To James Madison from Benjamin W. Crowninshield, 7 September 1816
From Benjamin W. Crowninshield
Salem Sepr. 7th. 1816.
Dear Sir,
A visit to Dartmouth university to meet the Trustees, has prevented me from answering your favour of Augt. the 20th.
The Frigate Congress is undergoing repairs, her state was worse than it was apprehended, but having commenced it was necessary to proceed with her repairs: she will be ready, in all probability, in 3 weeks.1
The instructions, with Mr Monroe, dispatches to Comr chauncey have gone in the Spark, from N York.2
The information relative the NW coast of Ama., in the inclosed letter,3 was obtained by Capn Morris at my request; I send it to you, it may be well to let Mr. Monroe See it, & he can deposit in Navy Dept. at Washington. Anything from you will duly4 attended to, by Your, respectful hu St
BW Crowninshield
RC (DNA: RG 59, ML).
1. On 19 Oct. 1816 Crowninshield directed Capt. Charles Morris to take the Congress not to the Pacific Ocean but to the Gulf of Mexico and take command of the naval forces at New Orleans in order to protect American vessels against piracy and possible hostilities from Spanish naval vessels (DNA: RG 45, Letters to Officers).
2. Crowninshield referred to the instructions he had sent to Capt. Isaac Chauncey on 24 Aug. 1816, directing Chauncey how to act in the event of renewed war with Algiers. If Chauncey could not blockade the Algerian navy in its own ports, he was to attack or repel Algerian vessels, prevent them from capturing American vessels, and stop them taking captures into other ports. Should he capture Algerian vessels, he was to take them to Sardinia. He was also to advise American consuls to detain American vessels in port if his forces were unable to offer them adequate protection. If Chauncey needed reinforcements, he was to send the Spark back to the United States immediately (ibid.).
3. The enclosure was Capt. Charles Morris to Crowninshield, 29 Aug. 1816 (2 pp.; DNA: RG 59, ML), covering a letter from William Sturgis providing information about the encroachment of Russian traders on the Northwest Coast of America. Morris stated that Sturgis and other American traders believed that the Russians “are more likely to interfere with us in that branch of commerce than any other power” and that “if their establishments in Norfolk Sound and the Bay of Sir Francis Drake are suffered to continue, they will soon monopolize all the profits of what appears to be at present a lucrative trade to many Americans.” Morris noted that the settlement formed on the Columbia River by John Jacob Astor “gives us a right to demand its restoration under the provisions of the late treaty with Great Britain.”
4. Crowninshield may have omitted the word “be” here.