aided you with means to supply your present exigencies.

To touch on the case of M. de Lafayette in this letter would be still more delicate, and, under present circumstances, as unavailing as it would be inexpedient. For these reasons I shall only add a renewal of the assurances of the sincerest esteem and regard for you and yours, with which I have the honor to be, &c.

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, SECRETARY OF STATE."

SIR,

*

Philadelphia, 29 June, 1795.

I enclose to you a copy of the resolution of the Senate, advising that the late treaty with Great Britain be ratified. Upon this resolution two questions arise.

thousand livres upon a month's notice (in specie), the object of which was to free a considerable estate from some incumbrances, which was effected upon my surety. As yet I have not been called on to pay it. As soon therefore as I received the draft on Holland for six thousand dollars in her behalf, I wrote to her by two different routes to assure her, that I had funds for hers and her husband's support, upon which she might for the present draw to the amount of five hundred pounds sterling, and afterwards as occasion might require; to which I have received

no answer.

"What may be the ultimate disposition of France towards M. de Lafayette it is impossible now to say. His integrity, as far as I can find, remains unimpaired; and, when that is the case, the errors of the head are pardoned, as the passions subside. It is more than probable I may be able to serve him with those by whom he is confined, and that I may do this without injury to the United States here; acting with candor and avowing the motive, since it is impossible that motive can be otherwise than approved, especially if the step be taken when their affairs are in great prosperity. For this, however, I shall be happy to have your approbation, since, if I do any thing with the Emperor, it must be done in your name; if not explicitly, yet in a manner to make known to him the interest you take in the welfare of M. de Lafayette. Young Lafayette is, I presume, now under your auspices."— Paris, January 3d, 1796.

* Sent likewise as a circular to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney-General.

First, is or is not that resolution intended to be the final act of the Senate; or do they expect, that the new article which is proposed shall be submitted to them before the treaty takes effect?

Secondly, does or does not the constitution permit the President to ratify the treaty, without submitting the new article, after it shall be agreed to by the British King, to the Senate for their further advice and consent?

I wish you to consider this subject as soon as possible, and transmit to me your opinion in writing, that may without delay take some definitive step upon the treaty. I am, &c.*

I

* The proceedings before this date, in regard to the treaty, are briefly and clearly stated by Chief Justice Marshall. His statement will serve to explain several of the subsequent letters. It may be premised, that the treaty was signed by Mr. Jay in London on the 19th of November, 1794; and that it was received by the President in Philadelphia on the 7th of March following.

"On Monday the 8th of June," says Chief Justice Marshall, "the Senate, in conformity with the summons of the President, convened in the Senate-chamber, and the treaty, with the documents connected with it, were submitted to their consideration.

"On the 24th of June, after a minute and laborious investigation, the Senate, by precisely a constitutional majority, advised and consented to its conditional ratification.

"An insuperable objection existed to an article regulating the intercourse with the British West Indies, founded on a fact which is understood to have been unknown to Mr. Jay. The intention of the contracting parties was to admit the direct intercourse between the United States and those Islands, but not to permit the productions of the latter to be carried to Europe in the vessels of the former. To give effect to this intention, the exportation from the United States of those articles, which were the principal productions of the Islands, was to be relinquished. Among these was cotton. This article, which a few years before was scarcely raised in sufficient quantity for domestic consumption, was becoming one of the richest staples of the southern States. The Senate, being informed of this fact, advised and consented that the treaty should be ratified on condition that an article be added thereto, suspending that part of the twelfth article which relates to the intercourse with the West Indies.

“Although, in the mind of the President, several objections to the

TO JOHN RUTLEDGE.

Philadelphia, 1 July, 1795.

DEAR SIR,

Your private letter of the 18th ultimo, and Mr. Jay's resignation of the office of Chief Justice of the United States, both came to my hands yesterday. The former gave me much pleasure, and without hesitating a moment, after knowing you would accept the latter, I

treaty had occurred, they were overbalanced by its advantages; and, before transmitting it to the Senate, he had resolved to ratify it, if approved by that body. The resolution of the Senate presented difficulties which required consideration. Whether they could advise and consent to an article, which had not been laid before them; and whether their resolution was to be considered as the final exercise of their power, were questions not entirely free from difficulty. Nor was it absolutely clear that the executive could ratify the treaty, under the advice of the Senate, until the suspending article should be introduced into it. A few days were employed in the removal of these doubts, at the expiration of which, intelligence was received from Europe, which suspended the resolution which the President had formed.

