James Madison Papers

From James Madison to Joseph S. Ayers (Abstract), 20 February 1805

§ To Joseph S. Ayers

20 February 1805, Department of State. “I have received your letter of the 27th. Ult.1 The injury you sustained by the detention of your vessel is of a nature to be redressed only by your prosecuting the captor or his surety. There is therefore no form in which the Executive can with propriety interpose.”

Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 59, DL, vol. 14). 1 p.

1No letter of 27 Jan. 1805 from Ayers has been found. JM probably referred to Ayers’s 27 Nov. 1804 letter, PJM-SS, description begins Robert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (9 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986–). description ends 8:333–34.

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