James Madison Papers
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To James Madison from Isaac Cox Barnet, post–16 October 1806 (Abstract)

From Isaac Cox Barnet, post–16 October 1806 (Abstract)

§ From Isaac Cox Barnet. Post-16 October 1806, Paris. “I have the honor to transmit to you—here enclosed, an authentic copy of a letter written by a Mr. Stackpole of Boston (a person in whose company I have once been) exhibiting the disposition to impose upon the Executive by means of bribery and calumny.1 The original of this Instrument came to my hands on fryday the third instant—from the post office—and under the cover described in the enclosed copy. I think it my duty under every circumstance of the case, to make you this Communication. It is one which requires no comment from me—my Several letters addressed to your Department under the dates of March 26th. April 23d2 and July 24th. last—as well as Some from my Colleague Mr. Skipwith, and the printed memoirs Sent with them—Sufficiently explaining the relation in which I Stand to Michael O’Mealy who was the Subject of them. Still—Sir—to complete the file in your Office—I now have the honor of adding a Copy of the Judgement rendered in that case.3 This Judgement is, in Some measure, a proper appendage to William Stackpole’s letter—though I conceive it unnecessary to dwell upon it.”

RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Paris, vol. 2). RC 1 p.; marked “Duplicate.” Day of month left blank by Barnet and supplied here based on evidence in n. 3. For enclosures, see nn. 1 and 3.

1The enclosed copy of a letter from William Stackpole to Perez Morton and John Peck, dated 22 Sept. 1806 at Paris (3 pp.), opined that William Lee would be happy to exchange his consular post at Bordeaux for another, and that Barnet was likely to be recalled from Le Havre as a result of his quarrel with Michael O’Mealy. Stackpole asked Morton and Peck to leverage their influence in Washington to get him the Bordeaux consulate, possibly by using an appointment at Le Havre as a “wedge.” He promised them $600 and “other advantages” if they succeeded. A note at the head of the copy stated that the letter was enclosed in a sheet of paper addressed to Barnet at the U.S. consulate in Paris, with instructions to forward the contents to Lee. The verso of the last page of the copy bears notes signed by Fulwar Skipwith on 7 and 8 Oct. 1806, stating that he had seen the original letter with the envelope, that the letter was written in Stackpole’s hand, and that the copy was accurate.

2PJM-SS description begins Robert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (12 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986–). description ends 11:425, 499.

3The judgment, dated 11 July 1806 and signed by clerk E. A. Marquere and vice president of the court Louis Joseph Landry (7 pp.; in French), reported that Barnet’s attorney had requested that since O’Mealy had already been found guilty of attacking Barnet, he be fined 3,000 francs in damages and interest, to be donated to the poor of Paris; and that he also be required to pay the expenses of the suit. The court, however, decided that in addition to paying the expenses, O’Mealy would be subject to a fine of 100 francs plus 600 francs damages and interest, to be given to the poor. Appended to the judgment are 9 and 16 Oct. certifications by Skipwith (1 p.) that Landry was a vice president of the “Tribunal of first Instance” in Paris, and that the copy was correct.

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