John Jay Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-02-02-0289

To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 20 January 1782

From Gouverneur Morris

Philadelphia 20th. Jany. 1782

Dear Jay.

It is so long since I have received a Letter from you that I will not pretend to account for thi I have received but one Letter from you in a very long time and by an Inattention I can only describe and not date it.1 It was ^chiefly in Cypher^ in answer to mine announcing a certain Appointment & Part of it was copied by your private Secretary. The Cypher I shall use in this if I have Occasion is our official No. 1. which Franks delivered to you.

Your friends are all well your Child perfectly so. And if you do not receive Letters from one of them your Sister in Law now here2 you may rely that it is not because she does not write. As to those on Hudson’s River (and by the bye your Brother James is somewhere thereabout)3 I incline to think that their Silence is the Cause why you do not hear from them. I pray you present me most tenderly to Mrs. Jay and assure her that altho I do not love her in the common Sense of the Word I have all the Regard & Esteem which she would wish. May many happy years attend you both and your Virtues meet some greater Reward than themselves which they certainly must do for they will be a Reward to each other. This my dear Friend is very much a conjugal Sentiment and such my Bosom is not incapable of altho the Chapter of Accidents has made them but improper Guests. May I felicitate you on an Increase of Family? I think I may for Carmichael announces Some thing of the Sort.4

We have Reasons to beleive that the Court are inclining to treat with you. By We, I do not Mean the Public. The Ministers I find are desirous of knowing our Situation. Depend on it they shall have good Information; and depend also that you shall know what it is. If what I have just said were not of vast Importance, I would not (as I do) recommend Secrecy.5

The Operations on this Coast have been successful. If the french Admiral would, or could, have assisted in pursuing the Blow, they would have been definitive. What may be the Success of those now carrying on in the West Indies, It is impossible to foresee. This is certain that a fleet and Army, such as the combined fleet and Army there, all of one Nation and well commanded ought to take Jamaica. I have some Hopes that it will be accomplished.6 You must be I think thoroughly convinced, that it is the Spanish Policy to exclude all the World from the Gulf of Mexico. I think our Duty and Interest combine on this Occasion to direct that we should cooperate with them in this Object.7 They will, I am perswaded, for their own Sakes, give us a free Port in East florida; & if they do, our Commerce will do every Thing for us which it ought, and something more. For Heaven’s Sake, convince them of the Necessity of giving us Money. Not in Europe, for they want it too much themselves, but at the Havanna, We can bring it away; and the Court will not consider so deeply a Grant there, because it is in Effect only an Anticipation of the next Year’s Revenue Revenue. With Money we can do every Thing. But if it is obtained, give no Notice to Congress, for we must plead Poverty to the States if we were rich as Crœsus.8

Dft, NNC: Gouverneur Morris (EJ: 11386). Encoded using “Office of Finance Cipher Number 1” (WE006). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on pp. 10–11. The code equivalents were entered interlinearly in the Dft.

2Catharine W. Livingston was in Philadelphia visiting the Robert Morrises.

3In November 1781, Sir James Jay returned to New York with his brother Frederick, ending an eighteen-month stay in Philadelphia.

4The Jays’ third child, Maria, was born on 20 Feb. 1782.

6Morris’s hopes were to be dashed, as de Grasse was defeated in the British West Indies at the battle of the Saints on 12 Aug. 1782.

7For Gouverneur Morris’s previously expressed opinions on navigation of the Mississippi, see his letter to JJ of 2 Jan. 1781, above.

8For the Office of Finance’s decision to withhold information about funds obtained abroad in hopes of increasing states’ compliance with congressional requisitions, see PRM description begins E. James Ferguson et al., eds., The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784 (9 vols.; Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973–99) description ends , 3: 83–91.

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