To James Madison from Lafayette, 11 February 1815
From Lafayette
Lagrange february 11h 1815
My dear Sir
Mr. Masson a Citizen of the U.S. whose Relations in france are particularly known to me, and who Has Rendered Services on the West point Establishment, informs me that He Has the Honor to Apply to You as a Candidate for Consular Employment in Some port of france.1 His merits in the military line you know better than I Could state them but am inclined to think they give Him a title to the protection of governement. His Connections Here are Very Respectable. I thought on Both Accounts I ought to give Him this line of Recommendation to You, my dear Sir, Requesting You at the Same time to Accept the Expression of my Highest Respect and most Sincere friendship
Lafayette
RC (DLC). Unaddressed; enclosed in Francis Masson to Thomas Jefferson, 9 Feb. 1815, and sent to JM by Jefferson on 12 May 1815 with Jefferson’s explanation that the “letter … of the Marquis de la Fayette to you, which came inclosed, … is now forwarded with the other” (ibid.).
1. In his 9 Feb. 1815 letter to Jefferson, Masson wrote: “In the second year of your first Presidency you were pleased to appoint me a member of the Corps of Engineers, in which capacity I was stationed for nine years at the Military Academy at West Point.” Masson also noted that while serving as recording secretary of the Military Philosophical Society, he had written “several works” for the society including “one on the Military Constitution of Nations,” which Jefferson had printed for Congress. He wished “an appointment either to any part of the American legation in Paris, … to the Consulate of the United States at Nantz,” or “any other of the same kind in one of the principal places either in France, England or Italy” (DLC). He did not receive a U.S. consulship but in 1815 took a position teaching fortification at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, England, which he held until 1834 (Looney et al., Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, 8:251).