1To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 28 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I have put off writing to you, not only to the last day, but litterally to the last hour of Dr. Bullus’s stay in Paris. By this delay, I expected to add something, if not to the interest, at least to the bulk of my intelligence; but as “the best laid schemes of mice and men” go often wrong, and are even defeated by the very means taken to promote them, so it has happened to mine; the day has...
2To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 15 June 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the pleasure of receiving your packet by the St. Michael and of executing your Orders with respect to the letters it enclosed. I shall write you f reel y by but I cannot let even this conveyance (tho’ somewhat hazardous) entirely escape me. I regret most sincerely that the measure suggested in my public letter by Hayley, should have appeared to be dangerous. Be assured, the danger is in...
3To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 9 August 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I had yesterday the honor of receiving from a Committee of the Agricultural Society of the Seine, composed of the President and Secretary of that body and the Counsellor of State Monsr. Moreau du St. Mary—the letter and medal herewith enclosed and committed to the care of Mr. Blackwell of New York. The manner in which these were presented for conveyance, was peculiarly flattering to me—as it...
4To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 28 July 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
M. Warden has already forwarded to you Regnier’s description of the dynamometre, and I have now the pleasure of sending the machine itself. It has several uses, and its accuracy in all of them is unvarying. M. Patterson, who is now here, says he forwarded your plough many months ago, in the Ship Ocean, for New York. I hope you received it. It is a noble present for a country like our’s, in...
5To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 17 February 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I had not the honor of receiving your letter of the 21st. July ‘till some time in Decr. The young man whom it was meant to introduce, has been here since mid-summer. He is apprized of his obligations to you, and as far as we can judge from the outside, is sufficiently sensible of them. Gen. Lafayette passed the holidays with us. He was then in good health, and, what is more extraordinary, in...
6To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 2 January 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I sincerely regret that I should be compelled to give you the trouble of reading the Volume of Documents transmitted herewith. the controversy, out of which the book has arisen, was not, as I believe you will discover from the book itself, a thing of my seeking; and whether Skipwith has, at bottom, been anything more than a tool to others? is to me somewhat doubtful. Be this as it may,...
7To Thomas Jefferson from John Armstrong, Jr., 15 February 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer of this is an active, sober, industreous and brave man, and in the event of a war, may be very usefully employed. He was a favorite of Admiral la Touche Treville and an officer on board of his ship, as long as the navy Ordinances of France permitted a foreigner to be in office. He has since been loitering about Paris to no purpose either of public or private benefit. It was in this...
8To James Madison from John Armstrong, Jr., 15 October 1807 (Madison Papers)
You will find in this note the substance of certain observations made by the Emperor at a Diaplomatic audience given yesterday at Fontainebleau. After rebuking the infallible head of the church (through the Cardinal legate) he Said, "He has sent me an Ambassador Extraordinary whom I shall send back to him, and whom I will not even see." Then addressing the Ambassador of Portugal, he declared,...
9To James Madison from John Armstrong, Jr., 25 October 1808 (Madison Papers)
Hearing that the Charleston packet would not sail before the 1st. of November, I avail myself of that circumstance to add a few lines to those already sent by M. Roux. Such is the apparent persuasion on the side of Russia, that England will accept the terms recently offered to her by the two Emperors, that Genl Romanzoff has come on to Paris with the view, as is reported, of avoiding all...
10To James Madison from John Armstrong, Jr., 24 November 1808 (Madison Papers)
I had the honor in a note of the 24th. ultimo to communicate the terms on which it was understood here, that a general pacification of European quarrels might be effected. Since the date of that communication an answer has been received from Great Britain expressive of a desire for peace, but declining to act on the propositions made to her, untill She had consulted her allies. The Emperor’s...