From James Madison to Michel Espérance Hersant, 10 May 1826
To Michel Espérance Hersant
Montpellier May 10. 1826
Sir
I have recd. your favor of Apl. 28.1 relating to a Box of Seeds sent by the French Consul at New York, and informing me that you had forwarded the Box to Messrs. Mackay & Campbell at Fredericksburg. Be pleased to accept Sir the thanks due for your obliging attention in this case, with the addition of my personal respects.
James Madison
RC (MWiW-C). Franked and addressed by JM to “Monsr. Hersant Vice Consul of France Norfolk Virginia.” Redirected in an unidentified hand to “Washington City” and postmarked at Norfolk, Virginia, 18 May. Michel Espérance Hersant (1799–1867) was private secretary to the French minister to the United States, Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville, 1816–22. Hersant served as French vice-consul first at Norfolk, then New York, then Charleston, South Carolina. After that he served as consul at Philadelphia, and in 1839 he was appointed consul for the Balearic Islands (Providence Patriot, 29 Dec. 1819 and 19 May 1824; Newburyport Herald, 18 July 1828; Hartford Connecticut Mirror, 30 Oct. 1830; Peter Force, A National Calendar [14 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1820–36], 3:152, 9:146, 14:136; Charleston, S.C., Southern Patriot, 28 Sept. 1839).
1. Letter not found.