James Madison Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-11-02-0423

To James Madison from Isaac Cox Barnet, 16 April 1806 (Abstract)

From Isaac Cox Barnet, 16 April 1806 (Abstract)

§ From Isaac Cox Barnet. 16 April 1806, Paris. “The enclosed Mémoire1 containing Some information in its nature Connected with the interest of American Claimants upon France I beg your Acceptance thereof.”

RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, CD, Paris, vol. 2). RC 1 p. For enclosure, see n. 1.

1The enclosure (46 pp.; printed in French; docketed by Wagner) is a copy of a memoir of the suit of Boston merchant John Andrews against James Swan and Michael O’Mealy that also involved John Armstrong, Fulwar Skipwith, Paul Bentalou, Barnet, and the French commission of liquidation. In 1794 Andrews, in the Young Sybrand, arrived at Le Havre from Lisbon with a cargo of leather, cotton, and indigo, which he sold to the French government and for which he received payment in assignats on which he lost money. Andrews was unable to pursue his claim against France until after the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Claims Convention in 1803, when he sent his claim with powers to act on his behalf to Skipwith, but the claim was initially rejected by the American commission on claims. Skipwith, unable to exercise the powers, substituted Bentalou to act for Andrews. In a meeting with Bentalou, Swan said the entire claim belonged to him but then consented to have the part claimed by Andrews sent to a Baltimore merchant house to hold; so Bentalou, relying on this, did nothing further, letting Swan pursue liquidation of the debt, which was admitted by the French liquidation office in favor of Swan or Andrews. In 1805 bills were delivered to O’Mealy as Andrews’s representative, but Barnet knew that Andrews had never given his powers to O’Mealy who was then portrayed as Swan’s assignee. The memoir continues with descriptions of how the bills were recalled and reissued by John Armstrong and the French, detailed arguments against Swan’s claim, revelations of his shady actions in pressing his claim, and ends with the demand that Andrews should receive the amount of the claim plus his expenses.

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