May 16th, 1783.
Gentlemen:
Agreeable to the sales of Cornell’s House & wharf which was made yesterday, you will find a large balance, viz, near £1000 pounds unpaid of the money arising therefrom, either by the purchaser or Superintendent Commissioner. As I had no return from the Superintendent Commissioner of this transaction I know not where to fix the delinquency; by good authority it is suggested that the settlement of this money has been made in the Comptroller’s Office with Continental Officers Certificates by the Superintendent Commissioner, under color of which several draughts have been protested, which I drew in favour of the Civil list, viz, the Judges and Attorney Generals, judging from the Law, that all the monies that arose from the sale of the special Confiscated property reserved for the support of the Delegates were to be paid in Coin, and no other substitute whatever; that the residue, if any, became a part of the public revenue, subject to the disposal of the General Assembly or the Governor’s draught as in other cases. I request
the sense of the Honourable the General Assembly as to this disposal of the public money by the Superintendent Commissioner whether it meets their approbation, and should it be deemed the public trust reposed in him has not been discharged, that some more summary mode be pointed out to effect a recovery of the balance than an Action on the case mentioned in the Act directing the sale of Confiscated property, and which it is doubtful will not apply in this special instance.