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

TO JOHN JAY. [SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL.] - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII (1790-1794) [1891]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. XII (1790-1794).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO JOHN JAY.

[SECRET AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

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 letter1 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. With much truth and regard, I am sincerely and affectionately yours.

[1 ]The letter here alluded to is one making an offer of the appointment to France to Robert R. Livingston. Mr. Jay and Mr. Livingston both declined the offer, and Monroe was named. Livingston was governed by the fear that the council in New York would fill the place he should resign, with a man of contrary political principles, and so alter the relations of parties in the State. He was also opposed to the policy of Washington’s administration.