To James Madison from Louis-Marie Turreau, 13 January 1807
From Louis-Marie Turreau
A Washington le 13. Janvier 1807.
Monsieur,
Le Coup de vent qui S’est fait Sentir depuis le 18. jusqu’au 23. Août dernier a considérablement endommagé deux Vaisseaux & deux Frégates de S. M. & ils ont été obligés de venir chercher un réfuge dans les ports des Etats-Unis, tant pour S’y réparer que pour y trouver des vivres qui leur manquaient, les leurs ayant été avariés par les mauvais tems qu’ils ont essuyés.
L’Administration Consulaire ne Se trouva point avoir dans cette circonstance des fonds suffisants pour les besoins urgen[t]s de ces bâtiments et pour y Subvenir elle eut recours aux traites Sur France. Mais cette ressource vient de lui manquer par le grand nombre de celles du commerce qui se trouve Sur la place & qu’on ne peut négocier; et elle ne peut remplir les engagements qu’elle a pris pour payer & assurer la Subsistance des Equipages.
Dans cette circonstance je suis obligé, Monsieur, de revenir Sur la proposition que j’ai déjà eu l’honneur de vous faire1 & de m’addresser au Gouvernement des Etats-Unis pour prendre des traites du Commissaire Général de france Sur le Payeur Général de la marine jusqu’à la concurrence de Soixante mille dollars, Somme qui lui est absolument nécessaire pour Solder & assurer la Subsistance des equipages des Vaisseaux de S. M. jusqu’à ce que les fonds demandés & attendus d’ici à un mois ou deux Soient parvenus.
J’ose me flatter, Monsieur, que votre Gouvernement ne refusera pas de rendre un Service que toutes les Nations civilisées Se rendent en pareil cas;2 et que vous êtes bien persuadé que la france S’empresserait de vous en rendre un Semblable toutes les fois que l’occasion S’en présenterait. Agréez, Monsieur, un nouvel hommage de ma haute Considération.
Turreau
CONDENSED TRANSLATION
The gale that made itself felt from the 18th to the 23rd of last August considerably damaged two ships and two frigates of His Majesty and they were obliged to come seek a refuge in the ports of the United States, as well to be repaired there as to find there the provisions which they lacked, their own having been ruined in the bad weather that they had endured.
The consular administration found that it did not have in this circumstance any funds sufficient for the urgent needs of these vessels, and in order to meet them, the consular administration had recourse to bills on France. But that resource has just run out because of the great number of commercial obligations that are now found in the market and that cannot be negotiated, and the administration is unable to fulfill the engagements that it undertook for the purpose of paying and assuring the subsistence of the crews.
In this circumstance Turreau is obliged to return to the proposition that he has already had the honor to make to JM and to address himself to the government of the United States to take up the bills of the commissary general of France on the paymaster general of the navy up to the equivalent of sixty thousand dollars, the sum that is absolutely necessary to pay and ensure the subsistence of the crews of His Majesty’s ships until the funds requested and expected in a month or two should arrive.
Turreau dares flatter himself that JM’s government will not refuse to render a service that all civilized nations render each other in such a case and that JM is well persuaded that France would hasten to render the United States a like service at all times when the occasion might arise.
RC (DNA: RG 59, NFL, France, vol. 2–3). In a clerk’s hand, signed by Turreau; docketed by Wagner, with his note: “Loan.”
1. For Turreau’s earlier request for funds, see Turreau to JM, 30 Sept. 1806, PJM-SS, 12:357.
2. In his 24 January 1807 letter to Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson authorized Gallatin to take “the bills of the minister of France to an amount not exceeding sixty thousand dollars” as a means of aiding France “until he will have had time to be furnished with funds from his own government” (DLC: Jefferson Papers).