At the Court.
No. 2.
London Febry. 8th 1779.
Sir,
My present disagreable Situation as an Officer under the Crown without Employment, and without a Salary, occasioned by the Rebellion in America, induces me to give you the Trouble of
this Adress, and to request your advice and Assistance in procuring that Relief which my present Circumstances require.
You are not a Stranger to my Appointment to the Office of Deputy Postmaster of Philadelphia in the year 1776 by the Deputy postmasters General of North America, and that I continued to act in that Office, and as I trust to the entire Satisfaction of all concerned, until the Confusion and Sedition in that Country rendered it impossible for me to be of any kind of service.
In the Spring 1775 having good Reason to believe from a variety of Information that there was a Danger of breaking up the Post Office at Philadelphia under the Crown, and seizing upon all the Monies in my Custody, I immediately made up my Accounts, and remitted the Balance in my Hands to the Comptroller in New York up to the 5th April of the same year.
About this time the disaffected Merchants in Philadelphia set up by Subscription a post Office in opposition to Government, appointed William Bradford Postmaster and compelled many of the well effected Merchants and others to send their Letters to it for Conveyance; and in May following the Mail was seized in New England under a public Avowel of the Rebels.
Under these Circumstances finding not only my person was in danger, but that I could be of no further service to the Crown by my continuing in Philadelphia, I left it and came into New York where my Conduct being approved, I procured leave of Absence, and returned to London in order to represent the true State of the Offices in America, which on my arrival I did. You will also recollect that as soon as possible after hearing that the City of Philadelphia was in possession of the Kings Troops I again embarked under an Expectation that the War would be settled by the Commissioners, and to take care of the post Office Affairs in that City. But on my arrival finding that All Letters by the packets &ca. were taken up by the Commander in Chief, and delivered not only to the Army and Navy but even to the Merchants, the City being evacuated soon after, I was obliged to return again to this place for safety. When in the Execution of my Office my Salary amounted to Two Hundred and Twenty five pounds Sterlg. p. Ann. out of which I paid Clerks Wages and Office Rent. This I received up to the 5 of April 1775. Since that time I have subsisted on my own means (except Two Hundred pounds at the Post Office by Warrant from the Treasury) without receiving any other part of my Salary from Government.