John Jay Papers
You searched for: to AND thomas AND jefferson AND 24 AND August AND 1815
sorted by: editorial placement
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-06-02-0001

John Jay’s Mission to London Editorial Note

John Jay’s Mission to London

After a crossing of twenty-five days, Jay arrived at Falmouth on the evening of 8 June 1794.1 Accompanying Jay was his secretary, the painter John Trumbull; his eighteen-year-old son, Peter Augustus Jay; and his enslaved manservant, Peter (or Peet) Williams. Each played an important role. Trumbull, who had served under Washington, was the son of Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull Sr. He had important connections with Benjamin West, with whom he had studied, and Edmund Burke, who sponsored his parole after Trumbull was arrested as a spy. Peter Augustus, who was about to start studying law, proved to be charming and popular, a way for people to do favors for Jay by looking after his son. Peter Williams, much as he had done when Jay was riding circuit as Chief Justice, took care of Jay’s day-to-day needs and managed the household.2

In Jay’s absence, his nephew Peter Jay Munro attended to his business in New York, aided by Sarah Livingston Jay, both of whom were given power of attorney for legal matters, real estate, and Jay’s private banking. Munro, Sally, and daughter Maria Jay kept Jay abreast of family, political, and business dealings via numerous letters. They also all corresponded with Peter Augustus Jay, who kept them informed of how he and his father fared in London.3

Awaiting Jay in London was the American Minister to Great Britain, Thomas Pinckney. Jay was sensitive to the fact that Pinckney may have resented his mission and made sure to consult Pinckney throughout the negotiation. Also consulted was the young John Quincy Adams, who arrived in London in October 1794 on his way to his mission at The Hague. Jay advanced the young Adams money enough to live on.4

Jay’s mission and his presence in London were immediately noted by both the government and the opposition press, usually to promote their respective political positions. He was described in a variety of ways, of varying accuracy;5 the most amusing perhaps as “a Gentleman of about 60 years old, and received great part of his education in this country; he was formerly of the University of Cambridge; and, having from early attachment to us, as well as from a knowledge of the true interests of his country, a wish to see matters settled in an amicable way.” Many reported that as soon as he had resolved the negotiations with Great Britain, he would go on to Paris to negotiate a peace between Great Britain and France.6

The standard accounts of the Jay Treaty negotiations depict a sporadic series of private one-on-one meetings with British Foreign Secretary William Grenville, resulting in the signing of the treaty on 19 November 1794.7 However, Jay’s letters and dispatches, his son Peter Augustus’s diary and letters, invitations and calling cards, newspaper accounts, and John Trumbull’s memoirs, reveal a more complicated series of events. Jay was reunited with the Shelburne circle, courted by both the radical opposition and the cabinet, and entertained by bankers, merchants, and aristocrats. While they tried to cultivate Jay to press their own interests, Jay strategically mined these contacts for American interests.8

Jay took the unusual step of renting rooms at the Hotel Royal in Pall Mall instead of renting a house. With an understanding that his expense account would in all likelihood be criticized, Jay explained to Edmund Randolph that he had four options for his London accommodations: take a house and purchase furniture, take a house and rent furniture, take lodgings, or reside in a hotel. The first two he dismissed as being too expensive for a lengthy duration, and the third would not offer him a suitable place to entertain. “To go into Lodgings I soon found was out of the Question, there being none of a proper class, where a Table would be provided—” “The Expences of living in an Hotel are well known to be extravagantly high, but they are simple—many Servants would not be necessary.” The details of entertaining, which he clearly expected to do, could be handled by the hotel staff. In addition, residing in the hotel would give the appearance of impermanency, something to be desired as Jay wished the negotiations to be concluded as quickly as possible.9

Life in London

Peter Augustus Jay’s diary and memorandum book, as well as his letters to his family, offer the fullest account of their life in London. He records lists of people visited and the active social life the Jays had, with both English Whigs and American expatriates. Peter gained entree to many places and events via these new and old friends, touring the British Museum (where he handled a pair of Roman dice, noting that they were loaded) and private collections, attending trials (notably Warren Hastings’s trial for treason, as well as the gratuitous trial of John Horne Tooke), the opera (which he disliked), and the theater, seeing Mrs. Siddons perform numerous times.10

