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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO JAY. [SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL.] - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 4 (1794-1826) [1893]

Edition used:

The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston, A.M. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890-93). Vol. 4 (1794-1826).

Part of: The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols.

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PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO JAY.

[SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

Philadelphia, 29 April, 1794.

My Dear Sir:

Receive, I pray you, the suggestion I am going to impart, with the friendship and caution the delicacy of it requires.

You are already informed, that I am under the necessity of recalling Mr. Gouverneur Morris from France, and you can readily conceive the difficulty which occurs in finding a successor, that would be agreeable to that nation, and who, at the same time, would meet the approbation of the friends of that country in this.

These considerations have induced me to ask you, if it could be made to comport with your inclination, after you shall have finished your business as envoy, and not before, to become the resident minister plenipotentiary at London, that Mr. Pinckney, by that means, might be sent to Paris? I mean no more, than simply to ask the question, not intending, although the measure would remove the above difficulty, to press it in the smallest degree.

If you answer in the affirmative, be so good as to return the enclosed letter to me, and correspondent arrangements shall be made. If in the negative, I pray you to forward it through the penny post, or otherwise, according to circumstances, to the gentleman to whom it is directed without delay; and, in either case, to let the transaction be confined entirely to ourselves.1 With much truth and regard, I am sincerely and affectionately yours,

Go: Washington.

[1 ]The gentleman referred to was Robert R. Livingston, but neither he nor Jay, as appears in the letter following, accepted the proffered missions, and Monroe was sent to France.—Sparks’ “Washington,” vol. x., pp. 404-6.