to his return and death, directed to the agent of his house in
Philadelphia, in which he speaks of the full competency of his fortune
and his intention of retiring from business. An additional inducement
no doubt was owing to the impaired state of his health from the great
exertions he had made to promote the views of the Revolution, and
which letter further declares that he had many claims uncollected
due him,[12] and spoke of the quantities of public securities and
government papers which ... [_MS. cut off_]. Of this latter, on
examination of a list deposited in the Probate Office, it appears
there was upwards of $300,000, more than $160,000 of which were of
certificates of the Loan Office of the Treasury and the army.[13]
At his decease the management of his estate passed into the hands of
strangers, all of whom not very long after became either bankrupts or
died, as well as Mr. Macrea,[14] his chief clerk, who had committed
suicide about the same period. Consequently the books and papers have
nearly been all lost, and the obscurity into which these matters are
thrown is increased in consequence of the destruction by the British of
many of the public archives of that period, during the invasion of the
city of Washington by their army during the last war.[15] And such were
the effects of those unfortunate circumstances to the heirs that when
the youngest son became of age nothing was obtained from the personal
estate of this munificent and patriotic individual in Philadelphia.
And no other inheritance now survives to the offspring except the
expectation of the grateful remembrance of a just and generous republic.
It ought not to be forgotten, that although he endorsed a great portion
of those bills of exchange for the amount of the loans and subsidies
our government obtained in Europe, of which he negotiated the entire
sums, and the execution of which duty occupied a great portion of his
valuable time from '81 to '83, still there was only charged scarcely
a fractional percentage to the United States, although individuals
were willing to pay him ... [_MS. cut off_] for his other negotiations
and guarantee. And it is known that he never caused the loss to the
government of one cent of those many millions of his negotiations,
either by his own mismanagement or from the credit he gave to others on
the sales he made of those immense sums of foreign drafts on account of
the United States.[16]
We find that immediately after the peace of '83, when foreign commerce
could securely float again on the ocean, that he resumed his business
as a merchant for the few remaining months of his life, trading to
foreign countries, which may be collected from the few original letters
(that are preserved) bearing date [_of_] London, Holland and Spain, and
from the return of the large ship Sally from Spain to his consignment
a few weeks succeeding his death, on which cargo and hull he was
interested in the sum of 40,000 florins; his estate on the expedition
sustained almost total loss, owing to the failures and disasters among
merchants of those days, to whom the property had been consigned and by
whose advice it had been undertaken.
He was most friendly in aiding those other commercial citizens and
merchants who recommenced trading after the war had closed. One
remarkable instance [_that_] may be noted among others was the case
of Mr. Willing's house, the head of which was the president of the
National Bank, and whose active partner was the Superintendent of
Finance. The firm traded under the name of Willing, Morris & Swanick.
To them he made a loan of his name to obtain 40,000 dollars in specie
in one amount from the bank. A second loan of his name in addition
of 24,000 specie dollars also, a few months preceding his death, for
both of which considerable accommodations of credit at this eventful
period of our commercial history he never changed them one cent of
consideration.[17]
[Copy of an authentic certificate from the Register's Office in
Philadelphia shewing the amount of public securities[18] and
Revolutionary papers left by the deceased Haym Salomon at his death and
from which personal estate mentioned in said certificate not a cent was
ever received by any of his heirs.]
"58 Loan Office Certificates $110,233.65.
19 Treasury " 18,259.50.
2 Virginia State " 8,166.48.
70 Commissioners " 17,870.37.
Continental Liquidated 199,214.45.
------------
$353,744.45.
"Seal
"I certify that the above writing is a true extract from the original
inventory and appraisement of the personal estate of Haym Salomon
deceased filed in the register's office Philadelphia on the 15th
February, 1785.
(_Signed_)
JOHN GEYER, _Register_.
Given under my hand and seal of office this 28th May, A. D. 1828."
[EXTRACT FROM A CERTIFICATE.]
The father of Mr. Haym M. Salomon was the deceased Haym Salomon,
Esq., who died in Philadelphia, January 6, 1785, and who is found to
have exhibited the most ardent personal devotion to the cause of the
Revolution.
