With no one is
it more sincere than with him, who, in being charged with the honor of
conveying a public sentiment, is permitted that of expressing the homage
of profound respect and veneration, with which he is, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LII.--TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, March 12, 1791
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
Philadelphia, March 12, 1791,
Sir,
I enclose you a statement of the case of Joseph St. Marie, a citizen
of the United States of America, whose clerk, Mr. Swimmer, was, in
the latter part of the year 1787, seized on the eastern side of the
Mississippi, in latitude 34 deg. 40', together with his goods, of the value
of nineteen hundred and eighty dollars, by a party of Spanish soldiers.
They justified themselves under the order of a Mr. Valliere, their
officer, who avowed authority from the Governor of New Orleans,
requiring him to seize and confiscate all property found on either side
of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio. The matter being then
carried by St. Marie before the Governor of New Orleans, instead
of correcting the injury, he avowed the act and its principle, and
pretended orders from his court for this and more. We have so much
confidence, however, in the moderation and friendship of the court
of Madrid, that we are more ready to ascribe this outrage to officers
acting at a distance, than to orders from a just sovereign.
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