To James Madison from John Leonard, 22 November 1806
From John Leonard
Barcelona 22d. Novr. 1806
Sir
The preceding is copy of what I had the honor to address you last.1 I now take the liberty to forward a copy of a Letter I received from Mr. Erving2 & my answer to it.3 You will please to observe, that the Exeqr: I received from the Spanish Government mentions the port of Barcelona. The Captain General of the Province remarked when I presented to him said Exeqr. that those of other Consuls for Barcelona, included the little ports in the neighbourhood & recommended my writing to Madrid to my minister, in order to have said places inserted. On making enquiries from other Consuls, I find that it is the custom with their nations to give their consular commissions for Barcelona & Province of Catalonia as there are no other ports in Catalonia except the little places described in my Letter to Mr. Erving, where the merchants of this city, generally embark their exports from, as there is a sand Bar at the mouth of this Harbour, which prevents loaded vessels passing, there being only ten feet water over it. I am extreemly sorry to fatigue you so much on the subject of my Commission, and beg to observe, that if you would think proper to forward me a Commission, specifying Catalonia, there could not arise any further miscomprehension on the subject.
By a Letter recently received from my Partner Mr. Andrew Thorndike of Beverly, he says, that he has written to the secretary of States’ office for a blank Bond to fill up, with the Security required. I have the honor to be with great respect Sir Your most obt. & very humble Svt.
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, CD, Barcelona, vol. 1). Leonard wrote this letter above his 22 January 1807 letter to JM, which begins: “The forgoing is Copy of what I last had the pleasure to address you ⅌ the Schooner three Friends, Capt Harvey.” For enclosures, see nn. 2–3.
1. The last known letter from Leonard to JM is dated 22 July 1806 (PJM-SS, 12:135).
2. The enclosure is a copy of Erving to Leonard, 3 Oct. 1806 (1 p.), in which Erving enclosed Leonard’s commission but denied his request to extend it to other ports beyond Barcelona. Erving instead noted his agreement with Spanish foreign minister Pedro Cevallos to refer the matter to U.S. government officials.
3. Leonard enclosed a copy of his 14 October 1806 reply to Erving (3 pp.) informing him that Leonard had partnered with “some american Gentlemen” to conduct most of the U.S. business in Barcelona and that he felt aggrieved because the Spanish government had denied his request for an extension of his exequatur to specify other ports in Catalonia. He explained the necessity of the extension with the same arguments he made to JM. Leonard asked Erving why the Spanish government had denied the request, noting that the former American consul “had his Exeqr. according to the meaning & words of the Comn.” and that Leonard’s commission, made by the U.S. president, “cannot admit of a denial on the p⟨art⟩ of the Spanish Government.” He also asked Erving to clarify what question he had agreed with Cevallos to refer “to our Government.”
Filed with these enclosures is a copy of Erving’s reply to Leonard, 22 Oct. 1806 (3 pp.), in which Erving stated that the Spanish Junta de Comercio “always” objected to extensions of consular jurisdiction such as Leonard had requested and in fact had also done so for William Willis, former U.S. consul at Barcelona. Erving assured Leonard that the objections were not made on political grounds and noted that Cevallos had agreed to change the language of the exequatur to “Barcelona & its dependencies”; nevertheless, Erving felt he needed authorization from “our Government” before acceding. In the meantime, he urged Leonard to contact JM to convey “the peculiar Nature” of Leonard’s case and offered assurances that “there can be no objection to your acting in the neighbouring ports.”