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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1779
A letter, of this day, from Captain Elihu Trowbridge was read; Whereupon,
Ordered, That the letter be referred to the Marine Committee, and that they be directed to advance Captain Trowbridge such sum and afford him such other relief, as to them shall seem meet and agreeable to equity.
A memorial of George Goodwin was read:1
[Note 1: 1 This memorial is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, III, folio 411.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War, who are directed to take order thereon.
A memorial from Aaron Lopez was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee on Appeals.
A memorial of Captain Lewis Celeron was read, with sundry certificates in his favour therein inclosed:
Ordered, That the same be referred to the Board of War.
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A memorial from Sarah Kennedy was read:1
[Note 1: 1 This memorial is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, V, folio 15.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury.
A letter, of 29 January, from Major General Gates, was read:2
[Note 2: 2 This letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 154, II, folio 53.]
Ordered, That so much thereof as relates to supplying the magazines in the eastern district with flour be referred to the committee for superintending the commissary's department; that so much thereof as relates to the specie in the hands of Major General Heath be referred to the Board of Treasury, and that they take order thereon; and that the remainder of the letter with the papers enclosed be referred to the Board of War, who are directed to transmit copies thereof to the Commander in Chief.
A letter, of 16 January, from J. Powell, president of the council of Massachusetts bay, was read, with sundry papers enclosed: Whereupon,
Resolved, That the said letter, and papers enclosed, be transmitted to the Commander in Chief, and that he be directed to give orders for bringing to court martial the several persons accused of misdemeanors in the report therein referred to.
Mr. [Henry] Laurens having yesterday, after reading the report from the committee and other papers referred to, informed Congress in his place, that from a part of Mr. Morris's vindication, he recollected a circumstance which had come to his knowledge since this subject had been in agitation in Congress, which might more fully clear up Mr. Morris's conduct; and that as his sole view had been to do justice, it would give him the highest pleasure to be an instrument in doing justice to Mr. Morris, and promised to explain himself this morning; accordingly he produced a paper, containing an extract of a letter from the Secret
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or Commercial Committee, dated the 25 October, 1776, containing advice to Thomas Morris, commercial agent at Nantz, of their having chartered a new ship at Baltimore, which Mr. Laurens said he was persuaded and had no doubt, was the ship Farmer; that his recollection sprung from hearing the words, new ship, read in Mr. Morris's vindication; and that it afforded him the greatest satisfaction to have it in his power to produce an evidence, which, in his opinion, put it beyond all doubt, that the ship Farmer, Captain Dashiel, had been loaded on public account, and moved the House to receive the said extract, and to add it to the other papers which were delivered in by the committee and read yesterday: the said extract was accordingly received and added to the other papers.1
[Note 1: 1 This paper, in the writing of Henry Laurens, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, IV, folio 225.]
