Thomas Jefferson Papers

Enclosure: From James Madison, 18 April 1802

Enclosure: From James Madison

Department of State, April 18th 1802

The Secretary of State respectfully reports to the President the information requested by the Resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 8th of January last relative to Spoliations committed on the Commerce of the United States, under Spanish authority; and also, relative to the imprisonment of the American Consul at Saint Jago de Cuba.

This Report has been delayed longer than was wished: but the delay has been made unavoidable by the sickness and absence of the Chief Clerk in this Department, who had partially gone through the necessary researches, and could most readily have compleated them.

James Madison

RC (DNA: RG 233, PM, 7th Cong., 1st sess.); in Daniel Brent’s hand, signed by Madison ; endorsed by House clerks. Enclosures: (1) Charles Pettit to Madison, Philadelphia, 10 Oct. 1801, Pettit writing from Philadelphia as the head of an insurance company regarding American ships captured by the Spanish under the pretext of a blockade of Gibraltar (Tr in same, in a clerk’s hand; see Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 2:170). (2) Thomas FitzSimons to Madison, 10 Oct. (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 2:168–9). (3) Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce memorial to TJ, 10 Oct. (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand; Vol. 35:425). (4) Clement Humphreys to Willing & Francis, 26 July 1801; John Gibson to Willing & Francis, Nicklin & Griffith, and Henry Nixon, 31 July; Richard Flim to Nicklin & Griffith, 3 Aug.; and Gibson to Willing & Francis, Nicklin & Griffith, and Nixon, 7 Aug.; all written at Algeciras, Spain, concerning the capture of the armed American ship Molly, of which Gibson was the captain, by Spanish privateers (Trs in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand). (5) Samuel Elam to TJ, 10 Nov. 1801 (same; Vol. 35:593–5). (6) Extracts of letters from David Humphreys to the secretary of state, 13 June, 19 Aug., 30 Sep. 1800, 13 Jan., 6 Nov. 1801, regarding captures of American vessels (Trs in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 2:231). (7) Extracts, Josiah Blakeley to secretary of state, 1 Nov., 26 Dec. 1801, reporting that the Spanish intendant at Santiago, Cuba, ordered Blakeley’s arrest and the seizure of his books and papers; Blakeley, the U.S. consul at Santiago, does not know the charges against him but suspects that they originated with a shipment that had false papers using his name; Blakeley is collecting information and hopes that the U.S. government will support his claim against the Spanish authorities for damages (Trs in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 2:216, 342). (8) Report of American ships captured by the French and their privateers and taken into Spanish ports in Europe and Africa between October 1796 and August 1799; compiled by Moses Young, 1 Oct. 1799 (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand; for Young as consul at Madrid, see Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 3:434; Vol. 32:162). (9) Reports of American ships captured by the Spanish and taken into Spanish ports; compiled by Young, 1 Oct. 1799 (Tr in DNA: RG 233, PM, in a clerk’s hand). (10) Abstract of captures of American vessels by Spanish cruisers or other ships under Spanish authority from April 1797 to August 1801, after the treaty between the United States and Spain, for which complaints have been lodged with the U.S. government (same).

SICKNESS AND ABSENCE OF THE CHIEF CLERK: Jacob Wagner suffered from a “lingering disorder” that forced him to seek medical treatment outside Washington and prevented him from working in the State Department from the middle part of March until November 1802 (Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962–, 32 vols. Sec. of State Ser., 1986–, 8 vols. Pres. Ser., 1984–, 6 vols. Ret. Ser., 2009–, 1 vol. description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 3:xxvii, 47–8).

Index Entries