From Thomas Jefferson to Edmond Charles Genet, 24 November 1793
To Edmond Charles Genet
Germantown Nov. 24. 1793.
Sir
I laid before the President of the US. your two letters of the 11th. and 14th. instant on the subject of new advances of money, and they were immediately referred to the Secretary of the treasury within whose department subjects of this nature lie. I have now the honor of inclosing you a copy of his report thereon to the President in answer to your letters, and of adding assurances of the respect & esteem of Sir Your most obedt. & most humble servt
Th: Jefferson
RC (AMAE: CPEU, Supplément, xx); at foot of text: “The Min. Pleny. of the Rep. of France.” PrC (DLC). Tr (DNA: RG 46, Senate Records, 3d Cong., 1st sess.). FC (Lb in DNA: RG 59, DL). Tr (AMAE: CPEU, xxxix); in French; certified by Genet. Enclosure: Alexander Hamilton’s Report to George Washington, 23 Nov. 1793, recommending rejection of Genet’s request in his 11 and 14 Nov. 1793 letters to TJ for permission to draw in advance on the 1794 and 1795 payments due on the American debt to France on the grounds that the United States had already made advance payments to France equal or almost equal to the payments due in 1794, that American law authorized discharging the principal of that debt only through loans, and that it was necessary to have on hand sufficient funds to meet the scheduled 1 June 1794 payment on the American debt in the Netherlands lest American credit in Europe be ruined; and stating, in view of the differences between Genet and the Treasury Department about the state of the account between the United States and France, that he would immediately proceed to adjust the account (Tr in AMAE: CPEU, Supplément, xx, in the hand of George Taylor, Jr.; PrC in DLC; Tr in DNA: RG 46, Senate Records, 3d Cong., 1st sess.; Tr in Lb in DNA: RG 59, DL; Tr in Lb in DLC: Washington Papers; Tr in AMAE: CPEU, xxxix, in French, certified by Genet; printed in , xv, 406–7). Letter and enclosure printed in , 97–8.