The report was then resumed and read, as follows:
The committee to whom was referred the information given to Congress by the hon. Mr. [Henry] Laurens, dated the 11 and 16 of January, 1779, and that received from the hon. Mr. [Francis] Lewis, dated 15 January, 1779, respecting the conduct of Robert Morris, Esq. in transacting the commercial business of these United States, particularly relating to the ship Farmer, Captain Dashiel, loaded at Baltimore and captured by the enemy, report,
That your committee having notified their appointment to the said Robert Morris, and furnished him with copies of the above written informations, and having requested his attendance, met according to order, and received his defence in writing, dated 22 January, 1779, to which your committee beg leave to refer, as well as to the vouchers referred to by the said Robert Morris, in his said defence:
That it appears to your committee that the said Robert Morris, was a member of the Secret Committee, and from
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the minutes of the said committee of 15 of August and 20 and 26 September, extracts of which are herewith delivered, and from the testimony of J. Brown, then clerk of the said committee, it appears that the said Secret Committee, from a confidence in the integrity of the said Robert Morris, from a knowledge of his commercial abilities, and from a conviction that his extensive commercial connexions both abroad and in America, would enable him to execute with facility the continental commercial affairs, requested the said Robert Morris, and authorized him to purchase up produce in the different states on continental account, and to export the same, and entrusted him solely with the transactions of this business:
That it appears to your committee, from the testimony of the said J. Brown, that when the said Robert Morris was entrusted and authorized as aforesaid, it was known and understood by the said Secret Committee, that his purchases, aforesaid, were to be made under cover of the firm of Willing, Morris & Co. and exported under the like cover, as circumstances should direct, and that this mode was adopted to prevent the rising of the price of produce and hire of vessels, which generally happens when it is known that purchases and contracts are making on the public account:
That it appears to your committee, from the testimony of John Brown, Peter Whiteside, and Benjamin Hogeland, (whose depositions are herewith delivered) that the ship Farmer was chartered on the continental account, though under the firm of Willing, Morris & Co. and that her load of iron and tobacco, except 50 hogsheads, was purchased and shipped also on the continental account; and that the said ship being thus chartered, and the said load of iron and tobacco so purchased, and shipped, were
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facts well known to the said John Brown, Peter Whiteside, and Benjamin Hogeland; the said John Brown being the said Robert Morris's agent in the transaction, and the said Peter Whiteside and Benjamin Hogeland, being clerks of Willing, Morris & Co.
That it appears from the testimony of John Brown, then clerk of the said Secret Committee, that the charter-party of the said ship Farmer, was lodged in the office before the said committee removed to Baltimore, and therefore known to the said committee before the loading or sailing of the said ship:
That it appears to your committee, that the chartering of the said ship under the firm of Willing, Morris & Co. the filling up the bills of loading, forming the special contract as endorsed on one of them, and drawing the instrument of valuation in the manner and terms as the said several instruments of writing are exprest, were merely precautions calculated to give the whole transaction the colour of a private commercial concern, correspondent to the plan adopted by the said Robert Morris, declared and made known to the said Secret Committee, and founded on the reasons above suggested:
That your committee are further confirmed in this idea, from observing that the like measures were taken in the chartering and loading the ship Aurora, and from its being proved to your committee, by the testimony of the said Benjamin Hogeland, the said Robert Morris's clerk, that the said Willing, Morris & Co. did not charter or load any chartered ship for their own account and risque during the time the said Robert Morris was entrusted and authorized as aforesaid:
That it appears to your committee, that the said Robert Morris's defence in writing is full and explicit on every fact, circumstance and question stated in the information
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of the hon. Mr. [Henry] Laurens and Mr. [Francis] Lewis, and is supported by clear and satisfactory vouchers; and your committee beg leave to refer to the said written defence, particularly as to such facts, circumstances or questions aforesaid, as your committee have not specially reported.
Upon the whole, your committee are of opinion, that the said Robert Morris has clearly and fully vindicated himself; and your committee are further of opinion, that the said Robert Morris in the execution of the powers committed to him by the said Secret Committee, so far as his conduct has come to the knowledge of your committee, has acted with fidelity and integrity, and an honorable zeal for the happiness of his country.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of William Paca, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, IV, folio 195.]
Congress taking into consideration the said report, and the papers accompanying and referred to in the same:
Resolved unanimously, That Congress agree to the said report.
Philadelphia, January 22nd, 1779.
Honorable Gentlemen:
Having heard that Colonel Smith was chairman of a Committee appointed to examine into the truth of information given in Congress by the Honbl Henry Laurens, Esqr. respecting a Tobacco Ship Loaden by my order, &c, I waited on the Gentlemen yesterday, and received from him three papers which Colonel Laurens and Mr Lewis had laid before Congress on the 11th, 15th and 19th instant. The first of these papers is said to be the substance of a Conversation between Mr Lewis and Mr Laurens as related by the latter.
