1From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 29 June 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor by express was safely recieved on Saturday night, and I am thankful to you for the attention of which it is a proof. considering the general & state governments as co-operators in the same holy concerns, the interest & happiness of our country, the interchange of mutual aid is among the most pleasing of the exercises of our duty. Captn. Gordon, the 2d in command of the Chesapeake...
2From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 8 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
You will have recieved from the Secretary at War a letter requesting that the quota of the state of Virginia of 100,000. militia be immediately organised and put in readiness for service at the shortest warning; but that they be not actually called out until further requisition. the menacing attitude which the British ships of war have taken in Hampton road, the actual blockade of Norfolk, and...
3From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 16 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 10th. has been recieved, and I note what is said on the provision which ought to be made by us for the militia in the field. an arrangement by the Secretary at war to meet certain other persons at N. York to concert a plan of defence for that place has occasioned necessarily his temporary absence from this place, and there is no person sufficiently informed to take the...
4From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 19 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 15th. was recieved yesterday, and the opinion you have given to General Matthews against allowing any intercourse between the British Consul & the ships of his nation remaining in our waters in defiance of our authority, is entirely approved. certainly while they are conducting themselves as enemies defacto, intercourse should be permitted only, as between enemies, by flags...
5From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 24 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 20th. has been duly recieved. the relation in which we stand with the British naval force within our waters is so new, that differences of opinion are not to be wondered at respecting the captives who are the subject of your letter. are they insurgents against the authority of the laws? are they public enemies acting under the orders of their sovereign? or will it be more correct...
6From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 27 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
The Secretary at War having returned from New York, we have immediately taken up the question respecting the discharge of the militia which was the subject of your two last letters, and which I had wished might remain undecided a few days. from what we have learnt of the conduct of the British squadron in the Chesapeake since they have retired from Hampton roads, we suppose that until orders...
7From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 31 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I shall tomorrow set out for Monticello, considering the critical state of things, it has been thought better, during my stay there, to establish a daily conveyance of a mail from Fredericksburg to Monticello. this enables me to hear both from the North & South every day. should you have occasion then to communicate with me, your letters can come to me daily by being put into the...
8From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 7 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of July 31. & Aug. 5. were recieved yesterday. the ground taken, in conformity with the act of Congress, of considering, as public enemies, British armed vessels in, or entering, our waters, gives us the benefit of a system of rules, sanctioned by the practice of nations in a state of war, and consequently enabling us with certainty & satisfaction to solve the different cases...
9From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 9 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
In my letter of the 7th. I informed you that on consultation at Washington it had been concluded best to commit the whole business of flags to Capt Decatur. I now find that I had not recollected our conclusion correctly, and that it had been understood that the commanding officers, by land & water should have equal authority to license the sending & recieving flags: which is not only proper,...
10From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 11 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 7th. is recieved. it asks my opinion on several points of law arising out of the act of Congress for accepting the service of 30,000 volunteers. altho’ your own opinion, & those of some of your counsellors, more recent in the habits of legal investigation, would be a safer guide for you than mine, unassisted by my ordinary & able associates, yet I shall frankly venture my...
11From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 17 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of the 11th. 12th. & 14th. were recieved yesterday being the first day for some days past that the obstruction of the water courses has permitted the post to come through. I now return you the letters of Genl. Matthews & Capt. Hardy. I inclose you also two offers of volunteers from Montgomery & Fauquier counties, because they are expressly made, under the late act of Congress. I...
12From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 19 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you the papers recieved in your letter of the 16th. the Secretary of State communicated to me yesterday a letter from mr Erskine containing assurances from Sr. Thomas Hardy that he should carefully abstain from acts of violence, unless he recieved orders from his superiors. altho’ Barclay’s character does not give the same confidence, yet I see no reason to doubt that matters will...
13From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 19 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of Aug. 11. 12. 13: had been before acknoleged, and in mine of this morning I acknoleged yours of the 16th. and returned the papers inclosed in it. since writing that I have recieved another letter of yours of Aug. 11. which by an error of the post-office had been sent to a wrong office. I now inclose the papers recieved in that. they call for but one observation which is, that...
14From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 21 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson salutes the Governor with esteem and respect, & returns him the papers recieved in his letter of the 18th. he thinks there can be no doubt but that the sealed letter from the British Consul at New York to the Commander of the Bellona should be returned. Vi .
15From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 7 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return you Majr. Newton’s letters. the intention of the squadron in the bay is so manifestly pacific, that your instructions to him are perfectly proper, not to molest their boats merely for approaching the shore. while they are giving up slaves & citizen seamen & attempting nothing ashore, it would not be well to stop this by any new restriction. if they come ashore indeed, they must be...
16From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 18 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return to this place yesterday I found your favor of the 15th. and now return the papers it covered. I am glad to see the temperate complexion of Lowrie’s correspondence. I presume the intelligence from England since the arrival there of the information respecting the Chesapeake will produce a moderate deportment in their officers. your instructions to Major Newton on the opening of...
17From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 19 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
The honble mr Clay, in addressing the within to me, seems not to have recollected that the appointments to command in the militia or volunteer corps were with the state authorities. presuming therefore that I cannot better answer his views than by forwarding his letter to you, I now take that liberty & salute you with great esteem & respect. Vi .
18From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 12 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I now return you several of Major Newton’s letters some of which have been kept awhile for consideration. it is determined that there shall be no relaxation in the conditions of the Proclamation, nor any change in the rules of intercourse by flag. if the British officers set the example of refusing to recieve a flag, let ours then follow it by never sending or recieving another. the interval...
19From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 25 October 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of the 21st. & 22d. are recieved, & I now return you Capt. Read’s of the 18th. we conclude it unnecessary to call for another corps of militia to relieve that now in service at Lynhaven. Genl. Dearborn will write & give the necessary directions for discharging, paying &c. I suspect the departure of the British armed vessels from our waters is in consequence of orders from their...
20From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 1 November 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your late letters have been regularly referred to the Secretary at War, who has already answered their several enquiries, or will do it immediately. I am inclined to believe that the departure of the British vessels from our waters must be in consequence of orders from England to respect the authorities of the country. within about a fortnight we think we may expect answers from England which...
21From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 27 November 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
We have lately recieved from Europe 7. or 8. models of the swords most approved in practice there; out of which we have had selected two of the finest in the opinion of the best judges we have had an opportunity of consulting, foreigners as well as citizens. as the swords made at the manufactory of Virginia are spoken of as equal to any in the important article of temper, I have thought it...
22From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 13 March 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night your favor of the 10th. there can certainly be no present objection to the forwarding the letters therein mentioned, according to their address. We have nothing new of importance, except that at the last reading of an Amendatory bill a few days ago, the H. of R. were surprised into the insertion of an insidious clause permitting any merchant having property abroad, on...
23From Thomas Jefferson to William H. Cabell, 13 November 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Between 3 & 4. years ago I recieved the inclosed petitions praying for the pardon or the enlargement of Thomas Logwood, then & still confined in the Penitentiary of Richmond for counterfieting the bank notes of the US. I consulted Govr. Page on the subject who, after conferring with his council, informed me that tho’ he was for a pardon himself he found a division of opinion on the question, &...