To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 11 May 1806
From Thomas Jefferson
Monticello May 11.06.
Dear Sir
I have recieved, signed & forwarded Poydrass’s commission, & have forwarded the letter to Prevost.1 I inclose for your perusal a letter from Armstrong.2 The fact therein stated changes considerably the idea we had formed of Bowdoin’s caution & prudence. That mentioned in Bowdoin’s letter3 is comfortable tho’ it be little more than a repetition of what Armstrong had communicated. Some additional details give additional hopes.
The drought here is distressing. The crop of oats irrecoverably lost; the May wheat little better. Common wheat tho’ backward is healthy, and may yet do well. Peaches & cherries are almost wholly destroyed, and the few remaining are too much injured to come to perfection. As this was the effect of a cold wind, the mountain situations have suffered equally with the plains. Apples have escaped. I presume you will have heard of the death of Frank Walker, & that he died drunk in his carriage unknown to the driver.4 It was discovered only when the carriage stopped at the next house. Accept affectionate salutns
Th: Jefferson
FC (DLC: Jefferson Papers).
2. In his 17 Feb. 1806 letter to Jefferson (DLC: Jefferson Papers; docketed by Jefferson as received 10 May), John Armstrong reported that James Bowdoin had arrived from England “red-hot with indignation” at British seizures of American ships, had frequently urged Armstrong to write to the French government stating that if through French intervention the United States were relieved of its disagreements with Spain, it would then be “in condition & sentiment to resist G. B. by force, or in other words, to take part in the war.” Armstrong, arguing that such a letter would be beyond his powers, that it would be wise to try commercial expedients before military ones, and that France would certainly expect more in exchange for its intervention than a mere letter, refused to approach the French government. Bowdoin then decided that since the matter was directly related to his mission to Madrid, he would follow Napoleon to Germany and make the proposition himself. He only gave up this plan after Daniel Parker, who Armstrong commented “had it seems more influence over him than I had,” persuaded Bowdoin that he would be considered at the level of a porter at the French court, and reminded him that he looked and spoke like an Englishman, which could lead to “accidents of a very unpleasant nature.”
3. Jefferson may have referred to Bowdoin’s 19 Feb. 1806 letter to JM.
4. Francis Walker (1764–1806) was the third wealthiest person in Albemarle County in 1800, owning 77 slaves, 27 horses, and 6,522 acres. He served as a county magistrate, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, and member of Congress from 1793 to 1795. He is buried at his Castle Hill estate (K. Edward Lay, The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia [Charlottesville, Va., 2000], 60).