Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 24 February 1793
Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson
[Philadelphia] 24 Feby 1793
The President returns to the Secy of State the letters from Mr Short & from Mr Vanderhorts which were sent for his perusal1—likewise the Secretary’s answer to the Communication from the Minister of France, of the 17t[h] inst. which meets the Presidents’ approbation.2
AL, DLC: Jefferson Papers.
1. Jefferson had given these letters to GW on 23 Feb. ( 64). The two letters from William Short, the U.S. minister at The Hague, to Jefferson were dated 9 Nov. and 18 Dec. 1792. In this correspondence Short reported on French military affairs and informed the secretary of state of his plans to travel to Spain through France. Both letters are printed in 24:601–3, 752–55. Elias Vanderhorst, the U.S. consul at Bristol, England, had written to Jefferson on 24 and 31 Dec. 1792 (ibid., 780, 807). In these letters Vanderhorst listed the current prices of American commodities on the British market and predicted that Great Britain and Spain would form an alliance against France.
2. For Jean-Baptiste Ternant’s letter to Jefferson of 17 Feb. and Jefferson’s reply of 23 Feb., see ibid., 25:218–19, 254–55. The subject of both letters was the declaration of the French republic.