John Jay Papers
Documents filtered by: Author="Livingston, Robert R."
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-01-02-0150

To John Jay from Robert R. Livingston, 4 June 1776

From Robert R. Livingston

[4th: June 1776 Philadelphia,]

Dear John

I own I was very much mortified at not hearing from you nor can I quite forgive your neglect since it takes but little time to write when the pen is only copying from the heart. I am very sorry that we are not to have the pleasure of Mrs. Jays company but greatly rejoyced at the prospect of her recovery about which from your Letter to Duane I had some uneasy apprehensions.

We have been for some days past occupied in setting a plan of defence. The attatchment which some people have for Canada has left us very defenseless, however I have contrived to lessten the number after much altercation & settle our own quota much to my satisfaction at 3750. men who are to be drafted from the militia 3000 of them to serve at New York.1 This I hope will not prove very burthensome as a large proportion may be taken from the City where I suppose many of the Citizens are unemployed, What I want you particularly to attend to is to endeavour to get volunteers for Canada if possible from the Green Mountain boys by offering additional ^higher^ pay than the Continent allows, the expence of which will be very triffling to the Colony. What makes me wish it most is in order to frustrate the schemes of some people here who affect to consider them as no part of our Colony, & to assert that they never did nor ever will act under our convention & they even introduced a motion founded on this supposition, however I treated them so roughly as prevented their proceeding & has silenced them for the present.2 The force ordered for our defence at New York is 25000 so that I hope we shall be able to give an enemy a pretty warm reception.3 I wrote to you about Gallies but I have got the Congress to take it upon themselves & the Genl has power to build as many as he think proper.4 We have recd an answer of the King to the livery of London, which I hope will be productive of very good effects since it takes away all hopes of accommodation & shews that nothing less will do than absolute submission.5 It comes in very happy time for this place, in which the people are very unfortunately divided between the advocates for the old & new government,

I learn from the paper the steps you have taken to collect the sentiments of the people, I wish to be with you a while, but do not know whether it is absolutely necessary, & I am unwilling to leave this till it is—I hope you are laying the foundation for a better form than I have yet seen, & inculcating the proper principles. You cannot begin too early to point out both men & measures.

Morris they tell me flourishes as much as ever, as you are either too lazy or too cautious engage him to write with as much freedom as he speaks—I have heard Mr. S—6 does he not look very high—Clinton is not come, send him on if you see him—I am, Dear John, Your Aff: Friend

Robt R. Livingston

ALS, UkWC-A (EJ: 2). Addressed: “To Coll. John Jay New York, pr favour of Majr. Genl. Gates.” Endorsed. Tr, NNC (EJ: 7970).

1Livingston was intimately acquainted with Continental defense plans because of his appointment to a committee of conference on 25 May 1776. This committee consulted with General Washington; Brigadier General Thomas Mifflin (1744–1800), the Continental quartermaster general; and Major General Horatio Gates (1727–1806), Washington’s adjutant general. The committee’s report of 29 May called on New York to supply 1,500 troops for reinforcements in Canada, but when Congress acted on this report, New York’s quota for the Canadian expedition was reduced to 750. On 3 June, Congress considered the committee’s recommendations on general strategy for the coming campaign and ordered that forces in New York be reinforced by 13,800 militiamen, of whom 3,000 were to be New Yorkers. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 391, 399–400, 310–12.

2On 8 May 1776 the Congress read a petition from a committee appointed by residents of the New Hampshire Grants. This petition, dated 17 Jan. 1776, recited the history of land disputes in the region and summarized the contributions of settlers in the grants to the Continental struggle against the Crown. However, the petitioners stated firmly: “Your Petitioners are . . . entirely willing to do all in our Power in the General Cause under the Continental Congress and have been ever since the taking of Ticonderoga &c. . . . but are not willing to put ourselves under the Honorable provincial Congress of New York in such a manner as might in future be detrimental to our private property.”

The committee named to consider this petition reported on 30 May and recommended that the “petitioners, for the present . . . submit to the government of New York, and contribute their assistance . . . in the contest between Great Britain and the united colonies.” The committee report went on to promise “that such submission ought not to prejudice the right of them or others to the land in controversy . . . nor be construed to affirm or admit the jurisdiction of New York in and over that country,” and it concluded with the statement that “when the present Troubles are at an End,” the jurisdictional dispute would be determined by “proper Judges.” This report was not acted upon and was endorsed: “Ordered to lie on the table.” Since Vermonters refused to accept the sovereignty of New York over them, the continuing dispute was to be a source of concern to leading New Yorkers, among them JJ, in the years ahead. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 334–35, 405; DNA: PCC, item 40, 1: 7.

3The report of the committee of conference of 29 May estimated that “the Continental force now at N. York for the defence of that place and the communication with Albany does not exceed 10,000 Men.” and recommended that the force be brought up to 25,000 by the dispatch of the 13,800 militiamen and 1,200 members of the Pennsylvania line. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 400.

4Livingston wrote JJ on 21 May: “If your Congress have any spirit, they will at least build fourteen or fifteen light boats capable of carrying a twelve-pounder, to secure Hudson River, which is to be the chief scene of action.” The committee of conference recommended to Congress that General Washington be authorized to “direct the building as many Fire rafts and Gallies as may be necessary and suitable for the immediate defence of the port at N. York and Hudsons river.” Congress adopted this section of the committee’s report on 30 May. NNC (EJ: 6856); NN (EJ: 1092); HPJ description begins Henry P. Johnston, ed., The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (4 vols.; New York, 1893) description ends , 1: 62; JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 4: 401, 406–7.

5“The Address and Petition of the City of London” of 22 Mar. 1776 was printed in the American press in June 1776 along with George III’s reply. The London Petition expressed concern at the “exposed state” of the British Isles should the government implement its plans for military operations in North America and called the Crown’s treaties for foreign mercenaries a “dangerous disgrace.” The petitioners asked that “the most solemn, clear, distinct and unambiguous specification of those just and honorable terms” that the king and Parliament “meant to grant to the colonies, may precede the dreadful operations of your armament.” The king’s brief reply to the London officials read: “I Deplore with the deepest concern, the miseries which a great part of my subjects in North America have brought upon themselves by an unjustifiable resistance to the constitutional authority of this kingdom; and I shall be ready and happy to alleviate those miseries, by acts of mercy and clemency, whenever that authority is established, and the now existing rebellion is at an end. To obtain those salutary principles I will invariably pursue the most proper and effectual means.” N.Y. Mercury, 10 June 1776.

6John Morin Scott.

Index Entries