LS as secretary of state, signed “Jas. Monroe,” one page, 7.5 x 12.75, November 30, 1815. Letter to Anthony Morris in Madrid, in part: "It is agreeable to find…that the Spanish government had acceded to the proposition contained in my letter to Mr. Cevallos…re-establishing the diplomatic intercourse between the two countries, and had thus opened the way for a settlement of differences which have too long subsisted between them. It is probable that Mr. Brent may have been received as Secretary of the Legation, in which case your further services at Madrid becoming unnecessary, you will consider your mission as brought to a conclusion. Seeing that you are in want of supplies, I have enclosed duplicate copies of a letter to the bankers at Amsterdam, giving you authority to draw upon them for four thousand dollars. It is desirable however, that you should avail yourself of this credit no further than you may find necessary, as it is with much difficulty and considerable loss that remittances can now be made to the bankers from this country; reserving whatever balance may be due you beyond these expences, for payment on your return." In very good to fine condition, with small archival tape repairs to splitting along the horizontal folds.
The difficulties between Spain and the United States stemmed from the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, a territory which Spain had ceded to France, and France subsequently sold to the United States. Claiming that the sale was illegal, Spain worked unsuccessfully to recover the lands and disputed the bounds of the territory. This claim, and the counter-claims of the United States, resulted in contentious negotiations with Napoleon and nearly led to war. Anthony Morris had been sent to Spain in 1813, endeavoring to dissuade the Spanish from allowing Great Britain to use Florida as a springboard for an attack into the United States. His mission is chronicled in H. L. Dufour Woolfley's 2013 biography A Quaker Goes to Spain: The Diplomatic Mission of Anthony Morris, 1813-1816.
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