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1800 letter American Consul Spain to Richard Codman Boston merchant
1800 letter American Consul Spain to Richard Codman Boston merchant
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1800 letter during Napoleonic times, from Robert J. Montgomery American Consul in Alicante Spain to wealthy Boston merchant Richard Codman in Paris on business.
Mr. Richard Codman Paris
Alicante 18th March 1800
Sir,
The sole – of this is to introduce our nephew Mr. George Clark to your civilities, who proposes visiting your City Havre de Grace & Rouen, on business of this Houses. We have therefore to request your introduction of him and best information to, some of the solid Houses in the above places, with whom he may transact his business, with some degree of safety; giving at all times your good self a preference of his concern, should it be in your ---and you will please to command our – services – being sincerely and truly
Robert John Montgomery
Our JM presents you his best respects and will be happy to receive a few lines
Note on front that letter is addressed to Citizen Richard Codman. ‘Citizen’ was the universal way for the French to address one another, first used during the French Revolution and into Napoleon’s time.
Richard Codman was a prominent Boston merchant and financier during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was born in 1755 in Boston, Massachusetts, and came from a family involved in trade and business.
Codman initially worked for his father's shipping company and gained valuable experience in international trade. He eventually established his own shipping business, which became highly successful. His company primarily focused on the West Indies trade, importing goods such as rum, molasses, and sugar from the Caribbean.
Codman was known for his shrewd business acumen and became one of the wealthiest merchants in Boston. He was involved in various business ventures, including banking and real estate. Codman also invested in the emerging textile industry and held interests in cotton manufacturing.
Apart from his business activities, Codman was actively involved in the political and social life of Boston. He served as a director of the Boston Marine Insurance Company and held positions in other influential organizations.
Codman's success as a merchant and financier allowed him to build an extravagant lifestyle. He constructed a grand mansion in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, which became a centerpiece of social events in the city.
He was an art collector and shipper who represented the firm of John and Richard Codman in France. He was instrumental in acquiring works of art for his brother, John Codman.Later described as “fond of society, careless in money matters, but with nice taste in pictures and statuary.”
George Washington appointed Robert Montgomery, a wealthy Irish-American merchant, the United States’ first consul to Alicante, Spain in 1793. At that time, Nathaniel Cutting, assistant to the American Minister to Spain to whom Montgomery would report, described him as a “steady, active and zealous” friend to American interests. Four years later, Humphreys himself wrote that Montgomery was the consul of which he had “heard more ill spoken than any others” and “that he is by many others looked upon as a very self-interested character; and by some as a man destitute of principle.” These contradictory assessments may be a product of time; perhaps after four years as consul Montgomery’s true colors became more visible. But they probably also reflect some fuzziness about the role of a consul and, particularly, the problem of self-interest when the American consular service was very new, very understaffed and very poor.
While Montgomery was later accused of the former transgression and may possibly also have indulged in the latter (though the evidence is not yet clear), it is a third type of conflict of interest to which he appears to have been most closely tied –the conflict between pursuing the national good and the aggressive pursuit of personal business profits.
