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CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
1783–1785

TO FRANCIS EPPES1

Philadelphia, Jan. 14, 1783.

Dear Sir,

—You will hardly expect to receive a letter from me at this place, and of so late a date. Yet I have apprehensions of being here ten days or a fortnight longer, for though ready myself, some time since, the vessel in which I go is not ready. Yesterday’s post brought no mail from Virginia. I was not disappointed in this, as I was pretty certain that under expectation of my being gone you did not write. I had entertained some hope of meeting a letter from you on my first arrival here, but suppose the same idea of its not coming in time prevented it, so that at present I have no hope of hearing again, while on this side of the water, from yourself and family and those dear little ones I left with you. We have heard nothing since my last from which the length of my absence may be conjectured. The last authentic advices were of the 14th of October, but the affair of Gibraltar happened just then, and the negotiation was in such a state that what had passed between the negotiators was at that time under submission to the British court for their approbation or disavowal. How far this would be influenced by their good fortune at Gibraltar is the question which the next advices must certainly solve. Since I came here there has been sold the Westover copy of Catesby’s History of Carolina. It was held near a twelvemonth at twelve guineas, and at last sold for ten. This seems to fix what should be given for Mr. Bollings’s copy, if you can induce him to let me have it, which I am very anxious for. Perhaps it would be a temptation to offer that the ten guineas should be paid to Mr. Ross’s agent at Nantes, where he could lay them out and send the articles to Mr. Bolling. His draft shall be paid on sight in Paris. Perhaps you had better effect this by making the proposition to Mrs. Bolling. Of this your knowledge of the family will enable you to judge. Be so good as to present me most affectionately to Mrs. Eppes, Mr. and Mrs. Skipwith, and the two families, and believe me to be, with very great sincerity, dear sir, Your friend and servant.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON

j. mss.

Philade. Jan. 22, 1783.

Sir,

—Having lately recd. a call from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of one of their ministers for negotiating peace, I cannot leave the continent without separating myself for a moment from the general gratitude of my country to offer my individual tribute to your Excy for all you have suffered & all you have effected for us. Were I to indulge myself in those warm effusions which this subject forever prompts, they would wear an appearance of adulation very foreign to my nature; for such is become the prostitution of language that sincerity has no longer distinct terms in which to express her own truths. Should you give me occasion, during the short mission on which I go, to render you any service beyond the water, I shall for a proof of my gratitude appeal from language to the zeal with which I shall embrace it. The negotiations to which I am joined may perhaps be protracted beyond our present expectation, in which case, tho’ I know you must receive much better intelligence from the gentlemen whose residence there has brought them into a more intimate acquaintance with the characters & views of the European courts, yet I shall certainly presume to add my mite, should it only serve to convince you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect & esteem with which I have the honor to be your Excy’s mo ob & mo hble servt.

TO JAMES MADISON1

m. mss.

Baltimore, Jan. 31, 1783.

Dear Sir,

—A gentleman returning from this place to Philadelphia gives me an opportunity of sending you a line. We reached Newport the evening of the day on which we left you. There we were misled by an assurance that a lower ferry could not be crossed. We therefore directed our course for the Bald friar’s: & thence to another ferry 6 miles above. Between these two we lost two days, in the most execrable situation in point of accommodation & society which can be conceived. In short braving all weather & plunging thro’ thick and thin we arrived here last night being the fifth from Philadelphia.—I saw Monsr. de Ville-Brun last night & augur him to be agreeable enough. I learnt (not from him but others) that to embark their sick &c. will keep us three days.—Having nothing particular to communicate I will give you an anecdote which possibly you may not have heard and which is related to me by Major F [ranks]1 who had it from Doctor Franklin himself. I use the only cypher I can now get at, using the marginal numbers in order & not as concerted. Mr. Z2while at Paris had often pressed the Dr. to communicate to him his several negotiations with the Ct. of France, wch. the Dr. avoided as decently as he could. At length he received from Mr. Z a very intemperate letter. He folded it up and put it into a pigeon hole. A 2d 3d & so on to a fifth or sixth he recd. & disposed of in the same way. Finding no answer could be obtained by letter, Mr. Z paid him a personal visit & gave a loose to all the warmth of which he is susceptible. The Dr. replied, I can no more answer this conversation than the several impatient letters you have written me, (taking them down from the pigeon hole,) call on me when you are cool & good humored & I will justify myself to you. They never saw each other afterwards. As I find no A in the book erase the B in the first A B, so that 1.1 may denote A instead of A B.

I met here the enclosed paper which be so good as to return with my compliments to Miss Kitty. I apprehend she had not got a copy of it, and I retain it in my memory. Be pleased to present me very affectionately to the ladies & gentlemen whose pleasing society I lately had at Mrs. House’s, and believe me, your assured friend.

TO JAMES MADISON1

m. mss.

Baltimore, 7 February, 1783.

Dear Sir,

—I write by this post to the Minister of foreign affairs, but will repeat to you the facts mentioned to him & some others improper for a public letter, & some reflections on them which can only be hazarded to the ear of friendship. The cold weather having set in the evening of the 30th ult. (being the same in which I arrived here) the Chevalr. de Villebrun was obliged to fall down with his ship & the Guadeloupe to about twelve miles below this; & the ice has since cut off all correspondence with him till yesterday, when I got a boat and attempted a passage, there having passed a small boat before us, we got about half way with tolerable ease, but the influx of the tide then happening the ice closed on us on every side & became impenetrable to our little vessel, so that we could get neither backwards nor forwards. We were finally relieved from this situation by a sloop which forced it’s way down & put us on board the Romulus, where we were obliged to remain all night. The Chevalr. de Ville-brun communicated to me several letters of intelligence which deserves weight; by which we are informed that the enemy, having no other employment at New York, have made our little fleet their sole object for some time, and have now cruizing for us nothing less than

1 ship of 64 guns.

4 50

2 40

18/25 frigates from 24 to 30 guns, a most amazing force for such an object. The merchants who intended to have sent their vessels out with us, have so far declined it, that two vessels only go with us, but they are unfortunately the greatest sluggards in the world. The Minister has given Ville-brun leave to remain if he thinks it expedient till the m. of M-ch, but politely and kindly offered the Guadeloupe for my passage if I chose to run the risk. I find that having laid ten months under water she got perfectly sobbed, insomuch that she sweats almost continually on the inside, in consequence of which her commander and several of the crew are now laid up with rheumatisms. But this I should have disregarded had it not appeared that it was giving to the enemy the ship & crew of a friend, & delaying myself in fact by endeavoring at too much haste. I therefore have not made use of the liberty given me by the minister. Ville-brun seems certain he shall not sail on the first of March, and I confess to you I see no reason to suppose that when that time arrives the same causes will not place our departure as distant as it now seems. What then is to be done? I will mention the several propositions which occur with some reflections on each.

1. To go to Boston & embark thence. Would to God I had done this at first. I might now have been half-way across the ocean. But it seems very late to undertake a journey of such length, thro’ such roads & such weather: & when I should get there some delay would still necessarily intervene,—yet I am ready to undertake it if this shall be thought best.

2. To stay here with patience till our enemies shall think proper to clear our coast. There is no certain termination to this object. It may not be till the end of the war.

3. To fall down to York or Hampton & there wait those favorable circumstances of winds & storms which the winter season sometimes presents. This would be speedier than the 2d but perhaps it may not be approved of by the commander for reasons which may be good tho’ unknown to me. Should this however be adopted we ought to be furnished by the Marine department with, or authorised to employ one or more swift sailing boats to go out of the capes occasionally & bring us intelligence to York or Hampton wherever we should be.

4. To ask a flag for me from the enemy & charter a vessel here. This would be both quickest & most certain, but perhaps it may be thought injurious to the dignity of the states, or perhaps be thought such a favour as Congress might not chuse to expose themselves to the refusal of. With respect to the last, nothing can be said: as to the first, I suppose were history sought, many precedents might be found where one of the belligerent powers has received from the other, passports for their Plenipotentiaries; & I suppose that Fitzgerald & Oswald got to Paris now under protection of a flag & passport. However these are tender points & I would not wish the sensibility of Congress to be tried on my account, if it would be probably disagreeable.

5. To await a truce. This cannot take place till after preliminaries are signed, if then: & tho’ these are not definitive, yet it must be evident that new instructions & new or perhaps inconsistent matter would be introduced with difficulty & discredit.

There is an idle report here of peace being actually concluded. This comes by the way of the W. Indies, and must probably be founded on the settlement of preliminaries, if it has any foundation at all.

Should you think that the interference of Congress might expedite my departure in any of the above ways or any other I have suggested these hasty reflections in hopes that you would do in it whatever you think right. I shall acquiesce in anything, & if nothing further comes to me I shall endeavor to push the third proposition with the Commander, & if I fail in that shall pursue the 2d. I wish to hear from you as often as you have anything new. I fear I shall be here long enough to receive many letters from you. My situation is not an agreeable one, and the less so as I contrast it with the more pleasing one I left so unnecessarily. Be so good as to present my esteem to the good ladies & gentlemen of your fireside & to accept yourself the warmest assurances of friendship from Dr Sir, Your friend & servt.

Feb. 8. The preceding was written the last night. Before I close my letter I will ask the favor of you to write me by the return of post and to let me have your own sentiments (whether anything be, or be not determined authoritatively) which will have great weight with me. I confess that after another night’s reflection the 4th is the plan which appears to me best on the whole, and that the demand from New York is nothing more than what is made at the close of almost every war, where the one or the other power must have a passport: it is no more than asking a flag to New York. Should this however be disapproved, the 3d seems the only remaining plan which promises any degree of expedition. Perhaps the minister may have a repugnance to venture the Romulus at York or Hampton, in which case if I could receive his approbation I should be willing to fall down there with the Guadeloupe alone & be in readiness to avail ourselves of a northwesterly snow storm or other favorable circumstance.

TO THE FRENCH MINISTER. (CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE.)

j. mss.

Baltimore, Feb. 7, 1783.

Sir,

—The Chevalier de Ville-Brun was so kind as to communicate to me yesterday your Excy’s lre to him of Jan., together with the intelligence therein referred to. I feel myself bound to return you my thanks for your orders to the Guadeloupe frigate to receive me if I should think a passage should be hazarded under present circumstances. According to this information (which is the most worthy of credit of any we have received here) it would seem that our capture would be unavoidable were we to go out now. This therefore is a risk to which I cannot think of exposing his majesty’s vessel & subjects, however I might be disposed to encounter personal hazards from my anxiety to execute with all the promptitude in my power a service which has been assigned to me. I shall therefore wait with patience the arrival of the moment when the Chevalr. de Ville-brun shall be of opinion that the one or the other of the vessels may venture out without any greater risk than he shall think proportioned to her proper object independantly of mine. It has been suggested to me this evening that perhaps their safe departure might be greatly forwarded by their falling down to York or Hampton, there to be ready at a moment’s warning to avail themselves of those favorable circumstances which the present season sometimes offers. But of this yourself will be the proper judge. I cannot close my lre without expressing to you my obligations to the Chevalr. de Ville-brun for the particular attention he has shown to my accommodation on board his ship. The apartments he has had constructed for me are ample & commodious & his politeness & merit as an officer are an agreeable presage of everything that shall depend on him. I have delivered to him the two large packets you were pleased to put into my hands, & he will dispose of them accordg. to your orders.

I have the honr to be with the highest sentiments of esteem yr Excy’s mo obedt & mo hble servt.

TO THE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

j. mss.

Baltimore, Feb. 7, 1783.

Sir,

—I arrived here on the 30th of the last month, & had a short interview the same evening with the Chevalr. de Ville-Brun, commander of the Romulus. There appeared at that time little apprehension but that we might sail in a few days; but we were not very particular in our conference as we expected so soon to see each other again. The severity of the cold however which commenced that night obliged the Chevalr. de Ville-brun to fall 12 miles below this place & excluded all correspondence with him, till yesterday, when I found means to get through the ice on board his ship. He then communicated to me by direction of his Excy the minister of France intelligence as to the number & force of the cruisers now actually watching the capes of the Chesapeake. I must acknolege that these appear such as to render a capture certain were we to hazard it. The minister was pleased at the same time to submit the Guadeloupe to my wishes if I chose to adventure. I take the liberty of troubling you with a copy of my letter to him on that subject. I should certainly be disposed to run very considerable risks myself to effect my passage; but I should think it an unfortunate introduction to an ally who has already done so much for us, were I to add to his losses & disbursements that of a valuable ship & crew. I wish that the present delay offered some period less distant than the lassitude of an avaricious enemy to watch for prey. Perhaps you may be able to put me in some more expeditious mode of passage than the one under which I am acquiescing at present. I shall be much pleased to adopt any such which may come recommended from you without regard to personal risk or trouble. In the meantime any intelligence which you can collect & will be pleased to give me as to the state of our coast will be of utility in determining whether & when we shall depart hence.1

TO THE SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

j. mss.

