John Mitchell to James Madison, 23 May 1803
From John Mitchell, 23 May 1803
Havre 23d. May 1803
Sir
I have the honor to inform You that Mr. G. Hughes of Baltimore Bearer of the Dispatches of our Ministers at Paris & of the Treaty they have concluded there saild this Morng on board of the Brig Enterprize Capn. Wilcox bound for New York. I Sincerely hope He may be With you ere this gets to hand. I believe I may venture to Congratulate You on Louisiana being Ceeded to Us. With perfect respect I am Sir, Your obedt. Servt.,
John Mitchell
Commercial Agent for the U.S.A.
(pro: tem:)
We are just informed that the Lond⟨on⟩ Gazette of the 17. Contains an order for ⟨them to⟩ Burn & Destroy all french Vessells &c. War is this day Announced here—and severall British frigates have appeared off the Harbour should I he⟨ar⟩ of their molesting any Neutral Vessell shall carefully inform you.
The preceding is the full transcription of a document that was previously abstracted in The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State series. The original abstract contains additional annotation and source information.