From James Madison to John Hartwell Cocke, 3 August 1827
To John Hartwell Cocke
Montpellier Aug. 3. 1827
Dear Sir
Since my return home, I have received the letter from Mr. Gallatin of which a copy is enclosed.1 Be so good as to forward it to Mr. Cabell, with a request that he send it to Mr. Johnson, who from Richmond will easily give it conveyance to Mr. Loyall. I will make known its contents to Mr. Monroe & Mr. Breckenridge. I have heard nothing from any other quarter on the subject of the vacant Chair. I shall write to Mr. Gallatin suggesting the duties as now allotted to it; but without a certainty that he will be found in England; and with little prospect if there, that the communication will be of any avail. With great esteem & regard
James Madison
RC (ViU: Special Collections, Madison Papers); draft (DLC). RC addressed and franked by JM to Cocke at “Bremo near Winn’s post office Fluvanna Virginia”; postmarked at Charlottesville, Virginia, 7 Aug.; docketed by Cocke: “recd. Aug. 11.” The RC was sent to Nicholas P. Trist to forward to Cocke. Trist wrote a note to Cocke on the cover of the RC: “This letter, I received open this morning, under cover from Mr Madison. After sealing it, I reopened it, to write the above.” On the verso of the RC cover, Trist wrote a 6 August letter to Cocke from Charlottesville, telling him about a controversy among the city’s merchants over what constituted the “standard uniform” of the students at the University of Virginia, “both as to color, quality, quantity of braid &c.,” and requesting that Cocke contact the proctor and the chairman of the faculty about the matter.