To James Madison from John Armstrong, 15 February 1807
From John Armstrong
Paris 15 February 1807
Sir
I had the honor of receiving your letters of the 10th of november and 10th and 23 d of december 1806.
The late movements of the spanish troops in Louisiana afford a sufficient motive for reviving1 my application to this Government on the subject of our controversy with Spain, but the application itself was necessarily Suspended till the 5th. instant. I did not wish it to find the Emperor under circumstances which could be made to furnish either a ready, or a reasonable apology, for not acting upon it. The 5th. of march is the earliest day on which I expect an answer.
It would appear that Andreossis mission had failed.2 Austria will not lend herself to Napoleon’s project of saving Turkey either by permiting him to traverse Galicia or by declaring against Russia.
Metternich the Austrian Ambassador at this Court has demanded his pass-ports for Vienna. Whether his motive to this step was of a public or private nature, I do not know, but be this as it may, the pass-ports were refused.
Amidst all her military glory and triumphs the perspective of France is not flattering.
John Armstrong.
RC (DNA: RG 59, DD, France, vol. 10); RC (DNA: RG 59, Misc. Duplicate Consular and Diplomatic Correspondence, 1791–1906, box 2, folder 9). First RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by Armstrong; docketed and interlinearly decoded by Brent. Second RC marked “Duplicate”; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Armstrong; docketed by Brent. Italicized words are those encoded by Armstrong’s clerk and interlinearly decoded by Brent using the code provided by the State Department. Code has not been identified (Weber, United States Diplomatic Codes and Ciphers, 154). Decoding here is by the editors from a partially reconstructed key with omissions supplied by Brent’s decoding.
1. Second RC has “renewing.”
2. The French minister to Austria, Antoine-François Andréossy, tried to secure Austria as a French ally by inviting the Austrian court to be included in a joint partition of the Ottoman Empire and to exchange territory with France (Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848 [Oxford, 1994], 314–15).