31From James Madison to John Armstrong, 6 June 1805 (Madison Papers)
On reviewing the letters from you not yet acknowledged I find them under the following dates, viz 12th Novr. 24. 25. & 30th Decr 14th Feby and 18th March last. I have the pleasure to observe to you that the President entirely approves the just and dignified answer given to the venal suggestions emanating from the French functionaries as explained in your letter of the 24th of December. The...
32From James Madison to John Armstrong, 26 October 1806 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of June 2. last to the Secretary of State was recd. during my late recess in Virginia, where it could not be conveniently answered; and since my return, I have till now been prevented by indisposition from giving it the proper attention. From a search into the correspondence of the Commissioners of which you wish a copy, I find that no part of it can have relation to the period of...
33From James Madison to John Armstrong, 15 July 1804 (Madison Papers)
A Commission by which the President appoints you Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to the French Republic is herewith inclosed, with a letter of credence to the First Consul. The delivery of these will be an occasion of which you will avail yourself to assure the French Government of the continuance of those friendly dispositions which the United States have hitherto expressed, and...
34From James Madison to John Armstrong, 5 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
With the exception of several letters on special subjects, my last was dated on the 24th of November; since which I have received from Mr Livingston his letters of Septr. 14 & 21st & October 10 & 23d, and yours of the 20th of October 1804. Congress did not adjourn till the night of the 3d instant. The greater part of their Acts were passed in a late stage of the session, and a number of them...
35From James Madison to John Armstrong, 6 September 1804 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 6 September 1804, Department of State. Offered for sale by B. Altman & Co. (advertisement, Wall Street Journal , 15 July 1973), where it is represented as a one-page letter stating that U.S. claims regarding debts contracted by the French in Saint-Domingue have not been met nor has Livingston reported on the matter. JM asks to be informed about the probability and time of...
36From James Madison to John Armstrong, 2 April 1805 (Madison Papers)
From the period when the misunderstandings between France and the United States encouraged the Agents and cruizers of the former in the year 1797 to fall upon the trade of the United States, till the capture of Curaçoá, this Island served as a station for Commissioning and fitting out privateers, for holding judicial proceedings over prizes, for selling them, and in short could scarcely be...
37From James Madison to John Armstrong, 10 November 1804 (Madison Papers)
Since my last of June 29th to Mr Livingston I have received his several communications under the dates of the 25 & 26th of July 8th. 28 & 29th of August & 4th of September. The course which the proceedings under the Convention for indemnifying our Citizens, has taken, seems to require no particular addition to the remarks and instructions already in your hands, until the result of them shall...
38From James Madison to John Armstrong, 25 August 1805 (Madison Papers)
It is represented by the parties interested in the ship New Jersey and cargo, for which indemnity is claimed under the late Convention with France, that a disallowance of the claim is likely to proceed from an idea that Insurers do not in such cases take the place of the Insured. As the Convention has provided for its own exposition and execution, it has been thought best that these should be...
39From James Madison to John Armstrong, 26 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
Your account dated 25th December last, which has not been examined at the Treasury for want of the vouchers, containing a charge for Office furniture, it is necessary to apprize you that such an allowance has never been made and cannot therefore at the Treasury, be admitted. The Commissioners under the Louisiana Convention have deposited with Mr Skipwith the papers, furniture and utensils of...
40From James Madison to John Armstrong, 15 August 1806 [letter not found] (Madison Papers)
¶ To John Armstrong. Letter not found. 15 August 1806. Acknowledged in Armstrong to JM , 24 Dec. 1806 ( DNA : RG 59, DD , France, vol. 10), and described in Jacob Wagner to JM , 15 Aug. 1806 , as having to do with the case of Benjamin Stoddert and John Mason.
41From James Madison to John Armstrong, 27 May 1804 (Madison Papers)
Letter not found. 27 May 1804. Acknowledged in Armstrong to JM, 2 June 1804 , as an offer of appointment as U.S. minister to France and a suggestion, should Armstrong accept the commission, that he visit Washington before sailing to France.
42From James Madison to John Armstrong, 21 August 1804 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of August 6th. has been duly received. Those of August 2d & 4 addressed to Mr. Wagner have also been transmitted to me. No regular notification has yet been received of the change which it seems certain has taken place in the French Government, nor are the new stile and title precisely known, by which it is to be addressed. All that can be done therefore in accommodation to the...
43From James Madison to John Armstrong, 15 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
I herewith inclose an act of Congress just passed on the subject of the commerce with St. Domingo. In prohibiting the commerce in unarmed as well as armed vessels the act goes beyond the obligation of the United States under the law of nations, but the measure was deemed expedient for the present and the eventual welfare of the United States. And altho’ it must be understood to have proceeded...
