1Thomas Jefferson to Alexander J. Dallas, 7 December 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I tender my sincere congratulations on the occasion of your counsel and services being engaged for the public, and trust they will feel their benefit. the post department to which you are called is the most arduous now in our government, and is that on which every other depends for it’s motion. were our commerce open, no degree of contribution would be felt; but shut up as it is, the call on...
2From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 13 March 1815 (Madison Papers)
In pursuance of the authority vested in me by Law, I do hereby request and authorise you, during the absence of the Secy of War, to perform the Duties of that office. RC (owned by Alexander D. Wainwright, Princeton, N.J., 1957). In a clerk’s hand, signed and dated by JM . JM nominated William Harris Crawford as secretary of war on 2 Mar. 1815, and the Senate confirmed the appointment the...
3From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 14 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I recd. by the Mail of this morning your two letters of the 11th. & 12th. instant, with the several papers to which they refer. That of the 9th. came to hand yesterday. The construction of the 5 Sect: of the Act fixing the Mil: Establishment is not without difficulty. Do not the terms & interpretation of former Acts of Congs. determine the question whether “men” means privates &c. only, or...
4From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 16 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I receive by the Mail of this morning your two letters of the 13 & 14. The letter for Genl. Jackson, cannot be improved, and I lose no time in returning it. The cases recommended by Gen. Scott for brevets, are strong ones, and I suppose cannot well be rejected. I am aware with you however that these honorary commissions, already so much multiplied, are in danger of losing their value. If you...
5From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 18 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two letters of the 15 & 16. inst: I approve the transfers you propose, in the army appropriations, and will give the formal sanction to them, as soon as I receive the usual document for signature. I approve also the course you have in view for winding up the affairs of the Army, and am glad to find that you will be able so far to overcome the pecuniary difficulties. I have...
6Thomas Jefferson to Alexander J. Dallas, 18 April 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
De Your favor of Feb. 21. was recieved in due time. I thought it a duty to spare you the trouble of reading an useless answer, and have therefore delayed acknoleging it until now. not having revised the library for many years, I expected that books would be missing without being able to conjecture how many, and that in that case a deduction should be made for the deficient volumes. I have gone...
7From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 19 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have at length run thro’ the trial of Gen: Wilkinson, and send it to you, with an approbation of the sentence of the Court. I send also the trial of Capt: Hanson with a decision conformable to the sentence & recommendation of the Court in his case. Affe. respects RC ( CSmH ). Docketed by Dallas. For Maj. Gen. James Wilkinson’s 1815 court-martial, see Henry Dearborn to JM , 26 Jan. 1815 ,...
8From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 20 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. yours of . I wish that the arrival of Brown, may have been followed by a compromise satisfactory to Ripley. If it should not, the case of the latter becomes unpleasant in several respects. Can a Court of Enquiry be refused if he insists on it? I am led to believe that if disappointed altogether, he will think himself bound to lay his case before the public. It must be...
9From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 23 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 20th. and return the correspondence with Genl: Ripley. I hope it will be followed by all the advantages which it promises. I rcd. yesterday from Mr. Graham a blank brevet Commission for him. It was suggested that a reference might be inserted to the Resolution of Congs. Unless some valuable purpose wd. be attained by it, it may be best to decline a precedent which...
10From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 25 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
The Mail due yesterday having failed I did not receive till this morning your communications dated on the 2 2d. inst. As it appears that no legal consideration is opposed to the appt. of Bissel & Smith to Regts. their just claims to that arrangement can not be doubted. The brevets to them may be issued when you chuse. It has been mentioned that Smith wd. gladly accept the Creek agency, which...
11From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 28 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
I am just favored with yours of the 25th. The paper inclosed in it is returned without delay. It is well adapted to its delicate object. I have merely noted for your consideration, a change of expression in page 3. “the enjoyment of undisturbed rights &a;” not being secured , like the renown of the Army; and another in page 4th. in order to guard agst. the criticisms of those who may not have...
12From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 29 April 1815 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed letter, tho’ anonymous, makes statements & references, in a manner which is embarrassing at the present moment. Should the posture of the military arrangements, admit nothing farther, the location of the officer thus criminated, ought at least to be influenced by the representations, unless these be invalidated in some mode or other, before the final allotments be made to military...
13From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 4 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
The Waggons with Mr. Jefferson’s Library are on their way to Washington, and will expect to be paid on their arrival. Not having the law on the subject of that purchase, I know not whether it includes an appropriation for the expence of transportation, or leaves this to be paid out of any other & what fund. I must ask you to decide this point, & have the Waggoners paid without delay. They are...
14From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 4 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. your several letters of and of May 2. The views you have taken of the late intelligence from France will justly claim all our attention. Should war ensue between G. B. & F. our great objects will be to save our peace & our rights from the effect of it; and whether war ensue or not, to take advantage of the crisis, to adjust our interests with both. It is particularly...
15From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 7 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have this morning recd. yours of the 5 inst: those of the 3 & 4. having previously come to hand. They are accompanied by the Reports of the Board of Officers, on the organization of the Army—on the plan for establishing a N. & S. division Military Depts. &c. &c—and respecting Hospital Surgeons, Judge Advocates & Chaplains. It were to be wished that the act relating to the Peace Establishment...
