Title: From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, 17 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Gallatin, Albert

17 January 1803, Department of State. Asks that Gallatin cause a certified statement to be made under the Treasury Department seal “comprehending all such sums of money as have been paid by the United States for the contingent expences of the Board of Commissioners which sat at Philadelphia under the 6th. Article of the British Treaty, together with what was paid as salary to the fifth commissioner of that Board.” Intends to transmit the statement to London “in order that so much of the monies as G. Britain was bound to pay, may be refunded; as that nation has paid but a very small sum towards the expenses of the Board under the 7th. article, more than feel [sic] to her share.”

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.


Title: From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 18 January 1803
From: Madison, James
To: Livingston, Robert R.

Sir,
Department of State January 18th. 1803.
My letters of Decr. 23d. and Jany. 3d. communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject. I now enclose a subsequent resolution of that Branch of the Legislature. Such of the debates connected with it, as took place with open doors, will be seen in the News Papers which it is expected will be forwarded by the Collector at New York by the present opportunity. In these debates, as well as in indications from the press, you will perceive, as you would readily suppose, that the Cession of Louisiana to France, has been associated as a ground of much solicitude with the affair at New Orleans. Such indeed has been the impulse given to the public mind by these events that every branch of the Government has felt the obligation of taking the measures most likely, not only to re-establish our present rights, but to promote arrangements by which they may be enlarged and more effectually secured. In deliberating on this subject, it has appeared to the President that the importance of the crisis, called for the experiment of an extraordinary Mission carrying with it the weight attached to such a measure, as well as the advantage of a more thorough knowledge of the views of the Government, and the sensibility of the Public, than could be otherwise conveyed. He has accordingly selected for this service, with the approbation of the Senate, Mr. Munroe, formerly our Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, and lately Governor of the State of Virginia, who will be join’d with yourself in a Commission extraordinary to treat with the French Republic; and with Mr. Pinckney in a like Commission, to treat, if necessary, with the Spanish Government. The President has been careful on this occasion to guard effectually against any possible misconstruction, in relation to yourself, by expressing in his message to the Senate, his undiminished confidence in the ordinary representation of the United States; and by referring the advantages of the additional Mission to considerations perfectly consistent therewith. Mr. Munroe will be the bearer of the Instructions under which you are jointly to negotiate. The object of them will be to procure a cession of New Orleans and the Floridas to the United States and consequently the establishment of the Mississippi as the boundary between the United States and Louisiana. In order to draw the French government into the measure a sum of money will make part of our propositions, to which will be added such regulations of the commerce of that river and of the others entering the Gulph of Mexico as ought to be satisfactory to France. From a letter received by the president from the respectable person alluded to in my last it is inferred with probability that the French government is not averse to treat on those grounds. And such a disposition must be strengthened by the circumstances of the present moment.
I have thought it proper to communicate thus much to you, without waiting for the departure of Mr. Monroe, who will not be able to sail for two weeks or perhaps more. I need not suggest to you, that in disclosing this diplomatic arrangement to the French Government and preparing the way for the object of it, the utmost care is to be used in repressing extravagant anticipations of the terms to be offered by the United States; particularly of the sum of money to be thrown into the transaction. The ultimatum on this point will be settled before the departure of Mr. Munroe and will be communicated by him. The sum hinted at in the letter to the president above referred to is thirty million livres. If a less will not do we are prepared to meet it but it is hoped that less will do and that the prospect of accommodation will concur with other motives in postponing the expedition to Louisiana. For the present I barely remark, that a proposition made to Congress with shut doors is under consideration which if agreed to will authorise a payment of about ten millions of livres under arrangements of time and place that may be so convenient to the French government as to invite a prompt as well as favorable decision in the case. The sum to which the proposition is limited and which will probably not be effectually concealed may at the same time assist in keeping down the pecuniary expectations of the French cabinet.
Your letter of November 10th. with one from Mr. Sumter of  have been received. As no mention is made of the disastrous state [of] St. Domingo, we conclude, that it was not then known at Paris, and ascribe to that ignorance the adherence to the plan of sending troops to take possession of Louisiana. If the French Government do not mean to abandon the reduction of that Island, it is certain that troops cannot be spared for the other object. The language held by General Victor; as communicated to you, claims attention, and would be entitled to much more, if the imputation to the French Government, under present circumstances, of views which would force an unnecessary War with the United States, could be reconciled with any motive whatever sufficient to account for such an infatuation. I have the honor to be with great respect, Sir Your most obt. Servt.
James Madison

   RC (PHC); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, IM, vol. 6). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed and marked “duplicate” by JM. Unless otherwise noted, italicized words are those encoded by a clerk and decoded here by the editors.

   See JM to Pinckney, 10 Jan. 1803, n. 3.

   See JM to Livingston, 15 Oct. 1802. JM referred to Pierre Samuel DuPont de Nemours to Jefferson, 4 Oct. 1802, which contained a project of a treaty between France and the U.S. in which the latter would pay the former $6 million for New Orleans and the Floridas (Malone, Correspondence between Jefferson and du Pont de Nemours, pp. 68–71).

   On 12 Jan. the House committee reported a resolution for an appropriation of $2 million to cover the costs of conducting U.S. foreign relations. The resolution was adopted, and the bill was passed by both houses and was approved by Jefferson on 26 Feb. (Annals of CongressDebates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56)., 7th Cong., 2d sess., 104, 374; U.S. Statutes at LargeThe Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America … (17 vols.; Boston, 1848–73)., 2:202).

   Left blank in all copies.

   Following the desertion of black generals Christophe, Pétion, and Dessalines in October and Leclerc’s death on 2 Nov., the French forces, decimated by yellow fever, had rapidly lost most of what territory they still controlled, retaining only the towns of Cap Français, Port-au-Prince, and Les Cayes (Ott, Haitian Revolution, pp. 176–77).

   See Livingston to JM, 10 Nov. 1802.


Title: From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 18 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Pinckney, Charles

18 January 1803, Department of State. “My letters of Novr. 27th and Jany 10th communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our Treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject.… He has accordingly selected for this service, with the approbation of the Senate, Mr. Monroe formerly our Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, and lately Governor of the State of Virginia, who will be joined with Mr Livingston in a Commission extraordinary to treat with the French Republic, and with yourself in a like Commission, to treat, if necessary with the Spanish Government.… From a letter received by the President from a respectable person, it is inferred with probability that the French Government is not averse to treat on those grounds, and such a disposition must be strengthened by the circumstances of the present moment.
“Though it is probable that this Mission will be completed at Paris, if its objects are at all attainable, yet it was necessary to apprize you thus far of what is contemplated both for your own satisfaction and that you may be prepared to co-operate on the occasion as circumstances may demand. Mr. Monroe will not be able to sail for two weeks or perhaps more.
“Of the letters written to you on the infraction of our rights at New Orleans, several copies have already been forwarded. Another is now inclosed. It is of the deepest importance that the Spanish Government should have as early an opportunity as possible of correcting and redressing the injury. If it should refuse or delay to do so, the most serious consequences are to be apprehended. The Government and people of the United States, are friendly to Spain, and know the full value of peace: but they know their rights also, and will maintain them. The Spirit of the nation is faithfully expressed in the resolution of the House of Representatives above referred to. You will make the proper use of it with the Spanish Government in accelerating the necessary orders to its officer at New Orleans, or in ascertaining the part it means to take on the occasion.
“The Convention with Spain is now before the Senate who have not come to a decision upon it. As soon as its fate is known I shall transmit you the necessary information.”

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, IM, vol. 6). 3 pp.

   The omitted passages indicated by the ellipses here and above are the same as in JM’s 18 Jan. 1803 letter to Livingston.

   JM may have enclosed a copy of his 10 Jan. 1803 letter to Pinckney.

   See JM to Pinckney, 10 Jan. 1803, n. 3.

   On 3 Mar. 1803 the Senate first rejected, then voted to reconsider, the convention that Jefferson had submitted on 11 Jan. The reconsideration took place in the following session, and the convention was ratified on 9 Jan. 1804. The delay necessitated a new ratification by Spain. Angered by the passage of the Mobile Act in March 1804, the Spanish refused to ratify, and the agreement was not completed until 1818 (Senate Exec. ProceedingsJournal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828)., 1:447–48, 462; French Ensor Chadwick, The Relations of the United States and Spain: Diplomacy [New York, 1909], pp. 70–71; Miller, TreatiesHunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (8 vols.; Washington, 1930–48)., 2:495–97).


Title: To James Madison from Richard O’Brien, 18 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: O’Brien, Richard
To: Madison, James

18 January 1803, Algiers. Reports that the dey sent a messenger on the morning of 17 Jan. to say “his Patience was nearly finished with The americans. That we had brought no Stores and That he would not accept of a Cash payment therefore he did not See the Use of The Consul remaining here as yet he being at peace with The americans.” O’Brien told the dey he had “60 days past wrote by 4 different Conveyances” about the dey’s refusal of cash and insistence on stores. He reminded the dey it was winter and time would be required for letters to arrive in America. When he had answers he would immediately inform the dey. “The devil answered that he had patience a little longer.” Believes that if “some great affair does not Shortly draw his attention” the dey will lose patience before answers arrive from the U.S. “We will be the first he will in reality attack. He wants War & it is a great pity but he Should get Plenty Thereof.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Algiers, vol. 6). 1 p. Undated; docketed by Wagner, “9 & 17 Jany. 1803,” and as received 23 May. Date here supplied from another copy of the RC (ibid.), which is dated 18 Jan. 1803 but docketed by Wagner as 17 Jan. 1803.

   The second RC has “dey” here.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 18 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Yrujo, Carlos Martínez de
To: Madison, James

18 January 1803, Capitol Hill. Has received JM’s “litle notte of yesterday [not found].” “Whatever may be his [Yrujo’s] wishes to yield to Mr Madison’s powerful interference in favor of Messrs. Nottnagell & Montmollin’s of Philadelphia, whose letter is return’d, it is out of his power to grant them the Passeport they wish for the Havana, as the King’s orders upon this head are positif.” Has in consequence refused many similar applications.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Spain, vol. 2). 1 p. Docketed by Wagner as received the same day.

