1Enclosure: Robert Brooke to Timothy Pickering, 16 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
I do myself the honor of enclosing to you, a letter from the Vice Consul of the French Republic (resident at Norfolk) complaining of improper purchases making in this State, by the British Consul and his agents; and calling on the Executive of Virginia for their interference to prevent the injury which those operations threaten to the interest of the French Nation. If the Subjects of the...
2Enclosure: Matthew Clarkson to Timothy Pickering, 23 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
I think it may be concluded that the state of the mortal sickness is become more favorable, this appears from the decrease of funerals in the City generally, and at the Hospital at Bush-Hill It is not possible to ascertain, with any degree of precission the degree in which it has abated. The general appearance is pleasing, the Physicians have fewer applications from new patients, the...
3Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 23 December 1795 (Washington Papers)
By The President’s direction B. Dandridge respectfully transmits to the Secy of State a Memorial of sundry merchants of New York—The President requests the Secretary to return an answer to the Letter from the Committee, which accompanied the Memorial, informing them that the most pointed & strong remonstrances have been made against the Conduct of which they complain. B.D. also encloses a...
4Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 13 February 1796 (Washington Papers)
Resolved, that The President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before this House, the Treaty mentioned in his communications to both Houses of Congress, at the opening of the present Session, as having been negotiated with certain Indian Nations northwest of the river Ohio. By the President’s order B. Dandridge respectfully transmits to the Secy of State the above copy of a...
5From Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 14 July 1795 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s order B. Dandridge respectfully returns to The Secretary of War the several papers respecting the site on the Potomac most proper for establishing an arsenal; and informs the Secretary that after an attentive consideration of said papers & viewing all circumstances The President is of opinion that the site on Conogocheague is the most advantageous & proper, & requests that...
6Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 22 January 1795 (Washington Papers)
By The President’s order Bw Dandridge has the honor of transmitting to the Secy of War the copy of a Resolution of the House of Representatives of the 21st Inst: & to desire the Secretary to furnish the statement therein requested by the House. ADf , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW . On 21 Jan. the House resolved “that the President of the United States be requested to direct the proper officer to lay...
7From Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 11 April 1795 (Washington Papers)
By the Presidents order Bw Dandridge respectfully returns to The Secy of War the letter of Mr Monvel signifying his wish to resign his Commission, & informs the Secretary that the President knows no alternative but to accept it. Bw D. also transmits herewith a letter & enclosures from Gov: Mifflin to the President, upon the subject of which The President desires the Secretary to report to him...
8From Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 21 May 1795 (Washington Papers)
By the Presidents order B. Dandridge respectfully returns to The Secy of War the Report &c. of Colo. Rochefontaine respecting the situation on the Potomac proper for an Arsenal; and informs The Secretary that as soon as he is possessed of every information which can be had from Colo. R. on this subject, the President will be glad to have a conversation with him concerng it. ADf , DLC:GW ; LB ,...
9From Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Timothy Pickering, 23 May 1795 (Washington Papers)
By order of the President Bw Dandridge respectfully encloses herewith to the Secretary of War, some papers which have been laid before the President by the Quakers of Philadelphia & which are intended to be sent to the hostile Indians. The President sees no objection to their being communicated to the Indians agreeably to the wish of the Quakers. The President leaves it with The Secy to...
10Tobias Lear to Timothy Pickering, 3 May 1792 (Washington Papers)
I enclose the translation of the letter which was transmitted to the Secretary of War by the Governor of New York—The translation was made yesterday in great haste, and if it should not be sufficiently clear, referrence had better be had to the original, in the possession of the Secy of War. The President wishes, in your conversation with Colo. Louis, that you would learn the precise time of...
11Enclosure: Charles Storer to Timothy Pickering, 4 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
Captain Ford & Lady arrived here yesterday: they left Niagara the 13th ulto & came by the way of Oswego. He gives me some information of things which took place after we left that country, and which, as they probably will be new to you, I herewith communicate them. He says that Talbot, Brant and Shehan had arrived at Niagara some days before he sailed: that they informed the Governor, that as...
12From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 20 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letters of the 12th & 13th instant, with their enclosures, were received by Mondays Mail, the 18th. The duplicate Commission for John Trumbull; the blank Commissions for the Revenue Officers; and the Patents passed by the Attorney General; are all signed & returned under cover with this letter. The want of funds to carry on Commerce with the Indian Tribes (agreeably to a late Act of...
