To George Washington from Timothy Pickering, 15 March 1796
From Timothy Pickering
Department of State March 15. 1796.
The Secretary of State respectfully lays before the President of the United States the draughts of two letters which the secretary proposes to send to Mr Adet to-morrow morning, if they meet the President’s approbation.1
Timothy Pickering
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State.
1. The drafts have not been identified. The two letters probably were those from Pickering to Pierre-Auguste Adet dated 14 March. One acknowledged receipt of a letter from Adet and expressed GW’s “satisfaction” with the news that France had made peace with Prussia, Spain, Tuscany, and Hesse-Cassel and that the French people had approved a new constitution. The other responded to Adet’s compaint that “some periodical works,” notably the Philadelphia directory, listed agents of Great Britain in the United States before those of France. Pickering pointed out that these were not published by the government but by private citizens and that the government could not dictate a change (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters).