To Thomas Jefferson from C. W. F. Dumas, 31 July 1788
From C. W. F. Dumas
Lahaie 31e. Juillet 1788
Monsieur
Esperant que ma Lettre du 24e. Courant, avec une Dépeche pour le Congrès, est bien parvenue à V.E., J’ai l’honneur de lui acheminer ci-joint un Postcrit à la même Dépeche. Je n’ai rien à ajouter à ce que Votre Excellence y lira, sinon, que l’avis de l’accession de l’Etat de N. Hampshire, et de l’Election de Mr. Pendleton pour présider à la Convention de 140 Députés, qui a commencé ses séances en Virginie le 2e. Juin, m’est venue d’Amsterdam, par Lettre de nos amis du 26; et que celui de veiller à la sureté de nos Navigateurs et Pêcheurs, et de se garder contre toute surprise, me paroît ne devoir pas être méprise. Je suis avec grand respect De Votre Excellence Le très-humble & très-obéissant serviteur
C W F Dumas
RC (DLC); endorsed. FC (Dumas Letter Book, Rijksarchief, The Hague; photostats in DLC). Enclosure (same): Postscript to Dumas’ dispatch to Jay, 26 July 1788, enclosing answer of the Estates General to the French ambassador’s note of the 16th; stating that he had just learned of New Hampshire’s ratification of the Constitution and the probability that Virginia would do so; announcing the beginning of hostilities in Finland; suggesting that he be empowered, as soon as the new Congress begins its sessions, to communicate the fact officially; requesting that he be furnished with a letter of credence as chargé d’affaires so as to obviate any difficulty the Estates General might pose by saying Dumas was no longer in office since Adams had taken leave; and enclosing a resolution of the Estates General of 24 June 1783 showing that Dumas and their secretary had exchanged ratifications, in Adams’ absence, of the treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and the Netherlands (translation printed in Dipl. Corr., 1783–89, iii, 620–3). The passage in Dumas’ letter to Jay concerning the progress of the ratification of the Constitution parallels in substance and, in part, in phraseology the account that he had caused to be published in Supplément No. lxii of the Gazette de Leide of 1 Aug. 1788.