Title: To James Madison from Jacob Wagner, 3 August 1801
From: Wagner, Jacob
To: Madison, James

Dear sir
Dep. State, 3 Augt. 1801.
I have the honor to enclose you various letters, some of them merely for your information, and others which will perhaps require answers. Among them are the three letters you received from Mr. Thornton, with sketches of answers, I have drafted. They seemed to me to present a fit, if not a necessary occasion of explaining to him our right to admit French privateers and prizes to an equal footing with those of Great Britain. At least I am satisfied that we cannot avoid the decision much longer, and it is so important, that it will be convenient to take it up as early as possible for consideration. You will notice at the end of Mr. Thornton’s letter of the 23rd. July a promise to communicate to us further information respecting the prize at Boston, which will serve as a cover for any delay that may be necessary in making the decision.
By the next post I shall send you some topics to enter into a letter for Mr. Pinckney, to be forwarded by Mr. Brown.
I have made a memorandum on the letter from George Helmbold which shews the footing on which the printing of the laws stands in Pennsylvania. I think the idea of printing the laws in german in one of the papers in Pennsylvania, an important one. The legislature of that State prints its journals in German as well as in English; and I am not certain, whether the laws of the State are not also printed in the same manner.
I was much mortified on receiving Mr. Kingston’s letter to learn that Mr. Stevens, the Agent at New York, had chartered for Tunis, a vessel not entitled, according to former decisions, to a Mediterranean passport. Mr. Gallatin however consented to give her a pass limited to the voyage, on condition of Kingston’s executing an instrument by which the payment of the remainder of the freight is made to depend on the surrender of the pass at the conclusion of the voyage. With respect to his proposal of an immediate advance of the remainder of the freight, I wrote him, that it was inexpedient and inadmissible, as the ship might not earn the whole freight, and it is indecorous in a public Agent to enter into such a complex mercantile operation, as would be the insurance he offers against the risk of the freight not being earned. I promised to consult you whether you would not consent to refer the question whether any and what demurrage is due for the detention of the vessel after her loading was completed, to the same two merchants (one of them the Navy Agent) who fixed the terms of the affreightment.
I have been constrained to trouble you with some more sea-letters, and shall do the like by the next mail.
A number of newspapers, which I have selected from the mass, accompanies this. If you wish for any other, I beg you to intimate it.
I also enclose a draft of a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury respecting the Beguine, the subject of one of Mr. Thornton’s complaints.
Nothing further occurring to me at present, I have only to express my hope that your journey has been agreeable, and the sentiments of high respect, with which, I have the honor to be sir, your most obed. servt.
Jacob Wagner

   RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

   Besides Edward Thornton’s letter to JM of 23 July, Wagner presumably enclosed the chargé’s two messages of 24 July 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:463, 473–74, 475). Wagner’s draft replies have not been found. On Wagner’s influence as chief clerk, see Cunningham, Process of Government under Jefferson, pp. 94–96.

   Wagner occasionally referred to Charles Pinckney’s secretary John Graham as “Mr. Brown.” See Wagner to JM, 10 Aug. 1801, where JM interlined the name “Graham” above “Brown” on the RC, and JM to Jefferson, 23 Sept. 1801. For more on Graham, who was a cousin of State Department clerk Daniel Brent, see PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:279 and n. 8; Leonard D. White, The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801–1829 (New York, 1956), p. 372.

   Neither Wagner’s memorandum nor Helmbold’s letter (calendared in PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:488) has been found. Publisher of the Neue Philadelphische Correspondenz between 1798 and 1800, Helmbold unsuccessfully sought a federal appointment from Jefferson in the spring and summer of 1801. In mid-June his Concise Account of the Life of Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States (Philadelphia, 1801; Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols. to date; New York, 1958—). 335) appeared (Helmbold to Jefferson, 3 and 7 Apr. and 7 Aug. 1801 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9]; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 28 June 1801; Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 2:926–27).

   Letter not found.

   Though owned by Philadelphian Stephen Kingston, the Peace and Plenty was a foreign-built vessel and ordinarily would not have qualified for an American Mediterranean pass. Gallatin explained his decision to the president the same day Wagner wrote, and Jefferson approved it (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:221, 331, 347; Stephen Kingston to Gallatin, 10 Aug. 1802, reproduced in Papers of Gallatin [microfilm ed.], reel 7; Gallatin to Jefferson, 3 Aug. 1801, Jefferson to Gallatin, 7 Aug. 1801 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]).

   Wagner’s draft has not been found, and no letter from either JM or Wagner to Gallatin about the Beguine has been found. Gallatin wrote the collector of Boston for information about the Beguine on 4 Aug. 1801 (see Gallatin to JM, 20 Aug. 1801, and n.).


Title: To James Madison from Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, [3 August] 1801
From: Yrujo, Carlos Martínez de
To: Madison, James

Sir
[Long Branch 3 de Agosto de 1801.]
I have received your letter of the 24 July last in which you enclose me an extract of a letter of Josiah Blakeley, Agent of the united States at the Port of Santiago in Cuba and I shall with pleasure take the step you request in favor of the American seamen captured on board of English vessels. The repeated acts of violence, on the part of the naval commanders of that nation, towards American Seamen, are too well known to me, not to interest me in alleviating the condition of these unhappy men, who in many cases are no otherwise in fault than in falling into the hands of the Tyrants of the Sea. But I am of opinion that they who have been compelled by necessity ought not to be treated in that case in the same manner with those who have voluntarily enlisted themselves under the British flag. The latter cannot and ought not to implore, in their favor, the rights of neutrality, which they themselves have abandoned.
His Catholic Majesty has given repeated proofs of his justice and even generosity in favor of the Citizens of the United States; and I doubt not, from the wish, by which I know he is animated, of living in peace and good friendship with this country, that he would listen with benignity to any just demand, made with moderation and respect, by the Minister of the United States near his person. I say moderation and respect in allusion to the conduct observed by Mr. David Humphreys, whose notes and memorials to the Spanish Government, it appears, have been conceived in terms but little decorous towards it, as well as towards His Majesty’s Secretary of State, to whom they were addressed. I have in consequenc⟨e⟩ received orders from my court to solicit from the President of the U. S. the recal[l] of the said Minister Humphreys; but as at the arrival of these orders I knew of the good choice the President had made of Mr. Charles Pinckney to succeed him, I thought myself excused from taking this step, which I now mention, in order to reiterate to you the friendly disposition of the King my master towards the United States.
I avail myself of this occasion to repeat to you my desires to gratify you and that our Lord may preserve your life many years. [B Mo. de V. S. su mas ato. y sego Sr.
Carlos mrtnz de Yrujo]

   Translation of RC (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Spain, vol. 2); Tr (AHN: State Archives, vol. 5630). RC in Spanish; in a clerk’s hand, except for Yrujo’s complimentary close and signature; copytext is Wagner’s interlinear translation. Docketed by Wagner as received 15 Aug.

   PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:474.


Title: To James Madison from James C. Mountflorence, 3 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Mountflorence, James C.
To: Madison, James

3 August 1801, Paris. Reports that ratifications of convention were exchanged 31 July and “Mr. Thos. Appleton has been intrusted by Mr. Dawson With that of the french Govt.” Private letters mention that the president has decided to reappoint Skipwith as consul general or commissary general at Paris. Hopes this will not interfere with his own appointment of last February. Recounts record of service since American Revolution. Mentions that other countries keep more than one official at Paris and hopes his continuation without salary would not be inconvenient. Cites previous service under Jefferson after having been sent from Tennessee in 1791 for that purpose.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Paris, vol. 1). 2 pp.; marked duplicate.

   John Appleton, not Thomas, carried the French ratification to America (see Murray to JM, 3 Aug. 1801 [first letter], n. 1).

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


Title: To James Madison from William Vans Murray, 3 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Murray, William Vans
To: Madison, James

3 August 1801, Paris. No. 14. Conveys, by Dutch post, copy of French ratification and a certificate of the exchange.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, DD, Netherlands, vol. 4). RC 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 22 Oct. Enclosures 2 pp.; in French; docketed by Wagner.


Title: To James Madison from John Montgomery, 4 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Montgomery, John
To: Madison, James

4 August 1801, Alicante. Has just received JM’s letter of 21 May. Will comply with instructions, “and should the Squadron touch in here, I shall be happy in giving them every useful information and Support.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Alicante, vol. 1). 2 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by John Montgomery for Robert Montgomery; docketed by Wagner as received 3 Nov.

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


Title: To James Madison from John Dawson, 5 August 1801
From: Dawson, John
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Paris August 5th 1801.
My letter to “the Secretary of State,” of this date will inform you of the ratification of the convention. The probable causes of the delay will be communicated when we meet. The ultimate result may be attributed to the first Consul, and I am happy in the reflection that my honest endeavours to serve my country have not been without their effect.
After the departure of the ship which takes the Convention and this letter I shall be my own master, and propose to visit England if I can cross the Channel. At present all intercourse is prohibited from an apprehension of invasion which I do believe will be attempted and which has certainly created much alarm in that country. About the first of October I shall sail for the U. S. and hope to be with you by the first of December.
There is a report here which has created some surprise and uneasiness. It is that a Mr. Lee is appointed the Consul at Bordeaux. He is represented as a refugee and one who bore arms during our war, (whic⟨h⟩ circumstance I am sure coud not be known to the administration) and in every respect unfit for the office.
Mr. Appleton a very respectable Gentleman has solicited permission to take the treaty and will hand you this. I have told him that I coud not promise him one sous—that it was probable, that, if he was at any extraordinary trouble, you woud make him some compensation.
I have only one letter from the United States since I left them.
I pray you to present me to Mrs. Madison, and to accept an assurance of much esteem
J Dawson.

   RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

   Letter not found.

   William Lee (1772–1840) was born in Nova Scotia and already had spent several years in France when Adams appointed him commercial agent at Marseilles in February 1801. In June, after Lee had reminded the president of his supporting letters on file at the State Department (including messages from Elbridge Gerry, Benjamin Lincoln, and William Tudor), Jefferson named him commercial agent at Bordeaux, a post he held until 1816. The rumors Dawson heard may have been the result of Lee’s being confused with his father, also named William Lee, who was a foreman at the Royal Navy Yard in Halifax (Lee to Jefferson, Mar. 1801 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9]; National Intelligencer, 20 Feb. and 15 June 1801; standing consular instructions to William Lee, 3 June 1801 [DNA: RG 59, IC, vol. 1]; Mary Lee Mann, ed., A Yankee Jeffersonian: Selections from the Diary and Letters of William Lee of Massachusetts [Cambridge, Mass., 1958], pp. ix, 1–2, 159).


Title: To James Madison from Isaac Cox Barnet, 5 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Barnet, Isaac Cox
To: Madison, James

5 August 1801, Bordeaux. Transmits letters from Murray and Dawson about exchange of ratifications. Hopes enclosed copies of his correspondence on the Burley affair will justify his actions. Also sends statement “concerning a momentary difficulty with a Mr. Andrews.” Believes these details will show necessity of defining consular rank, duties, and powers. Is preparing statement of vessels in port since renewal of trade. Number of arrivals is sixty-seven, ten to twelve from European ports in ballast; thirty are now in port. Reports on sailors impressed on the Eagle at Isle of Aix; four escaped by swimming ashore, four drowned, and one is still aboard. Requests for their release have never been answered. But seamen recently taken on British vessels have been released at Mountflorence’s and his request—seven a few days ago—and release has been ordered for those at Saumur. Has just learned that a Mr. Lee is to succeed him. Defends himself against dismissal and insinuates that his background as a native-born American and a “true republican” ought to count in “the scale of preference.” Believes the president has been deceived in the matter and requests a reconsideration of the decision.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Bordeaux, vol. 1). RC 6 pp. Duplicate copy (ibid.) bears an 8 Aug. postscript conveying news of the mortal illness of Pierre-Frédéric Dobrée at Nantes and an extract (not found) of Dobrée’s 4 Aug. letter to Barnet. Enclosures, partly in French, include copies of correspondence regarding assessment of fees of the brig Boston, whose Bordeaux consignee was merchant Robert Andrews (6 pp.); an extract of Mountflorence’s 15 July letter to Barnet supporting his decision to have the vessel held until the fees were paid (1 p.); and possibly a certified statement from sailor Theodore Brownton, dated 4 Aug., reporting the deaths of the sailors from the Aigle (2 pp.; filed with Barnet’s 30 June dispatch).

   Isaac Cox Barnet (b. 1773) of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, had been taken to France as a child by his father. After his father’s death he returned to the U.S. where he worked for several years in a countinghouse in New York. He returned to France in 1794 as a commercial agent for John R. Livingston. Washington named him consul at Brest in 1797 and commercial agent at Bordeaux the following year. Jefferson subsequently appointed him commercial agent at Antwerp in June 1802 and at Le Havre in 1803 (Barnet to Jefferson, 10 Sept. 1801 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9]; Timothy Pickering to Barnet, 15 Dec. 1798 [DNA: RG 59, IM, vol. 5]; Barnet to JM, 10 Sept. 1802 [DNA: RG 59, CD, Bordeaux, vol. 1]; Senate Exec. ProceedingsJournal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828)., 1:433, 453).

   On the case of Capt. Samuel Burley, see PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:258 and n., 312, 364.

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


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Bulkeley, 5 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bulkeley, Thomas
To: Madison, James

5 August 1801, Lisbon. Encloses a letter received by last post from consul at Tripoli announcing pasha’s declaration of war against U.S. Letters from France, Great Britain, and Spain announce approach of general peace in Europe. Believes he has performed duties well and asks to be continued in office.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Lisbon, vol. 1). 2 pp.; unsigned. Bulkeley’s 6 Aug. dispatch begins on second page. Enclosure not found.

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


Title: From James Madison to Caesar A. Rodney, 6 August 1801
From: Madison, James
To: Rodney, Caesar A.

Dear Sir
Virginia Orange Court House August 6. 1801
Your favor of the 17th. continued on the 28th. ult: did not reach Washington, before I had left it for Virginia. It was however handed to me on the way by the President who overtook me. The circumstances under which we fell in together afforded but little room for conversation. I was left under the impression however that as any thing short of a resignation by the newly appointed officer would involve the idea of removal, and as a removal without adequate objections personal to the officer, would exhibit the Executive under a disadvantageous appearance, the least embarrassing course would be to trust for a proper result to some voluntary arrangement that may grow out of the case.
I sincerely participate in your regrets that any occurrence should have so unseasonably disturbed a harmony which so many considerations ought to cherish. Hoping as well as wishing that it may be soon restored by the judicious & patriotic efforts that I am persuaded will not be omitted, I beg you to be assured of the respectful regard with which I remain, your most Obedient servant
James Madison

   RC (WHi).

   PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:430–33.

   Rodney had objected to Jefferson’s appointment of Joel Lewis as marshal for Delaware. Lewis, however, remained in office, as both Jefferson and JM agreed that he was “admitted to be a good republican” with “not a word alledged against his moral character, nor any reason given why he should be removed but that he is disagreeable without saying for what” (Jefferson to Gallatin, 7 Aug. 1801 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]; Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power: Party Operations, 1801–1809 [Chapel Hill, N.C., 1963], pp. 36–38).


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Bulkeley, 6 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bulkeley, Thomas
To: Madison, James

6 August 1801, Lisbon. Relays a report given out at the palace that peace is concluded between Portugal and France. Details movements of Portuguese diplomats, including Pinto’s return from Badajoz and recent sudden departure of Chevalier Freire for Madrid.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Lisbon, vol. 1). 2 pp. First page written at the bottom of a copy of Bulkeley’s 5 Aug. dispatch. Docketed by Wagner as received 8 Oct.

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


Title: To James Madison from James C. Mountflorence, 6 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Mountflorence, James C.
To: Madison, James

6 August 1801, Paris. Reports that Appleton left Paris on 5 Aug. with French ratification to embark at Dieppe for Philadelphia. The Essex arrived off Marseilles on 29 July, took the Martha under convoy, and proceeded to Barcelona to convoy the twenty-six ships there. On his application, the naval minister [Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait] has released two more seamen confined at Bordeaux.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Paris, vol. 1). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received with Mountflorence’s 3 Aug. dispatch on 24 Sept.

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


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Sumter, Jr., 6 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Sumter, Thomas
To: Madison, James

6 August 1801, Washington. Has received a letter from his friend Poinsett, whom he introduced to JM in Washington. Encloses a letter from Poinsett to the president and asks JM to forward it. Reports Poinsett’s ill health and his desire to sail to France on the vessel taking Livingston. Adds in postscript that Wagner advised him to apply to secretary of navy and he did so but Smith declined making a decision and recommended forwarding request to president.

   RC and enclosure (DLC). RC 2 pp. Cover marked by Wagner, “Handed to me by Mr. Sumpter”; docketed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 1.

   Joel Roberts Poinsett’s 24 July letter to Jefferson requested permission to embark with Sumter and the Livingston party for France (1 p.; docketed by Jefferson, “recd. Aug. 16. / referred to Secy. of State”).


Title: To James Madison from Elias Vander Horst, 6 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Vanderhorst, Elias
To: Madison, James

6 August 1801, Bristol. Since his last dispatch, has received no letters from JM. Reports grain harvest probably will be abundant and potato crop is promising. Consequently, grain and flour prices have declined and may go lower. Encloses newspapers, London prices current, and last year’s report on Bristol infirmary.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Bristol, vol. 2). 1 p. Enclosures not found.

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


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 7 August 1801
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Monticello Aug. 7. 1801.
Th: Jefferson presents his affectionate salutations to mr. Madison & sends him the inclosed which will explain itself. He hopes to see him & family at Monticello when most convenient to themselves; and observes for his information that the road through Shadwell is put into fine order, the right hand at issuing from the ford on this side to be greatly preferred to the left. The road by Milton is all but impassable. Health & respect.

   RC (owned by Charles M. Storey, Boston, Mass., 1961).

   Jefferson apparently enclosed a 30 July 1801 letter to him from Philadelphia publisher George Helmbold, Jr., seeking a federal appointment (not found, but listed in Jefferson’s Epistolary Record [DLC: Jefferson Papers] as received 6 Aug. and mentioned in Helmbold to Jefferson, 7 Aug. 1801 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9]; see also JM to Jefferson, ca. 12 Aug. 1801).


