To James Madison from Joseph Farley, 27 November 1811 (Abstract)
§ From Joseph Farley1
27 November 1811, Collector’s Office, Waldoboro. Hears that Eleazar W. Ripley2 has been recommended as attorney for the District of Maine and endorses the recommendation. Is not intimately acquainted with Ripley but believes him to be a gentleman of “handsome talents, and firmly attached to the laws & government of our country.” Mentions that the incumbent, Mr. Lee,3 is “federal in his politics, and therefore not so friendly to the present Administration and laws, as the person who holds that important Office should be.” Adds in fairness to Lee that in business he has always appeared to be “faithfull & upright.”4
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Ripley”). 1 p.
1. Jefferson had appointed Joseph Farley as collector and inspector of the revenue for the district of Waldoboro, Massachusetts, in August 1802 (Jefferson’s list of appointments, 1801–3 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]; , 1:432).
2. Eleazar Wheelock Ripley (1782–1839?), a graduate of Dartmouth College, was active in Massachusetts Republican politics and in 1811 was serving as Speaker of the state House of Representatives. In February 1812 JM named him as a lieutenant colonel of infantry and thereafter promoted him to colonel, in 1813, and to brigadier general, in April 1814. Ripley participated in the campaigns on the Niagara Peninsula in both 1813 and 1814, where in the latter year he incurred the criticism of Maj. Gen. Jacob Brown for his conduct during the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, especially after the command of the U.S. forces had devolved on Ripley as a result of the wounds suffered by Brown and Winfield Scott. Ripley demanded a court of inquiry to vindicate himself, but JM dissolved the court in 1815 before it could deliver a verdict. JM did, however, retain Ripley in the postwar military establishment (, 2:212, 332, 525).
3. Jefferson had appointed Silas Lee as attorney for the District of Maine in July 1801 (Jefferson’s list of appointments, 1801–3 [DLC: Jefferson Papers]; , 1:401).
4. JM received three other recommendations on Ripley’s behalf for the attorney’s position in the District of Maine. Two, both dated 7 Feb. 1812, were from Republican members of the Massachusetts state legislature: one was signed by eighteen members of the Senate and twenty-three members of the House of Representatives; the other was signed by two members of the Senate and six members of the council. The third, from Joshua Wingate, Jr., the collector at Bath, Massachusetts, was dated 14 Feb. 1812. Two of these recommendations pointed out that the incumbent attorney, Lee, had received his appointment because there was no Republican candidate available at the time (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Ripley”).