Baltimore Feb 14, 1783.

Sir,

—I apprised you in my former letter of the causes which had so long delayed my departure. These still continue. I have this moment received a printed copy of his Brit. Majty’s speech to his Parliamt. by which we learn that preliminaries between America & Gr Br, among which is one for the acknowlegment of our independency, have been provisionally agreed to on his part. That the negotiations with the other powers at war were considerably advanced & that he hoped in a very short time they would end in terms of pacification. As considerable progress has been made in the negotiations for peace since the appointment with which Congress were pleased to honour me, it may have become doubtful whether any communications I could make, or any assistance I could yield to the very able gentleman in whose hands the business already is, would compensate the expense of prosecuting my voyage to Europe. I therefore beg leave through you Sir to assure Congress that I desire this question to be as open to them now as it was on the day of my appointment, and that I have not a wish of my own either to go or to stay. They will be pleased to weigh the economy of the one measure against the chance which the other may offer of my arriving in such time as that any communications which have been confided to me may produce effect on definitive articles. I shall continue here for the prosecution of my voyage under the orders before received, or for it’s discontinuance should that be more eligible to Congress and be signified at any moment for my departure.1

TO JAMES MADISON2

mad.mss.

Baltimore, Feb. 14. 1783

Dear Sir,

—Yours of the 11th came to hand last night. From what you mention in your letter I suppose the newspapers must be wrong when they say that Mr. Adams had taken up his abode with Dr. F—. I am nearly at a loss to judge how he will act in the nego-n. He has F—, he has Jay, he has the French, he has the English, to whom will he adhere? His vanity is a lineament in his character which had entirely escaped me. His want of taste I had observed. Notwithstanding all this he has a sound head on substantial points, and I think he has integrity. I am glad therefore that he is of the commission & expect he will be useful in it. His dislike of all parties, and all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give them some fair play to his reason as would a general benevolence of temper. At any rate honesty may be extracted even from poisonous weeds.

My stay here has given me opportunities of making some experiments on my amanuensis F—s perhaps better than I may have in France. He appears to have a good eno’ heart, and understanding somewhat better than common, but too little guard over his lips. I have marked him particularly in the company of women where he loses all power over himself, and becomes almost [lacking] his temperature would not be proof against their allurements, were such to be employed as engines against him. This is in some measure the vice of his age, but it seems to be increased also by his peculiar constitution.

I wrote to the Chevalier de Ville-Brun proposing his falling down to York or Hampton which was one of the measures I suggested in my letter to you, & was the most eligible except that of the flag, in my own opinion. His answer dated Feb 12. is in these words ‘Je serois bien de l’avis proposé a votre Excellence d’aller mouiller a York ou Hampton pour etre a portee de profiter des premiers vents de Nord Ouest qui me mettroient loin de la côte dans la nuit, surtout si je n’avois pas de convoy a conserver, mais des batiments entrés aujourd’hui raportent avoir été chassés par quatre fregates pis que sur la Cap Charles et avoir vu au mouillage de Linhaven un vaisseau et un fregate qui ont appareillés et pris un Brig qui navigoit avec eux. De plus York et Hampton n’ont aps un canon monté, si l’ennemi tres superieur, entreprenoit de venir nous y forcer, il y auroit peu de sureté.

Peutetre conviendroit-il autant d’attendre, comme le propose M. de la Luzerne, jusqu’au mois prochain, des nouvelles de’ Europe, ou l’arrivée d’une division des Antilles promise par M. de Vaudreuil, ou bien encore que l’ ennemi fatigué ne fut obligé de rentrer a New York.’ The last is 681.25, and furnishes matter for doubt how far the departure of the Romulus is a decided measure. It seems not 540. ing 895. tion so for a purpose wherein time is the most pressing circumstance. The idea of getting in her is to be abandoned, to go to Boston would be the most œconomical plan. But it would be five weeks from my leaving this place before I could expect to sail from thence. Of course I may from here be in France by the time I should be sailing from Boston.

Five weeks in a crisis of negotiation may be much. Should I accept of the Guadaloupe, and she should be lost, it would under present circumstance draw censure. Moreover in this or the former case, besides losing the vessel, what will be my situation? that of a prisoner certainly, from what has been done in Lauren’s case they would not release me; in expectation of a high exchange; or if they did, it would only be on parole, in which case I could neither act nor communicate. This plan would have in it’s favour œconomy and a possibility (a bare one) of despatch. That of the flag still appears best. It is favoured by the circumstances of despatch, safety, & the preservation of our papers. But when I think of the expence I feel myself annihilated in comparison with it. A vessel may be got here, but I question if for less than 11.819. 36 or 843.10. 819.36 pounds. Besides can a passport be obtained from New York without naming the vessel, the crew, &c. If not it would take long to furnish these circumstances from hence. The Delaware would be more eligible in that case. Otherwise this place is. If this should be adopted, what would be the extent of the protection of the flag to the papers I should carry? These, so far as this question would affect them, would be of three descriptions. 1. My own commission, instructions, & other documents relative to my mission. 2. Public letters to the consuls, ministers & others on other business. 3. Private letters. I have no means of satisfying myself on these points here. If therefore this measure should be adopted I should thank you for your opinion on them, as you can, where you are doubtful, make enquiry of others. I am exceedingly fatigued with this place, as indeed I should with any other where I had neither occupation nor amusement. I am very particularly indebted here to the politeness & hospitality of Gen’l La Vallette who obliges me to take refuge in his quarters from the tedium of my own, the latter half of every day. You are indebted to him too as I should make my long letters much longer & plague you with more cypher were I confined at home all day. I beg you to be assured of my warmest wishes for your happiness.

Feb. 15, 9 o’clock p.m. After sealing up this letter, I received yours of yesterday inclosing the king’s speech, for which I thank you much. The essential information conveyed to us by that is that the preliminary for our independance (which we before knew to have been agreed between the plenipos) has been provisionally ratified by him. I have thought it my duty to write the enclosed letter which after reading you will be so good as to stick a wafer in & deliver. I wish no supposed inclination of mine to stand in the way of a free change of measure, if Congress should think the public interest required it. The argument of œconomy is much strengthened by the impossibility (now certain) of going but in an express vessel. The principal matters confided to me were 1. The new instruction; which perhaps may have been sent by Count Rochambeau, or may yet be sent. 2. The details of the financier’s department which Mr. Morris not chusing to trust to paper had communicated verbally. These in the event of peace or truce may safely go in paper. 3. The topics which support our right to the fisheries, to the western country, & the navigation of the Mississippi. The first of these is probably settled. The two latter should only come into discussion in the Spanish negociation, and therefore would only have been the subject of private conversation with Mr. Jay, whose good sense & knowledge of the subject will hardly need any suggestions.

I forgot to mention to you in my letter that Mr. Nash arrived here the day before yesterday on his way to N. Carolina, and that Mr. Brunt is not yet arrived, but is weekly expected. I am yours affectionately.

TO FRANCIS EPPES1

Philadelphia, March 4, 1783.

Dear Sir,

—In my last, from Baltimore, I informed you that my voyage to Europe was at least suspended till further intelligence should be received. I returned to this place about four or five days ago, that I might be on the spot to act as shall be ultimately concluded by Congress. Though nothing since has come to us, we consider the event of peace as certain and speedy. The hearing nothing is a proof of this. The French minister, the British at New York, and Congress, are equally uninformed. This would not have been the case had the conferences for peace broken off, as has been pretended, or had they become languid. The packets and dispatch vessels are detained, doubtless, on a daily expectation of sending something more definite than the signing of preliminaries. Capt. Barney is lying at L’Orient with the Washington, a dispatch vessel of Congress, ready to bring the advices from our plenipotentiaries. From these circumstances, you will judge that I expect every hour to receive permission to return home. I shall be here but a very few days after this shall be received, and expect to be myself the bearer of the first intelligence to you. There is nothing new here. I hope by the next post to receive a letter from you, though after near three months absence without having ever heard a word of my dear little ones, I shall receive your letter with fear and trembling, lest any accident should have happened. This dread, I hope, will be removed. Patsy is well. I hope Mrs. Eppes has recovered better health. If my prayers would be a medicine, she should have them with more fervor than they were ever offered for myself. Present my love to her and the little ones, and whenever you have an opportunity, be so good as to let Mr. and Mrs. Skipwith know that I remember them with affection. I am, dear sir, Your sincere friend.

TO THE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

j. mss.

Pha Mar 13, 1783.

Sir,

—Supposing the despatches received by the Washington may have enabled Congress to decide on the expediency of continuing or of countermanding my mission to Europe I take the liberty of expressing to you the satisfaction it will give me to receive their ultimate will so soon as other business will permit them to revert to this subject. I have &c.1

TO JOHN JAY

j. mss.

Philadelphia, Apr. 11, 1783.

Dr. Sir,

—In a lre wch I did myself the honr of writg you by the Chevalr de Chattellux I informed you of my being at this place with the intention of joining you in Paris. But the uncommon vigilance of the enemy’s cruisers immediately after the departure of the Fr fleet deterrd every vessel from attemptg to go out. The arrival of the preliminaries soon after shewed the impropriety of my proceeding, and I am just now setting out on my return to Virga. I cannot however take my departure without paying to yourself & your worthy colleagues my homage for the good work you have completed for us, and congratulating you on the singular happiness of having borne so distinguished a part both in the earliest & latest transactions of this revolution. The terms obtained for us are indeed great, and are so deemed by your country, a few ill-designing debtors excepted. I am in hopes you will continue at some one of the European courts most agreeable to yourself that we may still have the benefit of your talents. I took the liberty in my letter of suggesting a wish that you would be so kind as to engage lodgings for me. Should you have given yourself this trouble I beg leave to return you my thanks and to ask the favor of you to communicate the amount of their hire to Mr. Rob Morris of this city who will immediately remit it to you as I lodge money in his hands for this purpose. Accept my warmest wishes for your happiness and be assured of the sincerity with which I have the honor to be Dr Sir your mo ob & mo hble servt.

P. S. I beg to be affly remembd to Dr. F. & Mr. A., if they be still with you.

TO JAMES MADISON1

j. mss.

Tuckahoe, May 7, 1783.

I received your favor of Apr. 22 and am not a little concerned at the alteration which took place in the Report on the impost &c. after I left you. The article which bound the whole together was I fear essential to get the whole passed; as that which proposed the conversion of state into federal debts was one palatable ingredient at least in the pill we were to swallow. This proposition being then hopeful, I never consulted you whether the paiment of our Western expenditures, annexed as a condition to our passing the articles recommended, would not be acceded to by Congress; more especially when one of those articles is the cession of that very territory for the acquisition & defense of which these expenditures have been incurred. If I recollect rightly Congress offered this in their first proposition for a cession. I beg your sentiments however on this subject by return of the first post. Notwithstanding the unpromising form of these articles I have waited a fortnight in the neighborhood of Richmond that I might see some of the members. I passed yesterday in associating & conversing with as many of them as I could. The attorney has cooperated in this work. This is the view I form at present of the leaders. Dr. [Arthur] Lee, R. H. Lee, Mr. Page, Taylor, will be against them. So will Thruston & White if elected, and even an A. Compbell is thought worthy of being named with these as having some influence in the S. Western quarter. In their favour will be Tyler, Tazewell, Genl Nelson, W. Nelson, Nicholas & a Mr. [Archibald] Stewart a young man of good talents from the Westward. Henry as usual is involved in mystery: should the popular tide run strongly in either direction, he will fall in with it. Should it not, he will have a struggle between his enmity to the Lees, & his enmity to everything which may give influence to Congress. T. [homson] Mason is a meteor whose path cannot be calculated. All the powers of his mind seem at present to be concentrated in one single object, the producing a convention to new model the [State] Constitution. This is a subject much agitated, and seems the only one they will have to amuse themselves with till they shall receive your propositions. These should be hastened; as I think the session will be short. I have seen Mr. Wythe. He has none of his amendments or notes on the Confederation,

Mr. Short has desired me to suggest his name as that of a person willing to become a legatine secretary should these offices be continued. I have apprised him of the possibility that they may not. You know my high opinion of his abilities & merits; I will therefore only add that a peculiar talent for prying into facts seems to mark his character as proper for such a business. He is young, & little experienced in business, tho well prepared for it. These defects will lessen daily. Should persons be proposed less proper on the whole, you would on motives of public good, knowing his willingness to serve, give him a nomination & do justice to his character.