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Rodney, 7 August 1801
From: Rodney, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Dover, Dalaware August 7th. 1801.
Having been too Unwell to write for a considerable Time past, I imbrace the Earliest Opertunity Affoarded by returning health to Acknowledge duly receiving by the mail your Attentive friendly & polite Answer to My former Letters. It contained all the Intelligence on the Subject that could be Expected; And I lament with you that it Affoarded no better consolation to the friends, of the Unfortunate Young Men from Dalaware Who were on board of the Insurgent. But they must bare the loss as an act of Providence. “He who gave hath taken away.” And who can presume to impeach his wisdom.
It is with pleasure I accept your congratulation—and I Sincerely rejoice with you On compairing, the prospects which the United States at present Affoard, with those difficulties and dangers that Surrounded us, when our Services were combined with Others in the Sovereign councils Of the Nation, to Rescue Our Country from the Vindictive hand of foreign Dispotism. Yet retired, as I am, out of view of the Motives of action I Forbare to Say Any thing particular on public Affairs But I cannot avoid expressing My good wishes that the present Administration, guided by Rectitude and Wisdom through a faithful discharge of their various duties, May under beneign Providence Dispense that prosperity and happyness to the United States Which the Constitution designed them to Enjoy.
Permit Me to intreat you to present My respectful complements to the President—and Please to accept the great Esteem & respect of Your Most Obedient
Thomas Rodney

   RC (DLC). Postmarked at Dover, 11 Aug.; docketed by Wagner as received 18 Aug.

   Neither Rodney’s letters nor JM’s reply have been found.

   The U.S. naval frigate Insurgente, having left port on 14 July 1800 and not being heard from again, was presumed lost (Knox, Naval Documents, Quasi-WarDudley W. Knox, ed., Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France (7 vols.; Washington, 1935–38)., 7:368).

   Thomas Rodney (1744–1811), father of Caesar Augustus Rodney, was a Delaware jurist of idiosyncratic political views. He disliked both Federalists and Republicans in equal proportions, but in 1803 he accepted an offer from Jefferson to serve as a land commissioner and territorial judge in the Mississippi Territory (William Baskerville Hamilton, Anglo-American Law on the Frontier: Thomas Rodney and His Territorial Cases [Durham, N.C., 1953], pp. 59–62).


Title: From James Madison to Willink, Van Staphorst, and Hubbard, 8 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Madison, James
To: Willink, Van Staphorst, and Hubbard

8 August 1801, Department of State, Washington. Informs the firm that Charles Pinckney, having been appointed minister to Spain, is authorized to draw six thousand dollars for his outfit and nine thousand dollars for his annual salary.

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


Title: To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 8 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bourne, Sylvanus
To: Madison, James

8 August 1801, Amsterdam. Has learned from the newspapers that Jefferson has decided to vacate the diplomatic mission at The Hague. Interprets this as an additional obligation on himself to attend to and convey all interesting political information. Has no doubt that the Batavian government will accept him as official channel of communications because of their acquiescence on this point during Murray’s mission in France.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner.

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


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Bulkeley, 8 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bulkeley, Thomas
To: Madison, James

8 August 1801, Lisbon. Encloses copy of peace treaty between Spain and Portugal concluded at Badajoz 6 June and received 7 Aug. by post. Reports that British packets enter port under flags of truce and no order has yet been issued prohibiting this.

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, CD, Lisbon, vol. 1). RC 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 7 Oct. Enclosure 6 pp.; in Spanish; docketed by Wagner as received in Bulkeley’s 8 Aug. dispatch.

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


Title: To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 8 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Cathcart, James Leander
To: Madison, James

8 August 1801, Leghorn. No. 9. Encloses dispatches received 4 Aug. from Eaton with copies of other papers. Awaits notification of arrival of American squadron, which he expects to receive from the commodore himself.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Tripoli, vol. 2); FC (NN: Cathcart Papers). RC 1 p.; docketed by Wagner. Enclosures include copies of an appraisal of items of jewelry by the public appraiser of Leghorn, certified by Appleton (3 pp.; in Italian and English); a 7 Aug. statement by Cathcart of the value of jewels purchased from Jewish merchants in Algiers and sent him by Richard O’Brien, with the allegation that there was an overcharge of 95.5 percent (1 p.); a 23 May letter from William Eaton to Cathcart praising him for his actions (2 pp.) (Cathcart appended the note: “This letter was forwarded to Tripoli & return’d by Mr. Nissen. Mr. Eaton recd. it again at Tunis on the 12th. of July & I receiv’d it at Leghorn August the 4th. 1801”); a 15 July letter from Eaton to Cathcart stating his intention to remain firm in his position (1 p.); and a 23 July letter from the Danish consul at Tripoli to Cathcart describing arrival of Commodore Richard Dale and intrigues of Swedish and British representatives there (4 pp.).

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


Title: To James Madison from Robert W. Fox, 8 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Fox, Robert W.
To: Madison, James

8 August 1801, Falmouth. Reports that many ships have stopped at Falmouth on the way to ports in England, Hamburg, Holland, and France without their crews’ being molested. States that grain and flour prices have greatly decreased; expects decline to continue. American shipping continues to be preferred to that of all other neutrals even at higher freights. In 13 Aug. postscript gives prices of flour and wheat.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Falmouth, vol. 1). 2 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, except for Fox’s signature and postscript.

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


Title: To James Madison from John Gavino, 9 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Gavino, John
To: Madison, James

9 August 1801, Gibraltar. No. 70. Encloses a copy of his letter to Captain Barron sent “⅌ Boats hird on purpose to go in quest of him to East and West.” Has just learned Barron was off Málaga two days earlier. The two Ragusan vessels with Tripolitan crews are being convoyed to Tetuán by a British vessel. Tripolitan admiral, officers, and a few seamen—totaling eighty—remain in vessels at Gibraltar. Recommends frigates be stationed to both east and west of port for effective blockade because of winds and currents. Has a 22 July letter and enclosure from O’Brien and forwards the latter. In postscript reports that none of the boats seeking Barron has yet returned.

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, CD, Gibraltar, vol. 2). RC 2 pp.; marked duplicate; docketed by Wagner as received 19 Nov. Enclosure (1 p.) is a copy of Gavino to Capt. Samuel Barron, 8 Aug. 1801, reporting that the governor of Gibraltar had refused provisions to the Tripolitan admiral and suggesting that Barron cruise between Tangier and Tetuán as the Tripolitan ships—having only three days’ provisions—would probably make for a nearby port. RC and enclosure printed 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)., 1:543–44.

   Gavino probably forwarded a copy of O’Brien’s 22 July letter to JM (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:457).

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


Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Homans, 10 August 1801
From: Homans, Benjamin
To: Madison, James

