1. GW wrote “19th,” but the rest of the date line is in another hand.

2. Much of this paragraph was taken almost verbatim from GW’s annual message to Congress. GW delivered that message two days after the opening of the second session of the Fourth Congress (see GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 Dec. 1796).

3. In his letter of 15 Nov. 1796 to Pickering, then-French minister Pierre-Auguste Adet had condemned the Jay Treaty, U.S. policy toward French privateers, and British policy toward neutral nations (see Hamilton to GW, 19 Nov., and n.5; see also GW to Hamilton, 2 Nov., and n.2 to that document).

4. GW presented Congress with Pickering’s letter to Pinckney of 16 Jan. 1797 and related papers, which served to refute Adet’s charges. Pickering wrote Pinckney: “In my letters of the 5th and 26th of November I sent you two Notes from Mr. Adet … the former dated the 27th of October, and the other the 15th of November last; and my answer [to] the first. The latter note embracing numerous topics of complaint, and going as far back as the year 1793, required a particular examination of all the transactions of our Government from that time to the present. The other indispensable duties of the office prevented my entering on this examination as early as I had expected, and the current business has retarded the pursuit. The result of this examination I am now, by the direction of the President of the United States, to communicate to you. This history of our affairs you will find supported by documents, many of which were delivered to you at your departure, and the residue will be herewith transmitted. The remarks and reasonings on facts you will duly appreciate; and from the whole, joined with your own observations, you will be enabled … to vindicate the United States, and to demonstrate their impartiality as a neutral nation, their fidelity in the observation of treaties, and their friendship as an ally.” Pickering repudiated at length Adet’s claims that the United States violated its 1778 Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France, that it surrendered to Britain its rights as a neutral power, and that the Jay Treaty was unfavorable to French interests. To support his arguments, Pickering cited past official correspondence, works on the law of nations, decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other documents. Pickering’s letter also appended correspondence and other State Department documents, such as letters from Adet’s predecessors, statements about various French privateers, and other material. He concluded the letter by expressing a hope of restored confidence and improved relations with France (DNA: RG 59, Diplomatic and Consular Instructions, 1791–1801; see also ASP description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends : Foreign Relations, 1:559–668).

Following the publication of Adet’s 15 Nov. 1796 letter to Pickering, Hamilton and others drafted and published responses of their own that countered Adet’s claims (see Hamilton to GW, 19 Nov. 1796, and n.5). Pickering evidently solicited information that would serve to strengthen his rebuttal. For instance, on 12 Dec. 1796, Richard Harison, U.S. district attorney for New York, wrote Pickering a letter describing the history of his involvement in the suits brought against French privateer La Vengeance after it brought a prize into the port of New York in 1795. Harison wrote: “Mr Adet’s long and Extraordinary Note of the 15th Ultimo could not fail of exciting both Surprise and Attention. … Lest … any Thing should be wanting to a complete Vindication of the Courts and Officers of Justice, as far as I was personally concerned, and in Deference to the Request contained in your Letter of the 10th Instante, I shall briefly recapitulate the Circumstances attending the several Suits against that Privateer [La Vengeance], with the particular Reasons that influenced my Conduct as Prosecutor for the Public” (DNA). Pickering included a statement about the La Vengeance in his 16 Jan. 1797 letter to Pinckney (see ASP description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends , Foreign Relations, 1:564).

Pickering’s letter to Pinckney was published in multiple newspapers, including Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) for 23 Jan. 1797. It also later appeared in the form of a pamphlet titled A Letter From Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State, to Mr. Pinckney … in Answer to the Complaints Communicated by Mr. Adet … (Richmond, 1797). As Pickering’s letter circulated among officials, reactions soon followed. In a letter of 31 Jan. 1797, written from Albany, New York governor John Jay wrote Pickering: “Accept my Thanks for … enclosing a Copy of your interesting Letter to Mr Pinckney, which is read here with great avidity and satisfaction—it enables our Citizens to form a correct Judgment of the Conduct Claims and Complaints of France, relative to this Country; and to appreciate the wisdom, abilities and virtue with which our Governt is administered. Adet’s indiscreet note afforded a fair opportunity for these Explanations, and had he foreseen the use you have made of it, he would doubtless have been more circumspect. It is not clear to me that the overbearing and violent conduct of France towards the united States, is to be regarded as a misfortune—as to a war with that People, I neither desire nor expect it—The necessity however of these appeals to the Public is to be regretted” (MHi: Pickering Papers). Robert Troup, federal district judge for New York, wrote Rufus King, U.S. minister to Great Britain, from New York on 28 Jan. 1797: “The public mind is at present much engaged with the letter from our Secretary of State to our Minister at Paris … I think Mr. Pickering has given a satisfactory refutation to all the charges contained in Mr. Adet’s note … All the friends of peace … consider it [Adet’s 15 Nov. 1796 letter] as one of the most insulting and offensive addresses that ever was made to a government or a people” (King, Life and Correspondence of Rufus King description begins Charles R. King, ed. The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King. 6 vols. New York, 1894–1900. description ends , 2:135–37).