I rejoice at the information that 1832. 164.928.36.323.1& yourself concur in sentiments. I rejoice as it will render you happier and give to me a neighbor on whom I shall set high value. You will be continued in your delegation till the end of three years from the completion of the Confederation. You will therefore model your measures accordingly. You say nothing of the time when you shall pay your visit to Virginia. I hope you will let me know of your arrival as soon as it happens. Should the call be made on me, which was sometimes the subject of our conversation, and be so timed with your visit as that you may be the bearer of it, I shall with great pleasure accommodate my movements to yours so as to accompany you on your return to Philadelphia.

I set out this morning for Monticello. My affectionate compliments to the ladies and gentlemen of the house, and sincere friendship to yourself. Adieu.

TO JAMES MADISON

mad. mss.

Monticello, 1 June, 1783.

Dear Sir;

—The receipt of your letter of May 6 remains unacknoleged. I am also told that Colo. Monroe has letters for me to post, tho’ I have not yet received them. I hear but little from our assembly. Mr. Henry has declared in favour of the impost. This will ensure it. How he is as to the other questions of importance, I do not learn.

On opening my papers when I came home I found among them the enclosed cyphers which I had received from either Mr. Morris’s or Mr. Livingston’s office. Will you be so good as to return them for me? The confusion into which my papers had got going to & from Baltimore & left there for some time will I hope apologize for my having overlooked them when I returned the other papers. I send you inclosed the debates in Congress on the subjects of Independance, voting in Congress, & the Quotas of money to be required from the states. I found on looking that I had taken no others save only in one trifling case. As you were desirous of having a copy of the original of the declaration of Independance I have inserted it at full length distinguishing the alterations it underwent. * *

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FOR VIRGINIA1

[June, 1783.]

To the citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia, and all others whom it may concern, the delegates for the said commonwealth in Convention assembled, send greeting:

It is known to you and to the world, that the government of Great Britain, with which the American States were not long since connected, assumed over them an authority unwarrantable and oppressive; that they endeavored to enforce this authority by arms, and that the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, considering resistance, with all its train of horrors, as a lesser evil than abject submission, closed in the appeal to arms. It hath pleased the Sovereign Disposer of all human events to give to this appeal an issue favorable to the rights of the States; to enable them to reject forever all dependence on a government which had shown itself so capable of abusing the trusts reposed in it; and to obtain from that government a solemn and explicit acknowledgment that they are free, sovereign, and independent States. During the progress of that war, through which we had to labor for the establishment of our rights, the legislature of the commonwealth of Virginia found it necessary to make a temporary organization of government for preventing anarchy, and pointing our efforts to the two important objects of war against our invaders and peace and happiness among ourselves. But this, like all other acts of legislation, being subject to change by subsequent legislatures, possessing equal powers with themselves; it has been thought expedient, that it should receive those amendments which time and trial have suggested, and be rendered permanent by a power superior to that of the ordinary legislature. The general assembly therefore of this State recommended it to the good people thereof, to choose delegates to meet in general convention, with powers to form a constitution of government for them, and to declare those fundamentals to which all our laws present and future shall be subordinate; and, in compliance with this recommendation, they have thought proper to make choice of us, and to vest us with powers for this purpose.

We, therefore, the delegates, chosen by the said good people of this State for the purpose aforesaid, and now assembled in general convention, do, in execution of the authority with which we are invested, establish the following constitution and fundamentals of government for the said State of Virginia:

The said State shall forever hereafter be governed as a commonwealth.

The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct departments, each of them to be confided to a separate body of magistracy; to wit, those which are legislative to one, those which are judiciary to another, and those which are executive to another. No person, or collection of persons, being of one of these departments, shall exercise any power properly belonging to either of the others, except in the instances hereinafter expressly permitted.

The legislature shall consist of two branches, the one to be called the House of Delegates, the other the Senate, and both together the General Assembly. The concurrence of both of these, expressed on three several readings, shall be necessary to the passage of a law.

Delegates for the general assembly shall be chosen on the last Monday of November in every year. But if an election cannot be concluded on that day, it may be adjourned from day to day till it can be concluded.

The number of delegates which each county may send shall be in proportion to the number of its qualified electors; and the whole number of delegates for the State shall be so proportioned to the whole number of qualified electors in it, that they shall never exceed three hundred, nor be fewer than one hundred. Whenever such excess or deficiency shall take place, the House of Delegates so deficient or excessive shall, notwithstanding this, continue in being during its legal term; but they shall, during that term, re-adjust the proportion, so as to bring their number within the limits before mentioned at the ensuing election. If any county be reduced in its qualified electors below the number authorized to send one delegate, let it be annexed to some adjoining county.

For the election of senators, let the several counties be allotted by the senate, from time to time, into such and so many districts as they shall find best; and let each county at the time of electing its delegates, choose senatorial electors, qualified as themselves are, and four in number for each delegate their county is entitled to send, who shall convene, and conduct themselves, in such manner as the legislature shall direct, with the senatorial electors from the other counties of their district, and then choose, by ballot, one senator for every six delegates which their district is entitled to choose. Let the senatorial districts be divided into two classes, and let the members elected for one of them be dissolved at the first ensuing general election of delegates, the other at the next, and so on alternately forever.

All free male citizens, of full age, and sane mind, who for one year before shall have been resident in the county, or shall through the whole of that time have possessed therein real property of the value of —; or shall for the same time have been enrolled in the militia, and no others, shall have a right to vote for delegates for the said county, and for senatorial electors for the district. They shall give their votes personally, and viva voce.

The general assembly shall meet at the place to which the last adjournment was, on the forty-second day after the day of election of delegates, and thenceforward at any other time or place on their own adjournment, till their office expires, which shall be on the day preceding that appointed for the meeting of the next general assembly. But if they shall at any time adjourn for more than one year, it shall be as if they had adjourned for one year precisely. Neither house, without the concurrence of the other, shall adjourn for more than one week, nor to any other place than the one at which they are sitting. The governor shall also have power, with the advice of the council of State, to call them at any other time to the same place, or to a different one, if that shall have become, since the last adjournment, dangerous from an enemy, or from infection.

A majority of either house shall be a quorum, and shall be requisite for doing business; but any smaller proportion which from time to time shall be thought expedient by the respective houses, shall be sufficient to call for, and to punish, their non-attending members, and to adjourn themselves for any time not exceeding one week.

The members, during their attendance on the general assembly, and for so long a time before and after as shall be necessary for travelling to and from the same, shall be privileged from all personal restraint and assault, and shall have no other privilege whatsoever. They shall receive, during the same time, daily wages in gold or silver, equal to the value of two bushels of wheat. This value shall be deemed one dollar by the bushel till the year 1790, in which and in every tenth year thereafter, the general court, at their first sessions in the year, shall cause a special jury, of the most respectable merchants and farmers to be summoned, to declare what shall have been the averaged value of wheat during the last ten years; which averaged value shall be the measure of wages for the ten subsequent years.

Of this general assembly, the treasurer, attorney general, register, ministers of the gospel, officers of the regular armies of this State, or of the United States, persons receiving salaries or emoluments from any foreign power to our confederacy, those who are not resident in the county for which they are chosen delegates, or districts for which they are chosen senators, those who are not qualified as electors, persons who shall have committed treason, felony, or such other crime as would subject them to infamous punishment, or who shall have been convicted by due course of law of bribery or corruption, in endeavoring to procure an election to the said assembly, shall be incapable of being members. All others, not herein elsewhere excluded, who may elect, shall be capable of being elected thereto.

Any member of the said assembly accepting any office of profit under this State, or the United States, or any of them, shall thereby vacate his seat, but shall be capable of being re-elected.

Vacancies occasioned by such disqualifications, by death, or otherwise, shall be supplied by the electors, on a writ from the speaker of the respective house.

The general assembly shall not have power to infringe this constitution; to abridge the civil rights of any person on account of his religious belief; to restrain him from professing and supporting that belief, or to compel him to contributions, other than those he shall have personally stipulated for the support of that or any other; to ordain death for any crime but treason or murder, or military offences; to pardon, or give a power of pardoning, persons duly convicted of treason or felony, but instead thereof they may substitute one or two new trials, and no more; to pass laws for punishing actions done before the existence of such laws; to pass any bill of attainder of treason or felony; to prescribe torture in any case whatever; nor to permit the introduction of any more slaves to reside in this state, or the continuance of slavery beyond the generation which shall be living on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred; all persons born after that day being hereby declared free.

The general assembly shall have power to sever from this State all or any parts of its territory westward of the Ohio, or of the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, and to cede to Congress one hundred square miles of territory in any other part of this State, so long as Congress shall hold their sessions therein, or in any territory adjacent thereto, which may be tendered to them by any other State.

They shall have power to appoint the speakers of their respective houses, treasurer, auditors, attorney general, register, all general officers of the military, their own clerks and serjeants, and no other officers, except where, in other parts of this constitution, such appointment is expressly given them.

The executive powers shall be exercised by a Governor, who shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, and when chosen shall remain in office five years, and be ineligible a second time. During his term he shall hold no other office or emolument under this State, or any other State or power whatsoever. By executive powers, we mean no reference to those powers exercised under our former government by the crown as of its prerogative, nor that these shall be the standard of what may or may not be deemed the rightful powers of the governor. We give them those powers only, which are necessary to execute the laws (and administer the government), and which are not in their nature either legislative or judiciary. The application of this idea must be left to reason. We do however expressly deny him the prerogative powers of erecting courts, offices, boroughs, corporations, fairs, markets, ports, beacons, light-houses, and sea-marks; of laying embargoes, of establishing precedence, of retaining within the State, or recalling to it any citizen thereof, and of making denizens, except so far as he may be authorized from time to time by the legislature to exercise any of those powers. The power of declaring war and concluding peace, of contracting alliances, of issuing letters of marque and reprisal, of raising and introducing armed forces, of building armed vessels, forts, or strongholds, of coining money or regulating its value, of regulating weights and measures, we leave to be exercised under the authority of the confederation; but in all cases respecting them which are out of the said confederation, they shall be exercised by the governor, under the regulation of such laws as the legislature may think it expedient to pass.

The whole military of the State, whether regular, or of militia, shall be subject to his directions; but he shall leave the execution of those directions to the general officers appointed by the legislature.

His salary shall be fixed by the legislature at the session of the assembly in which he shall be appointed, and before such appointment be made; or if it be not then fixed, it shall be the same which his next predecessor in office was entitled to. In either case he may demand it quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public treasury; and it shall not be in the power of the legislature to give him less or more, either during his continuance in office, or after he shall have gone out of it. The lands, houses, and other things appropriated to the use of the governor, shall remain to his use during his continuance in office.

A Council of State shall be chosen by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, who shall hold their offices seven years, and be ineligible a second time, and who, while they shall be of the said council, shall hold no other office or emolument under this State, or any other state or power whatsoever. Their duty shall be to attend and advise the governor when called on by him, and their advice in any case shall be a sanction to him. They shall also have power, and it shall be their duty, to meet at their own will, and to give their advice, though not required by the governor, in cases where they shall think the public good calls for it. Their advice and proceedings shall be entered in books to be kept for that purpose, and shall be signed as approved or disapproved by the members present. These books shall be laid before either house of assembly when called for by them. The said council shall consist of eight members for the present; but their numbers may be increased or reduced by the legislature, whenever they shall think it necessary; provided such reduction be made only as the appointments become vacant by death, resignation, disqualification, or regular deprivation. A majority of their actual number, and not fewer, shall be a quorum. They shall be allowed for the present — each by the year, payable quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public treasury. Their salary, however, may be increased or abated from time to time at the discretion of the legislature; provided such increase or abatement shall not, by any ways or means, be made to affect either then, or at any future time, anyone of those then actually in office. At the end of each quarter their salary shall be divided into equal portions by the number of days on which, during that quarter, a council has been held, or required by the governor, or by their own adjournment, and one of those portions shall be withheld from each member for every of the said days which, without cause allowed good by the board, he failed to attend, or departed before adjournment without their leave. If no board should have been held during that quarter, there shall be no deduction.