Surviving calling cards; invitations to play cards, attend the theater, and dine; and lists of calls made and received show the mixture of business and pleasure in their socializing. John Julius Angerstein, John Sinclair, Jeremy and Samuel Bentham,11 Joseph Banks, Richard and Mary Penn, Charles Blagden, Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Brand Hollis, Elizabeth Montagu, Baron and Lady Inchiquin, John and Lucy Paradise, Edmund Burke, Ralph Payne and Lady Frances Payne make frequent appearances,12 as well as Lord Amherst and Lady Amherst.13 Cabinet ministers and the international diplomatic corps are represented. And, of course, the merchants and bankers with an interest in the outcome of the treaty and the American trade predominate:14 merchants such as John and Alexander Anderson (West Indies, slave trade), John Blackburn, John Brickwood, Patrick Colquhoun; Alderman Harvey Christian Combe and Joseph Delafield, brewers; the Murray family, Effingham Lawrence, James Bourdieu, and William Manning; bankers, such as David Barclay, Alexander and Francis Baring, Thomas Coutts, William Curtis, Robert Herries, and representatives of Hope & Co. and Bird, Savage, & Bird.15 These companies would play key roles in the treaty implementation.

Soon after Jay’s arrival in Falmouth, he notified the Foreign Secretary William Grenville and the American Minister, Thomas Pinckney, and began the trip to London, which he reached on 15 June. Three days later, he presented his commission to Grenville, who received him without hesitation and quickly arranged an audience with the king and queen on 2–3 July.16 On 20 June, Jay presented Grenville his general power, after which the two men arranged a meeting on 27 June.17

Of the small number of official meetings recorded, very little of the discussion has survived. John Trumbull reported in his autobiography that Jay and Grenville held tête-à-têtes without even the presence of secretaries. However, the social record makes clear that Pitt and his fellow ministers were involved in the negotiations.

On 18 July, Jay wrote Hamilton: “Shortly after my arrival I dined with Lord Grenville; the cabinet Minister were present, but not a Single Foreigner. On Monday next I am to dine with the Lord Chancellor, & on next Friday with Mr. Pitt. I mention these Facts to explain what I mean by favorable appearances. I think it best that they should remain unmentioned for the present and they make no part of my Communications to Mr. Randolph or others. This is not the Season for such communications—they may be misinterpreted, tho’ not by you.18 Peter’s diary makes mention of multiple dinners with Pitt and other cabinet members, both during the treaty negotiations and afterward.19

Mid-September 1794 proved a crucial point in the negotiations, as the treaty was at this time two separate treaties—one to settle differences of the Treaty of Peace and the other to resolve commercial issues. Peter Augustus recorded in his diary that on 12 Sept., “We dined with Mr. Dundas at Wimbleton in company with Mr. Pitt, the Lord Chancellor [Lord Loughborough],

John Jay, by John Trumbull, 1793. (Yale University Art Gallery)
& Lord Macartney who has lately arrived from China, & who told us many interesting facts relating to that country”.20 A week later, Jay and his son spent the weekend at Grenville’s seat at Dropmore. Among those who dined with them there were Loughborough, Lord Mornington, Lord and Lady Inchiquin, Lord and Lady Boston, Count Starhemberg, and a Miss Eardley. Shortly thereafter, the plan for the conjoined treaty appears to have been made.21

October brought about another critical juncture. The issues of legal rights and the introduction of evidence from one nation to the other would be important in the arbitration of the claims cases. Loughborough invited Jay to dine, with Peter and Trumbull, asking that he arrive early in order to discuss the matter on the 11th. Pitt was also in attendance. Jay would discuss the resulting article in advance of the signing with John Quincy Adams and Thomas Pinckney, in a meeting on the 20th, and again during implementation, with Washington.22

