Nov 17, 2016 - Sale 2432

Sale 2432 - Lot 186

Price Realized: $ 438
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE.) Mercantile account which apparently links Lafayette's wife with the slave trade. Manuscript document, 7 3/4 x 12 inches, signed by creditor William Hoskins, and docketed on verso; folds, minor wear, minor soiling on verso only. Boston, 12 October 1790
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Additional Details

The Marquis de Lafayette was an outspoken and active opponent of slavery. He purchased a plantation in French Guiana for the purpose of setting up a colony of freedmen. When in 1790 he became preoccupied with the French Revolution, oversight of this emancipated plantation fell to his wife Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, Marquise de Lafayette, who was also enthusiastic about abolition. Thus we are not sure why her finances are here connected with two Americans and the sale of Africans in Haiti. Peter St. Medard (1756-1822) was a prominent American naval surgeon, and we cannot trace William Hoskins, though an earlier merchant of the same name (1735-1786) was known for his aggressive debt collection techniques on behalf of John Hancock. Neither man is otherwise known for connections to Lafayette. However, this account is docketed on verso "acct des interessé du nar. la Marquise de Lafayette signé pr Wm Hoskins." On the debit side, St. Medard is charged "Pour le montant du recouvrement d'une somme sur la cotte d'afrique, comprenant la vente de negres au Cap, provenant de l'emploi de cette somme, pour c/ du nre. la Marquize apert le compte qu il m'a remit"--for the recovery of an amount on the coast of Africa, including the sale of Negroes in Au Cap, presumably Cap-Haïtien in Haiti. On the credit side, Hoskins has been paid "Par le montant de la facture de 10 sacs café qu il m'a remit pour compte de interessees du la Marquize"--with 10 sacks of coffee on behalf of the Marquise. Provenance: found among papers of Peter St. Medard.