To George Washington from Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 24 July 1794
From Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Doughoragen [Md.] 24th July 1794
<D>ear Sir
I beg leave to call your attention to the contents of the inclosed letter, and to entreat your compliance with its request, should there be no unforeseen objection to granting it.
I have been acquainted almost a year with the writer; he is a gentleman of family, of talents, & prudence; his example & knowledge will be of service to the neighbourhood, where he has purchased a farm of about five hundred acres, & means to pass the remainder of his life: He served during the last war as an officer in the troops commanded by Monr de St Simon at the taking of York.1
The extreme jeaulousy of the ruling power in France makes it very difficult for persons to obtain passports for leaving that country. Thro’ the instrumentality of Mr Monroe this difficulty may perhaps be done away, and you will greatly oblige & render happy a worthy man in reuniting to him by the instrumentality of our minister, an affectionate wife & two infant children.
If, Sir, you think it expedient to grant Mr Lalandelle this favor, and to write to him upon the Subject, I will forward your letter to him, if inclosed under cover to me.2 I am with the greatest respect and esteem Dr Sir yr most hum. Servt
Ch. Carroll of Carrollton
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters.
1. François Marie de La Landelle (d. 1800), originally from Brittany, operated a mill at Cumberland, Md., and after 1798 a store at Annapolis. His service with the troops commanded by Claude-Anne de Rouvroy, marquis de Saint-Simon Montbléru, at the siege of Yorktown has not been verified. In the enclosed letter to GW of 24 July, La Landelle writes that after being forced by circumstances to leave France in 1792, he bought land in Allegany County, Md., and took an oath of allegiance to that state. He requests assistance in obtaining passports from France for his wife and two children to join him: "un mot de recommandation de votre main a L’Ambassadeur des Etats unis en France applanirait toutes les difficultés qui Jusqu’icy se sont opposées a cette reunion et ferait obtenir les passeports necessaires pour mon epouse, deux enfants de l’age de trois et quatre ans, et une femme de chambre" (ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters).
2. Edmund Randolph replied to Carroll on 1 Aug.: "If the President were to indulge his respect for the considerations, which so much interest the affections of Mr La Landelle, he would not hesitate to yield to his application, fortified as it is by your intercession—But the subject was some time ago maturely considered upon public and general grounds, and the step requested was deemed inadmissible. Let me beg the favor of you to explain this to Mr La Landelle" (DNA: RG 59, Domestic Letters).