Annapolis Feby. 24th. 1784
Dear Bland,
Are you & our dear Mrs. Bland frozen, torpid, or thaw'd during this unaccountably rigorous season. We have been blocked up here for near three months, with very little intelligence from your parts. The same reasons have renderd Congress very thin & frequently six states only represented so that very little business has been done. The acceptance of the cession from Virginia was this day rejected by two States against six, but I suppose it will be accepted when the representation is fuller.
1 Mr. Jefferson has nominated Dr. Maclurg as Secretary for foreign Affairs; from which you will judge what is the turn of the Delegation, which I presume will vote for his nomination, & the old trick be played over again with respect to a friend of Yours. Mr. Dana & Mr. Clymer are the others in nomination. But I beleive there will be no election.2
The Minister of France was here for a few days, & then returnd to Philadelphia; He means to return to France as soon as the season will permit. His Successor is not yet announcd. Marbois is admitted as Consul-general, & 8 Consuls & Vice Consuls are appointed to reside in the principal trading Cities of the U.S. Col. Harmar has been detaind at N. York by the season & an accident of the Packet running aground when She coud go out. We have not yet heard of his having saild & there is little probability of the Ratification reaching Paris in time for the stipulated. Whether the British will take any advantage of this accident is a doubt not a little disagreeable.
I hope you have not sufferd by the Thaw that we learn has occasiond so much mischief in James & other Rivers. If we can get the principal business finishd Congress will adjourn in May, leaving a Committee of the States. Whether I shall then set my face north or south I know not. If the latter perhaps I shall pay my respects to you & my homage to Mrs. Bland. The Ladies here are very gracious to us, they are sociable & pleasing, some of them too pleasing rather to let our hearts rest short of desires which they are not disposd to gratify. My love to Mrs Bland
Adieu
Receiver's copy, Henry E. Huntington Library, HM 22748.
1 See Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, February 20, note 15.
2 Although nominations for an under secretary for the department of foreign affairs were being considered this day, the journals are silent on further nominations for secretary for foreign affairs, a post for which nominations to replace Robert R. Livingston had been made the preceding June. See John Montgomery to Edward Hand, February 12, 1784, note 2; and James Madison's Notes, June 10, 1783, note 2. In his "committee book," however, Charles Thomson recorded that on February 25 Thomas Jefferson nominated fellow Virginian, Dr. James McClurg, and Elbridge Gerry had nominated Francis Dana for that office. On the 26th, according to the secretary, John Montgomery also renominated George Clymer, whose name he had advanced and withdrawn the preceding June, and the following day David Howell apparently nominated Jonathan Arnold (the name is nearly illegible). See PCC, item 186, fol. 1. The dates under which Thomson entered these nominations conflict with Lee's testimony that they had taken place by or on February 24, although this letter is clearly dated. Lee's reference to "the old trick" being played again, though obscure, suggests that he felt that his own nomination by Bland the preceding June had been compromised. Congress finally appointed John Jay secretary for foreign affairs on May 7, 1784. See JCC, 26:354 - 55. For consideration of James McClurg for this post, see also these Letters, 19:436n.3, 20:326n.9.