11From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
I have left the inclosed open for your inspection and beg the favor of you to forward it by some safe conveyance, if you have not in the mean while been apprized of Mr. Harris’s having received a duplicate. I have the honor to be &c DNA : RG 59—IM—Instructions to Ministers.
12From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1802 (Madison Papers)
I now return the letters to you from Mr. Purviance & Cambaceres, with an acknowledgment of those in which they were inclosed. The papers last recd. from you in relation to Mr. Skipwith will be of use in establishing one or two material points. His case has been a hard one, but it may be questioned whether he be well founded in the extent of his claims for interest & Agency for Claims. The...
13From James Madison to James Monroe, 13 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
I inclose a copy of a letter from Messrs Levi Hollingsworth and Co. of Philada, in which they complain that after an unjust sentence of condemnation passed upon their property at Tortola it was so far undervalued that a reversal of the sentence will leave them very considerable losers. If you can aid them, in any advisable mode, to diminish the sacrifice I pray you to do it. But as their case...
14From James Madison to James Monroe, 24 October 1801 (Madison Papers)
I have your two favors of the 11 & 15. instant. The letter inclosed in the first is returned, Mr. Livingston having sailed before it could reach N. Y. and the letter for which it was to be substituted, having before gone on to him. The letter inclosed in the latter is also inclosed, with a note at the bottom of it by the President which will serve for an answer. We think the best mode of...
15From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 February 1803 (Madison Papers)
Inclosed herewith is the Cypher you are to carry with you. I send it apart from the despatches, because I shall put a few words in them into Cypher. The despatches will probably go off on wednesday morning, or thursday at farthest. They have been delayed by the slowness of Congs. in passing the law for which they waited. I recd. last evening yours of the 22d. & expect to hear further from you...
16From James Madison to James Monroe, 1 August 1806 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of 15th May I transmitted you a statement of the misconduct of three British ships of War near the port of New York and particularly of the Frigate Leander, commmanded by Captain Whitby. Mr. Merry has since shewn me a letter from Mr Fox written before any official communication had been received by him respecting the conduct of Captain Whitby, in which, referring to the sensation...
17From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 July 1807 (Madison Papers)
Since the communications by the Revenge which sailed on monday last, nothing very material has occurred. The British squadron, on receiving the Proclamation, fell down to the capes, near which (in Lynhaven Bay) several of the same or substituted ships remain. It is not known whether any orders have been recd. from the Admiral relative to their conduct under the Proclamation. They continue to...
18From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
In the month of September last, the French ship of War L’Impetueux of 74 guns, being disabled by a gale of wind, and making for an asylum, was fired upon and afterwards burnt by the British ship Melampus and two others, on the coast of North Carolina, within the limits of our jurisdiction. The inclosed communication from the Navy Department, which had instituted an enquiry through Capt....
19From James Madison to James Monroe, 5 January 1808 (Madison Papers)
Hoping that a post note on Norfolk will be cash in Richmond, I enclose one for $300, instead of committing bank notes to the mail. Nothing has occurred since you left us worth detailing to you. We are still uninformed of the precise circumstances which have detained Mr. Rose on board the frigate. There is a report that he will either pass up the bay to Annapolis, or possibly engage a vessel to...
20From James Madison to James Monroe, 22 April 1804 (Madison Papers)
Being advised that the Board of Commissioners under the 7th article of the British Treaty, when they were about to make a final adjournment found that the United States were in advance the sum of five hundred and twenty six pounds four shillings and nine pence, and that they ordered it to be paid to you, I request you to be pleased to pay it over to Sir Francis Baring & Co to be applied by...
21From James Madison to James Monroe, 22 April 1806 (Madison Papers)
Under the same cover with this you will receive a letter for our Consul at St Petersburg committing to his charge a letter from the President to the Emperor Alexander, and inclosing a copy of a letter from this Department to Genl Armstrong. The letter to the Consul is open to your perusal, to be thereafter duly forwarded. It is thought proper that you should be thus put into possession of the...
22From James Madison to James Monroe, 8 January 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have not yet thanked you for the copy of your Message, which I find has attracted attention, and circulates with advantage to yourself, as well as to the public. It is much to be wished that the same manly and enlarged sentiments, and the same just and enlightened policy, might distinguish the addresses of all the Republican Governors, and co-operate with the example set by the President, in...
23From James Madison to James Monroe, 13 January 1806 (Madison Papers)
I wrote you on the 8th. instant enclosing a pamphlet on the principle in question between this Country & G.B. and mentioned that it would be communicated by the Presidt. with other documents on the subject. This will not be done, and I have written to recall the letter & pamphlets from the ports to which they were sent. If either of the copies should have gone to sea & should reach you, be so...
