RC (DLC: Gallatin Papers); at foot of first page: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 25 Sep. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Lafayette to TJ, 22 May 1803. (2) Mathieu Dumas to Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, 1 Prairial Year 11 (21 May 1803), a copy attested by Chevallié, 16 Sep.; Dumas explains that he is the brother-in-law of Louis André Toussaint Delarue, who is married to Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’s daughter; he outlines the history of transactions between Beaumarchais and Congress during the American Revolutionary War; the U.S. Treasury, repeatedly refusing the Beaumarchais claim, has argued that the matter was settled by a payment of 1,000,000 livres to Beaumarchais by Louis XVI; great nations, Dumas declares, have a moral obligation to honor their debts, and the United States should feel a particular obligation to repay those who supported the American Revolution; reminding the envoys that he fought on the American side in that war, Dumas states his readiness to write to TJ to seek justice for his unfortunate family (DLC: Gallatin Papers). (3) “Nottes Sur la Situation Actuelle des affaires de la Succession Beaumarchais en Amérique,” signed by Chevallié in Richmond on 16 Sep.; he states that Delarue and Dumas, who have interests in the Beaumarchais family’s claim, received a request from Gallatin for more information from the French government about the million livres received by Beaumarchais from the king on 10 June 1776; that money, Chevallié avers, was for secret intelligence services by Beaumarchais on behalf of France, not for matériel for the United States; Monroe has examined the details and finds no legal evidence against the family’s claim, only conjecture and insinuation; given the friendly relations between France and the United States, it would be a political advantage if the two governments could resolve the matter honorably and expeditiously (same). (4) The Memorial and Claim of Amélie Eugénie Caron de Beaumarchais, Wife of André Toussaint de La Rue, Heir and Representative of Caron de Beaumarchais by Her Agent John Augustus Chevallié (Richmond, 1801), outlining the arrangement made between Beaumarchais and Silas Deane in 1776; Beaumarchais expended, for cargoes of arms, ammunition, and clothing, plus freight, insurance, and other charges, more than 5,000,000 livres, of which only about 3,000,000 livres was reimbursed; with interest, the unpaid balance amounts to more than 3,300,000 livres; Beaumarchais repeatedly solicited Congress for payment, but the Treasury rejected some parts of the claim, and Beaumarchais’s enemies used evidence of the payment of the million livres in France to give the impression that Beaumarchais had received all that was due to him; the memorial presents arguments and evidence to refute the deductions and the crediting of that payment against the claim (Shaw-Shoemaker description begins Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801-1819, New York, 1958-63, 22 vols. description ends , No. 1429).