From James Madison to Edward W. DuVal, 13 September 1822
To Edward W. DuVal
Sepr. 13. 1822
Dear Sir
I have just recd. your letter of the 8th. instant. The course which I have found it neccessary to adopt would involve me in inconsistency were I not to decline a recommendatory interposition for the vacancy to which your thoughts have been turn’d; and I am glad to infer from the candour & delicacy of your ideas that you view the subject in the light to be wished. I avail myself of the occasion, nevertheless to assure you of the very favorable sentiments which could not but be impressed by every thing which I have known of your character & qualities.
Mrs. M. receives the kind expressions of Mrs. D. & your Sister, with a request that I would offer every proper return for them. To yourself, she repeats the acknowledgment of her obligations for the polite attentions she experienced at the difficult moment which occurred in 1814.1 With friendly respects
J.M.
Draft (DLC).
1. According to Secretary of the Navy William Jones, who recalled the events on the day of the British attack on Washington: “I left the Navy yard at about half past three Oclock accompanied by Mr. Duval and not long after learned that our army was rapidly retreating and that of the enemy advancing rapidly. We proceeded to Georgetown where I met my family and that of the Presidents at the house of Charles Carrol Esqr. of Bellevue and received a message from the President requesting that I would join him at Foxalls Works. At about 5 Oclock I set out in company with the family of the President, of Mr. Carrols and my own with Mr. Duval and proceeded through Georgetown to join the President but found he had crossed at masons ferry” (Memorandum of Secretary of the Navy Jones, 24 Aug. 1814, William S. Dudley, ed., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, [3 vols. to date; Washington, 1985—], 3:214–15).