To George Washington from Jabez Bowen, 30 September 1796
From Jabez Bowen
Providence Sepr 30th 1796
Sir.
By the Decease of Henry Marchant Esqr. the place of Judge for the District of Rhode Island has become Vacant.1
Being perswaded that you wish to fill all the Offices with such persons as are well qualify’d to execute the same, as well as to gratify the Reasionable Desires of the Citizens in general in the Appointments so far as shall consist with propriety. I therefore presume to communicate to you Sir that the general wish of the people in this District was that the Honble William Bradford might have the Appointment.2 But on being informed that he was not Eligable by Reason that the Emoluments of the Office had been Raised during the Time that he held a Seat in the Senate.3 our Eyes are now turnd on Benjamin Bourn Esqr. he is so good & Usefull a Man in Congress at present and may be yet made more so that tis with much Reluctance that I mention him. He certainly is every way qualifyed for the Office and his Appointment will give verry general satisfaction to the Citizens of the State.4
I have seen your Address Sir. notifying your wish that you may not be Considerd as a Candidate for the Office of President in future.5 I can with Truth say that the people of New England are Universally desirous of your continuing in Office, but knowing the very great sacrafice that you must make if you continue, and that all things are subject to Change and we with them. we cannot object to your Determination.
There seems one Thing yet left undone which if you could Effect would spread a general Joy thro’ this part of the Union. that is the Liberation of our worthy Friend General Le Fiette.6
Perhaps by representing to the Directory To the Emperor, &c. that Genl Le Fiette with his Family will immediately come to America on his being restored to Liberty it may at this particular Time have the Desired effect.7 Wishing you length of Days with much Tranquility & Happiness I Remain Sir with the highest Esteeme. your Excellencies Most Obedient Servant
Jabez Bowen
ALS, DLC:GW. No reply to Bowen from GW has been found.
1. The Connecticut Journal (New Haven) for 7 Sept. announced the death on 30 Aug. of Henry Marchant, the U.S. district judge for Rhode Island since 1797.
2. Bowen initially had recommended William Bradford as district judge in 1790 (see Bowen to GW, 19 June 1790). A longtime member of the Rhode Island legislature, Bradford received no appointment from GW and instead served in the U.S. Senate from 1793 to 1797.
3. During Bradford’s tenure in the U.S. Senate, Congress passed the “Act for allowing an additional compensation to the Judges of the districts of Rhode Island and Delaware,” 27 Feb. 1795. The law raised the annual compensation of district judges in Rhode Island and Delaware by $200, effectively increasing the yearly salary of a Rhode Island district judge from $800 to $1,000 ( 423; see also 128). The pay increase barred Bradford from simultaneously serving as senator and as district judge since a stipulation in Article I, section 6, of the U.S. Constitution prohibited members of Congress from holding any federal office whose “emoluments” increased during their term ( 12).
4. For other recommendations of Rhode Island congressman Bourne as U.S. district judge, see GW to Timothy Pickering, 10 Oct., and Pickering to GW, 11–12 October. For Bourne’s recess appointment and nomination, see Pickering to GW, 13 Oct., and n.1 to that document; see also GW to the U.S. Senate, 21 Dec., and n.11. Bourne’s appointment as federal district judge led him to resign his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Newport Mercury for 8 Nov. reported that the resultant vacancy in Congress was “to be filled on the 15th” of November.
5. Bowen alludes to GW’s Farewell Address, published on 19 September.
6. The marquis de Lafayette had been imprisoned since 1792 and held in captivity at Olmütz, Austria (now the Czech Republic) since May 1794. He obtained his release in September 1797 but did not return to the United States for a visit until 1824–25 (see GW to George Cabot, 7 Sept. 1795, and n.2 to that document).
7. No letters from GW to the French Directory or to Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria, concerning Lafayette’s ordeal have been found. For GW’s efforts to aid Lafayette, see GW to Frederick William II of Prussia, 15 Jan. 1794; see also George Washington Motier Lafayette to GW, 25 Dec. 1795, and , 494–95.