To George Washington from James Ross, 18 August 1796
From James Ross
Pittsburgh 18. august 1796.
Sir
Since my return home I have delivered your conveyance to Colo. Ritchie & received the enclosed bond together with a Mortgage upon the land sold which I have lodged with the recorder of washington County, in whose hands it will remain to be proceeded upon if necessary. The quantity fell short of what we expected as you will see by the enclosed draft of a survey made by Charles Morgan.1 All expences of Surveying this land will be charged to you, the deeds & different writings are paid by the purchasors. Colo. Ritchie sent forward the interest due upon the whole purchase money up to the first of June last which upon your order has been paid to Mr Wolcott. The Bond & Mortgage are dated on the first of June that being the date of your deed.2
I have not seen Colo. Shreve since my return, but I well recollect that when his brother paid me the 1160 Dollars last winter I gave a receipt on account of the second installment Not to be credited untill the ballance and all the interest was produced to you, so that Colo. Shreve is altogether without excuse for his delinquency. at all events he should have sent forward my receipt which would have constituted with you a part of the payment.3
I wrote to Charles Morgan as you requested respecting the rents due from Shreve & the accounts of Colo. Canon together with Some business of my own, you will learn his answer from his letter of the 26th July which I enclose.4 Since that time I have not heard from him, nor has he sent me the bonds upon Colo. Shreve as he propos⟨ed⟩.
In my mind Colo. Shreve has acted very improperly he has made a good bargain & has it in his power to fulfill it without difficulty the rents ought long since to have been paid, And he can at any time procure bills of ex[c]hange in this town upon Philadelphia for cash, so that the remittance would occasion no expence to him.
The ratification of the Spanish treaty,5 & the possession of the Western Posts have completed the measure of our political happiness,6 The angry discontented politicians of this country are Silenced, Honest men who doubted are satisfied, & all good men feel the liveliest emotions of Joy in contemplating our situation. With most sincere respect I have the Honour to be Sir your most Obedient Humble Servant
James Ross
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. This survey has not been identified, but Charles Morgan had written Ross from Raccoon Creek, Pa., on 26 July: “Inclosed I send you the draught of the presidents land on Millers Run, I survey’d it in April last and Sent Colonel Ritchie a plot. and another to Colonel Nevill Who Informd me the President had desir’d him to get the land Surveyd and Send him a plot &c. Colonel Nevill has Since Informd me he has Sent it— I was with Colonel S[h]reve about Six weeks ago. and had no do[u]bt of Receiving the Rents he was due to the President, but he Informd me he had directed a Gentleman Who had purchas’d land from him, to pay the Sum due for Rent into the Bank of pennsylvania together with a gale for the land he purchas’d of the President, and that he had no do[u]bt but the money was deposited before that time, which he Expected you Could Inform him of on your Return from Philadelphia—as this is not done I Shall (if you think it advisable) put the bonds into your hands in order to Recover the money—In Regard to the millers Run business I have Collected the Chi[e]f part that Colonel Cannon put into my hands Which was but a Small Sum, he having previous to giving up the papers to me Collected all he possibly could.
“I Sent the Statement I Receivd from Cannon last fall, to the president, and the Rents for which I Rented the land does not become due till November next—I have not got the ballance from Flannagin yet, as I have not Seen him Since I came home from Kentuckey.” The letter concludes with a few lines on business involving only Ross (DLC:GW).
2. For items related to Matthew Ritchie’s purchase of GW’s land on Miller’s Run in Washington County, Pa., see Ross to GW, 15 April; Indenture with Matthew Ritchie, 1 June; Alexander Addison to GW, 4 July; and GW to Addison, 8 July.
3. For GW’s receipt of this payment, see Ross to GW, 15 April, and n.3 to that document.
4. See GW to Ross, 11 June, and n.1 above.
5. For the ratification of the treaty with Spain, see Timothy Pickering’s second letter to GW, 30 July, and n.1 to that document.
6. Ross is referring to the transfer of western posts from the British to the United States under terms of the Jay Treaty.