1To James Madison from William Wirt, 26 April 1809 (Madison Papers)
I understand that Mr. Boyle has resigned the government of the Illinois territory, and that Ninian Edwards, the President of the court of Appeals of Kentucky, has been thought of and perhaps named to you, as a fit successor. Having known Mr. Edwards, personally, from the time he was fourteen years of age untill he grew up to manhood and having for several years past maintained an intimate...
2To James Madison from William Wirt, 10 July 1809 (Madison Papers)
Alexander McRae lately and for several years a member of the privy council and lieutenant Governor of this state, and Majr. John Clarke, as highly distinguished for his mechanical genius, are about to proceed to various parts of Europe on private business of considerable magnitude: such as is highly honorable to themselves and will, if they shall be successful, reflect benefit and lustre on...
3William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 10 July 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Alexander M c Rae esq r & Maj r John Clarke , two gentlemen, justly reputed for integrity and talents, and well known I believe, Sir, to you, are just about to embark for Europe , with views which I am authorized to state to you. In conjunction with severa l other gentlemen, they have formed a project of introducing m anu factures into Virginia
4William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 18 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
About four years ago you were so good as to state that if the life of Henry was not destined to come out very speedily you would endeavour to recollect what might be of service to it and that having run your course with him for more than twenty years and witnessed the part he bore in every great question you would perhaps be able to recal some interesting anecdotes. I do not refer to your...
5William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 24 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just recieved your favor of the 19 th and will, with very great pleasure, attend to its request and instructions. M r Wickham had previously made known your desire both to M r Hay and myself: he cannot join us in the defence although he is still unresolved to take the plaintiff’s case. You conjecture rightly as to the cause of action—it is Livingston’s expulsion from the batture by an...
6William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 27 June 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your last favor was brought to me from the post-office, too late, by some accident, to be answered by the returning mail. It gives me pleasure to assure you that succeeding interviews have completely removed the apprehensions expressed to my friend D. Carr in relation to this cause: and did I not know to whom my letter was addressed & by whom, alone, its contents are known, I should regret...
7William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 9 August 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have perused, with equal pleasure and conviction, your view of the question touching the batture at New Orleans : the copy is now returned. With such aid, I think it must be the fault of your counsel if they leave any room for candor to doubt or even for sophistry to cavil, with any hope of success. I had noted a few slight omissions which it will be necessary to supply in order to clear the...
8Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on William Wirt’s Comments on the Batture Statement, [ca. 20 August 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
Obj. that Joutel’s journal may not be admitted as evidence of the Charter to Crozat . Ans. I leave the establishment of this as legal evidence to the gentlemen in actual practice, who are so much more familiar with the authorities than I am. I have no doubt they will be able to shew that tho’ we may not resort to books of history for documents of a nature merely private, yet we may for those...
9William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 10 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I have your favors by the last mail and will attend to them with much pleasure. If any thing could be done for Colo. D. here, it would be by shewing the copy of your letter to him. I shall retain it for another mail that I may recieve your directions as to making use of it or not. You may rely upon it that D.’s name has no magic in it here: he is considered as the foe of M r Madison . And the...
10William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 17 April 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 15 in reply to mine of the 10 th inst. has been brought to me from the office this instant. The copy of your letter to D. has been shewn to one person only— W m H. Cabell . The effect of it was to dispose him to lend D. $500. And I wrote my letter in a persuasion produced by that incident, as well as by its effect on my own feelings, that with the use of that letter, something...
11William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 19 May 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 3 rd covering a copy of your letter to Colo. D. arrived at a time when I was absent on an excursion to the superior court of Powhatan from which I have just returned. If the bulwark of vanity which surrounds D. be not impregnable, or the spirit of faction which rules him, as wild and deaf as the winds of winter, I think your letter must touch him—but I much fear that he is...
12William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 15 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have your favor by the last mail, covering an hundred dollars (a draft on Gibson & Jefferson ) as a fee in the suit of Livingston against you. This is much more than an equivalent for any trouble I have had in the case. In truth, I have had no trouble in it. The investigation has been to me both a pleasure and instruction, and in itself, a compleat remuneration. From you I should never have...
13To James Madison from William Wirt, 17 July 1812 (Madison Papers)
On passing through the county of Powhatan two days ago, I had the mortification to learn from a friend of mine that he had, with a kind yet illjudged officiousness, written to you in my behalf, recommending me for a military appointment. I was aware that you had lately received a similar intimation, through Mr. Brent, from another quarter; and ’though I had explained, immediately, to Mr. Brent...
14William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 20 July 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I have just rec d yours of the 13 th and can only assure you of my constant attention to your interest. I can not think with patience, of your having this repose, to which you are so justly entitled, interrupted, in this way and yet, rather inconsistently I am sincerely pleased at having an opportunity of being any way useful to you: for I am yours in very truth devotedly yours Tr ( MdHi :...
15To James Madison from William Wirt, 11 January 1813 (Madison Papers)
I understand that we have lost Judge Tyler and that his place is to be immediately filled, will you give me leave to bring to your recollection for the appointment St Geo Tucker, late judge of our court of appeals. I do this without the privity of Judge Tucker much less without his authority; but I am under the impression that he will probably accept & I know of no one who would do more...
