These papers are
the last petition made by Dallam Caswell concerning his attempt at saving his
father's last remaining property.
As
I am going out of office it is my wish to settle all my public transactions,
particularly those respecting money matters, so as to leave no kind of room for
complaint. I have an account of some monies which have come to my hands as a
public officer, and must show the application of the same; I have also a bond
in the hands of the Treasurer for the purchase of confiscated property, which I
mean to discharge agreeably to a resolution upon my memorial to the General
Assembly, in their last session at Fayetteville. But in justice to myself and
family, who everyone knows (who was acquainted with my business) I have much
injured in interest by serving the public, and as I flatter myself that my
public services were effected with as much zeal and attention to the Interest
and advantage of the State as those of any other officer I hope I shall be
considered to be entitled to the same justice that the other public officers
have received from the hands of the Legislature; I mean such as have had the
depreciation of the of the paper money made good to them, to wit, Delegates to
Congress, former Governor, Judges and others under this expectation I take the
liberty of mentioning my having been in the executive of Government in the
years 1777, 1778 and 1779, when the depreciation was rapid, particularly the
last year, as at the commencement money was at ten for one, when in order to make my salary equal to one
thousand pounds (specie) the allowance was ten thousand pounds, at the end of
six months the money was at twenty five for one, and at twelve months end fifty
for one, so that supposing that one half to be paid at the end of the first
period, and the other half the latter the whole amount in value to three
hundred pounds only. (Second page) Having this states matters as
they really were, I humbly submit to the General Assembly the propriety of
their directing the Comptroller on the settlement on my Accounts, to allow me
the depreciation of my salaries in the years 1777, 1778 and 1779, in doing
which I shall receive that justice in common with others which I conceive I am
entitled to. Richard Caswell December 15th 1787 To the Honorable the General
Assembly now sitting The Memorial of Richard W
Caswell respectfully sheweth_ That your memorial is the only
child and son of William Caswell deceased who was the only son of Mary
Mackilwean to whom a Grant did issue under the seal of crown dated the 15th
of November 1743 for 200 Acres of land situate then in Craven County, now
Lenoir County. That the said land has decended by heirship to your memorialist
the patent or Grant for which is in his possession and appears by the
endorsement on the back thereof to have been recorded in the Secretaryıs Office
but so it is that in searching in that office it cannot be found on any of the
Records. Therefore to the end the title nay be preserved, your Memorialist
prays the Honorable the Legislature to direct the Secretary of the State to
place the same on the Records in that office. Richard W Caswell No Record can be found in the
Secretaryıs Office of the Grant mentioned in the above Memorial. Will White Sec. 10 Dec 1804 (Reverse side of letter
reads) Richard W Caswell Secty to Record a Patent Mary Macilwean, Memorial Resolution rcd W Bruton By J Hunt Clerk To the Honorable the General
Assembly of the State of North Carolina Dallam
Caswell, the only surviving son and Executor of the late Richard Caswell, by
this his Memorial and petition respectfully sheweth, That
Richard Caswell, your petitioners father was Governor of this State in the
years 1777, 1778 and 1779 and that he was again Governor in 1785, 1786 and
1787, that in course of the time of his being last called to the executive
business of the state he became accountable, as your petitioner, who was then
an infant, is since told, for a certain sum of money belonging to the public
but by what means and in what way he knows not. Those monies were in the first
place charged by Mr Child, the then Comptroller, to Winston Caswell, as private
Secretary to the Governor, and a judgment was had on the account so raised-
This judgment was afterwards reversed for error, as being taken against the
wrong person, and the vouchers in charge against Winston Caswell, were therefore
charged to Richard Caswell, then late Governor, and judgment and Execution were
had and levied on the real and personal estate of the said Richard who had some
time before died:- All the personal estate of your petitioners father has been
sold by this and other Executions. One or more stays of this Execution, so far
as respects the real estate, have been granted by the Legislature, but at whose
insistence your petitioner is not well informed. An account of some
irregularity in the proceedings or Judgment, this Execution has not yet been
satisfied and lately your petitioner and all others the Heirs of Richard
Caswell have been called into the Court of Equity for the District of
Hillsborough in regards to the unsatisfied part of this Execution. Your petitioner, as is above
stated, had no knowledge of the origin of this debt, but as the money is
demanded and saught by the State, he has reason to believe it justly due and
very sincerely wishes it were in his power to pay it, but unfortunately for him
as well as for others of the Heirs, the Estate of his father has been wasted
and distroyed, and there now remains naught to him or to them save a small
share each in the tract of land lived on as aforesaid. Sell this tract, and your petitioner as
well as others who live with him will not only be deprived of the remnant of
that patrimony to which, in more prosperous days, they looked for a competency,
but will, literally speaking, be left without the means of subsistence. Your petitioner has however
no wish to excite the commiseration of the General Assembly, but would
respectfully ask as a matter of justice, that this claim of the state may be
set off by one which he hopes and believes it will be admitted by all is
equally just, and due to the Estate of his father for and on account of the
depreciation of the salary allowed him when first Governor of the State. To shew the amount of his
fathers claim on the state in this regard, he herewith submits an account
stated. To shew that he claimed the depreciation charged, he takes the liberty
of enclosing the copy of a message sent by his father to the assembly at
Tarborough in 1787 on that subject and to shew that he did not relinquish his
claim, because that assembly did not finally act on it, your petitioner begs have
to refer to the certificate of the public Treasurer herewith likewise
submitted. It will seem by the
account stated that the claim for depreciation, which might indeed be properly
charged at a much higher rate, amounts even as it is charged by the sum of
Fifteen hundred and fifty three pounds eight shillings and six pence-and it may