   See Nottnagel, Montmollin & Company to JM, 11 Jan. 1803.


Title: To James Madison from William Hull and Others, 19 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Hull, William
To: Madison, James

19 January 1803. The writers state they have claims to lands in the territory ceded to the government by Georgia and will relinquish such claims under the following conditions: first, the U.S. will set aside “five millions of the most valuable acres” of the lands ceded to the U.S. by Georgia, to be disposed of at not less than $2 per acre, and such lands are to be the first sold after those sold to pay Georgia the $1,250,000 owed it for the cession; second, the amount from the sale, estimated at $10,000,000, shall be apportioned among the undersigned in the manner described here; third, the government shall retain $250,000 out of the $10,000,000 to compensate any claims other than those of the undersigned which may fall in the said acreage; fourth, of the remaining sum, $4,875,000 shall be paid to holders of the title of the Georgia Company, out of which the government shall retain $250,000 for other claims which may arise, any conflicts of title are to be judged by three commissioners, and awards made by any two of these arbitrators shall be final, it being understood that payments to claimants in the Georgia Company will not be delayed by such controversy; fifth, $3,022,500 shall be apportioned to holders of the title of the Georgia Mississippi Company, out of which the government shall apportion $155,000 for claims as above, with the remainder to be apportioned to members of the New England Mississippi Land Company who hold the residue of the title of the Georgia Mississippi Company; sixth, $1,170,000 shall be apportioned to holders of the title of the Tennessee Company, with $60,500 to be reserved for claims as above and $12,500 for “commissioners reservation”; seventh, $682,500 shall be apportioned to holders of the title of the Upper Mississippi Company, with $34,500 reserved for claims as above; eighth, payment shall be in treasury certificates bearing date of 1 Apr. 1803 and payable in three equal annual installments, the first being 1 Apr. 1805, to be paid out of the first proceeds of the sale of the above mentioned five million acres, and should payment be suspended, the government will pay interest at the rate of 6 percent annually of the amount due from the suspension date to the payment date, and sums paid to the undersigned shall come only from sale of the land, and should this not be sufficient, the unsold acreage retained by the U.S. will remain “an eventual fund for the payment of any such deficiency”; ninth, said certificates shall be issued in such face amounts as shall be most convenient for the undersigned, shall be transferable in the manner prescribed by law for the transfer of treasury certificates, and after completion of payment of $1,250,000 to Georgia, shall be accepted in payment for any part of the remaining lands, shall not be discounted, and shall not be considered as treasury money in payment of installments due to the undersigned as stated above; tenth, should proceeds of the sale of the said five million acres prove insufficient to pay the undersigned, they shall be recompensed from the proceeds of sales of the remaining lands ceded by Georgia but shall not receive more than they would have from the sale of said five million acres; eleventh, the claimants agree that no certificates shall be delivered until all such deeds, documents, and papers as the commissioners shall judge necessary shall be deposited in the State Department. The propositions are tendered in response to the commissioners’ correspondence and are “shaped more under the influence of a sincere desire to meet the wishes and views of the Government of the United States … than from an expectation of realizing a full compensation for property surrendered to public use.” The writers believe Congress will so view the proposals and agree to them, but if not, “nothing contained herein shall be construed to imply an assent, on the part of the claimants” to any acts which will prejudice their claims.

   Printed copy (ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Public Lands, 1:151–52). Addressed to JM, Albert Gallatin, and Levi Lincoln as commissioners for Georgia land claims. Signed by William Hull, Perez Morton, Samuel Dexter, and William Payne for the New England Mississippi Land Company; Jonathan Peck; Joseph Sands; Joseph Peppin for the Upper Mississippi Company; Jonathan Arnold; N. Le Favre; James Strawbridge for the Tennessee Company; Thomas Young; George Sibbald; and Samuel F. Conover.


Title: From James Madison to Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 20 January 1803
From: Madison, James
To: Yrujo, Carlos Martínez de

Sir,
Department of State, January 20th. 1803.
The inclosed copy of a letter addressed to the President by Mr. Oliver Pollock and of the documents presented with it, will evince to you, that he has claims upon the Spanish administration at Havana, and that he sets a value upon the interpositions he supposes it in your power to make with them, on his behalf. Allow me therefore to ask your good offices in his favor, in such manner as you may think will at once comport with the degree of justice his case may contain and with the nature of your official correspondence. I have the honor to be, Sir, With very great respect Your most obed. servt.
James Madison

   RC (NNPM: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, on deposit); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by JM.

   The enclosures have not been found, but Jefferson listed receipt of a 13 Jan. 1803 letter from Pollock in his Epistolary Record (DLC: Jefferson Papers).


Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 20 January 1803
From: Graham, John
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir,
Madrid 20th January 1803.
As the order of the Board of Health of which I have had the honor to inclose you a Copy in my Dispatch of the 29th. Decr. has been approved of, by His Catholic Majesty—it will probably occasion a great sensation in the United States, for against them, it seems to be particularly levelled. Satisfied in my own mind that our Government ought not to pass over this measure without some animadversions, I shall be particular in the detail of the circumstances which have taken place relative to it, so far as I have been concerned, that you may know exactly upon what footing the business stands at present.
My letter of the 29th. December would apprize you of the steps I had taken up to that date. While waiting an answer to the Letters I had addressed to the Minister of State on this subject (copies of which were sent you in the abovementioned dispatch) I received information from our Vice Consul at Coruña, that the ship Victory had arrived there, from Boston, & altho’ she brought with her a Bill of Health, countersigned by the Spanish Consul, she was not permitted to enter the Port. At the earnest solicitation of the Captain & himself, the Governor had agreed that she might lie off the harbour until an express could be sent here, to obtain in her favour, a mitigation of the order of the Board of Health. As I had been before told by the President of this Board, that he could do nothing, & as the Court were at that time on their Road from Carthagena, I addressed the note No. 1. to Mr. Porliez (the Oficial in the Secretaria who has our business upon his Table). In consequence of his answer, No. 2. I immediately on the arrival of the Court, hastened down to Aranjuez, & wrote the note, No. 3. to the Minister, asking for a conference—No. 4. is his answer. When I went to the Secretaria, I was told by the Minister, that Mr. Curtoise (one of the Oficials who spoke English very well) would receive & communicate to him any observations I might wish to make. To this Gentleman, then, I detailed the reasons which carried a conviction to my mind, that no danger was to be apprehended from our vessels, particularly at this Season of the year. I do not repeat them, as they are in substance, to be found in my different Letters to the Minister, of which I have taken the liberty to send you Copies.
I made a strong case of the Ship Victory—as sailing from a northern Port in the winter season—as loaded with Articles not liable to convey contagion—as arriving with her Crew complete & in perfect health—and as bringing with her a Certificate from a sworn Officer of the American Government, that the Port from which she sailed was healthy—and having too, the truth of this Certificate supported by the Testimony of His Majesty’s Consul on the spot—I thought it would be strange if all this could not be depended upon, merely because, about a month before, there had been an infectious fever within 400. Miles of the Place.
Mr. Curtoise, after a conference of half an hour with the Minister, told me, this was a business which has been particularly encharged by His Majesty to the Board of Health, & that the Minister had desired him to inform me, he felt very sensibly for the precarious situation of the Ship Victory, & if I would pass to him an Office on that subject, he would immediately communicate it to the Board of Health. His Excellency was satisfied that the repeal of the order was desireable in a Commercial point of view, as his Majesty’s subjects were in want of American Productions; but I was given to understand that this could not take place, until information was received from His Majesty’s Minister in the United States, that the fever had entirely disappeared. I was mortified to hear this; for independent of the wound which it gave my national pride, I was aware that various accidents might delay, or even prevent the arrival of the communications of the Minister. Some of these accidents have happened, or this Gentleman has been unpardonably negligent, knowing how much depended upon him, for we have accounts from Philadelphia to the 10th. of December, & we are told, that the fever disappeared from that City prior to the 1st. November.
No. 5. is a Copy of the letter which I wrote in consequence of what had been told me by Mr. Curtoise, & after waiting three or four days in Aranjuez, during which I had a second conversation with Mr. Curtoise & Mr. Porliez, I received the long wished for answer, No. 6. from the Minister, & the next day, No. 7. I then saw that the business was fixed, at least for a time, and returned to Madrid, where I have drafted the inclosed letter, No. 8. & shall send it in so soon as I can get it translated, accompanied with a note, slightly apologizing to the Minister for any warmth of expression in my letter of the 21st. December—for his Excellency seems from the style of his answer, not to be perfectly satisfied with my manner.
I hope the President & Yourself will make allowances for the difficulty & novelty of my situation. On the one hand, I was unwilling to give offence; on the other, I could not reconcile it to myself, humbly to beg admission for our Vessels into the Spanish Ports, when I was confident they had been driven out of them unnecessarily, & consequently contrary to the spirit of the Treaty, & to the fundamental principles of the Laws of Nations. On a subject like this, a certain degree of warmth seemed to be prudent, for I wished not, myself to justify the opinion, which too generally prevails, that we are a Nation who will suffer any indignity to retain a precarious Commerce, and I was advised, that on an affair like this, a cold argument would be but little attended to. My first wish was to procure a repeal of the order, & if I could not succeed in this, at least to put the business upon such a footing, as to leave my Government entirely at liberty to pursue those measures which their own wisdom might dictate. I have endeavoured neither to commit them, by too much rashness, nor by too tame an acquiescence, in a Regulation with which they have a right to be displeased. How far I have succeeded, is now, for the President & yourself to determine, & if my conduct meets with his approbation & with yours, I shall not lament that it has fallen to my lot, to bear the sufferings of my present situation. You will be able to estimate these, when you find that this cruel Regulation was only made to bear upon Vessels coming from the United States, when those from the West Indies, with Cargoes much more liable to convey Contagion, were admitted under the usual Quarantine. Does not this require some explanation?
No. 9. is a copy of my letter to the Minister, asking his interpretation of the 1st. Article of the Convention lately signed—No. 10. his answer; from which, I find, that he differs from Mr. Pinckney—but as it appears to me, that his, is the interpretation, warranted by the words of the Article—I presume it will be insisted on. With Sentiments of the Highest Respect I have the Honor to be Sir Your Most Obt Sert
John Graham

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, DD, Spain, vol. 6). RC in a clerk’s hand, except for Graham’s complimentary close and signature. For enclosures (16 pp.; docketed by Wagner), see nn. 2–10.

