Title: Memorandum to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 18 April] 1791
From: Madison, James,Beckwith, George
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Philada.
[ca. 18 April 1791]
Substance of a Conversation held by Js. Madison Jr with Col: Beckwith, at the desire of Mr. Jefferson—
Last evening offered the first opportunity of breaking to Col B—— the subject for which he has been thought a proper channel to the Governour of Canada. It was explicitly made known to him, that besides its being generally understood that the N. W. Indians were supplied with the means of war from their intercourse with Detroit &c. the President had received information, which he considered as certain, that ample supplies of that sort had, about the commencement of last campaign, been received by the hostile tribes from places at present in British hands. It was observed to him at the same time, that as the U. S. had no other object in the present war, but to effect and establish peace on their frontier, it was obvious in what light such a circumstance must be viewed by them. And as a further consideration heightening the colour of the fact, he was reminded that the Indians in question, were without an exception, inhabitants of the acknowledged territory of the U. S. and consequently stood in a certain relation to them, well understood by the nations possessing territories on this continent.
The sum of his answer was that as a fact so stated, however unaccountable it might be, was not to be contradicted, he could only undertake to affirm that it was impossible it could have proceeded directly or indirectly from the British Government, or even have had the sanction or countenance of the authority on the spot. He multiplied assurances that the whole spirit & policy of their Government was opposed to Indian hostilities; and that the sentiments views and orders of Lord Dorchester discouraged them as much as possible. This he knew to be the case. He asked whether there were any particulars of time place or persons contained in the information to the President; whether there was any evidence that the articles supplied were in greater quantities than were usual for other purposes than war; intimating that if there were just ground of complaint, a regular statement and communication of it in any mode that might be thought not improper would be most correspondent with the customary proceedings in such cases. For himself he should be very ready on receiving any such statements or communications, to transmit them. He was here however not in any formal character—on the contrary in an informal one; a very informal one to be sure; and he entered into this conversation as between one private gentleman and another. He had indeed been a good while at N. York before, as well as here since the removal of the Government. He hoped his further stay wd. be rendered short by the arrival of some more authentic character. He was at N. York before Mr. Jefferson came into the office he now holds, and he believed it was known on what footing he was. Yet he had not in any respect been turned over to Mr. Jefferson, nor had any thing passed that could give him any pretensions to be in any communication with the Secretary of State. Such a communication was no doubt thought improper by the Secretary of State with so informal a character, though in a way ever so informal. He did not undertake to suppose it was not right; especially as different forms of Govts have different modes of proceedings &c.
The turn given to the conversation shewing pretty clearly a desire to make the occasion subservient to some further & direct intercourse with the Govt. it was thought proper, for that reason as well as for avoiding the necessity of another conversation to reply at once that it was not probable the information received by the President would be made known to him in any way more authentic than on the present; which it was true, as he had observed, was merely a conversation between two private gentlemen; but if the fact, that the President had received the information as stated, was made sufficiently credible, the proper effect of the communication need not depend on the mode of it. If the dispositions of Lord Dorchester were such as were described, and of which his reputation for humanity and prudence left no room to doubt, any evidence amounting to probability only would ensure all the interference that might depend on him. The conduct of Govts. towards formal and informal characters was certainly not within the compass of this conversation. It was probable however that no distinction was made by the Government here, which was not made by all Governments; the difference between those characters seeming to lie not in the circumstance of the former being possessed of written & the latter of verbal authority; but in the greater publicity and formality of the written credentials produced from the proper source by the former. The evident impropriety of the military supplies afforded to the Indians required no doubt that the countenance of the British Government or even the sanction of the officer on the spot ought not to be presumed as long as the fact could be otherwise explained; but as the effect of such aids was the same whether furnished by public authority or by vindictive or avaritious individuals, it was in every case to be expected that the abuse would be corrected: And the circumstance of the Indians in question being within the acknowledged limits of the U. S. and receiving the means of war agst. them from a foreign source was again brought into view as heightening the color of the affair. With respect to the particulars of the fact, they did not seem to be material. In what degree the President was possessed of them could not be said. It might be difficult to ascertain the particulars & yet the general fact be sufficiently established. As the Indians at war traded with British subjects only, their being able to carry on hostilities was of itself sufficient evidence in the case. It might be difficult also to mark precisely the line between supplies for war & for hunting; but it was probable that not only the difference of quantity demanded, but other indications, must leave little doubt of the purpose for which they were intended.
Col. B. professed the strongest disposition to do any thing in his power having been actuated by this disposition in all his communications to Canada, but repeatd. his wish for more exact information on the subject. The intelligence was itself so vague, and was communicated to him under such reserve, that he was really at a loss how to represent it. “May I sir mention your name in the case?” He was answered, that from the nature of the conversation he cd. be under no restraint from mentiong any circumstance relating to it he pleased. “May I Sir say that I have your permission to use your name?” Ansr. The permission being a part of the conversation, he must be equally free to mention it if he thought fit; tho’ it was not perceived to be a circumstance very material. “Will you be so good Sir as to repeat the information you mentioned to have been recd. by the Presidt.?[”] This request being complied with, he sd. he should certainly look out for the first opportu[nit]y of making the matter known to Lord D. and if Mr. M. shd. be here on the rect. of an answer he should be made acquainted with it, repeating his declarations that it was impossible the British Govt. cd. in any respect have countenancd or approved any supplies to the Indians as an aid or encouragement to their hostilities.
(Copy)     J. M.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 18 April 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Letter not found. 18 April 1791. Noted by JM in his list of letters to Jefferson as relating to the “conversation with Beckwith” (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers).


Title: To James Madison from Edward Carrington, 20 April 1791
From: Carrington, Edward
To: Madison, James

My dr sir,
Richmond Apl. 20. 1791
Until I was informed of the intention of the President to pass through this City, I had not been here for several weeks. The consequence was that your letter of the 27th. Feby. as well as many others were in the post Office a considerable time before I got them, and that which you was good enough to favor me with by Mr. Giles I did not receive until I met him a few days ago. I confess myself Staggered upon the point of the Constitutionality of the measure of the Bank, and wish it had been let alone. I have read with attention your reasoning on the subject, and do not think it is refuted by the arguments on the other side—I am however unwilling to be converted to your opinion, being much prepossessed in favor of Banks, and think if it is unconstitutional for the Federal Govt. to establish institutions of the kind, it is a defect. It is a subject so remote in its operations from the View of the people, that nothing is said amongst them about it.
The excise has ceased to produce any thing like clamor, and daily gains the good will of the people as it becomes explained. In short Sir, the federal Govt. and its measures are much more agreable than they have been—the people discover the misrepresentations by which they have been made uneasy, and those who have misled them, lose, continually, their influence.

The President left this last thursday Morning and went to Petersburg—so great was the desire of the people to see him that by the time of his arrival, there were not less than several thousands after him—he the next morning pursued his route to Halifax, and I have not heard from him since—he is in exceeding good health & Spirits.
Since my last the returns of the Census come in fast, and I am convinced the numbers will be fully equal to the result of the experiment I formerly sent you. Colo. Hamilton has written in answer to the letter I mentioned to you, and communicated the same information you was so good as to give me. I suppose his business crowded on him and occasioned the delay in his answer.
I return you, my good Freind, many thanks for your freindly letter upon the subject of the late arrangement. I have determined to accept my appointment of supervisor, indeed had it been less eligible than it is, I should not have declined it, because some of our noisy people had suggested that it could not be safely undertaken, and a refusal might have given an appearance of truth to their assertions.
Should you undertake your trip to the Eastward I wish you every possible gratification in it, and am with the greatest truth your sincere Freind & Hl St.
Ed Carrington
P. S. Mr. Giles Acts the part of a good representative in this district, and explains the excise so as to give much satisfaction.


Title: To James Madison from Daniel Carroll, 23 April 1791
From: Carroll, Daniel
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir
George Town Apl. 23d. 1791
Yr. favor of the 10th Instant came to hand. The Commissioners were then met to take deeds from the parties according to the articles I inclosd to you. There occur’d a dificulty—some of the parties were of opinion that the lines of the propos’d city shou’d not contain more than within the Limits expresd by the president at the time of the accomodation (abt 4000 Ac[r]es), others contended that the president had a Claim by the words in the article “all the Land which he shoud think proper for the federal City,” to such parts as might be ceded beyond the Limits first expressd. No particular instructions being left, the Commissioners thought it proper to write to the president. You will see this attempt was not to cramp what was agreed too, but to enlarge it. Majr L’Enfant proceeds. The President has appointed to meet us on the 27th of June. By that time he expects Majr. L’Enfant will be ready agreably to his instructions with a discription of the grounds within the City—it is probable some plans of the City and the public buildings may be then exhibited. It is the Presidents Wish that a plan of the City may be publishd in time to Commence a sale of some Lotts abt a fortnight before the meeting of Congress, so that the Southern members who may chuse to purchase may take it in their way, & time be allow’d for any of the Northern Members who may chuse to come down. You have read in the papers that it is expected the sales of the Lotts will produce at least £300[,]000—for public use. This with the grants from Virga & Maryland will amt to near a Million of dollars. The produce from the sale of the public property will certainly be very productive, some of opinion, considerably more so than what has been mentiond.
The extension of the Location to comprehend Alexandria & below the E Branch was very judicious And important for reasons which must strike yr. mind. Besides those important considerations, you will be exceedingly pleas’d at the numerous & various beautifull prospects within the jurisdiction far beyond what I imagind untill this Event drew my particular attention. In point of Health, on rideing over the ground the most inveterate prejudice must be done away. Considerable Change of property has allready taken place; as high as £30 ⅌ Acre since the accomodation of the parties has been given for Land some of which must lay on the outlines of the Town, & none of it on the water; the ½ refund will Stand in to the purchaser £60 ⅌ Acre. Several purchases have been made. This Matter appears to be taking a deep root. The Hopes of the adversaries to it must diminish, as Confidence among ourselves encreases.
I shou’d be sorry to be out of the way on yr. return—fail not to let me know in good time before hand when you expect to be at George Town. Nothing will I hope happen to prevent us from haveing the pleasure of yr. Compy. for some time.

