2651From James Madison to Charles Willing Byrd, 22 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Inclosed is a letter to Governor St. Clair, from a copy which [is] also inclosed, you will find that his commission of Governor of the North Western Territory is to cease on his receipt of the notification. It is only to be added that no successor has yet been appointed and consequently that the functions of the Office devolve on you as Secretary of the said Territory. I have the Honor to be...
2652From James Madison to Arthur St. Clair, 22 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
The President observing in an address lately delivered by you to the convention held at Chilicothe, an intemperance and indecorum of language towards the Legislature of the United States, and a disorganizing spirit and tendency of very evil example, and grossly violating the rules of conduct enjoined by your public station, determines that your commission of Governor of the North Western...
2653From James Madison to Murray & Mumford, 22 November 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
22 November 1802, Department of State. “The enclosed letter is intended for a supercargo in your employ now at New York or soon expected there. As it relates to public concerns, I beg you to facilitate the answer.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. The enclosure was probably JM to John Adams, 22 Nov. 1802 .
2654From James Madison to George G. Lee, 23 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have received this day a letter from Mr. Willis our Consul at Barcelona, respecting the forged Mediterranean passports, which you informed me were in circulation and [of] which you handed me a specimen. His statement suggesting probable utility of a greater precision of form in your information, I must beg the favor of you to give to me under oath with any additional circumstances your...
2655From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 23 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
The letter, of which a copy is inclosed, from Mr. George G Lee, an Officer in the Navy of the U States, discloses a species of forgery, which may be followed by consequences highly injurious to our Mediterranean trade. Capt. Dulton, the bearer, affording a safe and direct conveyance, I have also inclosed the forged passport and Register, alluded to in the letter, and a copy of the genuine...
2656From James Madison to Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 25 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Information has just been received that the Port of New Orleans has been shut against the Commerce of the U. States from the Ocean into the Mississippi; and that the right of American Citizens to deposit their Merchandizes and effects in that port has also been prohibited, without the substitution of any equivalent establishment on the Banks of the Mississippi. An extract from the...
2657From James Madison to Fulwar Skipwith, 25 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 25 November 1802. Offered for sale in Bangs & Company catalog (New York, 1886), item 272, where it is described as a two-page letter in JM’s hand.
2658From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 27 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Your dispatches by Mr Codman were delivered by him two days ago; but being voluminous, and the documents in the Spanish language, not yet fully translated, I am not able at present to convey to you the sentiments of the President on the subject. My letter of October 25th will have explained to you the scope of our claims on the Spanish Government; and I now only repeat the confidence...
2659From James Madison to Thomas Dulton, 28 November 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
28 November 1802, Department of State, Washington. “In consequence of your letter of the 11th. of this month [not found], I have directed the transcript of the proceedings in your case, at Caraccas, to be returned herewith. The enclosed letter to Mr. Pinckney contains a recommendation of your business to his attention as you will see by the extract which I send you.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG...
2660From James Madison to William C. C. Claiborne, 29 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
I commit to your particular attention the inclosed letter to Mr. Hulens which covers one from the Spanish Minister here, on the subject of the late decree at N. Orleans against the deposit of American merchandize at that place. The letter to Mr. Hulens is left open, that you may know the light in which this proceeding is viewed by the President and the steps taken in consequence of it. You...
2661From James Madison to William E. Hũlings, 29 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of the 18th Ult, has duly come to hand, with the extract from the decree of the Intendant prohibiting the deposit of American merchandize at New Orleans without assigning any other on the Banks of the Mississippi. This proceeding can be viewed in no other light than as a direct and palpable infraction of the Treaty of 1795, and a heavy aggression on the immediate interests of the...
2662From James Madison to James Monroe, 29 November 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
29 November 1802, Department of State, Washington. “I beg the favor of you to insert Mr. christian name, in the enclosed commission, to send it to him and inform me of the name you shall insert.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. Left blank in letterbook. This was probably James Nimms. In a 2 Dec. 1802 note to JM, Jefferson wrote: “Mr. Nimms the Commr. of bkrptcy appointed for...
2663From James Madison to Carlos Martínez de Yrujo, 29 November 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
29 November 1802, Department of State. Asks for the letter Yrujo intended to transmit to New Orleans through the State Department “if it can be expedited before 3 OClock this day; as at that time [the] Secretary’s Dispatches for the Mississippi will be closed.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p.