I will only remark on this performance, that it should have been mentioned, who asked me, how the property of that Cargo would appear; because that Querist must have had some knowledge of this transaction. No man would presume to ask such a question respecting my private affairs, and it follows that if such a question was put to me, the person asking it, must have had knowledge that the Cargo
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was public property, which is clearly a circumstance in my favor. However, I do not remember any such Conversation, and as no Ship was loaden by my order with the quantities of Tobacco mentioned in this paper, I shall quit it, and proceed to the second, endorsed "Substance of the Conversation between Mr Laurens and Mr Lewis as reduced to writing by the latter."
The object here held out, is, "That a Ship loaden with Tobacco in Baltimore Harbour was near ready to sail for France, whilst Congress was there; and the Captain being applied to by the Commercial Committee to carry public dispatches and deliver them at Paris objected thereto, Saying he could not justify himself to his owners in leaving the Ship to proceed with the packets to Paris. He was then asked, if the Ship was not loaden on public account; to which he replied, She was chartered by Willing and Morris's clerk, and that the bills of loading he had signed were filled up, Shipped by Willing and Morris, concluding, therefore, that the Cargo was not on account of the public. The armed Brig Lexington was then ordered to be immediately fitted for the Sea, and Capt Johnston appointed to carry the dispatches."
As there was but one Ship loaden by my order at Baltimore with Tobacco, I conclude the Ship meant by Mr Lewis, is the Ship Farmer, Captain Benjn Dashiel; and indeed this is declared in Col Laurens's 2nd piece, delivered to Congress the 19th January. I shall, therefore, proceed to explain that transaction, first observing, that I do not wonder Mr. Lewis should have asked Captain Dashiel if his Ship was not loaden on public Account, as I had frequently mentioned in Committe, before they left this city, that I had chartered a fine New Ship at Baltimore on good terms, to carry a Cargo of Tobacco on public Account. Nay, I am morally certain that the Charter party was produced to the Committee, approved of and Lodged amongst their papers (before they went for Baltimore), where it has remained ever since. Unluckily no minute was made when it was received, but Mr Brown, the then clerk of that Committee, is clearly and strongly in the same belief with myself on this point. It is however very extraordinary that Mr Lewis or any of the Committee should conclude this Cargo was not for public Account, on being told the bills of loading were filled up: Shipped by Willing & Morris, for he and they most certainly knew that Willing, Morris & Co were actually employed at that very time, in making large purchases and exports for the public by their order and under cover of the name of that House. A line to me for explanation at that time, would have set the whole Affair in a clear light. The Captain might
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have taken the dispatches, and no suspicions could have arisen. This was not done and I am now called upon to explain the transaction two years after it happened.
I deliver herewith the copies of three entries on the Minutes of the Secret Committee, dated 15th August, 20th and 26th September, 1776. These will shew that I was employed at that time to purchase and export large quantities of produce on public Account, and even to send to New England to procure Ships to carry it away. I confess these Minutes of the Committee do not come up to my expectations, because they do not express near what was then meant and clearly intended by the Committee, that any House was to cover those purchases and exports with their names, so that they might not be known to be for public Account, apprehending what always happens, that when large purchases are known to be making for the public, prices would inevitably rise. These reasons were assigned at the time I was employed. The Clerk of the Committee remembers it well, and so I think must the then members; altho' I have not had an opportunity of speaking to one of them on the subject. It is very clear that I understood the matter in this way, for I took all my measures accordingly, and made the purchases in the name of Willing, Morris & Co on such terms as will not disgrace them when the Invoices come to be inspected. Some time in September, 1776, about the time I was employed as above, Mr John Brown of this City, Merchant, informed me he could charter a fine New Ship from Mr Archibald Buchanan of Baltimore on reasonable terms, and procure a Cargo of good Tobacco for her Cheap. Pleased at this information, as Ships were then wanted, I told him to make the agreement on the terms he mentioned, which were reasonable, and proceed to load her as quick as he could. Mr Brown being a Man I had often employed, I knew him well and reposed perfect confidence in him; which induced me to tell him, I chartered and should load this Ship for Congress, but that he must not communicate that circumstance to his partner, Mr Cornthwait, the owner or Captain of the Ship, nor to any other person whatever least the price of Tobacco should rise on its being known the purchases and exports then making by Willing, Morris & Co were on public account. Mr Brown went down to Baltimore, agreed for the Ship and his partner proceeded to load her under the idea of this business being on Account and risk of Willing, Morris & Co, conformable to which the Charter party was made and in my instructions to Mr Cornthwait, dated 15th December, 1776, I was obliged to cover from his knowledge the real owners of this property
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by having the bills of loading filled up (as had been done on many other occasions) for account and risk as per advice, and at the same time I wrote a letter to my brother and another to Messrs. Pliarne, Penet & Co, sent open to Mr Cornthwait, to be forwarded in the Ship with the Invoices and bills of Loading in terms comformable thereto, referring him to future orders for the application of the Nt. proceeds of this Cargo.
