Passport for the Stapleton [22 May 1806]
Passport for the Stapleton
[22 May 1806]
To all whom it may concern.
Know ye that the American Ship Stapleton, whereof is Master Francis Blackwell, is bound from Baltimore to Gibraltar, and thence to Malta or Syracuse with provisions & stores the property of the United States and intended for the supply of the Mediterranean Squdron; Wherefore I request all whom it may concern not to give or suffer to be given to her any hindrance or molestation, but on the contrary to afford her every aid and facility she may need of in the prosecution of her voyage.
In faith whereof I James Madison Secretary for the Dept. of State of the U: States, have signed these presents, and caused the seal of my office to be affixed hereto, at the City of Washington the 22d. day of May AD. 1806, & in the 30th. year of the Independence of sd. States.1
James Madison
Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 15).
1. On 22 May 1806, in reply to JM’s letter of the same date (not found), requesting a passport for the Stapleton, Anthony Merry transmitted the requested document (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain, vol. 3; 1 p.). On the same day, Robert Smith wrote JM (DNA: RG 45, Letters to the Secretary of State; 1 p.) asking, should the British passport be received that day, that it be sent to Col. John Stricker at Baltimore, adding that immediate transmission of it was “an object with us.” On 23 May 1806 Louis-Marie Turreau wrote from Baltimore (DNA: RG 59, NFL, France, vol. 2–3; 1 p.; in French) that he had given Stricker, the bearer of JM’s 22 May letter to Turreau (not found), the passport that JM had requested.