Beschreibung:

Property of a New York Collector
Washington, GeorgeAutograph letter signed ("Go: Washington") as first President, marked "(Secret & confidential)," to John Jay, inviting him to become U.S. Minister in London
2 pages (229 x 185 mm) on a leaf of laid paper, Philadelphia, 29 April 1794, reception docket at foot of second page ("Washington to Jay. | April 29th 1794."), in unusually fresh condition. Tipped to a Japanese tissue guard and bound in a linen portfolio with engraved portraits of Washington and Jay. Housed in a half-blue morocco folding-case.
At a critical moment for the nascent nation, President Washington, in a letter marked "Secret & confidential)," entreats Chief Justice John Jay to consider becoming the U.S. Minister in London.
This remarkable letter by Washington resulted from the very embarrassing position brought upon the United States government by Gouverneur Morris, Resident Minister to France. Morris's reputation as a "monarchy man" was manifest in his distaste for the French Revolution, making him a serious liability and threat to Franco-American relations, so that his recall and replacement by a suitable figure was a matter of some urgency.
Washington's first choice for a replacement was Thomas Pinckney, then U.S. Minister to Great Britain, but then Pinckney himself would need to be replaced. Hence Washington's appeal to Jay in the present letter. Jay, who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, had already accepted the temporary post of U.S. Envoy Extraordinary to Great Britain. Now Washington was asking him to accept the permanent position of U.S. Resident Minister in Pinckney's place.
"Receive, I pray you, the suggestion I am going to impart with the friendship and caution the delicacy of it requires.—
"You are already informed that I am under the necessity of recalling Mr. Gouvr. Morris from France—and you can readily conceive the difficulty which occurs in finding a successor that would be agreeable to that Nation, and who, at the same time, would meet the approbation of the friends of that Country in this.
"These considerations have induced me to ask you, if it could be made to comport with your inclination, after you shall have finished your business as Envoy, and not before, to become the Resident Minister Plenipotentiary at London; that Mr Pinckney, by that means, might be sent to Paris?—I mean no more than simply to ask the question, not intending (although the measure would remove the above difficulty) to press it in the smallest degree.—"
Washington's almost apologetic tone in addressing Jay indicates that he expected the Chief Justice to decline the diplomatic post. Indeed, the day before he addressed this letter to Jay, Washington had been advised by Attorney General Edmund Randolph that "The arrangement of Mr J—y, as resident in London, might be a fortunate circumstance, if he would assent to it. But I doubt this; because he has eye immediately on the government of N.Y.—and ultimately on the Presidency." Washington's doubts were also underscored by his enclosing in this letter to Jay a contingency letter to Robert R. Livingston (not present) asking if that gentleman would find it "convenient and agreeable" to replace Morris as minister to France—an appointment that would only be necessary if Pinckney was not free to move from London to Paris. In closing, Washington instructed Jay on how to handle the letter to Livingston:
"If you answer in the affirmative, be so good as to return the enclosed letter to me, and correspondent arrangements shall be made.—If in the negative, I pray you to forward it, through the Penny Post or otherwise according to circumstances, to the Gentleman to whom it is directed, without delay—and in either case to let the transaction be confined entirely to ourselves."
The Chief Justice replied to Washington on 30 April, declining the proffered position while stating that "there is no public Station that I should prefer to the one in which you have placed me—it accords with my Turn of Mind, my Education & my Habits." Jay reported that Livingston was out of town and so "To obviate Delay and accidents, I sent it to his Brother [likely Edward], who will doubtless forward it immediately, either by a direct Conveyance or by the Post." Jay also strictly, and somewhat dramatically, observed Washington's request to keep this matter "entirely to ourselves": "Life is uncertain. whether I take your Letter with me or leave it here, it would in Case of my Death be inspected by others, who however virtuous, might be indiscreet. After much Reflection, I conclude it will be most prudent to commit it to you; without retaining any Copy or Memorandum except in my Memory, where the numerous proofs of your kind Attention to me are carefully preserved."
Once Washington's letter reached him, Robert Livingston, too, declined the appointment, and Gouverneur Morris was eventually replaced—at the suggestion of Attorney General Randolph—by James Monroe. Pinckney, meanwhile, remained at the London posting until he was succeeded by Rufus King two years later.
With these arrangements in place, Jay went to London in 1794 as U.S. Envoy Extraordinary to attempt to settle issues unresolved with Great Britain since the Treaty of Paris, particularly high British tariffs and British interference with American shipping. As Washington explained to the Senate when nominating Jay as envoy, "My confidence in our Minister plenipotentiary in London continues undiminished. But a mission, like this, while it corresponds with the solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for a friendly adjustment of our complaints, and a reluctance to hostility. Going immediately from the United States, such an envoy will carry with him a full knowledge of the existing temper and sensibility of our Country; and will thus be taught to vindicate our rights with firmness, and to cultivate peace with sincerity." The result of Jay’s embassy was his eponymous treaty, which obtained the surrender by the British of the northwestern forts (already agreed to in 1783) and a commercial treaty with Great Britain that granted the United States "most favored nation" status. But most points of contention were left unresolved and led eventually, to the War of 1812. The treaty was deeply unpopular, but it did not prevent Jay—as predicted by Randolph—from being elected governor of New York while he was still in London.
While remaining in London, Pinckney also took on additional diplomatic responsibilities in Spain, where in 1795 he negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo (also known as Pinckney’s Treaty), which defined the boundaries between the United States and Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States free navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
REFERENCE:The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Patrick, 15:674–675; for Randolph to Washington, 15:668–669; for Washington to Livingston, 15:676; for Jay to Washington, 15:683–684; for Washington to the Senate, 15:608–609
PROVENANCE:Sotheby's London, 21 July 1988, lot 441 (undesignated consignor) — Sotheby's New York, 11 December 2007, lot 57 (undesignated consignor)