From James Madison to Benjamin Rush, 20 September 1811
To Benjamin Rush
Montpelier Sepr. 20. 1811
Dear Sir
I have recd. your favor of the 6th. inclosing the Pamphlet from the Earl of Buchan.1 Could a portion only of his liberality & philanthropy, be substituted for the narrow Councils and national prejudices, which direct the course of his Government, towards the U. States, the clouds which have so long hung over the relations of two Countries, mutually interested in cultivating friendship, would quickly disappear.
Will you permit me to trouble you with the inclosed volume from Mr. Dupont de Nemours; to be disposed of according to its address.2 Accept Dear Sir my high esteem and affectionate respects
James Madison
RC (DLC: Rush Papers).
1. In March 1811 David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan (1742–1829), had sent Rush several copies of The Earl of Buchan’s Address to the Americans at Edinburgh, on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1811, in which Buchan had described the U.S. as a nation where “the perfection of society” had been nearly attained (Butterfield, Letters of Benjamin Rush, 2:1089).
2. JM evidently forwarded a copy of the last volume of Turgot’s works which DuPont had sent him on 4 July for the American Philosophical Society.