On investigating such of the memoranda and papers regarding his civil
services in that era of our history which have accidentally been
preserved and now submitted, I find the following facts.
By an affidavit made in New York, January, 1778, before Alderman
Matthews, certified on its back by William Claygen, military secretary
to Major-General Horatio Gates, dated at the encampment White Plains,
August 15, 1778, it appears that so early as the year 1775, Mr. S. was
in controversy with the enemies of the projected Revolution.
New York, May 9, 1828.
(_Signed_)
WM. H. BELL.
The affidavit further states that it had been alleged against him
in New York that he was charged by General Washington to execute an
enterprise as hazardous to the safety of his person and life as it was
most important to the interests of the Revolutionary army. Supposed to
be the enterprise for which he was condemned to death by the British
General Clinton, as mentioned in the first part of this memorandum.
The two infant sons which Mr. Salomon (at the age of 45) left at his
death were Ezekiel and Haym. Ezekiel was he (the eldest) who in 1807,
in charge of a large amount of American property, was (with many other
American citizens whose cargoes as well as his own was sequestered
at Leghorn by the French) placed in much perplexity, but through
the spirited remonstrance which he made to the Tuscan and French
Governments, succeeded in procuring its release. He subsequently was
charged with the government of the U. S. Branch Bank at New Orleans,
and while in the successful application of the duties of his office
died in 1821.
Haym M., the youngest son and sole survivor of the male part of the
family, has been engaged in commercial pursuits for many years past,
for particulars of which see letter from Hon. Johnson, Esq., who for
eight years was the representative in Congress from New York, the
Empire City of the United States, and now[19] one of the chief officers
in the Custom House of that city.[20]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
Little of the mass of original material at one time in existence
relative to the life and activity of Haym Salomon can now be located.
Mr. William Salomon, of New York, a great-grandson of Haym Salomon,
writes in response to a recent inquiry as follows: "I am under the
impression that all the papers bearing on the services of Haym Salomon
in the cause of the Revolution which were not lost when he died
intestate (and a few months before Haym M. Salomon was born) came
into Haym M. Salomon's possession, but unfortunately his descendants
have been deprived of that valued inheritance by reason of their
disappearance while in the custody of the Government. All I ever
discovered among my father's papers was a letter from either President
Tyler or Polk (I cannot remember positively which, and the letter is
not now within easy reach) stating that papers my grandfather, Haym M.
Salomon, desired to have returned could not be found in the Department
where they had been placed."
Some further details of the strange negligence to which this
unfortunate loss is due may be found in the Senate Committee Report to
the 31st Congress on the claim of H. M. Salomon. The timely services
rendered by Haym Salomon to James Madison during the sessions of the
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia are specifically indicated in
the published letters of Madison; see Gilpin, Madison Papers, Vol. I.,
pp. 163, 178-9. Mr. Herbert Friedenwald, of Philadelphia, has recently
found among the records of the Continental Congress an interesting
Memorial of Haym Salomon, submitted to the Congress in August, 1778;
see Publications of American Jewish Historical Society, I., 87. The
main sources of information relative to the life of Haym Salomon are
thus the secondary Congressional Committee Reports upon the claims
of his descendants for indemnity for money advanced to the United
States Government during the Revolution. These, in the order of their
presentation, are as follows:[21]
1. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Rep. F. A. Tallmadge. April 26,
1848. 3 pp. House Reports, No. 504, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. III.
2. Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon. Senator J. D. Bright. July 28,
1848. 3 pp. Senate Reports, No. 219, 30th Cong., 1st Sess.
3. Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon. Senator I. P. Walker. August 9,
1850. 7 pp. Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I.
4. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Senator Charles Durkee. March 9,
1860. 10 pp. Senate Reports, No. 127, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I.
5. Report on Claim of Haym M. Salomon. Senator M. S. Wilkinson. July 2,
1862. 5 pp. Senate Reports, No. 65, 37th Cong., 2d Sess.
6. Report on Petition of Haym M. Salomon. June 24, 1864. 4 pp. Senate
Reports, No. 93, 30th Cong., 1st Sess.
The second, third, fifth and sixth of the above reports have been
reprinted in pamphlet form, presumably for private circulation. During
the first session of the 29th Congress, the Senate Committee of Claims
unanimously agreed upon a report similar to that adopted by the
House Committee of the 30th Congress, but too late for presentation.