Old Friends and Radical Politics

Among the Jays’s first visitors on their arrival in London were John and Angelica Schuyler Church.23 Angelica, now famous as the sister-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, was a daughter of General Philip Schuyler, a friend and kinsman of Jay (their mothers were cousins), and one of his chief political supporters. She was known for her kindness to Americans in London. However, her hospitality to Jay during the negotiations appears more significant when considering John Church’s career. The English-born Church had made his fortune during the Revolution and was at this time a member of Parliament and a member of the Radical Whigs, who opposed the war with France. Through the Churches, the Jays—as is recorded in Peter’s diary—socialized with Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.24

Shortly after his arrival, Jay received a letter from Sarah Vaughan, the wife of politician Benjamin Vaughan. Jay became friends with the Vaughans during the peace negotiations. In her letter, she invited the Jays to visit, commenting on her husband’s absence: “You are too sensible of my husband’s respect & esteem for you, to doubt a moment, that nothing but indispensable business which detains him out of town would have prevented him from immediately on your arrival renewing those attentions which have always been so pleasing to him”.25 However, Sarah Vaughan did not know the whereabouts of her husband. As a member of the radical opposition in Parliament, Benjamin Vaughan was very critical of Pitt’s administration and, particularly, the war with France. This, his contacts with French agents (including an Irish revolutionary), and some indiscreet correspondence, led him to be interrogated before the Privy Council on 8 May 1794, along with Lord Lauderdale and members of Parliament Sheridan, William Smith, and Thomas Maitland.26 Vaughan feared arrest despite Pitt’s assurances otherwise; he was determined to immigrate to America. Under unclear circumstances, he landed in France on 19 May, where he was arrested and eventually sent to Carmes Prison in Paris, where he was held in seclusion from 1 June to 30 July. He was eventually cleared and ordered to go to Switzerland. Vaughan’s letters to his wife and friends were confiscated, and Sarah did not hear from him until he reached Geneva, sometime in early August. At the time of her letter to Jay, she had followed her husband’s directions and had informed only her brother William Manning, her attorney, and Lord Shelburne of her situation.27

Breakfast with Wilberforce

Politics, personal interests, and official business often overlapped. In his diary of 7 July 1794, William Wilberforce records dining at the home of Quaker merchant banker Samuel Hoare Jr.28 Hoare shared Wilberforce’s political and ethical beliefs. An independently minded Whig, Wilberforce was a member of Parliament and intimate ally of Pitt’s, and had become increasingly critical of the British war with France—despite his relationship with Pitt—while his evangelicalism and opposition to the slave trade grew. The dinner was held specifically to introduce Jay and Wilberforce. He found the Jay party to have “Simplicity of manners—” and to be “very pleasing well inform’d Men—”. Peter’s diary records dining with Wilberforce several times, and the two men continued to meet in other circumstances. On 22 December, Wilberforce records having breakfast with Jay “tête–à–tête” and “heard openly his opinion in Politics Friend to Peace— Many American War Anecdotes— He swore when grew more easy—.”29 The two would continue to correspond on social issues well into the nineteenth century.

Aside from entertaining, Jay made sure to perform favors and dispense advice to his acquaintances, old and new. Peter’s diary records numerous dinners and theater visits with the Penns and Lord Amherst, and Jay offered advice to both parties on the status of the properties that they had possessed in North America.

Jay had been familiar with Richard Penn and his family, including his aunt, Lady Juliana Penn, since his previous stay in London, as well as, presumably, through their Pennsylvania connections. Jay had counselled the Penns on their land claims presumably lost in the American Revolution during the 1780s and continued to do so during his current mission in London.