24From James Madison to James Monroe, 15 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
The condemnation of the cargo of the Olive Branch having been reversed, General Allen finds himself in the situation pointed out at the close of my letter of the 13th of December 1803 of having gained no more by his judicial pursuit than an abstract decision of the illegality of the capture: for Messrs. Bird, Savage & Bird, of London, who became his sureties on the delivery of the property to...
25From James Madison to James Monroe, 9 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
By Capt. Brewster, who, with his son and two Pilots, are about to proceed to England as Witnesses in the case of Capt. Whitby, I send you copies of several of my last letters. He will also be the bearer of a letter from the Collector of New York stating the advances made to the Witnesses respectively. Two other Witnesses are expected to sail from Philada., to whom it was found necessary to...
26From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 March 1808 (Madison Papers)
In the joint letter from you & Mr. P. of October a project on impressments is referred to which does not appear. I forget what passed with you in conversation on the subject. You will oblige me by dropping me the state of the case, and if there be any document in your hands that you will be so good as to forward it or a copy of it. It can if necessary be thrown into the mass which will be...
27From James Madison to James Monroe, 17 September 1806 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of the 22d. of April 1804 I referred you to a previous one to Mr Gore, in which he was instructed to settle with the British Government for the captures by the United States on the Commission under the 6th. article of the British Treaty and to pay the balance due to them. No information having been received that this affair has been settled, it has been found convenient to...
28From James Madison to James Monroe, 18 April 1808 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of came duly to hand, accompanied by the papers now returned, and by a note on the correspondence communicated to Congs. It appears that in most instances the parts allotted for publication coincide with your wishes. In the excepted instances, an attempt will be made, to have the confidential parts, conformed also to these, by being included in the publication ordered by the H. of...
29From James Madison to James Monroe, 23 April 1806 (Madison Papers)
Your last letter bears date on the 12th. February. Those of 18 Octr. 11. 26 Novr. 11. 23 Decr. 28 Jany. & 12 Feby. last had been previously received. Congress adjourned the evening before the last. The Gazettes before and herewith sent will give you a general view of the proceedings of the Session. As soon as the laws passed shall be ready, a compleat copy of them will be forwarded. For the...
30From James Madison to James Monroe, 5 August 1805 (Madison Papers)
There can be little doubt that the facts contained in the inclosed documents respecting the firing into the American Brig Hannah, whereby Isaac Bridges, the Master, came by his death, amount to murder in the Capt. of the British Cutter. You will therefore be pleased to lay them before the British Government as an additional example of the wanton barbarity with which our Citizens are treated at...
31From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
Mr Hary Grant was some years ago appointed Consul for Leith; but it is understood that he has spent but little of his time at that place and that he is now most probably in France. The President would before now have superseded him had a suitable successor been found. It is however deemed improper that he should longer hold the Office and you will accordingly signify to the British Government,...
32From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 18 April 1803 (Madison Papers)
The reasonable and friendly views with which you have been instructed by the President to enter into negociations with the French Government justify him in expecting from them an issue favorable to the tranquillity and to the useful relations between the two Countries. It is not forgotten however that these views, instead of being reciprocal, may find, on the part of France, a temper adverse...
33From James Madison to James Monroe, 28 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
Your dispatch of the 11th. of Sepr. has been duly received. Altho’ the tenor of the discussions which it recites does not exhibit on the part of the British Commissioners the readiness in yielding to the justice of our claims and to the energy of your statements, which might be wished, yet the general spirit of conciliation with which they profess and appear to have met you, cherishes a hope...
34From James Madison to James Monroe, 1 May 1803 (Madison Papers)
I commit to your care the inclosed letters & papers for Genl. Fayette which are left open for your perusal. We have just recd. the Message of his B. Majesty which is represented as the signal of a certain rupture with France. From the positions taken by the parties, both diplomatic & military, such an event seems scarcely avoidable. I hope we shall be wise enough to shun their follies, and...
35From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 May 1804 (Madison Papers)
In the postscript of 18th. to my letter of the 15th of April, you were requested to suspend your departure from London for Madrid until you should be informed of the President’s views as to your destination after closing your mission to Spain . I am now enabled by the return of the President to signify to you that he yields to the reasons assigned by you for declining the appointment on this...
36From James Madison to James Monroe, 29 September 1803 (Madison Papers)
I returned to this City on the 24th. The President arrived the day after. General Dearbourn was here before. Messrs. Gallatin & Smith are daily expected. We have reassembled a little earlier after our full vacation than usual, in order to be the more prepared for the earlier meeting of Congress. The last letter recd. from you was of the 11th. of Augst by Mr. Baring who forwardd. that with the...