I have made all the enquirys in my power respecting the Census. I fear this business is not conducted in the manner, the importance of it requires. Maryland will however have 9 Members, possibly 10.
You will readily suppose that in the circle I have chiefly been in the seat of Govt. excludes all other political subjects, excepting in some very confidential conversations, which must be postpond to our meeting. I beleive however that the excise will not occasion any considerable agitation in this State.
The prospect of advantages to individuals from the Bank, not only as Stock Holders, but by introduceing a circulating paper money will have great force in supporting that Measure.
Present my respectfull compts. to Mr Jefferson—& to All the family at Mrs House. You will do me justice in beleiving that I am allways & Sincerely, My dear Si⟨r,⟩ yr. very afftn. & Obe⟨dt. servt.⟩
Danl Carroll
P S. It was agreed but omitted to have an article in the writeing I sent you giveing the President a power to make regulations respecting the buildings &ca. It is inserted in the deeds to be signd.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 9 May 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Philadelphia May 9. 1791.
Your favor of the 1st. came to hand on the 3d. Mr. Freneau has not followed it: I suppose therefore he has changed his mind back again, for which I am really sorry. I have now before me a huge bundle of letters, the only business between me & my departure. I think I can be through them by the end of the week, in which case I will be with you by Tuesday or Wednesday, if nothing new comes in to delay me. Rittenhouse will probably not go. He says he cannot find a good horse. I shall propose to you when we tack about from the extremity of our journey, instead of coming back the same way, to cross over through Vermont to Connecticut river & down that to New-haven, then through Long-island to N. Y. & so to Philada. Be this however as you will. Our news from Virginia is principally of deaths, to wit, Colo. B. Harrison of Barclay, Turner Southall, Dixon the printer, Colo. Overton of Hanover, Walker Gilmer son of the Doctor. A Peter Randolph of Chatsworth has had a fit of madness, which he has recovered from. Wheat has suffered by drought: yet it is tolerably good, the fruit not entirely killed. At this place little new. F. Hopkinson lies at extremities with regular epileptic fits, from which they think he cannot recover. Colo. Hamilton set out to-day for Bethlehem. Have you seen the Philadelphia edn. of Paine’s pamphlet? You know you left Beckley’s copy in my hands. He called on me for it, before I had quite finished it, & desired me when done to send it to J. B. Smith whose brother was to reprint it. When I was proceeding to send it, I found it necessary to write a note to mr. Smith to explain why I, a perfect stranger to him, sent him the pamphlet. I mentioned it to be by the desire of mr. Beckley, & to take off a little of the dryness of the note, added, currente calamo, that I was pleased to find it was to be reprinted here, that something was at length to be publicly said against the political heresies which had of late sprung up among us, not doubting but that our citizens would rally again round the standard of Common sense. I thought no more of this & heard no more till the pamphlet appeared to my astonishment with my note at the head of it. I never saw J. B. Smith or the printer either before or since. I had in view certainly the doctrines of Davila. I tell the writer freely that he is a heretic, but certainly never meant to step into a public newspaper with that in my mouth. I have just reason therefore to think he will be displeased. Colo. Hamilton & Colo. Beckwith are open mouthed against me, taking it in another view, as likely to give offence to the court of London. H. adds further that it marks my opposition to the government. Thus endeavoring to turn on the government itself those censures I meant for the enemies of the government to wit those who want to change it into a monarchy. I have reason to think he has been unreserved in uttering these sentiments. I send you some letters recieved for you. Adieu. Your’s affectionately
Th: Jefferson
P. S. F. Hopkinson is dead. Rittenhouse has agreed this afternoon to go with me as far as New York.


Title: To James Madison from Ambrose Madison, 9 May 1791
From: Madison, Ambrose
To: Madison, James

Letter not found. 9 May 1791. Acknowledged in JM to his brother, 19 May 1791. Concerns tobacco consignments and the possibility of dealing with a Philadelphia merchant. Perhaps the letter was forwarded to Philadelphia merchant Thomas Leiper.


Title: To James Madison from James Madison, Sr., 11 May 1791
From: Madison, James, Sr.
To: Madison, James

Dear Jemmy,
May. 11. 1791.
I have recd. yours of the 23d. Ulto. in which you say you think I should have done well if I had sent a few Hhds. Tobo. to Mr Leiper: if Tobo. does not take a rise here; will it be too late to send it to him in June or July; if it will not, I probably may send him 12 or 13 Hhds. I have at Richmond; and 3 or 4 at Fredg if he will give the price you mention’d to me. I intend to send this letter by Mr. Chs. Beale if it gets to him in time, & shall direct him to leave the Loan Office certificates with one of the persons you mention’d in your last. I do not see the necessity of giving him a Power of Attorney to subscribe to the loan, as I suppose he may give them in in my name. I expect Col Edwd. Carrington (who lodged last night at Orange Court House, where he met Genl Edwd Stevens & Mr. Edwd Smith, about the Excise business,) to dine with me to day. I will take his opinion about it; & if it is necessary, I will send a power of Attorney to Mr. Beale next Week, & if he should be gone to Phila. before it gets to him, I will send one to Col Jefferson which I suppose will answer the end.
I have recd. the Plaister of Paris & seeds you sent me, but the spring continues so dry, for we have had but two small showers of Rain, for more than 6 Weeks past, that I expect I shall make no satisfactory experiments from the Plaister, nor raise any thing from the seeds. I had rather you would put off buying Sugar till the new crop arrives as it will probably be cheaper then: and when you send any, I wish you to send with it about 80 lb. of double & abt. 20 lb. of single refined with it, also 25 lb. Salt Peter & a Jar of Raisons & a small pot of Tamarinds & the Coffee; the latter we shall not be in want of soon. If it is not convenient to advance the money for the above articles, I will try to get a Bill drawn on some person in Phila. & send it by the Post to you if you will let me know it in time. We wish to know when you expect to be in Orange.
Your mother, & the rest of the family are as usual as to health. By the Census there is better than 22,000 in Culpeper; 14,000 of which are Whites; and there are not quite 10,000 in Orange, 4500 of which are Negros; I have nothing farther to add but am, Your affectionate Father
James Madison
P. S. Thomas Barbour & Isaac Davis jr. are electd. for Orange.

N. B. Mr. Jno. Taylor says Genl. Mathews told him that it was reported in Georgia that you was a Partnr. in the Yazoo Company in a Grant for Lands, which is lookt on there as being obtained in a dishonest manner; but he, the Genl., did not believe you was concerned in it, & if you was not, he wished y⟨ou⟩ to write to him and authorize him to contradict the report.
The opportunity of sending this letter to Majr. Hite at the time it was wrote, I now make this addition to it, & inform you that we have had but two small showers of Rain sufficient to wet the ground above an inch, for 7½ Weeks past, & it now looks very much like the drought continuing; it appears as if there will be very little Flax or Rye made in these parts & the Wheat is very low, & if there does not come Rain soon, it must make very little. The drought is very general.
Col. Carrington dined with me agreable to his promise & lodged with us—he thought it necessary I should send a power of Attorney to subscribe for me to the Loan; but I shall defer it till I see you. We are as well as usual. Your mother’s complaint not mended.

J M.
May 18. 1791


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 12 May 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. York May 12. 1791.
Your favor of the 9th. was recd. last evening. To my thanks for the several inclosures I must add a request that the letter to Baynton which came in one of them may be handed to him by one of your servants. The directory will point out his habitation.
I had seen Payne’s pamphlet with the preface of the Philada. Editor. It immediately occurred that you were brought into the Frontispiece in the manner you explain. But I had not foreseen the particular use made of it by the British partizans. Mr. Adams can least of all complain. Under a mock defence of the Republican Constitutions of this Country, he attacked them with all the force he possessed, and this in a book with his name to it whilst he was the Representative of his Country at a foreign Court. Since he has been the 2d. Magistrate in the new Republic, his pen has constantly been at work in the same cause; and tho’ his name has not been prefixed to his antirepublican discourses, the author has been as well known as if that formality had been observed. Surely if it be innocent & decent in one servant of the public thus to write attacks agst its Government, it can not be very criminal or indecent in another to patronize a written defence of the principles on which that Govt. is founded. The sensibility of H. & B. to the indignity to the Brit: Court is truly ridiculous. If offence cd. be justly taken in that quarter, what would France have a right to say to Burke’s pamphlet and the Countenance given to it & its author, particularly by the King himself? What in fact might not the U. S. say, whose revolution & democratic Governments come in for a large share of the scurrility lavished on those of France.
I do not foresee any objection to the route you propose. I had conversed with Beckley on a trip to Boston &c and still have that in view; but the time in view for starting from this place, will leave room for the previous excursion. Health recreation & curiousity being my objects, I can never be out of my way.
Not a word of news here. My letters from Virginia say little more than those you had recd. Carrington says the returns have come in pretty thickly of late and warrant the estimate founded on the Counties named to me some time ago. As well as I recollect, these averaged upwards of 8000 souls, and were considered by him as under the general average. Yrs. Affecly.
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Leiper, ca. 18 May 1791
From: Leiper, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Letter not found. Ca. 18 May 1791. Mentioned in JM to Ambrose Madison, 19 May 1791. Answers JM’s brother’s query of 9 May 1791 regarding the marketing of tobacco in Philadelphia, with an apparent offer to handle consignments from both James Madison, Sr., and Ambrose Madison.


