1From James Madison to Dolley Madison, [ca. 11–18] November 1805 (Madison Papers)
Tunisian ambassador Soliman Melimeni, arrived at Norfolk in the
2From James Madison to Dolley Madison, 15 November 1805 (Madison Papers)
Tunisian ambassador Soliman Melimeni arrived at Washington in the
3To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 9 December 1805 (Madison Papers)
From Soliman Melimeni
4To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 13 December 1805 (Madison Papers)
Melimeni brought four Arabian horses with him as gifts for Jefferson (Brown,
5To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 12 January 1806 (Madison Papers)
Filed with this letter is a 14 Jan. 1806 list (2 pp.; one page in Arabic; one in English, in Richard O’Brien’s hand; docketed by Wagner) of Melimeni’s household, which comprised two lieutenants, a secretary, a cook, a barber, a steward, three servants, and a translator, totaling eleven people including the ambassador. Although the copy in Arabic lists the translator as George,...
6To James Madison from Joseph Bryan, 3 February 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
For the horses brought from Tunis by Soliman Melimeni, see
7From James Madison to Soliman Melimeni, 5 February 1806 (Madison Papers)
, Tunis, vol. 3; 12 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, signed in Arabic by Melimeni, with appended note by James Leander Cathcart stating that he had written the letter at Melimeni’s behest and that when he read an Italian translation to Melimeni and his translator, both had declared it a perfect translation of the instructions Melimeni had received from the bey), Melimeni stated that in April 1805 a...
8To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 7 February 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ From Soliman Melimeni. to Melimeni, 5 Feb. 1806
9To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 11 February 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ From Soliman Melimeni. 2 pp.; signed in Arabic; docketed by Wagner. Below Melimeni’s signature is a 10 Feb. 1806 note by James Leander Cathcart: “The letter to which this certificate is annext was compiled by the subscriber from the verbal communications of Siddi Suliman Mella Menni by request of the...
10From James Madison to Soliman Melimeni, 4 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
To Soliman Melimeni
11From James Madison to Robert Smith, 6 March 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
to Soliman Melimeni, 4 Mar. 1806
12To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 11 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
in James Leander Cathcart’s hand; docketed by Wagner. Written beneath Melimeni’s signature is Cathcart’s note: “The letter to which this certificate is annext was compiled by the subscriber from the oral communications of Sidi Suliman Mella Menni at the request of The Honble. the Secretary of State....
13From James Madison to Soliman Melimeni, 17 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
To Soliman Melimeni
14To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 18 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
From Soliman Melimeni
15From James Madison to Soliman Melimeni, 31 March 1806 (Madison Papers)
To Soliman Melimeni
16To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 7 April 1806 (Madison Papers)
signed in Arabic; docketed by Wagner. Written beneath Melimeni’s signature is Cathcart’s note: “Compiled from the verbal communications of Siddi Suliman Mella Menni By J L Cathcart.”
17To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 17 April 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
, 2:34). For the enclosures, see Melimeni to to Melimeni,
18From James Madison to Tobias Lear, 15 May 1806 (Madison Papers)
and Soliman Melimeni about Tunisian demands, see to Melimeni, Mar. 1806, and Melimeni to
19To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 19 May 1806 (Madison Papers)
...meant the ships would be coming home. Smith told Jefferson that he was holding a merchant vessel he had chartered to carry supplies to the Mediterranean while he awaited Jefferson’s decision about the 12 Oct. order and that Melimeni might return home in a small Navy Department brig that could be transferred to the State Department and then given to the Bey in lieu of the captured xebeque (
20From James Madison to James Leander Cathcart, 2 June 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
...5 June 1806 Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith sent Cathcart a second copy of these instructions. He stated that the vessel that Thomas Jefferson had ordered to be prepared for the Tunisian ambassador, Soliman Melimeni, was “a copper bottomed well found Brig, built principally of live oak” mounting ten guns. It would be staffed by officers of the U.S. Navy and would take no passengers other...
21To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 20 July 1806 (Madison Papers)
From Soliman Melimeni
22To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 22 July 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
Cathcart’s 20 July 1806 letter to Wagner reported that Thomas Triplett and Carlo the interpreter had come to Boston, leaving several of Melimeni’s staff members in New York,
...debts. Melimeni wanted to abandon them in the United States, but Cathcart foresaw constant trouble for the government if this were allowed to happen. He sent Carlo back to New York and wrote to mayor Dewitt Clinton,...