37From James Madison to James Monroe, 16 January 1804 (Madison Papers)
You will herewith receive the instructions in pursuance of which you are to propose and negotiate a convention between the United States and Great Britain, on the subject of impressments and other matters interesting to the two nations; and for which this letter with your commission of Minister Plenipotentiary to his Britannic Majesty will be your authority. I have the honor to be, Sir, With...
38From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1807 (Madison Papers)
You will receive herewith a letter for yourself & Mr. P. acknowledging the receipt of your communications by Mr. Purviance, and suggesting the intermediate course to be pursued, untill the further instructions contemplated by the President can be matured. The delay will be short; but it is desireable to accomodate the instructions to the result of some enquiries as to certain facts, and the...
39From James Madison to James Monroe, 3 December 1804 (Madison Papers)
Capt. Dulton, who brought despatches for Mr. Pinkney and now returns with others for you, has a claim on the Spanish Govt. which he will explain to you; and which he wishes to receive your attention as far as will consist with the distinction between your functions & those of the Ordinary Minister. I have apprized him of this distinction, and of the danger of a precident that might load you...
40From James Madison to James Monroe, 18 March 1808 (Madison Papers)
I duly recd your favor of the 5th. and with it your observations, addressed to the Dept. of State, on the subject of the Treaty of Dcr. 1806: which will be communicated to Congs. with the documents relating to the negociations &c connected with the Treaty; it being understood that such a disposition of the paper will conform to your wishes. Mr. Rose’s mission is abortive. Communications on the...
41From James Madison to James Monroe and William Pinkney, 11 June 1806 (Madison Papers)
Since the date of my last (May 30.) I have obtained from the Secretary at War, the inclosed copies of a correspondence between an officer of the United States and an Agent of the British North West Company for the Indian trade. The correspondence may be of use in explaining the inconveniencies resulting from the constructive permission given by the Treaty of 1794, to British traders, to carry...
42From James Madison to James Monroe, 14 June 1804 (Madison Papers)
I inclose copies of a letter from Margaret Mitchell of New York and its inclosure, whereby it will appear that her son Andrew Mitchell, a minor, having been practised upon to induce his enlistment, is now a private in the 22d Regiment of foot, under the command of Colo. Mercer, stationed at Calcutta. Should the distress of the mother, as depicted in her letter, fail to excite a degree of...
43From James Madison to James Monroe, 26 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
It appears that George Utz, for information respecting whom the Prussian Minister addressed himself to you, died at Philadelphia in the year 1793, leaving property to the amount of £400, which is in safe hands. No legal representative had claimed it in July last, from the administrator. During the hostilities at sea which grew out of the state of things between France and the United States in...
44From James Madison to James Monroe, 10 October 1803 (Madison Papers)
Finding that [ sic ] Mr. Purveyance within reach of a few lines, I add these to what he is already charged with, to observe that Yrujo has written another remonstrance agst. our acquisition of Louisiana, alledging as a further objection that France by not obtaining the stipulated acknowledgmts. of the King of Etruria from the courts of Petersburg & London had a defective title herself to the...
45From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1807 (Madison Papers)
Your dispatch of Jany. 3d. with the Treaty signed Decr 31 with the British Commissioners, were safely delivered on the 15th. inst. Your letter of Decr. 27, notifying the approach of that event, had been previously received, in time to be included in a communication of the President to Congress then in Session. A copy of the instrument in its actual form, with the declaration of the British...
46From James Madison to James Monroe, 2 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
I enclose herewith sundry letters for you which I presume will be more likely to find you in London than at Madrid. I forward this and them by Capt. Seth Sanger, who proceeds to London in prosecution of an appeal from a decision in the British Vice Admiralty at Antigua. The papers on the subject having been transmitted to England, have not been seen by me. According to his state of the case,...
47From James Madison to James Monroe, 2 November 1801 (Madison Papers)
General Mason has just requested me to forward the inclosed 100 dolrs. to be put into the hands of Mr. S. Pleasants for Mr. Callander. Yrs. affy. RC ( NhHi ). Virginia senator Stevens Thomson Mason was an active supporter of Callender’s cause (see Michael Durey, “ With the Hammer of Truth ”: James Thomson Callender and America’s Early National Heroes [Charlottesville, Va., 1990], pp. 110–11,...
48From James Madison to James Monroe, 26 March 1803 (Madison Papers)
The chart from which the enclosed was copied is contained in a collection made for the Department of State by Arrowsmith of London. The soundings and other minute circumstances, relative to the northern coast of the Bay of Mexico and the Islands situated in it, have induced the belief that it may prove serviceable to you. With very great respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obed....
