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.
1. No letter of 27 Jan. 1805 from Ayers has been found. JM probably referred to Ayers’s 27 Nov. 1804 letter, 8:333–34.