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Lot 88
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James Madison Endorses Diplomat’s Letter to Virginia Governor James Monroe Re: Jefferson Appointee
James Madison Endorses Diplomat’s Letter to Virginia Governor James Monroe Re: Jefferson Appointee
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Description:

James Madison
Washington, D.C., January 23, 1802
James Madison Endorses Diplomat's Letter to Virginia Governor James Monroe Re: Jefferson Appointee
Autograph endorsement

JAMES MADISON, Autograph Endorsement, on Isaac Cox Barnet to James Monroe, January 23, 1802, Bordeaux, France. 6 pp., 8" x 10".

In this letter, Isaac Cox Barnet asks Virginia Governor James Monroe to intervene with President Thomas Jefferson on his behalf. Jefferson had removed Barnet from his position as American commercial agent at Bordeaux, France.

Barnet sent the letter by Captain Baas, of the ship John and Francis, which arrived in Charleston on April 1, 1802. Governor Monroe would not have received the letter in Richmond, Virginia, until several days later. Monroe then forwarded it to Madison and Jefferson in Washington, D.C., on April 13. In June, Jefferson appointed Barnet as commercial agent in Antwerp in the French Republic (now Belgium), and in April 1803, as commercial agent in Le Havre, France.

Excerpts
[Madison's Endorsement on Address Panel:]
"& 2 Pacquets – news-Papers"

[Barnet to Monroe:]
"I have been sensible of the obligations I owe you in promoting my establishment & advancement in life. I have ever endeavoured to support a character and conduct worthy the confidence of my friends, and as far as in my power and abilities to do honour to their recommendations." (p1)

"My motive in writing to you now, Sir, is more to do justice to my feelings and to testify my respect, than to flatter my hopes by soliciting your influence in my favour to obtain an appointment persuaded as I am that the President has been led by good motives to remove me from this one at the same time that he has been deceived by my Rivals or my enemies to consider me under the influence of the former Administrations and a tool to their views. But they can be best refuted by the public and almost universal approbation of my conduct in France.
"But I confess I still entertain the hope of being employed in my Country's service, and as my last five years have been devoted to that object alone, I am in arrears of other competitors for fortune's favours, and have lost the occasions which presented of establishing myself in business:—this makes my disappointment the harder, as I have a large family (and an increasing one) to maintain—my Mother, Sister & 3 Children. It has so happened that most of my respectable friends in America have been of the party called federalists, though certainly nothing ought to attach to me from their merits or demerits and I feel a conscious satisfaction in submitting my conduct to the fullest investigation of truth & justice. Should the President be convinced of my deserving his favour, I may hope he will appoint me to the Consulate of Lisbon, which being now held by a foreigner and a man of fortune, may be more properly bestowed on a native Citizen." (p1-2)

"I address myself to you on this subject Sir, because I feel accountable for the execution of a trust & duty which originated from your patronage: ought I to be ruined by slander & malice, for unless such as been made use of to prejudice the Presidts Government, I could not have been treated with so much neglect and I must say injustice.... it would be worthy the President to inform himself of me, of the truth of any representations made to injure me in his opinion, it is in his power to do me justice, I believe it to be sincerely in his intentions as respects every individual Citizen. I have been wronged by some person or persons and he ought to admit my justification, the repairing that wrong is his high prerogative and in serving my Country, it is to it's first Magistrate, that I must look up for protection or disapprobation." (p3)

"I appeal to that wisdom & justice, and feeling the purity of my sentiments—I dare to invite his inquiry and to solicit his favour. My having been named by Mr Adams was not in consequence of my political sentiments being approved by him—it was in consequence of my steady undeviating conduct in favour of my countrymen—of the faithful discharge of an office which had been conferred on me some years before at your request...." (p4)

"Persuaded Sir, that you take an interest in my welfare, I feel much satisfaction in confirming to you the continuance of that good opinion & friendly support on the part of Mr Skipwith with which he favoured me when you was in Paris—he is likewise intimately acquainted with the merits of my pretentions, and has been so kind as to strengthen them by again recommending me to the President—to the President his friend." (p4)

"I send by this conveyance a Pacquet of News-Papers which I wish may be found interesting & go soon to hand." (p6)

Historical Background
In 1796, James Monroe recommended Barnet's appointment as consul at Brest, France. As consul, Barnet advanced funds for American seamen in need and helped Americans who were held by the French as prisoners of war after being captured on British ships.

