William Tatham to Thomas Jefferson, 29 October 1805
From William Tatham
Norfolk 29th. October 1805.
Dr. Sir.
You will have recieved Your Camera Obscura, which was sent from hence to Alexandria a few days ago, I understand, by Palmers Packet. It was opened at the Custom house, as was also the Working drawings of a Seventy four of the latest improved British Construction, which I have found means to come at directly from the Navy office: had Mr. Smith treated me with that gentlemanly respect which I have experienced from every other secretary, & from the heads of Departments in every other Country I have been in, I should have been at some pains to have added copies of this, & of some other naval improvements of value, to those which I have already furnished him so thanklessly & so unprofitably: as it is, you know me too well to suppose me capable of wearing two faces for any interest whatever, & my interest & intercourse must cease alike till the Government has a head of Department there who feels the same sense that I do of the duties of a Man of business, & the civilities which an useful Citizen has a right to expect from the servants of the Public.—General Dearborn informs me also (& with a concern which does him honor) that, unless I had taken my degrees as a student of the Military Accademy I cannot be permitted to construct any Military Works, at even my own improved fortifications; though, I will venture to say, without my instructions & superintendance there is not a Master in that same accademy who can construct such a work; &, so long as the Patent law is my protection, there is not a Scholar in that school who shall construct a Work of the kind under the pretext of any authority which offers an insult to the Soldier of 76, to the Cincinnati I am a Member of, & equally to common sense & the spirit of the Government.
I have been successful, while to the Southward, in posessing myself of valuable information in the economy of our Coasts and harbours:—so soon as I arrive at Washington, from whence I have been somewhat delayed by sickness, I will endeavour to arrange such Notes as I judge may be useful to You.
I am, in haste for the Post, Dr. Sir Yr. Obt. H St
Wm Tatham
P.S. As I find myself under the necessity of returning Speedily to the Southward by the coming round again of the Courts, it may be well that any negotiation which may render my situation useful to the Public may be put as forward as circumstances will permit: I shall not be able to stay long at Washington, and shall have no objection to possess them of valuable means for an adequate compensation.—
W. T.
RC (DLC); addressed: “The President of the United States City of Washington”; franked; postmarked 28 Oct.; endorsed by TJ as received 2 Nov. and so recorded in SJL.
Your Camera Obscura: see Tatham to TJ, 15 June. In TJ’s papers is an endorsed invoice from the London firm of Learmonths & Berry, dated 16 Aug., and presented to TJ by Tatham on 24 Nov. The invoice described TJ’s purchase as “A Camera Obscura, with Extra Glasses constructed in the best manner by Adams,” most likely Dudley Adams, third in a family line of prominent London instrument makers. The cost for the items was £10.10. Two cases, customs duties, and waterage and fees raised the total to £11.16.6. At the foot of the invoice, Tatham noted that after adding “150 prct. upon the Sterling cost,” the amount due in dollars was $78.84. At the foot of a second copy of the invoice Tatham wrote: “1805. Novr. 24th.—Recd. of the President of the United States (T. Jefferson) The Sum of Seventy Eight Dollars, Eighty four Cents; being the Sum calculated by Mr. Goldsbury on a reference to Colol. Stricker’s letter touching the amount without profit; & which will be at any time adjusted should any error have occurred.” At least one of the two invoices had been enclosed in a letter to Tatham from Learmonths & Berry, 19 Aug., and endorsed by TJ. The letter explained the transport of the camera to Norfolk and gave a brief review of the charges (all in DLC; John R. Millburn, Adams of Fleet Street, Instrument Makers to King George III [Aldershot, Eng., 2000], xi, 279, 316; , 2:1168).
coming round again of the Courts: see Tatham to TJ, 13 July.