Title: From James Madison to Ambrose Madison, 19 May 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Madison, Ambrose

Dr. bror.
N. York May 19. 1791
Yours of the 9th. instant found me in this City. I immediately wrote to Mr. Leiper & this day recd his answer on the subject of Tobo. which I inclose. I think you & my father wd. do well to send your tobo. to him as soon as you can, takin⟨g⟩ care to send none but of the most respectable quality. I cannot comply here with my father’s request as to the raisins & Tamarinds. Before I left Philada. I ordered him a hundred lb. of Coffee, wh⟨ich⟩ by trial I ascertained to be good; also 1 lb. of imperial tea of the first quality for yo⟨u.⟩ The Coffee was 14d. & the tea 17/6. Pa. Currency. I have not the la⟨ws⟩ of the U. S. or the instructions of the Secy: of Treasy. at hand & am therefore unable to say whether a power of Attorney is necessary in the case you state. I rather think it is not for the view purpose of getting out funded certificates. On looking over the advertisements of the Treasy. Dept. my father will be able to satisfy himself; or in order to be on the safe side a power of [attorney] may be forwarded. Mr. Jefferson is here & we shall set out in a day or two. The extent of our joint tour will depend on circumstances, as will the prosecution of mine to Boston &c. I am in haste that I may not lose a post which may be of consequence in your arrangements for the Tobo. My affete. regards to all & particularly to my mother, whose health I hope continues to mend. Adieu
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Ambrose Madison, ca. 29 May 1791
From: Madison, Ambrose
To: Madison, James

Letter not found. Ca. 29 May 1791. Acknowledged in JM’s letter to his father, 2 July 1791. Appears to touch on the possible sale of Orange County tobacco in Philadelphia.


Title: To James Madison from James Madison, Sr., 29 May 1791
From: Madison, James, Sr.
To: Madison, James

Letter not found. 29 May 1791. Acknowledged in JM’s letter to his father, 2 July 1791. Evidently makes further inquiries concerning the sale of tobacco and prices paid in the Philadelphia market.


Title: Notes on the Lake Country Tour, [31 May–7 June] 1791
From: Madison, James
To:

Editorial Note
Until recent times historians interpreted the trip JM and Jefferson took to Lakes George and Champlain, as well as their swing through New England and across the Long Island Sound, as a politically motivated journey. Beguiled by the contemporary commentaries of Federalists, students of the period argued that the two Virginians sought northern support for their opposition to the Hamiltonian policies ascending in Washington’s administration and also hoped to escape embarrassment stemming from the Philadelphia publication of Paine’s The Rights of Man. JM had planned to meet John Beckley, clerk of the House and a political confidant, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and perhaps such a meeting would have been devoted to legislative matters. However, a lame horse prevented the rendezvous, and all the evidence suggests that Jefferson and JM steered clear of politics (Malone, Jefferson and the Rights of Man, pp. 359–63; Brant, Madison, III, 339–40; Marsh, “The Jefferson-Madison Vacation,” Pa. Mag. Hist. and Biog., LXXI [1947], 70–72).
Unlike Jefferson’s colorful journal of the trip in letters to his family and occasional reports to Washington, JM’s accounts were spare and scientific. Indeed, they resemble the soil and price surveys of European observers like William Strickland, whose book-length discussion of American agriculture arrested JM’s attention when it appeared ten years later (Tench Coxe to JM, 11 June 1801 [DLC]). As with most travelers, they sought proof that their own part of the country was more blessed than any other. No doubt JM shared Jefferson’s view that their home region would look all the more inviting for their “eastern” sojourn. “On the whole,” Jefferson wrote his daughter, “I find nothing anywhere else, in point of climate, which Virginia need envy any part of the world .… We have reason to value highly the accident of birth in such a one as that of Virginia” (Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 31 May 1791, Ford, Writings of JeffersonPaul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of
          Thomas Jefferson (10 vols.; New York, 1892–99)., V, 338). Of these northern climes JM asked only “Health recreation & curiousity,” and apparently the search was fruitful. When in mid-June the two parted company on Long Island, Jefferson thought that while the late heats caused JM “some bilious dispositions,” on the whole JM looked “in better health than I have seen him” (JM to Jefferson, 12 May 1791; Jefferson to Monroe, 10 July 1791, ibid., V, 351).

[31 May–7 June 1791]
May 31. 1791.—Lake Champlaine from Ticonderoga to 7 or 8 miles beyond Crown point.

(Aspect) The East side of the Lake rather low & sufficiently level. The soil generally good. The useful growth Sugar maple, white pine, White Cedar. The west side, mountainous a little off, and sometimes on the lake. The soil in part only fit for cultivation. The useful growth nearly the same as on the East side. Crown point is a limestone rock: so Tyconderoga. The soil at both fertile in grasses.
(Population). The East side pretty generally settled & the lands opened. On the West the houses are thinly scattered within view from the lake; but settlements are said to be rapidly forming westward of the mountains bordering on the lake. On Crown point is one family only. On the opposite side the country is well inhabited. At Tyconderoga are several families. The opposite side also well inhabited.
(prices of land) Of unimproved land on the East side, about 2 dollars per acre: of improved about 4 dollars. On the west side the prices could not be learned.
(Cultivation). Grass (Timothy & red clover cheifly) & Wheat may be called the Staples. An acre of good land yields 30 bushs. Indian Corn Rye, potatoes, flax but not Hemp are grown. A considerable quantity of pot & pearl ashes is made partly from hearth partly from field ashes. Maple sugar is made for domestic use, and the manufacture increasing fast.
The price of wheat from ½ to ⅔ of a dollar a bushel. Of hearth ashes about 1/12: of field do. about 1/15 of a dollar a bushel. Of maple sugar 1/12 of do. per lb.
Trade. At present Wheat, flour, & pot & pearl ashes are the cheif exports. The trade of the lake is divided between Canada & N. York. The price of Wheat being greater in the latter gives it the advantage in the present competition. The future & permanent course of the trade will depend much on the improvements that may be made in the communication with the Hudson. Some preliminary steps have been taken by the Legislature of N. York, for connecting the navigation of this river with Wood Creek. The portage through that channel is now fourteen miles. The portage through Lake George consists of 1⅔ miles from the waters of Lake Champlain into that Lake, and of 14 miles to Fort Edward; from whence too the carriage tho not impracticable by water, is generally made in waggons to Albany, or to one of the little towns a few miles above it.

Dry goods can be imported rather cheaper through Canada than through N. York with the present duties on them.
Tobacco, French brandy, tropical fruits are smuggled from the U. S. through Lake Champlain into Canada.
The price of Wheat on Lake Champlain about ⅔ dollar, freight to Lake George 9d. N. Y. Cury. per Ct. from L. G. to N. Y. 4/2. from L. Champlain to Quebec about 2/5.
June 1. Lake George. On each side are mountains of considerable height the entire length of the lake. They are very rocky & have scattered intervals only of arable land. This appears to be good. Near the shore it is sometimes sandy. A considerable part of these mountains is said to be unlocated, but not likely to remain so, as far as they can be turned to any account. The growth of most value is Sugar maple, white pine, white & red Cedar.
At Fort George are a few families concerned in the litter trade & ferriage thro the Lake. On the East side not a House is seen except one at the North end owned & inhabited by a free Negro. He possesses a good farm of about 250 Acres which he cultivates with 6 white hirelings for which he is said to have paid about 2½ dollrs. per Acre and by his industry & good management turns to good account. He is intelligent; reads writes & understands accounts, and is dextrous in his affairs. During the late war he was employed in the Commissary department. He has no wife, and is said to be disinclined to marriage: nor any woman on his farm. On the West side from Fort George to Sabath day point (24 miles) not a house is seen except a hut near the fort inhabited by the family of a hunter. At Sabbath day point is a small clearing with a small log house, now abandoned. At friends point 5 miles from the North end of the Lake one or two families are settled on a small clearing. From this northward the side of the Lake is again uninhabited. At the carrying place are several families and at one of the falls a saw & Grist Mills.
June 2. Fort Edward. The road from L. George to Fort Edwd of 14 Miles runs along a high sandy ridge 5 or 6 Miles wide. The land is barren, and little cultivated. Its growth principally Pitch pine, partly White pine. There is some Sugar maple, but rather in bushes than trees. Two or three miles from Fort Edward, at the junction of the roads leading to Lake George & Wood Creek are 6 or 7 Houses, the germ of a Town called Kingsberry. Here we saw a sow having a litter, belled in the manner of Cattle & Sheep. The rest of the Country visible from the road is uninhabited except in a few instances where Houses or rather huts are built for the accomodation of waggons passing to & from L. George. The little cultivation on the road consists cheifly of rye & Wheat.
At Fort Edward are 6 or 7 Houses. The land immediately on the river is flat & good but too sandy. Wheat & rye are cheifly cultivated. Much White pine is brought hither to be worked into Lumber at Mills a little below & carried down in rafts. Staves & Shingles are also exported from this place. The fort is on the East bank of the river, and could only be defensible agst. small arms, high ground in its vicinity effectually commanding it. From Fort Edwd. to Saratoga the roads runs through the flats of the river, which are under cultivation but wear the face of a new country. The soil is good but often very sandy. Grasses (timothy red & white Clover cheifly) wheat & rye with some peas sewn in broadcast, & flax covered it. Much White pine was seen along the beach ready for being rafted.
June 3 & 4. From Saratoga to Bennington 31 miles. The road runs thro’ first about 3 miles of high level pine barren, then 7 or 8 of very hilly clayey and middling land the growth sugar maple & white pine—then 7 or 8 of a fine fertile vale separating two ridges of low mountains the growth the same—then 10 or 12 of hilly or rather mountainous ground rich & covered cheifly with sugar maple & Beach. After leaving the pine barren the country is closely settled. Throughout the cultivation consists of grasses (timothy red clover green sword & a similar grass with red blossoms called red top) Wheat rye Some Indian Corn potatoes & flax & potash. The spontaneous pasturage is white clover. Some sugar is made & much may be. The attention seemed to be increasing toward that object. The line dividing N. Y. & Vermont is about 6 or 7 miles from Bennington. Within the former the lands are held partly by lease at the rate of ⅛ dollar per acre: partly in fee-simple. In the latter almost wholly in fee. The farms vary from 50 to 200 acres, in a few instances they exceed 200. The settlers within both are cheifly emigrants from N. England. Their living is extremely plain & œconomical particularly in the table & ordinary dress. Their expence is cheifly on their Houses which are of wood & make a good figure without; but are very scantily furnished within. The Settlmt having proceeded Westwd. within N. Y. the improvements decrease in that direction.
The price of land varies from 3 or 4 dollars to 7 or 8 where it is in wood; & from 5 or 6 to 10 or 15 where under cultivation.
The trade goes to Lansingborough.
June 6. From Bennington to Dalton 38 miles, through Pownal with which Vermont ends.  in Massachts. Lanesborough & Pittsfield. This is a valley in general, lying between the Green Mountains on the East & a ridge detached from them on the West. It narrows & widens as you pass, is sometimes rich level & well cultivated particularly in Lanes-borough & Pittsfield; sometimes steep rocky & scarcely admitting cultivation. In general it may be said to be pretty closely settled. The sugar maple White Oak, Beach & sometimes white pine make the principal figure in its forests: in its feilds—Grass, Wheat, rye, oats, Indian Corn potatoes, flax. Potash is also made. The farms are small & held according to the plan of N. England. The manners as described already. The trade from all the country West of the Green Mountains goes to N. York thro the North river.
June 7. From Dalton at the foot of the Green Mountains to Northampton on Connecticut river 34 Miles, the road crosses the G. Mountains which consists first of a High ridge and then a succession of rocky mountainous grounds to within 5 or 6 miles of the river. Sugar maple, Beach, Hemlock, Spruce & double & single Aspen are most seen in the forest. On the West side of the Mountain, Wheat grows well along with the other objects of cultivation already mentioned. On the East among the Mountains, it is so liable to be blasted as to be little sown. This circumstance makes the N. E. winds which have full operation on the East & agst. wch. the W. side is protected a probable cause of the difficulty of raising wheat in N. England. The climate much severer in genl. on the E. side. This mountainous country notwithstanding its disadvantages from climate, steepness, & rockiness, and sometimes sterility, is laid out in Townships, settled the whole way, in some places very thickly—and occasionally presents a very cultivated aspect. The land in forest sells from three to 6 or 7 dollars improved from 6 to 15 dollrs. per acre. The articles cultivated are the same as before, except wheat wch. is little sown. Rye is also often sown in the spring. The trade principally falls to Connecticut river at Nhampton—Springfield & Harford. Near the first ridge, some of it goes to the North river.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 23 June 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
New York June 23d. 1791.
I received your favor of the 21st. yesterday, inclosing post notes for 235 dollars. I shall obtain the bills of Mrs. Elsworth & the Smith this afternoon and will let you know the amount of them. There is a bill also from the Taylor amounting to £6–7. which I shall pay. The articles for which it is due are in my hands and will be forwarded by the first opportunity. If a good one should fall within your notice, it may be well for you to double the chance of a conveyance by giving a commission for the purpose. I have applied to Rivington for the Book but the only copies in Town seem to be of the 8th. Edition. This however is advertised as “enlarged &c by the Author,” who I am told by Berry & Rogers is now living & a correspondent of theirs. It is not improbable therefore that your reason for preferring the 6th. Ed: may be stronger in favor of this. Let me know your pleasure on the subject & it shall be obeyed.
I am at a loss what to decide as to my trip to the Eastward. My inclination has not changed, but a journey without a companion, & in the stage which besides other inconveniences travels too rapidly for my purpose, makes me consider whether the next fall may not present a better prospect. My horse is more likely to recover than at the time of your departure. By purchasing another, in case he should get well, I might avoid the Stage, but at an expence not altogether convenient.
You have no doubt seen the French Regulations on the subject of Tobo. which commence hostilities agst. the British Navigation-Act. Mr. King tells me an attack on Payne has appeared in a Boston paper under the name of Publicola, and has an affinity in the stile as well as sentiments to the discourses on Davila. I observed in a late paper here an extract from a Philada. Pamphlet on the Bank. If the publication has attracted or deserves notice, I should be glad of a copy from you. I will write again in a few days; In the mean time remaining Yrs. mo: affecly.
Js. Madison Jr


