The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-07-24 00:00:00, page 2

Much discontent has been occasioned among individuals
receding the disposal of the remaining part of tne said
cargo after Mr. Morris became a fa&or; but as these are
now irremediable, and were, perhaps, in a great measure
unavoidable, and might lead to endless enquiries and fur
ther difeontents, we assign the difficulty of obliging every
one as a probable cause of the greater part thereof. And
as we apprehend the principal design of appointing this
Committee was to afeertain the leading fads refyeding the
purchase and mode of sale in order to prevent any ineon
veniencies in future arising from the fame causes, rather
than to enter into personal intricacy, we hope the pains
we have taken to collea them, and the candor with which
we have endeavoured to arrange them; will answer the ex
pedation the public had in appointing us.
We are, with much refped,
The Public's friends and obedient servants,
TIMOTHY MATLACK,
DAVID RITTENHOUSE,
THOMAS PAINE,
CHARLES WILLSON PEALE,
J. B. SMITH.
Eat the bargain thus made, appears to have been mif
tmderftood by both parties, the one not understanding
French nor the other Englilh, the difference between them
being as 4/6 multiplied by 30, to 7/6 multiplied by 30.
And on tne discovery of this mutual odft ike the bargain
Became void by consent of the parties; and the remainder
of the cargo, not fold, was consigned t® Mr. Morris as a
factor. Mr. Morris having, as a condition thereto, sti
pulated that the sales already made should stand.
By Mr. Morris's representation it appears, that as loon
as he had concluded the bargain on the 3d of May he sent,
as himfelf expresses it, " for those Agents who purchase
for the Continent, and offered them whatever they wanted
for the army on such terms as they declared were very mo
derate." We conceive that Mr. Morris's intention herein
was to serve the public by giving them the firft choice,
but we likewise conceive that no purJiafer should 1 ave ftept
in between the public and the owners, because, let the
profits to Mr Morris be ever so small, they were still un
necessarily got out of the public, as these Agents, being
on the spot, could as well have purchased for themselves.
The Agents, though not mentioned in Mr. Morris's
publication, were Mr. James Meafe and Mr. John
Mitchell; and though we may mistake, which we presume
we do not, we are nevertiaelefs inclined to think that the
offer might full as well have been made (if necessary to be
made at all) to the Commercial Committee as to those
Agents. It appears that the sales made to Messrs. Meafe
and Mitchell, came cheaper to the public than they other
wise would have done but this was owing to mistake, net
'defign, yet we give Mr. Morris credit for making the ra
tification of them a a condition when the other part of the
bargain was dissolved.
The reason as given in conveffation by Mr. Morris,
why the owners found him a convenient purchaser, was,
because he could furnilh them with tobacco, and likewise
because Congress wanted to take a part only, not the whole
of the cargo But neither of these could be the true rea
son, because the Commercial Committee offered them what
quantity of tobacco they pleased, and likewise to tret for
the whole cargo down to the most trifling article.
fr^H E Committee to whom was referred the case of a
J quantity of flour, sent by the Committeeof Wilming
ton to the Committee of this city, brought in the following
report, which being unanimously agreed to, a copy there
of was ordered to be immediately presented to His Excel
lency the President and Council, and another copy to
Mr. Holder, and that the fame be likewise published.
Before we enter on a flare of fads, we think it neceff ry
to assign the reasons which induced both the Committee of
Wilmington and the Committee of this city to interfere in
the matter.
We are not contending for the flour itfelf, tho' w A might
with good reason go on such grounds as we ihall thereafter
few ; on the contrary, we are willing to yield up any
present convenience to ourselves, for the supply and fop
port of ovr allies, But we are contending for our regula
tions, for the support of our currency and far the inte
rest of those allies whom we confider as fuffering, by their
Agents giving greater pri es than there are occafi®n for.
We are likewise suspicious that the flour in question, to
gether with other quantities we fliall mention, are not /b'e
fy for the supply of t e fleet under the command of His
Excellency Count D'Eftaing, but are for the purposes of
private trade, contrary to the intention of the embargo
which these St tes have submitted to, for the mutual bene
fit of themselves and their allies And as Mr. Hl&er has
neglected to give to this Committee such fatisfaHion as
citizens and allies might have expected from him. There
fore.
Revived, That the following state of fa&s be present
ed to H's Excellency the President and Council, and like
wise published in t e news papers.