   See Graham to JM, 29 Dec. 1802, and n. 1.

   Graham’s 5 Jan. 1803 note to Antonio Porliez, enclosure no. 1, enclosed copies of papers Graham had received by express from La Coruña on 4 Jan. and asked if there was a more expeditious method of dealing with the case than by application to Cevallos.

   Enclosure no. 2 is a copy of Porliez’s 6 Jan. 1803 reply (in French). Porliez acknowledged the Victory’s unpleasant situation but noted that as he had no power to revoke the order, Graham must present the case to Cevallos.

   Enclosure no. 3 is a copy of Graham to Cevallos, 10 Jan. 1803, requesting an immediate conference to discuss the order for the expulsion of all vessels arriving from the U.S. Graham described the case of the Victory and asked to be allowed to bring an interpreter as he lacked facility in both of the languages in which Cevallos was accustomed to converse. Enclosure no. 4 is Cevallos’s reply of the same date (in Spanish) agreeing to meet Graham on 11 Jan. and adding that there was no need to bring an interpreter.

   Enclosure no. 5 is a copy of Graham to Cevallos, 12 Jan. 1803, stating that the Victory had left Boston on 29 Nov. 1802 with a bill of health signed by the Spanish consul there. He requested a speedy decision because of the ship’s exposed position outside the harbor. Graham added that it would be “a most painful circumstance” if American vessels were turned away from Spanish ports, particularly since London and Paris papers reported that the fever had disappeared from the U.S. before 1 Nov. 1802, as it had done in previous years. He also noted that bills of health certified by Spanish consuls should “completely authenticate” the health of American ships.

   Enclosure no. 6 is a copy of Cevallos to Graham, 15 Jan. 1803 (in Spanish), in which Cevallos noted he had presented to the king the arguments in Graham’s 17 and 21 Dec. 1802 letters against the regulation refusing admittance to any ship coming from the U.S. which had not undergone purification in the lazaretto of a foreign port. In reply, the king instructed Cevallos to write that the order was a necessary precaution prompted by a desire to avoid a repetition of the sad events in Andalusia in 1800; that since the peninsula lacked a lazaretto, the handling of such cases was delegated to foreign ports; that the provision made no distinction between Spanish and foreign ships; that the argument that Spanish ships were admitted to U.S. ports was inappropriate, since they were not coming from ports suspected of harboring disease; and that, though the king could not revoke the order, he would mitigate its observance when notified by Yrujo that the yellow fever epidemic which raged in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Castle on 22 Sept. 1802 had ceased.

   Enclosure no. 7 is a copy of Cevallos to Graham, 16 Jan. 1803 (in Spanish), stating that Cevallos had informed the king of the situation of Capt. Joseph Haller and the Victory and had presented Graham’s arguments requesting admission of the ship. Although the king wished to honor Graham’s request, Cevallos wrote, he considered the conservation of public health too grave a matter to risk a repetition of the calamities suffered in 1800 (see PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:450 n. 1).

   Enclosure no. 8 is Graham’s 20 Jan. 1803 reply, expressing regret at the continued enforcement of the order and containing a point-by-point refutation of Cevallos’s arguments. Graham stated that U.S. commerce with Spain was sanctioned by the law of nations and stipulated by treaty, and he complained that vessels were admitted from “the Islands,” where the yellow fever devastation was worse than in the U.S. He explained why the fever in Andalusia in 1800 could not have been brought from Charleston, expressed hope that Cevallos would weigh the risk of contagion against the injury to U.S. commerce, and asked that Cevallos press for adoption of a regulation that would secure the health of Spanish citizens without depriving them of a profitable trade.

   In his 15 Jan. 1803 note to Cevallos, enclosure no. 9, Graham asked if Spain intended the fifth commissioner to be appointed by the four commissioners or by the two governments and how vacancies were to be filled.

   In his 17 Jan. 1803 reply (in Spanish), enclosure no. 10, Cevallos stated that the fifth commissioner should be chosen by the common consent of the two governments. He did not address the issue of vacancies.


Title: To James Madison from William E. Hũlings, 20 January 1803
From: Hũlings, William E.
To: Madison, James

Sir
New Orleans 20th Jany. 1803
Your letter of the 29th. November 1802, together with a letter for his Excelly the Goverr., and one for the Intendt. were handed to me about 9 OClock last Eveng. by an Express from Goverr. Claiborne, and were duly deliverd by me. The inclosures for the Spanish Minister are answers to the subject, having been prepared to go by a Capt Danavre, who brot. the Originals from Philada. and who arrived here about the 13th Inst. As usual in this Govt. where the people have nothing to do with Governmental affairs; secresy was observed on the arrival of the dispatchez; however it leaked out that such had arrived, their contents were guessed at, and the accounts ran as various as the imaginations of those that framed them; Yet the general impression was, that the Minister near the U. S. disapproved the Intendt’s measures, and recommended the removal of the prohibition to deposit. The Gazettes have truly stated that the Goverr. was opposed to the act of the Intendt.
About the 21st. Octr. last I waited on the Govr. and had a conversation with him on the subject of the deposit; he Assured me that he had Opposed the Intendt. as far as he possibly coud without taking the responsability on himself. That the Intendt. had done it on his own Authority and responsability, as he knew of no orders from his C. Majesty for that purpose: all of which was confirmed to me by the Secrey. of Governt. the same day. Notwithstandg the Govr. gave the matter up, and the Intendt.’s decree was, and continues to be strictly executed to the extreme prejudice of the Citizens of the United States, who are denied the rights of hospitality in distress, as exemplified in the Case of Col. John Ellis, and Majr. Wm. Gordon Forman, communicated to you in my letter of 25 Novr. Ulto. The Intendt is very reserved even to his chief Officers, and choosing to consider me only as a private Stranger, avoids giving (as it appears to me) an Opportunity to say anything about the business in question. Nor have I been able to learn from any of the heads of the Departmts. (with all of whom, I am well acquainted) anything that shou’d have come from the Intendt. relative to the authority on which he acted. The said Offic[e]rs are generally of Opinion that no orders have been recd. by the Intendt.
If I might venture to offer an Opinion on a subject so well understood by you, I woud suggest that if the Intendt. open the port of deposit at the recommendation of the Minister; it will only Operate as an Opiate; palliating instead of eradicating the Evil: A repetition of the injury dependg. on the Caprice of an Intendt., and the acquiescence, or non resistance of a Goverr.—perhaps the present Circumstances Offer the most favorable Opportunity to obtain a right in perpetuity to deposit in the town of New Orleans, (Much the most desirable place, on Account of the many conveniences readily to be had) or if that is not Obtainable, to have an elegible, and permanent Establishment elsewhere, on the Banks of the Missisy. Also to have their Consul, or agent Acknowledged, and furnished with the Royal Exequatur; a circumstance indispensably necessary, if the American trade, or the deposit exist here. Neither of these concessions wou’d benefit the American Governt. so much as the possession of the east Coast of the Missisy. from the present American limit’s to the Sea. This establishmt. wou’d enable it to defend it’s rights from the wanton encroachmts. of foreign Officers, secure the peaceable navigation of the River, and serve as a strong frontier Post to the rich, and growing Western States. The quantity of sugar that might be produced with an improved culture of Extensive tracts of land, that now lay waste, is no inconsiderable weight in the scale of interest, and independence in foreign Countries.
I can learn nothing certain respecting the comg. of the French, nor do I discover any preparation for the delivery of the Country; nor do I suppose there will be any Other than what is ordained in the royal order that I did myself the pleasure to transmit to you in a letter of the 15th. Decr. last; the Copy of which I obtained privately by a friend. I need not pray you to use it as such.
The navigation of the River Mobile up to the American Forts, and from Mobile, to New Orleans by way of the Lakes, and the Bayou (Creek) St. John; is an object of much growg. importance to the U. S. Indeed is positively necessary to the welfare of the American Settlements on that fine river. I am Sir, Most respectfully Your very humble Servt. &c &c
Wm. E Hũlings

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, New Orleans, vol. 1). Marked “(triplicate) Duplicate per Brig Mariner ⅌ N York.” Docketed by Wagner.

   One of the enclosures was probably a 15 Jan. 1803 letter from Morales to Yrujo, in which the intendant stated that he had revoked the right of deposit on his own responsibility despite Salcedo’s opposition and that he had done so “to strike at the root of the infinite irregularities and abuses, which were the result of the right of deposit.” Morales sent a copy of Yrujo’s 26 Nov. 1802 letter and his reply to treasury minister Soler (Gayarré, History of Louisiana, 3:576–77; León Tello, Documentos relativos a la independencia de Norteamérica, 1:698). Hũlings apparently also enclosed a letter from Salcedo to Yrujo.

   Morales had in fact received a “very secret” 14 July 1802 dispatch from Soler containing a royal order to suspend the right of deposit and to take all responsibility for the act upon himself. On 21 Oct. 1802 Morales had sent Soler a “very secret” dispatch reporting that he had complied with the order. To prevent his staff from learning and leaking any information he drafted an open letter of the same date which he sent to Soler as cover for the above report (Whitaker, Mississippi Question, pp. 191, 309 nn. 4 and 8; León Tello, Documentos relativos a la independencia de Norteamérica, 1:696–97).