They shall annually choose a President, who shall preside in council in the absence of the governor, and who, in case of his office becoming vacant by death or otherwise, shall have authority to exercise all his functions, till a new appointment be made, as he shall also in any interval during which the governor shall declare himself unable to attend to the duties of his office.

The Judiciary powers shall be exercised by county courts and such other inferior courts as the legislature shall think proper to continue or to erect, by three superior courts, to wit, a Court of Admiralty, a general Court of Common Law, and a High Court of Chancery; and by one Supreme Court, to be called the Court of Appeals.

The judges of the high court of chancery, general court, and court of admiralty, shall be four in number each, to be appointed by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, and to hold their offices during good behavior. While they continue judges, they shall hold no other office or emolument, under this State, or any other State or power whatsoever, except that they may be delegated to Congress, receiving no additional allowance.

These judges, assembled together, shall constitute the Court of Appeals, whose business shall be to receive and determine appeals from the three superior courts, but to receive no original causes, except in the cases expressly permitted herein.

A majority of the members of either of these courts, and not fewer, shall be a quorum. But in the Court of Appeals nine members shall be necessary to do business. Any smaller numbers however may be authorized by the legislature to adjourn their respective courts.

They shall be allowed for the present — each by the year, payable quarterly out of any money which shall be in the public treasury. Their salaries, however, may be increased or abated, from time to time, at the discretion of the legislature, provided such increase or abatement shall not by any ways or means, be made to effect, either then, or at any future time, any one of those then actually in office. At the end of each quarter their salary shall be divided into equal portions by the number of days on which, during that quarter, their respective courts sat or should have sat, and one of these portions shall be withheld from each member for every of the said days which, without cause allowed good by his court, he failed to attend, or departed before adjournment without their leave. If no court should have been held during the quarter, there shall be no deduction.

There shall, moreover, be a Court of Impeachments, to consist of three members of the Council of State, one of each of the superior courts of Chancery, Common Law, and Admiralty, two members of the house of delegates and one of the Senate, to be chosen by the body respectively of which they are. Before this court any member of the three branches of government, that is to say, the governor, any member of the council, of the two houses of legislature, or of the superior courts, may be impeached by the governor, the council, or either of the said houses or courts, and by no other, for such misbehavior in office as would be sufficient to remove him therefrom; and the only sentence they shall have authority to pass shall be that of deprivation and future incapacity of office. Seven members shall be requisite to make a court, and two-thirds of those present must concur in the sentence. The offences cognizable by this court shall be cognizable by no other, and they shall be triers of the fact as well as judges of the law.

The justices or judges of the inferior courts already erected, or hereafter to be erected, shall be appointed by the governor, on advice of the council of State, and shall hold their offices during good behavior, or the existence of their courts. For breach of the good behavior, they shall be tried according to the laws of the land, before the Court of Appeals, who shall be judges of the fact as well as of the law. The only sentence they shall have authority to pass shall be that of deprivation and future incapacity of office, and two-thirds of the members present must concur in this sentence.

All courts shall appoint their own clerks, who shall hold their offices during good behavior, or the existence of their court; they shall also appoint all other attending officers to continue during their pleasure. Clerks appointed by the supreme or superior courts shall be removable by their respective courts. Those to be appointed by other courts shall have been previously examined, and certified to be duly qualified, by some two members of the general court, and shall be removable for breach of the good behavior by the Court of Appeals only, who shall be judges of the fact as well as of the law. Two-thirds of the members present must concur in the sentence.

The justices or judges of the inferior courts may be members of the legislature.

The judgment of no inferior court shall be final, in any civil case, of greater value than fifty bushels of wheat, as last rated in the general court for setting the allowance to the members of the general assembly, nor in any case of treason, felony, or other crime which should subject the party to infamous punishment.

In all cases depending before any court, other than those of impeachments, of appeals, and military courts, facts put in issue shall be tried by jury, and in all courts whatever witnesses shall give testimony viva voce in open court, wherever their attendance can be procured; and all parties shall be allowed counsel and compulsory process for their witnesses.

Fines, amercements, and terms of imprisonment left indefinite by the law, other than for contempts, shall be fixed by the jury, triers of the offence.

The governor, two councillors of State, and a judge from each of the superior Courts of Chancery, Common Law, and Admiralty, shall be a council to revise all bills which shall have passed both houses of assembly, in which council the governor, when present, shall preside. Every bill, before it becomes a law, shall be represented to this council, who shall have a right to advise its rejection, returning the bill, with their advice and reasons in writing, to the house in which it originated, who shall proceed to reconsider the said bill. But if after such reconsideration, two-thirds of the house shall be of opinion that the bill should pass finally, they shall pass and send it, with the advice and written reasons of the said Council of Revision, to the other house, wherein if two-thirds also shall be of opinion it should pass finally, it shall thereupon become law; otherwise it shall not.

If any bill, presented to the said council, be not, within one week (exclusive of the day of presenting it) returned by them, with their advice of rejection and reasons, to the house wherein it originated, or to the clerk of the said house, in case of its adjournment over the expiration of the week, it shall be law from the expiration of the week, and shall then be demandable by the clerk of the House of Delegates, to be filed of record in his office.

The bills which they approve shall become law from the time of such approbation, and shall then be returned to, or demandable by, the clerk of the House of Delegates, to be filed of record in his office.

A bill rejected on advice of the Council of Revision may again be proposed, during the same session of assembly, with such alterations as will render it conformable to their advice.

The members of the said Council of Revision shall be appointed from time to time by the board or court of which they respectively are. Two of the executive and two of the judiciary members shall be requisite to do business; and to prevent the evils of non-attendance, the board and courts may at any time name all, or so many as they will, of their members, in the particular order in which they would choose the duty of attendance to devolve from preceding to subsequent members, the preceding failing to attend. They shall have additionally for their services in this council the same allowance as members of assembly have.

The confederation is made a part of this constitution, subject to such future alterations as shall be agreed to by the legislature of this State, and by all the other confederating States.

The delegates to Congress shall be five in number; any three of whom, and no fewer, may be a representation. They shall be appointed by joint ballot of both houses of assembly for any term not exceeding one year, subject to be recalled, within the term, by joint vote of both the said houses. They may at the same time be members of the legislative or judiciary departments, but not of the executive.

The benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus shall be extended, by the legislature, to every person within this State, and without fee, and shall be so facilitated that no person may be detained in prison more than ten days after he shall have demanded and been refused such writ by the judge appointed by law, or if none be appointed, then by any judge of a superior court, nor more than ten days after such writ shall have been served on the person detaining him, and no order given, on due examination, for his remandment or discharge.

The military shall be subordinate to the civil power.

Printing presses shall be subject to no other restraint than liableness to legal prosecution for false facts printed and published.

Any two of the three branches of government concurring in opinion, each by the voice of two-thirds of their whole existing number, that a convention is necessary for altering this constitution, or correcting breaches of it, they shall be authorized to issue writs to every county for the election of so many delegates as they are authorized to send to the general assembly, which elections shall be held, and writs returned, as the laws shall have provided in the case of the elections of delegates of assembly, mutatis mutandis, and the said delegates shall meet at the usual place of holding assemblies, three months after date of such writs, and shall be acknowledged to have equal powers with this present convention. The said writs shall be signed by all the members approving the same.

To introduce this government, the following special and temporary provision is made.

This convention being authorized only to amend those laws which constituted the form of government, no general dissolution of the whole system of laws can be supposed to have taken place; but all laws in force at the meeting of this convention, and not inconsistent with this constitution, remain in full force, subject to alterations by the ordinary legislature.

The present general assembly shall continue till the forty-second day after the last Monday of November in this present year. On the said last Monday of November in this present year, the several counties shall, by their electors qualified as provided by this constitution, elect delegates, which for the present shall be, in number, one for every — militia of the said county, according to the latest returns in possession of the governor, and shall also choose senatorial electors in proportion thereto, which senatorial electors shall meet on the fourteenth day after the day of their election, at the court house of that county of their present district which would stand first in an alphabetical arrangement of their counties, and shall choose senators in the proportion fixed by this constitution. The elections and returns shall be conducted, in all circumstances not hereby particularly prescribed, by the same persons and under the same forms as prescribed by the present laws in elections of senators and delegates of assembly. The said senators and delegates shall constitute the first general assembly of the new government, and shall specially apply themselves to the procuring an exact return from every county of the number of its qualified electors, and to the settlement of the number of delegates to be elected for the ensuing general assembly.

The present governor shall continue in office to the end of the term for which he was elected.

All other officers of every kind shall continue in office as they would have done had their appointment been under this constitution, and new ones, where new are hereby called for, shall be appointed by the authority to which such appointment is referred. One of the present judges of the general court, he consenting thereto, shall by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, at their first meeting, be transferred to the High Court of Chancery.

TO JAMES MADISON

mad. mss.

Monticello, June 17. 1783.

Dear Sir,

—Your favours of the 13th & 20th ult. came to hand about a week ago. I am informed the assembly determined against the capacity of re-election in those gentlemen of the delegation who could not serve a complete year. I do not know on what this decision could be founded. My hopes of the success of the Congressional propositions here have lessened exceedingly. Mr. Henry had declared in favor of the impost: but when the question came on he was utterly silent. I understand it will certainly be lost if it be not already. Instead of ceding more lands to the U. S. a proposition is made to revoke the former cession. Mr. Henry is for bounding our state reasonably enough, but instead of ceding the parts lopped off he is for laying them off into small republics. What further his plan is I do not hear. However you get the parliamentary news so much more directly from Richmond, that it is idle for me to give it you from hence.

A convention for the amendment of our constitution having been much the topic of conversation for some time, I have turned my thoughts to the amendments necessary. The result I enclose to you. You will have opportunities during your stay in Philadelphia of enquiring into the success of some of the parts of it which tho’ new to us have been tried in other states. I shall only except against your communicating it to any one of my own country, as I have found prejudices frequently produced against propositions handed to the world without explanation or support. I trust that you will either now or in some future situation turn your attention to this subject in time to give your aid when it shall be finally discussed. The paper inclosed may serve as a basis for your amendment, or may suggest amendments to a better groundwork. I further learn that the Assembly are excluding members of Congress from among them. Whether the information they may derive from their presence, or their being marked by the confidence of the people, is the cause of this exclusion I cannot tell.

Be pleased to present me with affection to my acquaintances of the house, & to receive yourself the sincerest assurances of the esteem with which I am Dr Sir Your friend & servt.

P. S. I will take the first opportunity of forwarding the pamphlet to your father.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

v. s. a.

Monticello. July 18—1783.

Sir,

—I am sorry you have been at the trouble of sending an Express to me for information as to the transactions between the Executive and Nathan as I am satisfied I do not recollect a single fact that you are not already possessed of. In the winter of 1779–1780 Mr. Baker presented us some bills drawn by Genl Clarke, Colo Todd and perhaps others, which he said he had taken up at New Orleans or the Havanna and paid a hard dollar for every one named in the bills at that time. At that time I think we had been made to believe that depreciation had not reached Kaskaskia and the bills appearing fair, we considered them in the nature of many others taken up by Pollock, & wrote acceptances on the greatest part of them, undertaking to pay them in toto at 4⅙ dollars the hundred. I believe we restricted some of them, perhaps as drawn by subordinate Officers, till we could write to Genl Clarke & Colo Todd. We wrote to them and desired a description of the bills we were to pay fully & the rates of depreciation, if depreciation had affected any. They sent us a description of the hard money bills, to wit, all drawn on New Orleans, and a table of depreciation of the others. This shewed we had wrote acceptances for hard money on some bills thereon depreciation should have been allowed. We laid the case before Mr. Pendleton & Wythe intending if they thought us bound by our erroneous acceptances that we would pay them. They differed in opinion. We then informed Nathan of Clarke & Todd’s marks to distinguish the bills, that this had proved we had accepted some in hard money on which depreciation should have been allowed, told him it was a case in which every man in the state was interested, that we did not wish to be judges in it ourselves, nor to refer it to any persons within the State, but we would refer it to lawyers in Philadelphia whither we knew he was going, and therefore that it would be convenient for him to have it decided there, as it would to us, our delegates being on the spot to act for us. He agreed to it. I wrote a state of the case, read it to him at the Council board, he agreed every article was right, we enclosed it to our delegates, and is the last part of the transaction which happened within my knowledge. Our delegates have told me since that he tergivisated a little there, disputed facts, declining the reference, but that he had finally come to, but of this they can give more certain information. In every part of the transaction with us he acted candidly enough as far as we could see, and we should certainly have thought ourselves bound to pay the money agreeable to the award.

