From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 9 November 1791
To William Short
Philadelphia Nov. 9. 1791.
Thomas Pinckny of S. Carolina has this day the offer of the mission to London as minister Pleni. When we know whether he accepts, or not wch. will not be these six weeks, the nomination of a minister pleni. for Paris and a minister resident for the Hague will be made. The former is in suspence between yourself and another. If you do not have that you will have the latter. There was never a symptom by which I could form a guess on this subject til three days ago. Nobody here will know a word of it these six weeks. Hearing a vessel in this port was just hoisting sail for Havre I avail myself of it to give you the information which you are to keep secret til it may be openly communicated. Adieu.
RC (ViW); entirely in code except for dateline, with interlinear decoding in Short’s hand; endorsed by Short as received 17 Jan. 1792. PrC (DLC). Entry in SJL records this letter as “private.” This letter was not posted until 25 Nov. 1791. See TJ to Short at that date.
Short correctly surmised that Gouverneur Morris was the other candidate under consideration for the post of minister to France (Short to TJ, 24 Jan. 1792).