TH. JEFFERSON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
NOVEMBER 11, 1807.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Some time had elapsed after the receipt of the late treaty between
the United States and Tripoli before the circumstance drew particular
attention that, although by the third article the wife and children of
the ex-Bashaw were to be restored to him, this did not appear either
to have been done or demanded; still, it was constantly expected that
explanations on the subject would be received. None, however, having
arrived when Mr. Davis went as consul to Tripoli, he was instructed to
demand the execution of the article. He did so, but was answered by the
exhibition of a declaration, signed by our negotiator the day after the
signature of the treaty, allowing four years for the restoration of the
family. This declaration and the letter of Mr. Davis stating what passed
on the occasion are now communicated to the Senate. On the receipt of
this letter I caused the correspondence of Mr. Lear to be diligently
reexamined in order to ascertain whether there might have been a
communication of this paper made and overlooked or forgotten. None such,
however, is found. There appears only in a journalized account of the
transaction by Mr. Lear, under date of June 3, a passage intimating that
he should be disposed to give time rather than suffer the business to be
broken off and our countrymen left in slavery; and again, that on the
return of the person who passed between himself and the Bashaw, and
information that the Bashaw would require time for the delivery of the
family, he consented, and went ashore to consummate the treaty.
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