| Decr 19 1864 |
| |
| My dearest Father,
{Moncure Robinson, internationally known RR
engineer and an early President of the Richmond, Fredericksburg &
Potomac RR; lived in the Philadelphia during the War} |
| |
| Your communication of Sept
30th written I imagine by Agnes & of Nov 5th by flag of truce with one
from mother of long date reached me a few days ago. Your letters via the
island in reply to mine reach me with great regularity. With regard to
the settlement of claims with Messrs Mills Rives & others I have
examined the entire question carefully & until further instructed by you
I have determined not to advance the subject on the basis you propose.
It is evident to me that each of the persons referred to your debt to
them somewhat in the light of a trust reposed in you & they all would
actually prefer even exchange in England to specie value here on account
of its presumed greater security. With all my arguments both in personal
interviews & by letters I have invariably found that they each regarded
you as having received certain amounts for them in green backs & that
they regarded your property here as only worth what it would bring in
market. Examine the question for a moment yourself; I have offered to
settle with them on the same basis as with which I settled with the
Freds Comp {Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR}
viz 1/2 in currency & 1/2 in stock a?? |
| For a hundred dollars you
received nearly at par in many cases, say at an average of sixty I
propose to pay 1/2 ? a share of stock worth in Confedt Currency $65 &
$50 in currency both together worth in specie but about $3.33; in other
words they appear to regard it that I propose to give you a gain of
$56.67 out of every sixty. Now whilst I was enabled to carry this out
with the RRd Co I can scarcely do so with individuals. My counsel appear
to think that if the question was brought before a court of equity it
might possibly be decided that your property here was liable for the
actual value you became possessed of, both being compared to specie.
Whilst I regard your property here as worth very little now (I refer to
the rail road interest above, the real estate is more valuable) I think
that the Seaboard {& Roanoke RR} especially
possesses in its chartered privileges a position that will enable it in
time to become valuable. I would unhesitatingly the sell the whole for
L2000 were it offered. I regard the property only for what it may become
in time; I endeavor to preserve it as much as possible from destruction,
& I make it produce as much income as possible that I may have the means
of supporting myself as I wish to live. |
| I have decided in my own mind
from the light before me what I would advise you to do, but in
expressing my opinion, I am of course prepared to carry out to the
strict letter any of your wishes. As I have advanced with persistency
the idea that I proposed as a settlement I think it would be well in
your letter to me so still cling to the idea that my proposal or some
one on a similar basis was a fair one, but at the same time to agree to
consider yourself to the gentlemen here in greenbacks to the amount your
received after deducting all expenses of every kind incurred in
collecting the amounts respectively, to which you might add if you see
fit 10 pr ct for your trouble, but I am incluied myself to advise that
you content yourself with the profits resulting between the difference
in the pr?? on exchange now & when you received the friends in question.
Then with the amount of greenbacks resulting I would advise the placing
of exchange to each credit respectively. At the present rate of exchange
between the U. S. & England compared with what it was when you received
the funds in question. Your profit would be considerable in the ??? This
proposal could be sustained, your ??? I think could not without
sacrificing your stocks here at between 3 & 4 dollars (specie) pr share.
I have always regarded my settlement with Mr Daniel as one of the best
managed transactions I have ever been engaged in & one which the Company
were pretty roughly handed. I write this merely for your consideration
again. Whatever you may decide upon I will carry out to the best of my
ability for of course in all this I regard myself simply as your agent. |
| With regard to the acceptance
by you of Mr Daniel's proposal of which I have written to you and on
which I Have allowed his company's debt to the property to continue by a
bond guaranteeing to pay me back the stocks at 73 & the currency in its
value of last May should you not be able to collect anything from their
assets near you. I advise that you accept it of course merely by
expressing yourself to me as satisfied with the arrangement, with this
addition that you insist upon being allowed ten pr ct and all expenses
incurred in collecting. I wrote to you that Mr Daniel was unwilling to
accept his company's debt to me as equivalent for what you might
collect, & that he was only willing to exchange for actual values
compared with specie. |
| In a former letter I stated
that I understood that Seabd dividends were being paid to Northern
Stockholders; If so I trusted that you collected yours without regard to
the action of the Confedt States towards myself. ??? ??? will be much
easier to re-imburse the Company the Confedt equivalency I have
received, ??? for them to make up to ??? loss, from not having
received dividends with other stockholders at the North. |
| The future is to my view very
uncertain; I have an instinctive feeling that the South will maintain
itself, but in despondent moments, argainece to leads to fear that after
a bloody conflict yet to be continued two or three years it may succumb
from want of me & military materials of war. In that case I presume that
after the lapse of a few years would be enabled to assert claims to your
property here. In that view I think it would be well to instruct ???
from time to time in the natural resources of your rrd & real estate
property here & to let him study from the rrd reports of the Seabd &
Fredg companies their council. |
| It is reported here that Henry
is at your house: In a former letter I said that if his health allowed
it, but I feared it was past recovery, I thought he had best study
medical instead of returning here. Henry will not succeed now in what
your advised for him, & as a physician I think he would. As I will
enclose a letter to Mother about Willy's wedding I will merely add |
| Yours Affec |
| JMR {John M Robinson Captain & AQM} |
| |
| If you were in Europe I would
propose to you to associate persons of means together in the form of a
company & of sufficient strengths to run the blockade with the best
prospects of success. Even now where sufficient capital is employed
success is very sure profits enormous. Colossal fortunes are being made,
& one concern is which Mr Souter is invested commenced within eighteen
months has been extraordinary in its results. |
| I wrote to you that I thought
Uncle Co?? had best send Leigh or myself power of Atty to manage his
affairs, & hat Leigh had best be allowed to use his income. Mr Myers is
willing to furnish Leigh occasionally with funds but says has no right
to do so; in consequence of which I have furnished Leigh as I had done
to poor Carg & Willey. |
| The War Dept will not allow
special exchanges. I have done everything in my power for Berrnett but
it is of no use. In your letter you mention having written Mr Myers that
you had placed an amount to his credit at Gilliat; the letter did not
arrive & Mr M would like to know the exact amount. |
| {end of document in
archives} |