To James Madison from James Monroe, 11 [April 1815]
From James Monroe
Washington [April] 11. 1815.
Dear Sir
I send you a sketch of a letter, of instructions to our commissrs to treat with the Dey of Algiers,1 & a project of a letter from you to the Dey; to be used, if they find it expedient so to do.2 I send a blank paper for your signature, to be substituted to that sent, should you deem alterations in it necessary.
I send you also a copy of two letters to genl. Pinckney respecting the slaves which we claim under the treaty,3 with mr Bakers answers to mine concerning the sale of slaves in the w. Indies, and on the construction of the first article of the treaty.4
Another packet contains a communication from mr. adams to mr Rush, which at his request I forward to you, to be returnd after perusal.5
I do not think that I shall be able to get from this place till abt the last of next week. Mrs. Monroe is much better, but very weak & delicate in her health, not able to bear bad roads & accomodations. We are glad to hear of mrs madison’s recovery. Respectfully & affecy yours
Jas Monroe
RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers). Conjectural month supplied based on internal evidence. For surviving enclosures, see nn. 3–5.
1. The enclosure has not been found. The final version of the letter, dated 10 Apr. 1815, instructed William Shaler, William Bainbridge, and Stephen Decatur to make peace with Algiers “as soon as it may be done on just and honorable conditions.” The commissioners were to offer negotiations before attacking Algiers, and to use the enclosed letter from JM to the dey of Algiers for this purpose if they judged best. The United States would not pay tribute or give biennial presents in exchange for peace, Monroe wrote. Further, the commissioners were not authorized to sign a treaty requiring the payment of ransom for captives; however, if necessary to achieve the prisoners’ liberation, an “informal understanding” might be reached with the dey whereby “after the conclusion of the Treaty,” he would receive “a reasonable sum … gratuitously” (DNA: RG 59, IM).
2. The enclosure has not been found, but see JM to Omar Bashaw, ca. 12 Apr. 1815.
3. Monroe evidently intended to enclose copies of his letters to Thomas Pinckney, 1 and 6 Apr. 1815 (DNA: RG 59, ML); however, his letter to JM of 22 Apr. 1815 suggests that only one of these letters was actually enclosed. For the former (1 p.), see Monroe to JM, 3 Apr. 1815, and n. 1. The latter (3 pp.) instructed Pinckney to do his best to recover U.S. slaves held or sheltered by the British, asserted that slaves were treated better in the United States than they would be if sold by the British in the West Indies, authorized Pinckney to send a secret agent there to gather evidence of such sales, and enclosed copies of Anthony St. John Baker to Monroe, 3 Apr. 1815 (see n. 4 below), Vice Adm. Sir Alexander Cochrane to Monroe, 8 Mar. 1815 (see Monroe to JM, 24 Mar. 1815, and n. 3), and Monroe to Baker, 5 Apr. 1815 (see Monroe to JM, 8 Apr. 1815, and n. 2).
4. In his 9 Apr. 1815 reply (5 pp.) to Monroe’s 5 Apr. 1815 letter to him, Baker stated that U.S. allegations of British slave trafficking in the West Indies were still inadequately documented, and that he would forward Monroe’s suggestion for investigating the matter to the British government (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain). On 3 Apr. 1815 Baker observed in a three-page response to Monroe’s 1 Apr. letter (see Monroe to JM, 3 Apr. 1815, and n. 2) that he had not discussed the first article of the Treaty of Ghent with Cochrane but nevertheless offered an explanation of the admiral’s interpretation of the text. Baker also claimed to have good authority for asserting that the British peace commissioners at Ghent did not intend that the article require “the delivering up of persons who had sought refuge during the war on board of British Ships.” He promised to refer this controversy, as well, to London (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers).
5. The packet contained John Adams’s 17 Mar. 1815 letter to Richard Rush and two enclosures, which Rush told Adams on 27 Mar. would be sent to JM (Letters and Papers of Richard Rush [microfilm ed.], reel 3). The first enclosure was John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 26 Dec. 1814 (4 pp.; MHi: Adams Papers [microfilm ed.], reel 155; printed in Ford, Writings of John Quincy Adams, 5:248–53), explaining why the Treaty of Ghent said nothing about American rights to use the Newfoundland fisheries; the second was former U.S. senator James Lloyd to the elder Adams, 8 Mar. 1815, arguing in detail for those rights (32 pp.; MHi: Adams Papers [microfilm ed.], reel 156).