TO O. WOLCOTT, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

Quincy, 15 June, 1799.

SIR, Inclosed is a petition from John Sylvester for a pardon, a copy of the record of his conviction, a petition which he presented to Governor Sumner, and a certificate and request signed by a large number of respectable and worthy citizens of Plymouth in his favor. My answer to his relation, who brought me the petition, was, that the crime was of so serious a nature, that, whatever might be my disposition, I dared not to pardon it, without serious deliberation and the best advice. I promised him, however, to transmit the papers to the Secretary of the Treasury, and Attorney-General, and request their opinions. This promise I now perform by praying you to take the opinion of the heads of department if you think it necessary, or at least of the Attorney-General, and transmit to me the result of your and their deliberations. If you should recommend a pardon, I request you to send one on for signature to, Sir, &c.1

JOHN ADAMS.

ΤΟ T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 15 June, 1799.

SIR, I received yesterday your important letter of the 7th. The form of a proclamation is sufficient, I believe, for the purpose, and I have signed it, that it may be completed and published at a proper season without loss of time.

I am glad the heads of department did not form a definitive. opinion on the very important question whether it will be expedient to renew the commerce, without a concurrence of the, British. My judgment inclines the same way at present with theirs; but we had better wait for further information. afraid that the jealousy and avidity of the English will do an

I am

1 On the fifth of July, a report was made upon this case, and signed by the four secretaries, concluding as follows;

"As the crime is of a dangerous tendency, and as the tender of service in the navy cannot be accepted consistently with public policy, we are respectfully of opinion that a pardon ought not to be granted."

2 An elaborate paper was drawn up by Mr. Pickering upon the unfavorable aspect of General Maitland's negotiation with Toussaint, which was concurred in by all the cabinet officers.

injury to themselves, as well as to us; but we cannot help it. My opinion is that, if the powers of St. Domingo will not admit British ships of war or commerce into their ports, the British government ought to be contented with sufficient assurances of the neutrality of that island, during the war between England and France, and not insist on defeating the connection between the United States and St. Domingo. It is my earnest desire, however, to do nothing without the consent, concert, and coöperation of the British government in this case. They are so deeply interested that they ought to be consulted, and the commerce of the island is not worth to us the risk of any dispute with them. No time ought to be lost in transmitting to Dr. Stevens instructions concerning the part he is to act, and the language he ought to hold. I fully agree with you and the heads of department, in the opinion of the propriety of the sentiments suggested by you to be communicated to him. Dr. Stevens's letters, public and private, have opened the politics of St. Domingo in a very intelligible manner. The whole is so natural that it is easily to be believed.

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE

Quincy, 19 June, 1799.

SIR,- I received last night your favor of the 12th, which, with all its inclosures, shall be sent to the attorney of the district, that he may investigate the facts and make report to me. Every complaint of the kind from the British minister shall be treated with great respect, and examined with the utmost candor,' being from inclination as well as a sense of duty, disposed to cultivate the best understanding, as well as to do ample justice in all cases to his nation.

TO JOHN DAVIS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Quincy, 19 June, 1799.

SIR, Inclosed is a letter from the Secretary of State, of the 12th of June, a note of the British minister to him of the 11th,

A complaint against two American privateers, for stopping an English vessel and breaking the seals of British despatches on board.

a copy of instructions for the private armed vessels of the United States, and of the act, further to protect the commerce of the United States, and a blank copy of a bond. I pray you, Sir, to make inquiry into this transaction, and to inform the owners of the ships complained of, and make report to me, and also to return me the papers, when you have made the use of them you may have occasion for.

As it is my determination to demand of the British government satisfaction for all insults and injuries, committed by British subjects on American citizens, natural equity as well as sound policy requires that I should do all in my power to give satisfaction when insults and injuries are committed by American citizens on British subjects, by punishing the authors of them.

TO J. MCHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

Quincy, 19 June, 1799.

