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being quite a stranger to the service in which the vessel at Charleston is engaged, as well as to her situation & condition, I must request you to do in it what the service or her condition admits. Affectte. salutations. DNA : RG 45--Miscellaneous Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy.
I inclose you a petition of the widow Bennet for the liberation of her son at Boston, a Minor, or for a moiety of 3. months pay to enable her to go to another son. I think when her case was formerly before us, she was said to be a woman of ill fame, & that her son did not wish to return to her. still however the mother, if there be no father, is the natural guardian, & is legally entitled to...
you will percieve by the inclosed letter, that the young man who writes it (enlisted among the marines is far above that condn. Genl Dearborn can state to you particular facts & considerations which would recommend a discharge, or I will do it vivâ voce as may be most to your convenience Affectte salutns MoSHi : Bixby Collection.
You will percieve by the inclosed papers that an aggression has been committed on the Spanish territory by (if I understand the case) both our land & sea officers. I inclose the papers to you that the necessary orders may be given in your department & the papers handed on to the War department that the same may be done there. I suppose it will suffice for the present to order the men to be...
Yours of the 13th. has been recieved, and mr Goldsboro has forwarded to me the state of the gunboats in building, & the stations of those in commission. the discretionary power given to mr Gallatin as to those at New York was I think the best step to be taken. under the appearances of present peace no great number need be in the harbour of New York.    presuming that the inclosed application...
Your’s of July 30. came to hand only yesterday. it has consequently loitered somewhere two posts. I am glad to learn the prompt aid you have afforded the Treasury department; to let you further understand the importance of giving all the aid we can, I pass through your hands my letter of this day to mr Gallatin, with those it incloses, which I will pray you, after perusal, to seal & put into...
The letters of Trenchard, Williamson & Leonard, which I recieved from you the last week, I forwarded to mr Gallatin for his information, & desired him to return them to you. that of a person of Boston whose name I cannot decypher is reserved for a similar purpose. I inclose you a letter to mr Gallatin covering some others, which I will ask the favor of you to read & hand on to him with such...
Complaints multiply upon us of evasions of the embargo laws by fraud & force. these come from Newport, Portland, Machias, Nantucket, Martha’s vineyard Etc Etc as I do consider the severe enforcement of the embargo to be of an importance, not to be measured by money, for our future government as well as present objects, I think it will be adviseable that during this summer all the gunboats...
I have considered the letter of the Director of the Mint stating the ease with which the errors of Commodore Truxton’s medal may be corrected on the medal itself, and the impracticability of doing it on the die. in my former letter to you on this subject I observed that to make a new die would be a serious thing, requiring consideration. in fact, the first die having been made by authority of...
I return you Capt. Truxton’s letter. the only difficulty in the case is to concieve how such anachronisms could have taken place as to dates so recent and easily to be ascertained. if you will be so good as to address a letter either directly to mr Patterson, or through the Secretary of state, the errors will be rectified. it will not I suppose be necessary to make a new die. that would be...
I thank you for the information contained in your’s of the 17th. and as it has not yet got into the papers I take the liberty of inclosing the papers to mr Madison with a request to return them to you. I inclose to yourself a letter from Dr. Waterhouse to Dr. Rush, sent me by the latter with a request that you also would read it and see to what lengths respecting him medical par alogism ,...
I inclose you a petition from a woman (Mary Barnett) who complains that her son of 13. years of age, is detained against her will in the Naval military service. having never before received an application of the kind in that department, I know not what are the rules there. but in the land service we have had many cases of enlistment of infants, and there the law is considered to be, and our...
I nominate Joseph Tarbell—now a Lieutenant in the Navy—to be a Master Commandant in the Navy—to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of George Cox late a Master Commandant . Words in italics in Robert Smith’s hand [ Postscript in TJ’s hand: ] Will mr Smith be so good as to say what is the appointment vacated by Cox & to which Tarbell is to be promoted, as that must be specifically...
I approve of your letter to Commodore Murray entirely, and in order to settle what shall be our course for the summer (now that we see tolerably clearly that no rupture with England is likely to take place during the summer) I propose, the first day that I can be well enough for a couple of hours, to ask a meeting of our colleagues to determine these questions Shall the Proclamation, be...
Can a gunboat be spared from Charleston? DLC : Harwood Family Papers.
I believe we must employ some of our gunboats to aid in the execution of the embargo law. some British ships in the Delaware, one of them loaded with 1500. barrels of flour for Jamaica, another armed as a letter of marque, openly mean to go out by force. the last is too strong for the revenue cutter. mr Brice also of Baltimore asks armed assistance. I see nothing at present to prevent our...
I think the answer to the Mayor of N. York must be that the law fixes the number of men we may subsist & pay, that having already that number employed, no authority but the legislature can give subsistence or pay to any additional number. Affectte. salutns. DNA : RG 45--Miscellaneous Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy.
To the letter from mr Davy of the Committee of the Chamber of commerce of Philadelphia (which I now return you) I think you may say in answer that you had communicated it to the President & were authorised to say, that the government of the US. have no present views of forming new harbours for the reception of their vessels of war: that under the authority, & with the means, lately given by...