"The English papers contained an account, which, though not official, was deemed worthy of credit, that the order of the 8th of June, 1793, for the seizure of provisions going to French ports, was renewed. In the apprehension, that this order might be construed and intended as a practical construction of that article in the treaty, which seemed to favor the idea, that provisions, though not generally contraband, might occasionally become so, a construction in which he had determined not to acquiesce, the President thought it wise to reconsider his decision. Of the result of this reconsideration there is no conclusive testimony. A strong memorial against this objectionable order was directed; and the propositions to withhold the ratifications of the treaty until the order should be repealed, to make the exchange of ratifications dependent upon that event, and to adhere to his original purpose of pursuing the advice of the Senate, connecting with that measure the memorial which had been mentioned, as an act explanatory of the sense in which his ratification was made, were severally reviewed by him. In conformity with his practice of withholding his opinion on controverted points, until it should become necessary to decide them, he suspended his determination on these propositions until the memorial should be prepared and laid before him. In the mean time, his private affairs required that he should visit Mount Vernon." MARSHALL'S Life of Washington, 2d edition, Vol. II. p. 361. —See APPENDIx, No. II.

VOL. XI.

5

directed the Secretary of State to make you an official offer of this honorable appointment; to express to you my wish, that it may be convenient and agreeable to you to accept it; to intimate, in that case, my desire and the advantages that would attend your being in this city the first Monday in August, at which time the next session of the Supreme Court will commence ; and to inform you that your commission as Chief Justice will take date on this day, July the 1st, when Mr. Jay's will cease, but that it would be detained here, to be presented to you on your arrival.

I shall only add, that the Secretary will write to you by post, and by a water conveyance also, if there be any vessel in this harbour, which will sail for Charleston in a few days; and that, with much sensibility for your good wishes, and an assurance of the sincerest esteem and regard, I am, my dear Sir, &c.*

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Baltimore, 18 July, 1795.

SIR, At this place, and in the moment I was about to step into my carriage, I was overtaken by an express bearing the enclosed despatches.

* Mr. Jay arrived in New York from England on the 28th of May. He had been elected Governor of the State of New York during his absence. As he accepted that appointment, he sent to President Washington the following letter, enclosing his resignation of the office of Chief Justice.

"New York, 29th June, 1795.- My dear Sir; The enclosed contains my resignation of the office of Chief Justice. I cannot quit it without again expressing to you my acknowledgments for the honor you conferred upon me by that appointment, and for the repeated marks of confidence and attention for which I am indebted to you. It gives me pleasure to recollect and reflect on these circumstances, to indulge the

*

As the application is of an unusual and disagreeable nature, and moreover is intended, I have no doubt, to place me in an embarrassed situation, from whence an advantage may be taken, I forward it to you with a request, that you, the other two Secretaries, and the Attorney-General, will give it due consideration; and, if it be proper for me to return an answer, that one may be drawn, which will accord with the ideas of you all, if it can be done, and forwarded to me by post, that I may transmit it from Mount Vernon. In haste,

I am, &c.t

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH, SECRETARY OF STATE.

DEAR SIR,

Mount Vernon, 22 July, 1795.

The letas I also The pro

Both your letters, dated the 17th instant, found me at this place, where I arrived on Monday. ter from the commissioners to you, I return, do the gazettes of Pittsburg and Boston. ceedings at the latter place are of a very unpleasant nature. The result I forwarded to you from Baltimore, accompanied with a few hasty lines, written at the moment I was departing from thence; with a request that it might be considered by the confidential officers of government, and returned to me with an answer thereto, if an answer should be deemed advisable.

most sincere wishes for your health and happiness, and to assure you of the perfect respect, esteem, and attachment, with which I am, dear Sir, your obliged and affectionate friend and servant."

* The proceedings and resolves of a town meeting in Boston respecting the British treaty.

The result of the deliberations of the cabinet is contained in the President's reply to the communication from the selectmen of Boston, dated July 28th.