LS signed “I have the honor to be dear sir with great and sincere respect and esteem yr. mo. ob. serv., Edm: Randolph,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 9.75, May 19, 1794. Letter to Thomas Pinckney, the US minister to Great Britain, concerning John Jay and his upcoming negotiations in connection with the Jay Treaty. In part: "I have come hither to meet Mr. Jay, whose accommodation in point of time I thought it better to consult than to oblige him to travel to Philadelphia to receive his instructions. He will sail the day after tomorrow; and having been occupied for a considerable time past with his preparations, a reply to Mr. Hammond's answer to your memorials and other pressing business I have but an hour left for writing to you.
In my last letter…I informed you that a single mission to London had been resolved on by the President. He was induced to take this step for several reasons, among which were an anxiety for peace; the wish to unite all classes of people here if a strong movement should be rendered necessary; and the fitness of manifesting to the British Nation that if War does not come, it will be a war of their own or at least of their Ministry. The first and indeed the principal objection to the appointment of an Envoy arose from a respect for you; it being a maxim with the President to be delicate to every officer of Government. But it was represented to him that you were too well acquainted with the course of diplomatic business, to feel the smallest dissatisfaction at a measure, the solemnity of which so strongly coincides with the crises hanging over us, & which is so customary. Notwithstanding this difficulty at length subsided in his mind, he declared expressly in his nomination of Mr. Jay to the Senate, that his confidence in our Minister plenipotentiary in London continues unchanged; nor would he have selected any character, less than one of the most distinguished, to repair to that Court where you are. He has instructed Mr. Jay to communicate with you without reserve; and, to complete the proof of his approbation of your conduct, you are hereby authorized & required in case Mr. Jay should by death or any extraordinary accident be incapacitated, from providing in the commissions given to him, to possess yourself of them, consider them, as addressed to yourself, and to enter upon their execution. Thus will you, I trust, be persuaded, that we have not forgotten you, what we should have expected for ourselves: and that if any more agreeable style of presenting this subject to the public or yourself could have been devised, we should have seized it with great cordiality.
Mr. Jay will convey to you all the intelligence of our Country. I have enquired from the head Clerk in the department of State, why the newspapers were not forwarded to you, as I always understood they had been. He answered, that since the discontinuance of the papers published twice a week, he had been afraid of the bulk of daily papers: but I told him that this was a bad reason,, and directed him to collect the daily papers and transmit them. You will perceive from Mr. Jay's instructions that the great topics upon which your correspondence has run, are involved in them…requesting at the same time that you would impart to Mr. Jay the cases, which have arisen upon captures, which we contend to be protected by the Armistice." Randolph makes several handwritten corrections to the body of the letter. In fine condition. Accompanied by a gorgeous custom-made quarter leather presentation folder. An extraordinary piece of early and important diplomatic correspondence.
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