From Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, [17–18 June 1792]
To James Madison
[17–18 June 1792]
Nothing new.
Th: J.
P.S. Opening Freneau’s p[aper] this moment I see a peice against the [new?] impost duties and it mentions the insufficiency of the revenue cutters for their object. This suggests a Quere. How comes an armed force to be in existence, and under the revenue department, and not the department of war? Would it not be well to call for a separate statement of the expence of these cutters and either put them down, or turn them over to the war-office?
RC (DLC: Madison Papers); undated; consists of one leaf with address and text on opposite sides; TJ’s frank clipped, mutilating two words in postscript; addressed: “James Madison junr. esq. in Orange to the care of Mr Maury Fredericksburg”; postmarked: “18 Ju.” Not recorded in SJL, but acknowledged by Madison as a letter of 17 June (see Madison to TJ, 24 June 1792).
The peice referred to by TJ was an unsigned essay entitled “On the Additional Duties on Imports” (National Gazette, 18 June 1792).