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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

1816 - TO JOHN GRAHAM. d. of s. mss. miscl. lets. - James Madison, The Writings, vol. 8 (1808-1819) [1908]

Edition used:

The Writings of James Madison, comprising his Public Papers and his Private Correspondence, including his numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed, ed. Gaillard Hunt (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900). Vol. 8.

Part of: The Writings of James Madison, 9 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO JOHN GRAHAM.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

[Filed about June 1, 1816.]

Dear Sir,—

I return the papers sent with yours of the 29th. except the letter from E. Lewis, which goes to the Treasy Dept. If Mr. B[agot]1 has no more power than to receive proposals,2 I sd. have supposed his object in an interview wd. have been simply to ask for them, with an assurance of the general disposition of his Govt. to receive them favorably, and that the uncertainty or misconception occasioned by his remarks would have been prevented. I have stated to Mr. M[onroe] the grounds occurring to me, for a tacit or express arrangement as to the Lake armaments; an essential one being an immediate discontinuance of equipments & preparations. As this already exists on our part, it wd be sufficient to give an order to that effect on the other. If even this cannot be done by Mr. B[agot] and must be reported across the Atlantic, the B[ritish] augmentations going on in the mean time, I see nothing in the transfer of the business to Mr B[agot] worth the taking it from Mr. A[dams] the delay is certainly not diminished, and the “general disposition” of the P[rince] R[egent] could have been as promptly expressed, or rather repeated to Mr. A. as conveyed through Mr. B. The views of the B. govt. I am willing to believe are candid, but the course it has taken, if it proceeds with its equipments, would tempt a different construction. I hope Mr. B. will yet be brought to have them suspended.

I am reading some Spanish official documents sent by Mr Dallas. The date of the last is in Decr. 1814. They sanction all the accounts from other sources, of the extreme jealousy & hatred of us prevailing in the Spanish Court, and prove that after the fall of Napoleon, there was a project entertained, for taking advantage of our war with England, and the expected succour of the latter to Spain, to settle all territorial matters with the U. S. according to Spanish wishes.

We have had here as with you, fine rains with somewhat of the other desideratum warm weather. There is however a return of cold, after hurricanes, & destructive showers of hail in spots. In some instances the corn and tobacco have been totally demolished by the latter.

cordial respects

TO JAMES MONROE.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

Montpelier, June 14, 1816.

Dear Sir,—

Altho’ the inclosed letter is anonymous, the idea it suggests, of requiring an admission of our Cotton in a half manufactured state at least by nations whose luxuries fully manufactured, are admitted in the U. S. is not unworthy of attention. The general idea I believe has not escaped in the instructions to Mr Gallatin and Mr. Pinkney. But it may be well to enforce it and particularly in relation to Cotton Twist, which Russia receives from G. B. whilst her manufactures are excluded by the latter, and which France has lately prohibited even from the U. S. on the principle of reciprocity. The U. S. may reasonably demand such a regulation in their favor; and the nations granting it may with equal reason refuse it to G. B without a charge of partiality. As the Netherlands have adopted a like policy agst. the U. S. a change may very properly be urged, on the same grounds, by Mr. Eustis, whether a treaty be or be not contemplated. An admission of cotton twist from this country into Europe, is of vast importance to manufacturing estabts. & indeed to its general interests.

TO ALEXANDER J. DALLAS.1mad. mss.

Montpelier, July 4, 1816.

Dear Sir,—

I have recd yours of the 29 June, with the several papers sent with it.

Under the difficult circumstances of the currency, and the obligation to attempt a remedy or at least an alleviation of them, the plan you have in view is entitled to a fair experiment. You do right however in reserving a discretion to judge of the sufficiency of accessions by the State Banks. Should there be a single State, in which a failure of the Banks to accede should reduce the people to the necessity of payg. their taxes in coin, or treasury notes, or a bank paper out of their reach, the pressure and the complaint would be intense, and the more so from the inequality with which the measure wd. operate.1

Can the suspension of payments in coin by the principal Banks, be regarded as the precise cause of the undue depreciation of treasury notes, as intimated in the 3d paragraph of your Circular? A slight modification, if you think it requisite, would obviate the remark.

As your statement to the President will remain an official document, I suggest for your consideration, the expression that the Treasy. “cannot discriminate in the mode of payment between the revenue of the customs and the internal revenue” as liable to be turned agst. the Distinction proposed in the payment of them.

With respect to the validity of this distinction, I should yield my doubts if they were stronger than they are, to the unanimous opinion which has sanctioned it.

I anxiously wish that the State Banks may enter promptly & heartily into the means of re-establishing the proper Currency. Nothing but their general co-operation, is wanting for the purpose; and they owe it to their own character, and ultimately to their own interest, as much as they do to the immediate & vital interest of the Nation. Shd they sacrifice all these powerful obligations to the unfair gain of the moment, it must remain with the State Legislatures to apply the remedy, and it is to be hoped that they will not be diverted from it either by their share in the gains of the Banks, or the influence of the Banks on their deliberations. If they will not enforce the obligation of the Banks to redeem their notes in specie, they cannot surely forbear to enforce the alternatives of redeeming them with public stock, or with national Bank notes, or, finally of paying interest on all their notes presented for payment. The expedient also of restricting their circulating paper in a reasonable proportion to their metallic fund, may merit attention as at once aiding the credit of their paper, and accelerating a resumption of specie payments.

I enclose the papers marked A, B, & C, to guard agst the possibility, that you may not have copies of them with you.

TO JAMES MONROE.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

Montpelier July 13 1816.

Dear Sir

Herewith are the papers recd. from Mr. Hughs. He seems to have been no wise sparing of diplomatic politeness to the Spanish Govr. You will of course express the satisfaction afforded by the successful execution of his commission in reference to our Captive Citizens with an approbation of the interest taken in behalf of the English & French captives, and forward the documents to Mr. Erving,1 with instructions to press at Madrid the restitution of the Ama. property refused to Mr. Hughs. If the Spanish authorities had had [sic] taken the ground that the property was forfeited by the aid and comfort it afforded to rebels, it would have involved the discussion commenced with Mr. Onis, and have avoided the inconsistency now added to their injustice. In resting the seizure on the alleged Blockade, which was a spurious one, and substituting a decoy, for the warning, required by the L. of N. to neutrals, they have disarmed themselves of every plea, or rather have armed us with every plea agst. them.

