To James Madison from James Monroe, [ca. 6 December 1816]
From James Monroe
[ca. 6 December 1816]
I saw Mr Bishop this morning, on the subject of his late letter to me, communicated to Mr Crawford.1
I told him that no opinion had been formd against him, & that the representation to his prejudice, which had been made to the dept. of the Treasury, & sent to him by Mr Crawford, had been sent to him, in a spirit of candour, to enable him to give such explanation, as he might think proper: that kindness was shewn to him, by the communication.2
It will be proper for Mr. Crawford to return me the papers, except the originals, relating to Mr Bishops conduct, that is, those making the charges against him, which he ma⟨y⟩ keep, sending me copies of them, to be […] deliverd to Mr Bishop. A note to me, stating the fact, that he has retaind the original in the office, it being proper so to do, […], copies of them for Mr Bishop, will […] reason to him, as I presume, for not […] originals, as I infer from […] wished to do.
RC fragment (MHi). Undated; conjectural date assigned based on nn. Docketed by JM. RC torn at lower right corner.
1. On 4 Dec. 1816 Abraham Bishop Jr., collector at New Haven, sent two letters to Monroe (DNA: RG 59, ML). The first was a cover note explaining that the documents he forwarded “respecting the Bank” were in the hands of Treasury Secretary William Harris Crawford (1 p.). The second was a letter (7 pp.) outlining the history of his services as collector at New Haven since 1801 and complaining of the hostile partisanship of the Federalists and others in thwarting his efforts to perform his duties. Bishop defended his record in enforcing the nonintercourse laws and recounted his work in raising loans during the late war, cooperating with Jacob Barker. He was particularly aggrieved that his hopes for the establishment of a branch of the new national bank at New Haven as well as his desire for an appointment as a commissioner to receive subscriptions had been defeated by the machinations of David Daggett, Silas Stow, and Samuel Dana in behalf of an effort to establish a branch bank at Middletown. Bishop asked Monroe to think on these matters and for permission to seek his advice.
2. Monroe alluded to a 29 Nov. 1816 letter sent to Bishop by Crawford (1 p.; ibid.) containing an extract from a letter accusing the collector of “the grossest malfeasance” in office. The accusations came from “a man of fair Character” and Crawford offered Bishop the opportunity to make explanations. Bishop responded on 30 Nov. 1816 in a two-page letter to Crawford, defending his conduct in three specific incidents and seeking “a personal interview” with the Treasury secretary (ibid.).