From James Madison to John Cockle, 8 October 1804 (Abstract)
§ To John Cockle
8 October 1804, Department of State. “The President has referred your letter of the 14th. Ult.1 to me, and in answer I have to observe, that the subject of the claims to which you refer has been committed to Genl. Armstrong so far as it may be left unfinished by his predecessor, to whom instructions comprehending the sentiments of the President on the subject of the difficulties, which had occurred, were transmitted early the present year.”
Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.
1. On 14 Sept. 1804 Cockle wrote to Jefferson from New York requesting any information the president might have about the payment of claims under the 1803 Louisiana Purchase Claims Convention (DNA: RG 76, Preliminary Inventory 177, entry 138, French Spoliations, Memorials and Petitions Presented to Congress, ca. 1830–1882, no. 136C). Cockle had a cargo of coffee on the Charlotte, Capt. James Lindsay, which was seized by the French at Nantes. He also had property held at Bordeaux during the French embargo (Cockle to Jefferson, 17 Dec. 1807, DLC: Jefferson Papers; Senate Exec. Documents, 49th Cong., 1st sess., no. 102, p. 85).