44From James Madison to John Armstrong, 19 February 1806 (Madison Papers)
Mr Skipwith has represented himself to be aggrieved by an attachment laid by the French Government upon a liquidation in his favor, under the Convention for the purchase of Louisiana. From the Documents he has exhibited, comprising as well a statement of the grounds upon which the attachment has been imposed, as his own explanations, it would appear that the principal stress is laid upon the...
45From James Madison to John Armstrong, [23] May 1805 (Madison Papers)
Messrs. Thomas Lewis & Son of Boston were the owners of the ship Hope and Cargo, which were captured after the signature of the Convention with France of the 30th of Sept. 1800, carried to Guadaloupe and condemned. Those gentlemen having prosecuted an appeal, the Council of Prizes pronounced the capture illegal and ordered restitution to be made. Fortified with this decision, they sent an...
46From James Madison to John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe, 4 December 1805 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To John Armstrong, George W. Erving, and James Monroe. 4 December 1805, Department of State. “Inclosed is a copy of the message of the President yesterday delivered to the two houses of Congress. The importance of its contents makes it desireable that you should receive it with as little delay as possible.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, IM , vol. 6); RC ( DLC : Curry Autograph Collection);...
47From James Madison to John Armstrong and James Bowdoin, 26 May 1806 (Madison Papers)
On the supposition that by the time this reaches you the negotiations prescribed in my letter of March 13 will have taken their final turn and that this may not be a favorable one it is thought proper by the president that in such a state of things you should endeavour to bring about an arrangement providing first that the status quo taking for the date the transfer of possession of Louisiana...
48From James Madison to John Armstrong, 20 July 1804 (Madison Papers)
I have requested the Treasury to remit you three thousand dollars according to your request. If convenient to yourself, it would be preferred to pay you the whole outfit before you embark. Should time admit the balance being Six thousand dollars, shall be remitted on your intimating that it will be acceptable, or you may draw upon me for it payable here or at New York. The papers relating to...
49From James Madison to John Armstrong and James Bowdoin, 13 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
I have duly received from time to time your several letters bearing dates 3 July 10 & 15 Augt. 10 Sepr. 3 & 25 Octr & 26 Novr. Previous to the arrival of Mr Skipwith with your dispatches of Sept 10th our affairs with Spain had undergone the particular consideration of the President; with a reference as well to the change in the state of things in Europe, as to the approaching Session of...
50From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 2 May 1808 (Madison Papers)
Since my last of which Lt. Lewis was the bearer, I have received your several letters of 27 Decr 22. Jany 15th. & 17 February with their respective inclosures. That of the 15th. Jany from Mr. Champagny to you has, as you will see by the papers herewith sent, produced all the sensations here, which the spirit and stile of it were calculated to excite in minds alive to the interests and honor of...
51From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 7 November 1807 (Madison Papers)
Representations have been made to this Department by Mr Mountflorence and his friends, relative to a dispute between him and Mr Barnet; and also as to his imprisonment. Will you be so good as to transmit to me such information on these subjects as you may think entitled to the attention of this Government and in the mean time to interpose in favor of Mr. Mountflorence any good offices which...
52From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 22 May 1807 (Madison Papers)
The two last letters received from you were of Decr. 24. and Jany 16. The decree of Novr. 21st. communicated in the first had previously reached us, and had excited apprehensions which were repressed only by the inarticulate import of its articles, and the presumption, that it would be executed in a sense not inconsistent with the respect due the Treaty between France and the United States....
53From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 8 December 1808 (Madison Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter just received at this office from Messrs. Mathew Cobb & Asa Clerp, Merchants of Portland, and to request that you will take such steps in the case as may be best adapted to it. I have the honor to be &c DNA : RG 59—IM—Instructions to Ministers.
54From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 9 September 1808 (Madison Papers)
The St. Michael not having yet returned nor any late information received thro’ any other channel as to our relations with France, I can add nothing of importance to what was communicated on that subject by Mr. Baker. A private letter from Mr. Pinkney dated about ten days before the reported arrival of the St. Michael in England, expresses hopes founded on an interview with Mr. Canning, that...
55From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 8 February 1808 (Madison Papers)
Your letters and communications by Dr. Bullus were duly delivered on the day of . The same conveyance brought a copy of the sentence pronounced by the French prize Court in the case of the Horizon, giving a judicial effect to the Decree of Novr. 21. 1806, as expounded in the answer of Mr Champagny to your letter of the . Whilst the French Government did not avow or enforce a meaning of the...
56From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 15 July 1807 (Madison Papers)
In the event of a war, or even of a general stop to the commerce with Great Britain, the renewal of the intercourse with St. Domingo, will become an object of great importance to the United States. In a letter of the 31 Jany 1804 to Mr Livingston, your predecessor, observations on the subject of this intercourse were addressed to the inte rest of France, as requiring her acquiescence in it....