Another report was drawn up during the second session of the same
Congress, placed on file, but never adopted. It was largely embodied
in the Senate Report to the 31st Congress; see Senate Report to the
31st Congress. The last sentence of the Report to the 38th Congress:
"except the report of this committee made at the last session," and
several paragraphs inserted in the Report to the 37th Congress as
statements of "the committee of the last Congress," indicate the
presentation of additional reports. No positive evidence of their
existence has, however, been found. At the second session of the 52d
Congress (February 24, 1893), a bill was presented to the House,
ordering that a gold medal be struck off in recognition of services
rendered by Haym Salomon during the Revolutionary War, in consideration
of which the Salomon heirs waived their claims upon the United States
for indemnity. The measure was reported favorably by the House
Committee on the Library, but too late for consideration. The Report
(No. 2556; to accompany H. R. 7896) summarizes the efforts made in
previous Congresses, and reprints in full the Senate Report to the 37th
Congress.
OTHER JEWISH CONTRIBUTORS TO THE COLONIAL TREASURY.
The monetary contribution by Haym Salomon to the successful issue
of the Revolutionary struggle was doubtless the largest made by any
individual, but while it is the most signal instance of its kind, it
does not stand alone. Haym Salomon was not the only Jew who showed his
earnestness in behalf of freedom by a jeopardy or sacrifice of fortune.
Among the signers of the Bills of Credit for the Continental Congress
in 1776 were Benjamin Levy, of Philadelphia and Benjamin Jacobs, of
New York; and Samuel Lyon, of the same city, was among the signers of
similar bills in 1779. Isaac Morris, also of Philadelphia, and who,
after the Revolutionary War, was one of the incorporators of the Bank
of New York, contributed three thousand pounds sterling (£3000) to
the colonial treasury, and still another Philadelphian, Hyman Levy,
repeatedly advanced considerable sums for the support of the army in
the field. A yet more notable instance of patriotic devotion was that
of Manuel Mordecai Noah, of South Carolina, who not only served in
the army as officer on Washington's staff, and likewise with General
Marion, but gave of his fortune twenty thousand pounds (£20,000) to
further the cause in which he was enlisted. Many minor cases of a
similar order could be cited, but only the more important instances,
such as are of public record, have here been adduced.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] See Adams, Life and Writings of Jared Sparks, Vol. II., p. 564.
From the general tenor of the letter, it seems probable that Mr.
Sparks, during his extensive researches into the historical records,
public and private, of the United States, had encountered other
evidence of the services of Haym Salomon. This inference is partially
corroborated by a passage in a letter written by Mr. Sparks from
Cambridge on May 7, 1845, to Mr. Haym M. Salomon, apparently in
connection with the first memorial to Congress: "Among the numerous
papers that have passed under my eye I have seen evidences of his
[_Haym Salomon's_] transactions, which convince me that he rendered
important services to the United States in their pecuniary affairs."
See Report on Claim of H. M. Salomon; Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st
Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I. It is not, however, impossible that only the
present manuscript may be here referred to.
[5] It is probable that Haym Salomon's first encounter with the British
Government took place several years before 1778. The Senate Report to
the 31st Congress (_supra_) states that: "As early as 1775 he became
obnoxious to the British Government, and was imprisoned in New York,
sharing the privations and horrors of the sufferers confined in a
loathsome prison called the Provost." Essentially the same fact is
repeated in later Reports, and is specifically presented in certified
form in a later part of the present paper.
The Memorial of Haym Salomon to the Continental Congress (see
Bibliographical Note, _infra_) is of such immediate interest in
connection with the circumstances of his escape from New York as to
permit partial citation. It sets forth: "That your Memorialist was
some time before the Entry of the British Troops at the said City of
New York and soon after taken up as a Spy and by General Robertson
committed to the Provost. That by the Interposition of Lieut-General
Heister (who wanted him on account of his knowledge in the French,
Polish, Russian, Italian &c. Languages) he was given over to the
Hessian Commander who appointed him in the Commissary Way as purveyor
chiefly for the Officers. That being at New York he has been of great
Service to the French and American prisoners and has assisted them with
Money and helped them off to make their Escape. That this and his close
connexions with such of the Hessian Officers as were inclined to resign
and with Monsieur Samuel Demezes has rendered him at last so obnoxious
to the British Head Quarters that he was already pursued by the Guards
and on Tuesday the 11th inst. he made his happy Escape from thence."
