To James Madison from Thomas B. Johnson, 20 September 1813 (Abstract)
§ From Thomas B. Johnson
20 September 1813, New Orleans. “I take the liberty of enclosing a letter to you from Mr. Fulwar Skipwith1 & an Extract of a letter from Governor Claiborne to Mr. Munroe2 on a subject of deep interest to my happiness & I may add, also, importance to my health. These Gentlemen speak so fully my wishes & so favorably of my conduct that I will not intrude upon you any further developement of either, beyond an assurance, that should the considerations urged by my friends prevail on you to extend your patronage to me in ‘another climate than this which has proven so injurious to my health,’ I shall owe to it the prospect of prolonged life, ameliorated health & further usefulness. At a distance from the seat of government vacancies occur of which I am unavoidably ignorant & of course excluded opportunity of preferring a claim to. May I, thus situated, presume so far upon your Excellency’s recollection of me, as to intreat you to bear in mind my desire of removal from Louisiana ‘to a more northern climate,’ whenever an Office in the States or Consulate in Europe, such as I may aspire to, shall require filling?”
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Johnson, Thomas”). 2 pp. For enclosures, see nn. 1 and 2.
2. The enclosed extract (1 p.) from William C. C. Claiborne’s letter to James Monroe of 1 Aug. 1813 praised Johnson for “his exemplary deportment, his modest, unassuming manners and the purity of his morals, united to a faithful & zealous discharge of his public duties,” noted Johnson’s “great desire to obtain a consulate for some European Port,” and declared that “his habits & education,” including a knowledge of “Belles Lettres” as well as French and Spanish, “admirably fit him for such a trust.”