Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City

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Greenleaf and Law

IN THE

Federal City

ALLEN C. CLARK

WASHINGTON, D. C.

ntIM 0» W. p. IIOMRTt
I9OI

ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR I90I

BY ALLEN C. CLARK

IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
AT WASHINGTON

■

IHAPTERS

Chapters

JAMES GREENLEAF

Greenleaf .....

Morris ......

Nicholson .....

Speculation ....

Holland .....

Letters .....

Commemoration ....

Twenty Buildings ....

Architect .....

Merchant .....

Quarrels .....

Misfortune .....

Justice ......

Dreams .....

Litigant .....

Aftbrdays ......

India .....
Marriage .....
Public Spirit ....
Duncanson .....
Separation ....
Permanence ....

rAKMfiK • • • • •

Bereavement ....

Columbian Institute

Writer .....
Character ....

APPENDIX

Will of Morris ....

Stoddbrt-Greenleaf Controversy

Will of Law ....

THOMAS LAW

PAGE
. 9

. 39

47

. 67

79

. 9«
119

. 123

135

. 145

151
. 169

173

• 179

183
. 203

219

• 233
245

. 263
285

. 291
297

• 303
315

. 319
327

337
338
347

MORRIS 24

Memorable is Rufus Choate's banquet witticism : *

Pennsylvania's two most distinguished citizens, Robert Morris, a native of
Great Britain, and Benjamin Franklin, a native of Massachusetts.

Robert Morris's birth-place is Liverpool and birth-date Janu-
ary 31, 1734. At fourteen years of age he entered the mercan-
tile house of the Willings at Philadelphia. At twenty, he and
Thomas Willing formed the new firm, Willing and Morris, or
Willing, Morris and Co., or subsequently so styled. The stock
was as diverse as the heterogeneous commodities of a cross-
roads emporium and as varied as a modern department store.
They imported and exported from and to every mart in the
world ; they bought and sold bills of exchange and engaged in
other branches of banking. The business was comprehensive
enough to include the barter in human chattels. Morris never
concealed that to him public office meant no relinquishment of
private pursuit. The operations of the war gave opportunity
for enrichment, and Morris never was slow either in business
or politics. As Financier-General he acquired additional credit
and he actually circulated his own notes throughout the conti-
nent as currency and even had the assurance to have the
Assembly of Virginia and perhaps the legislatures of other col-
onies enact them current in payment of tax.f Before the ter-
mination of the war his firm was favorably known in the
considerable trading towns in Europe, and he, himself, was
reputed to be the possessor of prodigious wealth.

Of his personal appearance and manner of living, I will now
let others say :

Marquis de Chastellux, 1781, writes: %

Mr. Morris is a large man, very simple in his manners ; but his mind is subtle
and acute, his head perfectly well organized, and he is as well versed in public
affairs as in his own. He was a member of Congress in 1776, and ought to be
reckoned among those personages who have had the greatest influence in the
revolution of America. * * * His house is handsome, resembling perfectly
the houses in London; he lives there without ostentation, but not without ex-
pense, for he spares nothing which can contribute to his happiness, and that of
Mrs. Morris, to whom he is much attached. A zealous republican, and an epicu-
rean philosopher, he has always played a distinguished part at table and in
business.

* From addreM of Charkt H. VUxXr^Robert Morris.

tThs Financier and Finanoas of the American Revolution.— /Vo/. William Graham Sumner,

iTraveto in North America, in the years 1780-81-82, by the Marquis de Chastellux ^ trana-
lated from the French, by an English gentleman^ who resided in America at that period. With
notes by the transbtor.

25 MORRIS

The Marquis' translator supplements:*

The house the Marquis speaks of, in which Mr. Morris lives, belonged formerly
to Mr. Richard Penn ; the Financier has made great additions to it, and is the
first who has introduced the luxury of hot-houses and ice-houses on the conti-
nent. He has likewise purchased the elegant country house formerly occupied
by the traitor Arnold, nor is his luxury to be outdone by any commercial
voluptuary of London.

Prince de Broglic, 1782, writes:

M. de la Luzerne conducted me to the house of Mrs. Morris to take tea. She
is the wife of the Financier of the United States. The house is simple, but neat
and proper. The doors and tables are of superb mahogany, carefully treated.
The locks and trimmings are of copper, charmingly neat. The cups were
arranged symmetrically. The mistress of the house appeared well. Her cos-
tume was largely of white. 1 got some excellent tea ; and 1 think that 1 should
still have taken more, if the Ambassador had not charitably warned me, when I
had taken the twelfth cup, that I must put my spoon across my cup whenever
1 wanted this species of torture by hot water to stop; *' since," said he to me,
** it is almost as bad manners to refuse a cup of tea when it is offered to you as
it would be indisaeet for the master of the house to offer you some more, when
the ceremony of the spoon has shown what your intentions are in respect to this
matter." Mr, Morris is a large man, who has a reputation for honourableness
and intelligence. It is certain that he has great credit at least, and that he has
been clever enough while appearing often to make advances of his own funds for
the service of the Republic, to accumulate a great fortune and to gain several
millions since the Revolution began. He appears to have much good sense. He
talks well, so far as I could judge, and his large head seems as well adapted for
governing a great empire as that of most men.

W. Sullivan, Public Men of the Revolution, records:

In his person (as now recollected) he was nearly six feet in stature; of large,
full, well-formed, vigorous frame, with clear, smooth, florid complexion. His
loose, gray hair was unpowdered ; his eyes were gray, of middle size, and un-
commonly brilliant. He wore, as was common at that day, a full suit of broad
cloth of the same color, and of light mixture. His manners were gracious and
simple, and free from formality which generally prevails. He was very affable,
and mingled in common conversation with the young.

Samuel Breck, in his Recollections, recalls:

There was a luxury in the kitchen, table, parlour and street equipage of Mr.
and Mrs. Morris that was to be found nowhere else in America. Bingham's
was more gaudy, but less comfortable. It was pure and unalloyed which the
Morrises sought to place before their friends, without the abatements that so
frequently accompany the displays of fashionable life. No badly cooked or cold
dinners at their table; no pinched fires upon their hearths; no paucity of
waiters ; no awkward loons in their drawing-rooms.

• Trav«b In North America In the yean 1780-81-81, by the Marquit de ChatUUux, tran*-
htad fiom the French by an EngHth gentUman, who rcaidad in America at that period. With
nolaa by the translator.

27 MOWUS

remote little brick courthouse, there to ascertain if the title is a
continuous chain from the original owner — Robert Morris.

February 20, 1795, Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf formed
the celebrated North American Land Company. The number
of shares was thirty thousand and the capital three million dol-
lars. The three promoters conveyed land to the company at
fifty cents an acre. The land was located in Pennsylvania,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Ken-
tucky, six million acres in all, and two million of which in
Georgia. Morris was the President of the Board of Managers.

Although but half a dollar an acre was the consideration paid
by the company and that in its stock the alluring prospectus
valued it at £100 an acre and assured the reader:

The proprietor of back lands gives himself no other trouble about them than
to pay the taxes, which are inconsiderable. As Nature left them, so will they lie
till circumstances give them value. The proprietor is then sought out by the
settler who has chanced to pitch upon them, or who has made any improvement
thereon, and receives from him a price which fully repays his original advance,
with great interest.

What a fallacy I It is the reverse. The taxes are onerous.
The settler never pays anything or seeks anybody. He
assumes squatter's sovereignty, and maintains it peaceably if
he can, forcibly, if he must, but maintains it.

George Washington Parke Custis is the authority that Morris
requested Washington to go into the North American Land
Company; that Washington not only refused but remonstrated
with him for heavily speculating at his age — three score.
Morris replied : '* I can never do things in the small ; I must be
either a man or a mouse."

Mr. Morris had of his own volition yielded his residence to
President Washington and taken that of a tory refugee, Gallo-
way, most conspicuous in the ante-revolutionary days. In
1795, Morris purchased the square within the bounds of
Chestnut, Walnut, Seventh and Eighth streets.

Major Charles Pierre L'Enfant, so it is published, at the
Financier's dinner of state suggested a great house. His sug-
gestion was rewarded by an engagement to devise the structure
and supervise the construction. The Major was a man of big
ideas. What others saw in ordinary vision, he did through a
magnifying glass. Morris was on the tongue of everybody —
his political preferment, his speculative success. The Major

GREENLEAF.

(T^rlNG" they titled him. If greatness of project, bold-
ly ness of execution and steadfastness in tribulation are
the attributes of kingship, Greenleaf was indeed a
king, in the annals of the city of Washington James Green-
leaf in scheme and speculation is first and foremost, in litiga-
tion the most persistent. In his land ventures he invested
more than his genius; and he did contribute, generously,
opportunity or the material from which the Supreme Court of
a young republic fixed the foundation and formed the frame-
work in the structure of its jurisprudence.

Of Huguenot origin is the Greenleaf family, and its name is
a translation of the French Feuillevert.

Edmund Greenleafe is the common ancestor. He settled in
Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635.

William Greenleaf was born January 10. 1735, and married
Mary Brown of Plymouth; was bred a merchant and resided
many years in Boston. He was an ardent Whig and active in
the Revolution; and, of the committee secretly selected at
town meeting in Boston, November 2, 1772, to advise and de-
vise with other colonies by correspondence measures for
mutual pursuance. The committee offlimes convened at hb
house. It was a hazardous part, exposing to treactiery within
and attack without, and each signed a bond in most solemn
phrase never in emergency even unto death to betray con-
stituent or cause.

He was appointed High Sheriff of Suffolk county, including
Boston, by the Governor and Council. October 31, 1775. His
shrievalty ceased December 14, 1780. Monday, July 15, 1776,
a committee of the Council was appointed to consider in "what
way, manner and form the declaration of the honorable Con-
tinental Congress should be made public." The committee

MORRIS 30

The Major was a creditor for his services although he pre-
sented no account; and Morris, 1800, writes :

Various circumstances render me little solicitous on the score of his services,
but he lent me thirteen shares of bank stock disinterestedly, and on this point
1 feel the greatest anxiety that he should get the same number of shares with the
dividends, for want of which he has suffered great distress.

The Syracusan friends and their fidelity to friendship is a
tradition or a type of unselfish devotion. The friendship of
these brother Americans, Morris and Nicholson, is as real as
rare. The gradual culture of their reciprocity through the ups
and downs of business alliance had its fruition in adversity.
Theirs was not

A shade that follows wealth or fame,
And leaves the wretch to weep,

it was as firm as the rocks of Gibralter. Nicholson's action in
sending all his available money to Morris on his commitment
to prison and that of Morris in making prompt return of it, ex-
cites admiration for their devotion and sympathy for their
calamities.

To illustrate the affectionate relation 1 will quote from Mr.
Morris's letters, sentences few, comparatively speaking, for
great is the number of letters extant. When Mr. Nicholson
made his prolonged stay in the city of Washington, Mr.
Morris daily wrote — come, come, yet stay if the exigencies
there require and I here will parry the creditors' attacks. Mr.
Morris frequently dubs Mr. Nicholson "the great lawyer" in
playful sarcasm of pretention to legal knowledge. With Sep-
tember, 1797, the letters are from the ** Hills,"* his citadel
where he fortified himself from the "cormorants" who would
torment his soul and from the ** myrmidons " of the law who
would murder his liberty.

1795.

January i. 1 very sincerely wish that the opening of a New Year 1795 may

be more propitious to your views & wishes than the close of
1794 hath been, and to begin it well, 1 tell you in answer to
your note of yesterday that 1 will most cheerfully give my name
upon the notes you mention and to any others necefsary to re-
lieve you from the present situation.
1796.

August 29 We must work like Men to clear away these cursed Incum-
brances & satisfy the Cormorants.

•Reproduced. The Htotoric Mansioiu and Building! of PhUadelphi«.~fF«fleo/A P- S^B.

31 MOWIIS

November 20. For he telleth stories against John the manufactorer, who under-

taketh to build Houses and leaveth them unbuilt, even altho' he
hath promised to raise them unto the third story & put a roof
thereon — Still they do not rise above the Surface of the Earth
but various and numerous are the Tales and Traditions against
not only John but Robert — Know thou these men. Adieu, may
truth prevail, & Robert & John obtain the voice of impartial
Justice ought to bestow.

November 22. We must depend on ourselves, put the World at defiance and set

ourselves on the Front Seat of the Worlds amphitheatre * * *
May the Father of the universe receive you into the Holy Taber-
nacle after you can bid adieu to this Terrestrial Globe, free from
the reproaches of your own Conscience or of your fellow man.

December 4. I find a number of your notes are coming in for Payment, and of

course go to the Fraternity of "Notarius Publicus,'' and as the
Supreme Court is now sitting, honorable mention will be made
of our names.

1797.

January i. I do most devoutly pray that the present may prove more propi-
tious to you and me than the last year did, and I am sure there
are few if any mortals in this Worid that stand more in need of
fortunes favors — We must therefore throw ourselves in the way
and by Exertions conciliate her good will.

August 31. I have felt as melancholy as a Gib Cat ever since you went and

the news Papers lie here unread and untouched. ♦ ♦ ♦ |
rejoiced when I found you had got Safe to Castle Defence.

September 13. Your letter No. 8 of yesterday is written with more animation

& Spirit than the others. Oh what a charming delightful
thing is a gleam of hope, how it clears the Soul & drives away
that friend of Hell, despair.

September 18. You are a great Lawyer & therefore I put a question? Can

the Sheriff upon the rejection of the special bail legally make
forcible entry into the Defendts castle, or has the Defent a right
to Shoot & consider well before you answer, and if necessary
you can take the opinion of other counsel, which even if Uss
able may be usefull, as perhaps the opinions to be given may
tend to the preservation of the Body and the Soul will take
care of itself.

September 27. You need not fear that I should suspect you were going to quit

writing to me. I shall not suspect that to happen until you
quit your existence or untill I do, and I think even then, if there
was an Office door under which the letters would be thrust I
would not rest in quiet on the other side of the River Styx.

September 30. If our afflictions are as heavy & follow as quick as those of Job

we must follow him & bear them with patience & resignation
this I can do perfectly as to myself but when 1 think of my fam-
ily my Soul is wrung to the quick here I must Stop this Subject
comes home to my feelings which are too Strong to proceed and
I lay down the pen.

MORRIS-

•32

October

October
October

November

November

November

December

December

December

3. Good Morning to you, my good friend, What is the matter is
your ink out, Quills exhausted, or paper quite done, excuse those
questions they arise out of circumstance of my not having heard
from you all day.

4. Your note of this day just received tells me that you pofeeiis
your liberty, that is the liberty of locking up yourself.

25. While I am writing I receive your further notes of today — num-
bers 7, 8 and 9. 1 wish to God these notes would take up those
which bear promise of payments. They are numerous already,
but if they would answer the other purpose, you would want
more copying-presses and half a dozen paper-mills. ♦ ♦ ♦
To number 9 1 answer that they will have done advertising and
selling our property after it is all sold and gone. Two hundred
thousand aaes of my land in North Carolina, which cost me
$27,000, are sold for one year's taxes. By Heaven, there is no
bearing with these things! 1 believe 1 shall go mad. Every
day brings forward scenes and troubles almost insupportable,
and they seem to be accumulating, so that they will like a tor-
rent carry everything before them. God help us! for men will
not. We are abandoned by all but those who want to get from
us all we yet hold.
I. Your several fiaivours of this day (if distressing Billets can be called
fiaivours) No i to 6 were brought out. ♦ « ♦ i have sworn
to let no body inside my House and not to go outside of the
walls myself. If 1 see them it is out of a window, I being up-
stairs and they down. When I snuff the open air it is on the
top. « « « 5f«f/!5 again, a curse on all ^f«i/5 say /. If they
were good comfortable Winter Suits one might dispose of them,
the more the better; but these damned suits wherein a Lawyer
is the Taylor are neither good for man. Woman, Child or Beast

15. 1 am as sensible as you are how careflill we should be of preserv-
ing the liberty to imprison ourselves, but some risque we must
run if necessary to see each other.

2a I hope in the mean time that your apprehensions of what was to
happen today are not realized, but that on the contrary your
dwelling is as quiet and peaceable as Castle Defiance, where no
attack has been made except by the North Wester & the Frost
this Cold Morning.

1 1. For my part I begin to think the best way to get clear of the
whole Host of them is to submit and take up quarters in Pruen
Street at once, nothing there can be worse than this continual
haraiisment & torment which we or least / now suffer.

12. I fear my good friend it will be long before we sit down under
our own Vines and Fig trees, altho' it may not be long before
we get among the Pruens.

14. But you must not go to Pruen street Parry the present diffi-
culties, and fortune will smile hereafter, but if the key b once
turned on you by the hand under any authority but your own
God only knows when that door shall be opened to you; per-

33-

-MORRIS

haps never, untfl you shall be insensible to the affairs of the
world.

December 17. The peace of your family & all future happinefs depend so

much on the enjoyment of the small degree of liberty which you
now have, that I am agitated to the last degree in waiting to
know the result of your attempts, may the Great Ruler of the
Universe order & dispose events in your fiaivour as well as in
favour of those that depend upon your exertion & mine.

December 21. Good heavens what Vultures Men are in regard to each other.

1 never in the days of prosperity took advantage of any persons
distrefses and 1 suppose what 1 now experience is to serve as a
lefson where to see the folly of humane and generous conduct.

1798.
January

I. 1 reciprocate all your good wishes upon the coming in of this
New Year, but it enters with a gloomy shade over our affairs
that does not auger well

January 11. Confidence has furled her banners, which no longer wave over

the heads of M. and N.

January 25. As you are a Great Si sometimes a good Lawyer 1 ask you to

consider the subject well and give me your advice but 1 fear all
the common Lawyers are against us.

January 31. My mind is so much disturbed about going to Prison that I do

not get along with businefs, indeed 1 hardly think it worth while
any longer to submit to the drudgery of it, for if 1 am once
locked up by any body but myself 1 shall consider my ruin as
sealed, and if so, why should 1 any longer submit to the racks &
tortures occasioned by the importunities and insatiable avarice of
Creditors that I never knew or dealt with, 1 will not do it, but if
1 keep my present position my exertions shall be continued to
make the most of my affairs in the hope of paying everything
and of having a suitable surplus for the benefit of my family.

February 5. 1 got safe here and found it the only place of calmnefs and quiet

my foot was in all yesterday, it has made me more averse to the
Gty than ever and 1 detest Pruen Street more than ever, there-
fore keep me from it if pofsible my Dr friend.

February 5. If writing notes could relieve me you would do it sooner than

any man in the world, but all you have said in these now before
me, No 5 to 9 inclusive amount when summed up to nothing.
My money is gone my furniture is to be sold, 1 am to go to
prison & my &mily to starve — good night

February 8. Altho' 1 am expecting to hear what kind of reception and an-
swers your circular letter has met with, 1 cannot say that I have
conceived the smallest degree of hope from that measure, on the
contrary I consider my fate as fixed, hard and cruel it is. The
punishment of my imprudence in the use of my name and lots of
credit b perhaps what I deserve, but it b nevertheleds severe on
my iamfly and on their account I feel it most tormentingly, on
their account I would do any thing to avert what I foresee must

MOUUS-

■34

February

February
February

May

1799.
January

happen next Week, except an act that would still affect them
more deeply — 1 will try to see you before I go to Prison and in
the mean time I remain your distrefsed fiiend.

15. I am here in custody of a Sheriffs officer in my own house
Charles Eddy is the most hardened Villian God ever made. 1
believe that if 1 had had bank notes at the HiUs to the amount
of his brothers bail for me he would not have taken them, not
being a legal tender, he was positively determined to carry me to
Pruen Street last night but the Sheriff humanely refieyed me from
his rascally clutches. As 1 believe you want money as much, if not
more than 1 do at this moment I return the forty dollars received
in your note of thb day, with thanks for the kind intention.

16. Morris went to prison.

20. My confinement has so far been attended with disagreeable and
uncomfortable circumstances, for having no particular place
allotted for me, 1 feel myself an intruder in every place into
which 1 go. 1 sleep in another persons bed, 1 occupy other
peoples rooms, and if 1 attempt to sit down to write it is at the
interruption and inconvenience of some one who has acquired a
prior right thereto.*

15- 1 get frighted as 1 go through my memorandums at the number
and amount of our notes. Then I leave off the work and lay
the papers aside, not for them to cool, but that my mind may
do it. I received your letter of yesterday, by which I see the
prison scene has made its impression on your mind. You must
come every Sunday; and it will grow so familiar that you will
think little of it so long as you keep out on week days.

30. I am looking forward with fear and trembling to the i8th day of
February, when another quarter's rent will be due and must be
paid or my sponsor will be called upon, and that would be
worse than to be turned into the street

During his imprisonment, probably in 1800, he relieved the
monotony by writing something explanatory of his enter-
prises and stating his open accounts. The document in two
parts was published as an exhibit in litigation. The explana-
tion exhibits a heedlessness and recklessness in buying, mort-
gaging and disposing beyond belief; and it discloses he became
lost to a knowledge of his transactions and to the extent of his
liabilities.

This examinant thinks that he could in thb place detail circumstances in exten-
uation of hb own conduct that might tend to protect him in some degree against
the charges of rashness and imprudence which, with appearance of justice, hath
been imputed to these speculations; but as recrimination would be no use, and

* Mr. Morris timlbrly writes to Mr. Pitssimons:

I feel lilce an intruder evenr where; sleeping in other people's beds and sitting in other people's
rooms. I am writing on other people's paper with other people's ink,~the pen is my own ; that
and the clothes I wear are all I cUim as mina here.

35 Mowiis

as all the parties have suffered the severest penalties that opinion and law could
inflict, he must continue, as he hitherto hath done, to submit to his fate, and
meet it with that fortitude which is supported by consciousness that he neither
intended evil to himself or to any creditor or other person whatever, that any one
should lose or suffer by operations in which he had a concern is to him a most
distressing and mortifying circumstance.

To me nothing in the memoirs of Morris is more pathetic
than the mention in the schedule of scanty supplies, for furni-
ture he had none, of some wine belonging to his daughter in
the care of his wife.

There is some bottied wine which 1 do not consider as mine, but 1 choose to
mention it that 1 may avoid suspicion or reproach. This wine is what remained
in a quarter cask which 1 gave to my daughter Maria at the same time that 1
gave one to her sister some years ago, destined to be used on a particular occa-
sion. The cask leaked, and the remainder was bottled.

In the bankruptcy proceedings debts were proven to the
amount of three million dollars ($2,948,711.11). Very likely
the smaller proportion of the actual indebtedness as no assets
were visible. Mr. Morris was '* restored to home and family"
August 26, 1 801. The prison period is three years, six months
and ten days.

Morris was a martyr. His privation of liberty tended to the
liberties of unfortunate thousands. His imprisonment has been
charged to the ingratitude of the republic. Only one course
was there to save him and that public subscription. His debts
were three millions sure and perhaps millions more. A great
sum now and many fold greater then. The tax was too severe
for public generosity. However public beholdment to The
Financier of the American Revolution aroused attention to the
inhumane institution and the Debtor's Prison ceased to be.

Mrs. Morris through the assistance of Gouverneur Morris
was enabled to secure from the Holland company an annuity
for an unreleased dower of fifteen hundred dollars. She pro-
vided therewith a home on Twelfth street between Chestnut
and Market Here Morris passed his declining years. In his
days of dire distress he struggled to retain certain greatly prized
tokens and with what success or iii-success he tells in the
solemnity of a testamentary writing — ^an appendix hereto. He
is buried beneath Christ Church on Second street. A tablet
reads : ' ' The family Vault of William White and Robert Morris.
The latter, who was Financier during the Revolution, died the
8th of May, 1806, aged 73 years."

39 (CICHOISOM

NICHOLSON.

BIOGRAPHICAL items are meagre. In early years of
manhood Nicholson was busied in important activities.
His was a strenuous life. I presume he was a native
or the province of Pennsylvania and his advent had the advan-
tage of affluent environment.

The change from province to commonwealth, dependence
to independence, the war exaction and the currency depreciation
of this evolutionary and revolutionary period caused chaotic
condition in the affairs, fmancial and otherwise. In 1780 a
system of account and an office of comptroller-general was
established. John Nicholson first served * in this capacity " for
the time being" and from 1785 on a fixed tenure of seven
years. The scope of ofRce was "to keep fair, distinct and
clear accounts of all revenues and expenditures of the Com-
monwealth of every kind and nature;" to collect debts
except taxes; to settle with soldiers; and to issue interest
bearing negotiable certificates. The authority of the comp-
troller-general was executive and judicial subject to appeal to
the Supreme Court.f Under the manipulation of Nicholson
the knotty skein of tangled finance was gradually unraveled.
He financiered the finances with skill. He disbursed an
excess of twenty-seven millions of the public funds.

Federalist and republican had patriotic principle alike; and
toward each other a cordial dislike. Partisanship in the
republic's formative period was intensely acrimonious, more
so, than at any subsequent.

Fair i$ foul, and foul is £dr
was a motto not inscribed on banner yet appropriately might
have been. Party spirit incited malevolence and a malevolent

NICHOLSON 40

feature was rude caricature. He of horns and hoofs and tail
and the Financier were pictured in company; the former
beckoning and calling " Come this way, Bobby." The City
of Brotherly Love was the cauldron wherein seethed with
fiercest heat the political rancors. And this is prefatory to the
assertion an efficient official might be charged and censured
and still be guiltless. Nicholson was accused in the House of
Representatives and an impeachment trial ensued. A sum-
mary is in Jacob Hiltzheimer's Diary. It began February 26,
1794. Four Philadelphia lawyers represented the House and
four the Comptroller-General. April 11, the Senate (the jury)
gave favorable decision to Nicholson and thereupon to escape
further political persecution he retired from office.

It is stated, unauthentically, that Nicholson was of the first
board of direction of the Bank of North America organized,
November i, 1781, mainly through the means of Morris.

Transactions in Nicholson's private right are of amazing
magnitude. At the time of his public service he owned in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania three million seven hun-
dred thousand acres. In a report, 1806, to the Common-
wealth it is alleged by a brother of Nicholson that he had
indisputable title to one-seventh of its surface. Other posses-
sions in the States were of enormous extent. After official
retirement he became besides speculator, a manufacturer.

To provide for engagements incurred in the Pennsylvania
land purchases he organized joint stock concerns to which he
conveyed considerable of his holdings. Of this class are the
conveyances of March 17 and 18, 1797, to the Pennsylvania
Land Company.

The business association with Morris dates 1793. Upon
Greenleaf's retirement from the Federal City enterprise and
consequent relinquishment of the active management, Nichol-
son with Cranch for Morris succeeded thereto. When Mr.
Nicholson had assistance at Washington it was that of Lewis
Deblois, a resident merchant.

Mr. Nicholson was alert and aggressive. He mastered the
details of all the operations at Washington notwithstanding
his ramified interests elsewhere and neglected nothing. He
sought those who had money to invest in lots and improve-
ments and consummated the contracts; he found those who
had cash to loan and persuaded an exchange for his paper;

41 mcHOLSow

he looked well to the division lines and insisted on every
square foot undoubtedly his or doubtfully his. And when the
Commissioners' ideas did not conform to his he wrote in a
straight style comporting with his characteristic vim and
vigor.

One of Mr. Nicholson's characteristics can be guessed and
needs not the confirmation of Mr. Morris, February 9, 1797 :

I know that you are never idle, it is not in your nature or habits to be so,
but I think you are too often employed in doing what ought to be done by
others, correct this error and you will accomplish more real businels in a short
time than any other man living.

At the comer of Seventh and Race streets in Philadelphia,
Mr. Nicholson lived in affluent style and subscribed to the
projects that conduced to the pleasure and pride of the
Quaker City.

Mr. Nicholson's handwriting was plain, straight up and
down — vertical. And he did write — write — write. The river
of his thought flowed on easily, ceaselessly. To Mr. Morris
when at the Hills, "Castle Deflance," self-immured to escape
the attentions of creditors, Mr. Nicholson, likewise so dis-
posed in his city mansion, " Castle Defense," sent by messen-
ger daily, his letters numbered i to 6 and sometimes i to 11.
With Mr. Morris it was to

Read o'er this:
And after, this:

and this, and this. On one occasion to letter No. 9 he writes:

1 wish to God these notes would take up those which bear promises of
payments

and makes allusion to copying presses and paper mills. Yet
Mr. Morris waited longingly for the messenger with Mr.
Nicholson's budget. From the one side of the epistolary
dialogue accessible sometimes the other can be surmised.
Nicholson writes a word badly ; Morris suggests the necessity
of the devil's decipherment. What Nicholson then replies is
suggested by Morris's words, March 5, 1798:

In No. 3 you say "that I shall see you are a great scrivener ^^ had you
said a great scribbler I should have said Ay at once.

The abrupt cessation of Mr. Nicholson's letters had its
cause. The necessity was obviated. Mr. Nicholson came to

i

mcHOLSoM 42

stay with Mr. Morris, for, he, too, was a prisoner for debt
In " Prune Street" he to gain for his own and his daily bread
turned his facility and published a paper with a truth and jest
at the top — The Supporter or Daily Repast, Surely it served
up a feast, spicy and sumptuous, to satisfy the most exacting.
The journalistic enterprise survived until the editor's death in
the debtor's apartment, the 5th day of December, 1800. This
circumstance seems to discredit the representation he died
insane.
Prophetic were the words of Mr. Morris :

But if the key is once turned on you by the hand under any authority but
your own God only knows when that door shall be opened to you; perhaps
never, until you shall be insensible to the affairs of the world.

The bankrupt law of April 4, 1800, was effective July ist,
that year, and these brother unfortunates could have promptly
availed themselves of it yet neither for some cause, not appa-
rent, seemed disposed to act with promptitude. Mr. Nichol-
son's debts are said to have totalled twelve million dollars.
Multiply for the relative value of money, then and now, and
exclaim I

Mr. Morris writes :

John Nicholson, deceased. A heavy balance will be found due to me on
the accounts depending between this my fellow-sufferer and myself, probably
upward of $600,000 specie, when all entries are made that the transactions
require. With the purest intentions, he unfortunately laid a train that ended as
it hath done. 1 here say he laid the train, because there are living witnesses
that 1 opposed as soon as 1 knew it, although from infatuation, madness or
weakness, 1 gave away afteiward.

It would be a mistaken inference to take this large sum as
money advanced. It includes land purchases with one hundred
per cent, profit.

The absence of Nicholson's masterly manipulation, the con-
dition of his affairs, and the growth and spread of population
resulted in endless confusion and litigation. Tracts, through-
out the thirty-nine counties, for unsettled land warrants and
other accounts in liquidation reverted to the Commonwealth
and by it were re-sold. Pre-existent claims to that of the Com-
monwealth had the effect of creating uncertain titles. " Nich-
olson Courts," special courts, to afford relief from embarrass-
ment of title, have been authorized by legislative enactment
and these have been re-opened time after time. So it is said,

43 MICHOLSOM

in more recent years the Nicholsons have appeared and pre-
sented sweeping claims to about all to which there is a grant
that bears an impress of their ancestral name. The annalist
exclaims : *

Thus, at the end of forty years, does the ail-grasping cupidity of one man
dbturb the peace and weHare of whole communities.

The annalist's indignation is hardly founded on a just con-
ception. Nicholson's investments were legitimate and proper
and the complications which followed were not suspected or
foreseen. And, if true, that Nicholson's descendants do seek
that which seems rightfully theirs ft is reasonable and not con-
demnable. The annalist himself stands accused of writing
besides truth — tattle.

Not all speak ill of Mr. Nicholson :

DR. BENJAMIN RUSH TO JOHN NICHOLSON.

Dear Sir,

Nothing could be more opportune than your kind offer to the poor Africans.
They had nearly despaired of being able to complete their church. The person
who once offered to lend them money was Col. Cox. Finding that you antici-
pated him in that benevolent act, he followed your kindness by bequeathing to
them one hundred pounds. From their numbers, their increasing prosperity, and
their punctuality in all their engagements, 1 have no doubt but your interest will be
paid to a day every quarter. The lot and building amply secure the prindpaL
In all my intercourse with the blacks, 1 have found them affectionate and grate-
ful. You will find them more so, — for you have greater demands than 1 have
ever had, upon their gratitude and affections. I find they have alloted a pew for
each of us, on different sides of the pulpit of their church. On Saturday next
they purpose to raise their roof, after which they are to have a dinner under a
tree at a private house in the Neck, about a mile from town, I hope I shall have
the pleasure of meeting you there, for they intend to invite you with two or three
more of their white benefactors. 1 wish to suggest to you an idea of offering
io,ooo, or more acres for sale on moderate terms, and on a credit for a few years,
to Africans only who have been brought up as farmers. The attraction of color
and country is such that 1 think the offer would succeed, and thereby ^precedent
be established for colonizing in time, all the Africans.

Adieu — my dear friend — May Heaven prosper you in all your great and exten-
sive pursuits, and may you long continue to enjoy the highest and only rational
pleasure that wealth can confer — I mean the luxury of doing good. .

From yours

Sincerely

BENJ»N RUSH.
August 1 2th 1793

* WttMa*t Aanalt of Phlkiddpliia.

NICHOLSON 44

Poulson*s American Daily Advertiser^ Monday, December 8, 1800.

Died, on Friday last, John Nicholson, esquire, formerly Comptroller General
of this state, and lately editor of a newspaper, emphatically stiled " The Sup^
porter^ or Daily Repast^^* in allusion to his, then, situation and circumstances.
This gentleman by the attention of his parents had received in his youth a liberal
education, was trained in the paths of piety, industry, and application to business;
nature had bestowed talents, and he acquired by practice a facility in adjusting
and settling the most intricate affairs with dispatch unequalled. Fortune smiled
on his industry for a time and he acquired wealth; wealth afforded the oppor-
tunity (which he embraced) to gratify the qualities and propensities of his mind;
generous without ostentation hb donations altho' numerous were little known to
any but the immediate objects of them ; sympathy for the distressed led him to
visit the sick and necessitous within his circle, and upon every such occasion he
administered the aid or comfort which the case required, insomuch that by the
indigent he was called the father of his neighborhood. Modest, unassuming and
good tempered, he was a kind and affectionate husband and parent, a sincere
friend and use^l dtizen. Without being stimulated to avarice or ambition, he
became too ardent (from habit) to the pursuit of wealth, and as many have done
before by outstepping the bounds prescribed by prudence, he lost a fortune that
ought to have contented him. He bore the reverse with fortitude, and had it
been his fate to continue in this world, there is little room to doubt, that industry
like hb, aided by past experience would have repaired the ravages of misfortune.
A short sickness has snatched him from all possibility of exertion, leaving an
amiable and affectionate wife with eight infant children, (unaccustomed untfl of
late to know any ungratified wants) to struggle with the difficulties of their situa-
tion. — May the author of all good, continue them in his holy protection and shed
his divine influence in the minds of their fellow dtixens so as to dispose of them
to administer to their relief and comfort

A Friend of the Deceased.

A lineal descendant of Nicholson says she is credibly
advised that he was only in his twenty-second year when
honored with the comptrollership; if correctly, he was but
forty at time of decease. I approximate his years at two
score; he may have been slightly more advanced. Morris
mentions many times the lease of life that Nicholson has in
which to rebuild his fortune.

'' You are young enough to bury the Acorn and see the Tree grow up again."

It is sad that a life of such executive efficiency and variant
utility should so soon be closed, though freed from the cor-
poreal prison for the better state.

The picture of Mr. Nicholson is a reproduction of a paint-
ing by Charles Wilson Peale and is presented through the
courtesy of Mrs. M. Nicholson Collins of New Orleans, La.

Wllk-IAM C RANCH

:i ,'.»•.«..<>

CRANCH.

WHEN the Cranch family finds the link that must needs
be had to make a chain complete that master of the
brush, Lucas Cranach, will be at one end of it.

Richard Cranch, the father of William, in his twentieth
year, 1746, emigrated to America. He was a watchmaker at
Braintree, Massachusetts. By dint of incessant study he be-
came learned; and was degreed. 1780, A. M. by Harvard
College. He was postmaster, representative in the General
Court, Senator of the Commonwealth and Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas. President John Adams esteems "the
friend of my youth as well as of my riper years," extols the
student of "divinity, and Jewish and Christian antiquities,"
and exalts his " mathematical, metaphysical, mechanical,
systematical head." Mr. Cranch married, 1826. Mary,
daughter of Rev. William Smith of Weymouth. She was
the sister of Abigail, wife of John Adams, and akin to her jn
virtues.

William Cranch was born July 17, 1769, in Weymouth.
His youth was in the epoch-making days, the days of the
minute-men, the days of Paul Revere and the crude-armed
heroes of Lexington and Bunker Hill. His chance it was
daily to hear appeal to patriots and defiance to despots. The
clash he did

Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!

And in after-years from the bench did announce " this is
the day of the year I heard the guns at Bunker Hill."

The Cranch and Greenleaf families were more than neigh-
borly and at years of man's estate and bloom of womanhood,
William Cranch married James Greenleaf 's sister Nancy, and
Greenleaf 's brother, John, married Cranch's sister, Lucy.

Master Cranch's mother at home superintended his prelimi-
nary instruction; and his uncle, Rev. William Shaw, of

CRANCH 48

Haverhill, the preparatory, for college. At fifteen he was a
freshman at Harvard with John Quincy Adams as classmate.
Application to study in the collegiate course corresponds with
that in other years in the discharge of duty. He graduated
with honors, 1787. The same year he studied law in Boston
under Hon. Thomas Dawes, with whom he lived. While a
student of Mr. Dawes, apropos to bar associations, Mr.
Adams, then Vice-President, to him, writes:

New York, March 14, 179a

Dear Sir, — Your favors of December 15, January 24, and February 17, are
before me, and 1 thank you for your attention, and hope for a continuance of it,
though 1 am not a punctual correspondent to you.

To the original of the bar meetings 1 was a witness, as 1 was to their excellent
effects in the progress of them. They introduced a candor and liberality in the
practice at the bar, that were never t>efore known in the Massachusetts. Mr.
Gardner's master, Mr. Pratt, was so sensible of their utility that when we took
leave of him at Dedham, his last words to us were, ** Brethren^ forsake not
the assembling 0/ yourselves together,**

My advice to you, and all the young gentlemen coming up, as well as those
now on the stage, is, never to suffer such meetings to go into disuse, let who will
clamor about them: for as I know the body of the law will never consent to any
illegal or dishonorable combinations, so on the other hand their deliberations
together, on what is for the honor and dignity of the bar and for the public good,
as far as their practice is connected with it, cannot but produce benign effects.

What ? is it unlawful for the gentlemen of the profession to spend an evening
together once a week? to converse upon law, and upon their practice; to hear
complaints of unkind, unfair, and ungentlemanlike practice; to compose differ-
ences; to agree that they will not introduce ignorant, illiterate, or ill-bred or
unprincipled students or candidates? that they will not practice any kind of
chicanery, or take unmanly disadvantages of one another, to the injury of
clients for accidental or inadvertent slips in pleading or otherwise ? On what
unhappy times are we fallen, if that profession without which the laws can never
be maintained nor liberty exist, is to be treated in this tyrannical manner ?

But I must stop. — Ask my son if he has received two letters from me, I am

With much esteem and affection, yours,

JOHN ADAMS.

Mr. William Cranch, at Judge Dawes's, Boston.

Mr. Cranch was admitted in his twenty-first year. 1790, to
the Court of Common Pleas, and 1793, to the Supreme Court.
He began practice at Braintree. Upon the decease of a rela-
tive, John Thatcher, a lawyer, at Haverhill, he moved there
and assumed the unfinished business. His practice was in
Essex county, Massachusetts, whereof he was justice of the

49 CtAMCH

peace, appointed April, 1794, and in the considerable towns,
as Exeter and Portsmouth, of New Hampshire.

Mr. Greenleaf deputed his relative, Dr. Nathaniel Walker
Appleton of Boston, to supervise the syndicate affairs at
Washington. He was in the city, July, 1794, and received
ample authorization, September 9, 1794, for three years; be-
cause of ill health it became imperative immediately to retire
and return. He was a graduate of Harvard, a doctor of medi-
cine and the husband of Greenleaf s sister, Sarah. The
unseasonable end of life before full fruition grieved the com-
munity of which he was a respected constituent. Born,
June 14, 1755; died, 1795.

Mr. Greenleaf, always disposed to select relatives for his
trusts, turned then to Mr. Cranch and offered the law agency
of the Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf affairs at Washington
at a salary of one thousand dollars. Mr. Cranch accepted;
and en route conferred with Mr. Greenleaf at New York and
became apprized the business was more extensive than he
had apprehended. A new contract between Greenleaf and
Cranch as to pay and privilege was made and a power,
general in scope, was drawn and dated November 18, 1794.
Mr. Cranch at this time writes:

1 am to take charge of all the immense negotiations of Mr. G. , control all
the cash, pass all accounts, oversee the bookkeepers etc.

The new contract allowed fifteen hundred dollars, travelling
expenses and several horses.

Mr. Cranch, except the contents of a trunk he brought with
him, lost all his belongings — books, papers and clothes — sent
by water. These were consumed by lime, part cargo of the
vessel wrecked in the Chesapeake Bay, which catastrophe is
adverted to in Mr. Lear's letter. Mr. Greenleaf generously
offered to sustain the loss and besides to make a loan payable
at convenience without charge.

Thus Mr. Cranch was thrust at an early age, twenty-five,
into a sphere of activity, requiring the exercise of discreet
diplomacy, keen acumen and critical discrimination. And
naught there is more remarkable in a remarkable life than that
in this period of speculative riot, although the principals drew
swords for each other, they all confided in their adviser and
attorney.

CRANCH 50

John Adams from Philadelphia, December 10, 1794, to
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, writes:

The bearer of this letter William Cranch, is a nephew of mine, and to me
very much like one of my sons, and I should therefore think myself, in a sort,
wanting in parental affection if I suffered him to go to Annapolis, without a letter
of introduction to you. He is destined to settle at least for some years in the
Federal city, to the prosperity of which his education, talents, application, and
virtues may make him very useful. Permit me to solicit your patronage in his
favor in proportion to his merits.

William Cranch and Ann (Nancy) Greenleaf married April
6> i795i 11^ Boston. And, May 29th the bride and groom or
" he and his family" arrived at their permanent home. During
his bachelorhood he boarded with Mr. Notley Young at the
manor-house on the Potomac bluffs. That the newly wedded
a year later set up housekeeping independently appears from
Mr. Cranch's advertisement for a domestic with the qualifica-
tions of industry and sobriety. The same summer he rented
from Mr. Greenleaf a tract across the Eastern Branch on the
road from the ancient lower ferry to Upper Marlboro *'to dress
it and to keep'' after the example of the first man. Here he
devoted his leisure time in developing the land, enjoying the
fruit as the labor itself, for with his own hands he spud with
the hoe and turned furrows with the plough.

Far from the world's tempestuous strife.
Free 'mid the scented fields!

Here for the time was exemption from the wracking com-
plications of the triune speculators, and from the clamors of
their creditors.

In the early matrimonial period the young Cranchs' abode
was transitory; their furniture was frequently on the wheels
and before a degree of permanency was preserved, relics only
must have remained of the original assortment. Apparently
they resided in the city prior to residing in George-Town.
About the year 1800, Mr. Cranch speaks of becoming a next
door neighbor of Rev. Mr. McCormick who lived on B street
south near First east, square 690. They were already living
in the mansion, 468 N street, southwest, when, January 15,
1808, Mr. Greenleaf leased it to Mr. Cranch upon terms munifi-
cently liberal. The reciprocal helpfulness of Mr. Greenleaf and
Mr. Cranch, brothers by marriage, throughout their joint days

:raiich

cannot be stated too strongly. Afterwards they occupied the
house "between the Marine Garrison and Eastern Branch
bridge* and situated in square 1044;" the old frame dwelling
facing Pennsylvania avenue remains to this day.

Mr. Cranch's engagement is explained in Mr. Morris's letter
in reply to repeated request for increased salary. Although
only in the employment of Mr. Morris, Mr. Nicholson's inter-
ests being generally identical and joint, he necessarily was of
service to both.

WASHmoTON IX Nov 1796

WiLLM CraNCH EsQRB

Sir
After considering the Contents of your letter of the 9 Inst I think it incum-
bent on me to mention that it was not me that occasioned your removal to this
City and to remind you that you became my agent in consequence of the pur-
chase made by Mr Nicholson & myself of Mr Greenleaf, when the latter
informed me that yr Salary was |t5oo & referred me to Mr Adams for your
Character in order to induce me to continue your agency at that Salary — I
applied accordingly to Mr Adams who gave me entire satisfaction and I imme-
diately declared that I would pay the Salary for your Services altho' Mr Nichol-
son declined — You were then informed that 1 expected my son to settle here
and to assume the management of my Business — I suppose under this State of
things that Mr Greenleaf Mr Nicholson and myself are chargeable with your
salary until I 1 assumed it, and that 1 am accountable from that time to the
present — You are certainly the best Judge of the value of your time and were I
to confine my rule of judging to the Services hitherto required by my affairs in
this place I should certainly say that nothing has occurred to recompense the
Expence, however 1 discard that mode in the belief that if more important
matters had offered you would have given your time and attention to them,
consequently my cheerful acquiescence goes with the Salary agreed on — I have
always supposed that Mr Greenleaf also made you an annual allowance for the
services you continue to render in his affairs, but this is his and your affair — 1
must now tell you that 1 do not wish any mans Services without making ade-
quate Compensation ; that I have the most perfect Confidence in your Honor
!nt^;rity & Capacity and that my belief that you pofsefs these qualities induces
me to desire your Continuance in this agency, I will agree therefore to an addi-
tion to your salary for the ensuing year say from the first of this months &
instead of I1500 1 propose |i8oo Sc the Rent of the House you live in — Should
this fall short of your Expectations tell me so freely for 1 would rather go further
than leave you difsatisfied. * * *

With great Esteem 1 am Sir

Yrs

ROBT. MORRIS.

The failure of Morris and Nicholson in 1797 stranded Mr.
Cranch. He was in a quandary. Mr. Noah Webster, then
editor of the Commercial Advertiser, New York, proposed the

CRANCH ^52

publication by them of a daily paper for Boston and another,
semi-weekly or weekly, for the country, and that Mr. Cranch
be the editor for both. His friends discouraged the temptation
to return to Boston with its ties and encouraged the pursuit of
his profession. He abandoned the paper project and accepted
the friends' advice, in which was the concurrence of his father,
overruling the desire to have him by in the declining days.
Mrs. Adams writes :

If upon mature consideration of the subject, you should think it best to go
into the practice of the law, your uncle desires me to tell you that he will lend
you two hundred dollars to purchase you such books as you may be in imme-
diate want of; that you shall take your own time to repay him.

Mr. Morris, May 14, 1797, writes:

My wish is to enable you to discharge all Engagements made by you on
my account and to pay the Workmen, finish the Houses &c which 1 still expect
to accomplish^ and as you wish to prepare yourself for the Practice of the Law,
send me a List of the Books you want, I will procure them for you on the best
Terms 1 can and send them to you.

Mr. Morris did negotiate for the books upon the most
favorable terms of credit. Not until November 23, 1799, did
Mr. Morris direct Mr. Cranch surrender the keys to the
trustees of the aggregate fund.

Endorsements for Mr. Morris compelled Mr. Cranch to
relinquish, 1800, his property under insolvency proceedings
or be subject to more severe consequences. Stringency of
finance, dislike of the society and illness in family made the
three years, 1797-1800, a gloomy period. Yet, serene and
steadfast, he had some success in his practice.

In 1800, President Adams at the request of land owners
appointed Mr. Cranch a Commissioner. The salary was sixteen
hundred dollars.

He writes :

But how long the office will continue is uncertain. The only subject of
regret which the circumstance suggests, is, that it will call forth the calumnies
of malevolence upon the president. But it will be remembered that President
Washington appointed Mrs. Washington's son-in-law (Dr. Stuart) to the same
office, — so that a precedent is not wanting, without recurring to the authority
of the patriotic McKean, who appointed his own son to the office of attorney-
general of the State of Pennsylvania.

Under the Act of February 27, 1801, President Adams March
3, 1801, appointed Mr. Cranch, Assistant Judge of the Circuit

:raiich

Court of the District of Columbia, who with William Kilty,
Chief Judge, and James Marshall, brother of the Chief Justice,
Assistant Judge, constituted the original court.

In 1805, Chief Judge Kilty was promoted to the chancellor-
ship of Maryland ; and February 4, that year. President Jefferson
named Judge Cranch, Chief Judge, although he was a pro-
nounced Federalist. The salary was twenty-seven hundred
dollars. Congress specially imposed upon his office the final
hearing of appeals from the Commissioner of Patents; and
allowed extra compensation one hundred dollars.

In the winter of 1806-7 Judge Cranch was in antagonism
with public opinion and the purposes of President Jefferson.

He to his father, February 2, 1807, writes:

The last week was entirely occupied about the arrest and commitment of
Dr. BoUman and Mr. Swartwout upon the charge of treason against the United
States. Never in my life have I been more anxious. You will see by the
newspapers that 1 have dared to differ from my brothers on the bench. 1 have
dared to set the law and the Constitution in opposition to the arm of executive
power, supported by the popular clamor. 1 have dared to attempt to maintain
principle at the expense of popularity. 1 have stood alone, determined to judge
fof myself, and to take counsel of no one. My own conduct has been the result
of my own judgment only, unaided by a single conference, except with my
brother judges. In my own mind I had no doubt whatever, that the Consti-
tution did not justify a commitment upon such evidence ; and although I felt
that the public interest might be benefited by committing those gentlemen for
trial, yet 1 could not consent to sacrifice the most important constitutional pro-
vision in favor of individual liberty, to reasons of State. 1 was not willing that
the executive department should transfer to us its own proper responsibility.

Never before has this country, since the Revolution, witnessed so gross a
violation of personal liberty, as to seize a man without any warrant or lawful
authority whatever, and send him two thousand miles by water for hb trial,
out of the district or State in which the crime was committed ; — and then for
the first time to apply for a warrant to arrest him, grounded on written affidavits.

* * * My reasons for my opinion as to the facts (although I did not
state them, because 1 did not think 1 could state them with propriety in that
stage of the prosecution) were these. Treason against the United States can
consist only in levying war against them. There can be no treason without an
overt act of levying war. There can be no overt act of levying war without
an assemblage of men, either armed, or in very great numbers, and ready to do
some treasonable act. * * *

So anxious was the president to have this prosecution commenced, or, to use
his own language, to deliver them up to the civil authority, that he came to the
Capitol on the day of their arrival, and with his own hand delivered to the
district attorney, Mr. Jones, the affidavits of General Wilkinson, and instructed
the attorney to demand of the court a warrant for the arrest of Bollman and
Swartwout on the charge of treaion.— This was publicly confessed by Mr. Jones

CRANCH 54

in open court, upon being questioned by Judge Fitzhugh, by whose orders he
made the motion.

When this circumstance is considered, — and the attempt made in the legis-
lature to suspend the privilege of habeas corpus on the very day on which the
motion was made for a warrant against Bollman and Swartwout, — when we
reflect on the extraordinary exertions made by all under presidential influence to
exaggerate Burr's conspiracy into a horrid rebellion, so that the administration
may have the merit of quelling it without bloodshed, — when they have so tar
succeeded as to excite the public mind almost to frenzy in many parts of the
country, — ^you may form some idea of the anxiety which has attended my dis-
sent from the majority of the court. — But having no doubt as to my duty, I
have never once thought of shrinking from my responsibility.

On the 2ist of the same month, again:

It happened from a singular and unforeseen coincidence of strange circum-
stances, that I should be the first to resist the hand of arbitrary power, and to
stem the torrent, which has at length yielded, and is now turning the other way.
Bollman and Swartwout have been this day absolutely released by the Supreme
Court from imprisonment on the charge of treason. Although I have not for a
moment doubted the correctness of my opinion, yet it is a great source of satis-
faction to find it confirmed by the highest judicial tribunal in the nation. I con-
gratulate my country upon this triumph of reason and law over popular passion
and injustice, — upon the final triumph of the dvil over the military authority, —
and of the practical principles of substantial personal liberty over the theoretical
doctrine of philosophic dvil liberty.

The first literary venture, of Judge Cranch is An Examination
of the Presidents (Adams) Reply to the New Haven Hetnon"
strance with an Appendix, 1801, Next, under the signature,
Lucius Junius Brutus^ eleven articles in the Washington
Federalist on the Independence of the Judiciary, 1802.

In the Intelligencer, July 22, 1804, is the announcement of
the first volume of the reports of the Supreme Court of the
United States. The judge was the first regularly appointed
reporter of the decisions of this court and the pioneer in the
same direction in the District of Columbia. Of reportorial
work, he in the preface to his first Supreme Court report, in
part, says:

Much of that uncertainty of the law, which is so frequently and perhaps so
justly the subject of complaint in thb country may be attributed to the want of
American reports. * * * It is therefore much to be regretted that
so few of the gentlemen of the bar have been wilHng to undertake the task of
reporting.

In a government which is emphatically styled a government of laws, the
least possible range ought to be left for the disaetion of the judge. Whatever
tends to render the laws certain equally tends to limit that discretion; and per-

55 CtAMCH

haps nothing conduces more to that object than the publication of reports.
Every case decided is a check upon the judge. He cannot decide a similar case
differently, without strong reasons, which, for his own justification, he will
wish to make public. The avenues to corruption are thus obstructed, and the
sources of litigation closed.

Cranch reports :

Reports of the Supreme Court of the United States ; 1801-1815 ; 9 volumes.
Reports of Cases Civil and Criminal in the United States Circuit Court of the
District of Columbia ; 1801-1841 ; 6 volumes.

Judge Cranch with President Jefferson was a member of the
first board of trustees of Public Schools which organized,
August 5, 1805, in the Supreme Court chamber at the Capitol.
He retained the trusteeship seven years. The school corner
of G and Twelfth streets southeast fittingly commemorates
his service by its name — Cranch Building.

Charges to Grand Jury at their request are published in the
Intelligencer^ February 6, 1809, and January 14, 1813.

Judge Cranch was of the original board of directors of the
Bank of Washington, chosen September 15, 1809. He was a
director in this institution until January, 1812.

The judge was in sympathy with the establishment of
manufacturing enterprises. The Mayor, Robert Brent, June 5,
1808, called a meeting of citizens at Stelle's Hotel for the 21st
to consider the expediency of a plan for encouraging domestic
manufactures. Mr. Brent was chairman and John Law, secre-
tary. Mr. Samuel H. Smith, editor of the Intelligencer ^ offered
a series of resolutions, in part, declaring :

That it is the duty of all sections of the Union to encourage the establish-
ment and extension of domestic manufactures ; that the city of Washington,
for various reasons, is eminently fitted for attaining manufacturing importance
and that a plan should be reported to a subsequent meeting.

And, Samuel H. Smith, Cornelius Coningham, N. Cutting,
George Blagden, Buller Cocke and Robert Brent were a com-
mittee to formulate a plan. At an adjourned meeting was
submitted articles of association for the Columbia Manufac-
turing Company, scheme of capitalization and subscription,
method of incorporation and government. Chairman Brent
appointed nine commissioners to receive subscriptions, the
three from Washington were William Cranch, William Brent
and George Blagden. The company under the charter form*

CRANCH ^56

ally organized and elected its first board of directors : Robert
Brent (President), Nicholas King, Michael Nourse, William
Cranch, Charles Jones, Samuel H. Smith, John P. Van Ness,
Thomas Munroe and Joseph Huddleston. Its plant of the
cotton industry was located at Greenleaf Point. I have written
every name identified. All honor to these good citizens of
the former days so mindful of the material needs of the people 1

Another movement of similar import was made later on.
Upon public notice a considerable number convened the
evening of February 4, 1817, at Davis's Hotel. Gen. John P.
Van Ness presided. To form a society it was resolved ; and
to draft a constitution this committee was appointed: James
H. Blake, Commodore David Porter, Fernando Fairfax, Gen.
Walter Smith and Hon. William Cranch. More than the
expression of a praiseworthy purpose seems not to have been
accomplished.

Judge Cranch was of the committee appointed at the pre-
liminary meeting, March 5, 181 1, to organize the Washington
Library Company. At this time, the judge was president of
the Benevolent Society of the City of Washington.

In 181 1, the judge moved to Alexandria, Virginia. He had
purchased, 1807, a farm of 246 acres in Alexandria county,
one mile from the Washington Bridge, bounded by the Wash-
ington and George Town turnpikes. Having established
himself in Alexandria, he set about to gratify his agricultural
ambition. He united tillage and sheep-raising. His mania
was the merino breed. His father in a postscript added a
witticism of the elder Adams :

Your uncle, the late president, desired me to send his love to you, and hopes
that your attention to your sheep will not take off your mind from the wool-
sack.

The eighth anniversary of the Arlington Sheep Shearing
occurred April 30, 1812. In that day were reporters too and
this is a slight excerpt from the write-up :

The day was uncommoningly mild for the season. The awning composed of
the canvass which had so often sheltered the immortal founder of the liberties
of his country, beautifully ornamented with festoons of Laurel and a striking
likeness of the General suspended over the foot of the table, altogether inspired
feelings of unutterable expression. Mr. Custis presided, supported by the hon.
Judge Cranch as senior, assisted by Governor Lee and J. C Herbert, Esq. of
Alexandria, an old and intimate friend of the departed General. After dinner
toasts were drank in excellent wine, the product of our native grape.

57 CRAliCH

Judge Cranch's was:

The Arlington Sheep Shearing, many happy returns of this anniversary to its
patriotic founder.

The judge received praise for his remarks but got no prize
for ram or ewe.

As a tiller of the ground the judge experienced ** the sweet
employ" and "surest guard'' to equilibrate the mental wear
in solving legal conundrums ; as a farmer of sheep, he encoun-
tered a diminution of pocketbook. He soon abandoned that
diversion. He inserted an advertisement in the Intelligencer
of a farm for sale (which must have become familiar to its
readers) describing the charm of the view and the convenience
of location. He finally did fmd an acceptance of his invita-
tion to buy; and, with the proceeds, or a part thereof, secured
a small farm on the outskirts of Alexandria where he spent
the Summer seasons.

Congress, April 29, 1816, authorized the judges of the
Circuit Court and the District Attorney to compile a code of
laws for the District of Columbia. In this laborious work,
Judge Cranch engaged without the others designated ; and,
November, 18 18, reported to Congress the code. It was
ordered to be printed ; and that is all.

The event of that generation was the visit of General
Lafayette to this country. All incident to the tour was
chronicled with the completeness of present-day journalism.
The unbounded hospitality to the nation's guest the first day
of his stay at the Capital City, October 12, 1824, culminated
by a banquet.

General Lafayette gave the toast :

The Gty of Washington : The central star of the constellation which
enlightens the whole worid.

Chief Judge Cranch did double honor in two :

Reason, Philosophy and Truth: The miners who are sapping the citadels of
despotism.

George Washington Lafayette: May he long live to imitate the virtues of
his father.

The period of residence in Alexandria, fifteen years, was
marked by fatality ; five children died, three of whom, adults.
The judge returned to Washington in 1826 and resided at 217

CKANCH 58

Delaware avenue, northeast, until 1854 when he moved to the
corner of D and Second streets where is now the Providence
Hospital.
In the Intelligencer March 20, 1826, appears :

PROSPECTUS.

The Law Department op the Columbian College,

In the District op Columbia.
««««« ««««

WM. CRANCH.

WM. THOS. CARROLL
Washington City, March 9, 1826.

The administration of this department was under these two
gentlemen. The latter was the clerk of the Supreme Court.

Judge Cranch upon his return to Washington became an
active member of the Columbian Institute and December, 1826,
was elected vice president. In the Capitol before the Institute,
March 16, 1827, he presented a Memoir of the Life, Character
and Writings of John Adams prepared at its request
and published, 1827. His other memberships included the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Antiquarian
Society.

Harvard University conferred upon him the degree LL. D.,
1829.

At formation meetings Judge Cranch was honored ; of the
Apprentices' Library Association, April 24, 1828, director; of
the Society for the Promotion of Temperance, July 21, 1828,
president; of the auxiliary to the American Colonization Soci-
ety, January 24, 1829, first vice president ; of the Capitol Hill
Seminary for Young Ladies, president.

The Washington National Monument Society was organized,
October 31, 1833, and Judge Cranch chosen first vice president.

Washington, D. C. July 13th 1836*
Mrs. D. T. Madison

Madam
The Washington National Monument Society has done me the honor of
aisigning to me the melancholy, yet grateful duty of communicating the
enclosed resolutions, as a faint exprefsion of their sympathy in your recent
bereavement.

If your sorrows could be alleviated in proportion to the sympathy of others,
they would be light indeed; for you may be afsured that that sympathy is
universal.

^In autogrcphk coUtctlon of Mr. lamta P. HoocL

REBIDEPfCE OF WILLIAM CRANCH

There was not a citiien of the United States, it is believed, who did not
honor the illustrious deceased, while living, nor is there one who does not sin-
cerely lament his death.

Such a life and such a death afford a consolation which can be surpafsed only
by the aisurance that he has gone to receive his reward.

I b^ you, Madam, to be afsured, of my deep personal sympathy in your
affliction, and of the perfect respect with which 1 am your obedt servt

W. CRANCH, lit V. Prest "of

the Washn Natl Monument Society.

Judge Cranch delivered an address at the annual meeting of
the Washington temperance society, November 15, 1830, and
repeated it to the Alexandria society, December 6 ; published
1831. His last publication is an opinion, June, 1851, on the
alleged grievances of South Carolina which agitated secession.

Judge Cranch, July 10, 1850, administered the constitutional
oath to Millard Fillmore in the House of Representatives as
the successor of President Zachary Taylor who died the day
previous.

With Mr. Cranch, John Qyincy Adams advised about his
political manifestoes. An index to all is the colloquy Mr.
Adams indicates. The mild judge suggests to strike out here
and tone down there. The ardent partisan demands, shall I
not declare the facts ? Oh, yes, replies the judge, mention the
facts, certainly.

Edward Pope Cranch writes :

1 knew more than any other of the children, of father's offlcial life and latx>rs,
because 1 studied law for three years in his chambers at the City Hall in Wash-
ington. I don't believe he ever spent an idle hour in his life. His life was
uniform. He never dropped out of line to go in search of events. He did not
like events. * * * His great idea was duty. His recreations were music,
chess, study, contemplation. He prayed much when alone. He repeated old
poems to himself in his walks. But for ten hours of every day for sixty years he
was in public, and working for the public. He was working for the right and
antagonizing the wrong; and he kept the waters pure about him.

Christopher P. Cranch writes:

His habits of life were simple and inexpensive. His dress was plain but neat,
and becoming his tall, commanding figure, expressive features, and dignified
demeanor.

John Hitz writes : *

I frequently saw and conversed with the Judge. He was a dignified old
gentleman, spoke but little, very kindly in his intercourse with young people,

*To Alkn C. Clark, Ptbrmry ai, X901.

CKANCH 62

most exemplary in his habits, and incarnated justice itself in his dealings with
others. His will was witnessed by me and I remember considering it quite an
honor to have been called upon so to do.

The judge was indefatigable. With the rising of the sun,
his course also begun; and he pursued it frequently by the
glimmer of midnight lamp. If his industry did not himself
make rich, it did enrich the stores of legal learning.

The Cranch ancestry were dissenters. The judge inherited
the ancestral religious spirit. He was deeply imbued and the
spirit strengthened as the years succeeded. He had family
prayer service morning and evening. Whether this be religious
dissipation or not, a son says, the repetition did not dull the
spontaneity. With all the observance the judge was committed
to no creed and commended none.

While a resident of Georgetown, 1800, Mr. Cranch to his
mother writes:

We have no church here of our own persuasion. The principal inhabitants
are Roman Catholics. There is a society of Presbyterians, whose preacher (Mr.

B *) is of the high old Orthodox plan of divinity, — preaches without notes,

in the enthusiastic style and relies more on the strength of his lungs and the
canting tone of his voice than upon any other of the arts of persuasion or convic-
tion. He rings all the changes of the mysterious conception, the doctrine of the
Trinity, of justification by faith alone, and the ineflicacy of good works, predesti-
nation and election. And, in short, whatever doctrine is least consistent with
reason pleases him best. I attend him only with disgust. When we remove
into the dty 1 shall attend the Episcopalian Society under the instructions of Mr.
McCormick, who appears to be an amiable man, and who has a good wife.
They will be our next door neighbors. — And although I cannot subscribe to all
the thirty-nine articles, yet 1 like their mode of worship better than that of any
other sect, and shall not suffer small shades of difference in non-essentiak to pre-
vent me from a frequent attendance on public worship. As soon as 1 can find a
church whose rational principles shall quadrate with my own, 1 shall certainly
have no objection to fulfil every article which may seem to be incumbent on a
professor of our holy religion. The objects of faith must be left to every man's
own conviction and as faith has no connection with nor in any d^ee dependent
on the will, it is a subject which ought to be left with man and his Creator. It
cannot be regulated by any human tribunal

While a resident of Alexandria he attended the Episcopal
church. He there declined overtures toward conversion to
Episcopacy. Upon return to Washington he was a constant
attendant of the services of the Unitarian Society, corner of D

tThit irrevcrtnt rtmaxk relates to the Reverend Stephen Btooner Belch, pettor of the Bridge
Street Prcel^rterien Church.

6$ NICHOLSON

and Sixth streets, northwest, the tenets of its faith being more
nearly in accord with his.

The judge unpossessed by pride did that seemingly beneath
his station. He would carry his own market basket and even
assist a wearied woman on the way with hers; he would split
his own wood and build his own fires ; and he would repair
his own gate or fence.

The judge enjoyed the English classics; delighted in poetry;
and neglected novels. He entranced with the sunset and en-
raptured with the beauty expressed in nature or by brush and
chisel. He loved the flowers and in his rambles he would
gather on the roadside the budded waif, study its shape and
admire its shade. He was capital at chess and despised cards.
His chief recreation was music. In his younger life he played
the flute and organ and in advanced life evoked sacred melody
from the keys. He did not himself joke yet was a good
listener. His merriment was expressed in a smile and seldom
beyond that bound. Always temperate, he at one time per-
mitted a little wine at dinner; and afterwards foreswore that
and became a total abstainer. He was not addicted to tobacco
and discountenanced its use. He was neither abolitionist nor
apologist for slavery ; he abhorred the institution but being
sanctioned by the Constitution and laws he did not interfere in
its operation. When he could and not violate the statutes he
befriended the slave.

The kith and kin spread out to many a New England town,
village and hamlet. These ** even to the fortieth remove " and
even to the parts most remote heard of the judge's good cheer
and they said :

We will come and make our abode with him.

The neighbors, and they are the best authority, say that
familiar faces and new faces were continually appearing and
disappearing. A son says his father's hospitality sometimes
was inconsistent with his pecuniary limitations and that
strangers were recipients of his kindness.

His was an affectionate and sympathetic nature; and
although "his heart was as tender as a woman's "he never
wavered in the administration of justice in his judicial function
yet his judgments were rather tempered with clemency than
severity.

CKANCH-

The biography by his son, the late Christopher P. Cranch,
artist and author, to which I am indebted, has this:

His patience and perseverance were only matched by his love of clearness and
order. « « « These characteristic traits in unison with the higher ones of
thoroughness and exactness of knowledge, of conscientious and discriminating
judgment in difficult cases, of singular ability to see the main facts and authori-
ties, and to detect always the principle and spirit of the law, made him by
nature and by long training, a judge whose decisions have always held a
deserved reputation for soundness. The best proof of this is that during more
than fifty years' service on the bench, it is well known that not one of his
decisions were reversed by the Supreme Court. There were, it is true, two
decisions of the Court and only two, I think, which were reversed. But in both
cases Judge Cranch's opinion differed from that of the two other judges. Surely
this is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of courts of law, and one
that deserves the applause of the age and country.

Here is improbability and impossibility verging on the
synonymous — a half century of an active court in a populous
territory and two reversals. Long before the termination of
that period uniform affirmance by appellate court would effec-
tually discourage appeal. The fact is the reversals of the deci-
sions of the Circuit Court, 1801-1855, occupy pages in the
printed index and Judge Cranch had his full share. The logic
of Mr. Cranch is also defective ; contrariety of opinion is the
dial which indicates independent and intelligent thought. The
law has not the rule of mechanism but a changeability or
rather progression that marks the material and moral advance
of the human race. The statement of Mr. Cranch has been
copied into all the cyclopaedic sketches and even in the elabo-
rate history of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Judges Cranch, Morsell and Thurston were long associated
on the bench and this association justified pleasantries and
witty raps. Judge Cranch, worn by years and worn by work,
became slightly deaf. So Judge Morsell to exonerate himself
from a criticism of the court replied :

One is deaf and cannot hear and one is imperturbable and will not be moved

The time of judgeship is noteworthy. The period is fifty-
four and a half years. Twice that of Judge Taney's long tenure
and twenty years more than that of Judge Field, the longest of
the Supreme Court judges. Likely it is the longest in judicial
history; few can surpass it. Of the Chief Judge's associates,

65— CtAHCM

Morsell's period of judgeship is forty-seven years, Thurston's,
thirty-six years.

