Annuities to Widow and Children of A. H. Dohrman. we cannot tell which most to admire, your Chris-amount to twenty thousand two hundred and tian virtues, or your fortitude in exposing your seventy-seven dollars and forty ninetieths, over person and fortune to the machinations of our and above the sum of five thousand eight hundred enemies, then in high interest with the august and six dollars and seventy-two ninetieths, as house who governs your country, and with whom above stated, in support of which various and we think ourselves extremely happy in having important documents are offered, though of a formed, since our independence has been estab- nature too general to be admitted agreeably to lished, a connexion, which we most heartily pray the rules of the Treasury: and whereas this may be continued on the most enlarged and lib- deficiency of vouchers appears to arise from the eral principles. It is with pleasure, sir, we know nature of the disbursements made by Mr. Dohryou are admitted at your Court to act in a public man, whose own house was frequently the asycharacter by commission from the honorable lum of whole crews of captive American seamen, Congress of the United States of America, as it who were fed, clothed, and relieved in sickness gives us a prospect that, by your abilities, a more through his benevolence, and that at a time when open and free commercial system will be adopted his attachment to the cause of America was danbetween the Kingdom of Portugal and the United gerous both to his person and property: and States of America. whereas Congress are disposed to acknowledge in the most honorable manner the eminent services rendered by Mr. Dohrman, and to make him further compensation: It is, sir, with the utmost pleasure to myself that, as Speaker of the honorable body the Senate of my country, I have their orders to return you their grateful and warmest acknowledgments for the numberless acts of favors our citizens, as well das others of our sister States, have received from you. I am, sir, with the highest esteem and respect, your most obedient humble servant, ARCHIBALD CASEY, MOUNT VERNON, July 9, 1785. DEAR SIR: I take the liberty of introducing Mr. Dohrman to your friendly notice and civilities. He is represented to me as a gentleman of great merit, and one who, at an early period of the war, (when our affairs were rather overshadowed,) advanced his money very liberally to support our suffering countrymen in captivity. He has some matter to submit to Congress, which he can explain better than I. I am persuaded he will offer nothing which is inconsistent with the strictest rules of propriety, and, of course, that it will merit your patronage. Resolved unanimously, That the said Arnold Henry Dohrman be allowed, in consideration of his faithful and generous services as agent from the United States at the Court of Lisbon, the sum of sixteen hundred dollars per annum, and that the said salary be computed from the period at which his expenditures commenced, to the present day. Resolved unanimously, That one complete and entire township, subject to the reservations as in the other townships, agreeably to the ordinance of the 20th May, 1785, out of the three_last ranges surveyed in the Western Territory of the United States, be, and hereby is, granted to the said Arnold Henry Dohrman, free from all charges for survey; and that the said Arnold Henry Dohrman be allowed to make choice of the aforesaid township of land out of any of the said three ranges last surveyed, after the Secretary of War shall have drawn for the proportionate quantity of land assigned to the late army, agreeably to the said ordinance of the 20th May, 1785. Resolved unanimously, That the above payWith very great esteem and regard, I am, dearments be made in such manner as the present sir, your most obedient, humble servant, G. WASHINGTON. The Hon. SAMUEL CHASE. BY THE U. S. IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, Monday, October 1, 1787. On a report of the Board of Treasury, to whom was recommitted their report on the memorial of Arnold Henry Dohrman: Resolved, That Arnold Henry Dohrman be reimbursed the sum of five thousand eight hundred and six dollars and seventy-two ninetieths of a dollar, with interest on the same from the time of expenditure, being the amount of sundry disbursements by him made for the relief of American prisoners, agreeably to vouchers examined and admitted by the proper officers of the Treasury. And whereas the claims of the said Arnold Henry Dohrman against the United States state of the finances will best admit of, and that CHARLES THOMSON, STEUBENVILLE, Jan. 8, 1817. SIR: I have seen and read the petition of Mrs. Dohrman, forwarded to you by last mail, and take the liberty of stating that I believe the facts contained therein, so far as I have had any opportunity of ascertaining them, to be true. I have, from time to time, made particular inquiries as to the value of the land which Mr. Dobrman received as a donation, and have no hesitation in saying that I consider it as the worst township in the three western ranges of this district out of which Mr. Dohrman had the right of selection. He was undoubtedly imposed on Annuities to Widow and Children of A. H. Dohrman. by his agent, who most probably made the selection from a mere inspection of the map, without an actual view of the land. The loss sustained by Mr. Dohrman in the selection has been gained by the United States; so that, on this ground alone, Mrs. Dohrman would appear to have a fair claim. not see in our streets, earning a scanty subsistence by the labor of their hands, friendless and uneducated, the children of this early and warm friend of our country, whose heart, whose house, and whose purse were so promptly and kindly opened to our distressed and suffering country men. