51To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 March 1791 (Washington Papers)
I am to acknowlege the Receipt of yours of the seventeenth of December which reached me several Days ago, but no good opportunity then presented itself to convey a Reply. The Idea you formed of the british Cabinet was I am perswaded perfectly just. This Government has lately taken some Steps which cannot but be advantageous to their Rivals for I am perswaded that the late Decrees laying a...
52To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 27 May 1791 (Washington Papers)
I have the Honor to enclose a Letter and sundry Papers from Messieurs Schweizer Jeanneret and Company. I have referred these Gentlemen to Mr Short telling them that it is most fitting in many Respects that they should apply to him. As it is possible however that this Business may come before you, I think it a Duty to convey Some Observations which occur to me and which may not perhaps strike...
53To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 27 May 1791 (Washington Papers)
I did intend to give you a pretty full detail of various Matters and Things by Colonel Ternant who will have the Honor to deliver this Letter but I am just about setting off to London which prevents me. Colo. Ternant however will give you every Information respecting the Decrees of the Assembly affecting our Commerce and the like —This he will do confidentially as a man of Honor at least so I...
54To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 30 September 1791 (Washington Papers)
Mr Short has delivered to me within these few Days your favor of the twenty eighth of July. I cannot express to you what I felt on reading it. The View which it gives of our prosperity as a Nation swelled my Bosom with Emotions which none can know but those who have experienced them. The wonderful Change which has been effected in our Affairs by the Operation of the general Government has...
55To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 27–31 December 1791 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 12 Sepr last reached me a few Days ago. In the Proposition of S[chweizer] J[eannerett] & Co: I saw the Means of saving Somewhat to the United States without incurring the Odium of a Payment in depreciated Paper but from the Moment a Determination to pay in Value is adopted I heartily and entirely approve of the Rejection of their Offer. Before the Receipt of your Letter, Mr...
56To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 4 February 1792 (Washington Papers)
I wrote to you on the twenty seventh of December but there were many Things which I did not write, and some of them I will now communicate. At the Close of the Session of the first national Assembly a Coalition was brought about between the Jacobins and the quatre vingt neufs. It is proper to explain these Terms. The Jacobins, so called from their Meeting at a Convent or Church of that Name,...
57To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 17 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
I had the Honor to write to you on the fourth of last Month. Two Days after, I was informed that you had nominated me as Minister to the Court of France, but the latest Advices from America, which come down to the tenth of January, shew that the Senate had not then made their Decision. Be that Decision what it may, I shall ever gratefully esteem and acknowlege this Mark of Confidence from the...
58To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 March 1792 (Washington Papers)
Yesterday I was informed that the Senate had agreed to your Nomination of diplomatic Servants. If I know my own Heart this Intelligence is far less agreable to me on my own Account than on that of the Public. I am sure that a Rejection, from whatever Cause it may have arisen, would have been attributed to Disunion in our Councils. I find that the King of France has appointed to the Office of...
59To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 6 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
I receive this Instant your favor of the twenty eighth of January and I do most sincerely thank you for the Informations which you have been so kind as to communicate. Beleive me I know how to value the friendship by which they were dictated. I have always thought that the Counsel of our Enemies is wholesome, tho bitter, if we can but turn it to good Account & In order that I may not fail to...
60To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 10 April 1792 (Washington Papers)
There is an Idea in your Letter of the Twenty eighth of January which upon second thought I find it my Duty to examine because altho it cannot now affect me yet it may perhaps have some Influence on Mr Pinckney’s Mission. At any Rate I wish you to be perfectly well acquainted with the leading Features of the british Administration. The Thing I allude to is the Cause which has been assigned for...
61To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 10 June 1792 (Washington Papers)
private My dear Sir, Paris 10 June 1792. Altho I have been above a Month in this City I have not been able untill within a Day or two to make up my Mind as to the Sentiments of the Person mentiond to you in mine of the twenty first of March, or rather I could not obtain that Certainty which was needful before I could properly mention them to you. I can now venture to assure you that by coming...
62To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 23 October 1792 (Washington Papers)
Yours of the twenty first of June is at length safely arriv’d. Poor lafayette. Your Letter for him must remain with me yet some Time. His Enemies here are virulent as ever and I can give you no better Proof than this. Among the King’s Papers was found Nothing of what his Enemies wishd and expected except his Correspondence with Monsieur de la Fayette which breathes from begining to End the...
