I beg leave to refer you to the Inclosed Act of Congress of the 3d Inst. by which you are approved of to be an Attorney in South Carolina for the United States of America.(2) In obedience to the said Act I have executed a Letter of Attorney which will be transmitted by the Commercial Committee to Mr. Abraham Livingston.(3)
1 Josiah Smith, Jr. (1731-1826), was a Charleston, S.C., merchant. Henry Laurens, The Papers of Henry Laurens, ed. Philip M. Hamer et al. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1968-), 2:213n.9.
2 Acting on a recommendation from the Committee of Commerce, Congress on February 3 appointed Smith and Nathaniel Russell "attornies for recovering all commercial debts due to the United States of America, and for claiming the continental share of all prizes libelled in the admiralty court in the State of South Carolina." JCC, 10:114. Laurens notified Russell-who also lived in Charleston-of his appointment in a letter dated the 10th that is nearly identical to this letter to Smith. PCC, item 13, fol. 182.
3 No "Letter of Attorney," or letter from the Committee of Commerce to Abraham Livingston, has been found.