Sir
Bordeaux 10th August 1801.
I take the Liberty to address you as a republican Citizen of the United States, and I have too much Confidence in your Character Virtues & patriotism, to hesitate in expressing my sentiments on a Subject which I presume to be worthy your attention. I write also to the President, Mr Munroe, & to Doctor Eustis the worthy Representative of my native District.
I am sensible that the established etiquette has been to address the President only through your Department, in deviating therefrom, I hope to be excused in my motives to Serve an honest Man, whose misfortune is, not to be Sufficiently known to be duely esteemed. Under the former Administration it might have been called Arrogance & presumption in an Individual to offer his opinion in Opposition to the Will of the Executive. In the present, I conceive those barriers are removed between the Goverment & the people, and that justice finds an Advocate with those who have the power to distribute it.
Isaac Cox Barnet has filled the Office of Consul at Brest by Commission from Genl Washington, and was ordered to remove to Bordeaux with the promise of your predecessor of having the appointment if his conduct should continue to merit it. Many Americans now learn with regret that another Person is named for this place. In being the friend of Mr Barnet, I am the friend of his Virtues, I am also the intimate friend of Wm Lee named to succeed him.
Permit me Sir to offer to your candid consideration a comparason of their respective merits, & however advantage it may prove to Mr Barnet, yet he does not build his pretentions upon depreciating Mr Lee.
Mr Barnet having possessed the confidence of our Goverment in a public Station, that confidence cannot be removed without doing him an injury, an injury still greater, as his services merit a recompence which the President alone can bestow, and which being deprived of, he consequently looses the general confidence in this Country which was attached to it. By devoting five years of his time to his Country, he has now no other dependance to Support a large family. If it is to be imputed a Crime to Mr Barnet to have acquired by his upright & faithfull Conduct, the approbation of the former administration, if it is a misfortune for him to have been nominated Consul for Bordeaux by Mr Adams why is Mr Lee exempt, and how can he have Supported pretentions to a new appointment, to Supplant a Native Citizen when he had already been named to Marseilles. If Men in soliciting public appointments can descend to vilify & depreciate the merits of their Competitors, where is the Virtue & the talents that may not be unjustly tarnished, especially at 3000 Miles distance from the residence of their Judges; Is Mr Barnet accused of any One Act derogatory of his public Character fidelity or patriotism, let the truth be investigated and let the President whose discernment & justice elevate his respectable Character, decide upon the validity.
I venerate Mr Jefferson, I glory in his being chosen to precide over the rights & interests of our Country. I admire his talents and I render homage to his virtues, I am sensible that he cannot know the personal qualifications & merits of every Individual whom he appoints, he must sometimes refer to the opinions of others, and partialities, prejudices, family attachments & various causes influence those Opinions. If active Zeal, integrity firm principles & good judgement are necessary in the execution of Duty & the routine of Office in which experience has rendered him perfect, I beleive no Man can offer a fairer Claim than Mr Barnet; I am at a loss then to know what censure can attach to his Conduct to forfeit the Confidence of the President. Certainly Mr Barnet’s friends may be permitted to produce evidence of his rectitude & ask an investigation before he is condemned to a dismissal which entrains with it his ruin; he has not enriched himself at the expence of his Countrymen, on the contrary his Office has not afforded him the means of Subsistance.
A few words may Suffice for Mr Lee; he was born in nova scotia where his father’s family now reside, he entered young into Commercial Speculation at Boston & failed, he came to france with me in 1796, his attachments his political principles & his friends were then decidedly opposed to our Republican System, he was a firm advocate for the british Treaty, he found means in france to ingratiate himself with Mr Munroe our then worthy Minister, with Mr Barlow & other respectable Men, from whom he first learned a true distinction of civil & political rights, he aspired to public Notice & fixed his ambitious views upon a Consular Appointment. His superficial appearance gave him a Credit which his understanding was unequal to Support, & he finally returned to Boston in 1798. little better than he set out. He pursued his favorite object through aristocratic friends & obtained a nomination from Mr. Adams, with which his small pretentions ought to have been satisfied, but his vanity still led him a Step farther, & Bordeaux being more famous could flatter him still more; without having the delicacy to respect Mr Barnet’s prior right, and when every Republican in Boston had abandoned him for his inconsequence & inconsistency, his presumption found a resource in applying to Mr Munroe, who probably forgetting for a moment that he had known and formerly recommended Mr Barnet, permitted his benevolent disposition to get the better of his good judgement; and as Lee has no secrets, he has said that Mr Munroe’s friendship had introduced him to the President’s notice; I should rejoice at Mr Lee’s success, if it was not injurious to a more worthy Man; I sincerely hope Sir, that the President will reconsider the choice he has made, that he will be convinced of Mr Barnet’s Superior merit & just pretentions to the confidence of his Country. Mr Lee’s appointment ought not to be confirmed even if he stood on as fair ground as Mr. Barnet, it would be discouraging meritorious Officers and it would place the protection of the Commercial interests in the hands of a Man incapable of performing the Duty and of Supporting the dignity of the trust.
As I have not the honour of being known to you, I will confess that I am not ambitious to appear more than what I am, a humble Citizen, not conspicuous for Riches, but I hope Sufficiently known for my political principles as a decided Republican, and in my private Character as an honest Man. A wish to preserve a deserving Man from unmerited disgrace has prompted me to intrude myself before the respectable Authorities of my Country; if the liberty I have taken exposes me to your Censure, I submit to it & can seek my consolation in the purity of my motives.
I beg leave to offer you my highest respect and to assure You that I am with great consideration Sir Your truely devoted & Obedient Servant
Benjamin Homans

   RC (DLC); draft (DLC: Homans Papers). RC varies significantly from draft.

   Republican William Eustis was the representative from the First Middle and Third Massachusetts districts from 4 Mar. 1801 to 3 Mar. 1805. He later served as secretary of war during JM’s first administration, 1809–13 (Stanley B. Parsons, William W. Beach, and Dan Hermann, United States Congressional Districts, 1788–1841 [Westport, Conn., 1978], pp. 78, 96).

   Benjamin Homans (1765–1823) described himself to Jefferson as a Boston native who had lived in Bordeaux “since the Sedition Law deprived me of the liberty of Speech at home.” JM named him consul at Tunis 1 July 1812, and in early 1813 Secretary William Jones appointed him chief clerk of the Navy Department (Homans to Jefferson, 10 Aug. 1801 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9; docketed by Jefferson as received 20 Oct.]; Senate Exec. ProceedingsJournal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828)., 2:281, 288; Charles Oscar Paullin, Paullin’s History of Naval Administration, 1775–1911 [Annapolis, 1968], p. 139).


Title: To James Madison from Evan Jones, [10 August] 1801
From: Jones, Evan
To: Madison, James

[New Orleans, 10 August 1801]
… A great number of American citizens, especially seamen, and boatmen from the Ohio, die here yearly, for want of a Hospital into which they might be put and taken care of—not that they are refused admittance into the Spanish poor-hospital, but that building is by much too small for the purpose. No public house of any reputation will take them in, and consequently they lie in their ships or Boats, or get into wretched cabins, in which they die miserably, after frequently subjecting the humane among their countrymen to much trouble and expense.

Will not this be an object, Sir, worthy the attention of the Government of the United States? and might not a fund be easily established for the preservation of those poor people by imposing a light tax upon every vessel and boat that comes in, as well as upon every seaman and boatman?
About two hundred vessels have entered here from sea, during a twelve month past, and allowing eight men only to each, it makes 1600. Perhaps from 350 to 400 boats have come down from the Ohio &c. during the same time, and allowing four men to each, it would make about an equal number of men. A small sum from each, added to something from every vessel and boat, would probably produce a capital equal to the exigency.…

   Partial Tr, two copies (DNA: RG 46, President’s Messages, 7A-E2; and DNA: RG 233, President’s Messages, 7A-D1). Headed “Extract of a Letter from Evan Jones Esqr. to the Secretary of State, dated New Orleans 10 August 1801.” Jefferson transmitted the extract to Congress along with other documents on 24 Feb. 1802 (see ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Commerce and Navigation, 1:490–94).

   Charity Hospital, which had been built in 1785 with a twenty-four-bed capacity, was poorly maintained during this period. Congress enacted legislation on 3 May 1802 to establish and fund a marine hospital in New Orleans (John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana [2 vols.; Baton Rouge, 1958–62], 1:252; Annals of CongressDebates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … (42 vols.; Washington, 1834–56)., 7th Cong., 1st sess., 721, 1142, 1163, 1164, 1174, 1294; U.S. Statutes at LargeThe Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America … (17 vols.; Boston, 1848–73)., 2:192–93).


Title: To James Madison from Richard Söderström, 10 August 1801
From: Söderström, Richard
To: Madison, James

Sir
Philadelphia 10th Augst 1801
I have received the Letter you have honored me with, dated the 23rd Ulto. I was well aware that the Executive of the United States could not pay the indemnities claimed by the Danish Subjects, untill appropriations were made by the Legislature for that purpose. I thought however that in the mean time the principles applying to each particular Case might have been agreed upon & the damages liquidated in some amicable mode, as is frequently done in Europe, and has been practised by the American Government while the present President was Secretary of State, particularly in the Case of the William. No one can feel a higher respect than I do for the universally acknowledged learning & integrity of the Judges of the United States, at the same time I cannot help considering it as a peculiar hardship for His Danish Majesty’s Subjects to be compelled to have recourse to tedious & expensive judicial proceedings, when the United States have it in their power a more easy method of doing Justice, and I hope you will forgive me Sir, if I presume to differ with you as to the point of general usage, in this particular.

At the same time I am fully sensible that it ⟨is⟩ my duty to submit to the determination which the Government of the United States has made upon this Subject, altho’ my doing so will be attended with considerable hardship & difficulty, particularly in the Case of Captain Maley, who I understand is not only insolvent, but absent from the United States.
I presume, however, that the Government of the United States will have no objection to facilitate my obtaining Justice in the mode which they have chosen, by instructing Mr Attorney for the Pennsylvania District, or if they think proper, Mr Attorney for the District of Columbia, to appear for the United States and defend the Suits I may think proper to institute for the several Claimants. Should they accede to this proposal, I am sure that they will not lengthen the proceedings by unnecessary appeals, but that the matters in variance will be settled in as short a time, as the judicial mode of investigation will admit of.
I beg you will honor me with an answer to this part of my Letter, that I may determine without loss of time on the Course which I shall have to pursue. I have the honor to be with great respect & high consideration Sir Your most Obedt Servt.
Richd: Söderström

   RC (DNA: RG 59, NFC, vol. 1). Docketed by Wagner as received 12 Aug.

   PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:461.

   The case of the William was one of a number of instances in 1793 involving the seizure of foreign vessels by French privateers operating out of American ports in violation of the Washington administration’s policy of neutrality. Since British minister George Hammond was unable to negotiate the dispute with Jefferson and since the Jay treaty commissioners in 1798 also dismissed the case, it is perhaps unlikely that the episode embodied the precedent that Söderström wished to invoke. More probably, he was referring to the views expressed in Jefferson’s 5 Sept. 1793 letter to Hammond in which the U.S. government agreed to pay compensation for three British vessels, including the Prince William Henry, on the grounds that the U.S. had not used all means within its power to effect their restitution. The British government had annexed Jefferson’s letter accepting the claims to article 7 of the Jay treaty (Joanne Loewe Neel, Phineas Bond: A Study in Anglo-American Relations, 1786–1812 [Philadelphia, 1968], p. 110; Miller, TreatiesHunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (8 vols.; Washington, 1930–48)., 2:265). The issues are further discussed and clarified in John Bassett Moore, International Adjudications, Ancient and Modern, History and Documents … (6 vols.; New York, 1931), 4:143, 518–28.