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 27 June 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
New York June 27. 1791.
By a Capt: Simms who setts off this afternoon in the Stage for Philadelphia I forward the Bundle of Cloaths from the Taylor. His bill is inclosed with that of Mrs. Elsworth including the payment to the Smith.
I have seen Col: Smith more than once. He would have opened his budget fully to me, but I declined giving him the trouble. He has written to the President a state of all his conversations with the British Ministry, which will get into your hands of course. He mentioned to me his wish to have put them there in the first instance and your situation on his arrival as an apology for not doing it. From the complexion of the little anecdotes & observations which dropped from him in our interviews I suspect that report has as usual far overrated the importance of what has been confided to him. General professions which mean nothing, and the sending a Minister which can be suspended at pleasure, or which if executed may produce nothing, are the amount of my present guesses.
Mr. Adams seems to be getting faster & faster into difficulties. His attack on Payne which I have not seen, will draw the public attention to his obnoxious principles, more than every thing he has published. Besides this, I observe in McLean’s paper here, a long extract from a sensible letter republished from Poughkeepsie, which gives a very unpopular form to his antirepublican doctrines, and presents a strong contrast of them with a quotation from his letter to Mr. Wythe in 1776.
I am still resting on my oars with respect to Boston. My Horse has had a relapse which made his recovery very improbable. Another favorable turn has taken place, and his present appeara[n]ce promises tolerably well. But it will be some time before he can be ⟨s⟩ound, if he should suffer no other check. Adieu. Yrs.
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: From James Madison to Ambrose Madison, ca. 29 June 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Madison, Ambrose

Letter not found. Ca. 29 June 1791. Mentioned in JM’s letter to his father, 2 July 1791. Answers his brother’s queries concerning the tobacco market in Philadelphia and also gives a report on his trip to the lake regions in Vermont and through New England with Jefferson as a companion.


Title: From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 2 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Madison, James, Sr.

Hond. Sir
N. York July 2d. 1791
Your favor of the 29th. of May never came to hand till yesterday when it fell in with me at this place. My brother’s of nearly the same date had done so a few days before. My answer to his went by the last mail. I refer to it for the information yours requests. I had indeed long before advised you both to ship to Leiper all the good Tobacco of your Crops. It is certainly the best you can do with it.
The tour I lately made with Mr. Jefferson of which I have given the outline to my brother was a very agreeable one, and carried us thro’ an interesting Country new to us both. I postpone the details of our travels till I get home which as I have mentioned to my brother will be in Augst. I cannot yet say whether it will be towards the middle or last of the month. It gives me much satisfaction to learn that my mother has so far recovered. I hope her health may continue to mend. You do not mention whether she has been or is to be at any of the Springs. I shall attend to the articles you wish for family use on my way thro’ Philada. unless I should meet with them on satisfactory terms here.
The Report in Georgia relating to me is as absolute a falsehood as ever was propagated. So far am I from being concerned in the Yazoo transaction, that from the nature of it, as it has been understood by me, I have invariably considered it as one of the most disgraceful events that have appeared in our public Councils, and such is the opinion which I have ever expressed of it. I do not think it necessary to write to Genl. Mathews, because a report of such a nature does not seem to merit a formal contradiction. I wish him to know however that I am sensible of his friendly attention, and will thank Mr. Taylor, when an opportunity offers, to let him know as much.
The latest accounts from Abroad are various & contradictory. The most authentic make it probable that there will be no war between England & Russia, and that there will be peace between the latter & the Turks at the expence of the Turks. From a concurrence of information, it is probable also that a public Minister from G. B may pretty soon be expected. If He brings powers & dispositions to form proper commercial arrangements, it will be an interesting change in the Councils of that nation; especially as an execution of the Treaty of peace must be a preliminary in the business.
The Crops in general thro’ the Country I have passed & heard from are promising. Wheat is selling at Phila. at abt. a dollar a bushel & here in the usual proportion.
Remember me affectly. to all, & accept the dutiful respects of your son
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 6 July 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Philadelphia July 6. 1791.
I have duly recieved your favours of June 27. & July 1. The last came only this morning. I now return Colo. Smith’s map with my acknolegements for the pamphlet & sight of the map. I inclose you a 60. Dollar bill, & beg the favor of you to remit 30. Dollars with the inclosed letter to Prince, also, as I see Maple sugar, grained, advertised for sale at New York in boxes of 400 lb. each, if they can be induced to sell 100 lb only & to pack & send it to Richmond, I will thank you to get it done for me. The box to be directed to me ‘to the care of James Brown, mercht. Richmd. to be forwarded to Monticello.’ You see I presume on your having got over your indisposition; if not, I beg you to let all this matter rest till you are. Colo. Harry Lee thinks of going on tomorrow, to accompany you to Portsmouth, but he was not quite decided when I saw him last. The President arrived about 10. minutes ago, but I have not yet seen him. I recieved safely the packet by capt Sims. The Guinea corn is new to me, & shall be taken care of. My African upland rice is flourishing. I inclose you a paper estimating the shares of the bank as far as was known three days before it opened. When it opened 24,600 subscriptions were offered, being 4,600 more than could be recieved, & many persons left in the lurch, among these Robt. Morris & Fitzsimmons. They accuse the Directors of a misdeal, & the former proposes to sue them, the latter to haul them up before Congress. Every 25 dollars actually deposited, sold yesterday for from 40. to 50. dollars with the future rights & burthens annexed to the deposit. We have no authentic news from Europe since the last packet. Adieu my dear Sir, take care of yourself & let me hear soon that you are quite re-established. Your’s affectionately
Th: Jefferson
P. S. If you leave N. York, will you leave directions with mr. Elsworth to forward to me the two parcels of Maple seed, & that of the Birch bark respectively as they arrive. The last I think had better come by water.