You will find herewith also the 2 letters from Mr. Onis.2 His complaint of expeditions from our ports agst. Spanish commerce, are entitled to the ordinary answer. His conciliatory remarks introducing them, are too guarded to mean much that is favorable, if they do not cover a disposition to thwart some of our demands on Spain. It appears from his final paragraph that his participation in the transactions relating to Louisiana, is to be produced as testimony agst. us. Will it not be well, in forwarding the correspondence to Mr. Erving to furnish him with the facts of an opposite tendency which fall within your personal knowledge.1 Great stress will doubtless be laid by the Spanish Govt. on the principle asserted by Onis, that France & Spain alone who were parties to the Treaties, can interpret the respective intentions recorded in them. To this must be opposed the meaning deducible by the legal rules of interpretation, and the fact that the U. S. were bona fide purchasers without notice of any other interpretation, altho’ Spain was not ignorant of our views, of purchasing, and even referred us to France as alone having the right to sell.—The second letter of Onis shows adroitness; but it does not clear his Govt. from the charge of not proceeding at Algiers in the spirit we were authorized to expect. If However Algiers obtained the Brig, without redeeming it from Spain no pretext remains for a demand on the U. S.

Cordial regards

TO JAMES MONROE.1

Montpr. July 26, 1816.

Dear Sir

. . . . . . . .

Herewith are the communications from Mr. Adams. He pinches Castlereagh not a little. I always suspected that the enlistments & apprenticeship of captured Negroes, in the W. Inds. would be the refuge agst. the allegations on our part.2

But, if the former be for life, & the latter for 14 years even for those of mature age, both be forced, as the law & order in council shew, how can either be a situation in which the unfortunate blacks are protected in the privileges of freedom? Nor is it conceivable that the act of Parlt, which contemplates evidently the African trade, and seizures on the high seas, can be fairly applied to negroes in the U. States in a slavery originating with G. B. herself, seduced or forced therefrom with her sanction, and recd. on board vessels within the waters of the U. S. As the B. Govt. [illegible] a full [illegible] into the charges agst. its officers, whether wth a view to discredit this Govt. or for whatever other purpose, it will be proper to promote the establishment of the truth. It will be particularly proper to keep in the front of the transaction, the inviting proclamation of the B. Commander, and the bondage de facto into which, it is admitted, that the negroes are placed, under the name of freedom & protection. I hope Mr Adams will not fail in the most suitable stage of the business to do justice to this view of the subject. It will put our charges on defensible ground, even if we fail to establish what is fairly to be believed, that the captives or fugitives in question were sold into the ordinary slavery of the W. Indies. The object of Ld. Castlereagh evidently is to draw the question to a point most difficult of proof, and in the failure of it to avail himself of an ostentatious zeal for an impracticable investigation.

Yours

TO JAMES MONROE.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

Montpellier Aug. 4, 1816.

Dear Sir

I recd. yesterday the 2 letters from Onis herewith returned, and today copies of the papers transmitted by Mr. Crowninshield, which as the originals are in the Dept. I return. The law of nations, and our position in relation to the contest between Spain & Spanish America will of course govern the reply to these representations.

The remarks of Judge Story as to the fisheries are valuable, and furnish some precise objects for discussion with the B. Govt. If Mr. B[agot] will accede to the most favorable arrangements marked out, it may be well to close with him. Whether the one next best ought to be accepted, is a more delicate question; notwithstanding the opinion of Mr. Crowninshield on the subject. I do not think in the present temper & situation of G.B. that delay with a prudent conduct on our part will injure our prospects. And it appears after all, that the right to cure fish on the B. shores, the fish cured on them being the proportion only of ⅕ or ⅙ of those caught by our vessels in those waters, is of less importance than was supposed. How far the waters within the marginal league have been used, and wd. be prohibited if not stipulated is to be ascertained. On the whole, I still think unless an arrangement likely to be satisfactory can be obtained, it will be better to prolong the negotiation, than to cut it short from a despondence as to better terms. I observe that J. Story represents the shores of Labrador as a good deal settled. If this be the fact and could appear in an arrangement of our use of them, we might accept the use of the shores without any unselfish surrender of our pretensions, which are limited to unsettled districts. Perhaps Mr. B. may be willing to make a partial arrangement, leaving open the negociation for its extension. If this can be done in a form avoiding implications adverse to our claims, it wd. be a safe & might be an eligible course. It might be predicated on the want of full information, and the purpose of obtaining it. The sources of further information pointed at by the Judge may deserve attention.

best respects & regards

TO JOHN GRAHAM.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

Montpellier Aug. 5, 1816.

Dear Sir

I return the letter from Mr. Bagot.1 It manifests a good disposition on his part, and on that of the Commander in chief in Canada. But it appears by communications to the War Dept. from one of our own sources, that the hostile purposes of the Indians in question are the effect, of instigations from British Traders. I have desired Mr. G. Graham to lay these communications before the Dept. of State. In connection with those from Mr. B. they will bring the whole subject into the conversation desired by Mr. B. The British authorities ought to repress a resort to their posts, of Indians from our side of the boundary, at least for political purposes; and to prohibit effectually the misconduct of their traders. If this be not done we must strengthen our military establishments, on that quarter, and hasten the exclusion of British traders from intercourse with Indians within our limits. It will certainly be better for the British to cooperate with us in keeping the Indians within rule, than to force us into the alternatives. I am glad you are likely to obtain at length a translation of the Algerine letter. I wrote to Mr. Monroe on the receipt of it, to send with the translation an answer ready to be signed. This can best be drawn at Washington, where all the circumstances are most distinctly in view, including those connected with the Navy Dept., and the lapse of time increases also the reason for diminishing delay.

Friendly respects

TO JAMES MONROE.d. of s. mss. miscl. lets.

Montpellier Aug. 6 1816.

Dear Sir

I have just recd. yours of the 3d and return without delay the several letters inclosed in it. The apprehensions of Mr Shaler, are instigated at least by the recent occurrence, if true, at Oran, and its probable effect on the relations of G. B. & Algiers.1 Mr. Adams’s idea of making his country the sole champion of Xndum against the Barbarians, is very heroic, but is not in perfect harmony with the sober spirit which tempers its zeal & interprize. If we can maintain an elevated position in the Mediterranean for ourselves, and afford that example for others, it will, for the present at least, best reconcile all our duties.

Friendly respects

TO JAMES MONROE.1

Montpelier Aug. 13, 1816.

Dear Sir

I have yours of the 12th intended for the 11th inst: I have no map by which I can judge of the comparative values of the 2 offers of Mr. Bagot as to the fisheries.2 There will be some delicacy in referring the arrangement to Mr. A. who prefers a decision here, and will say that we having better means of procuring the necessary information we ought not to put the task & responsibility on him. If Mr Bagot will not favor an arrangement which we can acquiesce in I still think it will be best to decide nothing but to instruct Mr. A. to press the subject in such an extent as we think admissible, and to engage as far as we can the co-operation of Mr. B. As to armaments on the Lakes, Mr. A. may be furnished with our propositions and if they be concurred in the effect will be accelerated, in case the B. Govt. be liberal eno’ to send over the necessary orders, without waiting for the consummating forms. If it be understood that Shaler intends or wishes to leave Algiers,3 Poinsett may take his place; and in the event of an ulterior mission, he will be so far on his way. I think, however, he ought not to be permitted to form any ulterior expectations as well because the ulterior mission in question is of too important & too delicate a nature to be hastily contemplated, as because unforeseen selections may become preferable.