Title: To James Madison from Jacob Wagner, 10 August 1801
From: Wagner, Jacob
To: Madison, James

Dear sir
Department of State: Washington, 10 Augt. 1801.
I have the honor to enclose to you several public and private letters. Those of importance among the former, are from Mr. Lear, Mr. King and Mr. Thornton. I also received a letter from Mr. Savage, the Agent for seamen at Jamaica, in which he says, that a number of seamen have lately been discharged and that his certificates are respected, on which account he suggests, that the Masters of our vessels should, on their arrival, apply to him to have their crews protected. By the advice of the secretaries of the Treasury and Navy, I gave the letter to Mr. Smith to publish an extract, and also the list of the men discharged, for the satisfaction of their friends.
In Mr. Thornton’s letter you will, I believe, see a case calling for the important decision on the rights of French privateers and prizes within our ports. I have showed it to the two other Secretaries, who have promised to take it into consideration.
A few days ago I received from General Smith a letter respecting an American seaman impressed on board the British Frigate Andromache, which is now cruising off the Chesapeake. General Smith suggested, that it might be adviseable to hire a pilot boat and send a Lieutenant of the Navy to the Andromache to ask for him. It appeared to me, that as expense would be incurred by this expedient and a risk encountered by the possibility of a refusal, which, after so solemn a demand, would be embarrassing, it was preferable to write an easy letter to the British Consul at Norfolk requesting his interposition in the man’s favor. This I did with the concurrence of the secretary of the Navy. I since received a complaint of another American being detained on board her, which I disposed of in the same manner.
Mr. Graham has not yet made his appearance here: but to be prepared for him, I enclose a bundle of papers whence may be extracted the subject of a letter to Mr. Pinckney. It will be a proper time for charging him with the superintendence of our Barbary concerns, in place of the Minister at Lisbon. This superintendence should perhaps be confined to advising and counselling the Agents there: he ought also to be the medium of intelligence between them and the Executive. Should you think fit to impose this charge upon him, he should be desired to communicate it to the Consuls, as we may not for some time have an opportunity of writing directly to Barbary.
Mr. Lee has sailed for Bourdeaux. Mr. Erving takes his passage in the British Packet on the 14th. or 15 inst.
I do not know whether Mr. Brown, on hearing that you are in Virginia, may not wait upon you there, without coming to Washington; if so, I shall forward the passports I have for him, from the foreign ministers, to you, on hearing of his being there. With perfect respect, I have the honor, sir, to be Your most obed. servt.
Jacob Wagner

   RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.

   Wagner probably enclosed Tobias Lear to JM, 17 July 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:427–29), Rufus King to JM, 1 June 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:250–52), and Edward Thornton to JM, 1 Aug. 1801.

   William Savage’s 6 July 1801 dispatch to JM has not been found, but an extract appeared in the National Intelligencer on 7 Aug. and a list of seamen followed in the 10 Aug. issue; JM later sent the same extract to Congress (JM to president of Senate, 14 Dec. 1801).

   JM interlined “Graham” above “Brown” on the RC (see Wagner to JM, 3 Aug. 1801, n. 2).


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Appleton, 10 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Appleton, Thomas
To: Madison, James

10 August 1801, Leghorn. Sent previous dispatch of 9 July by way of Paris, covering dispatches from Cathcart, who is now in Leghorn. Forwards copy of circular letter received from Tunis; has distributed it to foreign consuls in Leghorn and American consuls in Italy, Trieste, Smyrna, France, Spain, Holland, Hamburg, and London. His receipt of timely information from Barbary States and transmittal of same to American consuls prevented any American vessels being taken by Tripolitan cruisers before the blockade was established. Reports cession of Tuscany on 28 July to king of Etruria. Encloses Florentine gazette containing royal proclamation and General Murat’s address on the same event. Murat’s command now extends from Turin through Kingdom of Naples. Army of Italy will be increased to wartime strength, but Appleton sees this as a defensive, not offensive, measure. Thinks the establishment of a king in Tuscany will not improve government or conditions but merely add the burden of supporting the court. Believes intrigues in Rome will not preserve pope’s temporal power. Notes rumor that Admiral Ganteaume has landed an army at Derna. Encloses a letter for the president.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Leghorn, vol. 1). 5 pp.; docketed by Wagner. Enclosures not found, but see nn. 2 and 3.

   PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:392.

   The enclosed circular was probably that of 23 July from Eaton announcing the blockade of Tripoli (see Cathcart to JM, 10 Aug. 1801, and n.).

   For the texts of the 26 July proclamation of Louis I and the 28 July address of Gen. Joachim Murat, see the Paris Moniteur universel, 24 Thermidor an IX (12 Aug. 1801); for Murat’s address, see also the National Intelligencer, 16 Oct. 1801. The 21 Mar. Treaty of Aranjuez between France and Spain had named Louis—son of Duke Ferdinand of Parma, nephew of the Spanish queen, and husband of the Spanish infanta—as king of Etruria in exchange for the retrocession of Louisiana (de Clercq, Recueil des traités de la France, 1:431–32).

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


Title: To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 10 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bourne, Sylvanus
To: Madison, James

10 August 1801, Amsterdam. Hastens to forward the enclosed from Murray, since it conveys conclusion of matters with France. Hopes nothing else will disturb American peace during the European war, which he fears is not near an end. Reports that “negotiations [between France and Great Britain] are said to be much interrupted within a few days past.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner. The enclosure was probably Murray’s second letter of 3 Aug. to JM.

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


Title: To James Madison from Samuel Bradford, 10 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bradford, Samuel
To: Madison, James

10 August 1801, Marshal’s Office, Boston. Encloses schedule of the population within his district as gathered during second national census. Also encloses certificate of clerk of court attesting to his having filed returns.

   Letterbook copy (DLC: Samuel Bradford Papers). Enclosures not found.


Title: To James Madison from William Vans Murray, 11 August 1801
From: Murray, William Vans
To: Madison, James

No. 14.
Sir,
Paris. 11th. Augt. 1801.
Though uninstructed to say any thing upon the 4th. article, yet as I had officially informed the French ministers in my note of 15 june of the execution of the convention on the part of the U. S. I thought myself bound to obtain some explanation of their intentions on that article. It’s objects are of a perishable nature & the inquietudes
   inquietudes of the parties concerned & intrigues of the privateersmen to buy out the claims & of others to cajole or alarm the captains—
 & intrigues without number respecting it. On conversing with Mr. Roederer some days since—the others I was not fortunate enough to find at home after several calls—he referred me to Mr. Talleyrand, considering the matter as out of his competence. He promised to speak to him & to urge the execution of the 4h article immediately. I had twice before called on Mr. Talleyrand but he was at Malmaison. On the 9th. I wrote to him a billet telling him that I would call on him at two yesterday. He received me.
I informed him that I came to talk with him on the execution of the 4h article of the Convention: That in my note of the 15 june I had officially assured them that my Government was executing that act “independently of events”—That I had not demanded that such a declaration should be reciprocated—but that I certainly had expected it of them. That the 4th article was of a nature to be in a great measure defeated by delay & that now the exchange was made, & after my official declaration, good faith required that they should give a prompt execution especcially to that article. He assured me with great cordiality that it should be done; & that he would immediately write to the commissary of the Government near the Council of prizes to recommence the trials of American cases. On my informing him that I should now immediately leave Paris—he promised to send to me at the Hague a copy of his letter of which I could make official use.
To-morrow I shall set off for the Hague & it gives me pleasure to give you the above intelligence. I am with great respect Sir Yr. mo. ob. set. &c &
W. V. Murray.

P. S.—The ratifications were exchanged the 31 july at night—& on the 3d inst. I delivered the French Ratification to Mr. Dawson—sealed up—I have sent information of this to you Sir by different routes.
W.V.M.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, DD, Netherlands, vol. 4). Docketed by Wagner as received 20 Oct. Murray’s second 3 Aug. dispatch was also numbered 14.

   Article 4 of the Convention of 1800 dealt with the restoration, upon proof of ownership, of prize property seized but not yet condemned at the time of signing or seized between the signing and the ratification of the convention, contraband goods excepted (Miller, TreatiesHunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (8 vols.; Washington, 1930–48)., 2:459–62).


Title: To James Madison from John Elmslie, Jr., 12 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Elmslie, John
To: Madison, James

12 August 1801, Cape Town. Reports apparent violation of article 23 of Jay treaty, which allows distressed American vessels sheltering in British ports to sell cargo to defray expenses after receiving government permission. In the case of the Alexander, the East India Company agent imposed restrictions. Requests JM’s opinion. Encloses correspondence on the matter, along with a letter from Blake on a former occasion.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Cape Town, vol. 1). RC 3 pp.; addressed to John Marshall as secretary of state; docketed by Wagner. Enclosures, docketed by Wagner as enclosed in Elmslie’s 12 Aug. dispatch, include copies of Richard Blake to Elmslie, 4 Nov. 1800, conveying governor’s permission for Elmslie to sell part of cargo of distressed American ship (1 p.); Elmslie to Lieutenant Governor Francis Dundas, 29 July 1801, requesting that repairs to the Alexander, sailing from Canton to Boston, be paid for by sale of part of its cargo (1 p.); John Pringle, agent of the East India Company, to A. Barnard, 1 Aug. 1801, describing company’s purchase of goods after a similar application in 1799 and declaring it to be “quite out of the question” for individuals to purchase cargo (1 p.); Elmslie to Dundas, 1 Aug. 1801, requesting a reply to his 29 July letter (1 p.); Will Munro to Elmslie, 2 Aug. 1801, conveying Dundas’s permission provided that Pringle’s consent was obtained (1 p.); Thomas Maxwell, Pringle’s assistant, to Elmslie, 4 Aug. 1801, reporting that Pringle’s decision had already been communicated to Barnard (1 p.); and Elmslie to Dundas, 6 Aug. 1801, requesting to know the procedures to be followed so that he could inform American captains in future (1 p.).

