of the Accounts you have tendered me, and it is with regret I am now compelled to observe, that I believe it is the first instance in North America, where the Charges of Commission and Duties upon an importation of East India Goods exceed the amount of Sales it was to have covered. remain, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant,

Newport, 12th March, 1788.

W. GREEN

CHRISTOPHER CHAMPLIN TO WILLIAM GREEN

Dear Sir,

I

YOUR letter of yesterday I received in the Evening. as to my commission of five per Cent it is no more than I have charged others for negotiating business far less complicated, and more profitable than yours; and without advancing monies in the first instance and waiting the event of the Sale to reimburse me, till the commissions were sunk. it is also a commission that the Merchants of this Town have generally charged, and with propriety: because in other places where business is done upon a large scale 2 per Ct. is better than 7 at Newport. From S. Carolina have just receiv'd an Invoice of Rice with 5 per Ct. at the bottom. My terms at an early period were given you - if you did not approve, you were not compelled to consign me any goods, nor did I solicit any. Had you ordered the ship and goods reported for N. York or Philadelphia and ordered her to your Consignee, most surely I should have done it.

As to Peirce's note, which you charge me with, viz. in Account No. I £26: 13:4, it remains unpaid, except the nine pounds Sterling to your credit in my Account, nor was it possible to obtain any more from him, unless I had arrested him, and taken paper money in the event. And he might have libelled the ship for his wages. You deduct from my Account against Brigantine Betsey, the light money and office fees for clearing at the Intendant's office which I paid in hard cash, as per Certificate from said office. As to the price of goods out of my Store, they are charged to you, as to others I deal with. Your presumptive

charge against me of fifty pounds 2/ in your Account No. 31 is very extraordinary, when you have actual credit for it in the Account Sales, at the price I disposed of twenty casks to Mr. Deblois of said pepper; from whom I have, under his hand, the price he gave for it. And above all, that you should wish to destroy your stipulation of two and half per Cent on the Hydra's outward bound cargo, made in your own writing, under your hand and Seal, by a misterious Account you have stated, viz. No. 2 which Account you positively refuse to submit to any reference whatever. As to the impost duty upon entering the Hydra's cargo etc., I shall not find it impossible to prove that I paid it in impost orders, and have given you the credit for the medium of discount on those orders, at the period I bought them. As to the reflection on me for conducting the business, I shall presume to say, it cou'd not be better done under the embarrassed situation of every man of business at that period, with penal Laws hanging over his head to work his ruin. And if you try me by events, I presume you are not free of error by the same rule. It would have given me great pleasure to have closed the business to our mutual satisfaction; but from the statement of your Account (if adhered to) I see no probability of it; unless I sacrifice every claim of right to my commission on the Hydra's outward bound cargo, by excluding it from the reference, which you cannot expect from, Sir, Your most humble Servant

Thursday Evening, March 13, 1788.

CHRIS. CHAMPLIN

WILLIAM GREEN TO CHRISTOPHER CHAMPLIN

Dear Sir,

It is not with any degree of pleasure that I have engaged with you in Commercial Discussions, nor without a deep regret that I have thought myself compelled to object to your accounts. but I have hitherto suffered so much from the indulgence of a liberal spirit in business, that now, almost too late, I am obliged to retrench and reform it;

and having offered to submit what I conceive to be the main points in our dispute to Arbitration, I shall cease, on such any farther animadversion.

My mind is open to the force of your remark on my account No. 2. I acknowledge the stipulation agreed upon between us, at a period when the American Flag was looked up to as a Cover of a free and independent Commerce, by Individuals of every Nation: but in the progress of my voyage and its event, so very far from that flag being useful to any purpose of mine, that in India I was constrained to relinquish it entirely and at the instance of my friends, and by the exertion of their interest in that Country I was permitted as a special favor, and even then at a heavy expense to assume the French. What then became of your Cover and Commissions. Was it of any avail in St. Eustatius, where I was obliged to smuggle my Cargo, being formally prohibited from any open traffic. Has it been of any material service here, since independent of you or me, Mrs. Green in her own right could have introduced infinitely many more Goods than appear to have been adequate to the demands of the market.

I am persuaded you are too reasonable not to agree, that the stipulation which you very properly dwell upon, was to have been a reward for correspondent services, but if the nature of your Government, or a combination of foreign powers, destroy the sources from whence these services were to have been drawn, do they not at the same time annihilate the eventual profits.

It would be easy to me to prove by fifty testimonies, that my entry in Bengal was as a Frenchman, that measure was dictated by necessity not by choice. Would not that proof dissipate your Commission claim in toto, for it certainly in case of an accident would have removed your possibility of Cover. Here then and only here, were you in the capacity of utility to me, and I think you have very reasonably estimated the value of that to be one hundred and thirty three pounds, in lieu of which my account No. 2 gives you a Credit of Three hundred and fifty.

I doubt not that what I have urged herein, will have a proper [weight] and influence upon your mind, which will then be divested of its present prejudices respecting the accounts now pending with, Dear Sir, Your faithful Humble Servant,

Newport, 14 March, 1788.

Dear Sir,

W. GREEN

HARY GRANT TO CHRISTOPHER CHAMPLIN

Charleston, 14 March, 1788.

I HAVE to acknowledge both your favors. I was in the Country a dunning, when Hulls Schooner left this, but to little purpose, since ever I knew this place, people never was so backward in their payments, nor trade at such a stand. You may believe me, when I tell you that for ether old or new debts I have not received the Value of One Hundred [1] Your Tea remains unsold, and cannot get above 1/8 for it, and cannot think of parting with it. Since I wrote you last I have sold nothing but a few peaces Russia duck. to the India Goods nobody would touch them. I tried them at every Vendue in Town. You will see by the Account Sales the horid Prices they brought. I wish I had returnd them but never had an Idea they would be so very far under the mark.

as

I am thankful I had nothing to do with Mr. Green with respect to purchases.

By the return of Captain Hulls Schooner shall endeavour to close the sales, as much for your advantage as possible, and I do asure you it gives me pain our first Conection in Business will not prove so fortunate as I wish. I go for Savanah in a few days, but will be return'd by Hulls arrival. Pray make my best respects to your good family in which Mrs. Grant joins. I am with Esteem, Dear Sir, Your most obedient Servant,

1 Illegible.

HARY GRANT