RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 10 Sep. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Joshua Barney to Smith, Paris, 11 July 1801, expressing his wish that Smith had been named U.S. minister to France and declaring that the ratification of the Convention of 1800 is “very uncertain” because its negotiation is in William Vans Murray’s hands rather than John Dawson’s; Murray, from his “attachment to the British,” probably wants reconciliation with France to fail, and has appointed as his secretary James C. Mountflorence, who is despised by every “publick Officer in france from the first Consul, down”; under the pretense of being “the only Official Commercial Character in france,” Mountflorence charges commissions to issue papers for ships and cargoes, a practice that he knows will come to an end if normal relations between the U.S. and France are restored; perhaps Dawson, who “does honour to the US,” will be able to bring about ratification; and Barney, believing that his “Exile” in France is at an end, states his readiness to serve the United States (RC in same).

On the return voyage of the Maryland to the United States, John H. Purviance, who in Dawson’s opinion was worthy of “entire confidence,” carried Dawson’s and Murray’s official dispatches (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins J. C. A. Stagg, ed., The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, Charlottesville, 1986–, 8 vols. description ends , 1:350; William Short to TJ, 9 June 1801).

Joshua Barney had also written directly to TJ, but not on the subject of the ratification of the convention (Barney to TJ, 5 June 1801).