To James Madison from William Jones, 11 September 1814
From William Jones
Septr. 11th. 1814
Dear sir
The determination which I was compelled to form and communicate to you on the 25th of April last has acquired irresistible confirmation by all the circumstances attending my private affairs since that period. The enclosed letter (received yesterday) is submitted to your inspection to show that the only remaining hope I had of alleviation has vanished.1 The first paragraph of the letter from Ghent may give later information than any you have from that place. It is now obligatory on me to meet and make some compromise with those who hold or are bound for my obligations and by my personal exertions to make the best disposition of the property I hold trusting to better times and future industry for that relief which my labours and my principles I trust have merited.
I therefore respectfully enclose the tender of my resignation of the office of Secretary of the Navy2 the acceptance of which you will if you shall deem it expedient postpone until the first day of December next unless you shall sooner please to designate my successor. Mere abstract poverty is nothing—but sensibly alive to those principles of integrity and punctuality which have guided my whole life, the inability to meet my engagements and to avert the inconvenience & possible loss which may accrue to those who are immediately liable for my obligations is painful in the extreme. My own afflictions are rendered still more poignant by the contemplation of the savage warfare now waging against our beloved country, and my inability to serve her under the irresistable embarrassments of my private affairs. Accept Sir the warm assurances of my sincere respect & regard and best wishes for your health & happiness
W Jones
RC (DLC); FC (PHi: William Jones Papers). RC docketed by JM. Minor differences between the copies have not been noted. For surviving enclosure, see n. 2.
1. The enclosure has not been found, but Jones wrote his wife, evidently in late September 1814, that “Eckys last letter … afforded me a favorable opportunity of exhibiting the necessity of my resignation on account of my private affairs” (PHi: William Jones Papers). He probably referred to John Ecky of Philadelphia, who had been designated by a group of U.S. merchants, evidently including Jones, as their agent to collect claims resulting from a sequestration of ships and cargoes at Stralsund, Sweden, in June 1810. The claims were not paid until 1825 (Knute Emil Carlson, “Relations of the United States with Sweden” [PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1921], 59–62, 70–71). For Jonathan Russell’s correspondence with the Swedish government and the U.S. State Department regarding the sequestration, see , Foreign Relations, 4:636–44.
2. Jones enclosed his public letter to JM of 11 Sept. 1814.