Political sketches, inscribed to His Excellency John Adams: minister plenipotentiary from the United States to the court of Great Britain.
(Title: Political sketches, inscribed to His Excellency Jo...)
Title: Political sketches, inscribed to His Excellency John Adams : minister plenipotentiary from the United States to the court of Great Britain.
Author: William Vans Murray
Publisher: Gale, Sabin Americana
Description:
Based on Joseph Sabin's famed bibliography, Bibliotheca Americana, Sabin Americana, 1500--1926 contains a collection of books, pamphlets, serials and other works about the Americas, from the time of their discovery to the early 1900s. Sabin Americana is rich in original accounts of discovery and exploration, pioneering and westward expansion, the U.S. Civil War and other military actions, Native Americans, slavery and abolition, religious history and more.
Sabin Americana offers an up-close perspective on life in the western hemisphere, encompassing the arrival of the Europeans on the shores of North America in the late 15th century to the first decades of the 20th century. Covering a span of over 400 years in North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, this collection highlights the society, politics, religious beliefs, culture, contemporary opinions and momentous events of the time. It provides access to documents from an assortment of genres, sermons, political tracts, newspapers, books, pamphlets, maps, legislation, literature and more.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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SourceLibrary: Huntington Library
DocumentID: SABCP02345200
CollectionID: CTRG97-B2492
PublicationDate: 17870101
SourceBibCitation: Selected Americana from Sabin's Dictionary of books relating to America
Notes: A reply to Abbé Mably's Observations sur le gouvernement et les loix des Etats-Unis d'Amérique.
Collation: 96 p. ; 22 cm
William Vans Murray was an American lawyer and diplomat.
Background
William V. Murray was born on February 9, 1760, in Cambridge, Maryland, United States, the son of Dr. Henry Murray, a prominent physician and influential citizen of Dorchester County. His mother was Rebeckah Orrick, the daughter of John Orrick of Anne Arundel County and Baltimore.
Education
Murray received his early education in Maryland and later went to London, where he entered upon the study of law at the Middle Temple, April 28, 1784. Here he became interested in politics and diplomacy, and wrote Political Sketches (1787), inscribed to John Adams, minister plenipotentiary from the United States to Great Britain. He returned to Cambridge at the close of the summer in 1787 and was admitted to the bar.
Career
About 1787 Myrray began the practice of law in Cambridge. He was chosen to represent Dorchester County in the Maryland legislature but resigned to serve in Congress, where he continued from March 4, 1791, to March 3, 1797. A loyal Federalist, he was frequently consulted by Washington upon matters of patronage, and the appointments of James McHenry as secretary of war and Samuel Chase to the federal bench were made after his advice was taken. His longest and most important speech in the House of Representatives was delivered March 23, 1796, against the resolution calling upon the President to produce the correspondence and documents relating to Jay's treaty with Great Britain.
In the campaign of 1796, Murray warmly advocated the election of Adams to the presidency and wrote numerous "pieces for the press" in his behalf. When his friends suggested early in 1797 that he be given a diplomatic post, Washington had already determined to appoint him minister to the Netherlands. The nomination was sent to the Senate on February 27 and was confirmed March 2.
Murray was eager to enter upon the mission and, accompanied by his wife and secretary, sailed on the ship Friend and landed at the Helder June 7, 1797. He arrived at The Hague during a very critical period. The misunderstandings and disputes between the United States and France were already beyond mending. Within a year the envoys sent by President Adams had returned to report their shameful reception at the hands of Talleyrand's agents, X, Y and Z. Diplomatic relations were severed, and Adams, supported by the people of the United States, insisted that a renewal of friendly intercourse awaited advances on the part of the French government. The first overtures came through conversations between M. Pichon, secretary of the French legation at The Hague, and Murray. Although Pichon displayed a letter from Talleyrand, the suggestions therein contained were so indefinite that Murray thought them of little value.
But Talleyrand continued to pursue negotiations for a reconciliation through the channel opened up at The Hague, and in September 1798 assured Murray that "whatever plenipotentiary the government of the United States might send to France, in order to terminate the existing differences between the two countries, would undoubtedly be received with the respect due to the representative of a free, independent, and powerful nation". When this declaration was communicated to President Adams, he nominated Murray as minister plenipotentiary.
A few days later he decided to send a commission and added the names of Oliver Ellsworth and Patrick Henry. Henry was unable to serve and Governor W. R. Davie of North Carolina was chosen in his stead. When Murray met the other commissioners in France in February 1800, they found that the Directory had been overthrown and the Consulate set up, with Napoleon Bonaparte at its head. It was to Napoleon that they presented their credentials on March 8, in the hall of the ambassadors in the Tuileries. The French commissioners were Joseph Bonaparte, M. Fleurieu, formerly minister of marine, and M. Roederer, counselor of state.
The negotiation continued throughout the summer until, "at 1/2 past 3 in the morning" of October 1, the convention between France and the United States, though not entirely satisfactory, was signed. Murray returned to his post at The Hague to remain until September 2, 1801, when he resigned.
The remaining days of his life he spent on his farm near Cambridge. William Vans Murray died on December 11, 1803, near Cambridge, Maryland.