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Lot 263
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Silversmith Edmond Milne Seeks Help on Revolutionary War Claim in 1811
Silversmith Edmond Milne Seeks Help on Revolutionary War Claim in 1811
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Description:

Revolutionary War
n.p., January 8, 1811
Silversmith Edmond Milne Seeks Help on Revolutionary War Claim in 1811
ALS
[REVOLUTIONARY WAR.] Edmond Milne, Autograph Letter Signed, to Morgan and Biddle, January 8, 1811, n.p. 3 pp., 7.375" x 12.25". Expected folds; light toning; very good.

In this letter and statement, metalsmith Edmond Milne asks Pennsylvania state representatives Benjamin R. Morgan and Nicholas Biddle, both representing Philadelphia, to present his claims once again for 185 barrels of flour he delivered during the Revolutionary War three decades earlier.

Milne complains that Welsh-born John Nicholson (d. 1800) as comptroller general for Pennsylvania, had cheated him out of his just claim for payment. Nicholson had become a partner with financier Robert Morris in land speculation in six states and, like Morris, was imprisoned for debt early in the winter of 1799-1800. He died in December 1800. Because he left more than $4 million in debt, it required more than fifty years to settle his estate.

Milne also mentions John Holker (1745-1822), who was born in England but fled to France with his family as a child after the failed Jacobite rebellion in 1745. Holker arrived in the United States in 1777 as an emissary of France to procure supplies for French warships. He also supplied information about the French fleet to General George Washington. From 1780 to 1781, Holker served as consul general for France in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, but his private business led to his resignation. He later became a planter in Virginia.

Complete Transcript
Dear sir
From the interruption in my speech painful to me and unpleasant to the hearer, I am induced to address you on the subject of my truly unfortunate business, by troubling you with the heads which you will please to have the goodness to speak to in the House, as I am inform'd and it appears I shall have several Oponants, notwithstanding the pains and expense I have been at, in explaining the whole business to the House in two printed Statements one in the year 1806, the other in this present session.
From your much befriended and obliged humble servant.
Edmond Milne
Jany 8th 1811
Messrs Morgan & Biddle

When I made my first settlement with Jno Nicholson in Jany 1783 for the delivery of 587 bbls of Flour which finally settled that business for that Amt which then and now appears on his Books and on the Books of Samuel Bryan the since Comptroler Genl and George Bryan the present Auditor Genl the whole remaining difficulty was then the unfortunate 185 bbls of Flour delivered over to John Holker Esqre which I wish I had never claimed. It being the Source of all my trouble and ruin. By order of President Reed which John Nicholson was fully acquainted at that time, had he Nicholson been a faithful and Just Officer or an honest man he would in Justice to E. Milne have apply'd to President Reed for the receipt of the 185 bbls of Flour so delivered over by E. Milne, E. Milne being on his sick bed and not able to attend to it himself as in part to re imburst taken out of the French stores in Wilmington in 1779. This good and faithful Officer Jno Nicholson after he had sued me and got Judgement against my Estate so as to have me fully under his power writes me a letter in 1783, promising that if I proved the delivery of said 185 bbls of Flour I should be paid for the same by the State he well knowing that such deliver was made over to Holker it immediately comming under his knowledge, his power then and the finances of the state falling under controul, many a distressed individual as well as myself fell under his tender mercy and the State of Pennsylvania did not fall behind his Iron & merciless hand as it said to upwards of One million of Dollars so that I could not expect much mercy and Justice of his hands, notwithstanding the Settlement of the aforementioned 587 bbls. of Flour at the aforesaid date. Still at each & every Session that E. Milne presented his petition for the 185 bbls. of Flour instead of taking that into view the old beaten path was still to be gone over by a Committee Appointed at each session to examine the receipts of the aforementioned 587 bbls. of Flour, tho' settled in 1783, and so it continued to this last Session going back 27 Years in order to perplex & confuse the business.
On my many applications to the Legislature for the aforementioned 185 bbls. of Flour divers Certificates were demanded at each and every Session, which I procured to the Satisfaction of each house, as appears by my printed Statement on that head. The last demanded was John Holkers who at that time was in France, had I been asked for Holkers Certificate whilst in America & on the Spot, It would have sav'd the Legislature much trouble and me heavy expense. On receiving his John Holkers Certificate undersigned by our Minister in France and Certified by Thomas McKean, I always was of opinion and so would any reasonable man that Hazelwoods quallification of the 185 bbls of Flour would have appeared Just & sufficient even without John Holkers Certificate.

It has been asked in the House, why I did not get Nicholson to a set off of my Acct against the Balance due the State. Divers have been my applications to him as well as by many of my friends on that head Still he was deaf and unfeeling to all shewing his strictness and Justice to the State, had he comply'd therewith as in common Justice and good conscience he should. It would have sav'd my Estate from ruin had I been allowed the principal and the Interest accruing at that time it would have nearly paid the Debt I owed the State in the year 1783, and sav'd me from his merciless hand & my ruin at my Advanced Stage of Life, the small Balance remaining, to the State I could have then paid.
After I settled and paid John Nicholson the full demand I took his receipt for 1084.9.7. I had to Petition the Legislature two sessions before I could get exonerated from the Books.
Edmond Milne

Edmond Milne (1724-1822) was a silversmith, goldsmith, jeweler, and metal dealer in Philadelphia from 1757, when he succeeded Charles J. Dutens. In 1776, General George Washington commissioned Milne to make a silver-hilted sword for Washington's secretary Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. The following year, he made a dozen camp cups for Washington from silver dollars. He retired in 1787, and eight years later, he opened a shoe store in Philadelphia. By 1810, he was living with his son Richard Milne in Philadelphia.

Benjamin R. Morgan (1765-1840) was admitted to the bar in 1785 and became a prominent attorney and one of the judges of the district court in Philadelphia.

Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844) was born in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his studies but was too young to graduate. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) in 1801 as class valedictorian. He began the study of law but became a secretary to John Armstrong Jr., whom he accompanied to France in 1804. He traveled extensively through Europe as secretary for James Monroe, then U.S. minister to Great Britain. He returned to Philadelphia in 1807, where he practiced law and served as associate editor of a literary magazine. He edited the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, published in 1814. He was elected as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1810-1813) and the Pennsylvania Senate (1813-1815). When Congress granted a twenty-year charter to the Second Bank of the United States in 1816, Biddle became a director. When the first president resigned in 1822, Biddle became the new president. He held to a nationalistic vision of banking, helping to create an economic infrastructure that promoted trade, stabilized the currency, and consolidated fiscal operations at the federal level. President Andrew Jackson became a major opponent of the Second Bank, and although Congress rechartered the bank, Jackson vetoed it. The Second Bank's charter expired in April 1836, but the Pennsylvania state legislature recharted it as the United States Bank of Pennsylvania, and it continued to operate for several more years.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.375" x 12.25"
  • Medium: ALS

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