13From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 1 August 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letters of the 26th and 27th Ulto were received by the Post on friday last. Forwarding without further direction, the Commission appointing Mr Davis Attorney for the District of Massachusetts in place of Mr Otis, after satisfactorily ascertaining those points which had occasioned the hesitation, was perfectly conformable to my intention. I rejoice to find by the account you have given of...
14From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 4 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
In the public letter which accompanies this you will receive such instructions for your conduct in your mission to the Seneca Tribe of Indians, as may without impropriety be communicated to them—Some others shall here be added more peculiarly proper for your own ear. It is particularly desireable that they be made to understand that all business between them and any part of the United States...
15From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 8 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
(Confidential) My letters to the Secretary of the Treasury of the 4th & 6th Instant, with the present enclosure, conveys fully the sentiments of the Attorney General with respect to the best mode of executing the Act “For the relief and Protection of American Seamen.” He has, since his opinion was transmitted in the above letter of the 6th, consulted two of our most eminent Lawyers, in these...
16From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 5 October 1795 (Washington Papers)
This is merely intended to let you know that, your two letters, the one official, the other private, of the 30th ulto have both been received. If the Authors of such resolutions as are forwarded to me, relative to the Treaty with G. Britain mean well they will be benefited by such sentiments as you have communicated to Judge Walton: for nothing short of profound ignorance, or consummate...
17From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 5 August 1796 (Washington Papers)
Private Your private letters of the 29th & 30th have been received. If Mr Churchmans account respecting the broken seal of Mr Monroes letter, to the Department of State be true, it bespeaks the man of candour, and does him credit; but I do not see why, when called upon, he should require time to consider whether he should relate the truth—or “give a certificate that might excite suspicions of...
18From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 31 July 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 27th instant was received by the last Post to Alexandria. I thank you for the information contained in it; as I shall for any further communication of the sentiments of the people respecting the treaty, which you may be able to obtain, and think worthy of transmission: for, as it is an interesting subject, on which mens minds are a good deal occupied, I should like, as far...
19From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 3 March 1797 (Washington Papers)
At the conclusion of my public employments, I have thought it expedient to notice the publication of certain forged letters which first appeared in the year 1777, and were obtruded upon the public as mine. They are said by the editor to have been found in a small portmanteau that I had left in the care of my Mulatto servant named Billy, who, it is pretended, was taken prisoner at Fort Lee, in...
20From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 9 September 1795 (Washington Papers)
I had no time yesterday morning to look into the gazettes; nor did I know until the evening, that the French frigate Medusa had slipped her Cables & put to Sea on the 31st ulto; and was followed in a few hours by the Africa. This circumstance, be the result what it may, I regret exceedingly; & because the effect of the order as it relates to the British will be the same as if the Africa had...
21From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 19 October 1796 (Washington Papers)
The letter from Mr King to you, is herewith returned. In your dispatches to him, he ought to be instructed to remonstrate in strong terms against those arbitrary & oppressive Acts of the B: Ships of War & Privateers, of which we have so often complained to little effect; and to press for redress. The moment for doing these is favorable: self respect and justice to our Citizens (especially our...
22From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 14 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
The numerous & various reports which I have received from people who were not possessed of any accurate information with respect to the state of the malignant fever with which Philadelphia is so unfortunately afflicted, and my intention being to return thither, or to it’s neighbourhood about the first of next month, have induced me to ask this information from you—and I beg you will advise me...
23From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 7 October 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your communications of the 2d Inst. have been duly received. General Wayne will, I hope & expect, leave the Garrisons in his advanced Posts sufficiently respectable. In the present uncertainty of what may be the final result of the treaty with Great Britain, and from the intimations of Captn Brant, we ought not in my opinion to œconomise at too Great a hazard; nor build too much in the present...
24From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 1 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 27th ulto is received. I am sorry Mr De Witt, from the competency of his abilities to discharge the duties of the Office of Surveyor General, declines accepting it. Colo. Tinsley’s recommendations, go more to the respectability of his character, than to his scientific knowledge. The first is essential, but not sufficient without the other. I will obtain the best information...
25From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 September 1796 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed is approved, and if there is any Authentic ground to go upon, it ought to be extended to the case of Captn Jessup by strong & solemn expostulation or remonstrance. This conduct of G. Britain cannot, must not be suffered with impunity. ALS , ViMtvL . See Pickering to GW, this date . After receiving GW’s reply, Pickering wrote a second letter to Rufus King, U.S. minister to Great...
