respect and esteem, with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's
most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER XXVI.--TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, April 11, 1789

TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.

New York, April 11, 1789.

Sir,

A vessel being about sail from this port for Cadiz, I avail myself of it
to inform you, that under the appointment of the President of the
United States, I have entered on the duties of Secretary of State,
comprehending the department of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Jay's letter of
October the 2nd acknowledged the receipt of the last of yours which
have come to hand. Since that date he wrote you on the 7th of December,
enclosing a letter for Mr. Chiappe.

The receipt of his letter of September the 9 th, 1788, having never been
acknowledged, the contents of which were important and an answer wished
for, I send you herewith a duplicate, lest it should have miscarried.

You will also receive, herewith, a letter of credence for yourself, to
be delivered to the Count de Florida Blanca, after putting thereon the
proper address, with which I am unacquainted. A copy of it is enclosed
for your information.

I beg leave to recommend the case of Don Blas Gonzalez to your good
offices with the court of Spain, enclosing you the documents necessary
for its illustration. You will perceive, that two vessels were sent
from Boston in the year 1787, on a voyage of discovery and commercial
experiment in general, but more particularly to try a fur-trade with the
Russian settlements, on the northwest coast of our continent, of which
such wonders have been published in Captain Cook's voyages, that it
excited similar expeditions from other countries also; and that the
American vessels were expressly forbidden to touch at any Spanish port,
but in cases of extreme distress. Accordingly, through the whole of
their voyage through the extensive latitudes held by that crown, they
never put into any port but in a single instance. In passing near the
island of Juan Fernandez, one of them was damaged by a storm, her rudder
broken, her mast disabled, and herself separated from her companion. She
put into the island to refit, and at the same time, to wood and water,
of which she began to be in want. Don Blas Gonzalez, after examining
her, and finding she had nothing on board but provisions and charts, and
that her distress was real, permitted her to stay a few days, to refit
and take in fresh supplies of woo