id, reached us
within two months and ten days after its date. A full explanation of the
causes of this suspension of all information from you, is expected
in answer to my letter of August the 6th. It will be waited for yet a
reasonable time, and in the mean while, a final opinion suspended. By
the first vessel to Cadiz, the laws and gazettes shall be forwarded.

I have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient and
most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LVI.--TO WILLIAM SHORT, March 19, 1791

TO WILLIAM SHORT.

Philadelphia, March 19, 1791.

Dear Sir,

Your letter of November the 6th, No. 46, by Mr. Osmont came to hand
yesterday, and I have just time before the departure of Mr. Terrasson,
the bearer of my letter of the 15th instant, and despatches accompanying
it, to acknowledge the receipt, and inform you that it has been laid
before the President. On consideration of the circumstances stated in
the second page of your letter, he is of opinion, that it is expedient
to press at this moment a settlement of our difference with Spain. You
are therefore desired, instead of confining your application for the
interference of the court of France to the simple case of St. Marie,
mentioned in my letter of the 12th, to ask it on the broad bottom of
general necessity, that our right of navigating the Mississippi be at
length ceded by the court of Madrid, and be ceded in such form, as to
render the exercise of it efficacious and free from chicane. This cannot
be without an _entrepot_ in some convenient port of the river, where
the river and sea craft may meet and exchange loads, without any control
from the laws of the Spanish government. This subject was so fully
developed to you in my letter of August the 10th, 1790, that I shall at
present only refer to that. We wish you to communicate this matter
fully to the Marquis de la Fayette, to ask his influence and assistance,
assuring him that a settlement of this matter is become indispensable
to us; any further delay exposing our peace, both at home and abroad, to
accidents, the results of which are incalculable and must no longer be
hazarded. His friendly interposition on this occasion, as well as that
of his nation, will be most sensibly felt by us. To his discretion,
therefore, and yours, we confide this matter, trusting that you will
so conduct it as to obtain our right in an efficacious form, and at the
same time, to preserve to us the fri