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.
You will herewith receive two Commissions with the correspondent
instructions, in which, you are associated as
Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to the French
respective letters of credence to those Governments.
The allowance for the service will be a salary at the rate of
nine thousand dollars a year. The general rule which dates
the commencement of the salary at the time of leaving home
being inapplicable to your case, inasmuch as your appointment
was notified and accepted at this place; your salary
will commence on the——day of January on which
it was understood you accepted the appointment; and will
cease with the termination of the business of your Mission;
a quarter's salary being however added, as an allowance for
the expences of your return home.
The distinction between the circumstances of an extraordinary
and temporary mission and those of a mission requiring
a fixed establishment, is the ground on which no outfit is
allowed. But you will be allowed your expences in repairing
to Paris, including those of a Journey from your home to this
place; and your expences in travelling between the places
where you are or may be required to attend. In adopting
this mode of allowance in lieu of the outfit, the President presuming
your expences will not exceed a year's salary, has
thought proper to make that the limit. In addition to the
above, you will have a right to charge for postages and
Couriers, should the latter prove necessary.
Your Mission to Madrid will depend on the event of that to
Paris, and on the information there to be acquired. Should
the entire Cession in view be obtained from the French Republic
as the assignees of Spain, it will not be necessary to
part of the Cession be found to depend, not on the French,
but on the Spanish Government you will proceed to join Mr.
Pinckney in the requisite negotiations with the latter.
Altho' the United States are deeply interested in the complete
success of your Mission, the Floridas, or even either of them,
without the Island of New Orleans, on proportionate terms,
will be a valuable acquisition.
The President will expect, that the most punctual and exact
communication be made, of the progress and prospects of
the negotiations; and of the apparent dispositions of the
Governments of France and Spain towards the United States.
Should either of them, particularly the former, not only reject
our proposition but manifest a spirit from which a determined
violation of our rights, and its hostile consequences,
may be justly apprehended, it will become necessary to give
at home, which will require the earliest possible notice.
The inclosed letters to our Bankers at Amsterdam and
London, authorize them to pay your drafts for expences, as
above referred to, and as you shall find it most convenient
to draw upon the one or the other. Your experience will
suggest to you the necessity of taking exact vouchers in all
cases of expenditure, in order to the settlement of your
accounts.
Should you find it necessary to appoint a private Secretary
on your arrival in Europe, you are authorized to do so, allowing
him for his service at the rate of 1350 dollars p annum.
If he should live in your family, the expences of his maintenance
and travelling will be included in your accounts; but
he cannot be allowed any thing separately for expenses and
his salary will cease when the three months allowed for your
return commence. As he will have been found in France or
Spain it will not be unjust to leave him there without an extra
allowance for returning.
TO JAMES MONROE.
Dear Sir,—Since you left us we have no further intelligence from N.
Orleans, except a letter dated Jany 20 from the vice Consular agent
there, from which it appears that the letters to the Govr. & Intendant
from the Spanish Minister here, had arrived abt. the 13th., and had not on
the 20th., produced the desired change in the state of things. The delay
however does not seem to have been viewed by the Consul as any proof,
that the Intendant would not conform to the interposition. The idea
continued that he had taken measures without orders from his Govt.
There are letters (according to that from the Consul) for the Marquis
Yrujo now on the way by land. These will probably shew whether the
Intendant will yield or not. The despatch vessel which carried the
Marquis's letters is not yet returned. The detention of her beyond the
allotted time is favorably interpreted by him; on the presumption that
she waits for a satisfactory answer, which the pride of the Intendant
postpones as long as possible.
