1. David Humphreys forwarded this letter to C. W. F. Dumas, who personally delivered it to Thulemeier at The Hague on 23 September. Thulemeier read the letter in Dumas’ presence and promised to forward it to his government. He also asked Dumas to inquire whether Congress had approved the Proposed Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, [9 April – post 5 May], above. Dumas wrote to Humphreys to report on his interview with Thulemeier on the day it took place (Nationaal Archief:Dumas Papers, Microfilm, Reel 2, f. 643).

2. The commissioners’ statement in this sentence led Thulemeier and the Prussian government to expect a renewal of negotiations on the draft treaty that Thulemeier submitted to JA on 9 April, above. In fact, the Americans would offer a new draft treaty and thereby cause some confusion on the part of the Prussians, for which see Thulemeier’s 1 Oct. letter to JA, and the Negotiation of the 10 September 1785 Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 10 Nov. 1784–14 March 1785, Editorial Note, and Nos. I and II, all below. For the commission, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 8, above.

3. Humphreys noted at the foot of the FC that “a similar Letter was addressed at the same time to His Excellency the Count de Souza de Coutinho Ambassador from their most faithful Majesties at the Court of Versailles.” The letter to Thulemeier is identical, allowing for the different person and country being addressed, to the 9 Sept. 1784 letter that JA drafted for transmission to the Conde de Sousa Coutinho, Portuguese ambassador to France (Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, 1950–. description ends , 7:419). That letter was also the model for letters of 22 Sept. that the commissioners sent to other diplomats at Versailles, including Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Conde de Aranda, ambassador from Spain; Prince Ivan Sergeevich Bariatinskii, minister from Russia; Jean Baptiste Rivière, chargé d’affaires of the legation of Saxony; Luigi Pio, chargé d’affaires of the legation of Naples; Conte Filippo Maria Giuseppe Ottone Ponte di Scarnafigi, ambassador from Sardinia; Archbishop Giuseppe Doria Pamfili, papal nuncio; and Chevalier Daniel Dolfin, ambassador from Venice. On the 30th, the commissioners sent virtually the same letter to Francesco Favi, chargé d’affaires of the legation of Tuscany, its dispatch having been delayed owing to “a mistake in transcribing.” Two days earlier, the commissioners had written along similar lines to Erik Magnus, Baron Staël von Holstein, minister from Sweden, indicating that on 3 June Congress had empowered them to negotiate supplementary provisions to the 1783 Swedish-American treaty (PCC, No. 116, f. 34–36; Repertorium description begins Ludwig Bittner and others, eds., Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648), Oldenburg, 1936–1965; 3 vols. description ends , 3:291, 317, 354, 374, 395, 408, 423, 430–431, 451, 463; Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, 1950–. description ends , 7:428–429). For the commissioners’ 15 Sept. 1784 meeting with the Comte de Vergennes to announce their new commission, see their memorandum at that date, below.