1From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 31 March 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 27th. was recieved yesterday proposing to advance Lieutenants Sterett and Hull to be captains, nobody feels more strongly than I do the desire of encouraging by just rewards the enterprize of our officers, and especially should I be gratified by the promotion of Lt. Sterett who first taught our countrymen that they were more than equal to the pirates of the Mediteranean. but...
2From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 23 May 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I have spoken with Genl. Dearborne on the subject of the Marines at N. Orleans, and he sais there is nothing in his department opposed to their discharge. it occurred however in conversation that as some of the gun-boats building on the Ohio are destined for N. Orleans, and two of them at least for immediate service, you might think it better to retain these marines to man them, as better...
3From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 31 May 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you Commodore Preble’s letter which gives us time enough to consider on his mission. he proposes a longer one than I had supposed necessary. the hogshead of wine was yesterday brought here. it is really a painful & embarrasing thing. to reject may be supposed to imply impure motives in the offer. to recieve leads to horrid abuse. the former however has been my rule, where the thing is...
4From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 9 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night the inclosed petition from the Walleboght company to build a bridge across the pond of our navy yard at New York, to which they ask a prompt answer. will you be so good as to state to me your opinion to enable me to answer them. in general I think it just and useful for the General government to give all possible facilities to state accomodation. I would consider too the...
5From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 10 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Smith of Ohio, who has undertaken the building of two gunboats, having employed his hands & got into readiness to begin, but not being furnished with drawings, has come on to this place express to obtain them. learning from your letter that they still are expected from Commodore Preble, I have in consideration of the uncertainty when they may come on, & the urgency of the work, advised him...
6From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 11 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
You will receive from Capt Tingey information of the capture of our late store ship by a Spanish privateer, which seems too probable to be neglected. I presume it will be necessary for you immediately to order a duplicate supply for the Mediterranean. but will it not be worth while to send a swift sailing pilot-boat with an officer on board in pursuit of the captor & captured vessel? I presume...
7From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 19 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I have had under consideration the letter of Lieutt. Smith commander of Gun boat No. 1. from Charleston, respecting the capture of the Two friends, a registered ship, at the bar of Charleston. his idea, if that be his idea, of having a 16. gun brig with a regular officer to do the duty of the revenue cutter, is condemned by our own experience. the qualities which make a good officer of the...
8From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 21 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Madison recieved from the Collector of the Customs at Philadelphia, yesterday, capt Kennedy’s information respecting the capture of the Huntress, which substantially ascertains the vessel, the capture, & the port to which she is sent. I do not know what might be the expence of sending a small swift vessel to reclaim her, & to send her on her destination, with some respectable person from...
9From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 26 June 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 24th. came to hand last night. Capt. Tingey happening to come in this morning while mr Madison was here, we took into consideration the expediency of sending an express boat after the Huntress: & considering the letters which went off immediately from mr Madison & Yrujo to the Governors of Florida & Cuba, & since that, one from Yrujo to the Govr. of Porto Rico by a vessel...
10From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 1 July 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed copy of a letter to mr Lincoln will so fully explain it’s own object, that I need say nothing in that way. I communicate it to particular friends because I wish to stand with them on the ground of truth, neither better nor worse than that makes me. you will percieve that I plead guilty to one of their charges, that when young & single I offered love to a handsome lady. I acknolege...
11From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 4 July 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson incloses to mr Smith a rough sketch of his first undigested ideas of the matters to be considered at our meeting on Monday next, which he prays him to consider maturely before hand. Affectionate salutations. DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
12From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 7 August 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
The communications from the Mediterranean recieved from your department, I have inclosed to mr Madison with a request to return them to you after perusal. they place the understanding of Commodore Barron on a much higher shelf than I had before done. tho’ Eaton has surmounted considerable difficulties, the talents and influence of the ex-Bashaw, still unknown, can alone decide the utility of...