In contrast to the dignity and gravity of the judge was the
buoyancy and sprightliness of Nancy Greenleaf Cranch, the
wife. She died * in her seventy-first year and was survived
by the judge twelve years.

For quite a while the judge prior to his decease was confined
to his room.

To the last his mind was dear and his spirits tranquil. Sometimes in his
sick room he would have visions of wonderful vividness. He would see pictures
of exquisite beauty. He would hear glorious music in the air from unseen hands
and voices.

First day of September, 1855, at five o'clock P. M. the Hon-
orable William Cranch, Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the
District of Columbia, died. Aged 86 years, i month, 14 days.
His funeral from his late residence took place Monday follow-
ing, the 3d, at four o'clock. The funeral sermon by Rev.
Moncure D. Conway was preached, and the hymn written by
Rev. S. G. Bulfinch. was sung:

Wise, learned, thoughtful, pure and kind,

The soul of honor, heart of love,
The noble form, the taste refined,

And the firm faith that looks above;

Such was he: yet O mourn not him!

Thanks that his light around us shone!
Thanks that his eye, to earth grown dim,

Undazzled views the sapphire throne!

The interment was at the Congressional Cemetery. There
the remains of the judge and his wife repose, side by side.

In the coronet of virtues which did grace this venerable man
none shone forth in rays more refulgent than patience and
purity; industry in labor, integrity in life. The encomiums
seemed extravagant and were not. Esteem was never ex-
pressed in English more strongly. The Intelligencer editorially
says:

As a private citizen, friend, and neighbor, there never lived a more upright,
honest man than Judge Cranch.

A meeting of the bar was held at the City Hall, September
3d. John Marbury was chairman and John A. Smith, secretary.
Richard S. Coxe made the address. A few of the sentiments
expressed are :

•Dstt of dwth, Scptembtr 16, 1843. OUtiuuy in Tks Iniittigencer^ September S3, 1843.

CKANCH 66

Few ever equalled him in all the essentials which go to constitute the character
of a great judge. He was eminent for learning in all the departments of law —
admiralty, chancery, criminal and common — ^and was imbued with the learning
of the profession from the earliest days. With regard to his personal character
no imputation ever rested upon it, for his integrity was never impugned. His
fiiithfulness, his impartiality, his urbanity of manner towards those who practiced
in the courts over which he presided, his uncommon industry in preparing and
pronouncing judgment after argument had been closed — in all these he stood
pre-eminent

The chair appointed Richard S. Coxe, William Redin, Joseph
H. Bradley and John F. Ennis, a committee which through the
first-named presented a series of resolutions ; these after a sec-
ond with appropriate remarks by Mr. Carlisle were adopted.
The fifth resolution was an offer with consent of the family to
erect a monument.

On the same day at the City Hall in Georgetown, the Levy
Court passed resolutions of tribute offered by Dr. Henry Haw.

ad. Resolved, That in his death the Judiciary has lost one who, by his integ-
rity, zeal, uprightness, and purity of character, has added a lustre to the white-
ness of the judicial ermine. For more than half a century he held the scales of
justice with a steady hand, and, knowing no man in a cause, has dispensed only
the equal law of the land with firmness tempered by urbanity.

The bar and officers of the Alexandria courts met in the
court-house there. Francis L. Smith delivered an eloquent
eulogy and presented written panegyric abounding with
quotation.

I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate.

The will of the judge defies successful attack. He states his
title and age and asserts that ''although feeble in body" he is
''sound in disposing mind *' and that this is in his " own hand-
writing." In the attestation is incorporated the paragraph
usually subjoined and testator and witnesses together sign.
And, then :

At the request of our father, the Hon: Wiliam Cranch, we, the undersigned
his children, have read the foregoing testament, prepared by him and do hereby
express our assent thereto : William Greenleaf Cranch, Elizabeth Eliot Dawes,
John Cranch, Edward Pope Cranch, Christopher Pease Cranch, Abigail Adams
Eliot and Margaret Dawes Brooks.

Amongst those who by their wealth, talents, or industry have contributed to
the formation of our infant Metropolis, may be reckoned — William Cranch. 7^
Washington Guide by William Elliot

The reports of William Cranch are a monument to his honor
and usefulness as imperishable as the judiciary.

6?— -sricuLATioir

SPECULATION.

TO dissipate disappointment on the outset I confess inability
to make a clear and concise exposition of the entangle-
ment of Greenleaf. ) believe for an exact exhibition the
data does not exist. The entanglement is like "the unwedge-
able and gnarled oak." The narration of dry detail is un-
avoidable, though it be as wearisome "as the twice-told tale
vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." Hardly knowing how
to advance 1 enter the wilderness of barren facts and figures.
My readers, if ever 1 have any, will, I fear, be discouraged
before they emerge.

By an agreement, September 23, 1793, the Commissioners
to Greenleaf sold three thousand lots at £25, current money, a
lot, to be paid, a seventh May i, 1794, and from then in six
equal annual installments, without interest, and to be selected
alternately; upon condition that he would erect ten houses,
yearly, two stories high and twelve hundred feet area, and not
sell before January i, 1796, without a stipulation that on every
third lot a like house should be built within four years from
date of sale.

The agreement contained this provision :

He the said lames Greenleaf also undertakes and enj^aftes if the same shall be
desired by the said Commissioners or their successors for the time being to furnish
one thousand pounds cuirenl money of Maryland monthly on loan at six per cent
interest to commence the lint day of May next and to continue untill the public
buildings now erected shall be compleated, limiting the same however to the first
day of January eighteen hundred, or will make the said monthly loans for any
part of the said time as he shall and may be so requested as aforesaid — and H is
agreed that Ixts shall be set apart and kept dear of olher incumbrances sufficient
to cover all such loans with interest at the rate of twenty five pounds of the
principal so loaned on one U)t and that the same Lots shall stand as security by
way of mortgage for such {nindpal and interest

SncULATlON 68

Greenleaf made the agreement on his own responsibility.
By the 26th of the month ensuing he had arranged with Morris
and Nicholson to take thirds and had launched a scheme on
their joint concern to float a great loan in Holland on pledge of
the lots.

In more formal phraseology the Commissioners and Green-
leaf entered December 24, 1793, into Articles of Agreement.
Under a series of whereas they recite the former agreement,
that Greenleaf has under authority from Morris purchased on
his behalf the same number of lots upon the same credit and
conditions for building and reselling except that the price is
/35 a lot ; that

it is understood Morris and Greenleaf may at their pleasure associate to them one
or more persons in the whole purchase without creating on any of them an obli-
gation to erect on and for every third lot ;

that the object of the new articles is consolidation into one
contract, to fix the average lot and to modify the building
requirement. The articles proper provide, in addition to the
recitals incorporated, that the lots shall include all of Notley
Young's land and that part of Daniel Carroll's within the
branches of the canal; a limitation on the selection of lots
adjoining the proposed National University; that the price is
averaged at ^^30 each lot, that houses three stories shall be
discounted one-fourth in area.

The articles state that the loan provision of the prior contract
shall be referred to a new contract entered into this day and
shall have no other effect than what such new contract specifies
and ascertains.

Between the three this was a joint purchase. Nicholson
was reserved as surety for the engagements of the two dis-
closed principals with the Commissioners.

April 24, 1794, the Commissioners and Greenleaf adopted
this method :

ist. An account between the Commissioners and Morris and
Greenleaf charging lots conveyed on their account and crediting
payments made.

2d. The Commissioners grant a certificate (deed) in fee for
the lots on Notley Young's land estimated at one thousand on
their giving a bond with Nicholson for the amount of the same
and for performing the building contract.

PECULATION

3d. The Commissioners on the personal security of Morris,
Greenleaf and Nicholson allow at all times a credit of one
thousand lots granting as they require certificates with the
building stipulation subjoined thereto.

Whereas a Loan is in negotiation in HoUand, and by recent advices is in for-
wardness for the subscriber, James Greenleaf, for a sum of money to the amount
and value of Three Hundred Thousand Pounds current money of Maryland, on
the terms of securing the principal money by a Mortgage of Lots in the Qty of
Washington, at the rate of One Hundred Pounds each Lot, to be ascertained and
averaged at five thousand two hundred and sixty five square feet for each Lot,
and the interest to be secured by a deposit of productive stock or funds in such
manner and to such amount that the produce and capital thereof amount to the
stipulated interest for the time of the Loan, and the Commissioners appointed in
virtue of the Act of Congress for establishing the temporary and permanent seat
of the Government of the United States, to increase the funds and means of
carrying into effect the purposes of their appointment, are let into and have
agreed to take on the account of the City one third part of the said Loan, which
as to the same part is to be made payable at the end of six years from the
advance. Therefore the said Commissioners have on this ninth day of July,
seventeen hundred and ninety four granted Certificates of and for One Thousand
Lots in the Squares therein enumerated, and of which Square number Sixty five
b one to make up the Commissioner's one-third part of the necessary security,
by which the legal title and estate is transferred to said James Greenleaf for the
purpose and intention that he may legally encumber the same with and for one-
third of the said Loan and they have also granted such Certificate as aforesaid for
other one thousand Lots in several Squares, of which the Square number seven
hundred and seventy-seven is one, the same being the one thousand Lots which,
according to an agreement heretofore made, is to rest on the Bond of the said
James Greenleaf and Robert Morris and John Nicholson, and they have also
granted a like Certificate for other five hundred Lots in several Squares, of which
Square number two hundred and forty-six is one, two hundred and eighty-six
Lots whereof the first Square enumerated in that Certificate being the property of
the public and to be redeemed and conveyed to the Commissioners clear of aU
encumbrances and the remaining two hundred and fourteen Lots being part of
the six thousand Lots heretofore contracted for with the Commissioners by the
said Robert Morris and James Greenleaf

«« ••«««««

TH. JOHNSON
DAVID STUART
DANL CARROLL

Commrs.
JAMES GREENLEAF.

Ceertificates from Commissioners to Greenleaf:

a, July 9, 1794 1000 lots Squares 65 ♦ ♦ ♦ 1004.

b, 500 246 ♦♦ ♦ 755.

c, 500 626 ♦ * ♦ 1114.

d, 1000 777 * * * "4fit

SraCULATION 70

Deed from Greenleaf to Pieter Godfrey and others:

d, July 28, 1794 500 lots Squares 246 * * * 755.
c, 500 626 ♦ ♦ ♦ 1114.

d, 1000 yyy ♦ ♦ « jj^g^

Deed from Greenleaf to Commissioners:

a. September 19, 1794 1000 lots. Squares 65 * * * 1004.

Greenleaf bargained with the Commissioners, September 19,
1794, upon the usual terms of credit for twenty lots located at
various points on the Eastern Branch.

Certificate from Commissioners to Greenleaf:

e. October 18, 1794. 857 lots Squares 266 * * ♦ j
Notley Young lots, estimated in agreement, April 21, 1794 at xooo )

October 18, 1794, the Commissioners to Greenleaf executed
a power of attorney to negotiate a loan in Europe.*

Philadelphia, Nov. 5th 1794.

Gent'n : Mr. James Greenleaf has requested me to express in a letter to you

my approbation of the transfers which have been made to his name of certain

building lots in the Gty of Washington purchased on hb and my joint account,

which I now do in compliance with your desire and his said request I am, Gent'n,

Your most obedH & humble servant

ROBERT MORRIS.
To the Commissioners

For the Gty of Washington.

December 5, 1794.
If the Loan now in contemplation and which James Greenleaf is authorized to
make by his Letter of Attorney from the Commissioners, dated the iSth of
October last, shall take effect so that the Commissioners are thereby aided with
funds as expected, then they agree to release the said James Greenleaf from his
engagement to loan them one thousand pounds per month in the year 1795.

DANL CARROLL
GUSTS SCOTT
WILLIAM THORNTON

COMSRS.

To
James Greenleaf

July 10, 1795. Greenleaf with Morris and Nicholson entered
into articles of agreement for the sale to them of his Wash-
ington lots.

Deed from Pieter Godfrey and others to Greenleaf— re-conveyance:

c. June 26, 1895. 500 lots. Squares 626 ♦ ♦ * 1114.

d. 1,000 777 * » « 11^5

• Origiful in oolkction of Bflr. Jmms P. Hood.

71 SPICULATIOII

Deed from Greenleaf to Gflfis Groenveld and others:

c July 29, 1795. 500 lots. Squares 650 * * * ZI14.

Deed from Greenleaf to Nicholson:

/. August 6, 1795. Squares 366 » ♦ » 500.

Two deeds from Greenleaf to Morris:

/. August 7, 1795. Squares 325 * * ♦ 591.

Deed from Greenleaf to Duncanson:

e. August 19, 1795. Squares 270 and 300.

e. September 4, 1795. Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf to Law, deed

as mortgage, security for hb purchase of
2,400,000 sq. ft. to be selected. Corrects an
unrecorded deed, May 11, 1795.

e, September 12, 1795. Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf to Duncanson,

deed as mortgage, to protect accommo-
dation paper.

The deed to Morris and Nicholson pursuant to the articles
of agreement specifies the purchases from original owners.
Although a conveyance was made by the owner it is not
conclusive the consideration was paid ; a bond or other sub-
stitute for cash or scheme of credit may have passed.

May 13, 1796. Deed from Greenleaf to Morris and Nicholson:

6,000 lots contracted from the Commissioners of which 2,000 by three
certificates dated July 9, 1794 and 857 by certificate dated October 18, 1794
have been conveyed to Greenleaf.

220 lots contracted for with Daniel Carroll of Duddington by two
articles of agreement, September 26, 1793, and December 24, 1793.

428>i lots contracted for with Notley Young, December 26, 1793,
conveyed October 28, 1794.

239X lots contracted for with Uriah Forrest and Benjamin Stoddert
July 15, 1794, conveyed September 20, 1784.

108 lots contracted for by John Nicholson with William King, July 14,

1794.

79 >i lots contracted for with William Bailey, July 15, 1794.

40 lots contracted for with Peter Casanove and George French, Sep-
tember, 1793.

60 aaes purchased by Greenleaf in hb own private right by contract
with William Deakins, Jr. , since conveyed to him.

316 acres contracted ibr with Benjamin Oden, July 10, 1794.

Subject to a conveyance absolute in form but intended to be in nature
of mortgage to Godfrey and others.

Except square 506, square next south of 506, and square next south of
the square last mentioned which it is agreed shall be and remain the sole
and separate property of said Greenlea£

Excepting all squares and lots sold previously to July 10, 1795.

Subject to all Uens including mortgages to Thomas Law and Wilfiam
Mayne Duncanson secured on a portion of the lots conveyed.

SPBCULATION ^2

Here is the point from which to have a retrospective view
of Greenleaf 's purchases in the city of Washington ; to meas-
ure their magnitude and to comprehend his wild speculation.
Greenleaf 's negotiations were of meteoric swiftness; the con-
tracts, every one of them, within nine months were signed
and sealed. A computation has been figured by which it
appears that the triumvirate owned 7,234 lots. That Green-
leaf individually owned 1,341. So that, the aggregate of lots
in which he was interested was 8,575. Washington in
Embryo states that at this time the public lots numbered
10,136; and, of course, the proprietors' numbered the same.
Of the public lots Greenleaf had 6,000, of proprietors* 2,575 or
expressed in percentage 60% of the public, 25% of the pro-
prietors' and 42% of all. If he paid at the same rate for the
proprietors' lots as for the public the total consideration was
$684,000; his building obligation, twenty houses for seven
years, estimating each house at three thousand dollars, was
$420,000, in all, a million strong. Yet this does not include
his building obligations to Carroll and Young or other propri-
etors nor his engagement to loan the Commissioners for public
improvement, $181,333.

His surburban purchases are:

County of Washington,

Deed from William Berry Warman to Greenleaf: December 21, 1793. On

Eastern Branch, 1212 a. Consideration ;f5,757, Md.
Deed from George French and others to Greenleaf : March 21, 1776. On Eastern

Branch, 516 a. Consideration ;f5,i6o, Md.
Contract from George French to Greenleaf : On Eastern Branch, 375 a.

County of Alexandria.
Near Alexandria, 295 a.

May 28, 1796. Greenleaf sold his share in the North American
Land Company to Morris and Nicholson for $1,150,000 in
drafts payable one to four years after date ; one half drawn by
Morris and accepted by Nicholson, the other half counter-
drawn and accepted. It was stipulated that Greenleaf should
retain the shares until complete payment was made. Of the
30,000 shares authorized 22,365 were issued as about two-
thirds of the six milllion acres were conveyed to the company's
trustees. One-third of the stock was pledged to secure the
guaranteed dividends of six per cent.

73 SPICULATIOII

Morris and Nicholson to Greenleaf, mortgage:

c, June 20, 1796. Squares 626 ♦ * ♦ 1076.

d, 777 ♦ * * 1 146.

In all 142 squares or 1250 lots. To secure orders,
$193,404.29. Foreclosed under two causes,
Lewis and Burd vs. Morris. High Court of
Chancery, Maryland.

Morris and Nicholson to Greenleaf, deed:

e, June 20, 1796. Squares E. 546 ♦ * * W. 606.

381 Trust,

September 30, 1896. Greenleaf to George Simpson.

In trust, real and personal property, specified and scheduled,
pledged to him (GreenleaQ by Morris and Nicholson, sepa-
rately or severally, to secure the prompt payment of drafts and
notes and punctual performance of engagements, considerations
for purchases by them from Greenleaf, to sell, in event they
(Morris and Nicholson) should default in payment or fail in
performance, on order of Edward Fox, upon consent of Green-
leaf, to protect said Fox in his endorsements for Greenleaf and
others who had become obligated on his behalf.

Notes and drafts number 385 and aggregate $1,996,846.09.

March 23, 1797. Greenleaf, Fox and Simpson to Henry Pratt,
Thomas Willing Francis, John Miller, junior, John Ashley and
Jacob Barker. Assignment oi 381 trust. The assignees were
merchant princes of Philadelphia. Of the same city were
George Simpson and Edward Fox, the former cashier of the
Bank of the United States, the latter an auctioneer. March
and April, 1797 ; the newspaper wrangle. May and June, 1797 ;
Greenleafs trustees tried to dispose of Morris and Nicholson's
notes to pay his debts which aggregated $720,000. After dis-
pute of account, offer of compromise, an arrangement was
effected and Morris and Nicholson executed to Greenleafs
trustees the trust — *

Aggregate Fund,

June 26, 1797. Greenleaf, first part, Fox, second part, Morris
and Nicholson, third part, to Pratt and others, fourth part.
Recites that deed, September 30, 1796, from Greenleaf
recorded in Philadelphia, book 55 p. 391 is to be distinguished

*The Financier and Phiancct of the American Revolution.— ^mmh^t.

SPICULATION 74

from deed of Greenleaf to Simpson recorded same city and
book at p. 381, that the latter deed forms no part and is not
to be influenced by this indenture; recites the Greenleaf trusts ;
and for better security Morris and Nicholson should make
certain arrangements with Pratt and others as expressed in
this conveyance. All real estate in the city of Washington
of every description of title is conveyed and is to be known
as the aggregate fund and is to secure the payment of the
commissions incurred in the execution of the trust; thirteen
thousand dollars estimated to be due Daniel Carroll and sixty
thousand dollars estimated balance of installment due Com-
missioners, both for city lots; engagements by Fox on account
of Greenleaf mentioned in the recited deeds amounting with
interest to $900,000; and amount paid by Pratt and others
under the Simpson trust. Morris and Nicholson in such sums
and forms as prescribed by the trustees are to issue obligations
and the aggregate of the new obligations shall correspond
with the old and payable in two installments December 26,
1798, and December 26, 1799. When the objects of the trust
are satisfied Pratt and others to convey to Morris and Nicholson
the residue.

Number of Fox's engagements 149, principal 1831,500.

Morris executed six riders securing payments amounting to
$145,000 from the surplus. So confident were Morris and
Nicholson that the aggregate fund would yield suflficient to
discharge their obligations it secured and an enormous equity
that they organized a company of three hundred thousand
shares in the reversion of the residuum and divided them
equally. Morris utilized 53,650 shares.*

Morris and Nicholson paid the guaranteed dividends for two
years on the stock of the North American Land Company.
The stock reserved to protect the dividends was sold, October
23, 1807, ^t seven cents a share to the managers. In 1856,
the trustees for the company had $92,071.87. The litigation
which then ensued over the distribution is described as
phenomenal. Morris and Nicholson's legal representatives
endeavored to prevent sequestration to the Commonwealth,
to maintain their right to the fund and to resist the claims of
the trustees of the 381 trust and aggregate fund^ involving

* The Financier and Ptoaoioes of th« American Revohitioii— ^IvmiMr.

75 sracuLATiow

liens thereon. In 1880 the Morris interest netted $9,692.49
and likely the Nicholson, the same.*

So far has been traced to the aggregate fund the unsold
property in the city of Washington of Morris and Nicholson in
which Greenleaf had formerly been interested and to the j<?/
trust their obligations including those on account of the North
American Land Company amounting to nearly two million
dollars. Before and after in this chapter are recited figures and
schedules not for an account in a bookkeeping sense but only
to suggest idea of character and extent of transaction. The
deed next described comprises the land transactions without
the District of Columbia. It follows the recordation of 381
trust, folio 38iy book 55, Record Office, Philadelphia at folio
391 and is an indenture between the same parties, that is,
Greenleaf to Simpson, to indemnify Fox, by him, acceptances
of drafts, accommodation notes and sundry engagements, made
and contemplated, for Greenleaf. The indenture conveys the
properties by descriptions and references in particularity. It
includes :

The three tracts on the Eastern Branch of the Potomac 1,212, 516 and 375
aaes, respectively, and the tract adjoining Alexandria, 295 a. already mentioned.
New York: Lansingburgh on the Hudson, 2 lots.

Westchester county, on the Bronx, three tracts, one containing 66jl^a.
Montgomery county, 2 tracts aggregating 11,591 a.
Ulster county, 4 tracts aggregating 24,587 a.
Chemung county, 2-7's of 2 tracts aggregating 27,563 a.
Maryland: Fort Cumberland, Allegany county, 2 tracts aggregating 2,536 a.
one including mills, stores, houses.
Onehalf of 296 tracts of 50 a. each equal to 7,400 a.
Georgia: 3 tracts aggregating 2,7o6,o87>{ a.

Obligations of Benjamin Haskell aggregating 138,000.
Obligations of Morris and Nicholson aggregating $404,000, apparently a part
of those specified in the aggref^aie fund, and the delivery of 100 shares of
the Bank of the United States valued at $52,000.

The dates of deeds to Greenleaf range from November 30,
1793 to September 20, 1796. A separate conveyance carries
an item evidently overlooked, 30 shares of a total 120, equiva-
lent to 75,000 a. of the Tennessee Land Company. These
trusts were transfered by Simpson to the trustees, Pratt and
others, March 23, 1797.

* Tht Finandir and Flnaacit of th* American Rwohttkm— S'tfiNfMr.

SPECULATION 76

In the indenture two properties are reserved to the last
resort for foreclosure and to these is now given extended men-
tion. In the spring of 1795 Mr. Greenleaf became reconciled
to part with his associates at the New Amsterdam and with
his sister, Rebecca, the wife of the erudite editor, and deter-
mined to reside permanently in Philadelphia. This determi-
nation is manifest in two purchases. The incentive, that is
the rumination. Perhaps to be in juxtaposition with the com-
ponents of the triad, yet hardly that, for between Greenleaf
and the two the personal relation was not friendly, not even
passive — it was strained; and the business relation, Greenleaf
awaited the opportunity to sever. And if the magnet was not
commercial then it was — otherwise.

Mr. Greenleaf bought of General Philemon Dickinson, April
i5» i795» for $28,000, on the north side of Chesnut between
Sixth and Seventh streets the broad frontage of S2j4 feet and
extending far back to Carpenter (now Ranstead) street,
including mansion, gardens, grounds, waters and stables.
Opposite or almost so was Oeller's Hotel, the scene of ban-
quets historic, westward the property of John Dickinson, the
refractory revolutionary statesman, eastward the New Theater,
recently with 6clat opened by Wignell and Reinagle, eater-
cornered was the Independence Hall and catercornered con-
trariwise the majestic pile in blue stone and red brick of the
Financier — Robert Morris. Here James Greenleaf, Esq. '*a
merchant, a man of high fashion and of reputed wealth " held
bachelor estate for the time being. It was the city mansion of
Mr. Greenleaf, gentleman, sometimes yclept Greenleafe.

John Penn, a proprietary of Pennsylvania and the last provin-
cial Governor (1763-1771 and 1773-1776) married Ann, the
daughter of William Allen, the Chief Justice of the province.
The conjugal tie held him permanently to this country not-
withstanding the overturned governmental affairs. He built
the finest country-seat on the Schuylkill and named it Lans-
downe.* Tradition places it on the plateau exactly where
now stands the temple of crystal, the Horticultural Hall, the
Centennial construction. Governor and Mrs. Penn here re-
sided in the warm season and in their Pine street mansion, the
cool season. The Governor where he was married, there was

•Reproduced— TIm Historic Mantioni and BuUding* of Philadelphia— IVestcoit, p. 334.

' ■- ft,* ' """^^^^^T iSfii-J* «^

77 SPBCULATIOW

he buried — Christ Church. Lansdowne was devised to the
widow and she sold it, the mansion and the two hundred acres,
to James Greenleaf, March 9, 1795, and then departed to the
British isle where were her brothers for that generation of the
Aliens were aliens in sentiment. That at Lansdowne Miss
Ann Penn Allen and her two sisters, the Misses Allen, did
reside with their aunt, Ann Penn, it is quite certain.

The wearied eye and bewildered brain of the Centennial's
visitor here then refreshing relief received and now memory
must carry grateful recollection. Then a scene of picturesque
naturalness, of primeval woods, of mysterious dells and of
rollicking streams; now a scene of landscape gardening, of
flower bed and of fountain. Both beautiful in a different way.
It is spot of charm —

Where Schuylkill winds his way through banks of flowers.

The ''Heaven's breath smells wooingly here." The deep
undulations, the carpet of grass, the clumps of trees, the
clusters of shrubbery, the path along the river's brink, the
placid river, the reflected skies is the composition of this scene
of Nature— -a masterpiece of the Great Master, the Colorist of
the heavens, the Creator of harmony. It was Mr. Greenleaf s
country-seat. That he was to share its occupancy sometime
surely so he meant.

General Dickinson, November 29, 1797, foreclosed the Ches-
nut street property and re-purchased it for ;;^5,90o ($15,733)
about the amount of the deferred purchase money due.
Lansdowne was sold by the sheriff, 1797, for $55,100. Mr.
Greenleaf paid therefor $37,393.

'HOLLAND

1 :

HOLLAND.

WAS freshly sanded the floor of the inner room of the
banking house of Daniel Crommelin and Sons of
Amsterdam ; was washed the face of the tall clock
and the delft-blue tiles over the fire place; and was dusted off
Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck in the frame on the wall for this
statesman was honored in this, the first year of the Dutch
Liberty.* This preparation had been made as Mr. Greenleaf
from the republic in America was to appear and reveal his loan
project. Be it known beforehand Greenleaf respectfully ad-
dressed the board, individually, Mynheer, collectively, Mijne
heeren and called the Congress house Congris-huis, the Presi-
dent's house kei huts van den President, shops, winkels, canals,
grachteen, for he could talk niderduiisch as cleverly as a Dutch
schoolmaster. Was not his wife Dutch, and his children
Dutch- Yankees ?

*On his way to meet Albert Gallatin and Henry Clay at Ghent to conclude the negotiatioiw for
peace John Qjiincy Adanu stajred over at Amsterdam, lodging at he had always mm the &st
visit, 1780, at tlie Arms of Amsterdam.

He writes in his diary under June ai, 1814 :

I afterwards paid a visit, and had an hour's conversation with Mr. Schimmelpenninck, hte a
Count and Senator of the French Empire— before that. Grand Pensionary of Holland— whom I had
first known in 1704 as a lawyer of high reputation at Amsterdam, and afterwards a member md
President of the Batavian National Convention. He has now been some years blind ; but, after
all the vicissitudes through which he has passed, he appears to retain his cheerfulness and his
Sf^rits His wife is with him, and has the same pleasiiu; and attractive manners which she had
when twenty veers younger. He resigned his seat in the French Senate before the late changes
which excluded the other members, hu countrymen. He conversed with as much freedom upon
the late events in France as in his peculiar situation could be cxpe^ed. He expressed some satis*
fiiction at the restoration of his country's Independence, and spoke disadvantageously, and some-
what contemptuously, of Bonaparte.

LSOATIOM ROYAUI
DBS

Pays-Bas.

Niw York, June a6ch, 1901.
DiAi Sn,

In reply to your letter of the asth Inst. I can Inform you that, as fiir as I can remember, there
was only one ScnImnMlpenninck prominent In the Netherlands during the time of the French
revolution and his names were " Rutger Ian." It was he, who in 17M stood at the head of the
so^alled ** provisional representatives ci tne people of Amsterdam " and who later, in 1805 was
appointed head of the Government of the Bararian Commonwiahh with the title of ** Raad-
pcnslonaries."

I am, sir.

Yours truly,

GBVBRS.
To AiLBM C. Claxk.

HOLLAND 80

Greenleaf, of conquering eyes, refined countenance and lofty
stature with head uncovered, stood. The board of Daniel
Crommelin and Sons, with their broad brimmed hats on, and so,
around ample girths their belts with big buckles, stolidly sat.
Greenleaf was armed with Maj. L'Enfant*s map of the city of
Washington, the board with long pipes. It was a battle royal
between Yankee diplomacy and Dutch obstinacy. The battle
raged ; light clouds of smoke did issue from the door and
windows, then denser clouds, then still denser until the bank-
ing house was enveloped in a fog of smoke. Greenleaf as a
preface eloquently orated on the simultaneous birth of the two
republics and the spirit of sympathy and helpfulness that
should exist between the twins. He first spoke of the
grandeur of the Congress house and the President's house, of
the magnificent avenues and broad streets, then made his
request for the loan. The board replied emphatically neen.
He spoke of the shops under the arcade, of the river fronts, of
the commercial and mercantile advantages and again made his
request. The board said neen. He did point out those
numerous canals on his map and suggest the similarity to be
with their own watery metropolis. Then did the board of
phlegmatic Dutchmen all together respond ja; and direct the
clerk to engross upon the parchment a bond with James
Greenleaf of the first part and Pieter Godefrey, Rutger Jan
Schimmelpenninck and Robert Daniel Crommelin of the second
part ; and further, direct the cashier get the great key and from
the massive coffers deliver to Greenleaf two million guilders.
And Greenleaf with light heart bore the silver burden to
American shores.

So I understood it and I intended to add the detail that the
scene might appear vividly as enacted. For about in this way,
so it is told by those who toil over mighty books and tarry
over musty files in the cells which mysteriously lead to the
corridors in the lower regions of the City Hall. And, so it
appears in a newspaper.*

Greenleaf, then a citizen of Pennsylvania, in 1788 formed a
co-partnership with James Watson for a mercantile house in
the city of New York. That year Greenleaf made his residence
in Holland. Greenleaf 's physician in a pleasant vein prescribed

* Tht Wuhington Post, October 14, 1883.

8l HOLLAND

several defences against attacks of seasickness with this preface
of good will :

New York, July 30th, 1788.
Mr. Greenleaf, in the first place, will please to recollect that he has his friend
Cogswell's best wishes for a prosperous voyage, for a speedy and happy return,
and, that in the next place, when the circle of his federal brethren and sisters
shall be crowding round his heart, he will esteem it a peculiar privilege to make
one of the recollective number.

Greenleaf, a citizen of Massachusetts, was March 2, 1793,
appointed United States Consul at Amsterdam.

Greenleaf for the house of Watson and Greenleaf with the
bankers, Robert Daniel Crommelin and Gulian Crommelin
trading at Amsterdam under the firm name of Daniel Crommelin
and Sons, negotiated a series of loans under twelve contracts,
first and last dated January 31, 1789 and August i, 1792
respectively, for an aggregate of one million three hundred
thousand dollars on pledge of American securities, deposited
with them, namely :

$436,000 6% U. S. stock,
997,000 3% U. S. stock,
375,000 deferred U. S. stock

Four hundred shares equal to$i6o,oooofthe Bank of the United
States stock, and other valuable specialties bearing interest.

It is not to be believed that Greenleaf adopted Voltaire's
leave: Adieu! canaux, canards^ canaille — Adieu! dykes,
ducks, dolts. That the Dutchman is a stupid is a shallow
slander. That some Dutchmen are slow, sly and shrewd did
Greenleaf solemnly asseverate in the court of chancery; how-
ever, I am not to anticipate another chapter.

Greenleaf made an intended visit to this country in 1793 and
in September, that year, was at the city of Washington. 1 have
no authentic basis for the belief that he was attracted hither by
the inviting prospect of the Capital City indicated by the
President's message and the established plan said to have been
circulated throughout the civilized world. Greenleaf made the
contract with the Commissioners, September 23, 1793;
Watson, the partner, declined to share in the concern. In the
ensuing month, the 28th, the firm dissolved and Greenleaf
purchased his partner's moiety in the stocks pledged to the
Dutch bankers.

NOUAND 82

On November 2, 1793, Greenleaf executed a power to
Sylvanus Bourne, at the time Vice Consul at Amsterdam, with
broad authority in Holland or otherwhere in Europe to sell his
lots in the city of Washington or secure loans thereon, to
furnish productive funds to protect interest and to engage
commercial houses as instruments of negotiation. Bourne as
such attorney contracted with the banking house of Daniel
Crommelin and Sons of Amsterdam to negotiate a popular
subscription, sanctioned by the Dutch government by an Act
passed May 6, 1794 which made Godfrey, Schimmelpenninck
and Crommelin guardians for the public of the property
pledged. A conveyance, {b. c. d.) July 28, 1794, was made by
Greenleaf to the guardians in fee, as a mortgage, to secure a
loan of two million guilders or eight hundred thousand Spanish
mill'd dollars.

The subscription was a partial success; "from unforeseen
circumstances it appears from certificate of Anthony Mylius,
Notary, dated March 23, 1795, that no more than two hundred
thousand guilders have been subscribed," that is, eighty thou-
sand dollars; and, in consequence of this failure on "the 26th
July, 1795 old style and the First of the Dutch Liberty" the
guardians by reconveyance, relinquished and renunciated all
right to

c, 500 lots. 2,632,500 sq. ft. Squares 626 * * ♦ 1114.

d. 1000 lots. 5,265,000 sq. ft. Squares 777 ♦ * ♦ 1148.

and reserved as " more than sufficient for the sum which has
been subscribed and paid on the aforesaid loan,"

b. 500 lots. 2,632,500 sq. ft. Squares 246 ♦ ♦ ♦ 755.

This quaint document is in the court files. Forty-five years
after the real estate security was sold and Jan Bondt, Com-
mander of the order of the Netherlands, Lion, Private Counsellor
of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands and Gulian Daniel
Crommelin, Knight of the order of the Netherlands, Lion, both
residing on the heeren gracht in the city of Amsterdam
successors to Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, survivor of the
original grantees conveyed to the various purchasers. What
proportion of the investment was realized does not appear.
This is the Amsterdam loan ; now for the

JAMES QREENLEAF

SS-^— HOLLAWD

Rotterdam.

The Amsterdam loan having been an incomplete success the
resourceful Vice Consul tried the faith of Rotterdam. He
negotiated through Jan Beeldemaker acting for the mercantile
firm of Rocquette, Elserier and Beeldemaker. The Vice Consul
''inclining to take up a certain sum of money" and Beelde-
maker " to assist him in said business; " in furtherance of the
mutuality a prospectus was circulated among the burghers in
Rotterdam and as remote therefrom as four pipes.* The
English verbatim of the prospectus by a Dutch translator is
in part:

Plan

OF A

Loan
of $400,000 Dollar american money or $r,ooo,ooo Dutch currency at s% P^r
cent interest, annually besides a distribution of premiums to the amount of $50,000
to be made at the fmal discharge of the Loan, in lieu of further interest

At the COUNTINO HOUSE

of
Messieurs RocoysTTE, Elserier and Beeldemaker

at

Rotterdam

on account of

James Greenleaf, EsQyiRs;

Consul appointed by the United States of America, with the States of the United
Provinces to reside in the City of Amsterdam.

For the security of this Loan 1500 lots of ground lying within the dty of
Washington in North America all property situated for houses and other Buildings
to be erected on the same and averaging at least 27 feet by no feet or 2970 square
feet each lot will be mortgaged at the rate of one and a half lot for every $r,ooo
Dutch currency being the amount of each share of this Loan. The said 1500 lots
of ground are to be transferred in the names of

Gilles Groenveld

Rudolf Mees

Pister van dbr Wallen van Vollenhovbn

Esquires, as Guardians or Trustees of the same, for the use of the Lenders.

And as a further security for the regular security for the regular payment of the

interest for the principal sum borrowed, and also of the premium to be distributed

at the discharge of this loan the Borrower will provide and cause to be transferred

in the names of the said Rocquette, Elserier and Beeldemaker, such amount o(^

^ On a vWt to RoCtirdam, Holkmd, I atktd a workman on tha wharf whh my •3raa on tha
distant chimneys of tha larft diatillarici of Schiadam (tha nunuftcturing pboa of tha worid^mown
Holland gin,) How &r te It from hare to Schiadam?

**About two pipaa of tobacco," came tha prompt but, for ma, mxitcrloas answer.

I (band afterward that it meant as long as it took to smoke two of tha small day pipes fillad
with the vMlainoqs. strong Sumatra tobacco the worldngmen in Holland aeneraUy smoke— about
fifteen minutaa to tae pipe, or a half hoards walk from Rotterdam to Schlaaam— .MAfMor* Sun,

HOLLAND— M

or three per cent stocks of the said United States of America, as with the interest
to accrue thereon, will be sufTident to pay the annual interest of this loan until
the final discharge of the same together with the premiums to be allowed and
distributed.

This Loan is made for the term of five years to commence with the 15th
December, 1794 and to end with the 14th December, 1799, the said Greenleaf to
have option of paying off the whole at the expiration of third year. r

Lastly the said Mr. James Greenleaf binds for the true performance of the
premises his person and his other Goods real or personal Estate, wherever the same
may be found or situated renouncing all benefits of Law which may avail to the
contrary hereof

Tiie returns, July 29, 1795, siiowed that only one hundred
and twenty thousand guilders had been subscribed and upon
that day the Vice Consul as "appearer of the one part" and
Jan Beeldemaker as ''appearer of the other part" covenanted
that the loan should stand at one hundred and fifty thousand
guilders (|6o,ooo) and that the appearer of the one part for his
principal should subscribe for the deficit of thirty thousand
guilders; that the original agreement should stand, scaled in
proportion, and that bonds of the United States, six per cent,
issue, to the amount of seventeen thousand dollars as guaranty
of interest and premium should be deposited with Rocquette,
Elserier and Beeldemaker and that certain specified lots should
be conveyed to the guardians or trustees named. And, in
conformity with the agreement the Vice Consul had Daniel
Crommelin and Sons transfer from the bonds in their hands to
the credit of Greenleaf, as already stated to Rocquette, Elserier
and Beeldemaker the stipulated amount and executed a con-
veyance to the Rotterdam trustees, July 29, 1795,

(f.) One half of 2,632,500 sq. feet. Squares 630 * * * 1 114.

Fifty years after David A. Hall, upon authorization of the
court, sold the real estate security for some proportion of the
amount advanced thereon.

It will be observed the aggregate loans are one hundred and
forty thousand dollars including twelve thousand taken by
Greenleaf instead of eight hundred thousand as has been pub-
lished.

The lots in Washington were in fact the joint property of
Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf and the syndicate was to
enjoy the proceeds of the loans. It seems that the securities
pledged as guaranty of interest belonged to Greenleaf, indi-

MRS. JAMES QflEENLEAF

89 HOLLAMD

vidually. Before the loan project was anywise assured the
syndicate pursued a financiering scheme of floating or kiting
their bills in Holland on short periods of redemption for pres-
sing requirements. The bills summed enormously. Had their
success been uncurbed they would have appreciably drained
the money supply of the Dutch. The mere acceptance by the
Dutch bankers of the management of a popular loan on the lots
was made by the syndicate a sufficient warrant to draw.

* Philada. July 28, 1794
Mr. Sylvanus Bourne,

Sir: —

Having found a good deal of difficulty in passing bills at so long a term as
twelve months, we are under the necessity of again altering our plan of operation,
and upon this occasion it is very agreeable to be possessed of the encouragement
which the contents of your last two letters to Mr. Greenleaf afford, because it
enables us to act with that decision and determination which our affairs require.
Our letters of the loth of April and 7th of June announced the bills we had then
agreed to pass on you at 12 months date to the amount of 70,000 Sterling. Of
this sum only 53,100 Sterling has been negotiated to this day, therefore we have
agreed to cancel the remaining sum of 36,900 Sterling, none of which will ever
appear for acceptance. But instead thereof, and in dependance of your obtaining
the loan upon the building lots in the City of Washington, which we deem cer-
tain since Messrs. Daniel Crommelin & Sons have entered into Articles of
Agreement with you to that effect, as we well know that their credit and
respectability is such that the said loan will undoubtedly fill under their influ-
ence, Mr. James Greenleaf in whose name the said loan is negotiated will
commence drawing upon you at 60 days sight, payable in London in favor of
John Nicholson, which bills will be endorsed by him and by Robert Morris, and
we unite in requesting your acceptance of these bills as they appear and payment
as they fall due. * * *

We are Sir,

Your obedt. hbl. sts.

ROBT MORRIS
JAMES GREENLEAF
JNO. NICHOLSON

A paragraph of historical review of the times **Dutch Liberty"
would be worthy of the space and I here would insert it did
not the bibliographers tell me no history of this period is in the
English language.

Of Greenleafs personality in early manhood too little is
known to write of it with confidence. That he was capti-
vating, his friendships indicate; that he was attract! vep^his

* Orlglnd in colkction of autographic letters of Mr. Charles Roberta, Phnadelphla.

HOLLAND— 90

likenesses assure. That he was a roistering, rollicking blade,
I hardly think; that he was dignified and elegant, I am more
impressed. He thought quickly and acted promptly on com-
mercial ventures. And his lovemaking suggests the same
expedition. In Holland, he met, courted and wed, in a short
three months, the Baroness Antonia Cornelia Elbertine Scholten
van Aschat et Oud-Haarlem. The marriage in 1788 is attested
by the Mayor of Flushing and by a commission at Middleburg,
Zealand.

The children of the union are: William Christian James, born
September 6, 1790, and Marie Josephine Wilhelmina Matilda.
Marie married William Antoine Schwartz, Lieutenant of Ar-
tillery.

Greenleafs intention for several years to return to Holland is
shown in numerous letters, his and others'. Again he never
crossed the Atlantic*

The likenesses of Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf are reproductions
from water colors, the property of Captain A. F. F. G. Schwartz
of the Netherlands. For his kindness I am sure I can bespeak
the gratitude of the citizens of the Capital of the United States
who appreciate its perfection and appreciate the impetus the
first capitalist gave to that consummation. The water colors
are of date, 1793. The Greenleaf coat of arms is also presented
by Captain Schwartz.

*John Q)i!ncy Adams passed 1795 in Holland on Mission. His diary mentions Greenleafs
house in Amsterdam, dinine witli M. and Madame Scliolten, Greenleafs Cither and mother-in-law,
and interviews with M. Scholten. The diary mentions Beeldemaker and Bourne; the latter was
still with the Dutch when Mr. Adams came on the peace commission.

91 UTTIRS

LETTERS.

Do you like letter-reading? If you do

1 have some twenty dozen very pretty ones.

— Epes Sargent.

ETTERS index character. Letters mark intellectuality.
Letters possess authenticity.

They live, they speak, they breathe

though the hand that inscribed is numb.

In these scenes revived if the actors can speak their lines I
shall not substitute my own. So to do would be to presume;
and from the genuineness to detract. The writers speak
clearly to another as to me and merit and motive are as appa-
rent to another as to me and extended comment on my part
would be supererogatory. The letters are not sequential.
Except a few, they are germain to incidents in other chapters.

I have reproduced the correspondence without the emenda-
tion of capitalizing and punctuating; indeed, at that period
punctuation in writing was not systematically practiced and
never a venture beyond a comma, a period or a dash. I have
likewise to the extent the printer could assist copied other
peculiarities, as the quaint abbreviation. Frequently I have
eliminated parts.

Of the city of Washington, Mr. Greenleaf speaks of it as
'*the Federal City" and **the Federal Establishment;" both
Mr. Morris and Mr. Law, as ** the City."

Prbsidbnt Washington to Tomas Lbar.

Mount Vernon 25 September, 1793
My Dbar Sir,

You v^ill learn from Mr. Greenleaf, that he has dipped deeply in the con-
cerns of the Federal city, — I think he has done so on very advantageous terms
for himself, and I am pleased with it notwithstanding on public ground; as it
may give facility to the operations at that place, at the same time that it is

embarking him and his friends in a measure which, although (it) could not well
fail under any circumstances that are likely to happen, may be considerably
promoted by men of Spirit with large Capitals. He can, so much better than I,
detail his engagements and the situation of things in and about the city, that 1
shall not attempt to do it at this time.

The Commissioners having sold to Mr. Greenleaf numerous
lots at $80 a lot and he in a year having disposed of many at
the rate of $292.50 to " a gentleman from England " (Mr. Law)
the President concludes they are novices at bargaining in real
estate.

President Washingtoh to Daniel Carroll.

Philadelphia, 7 January, 1795.
Dear Sir,

You will consider this letter as coming firom me in my private capacity, at

the same time 1 do not object to the communication of the sentiments to your

colleagues in office.

You will recollect no doubt that 1 yielded my assent to Mr. Greenleaf 's first
proposition to purchase a number of lots in the Federal Gty (altho' 1 thought the
price he offered for them was too low) because at that time seemed to be in a
stagnant state, and something was neccessary to put the wheels in motion again.
To the second Sale which was made to him, my repugnance was greater, in as
much as the necessity for making it was not so apparent to my view — and
because another thing had become quite evident — Viz: that he was speculating
deeply — was aiming to monopolize deeply, and was thereby laying the foundation
of immense profit to himself and those with whom he was concerned.

Viewing the matter in this light, you will readily perceive, at the first glance,
how much my sentiments are opposed to any more large sales, if there be any
other resource by which money can be obtained to carry on your operations.

The sum which will be necessary to compleat the public buildings and other
improvements in the Gty, is very considerable. You have already, if 1 mistake
not disposed of more than a moiety of the Lots which appertain to the Public;
and 1 fear not a fourth part of the Money necessary for that purpose, is yet
provided. The persons to whom you have sold are reselling to others (subjecting
them to the conditions to which they are made liable themselves) and this they
ar^ doing to an immense profit Lately, a Gentleman firom England, has paid, or
is to pay ;£ 50,000 for 500 Lots. — Will it not be asked, why are speculators to
pocket so much money? Are not the Commissioners as competent to make
bargains ?

The business, 1 conceive, b now £urly on its legs — ^to sell therefore by whole-
sale (aster than is indispensably necessary to keep the machine in proper motion
wOl, probably (as property is rising there), be deemed impolitic. And to part with
the legal title to the lots (especially in large sales of them) on personal security,
may be hazarding more than prudence will warrant

For a variety of reasons, unnecessary to be enumerated, tho' some of them are
very important, 1 could wish to see the force of your means, directed toward the
capitol in preference to the other public buDdings.

With great esteem &c

93 LETTHtS

Dr. CaflFry was the first pastor of St. Patrick's Church. Mr.
Greenleaf for himself and his associates made a subscription,
which was separately paid. For this kindness and the
employment as draftsman of an Irish compatriot from the same
county, just over, the good father was profoundly grateful and
he ever effectively gave expression of this honorable trait. I
find in Mr. Morris's letters he settled his share of the subscrip-
tion several years after when the hurricanes of disappointment
had swept away almost all save hope.

City of Washington 8br ye ist 1794
D«SiR

I thought I could have the pleasure of seeing you before yr departure from
this city. It is more than probable we shall not be favoured with a visit from you
before yr return from Europe. . that God may take you under his provi-
dential guard & protection will be my daily prayer, untill I enjoy the happinefs
of seeing you once more.

DrSir
Yr Ever obliged & obedt Serv*

ANTH CAFFRY. D. D.

P. S. youU be pleased to tell Mr Lafette that I wish him a most prosperous

voyage & anxiously expect the happinefs of seeing him once more In this new

V shortly
world, I hope Ul have the pleasure of see Mr Delagarene a ^s I could not hear

that he is to be on yr Expedition youU be kind enough to give him my good

wishes.

Mr. Greenleaf's friend, Samuel Ward, was a prominent
banker of New York.

Ward to Grbenleaf.

Nov 24. 1794
DiAR Sir

Your Washington business seems to lay heavy on your mind — I can sell bills
but think it more prudent to wait your departure that they may arrive in London
after you a short time.

Law admired Greenleaf. He was impressed with Green-
leaf's many and mighty enterprises. Law and Greenleaf
reciprocally expressed deep regard and were socially intimate.
Both were men of letters and this consonance may have been
the spring to friendliness. The letters mark the beginning and
the ending of their association — an eventful six months.

LITTBRS 94

To William Blanb op London.

Dec 5, 1794
Mr. Greenleaf a most respectable man for abilities and integrity will deliver
this to you, & I beg you will pay particular attention to his Statements. — The
President Washington confides in him, and you will find him a man of an
enlarged understanding — I will give you particulars in my next — it is however
sufficient to observe, that if a few of us sit down in Washington Qty, that
numbers more will join us, Sl that land worth 1000 Dollars, will soon rise to
1000 £ Sg" — I am writing to Young & Heatley & many of our friends — I am
sorry to see you all in such embarrassments at home, St and have only once
congratulated myself on taking this step in time — Here all the people are pros-
pering, the Land only wants men, if a person with Cash is tolerably prudent, he
must benefit —

Once more let me refer you to Mr Greenleaf & oblige me by showing him
every attention — He is not an American, therefore you may have impartial
accounts from him —

Your sincere friend

THOS LAW.

To Greenleaf.

Dec. 6, 1794.
I am fully satisfied with the whole transaction St am happy that it has made
me acquainted with one whose Character stands so high —

I remain

Dr Sir

Yrs with Esteem

THOS LAW.

** *******

Postscript: Pray write to me from England.

To Greenleaf.

Dec. 14, 1794
Dr Sir/

I have been desired by two Gentlemen East Indians, one acting for David
Scott the great Bombay Merchant, East India Director, & friend of Dundas & an
acqu« of mine, to let them have a share in my Washington purchase.

Now if you are resolved not to part with any more on the same terms, I must
be cautious & arrange accordy — Pray tell me, if not an improper question,
whether I may positively say that you will not part with any more on those
Terms.

Yr Scy & Obt<l

THOS LAW.

Scott afterwards came to the city. He was deterred from
investing by the unforwardness in the demarcation of thorough-
fares and by the inertness of the City Commissioners, so was
Law's plaint.

fl

-rnr

99 LETTERS

To Lady Rumbold.

Dec. 15, 1794.
Dear Sister

John & George are now in the room with me & desire their aff« regards to
you, they are improving very much — The Climate has been delightfull hitherto
we have now and then had a firosty night, but the sun shines all the day — I am
sorry, very sorry to receive such accounts from Europe, the Dutch will suffer a
sad change, a melancholy revolution, & may lament their lives this foolish war —
I feel most uneasy about you all in England, the Taxes must increase two
millions &a annually, and your numbers, to bear the burthen cannot increase as
heretofore — this Country is wisely determined to pay off her Debt, & it will be
all liquidated in 15 years — Mr. Greenleaf will deliver this to you and I beg you
to receive him as my friend, He will tell you all about me, 1 wish you could be
induced to settle here, 1 am almost afraid to persuade you, the return from hence
is at any rate easy — If Tom came here for three or four years, he could double
his fortune to a certainty — Maria will no doubt ask Mr Greenleaf a number of
questions, and have him in the family way, without ceremony to Dinner, he will
not stay long in England, as he is going to his wife and family in Holland, so
try to get a few hours of his valuable time

Yrs. Sincy

THOMAS LAW

To Greenleaf.

Dec. 17, 1794.

My Dear Sir/

fAr Duncansons terms were, these — 100 Dollars for 200 Soy» & 3 P*" Q being
half of the insurance, — 1 agree to draw on these terms —

If you have any friends that want to procure a good Cargo from India &
have not Capi Immy 1 will write to my friend Monis in India, & he shall provide
a Cargo on his own Capital — if the cash will be paid with interest in a certain
time — India, is now overflowing with Specie — Ships that go suddenly with
dollars must bring what is the market, whereas an order before hand will be of
great advantage —

I will take a Share in a part of a Ships Cargo of worked Leather — Vizt boots
& shoes.

Will you drink tea with me any day or breakfast then you stay as long as
you like — but if I go to you I am afraid of interruptK

Y"Sy

T. LAW.

Law to Greehleaf.

Dec. 19, 1794

Pardon this request, I am you know acting for others, — within these few
days I mnst you know, have heard a great deal & it may be some consolation
to you, to be informed, that not one man, but speaks of you in the moft favor-
able terms — Your word to me is a Law, but as you are going I naturally wish
for some authority from yon, for others to act upon.

To Gkebnuap.

Dec ao, 1794.
Dear Sir/

I thank you for your last proof of kindness & liberality — I shall certainly go
to Washington Qty & my heart & mind are full of it —

That you may be assured I have some influence in India & among my E. I.

friends — I enclose to you some testimoniak; these did not get me one dinner in

England, or one smile or Compliment firom my Honorable Masters

Yrs Sy

T. LAW.

New York, Dec. 20, 1794.
William Cranch, Esqre

Washington

Dear Sir

Notwithstanding the Two Million Four hundred thousand

square feet of ground in the Gty of Washington purchased of me by Mr. Law

has been already allotted to him, & with regard to the transfer of which you have

rec<l my instructions; yet from the willingnefs to gratify Mr Law Sl to render him

more than satisfied with the purchase he has made, I have consented that after

he may have viewed the positions chosen for him should he prefer other situations

he may have the liberty of changing, provided that no confusion is occasioned

thereby in arrangements previously made. — My meaning is not that Mr Law

should have the uncontroled choice of all the property possessed by M. N. & G.

in the Qty, but that if he should prefer the mafs alloted him transferred firom the

Eastern part to any other part of the Qty he may be allowed to do it, or that if

he should fancy any particular square which is not already appropriated to an

express object or necessary to the execution of my general plans that such square

may be alloted to him — ^This letter will be handed by Mr Law whose residence

at the Qty you will please make as agreeable as po&ible —

Believe me Dr Sir

Your affectionate friend and servant

JAMES GREENLEAF.

Law to Greshleaf.

Dec 31, 1794.
My Dear Sir/

Pray have the introduction & Treatise in defence of Usury corrected & if you
could spare a moment to add to it, could have it reprinted, perhaps it would be
well, bring a few with you

I have just rec<l an excellent plan for a College &c in, or near Washington
City — The Prest will of course encourage & Foster it — The Arts and Sciences
are now frightened from Europe by the din of War, here let them receive pro-
tection — ^The young men from the North & South shall here meet & imbibe
amicable dispositions & general philanthrophy — they will have the same studies
& the same central objects, they will become more and more attached fuimque
velle idem nolle ea demumfinna amicilia esl*

Do not however mention this till it is matured —

* QMOtation teems to be from Cicero. Literally, " Because to will and not will the same thing—
that in truth is firm friendship " ; liberally, " Concord in studies is the bond of Friendship.*'

lOI UTTBRS

To Greeklbap.

January 8, 1795.
My Diar Sir/

Yr Lre gave me a great pleasure — 1 participate in your feelings and am con-
vinced that you have cast Anchor in a good spot.

I heard an excellent Trait of Morris, he was desired to sell some favorite spot
near this Town, in a very delicate manner, & replied that he would never part
with it — but when the gentleman was going away, he recall<i. him & said that
he had creditors pressing him & that he would sacrifice his private satisfaction
to his pride and honor, and would part with it — This was a noble sentiment &
a dedsion influenced by sensibility and Judgment — He has not settled our busi-
ness & 1, rely upon you to do it, when you come, he has however done all that
man could do, he seems enire nous embarrafs'<l by a Public Spirit & private
interest witht distinguishing that the Latter must operate in favor of the general
good, or in other words, he appropriates his funds to distant objects St Diverts
his funds & the labor of the people from works more immediately productive —

The Junction of the Susquehannah to the Schuylkill is a speculation of 10
years, & quere, would it not be more advantageous to the United States to pour
the productions into the Chesapeake than into the Delaware — 300000 Dollars
have been already spent — & how long will it be, & what sums will it require to
finish the Plan — Pardon these remarks, they flow from a wish to see Morris
decide —

He borrows at a dreadful interest & sells disadvantageously like a desperate
gambler to recover what he has lost — He has I know great resources, but no
fortune can support his constant drains — Calculate the interest of a million of
dollars which the Canal will Cost perhaps &c — at an interest of 20 P cent at
least, and then know that the project is not to exceed 15 P Ct by the Act
of Congress —

1 am perhaps writing without proper grounds, but it is to you, who may
laugh at my ignorance and tear this. — I said every thing to Miss Allen, St
your friends, they all wish to see you — Lagarrne Sl Le Farret — the City of
Washington : rises in estimation hourly Major Moore wants to buy more &
Genl Steuart — the Irs you enclosed were an Elegant Composition — I gave them
to Morris to cheer him — You may say that I had rather sell my horses or books
or any thing rather than part with a foot at present of Washington City —

Remb me to all Friends

Yrs Mt Sincy

T. LAW

Mr. Law had a clear conception of Morris's condition and
chance financially. He also had a conception of something
else and mentions the future Mrs. Greenleaf.

On General Walter Stewart, nature so heaped her store
naught remained for art to supply; he was acknowledged the
handsomest man in all the States. He was a native of Ireland
and a patriot of America. When aide-de-camp to General
Gates and colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment bravery distin-

LITTBtS 102

guished him. After the war he lived in Philadelphia and
married Deborah, the daughter of Blair McClenachan. Under
the persuasion of Morris be purchased in the city. He owned
the Willard Hotel site. He began buildings in the first ward
which he did not complete. Upon financial disaster close
came death, 1796.

To Grbeklbap.

February 11, 1795.
My Dear Sir\

Geni Stuart surprised me last night by saying that you had agreed with him
on every point, but particularly respecting the propriety of throwing every capital
to the promotion of buildings towards the Potowmack & George Town — as it is
high time that I should make myself a resting place & as I am now going to
undertake an important step, pray if you can, let me have half an hours
convn with you.

Genl Steuart told me that he had not engaged to build, but upon your terms
with the Commissioners, Now if I resolve upon keeping the Lots I shall exert
myself to the utmost & immy —

I hope you will let me have the choice next to Genl Stewart — he indeed has
not virtually so good a claim on you as myself & he has parted with half to
another, who ought to have come after me — Can I do anything for you at the

aty—

After our trip to New York I have indulged the hope of increasing our tnendship
& enjoying reciprocal regard —

You v^ see by the enclosed Lre that I have left men behind me who have
afih for me, & I indulge the expectation of bringing a few of my Asiatic connec-
tions here — I shall be at home all the momg

YrsSy

T. LAW

There is shrewdness, diplomatically suggested, in Greenleaf's
message to Cranch to confirm Law's good opinion of his pur-
chase; and assurance in that he makes Law the messenger.
Over there in Waterland Greenleaf as Consul must have had
the duties of a diplomat.

Philada 17 Feby 1795
My Dbar Friend/

My particular & beloved friend Mr. Thomas Law will bear this to you — as I
have repeatedly expressed to you how nearly I have at heart to unite Mr. Law's
talents & efforts to yours, in the promotion of my favorite object, the federal
establishment, I shall forbear repetition; but beg only that you would receive Mr.
Law as one who is deserving your warmest friendship & confidence, & who
possesses mine in an unlimited degree St that you would practice every possible
endeavor to render his residence at the City Comfortable & agreeable.

103 LHTTIIS

Mr L will probably be accompanied by his friend Duncanson whom I also
recommend to your kind attentions —

With regard to the selection of Lots for Mr Law you will have due reference
to what has passed thereon in writing, observing nevertheless that it is essential
to my happiness that Mr L should be pleased with his purchase & with your
manner of conducting towards him in the selection of the property to be trans-
ferred to him —

believe me with truth & affection

Your

JAMES GREENLEAF
William Cranch, Esqr City of Washington

Mr. Cranch says that Mr. Law arrived in the city the first
time the 23d day of February, 1795 and remained until the 5th
of March. That he met Mr. Law loth of March in Philadelphia.
That he with his family arrived home 29th of May, and on the
preceding evening saw Mr. Law at Stark's tavern in Baltimore.
Mr. Law was en route for the city and arrived the same time
he and his family did.

Mr. Law handed Mr. Greenleaf 's letters dated December 20,
1794 and February 17, 1795 to Mr. Cranch the day after his
arrival i. e. February 24.

It may be urged that the Duncanson correspondence is trivial,
without interest or historical value. Having from divers and
diverse sources succeeded in collecting it complete 1 shall be
so bold to include it all. It at least teaches that the cleverest
diplomacy is that of plate and glass and knife and fork. It
shows that surest success in large land deals is in summoning
that ally, none other

Than that all softening, overpowering knell,
The tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell.

To Cranch.

(Wednesday, February 25, 1795).
Dear Sir,

If you are disengaged to-morrow, will you favor Mr Duncanson & me with
your company to dinner at 3 odock

I shall esteem it a favor if you could oblige me with a memm of the Lots you

could allow me the option of, & with information when it is convenient for me

to wait upon you —

I remain

DrSir

Yrt mt Oby

THOS LAW

UTTIRS 104

Feb. 25th 1795
Th» Law Esq'
DSi»—
I will with pleasure accept your polite invitation to dine tomorrow & will
take with me the papers from which 1 shall form the memm you request If
you will ride over the ground noted to you in Mr. GreenleaPs memm I will dU
upon you at 12 o'clock for that purpose. Shall I have the fav' of the company
of you & Mr. Duncanson to dine on firiday 2 o Qock

I am D Sir

Your obedt Scrv*

W. CRANCH.

Cranch to Greenleaf.

February 27, 1895.
He seems pleased v^th the dty, and some very great alterations must take
place in his ideas before he v^ consent to relinquish his purchase — Giptn
Duncanson has said something of making a purchase upon the same terms with
those of Mr. Law — perhaps 1 shall make a contract of the same kind with him.

City of Washington March i, 1795
Thos Law Esq

Dr Sir/

1 am obliged to meet Mefers Morris Nicholson & Greenleaf in Philada before

loth instant 1 am therefore as anxious as you can be to complete your

selection. —

with respect Sec I am Sr

Yr obedt

I hope for the pleasure W. CRANCH.

of meeting you at Mr.

Young's at dinner.

City Washington 3d March 1794
Dear Sir/

Will you sell to me the amount of from Eight to twenty thousand pounds
Pennsylvania Currency of square feet in the City of Washington to be selected
by me, from all the squares you have given Mr Law at Latitude to choose from
(excepting those lots which Mr Law has now chosen) at the rate of five pence
Pennsylvania Currency pr Square foot, & subject to the exact Tenor of Mr Laws
articles of Agreement with Mefsr* Morris, Nicholson St Greenleaf— I also wish to
know, such part as I may not be able to give ready money for, at what periods
of instalments, you would fix for the residue —

The terms of payment I can propose. As I must go to New York to Sell
Stock &c for ready money — A note payable one month after date & it will be
good that time before 1 can have inspected my Lotts — Do of the residue one
3d in fix months — and the remainder of the residue, one year without interest

I am Dear Sir

Your most obet St

W. M. DUNCANSON.
M> W. Cranch City of Washington

XOS LBTTBU

City op Washinoton March 3(1 1795
Capt* Duncanson

DiAR Sir/

I have the pleasure of receiving yours of this date^l accept & agree

to the proposals made by you — ^you giving your note payable in one month

for seven thousand pounds Md C^ — ^your note for one third of the refidue

of the amount of the Lots you may select, payable in six months, and your

note payable in one year for the residue of said Amount, the whole without

interest.

I am, Sir,

your obedt Serv*

W. CRANCH.

1 will expect your final Answer on next thursday morning

W. C

City of Washington 5, March 1795.
Dear Sir/

Agreeable to your letter of the 3d instant I have examined the squares from

which Mr Law will be entitled to choose his number of Lots, and after he has

chosen there will remain in those squares none equal in value to Mr Laws — In (act

for his Choice I would with pleasure give six pence sooner than four pence, for

that 1 am to choose, after him, 1 therefore leave to yourself whether my choice is

equally four pence as Laws is five pence per square foot; and in every other

respect agreable to the Tenor of my Letter of the third to you; on these grounds

I am ready to conclude the agreement before you go.

I am Dr Sir

Your most ob* Sert

W. M. DUNCANSON.

City of W. March 5th, 1795
Capt« Duncanson

Dr Sir
I reed you hyf of this date and think there is some justice in your observa-
tion as yours will be only a Second Choice, and if Mefs" Morris, Nicholson and
Greenleaf should not think their Sale to Mr Law as too cheap, I think there can
be little doubt of their complying with your propositions — But as my authority
does not allow me to Sell under 5^ pr -Sq-foot I cannot absolutely agree to them.
I will however afeent to them, subject to the ratification or disavowal of Meisn
Morris, Nicholson & GreenleaC

I am Sir, your obedt

W. CRANCH.

City op Washinoton

5 March 1795

at noon
D«SiR

I have received your letter of this date & agree to it on these conditions, con-
fident of the liberality of Melsrs. Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf

I am &c

W M DUNCANSON

LITTBKS 106

Greenleaf without the help of Morris and Nicholson negoti-
ated the sale to Law. Morris and Nicholson received the
entire proceeds and Greenleaf credit on account for his share.
Cranch had the notes of Duncanson and intended to deliver
them to Greenleaf as an offset yet the rapacious partners
vigorously demanded division. So great even at this time
were the calls upon the syndicate that Law's considerable pay-
ment $133,333 afforded no appreciable relief.

Law made the transaction of his life through Greenleaf and
looked to him naturally for protection; and independent of
this circumstance, he had confidence in him and less in his
associates. Law's request for a mortgage to which Greenleaf
acceded was a shrewd business move and it saved his invest-
ment entire. However without Greenleafs acquiescence and
assistance Law might not have received this indemnity; grati-
tude was owing to Greenleaf and the grateful debt was
unacknowledged. Law is the only creditor who received his
advance in full; no other, a moderate percentage.