I return you Chancey’s letter. I am sorry to see the seamen working for rations only, & that we cannot allow even them, and further indeed that we shall be under the necessity of discharging a number of those we have. this is so serious a question that I propose to call a consultation on it a day or two hence. our 64. gunboats & ketches may certainly be reduced to 10. seamen each; at least I...
Proceeding as we are to an extensive construction of gun-boats, there are many circumstances to be considered & agreed on. viz. 1. how many shall we build? for the debate lately published proves clearly it was not expected we should build the whole number proposed. 2. of what sizes, and how many of each size? 3. what weight of metal shall each size carry? shall carronades be added? 4. is it...
I have received with pleasure, the letter you did me the honor to write me, on the fifteenth of this month: and pray you to accept my thanks for the impression of a medal, presented to the late Commodore Edward Preble in pursuance of the resolution of Congress of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and five. This medal, in honor of the Commodore and in commemoration of a Splendid...
On my return yesterday I found yours of the 10th. and now re-inclose you Com. Rogers’s letter. you remember that the orders to Decatur were to leave the British ships unmolested so long as they laid quiet in the bay: but if they should attempt to enter Eliz. river to attack them with all his force. the spirit of these orders should, I think, be applied to New York. so long as the British...
Mr. Madison, who is with me, suggests the expediency of immediately taking up the case of Capt Porter, against whom you know mr Erskine lodged a very serious complaint for an act of violence committed on a British seaman in the Mediterranean. while mr Erskine was reminded of the mass of complaints we had against his government for similar violences, he was assured that contending against such...
Your’s of the 1st. came to hand yesterday evening, and I this day inclose it to Garbut. I now inclose to you a letter from Thomas Paine with a model for using two guns in the head of a Gunboat instead of one. mr & mrs Madison are with me and well. I salute you affectionately DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
I had written to you yesterday on the subject of notifying our E. India trade in answer to yours of the 29th. of Aug. and approving your proposition of giving the notice to our trade beyond the streights of Sunda, by a Consul specially to be sent to Batavia, & to that on this side by our Consul at the isle of France. since writing that letter I have recieved yours of the 31st. covering mr...
Your letters of Aug. 23. 27. 29. 30. have all been recieved. the two last came yesterday. I observe that the merchants of New York & Philadelphia think that notice of our present crisis with England should be sent to the streights of Sunda by a public ship, but that such a vessel going to Calcutta or into the bay of Bengal would give injurious alarm; while those of Baltimore think such a...
Mr. Appleton the writer of the inclosed letter was well known to me at Paris, but not as a man of business. He was young, handsome and devoted to pleasant pursuits. he is now probably 45. and has since been in business, but with what qualifications or success I know not. he was our Consul at Calais, his brother is our Consul at Leghorn, & his father is (if living) a respectable merchant at...
Soon after my arrival here I recieved a letter from Govr. Cabell requesting me to give such instructions for regulating the intercourse with the British squadron as might enable the officers to act correctly. I accordingly undertook to digest the rules of practice as to flags as well as I could, & so as to meet all cases, in a letter to the governor, a copy of which I now inclose you. soon...
The president of the United States of America. To Thomas Jefferson, Robert Smith, Henry Dearborne or either of them who may have the papers—hereinafter mentioned or any of them within his or their keeping or power. You are hereby commanded to appear before the Judges of the circuit court of the United States, for the fifth circuit, in the Virginia District in the city of Richmond, at the Court...
I return you the letter of Capt. Hull whose ideas on the subject of the persons to be employed are perfectly correct. we have the comfort of having enquired, as was our duty, of finding all right, and jogged the attention of the officers to keep them on their guard. Affectionate salutations. DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
A Resolution of the house of Representatives of Yesterday asks from me information as to the efficacy of the gunboat defence, what particular ports we propose to place them in, & how many in each. I will enumerate the particular ports, but instead of saying literally how many to each, on which there would be a thousand opinions, I will throw them into groupes as below, and say how many to each...
I think it should further be observed to mr Beekman that in order that the public may not be made to prejudge the experiment, the object of procuring the hulks should be kept to himself or disguised. PPAmP : Sol Feinstone Collection.
Yours of yesterday has been duly considered. what I had myself in contemplation was to wait till we get news from Louisville of Dec. 15. (the day of Burr’s proposed General rendezvous.) the post comes from thence in 12. days. the mail next expected will be of that date. if we then find that his force has had no effectual opposition at either Mariette or Cincinnati, & will not be stopped at...
According to information & consultations formerly had, it has been considered that 250. gunboats would be as compleat a defence for all our Seaports as should be provided in that line. calling our present number 75. we still want 175. to compleat our number. besides the public motives which urge the pressing forward in this work I own I feel a personal one in the desire of leaving this branch...
Mr. Madison was to set out on Monday last, & is expected here to-day. we have some matters of considerable interest for consultation on which we shall be glad to have your aid.   The death of mr Purviance has vacated an office of value. my knolege of the personal worth of mr Nicholson & of his standing with the nation at large, could leave no doubt in my mind as to the propriety of offering it...
