7651From George Washington to Henry Lee, 6 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
(Private) Dear Sir, Philadelphia May 6th 1793. On Saturday last your favor of the 29th ulto was handed to me. My visit to Mount Vernon (intended to be short when I set out) was curtailed by the Declaration of War by France against Great Britain and Holland; for I foresaw in the moment information of that event came to me at that place the necessity for announcing the disposition of this...
7652To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 6 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The attorney-general has the honor of reporting to the President, on the questions propounded for consideration, as follows: Altho’ the questions are separately stated; yet are they in general so interwoven in substance, that the discussion of one must frequently run into others. The proclamation has announced the neutrality of the U.S. With this almost every citizen is in unison; and the few,...
7653From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
(Private) Dear Sir, [Philadelphia] Sunday Noon— 5th May 1793. Before you dispatch the circular letter (of wch you enclosed me a Copy) to the several Collectors, I would speak to you respecting a particular clause in it. In the conversation you may have with a certain Gentleman to day I pray you to intimate to him gently, & delicately, that if the letters, or papers wch he has to present, are...
7654To George Washington from David Humphreys, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
(Secret & confidential) My dear Sir. Lisbon May 5th 1793 I wrote to the Secretary of State on the 29th Ulto by way of Boston. In that Dispatch, I mentioned having seen a letter of the 20th of March from Captn Obryen, on Algerine affairs. I now take the liberty of enclosing the copy of a letter from him to a Gentleman in this city, for your information. I pretend to make no comments upon it, as...
7655To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Th: Jefferson with his respects to the President has the honour to inclose him the following papers. AL , DNA : RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; AL (letterpress copy), DLC : Jefferson Papers; LB , DNA : RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State; LB (photocopy),
7656To George Washington from Thomas Newton, Jr., and William Lindsay, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
We have taken the liberty, considering it a duty to give you information of two small schooner boats cruizing of[f] our Capes, as privateers under French Commissions, who are daily chasing vessels bound in & out to the great prejudice of our trade, & contrary to the Law of Nations, to be chasing & boarding vessels within our territories. one of these vessels is Called the San Calotte &...
7657To George Washington from William Thomas, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
I had the Honor (through the recomendation of Capt. Barney) to be appointed Second Mate of the Maryland Cutter under the Command of Capt. Gross in Which capacity I acted until his Resignation, in July last—Our first Mate Capt. Porter Was then promoted to the command Since Which time I have Done the Duty of first Mate and in fact have been the only Acting Mate on board As Mister Forbes our...
7658From George Washington to Anthony Whitting, 5 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Since my last I have reced your letters of the 26th of April and 1st of this month. I did not entertain the most distant Suspicion of your having charged anything in the acct exhibited to Mr Dandridge but what you had actually paid, for my use; for if I could suppose you capable of such a violation of the principles of honesty, and so lost to the trust reposed in you, my confidence in you...
7659To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to the President. It has appeared to him that a circular letter of the enclosed form to the several Collectors would be a measure of utility. If not disapproved by the President it will be forwarded. The enclosed paper is sent lest the President should not have received it otherwise. It contains intelligence critically important, tho’...
7660To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury respectfully communicates to The President of the United States a letter of the 28th of April received yesterday from the Commissioner of the Revenue. In the early part of the ensuing week he will have the honor of waiting upon the President to submit his ideas on the several points raised, & take the President’s orders thereupon. LB , DLC:GW . The letter from...
7661To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his respects to the President and asks a dozen Passports for present use. AL , DNA : RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB , DNA : RG 59, George Washington’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State; LB (photocopy), DLC:GW . The letter-book copies omit “his respects.”
7662To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Th: Jefferson having prepared a written opinion on the Question Whether Passports should be granted to vessels belonging to American citizens, but of foreign built, has the honor of inclosing it to the President as an explanation of the principles on which the affirmative was adopted yesterday. AL , DNA : RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB , DLC:GW . In the enclosed opinion of 3 May, Jefferson...
7663To George Washington from Noailles, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
When Viscount Noailles accepted the invitation of Mr President he expected early this morning the Papers and things he left in the new Pigou, he has been waiting this morning after them without Succès. as Soon as the visit of the officers will be Made aboard the Ship he will have the honour to wait upon M. President and inquire which hour he may be introduced. L , DLC:GW . No written...
