Sir, BOARD OF WAR TO PRES. REED, 1781. War Office, March 26, 1781. We have the Honour to enclose agreeable to the Request of Council an order for Ninety Rifles which are returned to us as out of order nor have we the Means of putting them in a condition fit for the Service, This we hope will be done by the state & credit given to us for the Rifles as they now are, Had we any in Repair they should be delivered. We have the Honour to be, With great respect & Esteem your obed. Servt. His Excellency President Reed. By Order. Sir, BOARD OF WAR TO PRES. REED, 1781 -War office, 26th March, 1781. I do myself the honor to inclose to your Excellency a Coppy of the Cloather Generals return of the Cloathing delivered the Pensylvania Line, It is not compleat but is the best that can be made at present, I have honor to be, Directed, your Excellencys most obedt. Hum. Servant. His Excellency Jos. Reed, Esqr., President of the state Pensyl vania. War office. MONS. HOLKER TO PRES. REED, 1781. Philadelphia, y 26th March, 1781. Sir, In consequence of your letter of ye 14th,† I have with the greatest pleasure transmitted to Dr Phile naval officer of this port, so soon as I could collect the necessary materials, a return of y cargoes of his Majesty's Store Ships the Liverpool, Mariefrancoise & L'Interessant. Your Excellency & the honble the Supreme Executive Council, will * See page. 26. † See page 9. please to observe that it is not drawn, with that precision and accuracy, which Mr Etheard could alone have given it, & which it was his indispensable duty to have done, when I wrote him on ye 8th of September* to this purpose. But before I enter further on this subject, I must beg leave to observe to you Sir, that it appears somewhat extraordinary, you should express yourself in the following words in your letter of y 14th March you say that you had intimated to his Excellency the Chev de Laluzerne, some Causes of uneasiness, in order that he might communicate them to the Chev' de Fernay, & that Mr Etheart & myself being both together at Rhode island, we might there explain those which related to the three vessels which arrived last summer: I beg leave to repeat that it was somewhat extraordinary, because Mr Etheart being sent to Philadelphia, on an express object of business, by the Government of Martinico, was not accountable to the Commander of the Naval forces of his most Christian Majesty in America, in any point that relates to that business with respect to myself, the Minister of the Royal Marine in France, can alone pronounce definitively respecting my conduct, in any point which relates to ye functions of my late office, as consul for the State of Pensilvania, & at present, as consul general of the Midle district : if therefore any cause of complaint had arisen against Mr Etheard, & Your Excellency and the Supreme Executive Council should have thought proper, to have transmitted a remonstrance to the Minister in France, through me, it being my duty to make report of ye con duct of all naval officers in the ports of my district, so as the necessary measures may be taken in consequence thereof, I should have immediately conformed to your desire. If the complaints were against myself, the remonstrance might have been transmitted through the hands of his Excellency the Chevr DelaLuzerne, in the manner he proposed it to you Sir, when you intimated to him the causes of uneasiness during my absence from Philadelphia. Having said that Mr Etheard should have made a return of his cargoes when they were called for, it behoves me to add that if your Excellency & Council, should be of opinion, that any material injury has resulted from this neglect of Mr Etheart, or that it should be necessary to establish a precedent, tho I have constantly acknowledged it to be duty of all captains trading in any of the ports of America, & that all other Captain's but of Mr Etheart's division, have made regular returns at the naval office of their cargoes, I make bold to say, that either the Minister Plenipotentiary will or I shall most readily lay before the Minister of the Royal marine, such memorial as your Excellancy will please to transmit me on this occasion. In order to be more particular as to this point, & to give every usefull information, I have the honor of transmitting to your Ex * See Vol. VIII., page 546. † page 9. cellency & the Supreme Executive Council, copies of my first letter on this Subject to yourself, another to Dr Phile, & two others of y°, 8th & 9th 7ber* to M. Etheart, which will prove that this Gentleman can plead no Excuse: they will demonstrate at the same time, that I did every possible thing in my power to force Mr Etheart to his duty, & to give the fullest satisfaction: in this opinion I am not singular for his Excellency the Chey De la Luzerne, having perused the aforesaid papers & your letters, writes thus to me in his of ye 15th, "Il' me parait qu'on nepeut en aucune maniere, vous imputer cette "ommission; que vous avés fait dans le tems, tout ce qui etait en "vôtre pouvoir pour le prevenir, et j'Espere que le President sera "satisfait des Eclaircissements que vous lui communiquerès." I hope, Sir, that what has preceded will serve as an answer to y first article of ye memorandum of particulars inclosed in the letters with which you honor'd me on the 13th currant to which I should have returned an immediate answer, had I not been obliged to make an Excursion to Lancaster, from whence I am but lately returned; it appears only necessary for me to add, that I cannot discover on what ground your Excellency makes use of the following words "it "is presumed that Mr Holker should have done the business himself "or used effectual measures to have had it done by Captain Etheart." I have said that Mr Etheart was charged with particular business by the Government of Martinico, to whom alone he deemed himself accountable, he bore a commission as Lieutenant of the Royal navy,. I therefore thought I could not with propriety, exert those Powers which are entrusted to me, with respect to the Captains, officers & Crews of all other vessels whatever, in the case of Mr Etheart I conceived I had nothing more to do, than to give him the necessary warning so as he might not plead his ignorance of the Custom & usages of the port: all other effectual measures in this instance, are not I apprehend at present, within the reach of my office. I hope by the above state of ye matter, I shall have removed all possible Cause of uneasiness or Complaint respecting myself, & that your Excellency & council, on mature Consideration of all Circumstances, will approve my conduct in Every particular thereof. I now Come to the fourth & last point of the memorandum of Particulars which runs thus. "The representation given by General Arnold in his papers, of "M. Holker's concern in the Sloop Active, then in dispute with this "State, has been since explained by the Minister to Satisfaction."