To Thomas Jefferson from Baron von Geismar, 8 March 1803
From Baron von Geismar
a Hanau pres de francfort sur le Main
Ce 8 de Mars 1803.
Monsieur!
C’est dans le plus grand embarras, n’aiant recu sur quatre de mes lettres a Votre Excellence aucune reponse, que je m’adresse encore a Elle pour la prier de ne pas me refuser son Assistance et ses bons Conseilles—
C’est sur Sa lettre encourageante de l’anné 1798 que non seulement je me suis entierement reposé, m’aiant assuré que lorsqu’il serait tems Elle remettrait mes Affaires entre les mains d’un Avocat, mais j’ai encore acheté un quatrieme Billet: Et presentement j’apprens non seulement de Toute part, que Jacob Mark a fait une Banqueroute, mais aussi par une lettre de La main propre a une Actionaire des Mines de la Nouvelle York, Madame la Baronne d’Osterhausen a Cassel, dont je joins une Copie, qu’il a remis Les biens fonds entre les mains de la Justice. Voila ce qui me console encore en quelque maniere, tout persuade que cela ne peut pas etre a l’insue de Votre Excellence: et qu’Elle se sera souvenue a cette Occasion de l’interet d’un ancien Ami—Si meme aucune de mes lettres et de mes dupliques, que j’ai fait partir depuis 4 Ans par l’Angleterre et la hollande ne Lui fussent parcevues; je suis cependant assure Elle aurra pris des mesures en ma faveur, aiant eté parfaitement instruit de mon affaire par mes deux premieres, aux quelles Elle m’a honnoré de Ses reponses—J’ose donc la prier encore instament de me pretter Son Secours pour me tirer d’affaire: et c’est avec une pleine Confiance que je m’adresse a Elle, Ses Sentiments d’équite et de justice m’ettant connues d’ancienne date
Je suis avec la plus haute Consideration Monsieur de Votre Excellence Tres humble tres obeisant Serviteur
de Geismar
P:S:
A [Stauüard] Ce 8 d’Aout 1803
Aiant repris Service cela fait que j’ai aussi changé de demeure L’Electeur de Wurtemberg, m’aiant honoré de la place d’adjudant Genl: auprès de sa Personne et du Titre de Generale Major dans le pays, cela fait que je me suis etablis dans la Residence de l’Electeur, à [Stauüard] Si Votre Excellence m’honnore d’une reponse je La prie de me la faire parvenir seul par notre Envoie a Paris ou tout droit à [Stauüard]—Celle ci partira par Paris ou elle sera remise au Ministre des Etats d’Amerique par l’Envoie de Wurtemberg, Baron de Steuben.
Gesmar.
Editors’ Translation
Hanau near Frankfurt on Main
8 Mch. 1803
Sir,
Not having received replies to four of my letters to your Excellency, it is with the greatest distress that I address you again to beg you not to refuse your help and wise counsel.
Based on your encouraging letter of 1798, assuring me that when the time came you would entrust my affairs to a lawyer, I not only trusted you implicitly but also bought a fourth note. Now I hear everywhere not only that Jacob Mark has gone bankrupt but also, from a letter given to me by the Baronness of Osterhausen of Cassel, a stockholder in the New York mines, a copy of which I enclose, that he has handed over the business to the justice system. This consoles me in some way, since I am fully convinced that your Excellency must know about it and will, under the circumstances, remember the interests of an old friend. Even if you did not receive any of the letters and copies I sent you from England and Holland over four years, I am nevertheless assured that you will have taken measures in my favor, having been fully briefed on my case by the first two letters, to which you did me the honor of replying. I therefore dare implore you to lend your help to get me out of this difficulty. I address you with full confidence, long aware of your sentiments of fairness and justice.
With the highest regard, Sir, for Your Excellency, I am your very humble and obedient servant.
de Geismar
P.S.
[Stauüard] 8 Aug. 1803
Having taken on a new function, I have also changed domicile, since the elector of Württemberg has honored me with the position of adjutant general on his staff under the title of major general in the region. I have therefore settled in the elector’s residence [Stauüard]. If Your Excellency should honor me with a reply, I ask you to send it through our envoy in Paris or directly to [Stauüard]. This letter will go through Paris where it will be entrusted to the minister of the American states by the Württemberg envoy, Baron von Steube.
Geismar
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as a letter of 8 Mch. and 8 Aug. received 13 Nov. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.
aucune reponse: Geismar had written his four most recent letters to TJ in August 1798, February 1799, February 1800, and June 1801. TJ had not responded since receiving the two latest of those letters, both of which came to him in October 1801. His last letter to Geismar, which is recorded in SJL but has not been found, was dated 8 May 1800. Much of the correspondence between them, which primarily concerned Geismar’s investments in the New Jersey Copper Mine Association, is now missing (Vol. 30:317n; Vol. 31:378–81, 570n; Vol. 34:468–70).
lettre encourageante: one letter from TJ to Geismar in 1798 is recorded in SJL, under 13 Feb., but it has not been found; see Vol. 30:316.
mes deux premieres: probably a communication from Geismar of 15 Oct. 1796, to which TJ replied in his letter of 13 Feb. 1798, and another from the baron of 11 July 1798, which TJ received in January 1799 and reciprocated on 23 Feb. of that year (same, 317n).
l’electeur: by a treaty with France in May 1802, Friedrich II, the duke of Württemberg, agreed to yield up his possessions on the left bank of the Rhine. Then in a reorganization of German states arranged by France and Russia and announced in February 1803, Württemberg acquired the status of an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, making Friedrich an imperial elector, and he received control over significantly more population and revenue than he had given up across the Rhine (, 56:319–22; Peter H. Wilson, German Armies: War and German Politics, 1648–1806 [London, 1998], 326–9; C. T. Atkinson, A History of Germany: 1715–1815 [London, 1908], 462; , 1754; Harold C. Deutsch, The Genesis of Napoleonic Imperialism [Cambridge, 1938], 56–8).
l’envoie de wurtemberg: Christoph Erdmann Freiherr von Steube zu Schnaditz was the minister plenipotentiary of Württemberg to the French Republic (Ulrich Fleischmann and Ineke Phaf, eds., El Caribe y América Latina: The Caribbean and Latin America [Frankfurt-on-Main, 1987], 65n).