Dear Grbemleaf (^pnl 3©, 1795-)

Since 1 made our first agreement — I have to write my friend that the purchase
is made absolute, & I mean to tell them that they may be off if they please, & in
that case will you on your own acct take 5000 /, Stg. — I offer it to you as being
most advantageous — Pray give me a mortgage on enough of Notley Youngs
property 50,000 /, till I can finally settle the squares^ enable me I entreat to write
my friends thus —

** By drawing upon you at an exchange of 10 pr ct I have gained for you that
profit, but without consulting you 1 have done away the option of returning the
squares if I disapprove of our purchase & therefore deem myself responsible, &
Exchange being at par or below will upon rect of your answer remit your prindpal
5000 & profit by Exchange & Int if you are averse to the Concern —

I have obtained a mortgage of squares which Meiisrs Greenleaf M & N held in
fee simple, till I can have the squares selected by me properly conveyed over

This mortgage can be easily done & pray oblige me— Think not Dr Greenleaf
that 1 have any Doubts of your security, my sole motive is to satisfy my friends
at home, & to do away all censure of me — ^you know they will expect it of me

I remain

^^^^ T. LAW

Dr Gmmleaf (May i, 1795)

As I have made the purchase absolute witht the consent of Mr Blane who

holds 5000 £ in the Concern I request to know whether you would wish to have

the 5000 should he regret it —

I offer to you as 1 deem myself bound so to do, to one who has acted so

liberally — ^Yr« Sec T LAW

107 LBTTWl

Friday Mong 8 May
Dear Law

I would come & breakfast with you agreeable to your Desire did not our
friend Mr. Lear break^t me, & who has important bufmess to regulate with
me before his Departure —

if you will accompany me to the Qty I will wait till next friday for you & we
can, if together doubtless hU upon some method or other of obtaining Gurolls
titles, who must of necessity give them in Sept next —

Do my most worthy friend Determine to accompany me, & add to the obli-
gation you have laid me under by giving me your confidence, that one of grati-
fying me in the wish I have the most near to my heart —

Yr most affectionate

J GREENLEAF
T. Law Esq*"

(Copied from Letter book page 2332)

New York May 11, 1795
Thomas Law Esqr

My Dear Sir^^

I thank you for your kind offer to Interest me in the place of M> Blane in

your Washington purchase should he decline holding the part reserved for him

(say £5^^^>^ S^ ) in that concern — in which case 1 will cheerfully Do it on the

terms of your last contract with Morris Nicholson and Greenleaf, and shall in

consequence hold myself bound to pay my proportion of the original purchase

money with legal Interest thereon —

believe me Dear Sir

^'^ *^ J GREENLEAF

July 4th 1795
Dear Greenleaf

You have a copy of my two Lres to the Commifsioners. six squares they
promised to convey to me & 1 was promised an answer in two days to the Lre
I addrefsed respecting the Wharf Sec but 1 have not yet been tivored with an
answer. Barry is urgent — he wants to erect a store there &.to purchase grain &
to build a ship— I mean to set up an agency house with him for East India Com-
mifsions in short I wish to benefit myself by promoting the Qty — Have I been
wanting in respect or in attentions — my style is not harsh not immoderate — ^Yet
not a line have I received from them — Do not the Commifsioners in their agree-
ments with you strictly require you not to sell before Janury 1796 witht stipula-
lations for hialding^—who however will build without titles — ^They ought to
rejoice at subdivisions of property and should encourage settlers in the Qty by
every accommodations — ^They should have been obliged to settle near the Capitol
whereas unfortunately they have made purchases near George Town — 1 beg of
you to obtain some Decision & Titles or let me relinquish the Gty & be no
more embarrafsed — ^Three visits have I made there^I had taken one step but can
yet retract — ^The Qty can only be made by the Eastern Branch. The President
himself when he sees all that has hitherto been done will feel how much that part
of the Qty has been overlooked— he will pity the ignorance of the man who
proposed the Canal to run by 697 & 699 & 743 instead of 2 & L Street or
between 742 & 769— he will blush when he perceives where the Commi6k>ners

have made their wharf— in short he wOl order some measures to be adopted to let
the Gty branch out from the proper root the Eastern Branch— Crocker writes
justly resps the Commissioners *' Tliat they do not po6e6 minds sufficiently en-
larged to promote the real interests of the Gty if they wished it " —

Pray remb to have the Post office established at the Capitol

I have written to Crocker not to say a word pro or con respects any part of
the Qty—I have written to him also that Lusette is to have the one horse chair
& to bring them with him.

The President & every one would be surprised at the rapid growth of the
Qty if decisions were pa&ed — respecting the right to erect Warehouses on the
wharves George town cannot for the ke— New York flourishes by the fiidlity of
loading Vessels from stores on the Wharves — Season goes away after Season St
the year 1800 will be soon upon us. You gave a Spring to the Qty by your
Contract & bufldings The Commissioners— You are building on N Street &
will unite your Point & the Eastern branch

I am sorry that the Capitol has had an accident but 1 am not surprised — Hoban
when he began the President's house buflt one for himself dose to it — The Com-
miisrt had one close to the Capitol which they sold to the Qergyman — ^The
president is too mild & he will regret it The Comm^* should be obliged to
reside some where near the Capitol till then every thing will be counter'
action and error-^

You know that Scot when he rode round with me did not know Maryland
from Pennsylvania A venue— how should he ? Carrol altho enfeebled with age
was the most zealous & active of the three — but no more of this I am heartily
tired of murmurs to you who must be sufficiently chagrined — harmony & Union
can do great things — they however cannot exist whilst the Comm^ reside West
of the Presidents House, I subjoin my numbers of the elected squares — in
some most of the Lots have been sold —

Between the Presidents house & Capitol

East of the Capitol
New Jersey Avenue

Selection 1 will retum — some of the squares are not measured or laid out — 1

had made the selection long ago

YrsSy

THOMAS LAW

Dbar Gmbnleap

1 have been rendered very uneasy by Le Garennes Lre — in my first negotia-
tion with you, your candor so confirmed the character I had received, that 1 did
not read over the first deed — 1 placed more reliance in your words, than in any
other persons writing — 1 have all along attached myself to you from a sincere
regard & hoped that you would extricate yourself from your embarrassment
with Me<« M. & N. by taking the whole City concem into your hands— that
desirable expectation is now compleately frustrated & the very reverse of it
effiected —

I engaged to build within a certain period & you at the same time engaged
to give me title deeds — I made my Contract irrevocable in the hopes of obtaining

109 LHTTIRS

title deeds St of begg building immey you was rather hard upon me when you
desired me to make the bargain absolute, but your reason influenced me
Vi2t lAal it would go abroad and give a spur to the City 6f promote
your tdews — I now rely upon you for obtaining for me a Writing to the
follows Effect, ''Whereas Mr Law had an option of rejecting his purchase made
upon on the 4th day of December 1794 within 18 months & whereas it was
agreed that the said Thomas should build a certain number of houses within four
years after he so made the bargain absolute, Now the condition is that W Law
is not required to build the houses specified till within five years & 6 months
from the 4th of December 1794 aforesaid " —

1 request this to prevent disputes & prosecutions — 1 made a common cause
with you & hatred & malice will persecute me — The change is compleat as any
in France—The Jacobins will persecute the Moderees — pardon me if I hurt your
feelings — you must be conscious that mine are lacerated — If you obtain this
writing for me & if Morris & Nicholson will say that the building required in
compliance with their contract & that they do not mean to be rigid as the
Commn then will I join to go on — if not — ^like an hunted Boar 1 will seat myself
at the end of New Jersey Avenue relinquish all my plans of promotions & foam
& goar till 1 fall under chagrine — People in England will triumph if 1 fail — in
short an accumulation of mortifying circumstances will overwhelm me — You are
going to England in short when I cast my eye around, 1 see all my pleasing
prospects vanished — 1 have written to Legarrene.

1 had much to say & a long story to relate about a certain person who gave
us some uneasinefs in Philadelphia — but my mind is too full of the present im-
portant transaction respecK Washington Gty

YrSy

T LAW

New York

July I2th
I rely upon having the original Title Deeds of the Comm" & Notley Young
to confirm my mortgage —

I rely upon having also a Contract under a penalty that the first conveyance
by Carroll shall be to me —

1 entreat of you as a friend to do this — You told me you know that you had
the Title deeds forthcoming & 1 went to the City under that persuasion.

Thomas Law E«,r. PrntAOAjuly .5, 1795.

My dear firiend
The only circumstance that would render disagreeable to me the assumption
of M & N of the whole concern in the Fed^ Gty is the uneasinefs I find it has
aeated in yr mind, & which I shall remove by every means in my power —
Lagarennes in his letter to you has explained the imperious motives which have
induced me to divest myself of an object to which, situated as I was with M &
N & the Commiisn I felt conscious it was no longer in my power to render that
justice it merited — I can only repeat therefore that nothing short of absolute
necefsity has guided my conduct in that businefs & you, my friend, as well as
Duncanson, will, I trust, (when I have it in my power to explain more fully my
reasons) not only exculpate me from the charge of Selfish, narrow or contracted

LITTIRS 110

views; but be convinced that I have been actuated by |Hire St hononbk princi-
ples and that (to save me from a labyrinth of difficulties St vexations), 1 would
never have consented to the bargain, had I conceived that it would in any wise
be injurious to the Interests of Two friends whose interests St happiness (from
the first moment of my connection with them, I never had an idea of separating
from my own.

The Ori^nal Deeds given by the G>mmiisn St Notley Young are with Mr
Cranch at Washington — authenticated copies only are at New York which
shall be furnished you on my return — ^With r^;ard to the improvements you have
obligated yourself to make, no difficulty shall be made to extend to the term you
propose Vizt five years St an half from 4 December. And an order shall be
procured for M' Cranch to transfer to you the property which I shall be entitled
from D drroU on his receiving payt 26 Sepr next,

Should the fear you express of £iiling in your undertaking be grounded, it
would indeed render me wretched, St there is no sacrifice I would repine at to
prevent or repair, so far as it lies in my power a misfortune of that kind; But it is
not, nor can it be the case — St trust to me that I shall on no account ever suffer
you to be injured, while it is in the pale of possibility to prevent it What I say
St solemnly declare to you is equally meant for our friend Duncanson, to whom
I would give the same afsurance St pledge my honor, had the short time I have
left to dose my immense St complicated concerns, allowed me to so do it

Let me intreat you, therefore my worthy friend, to ease your mind, & do not
suffer groundless apprehensions to lead you to a misconception of the principles
St delicacy of a friend, in whom you never shall have reason to repent having
placed an implicit confidence, and do not suppose, my dear Law, that what I say
with regard to a continuance St a willingnefs to aid and afsist your views, is
meant as a momentary palliation for the present unintended disappointmt , but
consider it as an engagement on my part to support St promote by every means
in my power the interests St the happiness of a Man for whom if you do justice
to my sentiments you will be persuaded I feel the warmest return of attachment
St friendship.

Let me repeat, what Lagarenne has already said in my name, that if you con-
ceive it for yr advantage or security, I will cheerfully interest myself in your con-
tract St shall, with more pleasure than 1 ever did, go hand in hand with you in
insuring success to an establishment which has not, nor ever will cease to be
very dear to me.

This profefsion will 1 hope dispel from your mind the clouds that circumstances

have tended to collect there and trust in me, my dear Law, that at all times you

will find in me a -sincere and unalterable friend —

JAMES GHEENLEAF.

At the letter's date Aaron Burr was United States Senator.
His name with large sums opposite appears in Greenleafs
account current.

To GtEENLEAP.

(December 14, 1795.)
"I was sick St you did not visit me" — for which sin of omifsion I hope you
wiU atone in some other way— I have amused myself very piously by reading

Ill UTTIRS

your paraphrase of a part of the bible, which devout employment has inspired

more feelings than ideas —

At what hour & place in the morning shall I see you about the Bill — Let it

be payable to John Lamb or order —

Yr aflfcc

A BURR
14 Dec Evng

The correspondence turns from him of iron nerve and empire
aspiration to another whose name with his is linked and who
"to guide the chariot" was content not to hold the reins but
to point the way. It is said that Burr in Boston suddenly con-
fronted by the statue of Hamilton unabashed, unhesitatingly,
ran his hand over the features and remarked to his friend who
tried to avoid it **Here are the lines of poetry." The first
Secretary of Treasury established the nation's credit by the
funding system and before with Jay and Madison established
the nation itself on a firm base by a series of essays in the
"political classic/' the Federalist, advocating the adoption of
the constitution.

Greenleaf to Alexander Hamilton.

New York, July 27th, 1796.
Dear Sir :

In the indispensable necessity of an immediate though short respite from busi-
ness, united by motives of interest, and an unbounded attachment to reputation,
induced me to make a proposition to you of a pretty extraordinary nature, but
which after due reflection 1 flatter myself will be deemed not unworthy your
attention. My engagements of every possible nature do not exceed twelve hun-
dred thousand dollars, and my real and personal estate may with ease be liquidated
and made to produce five millions of dollars; say, rather a million dollars annually
for five consecutive years; but in consequence of some important and unexpected
delinquencies on the part of persons whose engagements have become due to me,
and must be paid from securities given my own engagements t>ecome due more
rapidly than my means (without having recourse to improper operations) can be
made to answer. If you will now be induced to aid me with your name, respon-
sibility and talents, in the liquidation of my concerns and payment of my
engagements, in such wise that no undue sacrifice of property shall result, and
my name be borne through with the aedit and propriety it deserves, the one-third
part of the net residue of my whole estate, both real and personal, after payment
of my engagements, shall become yours, provided you will consent that the mass
shall remain undivided for ten years, and constitute the capital of a banking-house,
to be established either in this dty or at Philadelphia, in our joint names and under
your sole guidance, and the profits divkled between us in equal porttons.

1 have reason to believe that, with the aid of your name and our joint respon-
sibility, accompanied with the names of three other persons as trustees for

LBTTBRS 112

deposited property, it will by a reputable mode of financing I shall communi-
cate, be practicable for me to obtain the use of a million of dollars at legal
interest for the average term of five years, and with this sum I should calculate
on being able to pay off all my engagements with due aedit and advantage, is
considerable amounts are due at distant periods, and may be purchased in at a
considerable discount

If these outlines so far meet your approbation as to induce you t6 wish my
entering into a particular detail, it shall be done at such time as will best suit
your leisure and convenience.

Alexander Hamilton to Greenlbaf.

New- York, July 30th, 1796.
Dear Sir:

1 have carefully reflected upon the subject of your letter of the 27th instant
Though the data which it presents authorize an expectation of large pecuniary
advantage, and though I discern nothing in the affair which an individual
differently circumstanced might not with propriety enter into; yet, in my pecu-
liar situation, viewed in all its public as well as personal relations, I think
myself bound to decline the ouverture.

With great regard, I am, dear Sir,

Your obedient servant

Phila 20 July 1795
Mr Wm Cranch

Sir
Mr J Greenleaf has communicated to you the Change which has taken
place in regard to the property which did belong to him Mr Nicholson & me of
his share therein, and he gave me afsurance that you would continue your Care
and afsiduity in regard to that property untill we might make such arrangements
as to the future management as might be judged proper — Ijdepend on this assur-
ance — Hitherto I never gave myself any trouble about it because I depended
upon Mr Greenleafs Care & attention, but now I feel myself in a different (itua-
tion & however inconvenient a portion of my time must be devoted to this
Object — It seems that we have bot of Mr Greenleaf at a time when our affairs
under your Care are in disgrace & distrefs, which ought never to be the case
and which if I can prevent shall never again happen after they are once extri-
cated — Mr Greenleaf has given me Extract of your letters to him dated the
13th &i5th July — It would not be doing Justice to myself if I did not tell you
that Mr Greenleaf ought to have made payment to the Commifsn of my part as
well as his own of what was due on the i*^ of May because he owed me much
more money at that time on acct of my payments for his Share of Lands pur-
chased on our joint acct— To this effect I wrote him when 1 consented to his
drawing those bills on me in favor of Mr. Deakins or the Commrs as you will
see by the enclosed Copy of my letter to him which 1 send for your own
conviction and not with any hostile intent to Mr Greenleaf, nor from any desire
to raise my own Credit at the expense of his — ^The tables are now turned Mr
Greenleaf has lately paid me ^000 in my notes that were due, on which he

113 LITTMS

got six months accomodation that was offered to myself & which if I had taken
it & required money of Mr Greenleaf as I had a right to do, that money would
have paid my Acceptances — The purchase Mr N & myself have made of Mr G
& the payment he has made me in notes has turned the Tables and I am now
become his Debtor —

I have however provided Funds to pay my acceptances to the Commifs" —
These Funds at present exist in undoubted good Bills of Exchange & must there-
fore be turned into Cash which is fo cursedly scarce here that nothing will com-
mand it — You may assure the Commifs" that my acceptances will be paid as fast
as these bills can be sold which I suppose cannot require above a week or ten
days. — Mr Nicholson I know is trying to provide for his and 1 expect he will suc-
ceed. We will also provide remittances to enable you to discharge arrearages
and as soon as pofsible a plan shall be formed for future proceedings upon a Basis
that will be supported without embarrassment — In the mean time you will avoid
as much as pofsible incurring any Expences or Debts — 1 will very foon addrefs

you again being

Sir Yrs

ROBT MORRIS

Morris to William Constable.

Phila July 27, 1795

Mr Greenleaf offered to buy or sell the Washington Lotts at a price & on
Terms which he named — This was manly, and I first concluded to sell, but on
further Consideration Mr N & myself concluded it was better to buy because it
was more likely that the Lotts would command money to pay our Debts than
Mr G» paper.

Philada April 19th 1797
Mefs" WiLHRM & Jan Willmk
Amsterdam

Ghhtl^* /
1 was obliged to visit the City of Washington & remain there several Months
engaged in clearing away the Clouds and difficulties in which Mr James Greenleaf
had involved our Joint property there. In short the unhappy engagements which
I had been tempted to make with that man, have proved a source of vexation &
misfortune to me beyond anything I could have conceived pofsible — My whole
time and attention is necefsarily called for to extricate myself; as our means of
doing it Mr Nicholson St myself purchased him out of all the concerns in which
he held an interest with us, in doing this as well as in other transactions we
were obliged to ifsue a large number & amount in negotiable notes, at the
fame time such a general scarcity Sc want of money has arisen in this Country
that we cannot sell the property or obtain loans, our ready money run out and
not being able to pay as the notes fall due they have depreciated down to
nothing, and we are held in continual scenes of distrefs.
I remain with Esteem & respect Gentln /

Yours &c

ROBT MORRIS.

Lirmts 114

Philaoa Septr 2itli 1795
His Excellbmcy
Geo Washington Esq;

D* Sir

You will readily believe that 1 have suffered severe mortification at being
in arrears with my Payments to the Commifsioners of the Federal City, but my
feelings are still more deeply wounded at the idea of an application from them to
you upon this subject, The only apology I can make for being in that situation,
is the Impossibility of obtaining money for the sale of property or upon Loan, I
have long & unceasingly endeavored to procure it and have offered to make
sacrifices that sufficiently prove my anxiety. Mr Law gave me some faint hopes
before he went from hence that he might accommodate me with the sum neces-
sary to discharge the arrearages of Mr Nicholson & myself of which he was to
give me information after his arrival at the City. The offers I made to induce
him thereto were such as I think he will accept if the money can be commanded
without too much in convenience to himself— However I was not untill the receipt
of your letter acquainted with the necefsity there is for supplying the Commif-
sioners with money, and immagined that a little delay was not of any real im-
portance. 1 see the matter now in a very different light & will immediately
commence my remittances & continue them untill my part of the arrears are dis-
charged, that part is $15000, Mr Nicholsons 1^5000. As to the loan mentioned
in the Treasurers accV neither he or I, have anything to do with it, excepted in
our written Contracts with Mr Greenleaf and I peremtorily refused to engage in
the Concern upon any other terms. It is therefore Mr Greenleafs af&ir solely.
What were the inducements that led the Commrt into the first Contracts with
Mr Greenleaf 1 neither knew or enquired, the purchase was made by him and after-
wards I agreed to take one third part therein, in the expectation of fulfilling my
part of the engagements specified in the Contract (the Loan excepted) and of
gaining a handsome profit upon resales of the Lotts & Houses. To the second
Contract or purchase, I am a party, my letters written on that subject to the
Commr* St Mr Greenleaf show what were my motives & expectations and I will
fulfill every obligation that is or can be implied by those letters. No body can
suppose that Mr Nicholson or myself entered into these engagements with an
expectation of holding the property. It was from the beginning Sc b now our
intention to resell when it can be done to our satbfaction St I believe the interest
of the Gty will be more certainly promoted by interesting a number of Individuals,
than by any one or two men, continuing to hold a large number of Lotts. Thus
I think that on Sales to Mr Law, Mr Duncanson, Geni Stewart &cis of much more
advantage to the Qty, than if we had continued to hold the whole. My inten-
tion is to settle my son William in the Gty (if he continues in the same mind as
when he left me) and of course to retain a considerable interest therein. I must
also add that by purchasing of Mr Greenleaf we have not increased the payments
we now have to make to the Commr** what we owe, was due before we made
that purchase, and the future payments are but little increased thereby, in those
we do not expect ever to be delinquent. — Our embarrafsments have arisen from
another source, Mr Greenleaf is under Contract with his hand St seal, to provide
us with money to carry through the operations which at his instance we were
tempted to undertake, but the French invafion of Holland put it out of his power
to fulfil his engagement The &ilure being occasioned by public Events which

115 LtTTWS

could neither be foreseen or avoided, we became the victims, have paid immense
sums & have more to pay, all which we have submitted to without complaining
as he in some degree has been a sharer in the misfortune and inconvenience. —
Pardon me my dear Sir for troubling you with these circumstances but sensible
as I am of the very friendly terms & intention of your letter, 1 thought it due to
you & to myself that you should know something of the cause of that delinquency
which has called for your interference. I am of opinion that under existing cir-
cumstances the Commas would not stand justified were they to advertise our
property for fale to discharge the present debt due to them by Mr Nicholson &
myself, and at any rate I hope they will not do it, for you and they may rely that
our exertions shall poisefs them of the money much sooner than they could obtain
it by such fales. I return herewith W Scotts letter & the accot & shall make
him my acknowledgements hereafter for the sentiments he has exprefsed personal
to me. — With the most sincere affection & esteem 1 am D*" Sir

Your obliged & obedt hble Servt

ROBT MORRIS.

Sir

You have already had an offer of Mr Nicholsons & my concern in the Great
Falls of Potomack or Matilda Ville which if I understand your answer right you
declined.

My opinion of that place is that it will require a large Capital to make any

thing of it besides the personal attendance at that Spot, of He who expects to

improve to advantage 1 shall therefore sell to Geni Lee my right in it unlefs you

make me a better offer.

Yr hble fervt

ROBT morris-
Jambs Greenleap Esqr

March fith 1797

The letter is introduced merely to exhibit the syndicate's
ownership of this wild and wondrous work of nature, and that
they at that time planned the utilization of its power, at this
time so inadequately employed.

Philada 20 April 1795
Thomas Law Esq"*

City of Washihoton

Dear Sir

Your letter without date arrived a few days since^Mr Greenleaf was here

and 1 read it to him, but as the President was gone nothing could on our part be

done in respect to the several points which you recommended as necessary to be

done, but as you will have opp'ys of conversing with the President on the spot

I am in hopes that your Observations will have the weight they deserve, and

produce effects benefidal to the Gty of Washington — ^The president I know b

sincerely desirous to promote the growth St prosperity of that Gty. G>nvince

him of the best way of doing lb and you may be sure of his cooperation — Mr

Greenleaf will be at the Qty eariy in May, I should like to come with him but

doubt the practicability of my leaving thb Theatre of action — We thank you for

your Congratulations on the marriage of my Daughter who b and I hope always

i6

will be happy — I think you had best look out elsewhere, and not from any Ex^

pectations from my tipping off, for I think your patience may be compleatly worn

out before that event happens to

DrSir

ROBT MORRIS.

PwLAjuly I, 1795
Thomas Law Esq" (N York)

Dear Sir
Your communication from New York under date of the 26 ulto you say is in
confidence, otherwise I would have enclosed the whole to the President, and I do
fo yet if you give me leave — At any rate 1 shall take the first Oppy of conversing
with him on the subject — I lament that there should be any cause of Complaint
If there is any jockying work we must resent as well as lament^ but then we
must be clear and certain that the Charges are well founded—I expect Mr Green-
leaf here, after which you shall be informed of what pafses in regard to this busi-

nefs of the Federal Qty —

1 remain D Sir

Yrs

ROBT MORRIS.

PHiLAjuIy 18, 1795.
Thomas Law Esqw N York

Dear Sir
I carried in my Pocket for some time the letter which you honored me with,
together with that from Mr Barry to you, intending to shew both to the presi-
dent, but after opening a Conversatk>n with him on the subject of the Federal
City 1 concluded it was better not to produce those letters because they contain
general and not specific Charges against the Commifsioners — The President
with great propriety observed that if the Commn gave any real cause of Com-
plaint, the Cause or Causes on which Complaints are grounded ought to be
specified so as to enable a correct Judgement to be formed and a prompt decision
in Consequence — For my part I do not know either of the Gentn Commifs» nor
the things alledged against them but this I know, that it is very necefsary that a
good understanding ought to be preserved between them, Mr Nicholson &
myself so that we may act unitedly in promoting the growth and prosperity of
the City, and let who may be Commifsioners, I will endeavor to promote and
preserve a good understanding with them, being well convinced that disputes
St Contention may injure but cannot serve the Common Cause— I think the
president is disposed to give his assent to the building of Stores upon the wharves
St if Mr Barry, Mr Duncanson or you follow up the application you will obtain
a decision and I believe one to your wishes — I told him that it would be in vain
to attempt such a Regulation because it could not be preserved any length of
time — The Interest of all Holders of Water Lots would combine against it, and
sooner or later they would carry the point — The same thing was attempted
when the City of Philad* was first laid out, but the plan could not be preserved
altho' it would have made a most beautiful street of three miles long fronting on
the Delaware St have given a walk the whole length, commands a view of the
River and every thing moving thereon and have overiooked every thing that was
doing on the wharves St Quay — Interest however got the better of all other Con-

siderations. Water Street is built where the Quays and Stores or Warehouses
should have been and the latter are on the Wharves — I believe the same thing
has happened wherever restraints of the kind have been attempted and the
President said if the System could not be preserved it was best not to begin
with it — therefore convince him that the Owners of Water Lotts will not cannot
be restrained from building on their wharves and he must yield the point — I wish
also to do away all Restraints about building, except that of conforming to the
lines of the Streets Lanes & Alleys as laid out, because I am sure the Houses will
be increased much faster if every Owner of a Lot is allowed to do as he pleases
than it pofsibly can if he is obliged to follow the will of another — ^There is
however greater appearance of difficulty in gaining this than the other point. —
Mr Greenleaf has told you of the sale he has made to Mr Nicholson & myself—
Thb purchase increases our Interest & our Cares in the fuccefs of the City —
Before I rested myself upon Mr Greenleaf* attention to it — now I must look
after it myself, and I will do fo — I expect my fon William from Europe the
ensuing fall & shall fix him in the City of Washington for life I expect — He will
of course become my Agent, and feel an Interest in the good management of the
Estate — In the mean time 1 will pay every attention in my Power, and I beg
leave to afsure you that both Mr Nicholson and myself are entirely disposed to
accommodate you and Mr Duncanson, to promote your Interests and gratify
your wishes in every thing that can reasonably be expected of us — I hope it may
not be long before we shall have the pleasure of seeing you this way — I am

Dr Sr Yrs

ROBT MORRIS.

Philada Nov 22 1796
DiAR Sir

I did not come away from Washington untill Mr Nicholson & myself had
every thing in such a train, that we saw the certainty of your Titles being com-
pleted without any farther interference on my part being necefsary ; and we had
received intelligence that demonstrated that my immediate presence here was in-
dispensibly necefsary to our affairs. I arrived in the nick of time ; am usefully
employed & shall on this Theatre do more to establish your Titles & promote the
Qty, than I could have done by longer stay there. I beg you will alsure Mrs
Law of my esteem & respect & that you will believe me to be your obliged &

obedt hble Servant

ROBT MORRIS—
Tho» Law Esq« Washington

PhILAOA Novr 22<» I796

DiAR Sir

Before my departure from the City of Washington Mr Nicholson & myself had
got every tMng in such train in regard to Mr Law's & your Titles that any longer
stay ny part for that purpose was deemed altogether uselefs, as Mr Nicholson
could carry all that remained to be done into effect and I doubt not but it is or
soon will be done. My presence was indispensible & has produced good Effects
not only to our affairs generally but even to all our dependency in the Gty of
Washington. 1 have written a line to Mr Law, and I wish he could prevail on
himself to be quiet untill hb Titles are completed which is done or soon will be,
unlefs his Wrestleisneis & frequent interferences with Mr Cranch prevents it He

UTTERS Il8

has an excellent Heart & neither means to injure or wound, but without intend-
ing it, He sometimes does both. On our part you may depend on the most cer-
tain & speedy performance of the duty We owe both to him & you I have told
W Cranch that you would endorse for him and be a&ured that I will dudy pro-
vide for payment I pray you to present me most respectiiiUy to Mifi Duncanson
whose attentions I shall ever remember with gratitude as I shall with pleasure the
marks of your Friendship.

I am Dr Sir

Your obliged & obed serv^

ROBT MORRIS—
Wm M Dumcanson Esqr

Washington

Philada June axth X797
To Thomas Law Esqr
Dear Sir

I have your Letter of the 14th inst My son William * is at Morrisville
with his Brother Robert I expect him here today or tomorrow and shall show
it to him. He is now to make hb Election whether to commence the practice
of the Law here or in the City of Washington, perhaps he may choose to visit
the City before he decides and if so he will call on you & Mrs. Law altho I sus-
pect his mother will fear the eflfect of your Eloquence & M" Laws influence may
have a tendency to fix him at a distance from her.
With the best wishes for your health & happinefs

I remain Dr*Sir

Your obedt Serv*

ROBERT MORRIS

In the rotunda of the Capitol are two paintings by the
soldier-artist John Trumbull The Declaration of Independence
and General Washington Resigning His Commission at
Annapolis, in one sits the sturdy Morris and in the other
stands Elizabeth Park Custis (Mrs. Law) in the balcony with
her grandmother and two sisters.

* Died October 9, 1798.

1 19^— coMMaiuHUTioii

COMMEMORATION.

TURKEY BUZZARD POINT it was; Greenleaf Point* it is
now. The change came with Greenleaf himself. Truly
the new name is more grateful to the ear and more be-
coming this lovely scene where weds the Potomac and the
Anacostia. From the heights of the Alleghanies and the Blue
Ridge the streams chase through the wood and cascade over
the roclt to join either arm of the Potomac. The waters
gathering strength in their winding course in fiercer gambols
break through gorges and leap over boulders. E'er the Point
is reached the waters cease their caprice; pass it with digni-
fied pace; join the other waters, and majestically sweep on to
the sea.

It is sunny noon of a September day; already the summer
green is declining to autumn gayety; Greenleaf now first treads
this spot which is to keep his name with the flight of time; it
is a greensward encircled with gracefully bending trees reflected
tremblingly in the translucent waves as in a burnished vase.

From this vantage-ground to him this picturesque panorama
presents: immediately east of the respectable stream, James
Creek,t Carrollsburgh, in it an only mansion, brick and wide,
on the bank of the Annakostia, the home of the founder,
Charles Carroll, father of Daniel Carroll of Duddington; directly
across, another point, Geesborough and a landing; farther
south on the other shore, wreathes of smoke and the spire of
Christ Church, aristocratic Alexandria; on the same side and

■d St. Jmm CfMk (a I73t-AMX« H

COMMIMORATION 1 20

nearer, the Custis plantation, Abingdon, and a glimpse of the
old homestead in the grove ; on the city side of the Potowmac.
the pretentious manor house of the proprietor, Notley Young;
somewhat farther on the settlement of Hamburgh, in which
distinctly, the house of little brick from Holland, residence of
Peter Funk, its founder; and beyond the Key of All Keys,
(the great rock,) dimly, the tops of masts at the Wapping,
Georgetown, and the college on its heights; and, up the river
for Georgetown, ships with cargoes of cloth from London,
silk from Marseilles, liquors from Rotterdam, sugar from
Havana, coffee from Port-au-Prince, wares from every mart;
and, for the town in Governor Bladen's honor, a few craft with
tea and other commodities.

Greenleaf enjoys the view ; and decides this wedge between
the rivers, beautiful for residence and useful for shipping, the
Battery of the Nation's City to rival in beauty and utility that
of the Empire City where he now resides.

And he further decides when he shall be in possession of the
vast fortune he is to realize from the sale of the three thousand
lots, the contract for which the clerk up at the Commissioners'
is now engrossing he will build on this spot and this sward
shall be his lawn, these trees his shade and this supreme view,
his own.

And a few years after in financial stress he lets go all his
holdings in the federal establishment all except this dedicated
spot. And in the indenture is the reservation ''Except square
506, square next south of 506 and square next south of the
square last mentioned;" three squares on the bank of the
Potomac beginning one square south of the present Arsenal
wall thence southward. And when the stress was still greater
he sold to his close friend, William Deakins, junior, from whom
he could redeem, the two squares northward. And when the
stress was direst sold the remaining square to his wealthy
brother-in-law merchant, John Appleton, with the hope of
eventual recovery.

The life of James Greenleaf is commemorated in another
and as appropriate direction. In company with the solid
blocks of residences constructed by James Greenleaf, in archi-
tectural style of the Georgian period and cultured as far as
brick can be, is the Greenleaf Building, the public school, on
Fourth between M and N streets, southwest. From its loca-

121 COMMIMORATIOM

tion on the Point the school miii^ht be called Greenleaf yet the
real reason is a more worthy fitness.

He was a scholar and a ripe and a good one.

He was a linguist. He had in store the languages of Holland,
France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy; and, of the classic,
Greek and Latin. He was most erudite and a most masterly
letter writer. The Greenleaf family, bole and branches, has
honorable distinction in book-knowledge and exalted station
yet in another way, James Greenleaf is the peer of them, all.

Though learn 'd, well bred, and though well bred, sincere.

Wealth he had and better, learning; learning he had and
better, culture; culture he had and better, character. Judge
Wylie began his practice when Greenleaf was more vividly in
the mind; and the Judge told me: "Greenleaf was a great
lawyer and a noble character."

1 33 TWINTY-MnLDMOS

TWENTY-BUILDINGS.

WHEN one nowadays speaks or writes of early Wash-
ington and contrasts its penury then with its pros*
perity now, "for the same reason that influences
individuals who have obtained wealth and position to exag-
gerate the poverty and difficulties which surrounded their early
days,"* he summons to his aid that cynic from the nutmeg State.
I have tried to neglect the Hon. John Cotton Smith, and if his
allusion had not been so direct to the subject, the issue would
have been success.

Hon. Mr. Smith was of the first House of Representatives
that sat in the Capitol and in later years recorded his recollec-
tions of i8oo:t

Nor was the desoUte aspect of the place 1 little augmented by t number of
unfinished edifices at Greenleafs Point, and on an eminence 1 short distance
from it, commenced by an individual whose name they bore, but the state of
whose funds compelled him to abandon them, not only unfinished but in 1
ruinous condition.

Mr. Smith's "edifices on an eminence " were by the com-
mon people of the neighborhood dubbed "twenty buildings"
on "twenty-building hill;" which plebian phrases although
not so elegant are as expressive.

Perhaps I ought not to have stigmatized Mr. Smith as a
cynic, and perhaps, I ought to overlook his exaggeration as he
wrote for the entertainment of his contemporaries and his pro-
phetic soul divined the assistance he would be to those who
should make oratoric and graphic contrasts.

•Qpottd from RuMvid ef tiM Smx vfOvnnacmn to WMl^itoB— Wilkdmtu B. Bryam.
tTh« CofiMpaafwc* lad Mbcrtkalw of the itow. /olm CWIwi Smilk. LLP.

TWBNTY-BUILOINOS 124

And this is all that was * ' visible " to Mr. Smith except the
unfinished edifices at Greenleafs Point and on the eminence
nearby.

Instead of recogniiing the avenues and streets portrayed on the plan of the
city, not one was visible, unless we except a road with two buildings on each
side of it, called New Jersey Avenue. * * * Between the president's house
and Georgetown a block of houses had been erected, which they bore, and may
still bear, the name of the Six Buildings, There were also two other blocks,
consisting of two or three dwelling houses in diflferent directions, and now and
then an insulated wooden habitation. * * * There appeared to be but two
really comfortable habitations, in all respects, within the bounds of the city, one
of which belonged to Dudley Carroll, Esquire, and the other to Notley Young,
who were the former proprietors of a large proportion of the land appropriated
to the city, but who reserved for their own accommodation ground sufficient
(or gardens and other useful appurtenances.

The enumeration of improvements at that date in Hines'
Earfy RecolUciions of Washington City is dissimilar quite with
Mr. Smith's census.

The Commissioners through their clerk, Thomas Munroe,
submitted a statement of the buildings in the city to the Presi-
dent— /^m^nV»« State Papers, Vol. /, pp, 254.^257 : Houses
in a habitable state, 15th May, 1800: brick 109, frame 263,
total 372; finished since 15th May, 1800: brick 82 frame 145,
total 227; purposed to be finished before 15th November, 1801 :
brick 16, frame 6; houses unfinished: brick 79, frame 35, total
114; or houses finished and unfinished brick 286, frame 449^
total 735.

On September 26, 1793, Greenleaf and Daniel Carroll of
Duddington entered into an agreement whereby the former
was to purchase of the latter every alternate lot allotted in the
division to the proprietor (Carroll) between the forks of the
canal for ;^3o ($80) each ; Carroll was to invest the proceeds
and Greenleaf ;;^3ooo in two years and ;^30oo in four years,
in improvements in that latitude. As Greenleaf was to receive
the public lots he would have had with the proprietor's three-
fourths of all, within the forks aforesaid. Greenleaf and
Carroll July 8, 1 794, effected a preliminary division of lots; and
Morris and Nicholson with Carroll in the summer of 1796, a
permanent.

On the same day, by separate articles, Carroll covenanted
with Greenleaf to convey him twenty lots fronting on South
Capitol street in all convenient speed after the division with the

125 TWINTY-BUILDINOS

Commissioners, upon the condition he should erect thereon
twenty good brick houses, each twenty-five feet front by forty
deep, two stories high, to be completed within three years
from date, and if not, the condition of conveyance was to be
void and a penalty incurred of £ioo ($266) for each lot not
built upon.

On June 8, 1795, the building agreement was so amended
that Greenleaf could build houses of any description he desired
if they covered an equal extent and were of same height; ten
to be built on the south side of square 651, the residue on the
east side.

Pursuant to agreement, July 10, 1795, both contracts were
assigned. May 13, 1796, by Greenleaf to Morris and Nicholson.

Mr. Cranch says that on February 16, 1796, having eight
thousand dollars in notes of the Bank of the United States in
his pocket, he offered the same to Mr. Carroll on account of the
land contract provided he would concede Morris and Nicholson
an extension of one year on the building contract; that Carroll
refused and on the next day in writing reiterated the refusal.

From my youth 1 have heard of Mr. Carroll's obstinacy and
how his exorbitant demands defeated the growth of the
Eastern end and wrought his own disaster. In this incident is
verification.

Mr. Morris upon receiving Mr. Carroll's refusal, resolved at
all hazards to complete the houses within the contract time, so
curtailed by the tardiness of the proprietor (Carroll) and the
Commissioners in the formal division. He wrote, May 20,
1796, to Mr. Cranch, that he (Cranch) and Mr. Lovering in
conjunction should act in his behalf in the drafting of plans;
and that he should disburse the money and Lovering supervise
the work; and Morris also diplomatically hinted a preference for
drafts at longest time. I refrain from reciting the sacrifice and
struggle of Morris in this connection, on account of the reader
that he may tire of repetition of the Financier's trials and troubles
and, on my own account, from sympathy for the sufferer. Mr.
Nicholson directed Mr. William Prentiss to be for him both
fiscal and building agent. As contractor Prentiss put up four
of the N street houses. The hardship and heroism of Nicholson
were none the less than that of Morris.

The twenty buildings were, in fact, thirty; the enterprise
being designated by the contract term. Morris built fifteen and

TWEiiTY--BuiLDnios 1 a6

Nicholson, fifteen. Nicholson built the south eight surely,
eleven, probably, on South Capitol street and four on N street.

To September 26, Morris expended $19,372; Nicholson,
$22,000. On South Capitol street beginning at M, southward,
were five houses each twenty- nine feet five inches front; then
an alley twenty-five feet wide ; then twelve houses each twenty
feet wide; then an alley twenty feet wide, then five houses
each twenty-nine feet five inches front, the most southern on
the corner with N street. On N, were four houses each
eighteen feet one inch front ; then a vacant space; then four
houses each eighteen feet nine inches front, the most western
on the corner with Half street. The houses on South Capitol
street had "breast summer fronts "and were" capable of
making a handsome row of shops." Six were complete at the
stipulated time; the others were covered in. Morris had his
covered three days before and Nicholson some hour in the
forenoon of — that eventful day.

It is Monday, the twenty-sixth day of September, 1796. A
fortnight previous Mr. Prentiss had received from Messrs.
Morris and Nicholson direction what to do and the where-
withal to do it. He had despatched messengers with invita-
tions in polite phrase. And now, are here, some of the first
citizens and more of the useful ones, some who earn their
livelihood by their heads, and more who earn it by their hands,
exponents of thought and exponents of toil, spick and span,
for the jollification, two hundred strong. The sun is in the
meridian; it is the appointed hour yet where are the hosts?
With the morning of the second Mr. Morris journeyed toward
the federal city; he had accomplished the wearisome jog and
jumble from the brotherly city and for a few weeks had
quartered at the Union Tavern in George Town with Mr.
Nicholson who had preceded him.* And still — but around
the curve the coach comes in view; a minute and another,
the alert Nicholson alights and then the stout Morris. Right
in the center of the wide South Capitol street, in front of
the edifices, from M extending to N are two parallel impro-

*Tke Washington GaxetU.

Mr. Nicholson being now in the City of Wafhington invites all peffons who have Imfinefs to
transact with him, or with Mr. Moaais and himfelt; to call upon him, during his stay, eitlier at
Scott's Tavern, near the Prefident's houfe, from three to four o'dodc In the afternoon, or at the
Union Tavern, in George-Town till 7 o*clod( in ttw morning.

Auguft 31.

I VJ TWENTY-BUILDmOS

vised tables of sheathing and along these tables the guests
dispose themselves and at the upper end a similar table con-
nects the two and here the hosts take their seats and there too
and close by the first citizens, theirs.

Here's neither want of appetite nor mouths;
Pray Heaven we be not scant of meat nor mirth!

No there is no scantiness of meat at least — for — within the
tables upon the frames are, roasted whole, bullocks two, and
mutton too, sable and savory, and the appropriate accompani-
ments, potato, pickle and all sorts. The cooks are in aprons
and caps of white and so, the waiters ; the cooks carve and
the waiters, or some of them, hustle with might and main, to
assist the attack on the good cheer, as the others hurry to
apply the needful antidote against choking, the cautious Prentiss
has had the precaution to provide.

And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer, but not inebriate wait on each.

For the abstainers is here the coffee pot and the tea pot.

Come, my lad, and drink beer!

For the temperate is the malt beverage, and very good brew it
is, for is it not from Greenleafs Brewery ?

A few gilUsippers their modicum of strong waters.

For the hardened is ''a moderate circulation of the bottle."

The cork shall start obsequious to the thumb.

The effervescent and exquisite patrician refreshing seems to
be monopolized by the first citizens. The cigars circulate and
the collation ceases.

Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine.

And now the feast intellectual. Mr. Prentiss, the master of
toasts and of the occasion, briefly introduces Mr. Morris. Up
rises, The Financier, mighty in stature, mighty in speech; he
extols the excellence of the workmanship of the artisans and
mechanics, he tells of the little he has already done to build
" the city " (meaning he has done a great deal) and of what
great things he intends to do ; and in peroration exhorts pride
in their city and patriotism for their country. And here it is

TWIMTY-BUILDIMOS 1 28

in a wave of enthusiastic homage, all rising, the first citizens
with outstretched arms exalt their glasses and the excited
** Knights'' toss their caps and hats in the air, break forth in
a cheer, so like a cannonade, as to affright the dames and
daughters at "The Point." The first citizens say something
in stilted style and the Knights, emulous, in a homely way,
make honest response.

The speaking is over and the company commingle, con-
gratulating and complimenting. The ruddy faced, robust
Morris, in his bluff way, grasps the hand of each and catches
on; to the married it is: ** happy man, happy man," to the
bachelor, "lucky dog, lucky dog;" makes each feel that he
has known him from the days of the cradle and watched his
progress with the solicitude of a parent; the nimble and
nervous Nicholson bustles around like a bee negotiating neigh-
borly fraternity ; Daniel Carroll of Duddington, directs to the
mansion on the river bank where he first the daylight saw and
tells of the changes in the landscape during his score and ten ;
William Cranch, the learned in books, unbends and chats with
the skilled in tools ; Benjamin More, the editor, warns not to
miss the next issue of the Washington Gazette; Clotworthy
Stephenson, Captain and carpenter, describes the laying of the
corner stone of the Capitol for he was the marshal ; Nicholas
King, the draftsman and surveyor of Morris, emphasizes the
city's requirement for a public library;* William Tunnicliff,
who serves Nicholson in the same capacity, says the eastern
end needs a hotel ;f William Lovering looks with pride to his
proportion of the edifices; Dr. Frederick May discourses —
no, he is too taken with the houses to talk, he hires one and
engages the painter to make the proper lettering on the front
transom ; and — but I cannot particularize every one. Entente
cordiale is not to be lasting; the master of ceremonies, Prentiss,

*A library called the Washington Library was formed in 1797 ;
afterwards surveyor of the dty— GVor^« fVatierston*s manuscrtpu

the Librarian was N. King

t Tunnicliff *s hotel was at the comer of Pennsylvania avenue and Ninth street, S. E. The
building remains— square 925. A. C C.

Th4 Washington GaxetU,

PLBSCY HOSI8IY,
PO* SALB.

Those who consult their health and comfort at this season of the year, are informed, that the
Subscriber has a number of articles, fuch •b Socles, Ancle Socks, Night-Caps, Gloves, Stodcings,
Drawers and Shirts— All of which he win fell cheap, at the Eastern-Branch Hotel.

WILLIAM TUNNICLIFF
Walhington,Jan. 25. (1797.)

129 TWBMTY-BUILDIMOS

espies a dark cloud, yet small, above the horizon and he takes
note :

Carroll was or appeared to be on the very best terms with Morris and
Nicholson; he appeared well pleased and satisfied; he never heard that Carroll
had at any time expressed any sentiments in regard to the erection of the twenty
buildings which were not approbatory and much to the honor of said Morris and
Nicholson.

Entertainers and entertained disperse and depart with the
declining day; and on his beat, the watchman; no — there are
no watchmen save the watchful

Owls, that mark the setting sun,

and perched upon the boughs remain in undisturbed sover-
eignty; and on his round, the lamplighter — no, there is no
lamp save the moon, and her willing lamp of liquid light to
bless the night.

And sure enough in the next issue of the Washington
Gazette, Wednesday, the 28th, the editor gives his account
and if it is correct can be ascertained by comparing with the
one which precedes :

Last week twenty two-story brick dwelling-houses, htgxm by Mr. Robert
Morris and Mr. John Nicholson, about the 28th of June last, was completely
covered.

And on Monday the above gentlemen treated themselves, a few of their
acquaintance, the architects, workmen and laborers, — being nearly two hundred
in number, with a barbecue on the spot.

We do not recollect ever to have seen a greater appearance of social glee on
similar occasion.

The above buildings are the greatest eflfect of private enterprise of any in the
city, and for the time in which they were building, we believe the greatest in
the United States.

They stand on square 651, taking the whole front on South Capitol Street;
and greater part of the front on South N Street. We must note that this is the
first and only entire front built on any square in the Gty.

The birth, 1802, of Methodism in the city of Washington
was in the twenty buildings. The house at the intersection of
South Capitol and N streets is designated as the honored one
where the Society first held divine worship under the ministry
of the Rev. William Walters. It is published in this connec-
tion the houses were two story and basement, the basement
of stone and the remainder of good quality brick.

TWIMTY-MnLDIMOS I3O

This is how they looked to a wandering Englishman in 1804,
Charles Wm. Janson, The Stranger in America :

In proof of this observation, a traveller need only cast his eye on what is
called the twenty bufldings, at Greenleaf s Point, begun by the gentleman above
alluded to, Nickolson and others, first-rate speculators. A long range of houses
there was so advanced before they discovered their mistake, as to be covered in,
but they remain unfinished, and are dropping piecemeal

Mr. Morris expresses in a letter an opinion that if the houses
in course of construction are not completed it would be better
for the city they had not been commenced. And true their
forlorn condition made the mark for sarcastic hits by the British
tourists. The twenty buildings by their elevated situation
first attracted the tourists' attention; and, by them, they gave
general description to all.

Thomas Moore, the poet, 1804, writes:

The private buildings exhibit the same characteristic display of arrogant specu-
lation and^premature ruin; and the few ranges of houses which were begun some
years ago have remained so long waste and unfinished that they are now for the
most part dilapidated.

The Federal Qty (if it must be called a dty) has not been much increased since
Mr. Weld visited it Most of the public buildings, which were then in some de-
gree of forwardness, have been since utterly suspended. The hotel is already a
ruin; a great part of its roof has fallen in, and the rooms are left to be occupied
gratuitously by the mberable Scotch and Irish emigrants.

Charles Wm. Janson, 1806, writes :

Arrived at the dty, you are struck with its grotesque appearance. In one
view from the capitol hill, the eye fixes upon a row of uniform houses, ten or
twelve in number, while it faintly discovers the adjacent tenements to be miser-
able wooden structures consbting, when you approach them, of two or three
rooms one above another. Again, you see the hotel, which was vauntingly
promised, on laying the foundation, to rival the large inns in England. This,
like every other private adventure fafled : the walls and the roof remain, but not
a window ! and, instead of accommodating the members of Congress, and travel-
lers of distinction, as proposed, a number of the lowest order of Irish have long
held the title o\ naked possession,

I have accorded to the tourists a full repetition of their over-
drawn descriptions of the federal city. They give truth yet
not the whole truth. Their animus affords amusement. Not
all English travellers are national libellers, one is not chargeable
with exaggeration and enmity. Mr. Twining's book is a de-
light ; he tells what he hears and sees in a chatty and easy

I3X TWIMTY-BUILDWOS

way. The transgressors invariably "protest too much " their
innocence of bias in their preface of defamation ; so does, Weld
and Parkinson and Janson and Moore. Mr. Janson asserts he
is without prejudice and then writes :

John Bull laughs at the redtal of his own follies ; whOe the slightest sarcasm
rouses a spirit of resentment in the bosom of the sullen Yankees.

Mr. Parkinson says :

1 take up my pen, therefore, to write the following pages, free from all un-
founded prejudices against America,

and then writes two volumes of abuse.
Mr. Parkinson further says :

General Washington having in a most friendly manner given me his opinion
of the whole country, so that I might know how to situate myself, he had told
me Baltimore was and would be the risingest town in America, except the federal
dty.

Mr. Parkinson having computed an insufficiency of con-
sumers for a brewery in the federal city, procured a farm near
Baltimore and his husbandry having been unsuccessful he like
Mr. Janson repaired to England and promulgated a warning :

If a man wants wits, he may go to America; but if he wants money and
comfort, he should stay at home.

Mr. Parkinson advised of his unfitness acknowledges it:

1 was the most unfit man for their country he had ever met with, as 1 meant
to pay every one, and they would not act in the same manner to me.

The poet's animosity was through wounded pride having
been received by President Jefferson at his levee in the ** homely
costume, comprising slippers and Connemara stockings'' and
so he writes :

The President's house, a very noble structure, is by no means suited to the
philosophical humility of its present possessor, who inhabits but a comer of the
mansion himself, and abandons the rest to a state of uncleanly desolation, which
those who are not philosophers cannot look at without regret*

•FinaUy (abont 1814 we should sav), Moore's Irish Melodies appeared in the United States. Our
informant in all these particulars, wttn some curiosity, put the book Into her grandfather's hands.
" Why.** said he '* this is the Ihtle man who satirised me so I " He read along. He had always
sympathised keenly with the Irish patriots. The delightful rhjrthm fell like music on a susceptible
ear. He wescntty exclaimed : "Why, he ii a poet after aU."— The Life of Thomas JeiTerson by
Henry S. Randall, LL.D.

TWEMTY-BUaDIMOS 132

Mr. Parkinson and Mr. Faux and other English travellers
investigated agricultural utility. They found a young and
undeveloped country; they reported it sterile and hopeless.
The desert has blossomed as the rose.

In the apologetic address which precedes Mr. Weld's work
appears :

If it shall appear to any one, that he has spoken with too much asperity of
American men and American manners, the Author begs that such language may
not be ascribed to hasty prejudice, and a blind partiality for everything that is
European. He crossed the Atlantic strongly prepossessed in favour of the people
and the country, which he was about to visit; and if he returned with sentiments
of a diflferent tendency, they resulted from a cool and dispassionate observation of
what chance presented to his view when abroad.

Mr. Fearon* in 1818 arrived in the city where Mr. Law re-
sides which he describes as * ' the depot for office-holders, place-
hunters, and boarding-house keepers " without appearance of
" possession of too much of this world's goods." He says that
a storekeeper to remedy his want of change with scissors
promptly divided a note in two; that he found demi-notes a
common circulating medium; and that, he had been ''previ-
ously familiarised with Spanish dollars cut into every variety
of size."

Mr. Fearon deprecates the destruction of public buildings.
He characterizes the site an injudicious selection upon which
to raise the capital of a great nation; his charge of "folly '* is
soundly taken for nothing less than a brick, two stories high,
twelve hundred feet area or twenty five feet by forty eight, was
originally contemplated.

There are a number of two and three story buildings, none of which are unin-
habited; and also some small wooden houses, though according to the original
plan, none were to be built less than three stories high, and all to have marble
steps. But the childish folly of this scheme was soon subverted by the natural
course of events; and though the existence of ** lower orders" even in the
capital of the republic, may not accord with the vanity of its legislators, they
ought to be told, that neither prosperity nor population can be possessed by any
nation, without a due admixture of the natural classes of society.

Mr. Fearon from his analytical investigation of the American
character because of his optimistic view was enabled to catch
a gleam of hope.

* Sketchet in Amthau—Ifenry Bradshaw Fearon.

133 TWBNTY-BUILDIIIOS

I have thus endeavored to lay before you a true representation of the American
character, with the sources from which it may have been formed, and the causes
which have conduced to its production. Although I believe it must improve,
yet I am by no means sanguine in my anticipations that improvement will be
immediate, or even rapid in its progress. Many of the causes, external and in-
ternal, which have already operated, will continue to exist ; and, as I have be-
fore said, there would appear to be placed in the very stamina of the character of
this people a coldness, a selfishness, and a spirit of conceit, which form strong
barriers against improvement. Let us, however, still hope for the best.

Mr. J. Kent, the English translator of Marquis Chastellux's
work was within the borders of the new nation yet under the
Articles of Confederation and he observed youth in another
respect, it is a country ** where morals are in their infancy.*'

I must accept these Britons' estimate of American morals or
adopt the suspicion they congregated with the questionable.

Mr. Davis, the pedagogue, has some fame in his fictitious
incident of Mr. Jefferson's inauguration :

His dress was of plain cloth, and he rode on horseback to the Capitol without
a single guard, or even servant in his train, dismounted without assistance, and
hitched the bridle of his horse to the palisades.

Mr. Davis says of the '* Imperial city" after a congressional
adjournment :

IVashin^ton^ on my second journey to it, wore a very dreary aspect The
multitude had gone to their homes, and the inhabitants of the place were few.
There were no objects to catch the eye, but a foriom pilgrim forcing his way
through the grass that overruns the streets ; or a cow ruminating on a bank,
from whose neck depended a bell, that the animal might be found the more
readily in the woods.

Mr. Davis adverts in his preface to that which constrained
him to add his testimony ; he appreciates his own worth and
contrasts it with the literary poverty of the other English
travellers :

When the acddental perusal of those Travellers, determined me to become a
publisher. A family likeness prevails through the whole. Their humour bears no
proportion to their morbid drowsiness. We are seldom relieved from the languor
of indifference, or the satiety of disgust ; but in toiling through volumes of diffu-
sive mediocrity, the reader commonly terminates his career by fadling asleep with
the writer. In comparing this Volume with the volumes of my predecessors, the
reader will find himself exempt from various persecutions.*

* Travels of Four Yeara and « Half in tht Unhed States of America ; During 1798, 1799, 1800,
x8oi, and i9o3u—/ohn Davis.

TWENTY-BUILDINOS X34

Commercial Advertiser. From its Correspondent. Wash-
ington, September i, 1824.*

On a knowl south of Gipitol Hill stands an object of peculiar dreariness ; it is
a row of twenty brick buildings ; which without having ever been inhabited,
have fdlen into dilapidation and ruin. They were put up when speculation was
at its height — ^the ground on which they stood became the subject of a suit ;
they were locked up, broken into, and at length suffered to be pulled down
peacemeal, and the doors and floors used for fiiel There they stand, with roo6
sunk in and grass growing in the windows, looking as if they had been bom-
barded by the British. One of them has a £unily in it, but the inmates look like
Arabs among the ruins of Balbec

Twenty-building hill I The buildings have disappeared and
no one can detect anything of the hill although its burnt clay
is in pavement and wall everywhere.

* In the Commercial Advertiser^ ScpConber 8, 1834, the cootemporary customs and manners
of thb city are racily described. File in New Yoric Historical Society.

ARCHITECT.

LOCAL interest in the worthy structures and the worthies
who occupied them in the early days is faint. I cannot
be mistaken in the surface indication. I wish there was
a power to evoke a praiseworthy pride. In other metropolitan
cities historical societies have long since been founded and by
these preserved the relics and records of the past in halls of
record. Not so here. True of recent establishment is the
Columbia Historical Society; and its accomplishment has been
large and well-directed; yet its limited membership is a limita-
tion of resources. Within a score of years landmarks and
historic structures have been removed and nothing of them
remain but dubious memories. And somebodies in their day have
been closed into the innumerable throng of

Who lived and died;

and though deserved no mention more of them is made.

Elsewhere time-honored houses and scenes of action are
marked. November, 1900, In Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
by the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames a State cor-
respondence committee was authorized to stimulate research
and it was suggested that throughout the Union descriptive
tablets be placed upon historic buildings to maintain interest
in colonial events. This may not be practicable in the city of
Washington although a bureau as an adjunct to the Historical
Society could be conducted to save from destruction the ancient
buildings endowed with historic worth by photographic
counterfeit. The usefulness of the bureau of photography
would be the reverse of the slight expense. In New York the
Society for the Preservation of Scenic and Historic Places plans

ARCHITECT 136

the purchase and maintenance by city or citizens memorable
buildings for museum and other appropriate use.

Twenty years ago the valuable store of Greenleaf 's papers
was wholly intact, now scattered and lost. Then his life could
have been written with comparative facility and fullness.

Now somewhat fallen to decay
With weather stains upon the walls^
» « » «

Built in the old Colonial day,
When men lived in a grander way,
With ampler hospitality.

Because 1 can read in the gothic, the ecclesiastical architecture
of the Mediaeval, the impulses of that period, and in the colonial,
the domestic eighteenth century type, the simplicity and severity
of the Puritan; because I see in the colonial gx^iCt and design,
though detail be sparse and ornament sparing; because 1 feel
homelikeness and picturesqueness in the rough brick and white
stone quoin of the colonial rather than in the smooth brick and
brownstone trim of the modem signifies I am a discriminating
antiquarian and to me is not applicable the rhyme of Peter
Pindar :

Rare are the buttons of a Roman's breeches.
In antiquarian eyes surpassing riches :
Rare is each crack'd, black, rotten, earthen dish.
That held, of ancient Rome, the flesh and fish.

These Greenleaf mansions are the true colonial, each

Proudly bears its credentials on its weather-beaten fiice.

Who the architect? — Greenleaf. Greenleaf collaborated with
the draughtsman, it is true ; one directed and the other drew.
In these Greenleaf mansions is the same fashion, and too,
diversity. Even in the roofs, some have a gentle slope while
their neighbors have sharp cant and long sweep. All those at
the Point that bear the name of Greenleaf were commenced
by him although the persistent components of the triune-
speculators completed a part.

Ten years since the Greenleaf houses on the Point were
nearly all standing. Not that any were unable to stand longer;
in instances blasting only shook their steadiness. Modern
requirement called for removal ; the power house of the Capital

139 ^ARCHITECT

Traction is on the site of four. The walls of these, brick and
mortar, were of the solidity of granite. On the Point are
several rows of small houses recently built. I suspect a shrewd
schemer now and then buys a Greenleaf mansion and strews
it into a row.

The Greenleaf houses were begun in 1794. Some were
completed the next year, likely, Wheat Row and the Law
mansion. In Law's letter to Greenleaf, July 4, 1795, is the
expression :

You gave a spring to the Qty by your Contract &. bmldings. You are bufld-
ing on N Street & will unite your Point & the Eastern branch.

Morris to William Lovering, his architect at Washington,
August 17, 1795 gives a summary of the houses in squares
502, 503 and 504 and a statement of the degree of construction.

And, Daniel Carroll of Duddington, who was the chief brick-
maker for that day, reminds, February 29, 1796, Cranch:

Mr. Greenleaf owes me for bricks and other materials furnished the first houses
he erected at the point, the sum of ;i53o.

The mansions are distinguishable although a few are masquer-
ading in modern fronts, which ill become them. The row on
Fourth street is the ^rsi and oldesi in the city. It is named
Wheat Row after John Wheat who owned and occupied in the
early times the north house. A central roof window is an
architectural feature; it now yawns desolate that erstwhile was
** handsomely glazed." The mansion, 468 N street, was occu-
pied by Judge Cranch and mansion, 470, by Captain Duncanson
and by Mr. Samuel Eliot, junior; both were provided with
coach houses and stables. The Law mansion, Sixth and N
streets, is ruinating with that rapidity to rack the soul of the
real antiquarian.

In the house of the four on O street next to the river lived
Commodore John Rodgers, who made so many remarkable
cruises and brilliant naval exploits. When he laid aside the
spy-glass for all time, 1838, Minerva, his widow, continued to
reside there. Upon her death the mansion was acquired by
the family At Lee of honorable repute. Mr. At Lee engaged
a mason so much for the job to widen the space between parlor
and dining room for a folding door. The wall was of unusual
thickness and adamantine firmness. Ever after that mason

ARCHITBCT 140

shunned contracts for a stipulated sum and insisted on a per
diem.
While in the debtor's prison, Morris writes:

On some of those lots there were erected between forty and fifty brick
houses, some of which were finished and others nearly so; but many of them
have suffered great damage by neglect, pillage, etc, so as to be now in a most
ruinous situation. There were also several frame buildings, some of which
were sold, others pulled to pieces and plundered, etc It is not possible for me
to delineate all the embarrassments that hang over this property, because there
are several of which the particulars are not known to me.

Mr. Cranch testified in the twenty buildings' case :

Morris and Nicholson had before the 26th September 1796 erected several
other houses in the city of Washington which on that day were not finished
and some of the same remained in an unfinished state for several years after
they came into possession of their assignees; the greater part of them had
windows well and handsomely glazed and good doors and were well secured
from injury from the weather and depredations; some of them were left with-
out doors and windows and were exposed to depredations and injury from
weather; the reason why the houses were so left is not precisely known to the
deponent; but the general opinion was that the embarrassment or insolvent
circumstances of Morris and Nicholson was the reason why they were so left

Greenleaf began the construction of the historic Six Build-
ings on Pennsylvania avenue. Reasonably solicitous to
ascertain the credit he would receive on the building contract
he through his attorney, Cranch, communicated with the
Commissioners.

March 3, 1795.

I should wish to know whether the houses now building by Mr. Greenleaf
on square No. 74 are considered as discharging Mefsrs. Morris & Greenleaf^ s
contract with the Commissioners for building 20 houses annually in proportion
to the number of square feet they cover. If I understand the contract Mefsrs.
Morris & Greenleaf are obliged to build annually 20 houses two stories high
covering 1200 sq. ft each, making 24000 sq. ft. of 2-story houses or 20
3-story houses covering 960 sq. ft each making 19200 sq. ft. of 3-story houses —
but they cover only 750 sq. ft. each — as a question may arise upon this point
in future, I wish it might now be ascertained before any other expences arise
upon these houses.

This letter was a repetition of one the month previous which
had received no reply. The indecision and procrastination of
the Commissioners was a cause which prompted Greenleaf to
relinquish his enterprise.

143 ARCHITECT

In pursuance to an agreement, September 19, 1795, Morris
and Nicholson conveyed. December 28, 1795, to Isaac Polock
for thirty-four thousand dollars all their property in the square
and he completed the Six Buildings. I have heard names of
tenants mentioned which 1 did not catch. Here are some of
the occupants a few yt^xs prior to the removal of the govern-
ment : Capt. Elisha O. Williams, Doctor Dinsmore, Isaac
Polock and John Francis Mercer. This block is sometimes
styled Seven Buildings, because of the adjoining house nearest
the corner built by William Worthington early in the
century.

Seven Buildings are on the north side of the same avenue
beginning with Nineteenth street. They were commenced by
General Walter Stewart and Major Moore, continued by
Morris and Nicholson, and perhaps, completed by them.
The corner was once the President's house. Upon the de-
struction by the British the Executive Mansion was transferred
here. In the spacious first floor room now lined with drugs
to heal the physical ailments, were concocted the antidotes to
the political disorders of America and Europe. And up the
mahogany stairs pressed the fair and the gallant to be received
in the drawing room above by the queenly Dolly and the
courtly Madison. One of these Seven Buildings has been the
Executive Mansion; another, the State Department — August
27, 1800 to May, i8oi.* Here two premiers of revered
memory, John Marshall and James Madison, steered the ship
of state safely by international peril.

* Removal of the Government to Washington.— /0A11 Ball Osborne^ A. M,

MERCHANT.

WATSON AND CREENLEAF
was the sign over the door of 7 Crane Wharf. The sign was
taken down, 1793, and amended. And with

WATSON, CREENLEAF AND COTTON

on it was over the door refastened. Where is 7 Crane Wharf?
It was on East River betwixt Beekman and Peck Slips; Byvanks
and Farmer's Wharves were between it and the latter slip. Now
beyond these wharves a street and another series of wharves
encroach on the river. Mefsrs. Watson and Greenleaf in the
fall, 1788, became a firm and began mercantile marine. Mr.
Greenleaf at once at Amsterdam took his station to manipulate
the foreign connections. Besides in commodities the firm
dealt largely in American bonds. Mr. Greenleaf in Holland
negotiated loans on the bonds so that only margins were tied
up. And besides in a moderate way the firm speculated in
lands. In the fall, [793, the firm dissolved. According to
Mr. Greenleaf the articles and inventories were exceedingly
bulky indicating varied and extended affairs. No mention in
the dissolution is made of Mr. Cotton.

During the compilation of the New York city directory of
1795 Mr. Greenleaf resided at iis Liberty street and Mr.
Watson, 6 State street. Mr. Greenleaf had these neighbors :
Mr. Thomas Law at 47 Broadway; Capt. Wm. M. Duncanson
48 Broad street; James Ray, 134 Greenwich street; and Noah
Webster, 25 Pine street.

LoHDOH Apn1 6tii 1794
Jamu Griimlim Esq

1 have mentioned in my former letten that the establishment of breweries
& distilleries upon * large scale in that great grain country could not fail of
being vastly advantageous to those who might undertake such with Ipirit &

MBRCHAMT 146

Gipital; — and I am more and more convinced that I am right in that opinion.
But how far the discovering of Sir John Dalrymple with respect to making beer,
as stated in my letter to yourself and Mr. D. (if it should turn out to be any-
thing) will effect the present system of brewing, is worth attending to.

Adieu, my dear fix, May you be succefsful — may be happy is the sincere

prayer of

Your truly affectionate friend & ferv*

TOBIAS LEAR

WASHINGTON BREWERY.

Strong Beer at 6 dols. Table

do, at 3 dob. Hops, grains

and Yeaft, likewife

WHISKEY,

of a fuperior quality now ready

for fale by

C CONINGHAM, & G>

Who will give a generous price for

Rye and Barley.
City of Washington^ Nov. 94.

In the Washington Gazette , 1796, appears the advertisement
of Greenleaf s brewery as above. In this plant it is possible
Col. Lear and Mr. Dalton were originally concerned.

Greenleaf with Cornelius Coningham under the firm name
of Coningham and Company operated a ''brewery, distillery
and brewhouse" — Washington Brewery. The implements
and utensils were the joint property of the partners as was the
building. The lot belonged to Greenleaf. The building was
of stone, two stories high and located on square 129; now a
part of the Potomac flats park.* Greenleaf sold his interest for
three thousand dollars to his brother-in-law, John Appleton,
May I, 1797, subject to the expiration of the partnership.
Coningham subsequently moved his kettles to Law's sugar
house and brewed there.

John Appleton was both uncle and brother-in-law of Nathaniel
Walker Appleton. Greenleaf s sister, Priscilla, was his second
wife. He was a merchant of Salem. Besides the three thousand

*The first Brewery in the city was establbhed in 1796 by an Englishman named ComdlttS
Coningham, who afterwards practised medicine and became somewhat known as a physician.
The Brewe^ was erected on the Potomac, where the glass house was afterwards erected and
where a wharf called the Commissioners* wharf was previously built.— <jeorge Watterston's
manuscript.

147 MERCHAHT

he invested thirty thousand dollars in Greenleaf lots. He in-
stalled his son, John, junior, in Washington to take charge of
his purchases. Was reputed a wit. Life dates: born, 1739;
died, 1817.

Georob Town

Octr 3I«t 1794
James Greenleaf Esq.
N. York
My dear Sir,
Accta have been brot up the River that a ship was driven on fhore in the
Bay last Sunday & took fire i\ confumed her to the water, and 1 am apprehen-
sive, from circumstances that it is the Mary from Newbury Port, with M' Dalton's
furniture &. on board and a qty of lime & lumber on acct of the Co— No particu-
lars having yet arrived & and having heard nothing directly on the Subject gives
room to hope it is not the Mary, Th' it unfortunately be her, our friend
Mr Dalton has informed me that he infured $1500 for the Co & I4000 for him-
self, which I hope will nearly cover everything —

TOBIAS LEAR

Tobias Lear, Tristram Dalton and James Greenleaf under the
firm name of Lear and Company were joint partners in mer-
cantile trade. The firm was engaged in business at the date
of Col. Lear's letter. Prior to June 29, 1798, Greenleaf had
retired. Its patronage must have been more than local; per-
haps it was, or so intended, the supply base of the southern
States. The extent of operations is somewhat disclosed by
an arrangement to secure creditors and shield themselves,
including the retired partner, "from personal arrest and vexa-
tion." The arrangement provides for an extension of three
years, or until January i, x8oi, and plan of liquidation. It is
to Jonathan Hobson of New York, John Coles of New London,
and Robert Eaglefield Griffiths of Philadelphia, all merchants,
and specifies merchant-creditors and their claims :

Medsieurs Fludger, Maitland and Company, London
" William and Jan Willink, Amsterdam
** Milness and Heywood, Wakefield, . .