First Refpeding a quantity of flour purchased and ffiip
ped in February lafl, by Jonathan Rumford, Jun. of Wil
mington, in the State of Delaware, an Agent under the
authority of the said Mr. Holker.
We are poffefled of a deposition of a certain Nicholas
Severs, (marked No. 1 with red ink) (worn before George
Evans,Efq; of New Castle county,March 5th,1779, which
slates, .Frat the said Jonathan Rumford employed him, the
deponent, to take into his boat three several quantities of
flour, amounting in t e whole to 47 barrels; and that he
Shipped the fame in the night, agreeable to said Rumford's
or iers, on board a schooner rigged pilot boat, Captain
Palmer, near the mouth of Brandywine creek.
On the discovery of this private tranfaftion, so difcredit
abl in its appearance to us as allies (if really intended for
the fleet of Count D'Eftaing) because it conveyed the idea
of reluctance on our part to permit the necessary supplies
to pas., a reproach, which, as faithful citizens and faith
ful allies, we think it our duty t® resent on Mr. Holker, if
he had any concern therein ; on the discovery, we fay, of
this private tranfaftion, said Rumford was examined be
fore John Lee, Esq ; one of the Justices of the Peace of
the State of Delaware, when he declared the said flour
was by order of Mr. Holker, and produced a letter as his
authority for purchasing, but refused to let a copy of it be
taken, he doubled down the part on which the name was
written, and we have no direct evidence by whom the
fame was written Captain O'Flin, Chairman of the Com
mittee of Wilmington, has personally informed this Com
In COMMITTEE, July 21st, 1779.
* Mr. Holker, in this letter, has signed himfelf " Consul
of France," but we have good reason to conclude, that in
so doing be has assumed a title which does not belong to him.
On tne lorn of June we receiv'd a letter from the Com
mittee es Wilmington, (p^ge 26 of our minutes, which we
fend for t,e infpe&ion ot his Excellency the President and
Council) informing us df their having entered into regu
lations, approving our condud, and desiring to correspond
with us for the mu ual affiftante of both ; and in our an
swer thereto, June 15th, page 26, we fay, “ The thing
" that will most embarrass us is the want of an immediate
" supply of flour. Philadelphia is numerous of inhabitants ;
" her daily consumption great; and should only a day's
" want o that article be made an occasion to break thro'
" the regulations, the merchants will probably make it a
" pretence to raise their goods. We are in expectation of
" receiving a supply from the country, but as it must come
" by land, the carriage will be tedious, ft you can throw
" in your affifiance, by pending up a present supply of 100
" or zoo barrels, it will not only give relief but greatly
" ftrengtben our bands in prosecuting the plan."
On the receipt of this the Committee of Wilmington,
warmed by att ichment to the cause and tied by principles
of affection to their fellow-citizens in general applied to
the millers in our behalf, and obtained from them a pro-,
mife of supply. Soon after this a complaint was made that
the millers, or some of them, had refufed to fed to the in
habitants at the regulated price, 'which brought on an en
quiry, by which means they difeovered that the slur in
tended or this city had been since purchased by Jonathan
Rumford, at the price of 24 and 25 pounds per hundred.
Yet even in this there appears to oe fomethin, collusive,
as one of the millers informed the said Committee, that he
had engaged 45 barrels to Rumford without price, for the
supply of the city, and was to pay said Rumford commif
fiou for felling it ; yet Rumford in his account has charged
the fame quantity of fl or ft dm the fame miller at 24 pounds
per hundred to Mr. Hoiker.
Op this discovery the Committee of Wilmington called
on Jonatha»Rumford for t^ereafons of his conduct and the
ant rority by which he ifted, when he produced the fol
lowing letter, an attested copy of which is as follows, and
is marked No. 2 with red ink.
COMMITTEE-ROOM.
Warnings n z^tb June, 1779.
Copy of a letter produced by Mr Jonathan Rumford, on
his examination.
Philadelphia, 17th June, 1779.
SI R,
Mr. Robert Morris having within these few days past,
at my request, authorized you to purchase one hundred
and fifty barrels of flour, which are intended for the use
of the fqua iron, commanded by his Excellency Count
D'Eftaiu ?. I beg you'll have the fame stored up in ome
sale, secure and dry place, keeping them at my disposal,
until you receive further orders from me.
Should any person make demand of the fame, you will
please to refuse 10 comply thereto, (hewing this my letter ;
should any one endeavour to wrest them from you, I re
quest you will apply to the Civil Magistrate for protection,
and enter a regular pretest therein, mentioning the names
of the persons committing violence, so as I may prefecute
them, and obtain damages on behalf of his Most Christian
Majesty.
