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172 CORRESPONDENCE AND PUBLIC PAPERS.
THOMAS PINCKNEY TO JAY.
London, ioth April, 1795.
My dear Sir :
In answer to the question you have proposed to me,
concerning the propriety of the diplomatic agents of the
United States receiving from the court to which they
have been sent the present which it is customary to offer
them at the conclusion of their mission ; I have to inform
you that before I left America I had a conversation with
Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state, on this subject, and
that it was his opinion that the present might with propriety
be received. The reasons in support of this opinion are
principally these,—that the acceptance of the present can
have no influence on the conduct of the minister (which it
is to be presumed the article of the constitution means to
guard against), because it is given indiscriminately to all
foreign ministers ; that it is of equal value to all of the same
rank, whether their conduct has been pleasing or otherwise
to the court to which they have been delegated; that it is
only given at the conclusion of their mission ; that it may
be placed on the same footing with the privileges, received
by all foreign ministers, of exemption from the payment
of duties on the importation of certain articles for their use;
that it may be considered in the nature of a retribution for
the Christmas-boxes, and other customary perquisites which
it is usual for foreign ministers to give to the inferior attend-
since that is now the only obstacle to our return ; we shall sail in the very first
vessel after receiving it."
On the 13th he adds :
" By papers which came in this ship we learn that the account of the treaty's
having been concluded had arrived in America, but not the treaty itself ; and
also the more mortifying intelligence of the success of the Antifederal party in
the elections of Congress men. Col. Trumbull a few days ago left us to go to
Germany, in order to superintend the plate of his Bunker's Hill which is there
engraving. By this circumstance I have now to do what he formerly did."
| Title | The correspondence and public papers of John Jay - 4 |
| Creator | Jay, John |
| Publisher | G.P. Putnam's Sons |
| Place of Publication | New York, London |
| Date | [1890-93] |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000199 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 172 CORRESPONDENCE AND PUBLIC PAPERS. THOMAS PINCKNEY TO JAY. London, ioth April, 1795. My dear Sir : In answer to the question you have proposed to me, concerning the propriety of the diplomatic agents of the United States receiving from the court to which they have been sent the present which it is customary to offer them at the conclusion of their mission ; I have to inform you that before I left America I had a conversation with Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state, on this subject, and that it was his opinion that the present might with propriety be received. The reasons in support of this opinion are principally these,—that the acceptance of the present can have no influence on the conduct of the minister (which it is to be presumed the article of the constitution means to guard against), because it is given indiscriminately to all foreign ministers ; that it is of equal value to all of the same rank, whether their conduct has been pleasing or otherwise to the court to which they have been delegated; that it is only given at the conclusion of their mission ; that it may be placed on the same footing with the privileges, received by all foreign ministers, of exemption from the payment of duties on the importation of certain articles for their use; that it may be considered in the nature of a retribution for the Christmas-boxes, and other customary perquisites which it is usual for foreign ministers to give to the inferior attend- since that is now the only obstacle to our return ; we shall sail in the very first vessel after receiving it." On the 13th he adds : " By papers which came in this ship we learn that the account of the treaty's having been concluded had arrived in America, but not the treaty itself ; and also the more mortifying intelligence of the success of the Antifederal party in the elections of Congress men. Col. Trumbull a few days ago left us to go to Germany, in order to superintend the plate of his Bunker's Hill which is there engraving. By this circumstance I have now to do what he formerly did." |
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