The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1826-11-23
THE GREEK CAUSE IN AMERICA A

A brief narrative of material crcnmstan-
ces which have transpired recently, III cou-
nexion with the building of the Greek vessels
at NewYork
The Greek government employed two
distinguished commercial houses OF New
York, lie Roy, Bayard & Co. and U. q. q
S. Rowland to obtain two frigates, to carry
so guns each, at the cost, which these gen
tlemen stated to the Greek government, OF
S247,5o0 each. receiving assurances from
each of these houses, "that no law in the u
ntee States would be violated, and no risk
incurred" by building these vessels. This
was in March 1925. These houses received
April 18th, R25 900 each, and in acknowl-
edging the receipt of this sum, inform the
Greek government, that the two frigates
cannot be completed in less than six months,
but in that space of time. the whole eight
frgates, decreed by the Greek government,
might be built On the 10th of March, the
Greek government informed these houses,
that they should be able to buy these vessels
immediately and if these vessels were pur-
chased, in that case alone, the houses might
draw for the surplus of their reimburse
ments, on J. s s. Ricardo. On the 14th of
May, these houses in reply, state to the
Greeks that they are convinced, after a
! scrupulous examination of all the details,
that great saving would be made ia time
and expense, to have the VI ssels built by
days work, under the inspection OF Captain
Wolcot Chauncey, of the United States Ma
Wy After receiving the .450,000, they drew
OH Ricardo for .e25 900, informing Ricardo,
it was in conformity with tine direction of
the Greek government. This draft was ac-
cepted and paid. On the 31st Of May, these
houses wrote for further funds. and another
sum Of E30,000 was received by them. On
the 22d of 0ctober; they drew again tor
420, ,00o and on the 31st of the same month,
| for g30,000 more. Both Of these drafts
were accepted and paid by Ricardo, max
ing in the whole fl55,O 900. On the 22d of
October, which was beyond the time assign
ed for the building of those vessels, each Of
those houses wrote to the Greek govern
ment, that the ships were advancing with
more rapidity than they had calculated up
on But neither Of the vessels were then
launched
On the 31st OF October, they informed the
Greek governments that they were in hopes
that the ships would be ready to put to sea
in four months, and that they computed the
costs and outfits at half million Of dollars
each, but for the sake of prudence, they
would put it at $3.50 900. and required them
to place to their order. sum equal to 5000,
4 UOO iOi Ctittii NtSNti. rs the NJlEehS ifAu
ready advanced more than S250,0o0 beyond
the original estimate, ard some weeks had
elapsed beyond the tine assigned for the
sailing of the vessels, and thcv were now re-
quired to give security for the payment of
!, S450,000 more, besides waiting four months
longer for the sailing of the ships. the Gov
ernment employed an agent, Mr. Contostav-
los, to viS1 this country, and take charge of
the vessels. In the mean time, these hous-
es drew OILY Ricardo for P55 900. but their
last drafts were not accepted The Greek
Agent arrived at New-York on the 25th Of
April last and Immediately requested of
these houses information of the cost of these
vessels. After some delay, they informed
him, it was S6lS,g97 "a cents. These ac-
counts we're submitted to Gen. Lallamand
4 and Capt. ChauDcey, and were pronounced
BY them correct. Errors, to large amount
were, however, afterwards detected, among
which was single item for S22 500. But
the whole amount, thus expended, was less
than the amount which the two houses had
received FROM London. in October preceding
The Greek Agent urged on these houses,
with great warmth, the strong necessity
there was of completing and sending out one
of the frigates, and at length he obtained
from Captain Chauncey, an estimate of the
cost OF completing one frigate, which a
mounted to Ss6.37o. When the accounts
were presented, the Agent was requested tc
keep the transaction secret, on account ol
the great danger to which the vessels would
be exposed, when it was known they were
tor foreign government, at war with anoth
er whom this country was at peace. Yet
these same houses had assured the Greeks
that there was no danger. The Agent i,nme-
diately repaired 10 Washington, and effected
a sale on one of the frigates to our govern.
ment. She was appraised by the commits
sioncrs at S233,00o. These houses after
n wards claimed the right of receiving the a
a mount of this sale, and their commission ol
d 1t, although they were not known in the sale
It and had nothing to do with the transaction
r These houses afterwards presented accounts
d OF their expenditures, each of them claimin!
0 a commission of FIVE per cent. on each vessel
On the Liberator the commissions to l..
! Roy & CO. were S20.275, the IIowlands
d S20,275 55 ceuts; the whole amount of thei
s commissions on the ship Hope, was S39 6s
!, making the whole amount of commission
II received by them, eighty thousand two hun
If dred and thirty-four dollars and ninety -thre
cents. The accounts contained no specih
: cation OF either the quantity, price, or othc
is particulars relating to the articles, for whic
) disbursements were alledged to be made
The Agent being dissatisfied, threatened t