2664From James Madison to John and James De Wolf, 30 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of the 18th. has been received stating that the board of Commissioners sitting in London under the British Treaty had refused your claim for further compensation on account of the capture and condemnation of the Snow Sukey, grounding their refusal on a mistaken conception, that the slave trade, in which she was engaged, was contrary to our laws at the time of capture. If you recur...
2665From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 1 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
Capt. Eldred, by whom I forwarded my dispatches of the 25th of Octr. having imposed himself as a citizen of the United States, I gave him the recommendatory letter; styling him such, which he has doubtless presented to you. Since then it is discovered that very strong presumptions, if not positive proof, indicate him to be a British subject, tho’ born in Rhode Island. The letters from the...
2666From James Madison to Louis-André Pichon, 2 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have now the honor to inclose the observations of the Secretary of the Treasury serving as an answer to your letter of October 14. relative to an item of one million of livres in the account of the late Mr. Beaumarchais with the United States. Those observations are so full, and so exact, as to leave no room for addition to them. With respect to the claim of land of Mr Raneval which is the...
2667From James Madison to Edward Thornton, 3 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
On the intimation given me in your letter of the 25th. of August that the accounts received from the Officers of the United States in the port of Boston on the subject of the repairs necessary to fit the Snow Windsor for sea were impeached in a high degree by additional information you had received from the British Consul, another enquiry was made at Boston. This step was taken from an...
2668From James Madison to David Sewall, 3 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
3 December 1802, Department of State. Will lay Sewall’s 20 Nov. letter [not found] before the president. No commissioner of bankruptcy has been appointed since those named in the letter to Widgery [not found]. Proper notification of the appointment of commissioners of bankruptcy is considered to be the exhibition of their commissions; therefore, no other evidence of the appointment has been...
2669From James Madison to Isaac Hite, 6 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
Since my last I have recd. yours communicating the sentiments of my mother & yourself on the proposition towards a compromise in the family. I have written to my brother in consequence, recommending a speedy execution of it. My intentions towards Nelly are known to you. Those of others except yourself, are not particularly known to me. I think it best that the other object should be secured as...
2670From James Madison to Louis-André Pichon, 9 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
In answer to your letter, intimating that the Corvette Cassius ought to be considered as that sort of property belonging to the French Republic, which ought to be restored, I have the honor to state, that after her abandonment in 1795 by Mr. Adet to the Government of the United States and after her acquittal by the Federal Court she was sold at public Auction by order of the Secretary of State...
2671From James Madison to Stephen Cathalan, Jr., 9 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
9 December 1802, Department of State, Washington. States that the account in Cathalan’s 2 July letter has been transferred to the treasury for settlement. “As the money is receivable in this Country only, you will be pleased to authorize your correspondent to receive it for you on the settlement being made.” Suggests that in the meantime Cathalan forward the vouchers required to authenticate...
2672From James Madison to Samuel Meeker, 10 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have recd. your letter of the 4th. from the information I have received, there does not seem to remain a doubt, that American vessels are excluded from the carriage of Cotton of foreign growth to Great Britain for her consumption. How far the prohibition will effect cotton, the production of our western Country, shipped from New Orleans, is not equally clear; and it would therefore certainly...
2673From James Madison to John Milledge, 15 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
15 December 1802, Department of State. Encloses a copy of a 10 Nov. letter sent to him by the acting consul at Havana. “As the traffic therein alluded to may produce a contravention of the laws of your State, I have thought it might be useful to furnish you with the information it contains.” RC and enclosure ( MnHi : Allyn K. Ford Collection); letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). RC 1...
2674From James Madison to Rufus King, 16 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
Having in a private letter under Cover of one to Mr Low, of New York, communicated the result of yours on the subject of your return to the United States in a national ship, and having had nothing to add to my last several letters on other subjects, I have thus long delayed an Official answer to your letters numbered from 64 to 75, inclusive. I now acknowledge the receipt of them, and inclose...