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


Title: To James Madison from William Hull, 12 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Hull, William
To: Madison, James

12 August 1801, Newton, Massachusetts. Recommends Newton resident John Hall Rogers for consulship at Alicante based on his business experience and his lengthy residence there.

   RC (CtY: Knollenberg Collection). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 24 Aug. Hull, a Jeffersonian Republican, was justice of the peace in Newton from 1788 until 1805 and a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1802 until 1805, when Jefferson nominated him to be territorial governor of Michigan (Michigan Historical Collections, 40 [1929]: 26, 28–29).


Title: To James Madison from Israel Whelen, 12 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Whelen, Israel
To: Madison, James

12 August 1801, Philadelphia. Reports delayed arrival of the George Washington at Sandy Hook on 8 Aug. Requests $1,450 to cover resulting Peace and Plenty demurrage costs.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 14 Aug.


Title: Richard O’Brien to William Loughton Smith, 12 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: O’Brien, Richard
To: Smith, William Loughton

12 August 1801, Algiers. Repeats word that President and Enterprize arrived at Algiers 9 July and sailed for Tunis on 11 July; Essex and Grand Turk passed on 10 July; Philadelphia was last heard from at Gibraltar, keeping watch on two Tripolitan corsairs. Has received cloth shipment for third installment of two-year tribute. Algerine dey and ministry claim they wrote three “Strong letters” to the pasha of Tripoli to prevent declaration of war but were ignored. Fears Algiers and Tunis may take advantage of U.S. fleet’s occupation with Tripoli to plunder American merchantmen in Atlantic. “Will it not be good policy to Sooth and be friendly with the one or two Elder brothers ⟨while we⟩ are Chastising The younger for attempting to Bite One of its nurses the United States.” Has heard contradictory reports on Swedish willingness to pay new treaty tribute. Believes paying tribute to purchase peace undermines U.S. honor and points out that Britain and France achieve peace through fear of their strength. Complains that U.S. merchantmen are still sailing in Mediterranean, that some will fall into the hands of the Tripolitans and convince them of benefits to be obtained through war with the U.S. Recommends statute to prevent this evil. Notes that Algerine corsairs have been kept in port out of fear of British and American strength. Calculates that cost of keeping twelve warships on station off coast of Barbary (one million dollars a year) would be a bargain, given the richness of American commerce in Mediterranean. In postscript dated 17 Aug. adds, “I have just heard That Commodore Dale has declared tripoli in a State of Blockade &c. is off That port.”

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Algiers, vol. 6). 3 pp.; marked triplicate, with O’Brien’s notation: “Copy please to forwd to The Secretary of State.” Docketed by Wagner as received 23 Jan.


Title: To James Madison from George W. Erving, 13 August 1801
From: Erving, George W.
To: Madison, James

Private
Dear Sir—
New York. Augt. 13t 1801
I had taken my passage & actually Embarked for England on board a merchant ship from this Port but I found the accommodations so uncomfortable, & the decks so dangerously lumbered with Cotton, that I thought it best to return & take passage in the English Packet which sails without fail to morrow morning; in this mode of conveyance I am subject to a probability of some delay, but taking all circumstances into consideration I do not calculate upon being in England more than ten days later than the vessel in which I had at first intended to sail; & I trust that in Case of capture your passport will be a sufficient protection for me & for the dispatches with which I am charged; to make myself however more secure upon this point I have written to Mr Wagner to procure another passport from Pichon which will arrive by to morrow mornings mail. The Boston papers which arrived here yesterday & to day, contain several peices abusive scurrilous & false with respect to me & my appointment: the removal of Williams a favorite child of the Essex tribe has called forth all that rancorous venom which distinguishes them; every thing is at the same time said complimentary to Williams both as a private man & public agent. All this I expected; & the more so as the federal printers in Boston have been particularly indebted to him for his correspondence, & for his anticipating the public intelligence sent to government thro’ the regular channels. I have thought it however proper to write some things in defence of myself which I have forwarded for publication: I have discovered the author of these calumnies to be John Lowell Junr & almost every word contained in the paragraphs alluded to is false, as Falstaff says of Justice Shallow “Every third word a lie, as duly paid as the Turks tribute.” In that part of the Union there will be an unceasing clamour against Every appointment which the President may make however unobjectionable, the spirit of federalism there is malignant, inveterate, irreconcileable; directed by no sentiments of moderation or justice; to be conciliated by no measures of mildness or forbearance; in this case as in many others, the only effectual method of stopping their clamours is by an exposure of the delinquencies of those who are removed: the purpose of my now troubling you is to request that you woud permit the publication of your letter to Mr Williams or of such parts of it as you may see fit; that this man “who woud do honor to any Country” & “who has conducted himself so much to the satisfaction of those interested” may stand properly exposed; & that his removal & my appointment in his place may stand justified in the minds of those who may be otherwise misled; for myself I defy the most scrutinizing severity to find one point in which I am assailable, these scurrilities are made up only of the old cant of “jacobin” [“]Frenchman” [“]Englishman” [“]English Agent[”] [“]democratical preacher” & such worn out terms. If you shoud think proper to suffer the publication of the letter in question or of any part of it, & will be so obliging as to direct Mr Wagner to forward it to Jacob Lewis at N. York—he will be good Enough (as I am going) to attend to it. I am sorry to trouble you in this matter which is almost wholly personal, but I think a check of this sort may have a good Effect in future appointments. I am Dear Sir With the highest respect your very obliged & obt St
George W Erving.

   RC (MHi: Erving Papers).

   There were several attacks on Erving in the Boston papers. One by “Numa” in the 8 Aug. 1801 issue of the Boston Columbian Centinel claimed that Samuel Williams, a native American, had been dismissed as U.S. consul at London for political reasons and replaced by Erving, who, the writer pointed out, had been educated in Britain and had served as the American agent for London merchants and whose father was a refugee with a British pension. Another in the Palladium described Erving as “an offensive aristocrat in manners and habits, but a jacobin in principle.” Williams was Timothy Pickering’s nephew (Boston Mercury and New-England Palladium, 7 Aug. 1801).

   On Samuel Williams’s dismissal for cause, see JM to Williams, 29 June 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:357–58).

   John Lowell, Jr. (1769–1840), son of the chief judge of the first U.S. circuit court, was a prosperous Massachusetts lawyer and farmer. After retiring from his law practice, he gained local fame as a prolific Federalist pamphleteer and writer of letters to the press. The “literary representative” of Timothy Pickering, he criticized JM’s presidential policies, particularly in his 1812 pamphlet Mr. Madison’s War, and even suggested that New England suspend the Constitution and remain neutral during the War of 1812. His sobriquet of “the Boston Rebel” was taken from his signature on a pamphlet attacking Elbridge Gerry (James Banner, Jr., To the Hartford Convention: The Federalists and the Origins of Party Politics in Massachusetts, 1789–1815 [New York, 1970], pp. 28, 330; Ferris Greenslet, The Lowells and Their Seven Worlds [Boston, 1946], p. 143; David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy [New York, 1965], p. 268).

   Erving paraphrased William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2, act 3, sc. 2, lines 305–7.

   Jacob Lewis, a Boston merchant, had been appointed consul at Port Louis, Ile de France, in 1797 but returned to the U.S. after relations with France worsened in 1798. In 1801 he was named consul at Calcutta but was refused an exequatur by Lord Hawkesbury on the grounds that there were no foreign consuls there. No evidence can be found that JM’s letter to Williams was published (Lewis to Timothy Pickering, 2 Aug. 1799 [DNA: RG 59, CD, Port Louis, vol. 1]; Hawkesbury to Rufus King, 23 Mar. 1802 [DNA: RG 59, CD, Cape Town, vol. 1]).


