To James Madison from James Monroe, 12 April 1815
From James Monroe
Washington april 12th. 1815.
Dear Sir
I enclose you a letter from mr Changuyon,1 in reply to one I wrote him shortly after your departure, in which I stated your willingness to enter into a new treaty with his govt., to make the old one the basis, and referr’d to the late act of Congress, for abolishing all discriminating duties, on the condition stated, as an evidence of the good disposition of this govt. to meet other powers in regulations, having in view, their mutual advantage. My object was not to bind the govt. to enter into this arrangment with Holland singly. I will send you to morrow the letter referrd to by him & the reply to this his last.2 I have endeavour’d to manifest good will, without making any compromitment.
Com: Lewis has repeatedly expressd to mr Crowninshield & me the distress in which the peace places him, & his solicitude to be employed in the consular dept. I informd him there were few vacancies, malta one of them. He intimates his willingness to accept it, in the expectation of kindness from the secry of the navy, which he is disposd to shew him. Indeed he may probably require the services of an attentive diligent officer there, while the squadron is in the mediteranean, and such I am inclined to think him. Shall I send him a Commissn.?3 Affecy yours
Jas Monroe
RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers).
1. Monroe enclosed Franfois D. Changuion’s 27 Mar. 1815 letter to him (2 pp.; in French; DNA: RG 59, NFL, Netherlands), replying to Monroe’s of 23 Mar. (see n. 2 below). Changuion wrote that he was disappointed to learn from Monroe’s letter that his proposed articles for a commercial treaty between the Netherlands and the United States had not received the welcome he had expected from JM, given Monroe’s verbal assurances on the matter (for the articles, see JM to Monroe, 27 Mar. 1815, n. 2). He would request full powers for the negotiation but expected that the Dutch government would be reluctant to issue them until the United States offered a more precise explanation of Monroe’s assertion, in response to Changuion’s first two articles, that it would be improper for the U.S. government to make a special trade arrangement with the Netherlands before ascertaining the views of other countries on post-war commercial relations. He would be pleased, Changuion concluded, to be able to inform the Dutch government how far this consideration might hinder the negotiations, and requested that Monroe provide him with a letter on the matter that he could submit to his government.
2. Monroe did not send copies of these letters to JM until 22 Apr. 1815. On 23 Mar. 1815 (1 p.) he acknowledged receipt of Changuion’s letter of 18 Mar., which referred to Changuion’s 24 Feb. 1815 proposal for a new commercial treaty between the Netherlands and the United States based on their treaty of 1782. Monroe wrote that negotiations could begin as soon as Changuion was empowered by his government to do so. He enclosed a copy of the 3 Mar. 1815 “Act to repeal so much of the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels, and on goods, wares and merchandise, imported into the United States, as imposes a discriminating duty …” (, 3:224), noting that it addressed matters that Changuion proposed to discuss. In his 12 Apr. 1815 reply (2 pp.) to Changuion’s of 27 Mar. 1815, Monroe reiterated that the U.S. government was willing to enter into a commercial treaty, but that this could not be done hastily because of the potential ramifications for U.S. treaties with other European nations. Further, negotiations could not begin until Changuion received the “requisite powers” from the Dutch government (DNA: RG 59, Notes to Foreign Ministers and Consuls; filed after December 1815).
3. On 28 Apr. 1815 Benjamin W. Crowninshield sent Jacob Lewis a commission as consul at Malta (DNA: RG 45, Misc. Letters Sent). Lewis sailed for the Mediterranean with Capt. Stephen Decatur’s squadron shortly thereafter (Richard S. Hackley to Monroe, 20 June 1815, DNA: RG 59, CD, Cádiz), but was back in New York by 8 Nov. 1815, when he wrote Monroe declining the consulship (DNA: RG 59, CD, Malta).