To James Madison from Benjamin W. Crowninshield, 1 May 1815
From Benjamin W. Crowninshield
Navy Department May 1st: 1815
Sir,
I submit to your consideration the enclosed Copy of a letter to commodore Decatur,1 written with the advice and consent of Messrs: Monroe & Dallas—and I request your opinion and instructions upon the subject. I have the honor to be Very respectfully Your obedient Servt.
(B.W. Crowninshield)
RC and enclosure (DLC); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 45, LSP). RC in a clerk’s hand; signature parenthetically inserted by JM, with his docket. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. The enclosed copy of Crowninshield’s confidential letter to Capt. Stephen Decatur, 29 Apr. 1815 (1 p.), ordered Decatur not to sail for Algiers until Crowninshield could get JM’s instructions on the matter, owing to “the present State of affairs in Europe.” In the meantime Decatur was not to discuss the delay or the reason for it.