To James Madison from Walter Dorsey and William Bond Martin, 22 May 1813
From Walter Dorsey and William Bond Martin
Crawfords Hotel May 22nd. 1813.
Sir
The undersigned being deputed by the Governor of Maryland, to wait on your Excellency with the enclosed resolution of the legislature of Maryland, request that you will be pleased to inform us what further protection will be afforded by the Genl. Government to the State of Maryland against the incursions of the Common Enemy; and also what provision may be expected to liquidate the necessary Expenditures which have been or may be incurred by the said State in providing against belligerent aggressions. As the legislature is now in Session, and their deliberations will necessarily be delayed until we return to the City of Annapolis, we trust your Excellency will furnish us with an Answer in the Course of this day.1 We have the Honor to be Yr. obt Servts.
Walter Dorsey
William B Martin
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, D-127:7); letterbook copy (MdAA); FC (MdHi). RC docketed as received in the War Department in May 1813. Minor differences between the copies have not been noted. For enclosure, see Levin Winder to JM, 20 May 1813, n. 1.
1. John Armstrong responded to Dorsey and Martin on 23 May 1813 stating that the federal government’s contributions to defense would be regulated by the War Department’s budget and the “degree & pressure of the danger to be repelled” and that the government would give “every attention to the special defense of Maryland, that may be compatable with the just claims of other parts of the Union.” He added that expenditures for militia would be reimbursed only if the troops were called out by federal rather than state authority (DNA: RG 107, LSMA; printed in Niles’ Weekly Register 4 [1813]: 219).