HENRY KNOX.
June the 20th, 1793. At a meeting this day of the Heads of department at the President's, on summons from him, a letter from Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, dated June 18th, and addressed to the Secretary of State, was read; whereupon it is the opinion that a full detail of the proceedings of the United States with respect to the southern Indians and the Spaniards be prepared, and a justification as to the particular matters charged in the said letter; that this be sent, with all the necessary documents, to our commissioners at the court of Madrid, leaving to them a discretion to change expressions in it which to them may appear likely to give offence in the circumstances under which they may be at the time of receiving it; and that a copy be sent to Mr. Pinckney for his information, and to make such use of the matter it contains as to him should seem expedient; that an answer be written to Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes informing them that we shall convey our sentiments on the subject to their court through our commissioners at Madrid, and letting them see that we are not insensible to the style and manner of their communications.
A draught of a letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Hammond, asking when an answer to his letter of May 29th, 1792, might be expected, was read and approved.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
HENRY KNOX.
July the 5th, 1793. A meeting desired by Alexander Hamilton at my office. Himself, Knox, and myself met accordingly. He said that according to what had been agreed on in presence of the President, in consequence of Mr. Genet's declining to pay the $45,000 at his command in the treasury, to the holders of the St. Domingo bills, we had agreed to pay the holders out of other moneys to that amount; that he found, however, that these bills would amount to $90,000, and the question was whether he should assume $90,000 to be paid out of the September instalment. This, he said, would enable holders to get discounts at the banks, would therefore be equal to ready money, and save them from bankruptcy. Unanimously agreed to. We also agreed to a letter written by General Knox to Governor Mifflin, to have a particular inquiry made whether the Little Sarah is arming, &c., or not. I read also Governor Lee's letter about the Governor of South Carolina's proclamation respecting pestilential disease in West Indies. We are all of opinion the evidence is too slight for interference, and doubt the power to interfere. Therefore let it lie.
Mr. Genet called on me, and read to me very rapidly instructions he had prepared for Michaud, who is going to Kentucky; an address to the inhabitants of Louisiana, and another to those of Canada. In these papers it appears that, besides encouraging those inhabitants to insurrection, he speaks of two generals in Kentucky who have proposed to him to go and take New Orleans, if he will furnish the expense, about £3,000 sterling. He declines advancing it, but promises that sum ultimately for their expenses; proposes that officers shall be commissioned by himself in Kentucky and Louisiana; that they shall rendezvous out of the territories of the United States,—suppose in Louisiana, and there making up a battalion to be called the — — of inhabitants of Louisiana and Kentucky, and getting what Indians they could, to undertake the expedition against New Orleans, and then Louisiana to be established into an independent State, connected in commerce with France and the United States; that two frigates shall go into the river Mississippi, and co-operate against New Orleans. The address to Canada was to encourage them to shake off English yoke, to call Indians to their assistance, and to assure them of the friendly dispositions of their neighbors of the United States.
He said he communicated these things to me, not as Secretary of State, but as Mr. Jefferson. I told him that his enticing officers and soldiers from Kentucky to go against Spain, was really putting a halter about their necks; for that they would assuredly be hung if they commenced hostilities against a nation at peace with the United States. That leaving out that article I did not care what insurrections should be excited in Louisiana. He had about a fortnight ago sent me a communication for Michaud as consul of France at Kentucky, and desired an Exequatur. I told him this could not be given, that it was only in the ports of the United States they were entitled to consuls, and that if France should have a consul at Kentucky, England and Spain would soon demand the same, and we should have all our interior country filled with foreign agents. He acquiesced, and asked me to return the commission and his note, which I did; but he desired I would give Michaud a letter of introduction for Governor Shelby. I sent him one a day or two after. He now observes to me that in that letter I speak of him only as a person of botanical and natural pursuits, but that he wished the Governor to view him as something more; as a French citizen possessing his confidence. I took back the letter and wrote another.