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, DAVID HOGG. P. S. will thank you to communicate this, or the substance of it to Mr. Morrow. I would have written to him also, but that I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with him. Hon. BENJAMIN RUGGLES, D. H. PITTSBURG, Jan. 13, 1817. DEAR SIR: A petition will be presented to Con Whether the donation made to Mr. Dohrman, if it had been realized to its full amount, was an adequate compensation, you will be better able to decide on a view of the documents accompanying the petition. I must confess that, to me, it always appeared a very inadequate return for services so disinterested, and so far transcending the common limits of benevolence. The grant was made in the year 1787. At that time the country not being settled, the land would not have sold for fifty cents per acre. If, as I believe it was, the expenditure was made more than eight years before that time, the land, at the time of the grant, would not have sold for the interest of the sum actually advanced by Mr. Dohrman, and acknow-gress this session by the widow and children of ledged by Congress to be justly due. It will be Arnold Henry Dohrman, stating their present disrecollected that the adjoining lands were not of- tressed condition, and praying relief in some shape fered for sale for thirteen years afterwards, viz: from Congress. in 1800, when this office opened, and few sales Mr. Dohrman's meritorious claims were conwere made so far west as Mr. Dohrman's town-sidered and settled by the old Congress on the ship for several years after that period. It is pro- 1st of October, 1787, as appears by the Journals bable, therefore, that no sale could have been ef- of that date. You were then a member, and fected prior to 1800; and I am convinced that may recollect Mr. Dohrman, who lived long in neither at that time, nor at any period since the the city of New York, where his dwelling was grant, could the township granted to Mr. Dohr- twice destroyed by fire. Owing to these and man have been sold for the interest which would other misfortunes, he was obliged to abandon at the same period have been due on the sum ex- mercantile pursuits; and, as a last resource, he pended by him, if I am correct as to the date of removed to the Western country, in the hope that that expenditure. I do not believe it would now he might derive subsistence for his family from sell for half that amount, and I am well assured the township allotted to him in the seven ranges that it did not, in fact, produce half that amount by the resolution of Congress. Antecedent to to Mr. Dohrman. his removal hither, he was obliged to mortgage his township to some of his creditors in New York, and this disabled him from making the best of it by subdivision or improvement. On every view, then, that I can take of the subject, considered merely as a money transaction, the compensation appears to have been very inadequate. But, on this occasion, it is to be hoped that a great and generous people will not confine themselves to a mere counting-house cent and dime calculation of debit and credit. By what scale can you measure the benevolence of heart that prompted to such generous disinterested humanity as Mr. Dohrman evinced towards our suffering countrymen! By what rule can you estimate the wounded sensibilities of a generous and cultivated mind, reduced from affluence, from having the power of dispensing bounty and relieving distress, to a state of dependence and want to need, though he disdained to ask, that charity which he had, in better days, been so prompt to bestow. He was in deplorable embarrassment when he reached this place, and, on examination, I found that he had unfortunately selected one of the worst townships in all the ranges, having been misled by the information of a surveyor who traced two outlines of it, where the land happened to be good, but who never had examined the land of the interior. Indeed, at that time the country was little known even to the surveyors, who were obliged to employ guards to protect them against the savages, while they marked the boundaries of the townships, without exploring any of the lands further than this operation required. The whole of his township is hilly, broken with gullies, remote from settlement or imMr. Dohrman, sir, died two doors from me, lite-provement, and would not now command $10,000 rally of a broken heart, without one ray of hope, as to this world, to cheer the gloom, but what arose from the expectation that this his adopted country, whose friend he had been in her peril and distress, would not, in her day of prosperity, abandon his now helpless family. I indulge the hope that Mrs. Dohrman's petition will meet a favorable reception; and that we may at a public sa'e; whereas, had he been well informed, he might have taken one that would now produce $100,000. He did, however, accept what was offered, on the best advice he could obtain, because he could get nothing else from Congress, who were destitute of funds to reimburse his advances. He accepted it, believing that he was taking the best land, which Congress evidently Losses sustained during the Revolution. intended should be the best, but which by mistake happened to be among the worst. He removed from this place to Steubenville, that he might live at less expense, and be nearer to his lands. His large family (chiefly females) was managed and sustained with an economy and frugality beyond anything I ever witnessed; yet in the end