To George Washington from Thomas Lloyd, 19 October 1793
From Thomas Lloyd
Newgate prison in the City of
London Great Britain
October 19th
1793.
To George Washington President of the United states of America
The enclosed is a copy of my letter to Thomas Pinckney Minister Plenipotentiary, in which I have solemnly claimed the interference of my country, I send it for your information, trusting you will direct or recommend as the case may in your judgment require some effectual measure, by which I may obtain the redress of the injuries I have sustained.1
I transmit a Copy likewise to the House of Representatives of the United States.
Thomas Lloyd
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters. The cover of this letter indicates that it was sent “per Ship Hunter Captain Hacker Via New York.” That ship left London in mid-November and arrived at New York City on 20 Jan. 1794 (Greenleaf’s New York Journal, & Patriotic Register, 22 Jan. 1794).
Thomas Lloyd (1756–1827) served in the Maryland line and as a quartermaster during the Revolutionary War, and as a clerk in the Treasury, 1781–83. He published editions of proceedings of the Pennsylvania legislature, debates of the Constitutional Convention in Pennsylvania, and The Congressional Register; or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the First House of Representatives of the United States of America.
1. The enclosure was a printed copy of a letter from Lloyd to Thomas Pinckney, 14 Oct. 1793, in which Lloyd requested the United States to intervene on his behalf in regard to his conviction and punishment by a British court for attempted escape from the Fleet Prison (where he had been imprisoned for debt) and for publication of a libel (DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters). For a more detailed record of the case, see The Trial of P. W. Duffin, and Thomas Lloyd, a Citizen of the United States of America and an Officer in the Late American Army; for a Libel in the Fleet-Prison (London, 1793), which Lloyd had published. According to a 14 Nov. 1799 application by Lloyd for the position of assistant clerk to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he was imprisoned for 1,187 days (broadside, NHi). For Pinckney’s explanation of his response to Lloyd, see Pinckney to Secretary of State, 11 Nov. (DNA: RG 59, Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Great Britain).