Title: From James Madison to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Clerk of the House of Representatives

20 January 1803, Department of State. Encloses a certificate [not found] of the election of Caesar A. Rodney as a member of the House of Representatives from Delaware, which has just been received under a blank cover. Supposes the clerk’s office is the best place for its deposit.

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.


Title: From James Madison to DeWitt Clinton, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Clinton, DeWitt

20 January 1803. “The nomination of Mr. [James] Anderson as Commercial Agent at Cette, was made by the President in consequence of the inclosed letter, which being an original I request the favor of you to return to me, after having made the use of it that you may think proper.”

   RC (NNC: DeWitt Clinton Papers). 1 p.

   The enclosure was probably Fulwar Skipwith to JM, 30 Mar. 1802 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 3:90–91); see also James Anderson to JM, 25 Mar. 1802 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 3:70 and n.).


Title: From James Madison to Flanmand Dusar, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Dusar, Flanmand

20 January 1803, Department of State, Washington. Acknowledges Dusar’s 10 Jan. letter [not found] with the enclosed documents concerning his claim against Spain. A convention stipulating the appointment of commissioners to examine cases and make awards is now before the Senate for ratification. When the convention is ratified and the commissioners appointed, “public notice will be given to the claimants; till when it is best for you to retain the documents and then forward them to Madrid, the place where the commissioners are to meet.”

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.

   Flanmand Dusar was a Philadelphia merchant (Robinson, Philadelphia Directory for 1803 [Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols.; New York, 1958–66). 4858], p. 78).


Title: From James Madison to Mr. Goddard, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Goddard, [Mr.]

20 January 1803, Department of State. Informs Goddard that the account which accompanied his letter of 15 Jan. [not found] should be presented at the auditor’s office, “where it will be regularly ascertained, whether any or all of it ought to be reimbursed by the public.” Returns the account.

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.


Title: To James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Claiborne, William C. C.
To: Madison, James

20 January 1803, “Near Natchez.” Encloses “general abstracts” [not found] of a recently received return of the claims filed in Washington County. Most titles exhibited in the county “are very incomplete.” “It is not believed, that any of the citizens claiming under Spanish sales, had obtained patents previous to October 1795, but remained in possession of their lands, by virtue of an Order of survey from the governor general, which is commonly called a Grant.” Referred to this “species of title” in his letter of 5 Nov. Observes it was not until after the Spanish conquered Florida that they introduced the custom of issuing patents. Previously, “a warrant of survey and possession was the only mode of Spanish conveyance, and subsequent to the period alluded to, this kind of title after three years occupancy was esteemed valid.” Abstract no. 1 shows the amount of land claimed under British and Spanish grants. Abstract no. 2 shows the amount of land claimed under British and French patents. Abstract no. 3 shows the amount of land claimed under occupancy by those who were actual settlers in the ceded territory in October 1795. Also in the county are 108 heads of families who have settled and made “considerable improvements” on vacant land since 1795. Trusts that a right of preemption will be given to them and believes “it would be good policy to sell the land low to actual settlers,” which “will be the only means of preventing a considerable emigration to Louisiana, from this most remote and vulnerable part” of the U.S. Encloses a letter [not found] from Richard Lee, Washington County clerk, which accompanied the return of claims. Adds in a postscript that the original papers for the claims are filed in his office, it being judged unnecessary to forward them. They will be sent if needed.

   Letterbook copy (Ms-Ar: Claiborne Executive Journal). 3 pp. Printed in Rowland, Claiborne Letter BooksDunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (6 vols.; Jackson, Miss., 1917)., 1:263–64.


Title: To James Madison from George W. Erving, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Erving, George W.
To: Madison, James

20 January 1803, London. Private No. 12. Again troubles JM with a long dispatch but hopes it will be the last of such bulk that his duties may necessitate, as he fears he has fatigued JM with public and private letters. “This perseverance in the work of writing is the less excusable, as I cannot pretend to have received particular Encouragement, the only letters with which you have favord me having been one introductory of Mr Christie, & another on the appointment of Mr Cabot. Tho the accompanying communications are not perhaps absolutely necessary to the due discharge of my duty, yet I hope that they may be found of sufficient interest to apologize for the trouble which their perusal may give you; & I confess that I have no reluctance in seizing this occasion of Exposing the spirit which actuates the ‘little band’ with which I have to do here.” It appears that the former board regulations and instructions were put aside during Williams’s term of office so “he might be benefitted by perquisites & commissions; & now that he is removed from office, the original regulations are reverted to for the same purposes.” King “warmly insists upon Mr W’s zeal in the public service,” although Erving has given him proof that Williams deviated from instructions and kept in his possession over $364,000 of claimants’ money which should have been deposited in the Bank of England. “Mr Cabot, between whom & Mr W’s there subsists a sort of partnership has now been allowed to transfer his powers of attorney to Mr Williams, & is still in Effect the agent of those who have granted them; thus too a principle laid down by the board, & urged against my receiving the lucrative office of assessor has been virtually dispensed with in favor of these gentlemen; The commissioners are willing that the public Agent whose labors are incessant, & whose responsibility & trusts are so great should be left with his reduced salary, taking care that all the bonus’s & great Emoluments … shoud be consigned to these enfans gatés the ex agents: And have besides interested themselves with Government to procure for Mr Cabot a portion of that Salary which was saved on my appointment as an inducement for him to come to this Country, & by those means make his fortune: his reports as assessor with the pay for calculating interest … will produce to him upwards of 3000£ Stg, I cannot Estimate the ½ commissions on his & Mr Williams’s agencies … at less than 3000£ more, besides the temporary use of the Claimants Money, for which Intt at the rate of 5 per Ct per Ann can always be obtained here without any Risque or speculation, & very considerable commissions on such part of the awards as he may be authorized to sell: all these advantages will accrue within 12 or 18 Mos.” Believes Pinkney promoted Cabot for the assessorship in order to get concessions on public matters, as his opinions on other points of business have coincided with Erving’s. Pinkney’s “particular & strong objections” were the reason Williams’s powers were not all admitted. The British commissioners, “tho they are liberal well disposed men,” are indifferent to questions between one American agent and another and will acquiesce in the wishes of the American commissioners. Had Williams’s powers been admitted, it would have shortened the term of Erving’s agency, as he “shoud have scarcely had ten awards to receive,” but certainly would have reflected discredit on himself and disrespect to the government that appointed him.
Asks pardon for dwelling “on this tedious private subject.” Has suggested that King’s successor might negotiate an arrangement placing compensation on a more favorable footing “by making the awards more saleable,” prompting most claimants to dispose of them. “The convention was in this respect certainly to say the least mismanaged. I am persuaded that it woud not have been difficult so to have arranged it, as that the whole payment shoud have been made immediately; It should have been considered that … it might become extremely inconvenient that a connection growing out of the treaty shoud subsist after the treaty itself had expired: The Treaty will soon die a natural death & it woud seem to be fit … that our accounts shoud be closed & the ballance settled.” Had hoped the board would dissolve itself during the summer, as most business will be settled by July and the remaining cases should be entered by then. Pinkney is “very anxious to get home,” but the other American commissioners do not share his anxiety and the British commissioners are already home. Believes a compromise has been agreed on. “If the business can be so far forwarded as that what may remain undetermined shall not be sufficiently important to detain Mr Pinkney in England after the Autumn, he will consent to leave such a remnant as may countenance the Board in continuing its existance, which they will contrive to eke out 12 or 18 months longer. It is probable then that Mr P. will contrive to go home in the Autumn, but will leave the business in such a state as that no mischeif may arise, & that his place may be supplied without risque.” Suggests the government authorize the engagement of a ship’s cabin for Pinkney and his large family or arrange for the “accidental calling of his brother in law Captn Rogers at Falmo. in his way to the United States if he shoud about that time happen to be going home to refit & Mr P. shoud have permission to Embark himself in the frigate.” Either arrangement would gratify Pinkney personally and also expedite “that business on which his going depends.” “He will not desert his post till all the English cases are decided; but if he has hopes of going the business will be dispatched.” It appears King intends to depart at the beginning of April. Believes King intends to leave Gore as chargé d’affaires again if a new minister has not arrived. “This will be an usurpation; for as in civil law no mans powers of attorney survive him, so when he is politically defunct he cannot be politically represented; nor can he on his death bed bequeath an Estate in which he is only tenant for life.”
Relates the current topic of interest as to Europe—“the so long projected, the so much talked of, & the so terribly apprehended Expedition of the French to Louisiania.” There is scarcely a French port in which the expedition has not been rumored to have been fitted out and dismantled. “Finally it woud appear that the poor Batavians are to do the business for them; Probably Buonaparte considers that the American debt being paid they can afford the expence of an Armament; Many troops will doubtless be embarked from different quarters for Louisiania who will stop on their way at St Domingo; it is Easy to inlist adventurers to the country of mince, & yet they will invade with great reluctance the territories of the Yellow fever. In the present state of St Domi⟨ngo⟩ it woud appear that the French cannot possibly contemplate the sending any considerable regular force to N. Orleans.” If accounts are correct, the nature of the expedition from Holland will quiet all apprehension, being composed of “a motley group of Emigrants armed only with scythes & ploughshares, & furnished with the Seeds of turnips & clover instead of sedition & disaffection.” “That they will in one way or other at some convenient moment take possession of the Colony we must expect, but that they have any military projects other than that of opposing a barrier to such views as we or the English may at any time have to the wealth of Mexico is not to be beleived.… They cannot contemplate any annoyance to us in the Navigation of the Missisippi because they must know that an attempt of that sort must annihilate their infant Colony, & defeat their first purpose; which must be to preserve the wealth of that Country in the hands of its present possessors, thro whom it may be made as conveniently available to French purposes as if it were in their own possession; Buonoparte views the Spaniards & the Dutch with the Eye of Falstaff as his Mistress Page & Mistress Ford—‘they shall be my East & my West Indies, & I will trade to them both.’” The general expectation seems to be that Napoleon will assume the title of emperor. “If the power & substance will not satiate him without the title & trappings, he has not consulted, or not profited by the Examples of history; but is it not more probable that he is only feeling the pulse of his patient to determine upon his regimen & physicking? or may he not wish to have the glory of refusing a bauble? … So shall Talleyrand pronounce over his remains ‘I thrice presented him a kingly Crown which he did thrice refuse, did this in Cæsar seem ambition.’”
Adds in a postscript that he will be unable to forward his consular accounts for the last half year for some time. The Mary, which he discussed in his 21 Oct. dispatch, was forced into Falmouth by contrary winds. Fever broke out and several passengers died, resulting in the quarantine of the vessel, but the fever has almost disappeared and the ship will probably sail again in a fortnight. “Some necessary Expences have arisen at Falmouth which it will require time to adjust between myself the owners & the government here. The details of this unhappy business are Extremely voluminous but I shall Endeavour to contract my report within as narrow a space as possible.”