As Ships were Scarce, and I employed all my influence and Connections to procure every one I could hear of for the public, by that means depriving my House of any opportunity to charter and Ship for their own Account, which they were desirous to do, I concluded to risk a small adventure of Tobacco on their private Account in such of the Ships, thus Chartered, as I judged convenient, paying the same price for the goods, the same freight the public were to pay, and standing a proportional part of the risk of each ship's value. This I conceive was no ways injurious to the public, but on the contrary it was in every instance a sure pledge that the business was conducted on what we thought good terms. In pursuance of this plan I directed fifty Hhds. of the Tobacco by the Ship Farmer to be put in a seperate Invoice and bill of loading, expressed for account and risk as per advice, for the reasons already mentioned. At the time I did this, Mr Jno Brown and the people in my Counting House were acquainted with my intentions. The bills of loading were signed in Baltimore, the January, 1777, and delivered to me in Philadelphia by Mr Brown, the 17th January, when not having Willing, Morris & Co's books or the books of the Committee to make any entries or notes, I endorsed the property on the bills of loading respectively, and having that day written and dispatched a letter to my Brother respecting the Cargo of another Ship called the Aurora or Oxford (her English name), which was dispatched from Virginia under the like circumstances of the Ship Farmer with 312 Hhds Tobacco on public Account and 100 Hhds. on account of Willing, Morris & Co. I copied the said letter that night, and added thereto a Postscript respecting the Cargo of the Farmer, Capt Dashiel, explaining whose property and how he was to credit the net proceeds of these concerns. The Invoices of this Cargo did not come up with the bills of Loading, because some charges on the Tobacco could not be got in, in time. These Invoices are dated in Baltimore, February 23rd, 1777, and are entered in Willing, Morris & Co's book the 12th March following, when the Secret Committee are charged for their part of the Cargo; and I am not clear that the loss of that Ship
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was certainly known even at that time. Altho' the Honbl Richard Henry Lee Esqr. in a letter, dated Baltimore 3rd February, which I considered from the nature of its Contents as wrote on behalf of the Committee, has the following paragraph: "They (the British Ships of War) have taken Buchanan's Ship as she went down." This I knew at the time was not founded on positive information, for the report was they had taken a Tobacco Ship. But as some others besides Buchanan's was going down, it was not known which was the fortunate or which the unfortunate Ships for a considerable time after; and I replyed to this letter the 8th February to the Committee in these words: "I hope what you say of Buchanan's Ship is not true, the public have 500 Hhds of Tobacco on board her, and I have 50 on my own Account. It is too much to loose, and I would Willingly think the report false, as I have met with many such in this kind of business." I must here beg leave to remark that Mr Lewis's suspicion seems to have been founded on this letter, and what passed between him and Captain Dashiel before sailing; but i cannot think he entertained that suspicion on the receipt of this letter, if he did why did he not write to me for an explanation. I should have sent it instantly, with the endorsed bills of loading and Mr Browns declaration made before the fate of that Ship was certainly known. But these letters which gave rise to Mr Lewis's suspicions so long after the transaction, bear a very different construction in my opinion. Why did Colonel Lee or the Committee mention the Capture of that Ship to me in a public letter, if she had no connection with the public. They certainly knew it at that time, and in answer I told them the quantities of Tobacco on board, supposing they might be ignorant of that particular. And can it be supposed I would have wrote them that information if I had any design of playing a trick to rouse their suspicions while the matter was fresh and could be easily investigated? But this letter caused no such suspicions. Gentlemen's memories served them better at that time and afterwards when payment of the valuation of the vessel was called for, which the Committee complyed with without hesitation, well knowing how just was that demand on the public. In support of this plain State of the facts I deliver herewith, the affirmation of John Brown and the Oath of Mr Peter Whiteside, two persons of well known integrity and well established good character, marked No 1 and 2. The bill of Loading for Willing, Morris & Co's fifty Hhds of Tobacco endorsed--No 3--Invoices of the Cargo received from Baltimore, No 4. Invoice of the 500 Hhds of Tobacco and 35 Tons of Iron, made out from Willing,