[Enclosure]
The capital stock of the bank, ten millions of dollars, divided into 25,000 shares.

shares

to be subscribed by the President
5,000

already subscribed,
Boston
4,000

"
New York
6,400

will be subscribed by Philada.
5,000

already subscribed,
Baltimore
2,400

"
Charleston
  700

23,500

remains to be subscribed
 1,500

25,000


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 10 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. York July 10. 1791
Your favor of the 6th. came to hand on friday. I went yesterday to the person who advertised the Maple Sugar for the purpose of executing your commission on that subject. He tells me that the cargo is not yet arrived from Albany, but is every hour expected; that it will not be sold in parcels of less than 15 or 16 hundred lb. & only at Auction, but that the purchasers will of course deal it out in smaller quantities; that a part is grained and part not; and that the price of the former will probably be regulated by that of good Muscavado which sells at about £5. N. Y. Currency, a Ct. I shall probably be at Flushing in two or three days and have an opportunity of executing your other Commission on the spot. In case of disappointment, I shall send the Letter & money to Prince by the best conveyance to be had. The Maple seed is not arrived. The Birch-Bark has been in my hands some days and will be forwarded as you suggest.
The Bank-Shares have risen as much in the Market here as at Philadelphia. It seems admitted on all hands now that the plan of the institution gives a moral certainty of gain to the Subscribers with scarce a physical possibility of loss. The subscriptions are consequently a mere scramble for so much public plunder which will be engrossed by those already loaded with the spoils of indi[vi]duals. The event shews what would have been the operation of the plan, if, as originally proposed, subscriptions had been limited to the 1st. of april and to the favorite species of stock which the Bank-Jobbers had monopolized. It pretty clearly appears also in what proportions the public debt lies in the Country—What sort of hands hold it, and by whom the people of the U. S. are to be governed. Of all the shameful circumstances of this business, it is among the greatest to see the members of the Legislature who were most active in pushing this Jobb, openly grasping its emoluments. Schuyler is to be put at the Head of the Directors, if the weight of the N. Y. subscribers can effect it. Nothing new is talked of here. In fact stockjobbing drowns every other subject. The Coffee House is in an eternal buzz with the gamblers.
I have just understood that Freneau is now here & has abandoned his Philada. project. From what cause I am wholly unable to divine: unless those who know his talents & hate his political principles should have practised some artifice for the purpose.
I have given up for this season my trip Eastward. My bilious situation absolutely forbade it. Several lesser considerations also conspired with that objection. I am at present free from a fever, but have sufficient evidence, in other shapes, that I must adhere to my defensive precautions.
The pamphlet on Weights &c. was put into my hands by Docr. Kemp with a view to be forwarded after perusal to you. As I understand it is a duplicate and to be kept by you. Always & mo: affecly. Yrs.
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Fontaine Maury, 10 July 1791
From: Maury, Fontaine
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir.
Fredg: July 10. 1791
On the other side you have a State of your a/c which if found right please pay the amount to my order in favor of Messrs. Philips Cramond & Co of Philadelphia at 30 days sight.
Two hhds of your Tobacco are Shiped on board the Ship Venus, Edward Flin Master, & Consigned to Mr James Maury of Liverpool. I will thank you to inform me if any thing hath been done in the business you were so good as Interest yourself in for Capt Dade, of whose Death I suppose you have heard. I am with much Regard D Sir Your Mo: Ob: S:
Fontaine Maury

[Enclosure]
Fredericksburg July 8th. 1791
The Honble. James Madison Esqe

In a/c with Fontaine Maury

Dr

1790

July 29
To 60 yds German Ozna. @ 16d 42 ½ Rolls 10d
5. .
15. .
5

Augt 31
"  90 lb Barr Iron @ 3½
1. .
6. .
3

Oct 29
"  3 ps Kendall Cotton @ 38/ 44/ & 50/.
6. .
12. .
0

"  4½ yds Coating @ 6/8 6 yds Plains @ 3/
2. .
8. .

"  9 ⅌ Stockings 18/ 11 Blanketts @ 8/9
5. .
14. .
3

"  1 m̃ 8 dynails 8/ 1 m̃ 10 dy do 10/

18.
0

"  30 yds Oznaburgs @ 1/
1. .
10.
0

"  4 Bushels Salt @ 2/6 Sacking 3/9

13.
9

"  Cash paid for Rum to the Tenders

1. .
3

"  1 Side Sole Leather
1. .
4. .
0

Nov 24
"  1 Side upper Leather 20/

16.
0

Decr. 17
"  Cash paid Negroe Sawney

1. .
6

June 9
"  12¼ b German Steel 12/3 3 yds Sacking 3/6

15.
9

25
"  Cash paid Inspecting your Tobacco

5. .
0

£28. .
1. .
2

Errors Excepted
Fontaine Maury
P. T. O.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. York July 13. 1791
I received last evening your kind enquiries after my health. My last will have informed you of the state of it then. I continue to be incommoded by several different shapes taken by the bile; but not in a degree that can now be called serious. If the present excessive heat should not augment the energy of the cause, I consider myself as in a good way to get rid soon of its effects.
Beckley has just got back from his Eastern trip. He says that the partizans of Mr. Adam’s heresies in that quarter are perfectly insignificant in point of number—that particularly in Boston he is become distinguished for his unpopularity—that Publicola is probably the manufacture of his son out of materials furnished by himself—and that the publication is generally as obnoxious in New England as it appears to be in Pennsylvania. If young Adams be capable of giving the dress in which publicola presents himself, it is very probable he may have been made the Editor of his Father’s doctrines. I hardly think the Printer would so directly disavow the fact if Mr. Adams was himself the writer. There is more of method also in the arguments, and much less of clumsiness & heaviness in the stile, than characterize his writings. I mentioned to you some time ago an extract from a piece in the Poughkepsie paper, as a sensible comment on Mr. Adams’ doctrines. The whole has since been republished here, and is evidently from a better pen, than any of the Anti-publicolas I have seen. In Greenleafs paper of today is a second letter from the same quarter, which confirms the character I have given of the author.
We understand here that 800 shares in the Bank committed by this City to Mr. Constable, have been excluded by the manner in which the business was conducted—that a considerable number from Boston met with the same fate—and that Baltimore has been kept out in toto. It is all charged on the manœuvers of Philada. which is said to have secured a majority of the whole to herself. The disappointed individuals are clamorous of course, and the language of the place marks a general indignation on the subject. If it should turn out that the cards were packed, for the purpose of securing the game to Philada. or even that more than half the Institution and of course the whole direction of it have fallen into the hands of that City some who have been loudest in their plaudits whilst they expected to share in the plunder, will be equally so in sounding the injustice of the monopoly, and the danger of undue influence on the Government.
The Packet is not yet arrived. By a vessel arived yesterday newspapers are recd. from London which are said to be later than any yet come to hand. I do not find that any particular facts of moment are handed out. The miscellaneous articles come to me thro’ Childs’ paper, which you get sooner than I could rehearse to you. It has been said here by the Anglicans that the President’s Message to Congs. on the subject of the commercial disposition of G. B. has been asserted openly by Mr. Pitt to be misrepresentation—and as it would naturally be traced to Govr. Morris it has been suggested that he fell into the hands of the Chevr. Luzerne who had the dexterity to play off his negociations for French purposes. I have reason to believe that B—ck—th—has had a hand in throwing these things into circulation. I wish you success with all my heart in your efforts for Payne. Besides the advantage to him which he deserves, an appointment for him, at this moment would do public good in various ways. Always & truly yours
Js. Madison Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Pendleton, 13 July 1791
From: Pendleton, Edmund
To: Madison, James

Dr. Sir
Virga. July 13th. 1791.
I take the liberty of troubling you once more in behalf of my Nephew Nathaniel Pendleton junr. of Georgia, who wishes to succeed Mr. Rutlidge in the Office he has resigned as a Judge of the Supreme Fœdral Court. He supposes a resident in the Southern district will be appointed, and that from Georgia, as the Carolinas have been already gratified; in which case he hopes his present rank of District Judge, will give him preference to any competitor there. I have pleasure in hearing he stands high in the Opinion of his fellow Citizens, and if you think his reasoning sound, and can give him aid in his pretensions, It will particularly oblige Dr. Sir Yr. very Affe. & Obt. Servt.
Edmd. Pendleton


Title: To James Madison from Edward Carrington, 15 July 1791
From: Carrington, Edward
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir,
Richmond July 15. 1791
I have heard of your return from your Northern excursion, and hope you met every gratification in it that you wished.
Our Census is compleated, that is to say, the returns are all in, and are now under examination & correction. In their uncorrected State, they have been cast up, and amount to upwards of 740,000, producing a Net number after deducting 2/5ths. of Slaves of above 600,000. This information is for your satisfaction—you will readily perceive that it is too vague to be extended to many of your Freinds. The general return will come on in a very short time.
The Excise is gaining, I think, upon the minds of the people—some noise is made by a few but this daily loses its influence upon the great body of the Country. The product upon Country Stills will however be but small for the present year, the spring Frosts in most parts of the State cut off the Fruit intirely. We have met with no kind of difficulty in procuring the necessary Officers except what has arisen from the compensations to Collectors being too inconsiderable. Good Men have however undertaken the business, in contemplation of further provision, which it will be absolutely necessary to make.
Pardon me for troubling you with a little business—it seems that a regulation of the Treasury, requires that for drawing money, the applicant if he cannot attend in person, must appoint an agent to act for him. I have forwarded to the Auditor to whome I send this letter under Cover, an Account for Settlement, which appertains to me as Marshal for this district. Now Sir, you will add much to the many obligations heretofore confered, if you will be good enough to direct this business through the various Offices and receive whatever draft the Secretary may think proper to send here for the money, which inclose by post. I know how precious your time is and will not break in upon it, after my representative Mr. Giles returns to Congress. Inclosed is a power to transact this business as my agent agreably to the regulation of the Treasury. I am my dr sir your Affe. Freind & Servt.
Ed. Carrington
P. S. Being at Orange Court House on public business in June, your Father politely called on me & invited me to his House, where I spent a day very happily. He was in fine health.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 21 July 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir
Philadelphia July 21. 1791.
Your favors of July 10. & 13. have been duly recieved and I now return the pamphlet inclosed in the latter, with thanks for the perusal. The author has the appearance of knowing better what has past in England than in America. As to the latter to be sure he has been ignorant enough. I am sincerely sorry that Freneau has declined coming here. Tho’ the printing business be sufficiently full here, yet I think he would have set out on such advantageous ground as to have been sure of success. His own genius in the first place is so superior to that of his competitors. I should have given him the perusal of all my letters of foreign intelligence & all foreign newspapers; the publication of all proclamations & other public notices within my department, & the printing of the laws, which added to his salary would have been a considerable aid. Besides this, Fenno’s being the only weekly or half weekly paper, & under general condemnation for it’s toryism & it’s incessant efforts to overturn the government, Freneau would have found that ground as good as unoccupied. P——e will not be appointed to the place I had recommended him for. I have a letter from Mazzei asking informn. of his affairs. I must therefore ask from you the letter you were to write me as to Dohrman. He desires to be affectionately remembered to you. He is declared, with the consent of the Diet, Chargé des affaires of the king & nation. No news yet from Genl Scott. Mr. Randolph writes me that our harvest is safely in in general, that the quantity will be half as much again as the acre usually yeilds, & the quality of first rate. The price offered is 5/6 at Richmd. Tobo. there is still 18/ to 20/. I have European letters & papers to the 8th. of May. The Empress has notified the English factory in Russia, that the peace between her & Gr. Britain is likely to be broken, but knowing their good conduct they shall be welcome to remain in her domns., she pays a compliment to the British nation, & says she considers it only as a war with their ministers. Denmark has made a warm offer of mediating alone. Prussia has notified the Porte that they are free to conclude a peace with Russia without any mediation, & that it will not be disagreeable to him. But the Porte has refused to relinquish the mediation of Prussia & England, & has also declined accepting that offered by Spain. France is going on steadily with it’s work. On the 7th. of May a report of a commee. was given in to the assembly, confirming their former plan as to the mode of settling the constn. of their colonies, adding further that the Colonies should have the initiative (exclusively) as to the condition of the people of colour, and that each colony should send deputies to the French part of St. Martins to a Congress which should propose a general form of constitution. This was ordered to be printed & taken up at a future day, & there was some symptom of a disposition in the Assembly to over-rule the report so far as it related to the condition of the people of colour. Comparing the date of this with the news said by the gazettes to have arrived at St. Domingo July 1. I cannot help suspending my belief of the latter.
I hope your health is better established. Your friends here anxiously enquire after it. Your letters now therefore are doubly interesting, and very feelingly so to Dear Sir your affectionate friend & servt.
Th: Jefferson


