steam, and a boat built by Fitch was even then passing up and down the Delaware. These advances were no doubt known to Isaacs and may have had something to do with moving him to petition Congress as he did. The time was not far distant when the first boat propelled by steam was to cross the Atlantic, and, if only as a matter of sentiment, we may link Isaac's name with that long series of endeavors which finally resulted in making a trip across the sea a less formidable adventure.

MEMORIALS PRESENTED TO THE CONTI

NENTAL CONGRESS.

BY HERBERT FRIEDENWALD, Ph. D.

I.

"To the United States of America in Congress assembled.* The Memorial of Levy Solomons of Montreal in the Province of Quebec Merchant.

Sheweth

That General Montgomery on his Arrival at Montreal in 1775 sent for your memorialist and desired him to act as Purveyor to the American Hospitals in Canada for which şervice General Montgomery promised him two Guineas day for himself and five shillings sterling day for a Clerk. In consequence of which your memorialist immediately procured & furnished a large House for the Accommodation of the Sick and sometime after two other Houses for smallpox hospitals the whole Expence of fitting up and furnishing the said Hospitals as well as that of providing every thing necessary for the Patients (particulars of which are exhibited in accounts marked A) was supported entirely by himself. He likewise at the Requisition of Col. Richmore Captains Lamb, Motte, & Goeforth furnished sundries for their men. Sundries also to General Wooster, and Mr. Tucker, and to Major Nicholson sundries for the Troops before Quebec (particulars of all which will appear the Accounts marked. B. & E.)

That after the death of General Montgomery when American Affairs in Canada begun to wear an unfavorable Aspect when all the hard money Your Memorialist could procure was expended in the Service and his own Credit (on account

*Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 35, pp. 149, a, b, c.

of the part he had taken) ruined, he applied to General Wooster who unable to assist urged him to fall upon some Method of still providing for the preservation of the Sick. Your Memorialist had at that Time a large quantity of Rum on Commission from Messrs. Farquer & Vialars of Quebec with Orders not to sell it for less than a dollar a Gallon of this Rum at General Woosters desire and under his promise of Indemnification Your Memorialist sold about four Thousand Gallons at four Livres five Sols, by which he sustained a loss of nearly Seven Thousand Livres.

That during the Time Gen. Arnold was out at La Chine he found it necessary to appropriate sundry Goods Arms & Ammunition that Your Memorialist had stored there and intended for the upper Country Trade to the Use of the Troops under his Command (the particulars of which will appear account marked C.) And that after the Continental Forces had retired from Montreal General Arnold sent a Party from Laprarie who without the Consent or privity of Your Memorialist seized and carried off from La Chine a quantity of Brazil & Carrot Tobacco with other Indian Goods the property of Your Memorialist and by him destined for Michilimackinac for which he never obtained a receipt or any acknowledgement whatever (the particulars and Amount of these Articles are exhibited in the Account D.) That Your Memorialist continued his support of & assistance to the American Army 'till the day they left Montreal when being pressed closely by General Carleton and when the Friends to Government here had engaged or sent out of the way every Cart & Carriage in Town, so that the sick, the hospital stores and Bedding &c. must have inevitably fallen into the hands of the Enemy but for the extraordinary Exertions of Your Memorialist, at this Conjunction, He by sending all his own Carriages & procuring others from the Country happily effected the purpose of getting them off, happily from the American party but eventually of most disagreeable consequences to himself since this last Circumstance more than any other has exposed him to Insults &

Injuries from people of every denomination in the Province of which you will allow him to mention a few Instances. On the first of July 1776 he received an order from General Burgoyne to quit his House in four days a house he had rented from May to May for seven Years, on the fourth day he was turned into the street by an Ensign Parker of the 29th Regt. and a Party of soldiers, himself, his Wife and children, destitute of everything except the Cloaths on their Backs, & all his Goods & Furniture in the house left to the management of the soldiery, in this situation, without Money, without Friends, he obtained Permission to shelter his Family, in the house of a former acquaintance who at the end of five days informed him he must leave her house immediately she having been made to understand it was dangerous to harbour so notorious a Rebel. He then retreated to a small Vault where he continued two months in a miserable situation almost without the means of subsistence and being under the Frowns of Government deserted by every one. At length such part of his Effects as had escaped the pillage of the Soldiery were thrown upon the Parade & himself informed he might either leave them or take them as he thought proper, and that this even was too great Indulgence to a Rebel.

Notwithstanding the persecution Your Memorialist has suffered he has always uniformly adhered to the American Side and as the Face of his affairs have taken a more favorable turn he has been enabled from time to time to lend his assistance to such prisoners as have been brought in here, particularly Col. Campbell from Virginia, Col. Stacey of Massachusetts Bay, Captain Wood of New York State & others to a considerable Amount a part only of which he has been reimbursed this Fall and doubtless Capt. Wood who stands engaged for the whole will take an early Opportunity of discharging the remainder, in this however should he fail Congress will hardly think it reasonable that their Memorialist shall be the sufferer.

On the retreat of the Continental Army from this Province Your Memorialist had upwards of fourteen Hundred Dollars