To James Madison from Levett Harris, 30 July 1806 (Abstract)
From Levett Harris, 30 July 1806 (Abstract)
§ From Levett Harris. 30 July 1806, St. Petersburg. “Some days Since, two Italians, representing themselves to be priests of the Roman Catholick religion, called upon me, and made particular inquiries respecting America, whither they proposed going, and residing in their clerical capacities. They further requested my interference in their behalf for passage, in one of our Ships then in port, and upon exhibiting to me passports, signed by the Governor of the City, I had no hesitation to grant them a document from under my Seal of Office expressive of their designs; with which they proceeded to Cronstadt, and had partly engaged to go in a Ship destined to Boston, when I received the inclosed anonymous Letter, describing them as vagabonds:1 upon Such a paper I did not, of course, feel myself justified to institute immediate process; but on observing that reference was had to the Jesuits resident here, (a Sect whose conduct in this country ⟨has⟩ gained them respect) I conceived it to be prudent and circumspect to submit this letter to the general Governor, and the inclosed copy of a note I have received from his Excellency will apprise you of the result of this procedure.2
“I delay not therefore to lay this corresponden⟨ce⟩ before you Sir, which will Serve to advise you of the vagrants which Occasionally visit us, and inabl⟨e⟩ the employment of Such measures, should these peop⟨le⟩ find their way through Some other channel to the United States, as may prevent their practice of the impositions in which they have thus been detected.”
RC, two copies, and enclosures, two copies (DNA: RG 59, CD, St. Petersburg, vol. 1). First RC 2 pp.; dated “July 18/30” in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Second RC marked “Duplicate”; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Harris. For enclosures, see nn.
1. The enclosed copy of the unsigned, undated letter (3 pp.; in French) bore Harris’s signed note at the foot: “The Original of the foregoing letter was received by the undersigned the 20th. June 1806.” It stated that the two men, both from Genoa, went by the names of Joseph Zanoni and Augostino Zanoni, though the real name of the former was Jean Longinetto; that they falsely claimed to be brothers of the order of St. Camillus de Lellis; that in recent years Longinetto, who was actually married, had raised a great deal of money in the United States by posing as a member of the order of St. Bernard; that he was poised to return there with Augostino Zanoni and perpetuate the fraud by publishing false accounts of a convent destroyed by an earthquake and other fabrications in order to collect donations; and that the two men had tricked the French consul into granting them a passport. The correspondent recommended that Harris ask the impostors to provide certificates from the Jesuits of St. Petersburg, that he write to their native villages for information, and that he advise the ship captains at Kronstadt not to give them passage to the United States.
2. Harris enclosed a copy of Sergey Kuzmich Vyazmitinov’s 11 July 1806 note (1 p.; in French; docketed by Wagner) stating that a more thorough investigation of the ostensible priests had revealed them to be “vagabonds.” Also enclosed was a copy of Harris’s 22 June 1806 letter to Vyazmitinov (1 p.; in French), requesting an interview on the subject of the passport issued to the two men.