1. The first of the enclosed letters from Thomas Barclay to Jefferson, written at Gibraltar, was that of 8 Sept., in which Barclay conveyed a detailed summary of the continuing civil war in Morocco, which he had gathered from recent conversations with Francisco Chiappe, an American agent in Morocco. “The Contest,” Barclay wrote, “is very doubtful either with regard to the Person or the Time in which it may be determined,” and “it would be highly improper” for the United States to approach either side about a treaty “untill matters are ended by the sword or by a Compromise.” In the second letter, dated 10 Sept., Barclay outlined Chiappe’s proposed claims against the American government for payment of expenses incurred while attending to American interests in Morocco (both letters are in DNA: RG 59, Despatches from Consular Offices and are extracted in Jefferson Papers, description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends 24:345–46, 360). For background on Chiappe’s role in U.S.-Moroccan relations, see Giuseppe Chiappe to GW, 18 July 1789, source note.