To James Madison from Alexander Scott, 20 August 1816
From Alexander Scott
Port Tobacco Md Aug 20th. 1816
Sir
To vindicate myself to those, whose favorable sentiments I so highly appreciate, is a motive which will, I hope, authorize the liberty I take, in enclosing you a copy of a circular letter, which I have addressed to the Senators.1
The statement therein contained, will, I flatter myself, completely refute the charges which governed the Senate, in their decision with regard to myself, and shew the unworthy motives which actuated the accuser. That such an accuser, cou’d influence the Senate of the UStates, not only occasions surprize, but affords a melancholy proof of the fallibility of human reason, and the imperfection of earthly institutions.
To excite that indignation, which malevolence, of so unusual a character, merits, is not my intention. On this subject, but one sentiment appears to exist, and the public voice on such occasions, rarely fails to pronounce a just and correct sentence.
I take the liberty also to transmit a copy of a letter, from the late Rd Brent Esqr to the then Vice-President of the UStates;2 conscious at the same time, that the partiality of my friend, expressed much more than I deserved, tho his known integrity forbids the idea of his Stating any thing which he did not implicitly believe.
To have obtained and preserved the good opinion, of such a man as Mr Brent, is to me a pleasing reflection; a man as pure in his heart, as exalted in his mind; combining an assemblage of virtues and talents which rendered him an ornament to human nature.
I likewise enclose a copy of a letter from the worthy and respectable chanc[e]llor of Maryland, to Genl Smith, written on the same occasion.3 With such testimonials as these, the obloquy of an enemy (obscured by the Comparison) will not, I trust, be put in competition. I have the honor to be Sir, With Sentiments of the highest respect, and Esteem, Yr, Mo: obed,t Servt.
Alexander Scott
PS
Since writing the foregoing, I instituted a suit against Mr Law for defamation, after which he proposed, thro’ Mr Fras Key that he wou’d (provided I dismissed the suit) state in writing that “he had, on further enquiry found the above-mentioned negroes, had no right or title to their freedom, and that the whole of his information was unfounded.” To this proposal I did not think proper to accede.
AS
RC and enclosures (DLC). For enclosures, see nn.
1. On 29 Apr. 1816 Alexander Scott of Maryland was nominated by JM to be a commissioner under the act to authorize payment for property lost, captured, or destroyed by Great Britain during the War of 1812. The Senate referred the nomination to a committee, then rejected it on 30 Apr. 1816 (, 3:52–53). Enraged, Scott had printed a circular letter addressed to members of the Senate, dated 17 Aug. 1816 (2 pp.), which he enclosed to JM, complaining that the Senate had been influenced by charges made by a Mr. Law (whom Scott later noted in the margin as John Law) to the effect that Scott had “sold negroes entitled to their freedom, and that [he was] addicted to intemperate habits.” In his letter to the senators, Scott stated that he intended to come to Washington to vindicate his reputation by the record of a court case held in Annapolis, which was decided in his favor and deliberately withheld from the Senate. Scott also declared that Maryland courts invariably ruled “in favor of the masters who now hold the family in slavery” and that he had taken legal counsel before he sold the slaves in question. He admitted that personal relations between him and Law had been hostile since 1810 and concluded that “great as is the injury to myself, I consider the insult to the Senate greater; when it is attempted, by a misstatement of facts, to make that dignified body the instrument of private malice. The rejection of a nomination, an act solemn and deliberate, involves with it, in the estimation of the public, a censure on the character of the individual.”
2. The enclosure was a copy of Richard Brent to Elbridge Gerry, 18 Aug. 1814 (2 pp.), supporting Scott’s candidacy for the position of Secretary to the Senate. “From a long, and very intimate acquaintance,” Brent described Scott as “one of the most highly cultivated; scientific, and intelligent, gentlemen, in the whole circle of my acquaintance, and in every way, from his dignity of character, and respectability of connections (which are among the best in the State he inhabits) calculated to give weight and importance to, […] the office he solicits.”
3. Scott enclosed a copy of a 23 Aug. 1814 letter from William Kilty to Samuel Smith (1 p.) also supporting Scott’s candidacy. Kilty testified to both Scott’s character and to his public reputation in Charles County, Maryland, as a “uniform and decided republican.”