SIR, I return you the selection of two Majors from North Carolina, and that of officers for South Carolina and Georgia, with the letters of Generals Pinckney and Washington, with that of Mr. Steele. I am satisfied with these recommendations, and approve the selections. I return the proceedings of the courtmartial in the cases of the deserters. The absolute necessity of examples in such cases as that of Richard Hunt, is very deeply impressed on my mind, and I should not dare to pardon him, if the proceedings are all regular. By the Constitution the President has power, by and with the advice of the Senate, to appoint officers, and by the same Constitution the President shall commission all the officers of the United States. A question occurred to me whether the signature of the commission is not the act of appointment, and whether any other evidence of appointment will be admitted by the courts of law; in short, whether there

can be an officer without a commission. I pray you to lay the proceedings of the court-martial and the foregoing constitutional questions before the heads of department, and request their opinions. If they are unanimous, I shall order the execution. I have interlined six words in the form of the warrant, which I return. I should be sorry that such an instrument should go out of my hands, with my signature to it, with any

interlineations. If you return a fair copy to me, with the advice of your colleagues, I shall sign it.

TO O. WOLCOTT, SECRETARY

OF THE TREASURY.

Quincy, 21 June, 1799.

SIR, - In your letter of the 13th you hint that "attempts are making to draw into question the solidity of the public credit; but you have not explained the particulars, and I am at a loss to conjecture the facts which you may allude to.1

Public credit can never be steady and really solid without a fixed medium of commerce. That we have not such a medium, you know has been my opinion for several years. The fluctuations of our circulating medium have committed greater depredations upon the property of honest men, than all the French piracies. To what greater lengths this evil may be carried, I know not. The Massachusetts legislature are authorizing a number of new banks. The cry is, the immense advantage to agriculture. Credit cannot be solid, where a man is liable to be paid a debt, contracted to-day, by one half the value a year hence.

TO J. MCHENRY, SECRETARY AT WAR.

Quincy, 24 June, 1799.

SIR, I have received your letter of the 18th, and have read Count Rumford's letter to Mr. King. For five or six years past I have been attentive to the character of this gentleman, and have read some of his essays. From these I have formed an esteem for his genius, talents, enterprise, and benevolence, which will secure him from me, in case of his return to his native country, a reception as kind and civil as it may be in my power to give him. But you know the difficulties those gentlemen have, who left the country as he did, either to give or receive entire satisfaction. I should not scruple, however, to give him any of the appointments you mention,1 and leave it with you

1 A part of Mr. Wolcott's letter is printed in Mr. Gibbs's work, vol. ii. p. 242. 1 Mr. McHenry proposed to offer to Count Rumford a vacant commission of Lieutenant-Colonel and Inspector of Artillery, or to make him an Engineer and Superintendent of the proposed Military School.

to make such proposals to him, through Mr. King, within the limits you have drawn in your letter, as you should think fit. I return Mr. King's letter, and inclose one from Mr. William Williams, a very respectable personage, recommending Rufus Tyler to be an officer in the army.

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 2 July, 1799.

SIR, I thank you for the favor of your letter of 24th June, and the copies inclosed of despatches from Stevens and Maitland, which I suppose it is unnecessary for me to return. The necessary alterations in the proclamation1 will, of course, be made by you, with the advice of the heads of department. Harmony with the English, in all this business with St. Domingo, is the thing I have most at heart. The result of the whole is, in my mind, problematical and precarious. Toussaint has evidently puzzled himself, the French government, the English cabinet, and the administration of the United States. All the rest of the world know as little what to do with him as he knows what to do with himself. His example may be followed. by all the islands, French, English, Dutch, and Spanish; and all will be one day played off against the United States by European powers. I think we have committed one great mistake in exchanging prisoners with Guadaloupe. We have lent a thousand men to that island, some of whom have been taken three times by our cruisers. We should soon exhaust the islands of seamen, if we brought all to America.

TO B. STODDERT, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

Quincy, 3 July, 1799.

Inclosed is a letter from the president and professor of divinity of our university, recommending William Frothingham to be a chaplain on board of some frigate. I know not whether the

A mistake was made in the proclamation, as to the time of opening the ports of Cape François and Port-au-Prince, to vessels sailing from the United States.