To James Madison from John Armstrong, 17 July 1806
From John Armstrong
Paris July 17th. 1806.
Sir,
A disposition to an amicable adjustment of our differences, exists at Madrid. A minister has been appointed to discuss and settle with Mr. B. and myself these differences. The person appointed to this duty is Don J. Escardo—the real, though not ostensible, minister of His Catholic Majesty, at this Court.1 When or in what manner Mr. Escardo may think proper to approach us? has not yet been signified. It is not probable we shall be kept long apart by mear punctilio. If the person about to take charge of this letter can be detained ’till Wednesday next, I hope to be able to predict with a good deal of certainty the form and issue of the negotiations.2 A seperate3 peace between this country and Russia is not improbable. Should this event take place some new and important changes in Europe may be expected. Portugal and Spain will be theatres of a part of them. A cloud yet hangs over the affairs of Germany. The mouth of the Cattaro will furnish reasons for keeping the French armies on the Eastern side of the Rhine. The smaller nobility of the Electorates, are put down. Two of the formerly free commercial cities have been divested of their privileges and one of them (Frankfort) has been given to the Arch-Chancellor, Dalberg. A degree of excitement exists between this Court and that of Berlin. The latter is still struggling for a sort of independance4 which she will not be permitted5 to enjoy. I have the honor to be Sir, with distinguished consideration, your most Obedient and very humble Servant
John Armstrong
RC (DNA: RG 59, DD, France, vol. 10). Docketed by Wagner as received 20 Sept. and interlinearly decoded by him. Italicized words are those encoded by Armstrong in a State Department code also used by John Quincy Adams at St. Petersburg and by Jacob Lewis at Saint-Domingue; decoding here is by the editors from a partially reconstructed key with omissions supplied by Wagner’s decoding.
1. Eugenio Izquierdo de Rivera y Lazaún (c. 1745–1813) was born into humble circumstances in northern Spain but through patronage became the director of the Cabinet of Natural History in Madrid. There he won the confidence of Manuel Godoy and Charles IV, who named him minister to France, where he functioned as a sort of secret agent for Godoy as well. In May 1806, without formal authorization, he signed a convention and arranged for Spain to pay France 24 million francs; his actions were later approved. After Charles abdicated, Izquierdo served as his representative to the French government (Diccionario de historia de España, 2:526–27; María de los Ángeles Calatayud Arinero, Eugenio Izquierdo de Rivera y Lazaún [1745–1813]: Científico y político en la sombra [Madrid, 2009], 29).
2. Encoded “negotiations”; decoded “negotiation.”
3. Encoded “seperate”; decoded “separate.”
4. Encoded “independance”; decoded “independence.”
5. Rather than 646, the value for “per,” Armstrong here wrote 648, the assigned meaning of which has not been determined. Wagner, however, decoded the word as “permitted.”