49From James Madison to James Monroe, 17 July 1807 (Madison Papers)
Since the event which led to the Proclamation of the 2d. inst. the British squadron has conducted itself in a continued spirit of insolence and hostility. Merchant vessels arriving and departing, have been challenged, fired at, examined and detained within our jurisdiction, with as little scruple as if they were at open sea. Even a Revenue Cutter conveying the Vice President and his sick...
50From James Madison to James Monroe, 13 November 1801 (Madison Papers)
The Bearer Mr. Eli Whitney has been introduced to me by a letter from Mr. Pierpont Edwards, as an eminent Mathematical & Mechanical genius, and otherwise highly respectable. Of his Mechanical ingenuity he has given a valuable specimen in his invention of a machine for separating Cotton from its seed. He will probably converse with you on the subject of making fire arms, in which he is also an...
51From James Madison to James Monroe, 7 September 1805 (Madison Papers)
Mr. Erving having been applied to by the Prussian Minister in London to procure information respecting the estate of a Major Ludeman, who died in Virginia in the year 1786, I inclose a copy of a letter from Mr. Hay, the District Attorney, in which its situation is fully explained. It has been found that the Records delivered as those of West Florida, whilst a British Province, are but a...
52From James Madison to John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe, 4 December 1805 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe. 4 December 1805, Department of State. “Inclosed is a copy of the message of the President yesterday delivered to the two houses of Congress. The importance of its contents makes it desireable that you should receive it with as little delay as possible.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, IM , vol. 6); RC ( DLC : Curry Autograph Collection);...
53From James Madison to James Monroe and William Pinkney, 11 July 1806 (Madison Papers)
The enclosed papers, respecting the practices of British traders with the Indians, to instigate them against the United States, were received through General Wilkinson. They exemplify so strikingly the inconvenience of the intercourse with the Indians as it is now established by the treaty, that I have thought them a necessary supplement to my letter of the 30 May last. I have the honor to be,...
54From James Madison to James Monroe and William Pinkney, 30 May 1806 (Madison Papers)
Under the 3d Article of the Treaty of 1794, as it has been expounded, Indian Traders on each side have a right to resort to and trade with the Tribes within the limits of the other party; with an exception of the Country covered by the charter of the Hudson’s Bay company. This article is found in its operation to be very seriously detrimental to the United States. 1st It gives to the British...
55From James Madison to James Monroe, 30 March 1808 (Madison Papers)
I recd last evening your favor of the 26. and now inclose the promised list of the communications to Congs. which gives as much information as can be done in that form. Where Extracts were made, they generally extended I believe to nearly the whole of the letters, it being intended that the residue should be reduced as much as motives of prudence & delicacy would permit. On examining the...
56From James Madison to James Monroe, 25 May 1807 (Madison Papers)
Altho’ it is not certain that this will find you in London, I cannot commit to Mr. Purviance the official dispatches without a few private lines. It has been a painful task with the President to withold from the joint work of yourself & Mr. P. the sanction which was expected; as it has been to me, to communicate the event with the considerations which produced it. I console myself with an...
57From James Madison to James Monroe, 19 January 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have this moment recd yours of the 14th. instant. The letter from Mr. Purviance which I herein return is a favorable specimen of his stile & sentiments. Mr. Jones will explain to you the occasion & object of my enquiries. I have as yet formed no final determination in the case, & there is a possibility tho not a probability that it may be rendered unnecessary. Mr. Dawson as you will see has...
58From James Madison to James Monroe, 6 February 1808 (Madison Papers)
I recd. last night your favor of the 3. and lose no time in forwarding the papers which it requests. I am sorry that they have been so long delayed; but in truth our hands have been so full in one way or other of late, that the transcripts which were to be taken for the office, could not be readily attended to. I am not sure that there may not yet be some omissions, & must therefore ask the...
59From James Madison to James Monroe, 11 October 1804 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
11 October 1804, Department of State. “On the receipt from you of the note respecting Francis Newman Esqr an enquiry was made whereby it appears that he resides near Port Tobacco in Charles County as expressed in the address recited in the note. A letter was thereupon written to him by my direction communicating the nature of the request made by Lord Boston with an intimation that any letters...
60From James Madison to James Monroe, [ca. 1 March] 1803 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed came under cover of one to me from Mr. Coleman. The final communications to you will be put into the mail tomorrow, and will get to N Y. on sunday. Our utmost exertions could not send them off by this evenings mail. The bill before Congs. which is to be forwarded to you, required some formalities; and it passed a day or two ago only. Yrs affly. RC ( DLC ). Signature clipped....