63To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 28 December 1792 (Washington Papers)
I did myself the Honor to write to you on the twenty third of October. Since that Date, the exterior Affairs of this Country have put on a more steady Appearance. My Letter of the twenty first Instant to Mr Jefferson will communicate my View of Things, to which I could add but little at this Day. I have not mention’d to him the Appointment of Mr Genest as Minister to the United States. In...
64To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 6 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
Since I had the Pleasure of writing to you on the twenty eighth of last Month I have seen Mr Genest and he has din’d with me. He has I think more of Genius than of Ability and you will see in him at the first Blush the Manner and Look of an Upstart. My friend the Marechal de Segur had told me that Mr Genest was a Clerk at £50 pr An: in his Office while Secretary at War. I turn’d the...
65To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 10 January 1793 (Washington Papers)
(private) My dear Sir Paris 10 January 1793 As I have good Reason to beleive that this Letter will go safely, I shall mention some Things which may serve as a Clue to lead thro Misteries—Those who plannd the Revolution which took Place on the tenth of August sought a Person to head the Attack, and they found a Mr Westermann whose Morals were far from Exemplary. He has no Pretensions to Science...
66To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 14 February 1793 (Washington Papers)
private My dear Sir Paris 14 Feby 1793 I have receivd yours of the twentieth of October which was very long on its Way. You will find that Events have blackened more and more in this Country. Her present Prospects are dreadful. It is not so much perhaps the external Force, great as that may be, for there are always Means of Defence in so vast a Nation. The exhausted State of Resources might...
67To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 25 June 1793 (Washington Papers)
I have just receivd yours of the twenty fifth of March and do very sincerely condole with you on the melancholy Event which it communicates. Make I pray you my dear Sir the proper assurances of my Regret on this Occasion to Colo. Bassett as well as to Mrs Washington. Not having had Time to read the Gazettes which are but just (and but in part) arriv’d I cannot from them derive the Information...
68To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 18 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
You will see by the Official Correspondence that your orders are complied with, and that your Intentions are fulfilled. Permit me on this occasion to remark that had the People of America been well inform’d of the State of Things on this Side of the Atlantic, no one would have dar’d to adopt the Conduct which Mr Genest has pursued. In reading the few Gazettes which have reach’d me I am...
69To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 19 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
I had Hopes untill last Evening that the Persons who are to go out as Commissioners from hence would have embarkd with Captain Culver, but Circumstances have delay’d the Appointment. The Plan which was in Agitation and which will probably be carried into Effect is to send over three or four Commissioners one of whom will be charg’d with Letters of Credence but instructed to conform to the...
70To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 29 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
I take the liberty of introducing to the acquaintance of General Washington a person highly deserving of his Notice: Monsieur de Volney who will have the Honor to deliver this letter goes out to acquire in America an Addition to his Stock of knowledge. His Conversation equally pleasing and instructive will I trust agreably relax some of your careful Hours. I am happy in the opportunity he...
71To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 12 November 1793 (Washington Papers)
Monsieur de la forét calld just now while I was at the Ministers’ to inform me that he shall probably leave Paris ToMorrow Morning I therefore write this as an Introduction to you and proceed to give a hasty Sketch of the Form in which the Business now stands. A Commission is named (the Appointments not yet gone through the Forms) to consist of four Persons. The Minister is a Mr Fauchèt...
72To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 5 February 1794 (Washington Papers)
Duplicate My dear Sir, Paris 5 Feby 1794. In a New’s Paper of this Day I find the Translation of your Message of the fifth of December to Congress, and observe that after stating the Violation of the Treaty by a Decree of the national Convention you tell them I have been instructed to make Representations on the Subject. Now this my dear Sir is the first I hear and all I know of such...
73To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 12 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
I send you herewith a Duplicate of my last Letter in the close of which I mention my Adherence to the Opinions exprest in my last but on recurring to my private Letter Book which was not then before me I find that the Letter I there alluded to was written on the eighteenth of October. It went by Captain Culver and has I hope arrived in due Season. Every Day confirms what is contain’d in that...
74To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 18 April 1794 (Washington Papers)
In a Letter which I had the Honor of writing to you on the 10th of January 1793, I gave you some Traits respecting Mr Westerman, and as my public Dispatches had already communicated the Plans of Mr Danton, you will not have been surpriz’d at what has lately happened to them. I wrote to you on the 25th of June that those who rul’d the Roast had just Ideas of the Value of popular Opinion. Also...