+ I am indeed happy to find, that this matter has been Explained to Satisfaction by the Minister: but I cannot help expressing some surprise, that any uneasiness could have arisen on this Subject so as to occasión an intimation thereof to the Minister: these very papers * See Vol. VIII., pages 546–548. †These two words are added in another hand, and apparently the same as the note hereafter referred to. of General Arnold, if genuine or compleat, must demonstrate beyond all possible doubt, that I refused having any concern in the Sloop Active; at first because I did not approve the principles of General Arnold's transaction with the recaptors or pretended recaptors of the Sloop active. Diffident of my own opinion I did not accede to take any concern, but on the Judgement of two persons, of undoubted worth & honor, who deemed I might do it, on the strictest principles of delicacy; my consent was given at seven o'clock in the Evening. At nine the same Evening, I wrote a note to General Arnold telling him I could not accept of his propositions, because I had discovered from another friend, that a concern in the Sloop Active, might possibly involve me into difficulties with the State, on account of a difference then subsisting between him & the Supreme Executive Council, of which I had not been apprized, having but lately returned from Boston this friend observed, that some day or other if such a transaction Came to light, It might be construed through various motives to my disadvantage, though it would only take place, in order to recover a considerable Loan of continental money, which I had made to that unfortunate man, in his hour of distress, then deeming him a usefull & very deserving servant of the Congress of the United States: I therefore refused all concern whatever in the Sloop Active, least I might involve or derogate from my public character. These facts I presume, are proved by the papers in possession: of Council, & if they are not compleat, I can administer the necessary documents from General Arnold's letters to me, who had the greatest interest to Establish my concern in the Sloop Active, if he could have prevailed on me to accept of it. With respect to ye third article, I hope the Minister has also Explained the matter to Satisfaction, it was with his knowledge, by his consent, & by his positive directions, that I have always disposed of the flour belonging to ye royal Marine: I should not do sufficient justice to ye motives of his conduct, was I to attempt to mention, much less to explain or Elucidate them to his Excellency therefore I must beg leave to refer all questions on this subject, persuaded that it will give all possible Satisfaction, If I assert, that I have only followed his instructions by so doing. The second article of ye memorandum of particulars of Masts for the use of the royal navy, remains unexplained. . All that I have to say on this subject, will be reduced to a few words. I have no sort of knowledge whether they do or do not belong to the State or individuals, all that I can possibly know, is that I never had any concern directly or indirectly, in the purchase or property of a single mast & sparr, considered as such, nor in any contract whatever: this I take the liberty of observing to your Excellency, least it might be thought, which I am informed has been the case, that I was interested in the contract for which I claimed by application in person, your protection & of the Honble the Coun eil, my solicitations were repeated by letter of ye twenty second* of September, as per coppy herewith annexed, & His Excellency the Chevalier de Laluzerne, with the Continental board of admiralty, applied Jointly with my self & James Wilson Esqre,† for protection of a militia Guard for the masts cutters, because they were so scarce, that there did not exist within our reach, a single one of sufficient dimension for any of the Continental Frigates, or those of his Most Christian Majesty, on the waters of the Delaware or the Cheseapeak, I thought of the Indians at the time, & it was for that reason, thatI applied for protection, I deem'd it the more easy to obtain, because the Swamps of masts on the Schuylkill, if I am rightly informed, lay 60 or 80 miles, within the range of the Militia Scouts Establish'd to guard the frontiers against the Savages: I Expected protection for the mast cutters, because these are absolutely necessary, to refit his Majesty's Ships now on the Coast of America for the sole purpose of its deffence, because it was a matter of public Concern, to procure them at any rate, this business was directly relative to my office, & I could no more have immagined, that I should have been accused of bringing down savages, by endeavouring to determine the subjects of Pensilvania to procure masts, who are accountable to their Government for their actions, than of bringing the British army, from New York to Philadelphia, or Baltimore, by directing contracts to be made for provisions for the royal navy, with other subjects of these two States. If however Savages have been induced to make an attack on this account, I must beg leave to observe to your Excellency, that I shall never deem myself responsible for the deeds of those persons who shall offer to deliver me any, in any part of the United States, which is simply the Case in the present instance. I hope therefore, I shall likewise deserve your approbation on this occasion, being persuaded that my conduct, has given Satisfaction to the Minister Plenipotentiary here, & that the Commanders of his Majesty's Ships would receive much more, if I had it in my power, to inform them, that I had in my possession such Sparrs & masts, as would suit their present or future purposes. I shall conclude by observing to your Excellency, that I suppose all grounds of misunderstanding, uneasiness or complaint, are comprehended in the above mentioned memorandum of particulars, which was inclosed in your letter of ye 13th, if any should remain omitted or forgot, I entreat you & the Supreme Executive Council to lett me know them, so as I may also have an opportunity of Explaining my * The following words appears to be a marginal note written in a different hand, and probably are remarks made on reading the letter. "Note Bene. At these different periods, when application was made for a protection, it was never mentioned to the Consul that masts for a Navy belonged to the State, or that the cutting of masts could induce alone an Incursion from the Indians." |