7664From George Washington to Samuel Powel, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
By one of the late ships from London, I have received from Mr Arthur Young two sets of his Annals—numbered from 98 to 108 inclusively. Although no direction is given concerning them, I take it for granted that one set is intended, as usual, for the Agricultural Society of this City, and to you, as President thereof, I send them accordingly. With estem & regard I am—Dear Sir Your Obedt Servt...
7665To George Washington from John Vaughan, 4 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
I take the liberty of enclosing a letter I have just recieved from Carolina—from a house of Character there, the perusal of which may not be improper at the present moment; I would not even wait to make the extract, which if your Excellency should wish can be done at any moment. I remain with the greatest respect—Your obt Servt A Vessel goes to Charleston on Tueday next. ALS , DNA : RG 59,...
7666To George Washington from Anonymous, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
I HAVE just seen your P roclamation , written with your usual propriety and delicacy. But I do not accord with your idea, that “the duty and interest of the United States require, that they should with sincerity and good faith, adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial towards the belligerent powers,” leagued against France. It is not their duty, because, though bound by no express...
7667To George Washington from William Herbert, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
In a Suit, instituted by william West, Son of the late Revd Wm West of Baltimore, in the high Court of Chancery of this State, Against the Mayor and Corporation of this Town, you are made a party, as one of the Surviving Trustees, Acting as mister Wests Agent here, I am instructed by his Council, to Send you the Inclosed Bill, & to Request your Answer thereto, Which, I presume must be very...
7668To George Washington from James Keith, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
I had the Honor of your Excellency’s Favor of the 13th Ult. by Mr Dandridge, respecting the Judgments of Colvill’s Es[tate] against Semple’s Trustees, and have now the Satisfaction to inform you, that Mr William Wilson called upon me, the monday following, and gave me his assurance that he would settle the Judgment upon the Bond and the whole of the Interest without contraverting any part of...
7669Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 3 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letter to the President of the U.S. ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Lear’s docket indicates that this letter was written on 3 May 1793. In the enclosed letter of 27 April 1793, Gen. Anthony Wayne suggested to Knox that in order to ensure American military success against the Indians of the Northwest Territory, the United States should take possession of Forts Niagara...
7670To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 2 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to the President & encloses for his consideration a letter from the Commissioner of the Revenue on the subject of a Keeper of the Lt House for Cape Henlopen. LB , DLC:GW . The letter from Tench Coxe to Hamilton has not been identified. According to GW’s executive journal, Coxe’s letter reported that Lemuel Cornick, the lighthouse keeper at...
7671To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 2 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to enclose for the information of the President a Letter of the 26th of Feby from our Bankers at Amsterdam which came to hand yesterday. LB , DLC:GW . In a letter to Hamilton of 26 Feb. 1793, the Dutch banking firm of Willink, Van Staphorst & Hubbard declined issuing a new loan to the United States, due to the recent French invasion of the...
7672To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox, 2 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
A conformity of opinion, and upon the same grounds, enables us to submit to you a joint Answer to the third of the Questions, which you were pleased to propose on the 19th of April to the Heads of Departments and the Attorney General. We have concluded that this mode would be more agreeable to you than a repetition of the same ideas and arguments in seperate answers. With perfect respect & the...
7673To George Washington from Henry Lee, 2 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
The very defenceless Situation of the town of Norfolk and its proximity to the Sea invites the insult and injury of any adventuring pirate who may find it convenient to make the attempt. I cannot therefore forbear Suggesting the propriety of placing that town and post in a state of defence fitted to protect it from those injuries to which alone it can be exposed So long as the wise policy...
7674To George Washington from Nicholas Van Staphorst, 2 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have received the Letters, your Excellency did me the honour to address me under dates of 30 & 31 January, 4 February and 15 March, inclosing a Bill of Exchange drawn by George Meade on Henry Gildemeester for two thousand three hundred and ten florins Holld Currency, to be held subject to the order of Madam de La Fayette. Immediately on the arrival of the first of your favors I wrote to my...
7675To George Washington from Nathaniel Barber, Jr., 1 May 1793 (Washington Papers)
It is with much pain & reluctance, that I trouble a Gentleman of your high Station & amiable Character. At this time, cruel necessity obliges me to do it, & I hope you will excuse me. I was in the Public service as Commissary of Military Stores, & Station’d in Boston from the time the British evacuated that Town, to the 16 of April 1781. My resignation was Accepted by Congress the 5 of March....
