–13. Jacques Dumais (Dumay) was another interpreter hired by Putnam for the Vincennes treaty, and he also accompanied the Indian delegation to Philadelphia (Buell, Putnam Memoirs, description begins Rowena Buell, ed. The Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and Certain Official Papers and Correspondence. Boston and New York, 1903. description ends 374). Neither the English interpreter nor anyone named “Jous” has been identified.

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