Jacob Wagner to Thomas Jefferson, 5 September 1805
From Jacob Wagner
Department of State 5 Septr. 1805
Sir
In transmitting to you the enclosed letters from Messrs. Bowdoin, Bourne, Maury and Crowninshield, I take occasion to mention that the dispatches respecting the peace with Tripoli, said to have been brought by the Belleisle and put into the post office at Salem, have not reached this city, though two if not three posts have arrived which might have contained them; nor had Mr. Madison received them on the 2d. Septr. I had a letter from him of that date in which he mentions his hope that Mrs. M. is considerably advanced to a cure, but that it was found unavoidable, in order to complete it, to resort to an expedient two days before, which retards the event a little. The list of cases of yellow fever at Philadelphia amounted on the 1st. Septr. to 50.
The latest news from the Mediterranean might have been brought by the Eliza arrived at Charleston on the 23 ult. in 30 days from Gibraltar & 35 from Malaga; viz. from the latter to the 20 July & the former to the 25th. She however brings no other account of the transactions with Tripoli, than that she spoke a Portuguese 74 on 21 July, by which he was informed, that the Tripolitans had made peace with us. On the same day Lord Nelson’s fleet were at anchor at Gibraltar, having arrived two days before, without any account of the French & Spanish fleets.
With perfect respect, I have the honor to remain, Sir, Your most obed. Servt.
Jacob Wagner
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “The President of the U.States”; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Sep. and so recorded in SJL with notation “Tripoli.” Enclosures: (1) Probably James Maury to Madison, 1 July, from Liverpool; Maury encloses recent quarantine regulations; he reports the death of John J. Murray, U.S. consul at Glasgow, and states that he has appointed a deputy at Greenock to tend to business in that area; he suggests that the president might want to make a direct appointment for that station (, 10:5). (2) Probably Jacob Crowninshield to TJ, 28 Aug. (second letter). For other enclosures, see below.
Because Wagner only occasionally noted when communications reached the State Department, identifications for the enclosed letters remain uncertain. One of them was likely James Bowdoin’s letter of 18 June to Madison, wherein Bowdoin announced his arrival at Santander, Spain, from where he intended to travel to Madrid. A subsequent letter from Bowdoin, of 8 July, was not received until 9 Oct., while another of 31 July announcing Bowdoin’s arrival at London had apparently not yet arrived, as Wagner seems to have been unaware of Bowdoin’s intention to sail for England before he wrote to TJ on 17 Sep. Sylvanus Bourne, the U.S. consul at Amsterdam, wrote multiple letters to Madison during the late spring and early summer of 1805 on topics such as European politics, a proposal that Bourne take temporary charge of the Rotterdam consulate due to the mental incapacity of U.S. consul Lawson Alexander, and suspicions of Bourne’s own financial impropriety (, 9:362, 379-80, 444, 466-7, 472, 478-9, 504-8; 10:29-32, 34-6, 152-3).
Portuguese 74: that is, a Portuguese naval ship with 74 guns. Wagner was recounting news that appeared in the Charleston Courier of 23 Aug.