2675From James Madison to William Jarvis, 17 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have received your several letters of 3d. 10 14 22 Augt. 6. 11. 22 Septr. 1 & 12 October last. The assurances you gave the Minister of Foreign Affairs at your interview, being such as are warranted by our friendly intercourse with Portugal and peculiarly proper to be made on the occasion, are entirely approved. From the civility shewn on your reception it is anticipated that your future...
2676From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, [17] December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I am induced by the very favorable information given me of the promising merits of Mr. Cabell, the young gentleman who will hand you this, to ask the favor of your friendly attentions to him. He visits France I understand partly on account of his health, but with a laudable view also to the advantage of his mind. On the supposition that he will proceed with little delay from Bourdeaux the port...
2677From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 21 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
The Secretary of State, to whom the Resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States of the 17th inst, was referred by the President, has the honor to inclose to him, the letters and communications annexed from the Governor of the Mississippi Territory, the Governor of Kentucky and from Wm E. Hulings formerly appointed Vice Consul of the United States at New Orleans. In addition...
2678From James Madison to Louis-André Pichon, 21 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
21 December 1802, Department of State. Encloses an “account [not found] stated at the Navy Department of monies paid to individuals of the French Nation at the solicitation of the Agents of the French government.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p.
2679From James Madison to Daniel William Coxe, 22 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I have received your communication of the 16th. inst. and am obliged to you for the extract from your Agent’s letter which it covered. The infraction of our treaty involved in the proceedings of the Intendant at New Orleans is as evident, as the consequences of persisting in it must be injurious and irritating. Mr. Pinckney has been charged to make the proper representations at Madrid, in...
2680From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 22 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
Mr. William Cook, who in the course of last year, sustained a severe loss, at Havana, attended with circumstances of rigor and cruelty, and which he attributes to the Government there, has requested me to recommend his case to your attention: this I do with pleasure, but subject to the condition, that any interposition you shall use is not to be of such a nature as to affect the general mass...
2681From James Madison to the President of the Senate, 22 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
In pursuance of the “Act to revive and continue in force certain parts of the ‘Act for the relief and protection of American seamen,’ and to amend the same,” I have the Honor to lay before the Senate Abstracts of the Returns made to me by the Collectors of the Customs within the United States, of Registered and of impressed American seamen; to which is added a Report, exhibiting an Abstract of...
2682From James Madison to Peder Blicherolsen, 22 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
22 December 1802, Department of State. Returns the commission and encloses an exequatur [not found] for Francis Taylor as Danish vice-consul in Virginia. Assures Blicherolsen of his “high consideration.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p.
2683From James Madison to Rufus King, 23 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
In the latter end of last month we received information from New Orleans of the interdiction of the deposit there for our merchandize, stipulated by the Treaty with Spain; without an equivalent establishment being assigned. A copy of the Intendant’s proclamation to that effect is inclosed. Private accounts render it probable that the Governor of the Province openly dissented from that Act, but...
2684From James Madison to John Geyer, 26 December 1802 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
26 December 1802, Department of State, Washington. “Being authorised to cause the laws of the United States to be published in no more than three newspapers in one State, and having authorised their publication in a third paper in Pennsylvania, I am precluded from accepting the proposal for printing them contained in your letter of the 22d. of this month [not found].” Letterbook copy ( DNA :...
2685From James Madison to Noah Webster, 28 December 1802 (Madison Papers)
I enclose a certificate, that the first volume of “Elements of useful knowledge” has been deposited in this office. Such certificates in the nature of receipts have sometimes been transmitted, but are not made requisite by law: and it is very doubtful whether, in any form, they would answer the purpose you suggest, on a suit for a breach of copy right. The mistake supposed by you to have been...
2686From James Madison to Leven Powell, 1 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
1 January 1803, Department of State, Washington. “To enable me to view in its true light your claim upon the French Government, for the loss you sustained upon a shipment of Tobacco, made to France before the late war, as stated in your letter of the 16th. inst. be pleased to inform me, whether you expect payment in specie of the amount of the acceptances, or of their value reduced by a scale...
2687From James Madison to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 1 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
1 January 1803, Department of State. “The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the House of Representatives, in virtue of their resolution of the 24th. ult. copies of sundry documents, relative to the claim of Peter Charles L’Enfant, for services which he rendered to the United States, in planning and laying out the City of Washington. To render the collection more complete, the...