Peel Yates and G)mpany, Manchester, .

John Pattison and Company, Glasgow, .

John Phillips and Company, Manchester,

II
II
II

117,160.03

13,718.64
13,355.46

13,047.29
2,412.74

1,374-88

Their store and wharf was on Rock Creek at the intersection
of G and Twenty-seventh streets. The firm had a block on
the Georgetown side bounded by M and Olive, Twenty-seventh
and Rock Creek.

MnCHANT 148

It was at the wharf of Lear and Company the contents of
the vessels were unladen and in their stone warehouse a part
of the records were stored upon the removal, June, 1800, of
the government from Philadelphia.

The biographical fragments of Col. Lear, if gathered, would
make an interesting chapter. He was the prot6g6 of General
Lincoln of revolutionary renown, through him, he became the
secretary to General Washington. His son, Benjamin Lincoln
Lear, was a lawyer with oratorical gift of local celebrity. Col.
Lear is the author of ObservaHons on the river Poionuuk^ the
country adjacent ^ and the City of Washington , 1794. Between
Washington and his secretary was unreserved relation; the
former to the latter, devised a life estate in the Walnut Tree*
farm on the Potomac. Col. Lear was with Washington when
he passed away ; received his dying directions and adminis-
tered affectionately the care and comfort he could. Washington
gratefully wished : ' ' Well it is a debt we must all pay to each
other, and I hope when you want aid of this kind you will find
it." But Col. Lear died suddenly October 11, 1816. May be
censure of diplomatic service played upon his spirit.t

Tristram Dalton \X to attractive appearance and fine figure
supplemented character and culture. He was a bon vivant.
His hospitality was famous. The celebrities, foreign and home-
grown, all that went that way, stopped at Spring Hill, near
Newburyport. When Senator at New York he was selected
for the social and state occasions. He with Richard Henry Lee
and Ralph Izard was the Senate committee to conduct the cere-
mony of the introduction of his Excellency, George Washington,
to the Presidency, the initial inauguration, April 30, 1789. At
the President's dinners the "Most Hon." Mr. Dalton and his
lady were of the guests. Reduced in means by the mercantile
enterprise, and reduced in political prestige, he accepted a city
commissionership. Surely once the of!ice was invested with
dignity.

*At station Wellington on the Washington, Alexandria and Mt. Vernon RaQwi^.

t Biographical sketch in the Militarv and Private Secretaries of George Washington by Mary
SUvens Beall—RscordM of the Columbia Hbtorical Society, D. C

Xt Tristram Dalton was lx>m in Newburv, Mass. May aS, 1738 ; died in Boston, Mass. May 30,
18x7. Student, Dumnter academy, Byfield, Mass. Graduate, Harvard, 1755. Merchant, New-
bur^>ort. Representative in Second Provincial Congress. Mass. 1775 ; delMate for Mass. to con-
Yentlon of committees of the New England provinces at Providence. K. I. Dec 35, 1776 ; Speaker
of the House, and Senator, Mass. legislature ; Senator, 1st Congress, April 14, i^ to March 3,
X79X : Commisskmer under act for establishing permanent seat of government, x8oi ; postmaster,
Georgetown, 1803 ; Surveyor of port of Boston, 18x5 to death.

149 MBRCHAMT

To President Adams in the House of Representatives, Mr.
Dalton presented this address of welcome:'*'

To THE PrESIDBMT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Sir,

The inhabitants of the City of Washington rejoice in the opportunity which
your presence this day affords them of paying to you their unfeigned respect,
and of giving you a welcome to the City, which, by the acts of the Union, has
become the Metropolis of the United States.

We have long anticipated this day. — We consider this, your first visit to
Columbia, as a high gratification, and look forward, with satisfaction to the
period when we shall behold you Sir, opening the Congress in this edifice, the
Capitol of our country.

We cannot be insensible to the blessing which Providence has been pleased
to bestow in a particular manner, on this situation; in the enjoyment of which,
we have the felicity of knowing that our government is on the point of
participating.

In offering our gratulations on your arrival we join in wishes that you may
spend among us the evening of a long, as you have spent, in other places, the
morning of an useful and honorable life.

City of Washington^ June sth, 1800,

Mr. Dalton had elegance, education, wealth, ability, honor;
and knew

The turnpike road to people's hearts

— hospitality. He made life happier, merrier. Here is to
Tristram Dalton — the disciple of hospitality!

(August 17, 1799.)
Dear Sir

1 shall have fecond rate fish to day for dinner, —and be happy in your taking
a Share of it — wishing it of the best —

If you can, conveniently, spare an hour, previously ^ on the fubject we were

discoursing upon yesterday 1 will be at the Store — otherwise in the Evening as

you proposed —

Yours truly

T DALTON

J Grbbnuaf Esq. Saturday Momg

Samuel Eliot, junior, was born in Boston, March 8, 1772.
He was Greenleaf's nephew; the eldest son of his eldest
sister by her elder husband. He came to Washington about
the same time Cranch did; was his bookkeeper under the
employment of Morris. Then a merchant with Robert Kid of
Philadelphia as a firm Kid, Eliot and Co., having its place

* Chypoole's Amurican Daify Advertisir—]}tm 13, 1800.

MERCHANT 150

of business in the brick store on E street, square 431 lot 12,
opposite the Great Hotel, Blodgett's. The firm advertised to
sell at Philadelphia prices ; its patrons were the choice including
the first lady of the land yet insufficient in number; so, on the
door, March 23, 1801, was nailed a sign '* To Lett." Eliot
assisted Greenleaf as representative of the aggregate fund.
He was a member of the Sixth Council, Second Chamber,
1806. Was chosen cashier of the Bank of Washington upon
its establishment, 1809, and continued to be until June, 18 19.
In the capacity of secretary or treasurer he served various
corporations. He married Mary Johnson, October 28, 1806.
Owned and occupied the Prospect place, north of the city;
and there died, October 17, 1822, survived by widow and
four children, Catherine Mary, William Henry, Johnson and
Wallace. Prospect place was acquired by the late Davia
Moore and is a part of the subdivision, Bloomingdale.

is'-^-QyAw^*-*

QUARRELS.

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, March 4, 1795, from Phila-
delphia writes to Col. Lear at Georgetown. The letter
states in a prefactory way that he rarely writes personal
letters when it interferes with public duties. It is a letter press
copy and only a fragment remains and that is blurred, faded
and eaten. By the closest scrutiny I deciphered so much as
relates to Greenleaf, as follows :

An unlucky dispute has * to happen I find between the present com-
missioners ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

*********

construction of the contract between the former Commifsioners & Mr Greenleaf. —
From what I have learned, it is a question of some magnitude inasmuch, as
establishing a principle of * to them, will have an extensive effect in favor of,
or adverse to the public property in the City. — This being the case let me ask you,
to collect the sentiments of the judicious about you, in the Gty & in George
Town, as far as it is to be drawn from casual ( * * from forced) conversations
respecting the dispute & to inform me thereof. — ♦ » » perceive that it is for
my oivn private information, my request to you proceeds; both the request and
answer to it will, of course, be confined to ourselves.

With aflfecte regard— Yr
sincere fr^
M« Lear. GO WASHINGTON

Mr. Law to Mr. Morris, May 26, expressed his grievances and
requested his interposition. Mr. Morris declined. Mr. Law
had written the Commissioners evidently when he addressed
them this letter :

To THE HONBLE GUSTAVUS ScOTT AND WiLLIAM ThORNTON,

Commifsioners of the dty of Washington

HoN^BLE Sirs

As I have purchased several squares of Mefsrs Greenleaf, Morrb & Nicholson,
where they had the right of selection by their contract with the bte G>ni-

QVAUBLS 15a

mi£Boners, and as I wish to be secure in my title befon I commence expenifitures
in improvement

I trust you will readily acquiesce by erasing some of the squares South West
of the intended Mall in Mr Notley Young's ground, and by inserting in their deed
of conveyance some of the squares near New Jersey Avenue.

I mean to part with several lots on the New Jersey Avenue, on moderate
Terms, with a stipulation for immediate improvement, & I have received applica-
tions with those conditions, but I am prevented from engagements untfl I receive
a iliU title.

Your desire to promote the rapid advancementsof the dty will no doubt induce

you to submit to a trifling trouble in an accommodation which will not make the

least difference in your contracts. Should however your minds entertain any

doubts on this head, I shall be £ivored by your reference to the President

I remain y

Washington Cmr T LAW

June 7th 1795.

To Commissioners.

City of Washhioton, 10 June 1795
Gbntumen

As Mr Tho^ Law has purchased a large quantity of lands of me in the Qty of
Washington & as I am desirous Mr Law should be perfected in his title so that
he may be able to make immediate improvements and advancements in the City

I have therefore to request that you will accept a reconveyance of part of
those lands of Mr Notley Young which you granted to me in fee simple &
therefore to convey to Mr Law such a quantity of other lands in the City as
Mr Law and myself shall agree upon, & such as Mr Law may take out of my
selection. This request is made under a full persuasion that your compliance
therewith will have a great tendency to the improvement & advantage of the

aty

I have the honor to be

With due esteem & respect

your very obt & most hble

Servant

JAMES GREENLEAF

Law's communications having been slighted he transmits
copies with his letter to Greenleaf in which he inquires ''Have
I been wanting in respect or attentions— my style is not harsh
my request not immoderate." Greenleaf took up the gauntlet
for Law and waged a more aggressive and vigorous battle.
Greenleaf the day before his first letter had entered into an
agreement for the sale of his holdings. His financial interest
was closed. He was under no legal and perhaps no moral
obligation to protect Law. That he did so was a delicate dis-
tinction of honor.

The Commissioners quickly discerned that Greenleaf s attic
story was more than so-so furnished. They realized also that

153 QyARRlLS

when one goes out to fight and the foe is more formidable
than expected, he can afford to be generous and let the foe
have the field to himself. The letters are in sequence and need
no further comment.

Sir

In obedience to your request that I would commit to writing what has been
advanced by me in conversation with you on the subject of the federal Gty I
now with all due respect do say that Mefs" G. Scott & W Thornton, Com-
mifs* of the federal district, do pofsess property both in and near the federal Gty,
on the Georgetown side of it; that I do most firmly believe that conceiving it to
be for their personal interest to promote the benefit of that part of the Qty; to
the detriment of the part lying on the Eastern branch, they do designedly and
intentionally discourage every thing that may tend to promote the growth or
respectability of this last mentioned part

I do further say that certain propositions have been made to those Com-
mifsioners by M*" Thomas Law for the improvement of the Qty and for facili-
tating the transfer of property to him with perfect security to the publick to
neither of which he has yet rec<* reply, tho promised him — & that thb alone
prevents him from commencing very important improvements — ^and I do further
say that governed by the conviction that the said Commissioners have constantly
& will continue to oppose every obstacle to my operations in the Gty tending to
the benefit of the Eastern part of it, & that they will withhold from me such
facilities as the nature of the object requires, &c that can with reason & pro-
priety be asked that I have been induced to divest myself of my whole interest
in the City & to withdraw my personal exertions to the promotion of that
establishment, except so far as regards the improvement of one Square for my
future residence.

I have the honor to be with all pofisible respect

Sir

V very obedt & most humble Servt

JAMES GREENLEAF

Philadelphia July ii, 1795

Edmund Randolph Esqr )
Secretary of State. )

Department op State

July 15th 1795
Gentlemen

Justice to the two seniors of your board induces me to transmit to you the
enclosed copy of a letter from Mr Greenleaf. He had stated the contents in
conversation with me, I insisted that they should be committed to paper. He
said that he would never hesitate to repeat in writing what he had orally uttered
but was unwilling to enter into altercation with yoii, and proposed one or two
expedients for avoiding a written communication. I explicitly informed him that
he must either give me under his hand his charges against the commissioners or
request me in writing Not to mention them to the president The latter 1 should
have considered as a retraction and would have disabled him from ever circu-
lating, that he had advanced to me accusations which I paised over with notice.

QUARRELS 154

But he has preferred the former. I have the honor to be gentlemen with great
respect and esteem

Yr. mo. ob. ser.
The Commissioners EDM. RANDOLPH

OP THE

Federal City.

Georgetown July 20th 1795
Sir

Our Board never having been full till late last week your Memorial and Letter
could not receive a final decision, the board have had these several days under
consideration and now enclose you the result which they hope will answer your
wishes.

Nothing can be more agreeable to them than to give every facility consistant
with safety to the City funds to yours and every other purchasers title. They
cannot conceive any thing more reasonable, than that when they part with the
legal estate of public property they should have a security equally good to
ensure the payment of the purchase money.
We are fir

With respect your mo obedt servts

GUSTAVUS SCOTT
WILLIAM THORNTON

ALEXR WHITE
Thomas Law Eqr

George Town 20th July 1795
Sir/

We have the honor of your favor of the 15th Inst covering Mr Greenleafs
extraordinary charge. Mr Laws businefs would have been decided upon last
Saturday the second day after Mr White took his seat at the Board, but waited
at Mr Whites desire for his further consideration until this day. The Resolu-
tions which respect his several applications were early this Morning laid before
the President and finally determined upon before 12 o clock at which early hour
the Board rose having Signed the Letter to Mr Law and left the care of correct-
ing the Secretary s Copy of the resolutions to Mr White. These facts are stated
to show how unnecessary Mr Greenleafs charges were to induce us to do
Mr Law Justice

The important nature of Mr Laws memorial and Letter led us to wait for a
fiill Board of which Mr Law was informed at the time of his application —

Permit us sir to thank you for your polite and friendly Conduct in the busi-
nefs which gives us an opportunity of immediately dragging this Malignant
Slanderer to light if he will dare to come forward with a charge which he must
be conscious is grofsly false. We request you will do us the favor to forward
the enclosed to Mr Greenleaf immediately, as we wish not to lose a mail. We
are, sir, with Sentiments of the highest respect — Yor mo obed Sevts

GUSTS SCOTT

WILLIAM THORNTON
Edmd Randolph

Secy of State.

155 QyAMILS

GioROB Town 20th July 1795
Sir

You have made to the Secretary of State charges against us of direct fraud and
partiality in the execution of our office, to cover we l>e1ieve your inability to
comply with your engagements with the Publick. We call upon you to sub-
stantiate these charges, or to be considered as a false and infamous accuser.
The President is now at Mount Vernon, where he will remain a month and will
no donbt listen to any Charge which can be proved against officers of his
appointment.

We are sir &c

GUSTS SCOTT

WILLIAM THORNTON
To

James Greemleaf Esq

New York July 31 1795
Sirs/

1 have your letter of the 20 Inst — It would have been noticed before had I
received it— but it came to my hands not an hour since with the Philadelphia-
postmark of yesterday on the superscription — why it did not pass to me in the
regular course with the postmark of George Town on it — b best known to
yourselves —

You call on me to substantiate Charges made to the Secretary of State against
you of direct fraud in the Execution of your office — I have never made such
Charges. Subjoined is a transcript of my letter to the Secretary of State which
by yours to me I should judge you had not seen. In my Letter I have said that
1 do firmly believe that you have been governed by your personal Interest to the
detriment of the part of the Qty — I wished the most to promote; and that one
of my motives for disposing of my property in the Federal Gty arose from The
conviction in my own mind that you would oppose every obstacle to my opera-
tions while tending to the benefit of that part of the City. I see here no charge
of Fraud, I do still and ever shall believe what I advanced to the Secretary of
State and unfortunately for the federal Establishment, I am not alone in this
belief —

If my feelings have been wounded by your conduct towards me and my
interests since your being in Office, I conceived I had a right to be governed by
them and have acted accordingly. —

I see no necefsity of afsuming the position in which it is evidently your desire
to place me, to wit that of an accuser of fraudulent transactions — proo6 of that
nature whatever facts may be are difficult, because they require a minute investi-
gation of a long series of transactions — and as you have in the present instance
no right to call on me for such proofe, I shall not trouble myself by any attempts
to make them

You intimate in your Letter that my charge of fraud on your part arises from
a wish on mine to cover my inability to comply with my engagements with the
public. This appears to me to be a very strange mode of reasoning, and I declare
to you is totally unfounded; but had you aided me as I conceive I had a right to
expect from you, and as your worthy predecefsors thought with me, you should
have found at least that I could have done more than I did do; be tl^ as it may

OyAtRBLS 156

I am not ashamed of the operations of which I have been the principal promoter

and you as the servants of the public ought to have viewed them with peculiar

satisfaction, when you found that those operations gave a use of eighteen fold in

some instances to the value of the property entrusted to you — I wUl further add

that those operations have called for expenditures on my part and the Gentlemen

concerned with me of upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand Dollars for the

past year a sum fourfold what was ever contemplated by your predecefsors as

necessary to the fulfillment of my Contract; and that at least three times that

sum has actually flown to the federal establishment through my immediate means

and those concerned with me — If therefore the strict letter of agreement has in

some instances been deviated from, the spirit of the Agreement has been attended

to, and 1 know too well the intention of the President to believe he placed you

where you are to cavil at trifles —

I repeat to you, Sirs, that 1 have no desire or time to enter the Usts with you

and prove that you have acted fraudulently; further that it is unfortunate both

for yourself and the public that you are placed in a sphere in which you will

neither render them service or do yourselves honor —

JAMES GREENLEAF
G Scott )
& >-Esqra

Wm Thornton ) Washington

George Walker, a Scotchman from Falkirk, was a prosperous
merchant in Philadelphia. When he was not examining his
ledgers he was listening to the Congressional debates. He
was shrewd; he caught the drift and hied himself hitherward
and bought a large area destined to be within the Territory of
Columbia. He was a tartar. When he was out of temper,
and he was generally out, he without deviation designated the
device on the card. His letters ought to be in the school
readers as specimens of directness in English. Nicholson and
Walker had dispute over division lines; they were so much
alike they differed all the more. The partiality of the Com-
missioners for the western section excited Walker's ire and he
wrote a few letters. I reproduce them as illustrations of lin-
guistic strength and for the historical incident.

Gentlemen : Agreeably to your request I now send you in writing my reasons
for being of the opinion that the public area allotted for the Marine hospital
should not be changed or abolished. On the 17th of September, 1791, when
the people were collected at the first public sale of lots a plan of the city, drawn
by MaJ. U Enfant and approved by the President of the United States, was pro-
duced by the commissioners as the adopted and standard plan of the city. In
this plan all the public areas were appropriated by having their names wrote in
them at length or by the letters A, B, C, &c., which were fully explained in the
margin of the plan. A number of the lots were accordingly sold by that plan,
and the purchasers gave a price as they conceived the lots valuable from their

157 OyARRBLS

contiguity to certain public buildings. In December, 1791, or January, 1792
(do not recollect which), the President of the United States, as such, sent a
message to the House of Representatives in Congress, with a plan of the City of
Washington, as adopted and ratified by him, and informing them (among other
things) that from the rate of sales already made, the lots would be an ample
fund. In this plan which was hung up on the Speaker's chair, all the public
appropriations were marked and wrote out at full length and which I frequently
read. Next day the President's message with these appropriations taken from
the plan, were published in all the Philadelphia newspapers, and since then over
the civilized world.* When the plan came to be engraved Mr. Jefferson advised
the President not to insert any of the appropriations but the two principal, not
recollecting (I presume) what had already taken place, but even with the
engraved plan a large public building with gardens is inserted in the area
intended for the Marine hospital,! and to my knowledge purchases have l>een
made upon the avenues leading!: to it in consequence thereof. Under the
circumstances any alterations of the public appropriations would be a glaring
violation of public and national faith, and every man whether citizen or foreigner,
who has purchased lots in that city would have a just plea against the United
States for indemnification, as the act of the President is that of the United States.
Besides, the principle of alteration being once admitted, a violent conflict of
interests would immediately ensue and the whole system would set afloat on the
ocean of uncertainty. Hence, therefore, the public opinion would be the City of
Washington was nothing but a fluctuating bubble, and that it would be impru-
dent and improper to engage in such an unstable object.

Gentlemen, yours,

GEORGE WALKER.
Philadelphia, October 4, 1796.
Commissioners of Washimgtom City.

* PKtSIOBMT WaSMIMGTOM TO THB COMMIMIOMUS 99 TMB ClTT OF WaSHIMOTOM.

PiULAOBLraiA, I December. 1796
GBWTuwm:

The dUcontents whh which you are assailed by one or other of the proprietors in the Federal
City, roust, unquestionably, be very disagreeable and troublesome to you, for they are extremdy
Irksome to me. In the case however before us, I conceive Mr. Corachichi might have received
a definite answer without referring the matter to the Executive. On what nart of the Contract
with Greenleaf he has founded an opinion that a site was designated for a university, and has
built his complaints — or how it came to pass, that any allusion to such a measure should have
found its way Into that contract, 1 have no more recollection than I have conception, of what could
have Induced it ; — for your clerk has omitted sending the extract

A University was not even contemplated by Major L*Enlant in the plan of the city which was
laid before Congress ; taking Its origin from another source.— This plan you »hall r^eive by the
first safe hand who may be going to the Federal Citv.—By it you may discover (tho* almost
oblittratcd) the directions given to the Encraver by Mr. Jefferson, with a pencil, wnat parts to
omiL— The principle on wmch it was done 1 have communicated to you on more occasions than
one. Whh Esteem &c

Also, American Sute Papers, Vol I

t On the eastern branch a large spot to laid out for a marine hospital and gardens. — Travds
through the States of North America. Isaac IVeld^ junior, I79S'^6~*7.

The building where Massachusetts and Georgia streets meets, to intended for a Marine
Hot^ial^ with Itt gardens.— An Htotorlcal, Geographical, Commercial and Philosophical View of
tfie United States of America, and of the European dettlements in America and the west IndiM."
IV. IVinUrbotham, 1796.

OyARUI

The Commissioners overlooked a reply.

Gbmtumin — ^Thb forenoon I received notice by Mr. Brent, one of your clerks^
that you would divide square No. lo^ by alternate lots tomorrow morning.
Previous to such a rash undertaking you will please attend to the following
facts. When last fall we divided the squares in which I alone am interested as
original proprietor, I observed in you an uncommon avidity to grasp at the
largest and best part of my property. When we had divided all my squares of
consequence except No. 1065 I discovered that the public had got 125,974^1^
square feet more than they were entitled to and of the best part of my property.
Upon my representing this case and showing a certificate from your surveyor to
that effect to your board then composed of Mr. Scott and Mr. Thornton, Mr.
Scott promised with consent of Mr. Thornton that the balance due me should be
allowed in square No. 1065. This is a fact that I am clear to make oath to,
and will do so in any court of law or equity in the United States. Confiding in
the faithful performance of this promise I proceeded to divide and subdivided
all the squares in which I was partly interested lying along the southwest side
of my property. It is therefore possible that you can conceive that I will be
thrown back upon Abraham Young's line to take near 126000 square feet, in
lieu of the same quantity taken by you, in the most valuable part of my city
property. This is therefore formally to inform you not to attempt any more
division of my property till 1 shall be put upon an equality with the public
And I further assure you that should you attempt any division of my property
till I have justice done me, that I will as soon after as possible institute a suit in
chancery in order to compel you to do your duty faithfully and impartially.
Notwithstanding the haughty and arrogant manner with which you affect to
treat the original proprietors at the east end of the city you will please to recol-
lect that you and even your master the President, are only public servants,
bound by certain limits, which will be found too strong for you to break
through.

As a suit will necessarily draw after it a public investigation into the conduct
of the commissioners respecting the application of the public money and other
property you will please to be prepared to answer the following, with other ques-
tions that will be put to you this winter by means of the Philadelphia and Balti-
more newspapers. As there is no power in either the President or commissioners
to apply the public money or property to any other purpose than the public
buildings, how came you as honest men not to oblige your predecessors in oflfice
or those concemed in the speculation to refund to the city treasury the large sum
expended in building a stone bridge and chain of wharves in the town of George-
town, instead of which you have expended another large sum of the public
money in Georgetown upon a wooden bridge containing an expensive and
unnecessary draw to no purpose but to deceive travelers by endeavoring to make
them believe that a speculation made by one of yourselves up Rock Creek is
more valuable than it really is ? How some of you presume to give your friend
General Forrest, a deed for a lot to which you knew the public had no title, and
afterwards to atone for your folly, to say nothing worse, to give upwards of a
large square of the public lots, when in justice you ought to have satisfied him
out of your own private property.

OyARUL!

You will please to recollect that, although the pubh'c property cost you nothing,
yet we will expect you will take care of it and that you subsist by money arising
from the sales of our property given to the public for certain purposes, the original
proprietors expect you to do justice. I am your obedient servant

Nov. i6th, 1796. GEORGE WALKER.

The Commissioners deigned no reply. However, they per-
sisted in making the division of the square pursuant to the
notice by their clerk; and Walker retaliated by the publication
in the Washington Gazette :

A CAUTION To The Public

Whereas, the commissioners of the Federal buildings in Washington Qty,
have, for private purposes, been in the practice of conveying property in that
dty to which they or the public had no title, thereby producing an immense
waste of the funds for the public buildings and great emolument to those
concerned.

And being informed from good authority that they intend to convey some of
my property to which they have no title, this is therefore to forewarn all those
concerned that the public have no title to any part of square No. 1065 in Wash-
ington City and that any conveyance the commissioners may pretend to give to
any part of that square, will be rendered null and void by the real proprietor.

GEORGE WALKER.

By Walker's caution, the Commissioners were enticed into
a controversy.

commissiombrs' office.

City of Washingtom, Nov. 21, 1796.
The Commissioners having observed in the Washington Gazette of the 19th.
inst an advertisement entitled A Caution To The Public, Signed George
Walker, charging them with having ^^iox private purposes ^ been in the practice
of conveying property, in that city, to which they or the public had no title:
thereby producing an immense waste of the funds for the Public Buildings &c
great emolument to those concerned," the author b thus publicly called upon to
make good his allegations; the Commissioners holding themselves bound to
answer to charges exhibited against them, however false or unfounded and
however obscure or insignificant the source whence they originate.

For Washington Gazette.
Mr Prriter,

The Commissioners of the Federal Buildings have, in your paper of this day,
called upon me to make good the allegations contained in my caution to the
public, inserted in your paper of the 19th instant; and although a court of law
would have been the proper place for such a discussion, yet a due regard to
public information impells me to comply with their request

The Commissioners some time last year sold a lot, on Rock Creek, it whit
was then considered a very high price; but, to which, they knew that they or
the public had no title, and, the real proprietor being about to correct their

conduct by law, they were feign to compromise the matter by giving the pur-
chaser a whole Square and a Lot of the public property, in the Qty, in lieu of
the lot upon Rock Creek — This square has been lately sold for a large sum;
hence " the waste of the fund for the public buildings, and the great emolument
to those concerned." The Private Purposes were, that one of the Com-
missioners had a large speculation in property on Rock Creek, previous to the
sale of the lot above mentioned, and it might be useful thereby, to stamp a
nominal value upon property on that stream.

The expensive and unnecessary Draw, now erecting upon the Bridge across
Rock-Creek, must also be for some Private Purpose; for it is evident to every
one, that it cannot anawer any Public Purpose.

The Commissioners having attempted, contrary to the Deed of Trust, forcibly
to wrest from me, and convey to others, about twenty-five of my best lots,
more than the public are entitled to, and, finding them deaf to all reasoning and
argument on the subject, I was, at last, contrary to my inclination, compelled to
caution the public, and the late fact, of a similar nature, became, of course, a
preamble to it

That any set of men, appointed by the President, should, in their public
capacity, descend into personal abuse, is what 1 did not expect It is, however,
certainly better to be Obscure than to be Conspicuous for folly, arrogance,
partiality and misconduct; and it is better to be Insignircant than to be
Consequential, from having the management of other people's property, which
is sometimes applied to purposes foreign to the appropriation — And, notwith-
standing the Commbsioners have assumed an importance, known no where but
in their own vain imaginations, they will please to recollect that they are only
public Servants chained up by the Deed of Trust, and that, as they are fed and
clothed by money arising fi-om my property with that of others, we expect, and
have a right to demand, that they serve us humbly, faithfully, and impartially.

1 am Sir
Yours, &c

GEORGE WALKER.
November 23, 1796.

Commissioners' Ofhcb,

City of Washington, Nov. 29, 1796.

The Commissioners observe that Mr. Walker, in compliance with their Note of
the a 1st instant, has deigned to particularize his charge, by which it appears that
** ihe practice 0/ the Commissioners of conveying property to which neither
they nor the public have any right ^^^ has dwindled down to a single instance,
the sale of a Lot on Rock Creek, and this Fact he leaves without proof, and
without stating any circumstances relative to it.

To an impartial and discerning public no stronger refutation of his general
charge can be exhibited; yet, as this points to a matter of real dispute and litiga-
tion, the Commissioners beg leave to submit to the public view, the out-lines of
that transaction. — Moiris and Greenleaf, bv their contract for the purchase of lots,
were excluded from the right of selection in certain water lots, the contract was
so worded as to create a doubt with regard to its real construction; the Commis-
sioners were of opinion that the exclusion extended to the waters of Rock Creek;
and in thb they were supported by the opinions of the Attorney General of the

l6l QyARRELS

United States, and other eminent counsel Morris and Green leaf entertained
different sentiments; and, it is believed, had different advice, The Commissioners
proceeded to sell a lot in that predicament; A law-suit naturally ensued, which
has lately been compromised by a relinquishment, on the part of Morris and
* Nicholson, of all right of selection in lots adjacent to Rock-Creek, upon condi-
tion that the Commissioners would convey to the purchaser under those gentlemen,
the lot alluded to by Mr. Walker: to this the Commissioners readily agreed.

If the title, of Morris and Nicholson, to the Lot sold, was good, (and that it
was so, is the sole foundation of Mr. Walker's charge against the Commis-
sioners, "for selling property to which the public had no title'*), surely the
compromise was highly advantageous to the city; for Morris and Nicholson are
thereby excluded from a selection of a large property, much more valuable than
what they must now resort to, in making up their quantity: But, supposing
their title doubtful ; or even supposing the final determination should have been
favourable to the Commissioners, yet that highly interesting event, the com-
pletion of Morris and Nicholson's selection must have been postponed, and a
great proportion of the City property have remained locked up 'till the final
decision : for the Commissioners, believing as they did, and advised as they were,
would have been highly censurable, had they given up the point without a
legal decision against them.

The compensation to be made to the Purchaser under the Commissioners was
left to two disinterested and independent gentlemen to determine; who, it is
presumed, had as good a knowledge of the relative value of property in the city
as Mr. Walker.

Whether the draw in the Bridge over Rock-Creek is necessary or unnecessary,
the Commissioners leave to every passenger to form his own opinion.

With respect to Mr. Walker's particular case, they shall only observe, that
they may fairly claim an equal share of disinterestedness and impartiality with
Mr Walker himself: they shall therefore not trouble the public with copies of
the deeds of trust; the Acts of Congress, and of the Legislature of Maryland,
under which they act; nor with the particular modes which the board have
adopted, for carrying into effect the powers vested in them, for the division of
property; a due consideration of any particular case; but this they can truly
say, that they have not distinguished Mr Walker from the other proprietors of
the city in their mode of procedure; that Mr Walker alone, so far as they know,
has complained, but it is difficult to believe that he thinks himself really injured,
for, he must be sensible, if he is so, that his remedy is more certainly attainable
in a court of justice, than by publishing a Libel.

* Nicholson to the Joint purchMcr of Greenlttft property in the City of Washington.

Mr. Morris was large hearted and good natured, slow to
anger and swift to conciliate. Of all methods of quarrel that
through the medium of publication was to him the most dis-
tasteful. He met Mr. Walker on a thoroughfare of the City of
Brotherly Love and chided him for his rashness to which the Scot
replied if he (Morris) would be his guest at dinner he should
have a convincing exposition. Mr. Morris to Mr. Nicholson

QyAKRBLS 162

anent the Walker controversy writes, it is to be observed, at
once and in advance of the Commissioners' reply, and it is also
to be observed, he scores their reprehensible language — "to
answer charges exhibited against them, however false or
unfounded and however obscure or insignificant the source
whence they originate."

Philada Nov 27, 1796
I had seen before they came the Publication of George Walker and was
astonished, for I had conceived that he was a cool temperate man polseiised of
too much Prudence to risque a general Injury to his own and other Peoples
Property for the fake of gratifying the feelings of resentment which will arise
often from hasty and sometimes unfounded G>ncIusions — I wish also that the
Commissioners had left out the last sentence of their Publication in reply but
these things are done — ^you and I in common with other Proprietors shall t>e
injured thereby unlefs the aftiair be immediately adjusted and the Commifsn
proved not to have incurred the Charges made against them —

And Mr. Morris quaking with fear arising from like trouble
impending implores Mr. Nicholson :

At all Events keep Law from Publications otherwise we do not know what
we may be compelled to do, and J detest news Paper Controversies —

Mr. Morris thinks this a time opportune to exercise a pacific
influence on the waters stirred so strongly by storm and writes :

Phila Febn^ 16 1797
GusTAVus Scott Esqw Geo Town
DEAR Sir
In consequence of your letter of the 8th Inst it was my intention to have seen
the President before this time but his and my own Engagements have as yet pre-
vented it — I am astonished to find that you suffer a moments uneasiness at such
Charges as you mention — ** Haughtinefs in Office" & ''residing out of the Qty."
Certainly I never faw any thing like the first charge in my Intercourse with you
in or out of Office and fo I shall tell the President when I do see him — ^as to residing
without the Qty, your new House is so near to one of its Boundaries that when
you get into it the Objection can hardly exist in the mind of Mr. Law who has
more anxiety on that fcore than any body I know & his anxiety proceeds fi'om an
ardent Zeal in promoting the Growth and interest of the Qty — 1 believe you may
without incurring the Charge of vanity consider the little Heats and Vexations
which occasionally arise in the Course of Official Transactions rather as Proofs
that in the strict regard you pay to a sense of duty the Parties find an opposition
to their views & Wishes which irritates and occasions the Complaints— never
mind my good Friend Stick to your itation and follow up the busineis with the
same Zeal as heretofore, and all will go well — Mr Nicholson was ill used by Mr
Sheriff Ray and his assistants— This afforded you gentn of George Town an Oppy
to manifest your Philanthropy which much to your honor you embraced, and
did the thing which will always be remembered with Gratitude— Mr Nicholson b

163 QyARRELS

here, and mentions to me those things which you allude to as disagreeable —
These disagreeables will be the subject of a Correspondence differing from this in
which I give you alsurance of the Regard & Esteem with which you have
impre&ed D Sir

Yrs

ROBT MORRIS.

I now approach the climax of quarrel: the Morris and
Nicholson-Greenleaf controversy. Only one volume stands
between preservation and extinction of the record — the single
volume of The Washington Gazette. In the title I name first
Morris and Nicholson as the contest had its origination and
inception with Nicholson.

Morris and Greenleaf while not friendly were of that tem-
perament and receptiveness to argument that disputes between
them could be adjusted upon lines of equity and reciprocity.
Morris and Nicholson were strongly attached and the former
was impelled to champion the latter when in conflict with
Greenleaf, although contrary to his sense of right. Nicholson
was bitter towards Greenleaf. Nicholson had a facility to
write and propensity to print. Nicholson had utilized the
daily journals in hostility to Greenleaf which Morris deplored
and might but for weakness defeated.

Morris from Washington to son-in-law, Marshall, November
I, 1796, writes:

You will see or hear that Mr Nicholson & Mr Greenleaf have entered into a
news paper War, which has injured not only them but me, altho I have as yet
kept myself clear of it, and I would also have prevented them if they had been
on the spot, but one was here and the other in Philadf and without personal
interviews the conciliation was impracticable.

Morris to Nicholson, December 6, 1776, says:

The mischiefs of yours with Greenleaf continue to the Injury of him you
and me.

And on the 12th further says :

1 had an Interview with Mr Greenleaf thb day. He b distrefsed — He asked in
what Capacity we met, as Friends or Foes, I told him that question could only
arise out of the quarrell with you, and that 1 had kept myself out of it hitherto &
meant to continue fo if possible — 1 told him that 1 blamed both you and him for
appearing in Print before the Public, that he had an Oppy of stopping your first
advertizement & ought to have done it &c &c — He says the dispute must be
pursued untill one or the other shall be exonerated in the Public view to compleat
satis&ction.

OyARRELS 164

What has been advanced as to the reasonableness of Messrs.

Morris and Greenleaf to rightful adjustment is confirmed by

the letter of the former to Nicholson (details of concessions by

Greenleaf being omitted) :

Philada Jany 22 1797
My last letter has produced a personal interview this moment ended. The
subject of discourse has been about a general arrangement of our dependencies
upon amicable terms and upon principles of justice and mutual accommodation
in which your affairs may be included if you please so far at least as they are
combined with mine — A plan of proceeding is to be submitted to my consideration*

Notwithstanding Morris's equitable and peaceable methods
were happily so close to consummation the day after his letter,
January 23, and before its receipt Nicholson pursues the pen
and print practice and inserts in the Washington Gauette a
"Caution."

Morris notifies Nicholson, January 24 :

Mr. Greenleaf says he cannot have communication with you, but if you choose
to submit your affairs so far as they run parallel with mine to be determined by
the settlement he and I shall make, he will agree to it.

With might and main Morris exerted every energy to prevent
the newspaper duel and he imperatively urges Cranch:

Philda Feby 17th 1797
You will also finish and send on those Accounts of which I gave you a list
they will now be immediately wanted for my settlement vnth Mr Greenleaf
which will be carried on in the Counting House & not in the Public Prints,

It was a case of fat and fire. Greenleaf saw Nicholson's
"caution" and engaged the editor to use most bold display
type for his '* caution " to run indefinitely.

I am of opinion that every line over the signatures Robert
Morris and John Nicholson, jointly or separately, was written
by Nicholson. The series of seven letters, the first of which is
dated March 30, 1797, by their detail are convincing, however
their iteration and re-iteration make them tiresome and tedious.
All they contain could have more effectively been said in half,
perhaps less, the length.

Morris thought Greenleaf was buried out of sight and beyond
resurrection under the avalanche of words and triumphantly
writes on to Washington to his friend Scott, April 15, 1797:

I expect the Comifs will be of that opinion, and consequently that they will
sign and send them to us, surely they wiU not pay attention to the Caveat of

165 QyARRILS

Master Jemmy — ^you will see what a drefsing we shall give him about Qty Lotts
as well as his other specified Claims — I believe he now wishes himself with the
Devil, for our attacks are fo fortified with Truth that he cannot slip his neck out
of the noose, and we have told the story so dispafsionately, that he cannot
answer in Wrath. —

1 express no opinion as to the merits of the controversy, that
is, the facts of it. Sufficient is not disclosed for impartial
judgment. I do think that Greenleaf's philippic reaches the
topmost heights of rhetorical invective. I believe 1 am justified
in comparing it to Sallust's denunciation of Cataline in the
ancient times and to Burke's of Hastings in the modern. His
severity has the rapier's point.

To MfcssRS. Morris and Nicholson.
Gentlemen

In publishing my cautionary Advertisements of the 15th and 27th ult, 1 dis-
charged a duty which I owed to myself, and my fellow-citizens; but not without
anticipating that display of artifice, to frustrate the beneficial effects of the publi-
cation ; and that effusion of violence, to evince your resentment against its author;
which have since issued from the press, under your authority in five labored,
delusive, and vindictive, essays. In our personal animosities, however, the
public will be little disposed to participate ; of the merits of our pecuniary con-
troversy, the medium of a news-paper can but poorly enable them to judge; and,
for the abuse of their time and patience, there cannot, I confess, be any consolation,
or atonement, unless a view of the embarrassment to which I am exposed, shall
seasonably prevent others from being involved as victims, in the vortex of your
speculations. Having, therefore, given a candid warning to the unwary and the
credulous; having made an honest provision to protect the rights of my creditors;
I find no motive from malice, or interest; from a confidence in your honor, or a
reliance on my own talentsf, which can induce me longer to continue in this scene
of fruitless and vexatious warfare — To the investigation of the arbitrators (on
whom we have agreed to depend) I shall implicitly for the future refer all my
claims; and by the result of their deliberations I cheerfully consent to rest every
hope of triumph, or to encounter every mortification of defeat.

I will not, however, at this time, and in this mode, enter further into the
detail of those answers which I am able, on incontrovertible evidence, to apply
to all your remarks : and it can hardly be necessary before the public tribunal
( wh ere your characters and conduct have long stood arraigned) tovindicate myself
from accusations and calumnies, that depend on your assertion alone. But let
the appeal be made; let our fellow citizens decide upon the notoriety of the facts;
which has most cause to deprecate the fatal connection that has hitherto subsisted
between us! On your part, I know not of any foundation for complaints, unless
it shall be traced to the detention of a useless parcel of old and cancelled notes,
or bills, which I shall willingly surrender, on the final liquidation of our accounts.
But to me, the retrospect furnishes a lamentable picture indeed; in which my con-

OyAUELS 166

fidence has only been equalled by your treachery ; and an ample fortune, in spede
and in land, has been so absorbed by your machinations, as scarcely to leave any
symbol of its existence, but the waste and worthless paper, branded with the
signatures of Morris and Nicholson.

Under such circumstances, 1 may confidently retort your aspertions and
menaces, with contempt and defiance ; and though the lure of your arts and
the contagion of your example, have undoubtedly led me into great errors
(injurious, perhaps, to many individuals, for whom I am anxious to prepare all
the reparation in my power) I trust that I have never yet been so debased by
prosperity, or by misfortunes, as to render it hazardous, on any point of repu-
tation, or in any form of inquiry, to engage in a comparison with you — My
veracity, is, at least, untainted by any abuse of public trust ; my conscience will
never be disquieted by the embezzlement of a widow's or an orphan's portion ;
and, I hope, I shall never be so callous as to smile, in pomp and luxury, on the
penury and ruin, which I have inflicted on others.

Be assured then. Sirs, that a competition with vou in a court of justice (where,
alone, I shall ever again consent to answer you) or an appeal to public opinion,
has no terrors for me ; I have been despoiled of my property ; but my integrity,
and that peace of mind, which is the inseparable concomitant of integrity, you
can never destroy.

JAMES GREENLEAF.

April 22.

The allusion to the Comptroller-General and the Financiers'
confusion of funds, state and federal, touched a vulnerable
point; the sting maddened to frenzy. They rejoined, April
26, 1797; Greenleaf adhered to his announced silence.

In a doubting way, Morris to Scott, May i, 1797, writes:

I suppose you have seen Greenleaf 's abusive Letter & my moderate Reply —
People think us victorious in that Contest.

And again. May 8, he to Scott writes:

My enemy pleases himself very much and takes great Credit with aCsignees for
having hunted out the road to these attachments and he is setting as many of
our Creditors as he can on the same scent I hope that he & they will get as
sick of this businefs as he is of being an ''Author '^ 1 believe he does not mean
to reply to our last letter which was written in terms of great moderation in reply
to his very abusive one.

I conclude Quarrels with Morris's letter to Scott which is
apropos in a summary style to several subjects in this work :

Phila May 10, 1797
Master Jemmy has opened Pandoras Box^ and if 1 am not mistaken much of
the Mischief will attach to himself— In the mean while he has injured us exceed-
ingly and I would chastife him in a personal Interview but for certain Injunctk>ns

■nd Considerations which must be submitted to— You touch me to the quick in
r^vd to the Building Subject — I have expended ten times the fum 1 was told
my House was to cost & the Roof is not compleat, the fouth Front not carried
up nof a single floor laid or Wall plaistered and now I am out of money and
Credit, fo that all stands still, and untefs Times change the Work cannot be
resumed by me^Thus you may judge how sufficiently I am chastized for my
folly — I cat) it folly iltho' when 1 began that House [ knew that in a few months
I was to receive jC75ooo Sii Cash, which I did receive, but before it came I was
involved for j£ia4,<x)o S<s in the fiilures of March 1793 in London, & the sacrificei
made to keep along ever since have always kept me in Trouble Lofs and difficulty.
Adieu My Dr Sir

y™

ROBT MOItRIS.

MISFORTUNE.

Open the prisoner's living tomb,

And usher from its brooding gloom
The victims of your savage code,

To the free sun and air of Godt

Tilt Pruamrfet Z><if.— John CuimiAr Wramu.

SAYS William B. Wood in Personal Recollections of The
Stage:

One side of the Prune street debtor's prison was neatly laid out as a garden,
and well kept, affording an agreeable promenade for the luckless inhabitants of
this Bastile, during a large portion of the day.

Mr. Morris appeared cheerful, returned my salutations in the politest minner
but in silence, continuing his walk, and dropping from his hand, at a given spot,
a pebble In each round, until a certain number which he had was exhausted.

Mr. Morris said tie made fifty journeys daily and that he
adopted this practice for exercise.
Mr. Wood further says:

While I offer this little picture of morning walking party, on one side the
prison, I must not forget a riding party on the other, nearest to Fifth street, in
this department, which I was occasionally permitted to overlook. Mr. James
Greenleaf with Mr. Nicholson, for many years Controller of the finances of
Pennsylvania, who had been the partner of Mr. Morris's enterprises, and with
them of his misfortunes, had the privilege of forming a small circle, and Indulging
himself with a rapid ride, on a line horse, each morning at the period alluded
to. * * * It was quite amusing to observe with what skill habit had enabled
him to make those swift evolutions, within so very limited a space.

What were the prison bounds and with what he improved
the hours and overcame the weariness of restraint all 1 have is
the equestrian exercise the actor-author relates other than he
petitioned the National legislature for measures of mitigation.*

• Amcrkn StMi Fii|W«i Mb. VoL I, p. do.

MISFORTUNB 1 70

1 am anxious to touch upon every incident yet will not overstep
the authentic for the dramatic. It is more than a conjecture
that Greenleaf delved for the deep thought hidden in books of
linguistic diversity, and that he relieved this mental recreation
in devising plans to plague the two through whom he came
to dwell in

The very mansion-house of misery.

Greenleaf s career was rapid; four years from courted
millionaire to creditor's prisoner. Like a flight to the zenith
and fall to the earth was his change of condition.

On the tolbooth or city jail of Edinburgh is the inscription :

A prison is a house of care,
A place where none can thrive,
A touchstone true to try a friend,
A grave for one alive;
Sometimes a place of right.
Sometimes a place of wrong,
Sometimes a place of rogues and thieves.
And honest men among.

Imprisonment for impoverishment is a rough remedy. It
seems illogical and inconsistent to deprive the debtor oppor-
tunity of earning and paying. The other measures are suffi-
ciently severe without this coercive. Athens permitted the
creditor to consign the debtor to slavery and Rome not only
allowed the creditor to sell the debtor but to brutally maltreat
him. Modern progression has ameliorated the penalty of
financial misfortune. In advance of England, the Empire State
in 1831 abrogated imprisonment for debt except in cases of
criminality, and the other states followed its legislative lead.
The subjection to durance of Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf,
whose debts arose from too firm faith in the great growth of
the new-born republic, illustrated the law's harshness and
directed to repeal ; more especially the loss of liberty to Morris
to whom the nation was indebted for its liberty.

The distress of mind and the deprivation of liberty in the
confines of prison walls for Greenleaf must have been for a
limited period, perhaps a year. He was in debtors' prison,
October i8, 1797, for that day, Morris informed Nicholson:

told me the other day that Greenleaf is held in jail only by one suit

and was near getting out but something happened to prevent it

lyi MISPORTUHB

Monday, the 26th of February, 1798, to Greenleaf was an
eventful day. On that day he was on the outside of the walls ;
perhaps pending a judicial decision. On that day, Morris to
Nicholson writes :

I fear Greenleaf will be remanded here and if so his room will not be given up.
He thinks that a man who gives nine millions of property to his creditors ought
to be liberated and you will probably think so too as I do, '' Buf

And, on the same day, Morris sent this note:

Will" Cranch Esq'
Dear Sir
I am sorry you happened to ask for me when it seems I was engaged, but
as 1 shall be glad to see you, it is only knocking at my door, as you go to or
from Mr Greenleafe room, and you will at one time or other find me disengaged
and as usual your friend & hble Servt

The presence of Cranch in Philadelphia was in the capacity
of adviser. A notification in Philadelphia and Washington
papers had appeared :

The subscriber informs those whom it may interest or concern that the Judges
of the G)urt of Common Pleas have appointed

Monday the 26th day of February next
to hear him and his creditors at the Court-house in this City on the subject of hb
petition for the benefit of the Insolvent Law, and that their attendance is desired.

JAMES GREENLEAF.
Phila. January 15, 1798.

Although in prison Greenleaf did not desist from waging
relentless war on his erstwhile associates as Morris testifies :

You and I are sued by him or somebody for him in every instance I believe
where they could bring suits, he has injured the sale of all our property by
cautioning the world against buying it, and he has pursued me in Europe and in
short he has injured you and me in every way he could think of, are we to bear
all this and show no resentment Ought we not to bring suits against him for
the balance that may l>e due to us, for damages &c &c so as at any rate to keep
him where he now is. You are a great Lawyer and 1 expect your opinion with-
out a fee Good Night

Greenleaf was liberated the 30th of August, 1798.
Mr. Parkinson, the English tourist, as to common disaster of
American deals, has this to say :

To show thb is true, I will give an example in the speculations of the well-
known Messrs. Morrb, Nicholson, and Greenleal — Mr. Morris had so much
credit as a banker during the American war, that his notes were current when

MISPORTUNB 172

those of the United-States would not be taken either in their country or abroad.
When the war was over, Mr. Morris, not knowing what to do with hb money,
speculated largely in lands, and took these other two gentlemen as partners.
They are broke, have all been in gaol, and Mr. Morris must die there.

James Greenleaf applied March 10, 1798, to the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania for the benefit of the insolvent laws.
Upon direction of the Court, March 31, 1798, he assigned his
estate, real and personal, legal and equitable, to Robert Smith,
Mordecai Lewis and James Yard, and was discharged as an
insolvent debtor. These assignees declined the execution of
the trust. Subsequently, March, 1800, on the petition of
creditors, Thomas M. Willing and Joseph S. Lewis were sub-
stituted as assignees and they also declined to act. In pursu-
ance of an order of the Court, March term, 1804, constituting
John Miller, junior, sole assignee, Robert Smith and James
Yard, surviving Mordecai Lewis, March 16, 1804, conveyed to
him GreenleaPs estate.

On February 9, 1799, Greenleaf petitioned the Chancellor of
the State of Maryland for the benefit of the insolvent laws of
that State, passed in 1798, and he was discharged August 30,
year. That Court appointed William Cranch trustee and in
conformity with legal requisite Greenleaf conveyed to him his
property, real, personal and mixed. This was a formality as
the insolvent had before transferred his estate and effects to the
trustees in the proceeding in Pennsylvania.

Finally, Greenleaf applied for the benefit of the bankruptcy
laws of the United States. The Judge of District Court of the
United States for the District of Pennsylvania appointed Janu-
ary II, 1803, a commission to take charge of Greenleafs
property of every description; and these commissioners,
Mahlon Dickerson, Thomas Cumpston and Joseph Clay,
March 12, 1803, conveyed the same to Edward Burd Shippen
for benefit of the creditors. Afterwards at a meeting appointed
by two of the commissioners and a major part of creditors in
value of credits, removed, at his own request, Shippen and
selected John Miller, junior, assignee in his steady and, in con-
sequence, two commissioners, Dickerson and Cumpston, and
the assignee, Shippen, conveyed March 17, 1804, to Miller,
junior.

JUSTICE.

WITHIN the prison walls, Morris writes:
James Creenlear. This is an unsettled account, and I suppose
ever will be. Here commenced that ruin which has killed poor
Nicholson, and brought me to the necessity of giving an account of my affairs.
But 1 will forbear to say more, lest I shall not know wliere or when to stop.

Morris is inconsistent in charging his financial disaster to
Greenleaf as in his petition in bankruptcy he dates his troubles
from the failure of two houses, John Warder and Co. of Dublin
and Donald and Burton of London, in the spring of 1793,
involving ;£i24,ooo sterling. This fact Morris frequently men-
tions in his letters. Here is one to Mrs. Greenleafs uncle:

May 8, 1795.
Ahdiew Allen Esq"

DiAR S[R

Your polite & obliging Letter was delivered to me yesterday —I atn sorry
that you should participate in any part of my disappointments which owing to

the failure in England in March 1793 have been heavy as well as expensive. — 1
am employed constantly in raising the means o( taking up my Paper and you
may rely that 1 will not suffer that which you pofsefs to remain To long as to
incommode your arrangements — I am D' Sir V"

This financial misfortune was before he formed any alliance
with Greenleaf. The biographer of Morris is constrained to
say that the attribution of his ruin, wholly, to Greenleaf ts
unjust.*

Charles Henry Hart— J/ary White— Mrs. Robert Morris:\
We now ii^oRch near to the period of her husband's great financial mis-
fortunes, tnwight on by bis striving after large possessions and his misplaced
confidence in one of hi* associates. He purchased, at merely nominal prices,

* Tb* FfauocWr ud Um Phmirn of thi Amriaa RnolutloB— >SiiiiiiMr.

li'i Dalrr. Huford Co., Minrtind, Ium ;th. 1877, on
■faM of Ceload TbooH WhHe. b^on ■ RMBloa of

JUSTICE 174

varying from a few cents to a dollar an acre, many millions of acres of unseated
lands in the several States of the Union, some individually and others in con-
junction with John Nicholson and James Greenleaf, with whom he subsequently
organized .the North American Land Company in February, 1795. Early the
following year Morris and Nicholson found that they had joined their fortune
with the wrong man, and endeavored to extucate themselves by purchasing his
interest, but alas ! too late ; the evil planted by Greenleaf was too wide-spread,
and had taken too deep root, to be killed out and eradicated, and thus by hb
dishonest and rascally conduct was Robert Morris dragged under and sacrificed.

C. H. H.— Robert Morris:*

On Mr. Morris's retirement from private life, he began to speculate in unim-
proved land in all sections of the country, and in February, 1795, organized,
with John Nicholson and James Greenleaf, the North American Land Company,
which, through the dishonesty and rascality of Greenleaf, finally caused his
ruin, and burdened the closing year of his life with utter poverty.

Now, I am tempted to exclaim here is wild accusation.
Morris himself laid the train to financial wreck ; his connec-
tion with Nicholson made it doubly sure; his connection with
Greenleaf may have accelerated it. Morris's bitterness towards
Greenleaf is natural yet in a measure unwarranted. It already
appears that Nicholson forced a newspaper controversy con-
trary to Morris's protest. Nicholson's long-drawn seven-times
accusation to which Morris loaned his name drew from Green-
leafs pen the philippic which lastingly cut. It was either for
Greenleaf to acknowledge or retort and he did that which only
could be expected. For the injury to Greenleaf, Morris failed
to ask forgiveness ; the injury to himself he failed to attribute
rightly.

Greenleaf s contra-criticism is more moderate. He says that

On the 26th ot September, 1793, the net or clear value of his estate was con-
siderably upwards of a million dollars. That in May, 1797, the principal part
of his estates was pledged for the payment of his responsibilities or indorsements
for Mefsrs. Morris and Nicholson. That at that time, the amount owing to him,
exceeded two-fold, the amount owing by him ; that the affairs of Morris and
Nicholson were in May, 1797, considerably embarrassed, but though he was at
that time their largest creditor, it was hoped by him and as he l>elieves aan-
guinely expected by them, that their resources would enable them to extricate
themselves from their embarrassments.

Greenleaf when he became interested with Morris, 1793, had
a million dollars; September, 1796, he carried two millions of

*Th« Pcnna. Magaiine of Histocy and Biography.

175 JUSTICE

Morris and Nicholson's obligations ; June, 1797, they executed
an assignment to secure obligations to Greenleaf of nine hun-
dred thousand dollars, and on other obligations Greenleaf
instituted suit April, 1797, for four hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. Greenleaf had a fortune to lose and lost it. It has
been debated whether Morris was ever solvent.* Of the recip-
rocal justness of each member of the triad, I do not venture
criticism; likely, they were all partly fair and partly unfair;
misfortune wrought friction whereas with fortune all would
have smoothly flown. It is a fair inference that with progress-
ing time the differences diminished between the two disputants.
This from the Washington in Embryo is a sample criticism :

Among the experiments of some magnitude in 1793, the contract of theG)m-
missioners with Robert Morris, James Greenleaf and John Nicholson may be
noticed, for the sale of 6,000 city lots, at |8o per lot, in seven annual install-
ments without interest, upon the condition that the purchaser should erect in
each of the six succeeding years twenty brick houses, but the said parties utterly
failed to comply with any part of the contract, and the Commissioners found
themselves very seriously embarrassed by their failure.

This is the general impression. The impression has slight
truth for a basis.

From George Alfred Townsend's Washington Outside and
Inside is taken the sales made by the several boards of Com-
missioners :

1st. Johnson, Carroll and Stuart 6227 lots 1541,384

2d. Scott, Carroll and Thornton 83 ** 50,217

3d. Scott, Thornton and White loi *' 41,081

6,411 632,683

By Greenleaf 6000 480,000

By all others 411 152,682

The Morris-Greenleaf purchase was $480,000

Less credit of one thousand lots on the personal
responsibility of Morris, Greenleaf and Nicholson-
Agreement, AprO 34, 1794 .... 80,000

$400,000

Due January I, 1801 115,24x1

Previously paid $284,759

* The Financier and the Pfaianots of the American ReYohitioa— StiMiMr.
fReport of Commlwioneft, JaBuary aB, xtei— American Stale Papers, VoL L

jUSTICI 176

From what other source, or combination of sources, other
than state and national, was realized resources, equal to this,
for public buildings ? For a verity, without Greenieaf s pur-
chase, his and his coadjutors' efforts, the public buildings would
have been in no condition of forwardness at the time set for
the removal of the government to the Federal City. And, then,
but for Greenieaf s residential improvements and for those of
his grantees, the representatives of government would have
had naught else than the earth for a couch and the heavens for
a canopy.

This is the resumd. Until Greenieaf appeared the Commis-
sioners' sales were slight; he purchased six thousand lots and
concerned two capitalists in the enterprise ; he undertook to
procure for the Commissioners a loan in Holland ; they expected
from the sale and loan ample funds; from the sale they did
receive two hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars; he had
successfully financiered in Holland and would have consum-
mated the loan had not war precluded; he made personally
the only large sales — to Law and Duncanson; he and his
assigns, especially Law, erected nearly all the residences in
readiness for the removal from Philadelphia to Washington.
But for Greenieaf, individually and instrumentally, in prob-
ability, would the transfer of the governmental seat have been
made?

Law to Greenieaf, July 4, 1795, writes:

You gave a Spring to the Qty by your Contract & bufldings.

And so he did. He stimulated purchasing and improving.
He and his associates not only endeavored to carry out their
building stipulation but engrafted the prescribed provision in
their contracts with purchasers and insisted on performance.
Nicholson to the Commissioners, February 3, 1797, writes on
the subject and submits a schedule of all their sales and build-
ing contracts in Dr. and Cr. form and it reveals faithful
adherence as in their power lie on original lines.

Phil* July 30 1797.
GusTAVus Scott 1
Wm Thornton VEsq««
Alex* White j Commifsioners of the City of Washington —

Gentln

Two Considerations stimulate us however, to accomplish the Payments —

the first is, that sense of Justice which induces us to wish punctuality in perform-

{ng our Ei^agcfDcnts, and which hu only been prevented by imperious necebity;
the other is, a Knowledge that the Public Interest and our own is so combined
that the former cannot fuffer without Injury to the latter — Our ardent desire to
furnish you with Payments thai may enable you to citryonthe Public Buildings
at almost any Sacrifice is founded upon those two Gxisidetations above men*
tioned, and does not arise from Apprehensions of the threatened Enles. —

ROBT MORRIS.

JNO NICHOLSON.

Amongst those who by their wealth, talents, or industry hive contributed to
the formation of an infant Metropolis may be reckoned: Jamis GunoaAP. The
lydsMinfioH Otide—WWam ElfioL

Justice standeth a&r off; for truth is Men in the street

Let those who write of the pioneers and promoters of the
primitive period deal justly and speak truly. Let them fairly
measure the achievement of James Greenleaf and at least ascribe
him—prince,- as for me I shall ascribe him — King.

DREAMS.

WHAT dreamers these 1
A few months more and on the broad bosom of the
Potowmack will be borne from Europe, Asia and Africa
ships brimming with supplies for the multitudes to assemble
hither from everywhere; and while the white wings dot the
water-ways, the roadways to the City will be race courses for
lumbering stage coaches packed with investors pitching on to
the goal of fortune. It will be a merry race; a merrier race
than the Bagman's uncle, the lovely lady and the mail-coach
and the avenging pursuers. In a few moons armies of laborers
will be levelling thoroughfares and mechanics will be building
mansions and shops and counting-houses and warehouses and
wharves. And in a quarter, will from tall chimneys volumes
of smoke ascend, and will from the quays, vessels with anchors
weighed and sails spread, depart with returning cargoes. //
is a dream, a dreamer's dream. And peradventure, some
dreamers dispensed with all wait and dreamed with the dawn
of the morrow's sun would appear an opulent metropolis
created by the genius of magic or the swirl of Aladdin's lamp.

Greenleaf had only been interested in the city two months
and could count off on the digits ol his hands the new houses
when he vehemently protested to President Washington, and
convinced him too, that there should be no hospital within
its limits.*

And the enthusiastic Greenleaf foreseeing the overgrowth of
the city, the requirement for suburban subdivision and large
appropriations for land taken in street extensions straightway
buys "on the meanders" of the east side of the Eastern Branch
of the Potowmack, just beyond the ancient Anacostia Fort, two

DUAMJ

thousand acres or more. And the exuberant Morris to his
son-in-law from the spot, September 17, 1796, writes:

I am doubting whether to accept i5<i p square foot now offered for a Lot &
ask 25 cents for another, Geni Lee offers 300 Dn p Lot for 150 lots but thb b
thought too low, I believe if it were practicable for me to keep my lots untfl the
year 1800 the price will not be lets than from I1500 to $3000 p Lott.

And with a clearer view he to Hetty's husband again,
November i, 1796, writes:

When I left Philad; 1 would gladly have sold lots at 6^ p square foot, which
we have sold here on the spot for 13, 18, 20, 25 & some at 50 cents p square
foot This rise has been effected by our exertions & operations and may be
supported & indeed carried still higher could we stay here & pay that unceasing
attention which the property merits, it is unquestionably the first object in
America and will prove a glorious estate to all who hold on I am delighted with
the place, nature has done for it all that could be desired & I see that man will
soon do the rest

And that charming chronicler, Oliver Wolcott, then Secre-
tary of Treasury, on Independence Day, 1800, tells his wife :

There appears to be a confident expectation that this place wiU soon exceed
any in the world. Mr. Thornton, one of the G>mmissioners, spoke of a popula-
tion of 160,000 people, as a matter of course, in a few years. No stranger can
be here a day and converse with the proprietors, without conceiving himself in
the company of crazy people. Their ignorance of the rest of the world, and their
delusions with respect to their own prospects, are without parallel

The air-buOt castle, and the golden dream

vanished. Disappointment and disaster came to dreamers all.
Ample time had they to discover and discuss their delusions,
and some have preserved their ideas for posterity. And
lookers-on have recorded their observations.
Oliver Wolcott, July 4, 1800, writes :

Immense sums have been squandered in buildings which are but partly fin-
ished, in situations which are not, and never will be the scenes of business ;
while the parts near the public buildings are almost wholly unimproved. Green-
leafs point presents the appearance of a considerable town, which has been
destroyed by some unusual calamity. I had no conception, till I came here, of
the folly and infatuation of the people who have directed the settlements.
Though five times as much money has been expended as was necessary, and
though the private buildings are in number sufficient for all who will have occa-
sion to reside here, yet there is nothing convenient, and nothing plenty but
provisions ; there is no industry, society, or business. With great trouble and
expense, much mischief has been done which it will be almost impost^ible to
remedy.

l8l DUAMS

Thomas Law, 1804, writes :

It will be naturally asked, why the permanent seat of government advanced
so slowly ? In answer let it be remembered that at first doubts were suggested
of the coming of Congress, and afterwards serious apprehensions were enter-
tained, that they would not continue in Washington City. The greatest ob-
stacles to advancement however were the counter-actions of Alexandria and
Georgetown, which being previously established, supplied the city with building
materials, goods, &c, whereby these two places have increased their population
about five or six thousand.

Unfortunately, also, the public buildings, being placed at a distance from each
other, created a division among the inhabitants ; and the question has always
been agitated, which end of the city would preponderate ? If the Capitol and
President's house and offices had been nearer, one common interest would have
united the citizens, and a concentrated population would have appeared, advan-
tageous and agreeable to all.

John Templeman, Georgetown, January 20, 1804, writes:

The operation of government will continue the growth of the city ; but not
in any proportion equal to what would take place when commercial operations
were combined with those of government.

That Mr. Templeman was not alone in his view I call atten-
tion to young Stevenson* who forewent honors and abandoned
investments at the Capital City ; purchased at the confluence
of the Alleghany and Monongahela and became a founder of
Pittsburgh.

John Law, August 22, 1820; says:

No central point at which improvements might commence, and thence diverge,
was established. Accordingly, much of the capital that was expended, in the
infant state of the city, on buildings in remote situations, capriciously selected,
was unprofitably lavished away ; and the evU is apparent from the ruins of many,
and the low rent of other houses, which were erected before the year 1799. ^
loose and disconnected population was thus scattered over the dty, and, instead
of a flourbhing town, the stranger who visited us saw, for years, a number of
detached villages, having no common interest, and tumbhing little mutual sup-
port.

No matter what reasons were at that time assigned for slow
growth, we, at this time can safely say, the expectations of the
early enthusiasts were beyond the limits of probability. How-

•James S. Stevenson cams to Washington from Adams County, Pennsylvania. Became a
druf gist succeeding by purchase Dr. John Bullus at the Navy Yard, Nov. x8o6. Wasa stockholdsr
of tlM CommerctaTCo. May. x8o6. Director of Banlc of Washington, original board, 1809, and
until 1812. Member of the Sixth CoundL i8o7, First Chamber; Eighth Council, 1809, Sfecood
Chamber; Tenth Conncfl; Alderman, i8xa. In Ptttsburg he amassed wealth and acquired political
preferment. Was a member of Congress, a gubcmatonal candidate and coadjutor of Hon. JaoMS
Buchanan. Died October 17, 1831.

DUAMS 182

ever, I can add that in 1795 and 1796 in England was a finan-
cial panic and in this country, coincident stringency* The
price for money was 2% and 3% per month even to persons of
good credit.
Morris to Cranch, November 13, 1795, writes:

Hardy very hard, is our Fate to be starving in the midst of plenty, for we have
abundant property, Money however cannot be obtained for any part of it at
present but it wfll come by & by.

This was a crucial period and nothing beside financial fright
could possibly have been so detrimental to the development.

Mr. Greenleaf had accumulated a great fortune by speedy
strokes. He had only crossed the threshold from youth to
manhood and was rich. By his twenty-seventh year in land
and specie had he a million dollars. Still he was without the
experience that years and observation teach. He lived in a
time of patriotic fervor and speculative enthusiasm. The
leaders in the forum, and at the bar and in trade were carried
on wings of venture; they all sowed the wind and reaped the
whirlwind. He was imbued with the reigning spirit.

^Sr^*''

LITIGANT.

THE crier observed the friendly features and stalwart form
of Mr. Greenleaf and cried : Oyez, oytz, all persons having
business before the honorable court will draw nigh and
give attention, court is now in session ; on the morrow whether
the sun shone in all its effulgence, or whether its joyous beams
were obscured by cloud, or whether the ram poured, or whether
the hail pelted, or whether the snow impeded, weather fair or
weather foul, the crier observed Mr. Greenleaf, and cried tyex,
oyez ; on the morrow the crier noted Mr. Greenleaf was not
missing and cried his perfunctory proclamation, and so on the
successive morrows, week upon week, month upon month,
year upon year, decade upon decade. It is not said, that his
honor did not stiffly incline his head towards the litigant, take
his seat and direct the call of the calendar. Courtesy was due
to the litigant, not that his sister Nancy was the wife of the
Chief Judge but that he supplied largely the grist which kept
the judicial mill grinding. This, the tradition, 1 more than
suspect, exaggerates the fact, yet is not an extravagant
exaggeration.