be seen also by the Comptrollers books that the same in charge against the
petitioners father is nine hundred and twenty eight pounds six shillings and
ten pence. As the Legislature thought
proper to make good the depreciation of salary to the Delegates in Congress to
the Judges-and to the former Governors of the State as your petitioner finds it
is expressly stated they did in the message sent them by his father last above
mentioned and submitted, he hopes with confidence and indeed assured himself
your Honorable Body will determine that the same measure of Justice is due to
all. His prospects of fortune,
through patrimony, have long since ceased and he feels no wish to make money at
the expense of the public, if it were in his power. He does not therefore ask,
even for the depreciation charged in the account rendered and which he
conceives to be justly due, because if it were paid it would amount to a mere
pittance when divided among those who have a right to claim a share. All he
therefore would ask of this General Assembly is that the one claim may be
ballanced by the other, and that the state will order the cost of suit
commenced by them to be paid making this request only and asking no more, he,
with the confidence, submits himself and the reasonableness and Justice of his
petition to the General Assembly. Raleigh Dec 1804 D
Caswell (On reverse of last page) The Memorial and Petition of Dallam Caswell In Senate December 7th
1804 Read & refered to the
Committee of Propositions and grievances By order M Stokes Clk Dec 4, 1804 The Commissioner of
Proposition and Grievances to whom was referred the memorial and petition of
Dallam Caswell, of Lenoir County, Report, That they have examined and
considered the said Memorial and petition together with the account and
Documents accompanying the same, and find the facts stated therein are true-
That is the say, they find that the late Richard Caswell was Governor of this state
in the years 1777, 1778 and 1779. They find also that during those years the
salary of the Governor was fixed at one thousand pounds of specie value.- They
find likewise that Mr Caswell, the petitioner, in making out his account
estimated the Governor salary at eight hundred pounds and not at one thousand
pounds, which he might rightfully have charged.They find the depreciation of
the money of those days to have been as is stated and charged in the amount
rendered and that it leaves a balance calculating an annual salary of eight
hundred pounds only, after _ _iting all sums received of Fifteen hundred and
fifty three pounds, eight shillings and six pence £1553.8.6 They find further, that North
Carolina has a balance of claim in the Estate of the said Richard Caswell, to
amount of Nine hundred and twenty eight pounds six shillings and ten pence
£928.6.10 which being deducted from the sum due in depreciation of salary as
aforesaid, leaves six hundred and twenty five pounds one shilling and eight
pence £625.1.8. The above are the facts as
they appear to your Committee. Had the full amount of salary been charged and
the consequent depreciation your Committee sees no just cause wherefore the
whole should not have been allowed. However, the account rendered being as is
above the stated and the petitioner having thought proper to request only that
the one claim might be balanced and set off by the other, and that the costs
which have accrued in consequences of suits commenced in this regard be paid by
the state, Your Committee unanimously agree in reporting the following
Resolution towit, Resolved, that the Treasury
officers be and they are hereby directed to balance the account in charge against
the estate of Richard Caswell formerly Governor of this State and that the
public Treasurer be and he is hereby directed to pay out of the public chest
all costs which have accrued and remain payable, in consequence of the suits in
Law or Equity commenced for the recovery of the sum so in charge against the
estate of the said Richard Caswell as aforesaid. Alex Martin In Senate Dec 14th
1804 Read & resolved that this
House do concur therewith. By Order Jo (unreadable signature) M Stokes Clerk In the House of Commons 15
Dec 1804 Read and concurred with N Cabarrus By Order J. Hunt On opposite of paper Report on the Petition of
Dallam Caswell £928.6.10 North Carolina Treasury
Office 7th Dec 1804 On
the application of Mr Dallam Caswell and in compliance with his request I
hereby certify, that some time in the year 1789, as well as I now recollect, a
letter was addressed to me as Treasurer, by the late Governor Caswell, the
prospect of which was to request, that suit might not be commenced against his
son Winston Caswell for the recovery of a sum of money with which he stood
charged, by Mr Child the Comptroller, as private Secretary to his Father when
Gov of the State: In this letter, Governor Caswell stated as the ground of the
request he made, that the state of North Carolina was indebted to him for the
depreciation of his salary when and during the time he was first appointed
Governor of the State. That at the Assembly, the next after the date of his letter
and which was about to convene at Fayetteville, he would apply for the said
depreciation, with which, if allowed, he would pay off the sum in charge
against his son and secretary: he added that if the Legislature, contrary to
his expectations, would refuse to make his sons allowances, that there and as
such case, he would provide for the payment of the monies charged to his son
from other sources. He died at the commencement
of the session of the assembly above referred to, and of course had it not in
his power to comply with the promise made as aforesaid. John
Haywood Dec
7th 1804 North Carolina Treasury Office 13th
Dec 1804 On a second application of Mr
Dallam Caswell I certify, that there has not been any payment of any kind
whatsoever made out of the publick Treasury on account of or towards the
depreciation of the salary of the late Governor Caswell, since the commencement
of the year 1787, the time I came into office; nor have I any reason to believe
that any such payment has at any time therefore made; on the contrary, from the
Governors application to the assembly at Tarbourough for the depreciation of
his salary and from his subsequent letter to me on the same subject, I have
every reason to believe that no payment or allowance of this nature ever has
been made to him or to his representatives. John
Haywood Treasurer NORTH CAROLINA In Senate December 17th 1804 Mr Speaker, We
propose that the rule heretofore entered into requiring that all reports and resolves
the object of which being to draw money out of the Treasury shall be read three
times in each House, before they are allowed; shall be dispensed with so far as
it relates to the reports of the Committee of Claims; and also to the report on
the petitions of Dallam Caswell. By order Jo
Riddick M Stokes Clk In House of Commons 17th
December 1804 Read and concurred with S.
Cabarrus Spkr By Order J Hunt
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