From James Madison to Domenico A. Azuni, October 1817
To Domenico A. Azuni
Ocr. 1817
Sir
The 3 Copies of your work on Piracy were duly recd;1 and 2 of them disposed of, one for the library of Congress, the other for that of the Department of State. For the 3d. presented to myself, I pray you to accept my thanks.
An historical, juridical, & remedial view of Piracy, was a subject, which merited the researches & disquisition you have bestowed on it; and I have perused this gift of your pen, with the pleasure promised by the talents of which they [sic] public had other proofs in possession.2 Be pleased Sir to accept my esteem & respect.
J. M.
Draft (DLC).
1. Azuni to JM, 8 May 1816 (DLC), enclosed Azuni’s Recherches pour servir à l’histoire de la piraterie, avec un précis des moyens propres à l’extirpation des pirates barbaresques (Gênes, 1816). Domenico Alberto Azuni (1749–1827) was a Sardinian lawyer and historian whose reputation was made by the publication of Droit maritime de l’Europe, a translation of a work he had originally published in Italian in 1795. An English translation was published in New York in 1806 (Edwin R. A. Seligman, ed., Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences [15 vols.; New York, 1930–35], 2:373; Domenico Alberto Azuni, The Maritime Law of Europe, trans. William Johnson [2 vols.; New York, 1806; 9877]).
2. JM enclosed his letter to Azuni in a note to Albert Gallatin (NHi: Gallatin Papers; 1 p.; docketed by Gallatin) which reads: “J. Madison, with his best respects to Mr. Gallatin, will be much obliged if he will have the inclosed letter forwarded to M. Azuni. The letter to which it is an answer was dated more than a year ago. He was then at Genoa.”