From James Madison to the Senate, 11 December 1815
To the Senate
Washington Decr 11th. 1815.
I transmit the original of the Convention between the United States and Great Britain, as Signed by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 3d day of July last; a copy of which was laid before the Senate on the 5th. instant.1
I transmit also a copy of the late Treaty of Peace with Algiers, as certified by one of the Commissioners of the United States; An office Copy of which was laid before the Senate on the 5th instant;2 the original of the Treaty, not having been received.
James Madison
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 46, Executive Proceedings, President’s Messages, 14B–B3). In John Payne Todd’s hand, signed by JM. For enclosures, see nn.
1. See JM to the Senate, 6 Dec. 1815 (second letter), and nn. 1 and 3.
2. See JM to the Senate, 6 Dec. 1815 (first letter), and n. 1. The copy of the treaty that JM enclosed with the present letter is in William Shaler’s hand and bears the latter’s 30 Aug. 1815 signed statement attesting to its authenticity (DNA: RG 59, CD, Algiers). On this copy of the treaty are transcriptions of Omar Bashaw’s 30 June 1815 signature as well as those of Capt. Stephen Decatur and Shaler, added on 3 July 1815, formally concluding the treaty subject to JM’s ratification; these signatures and statement were not represented on the copy of the treaty that JM sent to the Senate on 6 Dec. 1815. Appended to the certified copy of the treaty is a second attestation, dated 3 Nov. 1815, signed by Shaler, and bearing his consular seal, stating that the foregoing was “a true copy of the original treaty,” and that “the said original being deposited in the Chancery of this Consulate, and a duplicate of the Same duly executed, was forwarded to the Secretary of State by Captain William Lewis of the United States navy in the U.S. Brig Epervier, which Sailed ⟨from⟩ this port of Algiers on the 7 July 1815.” For the fate of the Epervier, see James Monroe to JM, 10 Oct. 1815, 9:675, 676 n. 1.