Edmund Randolph to Thomas Jefferson, 6 August 1805
From Edmund Randolph
Richmond August 6. 1805.
Dear Sir
As the terms for an arrangement, including Mr. Short’s claim on me, will soon be perfected with the comptroller, permit me to obtain the favor of you, to forward to me the order, which I formerly gave in Mr. Short’s favor, on Messrs. Pendleton & Lyons, as administrators of Mr. Robinson. I would not trouble you, had I not been informed by the comptroller and Mr. Geo. Jefferson, that it is not in the hands of either of them. I expect, that a balance of nearly two hundred pounds is due upon it.
I am dear sir with the highest respect and esteem Yr. mo. ob. serv
Edm: Randolph.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 15 Aug. and so recorded in SJL.
terms for an arrangement: see Gallatin to TJ, 18 Apr. (second letter). For settling William Short’s claim for $9,000 from the United States, which had become entwined with Randolph’s own debt, Randolph reserved for Short an assumpsit for £2,000 from Edmund Pendleton and Peter Lyons, the administrators for the estate of John Robinson, against whom Randolph had a claim. While acting as Short’s agent, TJ received the assumpsit on Short’s behalf. In April 1800 TJ sent the assumpsit to Treasury secretary Oliver Wolcott and asked him to accept it as a payment toward the settlement of U.S. claims against Randolph, but Wolcott demurred and returned the document. As of that time, Pendleton and Lyons had paid £1,200, equivalent to about $4,000, through George Jefferson. They subsequently made a payment of $1,315, which TJ diverted to the federal government to hold until final settlement of Short’s claim (Vol. 29:574; Vol. 30:35, 317; Vol. 31:497–9, 574; Vol. 32:251; Vol. 36:455–7; Vol. 38:517–18).