There was another transaction with him. Colo Gibson (I think it was) came for clothing for the troops at Fort Pitt. We were distressed how to procure them. Nathan offered to go with Gibson to Baltimore and buy them, & to wait a considerable time for the money. Perhaps he might name a year or some such term. We agreed, he went, bought them, & drew on us immediately for the money, which we did not like.

I am persuaded there is nothing above but which you know from more certain hands, for indeed my recollection is too faint to be trusted even as to what I have said. Some parts I recollect positively enough, others very faintly or perhaps steps in the place of memory. I should really be afraid to affirm them positively. If there be however any particular circumstances which you would wish to have sworn to, I will endeavor to recollect them with more certainty and send them to you. There is never a day scarcely but Mr Short, Colo Moore and I Buchanan can send me a letter & I can as spedily return an answer. Be pleased to present my compliments to Mrs. Randolph and believe me to be with much affection, Dr Sir Your friend & servt.

TO JAMES MADISON

mad. mss.

Monticello, Aug. 31. 1783.

Dear Sir,

—Your favor of July 17, which came to hand long ago remains still unacknowledged, as from the time of its receipt I had constant hopes that you would be on the road for Virginia before an answer could reach you. That of the 11th inst. I received yesterday, and leaves the time of your visit as unfixed as ever, and excites some fear that I shall miss of you. I propose to set out for Congress about the middle of October, unless they should be returned to Philadelphia, in which case I shall take at home the week I meant otherwise to pass at Philadelphia on my way to Congress. I wish it would have been possible for your journey to have been so timed as that your return could have been when I go: for I still suppose you mean to pass the winter there as you told me at a time when it seemed to have no object but that of prosecuting your studies more at leisure. I sincerely lament the misadventure which has happened,1 from whatever cause it may have happened. Should it be final however, the world still presents the same and many other resources of happiness, and you possess many within yourself. Firmness of mind & unintermitting occupation will not long leave you in pain. No event has been more contrary to my expectations, and these were founded on what I thought a good knowledge of the ground. But of all machines ours is the most complicated & inexplicable—Either here or in Philadelphia I must ask a perusal of your Congressional notes with leave to take notes from them, as they will better than any thing else possess me of the business I am to enter on. What is become of the mutineers? What of the secretaryship of foreign affairs? What of the commercial treaty with Gr. Britain? These and many other questions I hope for the pleasure of having answered by you at Monticello. Be so good as to present my compliments to Mrs. House and Mrs. Trist and to ask whether the pleasure of lodging in their house may be counted among the circumstances which will render Philadelphia agreeable to me in case of the return of Congress thither. Should Congress not return thither, would it be possible for you to engage me a tolerable berth wherever they are? A room to myself, if it be but a barrack, is indispensable. In either event of my being or not being in Philadelphia, I propose to place Patsy there; and will ask the favor of Mrs. Trist to think for me on that subject, and to advise me as to the person with whom she may be trusted. Some boarding school of course tho’ I am not without objections to her passing more than the day in such a one.—The want of public occurrences worth detailing has filled my letter you find with private & unimportant subjects. I wish you every possible felicity, and am with sincere esteem Dr Sir, your friend & servt.

TO CHARLES CARTER

Eppington, Oct. 12. 1783.

Dear Sir,

—Finding that Mr. Eppes has made no purchase of horses for me, the bearer comes for those you were so kind as to offer me. Thinking it almost certain that they will suit me from what I hear of them, I send you enclosed an order on Mr. Donald for £60, which will be paid at sight: only be so good as to keep it up till Tuesday evening, because if, contrary to my expectations, the horses should not suit, they shall be returned to you by that time. If you have a third horse matching them in all respects and of the same age, price & qualities I will take him also: for as I shall go on to the Northward with a pair of horses in my phaeton, it will be a great relief that the horse on which my servant shall ride may be changed with them occasionally.—One word more, my dear Sir, which is to express my uneasiness at your having supposed I imputed to you a motive in the change of price which never entered my head. I could not think you wanted to take advantage of any necessity of mine, because no such necessity existed. I shall not use the horses I purchase till the month of March, consequently I could not be under the spur of necessity till then, besides this I knew you too well to have thought it under any circumstances. I am with sentiments of sincere attachment & respect Dear Sir, Your most obedt. humble servt.

P.S.—If you send me a third horse I will send an order for paiment of the price either to yourself or Mr. Donald according as the first conveiance may offer to the one or the other.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

Philadelphia, Nov. 11, 1783.

Sir,

—Your Excellency’s letter of the 25th ult. on the determination of Congress as to their future residence has been duly received. You would doubtless soon after have heard of their subsequent determination on the same subject. As all this had taken place before my arrival I can give you an account only from the information of others. Congress, it seems, thought it best to generalize their first determination by putting questions on the several rivers on which it had been proposed that they should fix their residence. Hudson river, the Delaware, & Potomac, were accordingly offered to the vote. The first obtained scarcely any voices; the Delaware obtained seven. This of course put the Potomac out of the way: and the Delaware being once determined on there was scarcely any difference of opinion as to the particular spot. The falls met the approbation of all the states present, except Pennsylvania which was for Germantown, & Delaware which was for Wilmington. As to the latter it appeared that she had been induced to vote for the Delaware on the single idea of getting Congress to Wilmington, and that being disappointed in this they would not wish them on that river at all, but would prefer Georgetown or any other place. This being discovered, the Southern delegates at a subsequent day brought on a reconsideration of the question, and obtained a determination that Congress should set one half of their time at Georgetown and that til accommodations should be provided there, Annapolis should be substituted in it’s place. This was considered by some as a compromise; by others as only unhinging the first determination and leaving the whole matter open for discussion at some future day. It was in fact a rally, and making a drawn battle of what had at first appeared to be decided against us. What will be its final decision can only be conjectured. I take the following to be the disposition of the several states.

The four Eastern states are for any place in preference to Philadelphia, the more Northern it is however the more agreeable to them.

New York and New Hampshire are for the falls of Delaware.

Pennsylvania is for Germantown first, and next for the falls of Delaware. It is to be noted that Philadelphia had no attention as a permanent seat. Delaware is for Wilmington: but for Georgetown in preference to the falls of Delaware or any other situation which attract the trade of their river. Maryland is for Annapolis, and the smallest hope for this will sacrifice a certainty for Georgetown.

Virginia, every place southward of Potomac being disregarded by the states as every place north of the Delaware, saw it would be useless to consider her interests as to more Southern positions. The falls of Potomac will probably therefore unite the wishes of the whole state, if this fails, Annapolis and the falls of Delaware are then the candidates. Were the convenience of the Delegates alone to be considered, or the general convenience to government in their transaction of business with Congress, Annapolis would be preferred without hesitation. But those who respect commercial advantages more than the convenience of individuals will probably think that every position on the bay of Chesapeak or any of its waters is to be dreaded by Virginia as it may attract the trade of that bay and make us with respect to Maryland what Delaware State is to Pennsylvania. Considering the residence of Congress therefore as it may influence trade, if we cannot obtain it on the Potomac it seems to be our interest to bring it past all the waters of the Chesapeak bay.

The three Southern states are for the most Southern situation. It should be noted that N. Hampshire and Georgia were absent on the decisions of these questions, but considering their interests would be directly opposite, it was thought their joint presence or absence would not change the result. From the preceding state of the views of the several members of our union your Excellency will be enabled to judge what will be the probable determination on any future revision of the present plan: the establishment of new states will be friendly or adverse to Georgetown according to their situation. If a state be first laid off on the lakes it will add a vote to the Northern scale, if on the Ohio it will add one to the Southern. I had the happiness of seeing Gen’l. Washington the other day after a space of seven years. He has more health in his countenance than I ever saw in it before. Among other political conversations he entered earnestly into one respecting the Western section of Virginia, and the late vote of Congress accepting it. He thinks the conditions annexed by Virginia and not acceded to by Congress altogether unimportant, at least much less important than the consequences which would result from the state’s adhering to these conditions. He thinks that a friendly and immediate settlement of this matter can alone give us that political happiness and quiet which we must all wish for: and that besides other disagreeable consequences the land will be lost to both as a source of revenue by their settlement of adventurers on it who will never pay any thing. It is now become evident that the nine states North of Potomac have made up their minds on these questions and will act together.

TO JAMES MONROE1

j. mss.

Phila. 18 Nov. 1783.

Mr. Mercer talks of setting out tomorrow. Mr. Madison & myself shall leave this place certainly on the 21st, so as to be in Annapolis on the 24th. The President does not set out till the 23d.—Dr. Lee did not engage the house for the delegation, not having been desired to do so, nor having ever informed them he had done so. I rather suppose it is for some particular set of gentlemen with whom he means to join.

TO MARTHA JEFFERSON1

Annapolis, Nov. 28th, 1783.

Dear Patsy,

—After four days’ journey, I arrived here without any accident, and in as good health as when I left Philadelphia. The conviction that you would be more improved in the situation I have placed you than if still with me, has solaced me on my parting with you, which my love for you has rendered a difficult thing. The acquirements which I hope you will make under the tutors I have provided for you will render you more worthy of my love; and if they cannot increase it, they will prevent its diminution. Consider the good lady who has taken you under her roof, who has undertaken to see that you perform all your exercises, and to admonish you in all those wanderings from what is right or what is clever, to which your inexperience would expose you: consider her, I say, as your mother, as the only person to whom, since the loss with which Heaven has pleased to afflict you, you can now look up; and that her displeasure or disapprobation, on any occasion, will be an immense misfortune, which should you be so unhappy as to incur by any ungarded act, think no concession too much to regain her good-will. With respect to the distribution of your time, the following is what I should approve:

From 8 to 10, practice music.

From 10 to 1, dance one day and draw another.

From 1 to 2, draw on the day you dance, and write a letter next day.

From 3 to 4, read French.

From 4 to 5, exercise yourself in music.

From 5 till bed-time, read English, write, etc.

Communicate this plan to Mrs. Hopkinson, and if she approves of it, pursue it. As long as Mrs. Trist remains in Philadelphia, cultivate her affection. She has been a valuable friend to you, and her good sense and good heart make her valued by all who know her, and by nobody on earth more than me. I expect you will write me by every post. Inform me what books you read, what tunes you learn, and enclose me your best copy of every lesson in drawing. Write also one letter a week either to your Aunt Eppes, your Aunt Skipwith, your Aunt Carr, or the little lady from whom I now enclose a letter, and always put the letter you so write under cover to me. Take care that you never spell a word wrong. Always before you write a word, consider how it is spelt, and, if you do not remember it, turn to a dictionary. It produces great praise to a lady to spell well I have placed my happiness on seeing you good and accomplished; and no distress this world can now bring on me would equal that of your disappointing my hopes. If you love me, then strive to be good under every situation and to all living creatures, and to acquire those accomplishments which I have put in your power, and which will go far towards ensuring you the warmest love of your affectionate father.

P.S.—Keep my letters and read them at times, that you may always have present in your mind those things which will endear you to me.

TO JAMES MADISON

mad. mss.

Annapolis, Dec. 11. 1783.

Dear Sir,

—Your determination to avail yourself of the fine weather proved I fear a very unfortunate one. I pitied your probable situation in the tempestuous season which immediately succeeded your departure. It is now above a fortnight since we should have met, and six states only appear. We have some hopes of Rhode Island coming in to-day, but when two more will be added seems as insusceptible of calculation as when the next earthquake will happen. We have at length received the Definitive treaty with a joint letter from all our Commissioners. Not a tittle is changed in the treaty but the preamble & some small things which were of course. The Commissioners write that the riot of Philadelphia & departure of Congress thence made the most serious impressions in Europe, and have excited great doubts of the stability of our confederacy, & in what we shall end. The accounts were greatly exaggerated, & it is suspected that Gr. Br. wished to sign no treaty.