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Morris & Co's books, dated 12th. March, 1777, No 26. Copies of my letters to M]r John Cornthwait, Mr Thos Morris and Messr Pliarne, Penet & Co dated 15th December, 1776, No 5. Copies of my letter 17th and 29th January, 1777, No 6, copy of Mr Thos Morris's letter to me, dated Nantes 24th April, 1777, No 7, acknowledging receipt of those letters, and which you will compare with the original now produced for that purpose. Also the letter from Colonel Lee on behalf of the Committee to me, dated 3rd February, No 8.
These papers include such conclusive proofs of my innocence that I cannot doubt they will acquit me of the Suspicions entertained by the two honble Gentlemen, even in their own minds. In the minds of all impartial readers or hearers of them I am sure I shall stand acquitted, and here I would drop the subject, had not Colonel Laurens in his paper, dated the 16th January, and read in Congress the 19th, made many remarks and reflections which require to be noticed. It appears by this paper that he is very desirous of establishing it as a fact, that he mentioned this affair of the Tobacco Ship in Congress in York Town. It is immaterial to my present purpose whether he did or did not, but I solemnly declare i never heard one word of it until Saturday evening, the 9th inst., when i was informed by some members of Congress what had that day passed on this subject, and I believe my manner of receiving the information convinced them the subject was entirely new to me.
All I knew or heard at Manheim or York Town was in general terms that Col Laurens made insinuations to the prejudice of my character in respect to the books of the Secret Committee, and one gentleman added that he had pledged himself to ask me some home questions; I was several times at Congress, in York Town, after hearing this, and expected those home questions, but they were never put. I intended calling on Mr Laurens in Congress for an explanation, but was dissuaded from it on being assured my character had suffered no injury. I believe it must be well known in Congress that all the attacks made on my character there happened during my absence. I never heard of a disrespectful word being said of me whilst I attended at York Town or here, nor was any thing of the kind ever said to me at any time. Neither Mr Lewis nor Mr Laurens unfolded their suspicions to me, and it cannot be supposed that I was to set on foot an inquiry after a charge I did not know or suspect. Had this matter been mentioned to me, my sensibilities are too keen to have remained
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quiet under suspicions of that nature, altho' I held in Contempt and disregarded what could be said of me respecting the books of the Secret Committee, well knowing what I had done therein would always justify me if necessary to appeal to them. The mismanagement of the Commercial business is much insisted on: I deny that any part of those concerns which came immediately under my direction, or that of my House as Agents or Factors, has been mismanaged. On the contrary, I intend and expect to prove to the entire satisfaction of Congress, that no part of their affairs have been better managed. With respect to any want of regularity in the proceedings of the Committee, if there be any such, I am not more responsible than the other members; but I believe the proceedings of this Committee whilst I had the honor to belong to it (which was not from the first establishment as some have imagined) were as regular as most other Committees, and I have served on several. I am also inclined to doubt whether the Management of the Commercial concerns has mended since I quitted the Board, unless the present late appointed Committee have made better arrangements.