   RC (MHi: Erving Papers). 10 pp.

   JM to Erving, 31 Dec. 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 2:355).

   For JM’s 3 May 1802 letter to Erving (not found), see Erving to JM, 3 Nov. 1802, n. 9.

   Enfants gatés: spoiled children.

   For the time limits placed on the various articles of the Jay treaty, see Miller, TreatiesHunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (8 vols.; Washington, 1930–48)., 2:255, 264, 268.

   Pinkney’s wife, Ann Maria Rodgers Pinkney, was the sister of Capt. John Rodgers (William Pinkney, The Life of William Pinkney [1853; New York, 1969 reprint], p. 20).

   Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.3.79.

   It was not until 18 May 1804 that Napoleon was proclaimed emperor by the French Senate (Tulard, Dictionnaire Napoléon, p. 1228).

   Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 3.2.101.


Title: To James Madison from Tobias Lear, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Lear, Tobias
To: Madison, James

20 January 1803, Washington. The House of Representatives having referred to JM the memorial Lear laid before them stating the losses he sustained as U.S. commercial agent at Saint-Domingue during the destruction of Cap Français, he encloses a statement of the fees he received for the execution of his official duties and the amount of his expenditures during his residence there, “including House rent, Clerks hire, passage out and home &c. &c.—and also the amot. of the property, as nearly as I can ascertain it, belonging to me, which was plundered or burnt when the City was destroyed.” Cannot be as correct regarding the latter as the former, “because I was not fortunate enough to save the Invoices or documents which would ascertain the amot. with precision,” but is “fully confident” the sum of $4,500 is “much below the real loss” sustained. “For my time, or any services which I may have rendered my fellow Citizens at that critical period, out of the line of my Official duty, I make no charge; for no pecuniary compensation could induce me to pass through similar scenes.” JM is well acquainted with “the peculiar & delicate circumstances” in which Lear was placed by events that took place during his residence in Saint-Domingue. Will make any further communications JM may deem necessary in the business. Also encloses an account of sums paid for the relief of distressed American seamen and credits the U.S. for a bill he drew in favor of Clement Biddle for $100. “The Vouchers for the payments made before the destruction of the Town were consumed in my house: for those paid afterwards I have the receipts. Should the forms of Office not allow the Account to be passed without the Vouchers, I must suffer the loss.”

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Algiers, vol. 6); Tr and Tr of first enclosure (DNA: RG 233, Transcribed Reports and Communications from the Secretary of State, 5C-B1). RC 3 pp. Docketed by Wagner. RC and enclosures printed in ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Claims, pp. 274–75. For enclosures, see nn. 2 and 4.

   See JM to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 26 Jan. 1803, and nn.

   Lear’s statement of fees received and expenses paid (1 p.) showed a balance owed to him of $2,086, to which he added the $4,500 loss from his house fire, for a total due him of $6,586.

   For Lear’s description of the French invasion of Saint-Domingue and the burning of Cap Français, see PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 2:499–522, 523–24 nn.

   Lear’s statement of expenses for board, medical treatment, and funeral expenses for various American seamen (2 pp.) came to $118, leaving $18 due him after deduction of his draft in favor of Biddle.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from William Lee, 20 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Lee, William
To: Madison, James

20 January 1803, Bordeaux. Has been informed by William Foster, Jr., that he is “about making application to the President” through friends in the U.S. for appointment to the vacant consulate at Nantes. Has known Foster “for many years” and he has a reputation for “possessing good mercantile talents, a cultivated understanding and virtuous principles.” He has resided in France “for upwards of five years” and is well acquainted with the language and manners of the inhabitants, “among whom he is very generally esteemed.” He is about to establish himself at Nantes with “a handsome Capital and under very favourable auspicies” and may be considered “a very fit person” to fill Dobrée’s place.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Foster”). 2 pp. Postmarked Boston, 23 Mar.

   For Foster, see William Foster to JM, 14 Jan. 1802 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 2:397 and nn.). For Pierre-Frédéric Dobrée, see Isaac Cox Barnet to JM, 5 Aug. 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 2:19 n.).


Title: To James Madison from James Deering and Others, 21 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Deering, James
To: Madison, James

21 January 1803, Portland. Believing the president “has it in contemplation” to remove Nathaniel F. Fosdick as collector of Portland and Falmouth, they offer a suitable successor. “From our personal acquaintance with, and knowledge of, the disposition, good sense, integrity and abilities of Isaac Ilsley Esq. as well as his firm and avowed attachment to the present administration of Government, we think … he should be appointed to that office.… And, abstracting the sensations with which a very few might be affected, on account of the removal of the other Gentleman,… the appointment would give general satisfaction.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Ilsley”). 2 pp. Signed by Deering, James Jewitt, Albert Newhall, Henry Sitcomb, Enoch Preble, and Salmon Chase. Docketed by Jefferson. Ilsley was nominated for collector at Portland on 4 Feb. 1803 (Senate Exec. ProceedingsJournal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828)., 1:441,446).

   The motives behind this attack on Fosdick are explained in Daniel Davis to Gallatin, 5 Apr. 1803 (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Fosdick”).

   On 3 Apr. 1803 Benjamin Hichborn wrote JM introducing Fosdick and recommending his retention, stating that when “Falsehood & calumny are employed to ruin a good officer, & an honest man—any attempt to furnish the means of detecting the falsehood will I am sure be attended to” (DLC).


Title: To James Madison from William Savage, 21 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Savage, William
To: Madison, James

21 January 1803, Kingston, Jamaica. Encloses his account and vouchers to 31 Dec. 1802 [not found], showing a balance due him of £58 7s. 2d., or $175.08. Has “this day” drawn on JM for this amount at thirty days’ sight in favor of Elliston and John Perot of Philadelphia.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Kingston, Jamaica, vol. 1). 1 p. Docketed by Brent as received 14 Mar., with his note, “the accounts referred to sent to the Auditor of the Treasury’s Office.”

   Merchants Elliston Perot (1747–1834) and John Perot, originally of Barbados, had their wharf and offices at 39–43 North Water Street, Philadelphia (Elva Tooker, Nathan Trotter: Philadelphia Merchant, 1787–1853 [Cambridge, Mass., 1955], pp. 35, 39; Robinson, Philadelphia Directory for 1803 [Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols.; New York, 1958–66). 4858], p. 196).

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from Robert R. Livingston, 24 January 1803
From: Livingston, Robert R.
To: Madison, James

Sir
Paris 24 Jany 1802 [1803]
I have just now heard of an opportunity from Havre. I am doubtful whether my letter will arrive in time for it. I therefore confine myself to inform you that Genl Bernadotte is named Minister to the United States in the place of Otto who will be employed here. Genl Bernadotte is brother in law to joseph Bonaparte & is a very respectable man & has the character of a decided Republican. I have endeavoured to impress upon him the necessity of making Some arrangements, relative to the debt previous to his departure, which he has much at heart but neither he nor any body else can influence the councils of the First Consul you can hardly conceive anything more timid than all about him are they dare not be known to have a sentiment of their own or to have expressed one to anybody but as I have not time to put this in cypher I must differ [sic] writing to you more at large on this subject as well as a full communication of a very delicate step that I have hazarded and which promised success for some time but from which I at present hope for no important result. The Minister informs me that the expedition to Louisiana will sail shortly. Genl Bernadotte will go in about three weeks. He will have full powers to settle every thing. I ask the Minister what confidence you can have in any new offer to treat when the last Treaty is unexecuted, & why he had not better send out Genl Bernadotte with a Treaty in his hand than only with powers that will be suspected, & how he can make arrangements upon the debts which must depend upon the Legislature. He answers this by Saying they want information as to right of Depot &c—as to the debt I have no hope that they have any intention to pay it or even to fund it. From the dispositions which I know to be entertained by some that go out with Victor I have no doubt that they will provoke an Indian war by paying them nothing and that in their solicitude to acquire wealth they act over again the tyranny of St. Domingo. It will be necessary therefore to take the position that will best guard you against the effects of these evils. As to myself I am left wholly without any precise instruction how to act or what to offer—enclosed are two memories [sic] lately sent in with as little effect as those that have gone before them. Tho’ I have reason to think that the minister wishes well to my project for Louisiana but the First Consul is immoveable. I confess to you I see very little use for a Minister here where there is but one will and that will governed by no object but personal security and personal ambition were it left to my discretion I should bring matters to some positive issue or leave them which would be the only means of bringing them to an issue.
The Court grows every day more Splendid. Ladies of honor are named, & 30 of the Senators are to have Senatories. That is to say they are to have Domains a palace for each in different Departments & a considerable revenue arising out of national property. They are to wear a Star & Ribband & to reside three months in the year at their country Palace.
The trade of the nation is in a miserable Situation & a general distrust exists of the greatest bankers in Paris, many of whom have failed. The principles of Commerce are totally misunderstood, & the effect is obvious in their violent efforts to establish what would establish itself if left to itself.
The troops manifest the most decided aversion to going to St Domingo. It is Said that those in holland designed for Louisiana extorted a promise from Victor that they were not to Stop at St Domingo. A number of ships have Sailed from Brest up the Mediterranean with design to fetch the troops from Nice to go to the Islands. An expedition is also on foot to the East Indias. The first Division will consist of about 400 white men the Second of 800 blacks brought from St Domingo. I think it not improbable that these will one day declare themselves independent under the patronage of the British.
I have your letter & the President’s by Madame Brogniart & Should have replied to them had I known in time of this opportunity—be pleased to present me respectfully to him & believe me to be Dear Sir, With the highest respect & esteem Your most Obt hum: Servt
Robt R Livingston

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, DD, France, vol. 8); duplicate and draft (NHi: Livingston Papers). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Livingston. Docketed by Wagner as received 25 Apr. Italicized words are those encoded by Livingston’s secretary and decoded here by the editors. RC decoded interlinearly by Wagner. Duplicate docketed by Wagner. For enclosures, see n. 2.

