The above letter attracted the attention of Robert Monroe Harrison, United States consul in Saint-Barthélemy, West Indies, who wrote from that place to secretary of state John Quincy Adams on 18 Jan. 1823 that “a Mr Abm Runnels of this place about four months ago handed me a letter for examination; which he intended to forward to Mr Jefferson; It commenced with the most fulsome & disgusting flattery, & finally wound up with an application to that great & good man to use his influence to obtain a Consulate, in some of the West India Islands for his son! Mr Runnels grounds his claim on the U.S. in consequence of having been once in America, & there saw General Washington! for Mr Jefferson he has never seen!—He is a native of St. Eustatia, & as to principle an Englishman in grain, notorious for his hostility to the U States, & was never known in all his life to speak with common decency of them, or their citizens; until he made the application in question—I find by Mr Jefferson’s letter to his son (which by the by has been exhibited to half the Island) that he is referd to you & therefore to prevent imposition, I felt it my duty to give you this small outline of his character” (RC in MHi: Adams Papers).