Title: To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 21 July 1791
From: Randolph, Edmund
To: Madison, James

My dear friend
Philadelphia July 21. 1791.
Altho’ I have not put you to the expence of postage by inquiries after your health, I have not omitted to avail myself of information thro’ Mr. Jefferson. I learn with sincere satisfaction, that you have emerged from your late attack; but I wish, that you would prevent a return in the fall by an abstinence from study.
I need not relate to you, that since the standard of republicanism has been erected, it has been resorted to by a numerous corps. The newspapers tell you, how much the crest of aristocracy has fallen; and I should rejoice that the controversy has been excited, were it not, that under the character of Agricola he, who was sufficiently depressed before, is now irredeemable in the public opinion, without being the real author. Were he in a condition to do harm, I should anxiously strive for his disgrace. For however meritorious I think him towards the U. S, I should hold it necessary to sacrifice any man, who could propagate his doctrines with success. But he is impotent, and something is due to past services.
Mr. J. and myself have attempted to bring Paine forward, as successor to Osgood. It seemed to be a fair opportunity for a declaration of certain sentiments. But all, that I have heard, has been, that it would be too pointed to keep a vacancy unfilled, until his return from the other side of the water. The contest seems to lie between Pickering, Peters, and F. A. Muhlenberg, who most probably cannot be reelected.
Mr. A. White speaks triumphantly of the progress of the excise in his district, and the counties in the neighbourhood of Fort Pitt. He mentions, however, that Mr. Gallatin is very industrious in disseminating discontent in the counties of Penna. on the Ohio, and that he has attempted to infect Our county of Monongalia. But an appointment has been made to the inspectorship of that quarter, of an antifœderal character, whose firmness and influence will sweep all difficulties before him.
Don’t trouble yourself with answering this scrap. I have written, not for the importance of the matter, but for the satisfaction of assuring you, that I always am My dear sir yrs. mo. sincerely


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 21 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Letter not found. 21 July 1791. Acknowledged in Jefferson to JM, 24 July 1791. In his list of letters to Jefferson (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers), JM noted that this letter, like that of 13 July, concerned “Publicola.” Perhaps this was JM’s letter of 21 July to an unspecified correspondent, listed in Stan. V. Henkels Catalogue No. 694 (1892), p. 262.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. York July 24. 1791.
Your favor of the 21st. came to hand last evening. It was meant that you should keep the pamphlet inclosed in it. I have seen Freneau, and, as well as Col: H. Lee, have pressed the establishment of himself in Philada. where alone his talents can do the good or reap the profit of which they are capable. Though leaning strongly agst. the measure, under the influence of little objections which his modesty magnified into important ones, he was less decided on the subject than I had understood. We are to have a further conversation, in which I shall renew my efforts, and do not despair, though I am not sanguine, of success. If he yeilds to the reasoning of his friends, it is probable that he will at least commence his plan in alliance with Childs as to the emoluments. In the conduct and title of the paper, it will be altogether his own. I am not much disappointed tho’ I much regret the rejection of P——e in the late appointment. Another opportunity of doing him some justice may not occur, and at the present moment it was to be wished for a thousand reasons that he might have received from this Country such a token of its affection and respect. I must see Dorhman again before I can enable you to answer Mazzei. I will endeavor to do it tomorrow & will write you without delay.
You will recollect that the Pretensions of T. C. to the place now filled by Wolcot, went thro’ your hands and with my knowledge. Would you believe that this circumstance has got into circulation in the shape of an attempt in you & myself to intermeddle with the Treasury department, to frustrate the known wishes of the head of it, and to keep back the lineal successor, from a Southern antipathy to his Eastern descent! Col: Lee got hold of the Report and finding that it had made some impression on Hamilton, asked of me an explanation of the matter. As far as I could call to mind, what had left so faint an impression, I enabled him to contradict the misrepresen[ta]tion. Last evening a favorable opportunity offering, I touched on the subject to Col: Hamilton, who had certainly viewed it thro’ a very wrong medium, but seemed disposed to admit the right one. I believe he is now satisfied that misrepresentations had been made to him, that our agency, if to be so called was the effect of complaisance rather than of solicitude for or agst. the candidates—and particularly that it was impossible from the very nature of the case, it could have involved the idea of thwarting his purposes in his own department. This is not the only instance I find in which the most uncandid & unfounded things of a like tendency have been thrown into circulation.
I promised a gentleman who lately sailed for Halifax on his way to England, to send him a copy of the Remarks on Shuffields Book. May I trouble you to send to Cary’s or wherever may be proper for a Copy, and let me have it in the course of the week, the earlier the better. I shall endeavor to convey it by the hands of some passenger in the Packet which sails early next week. Will you be so good also as just to let the inclosed letter on the subject of Mr. N. Pendleton be handed to Mr. Lear as from me. He will of course let the President see the pretensions of that gentleman, and I shall then have sufficiently discharged the trust consigned to me by his Unkle. This is the mode in which I have generally conveyed applications to the President.
My health is much improved by the precautions I have observed. From the state of my appetite I hope I have got pretty much rid of my bile. My horse is also nearly well. He has had a third relapse, and there are still remains of the tumor as well as of his leanness. I have already asked when you think of setting out for Virginia. I mean to join you whenever you are ready, & shall be in Philada. in due time for the purpose. Always & mo: affecty. Yours
Js. Madison Jr


Title: To James Madison from Daniel Carroll, 24 July 1791
From: Carroll, Daniel
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir,
George Town July 24th. 1791
Yr. favor from N. York gave me pleasure, as every token of yr. remembrance of me allways will.
Finding that you relinquish yr. tour to the East, I presume this will meet you in Philada. where you will hear all matters respecting the federal City &ca. Cou’d I have foreseen all the anxiety this business has given me from its commencement in Congress to its present Stage, I shou’d have shrunk from the attempt.
You turn from the North to the South in Augt to avoid travelling in the heat on acct. of some bilious symptoms. What reasoning is this? Reconsider—do not travell in Augt—do not remain either in N York or Pha. during that month, but in some pleasant Country Situation. When you come to the So. I sincerely wish it suited both you & Mr. Jefferson to take George Town & its neighbourhood in yr. way.
The objects of the Commission confered on me I find intricate & complex’d, much more extensive & important than was expected from the events which have taken place. I wish advice in some matters which I am sure wou’d be dictated only by friendship. Exclusive of the trouble there is a degree of responsibility at least of character, that occasions considerable anxiety.
You will readily suppose that the subject of the federal City & public buildings, leave no room for any others here. Even Burke, Pain, & publicola have been little attented [sic] too. I find the last has been atributed to J. A. Can you say who is the author? Pains Ps. & the short note to the printer seem to have occasion’d a call to arms, in support of the political opinions, I will not say designs, which have been progressing in the East.
I hear that P. Henry is not a member of yr. Legislature, & that Co Hy Lee is to be yr. Govr.
An article in the paper says Maryland by the returns has 320,000 Souls. The proportion of slaves not mentiond—two will be added to our Representation at least. The Southern returns will fall short of expectation. How will Virga stand?
Alltho’ my health has been better than when we were together, it wou’d I am sure have contributed greatly to restore it, cou’d I have had the pleasure of takeing the Northern tours in yr. compy. If you persevere in returning by Fredk. Town, pray let me know about what Time you expect to be there—but I will hope that it may suit to come by George Town.
Present me affectionately to Mrs House & Triste, & be allways assurd, that I remain, yr. affte. & ob Sert.
Danl. Carroll


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir
Philadelphia July 24. 1791.
Yours of the 21st. came to hand yesterday. I will keep my eye on the advertisements for Halifax. The time of my journey to Virginia is rendered doubtful by the incertainty whether the President goes there or not. It is rather thought he will not. If so, I shall go later & stay a shorter time. I presume I may set out about the beginning of September, & shall hope your company going & coming. The President is indisposed with the same blind tumour, & in the same place, which he had the year before last in New York. As yet it does not promise either to suppurate or be discussed. He is obliged to lye constantly on his side, & has at times a little fever. The young grandson has had a long & dangerous fever. He is thought better to-day. No news yet from Genl Scott: nor any thing from Europe worth repeating. Several merchants from Richmond (Scotch, English &c) were here lately. I suspect it was to dabble in federal filth. Let me hear of your health. Adieu my dear Sir. Yours affectionately
Th: Jefferson
P. S. The inclosed are for yourself, being duplicates.