Similarly, Lord and Lady Amherst initiated a social relationship with the Jays through invitations and the gift of a well-known engraving that depicted Lord Amherst as commander-in-chief of British forces during the Seven Years’ War. Amherst held an interest in Tyron County in Jay’s home state. As with the Penns, Jay—and subsequently Peter Augustus—advised the Amhersts on matters of landed property for several decades.30

Jay was also asked to assist with persons whose relatives and friends were caught up in the dangerous affairs of revolutionary France. One of the first letters Jay received on his arrival in London was from Edward Newenham, the Irish Protestant reform politician who had met Jay in Paris in 1782 and who was also a correspondent with Washington and Franklin. Newenham confided to Jay his concern for the whereabouts and safety of his daughter, who was married to the Swedish Consul in Marseilles. Doubtless moved by such entreaties, Jay promised to make suitable and discreet inquiries after her.31

Later that year, the London press remarked on the possibility that Jay would use his influence to free Lafayette, then imprisoned by Prussian forces. Opposition papers thought America’s diplomat capable of pushing the British government to intervene in international and humanitarian affairs. One such newspaper, for instance, reported in December 1794, “We have heard, and we hope it is true, that Mr. JAY, the Minister Extraordinary from the United States of America, has received instructions to request the good offices of our Cabinet with the Court of Vienna for the release of M. DE LA FAYETTE and the companions of his misfortunes.”32

The United States’ diplomatic relationship with France and the presence of James Monroe as minister there put Jay in the position to help those seeking information on missing friends and relatives and to aid in returning them to England. For example, Richard Wellesley, the Earl of Mornington, soon to be Governor-General of India, enlisted Jay’s service in an attempt to bring home his sister Anne Fitzroy (1775–1844) and brother Henry Wellesley (1773–1847), who had been captured by the French when attempting to return from Portugal. In an effort to release the pair, Jay apparently offered informal advice to Mornington and also passed along letters—though not in an official capacity. These endeavors were seemingly successful, as Mornington’s siblings managed to return to England in January 1795.33

While Jay was engaged in diplomacy and personal favors, his son spent much of his time conducting family business and shopping for family and friends. Peter Augustus procured such luxury items in London as books, jewelry, and fine cups and saucers. He also attended to legal matters, acting as Peter Jay Munro’s agent in Edinburgh, witnessing the transfer of some of Munro’s father’s property. During this excursion to Scotland, Peter Augustus managed to tour the environs and take in the cultural sights as he did in London.34 Like the Jays, John Trumbull also mixed business with leisure. He took the opportunity to travel to France, ostensibly on art business, but also to undertake diplomatic activities.35

Jay’s hopes for a quick return to America were not realized as two developments thwarted any hope of a speedy settlement: the first being the creation of a coalition between Pitt and the Portland Whigs in July and the second being the ongoing war with France. The Treaty would not be signed until 19 November 1794. Jay decided against a dangerous winter voyage36 and spent the rest of his stay in London setting up the Spoliation Commission with Samuel Bayard and John Trumbull, all the while continuing a busy social schedule. Jay would not be able to leave London until April 1795.37

1See JJ to Grenville, 8 and 15 June 1794, below; JJ to Thomas Pinckney, 8 June 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09467); JJ to ER, 9 June 1794, C, DNA: Jay Despatches, 1794–95 (EJ: 04268); C, NHi: King (EJ: 04413); ASP: FR, 1: 475; and Grenville to JJ, 16 and 19 June 1794, both below. For a description of the voyage from Falmouth to London, see PAJ to PJM, 22 June 1794, below. The arrival was anticipated and noted in the London press, despite some confusion about Jay’s title and mission, e.g., “Sir John Jay is coming over vested with full powers from Congress to confer with the Ministers of this country,” Whitehall Evening Post, 7–10 June 1794; “FALMOUTH, June 8. This evening arrived in this Port, John Jay, Esq. in the American Ship Ohio, in 19 days, from New York,” St. James Chronicle or British Evening Post, 10–12 June 1794; and “Mr. Jay, a Member of Congress … has arrived at Falmouth,” Sun, 11 June 1794.

2See the editorial note, “The Jay Treaty: Appointment and Instructions,” JJSP description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (6 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010–) description ends , 5: 609–21. On Peter Williams, see Circuit Court Diary, [11 Oct.–16 Dec. 1791] note 42, JJSP description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (6 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010–) description ends 5, 345; JJ to SLJ, 22 Apr. 1794, JJSP description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay (6 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2010–) description ends , 5: 625–26; JJ to SLJ, 16 Aug. 1794, and 13 Mar. 1795, both below. See also Account Book of JJ’s Mission to London, 1794, D, NNC.

