To Alexander Hamilton from Thomas Pinckney, 27 February 1794
From Thomas Pinckney
London 27 Febry 1794
My dear Sir
I have no occasion to introduce Mr La Colombe1 to your acquaintance—as you are no stranger to his merit & services & to the confidence reposed in him by our unfortunate friend M. Lafayette2—but I take the liberty of troubling you with my sollicitation that in case any difficulties should be made to this Gentleman’s receiving what is due to him from the United States, on account of the absence of his certificate3 (which it is impossible for him to produce under the existing circumstances) you will have the goodness to use your endeavours to obviate them. I have procured for him the interest in his certificate without the production of that instrument, which I trust, Knowing You, will be the case also with the principal.
Our fellow Soldier Col. Laumoy4 is nearly in the same situation with respect to his certificate give me leave also to recommend his case to your protection.
Mr. Cadignan5 an aide de camp & friend of M. Lefayette accompanies M. Lecolumbe. I beg to introduce him to your attention. Mr & Mrs Church6 with their family are well—be pleased to present my best respects to Mrs. Hamilton & believe me to be with sincere esteem
Your faithful & obed Servt:
Thomas Pinckney
Col. Hamilton
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Louis St. Ange Morel, Chevalier de la Colombe, had served as an aide-de-camp to Lafayette during the American Revolution. In September, 1779, H had written to John Jay concerning Colombe’s petition to be brevetted a major by Congress. Colombe was imprisoned with Lafayette at Olmütz in 1792, but he escaped and subsequently settled in Philadelphia.
2. For Lafayette’s imprisonment, see “Cabinet Meeting. Opinion on Writing to the King of Prussia Concerning the Marquis de Lafayette,” January 14, 1794.
3. Interest on the debt owed to foreign officers of the American Revolution had been payable at Paris until provision was made for the payment of the principal in 1792. For this provision and the requirement that certificates be presented, see H to Gouverneur Morris, September 13, 1792, note 9.
4. Jean Baptiste Joseph, Chevalier de Laumoy, was one of the French engineers who served in the American Revolution.
5. Charles François Victor Mauberg de Cadignan.
6. Angelica Church, H’s sister-in-law, and her husband, John B. Church, had lived in London since the end of the American Revolution. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, they entertained many French émigrés in London.