You will please to acknowledge the receipt of the pre
sent, so as I may know what to depend upon. I remain,
Sir, Your obedient servant,
(Signed) HOLKER, Consul of France, *
and Agent-General of the Royal Marine.
Mr. Jon. Rumford.
Examined with the copy on our Minutes,
(Signed) PATRICK O'FLINN, Chairman
of the Committee.
The Committee of Wilmington recolleding the extraor
dinary condud of Rumford on the former affair, and the
intricate conduct between him and Mr. Holker, put the
flour, amounting in the whole to one hundred and eighty
tw® barrels, on board a (hallop and sent it up to us under
care ®f two of their Committee, fending at the fame time
the paper (marked No. 3 in red ink) which gives a regu
lar account of the proceeding signed by the Chairman.
We received the said flour, passed a refolutjon for detain
ing it till explanation should be given by the parties con
cerned, and sent the said refclmtion inclofed in a letter to
Mr. Holker and Mr. Morris, in which we fay to each of
these gentlemen, that “ from a point of politeness we have
" enclosed the resolve to you, prior to its appearance in
“ the papers, which will be to morrow, and shall be glad
“ to confer with you on the fubje& at any time and place
" you may please to appoint."
Immediately after the regulations took place the Com^
mittee 0 this city used their utmost endeavors to keep the
city supplied with flwr, and the fwcefs we have met with,
the' not feed by every one, has been beneficially felt by all.
We called on the flour fellers to lay before us what prof
peas they had 0 supplying the city with flour. We sent
into the country to procure it ourselves, and having re
ceived promises of the f?me, we in the interim applied to
Congress or the loan of an hundred barrels, which they
generously and genteelly complied with, part of which we
have received and fold.
mittee, that said Rumford assured him that the flour he so
purchased and (hipped was for Mr. Holker.
The deposition of Nicholas Sellers was in April lafl
brought to this city by Colonel Wade, who applied to Mr.
Holker for information on the matt r. Mr. Holker not
only disowned the tranfaflion, hut gave the following cer
tificate un ler his hand, the original of which we are like
wise possessed of; and is written at the bottom of Sellers's
deposition. The certificate is as follows :
" I under-written—certify that I have no knowledge of
“ the tranfaftion above-mentioned, and that no person
*' had any orders from me to ship any flour on board a
“ schooner-rigged pilot-beat, Capt. Palmer.
HOLKE R.
'' Philadelphia, 171 b April, 1779."
We are surprised after this to find any further tranfaHi
ons between Mr. Holker and Jonathan Rumford, for eit. er
Rumford had Mr. Holker's authority, which Mr. Holker
has disowned, or he had not. If he had, why has Mr.
Holker disowned it; if he had not, why has Mr. Holker
employed him since ?—Thus hr for the firft quantity of
flour.
But we find difficulties and suspicious attending this
quantity of four as well as the former one.
By Mr. Holker's letter to Rumford, June 17th, di
reding him to make the purchase, he likewise orders him
" to store it up in some faze, secure and dry place, keeping
“ it," he fays, “at my difpofl until you receive farther
" orders from me." And in Mr Holker's letter to Con
gress of July ift, wherein he complains of our detaining it,
he fays, that he hid directed Rumford to “ lay it up in a
goodflore at Wilmington " But by the information of Mr.
Israel Israel and Mr Thomas Kean (marked No. 4 with
red ink) which these gentlemen are ready to give on oath,
we fi^d Rumford proposing to engage Mr. Thomas Stroud,
a fliallop man, to remove it privately, that is, in the hold
only, and none on deck. This intimation gave Mr. Stroud
suspicious, and on his asking Mr. Rumford where it was
to be delivered, he, Rumford, replied, “ he could not tell,
''and that fee baps the French Agent would fend an armed
" wffel for it.'' Mr. Stroud communicated this to George
Evans, Esq; one of the Judices of the Peace, who ad
vised him to have nothing to do with it, as Rumford had
been guilty of several dirty tricks before. Yet no orders
appear from Mr Holker tor removing the said floutyand if
any were given they are concealed, and of a contrary com
plexion to those which have appeared.