I send you by this post the Warrants from your office signed but in a very damaged situation from having got wet. I inclose also an application for a midshipman’s place, with respectable recommendations. yet it is for your consideration whether a place pressed for by so many native citizens should be given to a foreigner & especially to one who is claimed by his native country, & if taken in...
Your favor of the 6th. was recieved yesterday. on the 7th. inst. I had recieved one from Mella Menni declining going in the Franklin for reasons which were evidently not the genuine ones. at the same time I recieved a letter from mr Madison informing me that he had authorised Cathcart to charter a vessel at Boston, & in the mean time had taken advantage of one sailing from Alexandria to Boston...
I inclose you a letter from James Lownes, a marine or seaman on board one of our gunboats, to his father, a very respectable citizen of Richmond of the society of friends. the young man, in a fit either of dissipation or dissatisfaction enlisted for 3. years, leaving a wife & young children. he has served thro’ the Mediterranean service and has still something more than a year to remain. his...
It is really wonderful how compleatly our countrymen, after staying sometime in Europe, forget the constitution, the laws, & the spirit of their own country. mr Cutting’s propositions are evidences of this fact. I would wish however to put them by with a civil answer. this will, I believe, be most effectually done by a reference of the inclosed to you, with a request of an answer which I may...
§ To Robert Smith. 28 June 1806, Department of State. “I have the honor to enclose a letter, directing the Collector of Norfolk to deliver to Capt. Wederstrandt of the Brig Franklin a small quantity of Rice intended for the Bey of Tunis. This, with the goods purchased by the Ambassador of Tunis, and stored at Baltimore will be all that is necessary to be taken on board before the Vessel...
It being understood, that the President has directed the Brig Franklin to be prepared as a present to the Bay of Tunis, I have the honor to request that your Agents may be ordered to put her in a complete state for the voyage, by providing her with officers, crew, stores &c. I am &c. Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 15). For the discussion preceding this decision, see Thomas Jefferson...
Your letter of May 14. has been recieved and duly considered & I now return the several papers it covered. not having here a copy of the laws of the last session, I can only say that according to the general impression I retain of those respecting the subject of your’s & mr Gallatin’s letters, mr Gallatin’s ideas concur generally with that impression. in one point I differ from him, the 1st....
We have two posts a week, leaving Washington on the evenings of Monday & Wednesday, arriving at Milton Thursday & Saturday, and both leaving it on Saturday. so that tho you may send me dispatches twice a week, I can answer but once. your letter of the 14th. arrived on Saturday and both posts were returned before my messenger could bring it here. you could not have got the answer by post till...
I send you the inclosed from O’Brien merely that you may read the upper half of the last page the rest is immaterial. it seems to me that his suggestion of Cagliari as our Naval head quarters is worthy of consideration. the circumstances of it’s neighborhood to Tunis (70. miles) cheapness of provision unconncesion with either England or France, and the probable welcome too from it’s impotent...
§ To Robert Smith. 6 March 1806, Department of State. “The Secretary of State presents his respects to the Secretary of the Navy, and has the honor to enclose a copy of a letter, this day written to the Ambassador of Tunis, communicating the President’s determination respecting the restitution of the Xebeque and her two prizes captured from Tunisian subjects during the war with Tripoli. The...
I recieved last night a letter dated Pisa Nov. 17. from a friend a native of that country, in which he says ‘there came to me a letter at Volterra from mr Appleton in which he informs me of a misunderstanding between your Commodore & the Governor of Leghorn which caused him much uneasiness. I hastened my return to see if I could be of any use. I now recieve another in which he said: ‘the...
The inclosed letter, from it’s good intentions, merits a suitable reply from me, but not being a judge of the importance of the drawings, & of course of the expressions of thankfulness, they will justify, I must ask the favor of you to have them considered, & let me know whether they offer any thing new & valuable for our gun boats. the gun carriage on the non-recoil principle is new to me—do...
Understanding from mr Madison that he would be here by the last of the week, I wrote to desire him to give you notice of his passing thro’ Baltimore: but by a letter recieved yesterday it is probable he will have set out before my letter reaches him. The almost certainty which now appears of an extensive continental war in Europe changes our situation most advantageously inasmuch as it ensures...
Th: Jefferson returns to mr Smith the Tripoline papers. considering that Eaton’s fire was all spent at Derne, and that it was desirable to get our naval force withdrawn from the Spanish seas, the peace is a subject of satisfaction. no further intelligence being now expected relative to our affairs with Spain, & some measures growing out of them requiring the earliest consideration possible he...
Yours of Aug. 30. was recieved yesterday, & I sincerely rejoice with you on the so far prosperous issue of our experiment with the gun boats on the Atlantic. experience & reflection will strengthen our opinions on the advantages of that kind of vessel for our purposes. I return you the instructions to Murray with one addition, pencilled in the 3d. page. I do not remember whether any opinion...