26From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 23 September 1795 (Washington Papers)
Two letters from you, dated the 18th instant, were received yesterday. For the reasons you have assigned, I think it best that Mr Boudinot should fill the Directorship of the Mint; and request he may be informed so. At the same time, urge him to come forward, if for no other purpose than to arrange matters with the present occupant—and derive from him all the insight into the business his...
27From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 13 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
(Private & confidential) Yesterday, I was informed by a Gentleman from Richmond, that Mr Dawson was gone on to Philadelphia in order to embark for France; and about an hour ago, I received a letter of which the enclosed is an extract from a well informed acquaintance, & a stanch frd to his country. What, or whether any thing can with propriety be done in consequence of this information, must...
28From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 26 October 1795 (Washington Papers)
Not doubting but that the statements, contained in the enclosed letter to Mr Pinckney, are grounded on facts, it appears to me to be as proper as it is spirited. Transcript, MHi : Pickering Papers. The transcript was certified as “A true copy” by Octavius Pickering, 22 Feb. 1866. The transcript of Pickering’s docket reads in part: “Approves the letter to Mr Pinckney of Oct. [22] relative to...
29From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 5 March 1795 (Washington Papers)
Congress having closed their late session without coming to any specified determination with respect to the Georgia sale of Lands and the application for the extinguishment of the Indian rights to those Lands; and not having expressed any sentiment respecting the nature of the predatory war between the southern Indians and the southern & southwestern frontiers of these United States, and the...
30From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 21 October 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 15th came duly to hand. Fortune seems to have declared for us, hitherto, in the Election, or more properly Selection & ballotting, for the odd Commissioner, under the Treaty with G.B.—But something must be done, & I presume immediately, to supply Mr Trumbull’s place as Agent in the other business, to which he was appointed. I wish most ardently that the flames of war were...
31From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 25 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
Private Your private letters of the 19th 19th, and 20th instant have been duly received. The request of Mr J. Jones, to forward his letter to Colo. Monroe, is opposed to the speedy departure of Mr D—— for France; and yet the Gentleman who gave me the information spoke of it as a matter not doubtful: but added indeed (a circumstance I did not mention in my former letter) that it was on Mr Swan...
32From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 August 1796 (Washington Papers)
Private The last Post brought me the enclosed letter from General Pinckney. It becomes necessary now to prepare Instructions for him without delay. To bring him fully and perfectly acquainted with the conduct and policy of this government towards France &c. and the motives which have induced the recall of Mr Monroe. As this measure will excite, when known, much speculation; and set all the...
33From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 9 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
The Instructions for Mr King, herewith returned, appear to me to be proper. To them, however, I think might be added a desire that he should attempt to remove any doubts which may arise in the construction of the [ ] article relative to our Trade ⟨with⟩ the East Indies; and to get relieved if it be practicable from the restrictions on our Vessels going from thence with their Cargoes to China....
34From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 4 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
The Spanish Minister, Mr de Yrujo, spent two days with me, and is just gone. I caused it to be intimated to him, that as I should be absent from the Seat of the Government until the middle, or latter end of August, that I was ready to receive his letter of credence at this place. He answered (as I understood it) that his credentials were with his Baggage, on its passage to Philadelphia; and...
35From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 27 July 1796 (Washington Papers)
Private Your private letter of the 21st instant has been received. Mr Monroe, in every letter he writes, relative to the discontents of the French government at the conduct of our own, always concludes without finishing his story, leaving great scope to the imagination to divine what the ulterior measures of it will be. There are some things in his correspondence, & your letters, which I am...
36From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 31 December 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have the pleasure to enclose for you the Report of the Secretary at War upon the papers which were referred to him, relative your transactions with the Seneka Indians in November last. To this satisfactory Report I am happy to add my entire Approbation of your conduct in this business—and am, With very great esteem & regard, Sir, Your most Obedt Servt LS , MHi : Timothy Pickering Papers;...
37From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 27 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
The Post of friday—to Alexandria—brought me your dispatches of the 22d instant. Mr Adets answer to your communication, relatively to the Capture of the Ship Mount Vernon, leaves the matter as undecided as before; and his reserve may, it is to be feared, be considered as a collateral evidence of the truth of the information I handed to you in my last, and contributes to shew the necessity of...
38From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 11 December 1795 (Washington Papers)
I learn with concern that the statements from the War department referred to in my speech to Congress, are not yet handed in, & that some Members are ascribing delay of business to the want of information which has been promised, & which they have been expecting. I request that they may be presented without delay. I am always yrs &c. Copy, MHi : Pickering Papers; ADfS , DLC:GW ; LB , DLC:GW ....