Colonel Laurens has insisted repeatedly that he could have posted up the books of the Secret Committee in nine days, provided the entries were regularly made in the Waste book. This I shall not dispute altho' I doubt it. But those entries were not made. It was to make those entries that I took the books and the making of them that cost me what little time I could spare. If I have in those entries wilfully or ignorantly caused confusion, as has been insinuated, the matter can easily be rectified by laying aside those books, and beginning a new Sett. The Minutes of the Committee, the book of Records, the letters, Accounts and papers of the Committee, furnish all the Materials, and are exactly the same from which I made the entries. Consequently the public cannot be injured or deceived by what I have done. It is only the loss of my labour and my clerks that posted up the books, and this was no expence to the public.
However I believe what I have done in those books is fair and clear and will be understood by Accomptants. It only remains that all other entries resulting from this business should be made from the papers in possession and from Accounts yet to be collected from several Individuals, to enable the closing these books with Accuracy. Colonel Laurens remarks that six interlineations of the words, and Company, appear in the Charter party. I can assure him they were not
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made by me nor by my order. The firm of my House was at that time Willing, Morris & Co, and other people's inaccuracys must not criminate me.
My design in chartering and loading the Ship Farmer is clearly proved to have been from the first moment for public Account. Therefore Mr Laurens's insinuation, respecting what he calls the ex post Facto endorsements on the bills of Loading, looses its force. These endorsements were certainly made after the signing of the bills by the Captain and after the sailing of the Ship; but equally true they were made before the date of her Capture by the enemy. My orders for Mr Brown to Charter the Ship being verbal, and he going in person to execute them, accounts for Colonel Laurens not being able to find the records he searched After. My letters to Mr Cornthwaite, my Brother and Pliarne Penet, & Co were wrote the 15th December, 1776, after the books and papers of the Secret Committee as well as my own were sent away. Consequently the letters I wrote during that time were copied on loose paper sometimes by myself, some times by others, just as I could make out (one of my clerks being out with the Militia, and another away in care of my effects); and they have remained ever since amongst a number of copies of other letters written by me during that period when I was harrassed and distressed by a torrent of public business that fell on me whilst Congress was at Baltimore. Many members of Congress must remember this to have been my case at that time. Regularity was then impossible, and I think it happy for me circumstanced as I then was, that such clear and convincing proofs of my honest intentions and faithful conduct happen to be in my power. The Extracts from the Minutes of the Committee shew their design of employing my House extensively and confidentially. The Clerk of the Committee corroborates what I have already said on that subject. Under this confidence I chartered the Ship Farmer in the name of my House, under the same confidence I chartered the Ship Aurora (or Oxford) in the same manner in Virginia about the same time. This I did intend to shew by producing the Charter party; but a dispute having arose about the Insurance of that Ship, I believe the Charter party has been sent down to the Honb1 Benjn Harrison, Esqr., in Virginia. However you have herewith the bill of loading for 312 Hhds. Tobacco, Shipped by that Ship on public Account, and the property is endorsed thereon as in the case of the Farmer. I mention this case particularly because it is so exactly similar to the other, except that the entries of the Cargo are made in Willing, Morris &
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Co's books, before any thing of the fate of that Ship was heard of, or suspected. More Ships would probably have been chartered in the same manner had not the committee whilst at Baltimore made it known to the Agents employed, that their purchases was for public Account, and thereby determined me not to cover the Matter any longer with our names, as the prices got up immediately thereon. During the time Willing, Morris & Co Acted as Agents to the Committee, they chartered no Ships for their own Account, and all the Cargoes they shipped for the public which arrived the net produce has been applied to public use. To corroborate this and other parts of what I have related or observed herein, I also deliver you the Oath of Mr Benjn Hogeland who has for ten years past been entrusted with my Books and money, and of course may be supposed to deserve entire credit. If then the public have received the net proceeds of every Cargo that arrived, surely they ought to pay for those that were taken or lost.
