To Thomas Jefferson from Aaron Vail, 12 May 1804
From Aaron Vail
L’Orient 12 May 1804
Sir
I take the liberty to recommend to your Excellency the bearer hereof Mr. James Vail my nephew, and to solicit your appointment of him to the place of commercial agent for the United States at1 in case of Mr. Pattersons declining to fill that office, I have determined to establish him in a commercial house at that place in addition to mine here, and willing to pledge myself for his filling the office with zeal and respectability. I recommend him to your protection, and remain with great respect
Your Excellencys Mt Obt Hble Sert.
A. Vail
Dupl (DNA: RG 59, LAR); on printed letterhead, “Commercial Agency of the United-States of America”; at foot of text: “His Excellency Thos Jefferson President of the United States”; at head of text: “Duplicate”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Oct. and “Vail James. to be Consul at v. Patterson” and so recorded in SJL.
For Thomas T. Gantt’s resignation as commercial agent at Nantes in 1802 and the appointment of William Patterson, see Vol. 38:374-6. Vail also wrote to Madison on 12 May, repeating the recommendation of his nephew and adding that the absence of a commercial agent in Nantes had caused “frequent complaints from our countrymen.” The deputy agent left in charge, “being a foreigner, and having become a bankrupt, is unable to attend to the office with that credit it deserves” (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR, postmarked New York, 31 July, and endorsed for the State Department as received 3 Aug., endorsed by TJ: “Vail James to be Consul at Nantes,” enclosed in Madison to TJ, 13 Aug. 1804; Dupl in same, postmarked New York, 24 Sep., endorsed by TJ: “Vail James to be Consul Nantes v. Patterson”).
1. Thus in MS.