From James Madison to James Monroe, [ca. 29 November 1816]
To James Monroe
[ca. 29 November 1816]
It will be proper to take the steps suggested by Mr. Joy for obtaining further information. My enquiry as to Nootka Sound had reference to the grounds of the Brit. claim there, and its analogy to that of the U.S. at the mouth of Columbia. See Vancouvre’s acct. of the B. proceedings at Nootka:1 also Capt: Morris’s communication to Mr Graham Ocr. 24. 1816.2
J. M.
RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). Undated; unaddressed. Address and conjectural date assigned based on the contents of Benjamin Joy to JM, 28 Nov. 1816.
1. JM presumably referred to George Vancouver’s Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World; In Which the Coast of North-West America Has Been Carefully Examined and Accurately Surveyed (London, 1798).
2. In his 24 Oct. 1816 letter to George Graham, Charles Morris, captain of the naval vessel Congress, assumed that his recent orders to prepare for a voyage to the Gulf of Mexico took precedence over his earlier orders to go to the Pacific. Morris forwarded copies of a correspondence that had taken place between the Spanish commandant at Nootka Sound and two American merchants, from one of whose journals he had obtained it. He stated that the correspondence contained “the most particular account of the validity of the claim which the English set up to that place.” The correspondence also mentioned a deed given by the local Indians to Captain Kendrick of Boston, which Morris believed was now to be found either in Canton or in the hands of a resident in the Sandwich Islands (DNA: RG 59, ML).