In December, 1795 or 1796, I forget which, I entered into a covenant
with the Holland Company for the purchase of one hundred thousand
acres of land, at twelve shillings per acre, payable by instalments.
The covenant contained a penalty of twenty thousand dollars; as
security on my part for this penalty, in case it should become due, I
mortgaged to Cazenove, or the Holland Company, twenty thousand acres
of land in Presque Isle, being one hundred shares of two hundred acres
each in the Population Company, and I assigned to him Thomas L.
Witbeck's bond, payable to me, for twenty thousand dollars, as further
collateral security.
In the fall of 1797 Cazenove joined with me in a power of attorney to
James Wadsworth, then in Europe, for the sale of one hundred thousand
acres, and, until the summer or fall of the year following, we had
reason to believe that they were or would be sold, which of course
would have terminated all questions about the penalty. Some time in
the year 1797 or 1798, it was noised in Albany that Thomas L. Witbeck
had given a bond for twenty thousand dollars, and his credit at the
bank and elsewhere became affected by it. He wrote me often on the
subject. In reply, I begged him to explain that the bond was not for
the payment of money, and that, even if it should become forfeited,
the twenty thousand acres of Presque Isle lands were alone a
sufficient security. Witbeck, however, continued to be uneasy for his
credit, and teased me to take up his bond by giving other security.
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