Title: The Origins of Freneau’s National Gazette, 25 July 1791 (Editorial Note)
From:
To:

Editorial Note
Alarmed by the blatant partisanship of John Fenno’s Gazette of the United States, which JM and Jefferson grew to distrust after the publisher’s support of Alexander Hamilton became more apparent in the winter of 1790–91, the two republicans began seeking a journalistic counterbalance. Philip Freneau seemed to have all the qualifications. He was a trustworthy republican (Freneau and JM had been classmates at Princeton), a skilled writer, and he needed a job. To meet the problem of employment, Jefferson offered Freneau a position as a clerk-translator in the State Department barely a week before the First Congress ended its session. JM, Jefferson, and Freneau must have discussed their plans at great length, and the details of their arrangement are plain enough. Francis Childs, the New York printer with whom Freneau had worked on the Daily Advertiser, was brought into the arrangement for his printing skill and equipment. Freneau was to be, in modern parlance, the editor. JM and Jefferson would scour the country for subscriptions, invoking a plea for republicanism and loyalty that their friends would not have resisted lightly.
The outlines of the plan had been well formed by midsummer 1791. As Freneau’s letter to JM (25 July 1791) indicates, JM and Jefferson were eager to have a favorable answer. Clearly the target date for the new enterprise was to coincide with the opening of the Second Congress. A host of Virginia republicans were asked to encourage the enterprise as Childs himself carried JM’s solicitations southward. Governor Henry Lee, another friend from Princeton days, was particularly active in encouraging the venture. Daniel Carroll collected the names of potential subscribers in Maryland. John Beckley’s pen was busy on behalf of the endeavor, which was to form a barrier against Fenno’s “monarchism.”
JM not only harangued family and friends to subscribe to the new journal but also took the matter of newspaper circulation into the halls of Congress. Although it was only an indirect means of aiding Freneau, JM sponsored legislation to encourage newspaper circulation by lowering the mailing costs. He worked with Elbridge Gerry for four months to win passage in the House of a bill reducing postal rates on newspapers, but the Senate defeated it. The National Gazette ultimately reached a circulation of seventeen hundred. Yet the paper’s financial position remained precarious, and Freneau relied chiefly on his meager annual salary of $250 at the State Department. JM and his political associates had nevertheless secured a newspaper allied to the republican cause and thus established a precedent that long prevailed in American politics (Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., The Jeffersonian Republicans: The Formation of Party Organization, 1789–1801 [Chapel Hill, 1957], pp. 18–19 and n. 54). JM and Jefferson believed they had been rescued by Freneau and were anxious to give him credit. “His paper has saved our constitution which was galloping fast into monarchy, & has been checked by no one means so powerfully as by that paper” was Jefferson’s view—a sentiment that JM would have seconded with gratitude (“The Anas,” in Ford, Writings of JeffersonPaul Leicester Ford, ed., The Writings of
          Thomas Jefferson (10 vols.; New York, 1892–99)., I, 231).


Title: To James Madison from Philip Freneau, 25 July 1791
From: Freneau, Philip
To: Madison, James

Sir,
Middletown Point, Monmouth, July 25. 1791.
Some business detains me here a day or two longer from returning to New York. When I come, which I expect will be on Thursday, if you should not have left the city, I will give You a decisive answer relative to printing my paper at the Seat of Govt. instead of N. York. If I can get Mr. Childs to be connected with me on a tolerable plan, I believe I shall sacrifice other considerations, and transfer myself to Philadelphia. I am, Sir, with the highest respect Your Most obedt. humble Servt.
P. Freneau


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 26 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. Y. July 26. 1791
I am just in possession of your favor of the 24 inst: & thank you for the pamphlet which I shall look over without delay. Mr. Dorhman has this moment handed me a letter to Mazzei which will give him the change of prospect as to the balance of the debt. I really believe D’s misfortune to have been great & real. Mazzei must rest contented with his ultimate security in the land which I consider as satisfactory. It probably could not at this moment be converted into money at all; and certainly not without an absolute sacrifice of D’s interest. The maple sugar was principally bought by the manufacturers to be refined. After some research I have found a parcel from which you can be supplied. But the quality is so far below the standard formd by my imagination, that I inclose a sample in order to have your own decision on the case. The price is £3–8. N. Y. Currency. Nothing New. Yrs. Mo: Affy.
Js. Madison Jr


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 27 July 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

My dear Sir
Philadelphia July 27. 1791.
I inclose you the pamphlet desired in your’s of July 24. Also the one on Weights & measures recieved through you, of which having another copy, be pleased to keep it. In turning over some papers I came across my journal through France, & Italy, and fancied you might be willing to acquire of that country a knowlege at second hand which you refuse to acquire at the first. It is written in the way you seemed to approve on our journey. I gave E. P’s letter to mr. Lear. I write to Mazzei by a vessel which sails on Monday; so shall hope to hear from you by that time. Nobody could know of T. C’s application but himself, H. you & myself. Which of the four was most likely to give it out at all, & especially in such a form? Which of the four would feel an inclination to excite an opinion that you & myself were hostile to every thing not Southern? The President is much better. An incision has been made, & a kind suppuration is brought on. If Colo. Lee be with you present my respects to him. Adieu. Yours affectionately
Th: Jefferson
P. S. Dispatches from Genl Scott confirm the newspaper accts of his success, except that he was not wounded.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 28 July 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

My Dear Sir
Philadelphia July 28. 1791.
I this moment recieve yours of the 26th. The sugar of which you inclose a sample would by no means answer my purpose, which was to send it to Monticello, in order, by a proof of it’s quality, to recommend attention to the tree to my neighbors. In my letter of yesterday I forgot to tell you there is a brig here to sail for Halif[a]x in 10. days. She is under repair, & therefore may possibly protract her departure. Adieu. Your’s affectionately
Th: Jefferson


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, [29 July] 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
N. Y. Friday [29 July 1791]
I have this instant recd. yours of the 27th. in which you refer to as inclosed the pamphlet desired by me—to wit T. Coxes answer to Sheffield: As it is not inclosed I snatch this sudden oppty. to request you to forward it by Monday’s mail. I thank you for the other inclosures & have only time to add that I am Sir,
Js. Ma⟨dison⟩ Jr.


Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 29 July 1791
From: Lee, Henry
To: Madison, James

My dear sir.
Friday 29h. July 1791
In the forenoon this day I got here—soon saw the President & your affectionate friend Mr. Jefferson. The first has nearly recovd. Mr. J. & myself dined with him & as far as I can judge, no chance for 16 years opposes the happiness of the U:S from any event feared by us in N york. As to your corn which you so much prized & which Mr J. seems to reckon valuable & uncommon, the president says he has had it in field cultivation & Mrs. Washington recollects its use in her virgin days. From this event remember how theory & practice may be dissonant & mix more with men & women of all sorts.
Have you heard that Sedgwick of Massachusetts has been defendant in a suit before the fœderal judges in Boston. The case thus—Mr. Sendins of Albany sues him for the amount of a sum of paper purchased by A & B with his ler. of credit. A & B run off with the purchased property & this treason in the sub-actors has promulgated the connexion of your congressional brother. The date of the transaction shews that the acts of Congress were previously arranged & the transaction itself shews that one law maker of the majority, reckoned with certainty on the doings of Congress. A nonsuit was obtained by the defendants council against the opinion of the cheif Justice, for some quibble alledged as to the act of the two men credited by his Lter. Enquire & you will hear all about this matter & whether the negotiation extended itself in various parts of the eastern states.
The Plaintiff has ordered a new writ which will be tried in this city next term in the face of Congress.
I have not seen Randolph, himself & family are well I hear, Scott has succeeded as report has mentioned.
When do you come hither. Affy yours
H: Lee
No P Master Genl yet appointed


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 31 July 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Mr [sic] Dear Sir
N. York July 31. 1791
I recd. yours of the 28th. last evening. Your preceding one covering among other things your memorandums through France was acknowledged by a few lines put into the hands of a young gentleman bound to Philada. in the Stage of yesterday. The purpose of them was to apprize you that you had omitted Coxe’s answer to Sheffield and to request the favor of you to send it by Monday’s mail. Should the bearer have failed in his trust I take the liberty of repeating the request. I should be glad to have the pamphlet on Tuesday, but if forwarded after the receipt of this it may possibly be in time, especially if one of your young men should light on a passenger for Wednesday’s Stage that runs thro’ in one day. I do not wish however any trouble to be taken in enquiring for such a conveyance, and am really sorry that so much in so trifling a matter should have been given to yourself.
Col: H. Lee left this a day or two ago. He will probably mention to you the comments circulated as to the affair of the Comptroller. It is a little singular no doubt that so serious a face should have been put on it by —— who ought to have known the circumstances which explained the nature of the interference complained of. He referred in his conversation with me, to another candidate whom he could not properly name, as the channel thro’ which he had recd. his wrong impressions.
I am running over yo⟨ur⟩ memorandums; but I find that to enjoy the pleasure fully I must repeat them with a Map of France before me, which I cannot at present command. Yrs. Mo: Affecly.
Js. Madison Jr


Title: From James Madison to William Bingham, [ca. August] 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Bingham, William

Dr. Sir
[ca. August 1791]
The Legislature of Virginia chuse their Senators for Congs. as they do their State officers, by joint ballot of the two Houses. The ballots are first separately collected in each House & then brought together & counted by Committees from each in presence of such other members as think fit to attend, the election being decided by the major vote without regard to a distinction of Houses. It is a rule that if a majority of all the ballots does not fall on the same individual, the process is to be repeated till that happens, or rather I believe, the choice is then to be made between the two highest candidates. I am with much respect Your Mo: Obedt. servt.
Js. Madison Jr


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 1 August 1791
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Letter not found. 1 August 1791. Acknowledged in Jefferson to JM, 3 Aug. 1791. In his list of letters to Jefferson (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers), JM noted that this letter dealt with “Freneau. Col. H. Lee.”