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 13 August 1801
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Monticello Aug. 13. 1801.
Doctr. Rose delivered me last night the letter with which you charged him, and I have thought it better to attend to it’s contents at once before the arrival of the load of other business which this morning’s post will bring. Pinckney’s, Orr’s, Livermore’s, Howell’s, Webster’s, Murray’s, Otis’s, Graham’s & Thornton’s letters, with Wagner’s sketch of an answer to the latter are all returned herewith. Reed’s papers being voluminous have not yet been read. I thought a commission as District attorney had been forwarded to Howell: if so, his letter is not intelligible to me where he says he is prepared to quit his office when a more deserving person shall be thought of. That he would have preferred himself to Barnes as judge is evident enough. Tho’ I view Webster as a mere pedagogue of very limited understanding and very strong prejudices & party passions, yet as editor of a paper & as of the Newhaven association, he may be worth stroking. His letter leaves two very fair points whereon to answer him. 1. The justice of making vacancies in order to introduce a participation of office. 2. That admitted, the propriety of preventing men indecently appointed & not yet warm in the seat of office from continuing, rather than to remove those fairly appointed & long in possession. As to Goodrich & Bishop it would be like talking to the deaf to say any thing to a man as immoveably biassed as he is. Thornton’s letter is the same I had seen before I left Washington. When we consider that our minister has to wait months & years for an answer to the most trifling or most urgent application to his government, there would be no indecency to decline answering so crude an application as this respecting the prize which he does not know if it be prize or not, brought into Boston as the newspapers say. I think it better to avoid determining, with foreign ministers, hypothetical cases. They may, by stating possible cases, so employ us as to leave no time for those which are actual. The actual furnish occupation enough for our whole time. Perhaps the case of giving or refusing asylum for prizes may never arise. Yet if we predetermine it, we shall be led into all the altercation & discussion which would be necessary were we obliged to decide it. I think therefore the answer to Thornton might be that his letter being hypothetical presents two questions, calling for very different considerations, both of which it cannot now be necessary to determine. That both are founded on newspaper information only, which is too uncertain ground for the government to act on: and that so soon as certain information shall be recieved that any such case has happened & what the exact nature of the case is, we will do on it what shall be right. I have been reading Schlegel’s pamphlet with great attention. It contains a great deal of sound information. He does not however prove that in cases uncontrouled by treaty, the nations of Europe (or a single one of them in a single case) have practised on the principle, as a principle of natural law, that free bottoms make free goods. His own facts shew that the principle practised on in the earliest times was that an enemy’s goods in a friend’s bottom are lawful prize: that on an attempt by the Dutch to introduce the other principle, it was overborne by Lewis XIV. and by England, and the old principle adhered to. Still it does not follow but that a sound principle may have been smothered by powerful states acting on a temporary interest: and that we have always a right to correct antient errors, and to establish what is more conformable to reason & convenience. This is the ground we must take. I shall rejoice to see mrs. Madison, yourself & the Chess heroine here. Observe that the governor is at Richmond every other Saturday. He goes down this day, & will be back on Tuesday. Accept assurances of my affectionate friendship.
Th: Jefferson

   RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers); FC (DLC: Jefferson Papers). FC dated 12 Aug.

   Only the letters from Webster and Thornton have been found (see JM to Jefferson, ca. 12 Aug. 1801, and nn. 2 and 4).

   On the case of Dr. John Read, see Meriwether Jones to JM, 10 July 1801 (PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:395–96 and n. 1).

   Letter not found. JM had sent David Howell his commission as U.S. district attorney for Rhode Island on 2 June (see Howell to JM, 15 June 1801, PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:318–19).

   Johan Frederik Wilhelm Schlegel, Neutral Rights; or, An Impartial Examination of the Right of Search of Neutral Vessels under Convoy, and of a Judgment Pronounced by the English Court of Admiralty, the 11th of June, 1799, in the Case of the Swedish Convoy; with Some Additions and Corrections.… Translated from the French (Philadelphia, 1801; Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols. to date; New York, 1958—). 1299). For Jefferson’s ownership of the pamphlet, see Sowerby, Catalogue of Jefferson’s Library, 2:371.

   This was probably Anna Payne, Dolley Madison’s sister, who apparently played chess regularly (see Lucia B. Cutts, Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison [Boston, 1886], p. 39).


Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 13 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Gallatin, Albert
To: Madison, James

13 August 1801, Treasury Department. Encloses copy of his 13 Aug. letter to Bird, Savage, and Bird remitting £16,138 5s. 2d. in accordance with JM’s requisition in his letter of 2 July. Recommends that the firm receive instructions from State Department designating the payees and the particular expense accounts to be charged.

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, ML). RC 1 p.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Gallatin. Enclosure 4 pp. RC and enclosure reproduced in Papers of Gallatin (microfilm ed.), reel 5.

   Letter not found (calendared in PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:376).


Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Woods, 13 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Woods, Benjamin
To: Madison, James

13 August 1801, New Bern. Has received JM’s letter of 23 July [not found]. Returns abstract of cases handled in circuit court. Points out that totals requested were shown at bottom of report, although not labeled. Will ask deputy clerk at Raleigh to send dockets of cases undetermined at end of last term.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). 3 pp.; docketed by Wagner as received 21 Aug., with his notation: “Answer to Circular of 2nd. June.” Woods was district attorney for North Carolina. Enclosure not found, but the figures are in Jefferson’s annual message to Congress, 8 Dec. 1801 (ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Misc., 1:303, 319, 324; see also JM to Jefferson, 25 Feb. 1802).


Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 14 August 1801
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Monticello Aug. 14. 1801.
I wrote yesterday to you, before the arrival of the post. That brought some blank commissions which I have signed & now forward. Mr. Wagner’s note will explain them.
The abuses & waste of public money in the military & naval departments have been so gross, that I do not think we can avoid laying some of them before Congress. I inclose you information of one which is not to be neglected. I have desired further information. I expect it will be found to have originated in Toussard who was a protegé of Knox’s. Of 6. patients inoculated with the kine pox on the 7th. inst. one shews considerable symptoms of having taken the disease. We yesterday performed 6. more inoculations from matter recieved from Boston & some from England viâ Boston. I learn that Dr. Gant’s efforts have all failed. Health & affectionate attachment.
Th: Jefferson

   RC and enclosure (owned by Charles M. Storey, Boston, Mass., 1961); FC (DLC: Jefferson Papers). Enclosure (1 p.) is a letterpress copy in Jefferson’s hand (see n. 2).

   Wagner’s note has not been found.

   Jefferson enclosed an “Extract of a letter from Newport dated Aug. 1. 1801.” The extract states: “Under the administration of John Adams, very extensive fo⟨rtifica⟩tions were commenced & nearly compleated in this harbour … for the purpose of benefiting Genl. Knox.… The engineer [Maj. Lewis Tousard, engineer and inspector of artillery] had it in charge from the President to ⟨obtain?⟩ the materials from Genl. Knox.” Henry Knox, from his extensive property in Maine, supplied the army with timber, bricks, and lime during the construction of Fort Adams near Newport (see Tousard to Knox, 26 Sept. and 16 Oct. 1799 and 12 Feb. 1800, and Knox to Tousard, 16 Mar. and 27 May 1800 [MHi: Henry Knox Papers]). The writer also alleged that the government had paid an inflated price to Mary Cranch, Abigail Adams’s sister, for eight acres near the fort for the accommodation of the garrison.

   The author of the letter Jefferson enclosed and of another to him dated 8 Aug. 1801 seems to have been John Rutledge, Jr. Trying to disguise his hand, Rutledge signed both letters “Nicholas Geffroy,” the name of a respected Newport resident through whom he may have expected to conduct a surreptitious exchange with the president. Instead, Geffroy, Jacob Richardson, the Newport postmaster, and Christopher Ellery, the newly elected Republican senator from Rhode Island, combined to uncover Rutledge’s curious behavior. Ellery informed Jefferson of the ruse before the end of the month. The president, puzzled as to Rutledge’s motive in bringing charges against a fellow Federalist, ordered Dearborn to investigate the accusations. The matter was a cause célèbre until 1803 and led to Rutledge’s retirement from Congress (Ellery to Jefferson, 28 Aug. 1801, and Jefferson to Ellery, 17 Sept. 1801 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]; see also [William Duane?], An Examination of the Question, Who Is the Writer of Two Forged Letters Addressed to the President of the United States? Attributed to John Rutledge, Esq., Member of Congress from South Carolina [Washington, 1803; Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819 (22 vols. to date; New York, 1958—). 4109]; and Robert K. Ratzlaff, John Rutledge, Jr.: South Carolina Federalist, 1766–1819 [New York, 1982], pp. 216–20).

   Edward Gantt was a Georgetown physician with whom the president had discussed smallpox vaccination before leaving Washington. In early August Jefferson had six members of his own family inoculated against the disease (Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, 8 Aug. 1801, and Gantt to Jefferson, 17 Aug. 1801 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]).


Title: To James Madison from Rufus King, 14 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: King, Rufus
To: Madison, James

14 August 1801, London. No. 29. Encloses copies of letter from John Turnbull of Turnbull, Forbes, & Company and the order in council referred to therein. Has sent Arrowsmith’s five-volume atlas; plans to forward Faden’s collection of maps and charts as soon as it is completed.

   RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, DD, Great Britain, vol. 9); letterbook copy and copies of enclosures (NHi: Rufus King Papers, vol. 54). RC 2 pp.; marked duplicate; in a clerk’s hand. Enclosures are copies of John Turnbull to King, 10 Aug. 1801, enclosing a draft of an order in council to make Valetta, Malta, a free port and recommending William Higgin, director of his firm’s branch at Malta, to be U.S. consul there (2 pp.); the order in council, 30 July 1801 (5 pp.); and Rufus King to Turnbull, 13 Aug. 1801 (1 p.). RC and first enclosure printed in King, Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, 3:497–99.


