To Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin, 3 August 1801
From Albert Gallatin
City of Washington August 3d 1801
Dr Sir
I enclose a letter this day received from St. Th. Mason in relation to South Carolina politics. My impression had been, on that subject, altogether different from yours, as I thought I had understood it from Mr Pinckney that immediate changes were necessary, whilst you conceived them improper for near two years. I concluded that I had been mistaken; but this letter again revives my suspicion that the true situation of that State is not perfectly understood. Would it not be well to enquire?
When I requested a commission for a collector at Michillimakinac, I neglected to mention that it was necessary that you should designate a port of entry in that district. There being no doubt that Michillimakinac itself is the proper place, I enclose an order for that purpose, which when signed will be wanted here as the foundation of instructions to the Collector.
The vessel chartered by Eben. Stevens sub-agent of the Depart. of State at New York, for the purpose of carrying the stipulated naval stores to Tunis, after being loaded & ready to sail under convoy of the George Washington, has been discovered to be a foreign built vessel. The Collector according to general instructions refused a Mediterranean pass. The vessel was chartered only to Tunis & to return at her own risk & for account of her owner. The owner wrote that Captain & seamen would probably refuse to sail, that his vessel was entitled to protection &c.—. It was a blunder of Stevens; but there was no remedy & I sent a pass to the Collector with directions to give it on condition that it shall be returned after this voyage.
I enclose a correct amount of the Warrants issued from 1st July to Saturday last (1st. instt.) inclusive, & will hereafter send a weekly amount as you desired. I also enclose the amount of Warrants issued during the six first months of this year; (those for payt. of public debt & interest excepted) but it has not been corrected by myself, & I will substitute another one by next mail.
With sincere respect & attachment Your obt. Servt.
Albert Gallatin
The new Danish minister came here one day too late to see you. He does not appear extremely bright & as he left Denmark in January, I suspect that he is too late in every point of view.
RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 6 Aug. and “Michillim. S. Carola. Mediterrn. pass” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Stevens Thomson Mason to Gallatin, Raspberry Plain, 1 Aug. 1801, noting that considerable impatience prevailed in different parts of the United States on the subject of federal offices, with the continuance of several incumbents giving “great uneasiness,” and lamenting “I believe you are all rather too good naturedly disposed”; that he had lately received a letter from Daniel D’Oyley of Charleston, treasurer and a “man of some political weight in that State,” who wrote: “‘I am persuaded that mr Jefferson is not correctly informed of our positions and though I know it is erronious to expect important measures should be hurried, and I would be chagrined to see a single act concluded which might cause a moment of repentance, yet I would wish to know what is the situation of the Presdt repecting the Federal officers in Charleston’” and warning that if decisions were postponed until the next meeting of Congress, he knew it would be positively too late for South Carolina and that “mr Pinckney knows it and every Republican and every Federalist of the least political attainment knows full well the certainty” of the case, though, Mason observed, he gave no reasons for the opinion; that Mason had also received letters on behalf of candidates for marshal of Kentucky, and although the subject pertained to Madison’s department, since he was no longer in Washington, Mason gave Gallatin several names, including John Fowler and John Jouett (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR, 3:378–9; endorsed by TJ: “Mason St. T. to mr Gallatin”). (2) Statement of amount of warrants drawn from 1 July to 1 Aug. 1801, with the sum of $70,326.44 for the civil list; $18,236.93 for foreign intercourse; $290,061.47 for payments on the public debt, the largest being $188,024.47 for the “Dutch debt, on account of both principal & interest falling due in 1802”; $150,000 for the military department; $160,000 for the Navy Department; and $14,062.93 for miscellaneous, including $1,500 for furniture for the president’s house, $1,999.92 for repairs at the Treasury due to the fire, and $2,000 for the purchase of paper for stamps; for a total of $702,687.37 (MS in DLC: TJ Papers, 115:19763; entirely in Gallatin’s hand; at head of text: “Amount of Warrants drawn on the Treasurer of the United States from the 1st July 1801 to 1st August 1801 both days inclusive being one month & 1 day”). (3) Statement of amount of warrants drawn from 1 Jan. to 30 June 1801, including $108,809.03 for the civil list, $963,339.83 for the War Department, $1,656,907.08 for the Navy Department, and 18 other designations for a total sum of $2,952,866.07 (MS in DLC: TJ Papers, 114:19573; in a clerk’s hand; at head of text in Gallatin’s hand: “Amount of Warrants from 1st Jany. to 30th June 1801”; below total in Gallatin’s hand: “not examined”). Other enclosure not found.
Requested a commission: see Albert Gallatin’s Report on Collector for Michilimackinac, printed at 16 July, and TJ to Gallatin, 17 July.
In May 1801, Ebenezer Stevens chartered Peace and Plenty, owned by Stephen Kingston of Philadelphia, to carry naval stores to tunis. Captain Richard Wood served as master of the ship. On 3 Aug., Jacob Wagner wrote Madison that he was “much mortified” to learn that Stevens had chartered a foreign-built vessel that, according to precedent, was not entitled to a Mediterranean passport (, 1:221, 2:12–14; , 1:513–14).
Danish minister: Peder Blicher Olsen, the Danish consul general empowered to act as resident minister; see Vol. 34:451n.