As you will so soon be here I leave for consultation the choice of an agent for the pacific. The gentleman you name comes fairly into a comparative view of characters.

Affect respects

TO ALEXANDER J. DALLAS.mad. mss.

Montpellier Augt. 25, 1816.

Dear Sir

Since the recet. of your several letters relating to the Treasury proposition,1 & the decision of Bank Deputies at Phila. my thoughts have been duly turned to the important & perplexing subject. Altho’ there may be no propriety in recalling the proposition, it seems now certain that it will fail of its effect. Should the Banks not represented at Phila. come into the measure, the refusal of those represented would be fatal. The want of a medium for taxes in a single state would be a serious difficulty; so extensive a want would forbid at once an enforcement of the proposition. The Banks feel their present importance & seem more disposed to turn it to their own profit than to the public good, & the views of the Govt. Without their co-operation it does not appear that any immediate relief can be applied to the embarrassments of the Treasury or of the currency. This co-operation they refuse. Can they be coerced?

Should the State Legislatures unite in the means within their power, the object may be attained. But this is scarcely to be expected; & in point of time is too remote. The National Bank must for a time at least, be on the defensive.

The interposition of Congress remains; & we may hope the best as to a vigorous use of it. But there is danger that the influence of the local Banks may reach even that resource. Should this not be the case, the remedy is future not immediate. The question then before us is, whether any & what further expedients lie with the Executive. Altho we have satisfied by what has been already attempted our legal responsibility, it would be still incumbent on us to make further experiments if any promising ones can be devised. If there be such I have full confidence, that they will enter into your views on the subject. One only occurs to me; & I mention it because no other does, not because I regard it as free from objections which may be deemed conclusive. The notes in the Treasury might be presented to the Banks respectively with a demand of the specie due on the face of them. On refusal suits might be immediately instituted not with a view to proceed to execution, but to establish a claim to interest from the date of the demand. The notes thus bearing interest being kept in hand, Treasury notes bearing interest might be issued in payments from the Treasury; & so far injustice to the several classes of creditors might be lessened, whilst a check would be given to the unjust career of the Banks.

Such a proceeding ought to be supported by the Stockholders, the Army, the Navy, & all the disinterested & well-informed part of the community. The clamor agst. it would be from the Banks & those having interested connections with them, supported by the honest part of the community misled by their fallacies; and the probability is but too great that the clamor would be overwhelming. I do not take into view the expedient of requiring a payment of the Impost, in specie, in part at least, because it could not be extended to the other taxes, & would in that respect as well as otherwise, be a measure too delicate for the Ex: Authy; nor would its effect be in time for any very early purpose.

I have been led by the tenor of your letters to put on paper these observations. The report you are preparing will doubtless enlighten my view of the whole subject.

TO JAMES MONROE.1

Montpellier Aug. 28, 1816.

Dear Sir

Among the inclosures is a very exty letter from Mr De Neuville.2 It was brought by his private Secretary from whom I thought it better for several reasons to receive it, than to let him proceed with it to your House. As its contents were neither known nor guessed, it was possible that they might call for an attention which my knowledge of them might hasten and it was desirable for you that you should not be [obliterated] with the Bearer if not necessary. It was a further calculation that an immediate answer if not convenient might thus be avoided. The young Secretary left me with a mere intimation to him, that his dispatch would be answered by the Secy. of State. Mr. De Neuville could not have given a greater proof of want of judgment than in putting the amity of the two countries on such an issue, or of a personal wish to flatter the ultra royal Bourbons who may ere long accede to the throne. The proper answer to him will be facilitated by his undertaking to dictate the precise reparation in the case. Common delicacy would have demanded an adequate one in general terms, leaving the particular mode to the Govt. and the arrogance of the manner in which he has disregarded it, forfeits the respect that might be otherwise due to his complaint. It will be well if possible by a conciliatory language towards his sovereign to counteract the efforts of his minister to work up a trivial incident into a provoking enormity, and to awaken his attention to our just sensibility to the indecorous & unauthorized step of the latter. It would seem as if De N. hoped to hide the degradation of the Bourbons in Europe, under a blustering deportment in a distant country. Whatever may be the answer to his letter, it will be proper to hasten communications & instructions to Mr. Gallatin on the whole subject.

Dashkoff’s letter also among the inclosures, revives the question how far anything beyond the despatches by Mr. Coles is called for by the posture of Kozloff’s affair. Perhaps it may not be amiss for you to write a letter to the Russian Secy. of For. Affrs.1 referring to that of Daschf and relying, with expressions of respect & friendship here for the Emperor, on the communications by Mr. Coles, as of a satisfactory import. It is however to be recollected that the instructions to Dashf. were given prior to the last discussions transmitted by Mr. Harris. . . .

TO JAMES MONROE.1

[Montpellier] Sepr 6, 1816.

Dear Sir

On perusing your letters to Mr. De Neuville, and Mr. Gallatin,2 some ideas occurred which induced me to put them on paper for your consideration. Those relating to the first letter are interlined with a pencil. Those relating to the 2d. are partly so & partly penned on a separate sheet. In the communication to Mr. G. I. thought it might be not amiss to suggest the several topics which he may find it expedient to develope orally or in writing. Reject or use any or the whole as you judge best.

As De Neuvilles communication to his govt. may first arrive and forestall impressions at Paris, the interlineation in pa. 2d. of the letter to him, is intended to suggest an important and very pertinent fact which may not be known there, & which he will not disclose, and to controul the effect of his magnifying comments on the subject. Whether this last part of the interlineation merits adoption is the more questionable of the two.

The little delay occasioned by this retrograde of the papers is not material as De Neuville himself will think on rec your answer. But to avoid a protraction of it, it will be best to sign blank sheets (if there be not more signed at the office) for copies of the letters whatever the final shapes you give them, and to send these with your drafts directly to Mr Graham, with instructions to forward triplicates immediately to Mr. Gallatin; perhaps one ought to be forwarded thro’ G. B. I have no objection if you think it proper to your intimating to Mr. Gallatin that the recall of De Neuville is not our object, nor wish if his continuance be agreeable to his govt.

TO W. H. CRAWFORD.mad. mss.

Montpellier, Sepr 23, 1816.