The Memorial bears date of August 25, 1778, thus indicating the precise
time of Salomon's departure from New York as August 11, 1778.
[6] For details see Report to 31st Congress. The exact location of this
and other Congressional Reports is given in the Bibliographical Note
appended to the paper.
[7] This is corroborated by a letter from the eminent jurist, Henry
Wheaton, to Haym M. Salomon. Among "the patriots of the Revolution who
were compelled to sacrifice their private pursuits to the public,"
Mr. Wheaton mentions Judge Wilson, "who must have retired from public
service if he had not been sustained by the timely aid of your father,
administered with equal generosity and delicacy." See Report to 31st
Congress.
[8] Under date of August 27, 1782, Mr. Madison wrote from Philadelphia
to Edmund Randolph: "I cannot in any way make you more sensible of
the importance of your kind attention to pecuniary remittances for me
than by informing you that I have for some time been a pensioner on
the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew Broker." See Gilpin, Madison Papers,
I., 163. During the following month Mr. Madison's position seems to
have grown more aggravated, for, on September 24, he declared: "I
am relapsing fast into distress. The case of my brethren is equally
alarming." _Ibid_, p. 176. Assistance in sufficient amount was still
not forthcoming, and a week later, September 30, 1782, he acknowledged
to Mr. Randolph the local source of his benefactions as follows: "I
am almost ashamed to acknowledge my wants so incessantly to you, but
they begin to be so urgent that it is impossible to suppress them. The
kindness of our little friend in Front street, near the coffee-house,
is a fund that will preserve me from extremities, but I never resort
to it without great mortification, as he obstinately rejects all
recompense. The price of money is so usurious that he thinks it ought
to be extorted from none but those who aim at profitable speculations.
To a necessitous delegate, he gratuitously spares a supply out of his
private stock." _Ibid_, pp. 178-179.
There seems little doubt but that the "little friend in Front
street" is meant to indicate Haym Salomon. This view is taken by the
Congressional committees and by Madison's biographer; see Gay, Life
of James Madison, p. 25. The fact that the first Philadelphia City
Directory was issued in 1785, and that Haym Salomon died on January 6
of that year (_vide infra_), renders direct verification impracticable.
Search among the Philadelphia newspapers of the period would probably
determine the point once for all.
[9] The writer of the MS. is probably quoting from memory from a letter
written by Mr. Madison from Montpelier, on February 6, 1830, to Mr.
Haym M. Salomon, in connection with claims upon Congress for indemnity.
The Senate Report to the 31st Congress preserves the following
paragraph of this letter: "The transactions shown by the papers you
enclosed were the means of effectuating remittances for the support of
the delegates [_to Congress_], and the agency of your father therein
was solicited, on account of the respectability and confidence he
enjoyed among those best acquainted with him."
The Report to the 37th Congress mentions among the various letters
received by Haym M. Salomon relative to the justice of his claim, one
from James Madison, in 1827, who, among other things, stated: "The
transactions shown by the papers you enclose were for the support of
the delegates to Congress, and the agency of your father therein was
solicited on account of the respect and confidence he enjoyed among
those best acquainted with him,' etc., and concludes with the wish that
the memorialist might be properly indemnified."
The resemblance between the two paragraphs is so striking as to make it
probable, despite the discrepancy in dates, that the same communication
is referred to.
[10] The Report to the 31st Congress states: "On the accession of the
Count de la Luzerne to the embassy from France, Mr. Salomon was made
the banker of that government.... He was also appointed by Monsieur
Roquebrune, treasurer of the forces of France in America, to the office
of their paymaster-general, which he executed free of charge."
[11] Details of the assistance so rendered are given in the Report
to the 31st Congress. Mr. Salomon, it is said, "maintained from his
own private purse Don Francesco Rendon, the secret ambassador of that
monarch for nearly two years, or up to the death of Mr. S., during
which Rendon's supplies were cut off." A striking passage is quoted
in the same Report from a letter said to have been written in 1783 by
Rendon to the Governor-General of Cuba, Don José Marie de Navarra: "Mr.
