James Madison Papers
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From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 25 November 1786

To Thomas Jefferson

Richmond Novr. 25th. 1786.

Dear Sir

The inclosed letter did not get to my hands till very lately though it was covered by one from Mrs Carr dated Aug: 21. I conferred a few days ago with Mr. Wythe on the subject of your Nephew in Williamsburg, and had the pleasure of receiving the most favorable account of his capacity, his diligence and his disposition. He is now in the College and enjoys the advantage of Mr. Wythe’s valuable patronage and instructions. Mr. Wythe assures me that he is an excellent Latin Scholar, and from the Greek classics which he has read & is reading, he must shortly merit the same character in the latter language. I have communicated to Mr. Wythe the plan of education which you wished t[o b]e pursued, and can count with perfect assurance on every attention on his part which the most zealous friendship to you and a particular affection to your Nephew can inspire. The evidence in favor of your younger Nephew is of the negative kind only, no late information having been received concerning him. Mr. D. Fitzhugh is here a member of the Assembly. He has not yet put into my hands the small sum which I was authorized to receive.1 He intimated to me a few days ago that he regretted the delay, & that he had a prospect of shortly putting an end to it. This letter goes by Mr. Chevalier who sets out tomorrow morning for N. Y. where he takes the Packet on the 15th. prox. I do not include any public matters, because I expect to bring them down to a later period in a letter which will reach N. Y. in time for the same conveyance. Ad[ie]u.

Js. Madison Jr

RC (DLC). The cover has been clipped, leaving fragments with JM’s forwarding directions, “Hond. by Monsr. Chevalier,” and part of the address. The enclosure was Martha Jefferson Carr’s letter to her brother, 5 May 1786 (Boyd, Papers of Jefferson description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (19 vols. to date; Princeton, N. J., 1950——). description ends , XV, 626–27). Docketed by Jefferson.

1Daniel McCarty Fitzhugh (b. 1758) of Marmion in King George County, a volunteer in the Virginia militia during the 1781 campaign, when he acted as aide-de-camp to Gen. George Weedon. He toured Europe in 1785 with his brother, Theodorick, and was befriended by Jefferson while in France (Boyd, Papers of Jefferson description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (19 vols. to date; Princeton, N. J., 1950——). description ends , IX, 25, 27, 657–58; X, 605). Fitzhugh served in the House of Delegates, 1785–1789. “It is necessary to use great care in regard to Daniel McCarty Fitzhugh, there being three persons of this name, between 1760–1786, and there may have been more” (Du Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, II, 563). The Fitzhughs owed Jefferson 1,080 livres, which JM was authorized to receive for his friend’s account.

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