Signer of the Declaration of Independence from South Carolina (1742–1787). A radical Whig, Middleton was one of the more vocal members of the South Carolina's Council of Safety and was known for his ruthless treatment of Loyalists. Middleton was imprisoned in 1780 when the British captured Charleston and spent a year in custody in St. Augustine. Rare Revolutionary War-era unsigned handwritten document by Arthur Middleton, one page both sides, 8.25 x 13.5, no date but circa June 1782. Handwritten resolution by Arthur Middleton, a representative of South Carolina in the Second Continental Congress, regarding the investigation of passports authorizing the importation of British goods for use by prisoners of war, and concerning the inventory and control of goods imported for prisoners by enforcing a contraband list. In part: "Resolved, That investigation be made by the Sec'y at War & that he report to Congress the Causes why Passports have been granted for the Introduction of British goods under Colour of supplying the British Prisoners with necessaries & the Names of Persons by whom such Passports were granted.
That the Sec'y at War cause an inventory to be taken of the British goods now at Lancaster, & that He take measures for returning such Articles to N. York as he may judge to be improper for the supply of Soldiers, & some calculated for the purposes of Trafficking with the Citizens of these States.
That the Persons authorized to grant Passports or permissions for the Necessaries intended for the British Prisoners be charged to scrutinize strictly into the Packages & parcells forwarded for that purpose, & to let none pass but such as contain necessary Articles bona fide intended for the Use of the Prisoners and agreeable to a Schedule pick'd by the Sec'y at War limiting the Articles in quantity & Quality proportion'd to the Number of Prisoners & agreeable to the usual mode of supplying Soldiery by the Powers to where they belong.
That the Sec'y at War draw up a Schedule of such Articles as will be allow'd the Prisoners in future, & that the British Commissaries be inform'd that, if any extra Articles different in quantity & quality from the said Schedule should be attempted to be forwarded, the said Extra Articles shall be held to be contraband, & the whole of the parcells or packages in which they are contained shall be forfeited to the use of the United States.
That the American Officers commanding the posts where such Prisoners are Kept, be directed to Search the Bales & Packages & see that the Articles agree with the Invoices mentioned in the Passports, previous to their being issued to the Soldiery, & that he make proper returns to the Board of War."
A mono-alphabetic cipher key is written vertically on verso, likely in holograph; cipher keys were used frequently during the Revolutionary War by spies, diplomats, and others to prevent important communications from being understood by the enemy. Most keys were simple substitutions, like that denoted on the present document, in which one could create an encrypted message by finding, for each alphabetic letter in the original message, the matching letter in the top row of the key, and writing down the letter found just below it. The recipient could decode the message by employing the identical key in reverse. In fine condition.
Examples of Arthur Middleton's autograph are extremely rare, and he is often cited as the third-rarest signer of the Declaration of Independence following Gwinnett and Lynch. Most are enumerated in 'A Census of Important Middleton Documents' in Joseph E. Fields's article, 'The Autographs of Arthur Middleton'; this resolution listed as No. 42. [Taylor, ed., Manuscripts: The First Twenty Years (Westport, 1984), 86-104.]
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