ing the other charge, a bold letter to Colonel Timothy Matlack, Secretary of the Council of Safety, saying that the reports against him had been circulated by ill-disposed persons, and that before the war he had gone without avail to Philadelphia county to be tried.[1] He intimated that his confinement would be of disadvantage to the Continental cause, since, if continued, his son, who held a commission in the service, would be compelled to resign; and he appealed to Matlack as an old friend to procure an early disposition of the case. Atlee, whom the Council authorized to act in the matter, refused to discharge him upon bail, holding that although no evidence of his guilt had been produced, the proclamation of the Governors made upon affidavits raised a very strong presumption of it. In June, Daniel Clymer renewed the application to the Council for him, and he was then liberated after a confinement of about four months. Three years later, on the 6th of March, 1780, he was again arrested upon a warrant from Joseph Reed, President of the Supreme Executive Council, issued by their direction, and thrown into jail in Philadelphia. The old accusation of counterfeiting was renewed, and in addition it was declared that he was disaffected to the cause of America, and his going at large was injurious to the interests of the good people of the State.[2] It must be admitted that his incarceration upon charges vague and seemingly impossible to prove, has much the appearance of persecution. He immediately presented a petition for a hearing. The Council submitted him to a searching examination, remanded him to jail, and at the expiration of two months ordered his release, “on condition of his leaving the State of Penn-
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