Dear Sir

I have just recd. from Mr. Monroe a very extraordinary communication, confidentially made to him by Col. Jessup. A copy of it is inclosed. An invasion by a Spanish force at the present period might be pronounced a mere chimoera, if a less degree of folly reigned at Madrid; unless, indeed the Councils of Spain shd. be supported by a power, whose councils may reasonably be more confided in. It is probable however that Onis is intriguing at N. Orleans, and the extent to which he may mislead, an ignorant proud & vindictive Govt. cannot be calculated. It is incumbent on us therefore to have an eye to our S. W. Frontier, proportioning our precautions to our means, and to a fair estimate of the danger. As Gen: Jackson is apprized of the apprehensions of Col. Jessup, tho’ without some of the grounds of them mentioned to Mr. Monroe, we may expect soon to hear from him on the subject. Are there any reinforcements or defences, which can be added to those now within his employment? Should Jessup execute his purpose, it will be the boldest project, ever assumed by no higher authority. I communicate the intelligence he gives, to the Secy of the Navy. Be so good as to do the same to your Colleagues at Washington.1

TO WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.2

Montpellier, Sepr. 23, 1816.

Dear Sir

I have recd. yours of the 20th. inst. The claim of Mr. Knagg involves an important question:—what is the effect produced on the salaries of persons made prisoners by an Enemy by & during their captivity?

Civil officers are of two classes. 1. Those holding during good behaviour.

2. Those holding during pleasure.

Whilst the officers of the 1st class continue and the officers are not removed in the mode authorized, the salaries are legally due, and cannot be withheld by the Ex: authy.: and it is understood that neither the capture of the officer, nor even the capture of the office by that of the place including it (unless peace shd. transfer the right to the possessor) annuls the office. The former suspends the functions of the officer, and the latter the office itself. In the former case temporary provision when necessary can only be made by the Legislative authority. In the latter case the temporary provision will depend on the conqueror.

With respect to officers holding during pleasure, their claim to their salaries appears to be legal, whilst their offices continue, and no removal, or other appointment involving a removal takes place.

The claim of W. K. then depends on the question whether his two appts. or either of them was of a nature to cease with the capture of Detroit and of himself, and if not whether, as no direct removal appears to have taken place, any other appointment was made, actually superceding his.

The latter is a simple question of fact to be decided by the evidence in the Dept.

The former question must be decided by the character of the appointments in the eye of the law. Is that of a deputy Indian agent, an office which would be vacated only not extinguished by the death removal or resignation of the person exercising it; or a personal agency ceasing with the non-exercise of it? Is the appt. of Indian Interpreter, in like manner, an office & an agency, as so distinguished?

Not finding it convenient in my present situation to examine our laws fully in relation to these appts. and aware that there is merit often in discriminating between an office & an agency I cannot do better than request you to communicate these observations with the interesting ones contained in your letter to the other members of the Cabinet at Washington; and transmit me the results of a consultation on the whole subject. Should there be no difference of opinion & delay be inconvenient it may be acted on, without hearing further from me.

Genl. Hull presented some time ago a claim for two salaries during his captivity, and pressed strongly the reasoning which gave most color to it. His military claim I believe was viewed in a different light from his salary as govr at the time when he was charged with the Expedition which had so unfortunate an issue.

TO WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.1

Montpellier, Sepr 30, 1816.

Dear Sir,—

I have received your two letters of the 27th and 28th. The views taken by yourself and your colleagues at Washington of the subject presented by Col. Jesup’s communication, and your letters to the Secretary of the Navy and General Jackson in consequence of them, were very proper. The part of the precautionary arrangements involving most delicacy is that of sending the naval force into the Gulf of Mexico. Besides the unavoidable delay, I fear the expense of equipment will be considerable, under an appropriation known to be deficient. It will be well to give him the earliest notice of any change in the prospect releasing the Navy Department from the call. The letter from Mr. Erving goes far towards it, and further intelligence from him may be daily expected. As a communication of the contents of Col. Jesup’s letter to the Governors of Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana, will lead to no immediate expense, nor to any unnecessary public excitement, it is recommended by the general policy of anticipating danger and guarding against it. I am glad to find General Jackson’s views coinciding with those transmitted to him.

I sent to the Attorney General the papers received by the Navy Department from Commodore Patterson, relating to the destruction of the Negro fort, and the property taken in it, with a request from the Commodore that a decision might be had on the distribution of the property among the captors. I referred Mr. Rush, also, to the report, when received from Col. Clinch. Be so good as to let him see the communications from that officer, now returned. The case is novel, and involves several legal questions.

I perceive that a part of the Negroes captured were deserters from the Spaniards, who will therefore be gainers by breaking up the establishment on the Apalachicola. This is another consideration which may prevent complaints from that quarter. It may be recollected, also, that the Governor of Pensacola declared that territory not to be within Spanish jurisdiction.

Jameson’s remarks in favor of making the seat of the factory the seat of his agency have weight. His pacific mediations among the Indians may also be recommended by a humane policy. But I think it will be best to discountenance the proposed visit of some of them to Washington. We complain at present of the reception of our Indians even at British outposts, and we may find occasion for making a point of putting an end to that sort of intercourse.

Mr. Monroe has not yet arrived on his way to Washington, and I cannot fix on the day of my setting out until he does. Some other circumstances, also, have been in the way. I fear I shall not be able to put an end to the detention before the last of the week; possibly not before Monday next.

I have already mentioned to you the answer of Mr. Clay, declining the offer made to him.1 Altho’ Mr. Lowndes has not had occasion to manifest particular qualifications for the War Department, his general talents and public standing present him in very favorable comparison with any other occurring for consideration.

Cordial regards.

TO WILSON CARY NICHOLAS.1

Montpellier Oct. 5. 1816.

Dear Sir

I have recd. yours of the 30th. ult.2 It will afford me pleasure to promote your wishes in behalf of Mr. Armistead; and the pleasure will be increased by my recollection of the period & persons to whom you allude. It is incumbent on me at the same time to remark that it is the usage, to leave to the heads of Depts. the selection of their own clks. which the law vests in their discretion & responsibility; that they generally have their preferences often founded on relations of friendship and personal confidence; and there is always depending a list of applicants for the few vacancies which occur, some of which pretentions may have peculiar force. My connection with such appointments is much less therefore than might be supposed, and I mention it that in the event of disappointment it may not be inferred that I have been insensible or inattentive to the object you so justly have at heart.

