To James Madison from George Joy, 19 December 1810 (Abstract)
§ From George Joy
19 December 1810, Copenhagen. “I am yet unadvised of the fate of my Letters that were put on shore at Gottenburg; and such of the Duplicates that I have sent to replace them … save that these last have passed safely into Sweden. I therefore give this an entirely different direction.”1 In a postscript lists the papers enclosed: Joy to JM, 8 Oct. 1810 and October 1810;2 cabinet secretary to Joy, 27 Nov. 1810;3 Joy to Count Rosenkrantz, 11 Dec. 18104 (“the last enclosed to Mr. Secry Smith, 13 Inst:”); and Joy to Robert Smith, 13 and 14 Dec. 1810.5 Apologizes for the “slovenly Manner” of his dispatches, but he cannot afford “any regular Aid.” “I am to this hour without a shilling Compensation in this business; tho’ I never was more laboriously occupied by Night or by Day.”
RC (DLC). 2 pp. For surviving enclosures, see nn. 2–5.
1. In a 31 Dec. 1810 postscript to the first copy of an October 1810 letter to JM (see Joy to JM, ca. 20 Oct. 1810, , 2:589–90), Joy, after mentioning that he had received neither mail nor emolument, noted: “We have a report that Mr. Smith retires. I have therefore lately covered some of my Letters, as In the pres⟨ent⟩ Case, for him to you” (DNA: RG 59, CD, Copenhagen).
3. See Peter Carl Jessen to Joy, 27 Nov. 1810 (1 p.; in French), stating that he had placed Joy’s explanations relating to the cases of the Ellen Maria and the Hannah, condemned by a prize court, before the king. The king had taken them into consideration and referred them to the chancellor for final determination (DNA: RG 59, CD, Copenhagen).
4. See Joy to Rosenkrantz, 11 Dec. 1810 (2 pp.; in French), forwarding an extract relating to prize law and thanking him for his efforts on behalf of the Ellen Maria. This note may have been intended to reinforce points Joy had made in a longer letter to Rosenkrantz on 8 Dec. 1810, a press copy of which Joy had also sent to JM (DLC; 7 pp.).
5. Joy’s 13 and 14 Dec. letters to Smith (4 and 5 pp. respectively) were devoted to discussions of his efforts on behalf of American ship captains before Danish prize courts and other Danish officials (DNA: RG 59, CD, Copenhagen).