1American Commissioners to John Jay, 28 March 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
Soon after the arrival of Mr. J. in London, we had a conference with the Ambassador of Tripoli, at his House. The amount of all the information we can obtain from him was that a perpetual peace was in all respects the most advisable, because a temporary treaty would leave room for increasing demands upon every renewal of it, and a stipulation for annual payments would be liable to failures of...
2American Commissioners to John Jay, 25 April 1786 (Jefferson Papers)
Soon after our meeting together in London, We had a Conference with the Secretary of State for foreign affairs, in which we communicated to him, the joint Commission of Congress, for negotiating a Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain, and left an attested Copy of it in the hands of his Lordship. At the same time his Lordship was informed that as the Commission was limited to two years...