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T-00112
United States, and obtained $79,067, which are yet owing ond unpaid. That in the expedition 1 mode agoinst the forts of his Britannic majesty, on the Mississippi, he attended me in person until the surrender.
"In witness whereof, ond to serve him as of right it ought, I have granted him this present certificate at the Havanno the 1st day of May, 1785.
"EL CONDE DE GALVEZ."
On his arrival at Philadelphia, Pollock at once appeared before Congress then in session. Here he was met with the slanderous charge that he was endeavoring to moke enormous profits by his claim; that the demand he made to cover the bills which he had drown on Spain was for specie, whereas the money had been disbursed in paper money. To a sensitive nature this return for the unflagging zeal ond vast sacrifices he had mode was galling beyond measure .
But consciousness of rectitude in all his transactions as agent sustained him, and gave fresh vigor to his purpose . He fortunately learned that General Clarke was in New York.
He readily found him, and obtained the following certificate, which silenced his slanderers and procured his immediate relief:
"These are to certify, to all whom it may concern, that all the bills I drew, when I commanded the Virginia troop* in the Illinois country, upon Mr. Oliver Pollock, agent for the United States at New Orleans, were considered by me to be for specie, as the respective bills expressed in dollars; and that the service Mr. Pollock rendered upon all occasions in paying these bills I considered at the same time, and now, to be one of the happy circumstances that enabled me to keep possession of that country.
"Given under my hand this day at New York, the 2d July, 1785.
"GEORGE CLARKE."
On the 18th of December, 1785, Congress awarded Mr. Pollock over $90,000, with interest, to cover the claims for which he had been arrested, and for which his hostage remained in New Orleans. But the money was not in the Treasury, ond the award of Congress was not paid until 1791 . Meanwhile Pollock's energies were not dormant. He resolved to return to New Orleans and relieve his hostage . Fitting out a vessel in Philadelphia, and loading it with flour, he soiled to.Martinique, where he disposed of his cargo and laid in another. Then he saiied to New Orleans, where he remained eighteen months. Engaging once more in mitcantil* pursuits, his diligence and good fortune soon ? nable him to pay, In 1790, all the claims of Galvez and others, and once more a free man he turned his face towards Philadelphia. On the 13th of April, 1 792, he received from Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, Treasury warrant No. 1,684, for $ 108,605. This was not, however, payment in full of all demands, for the United Stotes still owes the heirs of Mr. Pollock, on the claim thus partially paid, the sum, including simple interest, of over $ 100,000.
In 1787 and 1788, the political agitation in the Territory of Kentucky over its proposed separation from Virginia was very great. A portion of the population were eager to make the Territory independent of the Congress, and to open negotiations with the Spanish Government for the privilege of navigating the Mississippi river, rather than to
obtain this through the Congress. Out of this grew the famou. Spanish plot of which General Wilkinson was supposed to have been the head. In a letter to the Spanish Government, un.ier date of November 3, 1788, Miro says: "Oliver Pollock, a citizen of Philadelphia, who arrived here three days ago in a vessel from Martinique, has declared to me that Brown,* o member of Congress, who is a . man of property in Kentucky, told him in confidence that in the debates of that body on the question of the independence of that Territory, he saw clearly that the intention of his colleagues was that Kentucky should remoin under the jurisdiction of Congress, like the country of Illinois, and that a governor should be appointed by them for that province as for the other; but that as this was opposed to the welfare of the inhabitants of Kentucky, he was determined to return home, which he did before Pollock's departure from Philadelphia; and on his arrival to coll for a general assembly of his fellow-citizens, in order to proceed immediately to declare themselves independent, and to propose to Spoin the opening of a commercial intercourse with reciprocal advantages, and that to accomplish this object he would send Pollock the necessary documents to be laid before me and to be forwarded to your excellency .... I acted towards Pollock with a good deal of caution, and answered him as one to whom had been communicated some new ond unlooked for information, giving him to understand tliat I could not pledge to him my support before seeing the documents which he expected, &c.," (Gayarrd', 222.)
What the purpose of Pollock was in communicating thus with Miro can only be conjectured . GoyarrS' writes me that "I do not remember in the numerous documents which I had to examine anything that connected Oliver Pollock with a participation in Wilkinson's conspiracy." His unswerving devotion to the United States, so continually manifested, forbids the suspicion that his motives were not thoroughly loyal to his allegiance; and whatever Miro may have suspected from the tenor of Pollock?s conversation at the time noted, his esteem for Pollock was in no wise lessened by a more intimate Knowledge of him.
In 1791 when he deported from New Orleans to return to Philadelphia, he bore the following flattering letter from the Governor to Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia:
"SIR: The bearer of this letter, Oliver Pollock) Esquire, had the honor of acting as public agent at this place, during a considerable part of the late war, on thg part of the United States ond also for the Stote of Virginia. Mr. Pollock, in the execution of the orders he received from these States, contracted very considerable debts in this place, which he wos unable wholly to discharge; although he disposed of all his estate, real and personal, in this country, ot a great disadvantage, for the purpose of fulfilling hit engagements with his creditors in this province .
?John Brown, b. Rockbridge, Va., 1757, removed to the western port of the State, subsequently Kentucky.
Elected to Congress 1787 to 1793. From 1793 to 1805 he. represented Kentucky in the United States Senate, ond was president pro tem. of the Eighth Congress. A warm ond personal friend and supporter of President Jefferson. He d . at Frankfort, August 28, 1837.
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