To James Madison from John Hollins, 27 November 1804 (Abstract)
§ From John Hollins
27 November 1804, Baltimore. “Perceiving by the News papers that a Minister is appointed to Madrid, may I be permitted to enquire if he will be in Washington before his departure, & if so, at what time; but if not, will you be pleased to inform me the port from which he will probably sail & the time being exceedingly anxious, that my friend Mr. Read, if practicable, might go in the same vessel. You know the cause of my anxiety on this occasion,1 & therefore flatter myself your goodness will excuse the liberty I have taken.”
RC (DNA: RG 59, ML). 1 p.; docketed by Wagner.
1. For Hollins’s earlier appeal to JM about his claim, see JM to Charles Pinckney, 6 Dec. 1803, , 6:144–45. The claim, for property embargoed at Havana, stemmed from a lawsuit between Hollins and Luis Beltrán. Although the suit continued from 1799 to 1817, final settlement was still being awaited in 1825 (León Tello, Documentos relativos a la independencia de Norteamérica, 4:265–66, 10:106).