President John Adams nominated Isaac Cox Barnet as the American commercial agent at Bordeaux, France, on February 18, 1801, and he was confirmed by the Senate six days later. However, incoming President Thomas Jefferson considered Barnet's appointment another of Adams's "midnight appointments." Although in April 1801, Jefferson thought of retaining Barnet at Bordeaux, on June 3, he nominated William Lee of Massachusetts to replace Barnet as commercial agent. Lee left Boston on July 21 with his family and arrived in Bordeaux in early September.

On August 5, 1801, Barnet wrote to Secretary of State James Madison, arguing that he had been unjustly removed as consul at Bordeaux. He insisted that he was a "true republican" and that President Jefferson had been misled. He also sent statements of support from American ship captains, merchants, and French officials.

On September 10, Barnet wrote directly to President Jefferson, "I have learnt by a paragraph in an American News paper that it has pleased you to superceede me as Consul for this port by Mr. William Lee: but having received no official advice, I hope the appointment is not definitively made, and if it should be the case, that on hearing me, justice will prevail. An animating confidence in the rectitude of my Cause & justice of My pretentions induces me to submit them to you, with Candour & truth." He continued with a detailed survey of his life and career and asked, "I beseech you then, Sir, to cause an investigation of my conduct to be made: it will prove as satisfactory to you sir, as honourable to me." He concluded, "suffer me to sollicit of your Justice, my Confirmation in this office."

On April 13, 1802, Governor James Monroe wrote to Secretary of State James Madison, enclosing this letter from Barnet and asking that he show the letter to President Thomas Jefferson. Monroe wrote, "The enclosed presents a case properly within the sphere of yr. own department. Mr. Barnet late consul at Bordeaux was appointed while I was in France to Brest, to wh. he was recommended by me, tho I am persuaded he owed his appointment to his friends in Jersey, for my recommendation was at a time, when it was more likely to injure than to benefit him. You will find him mention'd in my book page 355. He is a nephew of Mr. Boudinot the director of the mint. What I then said of him I still think. I was then under an impression that he was a republican, but confess that I was inclined to doubt it after my return to America, not from any thing I ever heard of him, but the consideration that all the active & known republicans were dismissd by the then admn., & the character of his connections in this country. It is probable he owed his continuance in office to the influence of his connections and not to his political principles. I am persuaded that was the case for I really think him an honest respectable young man, and particularly meritorious for his attention to his aged mother. You will be so kind as shew his letter to the President." Later in 1802, Jefferson and Madison sent Monroe to France to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans, but Napoleon's government offered to sell the entire territory of Louisiana, and Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.

In mid-July 1802, Barnet wrote again to President Jefferson, seeking an appointment as vice-commercial agent at Bordeaux or as consul at Marseilles or Nantes. Unknown to him at the time, Jefferson had appointed him as commercial agent at Antwerp, which he learned of in early September. He began his duties in Antwerp in mid-November. On November 12, Secretary of State Madison wrote to Barnet, offering the position of consul at Le Havre. Barnet received Madison's letter in March 1803 and immediately accepted the position at Le Havre, to which he relocated later in 1803.

Isaac Cox Barnet (1773-1833) was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and spent time in France as a child (1782-1783). In 1789, he worked as a surveyor for four months with Andrew Ellicott's boundary expedition in Upper Canada, and then worked for a New York merchant for four years. In 1794, he was appointed a cargo agent in France for John R. Livingston. A few years later, he began a series of diplomatic posts, including consul at Brest (1797-1800), commercial agent at Bordeaux (1801), Antwerp (1802), and Le Havre (1803-1816), and consul at Paris (1816-1833). Thomas Jefferson regarded President John Adams's appointment of Barnet as commercial agent at Bordeaux as an invalid midnight appointment and nullified it, though he appointed Barnet to Antwerp in 1802. Throughout his career, Barnet struggled to support his French wife and children.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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