To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 24 July 1805 (Abstract)
From Sylvanus Bourne, 24 July 1805 (Abstract)
§ From Sylvanus Bourne. 24 July 1805, Amsterdam. “I hasten to forward you the inclosed important State document1 & you will at once see into all the probable consequences thereof.
“I transmit also a Copy of my letter to mr Alexander on the subject of the Consulate at Rottm referred to in my late letters to you2 & which I hope will meet your approbation.
“Mr Clark at Emden has expressed his hopes of this Appointment of his claims to which you must be duly acquainted—I therefore forbear any interference.
“My Mind has lately been much & very unpleasantly occupied on the Subject referred to in my many letters wrote you—but I now feel the Calmness & composure which a conscious integrity inspires & Shall wait with confidence for your decision not doubting it will be candid & just.”3
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). RC 1 p. For enclosures, see nn. 1–2.
1. The enclosure (13 pp., in French; marked “Duplicate”; docketed by Wagner) is a printed copy of the 10 Jan. 1805 arrêté of the Batavian Council of State containing the latest quarantine regulations.
2. Bourne enclosed a copy (1 p.) of his letter to Lawson Alexander. For an earlier copy, with slightly different wording, see Bourne to JM, 23 July 1805, and n. 4.
3. Bourne wrote JM again on 25 July 1805 (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1; 1 p.) to say: “A Correspondence Still Subsists between France & England but the precise object thereof remains unknown to the public—various Conjectures are daily formed on the subject but as none of them can be relied on I forbear to make any recital thereof.”