To James Madison from James Monroe, 26 July 1795
From James Monroe
Paris July 26. 1795.
Dear Sir
I had began a long letter to you in cypher,1 it appearing the British have commenc’d seizing my letters,2 but which not being complete I forward the enclosed3 by the present private opportunity,4 & which being on the moment of departure prohibits more being added than that the comn. is intended as a friendly deposit in your hands & for the purpose of guarding my reputation from unjust attacks whether publick or private, always observing that whatever you receive is to be shewn when opportunity offers to Mr. Jefferson & Mr. Jones. We are well & desire to be affecy. remembered to Mrs M.
Jas. Monroe.
RC (DLC); enclosures (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers). RC docketed by JM, with his notation: “covering correspondence between Mr. Jay & Mr. M.” For enclosures, see n. 3.
1. Monroe probably referred to his letter to JM of ca. 23 July 1795.
2. On the British interception of Monroe’s diplomatic dispatches and a private letter to JM of 30 Nov. 1794, see , 15:404 n.
3. Monroe enclosed clerk’s copies of John Jay to Monroe, 25 and 28 Nov. 1794, 5 and 19 Feb. 1795, and Monroe to Jay, 17 Jan. 1795 (printed in , Foreign Relations, 1:516–18). In his 20 Dec. 1795 letter to Monroe, JM acknowledged receipt of Monroe’s letter of “July 26. covering the correspondence with Jay” (partly in code). That correspondence included Monroe’s request for information on the contents of the Jay treaty—and Jay’s refusal of that request—matters that Monroe had related in his 13 June letter to JM.
4. In his 24 Oct. 1795 letter to JM, Monroe noted that he had previously sent copies of the Jay-Monroe correspondence “by Mr. Perkins of Boston.”