75To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 25 July 1794 (Washington Papers)
(private) My dear Sir Sainport 25 July 1794 Since I had the Honor of writing to you on the 14th of last April I have receiv’d yours of the 13th June 1793. It was a little more than a Year on it’s Passage. Before it reached me Madame de la fayette (who in Common with most others of the Nobility had been confined in her Province) was brought on to Paris where she is now imprisoned. As soon as I...
76To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 5 June 1795 (Washington Papers)
This will accompany my last of the 30 Decr. Within these two Days I have receivd Duplicates of the Letters to which it replies Accept I pray you my Thanks for that Attention. A many little Things have detaind me here since the Navigation opened but the Day after Tomorrow I shall I trust embark for London. I will take the Liberty of writing to you from that City on the State of Things as they...
77To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 3 July 1795 (Washington Papers)
This Letter will be confin’d to a single Object. I had Yesterday the Honor to see Lord Grenville. After some general Conversation we fell naturally on the State of Things between this Country and America. On the Capture of our provision Vessels (premising that I had no Right to interfere) I exprest a Wish that the Redress intended might be speedy, as Delay was hurtful to the Merchant. His...
78To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 16 July 1795 (Washington Papers)
It has been impossible for me, owing to an Ague and fever, to write to you as I intended a very long Letter. This will I expect be delivered to you by Mr Livingston my late Secretary while in France who will be able to give you much useful Intelligence respecting that Country. I regret his Absence from London just now as I would otherwise give him some matter which must not be written. I am in...
79To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 23 August 1795 (Washington Papers)
private Just before I left Town I receiv’d a Letter from Mr Mountflorence informing that Mr Skipwith whom Mr Munroe had appointed to the Consulate at Paris intended to resign and that Mr Munroe had promised to recommend him to that Place. He at the same Time desir’d me (if I thought him fit for the Place) to mention it to my friends in America. After this Introduction I take the Liberty to...
80To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 19 December 1795 (Washington Papers)
I have had it several Times in my Mind to write to you since my Arrival in this City but Something or other has always happened to prevent it. I might have told you near a Month ago that Mr Liston the British Minister at Constantinople is appointed to represent this Court in America. Speaking with Ld Grenville on the Subject the other Day he said “Your Friend Woranzow is very angry that I have...
81To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 1 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
In wishing you many & happy years I beg Leave to transmit an Extract from a Letter of Madame de Chattellux lately receiv’d. It is as follows “—This being a safe opportunity I shall acquaint you with those Steps I have taken to sollicit your Country’s Protection, and if possible something more, in favour of my little Alfred whose Situation you are no Stranger to. I have applied to that Purpose...
82To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 5 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
I did myself the Honor of writing to you on the 19th of last month, of which Letter I now transmit a Copy. I exprest an Idea in the Close of it which may perhaps require an explanatory Observation. Suppose it should be admitted, in general, that the neutral who, by Virtue of special Permission granted during the War, exercises a Commerce with the belligerent Power’s Dominion, from which he was...
83To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 11 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
When I wrote to you on the fifth Instant; of which Letter a Copy is enclos’d, I had not Time to notice a Subject about which different Ideas are entertain’d here. I mean the late Measures taken in France to establish their Finances. These may perhaps be announced in America not only as the Perfection of human Wisdom, but also as inevitably productive of the best Effects: in which Respect they...
84To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 4 March 1796 (Washington Papers)
The last Letter which I had the Honor to write was of the 11 Jany. On the Subjects there mention’d I will only say that the french Finances are quite as bad as I suppos’d they would be. That another Campaign seems now unavoidable. And that it is so much the Interest of some among the allied Powers to restore royal Authority in France that I think it will now form a real Object. If you ask my...
85Enclosure: Gouverneur Morris to Alexander Hamilton, 4 March 1796 (Washington Papers)
I have just now written to the President to communicate some Intelligence lately received from Paris. This I have done in abstract but my correspondent has written to me as follows “The Government here are highly displeased with ours. You may easily guess the Reason. It is come to a very serious pitch. A fleet is to be sent to our shore with a new minister. A definitive answer must be given in...
86To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 5 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
Private It is now some Time since I received your kind Letter of the 4 March accompanying a Copy of that which you did me the Honor to write on the 22d Decr. The Original of this last has never yet reached my Hands. On that to which it is principally a Reply I must give you a Clue which for sundry Reasons I could not send in due Season. It was written to bear the Inspection of Ld G—— &ca &ca—I...
