RC (DLC); beneath signature: “hotel de Bretagne, rue Jacob, f.B.St. Germain”; endorsed. Not recorded in SJL, nor is TJ’s reply (missing). TJ fixed the date for appointment—probably 26 July 1789—as indicated by a note on verso of letter in his hand: “Saturday before noon.”

James I. Brossier, a merchant of Le Havre, was actively seeking appointment as consul for that port, and TJ’s appointment with Madame de Bareil was owing to that lady’s desire to support the application (see Brossier to TJ, 10 Feb. and 2 July 1789; TJ to Brossier, 30 July 1789). A few months earlier TJ had commented to Washington on the influence of women in government: “The manners of the nation allow them to visit, alone, all persons in office, to solicit the affairs of the husband, family, or friends, and their solicitations bid defiance to laws and regulations” (TJ to Washington, 4 Dec. 1788).