From James Madison to James Monroe, [6 September] 1811
To James Monroe
Montpelier Friday [6 September 1811]1
Dear Sir
Mr. Hamilton from the John Adams reached me yesterday. He reposes to day, and will be with you tomorrow. I send by the bearer, the dispatches opened at the Dept. of State &c. The packets of less importance Mr. H. will take with him tomorrow. The Secy of the Navy you will observe suggests the disclosure of the intelligence recd. from Mr Russel.2 An abstract of the matter in the letter to Mr. Smith at London, for Mr. Gales wd. be eno’.3 Yrs.
J. M.
RC (DLC: Monroe Papers).
1. Date assigned on the basis that 6 Sept. was the first Friday after the arrival of the dispatches by the John Adams in Washington on 2 Sept. (see Paul Hamilton to JM, 3 Sept. 1811).
2. See ibid. and n. 2.
3. In response to Monroe’s subsequent instructions (see Monroe to JM, 7 Sept. 1811), the editor of the National Intelligencer, on 14 Sept. 1811, published a summary of Russell’s letters to John Spear Smith to the effect that ongoing proceedings against American vessels in France should not be construed as evidence that the Berlin and Milan decrees were still in force, as French judges had ruled that the decrees had been abrogated on 1 Nov. 1810.