New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-01-25
Thomas Jefferson.

The following passage, in relation to the fancied
indgnity of President Jefferson towards the British
Ambassador is from the recently issued life Of Thos
Jefferson, by Randall;
We will let Mr. Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, pre-.
face It in passage taken from a letter be wrote
4 to his mother from Baltimore, June 18th, 1904,
which is published in Lord John Russells Memoirs,
Journal and Correspondence Of Moore:
81 Writes Moore1 stopped at Washington with Mr..
and Mrs. Merry for near o week !; they have been
treated with the most pointed incvity by the present
Democratic President Mr.. Jefferson and it is only
the precaIious situation of Great Britain which could
possibly induce it to overlook such indecent though
Of the same time petty hostility was presented BY
nr Merry to both the Secretary Of State and the
The 6 indecent and petty hostility to Mr.. and
Mrs, Merry was manifested in this wise. They were
Invited to dine at the Presidents When dinner was
announced Mr.. Jefferson CHANGED to be standing by
and talking with Mrs. Madison at come distance from
Mrs. Merry, and he accompanied the former to the t-
bic. Mr.. Merry regarded this as almost an insult.
Such q stir was made by the angry ambassador,
that Madison wrote Monroe (who had succeeded Mr..
King as our minister to Engand) apprisng him Of the
facts to enable him to answer expected call of the
British Government for official explanations Mon.
roe however, got his first information from friendly
British undersecresary, who intmated that he would
soon probably hear OF the matter through different
channel. The minister was delighted. Within very
short period the wife of an English uudersecretary
had been accorded precedence over his own, under
auaiaseus circumstances. lie mad no great fund OF
humor but the absurdity Of the whole affair." and the
excellent materials in his possession for reply to
call Tor explanations struck him in O most amusing
light Shaking With merriment, he limited to his in
formant the satisfaction the call would give him.
He never afterwards heard lisp on the subject
Mrs Merry tossed her head without shaking the
peace OF two nations, and poor Mrs. Madison was
saved from involuntary /" firing another Troy.H But
Merry never forgot this "pointed inciyilitythouah
be and his friends knew that. by on express reaua.
ton at the White House. all etiquette in respect 10
official precedence was formally abolished and though
with the most stringent etiquette Of the Celestial EN-
pire in force 1t would seem an amusing specimen Of
impertinence in him to claim priority over the Secre
tary of State of the United States.
Bot the farce was not ended. Mrs Merry thence
forth eschewed the Presidential mansion, and ii her
husband went there, it was only officially After the
camor subsidized, the President felt good.natured
desire to put end to this frivolous matter and to
relieve the offended dignitaries from the kwarness
Of their position. Accordingly he made inquiry
through a common friend Che representative, We
think, Of the Swedish Goyernment) whether Mr.. and
Ars. Merry would accept an invitation to family
dinner. The former was understood to give an at.
rmntive answer, and the invitation was sent written
in the Presidents own hand, The minister replied BY
the Secretary Of State to know whether
be Invited IN bis private or his official capacity il
in the one, he must obtain the permission of his SOY
ereign II in the other be must receive an assurance
10 advance that he would be treated as became his POI
sition The Secretary Of State put an end to the