Thomas Jefferson Papers
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From Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 24 June 1804

To Levi Lincoln

June 24. 1804.

Extract of a letter from Thos. Barclay British Consul at N. York, to Dewitt Clinton esq. Mayor of the city dated June 18. 1804.

‘His (Capt. Bradley’s) orders from Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell direct him to proceed from hence, on the delivery of his dispatches, on a cruize for the protection of the trade not only of His Majesty’s subjects but of that of the people of these states, and which has lately suffered much from the depredations of several French privateers on this coast. I am led to believe the Admiral was induced to send these ships for the above purpose in consequence of my having transmitted to him the copy of a letter I lately recieved from the President of the Marine insurance company, stating the injury the American commerce had sustained from the predatory corsairs, and requesting that measures might be taken to protect the American as well as British commerce from further losses.’

Thus it seems a citizen invites a belligerent to come on our coast to protect a commerce, in which he is interested, from the other belligerent. another citizen may with equal right, to protect his commerce with the other belligerent, invite him also on our coast, and thus make that the principal theater of the war, and defeat all the measures of the government for the preservation of peace and neutrality. is not this a criminal correspondence under the act of Jan. 1799? is it not unlawful as taking part in a war against a nation in amity with the US.?

The opinion of the Attorney general is desired with a view to the prosecution of the offender if it be a punisheable offence.

Th: Jefferson

RC (MHi); addressed: “Levi Lincoln esq. Atty Genl. US.”; Lincoln’s notes of reply subjoined at foot (see below); endorsed. PoC (DLC).

On 19 June, DeWitt Clinton wrote to Madison and enclosed a copy of Thomas Barclay’s 18 June letter (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 39 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 11 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984- , 8 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 3 vols. description ends , 7:332-3; Barclay to Clinton, 18 June, in DNA: RG 59, MLR).

William Neilson was the president of the Marine Insurance Company of New-York and a prominent merchant involved in West Indian commerce. On 11 May, he wrote to the British consul at New York regarding the capture of the brig Chance, which was insured by his company, by a “French cruizer” off the coast of Georgia. The next day, Barclay forwarded copies of this letter to Anthony Merry and Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell. In August and September 1804, James Cheetham reported on Neilson’s letter in his newspaper and accused him of violating the Logan Act in writing to British officials. Cheetham further suggested that the low insurance rates that Neilson received for his cargo ships were the end result of a “peculiar privilege” granted by the British for his intelligence services (Joseph A. Scoville, The Old Merchants of New York City, 4th ser. [New York, 1866], 142-51; Laws of the State of New-York, Passed at the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Legislature: Begun and Held at the City of Albany, the Twenty-Seventh Day of January, 1802 [Albany, 1802], 53-61; George Lockhart Rives, ed., Selections from the Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, Formerly British Consul-General at New York [New York, 1894], 158, 162-5, 192-3; New York American Citizen and General Advertiser, 22, 25, 27, 28 Aug., 4, 5, 12, 17, 18, 19 Sep. 1804; note to TJ to Robert Smith, 15 June).

act of jan. 1799: the Logan Act prohibited U.S. citizens from corresponding with foreign powers with the intent of influencing their conduct and actions (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, Boston, 1855-56, 8 vols. description ends , 1:613).

opinion of the attorney general: at the foot of TJ’s letter, Lincoln noted the substance of his reply (see 25 June). After the notation “Addressed,” he wrote: “1 A violation of the law of nations”; “2 controvening the measures adopted by the proper authority to preserve peace”; “3 violation of an article of the Constitution inhibiting states or forbear individuals to make treaty contracts &c.”; and “4 A violation of the law inhibiting individual intercourse Jany. 30. 1799.”

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