James Leander Cathcart (1767-1843) emigrated from his native Ireland as a young child. He served briefly as a midshipman on a Continental frigate but was taken prisoner by the British. During the 1780s, he worked on merchant vessels, but after his schooner was captured by Algerians in 1785, he was sold into service in Algiers. Making the best of his situation, he worked as a clerk in a series of increasingly important positions, eventually becoming the Christian secretary to the dey of Algiers. In that capacity he aided negotiations that led to the release of American captives there, including himself. Cathcart returned to the United States in 1796 and lived in Philadelphia, where he met TJ, who later characterized him as “a man of very sound judgment & fearless.” Named consul to Tripoli by John Adams, Cathcart served in that position until the outbreak of war between Tripoli and the United States. TJ named him consul at Algiers in 1802, but the dey rejected the appointment, and the following year he was appointed consul at Tunis. Again, his appointment met disapproval, and TJ was forced to rescind it. From 1807 to 1815, Cathcart served as U.S. consul to Madeira, followed by a two-year stint as consul at Cadiz. In later years, he worked at the Treasury Department in Washington (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928-36, 20 vols. description ends ; Daily National Intelligencer, 9 Oct. 1843; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 2:46; 3:20-1; Vol. 36:557; Vol. 42:351-3).

presents his respects: Cathcart returned to the United States at the end of February and had been in Washington for about a month. He dined at the President’s House on 29 Apr. (National Intelligencer, 3 Apr.; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser. description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 43 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 12 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984-2020, 11 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 3 vols. description ends , 9:87-8; Appendix II).