To George Washington from Timothy Pickering, 3 June 1796
From Timothy Pickering
Department of State June 3d 1796.
The Secretary of State respectfully lays before the President of the United States a note from Mr Liston, his Britannic Majesty’s Minister plenipotentiary, with copies of two letters, one from Lord Dorchester, the other from the Sheriff of Montreal; and expresses his concurrence with Mr Liston in the opinion, That while the reciprocal delivery of murderers & forgers is expressly stipulated in the 27th article of our treaty with Great Britain, the two Governments are left at liberty to deliver other offenders, as propriety and mutual advantage shall direct. That it will therefore be expedient to express this opinion to the Governor of Vermont, in order to procure the arrest & delivery of Barnes.1 Ld Dorchester’s information respecting James Clarkson Freeman is correct—He was convicted of forgery in Jersey, broke jail, and fled to Canada, some four or five years since.2
Timothy Pickering
The Attorney General has just called, and thinks the opinions expressed to be correct.
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DNA: RG 59, GW’s Correspondence with His Secretaries of State; LB, DNA: DG 59, Domestic Letters.
1. The enclosed circular letter from Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester) to U.S. governors, dated 31 March, reported that Ephraim Barnes, indicted for highway robbery and horse stealing, and James Clarkson Freeman, indicted as an accessory to the horse stealing, had escaped from the jail at Montreal. Carleton asked their return “in order that they may be brought to Trial.” British minister Robert Liston wrote Pickering on 27 May that Vermont governor Thomas Chittenden “denied complying with that demand, from an idea he is not authorized so to do by the late treaty between Britain and the United States.” Liston then advanced the interpretation of Article XXVII of the Jay Treaty that won Pickering’s support ( 4:485–86; see also 263).
The enclosed letter from the Montreal sheriff has not been identified, but according to Pickering’s letter to Chittenden dated 3 June, it reported the Vermont governor’s “disposition to deliver up the offenders, Barnes and Freeman, who had broken Jaol and fled from Canada, if to be found in your Government, provided the treaty between the United States and Great Britain did not oppose it. I have consulted the Attorney General of the United States on this point; and stated our concurring opinion to the President, That Mr Liston’s ideas on this subject are perfectly correct. The reciprocal delivery of murderers and Forgers is positively stipulated by the 27th Article of the treaty; the conduct of the two Governments with respect to other offenders is left, as before the treaty, to their mutual discretion: but this discretion will doubtless advise the delivery of culprits for offences which affect the great interests of society.
“The President approves of this opinion, and of the communication of it to your Excellency” (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters). Pickering’s letter to Chittenden enclosed a copy of Liston’s note dated 27 May (see also Pickering to Liston, 3 June, in DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters).
Edward William Gray (1742–1810), a merchant who held several government appointments, served as Montreal sheriff.
2. Pickering appears to have referenced erroneously the case of Clarkson Freeman (see Abraham Freeman to GW, 5 Sept. 1793).