his avails from the lands were exhausted, and all credit at an end, although his situation was among the best he could have chosen; for the society in which he had become resident were kind and liberal to him, and have continued their beneficence to his helpless family. As he had numerous documents and letters showing the high opinion entertained of him by many in the old Government who are still living and in public stations, he was advised to go in person to the City of Washington, and make his condition known, in the hope that as he, in the days of his prosperity and our distress, had never permitted one of our captive seamen to suffer, but his house had been their hospital and their home, we, in our turn, would extend to him a helping hand, to redeem him from the calamities that had overwhelmed him. He prepared to take this journey, and was furnished with means for his expenses, but he sickened and died before the season allotted for leaving home. Having an intimate knowledge of all Mr. Dohrman's affairs, ever since he came to the Western country, I can speak with certainty of the correctness of all that I have stated; and I will only add, that I have never known a family more forlorn and helpless, without any blame upon their own management of the means in their hands. I have entreated your assistance in this charitable business the more readily as it affords me the opportunity of presenting myself again to your recollection, as well as of assuring you that I remain with the highest respect and esteem, dear sir, your faithful friend, and most obedient servant, JAMES ROSS... Although he did not live to solicit relief, yet it be, and hereby is, granted to each of the minor SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there is earnestly hoped that his family may not be for- children of the said Dohrman, until they shall gotten. Provision may be made for them without furnishing any dangerous precedent. Their respectively arrive at the age of twenty-one case is such as can have no parallel. Lands of years, the sum of one hundred dollars, payable quarterly from and after the 31st day of Decemfered and accepted, the value of which was unknown and could not be ascertained on account dren shall be received and applied for their supber, 1816; the said grants to the said minor chilof danger from a public enemy; bad land taken, where good land was intended by Congress, the port and education, and shall be accounted for in conformity to the laws that now are, or hereafter grantee a stranger, never in the Western country; his services great, his subsequent misfortunes, the may be in force in the State of Ohio, providing for the management of the estates of orphans. helpless state of his family-all combine to justify an indemnity for this mistake, either in money, SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the or, what would appear more specific, a grant of grants herein made shall be paid out of any monland to trustees, with power to sell on such cred-eys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Approved, March 3, 1817. its, in such portions, and by such subdivisions as they may think advisable, for the support of the family and education of the children; the accounts of the trustees to be submitted to the court of LOSSES SUSTAINED DURING THE REVOJefferson county, Ohio, and approved by them ; the court to have full power to fill up vacancies occasioned by death of trustees, &c., and to compel a faithful execution of the trust as in other cases. I am persuaded you will cheerfully co-operate in promoting any proper measure for the attainment of relief for this truly wretched family, now dependent altogether on the liberality of our country; and, if you see no fatal objection to their claim, let me ask for them not only your good offices in explaining their case to the Senate, but that you would also take the trouble of communicating to Mr. Hopkinson and Mr. J. Wilson of the House of Representatives all that you may deem useful towards forwarding the measures that may be adopted for their benefit; they will, I am sure, be ready to assist in all that ought to be granted. LUTION. [Communicated to the Senate, January 31, 1817.] The committee to whom was referred the petition in behalf of the representatives of Francis Cazeau, reported: That the claim is founded on losses sustained during the American Revolution; and as the history of the circumstances are considered necessary to a right understanding of the merits of the case, the committee offer this as an apology for the report being more than usually long. Francis Cazeau, a native of France, and late a merchant at Montreal, served in the war of 1756 in Canada, under Generals Montcalm, De Levi, and De Lusignan, and returned to France in the latter part of the year 1763, where he was presented to, and had several conferences with, Monsieur de Choiseul, then Minister for Foreign Losses sustained during the Revolution. Affairs at Versailles, in which that Minister gave him to understand that France had yielded to necessity in the late cession of Canada to Great Britain, and would seize the first opportunity that presented of recovering the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; that with this view the Minister encouraged the said Cazeau to return to his usual residence and commercial pursuits at Montreal, in order that he might serve and promote the French cause and interest in the said provinces, by keeping up the attachment of the Canadians to their late Sovereign, the King of France, and by preserving a good understanding with the different Indian tribes. Soon after this, Mr. Cazeau returned to Montreal, where he