57From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 10 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
When possession was delivered to our Commissioners by Mr. Laussat under the Treaty of 30 April 1803 it happened that a small settlement called Bayou Pierre was not included; altho it lies Eastward of the Sabine, is much nearer to our frontier post at Natchitoches, than to the Spanish one at Nacogdoches, and is known to have been a French settlement which was never under Spanish jurisdiction...
58From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 20 January 1807 (Madison Papers)
The inclosed copy of a letter to Mr. Ervine, accompanying a statement of the case of the Marquis de Casa Yrujo, with certain other documents, will give explanations very proper to be possessed by you. To these are added other printed papers, which bring down to this date, the information and proceedings which relate to the enterprize of Burr and to such of his associates as have been arrested....
59From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 10 November 1806 (Madison Papers)
The letter, of which a copy is inclosed, from Mr Portalis, the French Minister of Worship to a Citizen at New Orleans named Castillen who is stiled President of the Fabrique of the Church of St. Louis, appears to have excited considerable sensation there, as an interposition disrespectful to the Government of the United States, and as evidence of a wish in that of France to keep alive in the...
60From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 18 October 1807 (Madison Papers)
I have received since my last of July 15 your letters of May 12th. June 4. 7. 26. July 12. 24. August 3d. continued 15 and one of the 23d. Your communications with Mr Champagny give some hope that our affairs with Spain may have been at length put into an effective course of adjustment; tho’ it is seen with regret that nothing has yet passed absolutely inconsistent with further delays, if...
61From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 21 July 1808 (Madison Papers)
Herewith you will receive a copy of the papers relating to one of the vessels which were destroyed at sea by the French Frigates returning from the West Indies. I observe that in your letter to Mr. Champagny of the 2d. of April, you have incidentally noticed this occurrence. If ample reparation should not have been made to the sufferers, the President thinks it proper that as their cases...
62From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 20 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
I inclose the sequel of the information respecting Mr Burr’s enterprize as communicated to Congress yesterday whereby you will perceive that he has surrendered himself to the Civil authority of the Mississippi Territory. I have the honor to be with great respect, Sir, your most Obt. Svt. Privately owned.
63From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 22 July 1808 (Madison Papers)
Your dispatches by Lt. Lewis were delivered on the 8th. inst. It is regretted that the interval between his arrival and the date of your letter to Mr. Champagny, during which I presume some verbal intercommunication must have taken place, had produced no indication of a favorable change in the views of the French Government with respect to its decrees; and still more that instead of an early...
64From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 15 July 1807 (Madison Papers)
The enclosed copy of a Proclamation of the President will inform you of a late extraordinary hostility and insult committed by a British Ship of War on a frigate of the U. S. near the Capes of Virginia, and of the measure taken by the President in consequence of the outrage. The subsequent proceedings of the British Squadron in our waters have borne a like stamp of hostility; and altho’ it may...
65From James Madison to John Armstrong, Jr., 2 August 1807 (Madison Papers)
Information has been received thro’ a channel justly claiming attention, that the people of West Florida meditate an effort to liberate themselves from the Spanish Government; and that with this view it is intended in case the pulse of this Government does not promise a taking them by the hand, to address themselves to the British Government. No doubt is entertained of the ease with which the...
66From James Madison to Jesse Atwater, 21 July 1808 (Madison Papers)
The dispatches with which you are charged for Mr. Pinkney, you will deliver to him in London. The Schooner Hope, in which you take your passage, is to land you at some convenient place on the English Coast, on her way to Havre de Grace. You will let Mr. Pinkney know that the Hope, after receiving at that place Dispatches from Genl. Armstrong is to pass over to Cowes or Portsmouth, in order to...
67From James Madison to Peter Audrain, 7 February 1807 (Madison Papers)
I have received your letter of the 11th. ult.. The printed laws of Michegan have been packed up and are on their way to Detroit, if they have not arrived there. Governor Hull has been authorised to procure the seals necessary for the Territory. I have directed a copy of the laws of the last session of Congress to be forwarded to you. The proportion intended for the use of the Territory has...
68From James Madison to Thomas Auldjo, 9 January 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To Thomas Auldjo. 9 January 1806, Department of State. “I enclose a copy of a letter from Capt. Stephen Merrihew, stating that your Consular Agent at Portsmouth, also acts as prize Agent for the Vessel which captured and sent his into that port. As it would be contrary to his most obvious duty for any Consul or Agent of the United States to interfere in the incidents of the war, more...
