Beschreibung:

MADISON, JAMES, President . Letter signed ("James Madison") as Secretary of State, to Rufus King, United States Minister to Great Britain, "Department of State," Washington, D.C., 23 July 1802. 3 pages, 4to, 248 x 202mm. (9 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.), neat separation along central fold (not affecting text), docketed on verso "...Impolicy of taxing British Exports to the U.S., Louisiana..."; red cloth protective chemise, red quarter morocco gilt slipcase . A LETTER OF STATE TO THE DIPLOMAT WHO FIRST REPORTED THE NEWS OF THE LOUISIANA CESSION TO JEFFERSON Secretary Madison communicates the Jefferson administration's policy reaction to Great Britain's proposed harsh taxes on exports to the United States, and argues that such taxes will only encourage American manufacturers to compete, then confirms that Jefferson considers the cession of Louisiana to France to be an issue of "great importance." He writes: "...The bill imposing a greater export duty on British exports to America, than on like exports to other places...is regarded by the President in the same light [in] which your comments place it. It is impossible indeed not to see in it an infraction of...[Jay's] Treaty of 1794......[T]he British Government is too enlightened not to perceive on reflection that every duty which it imposes on her exports to the United States, is a bounty on the exertions of her manufacturing rivals... "[Y]our correspondence with Lord Hawkesbury on the Cession of Louisiana and the Floridas to France, will receive from the President all the consideration which its great importance demands; and as soon as an answer can be founded on the result of his reflections, no time will be lost in transmitting it..." Published in Papers, Secretary of State Series , ed. D.B. Mattern et al., 3:418-419. By the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed 1 October 1800, Spain had agreed to cede Louisiana, which it had held since 1763, back to France. "The earliest reliable information about the prospects with respect to Louisiana came from [King]. He fully realized the dangers in the situation. In his first dispatch bearing on it he reported the opinion of influential persons in France that there was a natural line of separation between the American people on the two sides of the [Appalachian] mountains. He believed that the cession was intended to weaken the Union. Afterwards he reported that the British feared the extension of French power up the Mississippi and through the lakes to Canada. In one of his conversations with Lord Hawkesbury, he quoted the saying of Montesquieu that the existence of the Turks and Spanish was fortunate, since they of all nations were 'the most proper to possess a great empire with insignificance.'" (Malone, Jefferson the President , p. 249). Jefferson was apprehensive that Great Britain might intervene with Spain to thwart his attempts to purchase New Orleans and East Florida (which was mistakenly believed to be included in the cession). King continued to play a useful role by reporting his confidential conversations and news from the French and Spanish capitols on the situation with regard to Louisiana. Rufus King (1755-1827), appointed Minister to Great Britain by George Washington in 1796, remained in that post until 1803. King's tactful diplomacy during that tenure helped avert an open breach between Great Britain and the United States. A dedicated Federalist, he was active in politics upon his return to the U.S. and was the Federalist candidate for Vice-President in 1804 and in 1816. Provenance : Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation (sale, Part Two, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 26 April 1978, lot 209).