5The General Evening Post of 7–10 June described the “Chief Justice” who arrived on a “brig [out of] Charleston” as “a man of blunt manners, and the most decided character” before giving a description of the actual mission; The London Chronicle of 12–14 June reported: “Yesterday Mr. Jay, the American Commissioner to our Ministry, arrived in town. We have little doubt but that misunderstandings between the two countries will be arranged to the perfect satisfaction of both.” The above newspapers also reported that “Mr. Jefferson, the American Minister, is gone to France,” meaning James Monroe. The Oracle and Public Advertiser of 12 June, on noting Jay’s arrival from “Philadelphia,” reported that “a Gentleman took ten guineas to return a hundred, if hostilities, be commenced on the part of the Americans on or before that day, 9th June, against this country.”

6Whitehall Evening Post, 28 June–1 July 1794; General Evening Post, 1–3 July 1794. These rumors were pervasive enough to cause member of Parliament and Pitt partisan George Canning (1770–1827) to write in November 1794 that “All the vulgar notion of a Treaty with France having been opened, or even thought to be opened, is nonsense. Mr. Jay, the American Ambassador, is no more gone, or going, to Paris than I am.” George Canning, Letter-Journal of George Canning, 1793–1795, ed. Peter Jupp (London, 1991), 149–50.

7For the details of the negotiations between JJ and Grenville, see the editorial note, “Negotiating the Jay Treaty,” below.

8PAJ Diary, Parts A, B, and C, AD, NNC (Diary B, EJ: 90476); London Calling List of Government Officials and Foreign Ministers, 15 June 1794–March 1795, below; PAJ’s Addresses of London Residents, Including Americans, c. July 1794, AD, NNC (EJ: 09207); PAJ’s Addresses of London Residents, c. July 1794, AD, NNC (EJ: 09209); JJ’s List of Cabinet Members Addresses, AD, NNC (EJ: 09192); and Calling Cards, D, NNC.

9For JJ’s explanations of his expenses while in England and the documents on the settlement of his accounts in 1795 and 1796, see To the Public, 25 Apr. 1797, below. See also JJ’s Account Book of the Jay Treaty Mission, NNC. JJ was indeed criticized by opponents of the Treaty for his extravagance. JJ to ER, 5 Mar. 1795, LS DNA: Jay Despatches, 1794–95 (EJ: 04293).

10For the British Museum, see 23 June 1794, PAJ Diary A, AD, NNC; for the Hastings trial and for the opera, see 17 June 1794, PAJ Diary A, AD, NNC; for the Horne Tooke trial, see 17 Nov. 1794, PAJ Diary A, AD, NNC; and JJ to SLJ, 21 Nov. 1794, below; for Sarah Siddons’s performances, see 1, 7, and 10 Mar. 1795, PAJ Diary B, AD, NNC (EJ: 90476). Warren Hastings (1732–1818), former Governor-General of Bengal, underwent a lengthy impeachment trial that was tried in the House of Commons from 1787–95, for which Hastings received a verdict of acquittal. Sarah Siddons (1755–1831) was the preeminent actress of the time, known for her Shakespearian work.

11John Julius Angerstein (1736–1823), London financier, Lloyd’s underwriter, and art collector; Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), philosopher and reformer, founder of utilitarianism, helped to establish University College London; his brother Samuel Bentham (1757–1831), was an engineer and naval architect. Jeremy and Samuel Bentham were introduced to the Jays by John Sinclair. In a letter to Philip Metcalfe of 14 Sept. 1794, Jeremy Bentham described Peter as “a young Jay, little more than fledged,” and his father as “Chief-justice Jay is a good chief-justice-like looking man, of a sensible, shrewd countenance, rather reserved, but not unpleasantly so.” Both Jeremy and Samuel determined to “cultivate them all.” Alexander Taylor Milne, ed., The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham vol. 5 January 1794 to December 1797 (London: 1981), 75–76. See also JJ to John Sloss Hobart, 12 Aug. 1794, below.