39From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
Colo. Pickering will attend to the Suggestion of Mr McHenry, & then return the letter, directed to Colo. T. Blount back, as requested. If there are any authorities which can be consulted on the remonstrance of Mr Vear, it might be well to have recourse to them. The opinion I gave was from what I conceive to be consistent with propriety and us⟨ mutilated ⟩ but, though I have no reason to...
40From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 16 September 1795 (Washington Papers)
If, when this reaches your hands, there should be no contract or other obligation existing on behalf of the U.S. for the purchase of land on the Potomac, intended for the public Arsenal—I should wish all further negociation in this business to be suspended until proper inquiries can be made and information obtained respecting the property at the junction of the Potomac and Shanandoah Rivers in...
41From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 29 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
(Private) Did Mr Liston furnish the letter you asked of him, in favor of Cap: Talbots agency, to the West Indies? Has any representation been made to him, independent of that application, consequent of the evidence you have recd of the Impressment of our Seamen? When I left Philadelphia, it was expected, & from Mr & Mrs Liston themselves, that they were to follow us in ten days; and allowing a...
42From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 10 October 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 5th instant with its enclosure, came to hand by Friday’s Post. The extracts therein, produced both pleasure & pain—the former at hearing that our Citizens are; at length released from their unfortunate confinement in Algiers; the latter to find that others of them have fallen into a similar situation at Tunis; contrary to the Truce, & to the arrangement made with Mr...
43From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 9 January 1797 (Washington Papers)
Not having seen the conclusion of your Statement for Genl Pinckney (if completed); and not knowing in what manner you propose to sum it up; it has occurred to me that, closing with some such sentiments as the following, might not be improper. That the conduct of the United States towards France has been, as will appear by the aforegoing statement, regulated by the strictest principles of...
44From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 17 Feb. 1795 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Timothy Pickering, 17 Feb. 1795. On this date Pickering wrote to GW: “I have been honoured with your note of this morning.”
45From George Washington to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., and Timothy Pickering, 12–18 August 1795 (Washington Papers)
At what time should Mr F——ts letter be made known to Mr R——? What will be the best mode of doing it? In presence of the Secs & A: Genl. If the explanations given by the latter, are not satisfactory, whether, besides removal, are any other measures proper to be taken? & what? Would an application to Mr A—— to see the paragraphs in Nos. 3 & 6, alluded to in F——ts letter, be proper? These might...
46From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 18 September 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 11th with two others from you dated the 14th instant, were received yesterday. The summary of the dispatches from Governor Blount, was more agreeable to me than complete transcripts of his letter with the enclosures; and the same practice where information only is intended, may govern in other cases. I am very glad to find that the Creeks are so well disposed for peace with...
47From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 13 April 1795 (Washington Papers)
It would be eq⟨ua⟩lly imp⟨roper⟩ (on acct of the expence, & other incon⟨venien⟩ces which would attend the measu⟨re) to⟩ continue the militia army in the wes⟨tern⟩ counties in this state, longer ⟨in service⟩ than the nat⟨ur⟩e & exigency ⟨of the case may⟩ require; or, under the reports wh⟨ich pre⟩vail of threatnings ag⟨ainst the Collectors,⟩ & other indications of latent disco⟨ntent,⟩ to disband...
48From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 20 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
I have had the pleasure to receive your letters of the 8th and 15th of this month. I feel myself much obliged by the trouble you have taken, in the former, to detail your ideas with respect to introducing the art of husbandary and civilization among the Indians. I confess, that your plan, or something like it, strikes me as the most probable means of effecting this desirable end, and I am...
49From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 17 October 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 11th instant was received by the last Post. Expecting to be at the Seat of Government by the first of next Month (if my Drivers, who have been sick are able to proceed) I shall be concise in this letter. My Sentiments relatively to the appointment of Mr Benja. Bourne, to be District Judge for the State of Rhode Island, were communicated to you in my last, and it is with...
50From George Washington to Timothy Pickering, 18 March 1795 (Washington Papers)
On considering that part of your letter of the instt which relates to the establishment of a Post at Presqu Isle I have no hesitation in giving it as my opinion that the position is eligable, in several points of view, & that the United States ought to fix one there. The doubt I have is, from whence, in the reduced, & reducing state of the Legion, and the uncertainty of the negotiation of...