Trumbull, John:

$4,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

[AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, FROM JOHN TRUMBULL TO JOHN GROOME, ASSESSOR AT THE COURTHOUSE OF THE PARISH OF ST. MARY BOURNE]. Letter sent in reply by John Trumbull to a Mr. Groome, regarding a notice he had received, presumably in relation to payment of taxes of some kind. The letter reads:"Sir, I take the liberty of returning to you the enclosed Notice, unaccompanied with any of the statements which it requires. For the following reasons - I am an American; and during two years and a half, I have resided in this Country, in the public Character of one of the Commissioners for carrying into execution the 7th Article of the Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, subsisting between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America. I have always considered that Character as giving to me, that immunity from taxes & from military services, which is enjoyed by Foreign Ministers; in this persuasion I have not, during that time, paid taxes or performed any military service, and I do now conceive myself to be equally free from this, and from any future, Demand, of this nature, as I have been from the Past. I am sir, your most obedient humble servant, Jno. Trumbull."As Trumbull states in the letter, during this time he is in England working for the Jay Treaty Commission, which was organized to settle commercial and frontier questions between the Americans and the British. Trumbull's autobiography skips over the years from 1799 to 1804, and none of the other sources give hints as

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