ALS as Secretary of State, one page both sides, 7.75 x 9.5, August 29, 1807. Handwritten letter to Daniel Carroll Brent, requesting that he inform Jacob Wagner that there has been no communication from Spanish diplomats, conveying President Thomas Jefferson's request that a copy of all correspondence among ministers at London be made available to Congress, and requesting the forwarding of all mail from the Monroe-Pinkney mission.
In full: "I have recd yours of the 26. You may inform Mr. Wagner, that it would be a pleasure to me to aid his views, but that no information has been recd. for a long time from our Spanish affairs, nor indeed any since the epoch to which he refers, that could guide him in appreciating the proposal made to him, better than his own good judgment exercised on the general course of events, and his recollection of all the circumstances heretofore within his knowledge.
The President has hinted the expediency of setting about duplicate copies of all the instructions & correspondence of our Ministers at London; as in different events it may be necessary to lay them before Congress even at its opening; and from the voluminous nature of these documents, the preparation can not be too soon commenced. The proper pens may therefore set about the task, immediately.
Finding that I have here a copy of Mr. Monroe’s Cypher, I wish you to arrange with the Post office, the forwarding without the loss of a Mail, whatever dispatches may appear to be from either the joint or ordinary mission to G. Britain." In fine condition, with scattered light staining. Accompanied by a handsome custom-made quarter-leather case.
In 1806, the Monroe-Pinkney Treaty was negotiated between the United States and Great Britain to address ongoing concerns about the British impressment of American sailors and the neutral trading rights of American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. President Jefferson angrily rejected the treaty after receiving it in March 1807, feeling it did not go far enough on either issue. Still unresolved five years later, these were the primary tensions that gave rise to the War of 1812.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this letter is its reference to "Mr. Monroe's Cypher." Codes and ciphers were interesting facets of many sensitive diplomatic letters of the period, when 'nomenclator' codes were popular. Monroe used a successful code during his time abroad which came to be known as 'Mr. Monroe’s Cypher.'
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