13From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 17 August 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Of the writer of the inclosed I know nothing but from his own letter. if he be a good subject it is not undesirable to extend appointments to that quarter. Indeed I wish some of the native French of N. Orleans could be induced to put their sons into our navy, and I suspect they would readily do it if they knew the door was open. if you should think mr Mc.koy’s propositions are to be listened...
14From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 26 August 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 21st. is duly recieved, inclosing a commission of Lieutt. for John Williams. but the letters of recommendation to which you refer as inclosed, were in fact not inclosed. there was only a letter from Colo. Wharton speaking of recommendations from Colo. Brent. to save time I have signed & now inclose the commission; trusting that you are either satisfied or will be satisfied...
15From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 30 August 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
If your honor can make any use of his honor mr Hunt writer of the inclosed, I dare say he will have the honor of thanking you very sincerely. I desired mr Madison to send you the papers relating to our negociation with Spain. I have asked the favor of the other gentlemen, as I do of you, to write me your first thoughts on the measures most proper to be pursued. when I shall have recieved all...
16From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 6 September 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Aug. 30. was recieved yesterday, & I sincerely rejoice with you on the so far prosperous issue of our experiment with the gun boats on the Atlantic. experience & reflection will strengthen our opinions on the advantages of that kind of vessel for our purposes. I return you the instructions to Murray with one addition, pencilled in the 3d. page. I do not remember whether any opinion...
17From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 18 September 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns to mr Smith the Tripoline papers. considering that Eaton’s fire was all spent at Derne, and that it was desirable to get our naval force withdrawn from the Spanish seas, the peace is a subject of satisfaction. no further intelligence being now expected relative to our affairs with Spain, & some measures growing out of them requiring the earliest consideration possible he...
18From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 24 October 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Understanding from mr Madison that he would be here by the last of the week, I wrote to desire him to give you notice of his passing thro’ Baltimore: but by a letter recieved yesterday it is probable he will have set out before my letter reaches him. The almost certainty which now appears of an extensive continental war in Europe changes our situation most advantageously inasmuch as it ensures...
19From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 24 January 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter, from it’s good intentions, merits a suitable reply from me, but not being a judge of the importance of the drawings, & of course of the expressions of thankfulness, they will justify, I must ask the favor of you to have them considered, & let me know whether they offer any thing new & valuable for our gun boats. the gun carriage on the non-recoil principle is new to me—do...
20From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 2 February 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved last night a letter dated Pisa Nov. 17. from a friend a native of that country, in which he says ‘there came to me a letter at Volterra from mr Appleton in which he informs me of a misunderstanding between your Commodore & the Governor of Leghorn which caused him much uneasiness. I hastened my return to see if I could be of any use. I now recieve another in which he said: ‘the...
21From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 22 April 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you the inclosed from O’Brien merely that you may read the upper half of the last page the rest is immaterial. it seems to me that his suggestion of Cagliari as our Naval head quarters is worthy of consideration. the circumstances of it’s neighborhood to Tunis (70. miles) cheapness of provision unconncesion with either England or France, and the probable welcome too from it’s impotent...
22From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 19 May 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of May 14. has been recieved and duly considered & I now return the several papers it covered. not having here a copy of the laws of the last session, I can only say that according to the general impression I retain of those respecting the subject of your’s & mr Gallatin’s letters, mr Gallatin’s ideas concur generally with that impression. in one point I differ from him, the 1st....
23From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 19 May 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
We have two posts a week, leaving Washington on the evenings of Monday & Wednesday, arriving at Milton Thursday & Saturday, and both leaving it on Saturday. so that tho you may send me dispatches twice a week, I can answer but once. your letter of the 14th. arrived on Saturday and both posts were returned before my messenger could bring it here. you could not have got the answer by post till...
24From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 8 July 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
It is really wonderful how compleatly our countrymen, after staying sometime in Europe, forget the constitution, the laws, & the spirit of their own country. mr Cutting’s propositions are evidences of this fact. I would wish however to put them by with a civil answer. this will, I believe, be most effectually done by a reference of the inclosed to you, with a request of an answer which I may...
