To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 20 June 1806 (Abstract)
From Sylvanus Bourne, 20 June 1806 (Abstract)
§ From Sylvanus Bourne. 20 June 1806, Amsterdam. “I esteem it my duty to transmit you here with Copies of a Letter lately receved from the Minister of foreign Affairs at the Hague,1 & of my reply thereto2 & as in this I have cautiously confined myself to the dictates of usual civility on like occasions without Saying any thing that could be construed to commit the opinion of our Government on the Subject in question, I flatter myself that it will meet the President’s approbation.
“How far the late change may create a necessity of revising the Diplomatic Intercourse will be for Government to decide. It seems however generally understood that the Commissions of all the actual foreign Agents here, must be renewed & addressed to as to meet the Stile or title of the present Government.”
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). RC 1 p.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Bourne; docketed by Wagner as received 5 Sept. For enclosures, see nn.
1. Maarten van der Goes’s 15 June 1806 letter to Bourne (2 pp.; in French) announced Louis Bonaparte’s accession to the Dutch throne, and enclosed constitutional acts (not found) presumably formalizing this change.
2. Bourne’s 19 June reply (1 p.; in French) acknowledged receipt of van der Goes’s letter, promised to submit it to the president, and stated that the U.S. government wished to maintain its strong ties with the Netherlands.