1From James Madison to William Bingham, 14 April 1803 (Madison Papers)
Your two letters respecting the Brig Hope, for the proceeds of whose cargo certain persons in Massachusetts have obtained a judgment against you, have been referred to the Attorney General: but his present opinion is in unison with the former that the United States are under no engagement to indemnify you from the effects of that judgment. Even did such an obligation exist, as no legal...