7676To George Washington from Anthony Whitting, 1 May 1793 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Anthony Whitting, 1 May 1793. In his letter of 5 May to Whitting , GW acknowledged receipt of “your letters of the 26th of April and 1st of this month.”
7677To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, April 1793 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Edmund Randolph, April 1793. GW wrote Tobias Lear on 12 April that the “enclosed from the Attorney General I return to him through your hands.”
7678To George Washington from Martha Washington, April 1793 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Martha Washington, April 1793. On 12 April, GW wrote Tobias Lear , “I was sorry to learn by a letter from Mrs. Washingn. that little Lincoln has been unwell.”
7679From George Washington to John Joseph De Barth, 30 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
As there appears no prospect of your making the stipulated payments for the lands which you agreed to purchase from me, lying on the Kanawas &c. and the object of my disposing of them being thereby defeated—I think it would be best that the bargain should be cancelled (as you expressed to Mr Lear a readiness to do it if required by me); for it would be an unpleasant thing for me to pursue...
7680To George Washington from William Hartshorne, 30 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Seeing some prospect of a call for Flour to Supply the French in Hispaniola, I beg leave to present the enclosed communications and if our Government should be Active in the business, to Offer the best services of my House here, for which I think we are well Qualified and I believe can give satisfactory security in Philadelphia for the performance of what we may undertake. There is at this...
7681To George Washington from James Simpson, 30 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a Dispatch received lately from Mr Francis Chiappe for Your Excellency. I am with great Respect Sir Your Most Obedient & Most Hume Servant ALS , DNA : RG 59, Despatches from Consular Officers: Gibraltar. English merchant James Simpson (d. 1820), who was currently the Russian consul at Gibraltar, was appointed U.S. consul there in 1794. In 1796 he became U.S. consul...
7682To George Washington from Henry Lee, 29 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
As soon after my hearing of your return to Mt Vernon as I could, I sat out for a visit to you, but unfortunately your stay at home was so short that I could not see you. I had reached Stafford court house when I accidentally learned that you had departed on the previous sunday, and on knowing this I instantly turned back from whence I came. This disappointment would have always been mortifying...
7683From George Washington to Robert Lewis, 29 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Land which was given to me by my mother, or as Heir at law I am entitled to without —I do, as I told you at Mt Vernon, make you a present of. It lyes near the Accoceek old Furnace and about eight miles from Falmouth on the Road leading to it containing, as I have generally understood, about 400 Acres of the most valuable Pine in that part of the Country; but which, as I have been informed,...
7684To George Washington from Thomas Mifflin, 29 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have the honour to inclose for your Excellency’s information, a copy of a Proclamation, which I have issued, respecting the proposed Treaty to be held with the hostile Indians at Lower Sandusky; a copy of a Circular letter, which I have written, upon the same subject, to the Judiciary and Militia Officers of the Western frontier counties of Pennsylvania; and a copy of a Proclamation, which I...
7685From George Washington to William Augustine Washington, 29 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Whilst I was at Mount Vernon in the early part of this month, I recd your letter of the 20th of March, and was in hopes it would have been followed by the Oyster shells you gave me reason to expect; but none had arrived the 24th, when I last heard from Mr Whiting. If I am to relinquish all expectation of getting them I wish to be informed thereof, that I may try, through some other source, to...
7686From George Washington to John Fitzgerald, 28 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Two or three days after my arrival in this City, I forwarded a Commission appointing you Collector of the Port of Alexandria; to be in force until the end of the next session of Congress, longer than which I could not issue one in the recess of the Senate but there is no instance of that body with-holding its consent to appointments thus made when offered to them for confirmation. I am now...
7687To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 28 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
According to the intimation the other day, and indeed according to my own wish in a question, if not difficult, yet very important, I have the honor to inclose you a written opinion on the question Whether the U.S. ought to declare their treaties with France void, or suspended? This contains my answer to the 2d 3d 4th 5th & 6th of the written queries. The 1st had been before answered & acted...
7688From George Washington to Anthony Whitting, 28 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 24th instt with the weekly reports—except Greens—which was not among them, came to hand yesterday. With respect to the Sheriffs acct, given in by Chs Turner, it is my desire now (and was so expressed in my last) that you would enquire of some person well acquainted with the taxes, whether the rates there charged are the legal ones? & by what authority, if the Parish tax was...