You have seen G[eorge] M[ason] I hope, & had much conversation with him. What are his sentiments as to the amendment of our constitution? What amendment would he approve? Is he determined to sleep on, or will he rouse and be active? I wish to hear from you on this subject, & at all times on any others which occupy your thoughts. I see Bradford advertises Smith’s history of N. York. As I mean to write for one for myself, and think I heard you say you had it not, I shall add one for you.—Our news from the good family we left is not agreeable. Mrs. Trist is much agitated by the doubts and difficulties which hang over her & impede her reunion with Mr. Trist. They are without lodgers except those we left there, & the ladies we left there propose soon to depart. We hear some circumstances of rudeness in Mr. S. inconsistent with the inoffensiveness of character we had given him credit for. I wish you much happiness and am with the sincerest esteem Dr. Sir, your friend and servt.

P.S. I have taken the liberty of putting under cover to you a book for my nephew Peter Carr, who is at Mr. Maury’s in your neighborhood.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNFINISHED BUSINESS1

c. c.

[December, 1783.]

The committee appointed to revise the files of reports and appointment of Committees & to report what matters will require the attention of Congress previous to an adjournment have revised the files of reports, digested them under five heads and agreed to the following report thereon.

The first head comprehends important reports requiring the assent of 9 states. These relate to the ratification of the definitive treaty, the military arrangements in time of peace, the civil arrangements foreign and domestic, the territories on our western border, and the definition of the powers proper for a committee of the states, which several matters are thought essential for the consideration of Congress before their adjournment.

The second head comprehends reports which also require the assent of 9 states, they relate to matters of account, & particular claims for money which may probably be dispatched in those short intervals or portions of the day in which it may not be convenient to discuss the first great subjects. Many of them however are such as ought not to detain Congress whenever they shall be ready for adjournment.

The third head comprehends reports which may be acted on by 7 states & which therefore may be taken up by Congress immediately.

The fourth comprehends those which should be postponed to another session, some of them being not at all pressing and others not yet matured for determination.

The fifth comprehends those reports which having been rendered useless by subsequent events may be postponed generally.

The committee having not had time yet to revise the appointment of Committees, and to arrange their objects under the same heads, beg leave to report again when they shall have made further progress.

REPORT ON DEFINITIVE TREATY1

c. c.

[December 16, 1783.]

The Committee to whom were referred the Definitive treaty of peace, between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty, and the joint letter from mr. Adams mr Franklin and mr Jay have agreed to the following report.

Resolved that the said Definitive treaty be ratified by the United States in Congress assembled.

That a Proclamation should be immediately issued notifying the said definitive treaty & ratification to the several states of the Union, & requiring their observance thereof.

That Congress should immediately and earnestly recommend to the legislatures of the respective States, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights & properties, which have been confiscated, belonging to real British subjects and also of the estates, rights & properties of persons resident in districts which were in the possession of his Britannic majesty’s arms at any time between the 30th day of November 1782, and the 14th day of Jany2 1784, and who have not borne arms against the said United States and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, & therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights & properties as may have been confiscated; and that Congress should also immediately & earnestly recommend to the several States a reconsideration & revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent not only with justice & equity, but with that spirit of conciliation which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally prevail; and that Congress should also immediately & earnestly recommend to the several states, that the estates, rights & properties of such last mentioned persons, should be restored to them, they refunding to any persons, who may be now in possession the bonâ fide price (where any has been given) which such persons may have paid on purchasing any of the said lands, rights or properties since the confiscation.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

Annapolis, Decemb. 17, 1783.

Sir,

—I had the honor of writing to your Excellency on the 12th instant on the subject of the Definitive treaty. On the day following we made up a Congress of seven states, but nine being requisite to ratify the treaty, we have been unable to get this done, and of course till it be ratified Congress can make no communications on the subject to the states. I am sorry to say that I see no immediate prospect of making up nine states, so careless are either the states or their delegates to their particular interests as well as the general good which would require that they be all constantly and fully represented in Congress.

Several letters from our Foreign Ministers have been read in the course of the past week. A joint one accompanying the treaty informs us that they were proceeding in negotiations on the subject of commerce with Mr. Hartley the British Minister, giving and receiving propositions, when a vessel arrived in France from Philadelphia bringing intelligence that all our ports were thrown open to British vessels. Mr. Hartley on this informed them he could take no other steps till he should communicate this intelligence to his court and receive their instructions. He communicated it, and from that moment they were locked up in impenetrable reserve, and he unable to extort an answer of any kind from them. While expecting this answer, the ministers proceeded to exchange propositions for a definite pacification. Ours proposed a three years suspension of executions on judgments for British debts, and that no interest should be allowed from the commencement of the war till the definitive signing. That accounts should be taken of all wanton waste of property on both sides and confiscations, and the balance be paid in money by the party suffering least: that the St. Lawrence, the water boundary between us, & the Mississippi with the carrying places on whatever side should be common to both. But it was now become impossible to get an answer of any sort from the court of London: and when the regulations between the other belligerent powers were matured for signing, Mr. Hartley received orders to sign the preliminary articles as definitive, which was done. Mr. Hartley, who wished to establish a liberal system of commerce with us, then went to London hoping to return shortly and renew the commercial discussions. But our ministers think it doubtful whether he will return at all. I take the liberty of enclosing you an extract from their letter expressing their sentiments on some subjects of importance, supposing it will be neither unpleasant nor unprofitable to know how we are viewed on the general scale of nations. I am sure it would be unnecessary even to hint to your Excellency that no part of this extract should be permitted to fall into the indiscreet hands of any printer. It seems possible that Great Britain may continue on the reserve till the present crisis in Europe shall have taken it’s direction. The two Empires have formed an alliance defensive against all christian powers & offensive against the Turks. When announced by the Empress to the K. of Prussia he answered that he was very sensible upon this communication as one is on the communication of things of great importance. Thus avoiding a declaration and reserving himself at liberty to take any side or no side. The Court of France took it up in a higher tone, and expressed her astonishment at the objects of the alliance. She immediately began the work of putting her army on the war establishment. Yet it is said there is a division in their councils. The present minister cannot retire from his declarations which are for opposing the dangerous accession of power to Austria and Prussia should they, as they propose, drive the Turks out of Europe & divide the territories they should abandon. The continuance or removal of the present minister is suggested as an index of ultimate determination of France. If he goes out, they mean to be pacific, & to be active if he is retained. Yet it is doubted whether France can venture into the war without the aid of Prussia. Great Britain it is suspected will lie dormant to avail herself of the distresses of her neighbor, happy for us that we have got into port just as the storm is rising. Propositions for treaties of commerce have come to Dr. Franklin from several European courts, and others are ready to treat. Denmark, Portugal, Sardinia, the Emperor of Morocco have made overtures. The last is so well disposed that he has issued orders to his armed vessels to molest no American, and has sent a person to Paris to attend any person delegated from us to his court. Great Britain will send no minister to America till she receives one from thence. The Emperor of Germany cannot from the action of his court. Our minister, Mr. Dana is on the return from Petersburg: nothing being done there, tho’ probably their dispositions were become favorable at the time it was thought necessary by his recall to show we should no longer be suppliants anywhere. It is to be noted that the observation of our ministers in the enclosed extract “that the present aspect of our affairs has somewhat abated the ardor of the European nations to form connections with us” is posterior in time to the state given above. I recollect nothing important enough to be added to this sketch of our affairs in Europe & those of Europe itself.

The former method of correspondence by joint letters from the delegates to the Executive has been liable to some difficulties. The same object does not always make the same impression on different eyes. Of consequence it might happen that by pursuing the method of joint representation, much must be kept back because all had not formed the same idea of it. Being sensible that frequent and full communications are for the public good, we have agreed to adopt the following plan of official correspondency with your Excellency if it shall meet with your approbation. Resolutions of Congress and other solemn things which call for authentic notification we will communicate jointly. But all other matters which admit differences of opinion we propose shall be communicated weekly by some one gentleman of the delegation, having previously shown his letter to his colleagues. If they think he has omitted anything or represented it differently from their own view of it, they reserve a private and separate right of writing to your Excellency their separate sentiments. In this way we think you will receive fuller information: and that you may judge for yourself where you find a difference of opinion. The duty of correspondence is made mine for the present month, and will be taken up by my colleagues successively in the order of their examination, each exercising it a month.

RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO BRITISH TREATY.1

c. c.

[Dec. 1783.]

That the said ministers be instructed in their negociation with the [erased] court to urge with perseverance the necessity of a reasonable forbearance in the levy of debts due within these states to British subjects. The establishment of the idea of these states that no interest during the war is due on these debts, &c all demands for Interest accruing during the war would be highly inequitable & unjust. The expediency of settling this by precise stipulation, in order to avoid those mutual complaints & altercations which may disturb the harmony of the two nations.

That they require with firmness & decision full satisfaction for all slaves & other property belonging to citizens of these states taken and carried away in violation of the preliminary & definitive articles of peace: to enable them to do this on precise grounds Congress will furnish them with necessary facts & documents.

REPORT ON LETTERS FROM THE MINISTERS IN PARIS2

[December 20, 1783.]

The com^ee consisting of M^r Jefferson M^r Gerry and M^r Williamson to whom were referred the letters of the Ministers for the U S in Europe have agreed to the following report.

They find that instructions bearing date the 29 of Oct^r. 1783 were sent to the Ministers plenipotentiary of the U S of America at the Court of Versailles empowered to negotiate a peace or to any one or more of them for concerting draughts or propositions for treaties of Amity and commerce with the commercial powers of Europe but that their powers will not extend to the actual signature of any such treaty nor to negotiate with any state or power out of Europe.

They do not find that any commission consonant with these instructions has been issued to the said Ministers.

They are of opinion it will be advantageous to these United States to conclude such treaties with Russia the Court of Vienna Germany Prussia Denmark The Elector of Saxony Hamburg, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Genoa Tuscany, Rome, Naples Venice, Sardinia and the Ottoman porte for its possessions in Europe and Asia and Africa.

That in the formation of these treaties the following points be carefully stipulated.

1. That each party shall have a right to carry their own produce, manufactures and merchandize in their own bottoms to the ports of the other and thence to take the produce & merchandize of the other paying in both cases (such duties only) as are paid by the most favoured nation, freely where it is freely granted to such nation on paying the compensation where such nation does the same.

2 That with the nations holding territorial possessions in America a direct & similar intercourse be admitted between the U. S. & such possessions or if this cannot be obtained then a direct & similar intercourse between the U S & certain free ports within such possessions, that if this neither can be obtained permission be stipulated taking from such possessions in their own bottoms the produce & merchandize thereof to those states directly and for these states to carry in their own bottoms their produce & merchandize to such possessions directly or as by a possession to the inhabitants of such possessions to carry their produce and merchandize in their own bottoms to the free ports of other nations, and thence to take back directly the produce & merchandize of these states.

3 That these U S being by their constitution consolidated into one federal republic they be considered in all such treaties & in every case arising under them as one nation upon the principles of the federal Constitution

4 That it be proposed, though not indispensably required that if war should hereafter arise between the two contracting parties, the merchants of either country then residing in the other shall be allowed to remain 9 months to collect their debts & settle their affairs & may depart freely & carrying off all their effects without molestation or hindrance & all fishermen, all cultivators of the earth & all artizans or manufacturers unarmed & inhabiting unfortified towns villages or places who labour for the common subsistance & benefit of mankind & peaceably following their respective employments shall be allowed to continue the same & shall not be molested by the armed force of the enemy in whose power by the events of war they may happen to fall; but if any thing is necessary to be taken from them for the use of such armed force the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price & all merchants & traders exchanging the products of different places & thereby rendering the necessaries & conveniences & comforts of human life more easy to obtain & more general shall be allowed to pass free & unmolested and neither of the contracting powers shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessel empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships or interrupt such commerce

5 And in case either of the contracting parties shall happen to be engaged in war with any other nation it is farther agreed in order to prevent all the difficulties and misunderstandings that usually arise respecting the merchandize heretofore called contraband such as arms ammunition & military stores of all kinds, that no such articles carrying by the ships or subjects of one of the parties to the enemies of the other shall on any account be deemed contraband so as to induce confiscation & a loss of property to individuals. Nevertheless it shall be lawful to stop such ships & detain them for such length of time as the captors may think necessary to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue from their proceeding on their voyage, paying, however a reasonable compensation for the loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors. And it shall farther be allowed to use in the service of the captors the whole or any part of the military stores so detained, paying the owners the full value of the same, to be ascertained by the current price at the place of its destination. But if the other contracting party will not consent to discontinue the confiscation of contraband goods then that it be stipulated that if the master of the vessel stopped will deliver out the goods charged to be contraband, he shall be admitted to do it and the vessel shall not in that case be carried into any port but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage.