16To James Madison from William Wirt, 29 August 1813 (Madison Papers)
I have been deliberating for six months whether I should or should not write you on the subject of this letter. Were I a stranger to you, I should fear that it might subject me to the imputation of officiousness, and an idle & improper encroachment on your precious time—it might, too, with a mind differently constructed from yours, farther subject me to the unjust & degrading suspicion of...
17William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 27 July 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
The summer vacation of our courts, gives me an opportunity of taking up the materials which I have been for several years collecting for a life of Patrick Henry , and seeing what I could make of them. Will you have the goodness to excuse the following questions suggested, in a great degree, by a comparison of the communication you were so kind as to make , with others, from different quarters....
18Enclosure: Patrick Henry’s Stamp Act Resolves, 30 May 1765 (Jefferson Papers)
Patrick Henry’s Resolutions copied from the Journal of the House of Burgesses in 1765. May 30 . 1 Resolved That the first adventurers and settlers of this his Majesty’s Colony and Dominion of Virginia brought with them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his Majesty’s subjects since inhabiting in this his Majesty’s said colony, all the Liberties, Privileges, Franchises and...
19William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
The clerk of the court of chancery has, this day, for the first time put into my hands the fi: fa. in your case with Scott which I hasten to enclose to you—and beg you to believe me as ever RC ( MHi ); endorsed by TJ as received 17 Mar. 1815 and so recorded in SJL . RC ( DLC ); address cover only; with
20To James Madison from William Wirt, 7 June 1815 (Madison Papers)
It is understood that the American consulate at Cadiz is vacant by the death of the late incumbent. If a successor have not been, already, appointed, or selected, I beg leave to recommend to your notice Mr. James Hagarty, a Virginian who was raised at this place, and who now resides at Cadiz. Mr. Hagarty has spent two or three years at Lisbon and Cadiz, and from the reports of the American...
21To James Madison from William Wirt, 23 July 1815 (Madison Papers)
I thank you very sincerely for your letter of the 19th. inst. from Washington. The business of recommending a candidate for office is always disagreable to me; not only because I fear it may be assuming higher ground than I am entitled to occupy, but because I am fully aware of the swarms of applications by which you are importuned on every vacancy, and it is extremely painful to me to run the...
22William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Henry ’s resolutions , as given by Judge Marshall , were copied from Prior Documents . Your conjecture that the 5 th resolution was the 5 th as offered by M r Henry , or at all events that which produced “the bloody debate” derives great strength from the resolutions of
23To James Madison from William Wirt, 10 March 1816 (Madison Papers)
I understand that the office of attorney for the U.S. in the district of Virginia is vacant by the resignation of Mr. Hay; and if a successor be not already selected, I beg leave to present to your notice Mr: Abel P. Upshur of this city. The circumstance of Mr. Upshurs having read law under my direction and lived in habits of great intimacy with me for several years, has brought me closely...
24To James Madison from William Wirt, 17 March 1816 (Madison Papers)
I thank you for your favor of the thirteenth instant. I certainly had not thought of the Office in question, for myself, nor am I now sufficiently informed of the interference which the discharge of it’s duties at Norfolk will cause with my other professional engagements to decide, with entire satisfaction to myself whether I can with propriety undertake it. I have written to Norfolk to...
25To James Madison from William Wirt, 23 March 1816 (Madison Papers)
As I intimated, in my last letter, a wish to make farther enquiries before I should answer decisively as to the proposition you were so obliging as to make to me, I think it probable you may expect to hear from me again on this subject. It is for this reason I trouble you now, with stating my willingness to accept the office, which I understand Mr. Hay has laid down. At the same time, I beg...
26To James Madison from William Wirt, 21 June 1816 (Madison Papers)
*I presume it is not improper to address you, as filling the department which superintends the execution of the laws of the U.S. as to a difficulty which has presented itself, in the execution of a duty devolved on me, as the District atto’ of Virginia, under the act of the 3d. of March 1815, entitled “an act to vest more effectually in the state courts and in the district courts of the U.S....
27William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 10 August 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I suppose it proceeds from the circumstances of my having lived in your neighbourhood, for several years; the brotherly intimacy and affection which has always subsisted between your nephews, the M r Carrs , and myself; and the paternal kindness with which you have always treated me, that I feel a sort of filial right to be more troublesome to you, than my judgment can entirely approve: but I...
28William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 24 August 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I accept, with gratitude, the terms on which you are willing to remark on my manuscript—and send herewith three sections, ninety one pages. There will be an advertisement prefixed to it, stating the authorities on which the narrative is founded, and appealing to the candor and indulgence of the public on account of the peculiar disadvantages under which the work has been written. This, I...
29William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 10 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the remarks with which you have been so good as to accompany the return of the sheets. The story of Livy I had from Judge Nelson who gave it as a declaration to him from M r Henry himself. I think with you that the statement must be inaccurate: his indolence forbad it and Livy I find is not among the books left by him, of which I have a catalogue—I have moderated the passage...
30William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 25 September 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
W m Wirt , with respectful compliments to M r Jefferson , sends a few more sheets of the biography—and thinks he may venture to add the consoling assurance that a few more pages, (20, or at the most 30) will put an end to the trouble to which M r Jefferson has been so kind as to subject himself. RC ( MHi ); dateline at foot of text; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Oct. 1816 and so recorded in SJL...