25From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 10 August 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a letter from James Lownes, a marine or seaman on board one of our gunboats, to his father, a very respectable citizen of Richmond of the society of friends. the young man, in a fit either of dissipation or dissatisfaction enlisted for 3. years, leaving a wife & young children. he has served thro’ the Mediterranean service and has still something more than a year to remain. his...
26From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 12 August 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 6th. was recieved yesterday. on the 7th. inst. I had recieved one from Mella Menni declining going in the Franklin for reasons which were evidently not the genuine ones. at the same time I recieved a letter from mr Madison informing me that he had authorised Cathcart to charter a vessel at Boston, & in the mean time had taken advantage of one sailing from Alexandria to Boston...
27From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 30 August 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you by this post the Warrants from your office signed but in a very damaged situation from having got wet. I inclose also an application for a midshipman’s place, with respectable recommendations. yet it is for your consideration whether a place pressed for by so many native citizens should be given to a foreigner & especially to one who is claimed by his native country, & if taken in...
28From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 11 October 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Madison was to set out on Monday last, & is expected here to-day. we have some matters of considerable interest for consultation on which we shall be glad to have your aid. The death of mr Purviance has vacated an office of value. my knolege of the personal worth of mr Nicholson & of his standing with the nation at large, could leave no doubt in my mind as to the propriety of offering it...
29From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 12 December 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
According to information & consultations formerly had, it has been considered that 250. gunboats would be as compleat a defence for all our Seaports as should be provided in that line. calling our present number 75. we still want 175. to compleat our number. besides the public motives which urge the pressing forward in this work I own I feel a personal one in the desire of leaving this branch...
30From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 23 December 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of yesterday has been duly considered. what I had myself in contemplation was to wait till we get news from Louisville of Dec. 15. (the day of Burr’s proposed General rendezvous.) the post comes from thence in 12. days. the mail next expected will be of that date. if we then find that his force has had no effectual opposition at either Mariette or Cincinnati, & will not be stopped at...
31From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 31 January 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I think it should further be observed to mr Beekman that in order that the public may not be made to prejudge the experiment, the object of procuring the hulks should be kept to himself or disguised. PPAmP : Sol Feinstone Collection.
32From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 6 February 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
A Resolution of the house of Representatives of Yesterday asks from me information as to the efficacy of the gunboat defence, what particular ports we propose to place them in, & how many in each. I will enumerate the particular ports, but instead of saying literally how many to each, on which there would be a thousand opinions, I will throw them into groupes as below, and say how many to each...
33From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 7 March 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you the letter of Capt. Hull whose ideas on the subject of the persons to be employed are perfectly correct. we have the comfort of having enquired, as was our duty, of finding all right, and jogged the attention of the officers to keep them on their guard. Affectionate salutations. DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
34From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 9 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Soon after my arrival here I recieved a letter from Govr. Cabell requesting me to give such instructions for regulating the intercourse with the British squadron as might enable the officers to act correctly. I accordingly undertook to digest the rules of practice as to flags as well as I could, & so as to meet all cases, in a letter to the governor, a copy of which I now inclose you. soon...
35From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 20 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Appleton the writer of the inclosed letter was well known to me at Paris, but not as a man of business. He was young, handsome and devoted to pleasant pursuits. he is now probably 45. and has since been in business, but with what qualifications or success I know not. he was our Consul at Calais, his brother is our Consul at Leghorn, & his father is (if living) a respectable merchant at...
36From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 3 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters of Aug. 23. 27. 29. 30. have all been recieved. the two last came yesterday. I observe that the merchants of New York & Philadelphia think that notice of our present crisis with England should be sent to the streights of Sunda by a public ship, but that such a vessel going to Calcutta or into the bay of Bengal would give injurious alarm; while those of Baltimore think such a...
37From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 4 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I had written to you yesterday on the subject of notifying our E. India trade in answer to yours of the 29th. of Aug. and approving your proposition of giving the notice to our trade beyond the streights of Sunda, by a Consul specially to be sent to Batavia, & to that on this side by our Consul at the isle of France. since writing that letter I have recieved yours of the 31st. covering mr...