69From James Madison to the Marqués de Avilés, 27 March 1805 (Madison Papers)
In behalf of an individual Citizen of the United States, who has been deeply injured in his private Circumstances by certain proceedings which took place in the province over which your Excellency presides, I am induced now to call your attention to his Case. This Individual is James Yard Esqre, who is a very respectable Inhabitant and extensive Merchant of Philadelphia. He represents to me...
70From James Madison to Joseph S. Ayers (Abstract), 20 February 1805 (Madison Papers)
20 February 1805, Department of State . “I have received your letter of the 27th. Ult. The injury you sustained by the detention of your vessel is of a nature to be redressed only by your prosecuting the captor or his surety. There is therefore no form in which the Executive can with propriety interpose.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. No letter of 27 Jan. 1805 from Ayers...
71From James Madison to John Martin Baker, 2 May 1808 (Madison Papers)
You will hasten to Baltimore, and embark at that place in the Brig St. Michael. This Vessel being employed in the service of the Government is placed under your direction, and the Master will of course follow such instructions as you may give him and as are consistent with the Charter Party, of which a copy is enclosed. You will proceed with all practicable dispatch to the Port of L’Orient,...
72From James Madison to John Martin Baker, Ca. 7–15 April 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To John Martin Baker. Ca. 7–15 April 1806, Department of State. “I have received your letter of the 8th of January requesting leave to return to the United States this Spring, and I have the pleasure to inform you that no objections occur to the gratification of your wishes.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, IC , vol. 1). 1 p. Undated; conjectural date assigned based on the document’s location...
73From James Madison to François Barbé-Marbois, 4 November 1803 (Madison Papers)
I recd your favor of the 21 prairial, with a pleasure which is redoubled by the consideration that I am able in acknowledging it, to inform you of the formal approbation of the late Treaty & Conns. by every branch of our Govt. The event establishes, I hope for ever, perfect harmony between the two countries. It is the more likely to do so, as it is founded in a policy, coeval with their...
74From James Madison to Joel Barlow, 7 February 1809 (Madison Papers)
I have recd your favor of and valuing as I do the friendly & favorable expressions it contains, I can not but be truly gratified by them. I perceive that I did not impress Mr. Fulton as distinctly as I meant to do with the circumstance, that previous to the receipt of his letter, I had, as far as might lie with me, not only fixed, in my thoughts, on a person for the approaching vacancy in the...
75From James Madison to Joel Barlow, 30 April 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ To Joel Barlow. 30 April 1806, Department of State. “Mr. Madison’s compliments to Mr. Barlow. The Treasury is the proper Department to decide on his claim for exemption from duties; but it would seem from the letter to Mr. Pinckney of which a copy is enclosed, that there is scarcely any room to hope for a decision in Mr. B.’s favor, further than a liberal construction of the words of the...
76From James Madison to William Barlow, 22 April 1804 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
22 April 1804, Department of State. “The claim for land, which you describe in your letter of the 2d. March [not found], appears to be barred both by the lapse of time and by the Sixty thousand acres allowed in the act of Congress of 13 May 1800, being exhausted by previous surveys.” Letterbook copy ( DNA : RG 59, DL , vol. 14). 1 p. For “An Act to authorize the issuing certain Patents,” 13...
77From James Madison to Joseph Barnes, 19 March 1803 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
19 March 1803, Department of State. Encloses consular instructions and a blank bond. To execute the bond, “one or more persons beside yourself, who shall have property or a Commercial establishment in the United States, to be approved of by this Department, must be jointly bound in a sum not to be less than two thousand Dollars.” Asks that the bond be returned to the State Department when...
78From James Madison to Isaac Cox Barnet, 18 July 1804 (Madison Papers)
Since the letter which gave you an election of the appointments of Commercial Agent at Havre and Antwerp, information was received which indicated that the former place had your preference. A commission was therefore some time ago forwarded to Mr. Jacob Ridgway appointing him to Antwerp, and another to Mr. John Mitchell appointing him Vice Commercial Agent at Havre. The latter commission will...
79From James Madison to Isaac Cox Barnet, 12 November 1802 (Madison Papers)
Your letter of Sepr. 10. has just been recd. I am glad to find that the appointment given you, proves so acceptable. Since it was forwarded, a vacancy in the consulate at Havre has come into view; and I am authorized by the President to enquire whether that place would be preferred by you to Antwerp. It is desireable that your answer on this point should be delayed as little as possible, that...
80From James Madison to Isaac Cox Barnet, 30 September 1803 (Madison Papers)
If the scope of your communication of the 19th. of June is correctly conceived you retain a predilection for the Commercial Agency at Antwerp; tho’ the uncertainty whether it remained vacant induced you to adhere to the appointment to Havre which you last received. Should this be the true state of your choice, you will be at liberty to retain Antwerp, and on your intimating that determination...