RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received from the Treasury Department on 4 Jan. and so recorded in SJL with notation “Debutts’ vessel. Eli Elmer defaulter. Audrain on Detroit”; also endorsed by TJ: “Debutts’s vessel. Hollinguer’s lre on it Eli Elmer Collector of Bridgetown N.J. defaulter Peter Audrain’s lre on affairs at Detroit.” Enclosures: (1) probably Peter Audrain to John Cleves Symmes, Detroit, December 1802, recalling that he lives in a county where news comes almost entirely from Federalist sources; Audrain and a few others recently defended TJ against charges in the newspaper that he had “displaced all the officers appointed by Mr. Adams”; Audrain argued that the continuation of Matthew Ernest as collector at Detroit, the most lucrative federal office “in this Country,” refutes the charge and gives “unquestionable proof of the liberality of the President”; he also describes the collector at Michilimackinac, a TJ appointee, as “perhaps one of the warmest advocates for Adams’s administration”; Audrain applauds the appointment of Charles Jouett, agent for Indian Affairs, as a man of knowledge and information, “attentive to public duty, and generally beloved & respected,” with political principles in agreement with his own; as far as statehood is concerned, Audrain declares “there is not one man in this County capable of understanding the duties of a member of the legislature”; he continues, “it is to be wished, for the good of these people, that they may remain a Colony for ten years to come; untill their children may get instructed and become fit for public business”; Audrain urges Symmes to support the petition for land grants for schools in the files of the House of Representatives and to engage the support of others, especially Madison and Gallatin; he has already written Gallatin on the subject; “I rely upon your benevolence,” Audrain concludes, “and your Zeal in promoting public learning, and upon your local Knowledge of our people & Country” (RC in NHi: Gallatin Papers, postmarked Detroit, 15 Dec.; for the petition from Detroit, Wayne County, dated 2 Sep. 1800, relating to the establishment of a seminary of learning, see Terr. Papers description begins Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom, eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1934-75, 28 vols. description ends , 3:103–8). (2) Eli Elmer to Gallatin, collector’s office, Bridgeton, New Jersey, 15 Dec. 1802, noting that it is apparent from the current accounts that he might “with propriety” be dismissed at any time; if he is allowed to remain in office, he writes, “with Six or Nine month from 1st January next I will positively discharge all the Monies that may be due at the Close this year, with Interest” (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR; endorsed by TJ: “Elmer Eli to mr Gallatin”). Other enclosure not found.