12Joseph Banks, baronet (1743–1820), President of the Royal Society of London (1778–1820), explorer and naturalist; Mary Penn (1756–1829), daughter of William Masters of Philadelphia, moved to London with her husband Richard Penn Jr. in 1775; Charles Brian Blagden, FRS (1748–1820), Secretary of the Royal Society (1784–97); Benjamin West, American-born artist, moved to London in 1763 and succeeded Joshua Reynolds (1723–92) as president of the Royal Academy;John Singleton Copely (c. 1738–1815), American-born artist working in London; Thomas Brand Hollis, FRS (1719–1804), British radical and supporter of the American Revolution; Murrough O’Brien, 10th Baron of Inchiquin (1726–1808), well-connected member of the Irish peerage; Mary Palmer, Lady Inchiquin (1750–1820), Baron Inchiquin’s second wife and Joshua Reynolds’s niece; Edmund Burke (1729/30–1797), Irish-born politician, author and controversialist; Ralph Payne, 1st Baron Lavington (1739–1807), born in St. Kitts, Governor of the Leeward Islands (1768–71, 1799–1807), member of Parliament elevated to the Irish peerage (1795), and supporter of Fox; his wife Françoise Lambertine Christiana Charlotte Harriet Theresa de Kolbel, Lady Lavington (1767—1807). See Lucy Paradise to SLJ, 12 Nov. 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 07036); Richard Penn to JJ, 26 Jan. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 07050); Mrs. Montagu to JJ, 5 Mar. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06950); JJ to Lucy Paradise, 8 Apr. 1795, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08941); Lucy Paradise to JJ, 8 Apr. 1795, AL, NNC (EJ: 07037); and Thomas Pinckney to JJ, 10 Apr. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09463).

13Jeffrey Amherst (1717–97), first Baron Amherst, career soldier who successfully commanded British forces in North America during the Seven Years’ War. A supporter of Pitt the Younger, he served as commander-in-chief in 1793–95. Elizabeth Cary (1739/40–1830), Lady Amherst, was Amherst’s second wife.

14See note 8, above. See also the longer list kept by PAJ that includes female members of these merchant and banker families, confirming the social nature of the mission throughout. PAJ Memoranda & Statement of Accounts, [11 May 1794–9 Apr. 1795], AD, NNC.

15John William Anderson, baronet (c. 1736–1813), slave trader, member of Parliament, and Lord Mayor of London (1797–98), involved in the West India Docks; his brother Alexander Anderson, a slave-trade advocate, with whom he owned John and Alexander Anderson & Co. of Eastcheap and Bance Island, Sierra Leone; John Blackburn (1766–1824), son of wealthy merchant, member of Parliament for Aldborough; John Brickwood, merchant and shipowner; Patrick Colquhoun (1745–1820), Scottish-born merchant, economist, and magistrate for the East End, who later formed the Thames River Police in consultation with Jeremy Bentham; Harvey Christian Combe (1752–1818), politician and brewer; Combe with his brother-in-law Joseph Delafield, owned Combe Delafield & Co. brewery in Long Acre; Effingham Lawrence (1735–1806), New York-born London merchant; James Bourdieu Jr. (1763–1835), Huguenot merchant, partner in Bourdieu, Chollet & Bourdieu; David Barclay of Youngsbury (1729–1809), Quaker merchant and banker of Barclay, Bevan & Co.; Thomas Coutts (1735–1822), Scottish banker and founder of Coutts & Co.; William Curtis, baronet (1752–1829), politician, banker, and provisioner to the Royal Navy, Lord Mayor of London (1795–96); and Robert Herries (1730–1813), merchant who founded the London Exchange Banking Company, former member of Parliament, and former partner in John Coutts and Co. See JJ to Lindley Murray, 22 Aug. 1794, below; Robert Herries to JJ, 16 Sept. 1794, AL, NNC (EJ: 05673); JJ to Herries, 17 Sept. 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08905); Patrick Colquhoun to JJ, 20 Dec. 1794, AL, NNC (EJ: 05527); Lindley Murray to JJ, 11 Dec. 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09613); JJ to Colquhoun, 21 Dec. 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08924); Colquhoun to JJ, 16 Jan. 1795, AL, NNC (EJ: 05529); and Colquhoun to JJ, 20 Jan. 1795, AL, NNC (EJ: 05528). On the Baring brothers, see Lansdowne to JJ, 31 July 1795, below.