7689To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 27 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to the President. The enclosed Letter just received from the Collector of Charleston contains information & raises a question, which are proper for the eye of the President. LB , DLC:GW . Isaac Holmes’s letter to Hamilton of 16 April has not been identified. GW’s executive journal states that Hamilton delivered Holmes’s letter to the...
7690Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 27 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
I submit to the President of the United States the enclosed draft of a message to the chickasaw Nation. If approved I propose to enclose it in a letter to General Wayne to go by the post this Morning. Yours ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . GW ordered no alterations to Knox’s message. However, the president’s executive journal states that if given time, GW would have added an appeal for an alliance...
7691To George Washington from John Mason, 26 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Having lately heard from France it was probable that, that Government Would make Application to You, to Supply them with the different products of this Country in payment of the American Debt; Embolden’d by a persuasion that my Situation in Commerce (having a House there & another here, & a good experience in Negotiations with that Country) may in the present Juncture enable me to Serve the...
7692To George Washington from William Moultrie, 26 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
The very defenceless state of this Port, together with the earnest wish of the Citizens, has determined me in erecting a few Cannon to preserve the peace and secure the command of the Harbor; I do myself the honor of communicating this to you, and hope the measure will meet with your approbation. The expences cannot be great, as we already have the Cannon, the Batteries in contemplation to be...
7693From George Washington to William Washington, 26 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
At the request of Mr David Clark, a Coach maker of this City, I inform you that he made the Carriage which I had with me at Charleston on my Southern tour, and which you saw there. I am told that this Carriage is pronounced a very handsome one in its appearance by persons of taste & judgement in that way, who have seen it & given an opinion upon it—As to the goodness of the materials &...
7694To George Washington from Anthony Whitting, 26 April 1793 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Anthony Whitting, 26 April 1793. In his letter of 5 May to Whitting , GW acknowledged receipt of “your letters of the 26th of April and 1st of this month.”
7695From George Washington to James Anderson, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
It was not until the 18th instant that I had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 3d of November, enclosing one from Lord Buchan, and accompanied by the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th Volumes of the Bee—and a copy of the pamphlet on Wool. While I beg your acceptance of my best thanks for the polite attention you have shewn in forwarding the several Volumes of the Bee—and express my sincere...
7696To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor to submit to the President of the U. States, two communications from the Comissioner of the Revenue; one enclosing a Contract entered into by the Superintendant of the Delaware Lighthouse with Matthew Van Dusen, for a mooring chain for one of the floating beacons in the Delaware bay. the other transmitting an offer of Samuel Wheeler concerning two...
7697To George Washington from Robert Townsend Hooe, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Copy: Sir, Alexandria [Va.] April 25th 1793. Within these few days mister wilson has applied to me to settle with you such part of the judgment on the Bond, as you may think proper to appropriate towards payment of mister Bennett’s claim; & I have had a conversation with mister Keith upon that subject, who thinks Colo. Little & myself ought to enter into bond to indemnify you against the Claim...
7698Henry Knox to Tobias Lear, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Please to submit the enclosed letters from Governor Telfair, & Lt Governor Wood, to the President of the United States. Yours sincerely ALS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . Gov. Edward Telfair of Georgia, in his letter to Knox of 9 April, expressed “peculiar satisfaction” that the secretary of war was considering calling up the militia “in the event of general hostility” ( ASP, Indian Affairs, Walter...
7699To George Washington from Thomas Mifflin, 25 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
In a letter dated the twenty fourth instant the Secretary at War has signified your Excellencys request that I would take such measures with the frontier Citizens of Pennsylvania as should in my judgment be most effectual to prevent any hostile incursions into, or near the Indian Country north of the Ohio, until the treaty proposed to be held at lower sandusky about the first day of June shall...
7700To George Washington from John Adams, 24 April 1793 (Washington Papers)
Captain John ⟨mutilated⟩ of Harvard in the Massachusetts, has been recommended to me, by So many respectable characters, and in Such handsome terms, that I cannot refuse his request of a Line to the President of the United States in his favour. He has the merit of long and early Services, though he is Said to have been lately unfortunate. As his application is entirely out of my Department,...