   Bernadotte’s appointment was announced in the Paris papers on 31 Dec. 1802. His departure for his new post was much delayed, and before his ship sailed he learned of the sale of Louisiana to the U.S. and the renewed outbreak of war between France and Great Britain. Assuming that these events had “put an end to his mission to America,” he resigned his diplomatic appointment and offered Napoleon his military skills (Alan Palmer, Bernadotte: Napoleon’s Marshal, Sweden’s King [London, 1990], pp. 115–17).

   The enclosures are a copy of an undated note from Livingston to Talleyrand (2 pp.; docketed by Wagner; printed in ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Foreign Relations, 2:530–31) protesting the French government’s refusal to issue certificates to American merchants whose claims had been liquidated; and Livingston’s 10 Jan. letter to Talleyrand (6 pp.; docketed by Wagner; printed ibid., 2:531–32) reporting Morales’s withdrawal of the right of deposit, listing several reasons why France should sell West Florida (assuming they possessed it) to the U.S. along with New Orleans and the east bank of the Mississippi and all of Louisiana north of the Arkansas River, and explaining why Bernadotte should carry a treaty with him when he came to the U.S.

   Livingston’s secretary encoded “d” after the code for “which,” and it was not decoded by Wagner. The draft reads “perhaps.”

   See Livingston to JM, 20 Dec. 1802, and n. 2.


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Macon, 24 January 1803
From: Macon, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Somerset 24 Jany 1803
I have been from home for several Weeks, which prevented me from receiving your letter, or answering it untill now. A few days ago, I bought of Mr. Goudge lime to the amount of sixty two pounds ten Shillings, & I have received a letter from Mr. Ross, informing me that you had directed him to pay me a sum of money. The balance I will draw on you for when I go to Frederickg. The death of your sister Hite I suppose you have heard of before this. They are all well at your Mothers she went from hear last week. Mrs. Macon joines me in Affection to you and your Family & I am Dear Sir Your Most Ob St.
Thomas Macon

   RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

   Letter not found.

   This was probably Gideon Gooch, who was employed as a plantation manager at Montpelier while JM was president (James Dinsmore to JM, 20 Apr. 1809, PJM-PSRobert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (3 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984—)., 1:127 n. 1).

   See Colin and James Ross to JM, 19 Dec. 1802.


Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 24 January 1803
From: Monroe, James
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Richmond Jany 24. 1803
I arrived on saturday so much fatigued that I found it was impossible to proceed by the route of Albemarle & Loudon back to Washington. A slight injury wh. I recd. in descending from the stage made the exn. of that project the more inexpedient. I therefore sent up for Major Jas. Lewis in whose hands I propose to leave my affrs. to come down; I expect him to morrow, and hope to adjust them so as to leave this on friday on my way back, to be with you on sunday. I have written to Mr. Jones to meet me there, since it is important to see him before I sail. I do not know when a letter wh. goes in the mail to Loudon by to morrows post will reach him. You are perhaps better acquainted on that head; if you think it doubtful it may expedite my departure from Washington if he cod. be apprized of the impossibility of my visiting him, of the time I shall be at Washington & requested to meet me there. I will most willingly pay the expence of an express if you will be so kind as send one to him, with a line to the above effect. A resolution will be presented to the legislature to morrow expressing a sentiment correspondent with that of Maryld. in reference to the missisippi wh. it is thought will pass unanimously. I hope the plan of allowing no secry. to the mission will be adhered to, or if departed from that the admn. will make the appointment, since you can not conceive the number of applications made to me on the subject, from very high & respectable characters: persons whose pretentions are so strong on the score of merit & personal intimacy, that it wod. be impossible for me to decide between them. I shall certainly be up on sunday next. I am dear Sir sincerely your fnd.
Jas. Monroe

   RC (NN: Monroe Papers).

   Probably Monroe’s uncle Joseph Jones.

   The Maryland resolution stated that the legislature highly approved of the president’s conduct in promptly demanding redress from Spain for the treaty violation at New Orleans. The legislature further pledged to support such measures as the president or the general government might adopt. The resolution passed by the Virginia General Assembly on 28 Jan. stated that body’s full confidence in the U.S. government and its belief that such measures would be pursued as became a free and independent nation that knew its rights and was able to defend them. The assembly pledged its sincere cooperation at all times in the maintenance of the established boundaries of the U.S. and the rights of commerce and navigation on the Mississippi (National Intelligencer, 12 Jan. and 11 Feb. 1803).


Title: To James Madison from Isaac Cox Barnet, 24 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Barnet, Isaac Cox
To: Madison, James

24 January 1803, Antwerp. Has “this instant” received a duplicate of JM’s 12 Nov. 1802 letter by the Philadelphia. Finds it impossible to express “with what lively emotions” he received “this new mark of the President’s favour.” However important Antwerp may become, does not hesitate to accept the appointment to Le Havre, where his acquaintance with the French will make him more useful to the U.S. and “reap earlier advantages to myself.” Requests the appointment to Le Havre. Recommends as his successor at Antwerp Jacob Ridgway of Smith & Ridgway of Philadelphia, “who is settled here in a respectable Merchantile establishment—understands the French—Flemish & German Languages—stands high in the opinion of the Inhabitants here and was lately chosen a member of the Chamber of Commerce.” Regrets JM’s letter did not reach him sooner and hopes his letter may be received “in time for the object you mention.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Antwerp, vol. 1); duplicate (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Barnet”). RC 2 pp. Docketed by Wagner as received 5 Apr. Duplicate docketed by Jefferson.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from William Kirkpatrick, 25 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Kirkpatrick, William
To: Madison, James

25 January 1803, Málaga. Transmits a duplicate of his last dispatch [23 Dec. 1802] with enclosures. Has “just received” JM’s 21 Nov. letter stating that John Watkins left no survivors in the U.S.; will make over the property to Watkins’s family in Wales. Has written there to ask for “proper testimony to that effect.” Should it not arrive by June 1803 he will transfer the assets to JM as required by the consular act. After one vessel from New London was admitted to pratique another arrived from New York. The captain and crew immediately received permission to come ashore, “but a very few days’ afterwards, a Third [ship] arrived … and was put under Quarantine, notwithstanding that She was furnished with a Certificate to her Bill of Health from the Spanish Consul.” After fifteen days’ observation the ship was admitted. A fourth ship which has since arrived from Charleston with no health certificate is being detained indefinitely. “It is absolutely necessary for all Vessels from the United States, if the Owners or Captains wish to evade a ruinous detention, in this Port, to bring a Certificate from the Spanish Consul … that no Contagious Disorder prevails.” The local board of health is now refusing to admit American ships coming from Gibraltar “with clean Bills of Health, altho’ no Obstacles are started for those of other Nations.” The Enterprize and Lydia Head, both of New York, arrived at Malaga on 22 Jan. after spending several days at Gibraltar and were refused admittance on the grounds that “they proceeded Originally from America,” and it was uncertain if they had certificates from the Spanish consul at New York. Local authorities would not accept the captains’ assertions. Sent an express to Gibraltar “this Morning” for the original bills of health. “My representations have had no effect, I also advise our Chargé des Affaires, of what has passed, and requested of him to make a complaint to the Spanish Government, of the proceedings of their Officers. I find by another Royal order of the 31 December last, that the Spanish Consul’s certificates, of the procedure, or Origin of Goods, imported here by American Vessels, are not to be exacted till the expiration of Four months from that date, from the United States.” On 20 Jan. the Constellation was still detained at Gibraltar by contrary winds. Has no recent accounts from Commodore Morris or Captains Barron and Rodgers.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Málaga, vol. 1). 3 pp. Extracts printed in the National Intelligencer, 23 Mar. and 8 Apr. 1803.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from Henry Pratt, 25 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Pratt, Henry
To: Madison, James

25 January 1803, Baltimore. States that he invested in a shipment of goods to Saint-Domingue in June 1796. The commandant of Gonaîves took the greater part of the cargo, which consisted of provisions. “We have his acknowledgement for the amount, frequent application has been made Since for the Balance due and no payment.” Can prove the cargo was shipped at the commandant’s request. “It is extremely hard the Citizens of the united States should be thus plundered without redress from our own Goverment.” Wishes JM to “make enquiry of the French Minister” whether provision exists for the payment of debts under similar circumstances. Asks if Congress has ever taken this into consideration. JM’s answer will oblige him and a number of his acquaintances who are also interested. “We are all well Mrs. Pratt & Charlotte Joine me in Compts.” Adds in a postscript, “Suppose you was to ask the French Minister whether he will buy Such Debts.”

   RC (DLC). 2 pp. Docketed by JM.

   “Henry Pratt, gentleman,” was living at this time on Hanover Street in Baltimore (Cornelius William Stafford, The Baltimore Directory, for 1803 … [Baltimore, n.d.; Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols.; New York, 1958–66). 3714], p. 105). Pratt may have been referring to his investment in the Raven, Thomas Reilly, master. The claim was not settled until 1888 (Cases Decided in the United States Court of Claims [231 vols.; Washington, 1867–1983], 23:528).


