Joseph Story

“ Know all men by these presents, that I, Thade Kosciuszko, formerly an officer of the United States of America in their revolutionary war against Great Britain, and a native of Lilourui, in Poland, at present residing at Paris, do hereby will and direct, that, at my decease, the sum of three thousand seven hundred and four dollars, currency of the aforesaid United States, shall of right be possessed by, and delivered over to the full enjoyment and use of Kosciuszko Armstrong, the son of general John Armstrong, minister plenipotentiary of the said States at Paris. ”

“ All which actings and doings, and pretences of the said confederates, are contrary to equity and good conscience, and tend to the manifest injury and oppression of the complainant.
I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, being just on my departure from America, do hereby declare and direct that, should I make no other testamentary disposition of my property in the United States, I hereby authorize my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole thereof in purchasing negroes from among his own or any others, and giving them liberty in my name ”

“ Orphan's Court, Washington County, District of Columbia, to wit:
Be it remembered, that on this 26th day of September, in the year 1827, Richard Forrest, of the county and district aforesaid, made oath on the Holy Evangels of Almighty God, that he is well acquainted with the hand writing of Fulwar Skipwith, late United States commercial agent at Paris, having often seen him write; and that he verily believes the signature, 'Fulwar Skipwith,' to the certificate to the annexed instrument of writing purporting to be the will of Thade Kosciuszko, is the proper hand writing of said F. Skipwith ”

“ Under the complicated circumstances of the present case, and the important bearings of foreign law upon it, it is very desirable, that if it should come again before us, all the facts, and all the lights necessary for a final decision may be furnished, without submitting it to farther embarrassments. ”