1To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 30 June 1775 (Jay Papers)
Our House are about to send you their Plan of Accomodation and I think myself bound to say Something on the Subject for Reasons you will presently see the second third fourth sixth and seventh ^ & eighth ^ Articles form a short Plan which I drew in the Committee excepting that in the eighth the word Assemblies in the third Line was altered to Colonies. The first Article was moved debated...
2To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 28 July 1775 (Jay Papers)
What shall we do with our West Chester Causes I have not hitherto given you any Notices of Trial because the Uncertainty and Inquietude of the Times in some measure prohibited me the Hope of trying them. Besides this I daily expected you in Town and wished for the Certainty of your Presence inasmuch as it would have been an improper Advantage over you while attending upon the public...
3To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 20 April 1776 (Washington Papers)
I take the Liberty of addressing your Excellency upon a Subject so much out of my own Line, that I must be entirely in your Equity, as to the Charge of Impertinence. I hope to be acquitted. The Committee of Safety have ordered, that the sick Soldiery should be transported to an Island called little Barn Island; which was, and perhaps still is, the Property of Captn John Montresor, an Engineer...
4To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 August 1776 (Jay Papers)
If you play Truant thus, Le tout est perdue . How do you expect that your unruly Horses can be kept in Order by a Whip and a Spur. They want the Reins. On Tuesday next it is to be determined as to the Seat of our General. Unless &c a . &c a . I would not give a Fig for your Resolution. This is not the worst of it make haste, Yours ALS , NNC ( EJ : 6959 ). Address mutilated. Endorsed....
5To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 26 March 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
By unavoidable Incidents this Letter is delayed beyond the usual Time for which I assure you I am extremely sorry. Your Favor gave great Pleasure as well to the Committee as to several Members of the House who are much pleased with your judicious Caution to distinguish between what you sport as your private Opinion and the weighty Sentiments of the General. No Circumstance could have more...
We were much surprized at your Letter to M r . Hobart as we could not perceive the Danger which would result from permitting the several Courts to appoint their own Clerks while on the other Hand great Inconveniences must arise from suffering them to be independent of such Courts and of Consequence frequently ignorant always inattentive. Neither had we the most distant Idea that a Clause of...
7To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 11 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Kingston, New York, May 11, 1777. On May 12, 1777, Hamilton wrote to Morris: “I have received the pleasure of your favour of yesterday’s date.” Letter not found. ]
8To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 16 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
I had the Pleasure of your two Favors within two Days of each other and am very happy to find that our Form of Government meets with your Approbation. That there are Faults in it is not to be wondered at for it is the Work of Men and of Men perhaps not the best qualified for such Undertakings. I think it deficient for the Want of Vigor in the executive unstable from the very Nature of popular...
9To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 24 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Kingston [ New York ] May 24, 1777. Has no news of the destruction of stores at St. Johns. Speculates on future course of the war and discusses need for maintaining health of troops. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. This letter was written by Morris in his capacity as a member of the New York Committee of Correspondence.
10To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 4 July 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Your Letter gave me the Pleasure of knowing with Certainty what might be depended upon among the numerous Reports circulated Thro the Country with Relation to the Several movements of the Enemy. That Howe wishes to draw you to a General Action is highly Probable because certainly he hath no other Means of conquering the Country, but the time when he wishes to Engage must depend upon a General...
11To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, [18 July 1777] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Saratoga, New York, July 18, 1777. On July 22, 1777, Hamilton wrote to Morris: “Your favour of the 18th ⟨from Saratoga reached me⟩ yesterday.” Letter not found. ]
12To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 1 February 1778 (Jay Papers)
Congress have sent me here in Conjunction with some other Gentlemen to regulate their Army and in Truth not a little Regulation hath become necessary. Our Quarter Master and Commissary Departments are in the most lamentable Situation. Opportunities have been neglected last Campaign which were truly Golden ones but omnipotent Fatality had it seems determined that the american Capital should...
13To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 18 April 1778 (Washington Papers)
I expected before this to have written to you “Provision is made for the American Officers” but that Thief of Time Procrastination hath kept it off from Time to Time. The Question is now an Order of the Day and as such takes Place of every other Business When it will be determined I know not but this I know that it shall be finished one Way or the other before any Thing else Let what will...
14To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 28 April 1778 (Jay Papers)
This Letter is to be handed to you by Gen l . Gates. Let me recommend him to your particular Attention. Vermont you will say prevents this. Policy may have induced him to flatter those People when he wanted their Assistance. Let us take it up on that Ground. In his present Command he will want the Assistance of our State the cordial Assistance of its Rulers. I have promised this. I write to...
15To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 29 April 1778 (Jay Papers)
I won’t dispute who has written most. I have written more than twice what you acknowlege to have received but this is of no Consequence. I am sorry for your Session but I wish you had marked out what Taxes have been laid what Salaries given & a few more striking outlines of Legislation These with what I know of your Men would have enabled me to imagine proper Lights & Shades. My arithmetical...
16To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 1 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Knox is to attend the Council. Conway hath resigned & his Resignation is accepted. The Affairs of the Army are necessarily delayed by the foreign Affairs which have broken in upon us. As to the Half Pay Matters stand thus the Questions have been carried but by an Entry on the Minutes there is an Agreemt that a final Question shall be put whether it be finally determined in Congress or sent to...
