Tripoli: First War With the United States, Inner History, Letter Book (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from Tripoli: First War With the United States, I...)
Excerpt from Tripoli: First War With the United States, Inner History, Letter Book
The following is a copy of a note from President Jefferson to the Senate referred to in the preceding letter.
I received a letter from you the other day on the subject of Cathcart, who was appointed by Mr. Adams and con firmed by the Senate as consul to Tripoli. He is personally known to me and pretty well known; he is the honestest and ablest consul we have with the Barbary powers; a man of sound judgment and fearless. He married the daughter of a very respectable family in Philadelphia. His public correspondence is published and shows his understanding. A vessel being on her departure to the Mediterranean, the Enterprise, Capt. Sterrett, it presses on us to send his com mission by her, and makes it desirable that the Senate'
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The Captives: Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers (Classic Reprint)
(Excerpt from The Captives: Eleven Years a Prisoner in Alg...)
Excerpt from The Captives: Eleven Years a Prisoner in Algiers
Tripoli. When war was declared by Tripoli against the United States he was sent as Consul to Leghorn where he remained several years, spending about nine years in these different places. He returned to the United States in 1805. In 1807 he was appointed Consul to Madeira where he remained nine years when he returned to Washington, D. C., and soon after went as Consul to Cadiz where he remained nearly three years and was next employed as United States agent in Louisiana, and from 1823 to 1843 was employed in the Second Comptroller's office, Wash ington, D. C. So faithful to his country and family, he never took a summer vacation till the year he died, passing away Oct. 6, 1843. After spending their lives in three quarters of the globe his devoted companion followed him to their blessed home in less than four months.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
James Leander Cathcart was born on June 1, 1767 at Mount Murragh, County of Westmeath, Ireland. He was the son of Malcolm Hamilton Cathcart, who had married the daughter of Edward Humphreys of Dublin. The family surname is taken from the Barony of Kethcart, County of Renfrew, now the town of Cathcart, Scotland. The founder of the family, Col. Gabriel Cathcart, accompanied the Rev. Malcolm Hamilton (later Bishop of Cashel) to Ireland in 1641. James Leander Cathcart was brought to America as a child by Capt. John Cathcart.
Career
In October 1779 he became a midshipman on the Continental frigate Confederacy, Capt. Seth Harding, where he served until captured by the British some months later. He was taken to New York and confined on the prison ships Good Hope and Old Jersey but escaped in March 1782 and entered the merchant service. While he was a seaman on the schooner Maria, of Boston, the vessel was captured (July 25, 1785) by an Algerine xebec off Cape St. Vincent. The crew was sold into slavery in Algiers. Although a prisoner, Cathcart became clerk of the Marine (1787 - 88), clerk of the Bagnio Gallera (prison of the galley slaves), keeper of the prison tavern, clerk to the prime minister, and, in March 1792, chief Christian secretary to the Dey and Regency of Algiers. He seems to have had some influence with the Dey and claimed that it was only after much effort on his part that the Dey agreed to receive Joseph Donaldson, sent by the United States to negotiate for peace and the release of prisoners (1795). The treaty signed, Cathcart sailed for Philadelphia (May 8, 1796) in the barque Independent, which he had purchased, carrying dispatches from Joel Barlow, and a letter from the Dey to President Washington. He was appointed consul at Tripoli (July 10, 1797), but remained in Philadelphia to select the presents and naval stores for the tribute to Algiers. In December 1798 he was appointed a special diplomatic agent, and accompanied William Eaton to Tunis, where they obtained alterations in the unsatisfactory treaty that had been negotiated by Joseph E. Famin in August 1797. The treaty concluded (March 26, 1799), Cathcart proceeded to Tripoli and procured a settlement with the Pasha by distributing $1, 500 in bribes. Later, the Pasha, observing the flourishing condition of the unprotected American commerce in the Mediterranean, made further demands, and declared war on the United States in May 1801, Cathcart retiring to Leghorn. It was upon Cathcart's suggestion that Eaton espoused the cause of Hamet Karamanli, rightful Pasha of Tripoli, then exiled in Tunis. In 1802 Cathcart was authorized to treat with the Tripolitan government, but the Pasha treated his proposals with contempt. The Bey of Tunis, who had twice refused to receive Cathcart, whom he characterized as an embroglione (translated by Eaton as "troublesome litigious trifler"), rejected both consul and the terms offered and denounced Cathcart to the President, to which Jefferson made an apologetic answer. Cathcart later served as consul at Madeira (1807 - 15), and at Cadiz (1815 - 17), and after he returned to the United States became naval agent for the protection of live oak timber in Florida (1818 - 20). During the last twenty years of his life he was employed in the United States Treasury at Washington, D. C.
On June 5, 1798, he married Jane Bancker Woodside of Philadelphia, by whom he had twelve children.
Mrs. Jane B. Newkirk, Cathcart's daughter, compiled and published the journal of his Algerine captivity, The Captives, and a volume of his official correspondence, Tripoli .