23From James Madison to DeWitt Clinton, 25 July 1806 (Madison Papers)
For the original list of Melimeni’s household, see his
24To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 26 July 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
Cathcart enclosed a 26 July 1806 letter from Soliman Melimeni to Thomas Jefferson (1 p.; in Cathcart’s hand, signed in Arabic; filed following ), which stated that Melimeni recognized the ...that Melimeni would likely be killed if he returned to Tunis in it. He therefore requested that Jefferson either allow him to stay in the United States until he received answers to the letters he...
25From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 4 August 1806 (Madison Papers)
, enclosing Soliman Melimeni to Jefferson, 26 July 1806.
26From James Madison to Louis-Marie Turreau, 5 August 1806 [letter not found] (Madison Papers)
, as requesting a passport for Soliman Melimeni.
27To James Madison from Louis-Marie Turreau, 7 August 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
the enclosed passport he requested in his letter of the fifth of the present month, for Soliman Melimeni; hopes it is in the form
28To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 9 August 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
issued a passport dated 5 Aug. 1806 for “the American Brigantine Two Brothers,” John Chandler master, to carry Soliman Melimeni to Tunis with his suite and merchandise (
29To James Madison from Jacob Wagner, 19 August 1806 (Madison Papers)
Wagner enclosed copies of 1) John Stricker to Robert Smith, 13 Aug. 1806 (2 pp.), stating that several Baltimore merchants had agreed to hold debentures totaling $3,817.82 on goods purchased from them by Soliman Melimeni, that the debentures would be forfeited if the goods were transshipped as a result of Melimeni’s refusal to sail in the ...1806 (1 p.), ordering Wederstrandt to retain Melimeni...
30To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 20 August 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
, n. 1), and stated that Cathcart had informed Soliman Melimeni of the situation with the debentures, whereupon Melimeni’s “phrenzy lead him to every species of insolent observation,” including declarations that he was not subject to U.S. revenue laws and would impose the same requirements on U.S. citizens in Tunis after his return.... ...3,500 in freight charges for which Melimeni would become...
31To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 21 August 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
Cathcart’s 21 Aug. 1806 letter to Robert Smith (7 pp.) described Soliman Melimeni’s erratic behavior and insulting comments at length, including the minister’s accusation that ...decision to depart for Washington that morning to discuss his complaints with the administration. If Melimeni persisted in withholding payment for the coffee, Cathcart wrote, he would sell it and sue the minister...
32To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 25 August 1806 (Madison Papers)
, Tunis, vol. 3). In a clerk’s hand, signed by Melimeni; docketed by Wagner. Enclosed in
33To James Madison from Stephen Decatur, 25 August 1806 [letter not found] (Madison Papers)
Acknowledged in Jacob Wagner to Decatur, 1 Sept. 1806 (printed below), as having to do with Soliman Melimeni’s intended return to Washington, D.C., and enclosing Melimeni to
34Jacob Wagner to Stephen Decatur, 1 September 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
Soliman Melimeni to
35To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 16 September 1806 (Madison Papers)
...discussed funding for the Cumberland Road; the location of roads from Vincennes, Indiana Territory; and his recent decision to authorize DeWitt Clinton to continue to support the three members of Soliman Melimeni’s staff still in New York, at government expense, for two weeks or until Jefferson’s decision on whether or not the government would pay their passage to Europe could be received...
36To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 17 September 1806 (Abstract) (Madison Papers)
§ From Soliman Melimeni. had ordered Mr. Cathcart to make at Boston for Melimeni and his suite’s crossing. Cathcart gave Melimeni an expense account
but Melimeni, the ship’s captain, and the doctor sailing with them checked the provisions and concluded that these should not have cost more than $200. Cathcart also charged a commission on all the presents he bought for the Dey... ...Melimeni,...
37To James Madison from Soliman Melimeni, 23 September 1806 (Madison Papers)
, Tunis, vol. 3). In a clerk’s hand, signed by Melimeni; docketed by Wagner as received 1 Oct.
38To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 30 September 1806 (Madison Papers)
Of these enclosures, only one bill of lading, dated 5 Sept. 1806 and signed by John Candler (1 p.), is filed with the RC. It lists the goods shipped by Soliman Melimeni on the ...Teirce loaf sugar,” various quantities of ginger, cochineal, tin, china, rum, and logwood, and a fowling piece, a blunderbuss, a plow, a rake, and a saddle. In addition, it states that Melimeni was to pay no...
39Jesse Burton Harrison’s Notes of Conversations with James Madison, 27-30 November 1827 (Madison Papers)
For Soliman Melimeni, the Tunisian ambassador to the United States, see