From James Madison to Robert Bowie (Abstract), 20 May 1805
§ To Robert Bowie
20 May 1805, Department of State. “The letter, of which a copy is enclosed, containing information that a number of convicts, and other persons of debased character are about to be carried to Baltimore, from Amsterdam, in the Prussian Vessels called the Navigation & the Speculation, has been received from a person of credit at Antwerp.1 As the laws of the State of Maryland, may have provided against such importations, I have thought it necessary to communicate it to you and to the Mayor of Baltimore.”
RC (NjP: Crane Collection); letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). RC 1 p.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by JM. Letterbook copy has added note: “A letter on the same subject was addressed to the Mayor of Baltimore, on the same day, without any variation from the above except at the close, where instead of Mayor &c. read, Govr. &c. &c.” Minor differences between the copies have not been noted.
1. For the enclosure, see Jacob Ridgway to JM, 8 Feb. 1805.