The witnesses, whose Oaths and affirmations are delivered you will attend the Committee to answer any questions they may think proper or necessary to ask. I am convinced the Secret Committee, when they concurred in paying for the Ship Farmer, remembered well at that time the information I had frequently given them of her being Loaden on public Account, and I am pretty sure they recollected having seen and approved the Charter party before they left this city. For there was not a doubt express'd as to the propriety of that transaction. How or why Mr Lewis came to entertain suspicions after agreeing to that payment, I know not; but his doing so has subjected me to much Calumny and a public enquiry two years after the transaction happened. This Gentleman seems to think the Lexington was fitted out to carry dispatches because Capt Dashiel declined taking them, and thence Mr Laurens' remarks on the expence so incurred.
This is another proof against Mr Lewis's Memory, for I know and have letters that prove it, that whether Capt Dashiel had carried dispatches or not, the Lexington must have gone on that errand; more than She was wanted for that purpose and actually dispatched from different places about that time.
I am happy that Colonel Laurens from a love of Justice, has at last brought this affair to a public investigation, my innocence being fully and clearly established thereby, and I cannot entertain a doubt but you Gentlemen of the Committee, in your report and the Honble Congress in their determination will do me public Justice in this Matter.
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With respect to other insinuations against me, I deem myself under an indispensable necessity of making application to Congress which I shall do as soon as this affair is finished.
I am with great Respect Honble Gentlemen Your obt Servant
Robert Morris.1
[Note 1: 1 This letter, in the writing of Robert Morris, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, IV, folio 227.]
Ordered, That the letter of 29 January, from R. Morris, be referred to the committee who brought in the foregoing report.
The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
Resolved, That the accounts of the regimental pay masters be settled at least once a quarter, and rendered agreeable to such forms as shall be approved by the Board of Treasury.
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasury in favour of Mr. F[rederick] Frelinghuysen, one of the delegates for the State of New Jersey, for 500 dollars, on his application; for which the said State is to be accountable.
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Jeremiah Wadsworth, commissary general of purchases, for two millions three hundred thousand dollars, for the use of his department, and for which he is to be accountable.
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Major General Greene, Q. M. G. for one million five hundred thousand dollars, for the use of his department, and for which he is to be accountable.
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Colonel B. Flower, commissary general of military stores, for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for the use of his department, and for which he is to be accountable.2
[Note 2: 2 This report, dated February 10, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 95.]
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That a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of Joseph Sharpe, for 325 dollars, it being a ballance due to him for riding express, agreeably to a certificate of the Hon. Henry Laurens, Esq. late President of Congress.1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 97. It includes also the paragraphs on Lloyd's accounts.]
Resolved, That a secretary of the treasury be appointed, with the salary of two thousand dollars per annum.
For the two vacant offices of auditors in the army, the following gentlemen were nominated:
Felix Varley and Alexander Fowler by the Board of Treasury; William Hoskins by Mr. [Oliver] Ellsworth; Joseph Howell, jun. by Mr. [Samuel John] Atlee.
For paymaster and treasurer of the Navy Board in the middle district, the following nomination was made:
Joseph Pennell, by Mr. S. Adams the Marine Committee
The Committee on the Treasury to whom were referred the reports of the commissioners of claims, of 26 January and 1st instant, report that having conferred thereon with James Johnson, Esq. an auditor of the army, now in this city, they are of opinion:
That the said accounts2 be referred for settlement to the auditors of the main army, except Lieutenant James Lloyd's account;
[Note 2: 2 Of Lieutenant Colonel William Lee Davidson and Thomas Hogg.]
And that a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of the said James Lloyd, for 36 dollars in full of his account for conducting soldiers to the army in January last:
Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.
The commissioners of claims report that they have examined the accounts of Colonel Lewis Nicola for sun-dry disbursements made by him as town major of
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Philadelphia, by direction of the Board of War, and that there is a ballance of 9 40/90 dollars due to him:
Philadelphia, Feby 8th 1779
The Commissioners report
... 9 40/90[Note 1: 1 This report is in the Papers of the continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 89.]
Ordered, That the said account be paid.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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