6. That in the same case where either of the contracting parties shall happen to be engaged in war with any other power, all goods not contraband belonging to the subjects of that other power and shipped in the bottoms of the party hereto who is not engaged in the war shall be entirely free. And that to ascertain what shall constitute the blockade of any place or port, it shall be understood to be in such predicament when the assailing power shall have taken such a station as to expose to eminent danger any ship or ships that would attempt to sail in or out of the said port. And that no vessel of the party who is not engaged in the said war shall be stopped without a material & well grounded cause: and in such cases justice shall be done, and an indemnification given without loss of time to the persons aggrieved & thus stopped without sufficient cause.

7. That no rights be stipulated for aliens to hold real estate property lands within these states, this being utterly inadmissible by their several laws & policy. But where on the death of any person holding real estate within the territory of one of the contracting parties such real estate would by their laws descend on a subject or citizen of the other were he not disqualified by alienage, there he shall be allowed a reasonable time to qualify himself for holding it by the his country & allegiance to dispose of the same & withdraw the proceeds without molestation.

8. And That such treaties be made for a limited to the term of not exceeding 10 years from the exchange of ratifications—

9. That these instructions be considered as supplementary to those of Oct. 1783, and not as revoking except where they contradict them. That our ministers be informed that such articles as may be disagreeable to the other party & are indifferent to us in point of interest remain not that they should insist on indispensably: that where, in treaty with a particular nation; they can procure particular advantages, to the specification of which we have been unable to descend, our object in these instructions having been to form outlines only & general principles of treaty with many nations, it is our expectation they will procure them, tho’ not pointed out in these instructions, and where they may be able to form Treaties on general principles which in their judgment will be more beneficial to the United States, than those herein directed to be made their basis, they are notwithstanding any thing precise or permitted to adopt such b against to such principles.—That as to the duration of the treaties tho’ we have proposed to restrain them to the term of 10. years yet they are at liberty to extend the same as far as 15 years with any nation which may pertinaciously insist thereon: and that it will be agreeable to us to have supplementary treaties with France, the United Netherlands & Sweden, which may bring the treaties we have entered into with them as nearly as may be to the principles of those now directed: but that this be not pressed if the proposal should be found disagreeable.

That treaties of Amity or of Amity and commerce be entered into with Morocco and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis & Tripoly and other states on the Coast of Barbary to continue for the same term of 10. years or for a term as much longer as can be procured.

That our Ministers to be commissioned for treating with foreign nations make known to the Emperor of Morocco the great satisfaction which Congress feel from the amicable disposition he has shown towards these states and his readiness to enter into alliance with them. That the occupations of the war & distance of our situation have prevented our meeting his friendship so early as we wished; but that powers are now delegated to them for entering into treaty with him, in the execution of which they are ready to proceed: and that as to the expences of his Minister they do therein what is for the honor & Interest of the United States and conformable to the practice of other nations.

That a commission be issued to Mr Adams Mr Franklin and Mr Jefferson Mr Jay giving powers to them or the greater part of them to make and receive propositions for such treaties of Amity and commerce and to negotiate and sign the same transmitting them to Congress for their final ratification and that such commissions be in force for a Term not exceeding two years.

That the said Ministers be instructed in their negotiations with the [mutilated] court to urge with perseverance the necessity of a reasonable forbearance in the levy of debts due within these states to British subjects, the establishment of the idea of these states that no interest during the war is due on these debts, all demands for Interest Accruing during the war would be highly inequitable & unjust; & on the expediency of settling this by precise stipulation, in order to avoid these mutual complaints & altercations which may disturb the harmony of the two nations.

That the said Ministers to be commiss^d for Treaty with fr nations be referred to the Instructions of the thirtieth day of May 1783 relative to British Debts, the objects of which they are hereby directed to urge with perseverance.

That they require with firmness & decision full satisfaction for all slaves & other property belonging to citizens of these states taken and carried away in violation of the preliminary & definitive Articles of peace: & to enable them to do this on precise grounds Congress will furnish them with necessary facts & documents.

That the said ministers be instructed to notify to the powers with whom they may negotiate, the great value at which these states will esteem their friendship and connection and that it will be their constant endeavour to promote a good understanding and harmony with them and to prevent everything which might interrupt it by every means in their power, but that the heavy debt which they have contracted during the late war and the state of desolation and destitution in which many parts of these states were left in have has rendered it inconvenient at present for them to keep Ministers resident at the courts of Europe and they hope that this deviation from the practice of friendly nations may be ascribed to its true cause and not to any want of respect to their friends or of attachment to treaties, to the faithful observance of which they shall at all times pay the most earnest attention.

That consuls be appointed for the ports of and consuls general established at

That Doct Franklin be desired to notify to the Apostolical Nuncio at Versailles that Congress will always be pleased to testify their respect to his Sovereign and state but that the subject of his application to Doct Franklin being purely spiritual it is without the jurisdiction and power of Congress, who have no authority to permit or refuse it, these powers being reserved to the several states individually.

That Doct Franklin be instructed to express to the Court of France the constant desire of Congress to meet their wishes; that these states are about to form a general system of commerce by treaties with other nations & by interest negotiations; that at this time we cannot foresee what claims might be given to those nations by the explanatory propositions from the Count de Vergennes on the 2 & 3 Articles of our treaty of Amity & Commerce with his M le M; but that he may be assured it will be our constant care to place no people on more advantageous ground than the subjects of his Majesty.

That the papers containing the claim of the five Forsters, brothers, for the prize of their vessel “the three friends” made by Capt Landais of the Alliance frigate, which papers were communicated by the Count de Vergennes to Doct Franklin to the end he might apply to Congress for an indemnification of the said Forsters be remitted to the said Ministers with a copy of the fourth clause of the instructions to them of oct 29th 1783 and the following extract from doct Franklin’s letter of July 22. 1783 to the Secretary for foreign Affairs viz: “Mr Barclay has in his hands the affair of the Alliance and Bon homme Richard. I will afford him all the assistance in my power, but it is a very perplexed business. That expedition though for particular reasons under American commissions & colours was carried on at the Kings expense and under his orders. M de Chaumont was the agent appointed by the Minister of the Marine to make the outfit. He was also chosen by all the captains of the squadron as appears by an instrument under their hands, to be their agent, receive, sell and divide prizes &c. The Crown bought two of them at public sale and the Money I understand is lodged in the hands of a responsible person at L’Orient. M de Chaumont says he has given in his accounts to the Marine and that he has no more to do with the affair except to receive a ballance due to him. That account however is I believe unsettled and the absence of some of the captains is said to make another difficulty which retards the completion of the business. I never paid nor received any thing relating to that expedition nor had any other concern in it than barely ordering the Alliance to join the Squadron at M de Sartine’s request.”—from which extract there is reason to believe the United States of America had no concern in the expedition but that it was carried on wholly under the authority and for the advantage of his Most Christian Majesty; that if this fact should not be so apparent as to give full satisfaction to his Majesty’s Ministers, they then take such Measures as in their discretion shall be thought Most Conducive to an Amicable and equitable adjustment thereof on the best evidence they shall be able to procure.

That the claim of S^r. Bayard against these United States for the sum of 255,236 dollars continental Money is not founded in justice in the opinion of your committee from the circumstances of the case as stated by himself, which are that a vessel and cargo in which he was interested sailing in May 1779 from Charles town for France, was taken by an english armed vessel and retaken by an American frigate called the Boston, that she was carried to Boston and there sold as french property by Mr de Valnais consul for France at that port: that he unfaithfully and irregularly as is suggested endeavoured to have the whole adjudged to the recaptors but that the sentence was that they were only entitled to one eighth, and the S^r. Bayard’s correspondents obliged M^r. de Valnais to deposit with the consul of France in Philadelphia 255.236 dollars continental Money in part of the proceeds with a reserve to the Sieur Bayard against M^r. de Valnais of every right of redress for his irregular conduct: that no injurious intermeddling by the U. S. or any of them or by any of their citizens is here complained of; that the Money was constantly in the hands of the Sieur Bayard’s correspondents or of the consul for his nation; that he may indeed have suffered by its depreciation as many others have suffered, both foreigners and citizens but the latter in an infinite proportion to a much greater higher Degree than the former; that this depreciation was not effected by any arbitrary change by Congress in the value or denomination of the Money (which yet has been frequently practised by european states who never have thought themselves bound to make good the losses thereby incurred either by their own citizens or by foreigners that ensued—against the will and the unremitting endeavours of Congress that in this case too it might have been lessened if not prevented by investing it the money immediately in gold & silver or in other commodities. Your com^ee therefore are of opinion that these states are not bound to make good the loss by depreciation, and that the doing would bring on an infinitude of other cases with endless investigations and unfairness and would require greater funds than we are prepared with.

That as to the residue of the claims of the S^r. Bayard if founded in truth and Right they lie only against the state of Georgia, to the governor whereof it will be proper for Congress to transmit copies of the papers expressing our confidence that that state will cause to be done in it what justice and the respect due between friendly nations require; and that the S^r. Bayard be referred to them.

That the friendly services rendered by the S^r. John Baptist Pequet, Agent for the french nation at Lisbon to great numbers of American sailors carried prisoners into that port during the late war and his sufferings on that account merit the sincere acknowledgments of Congress and that it be referred to the said Ministers to deliver to him these in honorable terms and to make him such gratification as may indemnify his losses & properly reward his zeal.

REPORT ON CEREMONIAL FOR WASHINGTON1

c.c.

[December 22, 1783.]

1. The President and members are to be seated and covered, and the Secretary to be standing by the side of the President.

2. The arrival of the General is to be announced by the messenger to the Secretary, who is thereupon to introduce the General, attended by his aids, into the Hall of Congress.

3. The General, being conducted to a chair by the Secretary, is to be seated with an aid on each side standing, and the Secretary is to resume his place.

4. After a proper time for the arrangement of spectators, silence is to be ordered by the Secretary if necessary, and the President is to address the General in the following words. “Sir; The United States in Congress assembled are prepared to receive your communications.” Whereupon the General is to arise and address Congress; after which he is to deliver his commission and a copy of his address to the President.

5. The General having resumed his place, the President is to deliver the answer of Congress, which the General is to receive standing.

6. The President having finished, the Secretary is to deliver the General a copy of the answer, and the General is then to take his leave. When the General rises to make his address, and also when he retires, he is to bow to Congress, which they are to return by uncovering without bowing.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

Annapolis, Dec. 24, 1783.

Sir,

—The present week affords us nothing new for communication unless it be the affecting scene of yesterday. Gen’l Washington then had his last audience of Congress, laid down his connection and bid a final adieu to them and to all public life. His address on the occasion was worthy of him. This you will see in the public papers. I cannot help expressing my extreme anxiety at our present critical situation. The departure of a member two days hence leaves us with only six states and of course stops all business. We have no certain prospect of nine within a given time; chance may bring them in, and chance may keep them back, in the meantime only a little over two months remain for their assembling, ratifying & getting the ratification across the Atlantic to Paris. All that can be said is that it is yet possible. It is well known that Great Britain wished to postpone the conclusion of the treaty. Her reasons we know not, but she certainly knew that a great continental war was kindling, and that France our principal support would be probably deeply engaged in it. It is not impossible then but she might hope for some favorable opportunity of changing the face of the treaty. If the ratifications are not there by the day she will have too much ground for objection to the validity of the treaty, and to ratify or not as she pleases. As every circumstance of distress will render her the easier on this point, we are pleased with the intelligence of the day which is that she has actually landed twentyone regiments in Ireland, it comes by a ship from London to Baltimore, & from thence here, but Baltimore has not been famed for the truth of its intelligence.

REPORT ON RATIFICATION OF TREATY1

j. mss.

[December 27, 1783.]

