TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Monticello, August 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Mr. Appleton, the writer of the enclosed letter, was well known to me at Paris, but not as a man of business. He was young, handsome, and devoted to pleasant pursuits. He is now probably forty-five, and has since been in business, but with what qualifications or success I know not. He was our consul at Calais, his brother is our consul at Leghorn, and his father is (if living) a respectable merchant at Boston. All this leaves still room for inquiry whether he is fit for your agent. While on the subject, if you should be on the look-out, it may be worth your while to inquire after a Colonel Dowse, (of the same town with Fisher Ames.) He is a scientific navigator, has made voyages to the East Indies, is a sensible and most upright man, a little too much wrapt up in religious reveries. He has been most firm in his republicanism through all the storms and trials which those sentiments have been exposed to in that State. I write all this from my own knowledge of him; but I do not know he would accept the place and quit the retirement in which he has now been several years.
I enclose you the copy of a letter I wrote Mr. Fulton. I wait his answer as to the submarine boat, before I make you the proposition in form. The very name of a corps of submarine engineers would be a defence. Mr. Nicholas and his family left this neighborhood in health the day I arrived in it. We do not give up the hope of seeing Mrs. Smith and yourself here. I salute you with affection and respect.