From John Jay to the President of Congress (Nathaniel Gorham), 22 August 1786
To the President of Congress (Nathaniel Gorham)
Office for foreign Affairs 22d. August 1786
Sir
I have the Honor of transmitting to your Excellency five Petitions complaining of Actions at Law contrary as is said to the Treaty of Peace. I suspect that on examining the Records of these Actions, the Petitioners will appear to have less Cause of Complaint than seems to be the Case from their Representations.—1 I have the Honor to be with great Respect & Esteem, Your Excellency’s Most obt. and hble: Servt.
John Jay
His Excellency the Presidt. of Congress—
LS, with enclosures, DNA: PCC, item 81, 2: 149–166 (EJ: 3907). Enclosures: Petitions, dated 9 Aug. 1786, of Richard Lawrence, William Hunt, Thomas Mullennox, John Hewlett, Charles Hewlett. Endorsed by CT: “… Referred to the / Secy. for foreign Affairs / to report.— / Returned from the Office for / foreign Affairs, 27th. April. 1788—/ for Report. Secy. f: f: Affairs / on Laurences case—” LS, DNA: PCC, item 80, 3: 49–50 (EJ: 242). Endorsed, by CT. LbkC, , 2: 443–44 (EJ: 2021).
1. Having previously memorialized the British consul in America (see JJ to John Temple, 7 Apr. 1786, above), the five New York Loyalists now directly petitioned Congress, the proper procedure as JJ indicated to Temple. See JJ’s Report on the Petition of Richard Lawrence, 14 Mar. 1787, below. Held for trespass, damages, and costs, they all appealed for “relief” as the Congress “shall think meet,” on the basis of the 6th Article of the peace treaty. See : 435; Morris, 464.
The case of Richard Lawrence continued into 1788, during which “the facts stated” by him had been “investigated.” Lawrence had failed to plead the peace treaty in his defense, and therefore judgments had been rendered. JJ gave a full report to Congress on 26 May 1788, which included a copy of Lawrence’s petition to King George III. Because Temple had orders to appeal to Congress, JJ recommended, and Congress concurred on 13 June 1788, to advise the British foreign minister: “Your Lordship will easily perceive that his [Lawrence’s] Representations are at least not accurate, that the Judgments contained in those Records must operate until legally reversed, and that they cannot be reversed but in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, which is open to Mr. Lawrence as to any other Person.”
Sometime before June 1788, Peter Allaire reported that, after giving up all his property to his “pretended Creditors,” Lawrence had been freed from jail and had left for England where, Allaire speculated, he would report that Temple had taken a “very spirited part … on that Affair.” See Temple to JJ, 10 Nov. 1787, , 3: 300–305 (EJ: 2207); JJ to Temple, 23 Feb. 1788, Dft, NNC (EJ: 5834), and , 3: 331–32 (EJ: 2238); JJ to the President of Congress, 26 Jan. 1788, DNA: PCC, item 80, 3: 418–19 (EJ: 325), , 3: 315 (EJ: 2222); JJ to the President of Congress, 20 Mar. 1788, LS, DNA: PCC, item 80, 3: 454–55 (EJ: 334); Dft, NNC (EJ: 5836); and LbkC, , 3: 339 (EJ: 2249); 34: 106 and n., 220–30 and n.; JJ’s report to Congress, 26 May 1788, DS, DNA: PCC, item 81, 3: 63–69 (EJ: 3938); LbkC, DNA: PCC, item 124, 3: 173–79 (EJ: 4625); 34: 222–30; and 3: 575–77, 649–50, 732, 779, 789.