The New York Journal, And Daily Patriotic Register

To the PUBLIC.

[Continuation.]

AS I had been denied my lawful demands, as aforesaid, I exhibited them in said petition to Congress. The object of my prize money was the first, I accordingly demonstrated,
it. That in case any one was to have as commodore, the prize money accrued from the prizes taken by the frigate Alliance, ship Bonhomme Richard, and other vessels when in company at the time of each capture, I was the only one who had that right, because the frigate Alliance was the only vessel among those which belonged to the United States; as the Bonhomme Richard, Mr. Paul Jones's ship, had never been acknowledged by any resolve of Congress to have been even in the United States service, or fitted out at their expence; but she was really, and according to the letter, dated the 5th July, 1779, of his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, to Commodore Gillon, the property of a company of men, and consequently but a privateer in fact, which though Mr. Paul Jones had had an American commission, he was liable to be under the orders of any of the masters of the prizes of the Alliance, commanded even by a midshipman belonging to her. On the other hand, had the said Bonhomme Richard been in the service of the King of France (which I demonstrated in said petition not to be the case) and had Mr. Paul Jones have had a commission of Captain of a French man of war: (which he had not) his French commission must have been of later date than mine, and of course he must have been yet under my order: therefore, although his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, had unjustifiably given, in the first instance, the command to Mr. Paul Jones, then Captain of a privateer, over me, and other commissioned American officers, as well as over the United States frigate the Alliance, wearing the American flag. yet it cannot with justice deprive me of my right to share as the commanding officer. I claimed therefore my share as Commodore, of the prizes taken, when the Alliance was in company with the vessels the Bonne Homme Richard, the Pallas, Vengeance, Granville, and the Cerf, viz. brig Mayflower, and the brig Fortune; that taken by the Alliance, when the vessels the B. H. Richard, and Vengeance were in sight of her, viz. the Union letter of marque, sent into Norway, and those taken when the Alliance was in company with the vessels B. H. Richard. Pallas, and the Vengeance which latter was out of sight at the moment of the capture, viz. the English man of war the Serapis, and Countess of Scarborough; and those taken by the Alliance when alone, viz. the ship Betsy letter of marque, and a brig, which she sent into Bergen. in Norway.

2d. I proved obviously, by several certificates,that his Excellency B. Franklin had made M. Le Ray de Chaumont; the Alliance agent, as well as Congress's, as he had empowered M. Le Ray de Chaumont to give me, and had wrote to me in his letter of order, dated the 28th July, 1779, to receive my instructions for sailing from him. As M. Le Ray de Chaumont had paid some money to refit out the Alliance, and on those considerations, his Excellency had ordered the prizes which might be captured, to be addressed to any persons M. De Chaumont should indicate either at Dunkirk, Ostend, or Bergen, and it was on that account, being thus directed to send the Alliance's prizes to his correspondents, that I consented with the other Captains to make an agreement, in order that Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont should be answerable to my crew for his correspondents, his Excellency for Mr, Le Ray de Chaumont, and finally the United States for their Minister Plenipotentiary, his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, under whose orders the Honorable Congress had put me.

After a Committee had been examining for above a month my said petition, Congress determined as follows :

" By the United States in Congress assembled, April 26, 1782.

" A letter of the 24th from the Superintendent of Finance was read, respecting the accounts and claims of Captain Landais, whereupon the report of a Committee, to whom was referred a memorial of Captain P. Landais was called for, which being read,

" Resolved, That the report of the committee on Captain P. Landais memorial be rejected, that the said memorial be dismissed, and that Congress approve of the steps taken in his case by the superintendent of finance.

" Extract from the minutes.

" (Signed)

" CHARLES THOMSON, Sec'ry,"

By the foregoing resolve, it may be perceived how strong an influence the superintendent of finance had in Congress, but it is not so easy to guess at the contents of his letter of the 24th to them, about my accounts, nor what Congress meant in their resolve, saying, " they approved of the steps taken in my case by the superintendent of finance," unless it is meant by it that they approved the steps of the superintendent of finance, in putting the balance of my account due to me at my credit in account current, as he signified it in his letter to me. and of course which was to be paid me as soon as called for.

On the other hand, it is likely that the report of the committee was more in my favor than the resolve, and that they did not approve altogether the conduct of their public officers toward me ; in particular that of Mr. Milligan, in refusing to let me see the accounts of Mr. P. Jones to settle mine by the same principle, by which refusal, the balance in my favor was lessened about three hundred dollars, as will appear hereafter, which he might put in favor of Mr. Paul Jones, as he has so much partiality in giving him a fabulous certificate, that I did not spit in his face : moreover, Mr. Milligan is said to be very partial for the strong, and against the unsupported ones, and since that petition to Congress he has always shewn in his countenance, that he did not like me, though he never applied to me or any explanation : but to shew his partiality, I relate as a certainty that which I have been told, that a gentleman had had a certificate of four thousand dollars which he could not receive for above two years, when he applied to the treasury committee, who told him the only way to have it paid was to have another from the comptroller of the same sum, drawn upon Mr. Hillegas : accordingly he carried it to the comptroller's office, and next day found it at the treasury committee office to his great surprize, and to that of the committee; he found that Mr. Mulligan had not only allowed the same sum, but besides, all the interest. though never claimed. But it must be observed, that the gentleman was a man of great interest.

P. LANDAIS.