From James Madison to James Monroe, 21 July 1816
To James Monroe
Montpellier July 21. 1816
Dear Sir
I have just recd. yours of the 21st. (a mistaken date). I hope Mr. Bagot, if willing to arrange in any mode, a reciprocity on the Lakes, will immediately issue instructions to discontinue augmentations or preparations of force on the B. side. The state of things on our side, will correspond without instructions; but a communication to the proper officers, of what may be the British intentions will be proper. There can be no inconveniency to Mr. B. in taking such a course. The measure suggested, may be provisional, till a more formal arrangement be made; or converted into a permanent arrangement as may be found best.
The answer to the letter to Mr. Pleasanton, must necessarily be, that the Govt. cannot give a sanction to officers in their service going into that of a party at war with a friend, more especially after the commencement of the war; and still less can it concur in any expedient for masking the irregularity.1
Between Mr. Poinsett & Mr. Hughs, a bad choice cannot be made for the service in the South sea. If no objection arises to the former, from his former agency in that quarter, his experience there will give him much advantage. What does the Navy Dept. say to a mission of the Guerriere? From a remark of the Secy. in a late letter, I shd. doubt the adequacy of funds.
The communication from St. Thomas’s urges the execution of our laws agst expeditions & equipments from our Ports.2 best respects & wishes
J. Madison
RC (DLC: Monroe Papers).
1. On 15 July 1816 Walter Smith of Georgetown, D.C., sent State Department clerk Stephen Pleasonton a three-page extract from a 25 May 1816 letter he had received from Bernard Henry, the U.S. consul at Gibraltar, about the difficulties encountered by merchant George Butler in receiving payment on bills issued by Mordecai Manuel Noah from Tunis in 1814. Noah had issued the bills to pay Butler for his assistance in ransoming American captives held in Algiers after 1812. The State Department protested Noah’s bills on the grounds that he had violated his instructions, but Butler managed to redeem them with the cooperation of the British consul in Tunis. Henry regretted not informing the State Department earlier that Butler had redeemed Noah’s bills in that manner (DNA: RG 59, ML).
2. On 26 June 1816 U.S. consul at St. Thomas, Robert Monroe Harrison, informed the State Department that the Danish authorities had complained to him that privateers from Cartagena had been outfitting in American ports and committing depredations on Danish commerce. Harrison rejected the insinuation that American port authorities had been remiss in their obligations but admitted that such vessels had been operating in the region. He forwarded an affidavit, also dated 26 June 1816, sworn by ship master Aron Motta to the effect that his vessel had been plundered and that he had been injured by the captain of an American schooner. This material reached Baltimore on 15 July 1816 and was redirected by Monroe: “For the President” (DNA: RG 59, CD, St. Thomas).