I send Mr. Rutledge two letters by the post. Be so good as to present him my esteem, and to be assured yourself of the sincere esteem and attachment with which I am, and shall ever be, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.
[TO M. DE VILLEDEUIL.]
Paris, February 10, 1789.
Sir,—I take the liberty of troubling your Excellency with the following case, which I understand to be within your department. Mr. Jay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the United States of America, having occasion to send me despatches of great importance, and by a courier express, confided them to a Mr. Nesbitt, who offered himself in that character. He has delivered them safely; but, in the moment of delivering them, explained to me his situation, which is as follows. He was established in commerce at L'Orient during the war. Losses by shipwreck, by capture, and by the conclusion of the peace at a moment when he did not expect it, reduced him to bankruptcy, and he returned to America, without the consent of his creditors, to make the most of his affairs there. He has been employed in this ever since, and now wishing to see his creditors, and to consult them on their mutual interests, he availed himself of Mr. Jay's demand for a courier, to come under the safe conduct of that character to Paris, where he flattered himself he might obtain that of your Excellency, for the purpose of seeing his creditors, settling and arranging with them. He thinks a twelve-month will be necessary for this. Understanding that it is not unusual to grant safe conducts in such cases, and persuaded it will be for the benefit of his creditors, I take the liberty of enclosing his memoir to your Excellency, and of soliciting your favorable attention to it, assured that it will not be denied him, if it be consistent with the established usage; and if inadmissible, praying that your Excellency will have the goodness to give me as early an answer as the other arduous occupations in which you are engaged will admit, in order that he may know whether he may see his creditors, or must return without. I am encouraged to trouble your Excellency with this application, by the goodness with which you have been pleased to attend to our interests on former occasions, and by the desire of availing myself of every occasion of proffering to you the homage of those sentiments of attachment and respect, with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
[TO MR. SHORT.]
Paris, February 28, 1789.
Dear Sir,—I wrote you last on the 9th instant. Yours of the 11th, came to hand yesterday evening. Some of its enquiries will have already been answered to you. We have no information from America down to the middle of January. Things were going on so well that our letters afford nothing interesting scarcely. The opposition to the new Constitution grows feebler. Everywhere the elections are federal. In New York they had not yet been able to agree in the choice of senators, nor even in the manner of choosing. The new government begins on Wednesday next. Its friends consent to some changes, and particularly to the annexation of a declaration of rights. This will probably be proposed by Congress to the several assemblies, and thus a new convention be avoided. The Virginia Assembly met October 23. They choose for their speaker, Thomas Mathews, (who is this?) They are furiously anti-federal. They have passed a bill rendering every person holding any federal office incapable of holding at the same time any State office. This is a declaration of war against the new Constitution. Mr. Adams is generally expected to be the Vice-President. Hancock is his only competitor. Others are sometimes talked of, but not with their own consent. I see in a Virginia paper of last summer, that George Nicholas advertised his departure to settle in Kentucky this present month of February. Great numbers of American vessels are now arriving in the ports of France with flour and wheat, in consequence of the demand of this country and of the bounty it gives. I have received a letter from Ladian, dated Grand Cairo, September 10. He was just then about to plunge into the terræ incognitæ of Africa. This morning, I received one from Admiral Paul Jones, dated St. Petersburg, January 30, he was just arrived there at the desire of the Empress. He has commanded hitherto on the Black Sea, but does not know whether the Empress destines him to return there or to take any other command.
There has been an affray in Britanny between the Noblesse and people, in which some few were killed. Things there are now quiet, and all the rest of the kingdom is going on well towards its object. In some places, as in Burgundy and Franche-compte, there is an opposition by the Noblesse indeed against the manifest sense of the nation, but I do not apprehend any serious evil from it. The States General are likely to meet under happy auspices. It would seem that the government thinks they will end well, because I observe in their communications with certain unfriendly courts they assume a tone which had been laid aside for some time. Their effects stand well. * * * * The King of England seems to be in a state of convalescence. The symptoms of a return of reason are such that on the 19th instant the House of Lords put off the reading of the Regency bill, and it is even thought there will be no regency, nor any change of ministry. There are not yet sufficient data to ground a judgment whether there will be peace or not between the Turks and the two empires, nor what part Russia will take in the affairs of Poland. The preparations of Sweden and Denmark so far announce a continuation of the war. You have heard, doubtless, of the revolution which took place in Geneva about the last of January. It was the work of three or four days only, and with little bloodshed their ancient constitution is almost completely re-established. Their exiles are to be recalled, the foreign garrison sent off, the Bourgeois guard the city, and the nomination of the Syndics is restored to the council of two hundred. I see no reason to doubt the permanence of this reformation. Here all your acquaintances are well. I continue to keep my house and on such terms as will induce me to keep it as long as I remain in Europe. I fear my departure in the spring may be retarded, as Governeur Morris tells me there would be no probability that the old Congress would re-assemble. In this case I cannot receive my leave of absence from the new government. I have proposed to them the naming you Chargé des Affaires to take care of their business during my absence. You know that we must not be too sanguine on these occasions.