extensively carried into effect the wishes of Monsieur de Choiseul. In the year 1774, after some disturbance had taken place in Boston, Mr. Cazeau received a message from M. de Vergennes, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, by the hands of two messengers despatched to him at Montreal for that purpose. The object of this mission was to renew the request and instructions before given by M. de Choiseul, and to solicit Mr. Cazeau's aid in behalf of the American revolutionists; assuring him that the cause of the revolutionists was united with that of France, and would speedily receive her vigorous and cordial support. That, in the year 1775, a man by the name of Walker, authorized by Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, delivered into the hands of Mr. Cazeau a letter addressed to the people of Canada by the American Congress; and the said Walker requested Mr. Cazeau to give this letter a speedy and extensive circulation in Canada, to promote the cause which Congress had undertaken. In the following November of the same year, (1775,) Edward Antill, afterwards colonel of the Canadian regiment commanded by General Hazen, delivered to Mr. Cazeau the original of another letter addressed by General Washington, then commander-in-chief of the American forces, to the people of the province of Canada, which Colonel Antill requested him to circulate in like manner. mander of the naval forces of France, then lately arrived at Boston, deputed Father Germain, an ex-Jesuit, to present to Mr. Cazeau a proclamation, in the name of the King of France, to his former subjects in Canada, with a request that he would give it publicity, and informed him at the same time that his conduct had received the fullest approbation of the French Ministry; and repeated to Mr. Cazeau the assurance that the cause of the United States and France was the same; and that the King of France would guaranty any claims he might have upon the United States, in consequence of services rendered, or for those that he might hereafter perform. Mr. Cazeau, though transferred with his property at Montreal, by the peace of 1763, to the British crown, still retained all his attachments to his native country, her monarch, and her interests; and, preferring the common cause of the United States and France to that of Great Britain, and urged on to act by the united solicitations of both Powers, notwithstanding the splendid hopes and rich allurements held out to him by Sir Guy Carleton, the British Governor of Canada, embarked his life and fortune in the cause of revolted America, which he faithfully served and eminently promoted. In order that your committee may give a more comprehensive view of the manner in which Mr. Cazeau has thus served and promoted the cause of their country, they beg leave to make some selections from statements under oath, which they pray may be considered as part of their report. In the year 1775, when Mr. Cazeau had distributed abroad the invitation of Congress to the people of Canada, he made use of his agents in the fur trade to promote dispositions favorable to the cause of America among a great number of tribes of Indians, with whom he had an extensive commercial intercourse; and he caused the Indians to dissemble with the British Governor of Canada, who, unsuspicious of the stratagem, stripped the province of his regular troops, and thus facilitated the entry of Major Brown into Canada, where he met at every place with assistance and friends, and took possession of several posts. The reinforcement under General Montgomery, expected in the latter part of this year, and which, destitute of every necessary provision, was supplied by Mr. Cazeau, enabled him to take passession of a flotilla of Carleton's, in the river St. Lawrence, by which he entered Montreal in November of this year. In the beginning of the year 1776, Mr. Cazeau received a third letter addressed to the people of Canada by the American Congress, for the purpose of being circulated in the same manner as before; which three letters were all distributed and made public by Mr. Cazeau as requested, and it is believed were productive of much good. It was also in November, 1775 that Generals Montgomery and Wooster, a few days after entering Montreal, applied to and solicited Mr. Cazeau, in The letter of General Washington, addressed the strongest and most pressing manner, in the to the Canadas, being circulated by the emis name and by the express authority of the Ameri-saries of Mr. Cazeau, he strengthened the partican Congress, to serve the cause of the revolted colonies, (now the United States,) through his interest and influence in Canada, assuring Mr. Cazeau at the same time, in the name of Congress, that he should receive full and adequate compensation for any dangers, losses, and injuries he might incur from so doing. In November, 1778, Count d'Estaing, com sans of Congress in that quarter by gaining over the irresolute, and by engaging numbers of the inhabitants to join under the banners of Montgomery, offering, as an inducement, to many, entire absolution from the debts they owed him, and to others gave such necessary provisions and comforts as their necessities required. Of these the General formed three bodies of troops, and Losses sustained during the Revolution. assigned the commands to Colonels Livingston, Dugan, and Hazen, who served with great zeal during the war. And these sacrifices do not form an item in the present claim, as they never were estimated or presented. In 1776, in addition to the service rendered by the circulation of exhortations of Congress to the people of Canada, Mr. Cazeau procured intelligence