Title: From James Madison to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 26 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Speaker of the House of Representatives

26 January 1803, Department of State, Washington. “I have the honor to enclose a report upon the memorial of Tobias Lear Esqr. referred to me by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 12th. inst.”

   Letterbook copy and letterbook copy of report (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14); Tr and Tr of four enclosures (DNA: RG 233, Transcribed Reports and Communications from the Secretary of State, 5C-B1). Letterbook copy 1 p. Enclosures printed in ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Claims, pp. 273–76. For enclosures, see n. 1.

   JM enclosed a copy of his 25 Jan. 1803 report (1 p.), stating that he had examined Lear’s memorial and considered his claim for reimbursement and indemnification “reasonable.” JM also enclosed a copy of Lear’s 10 Jan. 1803 memorial (3 pp.) and a copy of Lear to JM, 20 Jan. 1803, with its enclosures.

   William Lambert, acting for John Beckley, clerk of the House, had sent JM an extract from the House journal, dated 12 Jan. 1803, ordering that Lear’s memorial “be referred to the Secretary of State, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon, to the House” (DNA: RG 59, ML; docketed by Wagner).


Title: To James Madison from Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 26 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Yrujo, Carlos Martínez de
To: Madison, James

26 January 1803, Washington. Presents the enclosed letter from Charles IV announcing the marriage of Fernando, prince of Asturias, to María Antonia, princess of Naples, on 25 Aug. 1802.

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Spain, vol. 2). RC 1 p.; in Spanish. In a clerk’s hand, except for Yrujo’s complimentary close and signature. Enclosure (1 p.; in Spanish; translated interlinearly by Wagner and docketed by him as received 28 Jan.) is a copy of a 3 Sept. 1802 letter from Charles IV announcing the marriage.


Title: Resolution of the House of Representatives, 26 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: House of Representatives
To:

26 January 1803. The committee to which was referred a memorial of residents of Wilmington, North Carolina, reports that “the system of policy stated in the said memorial to exist, and to be now pursued in the French colonial governments in the West Indies, is fraught with danger to the peace and safety” of the U.S. and that the incident the memorial describes demands the prompt interference of the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. The committee recommends that the memorial be referred to JM to lay before the president.

   Ms and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, ML); Tr and Tr of enclosures (NHi: Livingston Papers). Ms 1 p. Marked “Extract from the Journal.” Signed by William Lambert for John Beckley. Printed in Annals of CongressDebates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56)., 7th Cong., 2d sess., 424. Tr and Tr of enclosures sent as enclosures in JM to Livingston, 7 Feb. 1803. For enclosures, see n. 1.

   The enclosures are copies of a House resolution, 17 Jan. 1803, referring the memorial to a committee (1 p.; docketed by Wagner) and the memorial (3 pp.), signed by 113 residents of Wilmington, North Carolina, stating that “it doth appear to have become the policy” of the governments of the French West Indian islands, “Guadaloupe particularly,” to expel “all Negroes & Mulattoes to whom emancipation shall be accorded” and “by force or by fraud” to introduce these people into the U.S. Since the European powers holding West Indian islands or colonies in North America had “an absolute & effectual prohibition” from landing such persons, the U.S. became “the dernier resort for enabling the french colonial Governments to clear the Islands of a species of population too obnoxious to be tolerated.” Without “prompt and decisive measures … the peace & safety of the southern States of the Union will be greatly endangered.” As proof that such fears were well grounded, the memorial cited the case of the schooner Fair-Play, which had recently arrived at Wilmington from Guadeloupe “having on board five persons of the above description” whom island authorities compelled the captain to bring away. The memorialists asked Congress to institute effective measures.


Title: From James Madison to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 27 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Speaker of the House of Representatives

27 January 1803, Department of State. Has examined the petition [not found] of John Burnham of Wethersfield, Connecticut, for relief of losses and injuries sustained while in captivity in Algiers, which was referred to JM on 12 Feb. 1802 by the House of Representatives. As a result of the secretary of state’s 25 Apr. 1796 report dealing with Charles Colville’s petition, an act of 30 May 1796 appropriated $4,539.06 to be divided equally between Burnham and Colville as reimbursement for their ransoms. The secretary later calculated the true average cost of redeeming U.S. citizens from Algiers as $2,396.25. This sum appears to have been allowed to subsequent applicants. Since the grant made to Burnham “appears to have been founded on an imperfect calculation,” he is entitled to a further payment of $126.72.

   Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14); Tr (DNA: RG 233, Transcribed Reports of the Committee on Claims, 5C-A1). Letterbook copy 2 pp.

   The House resolution referring Burnham’s petition to JM has not been found, but for Burnham, see his 18 Dec. 1794 letter to Edmund Randolph in Knox, Naval Documents, Barbary WarsDudley W. Knox, ed., Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers (6 vols.; Washington, 1939–44)., 1:88.

   See section 4 of the “Act making further provision for the expenses attending the intercourse of the United States with foreign nations …” (U.S. Statutes at LargeThe Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America … (17 vols.; Boston, 1848–73)., 1:487).


Title: To James Madison from Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 27 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Yrujo, Carlos Martínez de
To: Madison, James

27 January 1803, Washington. At the beginning of January the Spanish consul at Baltimore [Juan Bautista Bernabeu] suspected that a ship entering port as the American brigantine Augusta was really the Spanish ship St. Peter, which had cleared from Havana declaring Spain as its destination. The consul investigated the fraud and began legal action “against those who had committed the crime of appearing as Spaniards in the Island of Cuba and as Americans at Baltimore, in contempt of the laws of both countries.” Proof of the offense was a protest signed by Baltimore notary Samuel Sterett and interpreter Louis Bernard. Sterett acknowledged his signature but claimed to have been deceived into signing, and Bernard denied signing. This document was in the keeping of customs officers at Baltimore. The consul supposed customs officials would cooperate in this case or at least would not “lay obstacles and embarassments” in his way. The customs officers, however, allowed the protest to be given to Bernard, who gave it to Sterett, who effaced his signature and seal, thus hoping to escape responsibility. This rendered the principal proof in the case useless. “It would be doing injustice to your penetration” to comment further on the “culpable partiality and most remarkable neglect” of the Baltimore customs officers. Knows the U.S. will reprimand and punish these officers and will take measures to guarantee they will not obstruct the consul at Baltimore in his pursuit of justice. Finds it “extraordinary” that the Spanish consul alone is the complainant in a case affecting the laws of both countries, while those whose duty it is to ensure observance of the laws at Baltimore remain passive. Has no doubt that JM agrees with him and will cause the government “to take the active part” belonging to it in this business.

   Translation of RC (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Spain, vol. 2). RC 2 pp.; in Spanish. In a clerk’s hand, except for Yrujo’s complimentary close and signature. Docketed by Wagner. Copytext is Wagner’s translation.


Title: To James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne, 28 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Claiborne, William C. C.
To: Madison, James

28 January 1803, “Near Natchez.” “The express which I despatched to New-Orleans, on the 11: instant, returned yesterday and brought me the enclosed packet, accompanied by a letter from Mr. Hulings [not found], a copy of which is herewith forwarded.” The intendant “is firm to his purposes,” and the deposit will not be restored. “The Intendant is represented to be a man of handsome talents, and extensive fortune, that he should risque his reputation and estate by persisting in a measure of this kind without authority from his Court appears to me extraordinary.” Reports that the “boats from the Westward are arriving daily at Natchez.” Understands there are many ships waiting in New Orleans for freight, which they take on board “while lying at Anchor in the stream.” Since the American deposit is prohibited and foreign ships are forbidden to trade at New Orleans, “it will probably follow that few for the future will enter the river.” “The number of vessels will be insufficient for the demand, and the surplus produce of the West, will be lost to our Country and to the industrious farmer.”

   Letterbook copy (Ms-Ar: Claiborne Executive Journal). 2 pp. Printed in Rowland, Claiborne Letter BooksDunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (6 vols.; Jackson, Miss., 1917)., 1:267.

   See Claiborne to JM, 19 Jan. 1803.


Title: To James Madison from Charles Pinckney, 28 January 1803
From: Pinckney, Charles
To: Madison, James

Letter not found. 28 January 1803, Cartagena. Mentioned in Pinckney to JM, 22 and 28 Feb. 1803, as a private letter informing JM of his return from Leghorn to Spain in a Spanish squadron.


Title: From James Madison to Rufus King, 29 January 1803
From: Madison, James
To: King, Rufus

Sir,
Department of State January 29th. 1803
My letter of the 23d. Ult. with a post[s]cript of the 3d. of this Month communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our Treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed, between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject. I now inclose, a subsequent resolution of that branch of the Legislature. Such of the debates connected with it, as took place with open doors, will be seen in the Newspapers.
In these debates as well as in indications from the press, you will perceive, as you would readily suppose, that the Cession of Louisiana to France, has been associated as a ground of much solicitude, with the affair of New Orleans. Such indeed has been the impulse given to the public mind by these events that every branch of the Government has felt the Obligation of taking the measures most likely, not only to reestablish our present rights but to promote arrangements by which they may be enlarged and more effectually secured. In deliberating on this subject it has appeared to the President that the importance of the crisis called for the experiment of an extraordinary Mission carrying with it the weight attached to such a measure, as well as the advantage of a more thorough knowledge of the views of the Government and the sensibility of the public than could be otherwise conveyed. He has accordingly selected for this service, with the approbation of the Senate, Mr. Monroe formerly our Minister Plenipo. at Paris, and lately Governor of the State of Virginia; who will be joined with Mr. Livingston in a Commission extraordinary to treat with the French Republic; and with Mr. Pinckney in a like Commission to treat if necessary, with the Spanish Government.
Mr. Monroe is expected here to morrow and he will probably sail shortly afterwards from New York.
These communications will enable you to meet the British Minister in conversation on the subject stated in your letter of May 7th. 1802. The United States are disposed to live in amity with their neighbours whoever they may be, as long as their neighbours shall duly respect their rights; but it is equally their determination to maintain their rights against those who may not respect them; promising, when the occasion may require, the peaceable modes of obtaining satisfaction for wrongs, and endeavoring, by friendly arrangements and provident stipulations to guard against the controversies most likely to occur.
Whatever may be the result of the present mission extraordinary, nothing certainly will be admitted into it, not consistent with our prior engagements. The United States and Great Britain, have agreed, each for itself, to the free and common navigation by the other, of the river Mississippi; each being left at the same time, to a separate adjustment with other nations, of questions between them, relative to the same subject. This being the necessary meaning of our Treaties with Great Britain, and the course pursued under them, a difference of opinion seems to be precluded. Any such difference would be matter of real regret; for it is not only our purpose to maintain the best faith with that nation, but our desire to cherish a mutual confidence and cordiality, which events may render highly important to both Nations.
Your successor has not yet been named, and it is now possible, that the time you may have fixed for leaving England will arrive before any arrangements for the vacancy, can have their effect. Should this be the case, the President, sensible of the inconveniency to which you might be subjected by an unexpected detention, thinks it would not be reasonable to claim it of you. It may be hoped that the endeavours to prevent an interval in the Legation, will be successful; and as it cannot be more than a very short one, no great evil can well happen from it. I have the honor to be, Sir, With very great respect Your most obed. servt.
James Madison

