N. York, 3d Sept. '40 Theodore Sedgwick, Esq. Saratoga Springs, Dear Sir, Mr. Staples sent me a letter from R. S. Baldwin, esq. to you, dated Sept. 1st about the Amistad Africans. I went over to yr office & learned you were at the Springs, & Mr. Staples probably has hardly looked at the letter as he is in the midst of a cause in the court of Chancery. Mr. B. makes several valuable suggestions - wants advice from you & Mr. Staple, &c - but your clerk promises me that he would send you a copy or abstract of the letter. It appears to me that we ought to make a powerful onset [sic] on the 17th to obtain the liberation of the Africans - and to let the Judge understand explicitly that we expect to carry to point. There is often so much idolatrous reverence of Judges on the part of counsel that a Judge is tempted to swerve from the line of duty if his inclination leads that way. Do not let Judge T[hompson] take such lurches anymore. Mr. B. writes, to my astonishment, that the directions promised by the President to the Dis[trict] Att[orne]y to admit the authenticity of the Treaties has not been given! I have written to my brother in Ohio on the subject, & if there is any virtue in Locofocoism he will see that the promise is redeemed. Mr. Van Buren wrote [2] a direction to the Sec. of State on the back of my letter to my brother, to write to Mr. Holabird to admit the authenticity &c. If you receive an Emancipator from me please read an article on the 1st page signed Quere, & see whether the point is sustained. I feel a strange desire to try the writ of Habeas Corpus with reference to the Africans. It is a monstrous perversion of justice to retain these poor men for political considerations - monstrous! Resp[ectfull]y & truly yours Lewis Tappan