87To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 May 1799 (Washington Papers)
I take the Liberty to enclose a Letter long since transmitted to me for Monsieur de la fayette. It was in London with my Papers when I saw him last at Altona but (if in my Possession) I should perhaps have withheld it as having no probable Relation to any Matter within his present Competency—I should have delivered it into your own Hands at Mount Vernon if Business which demands my Attendance...
88To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 December 1799 (Washington Papers)
During a late Visit to New York, I learnt that the leading federal Characters (even in Massachusetts) consider Mr Adams as unfit for the Office he now holds. Without pretending to decide on the Merits of that Opinion, which will operate alike whether well or illfounded, it appeared necessary to name some other Person. You will easily conceive that his Predecessor was wished for and regretted,...
89To George Washington from Henry Knox, 16 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
We arrived here yesterday a few Minutes after twelve. The british Commissioners have not yet appeared. We learn that Letters have gone forward to your Excellency from the british General and Admiral. We shall set off from home this Day, and wait your farther orders in the Vicinity. Colo. Skinner will forward them. We have the Honor to enclose an English Paper of the third of January, by which...
90To George Washington from Henry Knox, 16 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
We received your Excellency’s Letter of the fourteenth this Morning, previous to the Receipt of which we had written to you by Lieutenant Blair of the Jersey Line. We have written to Sir Henry Clinton, of which the enclosed is a Copy, and sent it with another to the Officer commanding on Staten Island requesting him to facilitate Mr Skinner’s Passage to New York, whom we have instructed to...
91To George Washington from Henry Knox, 22 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
We did ourselves the honor to write to your Excellency from Elizabeth-Town on the 16th instant, after which, we concluded it necessary to retire from thence, as some people might have been induced, from a suppos’d neutrality, to have had improper communications with the Enemy. Mr Skinner proceeded to New-York on that day, but from bad weather was not able to return untill the 20th. We have...
92To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 29 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
Colo. Smith delivered your Excellency’s Letter of the twenty eighth, between four and five Yesterday Afternoon. You mention having had Intimations, that under the Idea of the Cessation of Hostilities a Number of People intend to come over from New York to our Lines, and express your particular Desire that no Persons coming from the Enemy may be permitted to Land, except the Commissioners and...
93To George Washington from Henry Knox, 16 April 1782 (Washington Papers)
General Forman (who is now on his way to you with a Representation on the Hanging of Captain Hoddy by the Refugees) will have the Honor of delivering your Excellency this Letter. Previous to the Generals Arrival we had heard of this Matter altho not so particularly. We mentioned it to General Dalrymple and Mr Elliott. They seemed to be surprised and wounded at the Information & assured us of...
94To George Washington from Henry Knox, 21 April 1782 (Washington Papers)
As it is probable that our report of this date may after having been transmitted to Congress come before the public eye, we have thought it best to give in a distinct letter the information which it may be unnecessary or improper to publish. Your Excellency will perceive that we had no proper oppo rt unity of bringing forward distinctly the affair of Mr Laurens. By pushing it abruptly into...
95To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 1 July 1782 (Washington Papers)
Enclosed is a Packett containing two Weeks News Papers for Genl Dalrymple—They are sent in Consequence of an Agreement we made at Elizabeth town being a cartel of Gazettes—We were to send out the New York Papers—these we want for the Use of the Office and had in Vain attempted to get them thro the Commissary of Prisoners. He promised very fairly—Should Genl Dalrymple send out the News Papers...
96To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 26 August 1782 (Washington Papers)
I received your Excellency’s Favor of the eighteenth Instant last Evening. I pray you to accept my most grateful Acknowledgements for this mark of Approbation and Confidence. As the Enemy appear to be desirous of doing Justice the Meeting about to take Place will I trust be under better Auspices than the former. It may perhaps be successful. Nothing would give me greater Pleasure than to...
97To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 October 1782 (Washington Papers)
In Consequence of a very interesting Conversation which has passed between Mr Ogden and myself, I have advised him to wait upon you. He will deliver this Letter. How far what he has to communicate may merit Attention you can best determine. I confess that I think it very important. Believe me always very sincerely yours PHi : Etting Collection.
98To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 July 1783 (Washington Papers)
I take the Liberty of introducing to your Acquaintance Mr Darby a young Gentleman of family from England—He comes hither with warm Recommendations from our Ministers abroad and as far as may be determined from a very short Acquaintance is a Man of fashion who has kept the best Company—His Object is to see America and his first Excursion is to see you. Believe me very truly yours DLC : Papers...