Mr. Dallas has & will have explained so fully his measures with the grounds of them, that I need say very little on the subject. If any have supposed him not conciliatory toward the Banks, they have done him great injustice. As to the epoch of enforcing specie payments the law had fixed on the 20th. of Feby. next; with an evident obligation on him to anticipate it if practicable. Many of the Banks, instead of co-operating with him for the latter purpose, have announced purposes at variance with the positive injunctions of the law. It can scarcely be doubted that if the Banks had concerted a general concurrence with the views of the Treasury, the former confidence & currency would have been easily re-established by the time fixed by Congress, and probably sooner. Nor can it well be doubted that such a concert would have taken place, if the Bank dividends had been as much favored by the effort, as they might, at least for a time, be reduced by it. I am far from applying these remarks to all the Banks. There are exceptions which we could jointly name with equal pleasure. But it is certain that as far as the Banks have not done their duty, they have to answer for the injustice done by a depreciated currency to particular states, to the public creditors, to the Army, to the Navy, and even to private creditors who were in a manner forced to receive their debts in that currency. Had the Banks sold their public stock for their own notes with which they procured it when they could have done so with a liberal profit, or had they agreed to pay interest on their protested notes, whilst they received interest on the paper pledged to them, they would have stood on different ground. But they preferred, too many of them, to these sacrifices, or rather to these acts of justice, an increased issue of notes on a capital as productive nearly as the notes issued on that basis. Taking the whole subject as we find it, it is not easy to say what Congress, with whom it lies, may decide on. There is sufficient reason to believe that if the crisis requires a relaxation they will not withhold it. But there are indications that a resumption of specie payments, is rapidly becoming practicable and popular. If the demand of Spain to discharge a foreign balance agst. the nation, should not raise the Exchange above the Expence and difficulty of exporting it; the Banks in general will run no risk in uniting at once with the National Banks in restoring health to the currency, and justice to all transactions public & private. . . .

TO JOHN ADAMS.mad. mss.

Washington, Octr. 12th, -16.

Dear Sir

Your favor of the 4th of Sepr. was handed to me by Doctor Freeman at my abode in Virga. just before I left it for this place. His transient stay afforded but a slight opportunity for the civilities I wished to shew to one who enjoys so much of your esteem, and who appeared so well to deserve them. He was so good as to call at the door since my arrival here; but being at the moment engaged, he was so informed without my being apprised of the name, till he had retired; and his ensuing departure from the City closed our intercourse, unless he should repeat his southern excursion when I shall pay with pleasure the arrears due on the first.

Mrs. Madison, wishing to seize the occasion for a letter to Mrs. Adams, has herself answered the enquiry in yours to me having reference to her. You will perceive that she has not the slightest recollection of any letter to Mr. Steel, such as could have led to the intimations in yours. We conclude therefore that some error has taken place in the statement made to you. It will rest with your goodness & conveniency to throw any light upon it, which you may have the means of doing, and which you may think the subject worthy of. I beg you to be assured that I join fully in her acknowledgments for the delicate manner in which you have alluded to it, and for the kind dispositions which it has led you to express.

The favorable judgment you are so good as to express on the course of my administration, cannot but be very gratifying to me; not merely for the immediate value I set on it, but as an encouraging presage of the light in which my endeavours in the service of my country will be hereafter viewed by those most capable of deciding on them.

Be pleased to accept, Dear Sir assurances of my high esteem and best wishes.

EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

December 3, 1816.

In reviewing the present state of our country, our attention can not be withheld from the effect produced by peculiar seasons which have very generally impaired the annual gifts of the earth and threatened scarcity in particular districts. Such, however, is the variety of soils, of climates, and of products within our extensive limits that the aggregate resources for subsistence are more than sufficient for the aggregate wants. And as far as an economy of consumption, more than usual, may be necessary, our thankfulness is due to Providence for what is far more than a compensation, in the remarkable health which has distinguished the present year.

Amidst the advantages which have succeeded the peace of Europe, and that of the United States with Great Britain, in a general invigoration of industry among us and in the extension of our commerce, the value of which is more and more disclosing itself to commercial nations, it is to be regretted that a depression is experienced by particular branches of our manufactures and by a portion of our navigation. As the first proceeds in an essential degree from an excess of imported merchandise, which carries a check in its own tendency, the cause in its present extent can not be of very long duration. The evil will not, however, be viewed by Congress without a recollection that manufacturing establishments, if suffered to sink too low or languish too long, may not revive after the causes shall have ceased, and that in the vicissitudes of human affairs situations may recur in which a dependence on foreign sources for indispensable supplies may be among the most serious embarrassments.

The depressed state of our navigation is to be ascribed in a material degree to its exclusion from the colonial ports of the nation most extensively connected with us in commerce, and from the indirect operation of that exclusion.

Previous to the late convention at London between the United States and Great Britain the relative state of the navigation laws of the two countries, growing out of the treaty of 1794, had given to the British navigation a material advantage over the American in the intercourse between the American ports and British ports in Europe. The convention of London equalized the laws of the two countries relating to those ports, leaving the intercourse between our ports and the ports of the British colonies subject, as before, to the respective regulations of the parties. The British Government enforcing now regulations which prohibit a trade between its colonies and the United States in American vessels, whilst they permit a trade in British vessels, the American navigation loses accordingly, and the loss is augmented by the advantage which is given to the British competition over the American in the navigation between our ports and British ports in Europe by the circuitous voyages enjoyed by the one and not enjoyed by the other.

The reasonableness of the rule of reciprocity applied to one branch of the commercial intercourse has been pressed on our part as equally applicable to both branches; but it is ascertained that the British cabinet declines all negotiation on the subject, with a disavowal, however, of any disposition to view in an unfriendly light whatever countervailing regulations the United States may oppose to the regulations of which they complain. The wisdom of the Legislature will decide on the course which, under these circumstances, is prescribed by a joint regard to the amicable relations between the two nations and to the just interests of the United States.

I have the satisfaction to state, generally, that we remain in amity with foreign powers.

An occurrence has indeed taken place in the Gulf of Mexico which, if sanctioned by the Spanish Government, may make an exception as to that power. According to the report of our naval commander on that station, one of our public armed vessels was attacked by an overpowering force under a Spanish commander, and the American flag, with the officers and crew, insulted in a manner calling for prompt reparation. This has been demanded. In the meantime a frigate and a smaller vessel of war have been ordered into that Gulf for the protection of our commerce. It would be improper to omit that the representative of His Catholic Majesty in the United States lost no time in giving the strongest assurances that no hostile order could have emanated from his Government, and that it will be as ready to do as to expect whatever the nature of the case and the friendly relations of the two countries shall be found to require.