38From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 6 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 1st. came to hand yesterday evening, and I this day inclose it to Garbut. I now inclose to you a letter from Thomas Paine with a model for using two guns in the head of a Gunboat instead of one. mr & mrs Madison are with me and well. I salute you affectionately DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
39From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 8 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Madison, who is with me, suggests the expediency of immediately taking up the case of Capt Porter, against whom you know mr Erskine lodged a very serious complaint for an act of violence committed on a British seaman in the Mediterranean. while mr Erskine was reminded of the mass of complaints we had against his government for similar violences, he was assured that contending against such...
40From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 18 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
On my return yesterday I found yours of the 10th. and now re-inclose you Com. Rogers’s letter. you remember that the orders to Decatur were to leave the British ships unmolested so long as they laid quiet in the bay: but if they should attempt to enter Eliz. river to attack them with all his force. the spirit of these orders should, I think, be applied to New York. so long as the British...
41From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 7 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Proceeding as we are to an extensive construction of gun-boats, there are many circumstances to be considered & agreed on. viz. 1. how many shall we build? for the debate lately published proves clearly it was not expected we should build the whole number proposed. 2. of what sizes, and how many of each size? 3. what weight of metal shall each size carry? shall carronades be added? 4. is it...
42From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 14 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I return you Chancey’s letter. I am sorry to see the seamen working for rations only, & that we cannot allow even them, and further indeed that we shall be under the necessity of discharging a number of those we have. this is so serious a question that I propose to call a consultation on it a day or two hence. our 64. gunboats & ketches may certainly be reduced to 10. seamen each; at least I...
43From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 15 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
To the letter from mr Davy of the Committee of the Chamber of commerce of Philadelphia (which I now return you) I think you may say in answer that you had communicated it to the President & were authorised to say, that the government of the US. have no present views of forming new harbours for the reception of their vessels of war: that under the authority, & with the means, lately given by...
44From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 27 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I think the answer to the Mayor of N. York must be that the law fixes the number of men we may subsist & pay, that having already that number employed, no authority but the legislature can give subsistence or pay to any additional number. Affectte. salutns. DNA : RG 45--Miscellaneous Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy.
45From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 14 February 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I believe we must employ some of our gunboats to aid in the execution of the embargo law. some British ships in the Delaware, one of them loaded with 1500. barrels of flour for Jamaica, another armed as a letter of marque, openly mean to go out by force. the last is too strong for the revenue cutter. mr Brice also of Baltimore asks armed assistance. I see nothing at present to prevent our...
46From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 3 March 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Can a gunboat be spared from Charleston? DLC : Harwood Family Papers.
47From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 1 April 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I approve of your letter to Commodore Murray entirely, and in order to settle what shall be our course for the summer (now that we see tolerably clearly that no rupture with England is likely to take place during the summer) I propose, the first day that I can be well enough for a couple of hours, to ask a meeting of our colleagues to determine these questions Shall the Proclamation, be...
48From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 20 April 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I nominate Joseph Tarbell—now a Lieutenant in the Navy—to be a Master Commandant in the Navy—to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of George Cox late a Master Commandant . Words in italics in Robert Smith’s hand [ Postscript in TJ’s hand: ] Will mr Smith be so good as to say what is the appointment vacated by Cox & to which Tarbell is to be promoted, as that must be specifically...
49From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 3 May 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a petition from a woman (Mary Barnett) who complains that her son of 13. years of age, is detained against her will in the Naval military service. having never before received an application of the kind in that department, I know not what are the rules there. but in the land service we have had many cases of enlistment of infants, and there the law is considered to be, and our...
50From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 20 May 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the information contained in your’s of the 17th. and as it has not yet got into the papers I take the liberty of inclosing the papers to mr Madison with a request to return them to you. I inclose to yourself a letter from Dr. Waterhouse to Dr. Rush, sent me by the latter with a request that you also would read it and see to what lengths respecting him medical par alogism ,...