to be given to Generals Wooster and Arnold, which disconcerted the plans of General Carleton when he considered the success of his troops most certain; and, during the blockade of Quebec, Beaujeu, the emissary of General Carleton, was prevented, by the interference of Mr. Cazeau, from recruiting at Montreal and other places, by which the blockade was continued till the Spring, when eight thousand troops, under the command of General Burgoyne, came to their relief, and the capture of the post of Cedars by the American troops was facilitated through the influence of Mr. Cazeau, who prevented the inbabitants of the province from joining Captain Moore. In 1777, new offers were made to Mr. Cazeau by General Sir Guy Carleton to win him over to the interest of Great Britain, which he again refused, and retaliated on the General by gaining over the emissaries and spies of the British party, by means of whom he unravelled the plans of their campaign, and frustrated the contemplated junction of the two armies of Clinton and Burgoyne. He contrived that the Americans should have intelligence twenty-four hours before the British of every order with which their procured emissaries should be charged; and by this means Colonels Solinger and Sir John Johnson were routed on Lake Ontario-an event which led the way for the celebrated victory of General Gates at Saratoga, that gave so decided a character to the hopes of the Revolution. It was owing to the fortunate intelligence given in 1778 by Mr. Cazeau to Generals Schuyler and, that the capture of General Ro chambeau in Rhode Island, with four thousand five hundred men, was prevented, as Admiral Howe was upon the point of landing ten thousand troops, by whom they would have been surrounded; and the surrender of Fort Sorrel to the troops of Congress, which had been negotiated between him and a British officer of distinction, would have been effected, if an American officer had arrived at the time appointed. Understanding in the year 1780 that the town of Quebec had not more ammunition than would be equal to a siege of ten days, and that it was as ill furnished with provisions, without any hope of supply for some time, and that there were only about four thousand five hundred troops dispersed throughout the whole extent of the country, a Mr. Kenay was sent off by Mr. Cazeau, express, to give this intelligence to Congress; but, unfortunately, being imprudent in the selection of his guide, they were discovered, and this detection caused the imprisonment of Mr. Cazeau, who, still intent upon his object, though in prison, found means to send off one Mynor, another express, to carry a duplicate to Congress of the same intelligence that had been confided to Kenay; but the treachery of Arnold rendered abortive almost every plan that could be devised. Though confined in prison for nearly two years and a half, the devotion of Mr. Cazeau to the cause of America was not lessened; and the resources of his intelligent mind were perpetually furnishing aid even in this situation. During the period of imprisonment, he gained over to his interest the spies of the British Governor, and obtained from them every message they were charged with; and he procured the escape of numerous prisoners (both French and Americans) at different intervals of time, by whom he forwarded to Congress, or to the American commanders, whatever important intelligence he procured from the British spies. Informed that a body of troops was forming at Albany under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette, for the purpose of entering into Canada, though still confined to his prison, Mr. Cazeau arranged a plan, with the before-named British officer who had undertaken to surrender Fort Sorrel, to put the British forces between two fires, and to surrender their General in case of a general action; and also to deliver up in the night one of the gates of Quebec if any American troops should present themselves before it. Worn out with expectation, and disappointed in every scheme to procure the admission of troops into Canada, Mr. Cazeau made another and last attempt, through Mr. Rey, (a French officer,) whom he deputed to Congress for that purpose, and, though still unsuccessful, he had the satisfaction to learn that there was a coincidence of plan between him and General Washington, inasmuch as the General had, with equal In the year 1779, entertaining still the hope earnestness, though with similar want of success, that the promised American troops would arrive, solicited both Congress and the French Minister Mr. Cazeau renewed his plans against Fort Sor- that the troops commanded by Count Rochamrel, and, in concert with the British officer before beau should be sent into Canada. Reduced to mentioned, he sent off in July an Annoyote In- the last extremity, and finding that his presence dian with a letter containing the necessary infor- in Canada could no longer, under existing prosmation as to the state of things, and requesting pects, be useful to the common cause of the Unitroops to be immediately despatched into Cana-ted States and France, Mr. Cazeau effected his da. The failure in the execution of this plan, and the loss of this most favorable opportunity of aiding the cause of America, can, in the opinion of Mr. Cazeau, be only ascribed to the disaffection of General Arnold, of which at that time he was wholly unconscious. escape from prison, and took with him his son, Colonel Gordon, and six other prisoners, and made his way into the United States. During the period of his captivity, from 15th April, 1780, to 23d August, 1782, Mr. Cazeau was eminently serviceable, both by the correspondence |