To James Madison from James Monroe, 10 October 1815
From James Monroe
WASHINGTON octr. 10. 1815
Dear Sir
I intended to have written you by the two last mails but was interrupted at the moment I had allotted for the purpose. In truth I had little to communicate, which it was worth troubling you with, while ingaged in packing up & preparing for your departure for this place. Mr Cutts intimated to me that you would probably leave home the beginning of this week, which, coinciding with your intention when I left you, claims greater confidence.
There is much cause to fear that the epervier is lost.1 The treaty with Algiers is not recd. through any other quarter. A late occurrence at detroit has excited much sensation there. A British Lt. followed a deserter within our limits, took him, & sent him off, in consequence of which the officer was seized & is I believe held to bail, if indeed he has been able to give it.2 The probability of yr early return prevents my forwarding to you the papers. The vermont election has terminated favorably.3 The result of that in this state is doubtful, tho’ mr Rush fears, the opposition have gaind it by a majority of one.4 With affectionate respect
Jas Monroe
RC (DLC: Rives Collection, Madison Papers).
1. For the intended return of the Epervier from the Mediterranean, see Benjamin W. Crowninshield to JM, 11 Sept. 1815, n. 2. The brig never arrived in the United States. Its last reported sighting was on 8 Aug. 1815 in longitude 61°18’, at which point it had covered over three quarters of the distance across the Atlantic. It was presumed to have sunk in “one of the severe autumnal gales soon after” (Charleston City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 9 Dec. 1815).
2. Anthony St. John Baker wrote Monroe on 9 Oct. 1815, asking that the British officer, Alexander Vidal, be released (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain). The same week, however, Vidal was tried in Detroit, acquitted of taking the deserter by force but found “guilty of a riot,” and fined “4 or $500” (Niles’ Weekly Register 9 [1815]: 187).
3. Republican Jonas Galusha defeated incumbent Martin Chittenden, a Federalist, in the Vermont gubernatorial election of September 1815, and the Republican party gained a majority of sixteen in the state legislature (Middlebury, Vt., National Standard, 13 Sept. 1815).
4. Monroe referred to the election for the Maryland legislature. Richard Rush’s prediction was correct: despite large Republican gains in the state, the Federalists managed to hold a one-seat advantage (Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser, 10 Oct. 1815).