Title: To James Madison from William Thornton, 15 August 1801
From: Thornton, William
To: Madison, James

My dear Friend
City of Washington 15th: Augst. 1801.
I had the honor of your Favour of the 8th: Instant, and have paid particular attention to its Contents. I saw Mr: Harbaugh and I find it impossible to make such an Agreement with him as to accommodate you, even were I to stipulate for an advance; because his Son now occupies the House & has rented his own. I know that his Son would not urge but delay the completion of the Building, and Mr: Harbaugh seems unwilling to interfere with his wishes; therefore informed me “that even the Terms first mentioned would hardly suit him.” I accordingly turned my attention to Mr: Voss’s House, next Door to the one I occupy, but was afraid we should not agree. We have however concluded, but I was under the necessity of infringing one of the rules not really specified but strongly hinted in your Letter. I was obliged to agree to an advance of the rent on your entering the House, but laid him under a penalty of 1000 Dolls. if the House should not be finished by the 1st: of Octr:—but I will copy the Agreement. You will find that I have guarded against the increase of rent in advancing it, by his agreeing to deduct the Discounts—and I have given my Note at sixty Days, negotiable at the Bank of Columbia, which may be renewed as often as you think proper, and thereby all the inconveniences of advancing and the increase of Rent are saved by this Agreement & negotiation. The House is also two feet more extensive in front, & the Kitchen dry & light, though under the House; therefore no back-buildings are necessary, which in Mr: Harbaugh’s House would have been indispensible, and would have prevented a free passage of Air: this House is also much better built, & as your Family is more numerous than ours, I have directed the third Story to be divided into four Rooms, two very good Bed-chambers, & the other two smaller Bed chambers. The Cellar I have directed to be divided, that one may serve for wine &c, the other for Coals &c—and for security against Fire a Cupola on the roof, which will add to the convenience of the House in other respects. There will be two Dormer Windows in front, & two behind. Our House has only one. I shall urge the Plaistering as soon as possible, and every thing shall be done to give you satisfaction.
Although I did all in my power to induce Mr: Harbaugh to meet your wishes, I must own that I am delighted at my want of success, for one of my first wishes is now likely to be gratified, in having you for my Neighbour.
We are exceedingly obliged by your friendly & kind Invitation. Could we accept it, we should be more gratified than we can easily express; but, like Cadmus of old, after I have presumed to invent Letters for the Americans, I was sent hither to build their great City!
There’s a Stroke of Vanity—
It lives in all my Doings!———To descend, I who lately was nothing less than a Commissioner or Edile, am now reduced to a High-way Man. You will remember we are engaged in making Highways. The City improves rapidly.

I am, dear Sir, with best Compliments to the Ladies of your Family, your respectful & affectionate Friend
William Thornton.

   RC and enclosures (DLC). RC docketed by JM. Enclosures are copies, in Thornton’s hand, of Voss’s statement of agreement, 15 Aug. 1801 (1 p.), and Thornton’s letter to Thompson and Veitch of Alexandria, 15 Aug. 1801, notifying them of JM’s plans to change residence (1 p.).

   Nicholas Voss was a bricklayer and plasterer with extensive real estate holdings in Washington and northern Virginia. His property next to Thornton’s was on F Street (National Intelligencer, 2 Sept. and 2 Dec. 1801; Washington Federalist, 19 June 1801; PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:113 n. 1).

   Cadmus, who is credited by tradition with bringing the alphabet to Greece, founded the city of Thebes. In 1793 Thornton had published Cadmus; or, A Treatise on the Elements of Written Language (Philadelphia, 1793; EvansCharles Evans, ed., American Bibliography … 1639 … 1820 (12 vols.; Chicago, 1903–34). 26258), which included an essay on teaching the deaf to speak. He was also active in the movement to found a national university in Washington.


Title: To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 15 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Bourne, Sylvanus
To: Madison, James

15 August 1801, Amsterdam. Announces that “nothing very material has occurred on the political Theatre of Europe” since his last letter. Refers to report that Anglo-French discussions have again halted.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 9 Nov.

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


Title: From James Madison to Jacob Wagner, 15 August 1801
From: Madison, James
To: Wagner, Jacob

Letter not found. 15 August 1801. Acknowledged in Wagner to JM, 24 Aug. 1801. Requests documents on tonnage and countervailing duties imposed by Great Britain on American shipping.


Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 16 August 1801
From: Madison, James
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
Augst 16. 1801
Mrs. Tudor (the lady of Judge Tudor of Boston) with her son, intending to be at Monticello this evening or tomorrow, I entrust to them the inclosed papers, which will thus reach you a little earlier, than if detained for the mail, by which I shall again write to you. In the mean time I remain Yours most respectfully & Affy.
James Madison

   RC (ViU: Jefferson Papers). Cover marked by JM, “Mr. Tudor”; docketed by Jefferson as received 16 Aug.

   Delia Jarvis Tudor was the wife of William Tudor, a Boston Republican who had been judge advocate general at the beginning of the Revolution and who served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1801 to 1803. Their son, William Tudor, Jr., founder and first editor of the North American Review, later served as U.S. consul in Lima (“Memoir of Hon. William Tudor,” Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2d ser., 8 [1819]: 285–325; PJM-SSRobert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—)., 1:101 and n. 4; Delia J. Tudor to JM, 18 Apr. 1802 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9]).

   Among the enclosed papers was Joel Roberts Poinsett’s 24 July letter to Jefferson (see Sumter to JM, 6 Aug. 1801, and n. 1).


Title: To James Madison from Edward Thornton, 16 August 1801
From: Thornton, Edward
To: Madison, James

Sir,
Philadelphia 16th August 1801.
The annexed article, which I have copied from a Philadelphia newspaper, is the only information I have of the entry of a French Privateer with her prize into the harbour of Portland in the district of Maine; and as His Majesty has no Consul in that port, I cannot flatter myself with receiving the details at a very early date.
In the papers which I had the honour of transmitting to you in the beginning of the month, you will observe that the Governor of the State of Massachusetts conceives himself to have no Authority to carry into execution the stipulations of a Compact, which is acknowleged to be the law of the land, without an act of Congress or a request of the President: and I cannot avoid dwelling once more upon the injury done to the commerce of His Majesty’s subjects by the asylum, thus unavoidably granted under the present circumstances, to vessels, which ought to be immediately excluded from the American harbours. I have the honour to be with perfect truth and respect, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant,
Edwd Thornton.

   RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain, vol. 2). RC docketed by Wagner as received 19 Aug. For enclosure, see n. 1.

   The enclosed extract (1 p.) from the 12 Aug. Philadelphia Gazette of the U.S. cited a 27 July account from Portland that the French privateer L’Expérience had anchored there with its prize, the schooner British Queen, and that the prize vessel had been ransomed for $2,000.


Title: To James Madison from William Loughton Smith, 16 August 1801 (Abstract)
From: Smith, William Loughton
To: Madison, James

16 August 1801, Lisbon. No. 53. Has assured Portuguese minister of foreign affairs that closing of American mission was not motivated by unfriendliness or disrespect. Portugal has canceled plans to send a minister to Washington. Has not yet had audience of leave. Treaty between Spain and Portugal has been printed in Spain; stipulations have not yet been fulfilled by either party as British ships are still allowed in Portuguese ports and Spanish troops remain within Portuguese borders. Purpose of large French army in Spain is unknown. Appearances and rumors indicate a secret agreement between France, Spain, and Portugal, but nothing is confirmed. Believes Great Britain has seized Madeira, “in trust for Portugal,” which may cause French policy to change for the worse. Summarizes contents of letters from Eaton and O’Brien transmitted the previous week. Thinks presence of Dale’s squadron will curb bey of Tunis’s ill humor. In a letter of 2 July Dale informed him that he intended to leave a frigate to watch Tripolitan cruisers at Gibraltar. Report of British conquest of Alexandria “does not gain credit”; it is believed French have landed several thousand troops in Tripoli or Syria.

   RC (DNA: RG 59, DD, Portugal, vol. 5). 3 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Smith; docketed by Wagner as received 24 Oct.


Title: From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, 17 August 1801
From: Madison, James
To: Gallatin, Albert

Dear Sir
Aug. 17. 1801
Mr. Adams Hoopes the bearer proposes to call at Washington on his way to Philada. and as he may have occasion to ask some information which you can best give him, intimates that a line making him known to you would be acceptable. I give it with pleasure, under the impression that he is a man of modesty & worth, and will abuse no civility that may be shewn him. Mrs. M. & Anna offer their affectionate respects to Mrs. Gallatin & Miss Nicholson, to which I beg leave to add my own. I begin now to look for your appearance among us, on your way to Monticello. Should such a trip take place, and the time of it be foreknown to yourself, be so good as to drop a line on the subject, that my arrangements may be so made as to leave me at home at the time of your arrival. Yours very sincerely
James Madison

   RC (NHi: Gallatin Papers). Cover marked by JM, “Mr. Hoopes.” Erroneously docketed, “June 17. 1801.”

   JM had long been familiar with the Hoops family of Pennsylvania. Adam (or Adams) Hoops had served in a Maryland regiment during the Revolution, and he subsequently held a commission as a major in the corps of artillerists and engineers between 1798 and 1802 (PJMWilliam T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (1st ser., vols. 1–10, Chicago, 1962–77, vols. 11–17, Charlottesville, Va., 1977–91)., 1:49 n. 2; Senate Exec. ProceedingsJournal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, 1828)., 1:277, 279; Catherine Van Cortlandt Mathews, Andrew Ellicott: His Life and Letters [New York, 1908], p. 89 n. 1; ASPAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States … (38 vols.; Washington, 1832–61)., Misc., 1:308–9).

   This was most likely Mrs. Gallatin’s younger sister Maria, who spent much time with the Gallatins in Washington, later marrying John Montgomery of Maryland (Raymond Walters, Jr., Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat [New York, 1957], p. 215).