Sir,
On the 29th ultimo, I had the honor to enclose you copies of sundry papers, relative to the establishment of a commercial intercourse between the citizens of the United States and the subjects of the Elector of Saxony. By that communication you will have learned with great satisfaction, that the commerce of Saxony, with the approbation of the Sovereign, had chosen M. Philip Thieriot, a person of acknowledged merit, to reside in America in the character of Commissary-General of commerce. By the papers above mentioned you will have seen the nature and extent of that gentleman's commission. I have now the honor to present him to your notice, persuaded that you will with pleasure procure him occasions of putting effectually into execution the views of the court and commerce of his country. Their nomination of him to this important trust, until circumstances may demand that he be immediately authorised by his Sovereign, will, I make no doubt, be a sufficient motive with you to secure him all the civilities and services which it may be in your power to afford him.
I have the honor to be, &c.
WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Ildefonso, August 30th, 1783.
Sir,
On the 19th, 22d, and 29th ultimo, and the 2d of this month, I had the honor to address you from Madrid. On the 5th instant I followed the Court to this place, where it had been since the 24th of last month.
I took the earliest opportunity of waiting on his Excellency, the Count de Florida Blanca, to remind him of his promise to present me to the King and royal family, and of other affairs interesting to individuals mentioned in former letters, for which I had been obliged to apply to him. He gave me the strongest assurances of his desire to terminate, to the satisfaction of the parties interested, the affairs in question, imputing to other departments the delays I had experienced in their adjustment. On the subject of my presentation, he seemed much embarrassed, stating the difficulties he should be exposed to in procuring that honor for me, which his Majesty refused to others vested with the same character, mentioning the case of the Chargé d'Affaires of Denmark, a copy of whose letter to this Minister on the subject of his presentation, I had the honor to enclose you on the 25th of June. He observed, that the Russian and Swedish Ministers were about to leave the Court, and would, if I was presented, insist on the presentation of their Secretaries also.
I begged leave in reply to assure his Excellency of the concern it gave me to expose him to the least inconvenience upon that account, but that he would be pleased to recollect the promise he had made to the Marquis de Lafayette and myself in writing on this subject. That copies of the letter which the Marquis de Lafayette had written him and of his Excellency's answer had been transmitted to Congress; that that body, from the confidence which they had in his Catholic Majesty's amicable disposition, of which his Excellency had been so often the interpreter, undoubtedly expected that I had long ago been presented; that in consequence of his Excellency's assurances to me at various times since the transmission of the copies of the letters before mentioned, I had confirmed my constituents in this belief; that this being the case, it would be improper for me to go to Court, until I should receive their instructions on the subject. I added, that I hoped his Excellency knew me too well to suppose that I was influenced by any personal considerations in this affair. He interrupted me with an assurance to the contrary, and that he would do everything in his power to give me satisfaction, telling me to call upon him in a few days, when he would acquaint me with the result of his endeavors. Thus ended our first conference.