16See Grenville to JJ, and JJ to Grenville, both 19 June 1794, below. See also George III to Grenville, [8 Apr. 1794], Hist. Mss. Comm., Fortescue Manuscripts description begins Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the Manuscripts of J.B. Fortescue, Esq., Preserved at Dropmore vols. 3–4 (London, 1899) description ends 3: 49.

17See Grenville to JJ (private), 24 June 1794 and note 1, below; and the editorial note “Negotiating the Jay Treaty,” and note 1, below.

18JJ to AH, 18 July 1794, ALS, DLC (EJ: 10766); PAH description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (27 vols.; New York, 1961–87) description ends 16: 608–9. The first Grenville dinner was on 26 June, and Lord Chancellor Loughborough’s was on 27 July 1794.

19PAJ notes dinners with Pitt on 26 June at Grenville’s; 12 Sept. at Dundas’s; 11 Oct. 1794 at Loughborough’s; 14 Jan. with Pinckney; and 17 Jan. 1795 hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons Henry Addington, with the Dukes of Portland and Richmond, the Earl Spencer, Lords Grenville, Amherst, Hawkesbury, Camden, and Mornington in attendance. A newspaper reports that “the Merchants trading to North America” feted Jay on 17 Dec. 1794, at Free Mason’s Tavern with Pitt, Grenville, Loughborough, Dundas, Portland, Pinckney, and other dignitaries offering numerous toasts. Oracle and Public Advertiser (London), 24 Dec. 1794.

20George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB (1737–1806), colonial administrator in the East and West Indies and Africa, headed the Macartney Embassy to China.

21Frederick Irby, 2nd Baron Boston (1749–1825), courtier, Lord of the Bedchamber to George III and George IV; Christian (Methuen) Irby, Lady Boston (d. 1832); Count Ludwig von Starhemberg (1762–1833), ambassador from Austria. For invitations, see note 8, above.

22See note 8, above; and the editorial note “Aftermath of the Jay Treaty: Responses, Ratification, and Implementation,” and note 38, below; JQA Diaries, 20 Oct. 1794, vol. 21, MHi: Adams; JQA Diaries Digital description begins The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php/ description ends , http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php/doc?id=jqad21_40 (accessed Aug. 2019).

23See PAJ to SLJ, 29 June 1794, and 7 Mar. 1795, both below; and JT to JJ, 24 Mar. 1795, below. The Jays dined with Mr. Church or Mrs. Church on 15, 17, 19 (with Fox), 23, 29, and 30 June (breakfast with Mrs. Church), 18 Aug., 7 Sept., 7 and 27 Nov. 1794, 25 Jan., 21 Feb., 3 and 10 March 1795 (dined and theater with Mrs. Church). Other social events mentioned in PAJ’s Diary include: “Mrs. Church introduces Madam Flairault” on 3 July 1794; tour of Sheridan’s Drury Lane Theater with Mr. Church on 1 Oct. 1794; attendance at after-dinner 15th birthday party for Miss Church on 4 Nov. 1794; attendance at after-dinner dance at Mrs. Church’s on 6 Jan. 1795; attendance at home theatricals at Mrs. Church’s on 7 Feb. 1795; PAJ accompanies Mrs. Church to a nursery in Hammersmith for trees on 5 Mar. 1795. PAJ Diary A, B, and C, Ds, NNC (Diary B, EJ: 90476).

24Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Dublin-born playwright and radical Whig, member of Parliament for Stafford. JT also knew Sheridan from Church’s dinner table in 1784. Trumbull, Autobiography description begins John Trumbull, The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull, Patriot-Artist, 1756–1843. Edited by Theodore Sizer (New Haven, Conn., 1953) description ends , 94.