16From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 10 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I now return the General Report of the Military Board on the organization of the Army. I have not found among the officers retained some whose merits I had supposed, would have placed them on the list of selections; but I have great confidence in the intelligence & dispositions of the Board, & am ready to presume that those preferred have titles to distinction better known to them, than to me;...
17From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 11 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
In the haste of my last letter to you, I omitted to notice the wish of Genl. Scott, for permission to visit Europe, without a discontinuance of official emoluments. He is certainly entitled to every admissible indulgence, and in this case, the public interests might be promoted, by the military instruction he might acquire on that theatre. His departure will of course be under the controul,...
18From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 14 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 12th. is duly recd. The result of the consultation on the discharge of the Army, and the expedition agst. Algiers is entirely satisfactory. That relating to the question of diplomatic measures required by the crisis is so also. My own idea was rather to ripen the subject for decision, than to act on it before the intelligence daily expected from Europe, and particularly from our...
19From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 15 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 13th. is recd. and I return the outline of what you propose with the approbation desired, which may be acted on, or reconsidered, in any of its parts, as you judge best. This discretion is suggested by a question whether, the orders relating to the military Depts. and to the distribution of the Corps, ought to be combined with that relating to the reduction and organization of the...
20From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 16 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your two letters both of the 14th. I know of no objection to your proposed additions to or changes in the list of retained officers, unless it may be in the erasure of B. Peyton. If he be the young gentleman who has been employed at or in the neighbourhood of Charlottesville (Va). I have heard him spoken of as […] ⟨m⟩erit, & much esteemed by some whose esteem would be an […]⟨t⟩. I...
21From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 17 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
The arrangement proposed in yours of the 14th. just recd. with respect to Majrs. Butler & Hayne, appear to be eligible, tho’ the latter may not find it convenient, being, I understand, an inhabitant of S.C., to be allotted to the N. Division of the Army. It is desirable to gratify Gen. Jackson, and it is fortunate that in this case it can be done, with an accom[m]odation at the same time to...
22From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 19 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
Yours of the 16. is recd. The Army report was returned some time ago. There have of late been delays between this & Fredg. owing to inattention at the P.O. there, which may account for your not having recd. the reports. There must have been a miscarriage altogether of the Document transferring appropriations. I now return a Duplicate sent me from the War Department. I am apprehensive that some...
23From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 21 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours without date, inclosing the letters from Mr. Hall & Mr. Forsythe which are now returned. A letter was lately sent to the Secy. of State from Govr. Early, recommending a successor to Mr. Harris, as District Attorney for Georgia. I forget whether it was the same gentleman as is the subject of the letters from Messr. H. & F. If it was, the appt of Mr. Davis may take place;...
24From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 24 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. yours of the 20 & 21. to which the arrival of the mail enables me to add, that of the 22d. I return the letter from Genl. Jackson inclosed in the first, and the letters from Forsyth, Russel Govr. Holmes, and Jessup inclosed in the 2d. The last is a very interesting document, and shews the writer to be a man of excellent sense, as well as a shining warrior. The aspect of things in...
25From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 27 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
It is represented to me, from a very respectable source in Kentucky, that Messrs. Ward & Taylor, (army Contractors) are men of real patriotism & integrity, that their services have been particularly critical & meritorious, and that they are threatened with absolute ruin, in consequence of their pecuniary exertions, unless they can be immediately aided by anticipations of what will be due to...
26From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 30 May 1815 (Madison Papers)
Since my last I have recd. the inclosed from the two W. Contractors. I have determined to set out for Washington on the 1st. of June, and shall probably have the pleasure of being with you, on Monday next, if not sooner. It may be expected that by that time the multiplying arrivals from Europe, will put us in possession of the state of things there, which ought to influence measures here....
27From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 1 June 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have just recd. yours of the 29th. Ult. I return approved your proposition for the sale in the Ordinance Dept; also your recommendation for provisionally retaining Mr Linnard. I am under the impression that Mr Monroe wrote to Govr. Cass, on the subject of the Indians on that frontier, and took the steps necessary for having the peace notified to them. Be that as it may it is proper that...
28Samuel Harrison Smith to Alexander J. Dallas, 7 June 1815 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to communicate to you, for submission to the President, the following propositions respecting the collection of arrears of direct tax & internal duties imposed previous to the year 1813: 1. That the duties of Acting Supervisor in the district of Pennsva. be attached to the office of Collector of direct taxes and internal duties, for the 1st. Collection District of Pennsva. &...
29Samuel Harrison Smith to Alexander J. Dallas, 9 June 1815 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ Samuel Harrison Smith to Alexander J. Dallas. 9 June 1815, Treasury Department, Revenue Office. “Robert Lightburn, Keeper of the Light House at New Point Comfort, being considered no longer worthy of that trust, James B H Johnson, appears from the enclosed letters, to be properly qualified as his successor.” RC ( DNA : RG 26, Light House Service Correspondence). 1 p. In a clerk’s hand,...
30From James Madison to Alexander J. Dallas, 11 July 1815 (Madison Papers)
As the writer of the inclosed letter may possibly call on you, I have thought it proper that you shd. be previously acquainted with its singular contents. Mr. Graham mistook my intentions, in touching the subject of communications between you & myself. He will in order to put an end to the business, inform Majr. O.C. definitively, that the vacancy in the Artillery which he seeks will not be...