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 3 August 1791
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Philada. Aug. 3. 1791.
Your favours of July 31. & Aug. 1. are recieved, but not that of the 30th. which was trusted to a private hand. Having discovered on Friday evening only that I had not inclosed Coxe’s pamphlet, I sent it off immediately to the post office. However I suppose it did not leave this place till the post of Monday nor get to your hands till Tuesday evening.
Colo. Lee is here still, & gives me hopes of your coming on soon. The President is got well. If he goes to mount Vernon at all it will be about the beginning of October. However I must go a month sooner. One of my carriage horses is dangerously ill, & become in a few days death-poor & broke out full of sores. I fear his situation portends a difficulty. I inclose you the map belonging to my journal, being the one I had in my pocket during the journey. Adieu, my dear Sir. Your’s affectly.
Th: Jefferson


Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 3 August 1791
From: Lee, Henry
To: Madison, James

My dear sir.
Philada. August 3d. 1791.
During my absence the physicians attending our afflicted countryman Col: Fisher have after various examinations decided that he has no stone, & incline to think his disorder is what is called a catarhh, a disease in the neck of the bladder or prostrate glands. In this doubt & consequent anxiety, I have advised him to obtain Doer. Mcnights opinion, to do which with certainty your agency is asked from my information to Col. Fisher, that it will be granted with sincerity & pleasure.
The following is a full statement of the beginning & progress of the disorder—”In the last of 86 or early in 87, on a pretty cold morning, he was surprized by a discharge of bloody urine, which at that time he could account for only by imputing it to a hard strain, or to riding a hard trotting horse. This discharge was followed by a copious one of mucus. At that time rest seem[ed] to procure ease, & exercise brought on a return of the complaint. Docr. Mcclurg was consulted, who gave it as his opinion that a stone in the bladder was likely the cause, altho he had known the same symptoms proceed from other causes, & advised the use of tonic medicines, which course was followed for two months. No releif being obtained, the bougee was tried by advice of a neighbor. Finding a little releif therefrom Col. Fisher used it frequently & once from the severity of his pain was induced to intrude it farther than common when he found it resisted by a hard matter in the bladder. From this he concluded that there was a stone, & communicated the event to some of the faculty, who declared it was impossible to feel a stone with such an instrument. A catheter was then tried, on which trial Col. Fisher was convinced that he felt a stone distinctly. On the withdrawing of the instrument there followed a quantity of loose calculus resembling white sugar candy. This confirmed himself & three physicians present, that the stone was the cause of his complaint.
Accordingly he took a variety of solvent medicines, particularly that called Adams solvent prepared by Perry in London & procured in N. York, but was particularly advised to apply to Doctor Jones of Philada. as an eminent Lythotomist. Col. Fisher thinks he received a little releif from the use of Adams solvent, which effected occasionally, discharges of the same sort as before mentioned.
Medicine as well as his patience being exhausted, he set out for Philada. & arrived here in May & put himself under the directions of Docr. Jones who after sounding him, appeared to have little doubt of the existence of a stone & a day was fixed for the performance of the operation necessary to extract it. The patient being put into the necessary position, many of the faculty present, Docr. Jones held the staff & Docr. Foulk the knife. The staff being introduced & the finger applied, to feel if possible the stone, a considerable effusion of mucus issued from the penis around the staff, & something of the same sort from the anus, which induced the physicians to postpone the operation, supposing that there were two ulcers one formed in the neck of the bladder, the other in the rectum & communicating with each other. But the patient conjectures that what came from the bladder was nothing more than urine mixed with the usual discharge of mucus, & what came from the anus the remains of a glister taken that morning. Matters being in this state & the patient in great pain Docr. Jones died. The surviving physicians have at different times sounded the patient & have not been able to discover the existence of a stone & but formed the opinion mentioned in the beginning of this letr. & have prescribed the application of mercurial ointment to the perinæum & hemlock pills to be taken night & morning.
The seat of pain is the perinæum & most agonizing when he goes to make water, which Col. Fisher supposes to proceed from the acrimony & heat of the urine.”
Col. Fisher always thought he had no stone, tho’ once he thought he felt it, & told his physic[i]ans if there was a disorder in nature so like the stone as admitted of deception, that disorder was the one undr. which he laboured. The reason why he entertained this opinion was because he never fe[l]t any weight in his bladder.
You will be so good my dear sir to enclose Dor. Mcnights decision on this case in a ler. addressed to Col. Fisher at Mr. Randolphs in Philada & to pay the necessary fee. The money will be returned to you should you reach this place before his departure—otherwise it will be left with Mr. Randolph. Yours always & affy
Henry Lee
P. S. A discharge of urine at this moment is mixed considerably with mucus & a little clotted blood.


Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 6 August 1791
From: Lee, Henry
To: Madison, James

My dear sir
Philada. Aug. 6h. 1791
As I hope on my return to Virga. to raise as much money as will pay off old Fairfax & put into our power the great falls, I mention to you my intention that you may lend as much aid as you can. I have ordered the deed to be made out to you & me in the proportion agreed on & have charged you with one fourth of the purchase.
If the event turns out as I expect, I shall not only be pleased by the good resulting to myself, but also in recollecting that once in your life you have done a small service to yourself by adventuring in unknown property. Yours very affy
H: Lee


Title: To James Madison from Charles Pinckney, 6 August 1791
From: Pinckney, Charles
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
August 6: 1791 In Charleston
From our former intimacy while I had the pleasure to serve with you in Congress & the Convention I am induced to make you the following communication in the confidence of friendship assured that you will only mention it to the person & in the manner I wish—as it is upon a subject of some Delicacy.
It has been suggested to me that several foreign ministerial appointments will take place at the commencement of the session in October or November and that this state from her rank in the Union, & particularly from her commercial importance, will be considered as entitled to one. All the gentlemen who might, from their Experience & standing in public life, be supposed to have a better claim than myself are in situations in this state, to prevent their accepting it, was it offered to them. Several of my friends have supposed that from the knowledge the President has of me & of my situation in this country, it is not impossible if it was mentioned to him that I would accept the appointment of a Minister plenipotentiary, that it might be made, particularly as the appointment is to come from this state & I believe there can be little doubt that it is the wish of most of the influential men here that I should have it. It was too lately thought of for them to write by this Vessel, but I believe by the next the President will recieve some Letters upon the subject. It is my request that it should not appear as coming from myself but that it should be understood that I wish to go to Europe for some years in a public character & that if appointed it will be agreeable. Knowing your intimacy with the President & the deserved confidence he has in you, it is my wish you would mention this to him as my friend & at the same time intimate that you believe he will recieve several Letters Upon the subject by the next packets from hence. I take it for granted, that the Executive never makes promises upon these occasions—that he hears every thing which can be said in favour of each pretension, & leaves himself free to nominate whom he thinks from every circumstance best qualified. Upon this footing I wish it put. You know me & how far I am qualified for public business. I can only add that having a fondness for public life I have unremittingly applied myself to the studies necessary to form a public man, since I had the pleasure to see you—the situation I hold has given me a full scope; & I can assure you I have as much industry as when you knew me & that by becoming a married man I have only added steadiness & I hope solidity to it. It is true I am not an old man, but I think I have lived Long enough to have at least acquired the knowledge necessary to this situation. Besides, it is the age of young men—in France in England & in our own Government—most of the influential offices are filled by men as young & in some instances younger than myself. Although I view a knowledge of it’s duties to be the Basis of the Qualifications of a Minister yet there are certain other things to be attended to in order to render him respectable. By these I mean his Family

   By Family I mean his Wife Children &ca—not his descent.

 & the manner in which his circumstances enable him to live; for there is a decency to be observed in public characters & their manner of living, a departure from which may derogate from the respect that is due to the nation they represent. On this account only I will mention to you in the confidence of our friendship that I shall, if appointed have some advantages in having a wife bred altogether in France and England—to whom the French Language is properly her native tongue, as she writes & speaks it full as fluently as she does English & whose Father from the large sums of Money he has in Europe & his extensive acquaintances will be enabled to make my situation in any part of it very agreeable & respectable. In wishing to obtain an European appointment I shall make considerable sacrifices—in being obliged to resign my present situation, which I shall have a right to hold for near two years to come, or to January or February 1793 & which from it’s salary & other appurtenances is an honourable & respectable one—in being obliged to give up for a time, Ease & I might almost add Affluence And in being under the necessity of leaving a number of affectionate & agreeable friends.

With respect to my Right to expect an office of this kind I can only say that I was three years in Congress & a member of the federal convention, in both of which you well know I used every Exertion to bring about the present constitution, & always contended for the Establishment of even more extensive powers. In my own State I have held every honourable & respectable situation it was in their power to give me & my Exertions to induce them to ratify the federal system are well known. Without Vanity I may say, that I think I possess their most unlimited confidence.
You see by these statements & opinions, the unreserved manner in which I have mentioned my Wishes & pretensions. I have never been in Europe & when I go, I am anxious to do so in a character that will enable me effectually to benefit from the information & Experience that are to be collected there. I have devoted myself to a public life & I am sure you will do every thing in your power to assist me in rendering myself useful. I hope at the time you mention it to the President, you will do it as from yourself & use all or any of the Arguments I have stated, which you think proper. I am told Appointments are to be made for London Paris & the Hague. Either will be agreeable to me, but I should prefer London. Excuse the trouble I have imposed upon your Friendship but believe me with gratitude & Esteem Dear Sir Your’s Truly
Charles Pinckney
P S.—I have not the honour to know Mr: Jefferson. I am told you are very intimate with him. As secretary of state he ought to have & I dare say has an influence in these affairs—if you think proper say to him what you please respecting this business.