To James Madison from Stephen Cathalan Jr., 22 September 1804 (Abstract)
§ From Stephen Cathalan Jr.
22 September 1804, Marseilles. “I have duly received your two favors (private[)] of the 9th. June last,1 I have taken a due note of the sundry Articles you desired from me, for your use which I shall not fail to procure you of the best qualities, as we are coming in the best season for it; we have here but seldom American Vessel bound to Cheasapeak, but more frequent opportunities for Boston, New York, & Philadelphia, which I will embrace for want of others.
“I Beg your refference to the enclosed Copies of letters about the Hermitage Wine, which I Beg you, to Communicate (with my best respects) to the Honorable Thomas Jefferson,2 & to Senator P. Butler—should your wine arrive sooner than their orders you may in the mean time lend them a part of your[s].”
RC and enclosures (DLC). RC 1 p.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Cathalan; marked “Private.” Enclosures filed at March 1804 (see n. 2).
1. Letters not found.
2. The enclosures (2 pp.; in French) are copies of Cathalan’s 11 Sept. 1804 letter to wine merchants Jourdan and Sons at Tain-l’Hermitage, stating that he had just received an order from JM for seventy-two bottles of white Hermitage virgin wine similar to that in a three-bottle sample previously sent to Jefferson, but that he would wait to place the order until they clarified certain questions he had about their description of the sample wine in an earlier letter and would not order any more until after he received a response to his letters to Jefferson and Pierce Butler; and Jourdan and Sons’ 15 Sept. reply saying that the Hermitage in the sample was from 1800 rather than 1795 as originally stated, explaining that they could bottle up a barrel of a similar wine over the winter, assuring Cathalan that he could always rely on them to supply excellent quality wines, and answering his query about the difference in price between stoneware and glass bottles.