We have with the utmost industry, care and caution,
collected and arranged these several proofsand circum
stances, the material parts of which are on oath and the
rest on indisputable evidence. We are on the whole ob
liged to declare that this tranfaaton as well as the forme^
one has a dark, suspicious, and at least a mysterious apear
ance ; but as Mr. Ho ker and Mr. Morris h^ve both with
drawn from the enquiry, we are unable to condemn or ac
quit, and leave the matter to be judged of as each man's
opinion shall incline. We have done our duty and are con
feious of having afled with impartiality. We in a par
ticular manner confefs our obligation to the Committee of
Wilmington and ti.e other gentlemen thereof, as without
their affiftanre we could have dene nothing therein, and in
the name of the inhabitants of this city we give them our
thanks, to be communicated to them by Capt. Patrick
O'Flin, Chairman of the Committee, and Mr. M'Corkle,
who are now attending on this business.
To his Excellency the President and Supreme Execu
tive Council we beg leave to represent, that as the matter
depends between two States the delicacy of which the
Council have forefeen, we presume the whole matter now
rests with us, and as the flour, on the application ofthe
Committee of Wilmington, was originally intended for
this city, and as we are suspicious of the purposes for
which it was purchased,
Therefore, Resolved,
That if Mr Holker will apply to this Committee on or
before Saturday next, and explain the circumstance and
declare on honor or oath that the said ffour was intended to
be sent and shall be sent to his Excellency Count D'Eftaing,
and no where else, that we will deliver up to him one hun
dred and fifty barrels, he reclaiming from the millers the
sum overcharged, which funa shall be equally distributed
between the poor of this city and the'poor of Wilmington,
and that if he neglects to claim within the time mentioned,
that the said flour be fold at public market.
In a publication which has appeared in all the news pa
pers signed by Mr. Morris, he disowns any connection
with the aforefaid flour, or any other, otherwise than as
acting under or. affiffing Mr. Holker, and as we know of
no proof to the contrary we have nothing to object ; and
as he declined giving us the informations we had some right
to expeß, he has deprived us of the opportunity ofvin
dicating him, his name being in Mr. Holker's letter to
Rumford was a fufficient juftification for our calling on
him,and on this ground we leave the matter. But as citizens
. we cannot help taking notice of a concluding sentence in his
publication which we think had been better left out, with
pleasure he fays" I can now look round me, and fee among
“ my fellow citizens some whose fortunes I have made,
“ many for whom I have laid the foundation of their pre
“ sent importance, hundreds whose circumstances I have
“ bettered, and thousands to whose maintenance I have
" contributed" This we conceive contains an unneceffar,
air of great forgetfulnefs. Mr. Morris speaks as if he enter
ed the world with an original fortune, and had reduced i^
by ads of magnificent liberality. Mr. Morris has been a
fortunate merchant and he gratefully owes to the world as
much as the world owes to him. Those whose fortunes he
has bettered, have in their turn bettered his, and we know
not on which fide the merit can be claimed or the compli
ment bestowed.
Signed by order of the Committee,
WILLIAM HENRY, Chairman^
Extraa from the Minutes,
WILLIAM THORNE, Secretary.
Mr. Morris by a le ter to us declined giving any in.
formation, and fays, " I cannot help regretting that the
“ Committee did not propose a conference on the fubje&
" before they went so far in censuring the condua of per
" sons no way opposed t® these desirable objects ofappre
“ ciating the currency and lowering the prices of commo
" dities.''To this we now reply,—That weonly censured
a Transaction without undertaking to determine on which
of the three the fault might lie, and our application to Mr.
Holker and Mr. Morris was to acfertain that proof. We
therefore cannot help thinking that Mr, Morris has been
too precipitate in taking to himfelf a cenfu^e which was ap
plied by us to the aft itfelf; which we undoubtedly had a
right to, and the censure on the person could only have
proceeded in con sequence of the enquiry we proposed.
Mr. Holker on his part withdrew from the enquiry be
cause he conceived himfelf accountable in this country to
Congress only. But as in this tranfadion he mixes with
the trade and tradesmen of the country, we confider him
in that line fubjed to the fame rules, and regulation with
ourselves, and it is to the benefit of the service he a&s ia
that we so uid confider him so; — Therefore his apology is
difadvantageouriy founded. Neither can we admit it as
the real one. Thus left with the flour upon our hands un
fatisfied by those who coihd have bed informed, and un
claimed by those to whom it might belong, as well as un
redreffed of the complaint attending it,— We are left to
manage foith it the best we can. Our intentions were to
do justice to Mr. Hlker if he had been imposed upon and
overcharged ; and if he will not have that justice, we must
conclude he does not desire it.