To Thomas Jefferson from James Madison, 27 March 1805
From James Madison
Wasington Mar. 27. 1805
Dear Sir
I recd. on monday evening your favor of Mar. 23. with the return of Armstrong’s & Monroe’s letters first sent you. I cannot entirely despair that Spain notwithstanding the support given by France to her claim to W.F. may yield to our proposed arrangement, partly from its intrinsic value to her, partly from an apprehension of the interference of G.B. and that this latter considn may, as soon as France despairs of her pecuniary object, transfer her weight into our scale. If she should persist in disavowing her right to sell W.F. to the U.S. and above all can prove it to have been the mutual understanding with Spain that W.F. was no part of Louisiana, it will place our claim on very different ground, such probably as could not be approved by the World, and such certainly as could not with that approbation be maintained by force.
If our right be good agst. Spain at all, it must be supported by those rigid maxims of technical law, which have little weight in national questions generally, and none at all when opposed to the principles of universal equity. The world would decide that France having sold us the territory of a third party, which she had no right to sell, that party having even remonstrated agst. the whole transaction, the right of the U.S. was limited to a demand on France to procure & convey the territory, or to remit pro tanto the price, or to dissolve the bargain altogether. I am pleased to find that Talleyrand’s letter is silent as to the W. Boundary. This circumstance is the more important as Monroe’s letter to which Talleyrand’s is an answer, expressly names the Rio Bravo as the W. limit of our claim.
The importance of some arrangement with Spain opening the Mobille to our trade, is sufficiently urged as in every event to be seriously pressed, in the instructions already in the hands of Monroe.
Inclosed are the letters from Cathalan which were sent me for perusal—a paper not before recd from Monroe—a letter from C. Pinkney—and two from Jarvis with their inclosures, except the letters from the forger of draughts in Preble’s name, which have been put into the hands of the Secy. of the Navy; & a letter from Dr. Lattimore
Yrs. with respectful attachment
James Madison
RC (DLC); at foot of first page: “The President of the U States”; endorsed by TJ as received from the State Department on 30 Mch. and “Monroe. Pinckney. Jarvis. Lattimore” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Probably Stephen Cathalan, Jr., to Madison, 22 Sep. 1804, enclosing other documents, including Cathalan’s defense of his conduct (see , 8:79-81; Cathalan to TJ, 22 Sep. 1804). (2) Probably Charles Pinckney to Madison, 8 Dec. 1804, reporting that the question of war between Spain and Great Britain is “yet decided”; should Spain choose war, the country’s commerce “will be ruined”; Pinckney anxiously awaits permission to return to the United States, which in a year’s time will fly the “only neutral flag in the world”; in a postscript, he refers to the possible British intention to expel the Dutch and French from the West Indies, which has led the Spanish to contemplate opening their ports in the Caribbean and South America (, 8:360-2). (3) Probably William Jarvis to Madison, 5 Jan., from Lisbon; he assumes that the administration has learned of the Spanish declaration of war against Great Britain but will enclose a copy of the declaration and expects that the enclosed letter from Pinckney contains the news; he reports on some ships at Lisbon, including the Constitution, which needs new sails and a bowsprit; the captain also hopes to add to his crew, a difficult task because of the war; Jarvis encloses some extracts of a message he received about allegations injurious to his reputation, and his response; he forwards a letter from James Simpson; in a postscript, he adds that Joseph Rademaker, Portugal’s consul general and chargé d’affaires to the United States, will sail soon to New York; Jarvis believes Portugal will remain neutral (same, 8:455-7; , 5:255-7). (4) Jarvis to Madison, 19 Jan., from Lisbon; he reports on the progress of repairs to the Constitution and of efforts to add to the frigate’s crew and encloses correspondence with the foreign minister on obtaining an anchor; he also encloses correspondence involving himself, Captain John Rodgers, and British consul James Gambier on British seamen serving on American vessels; Jarvis adds some information on a Moroccan vessel in port and another in Sétubal, speculates that Prussia may reject Moroccan terms of tribute, and advises “some measure of precaution” if “two or three Vessels can be spared”; he relates a conversation on the individual who may have perpetrated the fraud on Mackenzie & Glennie of London and encloses potential samples of the person’s handwriting; he also encloses a copy of a British announcement of a blockade at Cadiz and a duplicate of the Spanish declaration of war; the “alarm about this Country being involved in the War seems to be daily subsiding” (same, 5:291-3; , 8:493-5). (5) William Lattimore to Madison, 19 Mch., from Norfolk, concerning the grants of land Congress made available for use of Jefferson College in Mississippi Territory; Lattimore warns of competing claims for the lands in question and requests that no patent be issued until the matter is resolved by Congress (same, 9:149-51).
W.F.: West Florida.
pro tanto: as far as it goes (Bryan A. Garner, Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th ed. [St. Paul, Minn., 2004], 1259).
Talleyrand’s letter: see Pinckney to TJ, 28 Jan., and Madison to TJ, 17 Mch. The paper from Monroe may have been a memoir consisting of capsule descriptions of the treaties transferring portions of Louisiana and Florida and a statement of how the treaties supported U.S. arguments that the eastern boundary of Louisiana was the Perdido River. Monroe enclosed the paper in his letter of 8 Nov. 1804 to Talleyrand (Tr in DNA: RG 59, DD, Spain; , 8:333n).