From September, 1793, to July, 1795, Mr.Greenleaf frequently
was here on visits from New York. In 1804, he came to Wash-
ington to remain. Hecametoassertthetitle, the claim of title,
the equity in title to every square foot vested in him, in his
assignees, or in his legal representatives.

Mr. Greenleaf, evidently, was bred to mercantile pursuit. In the
race for riches he was well on the course at the time I first find
him, his twenty-third year. He then with a partner embarked

LITIOANT 184

in commerce and side speculation in American bonds and lands,
conservatively in the latter compared with his later ventures.
His real estate transactions required of lawyers, opinions and
formulation of instruments, which to an extent familiarized him
with the law. When Mr. Greenleaf came to Washington to
litigate it does not appear that he had taken a degree or a
course of study yet it does appear he was well versed and
mentally equipped for practice. His legal papers — affidavits,
contracts, pleas, stipulations — are neatly penned, appropriately
endorsed, aptly even elegantly expressed and in marked con-
trast to the papers of the lawyers of that day, roughly written,
ofttimes on scrap of sheet, crossed and scratched, added to and
subtracted from ; and who if they used an unlucky expression
not yet dry upon the paper promptly obliterated the same with
the pen and sometimes more effectively with the thumb. This,
their slipshod method, too, in cases the issue of which was
tens of thousands. It is noteworthy that not once did Mr.
Greenleaf ever call himself a lawyer or designate himself by a
lawyer's title.

For nearly forty years Mr. Greenleaf appeared in law court
and in chancery, with suits for ejectment and bills for injunc-
tion and account; for he was the aggressor and took the initia-
tive. He was his own lawyer and reversing the adage had no
fool for a client. That he ably assisted himself is attested by
the fact that in all of his six cases appealed to the Supreme
Court of the United States to which he was party, plaintiff or
defendant, he was successful; and in the seven cases, four con-
solidated into one, appealed by the trustees of the aggregate
fund, he was also successful, although in some of the latter
not to the entire contention. Of the thirteen opinions. Chief
Justice Marshall delivered three. Justice Johnson, six. Justice
McLean, one. Justice Story, two, and Justice Washington, one.
Before the tribunal of last resort and sometimes before the

^Zr 'T' ^]' ^'"'"'"'^ '^"^ ^'^^ cooperation of eminent
M.r?h o ^^'^ "''''' Chancery Docket i. No. i, filed

March 24, 1801, Pratt and others against Duncanson and Ward,

Kiltv Sr !f''' ^^^J''^^ session of the original court,

wis heS mJk *'' ^''''''" ""^ ^^^"^'^^ A^«^tant Judges
wa^ held March 23, 1801 at the Capitol

tees uVd^r^'^^^^^^^ '" ''^ ^^"^^"^ ^^^8"^^^ -"d trus-

tees under the bankruptcy proceedings were recorded in the

i$5^"-"TioA!rr

States where they arose but noi in the District of Columbia.
Under the statutes in force in the District no estate passed
without the deed was enrolled in the county where the land
lies within six months from its date. So that the deeds of
Green leaf for creditors affecting any estate or equity vested in
him in this District were mere nullities — and being discharged
from debt reposed the same in him exempt from involvement.

The bankruptcy litigation was conducted by Mr. Greenleaf
on a shrewd system. The assignee and trustee were of his
choice. The trustee Cranch, December 28, 1803, executed to
Greenleaf the amplest authorization, as did, April 4, 1804, the
assignee, Miller.

Pratt and others trustees of the aggregate fund constituted
January 18, 1804, and April 8, 1805, Greenleaf their attorney-
in-fact with plenary powers.

When Mr. Greenleaf afl^xed his signature to stipulation or
compromise it took this formidable shape:

Jambs Grbemleap.
John Miller, June Assignee
& Trustee of the Estate of
James Greenleaf under the
Insolvent Law of Pennsylvania
and Bankrupt Law of the
United States

by hb Attorney in £ict

James Grbbnleap.

William Cranch, Trustee of
the Estate of James Greenleaf
under the Insolvent Law of
Maryland

by his Attorney in hcX

Jambs Grebnlbaf.

Henry Pratt

John Miller, Junr (_ (who survived Thomas W. Frandsj

John Ashley
Jacob Baker

Assignees of the joint and separate
Estate of Robert Morris, John
Nicholson & James Greenleaf
by their Attorney in £ict
James Greenleaf.

unoAMT 186

Pratt and others against DunCanson and Ward.

Pratt and others against Law and Campbell.

Law against Pratt and others.

Campbell against Pratt and others, Duncanson and Ward.

Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf to Law, December 3, 1794,
gave their bond with condition to convey in fee simple within
ninety days 2,400,000 sq. ft., he having paid them five pence
Pennsylvania currency per square foot for the same. On the
day following an agreement was executed by which Morris,
Nicholson and Greenleaf covenanted that if Law within eighteen
months should be displeased with his purchase, the considera-
tion would be returned with interest ; and Law covenanted that
if within that time he determined to keep the land he would
within four years from time of such determination cause to be
built on every third lot, or in that proportion, one brick build-
ing at least two stories high. On March 10, 1795, Law
made the purchase absolute, and Morris, Nicholson and
Greenleaf agreed that Law could select under the contract of
December 4, from any squares in which they had right of selec-
tion, and also agreed to mortgage to Law other squares which
were in their possession until they could give him good title to
such property as he might select. Pursuant to this last agree-
ment September 4, 1795, the mortgage was executed. Law
received in round numbers nearly 2,000,000 sq. ft., but before
Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf could perfect title to the
balance of Law's selection they made an assignment, June 26,
1797, to Pratt and others, trustees.

Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf to Duncanson by a second
mortgage, September 12, 1795, secured the mortgagee against
the return of certain accommodation drafts.

Campbell secured an execution against Morris and Nicholson
and under it bought certain properties embraced in the mort-
gage to Law. Law released these to Campbell without the
sanction of the mortgagors.

Morris and Nicholson were disposed to treat Law justly, and
so, too, Greenleaf; the former prior to legal hostilities, the
latter, in their direction and progress ; they, all, were willing
to concede even more than they thought his due. It appears
then on either side to have been an honest difference of opinion.
Law insisted on strict exaction.

l87 LITIOAKT

Mr. Morris to Mr. Nicholson, November 27, 1796, writes:

The account you give of M«" Laws Conduct grieves me much both for his
sake and your own — You know that my mind has ever been opened to the
eccentricities of his Character & that my feelings frequently revolted at the incon-
sistencies he was guilty of, but still believing, as I always have done that he
pofsessed an excellent heart, it was my earnest desire that we should finish our
business with him on terms entirely to his liking, if pofsible to be done even
with fome facrifices on our part if necessary — This is still my Wish if the Com-
mifsioners will release us from the obligation of the buildmg clause in our
Contracts fo far as Mr. Laws Lotts are concerned I have no Objection to release
him but if they insist that a House must be built upon every third Lot, he must
do it — We cannot — we neither coaxed or forced him into the Contract — he made
the bargain with Mr. Greenleaf without our intervention, and the signing of it
was his own voluntary act — I agree therefore with you that we are to make his
Titles in strict Conformity with the Article of Agreement, and then should he
refuse to deliver up and release the mortgage, we must compel him by a fuit in
Chancery to do it, altho' such a measure will be distrefsing to my feelings, yet
if right and Justice require it must be done.

An elaborate computation, a scheme of compromise, seem-
ingly fair, is endorsed on this letter :

E B. Caldwell, Esq
Sir,

I was unfortunate in not finding you at your house or office, at several
times calling both yesterday & today. The foregoing is the proposal I would
make to Mr Thomas Law, on the part of those for whom I act, and which I
trust he will have the wisdom to accept, but if not accepted, he will please dis-
tinctly to understand, that the disposition the present overture evinces, for con-
ciliation and settlement with Mr. Law, is in no wise to be construed as impairing
any of the rights of those for whom I act, or as yielding any strength or counte-
nance to what is contended for, or to any pofsible claims or pretended claims
either present or future on the part of your client.

I am respectfully,

Sir,

Yr very obt Serv.

JAMES GREENLEAF.
City op Washinotoh, Aug 5, 1809.

To this proposal this reply :

I should not consider myself Justifiable in troubling my father by information
of any proposals of Pratt Francis &c : except the proposals were founded upon
this equitable principle, that my father should have the right of selecting from
their property lots to the value of those he selected from Carroll's property, & to
the amount of his damages sustained by the detention of the 464,000 sq. f^ now
unconveyed.

JOHN LAW

LmoAHT-^i88

Mr. Justice Johnson who delivered the opinion speaks of
this celebrated cause as "intricate and voluminous" and of
"the formidable bulk of 900 folios ! " It takes 45 pp. of the
Supreme Court report.

The trustees contended that Law had failed to comply with
the covenant to build on every third lot or in that proportion
and that the failure was to their detriment. However the court
decided that Law was not restricted to specific lots on which
to build; his choice, therefore, extended over the whole and
the obligation was not complete until the whole was conveyed
to him; and that, Law was originally induced to enter into
stipulation in consideration of similar stipulations by Morris,
Nicholson and Greenleaf with the Commissioners and that their
failure was an excuse in part for desisting in building.

The trustees sought to enjoin Duncanson from foreclosing.
At the solicitation of Ward, who held some of the drafts, Dun-
canson had permitted foreclosure acts proceed so far as adver-
tisement. It developed that Greenleaf had paid the drafts in
Ward's possession and that the mortgage should have been
released.

The trustees* contentions for the release from Law's mort-
gage, to compel Law to complete selection, and to vacate
Law's releases to Campbell were denied.

Law had received 1,873,087^ sq. ft. leaving 526,912^. The
court allowed him this at original purchase price 5 p. Pa. cur-
rency per sq. ft. $29,272.92 and interest from January i, 1797,
to January 16, 1816, $33.37i-i3. in all, $62,644.45.

Campbell was charged with that proportion of this amount
as the property released to him by Law bore to all embraced
in the mortgage.

The consolidated cause, Pratt and Law, was in activity over
fifteen years. It is perhaps the most voluminous in the
chancery files. It contains material for a new chapter and a
comprehensive one in a history of early Washington.

/^1?^AJT AND OTHERS against Carroll.

The legal cmgagement began by the challenge of Greenleaf
and acceptance by Carroll, photographically reproduced. After
the jollification, September 26, 1796, Nicholson, and perhaps
Morris did some additional work on the twenty buildings in a
desultory manner. In May, 1797, Carroll seized the houses; he

< .\H>

4 ,

made no effort to preserve them. The bill was filed December
19, 1804. Plaintiffs claimed specific performance of contract.
The Supreme Court because of the delay of seven years in in-
stituting litigation refused except on modified terms. Upon
the mandate of court for further proceedings the shrewd
Greenleaf as agent and attorney-in-fact for complainants in the
management and conduct of the suit to have the trial in Alex-
andria made oath, July 6, 1814, that from the complicated
and ramified nature of disputes concerning city property for-
merly belonging to Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf, great
number of its citizens have become directly or colaterally in-
terested and that he was in the predicament of bias and that
there was no reasonable prospect of unprejudiced hearing.
Carroll was charged with rents and interest thereon $28,267.20;
damages $19,000.00; interest thereon $570.00; in all I47,-
837.20. The trustees were charged with penalty for 14 houses
@ ;^ioo=;^i40o=$3, 733.33 and interest thereon $4,256.00; In
all $7,989.33. Net amount against Carroll $39,847.87.

As a witness Judge Cranch was cautious. And, but and if
hedged his replies. He was ever on guard not to overstate or
overstep and left a loop-hole to effect an escape. To exhibit
his reservation an answer on the twenty buildings case, not
at all exceptional, is quoted :

On the 26th of September, 1796, to the best of his recollection being the
time mentioned in the contract for building the said houses Morris and Nicholson
made a great barbecue in the street in front of the buildings, at which according il0
the best of this deponents recollection more than two hundred people were
present, upon the occasion of completing the erection of the buildings; at which
barbecue the said Morris and Nicholson and this witness weie present, and also the
defendant Carroll, as this tvitness verily believes^ but of that fact this untness
has not now a distinct recollection, Hor whether he heard the said GotoU
say anything upon the subject of the buildings; but if the said Carroll had
been absent or if he had expressed dissatisfaction at the buildings, this tvitness
thinhs it tvould have made a strong impression upon his memory; his
impression , on the contrary always was, that said Carroll was at that time of
opinion that Morris and Nicholson had done that the contract required and was
willing to trust to the interest of Morris and Nicholson as a sufficient motive to
induce them to complete the houses.

Corporation of the City of Washington against
Pratt and others.

This tax sale case establishes an equitable precedent. It de-
cides that the lot be assessed to the true owner; that the lien

LmoAmr— -^194

on each lot is distinct and the advertisement separately state
it; that the excess a lot produces be applied to taxes on other
lots of the owner.

Groenveld against Greenleaf.

The Rotterdam trustees instituted this cause to define and
defend their vested rights under the conveyance of Bourne,
attorney, July 29, 1795. Greenleaf answered that the land
security stipulated was 4,455 sq. ft. for one thousand guilders
or 668,250 sq. ft. for one hundred and fifty thousand guilders
and that the conveyance carried 1,316,250 sq. ft. The trustees,
Pratt and others, answered that the conveyance to complainants
was inoperative; that July 10, 1795 (only nineteen days pre-
vious) Greenleaf contracted with Morris and Nicholson to sell
them all his holdings; that in pursuance of the agreement
Greenleaf executed a deed ; that Morris and Nicholson assigned
to them ; that they were unadvised of the conveyance to com-
plainants; that they sued out an attachment in Prince George's
County, Maryland, against the property of Greenleaf; that a
sale was made by the Sheriff to William H. Dorsey and he
acting in their behalf made a deed to them; that they pursued
this course to extinguish every scintilla of claim or interest
possibly then remaining in Greenleaf. This answer is signed
by the trustees.

The compromise is in the handwriting of Greenleaf and
corresponds with the decree which gives a comparatively small
number of lots to the United States and provides for a sale by
David A. Hall and a division of proceeds, one half to com-
plainants, the remaining half to Greenleaf and aggregate fund
trustees.

Rogers against Crommelin.

Greenleaf s loan contracts with Daniel Crommelin and Sons
are dated January 31, April 14, 17, 21, 1789, October i, Novem-
ber I, 1789, November 15, 1790. March i, June 15. October i,
1791, February 15. and August i. 1792. Greenleaf alleges the
bankers were bound to render regular statements of receipts of
interest on the pledged securities; that they annually rendered
such statements until January 30, 1796; that because of his
failure in business they discontinued the practice ; that although
frequently requested so to do, they fmally after a lapse of ten

195 LITIOAMT

years upon persuasions and threats have submitted a crude
mass of accounts false, fictitious and fraudulent, in which it
appears many of the securities have been sold. He charges
the sales were made below current rates and "^txt pro forma
and only transfers to the bankers. He claims, the securities,
adequate to reimburse the principal in the first instance, have
progressively risen in value. Greenleaf recites that November
21, 1796, he assigned to Daniel Greenleaf and Thomas Dawes,
junior, so much of the property pledged with Daniel Crommelin
and Sons as was necessary to discharge certain endorsements
in Boston on his behalf. That, August 19, 1797, he for the
benefit of certain creditors assigned to William Cranch the
right to adjust and settle finally all concerns with the bankers.
That, August 20, 1798, Greenleaf and Dawes, junior, transferred
their trust to Daniel Dennison Rogers and William Smith of
Boston.

The decree in this cause is that Greenleaf shall confirm in
the trustees, Godfrey, Schimmelpenninck and Crommelin, the
fee to the lots described in the conveyance originally intended
as a mortgage except the excess over 2,632,590 sq. ft. and that
Daniel Crommelin and Sons shall deposit with trustees named
sixty thousand dollars to be invested in U. S. 6% stocks and
three^hundred and thirty-five shares of the stock of the Bank
of the United States to be distributed as an accounting from
January 14, 1794, upon lines prescribed particularly shall
result.

Greenleafs contentions were evidently correct. The com-
plainants' pleadings and papers are all in the chirography of
Greenleaf. The phraseology is scholarly, the penmanship like
engraving, the punctuation and capitalization faultless, show-
ing that errors in these respects in his letters are through care-
lessness.

These Greenleaf cases are those I deem the more important.
It has been extravagantly said, if the papers in the cells of the
City Hall which bear the litigant's name were on the Capitoline
heights touched with the torch, they would be a beacon to the
ten miles square. One of the Greenleaf cases at the point I
looked had run seventeen years and the course was not then
complete.

A literary sketcher discusses Greenleafs litigious career and
drifts into a comparison with Jamdyce and Jamdyce. The

famous fiction may have its prototype in that familiar to us.
It is not for me to deny that the novelist's creation is not sug-
gested, somehow or somewhat, by Greenleaf s continuous
court contention. In Greenleafs last year, when Dickens,
1842, found here the Barmecide Feast, he might too have found
the skeleton of his story, for he must have heard of our celebri-
ties, the things remarkable of them, then, of course, of Greenleaf
and of Greenleaf s litigation. A decade after and appears, 1853,
Bleak House, built by a romantic turn and twist of the peren-
nial procrastination of the court of the Lord High Chancellor,
the High Court of Chancery ; and the author opens it by put-
ting the heroine in training: where? "Greenleaf" — "Green-
leaf."

That which follows in this chapter might appropriately with
the heading Claimant form another.

For many years advertisements in the Intelligencer appear
with such frequency as to be almost continuous. They have
Mr. Greenleafs signature, a few times with the string of as-
signeeships, already quoted, generally "Attorney in fact for all
the Assignees and Trustees or the joint and separate estates of
R. Morris, J. Nicholson and J. Greenleaf." That Greenleaf
should have become the guardian of the effects of his former
associates and antagonists is a trick of fate.

In the Intelligencer of February 27, 1804, is the initial inser-
tion. It invites persons having business with the subscriber
as agent of the estates of Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf or
who wish to buy a part of the aggregate fund property in his
absence to call on Capt. Thomas Tingey, Wm Cranch, Esq.,
or Mr. Samuel Eliot, jr.

In the Intelligencer of April 27, that year, is the formal an-
nouncement of his appointment as attorney for the trustees of
the aggregate fund.

Of the North American Land Company, Mr. Greenleaf was
secretary and attorney-in-fact. In the Intelligencer of January
25, 1812, is a call upon all persons, former agents, clerks or
registers of public office to return title papers to him at Phila-
delphia; and, August 23, 1823, a notice of a stockholders'
meeting at the company's office. No. 177 Pine street.

These advertisements were many times offerings to the
public for purchase of property under the trusts— vast tracts

^iMk HouM, CluipUr in

197 LlTIOAJiT

of the North American Land Company, acreage near Alexan-
dria and on the Eastern Branch between the two bridges, and
numerous lots, some improved, in the city of Washington.
The subscriber had lots to dispose of in every ward, sites for
ice houses, for truck gardens, for brick plants, for all practical
availability.

The subscriber had his vexations with destructive tenants as
landlords of the present do, and he fearlessly did that which
the latter would hesitate to do :

For Rent House * * * recently occupied by Benjamin King. The
disgraceful state of dilapidation in which the premises were left by the last occu-
pant, will be repaired by the subscriber, and the yearly rent charge shall be only
one hundred dollars, to a good and careful tenant

The Intelligencer was the vehicle of his Cautions, Mr.
Greenleaf claimed all that he could by any pretext claim. He
watched every move antagonistic and attempted to thwart it
by a Caution. His defense was unique; his weapon, effective.
As sure as a notice of sale under conflicting title appeared as
sure his Caution did likewise; and simultaneously. Somehow,
sometimes he was advised in advance and had his Caution
with the publishers in readiness for the first notice. These
Cautions frequently defeated sales, no doubt, and in one in-
stance numerous consummations of accepted bids at auction.
In this latter case, the trustees threatened through the prints
suits for damages against the claimant, which no more feezed
him than the baying dog disturbs the moon.

These Cautions provoked replies, angry and lengthy, which
the writers confidentially expected would squelch the claimant,
whose calm rejoinders so surprised them they subsided into
silence. Some of the cautionary notices and the correspon-
dence which ensued are quoted. Not only they contain his-
toric incident, yet more the methods and motives of Greenleaf.

The claimant supplements the Stoddert Caution :

I lament extremely that it b at the hazard of exdting much enmity and 01-
will, that I shall occasionally be obliged to awaken long dormant, but important
and just claims on the part of the assignees of the joint and separate estates of
Robert Morris, John Nicholson and James Greenlea£

Mr. Greenleaf correctly conjectured. His measures to protect
his own and entrusted rights brought him disfavor although of
magnetic qualities.

UTIOAMT 198

At the time of Greenleaf's tilt with the Commissioners Mr.
Stoddert was a merchant at Georgetown and president of its
bank — the Columbia. From May, 1798, to March, 1801, he was
Secretary of Navy, the first in that station, and after, Acting
Secretary of War. Perhaps to the letter duel he gave passing
thought and the multitudinous and momentous affairs of state
dispelled it from mind otherwise he did not profit by the Com-
missioners' discomfiture.

The full controversy is in the Appendix. The argument of
Mr. Stoddert is plausible however false is the assertion the law
in question passed in the forenoon and the Commissioners de-
layed their signatures until night when a message was received
announcing its passage. It is questionable if the distance be-
tween the Capitals in the hours could have been made. The
Commissioners had the utmost confidence in Morris, Nichol-
son and Greenleaf's responsibility and upon it alone four
months later granted a credit of one thousand lots. Mr. Stod-
dert intimates that Greenleaf s cautions are bluffs and that
** the assignees are not men to suffer their money to be thrown
away in idle and hopeless pursuits." Litigation did ensue
and last as long as Mr. Stoddert's light burned and a quarter of
a century after it burned out.

Judge Morsell was appointed by decree of the court to sell
the lots of the Tontine Company. The judge, May 10, 1826,
did advertise them for sale and that same day, in the same
paper, in the same column, was the claimants* Caution, The
claimant instituted a chancery cause to enjoin; this legal fire
burned many years; the ostensible plantiff, the assignee.
Miller, passed away, Mr. Greenleaf became an old man, the
fire smouldered and died.

The Caution which follows was called out by an advertise-
ment of Dr. John Ott to sell one of the Seven Buildings. The
fact that the claimant had thirteen cases before the Supreme
Court of the United States and had thirteen successes there is
an assurance that any claim he made must have had some title
and deters from asserting anything to the contrary, convincing
circumstantiality notwithstanding. Morris and Nicholson con-
tinued the Seven Buildings, square 118, after the general trans-
fer to them by Greenleaf. They were grievously mistaken as
to ownership if they so substantially improved another's prop-
erty. I find in a letter of Morris that this row was commenced

199 LiriOAKT

by General Stewart and Major Moore, and if so, Greenleaf had
an interest; in another letter, he contradicts.

National Intelligencer, July 35, 181 1.

CAUTION.

The range of houses known by the name of the "Setfen Buildings '*
situate on square No. 118 in the dty of Washington (part of which is advertised
to be sold at auction on the 29th inst) is the property of the Several assignees of
my estate, or of some or one of them — ^the houses in question and the lots on
which they are erected with several other lots in the same square, were excepted
from my general conveyance to Morris and Nicholson — ^pubHc acknowlegement
was made by them of such exception — and the commissioners of the dty of
Washington (in whom the legal estate then vested) were duly informed of the
said exception — the unwarrantable drcumstances under which possession of said
property has bten juggled from the rightful owners, and shew of title has been
vested in certain pretended mortgagees whose interests about that time became
intimately mingled with the interests of the then commissioners of the dty, or
of some or one of them, are matters not proper for communication through the
channel of a newspaper — a suffidency however will appear, by reference to the
public record, to convince any doubting mind that the most disgraceful artifice
has (by several palpably fictitious conveyances) been practised to cover a delec*
tive title as to the property in question, and thereby to impose on the unwary
and incautious.

All persons concerned are therefore hereby cautioned and forewarned not to

purchase the said Seven Buildings or any of them, or any of the Lots or parts of

Lots on which they stand, or any of the Lots in square No. 118, which on the

original division of that square were alloted to the commissk>ners of the dty, as

the same will be contested in equity by

JAMES GREENLEAF, Attorney

in fact for all the assignees of

his former estate.
Allentown, Penm. July 17.

i. JAMES QREENLEAF

AFTERDAYS.

FOR aye divorce separated Mr, Greenleaf and Baroness
Greenleaf. Desertion the decree declared doubtlessly.
Mr. Greenleaf, wife and infants in Holland, did intend to
rejoin surely. Multiplicity of alTairs and emergency of finances
thwarted the voyage at each attempt. New environments
evolved

Out of sight out of mind.

An aristocratic beauty tempted to the treason of inconstancy
and he to himself confessed

To the remembrance of my former love.
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.

The Allen is a notable Pennsylvania family. William Allen
was Chief Justice of the province. He had in a large measure
respectability and resource. His children held the pinnacle of
provincial society. Strongly Tory were his sympathies and
when a revolution was imminent he crossed to England and
there published a paper plainly pointing how the differences
might be amicably arranged. He never came back. His sons
implicated in disloyalty sought the shelter of the parent country.
A daughter as already told wed the last proprietary governor.

Allen Town is named in honor of its founder, James, the
judge's son. The site was of his proportion of the patrimonial
estates. His children are three daughters :

Ann Penn born February 19, 1769.

Margaret Elizabeth April 21, 1772.

Mary Masters January 4, 1776. ^„,^

Margaret married William Tilgh man, subsequently Chief Justice
of Pennsylvania, She died Septembers, 179B- Mary married
Henry Walter Livingston of New York.

APTBKDAYS 204

The three daughters of James Allen were among the beauties
of their day, and renowned for their grace and accomplishments.

Ann Penn Allen, familiarly Nancy, and James Greenleaf were
married the 26th of April, 1800.

Charles Henry HzxX.— Gilbert Siuarfs Portraits of Women.
Mrs. James Greenleaf (^Ann Penn Allen) , — The Century
Illustrated Monthly Magazine :

When Thackery paid his historic visit to Philadelphia, which is one of the
hallowed memories associated with the kindly satirist in America, he was enrap-
tured with Gilbert Stuart's portraits of Mrs. Greenleaf, and well he might be.
She was Ann Penn Allen, daughterof James Allen and granddaughter of William
Allen, chief justice of Pennsylvania before the Revolution, up to which time the
Allen family were in the front rank of colonial importance. She was named for
her aunt, the wife of Governor John Penn, and was one of the most splendid
beauties this country has produced, so that Stuart was put to his mettle, in
painting her portrait, to do her and himself justice. The result b a canvas
charming in the woman it depicts and in the art that depicts her. That the
portrait of Mrs. Greenleaf was no perfunclory work, but that the painter threw
his whole soul into it, is manifest from the fact that not once or twice, but thrice
did he portray her.

To the kindness of Dr. Herbert M. Howe of Philadelphia is
indebtedness for the reproduction of Gilbert Stuart's marvellous
skill in portrayal of matchless charm.

Bride and groom, would not their likenesses adorn a book
of beauty ?

The ante-nuptial contract, April 24, was not the usual bestow-
ment upon the bride but a precautionary measure against the
attack upon her separate estate. Miss Allen describes herself
a spinster of the city of Philadelphia and Mr. Greenleaf himself
a gentleman of the city of Washington, Territory of Columbia.
Brother-in-law Tilghman and relative John Laurance a Senator
of New York are trustees.

The children of James and Ann Penn Greenleaf are two
daughters named after their mother's two sisters:

Mary L. born January 31, 1802,

Margaret T. 1803

Mary married Walter C. Livingston, July 28, 1828, a merchant
of Philadelphia. Between father-in-law and son-in-law was
intimate relation. Margaret married Charles Augustus Dale,
July, 1832, of Allentown.

f

aOS— ^APTBRDAYS

The mysterious drowning of Allen Dale, September, 189510
the Raritan canal near Princeton revived recollection of romance
in the little borough of Allentown of other days.

The correspondent to The Press, Philadelphia, thus tells the
stirring sensation :

What added to the sensation was the fact that the principal actors were of
the bluest of AUentown's blue blood.

James Allen had two daughters, one of whom, Anna Penn Allen, was married
to an Englishman named James Greenleaf. The old Greenleaf mansion was a
quaint picture of " Merrie England.'* It stood in the midst of a park of stately
trees in what is now the very heart of this city, and the old building in which
hospitality was displayed with lavish hand is now divided into two residences,
occupied by Judge Edwin Albright and James M. Seagreaves. James Greenleaf
had two daughters, and one day a gay company was partaking of the hospitality
for which the Greenleafs became noted. Among the party was a young man
named Dale, a handsome, manly fellow. Young Dale met one of the Greenleaf
girls. It was the old story — love at first sight

When Mrs. Greenleaf heard of the infatuation existing between her daughter
and young Dale she became furious. It appears that the young man had nothing
to offer but a promising future. Mrs. Greenleaf was a proud and haughty
woman. Her daughter should marry only a wealthy man. The result was that
there was an elopement The couple returned for the parental blessing, but it
came not. Once inside the house Mrs. Greenleaf kept her daughter, now Mrs.
Dale, a prisoner, while young Dale was forbidden the house. He pleaded, but
the mother-in-law was firm.

At last he decided to get possession of his wife. He went to the Greenleaf
mansion, walked through the spadous lawn and up to the verandah. Mrs. Green-
leaf had seen his approach and anticipated his purpose. While he was going to
the door she did likewise from the inside. He pushed fi-om the outside, while his
obdurate mother-in-law used all her strength to keep the door dosed. But he
was the stronger and the door flew back and knocked Mrs. Greenleaf to the floor.

The next day father-in-law Greenleaf had the groom arrested
for assault. He was committed to jail. This disgrace preyed
upon his mind. A few mornings after with pistol he made
his earthly exit.

Allen came with no recollection of a father. Mrs. Dale's life
was saddened and secluded yet she attained a sere age when
a second tragedy bereft her of a son and solace and shortly she
went away. She was in her ninety-third year.

Mr. S. D. Lehr, May 29, 1901, writes:

James Greenleaf and Walter C Livingston were dtlzens of this town in its
early history. 1 have a fidnt recollection of them living at the comer of Hamilton
and nfth st this dty, having passed the place frequently in my school boy days.

The house at the corner mentioned by Mr. Lehr quite likely
is the Greenleaf mansion in the midst of a park of stately trees.
It was the property of "Lady" Greenleaf. It was furnished
in grand style and its parlor wall adorned by the original
Landsowne portrait of General Washington by the eminent
Gilbert Stuart; this, the property of Mr. Greenleaf.* Mr. and
Mrs. Greenleaf lived in Allen Town when their wedded days
began, and a portion of the year, for more than three decades.

Greenleaf s father-in-law was the founder, and he the prin-
cipal promoter. The founder died in 1782 when the place
was sparsely peopled. Under the promoter's encouragement
Allen Town gave promise of its future. Greenleaf made subdi-
vided additions and to the thoroughfares gave the names of his
associates and relatives. These are familiar: Allen, Law,
Livingston, Morris, Penn, Pratt, Priscilla, Tilghman, Webster.

From 1807 to 1828 Mr. Greenleaf credits himself to Phila-
delphia. Until the winter of 1826 Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf
divided the time between Allen Town and the Quaker City.
Mr. Greenleaf made frequent visits to Washington, tarrying a
fortnight or so. He announced in the Intelligencer where he
could be found and when he would depart. He usually
sojourned at Davis's Hotel on the avenue or Captain Wharton's
on F street or Miss Heyer's in Law's row — The Varnum.

It is apparent at first Mr. Greenleaf meant to reside in Wash-
ington as the nuptial articles and the conveyances of earliest
record in the century describe him as a citizen thereof. Mr.
Thomas Munroe, Commissioner of Public Buildings, testified
Mr. Greenleaf was first seen after his long absence in 1802.
Mr. Dalton's invitation to the fish dinner is endorsed by Mr.
Greenleaf, "August 17, 1799." Other than these, the first
mention, I find, of his presence is the advertisement of Feb-
ruary 21, 1804.

Mrs. Greenleaf accompanied her husband to Washington,
Christmas time, 1821. In the winter of 1826 the Greenleafs
were in the house last occupied by the Hon. William H.
Crawford, Secretary of Treasury, on Fourteenth street north of
Thomas Circle. I have read the Greenleaf girls scythed a
swath in swell society in the reign of Adams, the second. In
the summer of 1828 they were in North Capitol street in or by
the Washington house and in the fall of 1831 in the porticoed
house next to be described.

•Namthfv and Critical History of America.

RESIDENCE OF JAMES QREENLEAF

^

ao9 APmiDAYS

In or before 1831 Mr. Greenleaf built a wooden residence at
the intersection of First and C streets and inclosed lots 17 and
18 in square 725. Here he resided the residue of his days. In
his home he was surrounded plenteously with such things as
a retired gentleman of taste and means would likely be ; he
had paintings, thirteen in all, and other pictorial art, curios
and relics, and a superb library.

Although the structure was razed thirty years since here is
fortunately a photographic view. The photograph was taken
August, i86i. Right in front of the house Major William
Tecumseh Sherman and his tired men rested. At Bull Run,
they had been received too warmly and they shook the dust
from their feet and retired; retired rather precipitately. The
tent in the foreground of the picture the other side of the
fence, is the hospital. During Mr. Greenleafs occupancy the
house was two stories with attic and cellar. The change in
the lower arrangement was necessitated by the heavy grading.
I remember in my earliest youth this quaint house; and to me
its series of surrounding porticoes suggested the square pa-
godas of China in the picture books.

Mr. Greenleaf in this considerable enclosure had a stable
which sheltered two horses, a grey and a red, and an equal num-
ber of cows of the shade of which history is silent. He grew
in the garden I know not what besides the mulberry, the cul-
tivation of which at that time was a horticultural fad. In his
study on the mantel was Coii*s Manual on the Growth of the
Mulberry tree for ready reference. He had a farm on "The
Island;" it comprised several squares; the square wherein is
the Jefferson School Building being one. Here he pursued
Adam's profession. Mr. Greenleaf's domestic was a widow
and her son-in-law was his gardener.

Mr. Greenleaf during the last years lived alone, a

Setf-sequesterM man.

Mrs. Greenleaf was not en rapport with the democratic
days, her spirit was with the period of provincial pride. She
dwelt in the mansion at Allentown. No one«ftys the separa-
tion was from estrangement. One close to^r!^'Gfeenleaf says
the correspondence continued, however its sentiments may
have been in specie. I am told that Mr. Greenleaf in the same

APTIRDAYS 2XO

room ate, studied, wrote, slept, — a living room literally. I
think this was only in the last season of illness.

Mr. Greenleaf with the associates of his boyhood. President
John Quincy Adams and Judge Cranch, attended the Unitarian
Church. Nothing of his religious thought is transmitted. He
was liberally inclined towards church extension. What he
purposed in this praiseworthy way sometimes was fraught
with failure as in other things. As early as July 14, 1795, he
at a vestry meetinii^ offered to present a building site on F be-
tween Sixth and Seventh streets, square 456, lot 17; and Sam-
uel Blodgett, who had the hotel around the corner, gave an
order for the timber. The plan was favorably received, and
the rector was directed to purchase the adjoining lot. Never-
theless the proffer was not availed and the project was
abandoned.

Mr. Greenleaf's expression was benign, manner dignified
and conversation courteous. To him in high degree or hum-
ble degree, in his majority or in his minority, white or black,
it was: " If you please" or other polite phrase. His abundant
civility had no tint of affectation but appeared the natural flow
of a sweet nature and a refined character.

His conversation was not mere talk; it was the copious
treasure of the mind gathered by association with the fore-
most in the various ways of life, by observation in travel at
home and abroad and by assimilation of the best literature in
the languages of all advanced peoples. And he possessed that
facility of polished converse, to

Speak, though sure, with seeming diffidence.

It is not to be inferred because Mr. Greenleaf was civil to the
humblest that he mixed. "Mr. Greenleaf was a high-toned
gentleman and did not associate with everybody." His asso-
ciations had been with the eminently respectable and he main-
tained the same social degree. He was cultured and he courted
the company of the cultured and none other.

Daily Mr. Greenleaf exchanged greetings and confidences
with his beloved sister Nancy and the dear judge who were
just around the corner. He almost lived with his sister and
his brother by marriage. Sister Nancy and brother James
greatly resembled each other. She was real motherly; of
comfortable proportions and of happy and lively nature.

3ZZ ^AFTBRDAYS

Mrs. Cranch had been seriously ill; Mr. Greenleaf moderately
ill. Perhaps in him it was the sympathy of soul, who can say
nay. Mr. Greenleaf called his youthful assistant and laying
gently his hand upon his shoulder said: '' Bushrod, go to the
judge's and see how sister is." The lad went to the back door.
The judge himself appeared and answered: "Tell James,
she is dead." The messenger returned. Mr. Greenleaf drew
closer the garments and sank upon the couch. The shock
was too severe ; the vital current ceased to serge. The beloved
sister had passed to the other shore, the brother waited only a
few hours for the ferryman and he, too, passed over.

Mr. Greenleaf had perhaps for a fortnight been in the care of
Dr. John F. May, his physician. His mind never was im-
paired ; his hand was as firm a month before his end as ever
before. His signature, September, 1843, is as strong as that
of September, 1793; and its exactitude is like the impress of a
die.

This notice appeared in the Intelligencer^ Wednesday, Sep-
tember 20, 1843 :

In this city, on Saturday morning, the i6th instant, Mrs. Nancy Cranch,
aged 71 years, wife of Judge Cranch, and on Sunday morning, the 17th instant,
her brother, James Greenleaf, Esq., aged 78.

On September 22, in an obituary of Mrs. Cranch, this :

One, James Greenleaf, Esq. , well known as among the earliest settlers of this
dty, outlived his beloved sister but a few hours.

And that is all of him who in the formative days held the
center of the stage.

In the Congressional Cemetery is a monument whereon is
chiseled this inscription :

James Greenleaf

bom in Boston

June 9, 17ft,

died in Washington

Sept 17, 1843.

M, 781.

At the foot of the monument is a mound, spread with na-
ture's carpet freshened with the dews of twilight; on it the
eternal sun shines by day, on it the moon and the jEcems of
heaven shed their silvery rays by night, over it a maple stands
sentinel, and with its spreading boughs shelters from the stress

of the storm, and by it, just beyond the gentie slope, the Ana-
costan waters ripple and sparkle in their ebb and flow. The
tumult of traffic intrudes not upon this hallowed city of long
homes and naught is heard more boisterous than

Little gales, that from the green leaf sweep
Dry Summer's dust

The grave

Shuts up the story of our days.

Not SO with Greenleaf. The story of his life shall live as the
city stands.

' It is almost a certainty that James Greenleaf first entered the
Federal City a day previous to the ceremonies at the Capitol.

September 17, 1793, Greenleaf came; September 17, 1843,
Greenleaf departed; — ^an even fifty years. September 18, 1793,
the corner stone was laid; September 18, 1843, is its half-
centenary.

At the time of his death Mr. Greenleaf had a large holding
of unimproved and unproductive realty. He owed little and
the proceeds from the sale of his personalty more than paid his
debts. He died intestate and Mr. David A. Hall, the lawyer,
was, October 10, 1843, appointed administrator.

Mr. Greenleaf s library was remarkable for size and value.
The books were sold at three auctions. Mr. W. M. Morrison
was the auctioneer and the sales room was on Pennsylvania
avenue four doors west of Brown's Hotel.

1st Catalogue of the Large and Valuable Library of the Late James
Greenleaf ^ deceased^ to be sold on Wednesday evening^ January //,
1844. This comprises 1^155 volumes.

2nd Catalogue of French^ Dutch^ Italian and Latin Books^ many of
which are very old Editions^ out of Print and Extremely Valuable
Belonging to the Estate of James Greenleaf Esq, ^ Deceased , to be
sold, Monday and Tuesday evenings^ ^9ll^, and 20th, February, ^^44,
Comprised i^2$2 volumes,

3rd. Catalogue of Final Sale of English Books belonging to the estate
of the late James Greenleaf Esq, comprising many highly illus-
trated works to which are added various law and miscellaneous books ,
to be sold on Friday evening, the 2sd inst. Volumes 205.

Aggregate volumes 2,6iz

Mrs. Greenleaf died August, 1852, and the 27th of that
month her remains were interred in the vault belonging to
Walter C. Livingston, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

213— AFTltDaWS

In attractive array Thomas P. Woodward, Esq., of the
Washington bar, January i, 1901, marshals the worthies:

As I work over the^ to many, dry and musty records I often try to conjure up
the personalities of the men whose acts and deeds I am investigating. I picture
William Prout, the staid Baltimore merchant, Benjamin Stoddert, the Revolu-
tionary soldier, Robert Morris, the great financier of the colonies, Samuel
Blodgett, the lottery man, the Youngs, gentlemen of the manor bom, David
Burns, suddenly thrown into unfamiliar company, James Greenleaf, the prince of
schemers, Thomas Law, man of the world, George Walker, the canny Scotsman
and all the lesser lights, clad in the quaint costumes of the time doing business
as real estate brokers after the most approved methods.

Of him unseen who excites the emotions, in feature and
stature, the mind creates a mental image. The portraitist
presents the likeness in words or in pictures. The delineation
by the former although graphic and vivid has not the resem-
blance to reality and humanity of the latter. Yet the picture
gives only a passing expression anfd a glimpse of character
while the words more generally if not so accurately, the vary-
ing expressions which spring from the soul.

Nemo in his Sketches says:

If after his troubled life at the age of seventy-eight, he was, as old inhabi-
tants, who still remembering, describe him as an old man, tall and courteous
with a graceful manner and pleasant face, in the flower of his youth he must
have been supple-sinewed and handsome.

Mrs. Robert S. Chilton writes :

Dear Mr. Clark :

Unfortunately, the details I can give you about Mr. Greenleaf are very meagre.
His appearance is a dbtinct picture in my memory; beyond that I can recaU little
of him. Mr. Greenleaf was a pleasant mannered old gentleman, very genial
and always very attractive to children. He was of medium height and of a
ruddy complexion, and I think wore "Madisons." He bore a striking resem-
blance to his sister, the wife of Judge Cranch. Mrs. Cranch was a lady with an
individuality so unique and charming that she can never be forgotten by those
who had the privilege of knowing her, even by one who was only a chfld when
she died. She certainly represented the highest type of the women of her day
and generation. Remembering her better than I do Mr. Greenleaf, I have ven-
tured to bring in her name, as his sister, she may help to illustrate the fiunfly dis-
tinction and character.

Very Sincerely Yours

VIRGINIA B. CHILTON.
April 19th, 1901.

The youthful assistant to Mr. Greenleaf is now the respected
citizen Mr. Bushrod Robinson:

I knew the late James Greenleaf in 1843. He was then an old man, small in
stature, say about five feet seven inches, weight about 140, light gray hair, dean
shaven Cice, blonde, with all the appearance of a cultured English gentleman,
stooped slightly and always used a cane when walking. He used to ride out in
a one horse buggy and always drove himself; and iixxn my recollection he
seemed to me to be a great bookworm, and had but few of the neighbors as
personal friends.

June 7, 1901.

Cheerfully although inadequately I make acknowledgment
of the pictorial adjuncts. The likeness of Mr. Greenleaf (the
frontispiece) is a reproduction of the portrait dated 1795 by
Gilbert Stuart and that of Mr. Morris from the portrait of same
date by Charles Wilson Peale; both paintings are of the perma-
nent collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and
it is through the courtesy of the Academy that the reproduc-
tions are had. The old photograph from which Mr. Green-
leafs Washington home appears is the property of Mr. Randolph
D. Hopkins of this city and it is fortunate he has cherished the
place of his birth. And I should include in my catalogue of
appreciation the kindness of Mr. J. Marx Etting of Philadelphia
for copies of letters to Greenleaf: These pages primarily are
compiled from chancery causes which and the tax records are
broken and confused; explanations and references noted in
lead pencil have saved oversights and weary hours ; the notings
mark thoughtfulness and unselfishness and are in one hand-
writing that of Mr. Daniel O'C. Callaghan of the Washington
bar.

The pen has been heavy nevertheless the tale is told. I lay
it aside with the assurance that this attempt is not to be criticized
by a

Guping and censorious world *

but indulgently received by a limited circle. Greenleaf s life
is biographical history; a chapter of primitive Washington.
Poverty of personal incident I have not endeavored to equate
by elaboration. Numerous letters have been incorporated and
I think they recompense the space. If others think differently
I shall be excused upon the plea that not a third part at com-

* Exprenion b borrowed from the preface of a work by Rev. Stephen Bloomer Belch, 179a ;
ihtJSrsi author of the DIttrlct of Columbia.

315— — APTBtDAYS

mand is used. Preconceived notions of Greenleaf have proven
false by research. These discoveries have disconcerted the
movement of the narration. At this point I was for the nonce
to evoke the genius of the English novelist to pathetically and
harrowingly recite the woes of the litigant. By steps trace
confidence to doubt, doubt to dread and dread to despair.
Greenleaf had that within which withstood the crush of defeat;
that

Eternal sunshine in the stonns of life

that reflected in kindly eye and buoyant spirit.

He was of Huguenot mold and would not renounce his pur-
pose not that he was always right for in him was too much
the man to be that. Self-assertion is not synonymous selfish-
ness ; it is strength of the moral forces. His persistency was
not supported by insensibility. Sensitive through culture and
refinement he was more acutely hurt by the arrows of misfor-
tune and that he sustained cheerfulness and kindliness marks a
noble character — beautiful and brave.

Beyond the turmoils of life there is rest in the activities of a
higher sphere, let us have an abiding faith.

INDIA.

THAT research which embraces the biographies of the
original owners and the initiatory investors is not only
interesting but important. The original proprietors and
earJy speculators of the Federal City were men, unexceptionally
of strong mentality and striliing traits; their faith exceeded the
scriptural mustard seed, and their financiering eclipsed every-
thing before and has its only parallel in the Mississippi System.
John Law and Thomas Law were not of the same kindred;
however, there is similarity in their careers. Both heavily
speculated on phenomenal appreciation on the new world,
both swayed multitudes, both rose to affluence, both died in
comparative indigence.

The //emo sketches, a series entitled IVashin^tcn Rambles,
dealing with the pioneers and promoters of the Capital City,
appeared weekly seventeen years since in a local newspaper.
It is the only comprehensive array yet undertaken. Remark-
ably racy and readable are these articles and their news sur-
prising and startling. Perhaps the new incidents are necessary
to sustain the spicy style; surely they moved the descendants
to denial and dissent. The author has my acknowledgment
of pleasure in VII Ramble, with its flippant headline The
Elegant Tom Law — Warren Nasting's Secretary — All the
Way from India. It is Dryden's sentiment that like straws
errors float on the surface and they who seek pearls should
dive below. Had Nemo had the industry to investigate, truth
and not error would have, and more strongly, held the readerl.
There is change and charm, strange and true, in Law's life and'
the mask and make up of falsity add not a whit to the char-
acter. I have read several sketches with the title Thomas Law
which can be classified either as biography or (iction being a
jumble of fiict and falsity. I shall without aid of authorcraft

MDU 290

attempt an authentic account; I propose to present that only
which has unimpeachable verification.

Right Reverend Edmund Law, D. D., Lord Bishop of Car-
lisle, was born June 6, 1703, in the parish of Cartmel in Lanca-
shire; the son of a curate of the same name. His religious
writings in zealous trend of religious freedom excited contro-
versial discussion. Theory of Religion underwent numerous
editions ; its central idea is that humanity in divine education
advances as it progresses in all other knowledge. He was
promoted to the bishopric, 1768. He married Mary, daughter
of John Christian of Ewanrige or Unerigg in Cumberland ; she
predeceased him, 1772. He died at Rose Castle, August 14,
1787, and is buried at the Cathedral of Carlisle. His bible in-
terleaved with manuscript notes is preserved at the British
Museum. He was the patron of Dr. William Paley who dedi-
cated his works to him. Dr. Paley in his biography of Bishop
Law describes him :

A man of great softness of manners, and of the mfldest and most tranquil
disposition. His voice was never raised above its ordinary pitch. His counte-
nance seemed never to be ruffled.

The Bishop's portrait was three times painted by Romney :
A census of the children of Edward and Mary Law is an

even dozen; another census ''a baker's dozen." Of them,

are these :

I. Edmund, died in early manhood.

II. John, b. 1745.

d, March 18, 18 10 in Dublin.

III. Evan, b, 1746

tn. Henrietta Sarah, dau. Dr. William Markham, Archbishop of York,

June 28, 1784.
d, April 29, 1829 at Horstead Park, England.

IV. Edward, b, November 16. 1750 at Great Salkeld

m. Anne, dau. Capt George Phillips Towry, October 17, 1789.
d. December 13, 1818 St James Square, London.

VI. Thomas, » » »

VII. George Henry, b, September 12, 1761 at Peterhouse Lodge, dmbridge.

Iff. Jane dau. James Whorwood Adeane, M. P.
d, September 22, 1845.

VIII. Mary m. Rev. James Stephen Lushington

IX. Joanna m. Sir Thomas Rumbold, May 2, 1772.

John Law was a graduate of Christ's College, Cambridge,
and there he and Dr. William Paley, also a graduate, were co-

331 mou

adjutors in tuition, which union of ability gave that institution
high fame. In 1782 he was advanced to the see of Clonfert.
Dr. Paley, his successor in archdeaconry, accompanied him to
Ireland and preached the consecration sermon. In 1787 Bishop
Law was translated to the see of Killala and in 1795 to that of
Elphin.
Thomas Law commends :

My good brother, the Irish Bishop, the most learned of our fiunily.

Ewan Law devoted the prime of life to service in India; a
service of high trust and great credit. It was upon his return
he married the daughter of the Archbishop. He was a mem-
ber of Parliament from 1790 to 1802, returned from Westbury,
Wiltshire, and Newtown, Isle of Wight. He attained nearly
four score and five. He lived in elegant hospitality and died
possessed of a large estate to be inherited by numerous
children.

Edward Law of the brothers is of most fame. Edward and
Thomas were antagonistic and antithetic. In contrast were
physique, manner, trait, character and idea; perhaps were the
same dissimilarities between Edward and the other brothers.
He in his thirty-seventh year was the leading counsel for the
defendant in the Warren Hastings' trial and had as opponents
that galaxy of luminaries of law and letters, Burke, Fox, Fran-
cis, Grey and Sheridan. The English literature is enriched with
the brilliant efforts of these advocates in the most memorable
trial. Law's signal triumph resulted in his selection as Attor-
ney General in 1801 and the honor of knighthood. In the fol-
lowing year he was made Lord Chief Justice and elevated to
the peerage as Baron Ellenborough of Ellenborough, county of
Cumberland; a title derived from the ancient patrimony of his
grandmother's family. He was Speaker of the House of Lords,
1804. Upon his most honorable preferment and upon warrant
of magnificent emolument he exchanged residence from
Bloomsburg Square to St. James Square.* To an old lawyer

*No. 3 St. faniM S<iuare was the rtsld«io« of the Doln of Ltedt.

When the Diik* of Lcedi thall married be
To a fiiir youiur lady of high quality.
How happy will that geotlewoman he
In hb grace of Lccda' good company I
She shall have aU that's fine and fitir.
And the best of silk and satin shall wear ;
And ride In a coach to take the air.
And have a honee la St IanMS*i Sqoart.

MDU 292

who lived in Chancery Lane he boasted his mansion's magni-
tude.

Sir, if you let off a piece of ordnance in the hall, the report is not heard in
the bed rooms.

The Lord Chief Justice of England in judicial attire, wig and
ermined robes encircled by the insignia chain, is upon canvas
by Sir Thomas Lawrence and is also painted by Romney.

The Right Honorable Lord Ellenborough had great legal store
and mental vigor. He was of hasty temper, of intense preju-
dice, of unmovable opinion, and intolerant of the exercise of
contradiction and contrary views. On the bench his judgment
was moved by political and religious bias, and his justice untem-
pered with mercy and by browbeating trammeled the free pre-
rogative of the jury. In the forum his language if within the
limit of the parliamentary was pungent. His intention had
integrity is admitted. As a speaker he convinced by force and
not by charm. His eyes were dark, his brows shaggy, his
features strong, his gait ungainly, his manners awkward, his
accent provincial and these peculiarities made him the mark for
mimicry even for the delectation of royalty.*

George Henry Law, as did his brothers, John and Edward,
in his scholastic course, won the honors of second wrangler
and senior chancellor's medallist. To the influence of the Lord
Chief Justice and the greater, of the Prince Regent, he was
nominated Bishop of Chester, 1812. To the bishopric of Bath
and Wells he was translated in 1824.! He was prone to print
his preaching. He describes himself:

A friend of dvil and religious liberty;

and Sir Egerton Brydes describes him :

A milder man and possessing better talents than his brother Lord Ellenborough.

* The inimitJibte imitation bv the actor, Chaiiet Mathews, the elder, was repeated upon request
at the Charlton House for the Prince R^ent

t Of Bishop Law's predecessor. Bishop John Still (1543-1608) his student, Sir John Haringtoa
acknowledges *' some helps, more nope%, all encouragementa in my beat studies : to whom I never
came but I grew more religious, and from whom I never went but 1 parted better instrticted * ^ *
His breeding was from his childhood in good literature and partly in musiqus * * * I hold him
a rare man for preaching, for arguing, for learning, for lyvlng : I could only wish that In aU these
he would make lease use of logique and more of rnetoricke." Marry, the Bishop was a rare roan
for lyvinff and though Bishop of Balk and tVeUs, he had no partiaaty for water but pndaes to ye
cup of Jolly good ale in rhytlim :

"A stoup of sle, then, cannot fiiil
To cneer both heart and soul;
It hath a charm and without harm
Can make a lame man whole.

For he who thinks, and water drinks,

Is ntYtt worth a dump :
Then fin your cup, and drink It
*May ht be made a pumpl* '*

\

M3— IMDU

James Stephen Lushington of Rodmersham, Kent, did not
reach the ecclesiastical dignity of his wife's brothers; the
encyclopaedia records he was prebendary of Carlisle and vicar
of New Castle-on-Tyne, and of Latton, Essex.

Thomas Rumbold was born June 15, 1736. Entered the
East India Company's service as writer, 1752. Shortly after
exchanged civil for military duty. Was chief of Patna, 1763,
and member of Bengal Council, 1766 to 1769; member of Par-
liament, 1770. Succeeded to the governorship of the Madras
presidency, 1777, and as an appreciation of military manoeuvre
the crown conferred a baronetcy, 1779. Returned in 1780 to
England and from 1784 to 1790 represented Weymouth in
Parliament. His second wife was Joanna Law; and it was
upon his suggestion her brother, Edward, was selected senior
council by the former Governor-General of British India. Sir
Thomas died November 11, 1791.

The Rt. Rev. Edmund Law wished all his sons consecrated
to the church. His wish approached gratification. John and
George Henry were bishops and Ewan was the son-in-law of
an archbishop. His daughter, Mary, responded as nearly as
she might and married a divine. Bishop of Bath and Wells
had three sons, all divines.

Thomas Law, the sixth son, was born October 23, 1756, at
Cambridge and christened at Little St. Mary's, Cambridge.
Concurrence of every advantage presaging good fortune had
he in his birth. Culture the family had, and that concurrent
essential to contentment, wealth. In his will, dated 1832,
says: "Happily my relations are above aid from me." I think
he had in mind his nephew in England, Edward, first Earl of
Ellenborough, who then, in a life position, clerk of the Queen's
bench, drew annually £7,000, A rich office without work
seems conducive to longevity, as the Earl did not succumb
until he had drawn ;^40o,ooo.

It has been in print that Law was the private secretary of
Lord Hastings, that in this capacity he was peculiarly qualified
to know and to testify of his chief's methods. That the King
summoned him to speedily appear at the trial in England.
That Law forthwith in compliance with the royal mandate
converted his assets into cash and packed his belongings into
his trunks. That suddenly he detected his system had been
impaired by India's torrid rays and he decided America was

IVDU— — 214

the haven of health, likewise an escape from his benefactor's
betrayal. Or, that by some mental twist he thought the
King's subpoena to come to England was an invitation to go
to America.

The rise of this fiction is the publication, TTie Stranger in
America — Charles WiUiam /anson, 1807, wherein it is made
to appear :

Early in life Mr. Law went to the East Indies under the patronage of Mr.
Hastings, obtained through the interest of the bishop. Mr. Law returned to
Europe with, or soon after, his patron. During the trial it was thought advisable
that the subject of these anecdotes should retire to America.

This publication by the wanderer, Janson, is consistent
throughout. Its grain of truth never exceeds the proportion
of an ounce to sixteen although the ounce is sometimes scant.
When Master Law went to India none of his family had yet
been honored with bishopric. His elder brother was then an
official in India and he may have been the medium of his
employment. Lord Hastings embarked for England in 1785;
the preliminaries of the impeachment began 1786, the trial,
February, 1788; the prosecution must have closed February,
1792, as at that date the defense opened. I can state with
confidence that Law was not secretary to Lord Hastings nor
connected with him in any confidential capacity. Law's
narratives of his career in India make only one mention of
Hastings, and that casual. Law went directly to England and
engaged in a treatise on India. In the preface he says: '' In
1791 sickness compelled me to relinquish my station and since
my arrival in England," &c. A copy is lodged in the Library
of Congress ; its title page reads : A Sketch of Some Late
Arrangements and a View of the Rising Resources in Bengal.
By Thomas Law, Late a Member of the Council of Reve-
nue in Fort William. London ^ fohn Stockdale^ Piccadilly^
MDCCXCIL The book has marginal lead pencil notes ex-
planatory of the Indian terms in the author's handwriting.

Mr. Law was defamed and derided in his lifetime. Sneers
and slanders contained in a criticism of Faux's Memorable Days
in America called forth A Reply to Certain Insinuations Pub-
lished as an Article in the Fifty-eighth Number of the Quarterly
Review, by Thomas Law, Washington, 1824. To this publi-
cation I owe specially account of Mr. Law's life in India.

225 W*><A

From motives prompted by patriotism and local pride the
sympathies will be with Mr. Law in the controversy when it
appears The Review applauds and amplifies such comments as:

Fools must not come, for Americans are naturally cold, jealous, suspicious and
knavish, have little or no sense of honor, believing every man a rogue until they
see the contrary.

There is, indeed, a something in a real upright and downright honest John Bull
that cannot be found in the sly, say-nothiug, smiling, deep-speculating, money-
hunting Jonathans of this aU-men-are-bom-equally-free-and-independent, negro-
driving, cow-skin republic

There b a national church liturgy in England, and if ever there should be one
adopted here the following, I think, ought to form part of it:

Money, money is all our cry.

Money the total sum!
Give us money or else we die;

O let thy money come.

The (Washington) streets are a mile or two in length, with houses a quarter of
a mile apart, beautified by trees and swamps and cows grazing between. At
first view, a stranger might suppose that some convulsion of nature had swept
away whole streets and laid waste the iar-famed metropolitan dty.

All the bogs and swamps in and round the dty are full of melody, from the
big bellowing bullfrog, down to the little singing mosquito; while rotten car-
casses and other nuisances perfume the warm southern breeze.

The prefatory paragraph of Law's reply, I in part quote :

An accumulation of domestic affliction that I had suffered, aggravated by the
common casualties of Ufe, inddent to its decline had shaken the fi'ame of my
constitution. Weary, therefore, of the cares and bustle of busy sodety, yet
ndther unsolidtous nor unoccupied for its welfare, I had sometime since retted
from the city into the country. In such retirement one of my first employments
was to select from a mass of written documents a few letters and communications
on public affairs during my residence in India, which afforded evidence of what
I did in that country. These memoranda, thus brought together, I had packeted,
indulging a natural desire that after my death an only surviving son might peruse
them with gratifying tenderness. It is the privil^e of a sufferer to complain, and
whenever a character is assailed it may be fidrly and firmly sustained without
involving its advocate in the imputation of vanity and arrogance. To vindicate
aspered merit or insulted integrity is a duty that I owe both to the dead and the
living, and, in the discharge of it, I shall not, I trust, however exdted by aggres-
sion, at once unprovoked and unprindpled, forget to exercise that mild spiiit of
Christian forbearance and charity which the best of fathers so well remembered
taught both by precept and example. Under such peculiar circumstances egotism
will not, I trust, be imputed to me, if, when driven by slander into refutations of
it — by statements of opposite complexion — I prematurely publish testimonialsy
which otherwise, delicacy might have prevented me from causing to be circulated
in my liietime*

INDIA— 396

Tke Review thus speaks of Law's conduct and character:

This gentleman accumuUted (it is not said by what means) an immense for-
tune in India, where by his own account he was a most important personage:
'* Why, Sir, I once, with Lord G>mwaUis, governed India. Ego ei rex mens. **
He talks with the greatest composure of having carried away an hundred
thousand guineas.

Mr. Law says:

I arrived in Bengal at the age of seventeen, in the capacity of writer, an office
which is introductory to employment in the civil service of the East India Com-
pany. After serving the usual term of novidate in this station I successively
passed through the various grades of promotion until I was chosen member of
the Revenue Board at Hoagley. 1 was next appointed judge of Patna; but this
office, after liolding it for a short time, I thought proper to resign. At the age
of twenty-seven I attained promotion to the collectorship of Bahar. Shortly
afterwards the number of these collectors was curtailed; and inasmuch as I had
been the last collector appointed, I had good reason to expect that my office
would be abolished. Government, however, for causes publicly assigned,
chose to retain me.

The office of collector, in which, at this early age, I was retained, was cer-
tainly of a more responsible and important nature than the name would indicate,
since with the fiscal duties of a revenue officer was blended in cases both dvil and
criminal the judidal and executive functions of chief magistrate; and this, too,
over a district containing more than two million souls.

Gya, the capital of Bahar, was venerated by the Hindoos as
is Mecca by the Mahometans. Pilgrims had formerly resorted
to it from all parts of India, but onerous exactions deterred
them from fulfilling this religious usage. A moderation of the
tax through Law's persuasion so increased the number of pil-
grims the revenues realized were even larger, for which he
received congratulatory and compensatory recognition from
the Board of Control at London.

So popular was Law's administration upon his retirement he
received at Calcutta a letter dated July 12, 1790, enclosing this

ADDRESS:

The best Judge and l>eneficent Magistrate, Mr. Thomas Law, who during six
years presided over the district of Bahar, having in his excellent administration
displayed the most laudable qualities, and performed the most praiseworthy
actions; having studied the welfare of all ranks of people, distinguishing the
liberal and noble, rendering justice to the oppressed, and cherishing the afflicted;
giving ease and satisfaction to all; shewing natural goodness and acquired
virtues in his conduct, to the high and to the low, to the rich and to the poor;
treating all with kindness, and receiving from all a good name, whereby the

227 WWA

happiness of the people and the prosperity of the country were promoted: We
therefore, with one voice, and one mind, of our free will and accord, make the
following declaration : That we, all of us, are, in every respect, satisfied with,
and grateful to, the gentleman above mentioned, and that we regard his admin-
istration as a blessing to us. Now it happens that this gentleman is about to
quit our district, and we are, one and all, in the greatest degree afflicted ; we
are impressed with the deepest concern on this account, and having our hands
lifted up to the Deity, in prayer for his life, prosperity and exaltation ; may the
Almighty God accept our prayers, advance him to the highest dignities, and
bless him with every enjoyment worldly and heavenly 1

Mr. Law yielded to the entreaties of Marquis Cornwallis, the
Governor-General, although in declining health, to serve on
the Revenue Board. This service was short as his physician
insisted he must at once embark from Calcutta, which he did,
January 25, 1791.

Mr. Law's hobby was the institution of the Mocurrery land
system.

In January, 1788, when collector of Bahar, he submitted to the Board of
Revenue at Fort William his plan for a mocurrery or fixed settlement of the land
tax and an abolition of all internal impositions, he hoped to insure security of
property in Bengal, Bahar and Benares. The system was embodied in the Com-
wallis settlement in 1789.*

His arguments therefor given in the work on Bengal show a
knowledge on Indian affairs and a grasp of policy, generally,
which can only adequately be characterized by such descrip-
tions as: complete, consummate.

Shortly after Mr. Law's return to England, the Board of

Control adopted his plan. That he is entitled to the sole credit

for its establishment these letters indicate:

14th April, 1794.
Dear Law:

I read your letter yesterday with concern. But if your resolution is taken it

will be needless for me to expostulate. You may be assured that I shall never

cease to acknowledge with gratitude the lights that I have received from you

respecting the Mocurrery system and permanent settlement; and that you will

always possess a great share of my r^ard and esteem.

Your most fiuthiul iKend,

CORNWALLIS.

28th March, 1796.
* * * I shall ever with gratitude acknowledge you as the founder.

CORNWALLIS.

William Duane, the editor of The Aurora, who figures
prominently in the early history of the city, was in India at

^ Gordon Goodwin In Dicdooaiy of Natioiial Biography, London, 1893.

INDIA 228

the time of Law's departure and an eye-witness of the effects
of the new land system. He writes :

We have known Mr. Law now more than thirty years. We knew him when
he was inferior to no man in eminence and in power, the third or fourth in degree
in a great empire; and thb was at a time, too, when, by hb own generous efforts,
pursued with zeal and talent that commanded general admiration and esteem, he
brought about a revolution, the influence of which now extends to one hundred
and twenty millions of people, as great in its moral and political influence as the
extinction of the feudal system. In Hindostan, in the Mogul government, the
tenure of land was in the emperor, and reverted upon the demise of the holder.
The afflictions produced by such a system cannot be conceived by those who
have not been eye-witnesses of them. Upon the death of a zemindar, or land
holder, where polygamy prevails, and the children and females are numerous,
the death of the head of a famfly, where no provision has been otherwise made,
cannot be well imagined. Mr. Law, who held the government of a rich and
populous province, under the Bengal administration^ proposed what had been
called the Mocurrery system, that is, to make land personal property, and not to
revert to the sovereign. This plan, pursued through several years of zeal and
devotion to humanity, he accomplished. The Norman conquest, the revolution
in England of 1688, were great events, and they mark epochs in history, and are
treated as such; while Mr. Law's revolution without bloodshed eventually
changed the whole moral and social condition of Hindostan, settled estates in
possessors as personal property, and put an end to all the calamities which were
consequent of the old system; yet the event is scarcely heard of; perhaps there
are not three men in this country who ever heard of it yet

So soon is disclosed Mr. Law's kindly nature and disposition
to deeds of hospitality.

Mbddenporb, March.
Dear Sir, — I cannot leave this part of the country, which is so happy under
your care, without thanking you for myself and the party for the very great
kindness and hospitality which you showed us, and for the pleasure of a higher
nature for which we are indebted to you. Since we parted with you we have
not rode a step without perceiving the l>eneficial effects which your wise as
well as humane treatment of the peasants has produced in the country; large
tracts, evidently newly rescued from the desert jungles, converted into comfields,
houses, villages everywhere rising, and, above all, happy faces. I have often
thought when riding formerly through different parts of India, that the poor
people said in their hearts, '* There goes one of our t3a'ants, there is our oppressor,
or the supporter of our oppressors;" a different idea has lately pleased me. I
have imagined that ryots called out to their children, '' There b a countryman of
our father, our benefactor," etc.

NORMAN McLEOD.

The editors of the Intelligencer between whom and Law
was close relationship, state that because of his beneficent
administration he received the enviable appellation — "Father
of the People."

229 WDU

That accomplished man, learned lawyer and excellent
scholar, Sir William Jones, whom Dr. Johnson styled "The
most enlighten'd of the sons of men," was an intimate of Mr.
Law, in India, and presented him with a mourning ring. To
Mr. Law, Lord Cornwallis gave his miniature, a memorial of
friendship, a remembrance of by-past association.

In London Mr. Law became a member of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal and the Association for Preserving Liberty and Prop-
erty. Of the latter he was a committeeman; disapproval of
procedure elicited from him a lengthy letter to the chairman
which he published in the Morning Chronicle^ January 24,
i793» and in pamphlet form. Besides this publication are:

1. Letters to the Board submitting by their requisition a Revenue Plan
for Perpetuity^ 4to. Calcutta, 1798, to which is appended Public Corre*
spondence elucidating the Plan^ in answer to questions thereon,

2. A Sketch of some late Arrangements and a View 0/ the rising Re-
sources in Bengal, Svo. London, 1792. This publication, an enlarged edition
of No. I, was severely criticised by a colleague, Nield, in Summary Remarks
on the Resources of the East Indies, By a Civil Servant, 8vo.
London, 1798.

3. An Answer to Mr, Pnnseps*s Observations on the Mocurrery System^
Svo. London, 1794. John Prinsep under signature Gurrub Doss in a
series of letters in the Morning Chronicle, 1792, and separately published,
attacked the system.

