Papers of John Adams, volume 21
yPort.
th.1795.
A conviction of your goodness, induces me to address you on a subject that nearly interests me.—
You have done me the honor, to listen to my unfortunate tale, when I was last in Philadelphia, and may possibly recollect that the only property I was able to save from the wreck of my affairs, was an acknowledgment from the Government of Hispaniola that they owed me 55 or 60,000 livres Currency, for provisions furnish’d them at Cash price.—
I am now induced to address Mr. Monroe, at the Court of france, on the subject and shall
forward him the necessary papers; but as I am not particularly acquainted
with that Gentleman, I am induced to request you wou’d favor me with a line
to him, shewing that pretensions are founded on the grounds of justice,
& integrity, and that I am a sufferer by the destructin of the Island of
St. Domingue.—1
Begging permission to request an answer as soon as
possible, and your pardon for makg. use of an
amanuensis, / I am, with sentiments of the utmost respect, / Sir, / Your
very Huml Servt.
r:
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Vice President, / of the, / United States.”
St. Domingue plantation owner Samuel Allyne Otis Jr.
(1768–1814) fled the ongoing Haitian Revolution and relocated to
Newburyport (
AFC
, 10:51).