To James Madison from Timothy Pickering, 14 February 1807
From Timothy Pickering
City of Washington Feby. 14. 1807.
Sir,
I have just received from your office a letter covering a copy of one dated the 10th instant from the French Minister, relative to the claims of the owners of the vessels detained by the Ship of War L’Eole;1 by which they are referred to the French Consul at Baltimore to obtain the adjustment of those claims. Having no documents in my possession, I must request you to send me those which were forwarded to you by Mr. Joseph Swasey & Daniel Rogers owners of the schooner to which Mr. Swasey refers me.2 Furnished with these, I will employ some person at Baltimore to pursue the claim of those gentlemen. And in the hope that the settlement may be made by the time Congress shall rise, & that I may obtain the sum allowed, to carry on to my neighbours Swasey & Rogers, I shall be obliged by your transmitting to me the documents immediately.
As besides the injury from the delay of settlement for six months, those gentlemen have already incurred the expence of sending their captain to this city for the sole purpose of obtaining their dues, will it not be perfectly equitable, that they should be allowed the whole of their expences, and the charges in procuring the legal documents to support their demand? I am &c
T. P.
Draft (MHi: Timothy Pickering Papers).
1. Bernard Smith sent a circular dated 13 February 1807 to Timothy Pickering, Josiah Quincy, Captain Carsin, and B. A. Egbert in which Smith forwarded Louis-Marie Turreau to JM, 10 Feb. 1807 (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 15).
2. The correspondence from Swasey and Rogers to JM has not been found. It was likely included in the captains’ protests and memorials that JM sent to Turreau on 14 November 1806. In a 6 December 1806 letter to Pickering with a 9 January 1807 postscript, Swasey requested assistance in procuring compensation for the damages sustained by the detention of his schooner by the French ship Éole: “Feeling a confidence, that our Government would see that we obtained a reasonable compensation for the loss & damage, sustained by our Vessel, we have been at the expence of sending the Captain to Washington, with a letter to the Hon. Mr. Madison, but he has returned without effecting any thing. It seems that the Secretary of State transmitted our representation, with the documents, to the French Minister, and he again sent them to the Commissary General of his Nation, at philadelphia, after waiting there, several days, the Captain was informed that the papers were remitted to Washington, where the buisness would be adjusted by the Secrety of State and the French Minister. The Captain informs us that Mr. madison pronounced the demand such an one as ought to be paid; except, perhaps, the Item of Insurance. This, however, we consider as equitable and rightfull a claim as any other; for when the situation of our vessel was known, by means of another which deserted the same Ship, we tried in vain to effect Insurance on her, no one office in Boston would take the risk, for any premium; and the lowest terms on which individuals would underwrite, was 25 ⅌ct. a certificate of this fact; and also one from the Commander of L.Eole, acknowledging the important and essential services derived from our vessel, were forwarded with our representation to Mr. Madison” (MHi: Timothy Pickering Papers). See also Wagner to JM, 26 Sept. 1806, PJM-SS, 12:342–43 n. 1.