It has been published that Mr. Law was led to come to the
young republic by his enthusiasm for free institutions and his
admiration for General Washington. However, the real motives
he has himself given.* Ten thousand pounds, one-fifth of
the fortune acquired in India, were arrested in his attorney's
hands by the company's government to satisfy its claim against
a paymaster for whom he was surety. Law insisted that the
principal being financially responsible should have been com-
pelled to pay. This injustice, together with disapprobation of
the war with France determined his departure. Mr. Law insti-
tuted suit for restitution against the East India Company, which,
when he was a resident of the United States, July 24, 1799, was
decided in his favor. Reported in 4 Vesey, 824.

In Mr. Law's party were his three Indian sons, George, John
and Edmund, and with him at least one Englishman concerned
in East India traffic.

August, 1794, Mr. Law set foot on the American shore.

^ A Reply to Certain Insinuations,

MRS. THOMAS LAW

I-

*. t

i

I
*

\ i

MARRIAGE.

AT Abingdon, the 21st August, 1776, came to John Parke
and Eleanor Custis their first born and they named her
Elizabeth Parke.

Benedict Calvert, fourth Lord Baltimore, was the father of
Charles Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore, and he, of Benedict
Calvert of Mt. Airy, Prince George's County, Maryland, and
Benedict's second daughter was Eleanor.

England had more attraction to Col. Daniel Parke than his
broad estates in Virginia. He was the aid next to the heart
of the Duke of Marlborough. The Duke fought the battle of
Blenheim and Col. Parke was the herald of victory to Qiieen
Anne. Thereafter Col. Parke arrayed himself in apparel of
rich fabric and gorgeous shade wrought with figures of gold
and bore on his bosom suspended by a scarlet ribbon the
Qlieen's miniature set in diamonds by her bestowed with
pounds sterling, a thousand, and the governorship of the Lee-
ward Islands. Hon. John Custis, who was of the King's
Council, Virginia, married the Colonel's daughter; and their
son was Daniel Parke Custis. Martha Dandridge's first hus-
band was Daniel Parke Custis, her second. Col. George Wash-
ington. The only issue was by the first, a son and a daughter.
The son, John Parke, was born at the White House on the
Pamunkey River in New Kent County, in 1753. The daughter,
Eleanor, died in her seventeenth year.

The union of Custis and Calvert is by John Parke Custis and
Eleanor Calvert. Col. Washington wrote to Mr. Calvert,
April 3, 1773, commending the consummation of the nuptials
at a time remote, or so seemed, to the views ol the lovers':
And in spite of Washington's protest, the next year the youth- .
ful couple were bride and groom, one sixteen, the other

MAKRIAOI 234

nineteen. To them was born four children, Elizabeth Parke,
Martha Parke, December 31, 1777, Eleanor Parke, March 21,
1779, and George Washington Parke, April 30, 1781. The
girls were familiarly called Betcy, Patcy and Nelly. The
family lived at Mt. Vernon, after at Abingdon. The father
died in the twenty-eighth year, November 5, 1781, at Eltham,
the seat of his maternal uncle. The widow married Dr. David
Stuart, the autumn of 1783; she had seven Stuart children; and
died April 28, 181 1.

Elizabeth's girlish prettiness promised womanly perfection.
The artist, Robert Edge Pine, a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds,
at Mt. Vernon, May, 1785, in Elizabeth's ninth year portrayed
her half-length in accurate drawing and exquisite blending.*
One who saw the portrait describes it:

Elizabeth is represented as a beautiful girl, with rich brown hair lying in
less curls, and in great profusion, upon her head and neck, her bosom covered
with very light drapery, and having lying upon it the miniature of her father
John Parke Custis, suspended by a ribbon around her neck.

Elizabeth had expressed to General Washington that the
dearest wish of her life was to have his portrait. She was then
on the threshold of womanhood, living with her mother and
stepfather at Hope Park. The General's letter is occasionally
printed for the first time. Yet it will never be trite as cannot
the psalms of the man of song or the proverbs of the man of
wisdom. Its aptitude will always be the same as long as the
story of love is ever becoming new.

German Town, Sept 14th, 1794.
My dear Betcy,

Shall 1, in answer to your letter of the 7th instant say — when you are as near
the Pinnacle as your sister Patcy conceives herself to be; or when your candour
thrives more conspicuously than it does in that letter, that 1 will then comply
with the request that you have made for my picture.

No; 1 will grant it without either, for if the latter was to be a preliminary, it
would be sometime, 1 apprehend, before that picture would be found pendant at
your breast; it not being within the bounds of probability that the contempla-
tion of an inanimate thing, whatever might be the reflections arising from the
possession of it, can be the only wish of your heart

Respect may place it among the desirable objects of it, but there are emotions
of a softer kind, to which the heart of a girl turned of eighteen is susceptible,
that must have created much warmer ideas, although fruition of them may ap-
parently be more distant than those of your sbter.

^ Reproduced. The Home of Wathlngton end Its Aesocbtione.— JBmjMi y. LMsimg,

235 MARRIAGE

Having (by way of a hint) delivered a sentiment to Patty, which may be
useful to her (if it be remembered after the change that is contemplated is con-
summated), I will suggest another more applicable to yourself

Do not then, in your contemplation of the marriage state, look for perfect
felicity before you consent to wed — nor conceive from the fine tales the poets
and lovers of old have told us of the transports of mutual love, that heaven has
taken its abode on earth. Nor do not deceive yourself in supposing that the
only means by which these are to be obtained is to drink deep of the cup and
revel in an ocean of love. Love is a mighty pretty thing ; but like all other de-
licious things, it is cloying, and when the first transports of the passion begins to
subside, which it assuredly will do, and yield — oftentimes too late — to more
sober reflections, it serves to evince that love is too dainty a food to live upon
alone and ought not to be considered further than a necessary ingredient for that
matrimonial happiness which results from a combination of causes — none of
which are of greater importance than that the object on whom it is placed should
possess good sense, good disposition and the means of supporting you in the
way you have been brought up. Such qualifications can not fail to attract (after
marriage) your esteem and regard, into which or into disgust, sooner or later,
love naturally resolves itself— and, who, at the same time, has a claim to the
esteem of the circle he moves in. Without these, whatever may be your first
impression of the man, they will end in disappointment, for be assured, and ex-
perience will convince you, that there is no truth more certain than that all our
enjoyments fall short of our expectations, and to none does this apply with more
force than to the gratification of the passions.

You may believe me to be always and sincerely,

Your affectionate

G. WASHINGTON.
To Miss Betcy CusTis

Senator Iredell to Mrs. Iredell from Philadelphia, March 30,
1795, writes:

I dined yesterday with the President. He was in fine health and spirits, and
so were Mrs. Washington and the whole family. There is now there an elderly
sister of Miss Custis not so handsome as herself, but she seems to be very
agreeable.

There is the beauty of the blushing rose, the humble violet,
the mournful myrtle, the pale primrose, the azured harebell,
the gaudy marigold, the golden buttercup, the snowy lily, the
spicy carnation, the shapely daffodil, the stately golden rod,
the bold sunflower, the regal hollyhock, the trailing arbutus,
the precious orchid, the wilding of the field, the darling of the
conservatory; there are beauties as numerous as the stars of
the firmament, varying not in degree but in type and what
the Senator means is that the bewitching Nelly more nearly
than her sister accords with his ideal of feminine beauty.
However Elizabeth was in Philadelphia March, 1795.

MARMAQI 236

In 1794 Thomas Law appeared. He rented a mansion on
Broadway, New York, not so far from the Battery. Tom Law,
only thirty- seven, the scion of British aristocracy, a Lord of
India, bright in speech, elegant in manner, intellectually hand-
some, and a plethoric purse withal 1 Can it be imagined he
was unnoticed? How the dames with eligible daughters,
covetous of their worldly welfare, must have manoeuvred, and
how the belles looked beautiful and tried to do it unconsciously.

Mr. Law becomes acquainted with iht Jirsi speculator. He
is inoculated with speculative fever. He makes an optional
contract of purchase. He says :

I shall certainly go to Washington Gty & my heart & mind are full of it —
You may say that I had rather sell my horses or books or any thing rather
than part with a foot at present of Washington Gty —

He arrives in the Federal City, February 23, 1795. His
enthusiasm expands. He hastens to Philadelphia to confirm
the option. He is in Philadelphia, March loth, and in Wash-
ington, again, the 29th.

When did Miss Custis and Mr. Law first meet? Say you,
March, 1795, and about the 15th? If so, I shall not con-
tradict. It was a case of ** two lutes in one key." The touch
of love mayhap prompted the gallant Law the sentiment to
confess, when I beheld your beauteous face a sweet emotion
did agitate me ; and she, when your eyes met mine I felt a
strange exhilaration.

Early in 1796 the engagement of Thomas Law and Eliza
Parke Custis was announced, and March 21st, that year, the
marriage was celebrated. What an auspicious union! Miss
Custis, a descendant of Lord Baltimore, a granddaugher of
Mrs. Washington, wife of the first President — to Tom Law,
paragon of manly perfection.

Thomas Law Esq" Phil^ 20 March 1796

Washington
Dear Sir
Tomorrow is the day when you are to be made one of the happiest
mortals now living — You have my sincere wishes that every Blefsing may attend
you and your Bride through long life, fo that when the Course of Nature calls
you from the enjoyments of this world to those of a better you may depart
without sigh or regret — Mn & Mifs Morris join in Congratulations and good
Wishes as indeed do all my Family —

I am Sincerely Yours

ROBT MORRIS.

237 MARRIAOt

President Washington to Miss Eleanor Parke Custis.

This day according to our information, gives a husband to your elder sister,
and consummates, it is to be presumed, her fondest desires. The dawn with
us is bright, and propitious, I hope, of her happiness, for a full measure of which
she and Mr. Law have my earnest wishes. Compliments and congratulations
on this occasion, and best regards are presented to your mamma, Dr. Stuart and
family; and every blessing, among which a good husband when you want and
deserve one, is bestowed on you by yours, affectionately.

The wedding* was at the home of the stepfather, Dr. Daniel
Stuart, Hope Park, five miles northwest of Fairfax Court House.
The bride and groom were of age nineteen and thirty-nine
respectively. Dr. Stuart was of the first board of Commis-
sioners for the Federal City, appointed January 22, 1791 ; he
served three years.

A marriage settlement, technically termed an indenture tripar-
tite, was executed March 19, 1796, between Thomas Law,
Elizabeth Parke Custis, and as trustee, James Barry. Other
indentures tripartite. May 8, 1800, and July 17, 1802, were
executed between Mr. and Mrs. Law and their brother-in-law,
Thomas Peter, substituted trustee, substantially the same as
the original.

Straightway Mr. Law leased from Mr. Cranch his most pre-
tentious mansion for the time he thought his own on New
Jersey Avenue would be in construction. Within the honey-
month Mr. Twining was a guest. Some of the references to
** nabob" Law in Travels in America 100 Years Ago^ are
quoted to indicate his cordiality, manner of life, and enthusiasm
in the American venture.

Baltimore, 1796. I had not long returned to my own room after break&st
this morning before 1 was told that a gentleman had called upon me and was wait-
ing in the passage below. When I was within a few steps of the bottom of the
stairs, a gentleman advanced hastily to meet me, and taking me warmly by the
hand, said : '* I am sure you are Mr. Thomas Twining, you are so like your
fether." This unceremonious stranger was Mr. Law, just arrived from Washing-
ton. I took him into a parlor on the ground floor and there we had a long con-
versation about India, where he still had many friends.

a5th. April. Mr. and Mrs. Law set out in their chariot and four horses for
Washington. I had not seen such an equipage in America. They invited me to
accompany them, but besides my unwillingness to add to their inconvenience on
the bad roads they had to travel, I had some engagements which prevented my
leaving Baltimore until the next day.

* On the 20th Instant at the teat of David Stuart, Eaq., Thomas Law, younfeat son of tha
bte Bishop of Carlisle, to Miss CustliL granddaughter of the Lady of the President of the United
SUAtB.^ ClaypooWi Amtrican Daily AdvernuTt PMiadelphia, March a8| 1796.

MAtKlAd 258

aTth. Mr. Law sent a servant to Georgetown with my horse, with <firectioiis
to bring back my portmanteau.

In the evening, Miss Westcott, of Philadelphia arrived. Though possesang
a sort of celebrity for her talents and literary attainments, her manners were par-
ticularly unaffected and agreeable.

28th. Spent the day with Mr. Law's fiimily. Monsieur Talleyrand, Ex-Bbhop
of Autun, whom the hostility of parties in France had driven across the Atlantic
was expected from Philadelphia, but much to my regret did not come.

29th. Mr. and Mrs. Law took me in their carriage thb forenoon to introduce
me to Mr. Lear and his fiimily, residing near Georgetown.

Miss Custis, sister of Mrs. Law, arrived. A letter from Monsieur TaBeyrmd
announced that he was under the necessity of deferring his visit

50th. Today Mr. and Mrs. Law were so good as to make a party on my ac-
count to Alexandria, which 1 had a desire to see, as one of the principal towns
in Virginia. Accompanied by Miss Custb and Miss Westcott, we embarked in a
large boat and were rowed down the Potomac.

1st May. Although Mr. Law seemed satisfied with his new situation, having
a companion with whom a man might be happy anywhere, I could not but be
surprised at the plan of life he had chosen. The clearing of ground and buildfaig
of small houses, amongst the woods of the Potomac, seemed an uncongenial
occupation for a man of so accomplished a mind, and whose former habits and
employment had been so different. As chief of a large district in Bengal he had
been accustomed to the discharge of important official functions, and to the
splendor and consequence of a prince. In England his funOy was opulent and
distinguished. One brother was bishop of Carlisle, another was a barrister of the
first eminence, and the successful defender of Mr. Warren Hastings against the
political influence of Fox, the eloquence of Sheridan, and the virulence of Burlce.
America, of all countries, seemed the least suited to the activity or leisure of such
a person. Here almost everyone was engaged either in politics or speculative en-
terprise. But as a foreigner, and particularly as an Englishman, Mr. Law could
never possess any political weight in the country; and his inexperience in com-
mercial affairs, amidst rivals so experienced and intelligent, might expose him to
litigation and disappointment, and involve a considerable diminution of
his fortune. One anticipation in which he indulged, with great confidence
and satisfaction, was that other East-Indians would join him ; and he hoped, 1
was sorry to see, that I might retum to Bengal with impressions tending to en-
courage this migration. As we stood one evening on the bank of the river be-
fore his door, he said : ** Here I will make a terrace, and we will sit and smoke
our hookahs."

To locate the site of Mr. Law's residence we have only
to give heed to Mr. Twining's intelligent and circumstantial
narration. Mr. Twining's journey horseback from the Capitol
to Mr. Law's house through a wildnerness was generally in a
southwest direction or on the line of Delaware avenue. Mr.
Twining says:

His house, built by himself, was only a few yards from the steep bank of the
Potomac, and commanded a fine view across the river, here a half a mile wide.

1

^1

. /^/^(a^. .:« ■

1 .'! * * IV

' --feuirf

ffTwV--*-i*.=--- " ""^^^^^^B

241 MAMtUQI

* * * The position was at least favorable, being on a point of land between
the Potomac and a tributary stream called "the eastern branch," thus offering a
double water front.

And,

A little below the point on which Mr. Law's house stood, after the junction
of the eastern branch, the river was nearly a mile in width.

These descriptions identify the general location — Greenleaf
Point and immediately north of the Arsenal grounds. The
court, tax and state records indicate the exact location — ^square
502. The mansion at the northeast corner of Sixth and N
streets southwest is Mr. Law's first residence and where he
entertained Mr. Twining. At that time the mansion was about
fifty yards from the high bank of the Potomac* Twining
says that it was built by Law, and that ''in the rear of the
house" he " was building a street, consisting of much smaller
houses than his own," referring, of course, to Union street.
Twining surely mistook Morris and Nicholson's operations for
those of Law. Law did not build the mansion, nor the small
houses. In the chancery causes are schedules, in great particu-
larity prepared by Law, of all his improvements. The syndi-
cate, Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf owned the property.
Law had a blanket mortgage covering it. Morris and Nicholson
were the landlords. Law the tenant. On September 17, 1796,
Morris and Nicholson write Law: "We willingly agree rent
shall cease when you moved out and not continue either to
the expiration of the time you took it for or when you delivered
up the key." Upon the vacation of the mansion Mr. Cranch
inserted an advertisement for sale or lease in The WashingUm
Gazette^ September 7, 1796, which states among other attrac-
tions that it is "Delightfully situated on the banks of the
Potomak, at the corner made by N Street south and Sixth
Street." Not many yards south of the mansion and where
Mr. Law's party embarked for Alexandria was Morris arul.
Nicholson's Wharf. It was a landing for the Alexandria and
Georgetown packets, f

June I3th 1797.
Mn Morris joins me in thanks for your congratulations on my Son Roberts
marriage he & his wife are in the Country emulating the happiness whkh you

* Dermott'f Tin Gate Map, 1803.

\Th^ Waihington (^omMt, ScpCaaibcr 6^ 1796.

MARMAGB 2^

& Mn Law are in the enjoyment of, may you long continue in the same state of
bliis, we all say & pray.

The four B's essential to social success, ' ' blood, brains, brass,
brads," had Mr. Law. However, his brass was the confidence
of culture. His noble hospitality was the impulse of a generous
heart ; too elevated in spirit was he to purchase social rank.
His entertainments were of unrivalled splendor; their renowir
was even beyond the bounds of the country ; no distinguished
foreigner closed an itinerary without being a guest of Mr. Law
at Washington. The recipients at that hospitable home were
made to feel

None came too early, none returned too late.

As early as the summer of 1796 Mr. Law resided in his own
house on New Jersey avenue on the west side, the northern of
the row now reconstructed into the hotel, Varnum. At this
residence, General and Mrs. Washington, so his diary states,
frequently were guests. And, Mr. and Mrs. Law in the spring
of i797> received Louis Philippe and his two brothers and en-
tertained the Princes with a splendor befitting royalty. And
in the summer of that year welcomed Mon. C. Volney, the
French author and free-thinker. And made participants of
their bounty, the next summer, the Polish Niemcewitz, com-
panion of General Kossuth; and the next winter, the "expe-
rienced farmer," Richard Parkinson.

With the coach and four Mr. and Mrs. Law made journeys
to Philadelphia, for Mr. Gallatin, 3d February, 1798, writes :

We have a new acquisition in our fiunily, Mr. and Mrs. Law (she was, you
know, Miss Custis), both very agreeable, and 1 feel quite rejoiced that there should
be some female in our drde in order to soften our manners.

Mrs. Law was not content with drawing-room conquest ;
she was ambitious of statecraft through the diplomacy of her
charming personality.

Mr. Gallatin writes again to Mrs. Gallatin :

a3d February, 1798.
Do you want to know the foshionable news of the day ? The President of
the United States has written, in answer to the managers of the ball in honor of
G. Washington's birthday, that he took the earliest opportunity of informing that
he declined going. The court is in a prodigious uproar about that important
event. The ministers and their wives do not know how to act upon the occasion ;

243 MARRIAGI

the friends of the old court say it b dreadful, a monstrous insult to the late President ;
the officers and office-seekers try to apologize for Mr. Adams by insisting that he
feek conscientious scruples against going to places of that description, but it b
proven against him that he used to go when Vice-President. How they will finally
settle it I do not know; but to come to my own share of the business. A most
powerful battery was opened against me to induce me to go to the said ball ; it
would be remarked ; it would look well ; it would show that we democrats, and
I especially, felt no reluctance in showing my respect to the person of Mr. Wash-
ington, but that our objections to levees and to birthday balls applied only to its
being a Presidential, anti-republican establishment, and that we were only afraid
of its being made a precedent ; and then it would mortify Mr. Adams and please
Mr. Washington. All those arguments will appear very weak to you when on
paper, but they were urged by a fine lady, by Mrs. Law, and when supported by
her handsome black eyes they appeared very formidable. Yet I lesbted and came
off conqueror, although 1 was, as a reward, to lead her in the room, to dance
with her, Sec ; all which, by the by, were additional reasons for my staying at
home. Our club has given me great credit for my firmness, and we have agreed
that two or three of us who are accustomed to go to these places, Langdon,
Brent, &c , will go this time to please the Law family.

Upon the establishment of the government at Washington
the social activities of the Laws redoubled. Mr. and Mrs. Law
extended the gladsome hand to the distinguished representa-
tives of government, foreign and home, and to the latter with-
out distinction of political creed. Mr. Law was in touch with
the leaders of the parties. He was the friend of Mr. Wolcott,
the Secretary of Treasury in the Adams' administration, and
none the less of his successor, Mr. Gallatin, in the Jefferson
and Madison administrations.

To Olivbr Wolcott, January i, i8oi.

Dbar Sir,

I return the pamphlet with many thanks for the perusal of it With heartfelt
regret, 1 join with all the citizens of Washington in bidding you farewell, Mrs.
Law unites with me in wishing you health and as much happiness as this life can
afford. In most countries, those who leave the public treasury in a good state,
have their own finances made flourishing also, but with you the fnens sibi
conscia recti^* is the sole reward.

I remain, with unfeigned esteem, respect, and regard,

THOS. LAW.

Mr. Wolcott informs Mrs. Wolcott, July 4, 1800, that *'Mr.
Law and a few other gentlemen live in great splendor and the
rest in same degree of squalor." The editor of Mr. Gallatin's

*A mind conidoiM sf racthiidt.

MARUAGI 344

correspondence says the Laws were the leaders of fashionable
society and it discloses sociability between the two families.

Mr. and Mrs. Law had born to them two and Eliza survived
infancy.

The reproduction of the portrait of Mr. Law and of the St
Menin likeness of Mrs. Law is through the courtesy of Mrs.
Kirby Flower Smith, of Baltimore, a great grandchild of Mr.
and Mrs. Law. The portrait is in England. St. Menin
employed the term physiognotrace for his profiles.

245 PUBUC SPIRIT

PUBLIC SPIRIT.

I wish to benefit myself by promoting the City. Barry is urgent — he wants to
erect a store & to purchase grain & to build a ship — I mean to set up an
agency house with him from East India commissions.

CAPTAIN BARRY built his wharf and opposite Mr.
Law exploited his hobby. The treatise on India,
already mentioned, shows Mr. Law's interest in the
sugar industry and to promote it he conveyed to James Piercy
the south half of square 744 with the stipulation that Piercy was
to erect a sugar refinery thereon of prescribed dimensions in
certain time. Piercy executed, April 25, 1797, a first mortgage
to Law for the entire purchase money ^^1860 6s, Sp. and a
second mortgage to secure Law ^^1875 and James Ray
j£9Z7 105. advances in cash, and Daniel Carroll of Duddington,
;^i2i8 155., the value of 500,000 brick. Additional advances
by Law, Ray and others in large amounts to the sugar refiner
indicate the project was on a large scale. It was the Jlrsi
manufacturing enterprise in the city of Washington and the
largest, Piercy came January, 1797. and fifteen months after
began "to boil sugar." The material came from New York
and Europe. The sugar house was at the southeast corner of
the square. The activities at Barry's wharf and the reflnery
ceased entirely and quickly; and Mr. Gallatin to Mrs. Gallatin
the opening of 1801 writes:

At the dbtance of three-fourths of a mile, on or near the Eastern Branch, lie
scattered the habitations of Mr. Law * * * a very large but perfectly empty
warehouse, and a wharf graced by not a single vessel*

*Oiir local tibuitloii te fiv from bcinc plMsant or eren convtiiknt. Around tht Capitol ara
ran or alght boarding-hoiiaaa, ona tMor, ona i' '

WAinmoTON Cirr isth lanaanr, i8di.

ran convaniant. Around tha dapitol ai
saran or alght boarding-houaaa, ona ta&or, ona thoamakar, ona printar, a waahing-wonum. a
grocary •ho^apamphktaandatatkwarythofKaaroaUdry'^oodashoD,andano3rfltarlKW^ Tliia
makas tha whola oi tha Fadaral dty as coonactad with tha Capitol At tha distanca of thrao-
fourths of a mlla. on or naar tha Eastara Branch, Ua acattered tha hahiutiona of Mr. Law and
of Mr. Carr«rfl, tha principal proprlatarlaa of tha ground, half a doaen houaaa, a yary larga but
parfactly ampty warahousa, and a wliarf gracad by not a aingia vaa ial . And thte makaa tha wliob
Intandad commardal part of tha city, nnlaaa wa inchida In it what te callad tha Twanty Buildinga,
baing ao many rnifiniahad houaaa comnancad by Morris and NIchoisoB, and parliapt as many

246 PUiUC SPIMT

Law, Ray and Piercy, the three sugar principals, all went
into chancery ; each on his own hook filed a bill against the
co-promoters. Ray accused Law of everything on the calen-
dar of crime but gave him credit for an adroit move. Law, in
the land of his birth, experienced the uncertainties and vexa-
tious delays of litigation, so when he sued Ray, he took the
precaution to have his adversary on a " pretended " demand
safely and snugly in a Baltimore jail, so he could not possibly
appear and answer, which Ray claimed was "a sinister
advantage."

Cornelius Coningham, Greenleafs former partner, leased the
sugar house for a brewery and distillery. Ill succesis attended
his enterprise and he advertised, 181 1, for sale the copper
utensils and the unexpired lease.

The main building was eight stories high and the wing five;
it was forty-seven feet front close to the Eastern Branch and
forty-six feet deep on the bank of the canal. Fortunately the
refinery is pictured ; it is prominent in the view of the City of
Washington, from beyond the Navy Yard^ published by Lewis
P. Clover^ New York^ 1S34,. There is exact agreement between
picture and descriptions and dimensions by Clotworthy
Stephenson and Edmund Law. The structure was razed in

i847.t

At the sale of lots by the Commissioners those on the river
between the Arsenal and Navy Yard were the most eagerly
sought and commanded the highest consideration. The specu-
lators evidently thought the commercial advantages of this
water front would cause the squares near by to be first utilized.
Of the large investors Mr. Greenleaf and Mr. Law were of the
same opinion and the former selected the vicinity of the Arsenal

undertaken by Greenleaf, both which grouM He, at the distance of half-mile from each other, near
the mouth ot the Eastern Branch and the Potomack, and are divided by a laraw swamp from the
Capitol Hill and the little village connected with it. * * * I am at Conrad & McMunn's, where
I snare the room of Mr. Vamum, and pay at the rate, I think, including attendance, wood, candles,
and liquors, of 15 dollars per week. At table, I believe, we are from twenty-four to thirty, and,
was it not for the presence of Mrs Bailey and Mrs. Brown, would look like a refectory of monks.

fAt an early period of this city, an Engliah gentleman of wealth, the brother of Lord EUen-
borough, and a man of talent and great eccentricity, arrived from India, where he had lived for
many years and it was said had rendered important services to the East India Company and vested
a large capital which he brought with him in city lots — many of which he proceeded to improve.
Like most of the early emigrants to Washington he believed that the Metropolis was destined to
become in a short time a magnificent and wealthy citv ; but he did not live to realize his brilliant
anticipations, though he died but a few years ago. He was speculative and visionary but enter*
prising, and projected a number of schemes which did not result successfully. Among others, nto
which he entered, was that of forming a company for the establishment of a sugar refinery, and
for this purpose, a large brick edifice was erected on the Eastern Branch in 1798. But after a few
years trial tne scheme was found not to answer and the building which long towered ** proudly
eminent" was abandoned to ruin. It stood however, unoccupied and in a state of progressive
decay, and as a sort of landmark till about two years since when it was sold, pulled down and the
nutmal used for other purposes.— (?A>r^« WattetitofC s manuscHpt,

i

249 PUBLIC SPIRIT

for his solid blocks while the latter New Jersey avenue, posi-
tionally the artery of that section.*

Mr. Law decided to build on either side of New Jersey avenue
from the Capitol to the Potomac. He began operations in the
spring of 1796. All of his buildings were completed by the
year 1800. Besides those built on his own account, Mr. Law
advanced the funds for building under contracts of purchase,
and otherwise facilitated the city's growth. f In the consoli-
dated chancery causes, Pratt vs. Law, is a schedule prepared
by Capt. Clotworthy Stephenson, March, 18 12, of Law's
improvements for himself and others.

Survey, Measurement and Valuation of the Brick Buildings
Erected on the Property of Thomas Law, Esqr* By
himself and Other Purchasers $2x1,637

Framed Wood Buildings 33i2i8 $244,855

On the map in Moore and Jones* Travellers^ Directory^ 1802^
the city buildings are seen at a glance and Law's appear to
comprise a considerable proportion.!

Mr. Charles William Janson, an Englishman, attempted to
establish himself in the new republic; he was unsuccessful in
legal practice, land speculation and mercantile venture and
disappointed and disgruntled he returned to the place of

* Mr. Weld visited the city late in 1795 and again the next year. He writes :
The private houses are all plain buildings ; most of them have been built on tpeculation, and
still remain empty. The greatest number, at any one place, is at Green Leafs Point, on the main
river, just above tne entrance of the eastern branch. This spot has been looked upon by many as
the most convenient one for trade ; but others prefer the shore of the eastern branch, on account
of the superioritv of the harbour, and the great depth of water near the shore. There are several
other favourite situations, the choice of any one of which is mere matter of speculation at present.
Some build near the capitol, as the most convenient place for the residence of members of congress,
some near the president's house : others again prefer the west end of the citv, in the neighbour,
hood of George Town, thinking that as trade is already established in that place, it must be from
thence that it will extend into the dty.

In its course it receives several large streams, the principal one of which falls in at the federal
city. This river is called the Eastern Branch of tne Patowmac : but it scarcely deserves that name,
as It extends no more than thirty miles up the country. At its mouth it is nearly •» wide as the
main branch of the river, and close to the city the water is in manv places thirty feet deep. Thou-
sands of vessels might lie here, and sheltered from all danger, arising either from freshets, or from
ice upon the breaking up of a severe winter.

fMr. Law having speculated largely in city lots (viz. of the intended federal city, as it was
called, of Washington)^ he offered to let Colonel Lyies and me have any lot we choose, at the
price it cost him, and to leave the money on common Interest for any time we should mention.
We looked out a lot, and make a conditional bargain. I was to make an estimate and plan ; which
1 did. But the expences of building I found very high ; nor did I like the appearance of the place
at all. I began to think that it was too young a city for a brewery, there not being above three
hundred houses ; nor could I find there was another man of any considerable moneyed property
in the city, besides Mr. Law. I thought too that, water being the usual drink of the countiy, there
was very little probability of that custom changing for some time ; and especially while they were
employed in building houses, paving streets, ftc. I therefore made known these sentiments to
Colonel Lyles ; and we dropped that scheme. Indeed, I began to think of coming to England
again. A Tour in America, Richard Patkimon,

tS. S. Moore and S. W. Jones* Travellers* Directory or a Pocket Companion from PhOadelphla
to New York and from Philadelphia to Washington. 1802.

250 PUBLIC SPIRIT

nativity. To compensate his misfortune he through the
medium of a publication, The Stranger in America^ slurred
the American people and their institutions. His aspersion and
falsification affecting Mr. Law have taken deep root difficult to
eradicate. Says the stranger to truth :

Among the sufferers by the Washington speculation b Mr. Thomas Law,
brother to Lord Ellenborough, who, as has been already observed, invested the
greatest part of the money he obtained in India, in building near the capitol,
where he still resides, under the mortifying circumstance of daily witnessing
whole rows of the shells of his houses gradually falling to pieces.

This palpable misstatement has visible refutation. Mr.
Law's "shells" were then new structures. Their solidity is
shown by the fact they stand today apparently of sufficient
strength for the wear of another century. Law is more called
to mind in this generation by the substantial building at the
northwest corner of New Jersey avenue and C street, southeast^
than by any other structure. It was built, 1796. Originally it
was three residences. The initial issue of the National Intellu
gencer, October 31, 1800, was from one. With the removal of
the government from Philadelphia this advertisement appeared
in the Washington Gazette:

Conrad and McMumi

Have opened houses of entertainment in the range of buildings formerly occupied
by Mr. Law, about two hundred paces from the Capitol, in New Jersey avenue,
leading thence to the Eastern Branch.
City of Wash. Nov. 24, 1800.

Mr. Jefferson at the time of his inauguration as President,
March 4, 1801, was a guest of Conrad and McMunn. The
proprietors had insufficient patronage and October, i8ox, Mr.
Law sold the household goods for his charges. In 1804, they
were occupied by Mr. Smith, the editor of the Intelligencer^
Mrs. Williams and Mr. Coyle. In 18 15, and perhaps before,
Miss Heyer occupied one. In July, 1828, Mr. Law advertises
for rent the three houses lately occupied as boarding houses by
Mr. McLeod, Mrs. Rapine and Miss Heyer. The three were
connected and leased by the United States government for the
Coast Survey and other branches of the service. Then it was
remodeled for a hotel and styled the Law House. Now it is
the hotel, Varnum.

The house in which Mr. Law lived was judicially fixed in
the chancery cause, Law vs. Adams. It is located on New

HESIOENCE OF THOMAS L

■ «*

',, < i

253 PUBLIC SPIRIT

Jersey avenue near the intersection with C street, southeast,
and was built by him, surely by and probably before, 1799.
He moved over from the west side of the avenue immediately
before Congress convened, December, 1800. This was the
home of Law in the heyday of prosperity. Here he with
inborn ease and grace his elegant and muniflcent hospitality
bestowed upon diplomat, statesman and savant; and Mrs.
Law, when she was mistress of the mansion, charming and
vivacious, wore the laurels of social triumph. Mr. Law sold
in 18 1 8 the mansion to Dr. Frederick May, who lived in it, as
did the Doctor's sons, John P., a noted local physician, and
Henry, who became a prominent lawyer of Baltimore. The
late Joseph Holt, Judge Advocate General during the civil war,
acquired the property in 1857, and from that date until his
death, of recent occurrence, occupied it.

The ien buildings were built on New Jersey avenue, the west
side and northward from E street. The corner house is as
at first, some of the others have beeh remodeled or removed.
With the exception of the syndicate, Morris, Nicholson and
Greenleaf, Mr. Law was, I believe, the only one who complied
with the building requirements on an extensive scale. Con-
troversy arose between the Commissioners and Law who con-
tended more stories and larger areas covered entitled to a con-
cession in the number of houses. President Washington, the
last day of his administration, March 3, 1797^ decided in favor
of Mr. Law with an expression of reluctances-
Mr. Law speculated on his own pounds sterling, most of the
other operators on credit. The principal transaction was upon
"sight unseen;" in the city of New York, with city map and
winning words, Greenleaf fired Law's enthusiasm and opened
wide his purse strings. The transaction has already been ex-
plained. The consideration was $133,333. Law's fortune
when he came to America was about ;^5o,ooo; to this is to be
added ;f 6,000 William Blane of London entrusted him with to
invest, making the entire fund roundly $270,000.

Phila. July 4, 1796
Thomas Law, Esqt*
dear Sir
This is the glorious anniversary of our Declaration of Independence and must
be dedicated to Festivity and Joy, but first 1 will devote a few moments to
acknowledge the receipt oftwofiiendly letters from you — You omit putting dates
to them but the last which came has a post office mark 30 June— You may now

254 PUBLIC SPIRIT

rely on my exertions to promote the Oty of Washington by every means in my

Power — 1 expect that we shall by and by get the Command of Money — when

that is accomplished everything that you can wish from Mr. Nicholson & myself

will follow — I wish that the President had abolished in toto the r^;iilations

about the building and thereby let the Owners of Lots to pursue their ownfiincys

& inclinations — This I conceive will be absolutely nece&ary to give that spur

to Improvement which is wanted — ^The King of Prussia tried to establish a

Qty upon the same system of regularity of Building, but with absolute authority

& money at Command he could not do it & only impeded its Progreis by the

attempt —I hope soon to have the pleasure of seeing you, for notwithstanding

our delays Mr. Nicholson & myself will certainly be with you by and by. —

Yrs Sincerely

ROBT MORRIS.

Mrs Morris & Maria are just returned from Morrisville & desire to be remem-
bered affy to Mrs Law — Present me also if you please. —

Mr. Nicholson at Washington had made some progress, or
thought he had, in the disentanglement of affairs between the
Commissioners and the proprietors and so advises Mr. Morris
who breaks forth joyously, February i, 1797:

I hope they will in the end satisfy Law and then let him celebrate them as
their works in his charming Poetic strains and if they will take that for Pay it
will be a good thing.

I think with you that everybody concerned in Washington Lots are likely to
benefit by the elucidation of Title which you are bringing forth out of the host
of Lawyers you employ.

Mr. Law's annoying tactics goaded Mr. Nicholson to frenzy
yet Mr. Morris excused his '* uncertainties and inequalities''
by mild suggestion of bats in the belfry. Mr. Law without
warrant gave away the property of Messrs. Morris and Nichol-
son to Mr. Campbell, their creditor, of many thousands value.
Then Mr. Morris's ire was aroused and he from the Hills,
September 16, 1797, made known to Mr. Law:

Sir/

We have never had occasion to charge you or any other person with neglect,
for want of reminding us of claims against us, your letter of the 6th inst and
many others is a proof of your attention to your own fide of the question, which
is certainly proper and it has ever been our ardent desire to render you the
justice you ask and which our duty calls on us to perform. * * * for altho'
we suffer much and in many shapes by the derangement of our affairs yet we
have fpirit & vigour enough not to suffer injustice tamely, nor to bear with
unmerited insults so that you will not be surprized Mr. Law if we make a
scrutiny into a transaction of yours which we have just been informed of & by
which you have meditated an unprovoked injury to those who have always
been in the habits of friendship with you.

We are Sir Yours

255 PUBLIC SPIRIT

Mr. Law repented and Mr. Morris, whose heart ever over-
flowed with generosity, accepted repentance as compensation
for injury. As a correct chronicler I record the incident. The
few errors of judgment in a life of unselfishness make no mar.

The East Washington Citizens Association in the beginning
of the city was exceedingly active and alert and could readily
detect favoritism to the west end although at that time the
membership was limited. I quote from the unpublished notes
of Mr. Law.*

Being now the oldest inhabitant it may be useful to give a brief history of the
city since my arrival here. I put up in Georgetown because there was only one
little tavern in the dty, which then contained only three or four houses belonging
to the owners of estates. The legislature of Maryland had started a bank for
the city, but it was established in George Town and the money loaned was to
those who would build in the Town or at the west end of the dty. A bridge
was built also by the Commissioners at the city expense over Rock Creek with a
draw, and it was to have the Navy Yard there and the Marine barracks were laid
out on its banks and the marine corps encamped there.

The President's house was advanced rapidly and the Capitol was only above
ground and the foundation was so bad that it was to be undone and commenced
again. In short Mr. Stoddert, Secretary of Navy, and the majority of the
Commissioners and the bank being George Town men, resolved to have Congress
meet in the President's house or in George Town College and to make the progress
of the West End tend to counteract that of the CapitoL

General Washington having been informed of these injurious ideas in the Com-
missioners and being displeased at witnessing the slow advancement of the Capi-
tol ordered the Commissioners to live in the dty and to encourage persons to
build for the accommodation of Congress.

Mr. Law further says:

That the public might have encouragement to build General Washington com-
menced two houses.! This example gave confidence and houses were seen to
spring up with rapidity, notwithstanding the natural rivalship of two adjacent
towns, which had been long before established. New jersey Avenue, then full
of stumps of trees, was opened to have access to the Eastern Branch, and mer-
chants made wharves and warehouses on the Eastern Branch, where only there b
a harbor safe from the danger of ice which comes down by floods in the Potomac.
Houses also rapidly sprang up about the Capitol although double prices were paid
for workmen, bricks and materiab.

From Law's answer. Pratt vs. Law :

Had it not been for hb exertions and the large sums he had laid out, there
would have been no accommodation for Congress the first of their session.

* From the Law manuscript of Mrs. Klrby Flowtr Smith.

tThat it— in the vidnity of the Capitol.

Dined at Mr. Laws. Examined In company with the Comrs some of the Lots in the Vidni^
of the Capitol * €aud upon No i6 in ^ to buUd oa.— Washington Diary, September at, 1798.

PUBLIC SPIRIT 256

The three-story brick at the comer of Ninth and E streets
used as the General Post Office Department owned by Dr. John
Crocker was built with the help of Mr. Law.

Mr. Law was deeply interested in public finance and banks.
The first bank in the District was the Columbia at Georgetown
started 1793 ; a director of which he was elected, March 24, 1798.
The Patriotic Bank was established May, 1815, and he was of
the first directory elected June 5, 1815.

Mr. Law with other citizens of public spirit whose coopera-
tion he enlisted guaranteed, February 6, 1796, the prizes of a
grand lottery to promote the construction of the Washington
Canal. And he was not idle in inviting his friends to patronize
the same as Mr. Morris's letter, June 12, 1796, indicates:

I am indebted to you for a letter without date rec^ last week, respecting the
Canal contemplated to pafs through the Qty of Washington, the importance of
its being effected is I doubt not as you represent it, & in this belief 1 have added
my name to the subscription for Tickets, Mr Nicholson & Mr Greenleaf harve
done the same but as yet We have not advanced any farther Mr dzenove is
gone to New York, Gen. Stewart unwell & 1 have been too much engaged to
follow them up.

Mr. Law and his codperants advertised, July, 1802, to receive
personally subscriptions for opening canal to communicate from
the Potomac river to the Eastern Branch authorized by Act of
Congress, May i, that year. From England, May 30, 1803, he
writes :

I am staying to raise 80,000 dollars for the Canal which I am confident I shall
obtain — I did not like to request subscriptions upon my own ipse dixit — I am now
getting the sentiment of disinterested persons, and supported thereby, can easily
raise the money.

And in a subsequent letter he states, the prospect of success
brightens, a number of monied men are fully impressed with
the certainty of ample remuneration for their investiture of
money.

In 1804 appeared Mr. Law's ObservaHons on the Intended
Canal in Washington City. It was his idea to extend naviga-
tion through the city from the Potomac to deep water of the
Eastern Branch, thereby avoidins: "the circuitous and hazardous
route by Turkey Buzzard point " and advancing magnetically
commercial prosperity. In 1809 on the lines he suggested a
company was incorporated.

257 PUBUC SPIRIT

D. B. Warden — Chorographical and StaHsHcal Description,
District of Columbia :

The Canal, which runs through centre of the Gty, commencing at the
mouth of the Tiber Creek, and connecting the Potomac with its Eastern Branch,
is nearly completed. Mr. Law, the chief promoter of this undertaking proposes to
establish packet-boats to run between the Tiber Creek and the Navy Yard— a
conveyance which may be rendered more economical and comfortable than the
Hackney-Coach.

Mr. Law was a director in the Washington Canal Company
as late as 1829. The account of the commencement and com-
pletion of the canal illustrates the enthusiastic mind and cyclone
method of Mr. Law. The canal never was of profitable utility.
Its course is now a broad avenue.

Madison Davis in The Navy Yard Section says of James
Barry :

He was one of the incorporators of the Washington Canal Company, an
enterprise planned by him in association with Thomas Law, and from which
great expectations were formed. In connection with the business of this com-
pany, the furnishing of offices for it, etc., he erected a large double brick
building near the eastern basin of the canal, in which for many years a very
considerable business was transacted part of which structure, now called Castle
Thunder, is still standing and which, on account of its situation, and from its
manifest claim to past respectability, excites the surprise of nearly every one who
has occasion to visit that now benighted spot.

Mr. Law insistently urged before Congress concession for
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal; and made proposition for
creating means for commencing construction, 1827. At a
public meeting, July 9, 1827, Mr. Law was of the committee
appointed to devise plans of promotion. The connection of
the Atlantic and western waters by a canal or uniting the
River of Swans with la belle Rivier^ as a bond of commercial
and political union as this project was then phrased had Mr.
Law's enthusiastic concurrence and at the banquet, Brown's
Hotel, November 8, 1823, to the Grand Union Canal Conven-
tion he raised the glass and responded eloquently.

When in England, 1824, Mr. Law witnessed Stephenson's
railroad in the experimental stage and in a measure foresaw its

* Toast, Indtpendencc Day, i8aB, Charletton, W.Va.— **T1m ChctapwlM and Ohio Canal-
Uniting tht Rivwr of Swana with la MU Riviere,''

It b watered on tlie wtat bv the Potomac, fonnerly callad by tht Indiana eohangthronta or
river of tntuur-'Gearge fVdUerstOH's manuscript.

C*est le nom que mm Canadians et les GiotmbeB fran^als doonent A I'Ohio.— Tableau da
CUmatt et dtt Sol des Etatt-Unis D*Amtrlqae par C—F, KtfAKT.

PUBLIC spmiT 358

universal utility and upon return to his adopted country, while
still the champion of canals, he urged in the prints, Iniellu
gencer, 1825, his preference for locomotive and rail.

William B. Wood in Personal Recollections of the Stage relates
that in the spring of 1800 Mr. Wignell was pressed to establish
a theatre in the new metropolis and was offered a building
centrally situated. An intended hotel it had a spacious centre
and two extensive wings. The size of the main edifice afforded
sufficient accommodation for the requirement of the new city
and its elder neighbors and its dimensions and loftiness full
scope for theatrical adjunct. The manager at Philadelphia,
during the outfitting, prepared scenery, an artificial dome and
the embellishments to be in readiness for use as soon as arrived.

But WignelPs ill-fortune, constant to him on all occasions, did not Caul to
check hb plan so well contrived and at a large cost. On the way to Washington
a furious storm of rain invaded the wagons, and drenched the tasteful labors of
the painters so seriously as to make it necessary to repaint nearly the whole,
besides occasioning a considerable delay in opening the house. Not a jot dis-
couraged, however, the excellent man persevered in his exertions; and after
innumerable difficulties incident to the unprovided state of the place and at great
expense, he at length opened \}^t first theatre in Washinf[Um,

The first presentation was in June. The company for the
season was under the management of Wignell and Reinagle;
the former having special direction of the drama, the latter, the
music. The United States Theatre was the reconstructed part
of Blodgett's, Union Pacific or Great Hotel at E and Seventh
streets, fronting southward. The first utterance was an ema-
nation of Mr. Law's genius — the prologue. The actor-author
reflects his qualities of gentility and modesty on his pages:

The opening play of "Venice Preserved " was well acted hy Mefsrs. Wignell,
Cooper, and Mrs. Merry, as Jaffier, Prince and Belvidera, and warmly received
and applauded by an audience, more numerous, as well as splendid, than can be
conceived from a population so slender and so scattered. From the citizens of
Washington the principal performers received the most gratifying attention and
hospitality. Many of us commenced at this period acquaintances and friendships
which have continued with unabated kindness through a long course of succeeding
years.

The prologue for the bow of the play in Washington was
not all the encouragement by Mr. Law for Mr. Wood grace-
fully acknowledges he ''continued to aid the enterprise, not
only with his pen and his influence, but with his purse; he

259 PU»UC SPIWT

was ably seconded by several other gentlemen of liberality and
taste." The season closed September 13, 1800.*

PROLOGUE

Spoiam BY Mr. Wignell.

Thank heaven! ten tedious anxious years are past,
And here we've altogether met at last;
The Grecian States, ambitious to destroy,
Took the same time to level cloud capt Troy.
Their Hera, by subverting, sought his praise.
Our Patriot's nobler glory was to raise.
Let other nations look to Greece and Rome,
Columbia's bright examples are at home:
Whate'er k great or good we find in one —
All virtues join'd to form a Washington,
Heaven partial seemed, occasion to dispense.
Pleased to unfold his great preeminence.
Exulting thought! Why thus appear distrest!
But oh! you feel the most, who knew him best.
Mourn not — but thankful that his life was spared
So long, enjoy the blessings he prepared.
As planetary systems roll on high.
These States in ceaseless unity shall roll.
To night we'll make you weep by mimic play,
For tears are tribute which delight must pay:
Expand your tuckers, ye sigh swelling fair;
Unfurl your fans, your handkerchiefs prepare:
Catch the soft moments, ye enamour'd beaus.
Arrest the tear drop trembling as it flows.
Sweet sensibility the soul endears,
And beauty sheds a lustre most in tears.
Thb grand Hotel, for epicures design'd,

* Extract from play bill in the poMcnion of Mr. A. W. Hancock.

The public are refpectfully Informed, that fat the remainder of the feafon the Doora of the Theatre
will be open at half palt 5 and the curtain will rife at half paft 6 o'clock preclfely.

UNITED STATES THEi^TRB,

Cmr OP Wasnimotom,

On Monday Evening. Sept. ift x8oo,

will be prefented a New G>medy, In five acts (never acted here) called

THE SECRET;

OR PARTNERSHIP DISSOLVED

(Written by Edward Morris, Esq. And performed at the Theatre, Dniry Lane, with

unbounded Applaufe.)

• ••••••••

To which win be added a favorite Farce, called

THE POSITIVE MAN;

OR SAILORS ON SHORE.

(Written by O'Keefe, and performed at the London Theatres, with unbounded applaufe.)

• ••••••••

The Farce to conclude with The Sailors* Rendesvous, In which wUl be Introduced, the fiivourite

Soog of ** Sweet PoH of Plymouth,*' 1^ Mr. Daley.

A Hornpipe, by Mr. Francis.

AdmlttsQct, Out Dolhur.

ruBuc SPIRIT 260

Now makes provision only for the mind;

For you each night, two courses nice we cater,

And for your wants, the "Prompter" calk not "Waiter."

A bad exchange you'll say — solids for air;

Who's he that whispers ? It k Gty Fair.

Sir, you are a poet, and delight forsooth,

Rather to deal in fiction than in truth.

Those ruddy cheeks evince the air is fine,

And those fat sides show on the best you dine.

Well faith, we've form'd a tolerable stage;

Here's room for comic glee or tragic rage;

But there (pointing to pit and box) the city populates so quick,

I fear you've stowed yourselves away too thick!

Ladies, you smile, as if the crowding pleased,

Sure your fine frames tremble to be squeezed.

Tho' now our corps rather too thin appears,

This central spot must draw forth volunteers;

If power's their wish, to monarchies we'll raise them—

If fame — 'twere ample sure, for you to praise them.

If death and glory — here they may be slain.

And what is better, " rise to fight again."

Their country's service to a generous mind.

That first incentive, true, they cannot find.

And yet we act no despicable part.

Who gladden life and meliorate the heart.

The floods of late, which drown'd you many a horse,*

Have caused to us a much severer loss —

Our groves, our temples, gone beyond

The gorgeous palaces it did not spare

The storm has swept our canvas almost

For this deficiency we'll soon atone —

Would you could build as fast with brick and stone.

At first behold us with indulgent eye.

And soon with zeal we'll every want supply.

Thus to this city all things will acquire.

That fancy can suggest, or heart desire.

The guillotine, the sword, the cannon's roar.

Drive arts and science to this peaceful shore ;

If various tongues from building could disable.

Your houses would of course be stopp'd like Babel :

Dutch, Irish, German, French, All hither flee,

To enjoy the sweets of Liberty.

With your permission — heark, I'm called away —

That bell cuts short the best I had to say.

Accept the will 1 pray you for the deed.

For this on all occasions we must plead —

By your indulgence only we succeed.

s —

i repair, 1

: f

)St bare. }

^Alluding to catualtiw by the overflowing of creeks, and to denu^ nmtained by Stage Soenary.

26l PUBLIC SPIRIT

Mr. Law believed that life's burden's should be lightened
and business relieved by amusement. He was a patron of the
Washington Dancing Assembly until John and Edmund came
to manhood and then this light role devolved on them. Mr.
Law believed in the educational as well as pleasurable value of
the drama. With the same vim he schemed a waterway
through the town he advocated, promoted and constructed the
first theatre; this he did in the year, 1804. The Washington
Theatre was at C and Eleventh streets.

Mr. Wood writes: ''The partial success of Mr. Wignell's
experiment encouraged some friends of the drama, a few years
afterwards to erect a more desirable dramatic temple on the
Pennsylvania Avenue." The first presentation was on Novem-
ber 16, 1804.* The beginning was not auspicious for Mr.
Wood adds: ''In 1805 the Washington theatre was opened
for the purpose of presenting several pieces" by players **of
professional eminence. The theatre, however, was at this
time so unfinished and comfortless, that the audience, after a
few nights, fell off, and a speedy close seemed inevitable.*'
The Stranger, Jansen, in ill-natured vein comments: **The
president's house, the offices of state, and a little theatre, where
an itinerant company repeated during a part of last year (1805),
the lines of Shakespeare, Otway, and Dryden, to empty benches,
terminate the view of the Pennsylvania or Grand Avenue."
Mr. Fearon, 1818, puts in his Sketches: ** The theatre is a
miserable building." A conflagration, 1820, left the walls.
The site is devoted to the theatre to this time.

*Thi8 and other theatrical dates from public letter of Mr. A. 1. Mudd.

DUNCANSON.

WILLIAM MAYNE DUNCANSON and Thomas Law
together crossed the Atlantic. Duncanson ventured
the fortunes of the sea. Of his " argosies with portly
sail" he, himself, it is said, was sometimes master mariner.
A sea-captain is a title that fits him well, and so let him be.
But when Duncanson, absorbed in fond recollection of days of
dress parade, donned his regimentals daubed with gold lace
and his cap with glittered band and buckled his belt around
and in the holster fitted his pistol and in the hanger fixed his
scabbard and sword and then stood erect and absently cried,
"Attention!" he looked very much like a land-eaplain ; and
indeed he was.

In the early days came to these shores those who had dwelt
in East India sufficient, if congregated, for a colony. In fact,
there existed the East India Company having headquarters at
Philadelphia. In the new city for the nation from India beside
Duncanson and Law were James Barry, William Duane and
James Ray; all foreign-born save Duane.

It is unsaid that Captain Duncanson is not the descendant of
that William Duncanson who was the military adherent of the
house of Argyll, the ninth earl; and that the William Mayne
who visited him here was not the Baron Newhaven. That the
Captain had respectable antecedents and he himself education
and intelligence his correspondence, easily phrased and boldly
penned, proves.

Captain Duncanson shortly after his arrival was joined by
his sister, Miss Martha Duncanson, and her friend, Lydia Knott,
of Kensington, England.

Captain Duncanson and Mr. Law came to Washington, in
company, the first time February, 1795. Most favorably im-

DUNCANSON 264

pressed with a glimpse of the city of promise they returned to
Philadelphia, Law to confirm his option of purchase, Duncanson
to secure a similar. Duncanson's option in the handwriting of
Mr. Cranch is photographed. He gave notes to the amount of
j^2o,ooo, Md. currency; £t,ooo payable thirty days, ;^4,333>5,
six months and £S,666^, one year, with the understanding
he could ratify or reject his purchase, wholly or partially, and
receive the notes unpaid and lots in proportion to amount
paid. He paid the notes first and second due, amounting to
$30,222.22 and declined payment of the third $23,111.11. At
5 p. per sq. ft., $30,222.22 made Duncanson entitled to 544,000
sq. ft. which within an inconsiderable fraction was conveyed
to him.

At Greenleafs urgent solicitation Duncanson, April 23, 1795,
made a second optional purchase of 800,000 sq. ft. drawing
drafts on parties in London for ;^i2,ooo Md. currency. The
idea was if the Londoners agreed to invest they would accept
the paper. They declined the investment and Duncanson
demanded rescission. Captain Duncanson writes Mr. Green-
leaf, September 11, 1795, that the gentlemen in England are
averse to purchase in the city of Washington and that he relin-
quishes the option ; he reminds Greenleaf of his promise to
protect his bills from which he derived no advantage and
suggests the precaution of security from risk as he, Greenleaf,
is going to Europe. On the day after Duncanson's letter,
Morris, Nicholson and Greenleaf executed to him a deed, an
intended second mortgage, of property to which Law already
had a deed, an intended first mortgage. The notes secured
were $23,111.11 made by Duncanson under the first option,
and drafts ;^i 2,000 drawn on the second. These notes and
drafts were all paid, the latter by Greenleaf.

Duncanson loaned Nicholson $25,361.90. It was a perma-
nent loan.

Duncanson with William Deakins, junior, and Uriah Forrest
made purchase of Morris and Nicholson October 26, 1796, at a
consideration of $50,000.

Mr. Morris to Captain Duncanson was grateful for his
accommodation and frequently expressed his gratitude and
once, November 24, 1796, thus:

He certainly deserves anything we can do for him in return for his friendly
Conduct

265 DUNCANSON

DUNCANSON AGREEMENT

1

SHhET ONE

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DUNCANSON AGREEMENT

SHEET TWO

269 DUNCANSON

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sk^^^^;)4 ^

hi

DUNCANSON 273

Mr. Greenleaf in other years in a CauHon discusses Duncan-
son's transactions with the triumvirate. The Caution is not
altogether truthful nor altogether grateful. Greenleaf s ingrati-
tude had an excuse in that Duncanson was cajoled by Ward to
attempt sale for the drafts uncancelled yet actually paid. From
this arose an injunction Pratt vs. Duncanson and Ward — the
first equity cause.

Captain Duncanson leased through Mr. Cranch the mansion
No. 470 N street while his residence was being built, 1795-6.
It was provided with coach house and stable. The footwalks,
front and rear, were paved with brick. Here the Captain
sported the style his wealth warranted.

Distantly eastward from the Capitol and northward from the
Anacostia in the wilds Captain Duncanson had cleared the
shrub and a space and had run from the cornerstones the lines
preparatory for his mansion.* William Lovering was the
architect and furnished the material. With the summer of
1796 began the Captain's occupation. Although charmingly
sequestered in profuse wood, from the portico he could catch
the sheen of the wide waters beyond the slope. The Captain's
domain was an ample city square and imitated a prosperous
English estate; it yet remains in entirety with the mansion well
preserved, now as then, a scene of beauty. These honey-
locusts of broken boughs and hollowed boles lend

The grace of forest-woods decayed;

and "yclad with summer's pride" hath been a hundred times
and more; and, are the contemporaries of the ancient mansion.
The locust trees, maybe, when saplings were planted by the
Captain and gratefully grew to lofty stature to spread over him
an arcade of shade with their arms branching in graceful sprays
of pinnate leaves. The mansion is correct colonial and suggests
Grecian culture by its triangular pediment adorned with win-
dow, central and circular. It marks the taste of the Captain as
does his affluence the quarters for his equipage.

Still it is a sylvan scene; still the manor-house, has its
pristine strength though marked with the credentials of a

* In the year x8oo you micht have walked over the commons or old 6elds from Rock crttk to
the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, and noticed at the comers of eadi square a quarnr-ctone
planted, bearing on It the name or number of the street and the number of tM souare, which had
been carefully cnlsdcd there. If all these stones had been collected tOjBether. tnera would have
been enough to buiki a house as large as the Prcskient*s Manskm.— Early RecoUsctkMS of WssIh
higtoD City.— ClrM/Mm Uitus,

DUMCANSON 274

century. It is a joy to the antiquaries of historic proclivity.
Now ''the Maples/' it is the home of Mrs. Emily Edson
Briggs, of literary fame, Olivia.

The square is designated 875 and is bounded by South
Carolina avenue, D, Sixth and Seventh streets, southeast. The
eastern wing was added by a former owner. Senator John M.
Clayton of Delaware ; the western wing is also an addition.

Mr. Ray hailed from Newark-on-the-Trent. He arrived from
England at New York, April, 1795. He intended, so he says,
merely to stop over on his return to India. And, too, he says
his fortune was from £30,000 to £40,000 sterling; and that
Captain Duncanson induced him to remain and invest. Mr.
Ray resided most of the time at Lamberton, New Jersey.

Captain Duncanson and Mr. Ray formed a firm, April 16,
1796, for a general line of mercantile agency and commission
business with the principal place at Philadelphia and a branch
at Washington and correspondents in New York and Baltimore.
The circular, dated May i, 1796, reads:

From our long residence and connections formed at Bengal and at Bomlwy
we presume to hope for the encouragement and patronage of our (nends in that
quarter, at the same time we look forward with much satisfaction to a niore
extensive intercourse and a free trade to the East Indies now open and allowed
by treaty with Great Britain.

The Washington branch was in Georgetown. The ventures
were '*not in one bottom trusted" and besides the Mount
Vernon was the Atlantic. The firm's ledgers designate all
attempts to gain fortune's favor as " adventures."

TTie Washington Gaxette.

That the partnership lately subsisting between William Mayne Duncanson

and James Ray, at this dty and the city of Washington, merchants, under the

firm of Duncanson and Ray, was this day dissolved by mutual consent. — ^The

business will be carried on in the future by W. M. Duncanson, at the said dty

of Washington.

W. M. DUNCANSON.

JAMES RAY.
Philadelphia, 13th June 17^.

Captain Duncanson cooperated with Mr. Law in furthering
the Washington Canal and also guaranteed the lottery prizes.
From May 31 to August 18, 1796, he accounted for 432 tickets
at ten dollars each.

\

1

[I M S IS ™

^

L J

l;

1-4

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM MAYNE OUNCANSON

277 DUHCAHSOM

Captain Duncanson is in the first chapter of the sugar house
history. At Piercy's father's place in England, Duncanson,
1782, met him. Piercy in New York with a capitalist under-
took the manufacture of sugar; misfortune to the latter caused
a collapse of the enterprise. Piercy, although already acquain-
ted, secured from England commendatory letters to Duncanson
who assisted him fmancially, lodged him and Mrs. Piercy in
his home and planned for a sugar refmery on the site where it
was eventually located to be promoted by Duncanson and
Ringgold, (Tench Ringgold, to whom the Captain was protegd,)
and operated by Piercy.

I surmised that Duncanson and Law quarreled. An assur-
ance is the account of Morris, upon which I cannot improve:

Phila Deer 4, 1796
W" M Duncanson Esq*"

Dear Sir

I cannot but feel very great Concern at seeing by the Contents of your

letter of the 28 ult that Mr Law and you are come to a serious Dispute about the

Bargain verbally made between you respecting his Property in the City of

Washington — I remember well that you told me the next day that as Mr West-

cott Mr Law & yourself were going home from the little Hotel* where we had

dined together, Mr Law broke out into fome degrading Expressions respecting

the City and those Persons he had to deal with about his Property in it — You

mentioned fome observations of Mr Westcott, made to Mr Law, after which you

said that you charged Mr Law with having formed a Design of going to England,

and concluded with making him an offer of ;£ 75,000 for the Property which cost

him ;6 50000, &. the price of his improvements at a fair Valuation payable in ten

years with ten pcent Interest payable annually and to give the whole of his and

as much of your own Property as should be deeme'd reasonable in security for

the payment of Principal and Int, that you told him the Int would amount to

more than he would expend in England or anywhere else, that Mr Law asked

what was to be done in case the Interest should not be punctually paid. You

answered that he might appoint a Friend to receive it with Powers to sell as

much of the Property as might be needful in case of delinquency &, that Mr Law

faid it was a Bargain &c — I do not recollect perfectly some other particulars

which you mentioned respecting the Houses to be built, but I know that a

Gentn asked you afterwards to admit him to a Concern of the Bargain was

seriously made, and I also remember that a day or two afterwards when Mr Law

and yourself came in the forenoon into Room at the Union Tavern at George

*Jame8 Hoban and Pierce Purcell purchased at the Commiasionen* public tale, October 8, 179a,
lot A In square 324 fronting on the north side of F between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, ine
Little Hotel was sometimes called Scott's Tavern. Back from the street and hidden are antique
remains of the Little HoteL— A. C C

TTki IVashingUm GoJUtU,

Lrrru Hotsl,

A person of AUIity and established character in the Tavern keeping line, may Rent the Little
Hotel, on terms that will be encouraging.— Apply to Mr. Pisacs Purcsll, or Jamb» Hoban.
Washington, Sept. ai, 1797.

DUMCANSON 2 78

Town, you took me out, leaving Genl Fonrest and Mr Law in the room & upon
our Return Mr Law said to you "Duncanson it is not right that you and I
should be making Bargains and buying & selling each other Property, we have
been long friendly, aofsed the fea together and we must drop this Baigain *' —
I do not recollect precisely your reply, but I think it did not consent to drop the
Bargain altho' I confefs I expected from that Ouverture that you would in the
end give it up— The Conversations here recited I have mentioned several ttmes
since which served to fix them on my memory, and I only related them to shew
yours & Mr Laws opinions as to the value of Washington Lots — upon the whole
if Mr Law wishes to go for England to remain there, I should wish you to be the
Purchaser of his Property, but if he desires to (lay and fulfill his G>ntract I must
say that I am desirous that he fhould do so, this however is for you and him, &
not for me to determine —

I read to Mrs. Morris and Maria that part of your letter which relates to them —
Maria says she fears the weather may be too warm for racing through the Penn-
sylvania avenue when she comes there, but she will be glad to take a View of
the avenue and then to run or walk through it according to Circumstances — ^They
both join me in Compts & good Wishes to Mils Duncanson and yourself— I am
truly Your faithful friend & St

ROBT MORRIS.

Mr. Morris meets Mr. Ray in Philadelphia a day or two after
his letter to Captain Duncanson and finds "that the dispute
between Law and Duncanson runs high " and his pacific nature
prompts him to assume the position of peacemaker.

Phila Deer II 1796
Thomas Law Esqr

Dear Sir

I am extremely sorry to hear of any Differences between Mr Duncanson &

you — Old Friends if they do happen to quarrel must make up again and 1 hope

that has or will soon take place between you before this time — Mrs. Morris and

Maria present Compts to Mrs. Law and yourself in which I join with the Promise

of visiting the Qty next Summer — 1 always think of it and my Friends in and

near it with Pleasure.

I am Dear Sir Yrs

ROBT MORRIS.

Campbell vs. Duncanson and Ray, This is a cause in the
High Court of Chancery, Maryland. It began September 28,
1797, and ran into 1809. Its record requires 420 pages.
Campbell was represented by Philip Barton Key. John M.
Gantt and J. T. Mason; Ray by William Cranch, subsequently,
by Luther Martin ; Duncanson in propria persona. Duncanson
prepared his answer, exhibits, interrogatories and attended the
sessions; at the finish, John Law is entered as attorney.
Perplexing intrique everywhere appears. Duncanson and Ray

379 '^^"'^ *N SON

:)- ;

28l DUNCANSON

believing in special advantages arising from an American
bottom purchased from Willing and Francis, Philadelphia
merchants, agents of the owner, Thomas Murgatroyd, the
Delaware^ then at the wharf, for 1^40,000. Duncanson made
the negotiation and gave the firm notes which he signed for
the entire consideration. William Skirrow was to have a half
interest in the ship. The negotiation was made upon the
formation of the firm, April, 1796, but held up a month or so
to permit the expiration of Duncanson's citizenship proceeding.
Duncanson re-named the Delaware the Mount Vernon. In
May, the Mount Vernon was loaded with rum by the firms,
Duncanson and Ray, Willing and Francis, for London; ship
and cargo were insured. About June i, the ship set sail and
when a short time out was by the French captured and con-
demned. The firm, Willing and Francis, from its anxiety to
secure a statement from Duncanson of its agency was evidently
committed to Murgatroyd. The insurers claimed the insured
was an alien. This plot evolved so many points as to suggest
a star of endless points. Every one to the transaction endeav-
ored to evade responsibility and resorted to every expedient
without scruple. Of all the proficients in prevarication, Ray
was the most accomplished. From Campbell and Duncanson
and the Chancellor's conclusion it appears as now narrated.
The artful and cunning Ray deviled. 4>retexts to prevent the
enforcement from him of the payment of the firm's notes for
the luckless Mount Vernon; he represented to Duncanson the
only means for the firm to effect an escape was to deny that
he, Ray, had any share in it then he would be a disinterested
witness and could testify so as to defeat any action ; and he
drafted a letter for Duncanson to sign which at first he declined
to do, yet upon the approval of a lawyer of high repute did so
after alterations. Ray with this advantage meditated a scheme
to secure all of Duncanson's realty. He represented to Dun-
canson that all he had in the world would be attached for the
partnership debt unless he conveyed his property in trust and
suggested a deed in fee to his sister, Miss Duncanson ; accord-
ingly unapprised of Ray's artifice he made the deed to shield
from impending ruin without acknowledging or recording it.
The very next day came the sequent step in the scheme. Ray
next represented to Duncanson that his sister was unaccus-
tomed to business and ought not to be subjected to alarm and

DUMCANSON 383

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to take acknowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select ''fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates, Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
**lotsfor sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

*The twelve elected are the first column. Republicans in italics: federals |daln.
Daniel Carroll . . . a(t4 George HadJUld

Gearge Blagden
James Barry . .
WillUm Brent .
Benjamin More
James Hoban . .
Ntcholaa King .
A. B. Woodward
S. H, Smith . .
WiUUm Prout .
Thomas Peter
fohn Hewitt

2oi Joseph Hodcson

164 Thomas Ttngey .

157 H*"iy *?«*« • •

129 C Coningham .

124 Griffith Coombc .
124 Thomas Herty .

133 Wm. M. Duncanson

121 Geofge A ndrews

120 Peter Lenox . .
John Kesmsy • •

'•i

■l

87
80

60
58

283 DUNCANSOM

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach,

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 18 12. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In that voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*I quote from Mr. Wattertton's nunuscripC at apropos and not at authoritetlve; he it not alwayt
accurate. A. C. C

In connection with Mr. Law I am reminded of another Englithman Capn Duneanton who
alto arrived from India at the tame time and whoee fate wat a mdancholy one. He had

held the rank of a Capuin in the Britith army, and both he and Mr. L were taid to

have come to thit country to avoid being wltnettet in the memorable trial of Warren Hattinn.
Thit gentleman branched out largely upon hit arrival in the infant Metropolit, then almost a wud-
emett— drove a carriage and four horaet and built a iBne brick house in the woodt between the
Capitol HUl and Navy Yard, and lived %rith a ladv who wat takl to be hit titter, in eootMeraMe
splendor. He had brought whh him, it was bdieved a h a nd some fortune, but it seemed to
clwindle awav rapidly, and, after various unsuccessful attempu to regain what lie had watted In
extravagant fivinjg^, he tank into a ttate of absolute penury, and wat finallv borne to an obtcnre
grave 1^ a tinc^ attendant— the cartman who conve)^ hit l>ody to ite retwig place — ** Unwept,
unhoaored ana unsong.*'— {700^# 99^ottirsiom*s wtanmcript.

