LS, one page, 8 x 9.75, August 1803. Letter from Secretary of State Madison to General Ebenezer Stephens. In full: “Mr. Cotton having waived his claim for the detention of the Ann Maria at Tunis and exhibited the inclosed account against the United States for liquidation and as the two latter items are founded on representations entirely opposite to your own statements, I have thought it most consistent with justice to the United States and Mr. Cotton that you should enter into an amicable suit with him in the proper tribunal at New York, in which his right to compensation as stated in his account may be litigated and decided. If he chooses to avail himself of the reference to which you were authorized to agree by my letter of the 28th June 1802 in preference to including it with the two other charges in the amicable suit, he may do it.”
Reverse of letter bears an endorsement by Jacob Wagner, which reads: “I find I have mislaid the account rendered by Mr. Cotton. It however consisted of three charges. 1st. As compensation for the knees. 2nd for detention at New York before she was loaded and afterward in waiting for papers from this Department; and 3rd. A Sum claimed for the difference between the cargo as put on board & what the memorandum rendered by you in making the contract purported.” After his signature, Wagner adds: “Mr. Cotton will doubtless deliver you a copy of this account on application to him.” Intersecting folds, scattered creases and edge wear, mild block of overall toning from previous display, paper loss from seal on second integral page, as well as small mounting remnants, and show-through from endorsement on reverse, otherwise very good condition.
Dating to the middle of the Barbary Coast War (1801–1805), the first of two wars fought between the US and North African Muslim states known as the Barbary States, Madison’s correspondence here is in response to earlier messages regarding Stephens and Ann Maria, a vessel apparently seized by US authorities in Tunis—a centuries-old haven for Barbary Pirates. The ship and its commander, Daniel Cotton, transported cargo between the Barbary States and America the year before the start of the conflict. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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