The posture of our affairs with Algiers at the present moment is not known. The Dey, drawing pretexts from circumstances for which the United States were not answerable, addressed a letter to this Government declaring the treaty last concluded with him to have been annulled by our violation of it, and presenting as the alternative war or a renewal of the former treaty, which stipulated, among other things, an annual tribute. The answer, with an explicit declaration that the United States preferred war to tribute, required his recognition and observance of the treaty last made, which abolishes tribute and the slavery of our captured citizens. The result of the answer has not been received. Should he renew his warfare on our commerce, we rely on the protection it will find in our naval force actually in the Mediterranean.

With the other Barbary States our affairs have undergone no change.

The Indian tribes within our limits appear also disposed to remain at peace. From several of them purchases of land, have been made particularly favorable to the wishes and security of our frontier settlements, as well as to the general interests of the nation. In some instances the titles, though not supported by due proof, and clashing those of one tribe with the claims of another, have been extinguished by double purchases, the benevolent policy of the United States preferring the augmented expense to the hazard of doing injustice or to the enforcement of justice against a feeble and untutored people by means involving or threatening an effusion of blood. I am happy to add that the tranquillity which has been restored among the tribes themselves, as well as between them and our own population, will favor the resumption of the work of civilization which had made an encouraging progress among some tribes, and that the facility is increasing for extending that divided and individual ownership, which exists now in movable property only, to the soil itself, and of thus establishing in the culture and improvement of it the true foundation for a transit from the habits of the savage to the arts and comforts of social life.

As a subject of the highest importance to the national welfare, I must again earnestly recommend to the consideration of Congress a reorganization of the militia on a plan which will form it into classes according to the periods of life more or less adapted to military services. An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government. The present organization of our militia is universally regarded as less efficient than it ought to be made, and no organization can be better calculated to give to it its due force than a classification which will assign the foremost place in the defense of the country to that portion of its citizens whose activity and animation best enable them to rally to its standard. Besides the consideration that a time of peace is the time when the change can be made with most convenience and equity, it will now be aided by the experience of a recent war in which the militia bore so interesting a part.

Congress will call to mind that no adequate provision has yet been made for the uniformity of weights and measures also contemplated by the Constitution. The great utility of a standard fixed in its nature and founded on the easy rule of decimal proportions is sufficiently obvious. It led the Government at an early stage to preparatory steps for introducing it, and a completion of the work will be a just title to the public gratitude.

The importance which I have attached to the establishment of a university within this District on a scale and for objects worthy of the American nation induces me to renew my recommendation of it to the favorable consideration of Congress. And I particularly invite again their attention to the expediency of exercising their existing powers, and, where necessary, of resorting to the prescribed mode of enlarging them, in order to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads and canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more closely together every part of our country, by promoting intercourse and improvements and by increasing the share of every part in the common stock of national prosperity.

Occurrences having taken place which shew that the statutory provisions for the dispensation of criminal justice are deficient in relation both to places and to persons under the exclusive cognizance of the national authority, an amendment of the law embracing such cases will merit the earliest attention of the Legislature. It will be a seasonable occasion also for inquiring how far legislative interposition may be further requisite in providing penalties for offenses designated in the Constitution or in the statutes, and to which either no penalties are annexed or none with sufficient certainty. And I submit to the wisdom of Congress whether a more enlarged revisal of the criminal code be not expedient for the purpose of mitigating in certain cases penalties which were adopted into it antecedent to experiment and examples which justify and recommend a more lenient policy.

The United States, having been the first to abolish within the extent of their authority the transportation of the natives of Africa into slavery, by prohibiting the introduction of slaves and by punishing their citizens participating in the traffic, can not but be gratified at the progress made by concurrent efforts of other nations toward a general suppression of so great an evil. They must feel at the same time the greater solicitude to give the fullest efficacy to their own regulations. With that view, the interposition of Congress appears to be required by the violations and evasions which it is suggested are chargeable on unworthy citizens who mingle in the slave trade under foreign flags and with foreign ports, and by collusive importations of slaves into the United States through adjoining ports and territories. I present the subject to Congress with a full assurance of their disposition to apply all the remedy which can be afforded by an amendment of the law. The regulations which were intended to guard against abuses of a kindred character in the trade between several States ought also to be rendered more effectual for their humane object.

To these recommendations I add, for the consideration of Congress, the expediency of a remodification of the judiciary establishment, and of an additional department in the executive branch of the Government.

The first is called for by the accruing business which necessarily swells the duties of the Federal courts, and by the great and widening space within which justice is to be dispensed by them. The time seems to have arrived which claims for members of the Supreme Court a relief from itinerary fatigues, incompatible as well with the age which a portion of them will always have attained as with the researches and preparations which are due to their stations and to the juridical reputation of their country. And considerations equally cogent require a more convenient organization of the subordinate tribunals, which may be accomplished without an objectionable increase of the number or expense of the judges.

The extent and variety of executive business also accumulating with the progress of our country and its growing population call for an additional department, to be charged with duties now overburdening other departments and with such as have not been annexed to any department.

The course of experience recommends, as another improvement in the executive establishment, that the provision for the station of Attorney-General, whose residence at the seat of Government, official connections with it, and the management of the public business before the judiciary preclude an extensive participation in professional emoluments, be made more adequate to his services and his relinquishments, and that, with a view to his reasonable accommodation and to a proper depository of his official opinions and proceedings, there be included in the provision the usual appurtenances to a public office.

In directing the legislative attention to the state of the finances it is a subject of great gratification to find that even within the short period which has elapsed since the return of peace the revenue has far exceeded all the current demands upon the Treasury, and that under any probable diminution of its future annual products which the vicissitudes of commerce may occasion it will afford an ample fund for the effectual and early extinguishment of the public debt. It has been estimated that during the year 1816 the actual receipts of revenue at the Treasury, including the balance at the commencement of the year, and excluding the proceeds of loans and Treasury notes, will amount to about the sum of $47,000,000; that during the same year the actual payments at the Treasury, including the payment of the arrearages of the War Department as well as the payment of a considerable excess beyond the annual appropriations, will amount to about the sum of $38,000,000, and that consequently at the close of the year there will be a surplus in the Treasury of about the sum of $9,000,000.

The operations of the Treasury continued to be obstructed by difficulties arising from the condition of the national currency, but they have nevertheless been effectual to a beneficial extent in the reduction of the public debt and the establishment of the public credit. The floating debt of Treasury notes and temporary loans will soon be entirely discharged. The aggregate of the funded debt, composed of debts incurred during the wars of 1776 and 1812, has been estimated with reference to the 1st of January next at a sum not exceeding $110,000,000. The ordinary annual expenses of the Government for the maintenance of all its institutions, civil, military, and naval, have been estimated at a sum less than $20,000,000, and the permanent revenue to be derived from all the existing sources has been estimated at a sum of about $25,000,000.

