To James Madison from Sylvanus Bourne, 4 April 1804 (Abstract)
§ From Sylvanus Bourne
4 April 1804, Amsterdam. “I lately had the honor to address you relative to the appointment of an Agent for the Consulate at the Helder1—suggesting that it might be neccessary that our Govt should afford its patronage to this appointment by allowing a few hundred dollars per Annum towards its support, since which the inclosed request2 has been made to me by the Amn. Masters now in port which I take the first occasion to forward that the Executive of the U S may take the matter in to consideration & decide according to its sentiments on the merits of the case as to affording the pecuniary aid required.”
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, CD, Amsterdam, vol. 1). RC 1 p.; docketed by Wagner as received 1 June. For enclosure, see n. 2.
1. See Bourne to JM, 20 Feb. 1804, , 6:497.
2. Bourne enclosed a 31 Mar. 1804 petition to him (1 p.; filed following Bourne to JM, 10 Apr. 1804; docketed by Wagner as enclosed in Bourne’s 4 Apr. dispatch) signed by thirteen captains who asked to have a U.S. agent appointed to Den Helder for “the support of due order among our Sailors & as a means of relieving us from many impositions to which we are at present subjected.”