DUMCANSON 282

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to talce aclcnowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select ''fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates. Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
*Mots for sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

^he twelve elected are the first column. Republicans in italics: federals plain.
Daniel Carroll . . . au4 George Hadfield

Gearge Blagden
James Barry . .
WiUUm Brent .
Benjamin More
James Hoban . •
Nicholas King .
A. B. Woodward
5. H. Smith . .
WUliam Prout .
Thomas Peter
fohn Hewitt

202 Joseph Hodcson
164 Thomas Ttngey .

157 Henry Ingle . .

129 C. u>ningham .
124 Griffith Cloombc .
124 Thomas Herty .
133 Wm. M. Duncanson
131 Geofge A ndrews

1 30 Peter Lenox . .
John Keam«y • •

'ii

\l

87
80

60
58

283 DUNCAMSON

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach.

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 18 1 2. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In that voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*I quote from Mr. Wttteraton't maniMcr^ m apropos and not m authoritative; lieianot alwi^
accurate. A. C C

In coiuMctioo wltli Mr. Law I am nmindad of anothar BngtiahoMn Cqm Duncanaoa who
also arrived from India at the same time and whose fate was a melancholy one. He had

held the rsnk of a Captain in the British army, and both he and Mr. L were aald to

have come to this country to avoid being witnsssss in the memorable trial of Warren Hastincs.
This gentleman branched out largely upon hto arrival in the Iniant Metropolis, then almost a wild-
emcss— drove a carriage and war hones end buih a fine brick house in the woods between tite
Capitol Hill and NatTYard, and lived with a ladv who wm said to bs his sister, in considerable
n>lcndor. He had Drought whh him, it was SeUeved a handsome fortune, but it sesmed to
dwindle awav rapidly, amL after various unsucccssftd attempts to rsgain what he had wasted la
extravagant Uving, he sank into a state of absolute penury, and was finally borne to an obscure
grave 1^ a singls attsndant— the cartman who conveyed his body to ite resmig placs ** Unw^
unhonoied uaaxumng^^^^Georg* fFaiUniom*t wtmwmMeH^i.

DUMCANSON-

282

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to take acknowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select "fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates. Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
"lots for sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

*The twelve elected are the first column. Republicans in italics; federals pUdn.

Daniel Carroll
Gearge Blagden
James Barry . .
William Brent .
Benjamin More
James Hoban . .
Ntckolas King .
A. B. Woodward
S. H. Smith . .
William Prout .
Thomas Peter
fohn Hewitt

aa4
202
164

157
129

124
124
123

121
120

Gwrge HadjUld
Joseph Hodgson
Thomas Ttngey .
Henry Ingle . .
C Coningkam .
Griffith Coombe .
Thomas Herty .
Wm. M. Duncanson
George Andrews
Peter Lenox . .
John Kearney • .

87
80

60
58

283 DUMCAWSOII

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach.

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 18 12. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In that voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*I quote from Mr. Watteraton*t nuuuiicripc m apropos and not at authorhative; he la not always
accurate. A. C. C

In connectkMi whh Mr. Law I am rtmlnded of anochar EngWshman Capn Duncanson who
also arrived ftt>ni India at the same time and whose fate was a mdancnoly one. He had

held the rank of a Captain in the British srmy. and both he and Mr. 1 were said to

have come to this country to avoid being witnesses in the memorable trial of Warren Hastinn.
This gentleman branched out largely upon his arrival in the infant Metropolis, then almost a wud-
emcss— drove a carriage and four horaas and built a fine brick house in the woods between tiM
Capitol HUl and Navy Yard, and lived with a lady who was said to bs hte sister, in considerable
splendor. He had Drought whh him, it was bcUeved a handsome fortune, but it seemed to
dwindle awav rqrfdly, and, after vartoua unsuccessful attempte to regain what he had wastsd in
extravagant livinjB;, he sank Into a state of absohite penury, and waa finally borne to an obscurs
grave by a single attendant— the cartman who convcjred his body to ite resung placs ** Unwept,
unhooorad and nnfang.*'~<^0»sv WatUrtton^s wutnuteript.

DUMCANSON*

283

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to take acknowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select "fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates. Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
"lots for sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

*The twelve elected are the first column. Republicans In italics; federals plain.

Daniel Carroll
Gearge Blagden
James Barry
WillUm Brent
Benjamin More
James Hoban .
Nicholas King
A. B. Woodward
S. H. Smith .
WUlIam Prout
Thomas Peter
/ohn Hewitt

ai4
202
164

157
129

124

124

"3
121

120

George Hadfield
Joseph Hodgson

odga
7?«

Thomas Ttngey .
Htnry Ingle . .
C Coningham .
Griffith Coombe .
Thomas Herty •
Wm. M. Duncanson
Geotge A ndrews
Peter Lenox . .
John Kesmsy . .

I

87
80

60
58

283 DUMCAWSOII

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach.

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 18 1 2. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In thai voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*l quote from Mr. Watterston's nuuiutcript at apropos and not at authoritative; ha it not always
accurate. A. C. C.

In connection with Mr. Law I am ren&inded of another Bni^ishman Capn Duncanson who
also arrived from India at the same time and whooe frrte was a melancholy one. He had
held the rank of a Captain in the British army, and both he and Mr. L were said to

have come to this country to avoid being witnesses in the memorable trial of Warren Hastincs.
This gentleman branched out largely upon hto arrival in the Inlant Metropolis, then almost a wiSiil-
emess— drove a carriage and war horses and built a fine brick house in the woods brtween tiM
Capitol Hill and Navy Yard, and ttved with a lady who was said to be hte sister, in conskierabie
splendor. He had brought with him, it was believed a handsome fortune, but it seemed to
dwindle awav ra]Mhf , and, after various unsucccsaftil sttempta to regain whet he had wasted In
extravagant living, he sank Into a state of absolute penury, and was finally borne to an obscure
grave by a single attendant— the cartman who convcjred his body to ite reswg phcs ** Unwept,
unhooored 9aixumng."—Georg* fFaUirsian*s wutnuscript.

DUMCANSON 283

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to take acknowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select "fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates, Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
"lots for sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

*The twelve elected are the first column. Republicans In italics; federals pidn.
Daniel Carroll . . . ac4 Gwrre HadjUld

Gearge Blagden
James Barry .
WillUm Brent
Benjamin More
James Hoban .
Nicholas King
A. B. Woodward
S. H. Smith .
William Prout
Thomas Peter
/ohn Hewitt

rge A

202 Joseph Hodgson
164 Thomas "nn^ty .

157 Henry Ingle . .

129 C Conin^ham .

124 Griffith Coombe .
124 Thomas Herty .

123 Wm. M. Duncanson

1 2 1 George A ndrews

120 Peter Len<uc . .

IIS John Kearney • •
98

'■'■I

. . 96

: : n

. . 87
. . 80

. . 7^
. . 60

. . 58

283 DUMCAWSOII

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach.

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 18 1 2. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In that voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*I quote from Mr. Wttterston*s nuuuiicripC at apropos and not at authorhativa; ha U not always
accurate. A. C. C

In connection with Mr. Law I am reminded of anothar Englishman Capn Duncanson who
also arrived from India at the same time and whooe fite was a mdancholy one. He had

held the rank of a Captain in the British army, and both he and Mr. L were said to

have come to this country to avoid being witnesses in the memorable trial of Warren Hastings.
This gentleman branched out largely upon his arrival in the Infant Metropolis, then almost a wfld-
emess— drove a carriage and four horses and built a fine brick house in the woods between Htm
Capitol Hill and Navy Yard, and lived with a lady who was said to bs his sister. In conskierable
splendor. He had Drou|^ whh him. It was believed a handsome fortune, but it seemed to
dwindle awav ra]Mhr, and, after various unsuccessful attcmpte to regain what he had wasted la
extravagant living, he sank into a state of absolute penury, and was finally borne to an obscure
grave 1^ a single attendant— the cartman who convesred his body to ite resung phcs ** Unwept,
unhooorsd and nasaag.*'~<^0»sv WatUrsian^t wutnuteript.

DUMCANSON 282

disquietude and recommended another deed be made and to
him to be retained by Duncanson. The second deed was
signed and Ray managed to have at hand the authorized officer
to take acknowledgments. Duncanson put the deed in the
closet with his other papers. Ray lodged with Duncanson and
at an opportune moment surreptiously abstracted the deed and
then recorded it. When Duncanson was in Philadelphia, Ray
spread the report his partner had forged the firm's paper, had
compromised by a conveyance to him, and had absconded.
Duncanson, March 13 or 14, 1797, discovered the theft and
threatened Ray with exposure and thereupon, March 15, the
latter made a written declaration of right to re-conveyance
upon adjustment of the firm's finances. Ray was the debtor
of the firm.

Sufficient is recorded to warrant the writing, Miss Martha
Duncanson was a woman of bright mind and engaging
manner. She died August, 1799.

Captain Duncanson built an humble home in the centre of
square 300 on the Potomac bank near Thirteenth street in 1800
and there lived out his remaining days.

The first local election was attended with extraordinary
excitement. Appeals for favorite candidates were made in the
public prints. Preliminary caucuses in different sections were
held to select "fit characters." The citizens of the west end
choose among its number of candidates. Captain Duncanson.
The election was on June 9, 1802. Political and sectional
differences, splitting and scratching, produced a mixed result.
The Captain received a respectable vote of the suffragists and
continued to have Capt. instead of Hon. on his letters.*

Like the others the Captain's fortune became impaired, and,
March, 1802, he inserted a modest notice in the Intelligencer oi
"lots for sale or on ground rent between the President's house
and the Navy Yard, the price moderate and payments easy,"
but none came to buy or rent.

*The twelve elected are the first column. Republicans in italics: federals plain.
Daniel Carroll . . . a(4 Gwrre Hadjield

Gearge Blagden
James Barry . .
WillUm Brent .
Benjamin More
James Hoban . .
Ntckolas King .
A. B. Woodward
5. ff. Smith . .
WiUiam Prout .
Thomas Peter
/ohn Hewitt

202 Joseph Hodgson
164 Thomas "nngey .

157 Henry Ingle . .

129 C Coningham ,

124 Griffith Coombe .
124 Thomas Herty .

123 Wm. M. Duncanson

1 2 1 George A ndrews

120 Peter Lenox . .
John Kearney • •

"i

■l

87
80

60

58

283 DUMCAWSOM

Captain Duncanson when he came to America had a fortune.
He invested with the syndicate, as appears, over seventy
thousand dollars. The real estate speculation was a complete
failure. His mercantile ventures were unsuccessful. Misfor-
tune closely followed misfortune. To business reverse came
broken health. He neither mismanaged nor overspent; he
was the victim of ill fate.

There is pathos in the Duncanson deeds in the old time
libers. They tell a true story of embarrassment and then of
pinching poverty, more and more poignant. First is mortgage
of real estate, then mortgage of equity. After, a chattel trust
with inventory of everything — mahogany and silverware;
family and other pictures, twenty-six; a pair of pistols and
three swords. Then, a bill of sale and thereto the same
inventory repeated item by item and added, before overlooked,

A Coach.

The old coach out in the yard, disused and decayed, the
suggestion of style and splendor of better days.

The Captain was survived by a son and two daughters, all
minors. He was sickly several years. He died the early part
of 1812. No mention of his death in print was made. Little
is written, as even his kindred know of him nothing else than
he lived and they bear his name.

In that voyage of life the last scenes were wreck and rescue
and welcome to the port

Whose peaceful streets with gold are pav'd.*

*I quote from Mr. W«tter*ton*s maniMcr^ at apropos and not at authoritetive; he la not always
accurate. A. C. C.

In connection whh Mr. Law I am rtminded of anochsr Bnfl^hman Capn Duncanson who
also arrived from India at the saflM time and whose ftite was a melancholy one. He had
held the rank of a Captein in the Britiah army, and both he and Mr. L were said to

have come to this country to avoid being witnesses in the memormble trial of Warren Hastinn.
This gentleman branched out largely upon hto arrival in the inlant Metropolis, then almost a wud-
emess— drove a carriage and ibur horses and built a fine brick house in the woods between tiis
Capitol Hill and Navy Yard, and Itvad with a \»dy who was said to bs his sister, in considerable
spwndor. He had Drou|^ with him, it was Mieved a handsome fortune, but it seemed to
dwindle awinr rapidly, and, alter various unsuccessful attempte to regain what he had wasted In
extravagant living, he sank into a state of absolute penury, and was finally borne to an obscure
grave by a single attendant— the cartman who conveyed his body to ite reswg place—** UnwepC,
unhooorsd mixumng,** —George fFaUersion*s wmmusert^t.

s

285 SIPARATIOM

SEPARATION.

MARITAL felicity was short-timed. In a legal instrument,
July 27, 1802, Mr. Law says he " intends in short time
to depart from the United States and to reside for a
certain time in Europe." He departs; he tarries beyond the
appointed period. His zeal for the city detains him. He writes
''I am staying to raise 80,000 dollars for the Canal'* and the pros-
pects brightens of monied men making ''investiture of their
money." Finally laden with surprises and in high exaltation
and expectation of happy reunion he returns. Keen disap-
pointment is his ; he comes to an atmosphere of chill. Mr. Law
is in Washington, April, 1804. The denouement is in August.
A document dated August 9, 1804, is signed and sealed by
husband and wife; it begins:

Whereas, by an arrangement this day made by and between Thomas Law and
EUza Park Law his wife, they have mutually agreed to live in future separate and
apart firom each other ;

and, another provides :

That the said Thomas Law shall have the custody and safe keeping exclusively
of hb said daughter Eliza Law and that he shall be at the sole and exclusive ex-
pense of the maintenance, education and support of his daughter.

The cause of disagreement is not disclosed. Mr. Law sur-
mised silence would stifle scandal. Surely, honorable in this
particular he made ample provision for the maintenance of his
wife by an annuity of fifteen hundred dollars. Time did not
cure the bitterness ; rather than heal the estrangement it aggra-
vated. With no stranger could she have been more formal.
She invariably called herself Mrs. Custis, and so did he name
her, except once — in the publication A Reply to Certain Insinua-
tions. But once after is it known they ever faced and that un-
expectedly at their daughter's home in Baltimore, 18x7.

Already two violations of veracity are charged to the
Stranger in America. That gossip whispered reproachfully

StPAKATlON a86

of Mrs. Law is without doubt. Yet, that the impropriety
craftily conveyed by the Stranger is not a libel, most menda-
cious, is not without doubt.

About two years ago Mr. Law visited his native country, and left his wife at
Washington. On his return he found that the lady had given cause to disturb
his future peace of mind. Rumour, with ''her hundred tongues," had repre-
sented to him that his frail partner had become particularly attached to the mili-
tary, at the marine barracks in Washington ; nay, that she had been seen dressed
ik la militaire in company with the officers. Be this as it may a separation
certainly afterwards toolc place. The lady was allowed a handsome provision
while Mr. Law at the time this was written (1806), boarded, as a single man, in
one of the edifices built by himself in the New Jersey Avenue, which is a
boarding house for the members of G)ngress, and kept by one Mitchel, a
Frenchman.

Another English traveler, Faux, Memorable Days in America^
wanders from the ways of truth ; the falsity of his comment is
apparent :

He married the niece of General Washington, the most beautiful lady in
Virginia ; and, at her uncle's request, Mr. Law settled on her, in case they
parted, 15,000 a year. The event which seemed thus to be anticipated, soon
after occurred ; for Mr. Law visiting England soon after his marriage and leaving
his wife in America, she, during his absence, eloped with a young dashing offi-
cer in the Army. Mr. Law returned only to part with one of the most accom-
plished ladies in the land. She lives in high style, and her house is the resort of
the most fashionable parties.

The criticism of Faux's publication in the Quarterly Review
repeats the defamation. Mr. Law indignantly denies and adds :

That, although a separation did unhappily ensue, originating in a disagreement
in disposition, yet 1 have always paid tribute correctly due to Mrs. Law's purity
of conduct, which 1 never did impeach.

Mr. Law would be the aggrieved party if the coquettish
caprice were true and his denial has due double credence. Mr.
Law's letters are numerous which touch upon the separation
and therein is no intimation of impropriety.

Is not thy mind a gentle mind ?

Is not thy heart a heart refmM ?

Hast thou not every blameless grace,

That man should love, or Heaven can trace ?

To Mrs.

On Some Calumnies Against Her Character.
— ^Thomas Moore
From the dty of Washington, 1804.

a87 SBPARATION

Sometime before 1810 Mr. Law resided at the little village of
Westminster, Vermont. He had advanced an English friend
funds for investment in lands and he may have had business
affairs in other ways in this vicinity. At any rate he lived in
the State of *'nine months winter and three months fall,"
sufficiently long to establish legal residence. It comes down
that the villagers were attracted by Mr. Law's oddities and
amused by his habit of retaining bread from the table and in
his walks handling it in seeming unison with the working of
his mind.

General Stephen R. Bradley, then a United States Senator
from Vermont and his son, Mr. William C. Bradley, subse-
quently a Representative, were residents of Westminster and
friends of Mr. Law. Gen. Bradley, the first Senator from the
State and temporary presiding officer of the Senate became
friendly acquainted with Mr. Law at Washington.

Law vs. Law — Bill for Divorce — Filed 18 10. The Senator
upon return to Washington, December, 1810, took testimony
for plaintiff and the other Bradley at Westminster presented it
to the court.

Gen. Bradley to his son writes* :

It is the universal wish by all persons here that the businefs may be accom-
plished as soon as pofsible. The depositions are of the most respectable char-
acters in this part of the country.

Mr. Law is here the same he was at Westminster his mind is like a whirl-
wind and totally incapable of doing any such businefs.

The depositions are full to the point of separation and total neglect of duty.

Give me leave to request you, should you succeed, to have the bill well
drawn Elegantly wrote on parchment.

I wrote you in case you succeeded in the case of Mr. Law — a Bill elegantly
made out in due form, if you would without too much trouble send me dupli-
cates one for Mrs. Law as well as for Mr. Law it would be very gratifying to
her as she wishes to have with her the evidence of M^ total separation.

The cause is carried with expedition and January 11, 1811,

«I am indebted to Mrs. Sarah Bradley WUlard, wife of Hon. Henry A. WillanL for the extract!
flom the lettera from General Bradley to his son, and for other Law lettera. Of the Hon. WlUIam
C. Bradlejr* Mra. WiUard ia granddaughter and adopted daughter. Gen. Bradley waa promoter of
Vermont^s itatdiood, prominent in the nation and potential in the party. Aa preddent of the re-
publican congressional convention he issued the call for a meeting, January a3, x8o8, of the party
senators andTRepresentatives to nominate suiteUe charactera for President and Vice President wt
the next election.— A. C. C.

ilPAKATION 288

Bradley, the junior, to Bradley, the senior, announces the
plaintiffs success. The 20th the Senator replies :

I had the pleasure to receive yours of the nth on Friday last and imniediatdy
communicated the contents to Mr. Law, who appeared to rejoice with joy un-
speakable, we lodge together in the same house and during the eveiting he came
in repeatedly to pronounce his benediction on you, he says he shall write you
immediately and give you a full detail of blessings which arises from his
impulses,*

Up there now in Vermont in reunions of the best families the
table is for the occasion adorned with precious bits of China,
daintily decorated, which have been ever so long carefully
guarded. All around the board know and it is not therefore
said the precious chinaware is "Law china." Upon the an-
nouncement of the divorce decision, to Mrs. Bradley, the
junior's wife, Mr. Law straightway gave the china he had
bought in England, while there, as a surprise to Mrs. Law.
Mrs. Bradley's gift was a thousand pieces in the boxes as they
came across the ocean never opened.

Dear Sir: —

1 have mislaid & have searched in vain, for the deed of Divorce which I
obtained in Vermont You will much oblige me by sending a document or legal
voucher of it — pray be kind enough to attend to this. I have Utely read an
account of fine fishing at Nayhant which brought to mind pleasing recollections
of our trip there — your little boy on horseback, our conv" & all the circumstances
of our journey are fresh in my memory.

I hope you enjoy your health & that your &mily & your sons share the same.

Y" with sincere

Esteem & regard

THO« LAW.

Augt 10, 1820

To

Genl Bradley

Windsor

Vermont

The annuity was a financial millstone around Law's neck ;
he paid promptly for sixteen years and then in installments

* Perhaps the political part of the letter, the rugged humor of the eccentric, may interest :
The Charter of the bank of the United States will not be renewed there seems to be a wonder-
fiill combination of Interests to defeat it, the hot-headed republicans oppose it because they say it is
federal, and the federalists are willing it should run out, tho* not at the expense of their votes,
because they think it will so distress the country, that it will overturn the republican Kiminis-
tration— whatever nuy be its effects the experiment will be tried— God suffered so many fools to be
sent here and dementalixed so many of the rest, that it is impossible to say how long he will sufl^
or permit an administration and government to remain in their hands, whether his indignation will
be ultimately manifested aninst the nation at large or against the Fools remains a secret in the
councils of neaven— I feel for the former, as to tne latter I am willing he should dispose of them In
his own way, he made them and he may d n them if he pleases K>r all me —

SEPARATION

long apart derived by pledge of property and embarrassing
expedient.

To Son-in-Law Rogers, December, 1821.
My Dear Sir.

1 rejoice to close this year with a reply to your wellcome kind afl« Letter—

You cannot conceive how much I have suffered by inability to remit to Mr* Custis

— Sl particularly by being informed that malignity had doubled the amount due

Sl thus injured me — ^That this 1500^ p annum has been a great drawback on me

you can easily conceive, St you will applaud me for exertions during 20 years &

wonder at my punctuality — I knew that Mn Custis would not prefs for all of it

from you, although she had sent a harsh mefsage through Elinor to me — my

Conduct little merited this. I am not very well, Sl will write you more

cheerfully hereafter.

I am sorry to learn that your father has been so ill — give my affe regards to
your good sister —

I have sent the Bills to Barry & now enclose an order on him for half the
proceeds to You & half for Eliza, to pay Mn Custis, I will hereafter shew my sense
of your lit>erality.

1 never in my life cared about money matters for my self, all 1 wished was to
make it serve others. I have scarcely read over your Letter the first cursory
perusal of its beginning and end relieved me from uneasinefs.

You will give me credit for some philosophy who has without murmuring on
300 or 500 D\ who spent formerly 30,000—

May the next year render all under your roof happy & prosperous is the sincere
prayer of yrs af!y

T LAW

Thomas Law's introductory verse in A Family Picture:

Seek not in public places for a wife;

Be not deluded by the charms of sight;
Retirement only gives the friend for life,

Who shares your grief, and doubles your delight.

PERMANENCE.

FROM the burning of the Capitol, August 34, 1814, and
the War and Navy Departments the following day, and
other havoc to public and private property by the British
under direction of General Ross and Admiral Cockburn a seri-
ous question arose, whether the buildings should be recon-
structed at all. The city's growth had been slow; at that
date there were only fifteen hundred houses and next to noth-
ing had been accomplished in the improvement ofthe thorough-
fares. Congress was convened. A strong party inveighed
against Washington ; arguments of the original opponents
were reinforced by the city's poor progress. In the balance,
swaying up and down, was removal against permanency.
These were days of anxious suspense to the citizens. Thomas
Law, by the use of his diplomacy and his influential acquaint-
anceship, by his pen and by his purse, by his ceaseless energy
wrought the retention of the National Capital at the city of
Washington.

LiTnit TO PusiDiNT Madison.
Sib;

When I heard of the conflagration of the Capitol and so forth, I Indulged the
belief thai a temporary misfortune would be converted to a benelit and that I
should have the satisfaction of witnessing prosperity here dated from your ad-
ministration of government.

The enclosed proposition I submit to your perusal with all deference, in it I
have considered the claims of the heads of departments, whose salaries are now
so inadequate to the txptntes of their dignified station and I have adverted also
to the convenience and interest of all concerned.

l.ord Kaimes sagaciously remarks that " rough uncultivated gmund dismal to
(he eye inspires peevishness and discontent " and 1 have long attributed much of
the discord in Congress to causes arising in this city from distance of reudence,
want of social amusements and confinement together, where dissatisfaction is
engendered and diisen«ons produced.

I have also long apprehended thai parsimony and neglect exhibited in this
city would tend to deceive foreign governments into contempt of the natiMMl

PIRMANBNCE 2^

Spirit productive of insults and injuries till insupportable and that foreign minis-
ters also under impression received here must convey unfavorable estimations
from what daily could not escape their notice.

These sentiments I communicated to many frequently and as they have been
verified I hope to be pardoned the liberty of repeating them, with the sincere
desire to see every edifice arise with superior convenience and splendor.

What remains of empires fallen but a few monuments of former grandeur.
What is the glory of Great Britian but her universities, hospitals and public
endowments.

It may be urged that General Washington recommended a university and
military school in vain ; the opprobrium of neglect remains with G>ngress, and
regrets now arise for inattention to his advice and a disposition prevails to re-
erect the public buildings and to establish institutions which wiU be a lasting
honor to this government.

Every individual citizen who shall behold them will feel his bosom swell with
exultation and exclaim ** this is ours '* and thus identify himself with his nation.

Any recommendation you make, Sir, at this crisis would be adopted, as a
general inclination prevails not only to do away causes of complaint but to pro-
mote the permanent seat of government.

May you, Sir, when you retire to enjoy in private the contemplation of your

numerous services, have the satis&ction of seeing the Constitution you so much

promoted preserved from extemal assault and internal undermining and every

prosperity in this Metropolis bearing the name of the revered Hero, Statesman

and Patriot — Washington.

I remain

With unfeigned

Esteem, regard and respect

Yr. mt. ob. servant,

Nov. 26th, 1814. THOS. LAW.

Mr. Ingersoll was a Member; time could not efface from his
memory Mr. Law's effective efforts. In April, 1848, was written
this paragraph of the /fishery of the Second War between the
United States of America and Great Britain by Charles J.
Ingersoll :

Congress assembled in September, 1 814, in discomfort AD the public build-
ings of Washington were destroyed, except the patent-office, in which we met. *
And one of the first resolutions proposed was by Jonathan Fisk, for removal of
the seat of government to some more convenient and less dishonored place. As
Philadelphia was that generally preferred as the substitute, 1 voted for it; though
now, if not then, convinced that to abandon Washington would be detrimental
to the national interest, at any time, and at that crisis especially. At first Mr.
Fisk, and Mr. Grosvenor, who was his chief supporter in the movement, obtained
considerable majorities in the House. But dwindling at every successive vote
till fmally, by eighty-three to seventy-four, the project was defeated. Executive
influence was strong against it, and local feeling intense. Mr. Thomas Law« a

• Bkidgett's Hotel

s

293 PERMANBMCB

brother of the English chief justice, Lord EUenborough, and who married
a grand-daughter of Washington's wife, and by his advice, as Law said, invested
a hundred thousand guineas, which he brought from India, where he governed a
province, to this country, in city of the federal metropolis, a man of eccentric be-
haviour, considerable attainments, and addicted to newspaper publications, was par-
ticularly alarmed and protested against what he reprobated as a breach of public
faith, that would ruin him and many other innocent, meritorious property-holders
of vested rights. The National Intelligencer, lampooned as the Court Gazette by
the Federal Republican newspaper, intimated that the President's veto was ready
for any bill that Congress might pass for removing the seat of government from
where Washington had fixed and named it by an act of Congress, in which
Madison took an active part, by compromise and compact; to deracinate which,
would violate national faith, like repudiation of public debt

In the Washington Centennial Exhibition at the Library of
Congress, December, 1900, was a copy of the petition of the
committee, Daniel Carroll of Duddington, Thomas Law and
Frederick May, appointed at a general meeting of the citizens
held on Capitol Hill, to John P. Van Ness, Richard Bland Lee
and Tench Ringgold, the Commissioners appointed to super-
intend the re-erection of public buildings destroyed by the
British, 18 14, together with the original letter of Mr. Law to
President Madison transmitting it; also, autograph draft of the
President's answer. The purport of the petition is the erection
of an edifice on Capitel Hill wherein Congress could assemble
while the Capitol was rebuilding.

Paul Jennings, the colored body servant of James Madison,
says : *

(The next summer, 1814,) Mr. John Law, a large property-holder about the
Capitol, fearing it would not be rebuilt, got up a subscription and built a large
brick building (now called the Old Capitol, where the Secesh prisoners are now
confined), and offered it to Congress for their use till the Capitol should be
rebuilt. This coaxed them back, though strong efforts were made to move the
seat of government North; but the Southern members kept it there.

Thomas Law, Daniel Carroll of Duddington, and other
public-spirited citizens, with utmost expedition, subscribed
the funds and erected a suitable building, which they offered to
Congress. And with like promptness did Congress act. It
took possession of the new capitol immediately upon comple-
tion, December 13, 1815, and, upon the terms proposed, au-
thorized the President to lease for one year, and * ' thence until
the Capitol is in a state of readiness for the reception of Con-

• The NatkMua Capitol, Its ArchlUctiira, Art and Hktary.—GMrgg C. Ifaslgion^/r,

PlltMANBIICB J94

gress. It was not until December 7, 1819, that Monroe could
say to Congress " I offer you my sincere congratulation upon
the recommencement of your duties in the Capitol."
Mrs. Seaton, November, 18 14, writes :

Mr. Law yesterday bought me some lines applicable and striking to us who
are spectators of the ruins of the Capitol, and listeners to the constant disputa-
tion concerning a removal of the seat of government, or a rebuilding of the
public offices.

A DREAM.

The scene of conflagration which by day

Excited feelings painful to convey,

Appeared in sleep; and faintly I disclose

The pleasing vision which in dreams arose.

High on the Opitol's smeared, smoky wall,

Midst fractured pillars of the Congress Hall

Columbia sat: fiill frequent heaved the sigh,

And griefs dull languor floated in her eye.

With wild emotion every feature wrought,

Her air was sorrow, and her look was thought.

Lo! smiling Liberty, with heavenly grace,

And form angelic, gives a warm embrace;

*' Mourn not,'' she said, ''the vandal's savage flame, —

A lasting tarnish to the invader's fame;

To just revenge thy children it inspires.

And makes them emulate their sainted sires!

Extend your view o'er lakes, o'er seas, o'er lands.

Triumphant everywhere behold your bands;

Whole fleets are taken and whole armies yield;

Before your sons e'en veterans fly the field.

Even in sight of Albion's cliffs your fleet

Seeks the proud ruler or the waves to meet.

My spirit gives an energy divine,

And makes your sons all former deeds outshine."

Now an effulgent burst of western light.

And gilded clouds, wide spreading struck my sight.

Justice descends! but as she nearer drew

A blaze of glory hid her from my view.

I heard a voice, though solemn, full of love.

Pronounce she came commissioned from above.

" Droop not, Columbia," she exclaimed, " but trust

In power Almighty, and your cause is just;

The machinations of the bad shall fail,

The force of numbers be of no avail.

Our God shall shield thy chosen land from harm, —

Our God protects thee with his outstretched arms! "

At this, methought a peal of victory rung.

And a new edifice in splendor sprung.

k

295 PWMANBNCB

Like Phoenix from its ashes, and a sound

Of triumph and rejoicing rose around.

Sudden I woke, all glowing with delight,

And full of faith in all that passed by night.

One dove to Noah in the deluge bore

The welcome tidings of appearing shore :

Two harbingers from heaven methought appeared,

That son'owful Columbia might be cheered.

O, may it be the Almighty's gracious will.

This welcome vision quickly to fulfill T'

It has been claimed that Law

Was head and shoulders above every other original proprietor and early
speculator ;

and that he

Secured the permanence of the Capital in the old times, by the same means
Alex. Shepherd assured its stability in our days.

Although Mr. Law was an educator and did so much for the
city, no school or other institution bears his name, but do of
others who to him in calibre were as pygmies to a colossus.

Among those who by their wealth, talents, or industry have contributed to
the formation of our infant Metropolis may be reckoned Thomas Law. The
Washington Guide — William Elliot.

Mr. James Greenleaf recognized Mr. Law's merit and talent
and honored him by designating a street in Allentown, Penn-
sylvania — Law Street.

With reliance upon what has been recited I repeat that in
the greatest measure to Greenleaf is due the removal of the
capital to Washington and to Law is due the retention of the
capital at Washington.

I

)

I

p

1

I

J

f

I I

I

p
I

4

/

«

4

•N

M

FARMER.

Here eaiy quiet, a secure retreat,
A harmless life that knows not how to cheat.
With home-bred plenty the lich owner bless,
And rural pleasures crown his happiness.
Unvex'd with quarrels, undisturb'd with noiie,
The country king his peaceful realm enjoys.

DfydeM.

R. LAW to Mr. Bradley, March 24, 1817, writes:

Remb me aftr to your father, (ell him 1 have turned farmer having
purchased 943 Kres of Land near Washington for jo D> p aae.

Mr. Law bought the tract November, iSid, and built the
manor house in the spring, 1817. The advertisement in the
Intelligencer, April, 1817, indicates the land gave the material
for the habitation ;

WANTED TO ENGAGE
For makinn looooo bricks, two miles fiom the Eastern Branch, Wood will be
provided.

T. LAW.

The brick walls were veneered with wood.* Mr. Law's seat

nrlldi OUD It

nwf.<Dmb iDd four huvy
two itoritt ml le cKu-sory a
f«i by onAy half ihit width.

Ita fionl muni Wuhlncton dty, who** t
apt frem Um two hlxh f ■ml window palu
tseM pDRh with ■ borotr-llthwd door and
rnindi Mmdac thi eotnl iBBulan with ■ h

Tht Imaiiar hud d

illk

iigh, corw^roofBd I

' 1 which >iippll*d ErnlK« both to Ibannti

Th* full Infth of tncgnund Soar w*> nor

■ cHby could b* HO, but not (h* dl* KmUI o-
■«■ jpxmlBloiidfmtr— ' -■■ ■- -" ^-^

Ihlniat, liiida

on th* ground ind fovr on th* Oiior abovt, with ninti for do-

._ ,_ _ „.iit nuo wa* pudt of thi two frat puion, whlfh, thrown Into

OMhy brn dlTldtnt doon,ni*( ■ bcnqiM hall of fbrtv bTHiii*« tot, with Grepiaoi at th*
■nda. Blind paaaaca or aiiiaO watdmbia Ibnhtr awandaj thla raoa Into tha wlofa, on* ot whkh

**n* motw! of'ih* hoiua, ^oblk antcndiiincm to lar|« coa
dooMa raom. who* conwn wan b(vMad K Um (iiidiit door to
tha porch aodlmB tha b«k hall, which ■-^~'

ofBKd abov* Into tha cantv of tha boiw

don and porch robbad lh*R*tTalt

tha proprinor hid pbni
etWBal phlBiifaa and

PARMER 398

crowned the further Anacostia heights, ''Silver Hills/' and the
stream to be crossed just before the ascent was Oxen Run. It
was rechristened Oxon, suggestive of the English seat of learn*
ing, Oxford ; in fact, all about the Retreat strongly suggested
rurality In Merrie England; the English cattle, the English
hands, the English steward, the hospitable hall and the Squire
himself.
Mr. Law says:

When I began fanning I knew not wheat from rye, or rye from barley, but I
well know what are the benefits of fiurming.

Mr. Law was an apt student and soon an instructor in Adam's
profession. He learnedly discussed the cultivation of the soil,
very likely, more from a theoretical than a practical viewpoint,
with the Agricultural Society of Prince George's County of
which he was the president and the inspiring spirit. Out of
goodness of heart he had an address printed and mailed to
other agricultural presidents that they might avail themselves
of his tillage wisdom but it was too advanced for their
understandings.

The scenery at the Retreat is charming, the journey to and
from enchanting; in the ascent is pleasurable surprise in every
bend ; in the descent suddenly bursts a panorama, the peaceful
city in the arms of the river and under the protecting hills.
The view determined Mr. Law's selection with too little, if any,
thought of fertility, for the soil is stubborn. What success his
essay at farming first attends he to his kindred spirit, Bradley,
confides :

My peas are only now in bloisom though I took great pains with them —

Mr. Bradley comes to Congress; on him Mr. Law calls and
then carelessly scribbles, February 25, 1819 :

D« Sir—

I called at your Secretarys & left my name, but had not the pleasure of
seeing you — Will you prove are the same ever come to my party on Saturday to
tea in the Country —

YrsSy

T LAW—
To

The Honble
W — Bradley Esq —

\

299 FARMER

At the Retreat the latch-string is out. For the invited guests
the Squire stands at the threshold waiting to welcome. For
chance visitors the door is always open. **1 regret that Mr.
Law is absent at an agricultural dinner, as he is happy to see
all callers/' this, said his overseer.

Washington, Tuesday May 23, 1820.

Such a splash as we had at Mr. Law's yesterday! Near a hundred gentlemen;
all the farmers of Prince George's county for many miles around, and all the
gentry from Washington. And no more ceremony, and quite as much festivity
and playfulness as among a flock of children just broke loose from school.
Anthrobus, with his white horse rearing up perpendicularly half a dozen times,
from impatience to start; and his English servant, to be even with his master,
dancing off, in short jumps, for about forty yards, then giving whip and spur and
dashing through Mr. Law's clover field like a thunderbolt, to get to the gate
before his master, who was driving at the rate of twelve miles an hour! Then,
such a rattling of carriages and clattering of horses' hoofs! But first, such a
dinner! But before that such fme punch, down at the spring beyond the pavilion,
on the hill in the woods. Then such excellent songs after dinner! Graff had a
Dutch parody on Jessie of Dumblane, which is admirable. The President
laughed 'til he cried, and I believe would have danced if a fiddle had struck up.
The good man sat at table beating time with his fork to the songs sung by GraiT
and others, with all the kindness and amiability of his nature.

Mr. Law delivered a great speech. It was a meeting of the Agricultural
Society, but the speech was over before I got there. On asking Mr. Adams
for an account of it, he said ** it was a love song about murder; in other words,
an agricultural speech in praise of manufactures.'' Quite in his style! eccentric
poetry interlarded with * * * In short, it is not possible to conceive of a
more agreeable country party than it was — so far as agreeableness can exist without
ladies.

Your aiTectk)nate father,

WM. WIRT.
To Laura H. Wirt.

The "Old Man Eloquent," the sixth President of the United
States, and Hon. John C. Calhoun, the day before, had been
the Squire's guests — May 22, 1820.

The spring of which Mr. Wirt speaks had mineral property.
It was the Squire's bathing place. It makes a tributary to the
Oxon.

Mr. Faux called at the Retreat thrice. The first time the
Squire was absent. Mr. Faux in the Squire's absence indus-
triously catechised the overseer and explored everything every-
where, and having made mental inventory he retired to a con-

PAMun ^300

venient spot and recorded the same in his notes for he was
gathering material for the enlightment of the English nation.*

For freshest wits 1 know will soon be wearie

Of any book, how grave so e'er it be,
Except it have odd matter, strange and menie,

Well sauc'd with lies and glared all with glee.

Mr. Faux was an artist in dressing with sauce and decorat-
ing with glee. One of the '*odd matters" he derived from
the English overseer was that the English hands repaid the
Squire's civility with rudeness and indulgence with drunken-
ness until unbearable.

Mr. Faux gained from the overseer that the Squire's York-
shire bull and cow disliked the climate ; that the cow chewed
her cud, moodily, pensively, a far-away look in her eyes ; the
overseer said she *' pines for the sweet, green pastures of her
dear native land." Then, even the dumb animals had the
antipathy. Mr. Faux's account of the Squire's live stock has
the hint of Pharaoh's dream and

The seven thin and ill-favoured ktne;

but the Squire's advertisement for sale in the market-place from
his droves has the ring of

The cattle upon a thousand hills.

The Squire knew his Yorkshire lordship as the Bishop. The
Bishop's father, says the Squire, was preferred to fifteen hun-
dred guineas. The Bishop's noble ancestry the Squire traces
through many high sounding names to which he puts opposite
dam, g. dam, g.g. dam, until he reaches g.g.g.g. dam, which
is old Madame Bolingbroke herself.

The Squire hastened to town and invited his caller to the
Retreat. He seemed to think he should apologize for the
drawbacks of his farm and deficiencies of farming.

You, Mr. Faux, saw my farm and garden. They are poor, but I will improve
the gravelly hills by carting earth on to them from the valleys.

The Squire tells the traveller of his contentment and em-
ployment:

I therefore determined on visiting and ultimately on living in this country,
where 1 have spent my time much to my satis&ction never being at a loss for

* Faux's Mtmorablc Dayi In America.

301 FARMER

amusement I write and read, talk and visit, on the most lamiliar and inendly
terms with my neighbours with whom I frequently stay all night ; and whenever
I please, I can without ceremony go and talk frequently and freely with the
President, Mr. Crawford, Gdhoun, and all the heads of the government, and
therefore I have the best society the land affords. My wants were then, and
have always been, very few. 1 believe I have always been happier than any
of my brothers.

On the day appointed, July lo, 1820, Mr. Faux escorted by
the Squire's sons, John and Edmund — an escort which would
have bestowed honor on a prince — came over the serpentine
road " planted with dying shrubs" through the farm up to the
house. He was welcomed by the Squire and introduced to the
other guests, Mr. Carter, Mr. Elliott, Colonel Hebb and his
friend, a Cambrian.

After the repast conversation flowed unrestrainedly. The
traveller reduced liberally to writing the Squire's remarks and
from them is quoted :

I entertained the President and heads of departments, and one hundred fnends
besides, to dinner at this house, on such a dinner as we had today, and a little
light wine, and the cost of all was only forty dollars. My good neighbours, it
is true, sent me hams and rounds of beef, ready cooked, because they thought 1
should find it difficult to cook for so many. If I were in England, I must have

my Lord , and others of the same rank; all must be splendid, costly, and

pompous ; but all this is not the hospitality which I like and find here. Here we
go and come, as, and when we please ; no previous notice is necessary; we give
and take freely of such things as we have, and no one is inconvenienced. In
England a house is alarmed by the arrival of an unexpected visitor. As neigh-
bours and visitors we are all equal and share good things in common.

Of the dinner, -Mr. Faux says :

Our dinner consisted of lamb, ham and chicken, and blackberry pie, with
claret, brandy, and whiskey, the latter fifteen years old. Here was ease and no
ceremony. Every guest seemed as free as if at home, and eat, drank, and talked
as he pleased. As this dinner was on my account, Mr. Law placed me on his
right hand as his guest.

Mr. Law talked to Mr. Faux personally and not through him
publicly. No benefit of doubt can be for the author that he
failed in candor and colored with prejudice and extravagance
Mr. Law's confidences and his personal history. The publica-
tion brought forth Mr. Law's account of the honorable career
in India and a public demonstration of his fellow-citizens of
their admiration and affection.

The Squire kept bachelor estate and was not always prepared
for chance callers, or for sportsmen who sometimes stumbled

PARMIR 30a

into the Retreat. The generous Squire set before his guests the
best he had, perhaps two articles, just what a chef would write
on a menu for the first and thirteenth courses. Although this
want of variety should not have worried the Squire yet it did ;
and he with pen and paper put down his vexation and sought
sympathy.

I leave the noby streets
For cool retreats
Of forest aisles and bowers of underwood.

— Thomas Henry, Wood-Notes.

At three score and ten Mr. Law wrote the note to Mr. Seaton.
He, at times, wearied with unrewarded work for the common
weal or was overborne with his own trials, and, then, at the
Retreat sought surcease. But his ceaseless energy at the allotted
age had yet years of grand utility.

I shall soon retire to country, and swear never more to harass myself with
finance, the charms of nature, too much overlooked hitherto, I will more dwell
upon. On this subject 1 will show you some good lines.

To William W. Siaton, Esq.
March 14, 1826.

Nemo in his RamiUs, says a gentleman then living, 1883,
related that he met Mr. Law, who inquired his destination. He
replied: **I am on my way to the Retreat to dine with other
invited friends this very hour." He added: ** Law's genial
wit, that (lowed with his wine, made his guests forget the
hasty preparation of the forgotten dinner.**

Mr. Law's narrowed means never diminished his hospitable
disposition.

303 BERBAVEMEMT

BEREAVEMENT.
EUsa Xaw Vooets.

MRS. SEATON, November, 1815, writes :
On dii^ that the winter will be extremely gay, and decked with all the
splendor of polished manners, brilliant talent and transcendant beauty,
and the drawing rooms will sparkle with sdntOlations of wit and fire of genius.
Mr. Jefferson's granddaughter, Miss Randolph, will lead the van in accomplish-
ments and beauty; Miss Law, * * * wOl fill an elevated place in the
admiration of every observer whfle daughters and nieces of the members wOl fill
up the interstices.

Miss Eliza Law had the poetry of her sex. She reigned a
belle in the official society; in her twenty-first year she reigned
the queen of her own realm. Her marriage, April 5, 1817, is
announced in the Intelligencer:

MARRIED.

On Saturday, by the Rev. Mr. McG>rmick, Uoyd N. Rogers, Esq. of Balti-
more, to Miss Eliza Law, daughter of Thomas Law, Esq. of this dty.

That it was not the loss of a daughter but the gain of a son,
the letter evinces:

Druid Hill Feb. 23<i 1823

Eliza and the chfldren are very well and we have been in hopes that you would

have been with us before this. Shall we not see you before the spring sets you

at work in the country ? If you do not pay us a visit soon you may expect to be

welcomed when you can again by another grandchild. CresciUei muUipli'

camini* seems to be our motto. I am blessed with a dear good wife take her

for all and all and it is thus we should estimate every thing in this world. I do

not know where such another should be found and charming children who I wbh

will deserve more than ever I can do for them.

LLOYD N. ROGERS.
Thomas Law, Esq.

Washington

Dis. Columbia

* Maryland's motto— <«row and nuiMply.

UREAVEMENT 504

In her twenty-sixth year Mrs. Rogers died. '* Youth,
beauty, accomplishment, and goodness, have suddenly de-
scended to the grave. The house of gayety is turned into a
house of mourning."*

In the sacred plot not so far from the family mansion lies a
gravestone with an inscription :

Here lie
The remains of

Eliza Rogers

Wife of LLOYD N. EOOBES.

She was Eminently gifted with all the

qualities in Woman that win the esteem

the love and Admiration of others.

But to dwell upon her virtues

Cannot Sooth the Dead

And gives no consolation to the Living

Bom JanY 19^^ 1797. Died Aug. loth 1822.

Next thereto is a headstone inscribed :

Here lies all that was mortal
of

Lloyd Nicholas Rooers

a ripe scholar

and

an accomplished gentleman

who died

November /2** 1860, aged 73.

The Park of Druid Hill, which he inherited from the original patentee to whom
it was granted by the Colony of Maryland in 1760 and which he conveyed in
i860 to the City of Baltimore, surrounds this spot a part of the original grant,
and he sleeps as was his wish with his ancestors and those whom he loved.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Nicholas Rogers were :
Edmund, Eliza and Eleanor.

Mr. Law's three Indian sons were John, George and Edmund.
Of George after 1795 no mention is made. John and Edmund
attained strong manhood and noble character. A mental
image invests these brothers with brilliant eyes, raven locks
and dark complexions reflecting the rich tints of the mother, a
daughter of the land of the sun, John with a glance, as if to
speak, and Edmund, a shade thoughtful.

• From Obituary in the InUttigencer^ August a4, 1823.

305 BBRBAVBMBHT

Mrs. Seaton says :

We see much of him and his sons, John and Edmund, who are both unexcep-
tional as regards either their manners, principles or acquirements.

And in accord is Mr. Faux :

The two Asiatic sons of Mr. Law seem generous, kind-hearted, and most
intelligent young gentlemen, free from all aristocratic pride.

}obn %a\o.

The year of his birth is probably 1784. He was the eldest
son. As a graduate of Harvard University, 1804, he was
accorded " one of the most elegant and accomplished scholars
of his class." His confidence and force of character made
him a leader. In the gayeties of life he entered with the same
zest as earnestness in the graver affairs. His name first appears
in print in the listof patrons of the Washington Dancing Assem-
bly, 1806; and it continues in the direction of the Washington
Birthday balls and other devotions to Terpsichore.

Mrs. Seaton, January 2, 1813, writes :

I was engaged to John Law as a partner for cotillions the day before. This
gentleman ranks high in William's estimation and I am always pleased by his
polite attentions in company.

And it is told on an occasion of state he gallantly led out
Mrs. Decatur, the Commodore's wife, in the cotillions.

When the laurel crowned hero returned whether from Erie
lake or Tripoli bay he needs must be feasted and toasted and
John's duty it was to spread the banquet and bespeak the
silvery-tongued jolliers.

He belonged to the militia, the Columbian Dragoons, and
his straps showed him to be the first lieutenant, June, 1811.
That Sergeant Law defended valiantly against the British
invaders can be more confidently accepted than Mr. Faux's
other assertion that the sergeant revealed himself to be Lord
Ellenborough's nephew to the epauleted vanquishers who as
guests at his home wore the night in revelry.

Sunday evening, March 19, 1815, was married by the Rev.
Mr. McCormick, John Law to Miss Frances Ann Carter,
daughter of George Carter, then deceased. The Carters were
Virginians.

i

BUBAVEMEIIT 306

A year after the marriage Mrs. Seaton pleasantly imparts:

I called to see your old friend, Mr. Law, yesterday, and found him employed
in the most dehghtfiil and edifying occupation, — ^whistling variations to an
operatic air to his son and heir, aged five weeks.

In the formative days when everything had its beginning
Mr. Law was at the birth, or his brother was, actively
assisting. He, November, 1813, was of those to establish a
lottery to build two public schools and a penitentiary.

In the Columbian Institute, as curator or otherwise, he
participated in the management.

President Madison honored, 1814, Mr. Law with commis-
sionership to adjust the Yazoo claims.

John Law was a lawyer and an able one. In Pratt against
Law, the cause celehre, he alone withstood assaults of the
arrayed advocates of numerous parties against his father and
won. He was engaged in cases of vital precedent and vast
importance. He practiced at some periods independently, at
others conjointly with Edmund. He was associated with
George Watterston, the latter afterwards first Librarian of
Congress. Shortly after their dissolution they had opposite
sides to a case before Judge Morsell; Law got the judgment
and Watterston exclaimed: "There is not a morsel of law in
the case." The judge did not appreciate the humor of the
double-barreled pun; he did remark concerning contempt of
court.

John Law was the orator at the laying of the corner stone of
the City Hall, August 22, 1820. In part he says :

The various chief magistrates of the nation have always taken a lively interest
in its prosperity. For the first of American Presidents, and the first of the wor-
thies of our history, whose merit defies the powers of panegyric, and whose fame
will be perpetuated with increasing admiration, when the Napoleons of the world,
and the minions of a selfish ambition, will be execrated or forgotten — ^what
American bosom will not bear testimony of his zeal for his country, and fidelity
in the execution of every duty ? But, his modesty prevented him from obtruding
his powerful influence on a point so delicate as the advancement of this place.
The firmness of his virtuous successor resisted the influence which would have
retained, till a later period, the seat of government at Philadelphia; and, at the
first session of Congress assembled here he emphatically called their attention to
the promotion of our prosperity, — The venerable republican of Monticellogave his
personal attention to the minutest details connected with the affairs of the city;
and the solicitude with which he studied its progress and embellishment refuted

307-

-BBIUIAVBMBNT

the despicable calumny which charged him with envy of the reputation of Wash-
ington. — His friend and successor — ^the friend of human kind — was one of the
warmest advocates in Congress for the selection of this spot, and evinced the
extent of his zeal for our welfare at that gloomy period when it was proposed to
remove the government (in consequence of the wanton devastation of the public
buildmgs during the war) by his decided disapprobation of a step which would
have added to the vain glory of the enemy. — The example of his predecessors
has been followed by the President of the United States, and we may confidently
trust that the best exertions of his industry and talents will be employed in the
promotion of this national undertaking.

Of the future prosperity of this metropolis a reasonable doubt can no longer
be entertained. While many larger cities are complaining of their pecuniary
embarrassments, no check has been made in the progress of its private improve-
ments. Many of lU sources of wealth have not yet been opened. It is now,
and will daily become a more desirable residence for those who can retire on their
fortunes, and enjoy the pleasure of a society which is not surpassed in elegance
or taste bv any city on the continent.

From these views of the obstacles we have surmounted, and the destiny that
awaits this favored spot, we shall be induced, by continued industry and enter-
prise to forward its advancement, and urge with zeal the progress of our City
Hall— a building which will constitute one of its principal ornaments, and which
from the taste and convenience of the design, is equally honorable (o the Archi-
tect and the Corporation. And may that Being who presides over and rewards
the useful labors of the frail and feeble mortals of this orb enable us to conduct
the work to an auspicious conclusion, and render it the seat of official wisdom
and integrity.

John Law was a local legislator. His membership is:

Eighth Council — 1809. First chamber.
Twentieth Council — 1822. Alderman.

At the time of his death he was president of the board.

John Law was admired, honored, loved. His untimely call
in the meridian of usefulness broke upon the community with
the shock of personal loss. To that time affectionate tribute to
trait and talent greater had no man. In the papers are pane-
gyrics in prose and poem.

He died Friday, October 4, 1822 ; the funeral was the day
following. Hon. John Qyincy Adams and Hon. John C. Cal-
houn were of the attendants.

Sunday, October 13. From the tower of All Souls' Unitarian
Church the bell tolled its first message of grief.* The Rev.

*Thit tlM first city church bell, which was cast in th« foundry of Paul iUveri, had batnraccntly

/

nUAVBMBNT 308

Mr. Little from St. Paul's fervidly eloquent discourse on the
resurrection announced the text :

The last enemy that shall be destroyed it death.

I Corinthians XV. 26.

and preached the funeral sermon of John Law.
From the Intelligencer^ October 7, 1822 :

DIED.

In this city, on Friday night last, of a severe but short illness, John Law, Eiq.
aged about 38 years, attorney at law. In him our city has sustained the loss of
one of its eariiest, most respectable, and most useful citizens. The general
esteem in which he was held was evinced by the number of the friends who
attended his remains to the tomb, and shared the sorrows of his worthy and
grief-oppressed father, who has within a few weeks, been deprived of two of the
three dearest ties which bound him to life and to society. * * * In every
view in which we contemplate the death of Mr. Law — ^when, in particular, we
consider the happiness with which he was blessed, or his future hopes, we cannot
help exclaiming, as he did, in nearly the last words which he uttered, from the
beautiful language of Burke,

What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursuel

To the friend of his youth and associate in mature years Mr.
Watterston strew a poetic garland in nine numbers, and one:*

Just God! on what a brittle thread

Our fairest visions hang!
Life's rosy path leads to the dead,

Where ends each lingering pang.

A tribute from Maine penned perhaps by a classmate con-
cludes in poetic composition. f From it:

There are few whose lives deserved to be more admired, or whose deaths
ought to be more lamented. The richness of his talents and the brilliancy of his
genius have seldom been excelled, and the ardor of his spirit and the activity of
his exertion towards literary attainment have rarely been surpassed. Had his
life been prolonged, his usefulness would in all probability have increased and he
would still more become — the pride of his friends and an ornament to his country.

Mrs. Frances Law, relict of John Law, died October 26, 1826.
Mr. and Mrs. John Law had two sons, Edmund and Thomas.

*The poem Is published in the InUUigenur^ October 23, 182a.
t The Intelligencer— ^}\o\t!ttibtx ai, i8aa.

\.ll»

\

;»v

•

.C

y

311 BEREAVEMENT

His birth-year is 1790. He was the youngest son. In con-
trast to John's trait, freeness, was Edmund's, reserve. His
inclination to self-seclusion sprang from a timidity of infringing
on the affairs of others rather than from hauteur or disinter-
estedness. John was the advocate, Edmund, the student, who
searched out the mysteries of the books.

Edmund was an organizer of the Bank of Metropolis.
January 3, 1814, and of its first board of direction. He was
secretary of a preliminary meeting, March 25, 1812.

He succeeded his father to the management of the George
Washington estate in this city; and he had the control of the
realty and his father's affairs generally more closely than John.
He, like his brother, officered the Columbian Institute.

President Monroe appointed Mr. Law a member of the
Legislative Council of Florida in its territorial period. He
advanced to the presidency of the Council and was popularly
considered as Delegate to Congress. Editorially the /if/^//i-
gencers2iys, July 27, 1822, the territory would have an excellent
representative and :

.•i

Mr. Law until he moved to Florida was but little Hnown beyond the limits of
this city; but here where he had grown up from boyhood, he was much beloved
for his amiable qualities, and highly respected for his fhte talents and extensive
acquirements.

The death of John required Edmund's presence in his old
home to guard his father's interests and the relinquishment of
political preferment to him, a severe sacrifice for affairs gov-
ernmental he had much at heart.

The militia had its magnet for him and he became Lieutenant
Law and helped to manage the Military Ball, February 3, 1825,
and with such success he was selected to do likewise for the
Birth Night Ball in that month.

In 1825, when Commodore David Porter became the
commander-in-chief of Mexico's navy, Mr. Law accompanied
him, on observation bent and knowledge "under foreign
locks." He usefully employed his life in that country by
service to the republic. His stay of three years in the land of
the Montezumas was terminated by the demand of health.

nUAVUilMT 3X2

Before his residence in Rorida and after his return from
Mexico, he was in the City Councils.

Tenth Council — 1812. Common Council.
Eleventh Council — 1813. Common Council.
Twelfth Council — 1814. Common Council.
Twenty-third Council— 1825. Common Council.
Twenty-sixth Council — 1828. Common Council.

Edmund married Miss Mary Robinson. Mr. and Mrs. Law
had a son, Joseph Edmund. Mrs. Law long survived her
husband. She is remembered as dignified in manner, delicate
in build, and as donating her kindnesses with captivating
condescension.

As he reached the two score mark death cut his growing
hopes and put a period to his days. Edmund Law died June
23, 1829. The funeral was from his father's residence on
New Jersey avenue, on the afternoon of the second day at
four o'clock.

The Intelligencer^ June 25, 1829 :

DBATH.

On Tuesday evening last, in this city, after a protracted illness, Edmund Law,
Esq. in his thirty-ninth year, only remaining son of our venerable and respected
fellow-citizen Thomas Law, Esq. Endowed by nature with the high intellect
which distinguishes his eminent family, improved by liberal education, habitual
study, and extensive travel, and adding to these intellectual advantages strict
honor and an amiable temper, few men t)etter qualified to be useful in public
life or to impart pleasure in private society. Of retiring habits, however com-
paratively few knew his real worth — but he never failed to win the affection of
those who cultivated his acquaintance and learned to appreciate his value.

A touch of humanity there is in the counterfeit of feature
and form through the medium of the brush or the camera ; if
the master of the brush catches a glimpse of character and fixes
it upon the canvas, then the mind can re-create the life all but
throb and thought. The mind is the man. And in the light
and line of the countenance can ofttimes be read the mind.
The strongly-expressive and well- modeled features of Edmund
Law are reproduced from a water color painting, presumably
executed in 1824, in his thirty-fourth year. It is the courtesy
of Miss Amy Law which permits the reproduction.

313 BBRBAVEMBMT

Ats. JSUsa patft CuBtis*

Mrs. Curtis (Mrs. Law) died on a visit to Mr. J. A. Che-
vallie, in Richmond, Virginia, Saturday night, Jauuary i, 1832,
and is buried at Mt. Vernon in the Washington tomb.

Mr. Law in his seventy-seventh year writes in meter :

My partner and my children from me borne

And valued friends, the comforts of past years
Would leave me hopeless, lonely, still to mourn

And dim my eyes with unavailing tears,
But thus bereft new solaces to find.

Knowledge to gain and goodness to dispense,
Thus useful, I divert my active mind

And gladden feelings by t)enevolence.
Thus my alTection from life*s cares I wean,

And tlms beguile away my pain and woe.
Looking to heaven from this world's troubled scene.

Leaving death's terror more resigned I grow
As selfish, worldly interest I discard

From youthful, boist'rous, troubling passions free.
My heavenly impulses claim more regard

And all seems worthless but eternity.

1*1

WtS

I '

•"I
1 <

I

I f

315-

-COLUMBIAN INSTITUTB

COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE.

THE Columbian Institute in the acquirement and diffusion
of general and useful knowledge, in &cope and perma-
nence of result and in the cultured character of member-
ship is the most honorable in the city annals. The Institute
was originated by Dr. Edward Cutbush and Mr. Thomas Law.
Its outgrowth and fulmination is the National Museum.* The
organization meeting of the Institute was held October 7, 1816,
at McKeowin's Hotel pursuant to notice and in conformity with
the constitution adopted, June 28, 18 16, at a preliminary meet-
ing. Prior, however, to the organization of the Institute, its
precursor, the Metropolitan Society^ of literary and scientific
province, had existed. The second article of the constitution
states: "The Institute shall consist of mathematical, physical,
moral and political sciences, general literature and fine arts."
Congress granted a charter April 20, 1818.

Congress supplied a suitable room under the Library of Con-
gress for the collection of books and museum of minerals and
curiosities; and several acres for botanical experiment and
culture. This space was utilized by growing shrubs and trees,
transplantations from other climes and countries, and is, prob-
ably, the nucleus of the Botanical Gardens. At a time was
a governmental inclination to grant a site in the Mall at Penn-
sylvania avenue and Third street for a building, however,
through the mutations, the effects have home in the Nation's
depositories as stated.

The membership was resident, honorary and corresponding
and the roll had the most distinguished names. The President
of the United States was the Institute's president. Upon the
retirement of John Qyincy Adams, when the Chief Executive,

* Report of th« National MutMun, 1891. Tht Gtacab of th* National Museum, pp. 374-380.

COLUMUAN iNSTITUn ^3X6

from its presidency, the Hon. John C. Calhoun succeeded. On
occasions papers were read and these ail created admiration.
The essayists, or some of them, are : Samuel Harrison Smith,
Esq., Judge William Cranch, Hon. Samuel L. Southard, Thomas
Law, Esq. and Hon. Edward Everett.

The organization meeting is for the event and for the pro-
moters recalled. Dr. John H. Blake "judiciously conducted
the business of the meeting, in quality of chairman, until the
election of Institute was consummated." An election by ballot
was decided upon and accordingly "on counting the ballot it
was found that Dr. Edward Cutbush united the suffrages of a
great majority of the members present.".

And the election progressed until its completion, as follows:

Vice Presidents: . Rev. Andrew Hunter, Dr. J. T. Schaaff,

Thomas Law and Joseph Anderson.

Treasurer: . . . Overton Carr.

Secretary: . . . Nat. Cutting.

Curators: . . . E. B. Caldwell, John Law, Roger C.

Weightman, Robert Brent.

General Committee: Samuel Harrison Smith, Dr. Alexander

McWilliams, Benjamin H. Latrobe, Dr.
J. A. Brereton, Walter Jones, Dr. Henry
Huntt, Dr. William Thornton, George
Watterston, Benjamin Homans, Ed-
mund Law, William W. Seaton, CoL
William Tatem, Dr. John H. Blake.
Joseph Mechlin.

The President and the four Vice Presidents were constituted
a committee to wait on the President of the United States and
acquaint him with the wish of the Institute that he consent to
be its Patron.

This report is briefed from that of the secretary. Dr. Nat
Cutting, who wrote poetry and gave his prose a poetic dash.

The number of vice-presidents and general committeemen
was gradually limited. Mr. Thomas Law served as vice-pres-
ident until 1830 and then gave way to Judge Cranch and be-
came counsellor and the next year retired officially.

Saturday, January, 16, 1830, Hon. Edward Everett at the
Capitol delivered before the Institute a discourse to an un-

317 OOWmBIAH IMSTlTUn

usually large audience.* The report is given editorially in
The Intelligencer. Mr. Law at this time was in his sixty-fifth
year. At five in the afternoon the members of the Institute
met at public dinner and that worthy citizen, Thomas Law,
Esq. , presided. The report says that to the intellectual enjoy-
ment was added good cheer of every description and that the
feast that excelled it never was.

The editor from memory gives as the incident of the inci-
dents Mr. Law's reply to a call for a toast :

That Mr. Everett, in his interesting address, had mentioned almost every useful
discovery, and exhibited a constellation of the individual benefactors to the human
race. But as a Potentate of the Present had distinguished himself as a high-
minded man, intent upon the happiness of all, he thought that the Institute ought
particularly to advert to such an estimable example. He alluded, he said, to the
Emperor Nicholas, who, when he had it in his power to spread a halo round
himself, by capturing the dty of Constantinople, stopped the march of his victori-
ous army and sheathed his sword, though ambition urged him to immortalize his
name by this glorious conquest, though avarice persuaded him to plunder the
spoils taken heretofore the Greeks, though religion solicited to plant the Cross
over the Crescent on all the churches; and though policy whispered that he
might exdte the Jannisaries to bethrone, if not to massacre the Sultan, whereby
he would become master of all European Turkey; he listened to the admonitions
of morality, and preferred reigning in the hearts of the conquered, rather than
over a subjugated people; and to have friendly neighbors, rather than vengeful
enemies. As this magnanimous conduct exdted in all breasts agreeable sensations,

* From Diary of John Qiilncy Adams :

x6ch. At half-past one I went to the CapHoU and heard Mr. Everett, In the hall of the House
of Representatives, deliver the anniversary address to the C<dumbian Institute. The hall was
crowded with company, a large portion of ladies. I sought at first a seat without the bar of the
House, but Dr. Huntt found me, and urged me till I took a chair on the floor, Just below the steps
to the Speaker's chair. Mr. CaUioun, the Vice-President, and Mr. Martin, a member of the House
of RepreienUtives, came up and spoke to me. There was a small meeting of the Institute in thdr
apartment, whence thev came to the halL Mr. Thomas Law prerided, and among the membnrs
who came ud were J. M. Berrien, the Attorney-General, and Samuel D. Ingham, Secretary <^ the
Treasury. Mr. Bmien greeted we with a distant salutation, which I retuiiied as distantly.
Ingham advanced as if intending to accost me, but I barely turned my eye upon him, and he slunk
back with the look of a detected thief. There is a portrait of Ingham ui Carracd's picture of the
Lord's Suf^r. Mr. Everett*s discourse occupied Just an hour. It was literary, phjlosoi^lad,
scientific, and popular ; an exposition of the character and usefulness of societies such as tne Co-
lumi^an Institute ; a description of many of the most important modem inventions and discov-
eries, and of the manner in which they have been made with several interesting anecdotes rdating
to the discoveries and inventions, lie confined his subject to the physical sciences, and dkl not
enter upon the consideration of moral or political discovery. That is a wide field ytx open, and
worthy to be explored. He noticed the simplicity of many of the gnat discoveries ; how nearly
every numan being approaches to them, and yet the application of mind necessary for thdr dtecl<>-
sure ; and he argued tne moral certainty that nature had yet in store numerous secrets in reserve
fat the favorites who will devote their lives to the search of them. He introduced also a powerful
appeal to the beneficence of Cimgress in bdialf of the family of Fulton.

Two things in tlie discourse I regretted to hear : one, a seeminc admission that the power of
givinff encouragement to literature and science was much greater at least in the State Governments
than m that of the Union ; the other, an apparent reflecticn upon the SuprenM Court of the United
Sutes, who, he said, by a decision, had scattered the fortune of Fulton to the four winds of
heaven.

X7th. I asked Mr. Everett why he had not yesterday touched upon discoveries on morals and
politics. He said he had in his written discourse, but that Dr. Huntt had admonished him not to
be too long, and he had omitted what would have taken him about twenty minutes more to dt-
Uver.

COLUMBIA* mSTITUTB 3X8

Mr. Law said that, without any designed compliment to Baron Knidener, who
was present, he gave —

Nicholas f the Emperor of Russia,

The applause, a significant '*sign of unison in sentiment,"
having abated, His Excellency Baron Krudener, Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Russia, rose and
replied with an eloquence heightened by quaint slips and
accent and then gave :

Everlasting happiness and glory to the United States,

WRITER.

