To James Madison from Alexander J. Dallas, 18 June 1816
From Alexander J. Dallas
18 June 1816.
Dear Sir.
Your instructions relative to Fort Harrison, and the reservation of the land in its neighbourhood, have been carried into effect.1 I hope now to be able to put the business of the Cumberland road, as well as the business of the Survey of the coasts, into a course of execution, without troubling you again. The consultation on the Resolution of Congress, respecting the currency, will be attended to, as you desire.
The inclosed papers exhibit a general complaint against Mr. Duplessis, the Collector of New-Orleans, without specifying any fact of official delinquency.2 The subject, however, seems to demand attention; and I propose referring it, confidentially, to Mr. Benj. Morgan and the District Attorney, for investigation and report. I will, also, write to Mr. Robertson, requesting his attention to the enquiry. The probability is, that the present calamitous state of New-Orleans, will disperse its inhabitants;3 but it is best to take the chance of a letter’s finding Mr. Robertson & Mr. Morgan at that place.
We have no news, foreign or domestic. I am, Dear Sir, most respectfully & faithfully, Yrs.
A. J. Dallas
RC (CSmH). Enclosures not found.
1. For JM’s instructions, see , 8:434 n. 2. The reserve was a tract of three miles in extent on the side of the Wabash River opposite Fort Harrison, which had been exempted from public land sales (ibid., 434, 444).
2. This was probably Francis Duplessis Jr., who JM had nominated to be collector of the direct tax for the third collection district of Louisiana on 20 Dec. 1813 (, 2:440).
3. The 4 June 1816 Daily National Intelligencer reported that the Mississippi River had breached its banks near New Orleans and “a stream of water 200 feet by 6, is said to pour with immense velocity, carrying every thing before it. It is many years since New Orleans has been similarly afflicted. If the irruption [sic] be not arrested, the country will be almost entirely devastated.” As late as 15 June, the paper mentioned that the breach had not been repaired and that the water in the streets “begins to throw out a horrid smell, produced no doubt by its communication with the privies and burying ground.”