LITMIR.BIZ

      FOOTNOTES:

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      [4] See Adams, Life and Writings of Jared Sparks, Vol. II., p. 564. From the general tenor of the letter, it seems probable that Mr. Sparks, during his extensive researches into the historical records, public and private, of the United States, had encountered other evidence of the services of Haym Salomon. This inference is partially corroborated by a passage in a letter written by Mr. Sparks from Cambridge on May 7, 1845, to Mr. Haym M. Salomon, apparently in connection with the first memorial to Congress: "Among the numerous papers that have passed under my eye I have seen evidences of his [Haym Salomon's] transactions, which convince me that he rendered important services to the United States in their pecuniary affairs." See Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon; Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I. It is not, however, impossible that only the present manuscript may be here referred to.

[5] It is probable that Haym Salomon's first encounter with the British Government took place several years before 1778. The Senate Report to the 31st Congress (supra) states that: "As early as 1775 he became obnoxious to the British Government, and was imprisoned in New York, sharing the privations and horrors of the sufferers confined in a loathsome prison called the Provost." Essentially the same fact is repeated in later Reports, and is specifically presented in certified form in a later part of the present paper.

      The Memorial of Haym Salomon to the Continental Congress (see Bibliographical Note, infra) is of such immediate interest in connection with the circumstances of his escape from New York as to permit partial citation. It sets forth: "That your Memorialist was some time before the Entry of the British Troops at the said City of New York and soon after taken up as a Spy and by General Robertson committed to the Provost. That by the Interposition of Lieut-General Heister (who wanted him on account of his knowledge in the French, Polish, Russian, Italian &c. Languages) he was given over to the Hessian Commander who appointed him in the Commissary Way as purveyor chiefly for the Officers. That being at New York he has been of great Service to the French and American prisoners and has assisted them with Money and helped them off to make their Escape. That this and his close connexions with such of the Hessian Officers as were inclined to resign and with Monsieur Samuel Demezes has rendered him at last so obnoxious to the British Head Quarters that he was already pursued by the Guards and on Tuesday the 11th inst. he made his happy Escape from thence." The Memorial bears date of August 25, 1778, thus indicating the precise time of Salomon's departure from New York as August 11, 1778.

[6] For details see Report to 31st Congress. The exact location of this and other Congressional Reports is given in the Bibliographical Note appended to the paper.

[7] This is corroborated by a letter from the eminent jurist, Henry Wheaton, to Haym M. Salomon. Among "the patriots of the Revolution who were compelled to sacrifice their private pursuits to the public," Mr. Wheaton mentions Judge Wilson, "who must have retired from public service if he had not been sustained by the timely aid of your father, administered with equal generosity and delicacy." See Report to 31st Congress.

[8] Under date of August 27, 1782, Mr. Madison wrote from Philadelphia to Edmund Randolph: "I cannot in any way make you more sensible of the importance of your kind attention to pecuniary remittances for me than by informing you that I have for some time been a pensioner on the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew Broker." See Gilpin, Madison Papers, I., 163. During the following month Mr. Madison's position seems to have grown more aggravated, for, on September 24, he declared: "I am relapsing fast into distress. The case of my brethren is equally alarming." Ibid, p. 176. Assistance in sufficient amount was still not forthcoming, and a week later, September 30, 1782, he acknowledged to Mr. Randolph the local source of his benefactions as follows: "I am almost ashamed to acknowledge my wants so incessantly to you, but they begin to be so urgent that it is impossible to suppress them. The kindness of our little friend in Front street, near the coffee-house, is a fund that will preserve me from extremities, but I never resort to it without great mortification, as he obstinately rejects all recompense. The price of money is so usurious that he thinks it ought to be extorted from none but those who aim at profitable speculations. To a necessitous delegate, he gratuitously spares a supply out of his private stock." Ibid, pp. 178–179.

      There seems little doubt but that the "little friend in Front street" is meant to indicate Haym Salomon. This view is taken by the Congressional committees and by Madison's biographer; see Gay, Life of James Madison, p. 25. The fact that the first Philadelphia City Directory was issued in 1785, and that Haym Salomon died on January 6 of that year (vide infra), renders direct verification impracticable. Search among the Philadelphia newspapers of the period would probably determine the point once for all.

[9] The writer of the MS. is probably quoting from memory from a letter written by Mr. Madison from Montpelier, on February 6, 1830, to Mr. Haym M. Salomon, in connection with claims upon Congress for indemnity. The Senate Report to the 31st Congress preserves the following paragraph of this letter: "The transactions shown by the papers you enclosed were the means of effectuating remittances for the support of the delegates [to Congress], and the agency of your father therein was solicited, on account of the respectability and confidence he enjoyed among those best acquainted with him."

      The Report to the 37th Congress mentions among the various letters received by Haym M. Salomon relative to the justice of his claim, one from James Madison, in 1827, who, among other things, stated: "The transactions shown by the papers you enclose were for the support of the delegates to Congress, and the agency of your father therein was solicited on account of the respect and confidence he enjoyed among those best acquainted with him,' etc., and concludes with the wish that the memorialist might be properly indemnified."

      The resemblance between the two paragraphs is so striking as to make it probable, despite the discrepancy in dates, that the same communication is referred to.

[10] The Report to the 31st Congress states:

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