17To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 May 1778 (Jay Papers)
I shall plague you with very few Words. I congratulate you on our Alliance with France for Particulars I refer you to our Friend Robert. I enclose you a News Paper containing a Report I drew on North’s Bills which were sent us by the Gen l . I have marked in the Margin two Clauses inserted by the House you may find perhaps some Difficulty to discover how they shew the Wickedness or Insincerity...
18To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 15 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Permit me to congratulate you on the passing a Resolution for a Kind of Establishment at this late Hour It is not what you wished but it may do You must pardon a little to the Republicanism of our Ideas. What is a little extraordinary there was no Dissentient State and only two Individuals Yet no Measure hath ever been more severely contested. We shall now go thro the Regimental & other...
19To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
We are going on with the regimental Arrangements as fast as possible and I think the Day begins to appear with Respect to this Business. Had our Saviour addressed a Chapter to the Rulers of Mankind as he did many to the Subjects I am perswaded his Good Sense would have dictated this Text. Be not wise overmuch. Had the several Members who compose our multifarious Body been only wise enough Our...
20To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 23 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
I wrote you a few Days ago by Colo. Johnson; as he is not yet gone, I will now add two Things I forgot to mention then. The first is that if you send any General to Rhode Island you will probably find it most convenient to get rid of Varnom, Whose Temper and Manners are by no Means calculated to teach Patience Discipline & Subordination. Congress having determined on the Affair of the...
21To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 June 1778 (Washington Papers)
I have sent to your Addressé three Bundles containing the several Materials collected by the Committee for arrangg the army. This Business being now put under your Care I trust you will be enabled speedily to put your Army in the Situation you wish excepting always the Deficiency of Numbers which is upon the whole well enough since thereby it happens that less of the Resources of the Country...
22To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 23 July 1778 (Jay Papers)
I received yours of the 4 th some Days ago but I was in so unsettled a Situation that I could not answer it. At present I must be short for I have Company waiting. I have no Apprehension that these Money Matters can affect me . I have not taken nor would I on any Consideration have taken the Agency of the Business. Duer I trust will do what is right.— Your Caution however is useful and proper...
23To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 2 August 1778 (Washington Papers)
I was in your Debt. It is my Fate always to be so with my Friends. But beleive me my Heart owes Nothing. Let me add that you can do me no Favor so great as to comply with your Wishes except an Opportunity to serve the Public which indeed is your highest Wish as you have evidenced fully to all the World & particularly to your Friends. I feel the full Force of your Reasoning. The Faith of...
24To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 16 August 1778 (Jay Papers)
We are at Length fairly setting about our Finances and our foreign Affairs. For the latter particularly I much wish you were here. Many Persons whom you know are very liberal of Illiberality— Your Friend Deane who hath rendered the most essential Services stands as one accused. The Storm increases and I think some one of the tall Trees must be torn up by the Roots. I have not heard from you in...
25To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 31 August 1778 (Washington Papers)
I wrote you a Letter long since which went backwards & whether it hath ever Yet got so far forwards as to reach you I am utterly incapacitated even to guess trusting however that you have got or will get it I shall not from Memory repeat what if there at all is at best but faintly traced. At present I trouble you on the Subject of recruiting your Army which is at this Moment in Debate before...
26To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 26 October 1778 (Washington Papers)
I received your Favor and return you Thanks for it. The Conduct which the Enemy may pursue with Relation to us is not quite decided But I have not a Doubt but their Efforts during the next Campaign will be chiefly towards our Frontiers with a View to weary us into Submission. At the same Time they will perhaps endeavor to keep such Posts in our Country as to render the Communications tedious...
27To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 11 November 1778 (Washington Papers)
As Congress have delegated to a Committee, of which I have the Honor to be a Member, the Superintendance of the Commissary & Quarter Masters Departments; this, together with our Finances which we have long been cobling at, hath obliged me to consider in a more compleat View the State of our Affairs than my former detached Attention would permit, or indeed than my natural Indolence would have...
28To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 14 March 1779 (Washington Papers)
You will excuse in me the Liberty I have taken in requesting Colo. Morgan to call on you. That Gentleman can give you much and important Information relative to the State of our Western Frontiers. From the first View of the Commander in that Department at York Town he struck me as one of those who excel in the Regularity of Still Life from the Possession of an indolent Uniformity of Soul. The...
29To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 26 April 1779 (Washington Papers)
You must permit me most heartily to congratulate you upon the very important Intelligence which Monsr Gerard will confidentially communicate to you. It is and indeed ought to be a Secret even from Congress for which I need give you no Reasons as you are but too well acquainted with them. Measures have already been taken for obtaining the necessary Supplies which the Minister will detail to...
30To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 October 1779 (Washington Papers)
Two Days ago I was placed on a Committee to report the necessary Provision to be made for Officers not heretofore provided for. I recollect at present the general Officers & Erskine’s Corps (The Surgeons are already reported & the Report set down for this Day when as the Devil will have it I cannot attend) but as it would produce many Inconveniences to make this Provision which Congress intend...