The Newspapers will have informed you of the turn given to the proceedings
of Gongs. on the subject of N. Orleans, &c. The proposition
of Mr. Ross in the Senate which drove at war thro' a delegation of unconstitutional
power to the Executive were discussed very elaborately,
and with open doors. The adversaries of them triumphed in the debate,
and threw them out by 15 votes agst 11. On the motion of Mr. Breckenridge
measures of expenseless or cheap preparation in the stile of those
which attended Mr. Jay's mission to G. Britain, have been agreed on in
the Senate. It is uncertain whether even these will pass the House of
Reps. If they should as is perhaps not improper, they will not be understood
as indicating no views that ought to excite suspicions or unfriendly
sensations in either of the Govt. to which your Mission is
addressed. The truth is that justice & peace prevail not only in the
Public Councils; but in the body of the Community; and will continue
to do so as long as the conduct of other nations will permit. But France
& Spain cannot be too deeply impressed with the necessity of
revising their relations to us thro' the Misspi, if they wish to enjoy our
friendship, or preclude a state of things which will be more formidable
than any that either of those powers has yet experienced. Some
adjustments such as those which you have to propose have become indispensable.
The whole of what we wish is not too much to secure permanent
harmony between the parties. Something much better than has
hitherto been enjoyed by the States, is essential to any tolerable degree
of it even for the present.
I enclose you an extract of a letter from Mr. Gallatin, which could
not be well incorporated with the instructions. The information it
gives may nevertheless be of use, & I take this mode of putting it in
your hands.
I understand that a bill is likely to pass granting Genl, Fayette 12,000
acres of land, as due for military services. We are anxious that a
clause may be inserted authorizing the President to locate the tract
wherever he pleases. Should this idea succeed, the grant may become
of great value, perhaps beyond the contemplation of the Marquis or
his most sanguine friends. Without such a clause, the land may be of
little account, and will probably fall short of the lowest expectations.
In the instructions relative to Art VI, you will find an important discretion
given on the subject of Beaumarchais claim. It was suggested
by the possibility that the claim may be pressed with an energy beyond
its importance in any public view; Such a discretion was therefore
highly expedient, and may possibly be used with desirable effect.
You will receive herewith sundry printed papers, & I recommend
that you receive from Mr. Gilston whatever Newspapers he may have
on hand for Mr. Livingston.
I have not heard from you since yours of the 22d. If I should find on
the rect. of your next that I have time eno', you shall hear again from
me before your departure; but it will probably be on private subjects
only.
Mrs. Madison offers with me affectionate respects, an agreeable voyage,
and happy scenes to Mrs. Monroe & Miss Eliza, as well as to
yourself.
evening. Some unavoidable delays have prevented their going by the
present.
(Extract of a letter from Albert Gallatin, Esqr., to J. Madison, Esqr.)
If West Florida can alone be purchased, it is certainly worth attending
to; but in that case, making the river Iberville the boundary as
it was made in the treaty of 1762 between France and England, the
article should be so worded as to give us the whole channel of that river,
or at least to permit us to open it so as to render it navigable in all seasons.
At present the bed is 30 feet above low water mark for 15 miles
from the Mississippi to Amit river; but I have no doubt that a very
small opening would be widened & deepened afterwards by the river.
There is no obstruction, the whole being level and mud or sand. But
supposing even a portage there, the advantage of american houses settled
in a american port would soon give a preference over New Orleans
to that port. The seaport may be perhaps on the main between Pearl
& Pargacola rivers; but certainly on the Island called "Ship Island"
as through the passage between that & the next island there are more
than 20 feet water & good anchorage close to the shore which faces the
main. A frigate of 36 guns was seen there by E. Jones, (the first clerk
in my office who is brother of our late consul at New Orleans & lived ten
years with him in W. Florida) & it is the reason of its bearing that name.
Judge Bay says that there is another island, called Deer Island close to
the entrance of Lake Pontchartrain which affords the same advantages.
That Jones disbelieves; but the other is certain, and as it is about half
way between Mobile & the Lake; as the whole navigation between these
two places is locked in by the Islands & safe even for open boats &
canoes; that island would become the proper seaport for both rivers
Mississippi and Mobile; for you can bring but 9 feet up Mobile bay, 7
feet over the bar of Lake Pontchartrain & 15 over the bar at the mouth
of the Mississippi. It results from all that, that the possession of West
Florida, even without New Orleans island, is extremely inmportant, and
that if it can be obtained, it ought expressly to include all the islands
within twenty leagues or such distance as to include those which are
marked on the map.—Enclosed to James Monroe, 1 Mar. 1803—Mad.
MSS.
| The writings of James Madison, | |