Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Appleton, [20] August [1817]
To Thomas Appleton
Aug. 19. [20]
Dr Sir
On the 1st inst. I dispatched the Original of which the precedg is a dupl. thro’ mr V.1 and soon after the departure of the mail I recd one from mr Carmigniani of Apr. 11. by this I found that he had not recd mine of July 18. and on recurring to your difft lres I found that none of them acknold the rect of the one of the same date written to you. I conclude with certainity therefore that that packet miscarried, altho’ sent thro the Secy of St’s office with a request that it might go under the protection of his first consular dispatches for you. I regret this much, because I must have been suffering in the opn of the family from so long an apparent silence, when in truth those letters were full on the subject of their affairs in my hands, and I never doubted their being safely recd. this loss however will be now fully supplied by the preceding lre to you, and by the one of this date to mr Carmign. now enclosed. I leave it open for your perusal that as you have been our channel of confidence hitherto you may2 know fully what passes. when you shall have read it, be so good as to stick a wafer in it & deliver it. mr Fancelli suffers also by this miscarriage as his money lies still in the bank [. . .] & unproductive.3 this will be confided to the Sec. of St’s office, in the4 hope it will be more fortunate than the last, thro’ the same channel & that should the original thro’ mr V. miscarry this may supply it’s loss. I repeat to you the assurance of my grt frdshp & esteem.
Th:J.
Dft (DLC: TJ Papers, 211:37615); on verso of RC of Craven Peyton to TJ, 23 July 1817; misdated and partially dated; edge trimmed and under tape; at foot of text: “Mr Appleton”; illegible and probably unrelated notation adjacent to signature. Recorded in SJL as a letter of <19> 20 Aug. 1817. Enclosure: TJ to Giovanni Carmignani, [20] Aug. 1817. Enclosed in TJ to Daniel Brent, [23] Aug. 1817 (noted at TJ to Appleton, 1 Aug. 1817).
1. Abbreviation for John Vaughan, here and below.
2. TJ here canceled “possess.”
3. Sentence interlined.
4. TJ here canceled “certain.”