Lot 307

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Description:

Letterbook of U.S. Minister to the Netherlands and Revolutionary War Surgeon William Eustis

This letterbook for the years 1815-1818 is filled with rich diplomatic content, containing copies of approximately 75 letters. U.S. Minister to the Netherlands William Eustis recorded his correspondence in it, including many letters from Eustis to Secretary of State James Monroe and U.S. Minister to Great Britain John Quincy Adams. It also includes a copy of at least two letters by President James Madison to King William I (1772-1843), who had proclaimed himself King of the Netherlands in March 1815 after Napoleon Bonaparte had escaped from Elba. With the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, King William I ruled the Netherlands until abdicating in favor of his son in 1840.

Much of the correspondence deals with American claims for shipping losses during the period when Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Louis Bonaparte ruled the Kingdom of Holland from 1806 to 1810, and with negotiations for a new commercial treaty. Most of the letters are copies of those written by Eustis to others, but the letterbook also includes copies of some letters addressed to Eustis. Most are in English, but a few are in French. The letterbook also includes eleven pages of "Letters from His Excellency the Baron de Nagell, Minister of Foreign affairs on the subject of the American claims," all in French

[DIPLOMATIC ARCHIVE.] William Eustis, Handwritten Letterbook, July 1815–May 1818, The Hague, Netherlands. 162 pp. (105 with text), 8.25" x 12.75". Some scuffing to cover; very good.

Excerpts
[Eustis to Secretary of State James Monroe, July 27, 1815:]
"information had been given to Mr. James, Charge d'Affaires of G. Britain at this place, that three seamen had deserted from the British armed brig Nightingale to the American ship Ganges (both ships being then in the port of Antwerp), who had been reclaimed by a British officer–that John Sweetland the impressed seaman had claimed the protection of the British officer as a British subject--and that from a consideration of all the circumstances attending the case, H. M. the King had determined not to interfere."

[Eustis to Samuel Hazard, U.S. Consul at Antwerp, August 6, 1815:]
"The scandalous conduct of Sweetland, with his entering himself voluntarily on board the Nightingale after having been discharged conforms a suspicion which I have entertained through the whole of this affair that he is not an American citizen. He is certainly unworthy of further notice."

[Eustis to Secretary of State James Monroe, August 9, 1815:]
"I have the honour to enclose a project of a Constitution for the Low Countries, which had been prepared and published in the newspapers and otherwise and was yesterday presented by the King in person to the States General, consisting of double the number of ordinary delegates. That it will be accepted there appears to be no doubt. So far as hitherto I have been able to judge the disposition of this Govt and people towards the United States is friendly and respectful. Our peace with Great Britain is spoken of as highly honourable to our Country. On our victory and peace with Algiers, the congratulations which I have had the honour to receive from His Majesty the King and from the principal members of the court, with the prevailing sentiments in the large cities are flattering to our National honour."
"It appears that the allied armies are in possession of all France."
"The seaman John Sweetland, mentioned in my letter of the 27 of July as impressed by the British armed brig Nightingale from the Am. ship Ganges, after having been discharged and directed by the American consul to an American vessel entered again involuntarily on board the Nightingale (leaving with the Consul written notice of such his intention) confirming a suspicion which through the whole affair had been entertained by me that he was not in fact an American citizen."

[Eustis to Secretary of State James Monroe, August 11, 1815:]
"Considering the present state of the commerce of this country, he thought it a matter of indifference, whether there were or were not any express stipulation upon the subject of reciprocal duties which I told him had been urged by Mr. Changuion. As there is now no Dutch representative in America, the Baron mentioned that negotiations upon this subject might be entered upon here. I replied that I had no instructions for this purpose, as it had been anticipated, when I left America, that the treaty would be concluded there."

[Eustis to Baron de Nagell, August 22, 1815:]
"In the course of the year 1809 a number of American vessels arrived in the ports of Holland with cargoes consisting of articles partly the growth of the United States and partly that of the Colonies. The latter portion being much the more considerable was seized by the Government, at that time in the hands of the ci-devant King of Holland Louis Bonaparte and detained in the Royal warehouses. In the month of March of the next year a treaty was concluded at Paris between the ex-King of Holland and the Ex-Emperor of the French, by virtue of which the property so detained was made over to the latter. It was soon after conveyed into France and sold for the benefit of the French treasury. The amount of the whole property so situated is estimated at about a million of dollars."

[Eustis to Baron de Nagell, October 29, 1815:]
"The undersigned cannot permit himself to believe that His Excellency the Minister intended to question very seriously the correctness of the general principle that nations are bound by the acts of their Governments. This principle has been too long established and acted upon and is moreover too consonant with equity to admit of doubt."

[Eustis to Secretary of State James Monroe, October 6, 1816:]
"Without recurring the Legitimacy of other existing Sovereigns, this country at this moment offers a commentary on the bar, which constantly under my eye, wherever it meets the word legitimacy may not be displayed from considerations of prudence and perhaps from a scrupulous regard to the general tenor of my instructions.
"How far a deviation from the neutral course hitherto held on this subject may be required and justified may depend on communications which this Government may make. However, sound is our principle, that the right of choosing their rulers is inherently in the people. I have sometimes doubted whether it is our interest in the present condition of Europe to urge it unnecessarily in the face of its Kings and Emperors, whose titles are many of them of modern date, some of them of doubtful nature, and more doubtful duration."

[President James Madison to King William I of the Low Countries, January 17, 1816:]
"I have made choice of William Eustis, one of our distinguished citizens to reside near your Majesty in the quality of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America."

[Eustis to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, September 27, 1817:]
"The Letter and other papers accompanying this will shew the course persued by the Commissioners appointed by the President to form a Commercial Treaty with this Government and explain the causes of their not having accomplish'd that object."

William Eustis (1753-1825) was born in Massachusetts, to a prominent Boston doctor and his wife. He was educated at the Boston Latin School and graduated from Harvard College in 1772. After he graduated, he studied medicine with Dr. Joseph Warren, the Patriot leader. Warren obtained a commission for Eustis as a regimental surgeon for the artillery, and he cared for the wounded after the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill, in which Warren was killed. Eustis served with the Continental Army in the New York and New Jersey campaign and later commanded a military hospital north of New York City for the remainder of the war. After the war, he returned to his medical practice in Boston. He served in the Massachusetts General Court (1788-1794) and the U.S. House of Representatives (1801-1805). In 1801, he married Caroline Langdon, but they had no children. A moderate Democratic-Republican, Eustis served as Secretary of War under President James Madison from March 1809 to January 1813. The army's lack of preparation for the War of 1812 led Eustis to resign, and Madison appointed him as minister to the Netherlands, where he served from 1814 to 1818, continuing during the first part of the administration of President James Monroe. He was recalled in 1818 and again won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1820 to 1823. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Massachusetts in 1820, 1821, and 1822, against the popular Federalist John Brooks. In 1823, he won the election against Federalist Harrison Gray Otis and won reelection in 1824. He died while serving as governor in February 1825.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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