Томас Джефферсон - Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 3

1. The number of vessels fitted out each year for the cod-fishery. 2. Their tonnage. 3. The number of seamen employed. 4. The quantity of fish taken; (I.) of superior quality; (2.) of inferior. 5. The quantity of each kind exported; (1.) to Europe, and to what countries there; (2.) to other, and what parts of America. C. The average prices at the markets, (1.) of Europe; (2.) of America. With respect to the whale-fishery, after the three first articles the following should be substituted. 4. Whether to the northern or southern fishery. 5. The quantity of oil taken; (1.) of the spermaceti whale; (2.) of the other kinds. 6. To what market each kind was sent. 7. The average prices of each. As the ports from which the equipments were made could not be stated in the same table conveniently, they might form a separate one. It would be very material that I should receive this information by the first of November, as I might be able to bestow a more undisturbed attention to the subject before than after the meeting of Congress, and it would be better to present it to them at the beginning, than towards the close of the session.

The peculiar degree of interest with which this subject must affect the State of Massachusetts, the impossibility of obtaining necessary information from any other quarter, and the slender means I should have of acquiring it from thence, without the aid of your Excellency, will, I hope, be a sufficient apology for the trouble I take the liberty of giving you: and I am happy in every occasion of repeating assurances of the respect and attachment with which I have the honor to be your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

TO SYLVANUS BOURNE, Consul at Hispaniola .

New York, August 25, 1790.

Sir,

I enclose you herein sundry papers containing a representation from Messrs. Updike and Earle of Providence, who complain that their sloop Nancy was seized in the island of Hispaniola, and though without foundation, as her acquittal proved, yet they were subjected to the payment of very heavy expenses. It is to be observed, that in no country does government pay the costs of a defendant in any prosecution, and that often, though the party be acquitted, there may have been colorable cause for the prosecution. However this may have been in the present case, should the parties think proper to endeavor, by their own agent, to obtain a reimbursement from the government or from individuals of Hispaniola, I take the liberty of recommending their cause to your patronage, so far as evidence and law shall be in their favor. If they address the government, you will support their demands on the ground of right and amity; if they institute process against individuals, counterpoise by the patronage and weight of your public character, any weight of character which may be opposed to their obtaining of justice.

I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

Circular to the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States .

New York, August 26, 1790.

Sir,

I expected ere this, to have been able to send you an act of Congress prescribing some special duties and regulations for the exercise of the consular offices of the United States: but Congress not having been able to mature the act sufficiently, it lies over to the next session. In the mean while, I beg leave to draw your attention to some matters of information, which it is interesting to receive.

I must beg the favor of you to communicate to me every six months, a report of the vessels of the United States which enter at the ports of your district, specifying the name and burthen of each vessel, of what description she is (to wit, ship, snow, brig, &c), the names of the master and owners, and number of seamen, the port of the United States from which she cleared, places touched at, her cargo outward and inward, and the owners thereof, the port to which she is bound, and times of arrival and departure; the whole arranged in a table under different columns, and the reports closing on the last days of June and December.

We wish you to use your endeavors that no vessel enter as an American in the ports of your district, which shall not be truly such, and that none be sold under that name, which are not really of the United States.

That you give to me, from time to time, information of all military preparations, and other indications of war which may take place in your ports; and when a war shall appear imminent, that you notify thereof the merchants and vessels of the United States within your district, that they may be duly on their guard; and in general, that you communicate to me such political and commercial intelligence, as you may think interesting to the United States.

The Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States are free to wear the uniform of their navy, if they choose to do so. This is a deep-blue coat with red facings, lining, and cuffs, the cuffs slashed and a standing collar; a red waistcoat (laced or not at the election of the wearer) and blue breeches; yellow buttons with a foul anchor, and black cockades and small swords.

Be pleased to observe, that the Vice-Consul of one district is not at all subordinate to the Consul of another. They are equally independent of each other.

The ground of distinction between these two officers is this. Our government thinks, that to whatever there may be either of honor or profit resulting from the consular office, native citizens are first entitled, where such, of proper character, will undertake the duties; but where none such offer, a Vice-Consul is appointed of any other nation. Should a proper native come forward at any future time, he will be named Consul; but this nomination will not revoke the commission of Vice-Consul: it will only suspend his functions during the continuance of the Consul within the limits of his jurisdiction, and on his departure therefrom, it is meant that the vice-consular authority shall revive of course, without the necessity of a re-appointment.

It is understood, that Consuls and Vice-Consuls have authority, of course, to appoint their own agents in the several ports of their district, and that it is with themselves alone those agents are to correspond.

It will be best not fatigue the government in which you reside, or those in authority under it, with applications in unimportant cases. Husband their good dispositions for occasions of some moment, and let all representations to them be couched in the most temperate and friendly terms, never indulging in any case whatever a single expression which may irritate.

I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

TO WILLIAM SHORT.

New York, August 26, 1790.

Dear. Sir,

My last letters to you have been of the 26th of July, and 10th instant. Yours of May the 16th, No. 31, has come to hand.

I enclose you sundry papers, by which you will perceive, that the expression in the eleventh article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France, viz. ‘that the subjects of the United States shall not be reputed Aubaines in France , and consequently shall be exempted from the Droit d’Aubaine , or other similar duty, under what name soever,’ has been construed so rigorously to the letter, as to consider us as Aubaines in the colonies of France. Our intercourse with those colonies is so great, that frequent and important losses will accrue to individuals, if this construction be continued. The death of the master or supercargo of a vessel, rendered a more common event by the unhealthiness of the climate, throws all the property which was either his, or under his care, into contest. I presume that the enlightened Assembly now, engaged in reforming the remains of feudal abuse among them, will not leave so inhospitable an one as the Droit d’Aubaine existing in France, or any of its dominions. If this may be hoped, it will be better that you should not trouble the minister with any application for its abolition in the colonies as to us. This would be erecting into a special favor to us, the extinction of a general abuse, which will, I presume, extinguish of itself. Only be so good as to see, that in abolishing this odious law in France, its abolition in the colonies also be not omitted by mere oversight; but if, contrary to expectations, this fragment of barbarism be suffered to remain, then it will become necessary that you bring forward the enclosed case, and press a liberal and just exposition of our treaty, so as to relieve our citizens from this species of risk and ruin hereafter. Supposing the matter to rest on the eleventh article only, it is inconceivable, that he, who with respect to his personal goods is as a native citizen in the mother country, should be deemed a foreigner in its colonies. Accordingly, you will perceive by the opinions of Doctor Franklin and Doctor Lee, two of our ministers who negotiated and signed the treaty, that they considered that rights stipulated for us in France, were meant to exist in all the dominions of France.