Details
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, President. Letter signed ("Th:Jefferson") as Secretary of State, to unnamed merchants of Elizabethtown, New Jersey; Philadelphia, 27 August 1793. 1 full page, 4to, 235 x 193 mm. (9¼ x 7½ in.), integral blank, in very dark ink, docketed on verso, minor fold separations, very slightly browned.
PROTECTING AMERICAN COMMERCE FROM EUROPE'S "BELLIGERANT POWERS"
Writing to merchants alarmed by high-handed British and French seizures of American merchant vessels on the high seas due to the Napoleonic Wars, Jefferson reaffirms President Washington's and his own commitment to protect American shipping: "Complaint having been made to the Government of the United States of some instances of unjustifiable vexation and spoliation committed on our merchant vessels by the privateers of the Powers at War, and it being possible that other instances may have happened of which no information has been given to the Government, I have it in charge from the President to assure the merchants...concerned in foreign commerce or navigation, that due attention will be paid to any injuries they may suffer on the high seas, or in foreign countries, contrary to the law of Nations, or to existing treaties. [A]nd that on their forwarding...well authenticated evidence...proper proceedings will be adopted for their relief. The just and friendly dispositions of the several belligerent Powers afford well founded expectation that they will not hesitate to take effectual measures for restraining their armed vessels from committing aggressions and vexations on our citizens or their property. There being no particular portion or description of the mercantile body pointed out by the laws for receiving communications of this nature, & take the liberty of addressing it to the merchants of Elizabeth Town, for the State of New Jersey, requesting that thro' them it may be made known to all those...whom it may concern. Information will be freely received either from the individuals aggrieved, or from any associations of merchants who will be pleased to give it..."
On 22 April 1793, President Washington had issued a Proclamation of Neutrality, stating that the United States would remain neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and France. The problem, of course, proved more difficult than Jefferson could imagine at this date, and was unresolved until after the War of 1812.
PROTECTING AMERICAN COMMERCE FROM EUROPE'S "BELLIGERANT POWERS"
Writing to merchants alarmed by high-handed British and French seizures of American merchant vessels on the high seas due to the Napoleonic Wars, Jefferson reaffirms President Washington's and his own commitment to protect American shipping: "Complaint having been made to the Government of the United States of some instances of unjustifiable vexation and spoliation committed on our merchant vessels by the privateers of the Powers at War, and it being possible that other instances may have happened of which no information has been given to the Government, I have it in charge from the President to assure the merchants...concerned in foreign commerce or navigation, that due attention will be paid to any injuries they may suffer on the high seas, or in foreign countries, contrary to the law of Nations, or to existing treaties. [A]nd that on their forwarding...well authenticated evidence...proper proceedings will be adopted for their relief. The just and friendly dispositions of the several belligerent Powers afford well founded expectation that they will not hesitate to take effectual measures for restraining their armed vessels from committing aggressions and vexations on our citizens or their property. There being no particular portion or description of the mercantile body pointed out by the laws for receiving communications of this nature, & take the liberty of addressing it to the merchants of Elizabeth Town, for the State of New Jersey, requesting that thro' them it may be made known to all those...whom it may concern. Information will be freely received either from the individuals aggrieved, or from any associations of merchants who will be pleased to give it..."
On 22 April 1793, President Washington had issued a Proclamation of Neutrality, stating that the United States would remain neutral in the conflict between Great Britain and France. The problem, of course, proved more difficult than Jefferson could imagine at this date, and was unresolved until after the War of 1812.