To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 7 August 1804
From James Madison
Tuesday morning Aug. 7. 1804
Dear Sir
I know not what to make of the inclosed letter. The purport of it clashes with every calculation founded in probability; and yet it is impossible to disregard altogether the reliance which Col. Monroe seems to place on what he writes. We shall be better able to judge on seeing the details and the authority for them which he promises.
5 inches of rain have fallen since sunday morning. Two of the showers, one of them yesterday abt. 2 OC. have been very injurious to the soil in our Corn fields. The rain however had become essential to them. We are now promised good crops in all high situations. The crops of wheat in good land of a dry soil, & Southern exposure, will turn out at least half—and the quality pretty good.
Yrs always, with respectful attachment.
James Madison
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as a letter dated “Aug. 7. (for 14.) 04.” received from the State Department on 14 Aug. and so recorded in SJL, with notation “Monroe’s lre.”; also endorsed by TJ: “Monroe’s lre on coalition Fr. & Engl.” Enclosure: James Monroe to Madison, London, 5 May, summarizing an “interesting communication” lately received from a respectable source regarding an alleged agreement, made at the “commenc’ment of the late war,” between Great Britain and the Bourbon royal family; in exchange for the former uniting with the latter to restore the Bourbons to power, France would assist Britain in recovering its former American colonies; Monroe’s source “mentioned some facts & circumstances wh. strongly support the communication,” which Monroe will send in cipher (Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 7:158-60).