Salomon has advanced the money for the service of his most Catholic
Majesty and I am indebted to his friendship in this particular, for the
support of my character as his most Catholic Majesty's agent here, with
any degree of credit and reputation; and without it, I would not have
been able to render that protection and assistance to his Majesty's
subjects which his Majesty enjoins and my duty requires." The statement
is also made that: "Moneys thus advanced to the amount of about 10,000
Spanish dollars remained unpaid, when Mr. Salomon died shortly after."
[12] Mr. Henry S. Morais, in his history of "The Jews of Philadelphia,"
notes as follows: (p. 24.) "The amount has been variously given at as
much as $600,000 and more. Hon. Simon Wolf, of Washington, D. C., in
February, 1892, presented a complete and elaborate statement of this
question, based upon official documents, in an article (entitled, "Are
Republics Ungrateful?") published in the _Reform Advocate_, of Chicago."
In another note on the same subject Mr. Morais states: "Mr. Salomon's
loan and its accruing interest would now (1893) amount to over
$3,000,000." Haym M. Salomon, a son of the philanthropist, and who
kept a store on Front street, vainly endeavored to obtain payment of
his just claim, notwithstanding that it was favorably reported to the
U. S. Senate in 1850. In this report it was said: "Haym Salomon gave
great assistance to the government by loans of money and advancing
liberally of his means to sustain the men engaged in the struggle
for independence at a time when the sinews of war were essential to
success."
[13] For a summary of the account see the certificate appended,
_infra_. Some few further details of the inventory are given in the
Committee Report to the 30th Congress.
[14] "Mr. McCrea," in the Report to the 31st Congress.
[15] Mr. Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury of the United States
from 1777 to 1828, wrote from Washington in 1827, to Mr. H. M. Salomon:
"I have cast back to those periods when your honored father was agent
to Office of Finance; but the inroads of the British army in 1814
deprived us of every record in relation to the vouchers of the period
to which I refer." See for details, Report to 31st Congress; also
Bibliographical Note.
[16] For details, see Report to 31st Congress.
[17] Hon. Simon Wolf, of Washington, D. C., in an article in _The
Reform Advocate_ of Chicago (see Bibliographical Note), calls attention
to the fact that Professor Sumner--the most recent biographer of
Robert Morris--in his "The Financier and the Finances of the American
Revolution," makes no mention of the services of Haym Salomon. Mr. Wolf
adds: "When I called Mr. Sumner's attention to it he answered in a
letter which I received to-day, that, he had supposed that Mr. Salomon
had been paid long since, and was surprised at the statement which I
made."
[18] Not a penny of the large sums represented by these securities
has ever been repaid to the heirs of the philanthropist and patriot
who so generously aided the Revolutionary cause, and the fact is but
another instance of the ingratitude of republics. The remissness of the
people's representatives in the adjustment of private claims has been
but too often flagrantly demonstrated, but there is not to be found on
the public records a more signal case of public injustice. When to pay
a debt is everybody's business, then it is apparently forever nobody's
business to do so, and thus it happens that popular governments fail
utterly in cases of this nature, where a monarchy would hasten to do
justice.
[19] _Circa 1842._
[20] A third child of Haym Salomon was a daughter, Sallie Salomon, who
married Joseph Andrews. Their son, Joseph I. Andrews, married Miriam
Nones, of New York, a daughter of Major Benjamin Nones of Revolutionary
fame. The daughter of this union, Louisa Andrews, is now Mrs. E. L.
Goldbaum, of Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Goldbaum kindly writes me: "We have in
our possession life-size oil paintings of Joseph Andrews, son-in-law of
Haym Salomon, and of his wife Sallie Andrews, _née_ Sallie Salomon."
[21] Poore, Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Publications of the
United States (Washington, 1885), pp. 558, 565, 593, 762, 807, 828.
INCIDENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF AMERICAN JEWISH PATRIOTISM.
[A paper written for the American Jewish Historical Society by MAX J.
KOHLER.]