To James Madison from Gabriel Duvall, 12 November 1801
From Gabriel Duvall
Annapolis, 12 Nov. 1801.
Dear sir,
A report prevails here, founded, it is said, on a letter from Mr. Steele,1 of Washington that a compromise has taken place between the United States & Great Britain as to the claims of the latter under the sixth article of the treaty of 1794, & that the U. S. are to pay a given sum which is to be accepted in full discharge of all the individual claims. It is said also that this last treaty, if it may be so called, contains a stipulation that out of the sum so agreed to be paid by the United States, the claims of our citizens against subjects of Great Britain, are to be satisfied. A friend of mine, Mr. Gibson of Talbot,2 who is one of the Representatives of Edward Reynolds3 deceased, is anxious to know the truth of this fact. Mr. Reynolds was a creditor, on Judgment, of Mr. Molleson,4 a british merchant to the amount of £4000 sterling exclusive of interest.
If there is no impropriety in your satisfying me on this head, before the subject is acted upon & made public, You will oblige me by informing me if such claims are to be satisfied in the manner abovestated. I am with great Respect & Esteem Your obedt. Sert.
G Duvall.
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. John Steele was comptroller of the treasury (, 1:314 n. 2).
2. John Gibson III was prominent in politics in Talbot County, Maryland (Edward C. Papenfuse et al., eds., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789 [2 vols.; Baltimore, 1979–85], 1:350–51).
3. Gibson’s brother was married to Edward Reynolds’s sister Frances (see ibid., 1:352, 2:676).
4. The London tobacco merchants William and Robert Molleson did extensive business in Maryland before the Revolution (Edward C. Papenfuse, In Pursuit of Profit: The Annapolis Merchants in the Era of the American Revolution, 1763–1805 [Baltimore, 1975], pp. 38, 40, 170, 190).