Upon this general view of the subject it is obvious that there is only wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the Government the restoration of an uniform medium of exchange. The resources and the faith of the nation, displayed in the system which Congress has established, insure respect and confidence both at home and abroad. The local accumulations of the revenue have already enabled the Treasury to meet the public engagements in the local currency of most of the States, and it is expected that the same cause will produce the same effect throughout the Union; but for the interests of the community at large, as well as for the purposes of the Treasury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal value, credit, and use wherever it may circulate. The Constitution has intrusted Congress exclusively with the power of creating and regulating a currency of that description, and the measures which were taken during the last session in execution of the power give every promise of success. The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most favorable, and can not fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures.

For a more enlarged view of the public finances, with a view of the measures pursued by the Treasury Department previous to the resignation of the late Secretary, I transmit an extract from the last report of that officer. Congress will perceive in it ample proofs of the solid foundation on which the financial prosperity of the nation rests, and will do justice to the distinguished ability and successful exertions with which the duties of the Department were executed during a period remarkable for its difficulties and its peculiar perplexities.

The period of my retiring from the public service being at little distance, I shall find no occasion more proper than the present for expressing to my fellow-citizens my deep sense of the continued confidence and kind support which I have received from them. My grateful recollection of these distinguished marks of their favorable regard can never cease, and with the consciousness that, if I have not served my country with greater ability, I have served it with a sincere devotion will accompany me as a source of unfailing gratification.

Happily, I shall carry with me from the public theater other sources, which those who love their country most will best appreciate. I shall behold it blessed with tranquillity and prosperity at home and with peace and respect abroad. I can indulge the proud reflection that the American people have reached in safety and success their fortieth year as an independent nation; that for nearly an entire generation they have had experience of their present Constitution, the offspring of their undisturbed deliberations and of their free choice; that they have found it to bear the trials of adverse as well as prosperous circumstances; to contain in its combination of the federate and elective principles a reconcilement of public strength with individual liberty, of national power for the defense of national rights with a security against wars of injustice, of ambition, and of vainglory in the fundamental provision which subjects all questions of war to the will of the nation itself, which is to pay its costs and feel its calamities. Nor is it less a peculiar felicity of this Constitution, so dear to us all, that it is found to be capable, without losing its vital energies, of expanding itself over a spacious territory with the increase and expansion of the community for whose benefit it was established.

And may I not be allowed to add to this gratifying spectacle that I shall read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty and to the Constitution which is its palladium, sure presages that the destined career of my country will exhibit a Government pursuing the public good as its sole object, and regulating its means by the great principles consecrated in its charter, and by those moral principles to which they are so well allied; a Government which watches over the purity of elections, the freedom of speech and of the press, the trial by jury, and the equal interdict against encroachments and compacts between religion and the state; which maintains inviolably the maxims of public faith, the security of persons and property, and encourages in every authorized mode that general diffusion of knowledge which guarantees to public liberty its permanency and to those who possess the blessing the true enjoyment of it; a Government which avoids intrusions on the internal repose of other nations, and repels them from its own; which does justice to all nations with a readiness equal to the firmness with which it requires justice from them; and which, whilst it refines its domestic code from every ingredient not congenial with the precepts of an enlightened age and the sentiments of a virtuous people, seeks by appeals to reason and by its liberal examples to infuse into the law which governs the civilized world a spirit which may diminish the frequency or circumscribe the calamities of war, and meliorate the social and beneficent relations of peace; a Government, in a word, whose conduct within and without may bespeak the most noble of all ambitions—that of promoting peace on earth and good will to man.

These contemplations, sweetening the remnant of my days, will animate my prayers for the happiness of my beloved country, and a perpetuity of the institutions under which it is enjoyed.

[1 ]Charles Bagot presented his credentials as British Minister March 21, 1816.

[2 ]Bagot asked for an interview on May 22.

Following instructions Adams informed the British government that the United States wished to reach an agreement in regard to the naval armaments on the Lakes, and on July 26, 1816, Bagot wrote to Monroe that he had received Lord Castlereagh’s instructions to say Great Britain would cheerfully adopt any reasonable system.—Bagot to Monroe, July 26, 1816, Dept. of State MSS. Notes.

[1 ]Dallas was nominated to be Secretary of the Treasury October 5, 1814; confirmed at once and entered upon his duties October 14. He resigned April 8, 1816, and served to October 21, when William H. Crawford succeeded him. On April 9, Madison wrote to Dallas:

“I have recd. your letter of yesterday communicating your purpose of resigning the Dept. of the Treasury. I need not express to you the regret at such an event which will be inspired by my recollection of the distinguished ability and unwearied zeal, with which you have filled a station at all times deeply responsible in its duties, through a period rendering them particularly arduous & laborious.

“Should the intention you have formed be nowise open to reconsideration, I can only avail myself of your consent to prolong your functions to the date and for the object which your letter intimates. It cannot but be advantageous that the important measure in which you have had so material an agency, should be put into its active state by the same hands.

“Be assured Sir, that whatever may be the time of your leaving the Department, you will carry from it, my testimony of the invaluable services you have rendered to your Country, my thankfulness for the aid they have afforded in my discharge of the Executive trust, and my best wishes for your prosperity & happiness.”—Mad. MSS.

[1 ]On January 8 Calhoun reported the bill to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States, which was passed and approved by Madison April 10. Madison’s argument against the constitutionality of a federal bank may be found ante, Vol. VI., p. 27, et seq.

[1 ]George W. Erving, of Massachusetts was commissioned as Minister to Spain August 10, 1814, but the Spanish government refused to receive him until the spring of 1816.

[2 ]On July 3 Onis wrote to the State Department remonstrating against the arming of certain vessels against Spanish commerce in the United States.—D. of S. MSS. Notes.

[1 ]The argument of the United States was put forward by Monroe June 10, 1816, in a long note to Onis.—See Am. State Papers, For. Rels., Vol. IV., 429.

[1 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

[2 ]In his note of April 27, 1816, to Adams, Lord Castlereagh said: “By the Act for the abolition of the Slave trade and the consequent order in Council (of which copies are inclosed for the information of the American Minister) all negroes captured at Sea are condemned as prize to His Majesty and the disposal of them after condemnation is specially limited to their enlistment into the army or navy by which they at once by Law acquire the Rights of freemen, or to their being bound for a limited time as free apprentices to persons capable of teaching them some Trade or Handicraft.”—D. of S. MSS. Despatches.

[1 ]July 29 Bagot wrote a private letter to Monroe saying he had just received information from the Commander-in-Chief in Canada that a very hostile spirit had been manifested towards the United States by the Indian tribes, “in consequence, as it seems, of the American Government having signified their intention of erecting Forts within their land during the course of the summer.”—D. of S. MSS. Notes.

