To James Madison from John Dawson, 29 March 1798
From John Dawson
Phila. March 29th. 1798
Dear Sir!
I have recievd your favour1 & attended immediately to its contents. We are now in committee of the whole on the president’s message of the 19th. Int., on which three resolutions2 which I presume you have seen, have been brought forward & I believe will be agreed to—it certainly will be highly important to collect the sentiments of the people, & forward them as soon as possible.
New England begins to move in opposition to the measures recommended by the president. Yrs. with much esteem
J Dawson.
The Chavelier d. Yrujo is to marry Miss McKane in 8 or ten days.3
RC (DLC).
1. Letter not found.
2. The resolutions were offered by Richard Sprigg, Jr., of Maryland, who proposed that “it is not expedient for the United States to resort to war against the French Republic,” that a law should be passed “restricting the arming of merchant vessels,” and that measures should be taken “for the protection of our seacoast, and for the internal defence of the country” ( , 5th Cong., 2d sess., 1319–20).
3. Carlos Fernando Martínez de Yrujo, Spain’s minister to the U.S., married Sarah (Sally) McKean, daughter of Judge Thomas McKean, a prominent Republican Pennsylvania politician, on 10 Apr. (G. S. Rowe, Thomas McKean: The Shaping of an American Republicanism [Boulder, Colo., 1978], p. 300).