The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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TO JAMES MONROE.
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 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
TO JAMES MONROE.[119]
Among the inclosures is a very exty. letter from
Mr De Neuville.[120]
It was brought by his private
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
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.[121]
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. . . .
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.
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.
| The writings of James Madison, | |