From James Madison to James Monroe, 29 October 1793
To James Monroe
Ocr. 29. 1793
Dear Sir
Inclosed are two Newspapers one of which contains the Resolutions proposed at Fredg.1 and a letter from Bourdeaux2 which is not uninteresting. You will find also two pieces one from Alexanda. & another answering it3 which as connected with the present crisis may be worth reading. At Culpeper Court, the proposed meeting took effect, Genl. Stephens in the Chair.4 The result as stated to me, is not censurable if at all on the score surmised. It has not the smallest tincture either of Anglomany or Aristocracy. I am informed that one of the Resolutions which speaks of the attempts to alienate America from France, in the past as well as future tense, was carried in the Come. after considerable debate, and confirmed by the people on a motion to amend. The Resolutions in Fauquier are said to be a servile eccho of those in Richmond. When you come on pray bring with you such of Davis’s papers5 as may have been recd. since I left you. I send the little balance of Tea due to Mrs. Monroe which I intended but failed to procure before my late trip. As you are becoming a worshipper of Ceres I add an Ear of Corn which is forwarder by three weeks than the ordinary sort; and if given to your overseer may supply a seasonable dish on your return next summer. Mr. Jefferson is so delighted with it that he not only requested me to forward some of it to Mr. Randolph but took an Ear with him to be brought back on his return, that there might be no possible disappointment. Should you have an oppy. after you know the day of your setting out, be so good as to drop me notice of it. My Compliments to Mrs. Monroe. Yrs. Always & Affey.
Js. Madison Jr
RC (DLC). Addressed by JM to Monroe at Charlottesville. Docketed by Monroe.
1. On the Fredericksburg resolutions, see Resolutions on Franco-American Relations, ca. 27 Aug. 1793, Editorial Note.
2. Probably an “Extract of a letter from an American gentleman at Bourdeaux to his friend in Virginia, dated August 29, 1793,” which reported that the National Convention had imposed an embargo on all exports except silk and “that the Americans have sent a deputation to Paris to obtain a dispensation in their favor.” The author also criticized Gouverneur Morris, the U.S. minister to France, and noted that, because of French and British trade restrictions, “the vast prospects of aggrandizement which we expect to derive from a neutrality, are vanished in air” (Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 23 Oct. 1793).
3. “A Virginia Farmer,” first published in the Va. Gazette and Alexandria Advertiser, identified all American supporters of the French as being friendly toward Genet. “A Firm Republican” replied, defending the Franco-American alliance and alleging that Federalists were exploiting American antipathy toward Genet for domestic political advantage (Va. Herald, and Fredericksburg Advertiser, 17 and 24 Oct. 1793).
4. On the Culpeper resolutions, see Resolutions on Franco-American Relations, ca. 27 Aug. 1793, Editorial Note.
5. The Richmond Va. Gazette, and General Advertiser, published by Augustine Davis.