Resolved that however earnestly and anxiously Congress wish to proceed to the ratification of the Definitive treaty, yet

Resolved that Congress consisting at present of seven states only they are ought not to undertake that ratification of the Definitive treaty without proper explanations.

1. Because the 9th article of Confederation takes from

1. Because by the usage of modern nations it is now established them the power, by declaring that Congress shall that the ratification of a treaty by a Sovereign power is the not enter into any treaty unless nine states assent essential act which gives it validity; the signature of the to the same ministers, notwithstanding their plenipotentiary commission, being understood as placing it, according to the phrase of the writers on this subject, subsparati only & as leaving to each sovereign an acknowledged right of rejection.

2. Because it would be a precedent replete with

2. Because ratification being an act of so much energy and danger to these states, as under that on future substance the authority to perform it is reserved to occasions seven states in opposition to six may nine States by those words in the ninth article of ratify treaties entered into by ministers in Confederation which declare that Congress shall not enter direct oppositions to their instructions though such instructions should have had the con- into any treaty unless nine States assent currence of nine states to the same?

3. Because by the terms “entering into a treaty” the Confederation must have intended that the assent of nine states should be necessary to the it’s completion as well as to the it’s commencement; of a treaty; it’s the object having been to guard the rights of the Union in all those important cases wherein it has required the assent of nine states; is required: whereas by admitting the contrary construction, seven states containing less than one third of the citizens of the Union, in opposition to six containing more than two thirds, may fasten on them a treaty, commenced indeed under the co instru commission & instructions from nine states but concluded by the negotiators in express contradiction to such instructions and in direct sacrifice of their interests of so great a majority.

4. Because if 7 states be incompetent generally to the ratification of a treaty they are not made competent in this particular instance by the circumstances of the ratification of the provisional articles by nine states and in the instructions to our ministers to form a definitive one by them and their actual agreement in substance; for either these circumstances are in themselves a ratification, or are not, if they are, nothing further is requisite than to give attested copies of them in exchange for the British ratification; if they are not, then we remain where we were, without a ratification of by 9 states, and incompetent to ratify ourselves. [The next line is illegible but erased.]

5. Because the seven states now present in Congress saw this question in the same point of view only 4 days ago when by their unanimous resolution they declared that the assent of nine states was requisite to ratify this treaty and urged this as a reason to hasten forward the absent states.

6. Because such a ratification would be rejected by the other contracting party as null & unauthorized, or, if attested to them by the seal of the states without apprising them that it has been accredited expedited by order of seven states only, it will be a breach of faith in us, a prostitution of our seal, & a future ground, when that circumstance shall become known, of denying the validity, of a ratification into which they shall have been so surprised.

7. Because there being still 67. days before the exchange of ratifications is requisite and states only wanting to render us competent, we have the we may yet hope the presence of 9 states in time strongest presumptions that the measures taken by Congress will bring them forward in time for ratification & for it’s passage across the Atlantic.

And 8. because should we be disappointed in this hope, the ratification will yet be placed on more honorable and defensible ground if made by 9. states as soon as so many shall be present, and then sent for exchange, urging in it’s support the small importance of an exchange of ratifications, a few days sooner or later, the actual impossibility of an earlier compliance, and that failures produced by circumstances not under the controul of the parties & either in points so immaterial can never affect the validity of a treaty as to call for no compensation, or in those which are material and admit of compensation, can never affect the validity of the treaty itself.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

v. s. a.

Annapolis, Dec. 31, 1783.

Sir,

—Letters from Holland from the middle to the last of September inform us that the citizens of the Dutch state are all in commotion. The conduct of the Prince of Orange having been such as greatly to strengthen the republican party, they are now pressing in the firmest tone a restoration of their constitutional rights. Friesland, as usual, leads the way. They have demanded of the sovereign assembly of the states that the power of the Stadtholder to change or reinforce the garrisons be limited or taken away, and that themselves be authorized to exercise in arms for the defence of their country: of 80000 men able to bear arms among them it is believed scarcely any will refuse to sign this demand. The Hollanders have referred to a Committee in their last assembly the examination of the power by which the prince undertakes to appoint flag officers of their fleet, and that he be desired to abstain from the exercise of it. There happens to be vacant the place of admiral. The other states seem to be in the same temper, and are now regularly exercising themselves in arms under the ensigns of their respective towns. Tho each state is to chuse their Stadtholder out of the Orange family they consider themselves not bound to chuse the eldest, and of course that they may chuse different ones. The state of Europe at present seems favorable to the republican party, as the powers who might aid the prince are either fatigued with the late war, or likely to be engaged in the ensuing one.

We have yet but seven states, and no more certain prospects of nine than at any time heretofore. We hope that the letters sent to the absent states will bring them forward.

[1 ]From Randall’s Life of Jefferson, iii., 586.

[1 ]The parts in italic are written in cipher numbers in the original.

[1 ]This is “352.4” in cipher, which translates into “F.” As Major Franks was Jefferson’s secretary at this time, it leaves little doubt as to who is intended.

[2 ]“946.5” in cipher. It almost certainly alludes to Adams, though the editor of the Madison Letters (i., 62) infers that Arthur Lee is the person meant. Cf. with letter, post, of Feb. 14, 1783.

[1 ]The portion in italic is in cipher in the original.

[1 ]On Feb. 14th Livingston replied:

“I have delayed in answering your favor of the 7th. instant till I could obtain the sense of Congress on the matter it contains. I conceive it hardly possible, while the british cruisers retain their present station, for you to elude their vigilance in either of the Ships offered to your choice. This concurring with the late advices from England, has induced Congress to pass the enclosed resolution.”

The resolution enclosed was:

“February 14, 1783.

“That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform Mr. Jefferson, that it is the pleasure of Congress, considering the advices lately received in America and the probable situation of affairs in Europe, that he do not proceed on his intended voyage until he shall receive their further instructions”

[1 ]To this Livingston replied:

Philadelphia, 18th February, 1783.

“Sir,—I was honoured yesterday with your favour of the 14th, which I shall lay before Congress this morning. As you have by this time received their resolution which I had the honour to send you by the last Post, and again enclose; you will be relieved in some measure from your embarrasments, tho’ not entirely from your suspense with respect to their final determination. But that cannot be long doubtful, since the negotiations have certainly arrived at such a crisis, as either to terminate soon in a peace, or a total rupture, in the latter case you will necessarily be obliged to proceed on your voyage, as Congress seems anxious to avail themselves of your abilities and information in the negotiations, unless they are fully assured that a speedy peace will preclude them from that advantage.”

[2 ]The parts in italics are in cipher in the original.

[1 ]From Randall’s Life of Jefferson, iii., 586.

[1 ]The following resolution was passed by Congress in response to this letter.

April 1st, 1783.

“Resolved, That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform the Hon. Thomas Jefferson, in answer to his letter of the 13th of March, that Congress consider the object of his appointment so far advanced as to render it unnecessary for him to pursue his voyage, and that Congress are well satisfied with the readiness he has shown in undertaking a service which from the present situation of affairs they apprehend can be dispensed with.”

[1 ]This is copied from Jefferson’s rough draft and the portions in italics are underlined in the original, evidently to indicate words that were to be put in cipher.

[1 ]This I infer to be an allusion to Miss Floyd, whom Madison was then courting, but the allusion is so veiled, as to be undecipherable.

[1 ]Jefferson’s dislike of the Virginia Constitution of 1776 has already (11, 158) been alluded to. From its adoption he was always endeavoring to obtain a convention to frame a new one, and on his spending a day in Richmond at the opening of the spring session of the legislature, in 1783, he found such a convention a subject of discussion. He wrote Madison the day after this visit (May 7, 1783): “All the powers of his [Thomson Mason] mind seem at present concentrated in one single object, the producing of a Convention to new model the Constitution. This is a subject much agitated, and seems the only one they will have to amuse themselves with, till they shall receive your [Congress] propositions.” Supposing from this informal talk, that such a convention would be ordered, Jefferson drafted this proposed constitution some time between May 7th and June 17th. On the latter date he wrote Madison: “A Convention for the Amendment of our Constitution having been much the subject of conversation for some time, I have turned my thoughts to the amendments necessary. The result I inclose you.” No convention was, however, called. Jefferson in 1786 while in Paris printed this constitution in pamphlet form.

The title of this edition was:

Draught / of a / Fundamental Constitution / for the / Commonwealth of Virginia. (8vo, pp. 14.)

This Jefferson bound up with his Notes on Virginia, as an Appendix, prefaced by the following statement: “In the summer of the year 1783, it was expected that the assembly of Virginia would call a Convention for the establishment of a Constitution. The following draught of a fundamental Constitution for the Commonwealth of Virginia was then prepared, with a design of being proposed in such Convention had it taken place.”—Cf. Madison’s Letters, i., 80, 87.

[1 ]The rejection of Madison by Miss Floyd, a daughter of William Floyd of New York.

[1 ]From the original in the possession of Mr. F. J. Dreer of Philadelphia.

[1 ]This is merely an extract of a letter, on a sheet used by Jefferson later for another purpose.

[1 ]From S. N. Randolph’s Domestic Life of T. Jefferson, p. 69.

[1 ]Endorsed: “No. 37. Report of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gerry, Mr. Williamson to revise the files and report the matters that will require the attention of Congress previous to an adjournmt.” It was probably drawn up immediately after the meeting of Congress at Annapolis, Dec. 13, 1783.

[1 ]Endorsed “No. 5. Report of Mr. Jefferson etc. on defin. treaty, delivered 16 December 1783; read.—entd. passed January 14, 1784.”

[2 ]“December” and “1783” are erased in the original.

[1 ]From the original in the possession of Mr. F. J. Dreer, of Philadelphia.

[1 ]These resolutions are written on the same sheet, but the first is cancelled. There is nothing to indicate when they were offered in Congress, but it was presumably during the preparation of the Report on Ministers’ Letters immediately following this.

[2 ]The “joint letter from the ministers of the United States at Paris dated Paris the 10th of September, 1783, accompanied with the definitive treaty” were laid before Congress on Dec. 13th. On Dec. 16th it was referred to a committee. They reported this report on Decr. 20th. It is Endorsed “Report of Mr Jefferson Mr Gerry Mr Williamson On the letters from the ministers of the U. S. at Paris—Delivered Decr. 20. 1783.—Read & entd 22.—Jany. 22. 1784—Recommitted.—Reported again March 4. 1784. Entd Read.—Monday next assigned for consideration—No copies to be made out. Secret—Ent. Reported 14 April 1784—Order for Thursday.” This report is the basis for the “Instructions,” printed post., under May 7, 1784.

[1 ]A committee, consisting of Jefferson, Gerry, and M’Henry, was appointed by Congress to make suitable arrangements for the last public audience of General Washington. In conformity with their report, it was resolved, on the 22d of December, that the ceremony should be conducted as above.

[1 ]From the original in the possession of Mr. F. J. Dreer, of Philadelphia.

[1 ]There is no record in the Journals of Congress of the appointment of the committee who made this report. It was probably the same that later reported the form of ratification, consisting of Jefferson, Gerry, Ellery, Read, and Hawkins. See Jefferson’s Autobiography (i., 85–7). The report is printed from the rough draft in Jefferson’s handwriting. No copy can be found in the files of the Continental Congress papers, nor is it printed in Wharton’s Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence.

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CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 1783 - Thomas Jefferson, The Works, vol. 4 (Notes on Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786) [1905]

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CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 1783–1785

TO FRANCIS EPPES1

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON

TO JAMES MADISON1

TO JAMES MADISON1

TO THE FRENCH MINISTER. (CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE.)

TO THE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS. (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

TO THE SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

TO JAMES MADISON2

TO FRANCIS EPPES1

TO THE SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON)

TO JOHN JAY

TO JAMES MADISON1

TO JAMES MADISON

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FOR VIRGINIA1

TO JAMES MADISON

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

TO JAMES MADISON

TO CHARLES CARTER

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

TO JAMES MONROE1

TO MARTHA JEFFERSON1

TO JAMES MADISON

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNFINISHED BUSINESS1

REPORT ON DEFINITIVE TREATY1

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO BRITISH TREATY.1

REPORT ON LETTERS FROM THE MINISTERS IN PARIS2

REPORT ON CEREMONIAL FOR WASHINGTON1

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA1 (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

REPORT ON RATIFICATION OF TREATY1

TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA (BENJAMIN HARRISON)

CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
1783–1785