To James Madison from John Graham, 3 August 1816
From John Graham
Dept of State 3d Augt 1816.
Dear Sir
I send you the enclosed Letters from Mr Adams,1 Mr Shaler2 and Mr Montgomery3 all of which were received by the Northern Mail today. The Secretary of State will, I think, from what Mr Coles stated, probably be here, about the time they will return from your House. I have therefore presumed that it was not necessary to have Copies made for him, and as tomorrow will be Sunday, it would not be convenient to have them made.
These Letters are all of some importance as respects our Affairs with Algiers. Most Respectfully I am Dear Sir your Mo Obt Sert
John Graham
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM. For enclosures, see nn.
1. Graham probably referred to John Quincy Adams’s 5 July 1816 one-page dispatch to Monroe, in which he mentioned that “the Ministerial Newspapers” in London had suggested that Lord Exmouth would return to the Mediterranean “to take serious compulsive measures with Algiers.” Adams predicted that “the highly probable result of all these Negotiations, and all this hostile array” would be “a Peace, for all the European Nations, with the Barbary States, and a quarrel with them for us.” Adams had previously explained his reasons for thinking thus in his dispatch of 22 June 1816 (DNA: RG 59, DD, Great Britain).
2. On 29 June 1816 William Shaler conveyed to Monroe reports from Algiers, most notably those from the British consul, that the dey of Algiers had no intention of honoring the 1815 treaty and that the renewal of war between Algiers and the United States was certain (DNA: RG 59, CD, Algiers; 7 pp.).
3. In a 28 May 1816 letter, the American consul at Alicante, Robert Montgomery, reported that according to Spanish sources, the British vice-consul in Oran had been imprisoned and that vessels from Gibraltar and their crews had been seized there (DNA: RG 59, CD, Alicante; 2 pp.).