To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 18 March 1794
From Edmund Randolph
[Philadelphia] March 18th 1794.
E. Randolph, thinking that the inclosed letters from Simpson & Church contain some interesting matter, has the honor of sending them to the President.1
A letter from Mr Brown is also inclosed with O’Fallan’s letter.2
LB, DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters.
1. The letter from James Simpson, the U.S. consul at Gibraltar, to Randolph was that of 3 Jan., which is docketed as received on “March 18. 94.” Simpson wrote that he had received a letter from Capt. Richard O’Bryen, one of the Algerine captives, reporting on recent captures of American ships and the conditions for a truce between Algiers and the Netherlands (DNA: RG 59, Consular Despatches, Gibraltar). The letter from Edward Church, the U.S. consul at Lisbon, Portugal, to the secretary of state probably was that of 2 Dec. 1793, since its cover bears a postal stamp of “N.YORK MR 13.” Church reported his concerns about the form and effectiveness of U.S. passports and on the danger to American shipping posed by Algeria and the Barbary pirates (DNA: RG 59, Consular Despatches, Lisbon).
2. The letter from Kentucky senator John Brown to Randolph has not been identified, but it probably was a cover letter for James O’Fallon’s letter to Capt. Herron of 18 Oct. 1793 concerning a planned expedition by Kentucky residents against the Spanish colony of Louisiana (see Randolph’s letters to GW of 27 Feb. [fourth letter] and 11 March 1794).