   RC (CtY); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, IM, vol. 6). RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by JM. Docketed as received 23 Mar. Enclosure not found, but see n. 1.

   For the House resolution of 7 Jan., see JM to Pinckney, 10 Jan. 1803, n. 3.

   The congressional debates were printed in the National Intelligencer of 7, 10, and 14 Jan. 1803. For more detailed coverage, see Annals of CongressDebates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56)., 7th Cong., 2d sess., 312–13, 314–24, 325–38, 339–42, 352–68.

   For King’s communications with Lord Hawkesbury on the retrocession of Louisiana to France, see PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 3:198.

   For Jefferson’s conditional appointment of James Monroe as King’s successor in April 1803, see JM’s first letter to Livingston and Monroe, 18 Apr. 1803, and n. 7.


Title: To James Madison from Peter Carr, 29 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Carr, Peter
To: Madison, James

29 January 1803, Richmond. Introduces William Brockenbrough, a member of the Virginia executive council, who is visiting Washington “for a few weeks.” He is a man “of real talents, and great worth.”

   RC (DLC). 1 p.


Title: To James Madison from Daniel William Coxe, 29 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Coxe, Daniel William
To: Madison, James

29 January 1803, Philadelphia. “Supposing it possible that you may not have received officially the enclosed Royal Order to the Intendant to deliver up Louisiana to France, I take the liberty of forwarding it to you, with an Assurance that ’tis genuine & may be perfectly relied on, having been received from, & translated by one of my concerns at New Orleans.”

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, CD, New Orleans, vol. 1). RC 1 p. Docketed by Wagner. Enclosure is a newspaper clipping headed “Extract of a letter from a gentleman at New Orleans, dated December 18, 1802,” which contains an English translation of Soler’s 30 July order for the transfer of Louisiana. Both the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser and Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser reprinted the extract on 29 Jan. 1803, citing it as a letter from a gentleman at New Orleans to the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette & Daily Advertiser. It was printed in the National Intelligencer on 2 Feb. For the order, see Hũlings to JM, 15 Dec. 1802, and n. 1.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from Robert W. Fox, 31 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Fox, Robert W.
To: Madison, James

31 January 1803, Falmouth. Presumes “my Friend Erving” has already informed JM of the Mary’s arrival at Falmouth carrying Americans bound for Norfolk, many of whom were “very ill of a bad infectious Fever” which caused the British government to quarantine the ship “for about 10 Weeks.” Though supplied with all necessities, seventeen of the men died. The Mary will probably sail “in 10 or 14 days.” Will ask passenger Charles Dominick to notify the collector of any port where they arrive of the situation of those on board. “Dominick has been onboard the Lazaretto and attended on the Sick most closely, day and night, at the greatest hazard of his Life, and has been of more use to them than I can describe.” Adds in a postscript that he learned Erving has written JM and several collectors about the ship. Will have this letter forwarded from Liverpool.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Falmouth, vol. 1). 3 pp. Docketed by Wagner. Postmarked 7 May at Alexandria.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.


Title: To James Madison from William Jarvis, 31 January 1803 (Abstract)
From: Jarvis, William
To: Madison, James

31 January 1803, Lisbon. Last wrote on 20 Dec. enclosing a dispatch from Graham to JM and a letter to Robert Smith from Murray. Having received no instructions from JM about the prohibition of flour, and thinking it should not be passed over, he submitted new arguments. Hopes JM will not disapprove. “At present no Vessel has been refused an entry with flour under the slight pretext of a long passage when it is publicly known that they have not had more than thirty or thirty five days.” The small quantity of grain on hand, combined with the impossibility of obtaining supplies from the Baltic before spring or any at all from the Levant, arouses hopes that if he waits “untill they are very short of bread stuff (which will be the case in 5 or six weeks if much does not arrive from the U. S)” and then replies to the minister’s answer, the government may again admit flour. “To see the property of ⟨my⟩ fellow Citizens falling a sacrifice to the Quarantine has chagrined me beyond measure.… I have written what my information or ingenuity suggested … but without effect.” Presumes the severity is due to Spain’s turning away indiscriminately all U.S. vessels that have not performed quarantine in other countries. The Portuguese may assume that Spain, having a minister and consuls in the U.S., possesses information which they lack. There are now under quarantine five ships mentioned in his last letter and two that “arrived the last evening.” Mentioned in his last note to the minister that breadstuffs do not carry infection, having heard that the officers wished to enforce the order of 10 Jan. by purging the cargoes in the lazaretto. “A quarantine is their harvest, & I assure you Sir it does not lessen my difficulty.” Having had no reply to his letter requesting the proceedings against the Aurora and the Four Sisters, has written again and expects to receive them soon. Owing to the accumulation of enclosures, has numbered them: (1) 15 Oct. circular from O’Brien and 20 Dec. letter and 29 Dec. extract from Gavino; (2) 9 Nov. circular from Eaton and extract of a 29 Dec. letter from Willis; (3) a letter, with a copy of the chancellery translation, from the regent announcing the birth of a son, the minister’s 23 Dec. letter, and his own 10 Jan. reply; (4) his 3 Jan. letter regarding flour prohibition and the minister’s 10 Jan. reply, with translation; (5) a 4 Dec. order for U.S. ships arriving at Oporto and Figueira to come to Lisbon to perform quarantine; (6) his 8 Jan. letter on the subject; (7) an order of 10 Jan. to outlying ports; (8) the minister’s 10 Jan. reply to his 8 Jan. letter; (9) his own reply of 17 Jan.; (10) the minister’s answer of 21 Jan.; (11) his own reply of 22 Jan.; (12) his 24 Jan. note requesting the Aurora papers; (13) the minister’s reply of 26 Jan.; and (14) his own 29 Jan. reply, which also addresses the quarantine.
In a 20 Jan. letter Graham reports receiving a 14 Dec. letter from Pinckney at Rome stating that he would leave there immediately via Naples. Graham expects him daily. Jarvis hopes JM will excuse his not including a semiannual report. Was prevented by the press of business and by not having received returns from Oporto until the last post.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Lisbon, vol. 2). RC 5 pp. Several of the enclosures are docketed by Wagner as enclosed with this dispatch but are filed with Jarvis’s 15 Mar. 1803 dispatch. For surviving enclosures, see nn. 2–9.

   Jarvis probably referred to his letter to JM dated 18 Dec. 1802.

   Gavino’s 20 Dec. 1802 letter to Jarvis (1 p.) enclosed O’Brien’s 15 Oct. 1802 circular and reported movements of the U.S. squadron. The 29 Dec. 1802 extract stated that there was no further news of the Tunisian cruisers mentioned by Eaton.

   For Eaton’s 9 Nov. 1802 letter describing the Tunisian cruisers, see Appleton to JM, 7 Dec. 1802, n. 1. The extract of Willis’s 29 Dec. 1802 letter stated that he had received information from Algiers through Marseilles that it was hoped the dey would reverse his refusal to receive the money and would accept “an article that is so seldom considered as an offensive present.”

   The enclosures are the translation of the prince regent’s 26 Oct. 1802 letter (1 p.), Almeida’s 23 Dec. 1802 note (1 p.; in Portuguese, with translation) asking Jarvis to forward the letter, and Jarvis’s 10 Jan. 1803 reply (1 p.).

   Jarvis’s letter has not been found. In his 10 Jan. 1803 reply (2 pp.; in Portuguese, with translation), Almeida stated that the entry of flour was still refused but wheat would be admitted.

   Manuel Cipriano da Costa’s 4 Dec. 1802 order to the supervisor of health at Figueira (1 p.; in Portuguese, with translation) stated that “all vessels of any description” arriving from the U.S. were to be sent to Lisbon for quarantine, and a particular lookout was to be kept for the Portuguese ship Triton bound for Oporto (see also Jarvis to JM, 18 Dec. 1802, and n. 5).

   Jarvis’s 8 Jan. 1803 letter to Almeida (4 pp.) argued against the quarantine on medical and historical grounds. He also described Costa’s 4 Dec. 1802 order as oppressive, since the only death aboard the Triton was not from yellow fever.

   Jarvis enclosed a copy of Almeida’s 10 Jan. 1803 letter to Costa (1 p.; in Portuguese, with translation) denying entry to all U.S. ships that had not undergone quarantine in foreign ports.

   In his 10 Jan. 1803 reply (2 pp.; in Portuguese, with translation), Almeida stated that the public health was more important than trade and noted that Spain also was continuing the quarantine of U.S. ships.

   The enclosures numbered 9 through 14 have not been found.

   A full transcription of this document has been added to the digital edition.