To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Barbier, 12 March 1803
From Joseph Barbier
Digne, le 21. Ventose an 11.
de la République française,
une & indivisible. [i.e. 12 Mch. 1803]
Président,
Le Citoyen Serraire habitant de Cette ville de Digne me charge de Vous prier de donner des Ordres pour qu’il soit pris des renseignemens Sur françois Serraire son fils qui a été emmené de Marseilles par le Capitaine de Navire Michel qui l’a conduit à Philadelphie il y a environ six ans; Depuis cette Epoque le Pere n’a aucune nouvelle de Son Enfant, il attend de votre Bienveillance que Vous voudrez Bien ordonner les mesures propres à Lui En procurer.
à mon Particulier Je vous Prie D’agréer mon homage Respectueux.
J’ai L’honneur de vous saluer avec Respect
Barbier
Editors’ Translation
Digne, 21 Ventose Year 11
of the one and indivisible
French Republic [i.e. 12 Mch. 1803]
Mr. President,
Citizen Serraire, an inhabitant of this city of Digne, has charged me with asking you to obtain information about his son, François Serraire, who was taken from Marseilles to Philadelphia about six years ago by the ship captain Michel. Since then, the father has had no news of his child. He hopes that your kindness will prompt you to order an investigation leading to news.
In my own name, I beg you to accept my respectful homage, and have the honor of greeting you with respect.
Barbier
RC (DNA: RG 59, MLR); English date supplied; on printed letterhead stationery of the secrétaire général of the département of Basses-Alpes, with emblems of the French Republic; dateline printed in part, with blanks filled by Barbier; at head of text: “au Président des Etats unis d’Amerique”; endorsed by TJ as received 19 Aug. and so recorded in SJL.
Joseph Barbier (b. 1769) became the secretary general of Basses-Alpes in 1800, when Bonaparte’s government divided France into 90 regional departments. The chief officer of a département was the prefect, who answered directly to the central government. Each department also had a secretary general, who oversaw the bureaus that handled day-to-day civil administration in the department (Christiane Lamoussière and others, Le Personnel de l’administration préfectorale, 1800–1880 [Paris, 1998], 79; Brian Chapman, The Prefects and Provincial France [London, 1955], 17–32).
A brief notice asking anyone with information about françois serraire to contact the State Department appeared in the National Intelligencer a week after TJ received Barbier’s letter in August 1803. Newspapers throughout the United States reprinted the notice, which contained the facts related by Barbier to TJ (National Intelligencer, 26 Aug.; Philadelphia Aurora, 30 Aug.; New York Evening Post, 31 Aug.; Boston New-England Palladium, 6 Sep.; Hudson, N.Y., Bee, 6 Sep.; Charleston City Gazette, 8 Sep.).