To James Madison from William Eaton, 18 September 1804 (Abstract)
§ From William Eaton
18 September 1804, Malta. “I request you will be pleased to cause information to be forwarded me, from the office of the department of State, by which I may learn on what grounds, or whether any, the Chevalier Antonio Porcile, of Sardinia, founds a pretext of having been released by an act of the Government of the United States from a demand I have against him for payments made as his surety on loans obtained by him at Tunis in 1798,9. for the purpose of ransoming from slavery his daughter Maria Anna Porcile.1 I had fixed some reliance on this resource to aid the enterprise in which I am engaged on the coast of Tripoli.2 But, by the tenor of the chevalier’s letter to the President,3 copy of which I have been served with, he considers himself exonerated from that debt. This disappointment embarrasses exceedingly my calculations, as I am left without an alternative.
“In the statement I made to Congress last session4 I hazarded an opinion that divisions might easily be encouraged in Algiers and Tunis favorable to our interests, in case we chose to avail ourselves of this instrument to chastize outrage. Events prove that my calculations were not altogether speculative. It is hoped the present moment of distress at Tunis5 will be siezed to silence the unjustifiable claims and pretensions of that Bey. He has finally rejected the overture of an annuity of ten thousand dollars, which Mr. Cathcart was authorized to tender and Mr. OBrien actually has tendered6 in lieu of a frigate of 36 guns: but he infers a promise of a tribute and an equivalent to the frigate from the tenor of the President’s letter of January 27th. 18047 and the consequent discussions of Mr. OBrien and Doctor Davis: and he has declared his determination to hold no intercourse with our government through the channel of Algiers.8
“I presume again to hazard an opinion that in case of success of the present expedition against Tripoli, if vested with powers, I may reduce our treaty with Tunis to a footing with the most favored nations. The experiment will cost nothing; and, if we should fail of success, we risk to loose no ground by it.
“The impressions, which the activity of Commodore Preble’s squadron has stamped on the coast of Barbary, have pretty effectually erased those sentiments of contempt for our arms which the dilatory movements of his predecessor9 had left on the minds, as well of the enemy as the other regencies.
“As it concerns my individual interest I shall never cease to have peculiar cause to regret that such an officer had not sooner commanded in this sea; but he has left the field so fair for vigorous and decisive operations that the termination of the war may prove more honorable to the United States than if it had become less an object of general speculation.
“It is hoped and believed, the Bashaw of Tripoli may be brought to terms, if not to Washington next summer, provided we are suitably supported in the proper measures of doing it. Two years ago it might have been done more easily.”
RC, two copies (DNA: RG 59, CD, Tunis, vol. 2, pt. 2); letterbook copy, two copies (CSmH). First RC 3 pp.; docketed by Wagner. Second RC marked “Duplicate”; docketed by Brent.
1. For the kidnapping of Maria Anna Porcile, Eaton’s subsequent involvement in her case, her release, and JM’s opinion on U.S. responsibility for her, see Jacob Wagner to JM, 7 Sept. 1801, Eaton to JM, 12 Nov. 1802, George Davis to JM, 3 July, 13 Sept., and 28 Dec. 1803 and 11 May 1804, François de Navoni to JM, 12 May 1804, and JM to Davis, 26 Dec. 1803, , 2:89, 90 n. 2, 4:118, 119 n. 2, 5:142–43 and nn. 2–3, 409, 6:238–39 and n. 4, 7:208, 209 n. 9, 214, and 6:221 and n. 1.
2. For JM’s initial approval of the use of Ahmed Qaramanli in an attack against his brother Yusuf, see JM to James Leander Cathcart, 22 Aug. 1802, , 3:504–5. For Eaton’s authorization to promote the scheme and the instructions given to the U.S. Mediterranean fleet to cooperate with him, see , Foreign Relations, 2:702–3. For the beginnings of Eaton’s planned march from Alexandria to Derna, see A. B. C. Whipple, To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines (New York, 1991), 185–96.
3. For the 22 July 1804 letter from Chevalier Antonio Porcile to Jefferson, thanking the president for the return of his daughter, offering his hospitality to any Americans who might visit Cagliari, and asking Jefferson to compel the bey of Tunis to return $2,000 in jewels and other items taken from her during her captivity, see , Claims, 328–29.
4. See John Cotton Smith to JM, 23 Feb. 1804, , 6:508 and n. 1.
5. In the summer of 1804 Tunis was alarmed by reports of the appearance of a rebel religious leader in eastern Algiers. He and his Bedouin followers blocked travel between the two countries, and the bey feared the turmoil would spread to Tunis (, 4:209–10, 221, 262, 280; George Davis to JM, 10 July 1804 and 7 and 20 Aug. 1804, , 7:439–40 and n. 3, 573, 623).
6. See Davis to JM, 11 May 1804, , 7:207, 209 nn. 2 and 4).
7. For Jefferson to Hammuda Bey, 27 Jan. 1804, stating that in incurring the bey’s displeasure Cathcart had “gone against the letter and spirit of his instructions” and affirming Davis’s continuation as interim agent, see , 3:361–62.
8. On the second RC, Eaton placed an asterisk here and wrote in a postscript dated 27 Oct.: “*This position that Bey took with me on my first arrival at his court, and held it till my departure. It will appear by Mr. Humbert’s letter to me, copy of which is inserted at the close of my statement to congress, that he has been uniform in that resolution from the Commencement of our negociation through the intervention of Famin. The real cause is jealousy for his own independence—his ostensible reason, want of faith in that medium of intercourse. But as Mr. Lear is on the spot, and as it is contemplated shortly to give him the influence which the appearance of the whole squadron at Tunis may impress, it will put the Bey’s resolution, concerning this as well as other positions he has taken, to a fair test.
“It were seriously to be wished that the proposition of a tribute to this Bey should not be repeated, at least till after the issue of the next summer’s expedition to Tripoli shall be decided: because, if the expedition proves successful, the tribute will be unnecessary; if otherwise, it will be inadequate to the security of the object aimed at. Besides, I am well persuaded, and not without having taken some pains to inform myself, that this concession is not contemplated by the people of the United States. And, by other nations it would be considered, after the display of force we have exhibited here, derogatory to that character of enterprise, perseverance and consistency which has hitherto marked the progress of our own.”
By “Mr. Humbert’s letter to me,” Eaton presumably referred to the unsigned letter dated 7 Mar. 1803 that is translated at the end of Eaton’s 16 Feb. 1804 petition to Congress (, Claims, 299–306).
9. For the report of the naval court of inquiry on Commodore Richard V. Morris’s command in the Mediterranean, see , 4:38–39.