And while we view the rolling tide,
Down which oui flowing minutes glide

Away M fast,
Let us the present hour employ,
And deem each (utuie dream a joy

Already past

THUS runs the ancient Spanish song. Doing and not
delaying was Mr. Law's principle. The beauty of the
song's metaphor is no more striking than the brevity of
Mr. Law's enunciation :

I must be active, and doing that which I deem for the good of mankind.

This said Mr. Law when the English traveller offered the
alluring hint of cessation of effort and rest in his home country.
Incessant with pen was Mr. Law proclaiming the panaceas for
existing evils and foreboding misfortunes. In the acceptance
of his remedial measures he sought not self-glory. Himself
he overlooked ; with anxiety of soul, he looked to the people's
welfare. Of the people's governmental representatives he
commanded respectful attention but as for action his voice
might as well have been silent. He was condemned as imprac-
tical and extravagant. In fact, in everything he seems decades
in advance of his contemporaries.

Prom the promptings of his humane nature he discouraged
slavery and from the institution foresaw internecine clash and
so predicts in a letter.

For more than a score of years he prodigiously produced
ammunition to defend his financial scheme of a national cur-
rency and to repulse any antagonistic. He consumed moun-
tains of reams and kept the printer busy. It is said financiers
of later years adopted his system, and likely they did in

wtmt 5ao

modified form, and without credit in the slightest degree to
the originator.

Through the Columbian Institute he submitted, three at
least, papers on national finance. Through this respected
channel he had in the House of Representatives as listeners
the statesmen then in authority. This he supplemented by
mail distribution.

Mr. Law, too free himself to suspect insincerity in others,
was over sanguine through official civility. Says he :

Mr. Crawford iully agreed with me on this point, but disingenuously seceded
from it in his report, on which account 1 have addressed several pointed letters
to him.*

And

Mr. Crawford the Chancellor of the Exchequer, although he has recommended
a contrary measure, is exactly of my opinion. We are both as much alike on
this subject as pea to pea.*

President Madison approved, April, 1816, the bill for the
Second Bank of the United States which moved Mr. Law, to
the younger Mr. Bradley, May i, 18 16, to write:

Madison has lost his former estimation & if Liberty Justice & Virtue should
decide after his death where his remains ought to be placed, they will say in the
Bank vault.

That Mr. Law's ideas of national currency were not chimerical
is attested by Mr. Madison's serious discussion in acknowledg-
ments of two pamphlet publications:

Jamis Madison to Doctor Nathaniel CuTTmc.

December 7th, 182a.

D" Sir, — I have received your note of the 30 ultimo the little tract of Mr.
Law, forwarded by you at his request; and 1 take the liberty of conveying,
through the same channel, my respects and thanks to him. If my sympathies
with his domestic affliction could be of any avail, I should add the expression of
them with great sincerity.

1 have always regarded Mr. Law as a man of genius, as well as of singular
philanthropy, and as having with other intellectual acquirements a particular
familiarity with questions of finance. In his occasional publications relating to
them, I have observed many sound principles and valuable suggestions. I must
own, at the same time, that I have never had the confidence he has felt in his
favorite plan for putting an end to the evils of an unfavorable balance of trade,
and the fluctuations of an exportable currency. There would seem to be much

* Fftux's Memorable Dtys in America.

I

321 WRITBR

danger, at least, that the disposition to borrow the paper issuable by a public
Board would bring an excess into circulation; and that this, instead of reducing
the rate of interest, would have the effect of depredating the principal

James Madison to Thomas Law,

MoKTPBLLiER, Jany 27 (1827)
Dear Sir, — ^The copy of your Address before the Columbian Institute, kindly
sent me was duly received. 1 find that further reflection has confirmed you in
your favorite plan of a paper currency, and that you have added a corroboration
from names of high authority on such subjects. The practicability of a paper
emission, equal in value to spede, cannot, 1 think, be doubted; provided its cir-
culating quantity be adapted to the demands for it, and it be freed from all appre-
hension of undue augmentations. If made to answer all the purposes of spede,
and receivable, moreover, in particular payments, in exclusion of spede, it would
even rise above the value of spede when not in requisition for foreign purposes.
1 cannot return my thanks for your polite attention without adding a hope
that you have not forgotten the promise you made on the eve of your departure
for Europe. Mrs. M. joins me in assuring you of the pleasure its fulfilment will
afford us, and of the continuance of our cordial esteem and good wishes.

And that Mr. Law was deemed worthy to enter into the
counsels of the most advanced in afTairs of state the letter of
ex-President Jefferson anent his relationship with the English
cousins exemplifies.

JEFFERSON TO LaW.

<l8lO>

With respect to myself, 1 saw great reason to believe their ministers were weak
enough to credit the newspaper trash about a supposed personal enmity in
myself towards England. This wretched party imputation was beneath the
notice of wise men. England never did me a personal injury, other than in open
war; and for numerous individuals there, 1 have great esteem and friendship.
And I must have had a mind far below the duties of my station, to have felt
either national partialities or antipathies in conducting the affairs confided to me.
My affections were first for my own country, and then, generally, for all man-
kind; and nothing but minds pladng themselves above the passions, in the
functionaries of this country, could have preserved us from the war to which
thdr provocations have been constantly urging us.

Mr. Law adopted the pseudonym Homo for his articles in
the Intelligencer.

In a single issue of the Daily National Intelligencer,

Saturday, October 5, 1822.

Thomas Law.

Revenue.

• •••**•••

1 am almost tired by unheeded quotations and dssandrian firewamings. If
our own experience, if facts from other nations, and if mathematical concliisionS|

WUTER 32i

are unable to rouse the lethargic neither will the voice of one risen from the

dead.

Sickness and sorrow are all around me, and I scrawl this in a slight fever —

perhaps it is my last.

HOMO.

Jomi Law.

The friends of the late John Law, Esq., (who departed this life last night at
lo o'clock) are requested to attend his funeral this afternoon, at 4 o'dock, from
his late residence on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Edmund Law.

Edmund Law was chosen President of the Legislative Council, (Pensacola,
Florida) the session of which was to have terminated on the 2ad of last month.

Homo appeared February 3, 1813, and disappeared October
17. 1829. Under the first date is this announcement :

To THi EDrroRS.
Sits —

As a memorial is now before G>ngressfor a Bank to discount at five per cent.

I shall from time to time submit to you for insertion, if approved o( some

remarks on the subject of Banks, and now enclose a few as a commencement

HOMO.

Homo appeared persistently. The articles are on public
improvement as canals and railroads, but by far the greater
number are on the money question. Homo is complimentary
to the reader. He adorns for the reader his articles with
snatches of Grecian and Roman history and with apt quota-
tions from the aforetime discoverers and philosophers; and
carries him to a climax in Latin. He accredits the reader with
classic learning.

In an early article Homo states his scheme :

I now submit my proposition which to me appears one of the most important
propelling powers of society; in short, after years of mature deliberation, I present
it as the main spring of every financial system.

1. Let a Board be appointed by Congress, to consist of any number approved
of, the Secretary of the Treasury always to be President

2. Let this Board be authorized to form a national currency, all above one
dollar to be in paper, & one dollar tokens, & portions of a dollar to be in mixed
metals; the mode to prevent forgeries shall be afterwards given.

3. Let this Board lend these coins in perpetuity, at 4, 3 or 2% per cent as
Congress shall resolve, to the several states according to their population, on con-
dition that the state governments lend the same to associations or individuab, on
income, yielding at five per cent, the interest to be paid quarterly or annually, as
may be determined upon, and the principal not to be required whikt the interest

323 WRITBR

shall be punctually paid; the income-yielding securities to be conveyed as the
state shall direct, in a deed of trust, and the property immediately to be sold on
failure of punctuality.

4. The amount to be loaned to the state governments to be limited by the
rate of interest which the national currency obtains, or by an act of Congress.
The board to cease lending when it fells below five per cent. In truth, indi-
viduals will not apply to state governments when they can borrow of others
below five per cent, but on the contrary will rather repay the loans from the state
government, by borrowing on lower terms; and the state governments will do
the same.

5. The Board to subscribe to incorporated societies for roads, canals, and
bridges, as Congress shall direct.

6. The Board to purchase government stocks and other stocks, as Congress
shall direct.

7. The currency to be received in all payments by the government.

These are the outlines of my plan, and the principal object 1 have in view is
for the community to have a sufficiency of the circulating medium, without
fluctuations in value by excess or scarcity, and that the interest of money may
be low.

To Homo^s letter To the Citizens of the U. States, December
30, 1816, is this footnote :

(It is to be hoped that Homo will be furnished with an answer to his queries,
satisfactory even to himself, by some one who has leisure to bestow on the
subject) Editors.

And a champion for the opposition came forth — Parvus
Homo. The latter wrote the same classical composition.
When absence or illness prevented the alternating reply, Homo
or Parvus Homo, as the case might be, answered himself.

Mr. Law discussed moral science. He controverted Dr.
Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy, The Hon. William
C. Bradley was learned and cultured ; he was skilled in state-
craft and versed in science of government; he was deep in
philosophy and strong in general knowledge; he expressed
himself in polished prose and in metrical measure. Mr. Law
and Mr. Bradley were bound by friendship ties and affinitive
attainments. Mr. Bradley was neither older nor wiser yet to
Mr. Law he was Nestor. He writes to Mr. Bradley:

Philadelphia,* November 19, 181 1. 1 have much to say to you about impulses,
but I postpone it till next spring when 1 promise myself the pleasure of seeing you.

Pa. April 2, 18 14. You promised me your sentiments on my second Efsay on
Instinctive Impulses — & have been disapp^ In not receiving them as your opinion
would fortify or make me correct my own —

* Before the British invasioa of the Capital City Mr. Law waa much In Philadelphia.

WMTIR 324

Mr. Law's ethical essays were over the heads of those not
conversant or concerned in mental or moral philosophy, and
of course of the woman who lived at the same boarding house
and who writes :

What an uncomfortable, extraordinary old man he is, with his ''instinctive
impulses!" on which theme he theorizes, as upon "elective affinities."

With the pen, Mr. Law is first the letter writer. With
what can be compared the elegance of his pen? It has a
brilliancy of gems, a sparkle of champagne and a beauty which
makes a doubt that

The speech of flowers exceeds all flowers of speech.

He says odd things and familiar things oddly. He writes
poetic prose. There is a beauty in the sentiment and felicity
in the expression. There is buoyancy and witchery, a slip
and a trip, a cadence and a rhythm that delights the ear and
charms the sense. One catches himself conning a passage
impressed.

Mr. Law rarely dated a letter. The dates in this publication
are supplied mostly by the endorsements of the receivers.
This peculiarity irritated Mr. Morris who usually began his
reply — your letter without date. Mr. Law had another peculi-
arity, the use of one punctuation mark — the dash. Perhaps
he inherited the peculiarity of a single sign from the Bishop of
Carlisle, his father, who favored the parenthesis. The bishop
had a work in press, the proof sheets for which shortly
stopped, although promptness had been promised. The good
man repaired to remonstrate but was confronted by the devil,
who said :

Please you, my Lord, your Lordship's MS. has already used up all our paren-
theses, but we have sent to the letter founder's for a ton extra, which we expect
to be sent in next week.

Mr. Law's poetry is of uneven excellence. Committed to
print is comparatively little. Like the artist of the brush.
Turner, the poet, Law, considered his inspiration signed all
over and let it appear anonymously. His muse of morality is
insipid, of sentimentality, broad. He speaks of verses drawn
from his "poetical luduMa.'* There are those who confess

325 WWTWt

to a touch of the divine afflatus who do not concede to the
poet Law a front rank.

Mrs. Seaton says Mr. Law was a graceful poet and that his
Vers de SociitS in which he commemorates the persona of
the smart set much delighted each character so honored, but

You can only half appreciate efYiisions when deprived of the advantage of
hearing him read them himself, as he is an energetic declaimer and possessed of a
fuU-toned melodious voice.

The vigorous mind of the poet was continually revolving
and evolving. The thought evolved he would endeavor to fix.
He was mistrustful of his freakish memory and tried to guard
from the likely slip. It is a family reminiscence that if in his
wakeful moments he had an inspiration he would hastily wrap
himself in a blanket and wildly rush about, exclaiming: "Pen
and ink, pen and ink, an idea, I have an idea, quick!"

In that time, 1816, came forth a poet direct from Belfast.
He signed his rhapsodies Law, This was James Sylvius Law.
He had a method of versification ; to his verses he had a sort
of prologue.

TO FIDELIA.

To her who pines for me beyond the main,
My faithful heart devotes this pensive strain.

Still Retrospection views that Parting Day —

The unwelcome Era of an age of pain.
Which gave thy heart to torturing pangs a prey —

And sent thy Sylvius o'er the Western Main!

From Sylvius the ardent lover can quote sentiment of suffi-
cient warmth to melt the sealing wax. In the same issue of
the Intelligencer are the anonymous lines of the true poet.

To Mr. Bradley, Mr. Law writes :

February 9, 18161 1 have v^tten a pamphlet on the Bank, & it has operated
so forcibly that the advocates for a national bank will relinquish that £ivorite plan
of the Secretary of the Treasury.

June II, 1816. 1 hope you approve of my pamphlet on finance.

April 20, 1 81 7. 1 will send you by this mail a pamphlet I published on a
national currency, though it has enforced conviction on many, I should be glad
to hear your opinion.

In addition to the publications listed in chvcpitx India and the

WRITIR 326

list which follows of those in American libraries, from letters
and other sources is compiled this catalogue :

Usury. 1794.

Instinctive Impulses. First Essay. 181 1.

Instinctive Impulses. Second Essay. 18 14.

National Bank. 1816^

Finance. 1816^

National Currency. 1817.

Moral Nature to be Redeemed by the Natural Sciences. 1853.*

Publications in American libraries :

1792. Sketch of some late arrangements and a review of the rising resources of
Bengal London, 1792. 8vo. Lib. G>ng.

1794. On Bengal, etc Perhaps another ed. of that printed in 1792. Quoted
by Allibone.

1804. Observations on the intended canal in Washington Qty. Anon. Wash-
ington, 1804. pp. 24, 8vo. Lib. G>ng.

1806. Ballston Springs. A poem. New York, i9o6. Boston Ath.

1820. Remarks on the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, March i, 1819.
Washington, 1820. 8vo. Boston Ath.

1824. A reply to certain insinuations published as an article in the sixty-eighth
number of the Quarterly Review, Washington, 1827. pp. 1-27, 8vo.
Lib. G>ng.

1825. AddressbeforetheColumbianlnstltute, Washington, 1825. 8vo. Boston
Ath. ; Lib. Cong.

18261 Considerations tending to render the policy questionable of plans for liqui-
dating, within the next four years, of the 6 per cent stock of the United
states. Washington, S. A. Elliott, 1826. pp. 22, 8vo. Lib. Congress;
Boston Ath.

1827. Thomas Law (and others). Report of the proceedings of the committee
appointed in Washington in 1824 to present a memorial to Congress, pray-
ing for the establishment of a national currency. Washington: Way and
Gideon, 1824. pp. 40, 8vo. Lib. Cong. ; Boston Ath.

1827. Propositions for creating means for commencing the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal, with report of committee thereon. Washington, 1827. i folio
sheet. Lib. Cong.

1828. Address to the Columbian Institute on a moneyed system. Washington,
1828. 8vo. Lib. Cong. ; Boston Ath.

183a Address to the Columbian Institute on the question, "What ought to be

the circulating medium of a nation ?" Washington, 1830. 8vo. Lib.

Cong. ; Boston Ath.
1833. Synopsis of a plan for a national currency. Washington, 1833. pp. 16,

8vo. Lib. Cong.
1833. A plan for one uniform circulating medium, etc., Anon. Washington,

about 1833. pp. 4i 8vo. Lib. Cong.
1833. Thoughts on the Moral System. Washington, 1833. pp.29. Maryland

Historical Society.
• ThooiM Law, Washington's Pint Rich Uui,^G*org€ A\firtd TomuetuL

327 CHARACTER

CHARACTER.

SMILES and tears is the story of Law's life. In ingenious
simplicity of narration as the Vicar of Wakefield unfolds
his joys and woes, the spirits of the reader would rise
and fall. To me it is an untrodden field and 1 stumble in the
devious way.

'* There is nobody, no man can be said to put you in mind
of Johnson." Mr. Law like Dr. Johnson is unique. Never
such oddity combined with strength of sense. His failings
and foibles detract not» rather are foils to the veins of virtue.

Mr. Law thought rapidly and coined his thoughts into
expression rapidly. His swarming thought forced relief as the
surging torrent breaks.

Mr. Wirt tells, as he always does, with fascinating na!vet6,
Mr. Law's visit the evening previous, August i, 1820:

He talked of agriculturCi manufactures, finances, a national institute, the bank
loan, the dry we^ither. Miss B., the 4th of July, the revolution in Naples and a
newly invented plough, aU in the same breath and pretty nearly in the same
sentence. And when he was forced to shut his mouth by Laura's beginning to
play, he also shut his eyes, and, I believe, went fairly to sleep; although he
cried "beautiful," several times, in the wrong place. Miss B. says he does not
know Barbara Allen from Yankee Doodle,

The moving influence of

The true concord of well-tuned sounds

on Mr. Law with Mr. Wirt's happy instance is indicated by
Mr. Faux's musical incident, July 11, 1820:

After breakfast we rode to the pleasant farm of Colonel Heb to dine, where,
with his lady and family, we meet a young Cantab,* and his lady who sweetly
sung and played for Mr. Law on the piano, with which he seemed enraptured.

Miss Josephine Seaton — William Winston Seaion of ike
National Intelligencer, A Biographical Sketch :

One of the most notable of Mr. Seaton's circle of friends, and chief, indeed,
among the local celebrities of Washington at that period, was Thomas Law, of

* Gnduate of Cambridgt Unlvtrsity, Bngi^nJ,

CHARACTIR 328

whom few persons then living had not some anecdote to relate, as well as
respecting his eccentricities as his brilliant talk. He attracted much attention
from his fine person, aristocratic connection and undoubted genius, and also
from his wealth, • • • while he was also generous, prodigal indeed, in
good works, as in the hospitalities dispensed at his country-seat near Washington.

Mr. Faux thus describes Mr. Law's appearance and charac-
teristics :

In this retreat dined the President and two hundred gentlemen last week.
The society admitted here is select, and the principal attraction to it is Mr. Law
who is kind, agreeable and benevolent to alL In his personal appearance he b
small, lean, withered and rustic His nose, however, is noble, like Lord Ellen-
borough's, but his mind is perhaps nobler than that of any of the family,
although he lives in greater simplicity than a country squire in England.

Mr. Law talks in an oratorical manner, and with an energy of action which
makes him appear much in earnest He is full to overflowing and quite
inexhaustible. He writes with great vdodty.

One can make for himself a comparison with the illustrious
brother, for here he is presented by John, Lord Campbell, Lord
Chief Justice and Lord High Chancellor of England — The Lives
of the Chief Justices of England:

Lord EUenborough was above the middle sixe and sinewy, but his walk
singulariy awkward. He moved with a sort of semi-rotary step, and his path to
the place to which he wished to go was the section of parobola. When he
entered the court he was in the habit of swellmg out his cheeks by blowing and
compressing his lips, and you would have supposed that he was going to snort
like a war horse preparing for battle. His spoken diction, although always
scholarlike, rather inclined to the sesquipedalian; his intonation was deep and
solemn, — and certain words he continued through life to pronounce in the
fashion he had learned from his Cumbrian nurse.

The superlative Addison in Cato says.

Great souls by instinct to each other turn;

and strong was the attachment which bound to Law men of
brain and genius.

MONTICELLO, Dec. 12, 1823.

Thomas Jefferson salutes Mr. Law with ancient and friendly recollections,
and with a mind which does not easily part with early impressions. He hopes
the years which intervened since they last saw each other have been to Mr. Law
years of health and pleasantness, and that he yet has many such to come.

Marching abreast with Mr. Law in the calendar of time, it is his particular lot
to suffer by two dislocated wrists, now stiffened by age, and rendering writing
slow, painful, and all but impossible. He is happy to find by the pamphlet Mr.
Law has kindly sent him, that his mind is still equal to the continuation of his

3*9 CHAtACTlR

useful labors, and that his zeal for the general good is unabated. Where they
are next to meet, in this or some other untried state of being, he knows not.
But if we carry with us the aflections of this world, he shall thence greet Mr.
Law with unchanged esteem and respect.

To Thomas Law, Esq.

In the evening of life the eccentric General Bradley, cherish-
ing pleasant memories, thinks of him of same alloy, and with
hesitating hand writes the inquiry which must have warmed
the heart of dear old Law :

Walpolb Dec 21th 1823
If my old Friend Thomas Law is living give my Best respects to him and tel
him we should be happy to see him once more in these cold regions of the North.

Equal and in keeping with Mr. Law's hospitality was his
liberality in gifts. His generosity was more marked in that
which benefits generally and uplifts the higher nature. The
extract from the letter of S. R. to W. C. Bradley. December
20, 1810, has something of the nucleus to the extensive
library of the University of Vermont.

I have communicated to Mr Law his hint respecting the University at
Buriington it struck Mr Law very favorably he was much pleased at the
thought, and has ordered to the amount of $500 worth of books to be imme-
diately procured for that purpose they are authors of the first respectability and
the most celebrated as well as useful in the literary world —

In this day no city celebrity receives more mention save one
than he; and in his day not even he who had received the
coronation of the republic was so familiarly and friendly known
as Thomas Law, and when his intellectual visage appeared at
the Post Office the clerk at the window began to assort the
letters of apartment L.

Law's absentmindedness is proverbial. Anecdotes thereof
are numerous in the memories of the oldest inhabitants and
some are authentic. The instance related by Miss Seaton
created amusement, and too, amazement :

Another more embarrassing instance of his distrait faculties occurred at
Berkeley Springs, where, after a bath, forgetting to dress, he appeared in the
crowded grove in puris naiuralidus, scattering consternation among the
promenaders.

A congressman has related it was not an infrequent occur-
rence at the boarding-houses, (The Varnum,) for the head waiter

CHARACTER 33O

to have his attention arrested by a sight through the window
and undignifiedly rush to the front door and shout: "Mr*
Lawl Here's your hat."

Of the ovation to Mr. Law, on the eve of his second visit to
the land of his nativity naught remains to be said, not even of
the pointed hint of punctuality.

National Intelligencer^ July 12, 1824:

A number of Citixens of Washington desirous to show to Thomas Law, Esq.
upon the eve of his departure on a visit to England, their respect for the public
spirit he has uniformly displayed in this City, from its foundation — for his
integrity as a man, and his liberality as a gentleman, have invited him to a
Public Dinner, to take place at Queen's Hotel, on Capitol Hill, on Monday
next, the 12th instant. The time being short, it has not been possible to pre-
sent the paper to all the numerous friends of Mr. Law, who might desire to
unite in this act, which under the circumstances of the recent vile calumnies of
Faux, the traveller and the London Quarterly Review^ b no more than an act of
justice to an injured and most respectable gentleman. Such, therefore, as have
not had an opportunity of intimating a wish to join the Dinner Party on this
occasion are respectfully informed that a subscription paper is left at the office of
the National Intelligencer^ to receive their names.

Committee for the Dinner— Commodore Thomas Tingey, William Brent, Esq. ,
Dr. Frederick May, R. C Weightman, Esq. and William W. Seaton.
Dinner to be on the table at four o'clock.

William GifTord, the critic, editor of the London Quarterly
Review^ through that medium emphasized Faux's exposition
of ''Men and Things as they are in America;*' and his review
Edward Everett reviewed, scathingly, in the North American
Review.^ With these expressions Mr. Everett commences
and concludes:

This work reached us shortly after its publication in London, but we turned
from it as beneath notice. We treated it as we have generally done the Fearons,
the jansons, the Hewlets, and the various other paltry adventurers, who come
over to this country to make their fortunes by speculation, and, being disap-
pointed in the attempt to jump into riches without industry, without principle,
without delay, return to England and pander to the taste for American calumny,
in order to pay the expenses of the expedition, by the sale of their falsehood.

A foolish admiration for what is foreign is far too common here ; and the
readiness to extend to strangers the greatest confidence of hospitality has, in other
instances than this, exposed the good citizens of our country to shameful impo-
sitions. This is happily an evil, however, which corrects itself, and a few more
travellers like Mr. Faux will establish the necessary degree of inhospitableness;
and teach Americans, if they must receive this rabble, to let it be at a side table.

*Norih American RevUw^ VoL XIX, pp. 9>x?s.

331 CHARACTIR

Mr. Law arrived in England, November lo, 1824.

In antipodal contrast is the relentless severity of the English
Chief Justice in the infliction of extreme penalties in punish-
ment of offenses ofttimes trivial to the humanity of the brother,
Thomas Law. At a citizens' convention, delegates were ap-
pointed, April 29, 1826, to wait upon the Committee for the
District of Columbia of the House of Representatives and pre-
sent petition for a uniform code of criminal jurisprudence.
The address prepared by Mr. Law, chairman of delegates, was
delivered May 6:

Despots, in former times, wrote their laws in blood, that they might gratify
revenge and difYiise terror, the modems, more civilized have abolished some of
the most cruel, but they have permitted too many remnants of barbarity to
continue on their statutes.

You, gentlemen, actuated by phQanthropy, (which dictates that, though
criminals must suffer punishment to deter from violations of right, yet that their
judges must consider that the sufferers are fellow beings, ) have attended to and
recommended a melioration of our penal code; and, not content with this measure
have also visited our insalubrious jails, where ''echoes only learn to groan " from
wretches without bedding and clothing to shield them from winter's severity.

Although the consciousness of human actions, and the fulfilment of useful
duties, afford ample gratifications to charitable legblators, yet we trust that the
effusions of gratitude, from the heart-full dtizens of Washington, will not be
unacceptable.

That on return to your homes, your families, relatives, and neighbors, partici-
pating in sensations and sentiments, may cheer you with welcome greetings, and
that you may be blessed with long health to enjoy the consolatory remembrance
of your beneficial services, are the sincere wishes of,

Your grateful and obedient humble servants.

Mr. Law took no part in the local government. If a politician
at all he was a mild republican, of the party of his friends,
Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. His politics
were his financial plans. Only once 1 find any act, and that
in his seventy-fifth year, of political partisanship. Independ-
ence Day, Monday, July 5, 1831, was selected for a congre-
gation of mechanics and other citizens, friends of the American
System of National Independence and Internal Improvement
and to Henry Clay's presidential candidacy, south of the Mall,
Mr. Law offered a toast coupled with a quotation from Jeffer-
son's Inaugural:

The right of opinion — Having banished from our land thai religious
intolerance under which manhind bled so long and suffered^ we have

CHARACTBR 33a

gained liiile, if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic^ as
wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions,

Mr. Law disclaimed atheistical tenets and declined church
authority. He says: "I have always been an advocate for
men to pursue their interests unobstructed by governmental
interference, according to the suggestions of their reason and
to seek salvation according to the dictates of their own con-
science." His guide was the moral sense or divinity within.
Yet inconsistent with his avowed ideas, and his scoffing
remarks of exponents of the theory of religion, he did attend
the All Souls' Unitarian Church and generously support it.
The Rev. Mr. John Wright, although rejected by Mr. Law's
bishop brother, the Bishop of Carlisle, was with respect received
by him. Mr. Law subscribed a hundred pounds towards a
church and also for him secured the honor of preaching from
the Speaker's chair before the President and the Congress.

Religious rites and rules were repugnant to Mr. Law. To
him forms seemed fetters, ceremonies cloaks for insincerity and
creeds cause of disastrous dissension :

Philosophers assist each other, and agree
Whilst they God's wond'rous sciences expound;

But bigoted sectarians rouse antipathy,
And in God's name spread cruel feuds around.*

To Mr. Law the resurrection of bodies appeared full of objec-
tions and he garnished his scepticism with Dryden's lines of
ridicule, descriptive of the last trump:

Where scattered limbs from different quarters fly,
And meet and jostle, hurrying in the sky.

Mr. Law's politeness, perhaps, cannot better be illustrated
than to disclose with what grace he could invest so formal an
instrument as a bill of exchange.

Exchange for 1 To the Right Rev> George Law,

;f 250. J Bishop of Bath and Wells, London.

My Lord,

At sight pay to the order of Messrs. Hottenquer St Co. at the Banking House

of Messrs. Jones, Loyd 8c Co., London, Two hundred and fifty pounds, & charge

to^ of

Yr Obt Servt,

Paris, 4th April, 1831. THOMAS LAW.

* Thoughts on th« Moral Syttem— Thomas Law,

333 CHARACTER

Mr. Law maintained a close correspondence with his people
in England and thrice visited them. Mr. Law arrived in this
city by way of New York from his last visit to Europe, January
9, 1832. Two days previous the news of Mrs. Custis's death
at Richmond was brought.

Mr. Law was of those who ''grave their wrongs on marble,"
a firm foe; he forgave not an injury, real or imagined. Of this
characteristic no circumstance contradicts and many confirm.
He passed by his co-voyager and co-venturer, distressed Dun-
canson ; he insisted on forgetting that for many years Greenleaf
Point was no more Turkey Buzzard Point; he mantled not
with charity her to whom he was in wedded state — the Irish
poet who was on the scene, June, 1804, in lines of unmistakable
direction, exclaims:

Though man, who ought to shield thy fame,
Ungenerous man, be first to wound thee!

Mr. George Alfred Townsend says:

One man only have I ever talked with who personally saw Thomas Law,
namely, the late Christopher Lowndes of Bladensburg, and his Either took him
to an oyster house somewhere in Washington, where they meet a grave, sweet
old man, with whom they had some oysters, and he read them a poem of his own.

At a call on the venerable David A. Watterston at the Wat-
terston mansion I incidentally learned that that upon which I
gazed had been familiar to Mr. Law. He breakfasted at dawn
and was frequently with the Watterstons at their breakfast
time free '*to dip into the sugar bowl" or to take any other
liberty. But to Mr. Watterston "Mr. Law is a mere shadow."

Mr. Samuel Lorenzo Knapp pays this tribute :

Thomas Law, Esq., has, although now nearly an octogenarian, lately pubUshed
a book upon currency. He is a man of no ordinary powers of mind. Hb fife
has been an eventful one. In England, his native country, he was considered a
man of mind. In India he was distinguished for his financial talents, and was
the great benefactor to the natives, by his judidous plans for their relieC He was
the companion of Teignmouth and the friend of Sir William Jones. Active and
enterprising, he saw the accounts of the establishment of our federal dty, and he
hastened to this country to identify himself with its growth, from the comer
stone to the setting of the gates thereof He purchased largely of the sofl,
built on an extensive scale, suggested ten thousand plans for the improvement of
the dty, and for the prosperity of the nation; but the slow, doubtful, and often
strange course of congress, came not only in his way, but in the way of all those
deeply interested in the wel&re of the dty; and he has spent the days of his

CHARACTBR 334

maturity and wisdom in unavailing efforts for the improvement of it It is happy
for him, however, that he has lived to see the dawn of a better day for Wash-
ington ; and if he can not stay here long to enjoy it, as a good man he will
rejoice in the hopes of his friends and descendants. If his disappointments have
been numerous, yet it can not be said that they have soured hb temper or har-
dened his heart, or that his tenants have felt his resentnoent, because he was
deceived by those who could have £ivored his plans. In this world, the insults
received from those above us, are often repeated by those below us, in pitiful and
aggravated forms.

Mr. Law's constitution succumbed. His hand was tremulous
and his form bent. His mind was not impaired when he drew
his will, two years of his death, as the phraseology indicates,
nor was his intellectual vigor relaxed one year before as
Thoughts on the Moral System are his best. During the last
year he required a constant attendant. After an illness of ten
days, July 31, 1834, at six o'clock in the morning, Thomas
Law died. His friends and acquaintances were invited to
attend the funeral from his late residence on Capitol Hill at
four o'clock in the afternoon of the day following. His resi-
dence was one of the row on New Jersey avenue. He was
buried in the St. John's graveyard, square 276; the remains
were removed to Rock Creek Cemetery, and there repose with
"the unknown." Mr. Law's residence in America, almost to
a day, was two score years.

Ashland, 8th Aug— 34
Dear Sir

1 lament the death of Mr. Law, for whom 1 have always entertained the greatest

esteem.

Yrs' with constant regard

Geo. Watterston Esq H CLAY

Mr. Blane was to have a sixth share in the investments in
which they were mutually concerned. Mr. Law's account in
his own handwriting with Mr. Blane, much mutilated, is in the
chancery cause, Law vs. Adams. The Auditor says it is fair
and excuses its faults "occurring in the multiplicity of Mr.
Law's transactions and embarrassments, pecuniary and do-
mestic, as well as from his known habit of forgetfulness."
That Mr. Law did his utmost to save his friend from loss
appears by a declaration on the land records, July 7, 1823, and
this provision in his will:

To my friend Wm Blane of London » ♦ » 1 give and bequeath all the
remainder of my property to him and his heirs forever, after paying all debts and

335 CHARACTER

the bequests herein devised. My heirs will not be displeased by my attentions
to Mr. Blane. He has an amiable family, and has been unfortunate with me in
the dty purchase and as he is the only one who has lost by me, 1 am anxious
that he should not be a sufferer.

And it is a fact, Blane was the only one who lost through
Law. He was never insolvent, although in his latter years in
distress for cash. His estate was closed before the civil war.
His realty was disposed at prices which would be considered
ridiculous now, yet it yielded $175,000. His minor creditors
were settled with at once and his larger ones and legatees
received principal with 130% additional, accumulated interest.

In the chancery cause of Law against Adams, executor, in-
volving twenty-five years active litigation, the Supreme Court
of the United States construed the ante and post-nuptial agree-
ments. Mr. Law survived Mrs. Law; their child, Eliza, died
before her parents, leaving children. The court decided the
expression, "in case the said wife shall die in the lifetime of
her husband, leaving issue of said marriage one or more chil-
dren " defined " issue " to be children and that it had no right
to extend the meaning to include grandchildren. This was not
Mr. Law's idea, as his will states:

I have settled upon the children of my daughter Eliza more than I fear my
other grandchildren will receive.

In the imitation of nature such parts should be employed as
reproduce advantageously and in biography those characters
should be selected whose lives are worthy of imitation. Thomas
Law is a praiseworthy pattern in his principle, he by practice
and precept inculcated, the employment of the present. He
engaged the current time with a project to which he heartily
devoted his abilities. Accomplishment his memory applauded
yet it filled not the measure of content and he, not deterred by
distress and disappointment, pressed achievement. With age,
he abated not his activity; in his final year he advocated a
measure for the welfare of America's people as in pristine man-
hood he achieved the triumph for Indians humanity. Mr. Law
in each period, in the enthusiasm of early years, in the strength
of meridian years, in the experience of advanced years, could
appreciate a special fitness. . Of old age, the wholesome senti-

CHAtACTBt 336

ment, happily phrased, he indited a little while before his hand
lost its grasp :

I cannot admit that old age will be miserable. God, in his beneficent dispen-
sations, makes time obliterate our sorrows, by diverting our minds with new
scenes and new acquirements, and by inspiring new affections, and better founded
than juvenfle predilections.

Thomas Law was a man of merit and manners. Corre-
sponding with his elegance in mien was his graceful letter-
writing. His writings on moral philosophy prove profound
thought, on economics evince wide learning. In his days of
prosperity he lavished hospitality, in his days of misfortune, he
bestowed in the same spirit. Of money, he cared naught,
save to serve others. One familiar with his history will think
of him as an enthusiast, more as a savant, pre-eminently, the
gentleman.

I have recorded dry detail and refrained from the glamour
of humor. I have adhered to a sketch and only imparted a
suggestion of the erudition and experience of him of whom it
was said :

Hb worth b not one-tenth of it known.

Law's life was a success. Brick and stone are monuments
of his usefulness. His gentle words and kindly deeds have
made imperishable impress. No tablet marks his resting
place. Though his grave is unknown, his fame will not fade
away.

Time! thou destroyest the relics of the past,
And hidest all the footprints of thy march
On shatter'd column and on crumbled arch.
By moss and ivy growing green and fisist

Yet triumph not, O Time, strong towers decay.
But a great name shall never pass away.

— Park Benjamin: A Great Name.

337 WILL OF ROBERT MORRIS

APPENDIX.

WILL OF ROBERT MORRIS.

IN the name of God Amen, I Robert Morris of the City of
Philadelphia formerly a Merchant &c &c do now make
and declare this present writing to contain and to be my last
Will and Testament hereby revoking all wills by me made and
declared of precedent dates. Imprimis 1 give my Gold watch
to my son Robert, it was my Fathers and left to me at his
death and hath been carefully kept and valued by me ever
since Item I give my gold headed Cane to my son Thomas
the head was given to me by the late John Hancock Esq' when
President of Congrefs and the Cane was the gift of James
Wilson Esq^ whilst a Member of Congress, Item I give to my
son Henry my Copying press and the paper which were sent
to me a present from Sir Rob* Herries of London — Item I give
to my daughter Hetty (now M^ Marshall) my silver vase or
Punch Cup which Imported from London many years ago and
have since purchased a^ain — Item I give to my daughter Maria
(now M*^ Nixon) my silver Boiler which I also imported from
London many years affo and which I have lately repurchased
Item I give to my friend Gouverneur Morris Esq^ my Telescope
Espying Glass being the same that I bought of a french refugee
from Cape Francois then at Trenton and which I since pur-
chased affain of M'. Hall officer of the Bankrupt office — Item I
give and bequeath all the other property which I now possess
or may hereafter acquire whether real or personal or all that
shall or may belong to me at the time of my death to my dearly
beloved wife Mary Morris for her use and comfort during her
life and to be disposed of as she pleases at or before her decease
when no doubt she will make such distribution of the same
amongst our Children as she may then think most proper.
Here I have to express my regret at having lost a very large
fortune acquired by honest Industry which I had long hoped
and expected to enjoy with my family during my own life and
then to distribute it amongst those of them that should outlive.
Fate has determined otherwise and we must submit to the
decree, which I have done with patience and fortitude, Lastly
I do hereby nominate and appoint my said dearly beloved wife
Mary Morns Sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament
made and declared as such on this thirteenth day of June 1804.

ROBT MORRIS [ls]

STODDBRT-OREENLEAP CONTROVBtSY 338

T

STODDERT-GREENLEAF CONTROVERSY.

Notice.

HE Assignees of the joint estate of Robert Morris, John
Nicholson and James Greenleaf, and the assignees of the
separate estate of James Greenleaf, hereby give notice to all
persons concerned, that they have claims in equity to a large
part of the lots in this city, advertised by Benjamin Stoddert,
as being engaged for his Washington Tontine — The said
assignees also give notice, that they mean to test by strict
principles of law and equity, many of the acts and doings of
the Commissioners of the City, relative to lots and property,
purchased by them, by R. Morris and J. Greenleaf; and that
they mean also to test on like principles, every act and doing
of R. Morris and J. Nicholson, relative to lots or property,
grounded on J. Greenleaf s deed of conveyance, to said Morris
and Nicholson, dated 13th May, 1796, which is on record in
this city. The very extensive estates conveyed by that deed,
being among other provisions, exceptions and restrictions,
subjected to the following " to all liens now binding or affecting
the same property, on account of any part of the purchase
money which remains unpaid to the commissioners of the said
city of Washington, or any other person or persons from whom
the same was purchased by either of the parties to these
presents; and to all other liens, restrictions, exceptions, con-
ditions, regulations and agreements, to which the said property,
or any part of it, was subjected by the contracts under which
the same was purchased, as aforesaid " — ** excepting, also, all
such squares lots, lands or tenements, as were either conveyed
or sold, or agreed to be conveyed, either by all or either of
them the said James Greenleaf, Robert Morris and John Nichol-
son, or any of their agents or attornies, to any person or
persons whatsoever, at any time prior to the tenth day of
July, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and
ninety-five." JAMES GREENLEAF,

Agent and Attorney for the
assignees, &c &c
Washington, January 9th, 1805.

To the Public.

WHATEVER reluctance 1 may feel to the measure, 1 cannot
avoid obtruding myself and my affairs on public atten-
tion. To suffer the notice given by Mr. James Greenleaf. that
the assignees of Morris and others, have claim to a great part
of the Washington Tontine property, to pass without observa-
tion, might expose me to the suspicion that 1 could descend to
practise fraud upon the public. To restrain from shewing to
the world, that the Tontine property is free from any claim of

-STODDBRT-OREEMLEAP CONTROVERSY

Morris and others, would be to abandon a fair and honest enter-
prise; useful to its projectors; beneficial to those who have
become, and may become adventurers in it ; and advantageous
to the City of Washington.

Some of the Tontine property was acquired by myself and
others, by purchase at the public sales of the commissioners of
Washington, of the property that had been contracted for by
Morris and others, and which was resold, under a law of Mary-
land because the stipulated payments had not been made. This,
it is understood, is the property, to which it is said the assig-
nees have claim — and this, on the ground heretofore assumed,
that the commissioners had not authority under the Maryland
law to resell the property contracted for by Morris and others,
before the passage of the law.

For more than seven years, pretentions of this kind have
been rumored throughout the United States, to the incon-
ceivable injury of many proprietors of City property; and to
the great prejudice of the City itself. — but, as in all this time,
no effort has been made to establish claim to a single lot, by
any legal course, those least inclined on uncharitable suspicion,
have been led to the belief, that these pretentions were kept
up for the laudable purpose of retarding the progress of the
city, by deterring strangers from making investments in it: — or
with the honest view of embarrassing sales, until the owners
of such property should yield, as to the lesser evil, to iniquitous
demands in the shape of compromise, for the privilege of
selling.

Who that steps beyond his own threshold has not had his
ears poisoned by the tales, universally circulated, of the infinite
hazard of titles m Washington ? In Washington, where of all
places the titles to property can be most easily ascertained;
and where, of all places, they are in general most secure: — and
more especially, to that property subject to most obloquy — 1
mean that which has passed through the hands of the commis-
sioners, and is held under their title; in which, it is next to
impossible for the most ignorant to be deceived.

But enough of exordium. The public will please to take
notice, that Morris and others, contracted on the 24th of
December, 1793, with the commissioners of Washington, for
6000 lots, and agreed to pay by seven annual instalments of
about 70,000 dollars each. They quickly failed to make the
promised payments, and the commissioners proceeded to re-seil
the lots under the authority of the Maryland law : — But their
right being questioned, they took the opinion of the Attorney
General of the United States, so much of which as is relevant
to the point in contest, I here recite :

"By the agreement of the 24th December, 1793, between
the commissioners of Washington, and Morris and Greenleaf

STOODItT-OlteilLlAP CO WT M YltgY 34O

for 6000 lots, the consideration money is to be paid by instal-
ments, and therefore this sale " (a sale in contemplation by the
commissioners) "appears to be within the letter and spirit of
the act of 28th December, 1793, which more properly compre-
hends sales made prior to the passage of the act» than sales
subseauent thereto, and in my opinion comprehends sales of
both descriptions. This act does not impair any contract, nor
is it objectionable with respect to this sale, as being ex post
facto, because it does not alter any contract but invents a new
and speedy mode of preventing injury that mi^ht arise from a
breach of contract, and is in furtherance of a fair and complete
execution of the terms of the contract It is analogous to a
Law amending the administration of justice, and giving new,
or changing old remedies.

" In the present case it may be remarked, that the law was
passed before any breach of contract had taken place.

"As to the lots comprized in the contract, remaining uncon-
veyed to Morris and Greenleaf, if default has been made in
paying the instalments, or any of them which may have become
due, and likewise in building the number of houses stipulated,
it is my opinion so many of them may be re-sold by the com-
missioners agreeably to the aforesaid act ^ shall be requisite
to raise the full sum of money due at the time of such re-sale,
and so from time to time, as the instalments shall fall due, and
be unpaid. It is my meaning that no more shall be sold than
will satisfy the arrearages of principal and interest actually due
and charges thereon.

C. Lee."

That the reader may judge of the soundness of the attorney
general's exposition of the law, I will recite all of it that relates
to this subject.

"And be it enacted, That on sales of lots in the said city, by
the said commissioners, or any two of them, under terms and
conditions of payment being made therefor, at any day, or days
after such contract entered into, if any sum of the purchase
money or interest shall not be paid for the space of 30 days
after the same ought to be paid, the commissioners, or any two
of them may sell the same lots at public vendue in the city of
Washington, at any time after givmg 60 days notice of such
sales in some of the public news-papers of George town and
Baltimore town, and retain in their hands sufficient of the
money produced by such new sale, to satisfy all principal and
interest due on the first contract, together with all the expenses
of advertisements and sale — and the original purchaser or his
assigns shall be entitled to receive from the said commissioners
at their treasury on demand the balance of the money which
may have been actually received by them, or under their order.

rODDBRT-OUIMLBAP CONTIOVIRSY

on the said second sale — and all lots so sold shall be freed and
acquitted of all claim legal or equitable of the first purchaser,
his heirs and assigns."

Here 1 might safely rest my appeal, secure of the suffrage of
every man who can understand what he reads, and whose
object is conviction. But in a case like this, even the shadow
of diffidence should not remain— and shall not, nor shall those
miserable creatures whose highest gratification consists in the
malignant pleasure of surveying the disappointments of men
who strive by proper means, to acquit themselves honorably
of their burthens, be permitted the privilege of doubting them-
selves, nor, of infusing doubts into the minds of others, as to
the safety of the titles to the Tontine property, and other
property in Washington, affected by this fraudulent claim, to
the amount of one third of all that is valuable in it.

Let it be remembered that the objection to the commissioners
right to re sell the lots contracted for by Morris and Greenleaf,
is this — that the law giving the power to re sale, passed after
the contract. Even this poor plea, wretched as it is shall no
longer be made the pretext for deception. The law passed
before the contract. For evidence of this fact I appeal to the
journals of proceedings of the two houses of the Maryland
legislature, by which it will be seen, that the bill originated in
the Senate, and after the sanction of that body, was sent to the
House of Delegates where it remained some days, that was
taken up for the last time and passed in the sitting of the fore-
noon of the 24th of December, 1793. These journals will be
lodged at the office of the National Intelligencer. 1 scarcely
need observe that all Maryland knows, that the laws of Mary-
land take effect from their passing both houses. The governor
is not a part of the legislature, and tho' he signs the laws in the
presence of both houses, as a witness, the omission to do so,
does not invalidate the laws, as the courts have determined —
they are as much in force before they get his signature, which
is generally put to them at the end of the session, as afterwards.

The commissioners of 1793 were men of character and
prudence and did not think it quite safe to commit the fate of
the city to the keeping of Greenleaf and Co. with no other
remedy in their hands, for failure in engagement, than the
tedious process of a chancery suit, and therefore waited until
they received certain information of the passage of the law.
Such information was sent them immediately on its passage
the 24th of December, and they received it in time to enable
them to execute the contract the same night, though at a very
late hour, with full knowledge of the existence of the law.

It may be asked, why did the commissioners of 1797 repre-
sent to the attorney general, and believe themselves that this
important act passed the 28th and not the 24th of December ?
I know of but one way of accounting for this apparent inatten-

STODDUtT-OtUNUAP COMTtOVBRSY ^542

tion on their part, to a fact to be sure not material to their
right of re-sale» but certainly very material to quiet the minds
of timid purchasers. These gentlemen were a new set of
commissioners, none of them had been privy to the trans-
actions of 1793, they saw by the contract they found in the
office that it had been executed on the 24th of December, and
by the printed book of laws, it appeared that the act in ques-
tion and every other act of the same session had passed on the
28th day of December, and I suppose they inquired no further.
The circumstances indeed of all the acts of the session appearing
to have passed on the same day, had it been adverted to, would
have led to the conclusion that there was an error in the printing ;
but the circumstance, striking as it now seems, most probably
escaped attention, and from this little oversight, have arisen all
the mighty mischiefs that have flowed from the slander of the
titles to Washington property. For had this pitiful plea, that
the contract was prior to the law, been shown at the nrst sales,
to be untrue in point of fact, there being nothing else to rest a
doubt upon, we should have heard nothing about the sales of
the commissioners without the authority of law — nor of the
hazard of titles in Washington.

After this it is to be hoped we shall hear no more of the
claims of the assignees, or others, on one third part of the city
of Washington. At least it is to be expected that the assignees,
who have characters to stake, and who must have been deceived,
will no longer permit their names to be prostituted to counte-
nance such claims — nor can this expectation be disappointed,
if these gentlemen are just to their own fame.

As 1 have known for several weeks, that Mr. Greenleaf was
engaged In the benevolent work of slandering the Tontine
titles. 1 thought it due to decency to suffer the progress of that
institution to be suspended ; until an opportunity could be
seized to dissipate doubts. 1 shall now take my measures to
insure to it the success it merits, which this development will
most likely accelerate

BEN. STODDERT.

George-Town, January 11, 1805.

P. S. Those printers who have published the plan of the
Washington Tontine will much oblige me by inserting this,
and with it Mr. Greenlears notification.

B. S.

National Intelligencer^ January 16, 1805.

In duty to myself and to the assignees of the joint and
separate estates of R. Morris, J. Nicholson, and J. Greenleaf, I
find myself called on to take a slight notice of Mr. Stoddert's
publication in the National Intelligencer of yesterday.

The several contracts made by Morris, Nicholson and Green-

343 STODDERT-GREBNLBAP COMTIOVBRSY

leaf, or some of them, with the commissioners of the city of
Washington, for the purchase and protection of a large number
of lots in the city involve a variety of very important consider-
ations, which can be explained only in a court of chancery, and
suits are now instituting by me which will command those
explanations. The public sale of lots in Washington, took
place under circumstances affecting the personal interests of
two of the commissioners, and implicating very incorrect
views on their part — this, I am prepared to substantiate in
chancery, and 'tis there only that such facts can properly be
tested — a great number of the lots sold at auction were bid off
and conveyed by deed of quit claim, at five dollars, per standard
lot; when under correct titles, the same lots would have com-
manded more than twenty fold that sum. Mr. Stoddert bought
largely at these sales, and now seeks to sell again in the shape
of Tontine Stock — under this state of things, were I to with-
hold the public avowal of my claim, improper inferences might
be drawn therefrom; irremediable evils might ensue to many,
and, at least, the unwary and uninformed would have just
cause ot complaint at my silence — I desire however it may be
distinctly understood, that my views go not, (as charged by
Mr. Stoddert) to the injury of this city, or its honest inhabi-
tants — I have personally, a deep stake in this establishment,
and am (but not alone gn that account) most ardently solicitous
for its welfare — but while resting in the firm belief, that those
for whom I act, have a just and fair claim to the property
sported with by the commissioners, I shall maintain that claim
in every proper and decent way; and in asking the equity due,
I shall hold myself prepared to administer full and complete
equity in turn. I conceive it not incumbent on me to notice
more particularly Mr. Stoddert's intemperate publication, or at
present, or in this manner, to controvert his gross misstatement
of acts, and will therefore close by observing, that as I feel
perfectly justified in using every honest endeavor to collect the
scattered wrecks of my estate, I shall continue to act accord-
ingly — If I sin in so doing, be the evil on myself.

JAMES GREENLEAF.
City of Washington, Jan. 13.

To THE Public.

IT is painful to be driven to a vindication of right to property
in a newspaper. Such however is my fate; I submit to
it with less reluctance, as the city of Washington nay the
public at large, have an interest in the discussion.

The public will please to notice, that Mr. Greenleaf has not
advanced a single document, or fact to controvert my statement
in the National Intelligencer of Monday, supported by docu-

STODDBRT-OUBMUAF OONTROVBRSY 344

ments, and reference to documents lodged with Mr. Smith.
Yet he calls it a gross misstatement. Let it be remembered
that it is Mr. James Greenleaf, who so calls it. And let the
world determine whether he is not of that privileged order of
men who may assert just what they please, sure of loosing
nothing in reputation. If my statement be true, and who will
not believe it ? then whatever claims he may have, if any on
the city, he can have none on the property resold by the com-
missioners, or on the Tontine property.

It would seem from Mr. GreenleaPs "slight notice*' that he
expects it should be believed, that two of the commissioners,
actuated by very impure views, had resold at auction the
property contracted for by him and others, and so managed
that affair as to sell some lots as low as 5 dollars, which with
correct titles would have commanded more than twenty times
that price ; and that I was a considerable purchaser at these
sales. Whatever liberties may be indulged in private conver-
sation when the thing told is to be a kind of secret between
the accurate narrator, and his hearer, the most barefaced impu-
dence should preserve some shew of respect to public opinion.
There are hundreds in Washington prepared to give contradic-
tion the most direct, to this statement, equally ridiculous and
wicked. Ridiculous, because it could not be hoped, it could
escape detection and exposure, three days. The simple truth
is, as the books of the commissioners, at all times accessible
will prove that they never sold a single lot that had been con-
tracted for by Morns and Greenleaf for less than the sum they
were to pay which was eighty dollars with interest and costs
to be added. It is equally true that I never bought a lot at their
sales, the equity to which 1 had not before purchased from the
first contractors or their assigns. Under an act of Congress
which left no discretion with the executive officer, but which
directed at all events, a peremptory sale, of all the public
property contracted, and not paid for; a sufficient reason for
which was, to rid the city forever of Greenleaf and Co. and
their pretentions; an infinitely greater quantity of property was
forced into market than there was demana to meet. This
happened in 1802, when the commissioners were not in office —
1 purchased at this sale, lots from the public at twenty dollars,
which had before cost me several hundred by purchase from
Morris and Co. who were to have paid the public for the le^al
estate, but did not. I also purchased lots at this sale, to which
I had before no claim. But in this sale the commissioners had
no agency, nor was the judicious and correct officer who con-
ducted it, inattentive in the smallest degree to his duty. He
was commanded by the law in terms not to be disputed, to
sell more property than there was money on market to repre-
sent. The effect, corresponded with the cause. The property
sold at very reduced rates. This will forever be the case, when

^

345 STODDBRT-OUENLBAP COHTROVBRSY

too much of any article, even gold itself, is forced at once upon
the market. A sale by the sheriff, quickly after, of 60 or 80
lots, not polluted by the touch of Greenleaf, produced no better
prices.

But even by this sale, I question whether Morris and Co. or
their assignees suffered a cent. They had I believe, before sold
their equity to the greater part of the lots then sold, perhaps
not to every one of them, leaving it with the purchasers from
them to pay, or forfeit the lots.

After this correction of Mr. Greenleaf 's slight notice, tales
will still be told of the wanton depredation on his property by
the commissioners, and others, with views equally impure^ —
and we shall still hear for a little while, '*that the doings of
the commissioners, and others, are to be tested by the strict
principles of law and equity." But where will credulity be
found to credit the tales — or timidity to fear the mighty
vengeance ?

Some men who have bought lots, and are averse to strive,
without dreading the loss of their property may apprehend
that they are to be harassed with suits. They need not fear it.
The assignees are not men to suffer their money to be thrown
away in idle and hopeless pursuits. If I mistake their characters,
1 cannot be mistaken in that of the bar, where no man who
has pretentions to reputation, will •lend his aid to countenance
both folly and fraud. ^^^ STODDERT.

To THE Public.

IN my notice of Mr. Benjamin Stoddert's publication of the
nth inst. in the National Intelligencer I have assigned
sufficient reasons for not pursuing thro' the improper channel
of a newspaper, my differences with him, in regard to our
conflicting claims to lots engaged in his Tontine Scheme. I
did vainly hope that the temperance of my observations on
Mr. Stoddert's subject, or that the remnant of respect he might
still have retained for himself, would have restrained him from
further display of ungentlemanly invective. 1 shall not descend
to notice his publication in the last Intelligencer \t\ the language
it merits. As regards my own feelings and reputation, it
suffices that I bear along with me not only the consciousness
of self rectitude, but the entire confidence of those for whom 1
act and who have all had the best possible opportunities of
judging and of knowing me. And as regards Mr. Stoddert
I would advise that he presume not too confidently on former
high ministerial station, as attaching impunity to his personal
doing for the accomplishment of unwarrantable and unprin-
cipled purposes.

If justice were the wish of Mr. Stoddert as it is mine, he
would await with coolness the event of the suit he thought fit

STODDERT-OREENLBAP CONTROVERSY 346

to institute against me previous to his first publication ; and
why in his various publications, the mention of that suit has
been cautiously avoided, he best can tell.

In the Chancery court of this district, (where several suits
have already been instituted by me for the disenthralment of
the property of my estate,) Mr. Stoddert and myself will alike
be called upon to substantiate all we have respectively asserted —
And as truth is evidently at variance with one of us, it is on the
Chancery decree we must rest, not only our respective claims
to the property contended for but all our pretentions as men of
veracity to the countenance of society.

JAMES GREENLEAF.
City of Washington Jan 21.

Notice.

ALL persons who have purchased and received conveyances
to lots in this city from Messrs. John Templeman and
Benjamin Stoddert or either of them, in square No. 75, xoi, 105,
and 119, are hereby cautioned to examine into their titles. The
property in question was many years ago contracted to be con-
veyed to general Walter Stewart, (since deceased) on his
making payment for the same, — the legal title was then in me
individually, and now vests in the assignees of my separate
estates, subject however on payment (as in justice it ought) to
a claim in equity, on the part of General Stewart's heirs —
Mefsrs. Templeman and Stoddert pretending to have purchased
that claim have since sold to others, and under their assurance
expensive improvements have been made on the property:
Still four-fifths of the money due to my estate from general
Stewart's heirs, has never yet been made or offered, nor has
the legal title ever yet passed from my assignee. I lament
extremely, that is at the hazard of exciting much of enmity
and ill will, that I shall occasionally be obliged to awaken long
dormant, but important and just claims on the part of the
assignees of the joint and separate estates of Robert Morris,
John Nicholson, and James Greenleaf.

JAMES GREENLEAF A^eni&
attorney for the assignees ^ &c&c

Washington, Jan. 21

347 WILL OP THOMAS LAW

WILL OF THOMAS LAW.

1 THOMAS LAW of the city of Washington in the District
1 of Columbia being in health and in the enjoyment of my
intellectual faculties now make my will.

My property consists of an Estate called the Retreat: and a
few acres of land Situated near the same which I purchased
of Mr. Hibb, in Prince Georges County, Maryland and of
Houses and Lots in the city of Washington in a part of which
my friend William Blane of London holds a share of one sixth —
and some corporation of Washington Stock — I have also a
small house & lot in St. Augustine Florida and a title to lands
in the State of Illinois which I purchased for Taxes.

I have settled upon the children, born of my daughter Eliza
who married Lloyd Rogers Esq. more than I fear my other
grandchildren will receive unless my property should rise in
value and in that event I may make another will.

I hereby authorise and empower my Executor hereinafter
named to sell all the property of which I may die possessed
(Excepting such portions thereof as may be herein specially
devised and I direct the same to be made as soon as it can, in
his opinion, be done to the advantage of my estate. 1 direct
my executor to settle and pay all my debts as soon as may be
practicable after my decease and to sell or otherwise dispose
of any of my property for that purpose.

I give and bequeath to my grandchildren Thomas & Edmund
Law, the sons of the late John Law Esq. of Washington the
Sum of five thousand dollars Each to them and their heirs
forever, to be paid when they shall respectively arrive at the
age of twenty one years, the said sums of five thousand dollars
(making ten thousand) I direct to be invested and the interest
or proceeds thereof only to be applied towards the support &
education of the said Thomas & Edmund during their minority.
And in case neither of my said grandchildren Thomas & Edmund
should live to the age of twenty one years, then and in that case
the said sum of ten thousand dollars shall be and constitute a
part of the remainder hereinafter devised. I further give and
bequeath to the said Thomas & Edmund all my right, title &
interest in & to the lands in the State of Illinois which I have
purchased for taxes — the same having been the property of their
father. I have paid taxes, many years, for these lands to pre-
serve them. In case the interest or proceeds of the said sum
of ten thousand dollars should not be equal to the sufficient
support and Education of the said Thomas and Edmund of
which my Executor shall be judge, I direct that so much of the
Illinois land shall be sold and the proceeds thereof applied to
make up the deficiency, if it should be necessary by a failure
of the other funds to be collected from their Mothers Estate.

I give and bequeath to a lad bearing my name the son of

WILL OP THOMAS LAW ^

Margaret Jones and to a lad named Joseph Edmund Law the
son of Mary Robinson the sum ot One thousand dollars each
to be paid to them when they shall respectively arrive at the
age of twenty one years, the said sums of one thousand dollars
(making two thousand dollars) to be invested and the interest
or proceeds thereof only to be applied toward their support &
Education during their minority, — and in case either of them
should not live to the age of twenty one years, then and in
that case the said sum of one thousand dollars hereby be-
queathed, and in case both should die during their minority
then the said sum of two thousand dollars, shall be and con-
stitute a part of the remainder hereby after devised.

To my friend Wm. Blane of London (who purchased with
me lots in the City of Washington to the amount of thirty
thousand pounds sterling, and who advanced one thousand
pounds Sterling towards improvements) I give and bequeath
all the remainder of my property to him & his heirs forever,
after paying all debts and the bequests herein devised. — My
heirs will not be displeased by my attentions to Mr. Blane.
He has an amiable family, and has been unfortunate with me
in the city purchase and as he is the only one who has lost by
me, 1 am anxious that he should not be a sufferer. — Happily
my relations are above any aid from me.

My pictures of views in India, now at Mr. Seldens 1 Leave
to my loved nephew Charles Rumbold.

I have shares which cost me Eight thousand dollars in the
Potomac Company I think that the Directors & Stockholders
had not authority to transfer my rights to the new Company,
I therefore direct my executor to take a legal opinion in this
Case and act according thereto.

I hereby appoint Mr. James Adams my Executor to act as he
thinks 1 would if living & in carrying into effect this my last
will & I desire that Security may not be exacted from him
beyond one thousand dollars & 1 also appoint Mr. William
Brent to be my Executor should Mr. Adams decline to act or
remove or die before the Executorshio is closed

THOMAS LAW (seal)

CODiaL TO THE LaST WILL & TESTAMENT OF ThOMAS LaW.

BE it known that I Thomas Law hereby declare and publish
this Codicil to the foregoing and annexed will which was
dated on the tenth — day of September in the year eighteen
hundred and thirty two — in addition to and alteration thereof
in the words following to wit,

I give and bequeath to my three grandchildren, Edmund,
Eliza & Eleanor children of my late daughter Eliza P. Rodgers
the sum of five-thousand each, to them and each of them and
their heirs forever: provided and with this express condition

k

-WILL OF THOMAS LAW

namely, that if the said children of my said daughter Eliza, or
either of them, or any person or persons in their behalf, or
account, or in behalf, or on account of either of them, as heirs,
or heir at law, or devisees or devisee of their grandmother,
the late Eliza P. Custis, shall claim, ask, demand, sue for,
recover, or receive any part or portion of my estate rights, or
credits either in my life time, or after my decease, under, or by
virtue of a certain Indenture), tripartite bearing date the nine-
teenth day of March Seventeen hundred & ninety six entered
into and between Thos. Law & E. P. Custis, — or under,
or by virtue of another Indenture Tripartite, bearing date
the eighth of May in the year eighteen hundred, entered into
by and between Thomas Law, Eliza P. Law and Thos. Peter —
or under, or by virtue of another Indenture bearing date ninth
of August Eighteen hundred & four entered into by and
between, Thos. Law, Geo. Calvert and Thos. Peter, — or under,
or by virtue of any other Indenture deed, or instrument of
writing which the said Thomas Law and E. P. Law or E. P.
Custis may have been parties, or to which any other person or
persons with the said Thos. Law may have been parties for the
benefit of the said E. P. Law or E. r. Custis or her heirs, then
and in that case the bequest in this codicil to be null & of no
effect, otherwise to remain in full force and virtue in law as my
last will & testament hereby declared and made known.

1 direct my executor before named, in case the terms of this
codicil be not acceptable to my said grandchildren, mentioned
in this codicil to contest with them to the utmost their rights
to claim, or receive any portion of my estate rights or credits,
under, or by virtue of the Indentures before named, or any
other. He will of course carry into effect my intentions herein
set forth in regard to either of^them agreeing or disagreeing to
the terms of this Codicil.

I further direct that in case the proceeds of my estate should
not be sufficient to pay all the above bequests that they should
be distributed pro rata among the Legatees before named in
the foregoing will and this codicil, and I hereby revoke all wills
previous to the date of the foregoing to wit : on the tenth day
of September in the year Eighteen hundred and thirty two.

THOMAS LAW (M. D.) (seal)

INDIX-

352

Crinch, William, 10, 13, 14, 40,
47-66, 100, 102-iQS, iiOy 112,
117, 118. 126, 128, 139, 140,
149. 164, 171. 172. 182, 184,
185, 193. 195. 196. aio, an.
237, 241, 264, 273i 278, 316

Cranch, Mrs. William, 13, 47, 50,
65, 210, 211, 213

Cranch, William G., 66

Crawford, William H., 206, 301,
320

Crocker, Dr. John, 108, 256

Crommelin, Daniel and Sons, 76

81, 194

Crommelin, Gulian, 81
Crommelin, Gulian Daniel, 82
Crommelin, Robert Daniel, 80, 81,

82. 195
Cumpston, Thomas, 172
Custis, Daniel Parke, 233
Custis, Eleanor, 233

Custis, Eleanor Parke, 234, 235,

237. 238
Custis, Elizabeth Parke, 117, 118,

233-238» 242-244, 254. 285-289,

313. 333, 335, 349
Custis, George Washington Parke,

27, 56, 234
Custis, John, 233
Custis, John Parke, 233
Custis, Mrs. John Parke, 233
Cutbush, Dr. Edward, 315, 316
Cutting, Dr. Nathaniel, 55, 316,

320

Dale, Allen, 204, 205

Dale, Charles Augustus, 204, 205

Dale, Margaret T., 204, 205

Dalton, Tristram, 146-149, 206

Davis, John, 133

Davis, Madison, 757

Dawes, Elizabeth Eliot, 66

Dawes, Thomas, 13, 14, 48, 195

Dawes, William, 14, 17

Deakins, William, Jr., 71, 112, 120,

264
Deblois, Lewis. 40
Decatur, Mr. Stephen, 305
Dickerson, Mahlon, 172
Dickinson, John, 76
Dickinson, Philemon, 76, 77
Dinsmore, Dr., 143
Dorsey, William H., 194
Duane, William, 228, 263
Duncanson, Martha, 263, 278, 281,

282
Duncanson, William Mayne, 71, 99,

103-105, 109, no, 114, 1 1 6-1 1 8,

139, 145, 176, 184, 186, 188,

263-283, 333

Eddy, Charles, 34

Eliot, Abigail Adams, 66

Eliot, Catherine Mary, 150

Eliot, Johnson, 150

Eliot, Samuel, xo

Eliot, Samuel, Jr., 139, 149, 150,

196
Eliot, Mrs. Samuel, Jr. 150
Eliot, Wallace, 150
Eliot, William Henry, 150
EUenborough, Baron (Edward Law),

220-223, 246. 250, 3Q5, 328
EUenborough, Earl of (Edward

Law), 223
Elliot, William, 66, 177, 301
Ennis, John F., 66
Etting, J. Marx, 214
Everett, Edward, 316, 317, 330

Fairfax, Fernando, 56

Faux, W., 132, 224, 286, 399-301,

305, 320. 327. 328. 330
Fearon, Henry Bradshaw, 133, 261,

330
Fillmore, Millard, 61
Fitzhugh, Nicholas, 54
Forrest, Uriah, 71, 158, 264
Fox, Edward, 73, 75
Francis, Thomas W., 73, 185, a8i
French, George, 71, 72
Funk, Peter, 120

Gallatin, Albert, 79, 242, 243, 245
Gevers, W. A. F., Baron, 79
Gifford, William, 330
Godfrey, Pieter, 70, 71, 80, 82, 195
Goodrich. Chauncey A., 13
Goodwin, Gordon, 227
Graeff, John, 299
Greenleafe, Edmund, 9
Green leaf, Benjamin, 17
Greenleaf, Daniel, 13, 14, 195
Greenleaf, Mrs. Daniel, 13, 14
Greenleaf, Elizabeth, 10, 13
Greenleaf, James, 9, 14, 23, 27, 40,

47, 49. 67-77, 79-82, 85, 86,
89-93,99-108, no-i 17, n9-i2i,
124, 126, 136, 139, 140, I45-I47i
149-157, 160, 163-166. 169-177,
179. 183-199. 203-215, 241, 246,
253. 256, 264, 273, 295. 338-340

Greenleaf, Mrs. James (Baroness
Scholten), 90, 203

Greenleaf, Mrs. James (Miss Allen),
10 1, 203,-206, 209

Greenleaf, John, 13, 47

Greenleaf, Mrs. John, 13, 47

Greenleaf, Margaret, 13

Greenleaf, Mary, 10

Greenleaf, Priscilla, 13, 146

Greenleaf, Rebecca, 13