[1 ]Under date of May 18, 1816, Adams reported that Shaler, the Consul at Algiers, had informed him that Lord Exmouth had arrived in the Bay of Algiers and that immediately peace between Algiers and the Kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia had ensued; and that difficulties between the Dey and the United States had begun as soon as Lord Exmouth departed. Adams went on to say that Lord Castlereagh had sent for him and assured him Lord Exmouth had not been engaged in any operations against the United States. Adams urged Lord Castlereagh to compel Algiers to cease the practice of making slaves of Christian prisoners of war, and promised that the United States would help him. “Lord Castlereagh declared that it was the earnest wish of the British Government, that all the Barbary Powers should abandon altogether this mode of warfare; but he thought that mild and moderate measures, and persuasion would be better calculated to produce this effect, than force . . . that Great Britain, with all her exertions had not been able to obtain the abolition of the African Slave trade by Spain and Portugal, and as she would not have felt justified in resorting to War, to compel them to it, so she could not make War upon the Barbary States to force them to renounce the practice of making slaves of Christians, so long as they never applied it to her Subjects, or had given her any cause of offence. . . . She had for herself no complaint against the Barbary States to make. She had often found them useful friends; and especially during the late War in the Peninsula, which it would have been impossible for her to have carried through, successfully, without the supplies, which her troops had received from the Coast of Barbary, from which they had almost all their fresh provisions.” Adams rejoined: “If, however Great Britain should not incline to assume the task of putting an end to Barbary Piracy, if she should leave them in our hands, I believed we should be able to give a good account of them. The experience of last year had proved that they were not very formidable antagonists upon the Ocean, and if we had to deal with them alone, I had no doubt that our navy would be competent to the protection of our Commerce against them.”—D. of S. MSS. Despatches.

[1 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

[2 ]“Mr. Bagot offered to secure us the rights in question on the Labrador shore, between Mount Joli and the bay of Esquniaux, near the entrance of the strait of Belleisle.” This being objected to he then offered “an alternative on the shore of the island of Newfoundland, to commence at Cape Ray, and extend, east, to the Ramea islands.” Monroe to Adams, August 13, 1816.—D. of S. MSS. Instructions. See the correspondence in American State Papers, vol. iv., Foreign Relations, p. 348 et seq.

[3 ]William Shaler continued at his post. Joel R. Poinsett, of South Carolina, was not appointed in the diplomatic service till the following administration, when he went as minister to Mexico.

[1 ]Dallas wrote August 8 that he had conferred with Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York bankers on the resumption of specie payment. On August 11 he wrote that he was solicitous concerning the conduct of the State banks, the National bank, and the state of the currency.

August 31 he wrote: “The National bank grows in the public confidence. I believe its immediate uses will be as great as was anticipated by its most strenuous advocates. Under a prudent and skilfull director acting in concert with the government, it will restore the national currency, and destroy the artificial differences of exchange. But I look with peculiar pleasure to the establishment, as furnishing a machinery to frustrate the usurpation of the state banks, and to retrieve the constitutional powers of the Government over the coin and currency of the nation.”—Mad. MSS.

[1 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

[2 ]De Neuville’s letter was dated “Near Brunswick, N. Jersey,” July 21. He said he was familiar with the liberty of the press in America and that the government often had not the power to check its license; but when officers attached to the federal government permitted themselves to forget that his Majesty Louis XVIII. was King of France and Navarre; when a public functionary outraged impudently the brother of Louis XVI at a public fête, his duty required him to call attention to it. Mr. J. S. Skinner at the 4th of July celebration in Baltimore had given this volunteer toast: “The generals of France in exile; the glory of their native land—not to be dishonored by the proscriptions of an imbecile tyrant.” Skinner was postmaster at Baltimore. Therefore he demanded reparation officially, and said a dismissal would be meted out to a French official if he perpetrated such an outrage in France.—D. of S. MSS. Notes.

On August 15 Monroe answered that the government had no responsibility “for any effusion of sentiment which may be displayed at a public feast, in regard to foreign powers, in which the character of the officer, especially of inferior grade, is lost in that of the citizen.” The high consideration for His Most Christian Majesty which this government entertained was well known. This note proving unsatisfactory de Neuville wrote again, and on September 10 Monroe said: “The President has seen with regret the demand which you have thought proper to make. The manner of it, too, has excited not less surprise, for in dictating the reparation claimed, which you say must be immediate, all deliberation on the subject, all freedom of action in this Government, are evidently intended to be precluded.” He concluded by saying the correspondence had been sent to the American plenipotentiary at Paris to make proper representations to the French government.—D. of S. MSS. Instructions.

[1 ]Kosloff, Russian consul at Philadelphia, was arrested and thrown into prison on the charge of having committed rape upon a girl twelve years of age, a servant in his family. The Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, in hearing the application for a writ of habeas corpus, expressed the opinion that the evidence produced was not sufficient to convict; but he was, nevertheless, indicted. The jurisdiction of the local court was denied, and the case sent to the federal court. There, however, he could not be tried because rape was an offence at common law, “of which description of offences the courts of the United States do not take cognizance,” and no statute covering the crime had ever been passed. Monroe to Levett Harris, Chargé d’Affaires at St. Petersburg, July 31, 1816.—D. of S. MSS. Instructions. Monroe wrote to Count de Nesselrode, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Russia, under date of September 12, 1816, making a full explanation of the matter. It had been misrepresented in St. Petersburg and the American Chargé had been forbidden to attend the court.

[1 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

[2 ]The instruction is dated September 10. It followed the same ground as the note to de Neuville and said: “The case admitted of no compromise; a discussion on it, therefore, seemed to be useless even from the commencement, and after the last letter from the French Minister it would have been evidently highly improper, since it must have turned, on points which no government, entertaining a proper respect for itself, can ever bring into discussion with a Foreign Minister.”—D. of S. MSS. Instructions. De Neuville was not recalled, but served till 1822.

[1 ]On September 27 Crawford informed Jackson of the reported intended Spanish invasion and on the same day asked the Secretary of the Navy to send a ship to the Gulf of Mexico to co-operate with the land forces.—Mad. MSS.

[2 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox). September 20 Crawford wrote to Madison asking his decision on the claim of Whitman Knaggs to pay and emoluments when he was a deputy Indian agent in 1812 and was captured.—Mad. MSS.

[1 ]From The Works of Madison (Cong. Ed.).

[1 ]To be Secretary of War. William Lowndes of South Carolina also declined, and no one was appointed, George Graham, the Chief Clerk, serving ad interim to the close of the administration.—Ex. Register of U. S., 84.

[1 ]From the original in the New York Public Library (Lenox).

[2 ]Applying for a clerkship for Mr. Armistead.—Mad. MSS.