2688From James Madison to William Ellery, 3 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
3 January 1803, Department of State, Washington. “It appearing that the Ship Alnomac was registered at Newport, I request you to be pleased to communicate the enclosed translation of a letter, lately received by me, to the relati⟨ves⟩ of the deceased Capt. Chace.” RC and enclosure ( NjP : Crane Collection); letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). RC 1 p. In Wagner’s hand, signed by JM....
2689From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, 4 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
4 January 1803, Department of State. “The Secretary of State requests the Attorney General to favor him with his opinion, whether a patent may be issued to the assignee of Robert Holliday for the land contained in the within survey [not found]. The doubt arises upon the variation between the survey and the description of it in the devise contained in the enclosed will [not found]. The land...
2690From James Madison to David Humphreys, 5 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
The President has received the letter you addressed to him on the 1st. Inst. As the constitution of the United States has left with Congress the exclusive authority to permit the acceptance of presents from foreign Governments by persons holding Offices under the United States, the President has thought it most proper that the ornaments addressed to Mrs. Humphreys by the Queen of Spain should...
2691From James Madison to Samuel Latham Mitchill, 9 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 9 January 1803. Acknowledged in Mitchill to JM, 10 Jan. 1803 . Discusses Isaac Briggs’s 1 Jan. letter regarding a national agricultural society.
2692From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 10 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my letter of November 27th on the subject of what had taken place at New Orleans, a letter has been received from the Governor of Louisiana to Governor Claiborne, in which it is stated that the measure of the Intendant was without instructions from his Government, and admitted that his own judgment did not concur with that of the Intendant. You will find by the printed documents herewith...
2693From James Madison to Isaac Briggs, 11 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
At the date of my last I intended to have had an immediate personal communication with Dr. Mitchell on the subject of yours of the first inst. Our distance from each other with a pressure on my office from some occurrences of business, put it out of my power to see him, and the intercourse on paper being substituted, I have not been able to obtain his sentiments & counsels, in time for a...
2694From James Madison to Robert C. Latimer, 11 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
The President of the United States has received your memorial respecting the spanish Brigantine Los Amigos. If damages were justly due in the case, the spanish claimant might have pursued his redress judicially beyond the first sentence of the District Court. At present it does not seem requisite, that the Executive should pass an opinion upon its merits, as they are incompetent to grant...
2695From James Madison to James Allen, 13 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
Your letter complaining of the attempt by Mr. Lewis S. Pintard, acting as Consul at Maderia, to extort illegal fees from you, whereby your vessel was detained, has been received. As comprising a violation of public duty, the case will meet with the proper attention. For the private injury you have sustained, you have your remedy against Mr. Pintard who caused it, his principal Mr. John M....
2696From James Madison to William Jarvis, 14 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
Since my last of the 17th ult, I have received your letter of the 16th November. The obstruction of our right of deposit at New Orleans still remained on the 25th of Novr. the date of our last advices from thence: but the hope that the Intendant will recede is further strengthened by the contents of a letter from the Governor General of Louisiana to Governor Claiborne, stating that the...
2697From James Madison to William C. C. Claiborne, 17 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
I duly received your letter of 25th. Novr. 1802. inclosing the letter to you from the Governor at N. Orleans, in which it was stated that the intendant in arresting the course of our trade, had acted without orders from the Spanish Government; as well as contrary to the opinion of the Governor. This communication was laid before Congress by the President. You will find by the Resolution of the...
2698From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, 17 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
17 January 1803, Department of State. Asks that Gallatin cause a certified statement to be made under the Treasury Department seal “comprehending all such sums of money as have been paid by the United States for the contingent expences of the Board of Commissioners which sat at Philadelphia under the 6th. Article of the British Treaty, together with what was paid as salary to the fifth...
2699From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 18 January 1803 (Madison Papers)
My letters of Decr. 23d. and Jany. 3d. communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject. I now enclose a subsequent resolution of that Branch of the Legislature. Such of the debates connected with it, as...
2700From James Madison to Charles Pinckney, 18 January 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
18 January 1803, Department of State. “My letters of Novr. 27th and Jany 10th communicated the information which had been received at those dates, relating to the violation at New Orleans of our Treaty with Spain; together with what had then passed between the House of Representatives and the Executive on the subject.… He has accordingly selected for this service, with the approbation of the...