25Sarah Vaughan to JJ, 11 July 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 08147). For JJ’s reply, see his letter of 19 July 1794, below.

26William Smith (1756–1835), member of Parliament for Camelford, Dissenter, and abolitionist; Thomas Maitland (1760–1824), member of Parliament for Haddington Burghs, army officer.

27William Manning (1763–1835). Sarah Vaughan, her sister-in-law Harriet, and her seven children left for America in late August 1794. Benjamin Vaughan joined them in 1797. For more on Benjamin Vaughan’s situation, see JJ to James Monroe, 31 Oct. 1794, below; and Mary Vaughan Marvin, Benjamin Vaughan, 1751–1835 (Hallowell, Me., 1979), 30–45. See also JJ to Benjamin Vaughan, 31 Aug. 1797, below.

28William Wilberforce (1759–1833), grandson of wealthy merchant William Wilberforce (1690–1776), member of Parliament for Hull (1780–84), Yorkshire (1784–1812), and Bramber (1812–25), had an evangelical conversion experience in 1785, leading him to promote Christianity and peace, and become deeply involved in abolitionism and ending of the West Indies slave trade. Although of high moral conviction, he continued to work with Pitt, and was considered a highly sociable man of the world. ODNBO description begins Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online description ends ; “Wilberforce, William,” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1790–1820, ed. R. Thorne, (London, 1986) https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790–1820/member/wilberforce-william-1759–1833 (accessed Oct. 2018); Samuel Hoare Jr. (1751–1825), London merchant, Quaker, and founder of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Hoare was involved in planning for the settlement of Sierra Leone with formerly enslaved persons.

29William Wilberforce Diary, UkOxU: Wilberforce.

30See note 13, above; and JJ to Lady Elizabeth Amherst, 20 Feb. 1795, below.

31Edward Newenham to JJ, 15 June 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09589); and JJ to Newenham, 26 June 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 09591).

32Morning Chronicle (London), 11 Dec. 1794.

33See JJ to Mornington, 22 Sept. 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08906); Mornington to JJ, 25 Sept. 1794, ALS, UkWC-A (EJ: 00044); JJ to Mornington, 26 Sept. 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08908); Mornington to JJ, 30 Sept. 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06954); Lady Hyacinthe Gabrielle Mornington (mother of Lord Mornington) to JJ, 2 Oct. 1794, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06955); and JJ to Lady Mornington, 2 Oct. 1794, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08909). See also JJ’s memorandum to JT of people who sought lost friends and relatives, 5 Feb. 1795, below. For similar requests to JJ, see David Hartley to JJ, 5 Jan. 1795, below; JJ to Hartley, 8 Jan. 1795, below; and JT to JJ, 24 Mar. 1795, below.

34See PJM to JJ, 16 Oct. 1794, below; PAJ to SLJ, 2 Jan. 1795, below; NNC: PAJ Diary B, AD, NNC (EJ: 90476); and PAJ Memoranda & Statement of Accounts, [11 May 1794–9 Apr. 1795], AD, NNC.

35Trumbull, Autobiography description begins John Trumbull, The Autobiography of Colonel John Trumbull, Patriot-Artist, 1756–1843. Edited by Theodore Sizer (New Haven, Conn., 1953) description ends , 184–88.

36See JJ to SLJ, 21 Nov. 1794, below.

37See JJ to Samuel Bayard, 5 Jan. (first and second letters), and 5 Mar. 1795, all below; and Bayard to JJ, 31 Mar. 1795, below; JJ to Bayard, 20 Jan. 1795, Dft, NNC (EJ: 12836); Crickitt and Townley to JJ, 20 Jan. 1795, ALS, NNC (EJ: 07380); Bayard to JJ, 27 Jan. 1795, ALS, DNA (EJ: 04352); JJ to Bayard, 27 Jan. 1795, ALS, DNA (EJ: 04353); and Dft, NNC (EJ: 12837).

Index Entries