James Madison Papers

To James Madison from George W. Erving, 20 November 1801 (Abstract)

§ From George W. Erving

20 November 1801, London. No. 5. Encloses copy [not found] of admiralty proceedings on the New Adventure, [Ebenezer] Shearman master, should JM wish to use it as a basis for prosecution of the owners. Invoice listed value of cargo as $15,000. Condemnation is expected.1 Recounts report of proposal made to Rufus King to claim the property for the U.S., which would have led to recovery and delivery of each slave to the Sierra Leone Company.2 Regrets this violation of humane law by the inhabitants of a town that so abhors slavery and “where a perpetual clamour Exists even against the holders of the unbought Slaves of the South.”

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