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Subject Area: Economics
Subject Area: Political Theory

MADISON TO GALLATIN. - Albert Gallatin, The Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 1 [1879]

Edition used:

The Writings of Albert Gallatin, ed. Henry Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1879). 3 vols.

Part of: The Writings of Albert Gallatin, 3 vols.

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MADISON TO GALLATIN.

Montpelier, August 22, 1810.

Dear Sir,—

I have received your several letters of the 15th, 16th, and 17th. The appointment for the revenue cutter at New Orleans is approved, and so noted to the Treasury Department, and a commission for Freeman ordered to be made out without delay.

Poinsett promises, by his qualifications, everything to be expected from a substitute for Gelston. I have sent the returned papers to the Department of State, that new ones may be forwarded to you. It was always my idea that the country beyond the Andes should be joined to Buenos Ayres, but it seems I failed to impart it. The document will now specify both a port in Peru and Chili as within the range of Mr. P., if visitable by him. Should those come to you blank, you will fill them with ports best combining commercial importance and proximity to the seats of government. Your hints as to Sumter and the Brazilian relations to South America have been attended to. Rio Janeiro is in every view an eligible route for Mr. P. An advance of $1500 is stated to the Department of State. It may be well for you to suggest the best mode of making it from the Treasury. Secrecy as far as possible is desirable. It will not do to apply for a Spanish passport; although I fear the want of it may be a serious difficulty, unless Sumter’s letters of introduction should answer an equivalent purpose. The Spanish consul at Baltimore, on discovering that Lowry was going to Caracas, entered a formal complaint, on the ground that it was contrary to the colonial system. And to ask a passport, as for a private person, to cover a political one would not, of course, be allowable, if in these suspicious times it were not probably unattainable.

I enclose, at the request of Mr. Jefferson, a note to a paragraph in his case of the Batture contained in my last; intended to make his argument more clear and apposite.

The last despatch from Armstrong is no later than May 24. It relates merely to the proceedings under the Rambouillet decree. Mr. Graham mentions a letter from Warden, of June 10, as unimportant. I have a private letter from A., of May 24, which contains the passage following: “The Imperial decree of March 23 sufficiently indicates its own cause, though, from the personal explanations given to me, it would appear to have been less the result of the law itself than of its non-execution; which was construed, and with some plausibility, into a partiality for English commerce. ‘My wishes and interests (said the Emperor the other day) both lead to a free and friendly connection with the United States; but I cannot see with indifference on the part of this power measures which expressly favor the trade of my enemy. Such is their non-intercourse law, which by its own provisions, however faithfully executed, would not be equal in its operations, but which, so far from being faithfully executed, has been violated with impunity from its date to the present day, much to my prejudice, and greatly to the advantage of the British commerce.’ The error in this reasoning is in not going farther back for premises.” He glances at some faint indications of jealousy between France and Russia, and at an anticipated marriage between a prince of Prussia and a daughter of Lucien Bonaparte. In a preceding letter he alludes to a like one between Ferdinand and the second daughter of the Emperor Francis, with a view to its bearings on South America, and warns us that a champ de bataille may then be found with the United States.

I have a long letter from Judge Toulmin, which authenticates the reality of a combination headed by Caller and Kenady for the purpose of occupying Mobile, &c. The object is not denied, an impunity avowedly inferred from the impossibility of finding a jury to convict. The party engaged amounts, as given out, to about 400. The conquest is to be offered to the United States. Kenady is said to be on a visit to Georgia to consult the Senators of that State, whose advice is to be followed. It is not improbable, therefore, as is intimated, that this movement is intended to cover a retreat from the project.

The commandant at Fort Stoddart has written for reinforcements, which are eligible, if practicable, in a general reference to that quarter.

You will have seen the projected constitution for West Florida, and noted, among other particulars, the power to the temporary government to grant lands. Should it become necessary for the Executive to exercise authority within these limits before the meeting of Congress, I foresee many legal difficulties. What is to be done on the subject of the custom-house in such an event?

Be assured of my esteem and best wishes.

I can say nothing as to Poinsett’s military views, more than that no particular decision is contemplated. Should his services be needed hereafter, the use now made of him sufficiently denotes a disposition not to throw him out of sight.