James Madison Papers

To James Madison from Josef Yznardy, 26 August 1804 (Abstract)

§ From Josef Yznardy

26 August 1804, Cádiz. “Under date of the 18th. June last Mr. Jasper Moylan my Lawyer at Philadelphia advises me of the Suit that Capt.

Josef Israel so unjustly begun against me,1 was given in my favour after immense expence, which I hope in the rectitude of that Government & agreable to the promise of Mr. Lincolm [sic] your predecessor will be made good to me.

“This Government has made a present of two Armed Shebecks [xebecs] to the Bey of Tunis, which news I communicate you privately, that you may make the use you may judge convenient.

“I have the pleasure of remitting you Original Papers received from Stephen Cathalan Junior of Marseilles agreable to his request as also Copy of my answer to the same.”2

RC, three copies, and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Cádiz, vol. 1). First RC 2 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Yznardy; docketed by Wagner. Second RC written on the verso of Yznardy to JM, 31 Aug. 1804; marked “Original via Charleston.” Third RC marked “Copy”; written above Yznardy to JM, 12 Sept. 1804. For enclosures, see n. 2.

1For the damage suit instituted by Joseph Israel against Yznardy, see Jacob Wagner to JM, 17 Aug. 1801, PJM-SS description begins Robert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (7 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986–). description ends , 2:50, 53 n. 8.

2Yznardy enclosed Cathalan’s letter to him of 26 July 1804 (5 pp.; docketed by Wagner), which described a French circular of 9 May requiring an inspection of the crews and passengers of neutral merchant vessels that arrived in French ports and making the ship liable for confiscation if “English or other suspected Individuals Should be found on arriving in the Ports of France from an Enemy Port.” Cathalan described problems he had encountered with the crews of the American ships George Washington, Levant, and Mary, and enclosed a procès-verbal and crew lists (5 pp.; docketed by Wagner) to document his efforts in the case of the Mary, which had arrived at Marseilles from Cádiz with foreign sailors on board. Also filed with the RC is Yznardy’s reply to Cathalan, 21 Aug. 1804 (2 pp.), in which he denied allowing any American captains to discharge American sailors without the three months’ pay required by law while acknowledging that such discharges were often done without his knowledge.

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